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A. F. Branco...
There is a common belief among many urban folks that a cowboy rides around all day and sings to cows. John Wayne and Tom Mix added “Drifting Ranch Saver” to their résumé. “Don’t worry, Nell, Black Bart will never get your ranch as long as Silver and I remain compassionate!” Marlboro turned him into a person who chases horses all over the place and relaxes around the chuckwagon in a yellow slicker. We cowboy poets have augmented the picture of the cowboy as a Shakespearian throwback with green...
To the editor, Each morning my husband and I read 365 Blessings to Heal Myself and the World by Pierre Pradervand, which among others, encourages blessings for people engaged in different occupations, including politicians. Today I want to send a blessing to our Representative for the 5th Congressional District , Cathy McMorris Rodgers–to bless her for her ability to demonstrate integrity in listening to her constituents and promoting peace; to bless her for caring and advocating for people in need who are suffering and anxious because of C...
After several attacks on livestock, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) killed a wolf in the Wedge Pack, located in NE Washington along the Canadian border. This is part of the state's wolf management approach, which authorizes lethal removal of wolves only after non-lethal techniques to deter wolf attacks have failed. In this instance, the Wedge Pack was involved in 11 incidents that killed three livestock since early May. The location of the wolf attacks is not surprising. Most...
A. F. Branco...
I played in a celebrity golf tournament in Oklahoma City a while back. Now, I’ve been to a few celebrity team ropings, a couple celebrity stock dog trials, a million brandings and one celebrity rock pickin’ - but this was my first celebrity golf tournament. Generous people paid a lot of money to play golf with well-known folks. The money was donated to help the blind. I got in the golf cart with a feller named Phil. He asked me what my handicap was. I couldn’t think of anything real bad excep...
Young Washingtonians are pissed off. Though we've made incredible gains as a society, far too many people are being denied access to jobs, healthcare, even affordable housing. We need to tear down what's broken in our politics. We need to destroy the barriers standing in the way of a better world. What if the answer to so many of our challenges actually lies in the very thing so many consider a major source of our problems? What if free markets did more than fill our Amazon carts? What if...
By Johnathan Hladik One of the great benefits of living in a rural community is our ability to enjoy food grown locally. Families appreciate easy access to high quality nutrition. Many farms and ranches depend on these local sales. Like so much of our daily life, this system was disrupted by COVID-19. When work is interrupted at industrial processing facilities, commodity producers flood local meat lockers with their product. With already limited reservation space being taken up by large growers, those who depend on direct-to-consumer sales...
Residents of Our Fair City were saddened to learn this week that the coronavirus has taken one of our own. The subject of nearly everyone for the past several months, which seemed to—so far—be bypassing our neck of the woods, has hit with devastation for one of our families. For the past months, it’s been COVID-19 this and coronavirus that in the news and on everyone’s lips. Last week, there was some good news that seems to have slipped by with nearly no notice. A few federal agencies dealt a blow to radical efforts that have been underwa...
A. F. Branco...
“The farmer has always been a peasant.” – Richard Blinco Idaho When the market crashed in 1975, Richard had a ranch, feedlot, dairy, potatoes, alfalfa and a packing house. Here we sit 45 years later and not much has changed. Today less than 1.3% of the American population, (and 7% in Canada), is involved in production agriculture. We, who are left with the responsibility of feeding the ever-growing population that now stands at 331 million people. We do it. It is lots of work. We have an enorm...
knew on May 1st that the Employment Trust Fund balance would be eventually depleted but did not admit this publicly until June 30th. Prompted by an article published by Washington Policy Center (WPC) on May 1st, Senator Christine Rolfes, who serves as Chair on the Senate Ways and Means committee responsible for overseeing the state budget, forwarded the WPC article to the Governor’s office for clarification on the fund balance situation. Understandably, the Senator was concerned about the r...
