Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Sorted by date Results 2 - 26 of 2591
To The Eagle, I enjoy the always-articulate reporting of Nick Nikkila. However, I take issue with his article "West Wahkiakum residents oppose dike breaking" (March 27). Factual and well-written, the piece conveys the history and ins-and-outs of this issue. But its conclusion and headline were based on a fatally flawed survey with unreliable results. When Nick brought the questionnaire to Grays River Grange, I explained why it was not a valid poll. I later shared my further thoughts, along with my marked, but modified, ballot. He chose not to...
To The Eagle, It's before 8 am on a Saturday. I'm opening the post office to distribute the mail and packages for delivery by the mail carriers. The USPS truck driver left the distribution center about 4 am to bring the mail containers to the post offices on their assigned route. The distribution centers operate 24/7 every day of the year. This routine is being repeated all across America everyday. Some people are working six or seven days a week, many rising before the sun. I feel the camaraderie as we complete our tasks to keep the mail...
To The Eagle, That old bit of wisdom that "you don't know how much you will miss something until it's gone" will almost certainly be the case if current proposals for the United States Postal Service are carried to fruition. Privatization of the USPS is a very real possibility. The irony is that this will disproportionately hurt rural areas and small towns, the very places that have routinely voted overwhelmingly for conservative candidates whose mantra is to cut government spending and regulation power to nil in favor of business interests....
To The Eagle, As Wahkiakum High School’s head golf coach, it is an honor to announce that our back-to-back 2023-2024 state champion girls golf team and boys golf team are back in action this month for the start of another spring season. Each one of our student athletes have been working hard year round to keep their golf skills sharp and are now ready to secure another state title. But there is still work to be done. Every year, the Wahkiakum High School golf team asks its community for support to help supply rain gear, practice equipment, b...
To The Eagle, I am happy to respond to Mr. Keith Johnson’s letter about Town of Cathlamet finances published in the Feb. 27 edition of The Eagle. Regarding Town finances, I am proud to report that the Town of Cathlamet has a balanced budget and more than $3 million in the bank. Any other allegation about Town finances is likely a result of misunderstanding of information presented at Town Council meetings and/or misrepresentation on social media. However, the Town’s current financial health cannot continue and will be severely challenged if...
To The Eagle, Our beautiful beloved Columbia River is dying.While politicians push mythical "green energy" projects producing millions of gallons of highly hazardous and toxic chemicals like so-called bio-fuels proposed by not N-X-T. Bureaucrats at Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality, Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife have approved permits against protests and testimonies of hundreds of residents from Oregon and Washington. Why are we the people allowing a handful of idiots sitting on computers in offices looking at computer screens of...
To The Eagle, I recently sent emails to elected officials of the City of Cathlamet and none of them bothered to respond. It was a simple question regarding recents news that the town of Cathlamet is facing serious financial problems. We have elected officials serving in a place of leadership who are unable or unwilling to respond to its constituents, or even tackle problems head on. The question I pose is what are they doing in office? I thinks it’s time we set a new direction for Cathlamet and gets these officials out. Keith Johnson C...
To The Eagle, The MOST important issue, left unmentioned, is DEQ, despite its promise to uphold the Clean Water Act, has permitted NEXT to release toxic discharge that would “degrade” (a nice word for destroy) fish habitat and pollute tidal waters used for irrigating food crops, fishing, and recreation. This major hit to tribal resources, which DEQ is ignoring, and disregard for the farming and fishing communities that feed us, is just one major flaw DEQ is sidestepping. NEXT’s permit flies in the face of what Betsy Johnson calls, “the cleaner...
To The Eagle, Does our Library just kinda happen each week? Does anyone really have to do much to make it work? Silly thoughts! Here are some people and groups who have recently helped to keep the library working: Cheryl, who made pillow covers for the library teen section. She also donated craft supplies, Christmas lights, and a lot of time. Heather; who donated puzzles, craft supplies, a brochure holder and her time during the holiday season. Robin; who donated a live tree, decorations, books, and a lot of her time during the holiday season....
I’d like to share a heartwarming experience I had with a fellow stranger on the Puget Island Bridge on Jan. 5 at 7:09 a.m. A gentle run in the early morning light across the bridge and back. It’s only two miles and it must be done nearly every morning as the river beckons me from the middle, “Come see how beautiful I am today.” Halfway through the return mile, I hear a car approaching from behind me, now slowing as I jog along. Headlights reflected in the water collected on the road, interrupting my enjoyment of the early sky in them. I’m thi...
To The Eagle, On page 4 of the December 27th issue of The Eagle, the bovine pictured in the flooded field is none other than Hornet, the popular attraction at the Wahkiakum County Fair. Hornet made his debut at the fair in 2017 as a young calf. To his good fortune he was able to remain unnoticed on the Burkhalter Family Farm, grazing happily beside all his bovine sisters. Since he can't contribute to the dairy's bottom line he has to make his money with his fair premium points. I thought some...
To The Eagle, I must comment on the article reprinted 12/27/24 from the Idaho Sun entitled “Officials fall short of salmon return goals in Columbia River Basin but see signs of progress.” The “progress” from very low returns in the 1990s involves the Northwest Power and Conservation Council only because they were forced to pass water past mainstem dams to move migrating juveniles out through the system by a federal court order. Having attended countless meetings on salmon recovery over the past five decades I can witness that hydro, irrigat...
My letter of last week was ill-advised and mis-informed. My sincere apologies for that; I should have at least gone down and looked at the tree before my pontification. Having done so now, I judge the tree to be about 80 years old and in poor health to the point of perhaps being a danger tree. The top has been blown out maybe 40 years ago which usually results in killing a tree over a period of years. I’ve seen monster spruce that looked perfectly healthy collapse in a pile of rotted rubble in an instant. If it were up to me, I would have t...
