Notes on the election The Aug. 2 primary election produced some intriguing results with implications for Methow Valley residents. Change is coming to the Okanogan County Board of Commissioners, and it may dramatically affect how the three-person board operates. In District 2, which includes the Methow Valley, incumbent Commissioner Ray Campbell managed to draw only […]
Editorials
Editorials: July 13, 2016
Meeting the need Most of us who own businesses would find it difficult to survive under the expectations placed on a typical hospital — in particular, small rural hospitals. You’d have to be open 24/7 to handle the problems of whatever “customers” come in, you couldn’t turn them away if they ask for service, and you’d have […]
Editorials: June 15, 2016
A matter of choice Incumbents should never go unchallenged, at any electoral level from cemetery district on up. Nice principle to evoke, but it usually doesn’t work out that way in a lot of local elections, or sometimes at higher levels when conventional wisdom is that the current office holder just can’t be unseated. Conventional […]
Editorials: June 1, 2016
Headwaters help It’s difficult to overstate the significance of the state’s two U.S. Senators joining the effort to prevent not just copper exploration but also any future mining in the 340,000-acre Methow Headwaters area. (See story here) Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell are co-sponsoring the Methow Headwaters Protection Act of 2016, which would authorize […]
Editorials: April 13, 2016
Clearing the air It’s an odd coincidence that two big stories this week, both of them good news for the Methow Valley, involve aircraft — those that will be coming here, and those that won’t (see stories on page A1). First, the U.S. Army announced that it was withdrawing a proposal to conduct helicopter pilot training exercises […]
Editorials: March 23, 2016
Take a deep breath The rapid development of a marijuana industry in Washington state has created both opportunities and problems. Marketplace forces and entrepreneurial energy pretty much guaranteed that the businesses of growing, processing, distributing and selling marijuana would evolve quickly along traditional capitalistic lines: round up financing, make something the public wants, sell it […]
Editorials: March 9, 2016
Doesn’t add up If there are more than three people in Okanogan County who think that outsourcing the county’s juvenile detention responsibilities to the Spokane area is a good idea, we haven’t heard from them. If there have been even two times when those three people — the county commissioners — actually listened to their constituents’ concerns and backed […]
The usual drill
The Methow Valley often is in do-it-ourselves mode when it comes to protecting our economic and environmental concerns. Were it not for the various advocacy groups, ad hoc coalitions, nonprofit organizations and fearless individuals that look out for the valley’s long-term interests and economic sustainability, we’d be overrun with bad ideas that threaten the very […]
Editorials: Jan. 20, 2016
Support the levies It’s unfortunate, and a bit misleading, that the Methow Valley School District’s replacement levies on the Feb. 9 ballot are called, well, replacement levies. The levies don’t replace anything in the usual sense. Rather, they extend existing funding sources that the school district would be crippled without. Blame the state Legislature — and not […]
Editorials: Dec. 23, 2015
Healthy outlook It’s been a good year for sustainable health care access in the Methow Valley. Family Health Centers took over Methow Valley Family Practice in Twisp earlier this year, and also opened a dental clinic in Twisp. Last week, it was announced that Confluence Health of Wenatchee will partner with the Country Clinic in […]
