(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

We all like to marvel about how far the human race has come since clay huts on the Fertile Crescent. We like to think we’re the most advanced thing ever since we have things like skyscrapers, electric cars and iPads.

And to be honest, it’s not like dolphins are walking around with Fitbits and getting lattes at Starbucks.

But with all this self-importance, could we take a step back and admit we’re ridiculous. Some would call it being humble or grounded.

It appears the more news you follow and the more history you read, the overwhelming evidence is that humans don’t know what they are doing, and might be making it up as we go. More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Managing Editor of the Chewelah Independent)

Nearly ever day when I roll out of bed, I immediately take to the internet to see if there is any news about NE Washington. Lately, it has been a stressful task because we have been inundated with several stories concerning Matt Shea and some activities that have allegedly been carried out in Stevens County.

While this is all a gray area of reporting, a level that this newspaper with its whopping everyday journalist staff of one cannot realistically keep up with while bigger newspapers can fling these stories out without fear of mass boycott movements or businesses pulling their ads, I have to wonder how much is real, how much can be a bit in the world of wonderment and where we all fit into the big jigsaw of society here in NE Washington.

Now, we could delve into the world of white supremacy groups and militias, but I don’t have enough official information to present to you. What does concern me is the fact that this is a spectre we can’t seem to shake here in NE Washington. More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Managing Editor of the Chewelah Independent)

The saying goes that money is the root of all evil, but let’s be honest, if that were true, we would all be lining up for an escalator downstairs to the basement level of the afterlife.

Money can be used for a lot of good things from public works projects, paying our first responders and law enforcement officers who protect us, to obviously providing the needs of families and people. If I didn’t have money, I couldn’t buy all those snacks at Safeway that seem to be expanding my waistline.

Maybe a better way to look at it would be money is the bacon grease of society and gets everything moving, but can be a bit messy. Something that has bugged me as of late is all these cottage industries for a wide variety of … things… yes things … that have popped up with the intent of just getting and spending money.

More

(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.)

A phone scammer made a mistake when he called my mother.

The young male caller pretended to be her grandson. He said he’d been arrested for fishing on an Indian reservation – unaware he was breaking the law – and needed bail money so a judge wouldn’t throw him in jail.

My mother’s response, which I’ll share in a moment, is now a classic part of family lore – but the threat that increasingly sophisticated scammers pose to elderly Americans is nothing to laugh about.

In this era of smartphones, email and social media, scammers have their choice of tools to attempt to fleece us all. More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Managing Editor of the Chewelah Independent)

Why would we punish resource-producing industries like logging for tax credits and minor benefits to carbon emissions. (File photo)

I remember an interaction from college where one of the freelance columnists of the student paper had written a column that “people weren’t smart unless they traveled the world.”

Having a somewhat feisty attitude that I inherited from my mother Susan, perhaps the only Chewelah parent to yell “balls to the wall” during a Jenkins High School track event, I decided I would respond to the column, pointing out my small little hometown had plenty of smart people, and many did not have second homes in Paris.

After the column published, the person cornered me in the newsroom and said “So you’re the person from CHA-WAEL-LAY.”

I guess travelling the world doesn’t teach you proper pronunciation of names.

More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Brandon is the managing editor of the Chewelah Independent. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University and lives in Chewelah. You can reach him at brandon@chewelahindependent.com)

Paris has the Eiffel Tower, London has Big Ben, Seattle has the Space Needle and Spokane has that big tent thingy. Scaling things down quite a bit, what things define Chewelah as a town? Are there things you see and instantly recognize it as being from Chewelah?

If we were to have Chewelah coins instead of Chewelah Chamber Bucks, what would be minted on their face?

Some say it’s a landmark like Quartzite Mountain which looms over the city like some friendly rock ogre from “The Neverending Story.”

Patrick Sawyer said what is iconic is “the sun setting on Quartzite, lighting it up in hues of purple, orange and gold.” More

(Brandon is the managing editor of the Chewelah Independent. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University and lives in Chewelah. You can reach him at brandon@chewelahindependent.com)

The cable channel HBO is known more for its sword and shield series “Game of Thrones” which I can’t get into because you need a guide book to keep track of all the political alliances, but its foray into Soviet history is one of the best things I’ve seen in cable format in a long time.

Chernobyl is a mini-series based on the 1986 nuclear accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near the Ukrainian city of Pripyat in the Soviet Union. The TV series takes almost a horror movie approach to the insidious nature of radiation and how it affects people.

The series does a few things that I really appreciate, first it shows the Soviet people as just that, people like you or me thrust into a less-than-favorable situation by necessity, and a government that is operating on propaganda and party lies.
More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Managing Editor of the Chewelah Independent)

With the City of Chewelah now working on a comprehensive plan for the future, there is a call for community members to come give their input on July 9 at city hall. The comprehensive plan covers a wide variety of topics, and it appears members of the city and the vision committee have open ears to any suggestions or ideas you might have. The last time this plan was updated was in 2008, which is before Facebook became the main way of communicating in Stevens County.

Since I’ll probably be laying out the newspaper on Tuesday, I figured what better way to give my suggestions than put them in a column for you to read before you use the newspaper as firestarter for your campfire. More