Stories by Gary DeVon

The iconic neon Pastime Tavern sign is gone, so is the balcony, card room, the hot dog machine and even the famous window into the gent’s bathroom. But enough of the old PT remains, especially the historic rosewood backbar, billiard tables and shuffleboard to make you feel at home. The feeling of the newly opened Pastime Bar & Grill still evokes special memories in many of us and will continue to make new memories for patrons well into the future. Vicki and Brent and all the contractors and staff have come together to create a new Pastime that hopefully will live on in Oroville for even longer than the PT of old.

A few weeks back we discussed claims by the groups fighting the closure of the NVH Assisted Living that since 2010 the top nine administrative staff at North Valley Hospital had been given pay increases by the hospital board totaling nearly $280,000. We published a chart they based on public records provided by the district that seemed to bare out the group’s claims. In the light of closing the assisted living and the clinics in Tonasket and Oroville that sounded outrageous and we said so. That amount alone would more than cover the A/L’s annual losses and maybe even the Oroville clinic’s.

Look around your communities and you’re bound to see a program, that although somewhat controversial at first, has grown into a real positive for our towns. We’re talking about the senior project programs at Tonasket and Oroville. Through the efforts of our school districts there have been many improvements led by our senior high school students.