Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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If you own wheat in storage right now, you are probably holding it because you think it will be more valuable later or because you want to minimize your taxes. Some may just get a warm feeling all over to think of it sitting in that bin; a valid incentive but difficult to account for in bookkeeping. There are other reasons, but there is no denying that it costs something to hold onto the stuff. Storage rates and interest costs on borrowed funds are the two most obvious holes in the bucket. Then there is the risk. “Market Risk” is the rea...
It’s hard to feel bad about the world during a week like this. That’s because spring training has begun. As you read this, position players (that’s what they call non-pitchers or catchers) are reporting to major league training camps in Arizona and Florida. (Pitchers and catchers showed up last week.) The news from Washington (D.C.) and the Middle East may be dismal, but the Mariners are tied for first. So are the Cubs and the Mets. Hope “springs” eternal, as the “Cactus” and “Grapefruit...
OLYMPIA—The Senate’s new transportation package is being hailed for its bipartisan support, while some critics find aspects of it troubling. The proposals were revealed on Feb. 12 after 22 months of negotiations and would mostly fund various highway projects in the state’s more congested areas. The package would raise $15 billion over a 16-year period mostly through an 11.7 cents-per-gallon gas tax implemented over the next three years. Washington’s current 35.7 cents-per-gallon gas tax would increase by five cents in July, 4.2 cents in July...
And now, presenting some valuable insight into the human psyche: The Nine Steps of the Grieving Process! Step One: Denial. “Wait. So let me hear that again. An elite prep school who edged us out by a few points last year is coming to compete with us at Knowledge Bowl Regionals because they are the only team of their size in their area. And they’re not bringing their berth with them? And at the same time, one of our two berths is getting taken away? So only one team out of four gets to go to Sta...
Cartoon...
I am honored to once again serve as the ranking Republican on the House Finance Committee. This is the committee that decides revenue and funding issues. We will be very involved with the budget discussions this year. Already I am meeting with budget staff weekly from the House, Senate, and governor's office. This year, I am also serving on the House Technology and Economic Development Committee. This committee looks at energy policy and economic development. I look forward to helping shape the...
OLYMPIA -- Gov. Jay Inslee’s proposal for regulating greenhouse gas emissions has cleared its first of several hurdles in a 6-to-5 party-line vote Feb. 10 in the Democrat-controlled House Environment Committee. House Bill 1314, the Carbon Pollution Accountability Act, would establish a statewide cap on carbon emissions, requiring Washington’s 130 largest polluters to buy credits in order to continue releasing carbon and other gasses into the atmosphere. With credits starting at $12 per-ton of emissions, the program is estimated to bring in $1...
The quadrant of my brain responsible for generating column inspiration has decided to take a vacation over this three-day weekend, so I'm forced to resort to Emergency Writing Idea Plan 64B: pretending that all of you are high schoolers and then offering advice on a topic relevant to this group. (Just go with it.) One of the "fun" things about one's senior year is gathering letters of recommendation from teachers. This is easier at Waitsburg than at larger schools because most of the teachers...
The newspaper business has changed a lot since the first issue of the Waitsburg Times was published in (get this) 1878. For example, it was some time after that that they started putting in photographs. The beginnings of this newspaper, which (without fail, as far as I know) has been published every week since, preceded such technological icons as the telephone, radio and television. Oh yes, and the internet. For most people in and around Waitsburg in the late 19th century, this was their only s...
OLYMPIA— Proposed legislation focusing on e-cigarettes and other vapor inhalation products would tighten the state’s control over the legal smoking age, labeling and advertising requirements and retailer licensing. House Bill 1645 takes a holistic approach to vapor-product regulation, according to prime sponsor Rep. Gerry Pollet, D-Seattle, who says this is the first comprehensive e-cigarettes bill in the United States. “We are facing a burgeoning public health crisis with e-cigarettes and we need to approach it as a public health issue and p...
I really do hate to use this column for promotional purposes, but I’d like to take this opportunity to put in a plug for an upcoming event. If you’ve read my column for a while, you know that I don’t do this for most “upcoming events.” But the following upcoming event is special. It helps to support local music. And to keep an important piece of American folk culture alive. And to teach adorable little kids how to play banjos twice their size. And to give cranky, rebellious teenagers the ability...
First of all, if I were coach of the Seattle Seahawks, I might very well have called for a pass on second and goal from the one, with 26 seconds left on the clock and only one timeout remaining. An incomplete pass would have stopped the clock, where a failed run would not. If the Hawks had had two timeouts left, they probably would have run the ball on that play. So the lesson to be learned is this: timeouts are precious – like coconuts on a desert island. If you waste them you might die in a...
I got a bit of a bonus on my last case. For a minute, I fantasized about relocating to a part of town where one didn’t have to look both ways before stepping onto the sidewalk, then about hiring an assistant to help out with my workload. Then I realized that what I’d thought were two zeroes was actually the sorriest excuse for an eight I’ve ever laid eyes on. From now on, I’m not accepting doctors as new clients. Perhaps I should’ve hired an archaeologist to figure out whether there’s a...
