Most of you don’t follow journalism industry news as closely as we do, so while you may be generally aware of how newspapers are doing, you may not be especially familiar with the particulars. I track the newspaper business pretty closely, as you might expect, and much of the news about the news is depressing. […]
No Bad Days
So far …
Last summer, someone dubbed it “smogust” – a seemingly interminable month of wildfire smoke that settled in the valley like it owned the place. Day after day, we peered through, tried to breathe and hoped to endure a smelly miasma that drove tourists away and forced some residents to flee, literally for their lives. It […]
Within hearing range
We hear stuff all the time. We encourage it. That’s because we’re in the hearing stuff business, and we’re in a small community, and people are as thirsty for knowledge here as they are anywhere else. We take calls, talk to people in the coffee shop or market, exchange emails, occasionally get an actual letter […]
Over and out
We almost made it to August. As the clock ran down on the last day of July, another summer month with no major fires in the valley, a grass fire was reported in the Rendezvous area — which we all know has lots of grass. The Rendezvous can also be rather windswept. So as we listened the […]
Thought process
What do you think? Seems like somebody is always posing that question about one topic or another. More people than you think might be interested in what you think. Opportunities to have your say are plentiful and come in the form of surveys, information forums, online commenting or public hearings. Government and nonprofit organizations alike […]
Following through
It’s not always easy to have an ambitious vision for the greater good. That’s particularly true for governmental or quasi-governmental projects that require public support in the form of money as well as enthusiasm. Doubters and critics will have their say and, sometimes, their way. Genuine community participation practically guarantees that nothing will be controversy-free […]
Complex times
On July 14, 2014, the Methow Valley as we know it changed forever. That was the day when what came to be called the Carlton Complex Fire jumpstarted into an unimaginable maelstrom of destruction that left enduring after-effects. Five years later, the experience is still painful to remember, difficult to forget, and impossible — even […]
Distinct voices
So much happened in the Methow Valley last week. I know this because I got a sneak preview — in the news business we call it “editing” — of the four Valley Life columns in this week’s paper. On their own initiative, our hard-working, far-flung correspondents got together for a chat last Sunday evening at the Brix Wine Bar […]
Recounting and counting
The Fourth of July is my 8th anniversary at the Methow Valley News. I took over the paper on Independence Day in 2011 and watched the annual parade on Glover Street from our office door. I remember some of the people I talked to that day. All kinds of incidents, encounters and developments have been […]
Don’t even start
Please. Just. Stop. Burning. Stuff. Nobody in this part of the world needs any kind of outdoor fire, even a carefully tended campfire, when such threatening (and worsening) conditions prevail. Anything can, and probably will, go wrong. Pretty much every state or federal agency with an acronym, and now Okanogan County, have issued burn bans […]