Many of us are turning off the news–despairing at the discouraging headlines. Months of horrifying headlines about COVID 19 and now civil unrest. I have tried to do the same, but have only succeeded in reducing my consumption, not turning it off completely. It is because I am insanely curious about what is going on around me, but my main motivator at present is my lack of trust, both in the media and in our political “leaders”. As Rahm Emanuel famously stated, “Never let a crisis go to waste.” Evil people are doing that very thing, today in...
A. F. Branco...
The other day on the internet, I saw an old commercial of a semi truck that had these words painted on the side: JONNY KAT, KITTY LITTER. For some reason that had a profound ffect on me. Imagine a semi full of kitty litter! 40,000 pounds of scented, colored, and packaged cat box contents! That has to say something about our affluent society, about the shape of our civilization. Some of our past inventions are quite practical and ingenious. The self-sealing, puncture proof tire, mercury lights,...
To the editor, I am writing in support of Perry Dozier to be our next State Senator for the 16th Legislative District. This is my first ever letter to the editor. I served as the Clerk of the Board to the Board of Walla Walla County Commissioners for over 25 years. County Commissioners must be responsible, caring, knowledgeable, willing to listen and learn and make informed, sometimes hard, decisions on behalf of the citizens of the county. Perry was an excellent County Commissioner. He came into the position with considerable experience in...
A. F. Branco...
Another white horse just rode by. I guess I saw him comin’ I felt him breathin’ down my neck, I heard his hoofbeats drummin’. I’ve seen ’em’ pass this way before. They mark the separation Of mossy horns from yearlin’ bucks. Each one’s a generation. I saw one pass at seventeen, at thirty-five and fifty They rode by loud and brave and bold or snuck by sly and shifty. They had no time to stop and talk or ponder gettin’ older They pushed their elders for a while then pushed ’em off the shoulder. T...
To the Editor, I am writing this letter of endorsement for Representative Bill Jenkin’s run for State Senator in the 16th District. As a Representative in the Washington State legislature, Bill has been one of the most successful legislators at getting legislation passed. I learned this fact as I was being educated on the legislative process, which showed me what a difficult and convoluted process it can be. That Bill was able to move legislation through the process was in itself impressive, but that he did it while in the minority party m...
By Erin Schoenberg Recently, rural Americans have missed out on many services usually offered in their communities. However, library employees have worked even harder to provide for their patrons. For example, in Wayne, Nebraska, library staff have stepped up to show their community how resilient small-town libraries can be. A week after closing to the public, the library initiated curbside book pickup. They are also offering virtual assistance to patrons through online resources like Ebooks and audiobooks, online databases, learning games,...
This is one of those stories that sound so unbelievable that you’ll know I didn’t make it up! Mike studied the bloodlines. He checked performance records. He knew his herd like the top two layers of his tool box! He was a good young cattleman. When he decided on the course of action to improve his herd’s genetics he called the breed association rep. They discussed his needs. Plans were made for the fieldman to attend a bull sale in Texas with the express instructions to buy exactly the right...
To the editor, In the course of her career with the U.S. Department of State under both Republican and Democratic administrations, Danielle Garbe Reser served the United States in a variety of roles. These roles included crisis management in response to both the Syrian war and the Bali terrorist attacks in 2002. As a diplomatic advisor to the U.S. Senate, Garbe Reser performed diligent work with the Armed Services Committee, the Foreign Relations Committee, and the U.S. Department of Energy. Returning to her Eastern Washington roots in 2015,...
A. F. Branco...
DAYTON–One of the most frustrating things about the anarchy of late has been the questionable behavior of elected officials, especially those in the People’s Republic of Seattle and its satellite in the governor’s office. Those morons who took over Capitol Hill in protest displayed the height of hypocrisy. They declared the six-block area an autonomous zone because they didn’t like racism and police brutality. Those leftists no doubt were against the NYPD’s “stop and frisk” policy, yet they essentially stopped and vetted everyone wanting to co...