OLYMPIA - After two days of hearings that drew hundreds to the state capitol, Gov. Jay Inslee’s carbon reduction proposal has the full attention of Washington lawmakers. In an effort to curb climate change while raising money for transportation and education, Inslee is proposing a statewide cap on carbon emissions that would require polluters to buy credits to continue polluting at today’s levels. Carbon prices would start at $12 a ton and would bring in an estimated $1 billion in the program’s first year. The main idea behind cap-a...
1. According to a fan poll by the web site Reddit.com, the Seattle Seahawks are the most hated NFL team in the state of California. We’ll take that as a compliment. (The most hated team in the Pacific Northwest is the San Francisco 49ers.) 9. The Seahawks’ all-time regular season record against the 49ers is 16-15. 8. In high school, Seahawk cornerback Richard Sherman scored 1,400 on his SAT test (that’s very good). He graduated high school with a 4.2 GPA and graduated from Stanford Unive...
“So, Mom,” I said. “Yeah?” “So here we are. We’re strolling down the street in Leavenworth, in America, looking at German buildings. We’re eating gelato, the Italian equivalent of ice cream. I’m carrying the set of Russian dolls that I just bought, plus a hair clip and some candles from an Asian boutique. You’ve got a sack of stuff from a fair-trade shop that carries products from Africa and South America, and you’re thinking about whether to let Chris buy that sword from the Australian impo...
OLYMPIA—Farmers, private businesses and neighboring communities could have more access to water if legislators succeed in requiring state agencies to lease surplus water rights on public land. In prior sessions, some lawmakers have tried to push through legislation allowing local communities to tap into state-held water rights. Rep. Brian Blake, D-Aberdeen, prime sponsor of House Bill 1000, said his proposal is an effort to have a conversation with the agencies about potential revenue from leasing unused water rights managed by the state D...
In the 23 trading sessions following Dec. 18, 2014, the Chicago March wheat futures contract dropped $1.22 per bushel. The average bid for Pacific Northwest white wheat in Portland also declined by about 90 cents (approximately 73% of the Chicago move). The primary drivers for this move down were simple; a large crop of wheat in the northern hemisphere last fall, and a very powerful upward move in the cost of U.S. Dollars to foreign buyers. A jump from near 89 to more than 95 in the Dollar Index represents as much as a 6.7% increase in the...
The City of Dayton is asking the city’s voters next month to approve a sales tax increase within the city of 0.2%. The funds will be used to help improve the city’s streets and sidewalks. If the February 10 measure is approved by at least 50% of voters, Dayton will set up a new “Transportation Benefit District” (TBD – get it?) which will collect the new funds and can use them only for transportation improvements. So the future of potential projects to improve the city’s ailing streets is...
Inspiration for this column is a bit like wind power. When the wind blows, you get power. When the wind blows too hard, you can’t use all the power. And when the wind isn’t blowing, you’re in a considerable pickle, as there’s no way to save the surplus power from the days the wind blows too hard. On relatively uneventful weeks (like this one), you’re sometimes reduced to blowing really, really hard in the general direction of your metaphorical wind turbines, and possibly enlisting a few frien...
OLYMPIA — Lawmakers are considering legislation to allow university students between ages 18 and 21 to taste alcohol in the classroom. But don’t plan a celebratory high-five unless you’re an aspiring winemaker. “It’s imperative that someone learning to make wine has the requisite palate to recognize the nuances that are inherent in the product that they are making,” said Rep. Larry Springer, D-Kirkland, wine merchant and co-sponsor of House Bill 1004. “This is a product that you don’t just talk about: you smell it and you taste it. It would be...
OLYMPIA - Would your legislator ever consider decriminalizing heroin possession? Or maybe turning the Supreme Court justices’ elections partisan? What about allowing teenagers to taste alcohol? The 2015 legislative session is just getting started, but already some proposed bills are likely to turn a few heads. Sixteen Republicans and three Democrats have sponsored House Bill 1051, which would require Supreme Court justices — but no other judicial officer in the state — to declare a partisan affiliation when running for election. One spons...
Every once in a while some adult in my family will tell a hilarious joke about my being able to pay my way through college. I laugh. They look confused. And I find out that it wasn’t supposed to be a joke in the first place. As far as I can tell, paying one’s own way through college is all but impossible nowadays. Depending on which way you lean politically, this is either the inevitable result of Socialist-style financial aid distribution or a conspiracy of the wealthy establishment to rem...
OLYMPIA--Two years after Washington voters ended pot prohibition lawmakers are wading through a thicket of proposed reforms that aim to stabilize an industry struggling to get off the ground. “Right now I call it the wild, wild west,” Senate Democratic Leader Sharon Nelson, D-Maury Island, said during Thursday’s annual Associated Press Legislative Preview. “We’ve got incongruities in this law that we need to solve.” With seven new cannabis-related bills pre-filed so far come seven new opportunities to shape Washington’s unprecedented...
