(BRANDON HANSEN/Managing Editor of the Chewelah Independent)

I really do apologize for the four to five years that your opinion page has been hijacked by a glasses-wearing nerd who has steered the editorial page away from national politics grandstanding to top ten lists and satire.

But here we go again, to really kick off 2020 with one of the most ridiculous articles to grace the Chewelah newspaper, here are some lessons “we can learn from the movie Tremors.”

What is Tremors, you ask? Tremors is a 1990 American monster comedy film where people in the small desert town of Perfection, Nevada fight for survival against giant, worm-like monsters hungry for human flesh. It stars a very young Kevin Bacon, and was basically on repeat on satellite TV over and over from 1995-2005.

Why is this important now? Well, let’s get started.

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(BRANDON HANSEN/Managing Editor of the Chewelah Independent)

With a new year, we usually come up with some kind of resolution to better our life that we forget by Valentines Day. I am no different. One time I wanted to start writing a novel and ended up getting “Chapter One” written and that was it. Another time I decided I would go to the gym a lot but then realized Chewelah’s Dick Zornes works out longer and harder than I do, and I am many years younger.

(There was also a time I pledged to drink no coffee. That was the worst three days of my life.)

But despite failing at most resolutions, here we are again. I have scoured the internet for the best New Years resolutions that are actually achieveable!

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(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

Oh look, another news story about Spokane Valley Representative Matt Shea! Shea, who was at least a champion of the 51st State Movement that really got its start here in Stevens County, is under fire after a House of Representatives report says he participated in domestic terrorism.

However, in this time of different political realities, one side can say that Shea is a danger to us all, while the other side can say it was a smear campaign put on by the Democrat-controlled house.

I for one, am suffering from some serious Matt Shea fatigue. More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Managing Editor of the Chewelah Independent)

Outrage seems to be our biggest export these days, despite what the latest financial report on the United States economy might say. We’re mad about seagulls being offensive, we’re mad about the war on Christmas trees. Somebody said something using a nickname that was once used in the 1940s to describe turnips. Somebody did something offensive when they were 20-years old. Don’t buy something from a company because their CEO goes big game hunting. Don’t watch that show because the star is a member of a starfish cult.

This is momentum that has been building for several years now, but people seem to be gleefully willing to call out anyone and anything for what they feel is a perceived issue. While some of it is warranted, as seeing some real scumbags like Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey go down, there have been some whoppers of calling out ridiculousness. More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Managing Editor of the Chewelah Independent)

One thing that always blew my mind was footage of Civil War veterans holding parades during the 1930s and finding out that the last veteran from that war died in the 1950s.

Heck, there are even soldiers who served in both the Civil War and the first World War.

At last Saturday’s 78th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, only one of the three remaining survivors of the USS Arizona attended the event. On Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese aircraft sneak-attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, pulling the nation into World War 2. More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Managing Editor of the Chewelah Independent)

When I got my first “real world” journalism job, it was in Polson, Montana on the shores of Flathead Lake in NW Montana. While I had basically spent the past six years doing more than my fair share of reporting on EWU’s campus in just about every media job you could think of, this was my first step out into a place I had never been before.

And you know what? Montana has it figured out.

Granted there are wildlife issues and a quick skimming of Montana newspaper headlines would tell you as much. Winters are basically “Let’s pack it in for a few month’s boys and go to the bar!” but there just isn’t anything quite like the Big Sky State. More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Managing Editor of the Chewelah Independent)

With the latest school levy passing in the town of Chewelah, it’s great news after two years of staff negotiation issues swirling around the district.

I can’t tell you how important it was to get the new track and how much this new levy will help current school buildings become safer. Having a antiquated phone system and intercoms that don’t work is bad news. Money will also be used for much-needed security upgrades for the school buildings as well.

For someone who went through the Chewelah School system during a string of bond failures, it’s good to see the community come around and agree on these levy’s. While they won’t build a new school, they will certainly help maintain the current ones and get some nagging needs in our district taken care of.

But where do we go from here? More

Here is a letter to the editor from the Nov. 7 edition of the Chewelah Independent…

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(BRANDON HANSEN/Managing Editor of the Chewelah Independent)

Despite the local 2019 election being very active with a Chewelah school levy, an overhaul of the Chewelah school board, a couple of city council races and even a mayor’s race in Colville, nationally it’s kind of a quiet.

So you will have to excuse me, but I’m already looking ahead to the 2020 election, because it’s going to have more fireworks than the 4th of July.

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