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Letters from our readers do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Independent.

FROM THE EDITOR: How not to win at youth wrestling

FROM THE EDITOR: How not to win at youth wrestling

(BRANDON HANSEN/Managing Editor of the Chewelah Independent)

With this weekend’s Mat Cat tournament heading to JJSHS, it refreshed my memories of wrestling as a youth where I amassed an impressive 1-23 record and fixed more wrestling matches than Vince McMahon. You see, unlike the two recent state champions that Chewelah crowned, I was not a hard-nosed wrestler. The time standing in line waiting for my match to start was spent with me explaining to my opponent why he should let me perform a few take downs and vise versa, just to keep the crowd happy and give both sets of parents what they wanted to see: a competitive wrestling match. More

FROM THE EDITOR: Pro tip, read more than the headline

FROM THE EDITOR: Pro tip, read more than the headline

(BRANDON HANSEN/Managing Editor of the Chewelah Independent)

If you were to watch the first two minutes of a movie, could you figure out what the entire film was about? If you read the title of a book, could you catch all the nuances and plot twists? If you drove a car for 30 seconds, could you know if it would serve you well for a decade?

No, of course not. But we’re at a time and place where people treat their news exactly like this. People are quick to share an untrue Facebook meme or share a story from a source that is not reliable with a headline they agree with. More

FROM THE EDITOR: Chewelah’s bid for a tech giant HQ

FROM THE EDITOR: Chewelah’s bid for a tech giant HQ

(BRANDON HANSEN/Managing Editor of the Chewelah Independent)

We’ve heard that several large companies have cities playing suitor to their headquarter needs. Seattle points out that they are the city to move to because they have great coffee, Portland points to their weird culture and even Spokane had entered the game by highlighting the cheap rent in town.

Spokane media cheerleads their effort with editorials and articles every week about how great the Lilac City is and how much people should move there.

Which makes me think… Why not Chewelah? Sure we’re a small speck of a town compared to those massive cities, but for what we lack in traffic, we offer in low stress and that good ol’ hometown feel. The least The Independent could do is let Microsoft know they should drive up here and take a few photos for the next default background for the desktop of Windows 20. More

FROM THE EDITOR: An ode to cleaning off your car in the winter

FROM THE EDITOR: An ode to cleaning off your car in the winter

(BRANDON HANSEN/Managing Editor of the Chewelah Independent)

We’ve all been there before: Getting ready to go to work, maybe running a little late, then stepping out the door and seeing a cake frosting of snow on your car.

What do you do? How do you get into town in a hurry? Many Stevens Countians have their own methods to clean off their car.

Nothing is quite as exciting as driving behind a vehicle that has carved out just enough snow on its back and front windows to get a general idea of what the area is like outside. These can also serve as early warning systems for the soft-footed people of the valleys. You’ll see these snow-covered cars roll into town before winter actually reach the valley where Chewelah resides. It’s our own version of the Game of Thrones saying “Winter is coming” but without the beheadings and dragons. More

BRUNELL: Growing Resistance to Corporate Incentives

BRUNELL: Growing Resistance to Corporate Incentives

(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.)

The circumstances leading to Amazon’s decision to scrap its New York City project are trends corporate leaders need to examine closely. There are cultural and political shifts in America which are changing the way business is done.

Amazon walked away from its deal struck with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio which would create 25,000 new jobs and add $27 billion in new city and state tax revenue. In return, Cuomo and de Blasio, who actively courted Amazon, promised $3 billion in government incentives – a lightning rod among opponents.
The selection came after an extended closely-guarded process in which more than 230 North American cities bid on Amazon’s HQ2. To the amazement of many business analysts, Amazon selected New York City and Crystal City, Virginia as the winners. More

PURCELL: Living the cord-cutting dream

PURCELL: Living the cord-cutting dream

(TOM PURCELL/Tom Purcell is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist and is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons Inc. Send comments to Tom@TomPurcell.com.)

I’m so unhappy with my cable TV and internet services that I’m going to do what I’ve long dreamed of doing: Cancel my subscription!

I’m not alone in my unhappiness.

Consumer Reports says cable providers “have consistently rated below average among services we cover.”

A 2014 Consumer Reports survey of 81,848 customers “found almost universally low ratings for value … especially for TV and Internet.”
More

FROM THE EDITOR: Initiatives we should pass, laws we shouldn’t enforce

FROM THE EDITOR: Initiatives we should pass, laws we shouldn’t enforce

(BRANDON HANSEN/Managing Editor of the Chewelah Independent)

With all this talk about not enforcing the gun control initiative from county sheriffs across the state, the Stevens County Commissioners signing a resolution about not wanting to encroach on the second amendment, Tim Eyman apparently stealing office chairs and our very own prosecutor going toe-to-toe against the WDFW in his weekly columns, it got me thinking about what laws we could and couldn’t enforce.

In a perfect world, and by that I mean a world in which I am the supreme ruler (The Great Ginger! they would call me), I think I would demand the following…

More

FROM THE EDITOR: Weather isn’t a member of a political party

FROM THE EDITOR: Weather isn’t a member of a political party

Old man winter has apparently decided to give a bonus round of snow and in the process decided to invite the entire State of Washington to the party. This has led to some unusual weather in the Seattle area which is getting more snow than we are and has created some interesting visuals like beaches covered in snow.

Back before the advent of social media, we could call this the great blizzard of 2019 and pack away stories in our minds for the next 40 years to tell our kids that we went to school by walking uphill both directions in a snow drift.

Instead of enjoying this fun spate of winter weather with our NE Washington Paul Bunyan pioneer spirit, it appears that some people are more interested in dancing in the snow at the thought of liberals suffering on the west side of the state.

I knew something was up when I posted a story on our newspaper’s Facebook page about Governor Jay Inslee declaring a state of emergency for the entire state because of the impending snowpocalypse. More

FROM THE EDITOR: An ode to the American farmer, who is quickly disappearing

FROM THE EDITOR: An ode to the American farmer, who is quickly disappearing

This year’s Super Bowl commercials were rather disappointing, but after 2013’s “So God Made a Farmer” commercial that included Paul Harvey’s famous 1978 speech that basically stunned America, it’s hard to live up to those kind of lofty expectations.

The Dodge commercial romanticized the plight and the characteristics of the farmer, sprinkling in some divine inspiration and used Harvey’s unique speaking style to really tug at your heartstrings.

This year, we got a chunky milk commercial and the Game of Thrones knight killing the Bud Light knight, so no wonder the biggest concern on Monday was the bearing of Adam Levine on national television. (For the record, Maroon 5 is not America’s Nickleback. Sorry Canada, you have to own Nickleback all by yourself)

As people bemoaned the lowest scoring Super Bowl on record, some posted the “So God Made a Farmer” ad on Facebook wishing something like this ad would save them from absolute boredom of the Rams punting once again. More

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Since 1903, residents of the Chewelah Valley have opened their morning paper to The Independent news. The Independent is a locally-owned newspaper published by the Arnold family of Chewelah, Washington. This weekly newspaper is published every Thursday and distributes 2,250 paid copies by US Mail and through local newsstands in Chewelah, Colville, Addy, Bluecreek, Valley, Springdale and Suncrest. The Independent is the legal newspaper for Stevens County, City of Chewelah and the town of Springdale.
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