Here are Letters to the Editor for Sept. 21, 2017

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(By Tom Purcell/Tom Purcell is a nationally syndicated humor columnist. Send your comments to Tom at Purcell@caglecartoons.com)

“Help!” said the fellow, surrounded by a pile of papers. “I don’t think I’m going to make it through this 1040 tax form.”

“Why is that?” I said.

“The 2016 tax extension I filed is due by Oct. 15. But it is so complicated, I don’t see how I can possibly figure it.”

“Millions feel your pain,” I said. “According to Forbes, the basic 1040 form was two simple pages in 1935. Now the basic 1040 form has 100 pages of instructions that are very complex. Maybe you can contact the Internal Revenue Service for help.”
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(By Brandon Hansen/Managing Editor of the Chewelah Independent)

I was finally able to carry out the longtime tradition that every Chewelan does come September every year.

I put on a jacket.

Yes! Fall is nigh – we think – and temperatures are now switching from sweltering to shivering. Considering the amount of smoke and rainless days we’ve had, this change in weather patterns is a welcomed sight.

Since it’s still an adjustment, here’s my handy-dandy guide to dealing with Fall in Chewelah… More

Here are Letters to the Editor for Sept. 14 , 2017…

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(By Stevens County Cattlemen’s Association)/The SCCA is a group of cattle producers and concerned citizens dedicated to engaging civic and community leaders. For more info on the SCCA you can go to stevenscountycattlemen.com)

The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife removed one wolf from the Sherman Pack late last month after the pack had killed or attacked four cattle within a year, per departmental guidelines. The affected rancher has non-lethal deterrent methods in place, including consistent human presence by five cowboys employed by the producer. WDFW is now waiting to see if there will be additional kills before removing more wolves.

While the death of the calves from the Sherman Pack has an immediate impact to the ranch family, there are also long-term impacts that are often not considered. For the Sherman pack, while only four wolf depredations have been confirmed, the total number of attacks is at nine and there are other costs.
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(By Brandon Hansen/Managing Editor of the Chewelah Independent)

Sunday, I slapped on my Tennessee Titans jersey, featuring the name and number of Marcus Marriota and headed to Flamin’ Joes, a Raiders bar in Spokane, to watch the Titans take on the Raiders.

One would consider this perhaps a dangerous environment considering the two opposite viewpoints.

But nope, the food was good and the drink specials were great. There was a group of Raider fans at the bar but they never felt the urge to say something derogatory or shame me for rooting the other team.

And that was, refreshing.

Usually for me, I like to keep my NFL game-watching low key as Seahawks fans can get a little on the crazy side, but even this weekend Packer fans were sitting in the same Raiders bar with Seahawks fan. More

Here are Letters to the Editor for Sept. 7, 2017…

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(By Don C. Brunell/Don C. Brunell is a business analyst, writer and columnist. He retired as president of the Association of Washington Business, the state’s oldest and largest business organization, and now lives in Vancouver. He can be contacted at theBrunells@msn.com.)

All of the things that went wrong in New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina in 2005, appear to have been corrected with Houston’s recent Hurricane Harvey. Chalk it up to a series of important lessons learned.

By now everyone knows that Harvey came ashore from the Gulf of Mexico, dumped a record 51 inches of rain on 22 million people from Corpus Christi to Port Arthur, TX, and sent thousands to shelters.

The hurricane hit Houston, America’s fourth largest city and an urban area which accounts for three percent of our nation’s GDP. It had the makings of a mammoth disaster, but despite the enormous damage, Texas seems to be working through it. However, there is a long road ahead.
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(By Brandon Hansen/Managing Editor of the Chewelah Independent)

The Spokesman-Review has recently published a front-page story exploring what would happen if a nuclear bomb hit with a graphic of a mushroom cloud over the Lilac City.
Everybody jumped on the newspaper, saying they were fear-mongering and making everybody freak out over something very improbable.

Now it feels a little bit more plausible after North Korea announced it’s tested a hyrdogen bomb, but the idea that Spokane would be on their targets list is still a bit far-fetched.
In journalism school, we were told always to consider “what good does this article do for the public?” and posting a big front page photo of a mushroom cloud over Spokane seems more Hollywood than Pulitzer material.

Still, since I have no standards and go for laughs more than I should, I’m going to present the biggest disasters that could hit Chewelah. More