The mighty Columbia River and its estuary are at risk of destruction for generations to come. A major water permit stands in the way of NEXT Renewable’s approval to construct one of the world’s largest non-conventional diesel refineries at Port Westward, a swift and dangerous dock that recently dodged a massive spill from a tugboat collision. Many flaws in the proposal remain ignored by state permitting agencies. Community and expert concerns are routinely silenced. On more levels than can be discussed here, this project is greenwashing, mis...
To The Eagle, It is my observation that the two factions at opposition to the fate of the tree at Strong Park might be operating under faulty assumptions or coming to poor conclusions. Faulty assumption #1: The age of a tree is a lineal function of its diameter. With Doug Fir this is absolutely wrong. I have milled a few pieces of Doug Fir in the last 50 years. I probably have 20,000 board feet of it in inventory right now. When the tree is young it might put on two or three rings an inch. As the tree ages, these rings (annual, one ring a...
To The Eagle, Thank you for devoting space to the piece that outlined the history of discussion and public input into town’s decision regarding the tree in Strong Park. I wrote Town and Council members in August after the County cut down trees on courthouse property in regard to conversation about the Strong Park fir at that time. Since then members of the public have appeared at the Town Council meetings trying to have input and understand Town’s decision making process, which has been rather opaque. The specific age of the tree is less import...
To The Eagle, After reading the great write-up on the history of the Wahkiakum Community Garden, “Garden-to-pantry partnership yields fresh crops for all,” on Nov. 2. We realized our genuine gratitude for the Wahkiakum volunteers wasn’t expressed as much as we would have preferred. My name is Suzanne, and I am the SNAP-Ed Coordinator for Wahkiakum County HHS. Julie Johnston, Community Services Manager, and I would like to thank all involved in making this multi-entity partnership work and flow smoothly. The SNAP-Ed program began coord...
With the election now behind us, and the next 2-4 years in place, I wonder if it isn’t time for us to take down the flags and the signs from this last election and start working on pulling our community together. Hard to trust you neighbor when they tell you what to do with a person you supported in a crude way. Like it or not there is no mandate here. Barely half the country voted for Mr. Trump and almost half the country voted for Ms. Harris. That is not a mandate. The House was decided by just a handful of seats, and the Senate the same. N...
Dear editor, Over my 74 year journey through this life, the finest gift, greatest honor, I have recieved is the loyalty of those I have led, and of those leading me. Loyalty is a sacred trust; earned, honed, and bonded over time and trial, into a fine sword to be revealed, in unity, for or against friend or foe, in good times and bad to the very end. Loyalty is not just a word. It is not a coin to be spent or traded. Nor is it a medal or badge to be paraded about. The awesome weight of loyalty is not always obvious, but ever present and duty...
To The Eagle, The banner hanging on the staircase leading to the massive doors at the historic Cathlamet Pioneer Center reads “It’s Happening Here”. For several years the “It” that was happening was a substantial renovation; a literal from top to bottom facelift. Doors were closed as a new roof, exterior/interior painting, foundation repairs, basement waterproofing and lower-level remodeling were completed. Once those doors reopened the Pioneer Center was back serving the Community with renewed energy and plans for future utilization. Our Missi...
Stop, Drop, Cover and Roll! was just one of the many "take aways" from our recent field trip to the Wahkiakum District 4 Fire Station. St. James Family Center preschoolers took part in an interactive Fire Safety learning experience! After arriving to the station, preschoolers got to see a live demonstration on how firefighters prepare to fight fires and the gear that helps keep them safe. They also were able to see the inside of a fire truck and hold a real fire hose while shooting down large orange cones! We would like to extend our thanks to...
In early July, when I read that the Cathlamet town council planned to cut down Strong Park’s large, prominent fir tree, located on museum property, I decided to get involved. Hoping to make a difference, I attended every council meeting, interested in the town’s plans and seeking discussion and alternatives. But instead of collaboration, like many others, I faced resistance. They assured me they’d tried “everything to save the tree,” but claimed it was “too expensive” to simply go around it. On October 21, the council held a closed-door e...
Our public forests are not the property of major corporations and should be managed by someone not beholden to them. Public Lands Commissioner candidate Jaime Herrera-Beutler has consistently championed the timber industry’s talking points because they are her funders: Weyerhaeuser alone contributed $225,000 to her campaign. She has a terrible environmental voting record: while in Congress, she voted repeatedly to weaken Clean Air and Clean Water laws and opposed the Paris Climate Accords. She’s voting YES on Initiative 2117, which repeals Was...
I am voting for Marie because she is working at all levels for us in SW WA. At the congressional level, Marie Glusenkamp Perez ( WA-03-D) recently teamed up with Rep. Juan Ciscomani’s (AZ-06-R) to design the bipartisan Ensuring Access to Medicaid Buy-In Program Act. A few days ago this bill unanimously passed the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to expand work opportunities and benefits for working adults with disabilities. She regularly visits us at Mile38 to listen to our concerns and to answer questions. Her "mobile office" staff r...
After reading Lisa Yeager’s article on the candidate forum, I felt it missed a crucial part of the evening—the unique, unscripted moments that only come through live interactions. As I struggled to put my thoughts into words my husband’s and my godson, who with his dad are visiting from Germany, suggested I try using AI, “for fun” he said, to help express my thoughts more clearly. Here’s what we came up with: "While candidate agendas are often available online, the true value of a live forum goes beyond policy points. Articles like this overlo...
