Opinion

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.

There’s nothing quite like watching parents at Little League all-star tournaments.

I was chatting, some years ago, with the coach of such a Little League team that I covered at a district baseball tournament. Our conversation was interrupted by the unfolding drama of the tournament organizer (who also happened to be the county sheriff) compelling a dad to leave the premises after his objections to the decisions of his son’s coach became so belligerent that the kids on the field stopped playing to watch the ongoing discord.

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.

The community meeting on the closure of the Assisted Living in Tonasket probably resulted in more questions than answers. It certainly gave those in attendance in the Oroville High School Commons something to think about.

We’ve been hearing a lot about how sequestration is going to hurt states with big military facilities. Washington State will also suffer under the axe if congress and the president don’t come up with some kind of deal – something more permanent this time we hope – to put an end to these automatic cuts…

It was my first time at the Snowmobile Ice Drags sponsored by the Bonaparte Snowmobile/ATV Club and I have to admit it was a good time. Not only was the action fast-paced, but there were lots of people to talk to out on the lake while the competitors hurled forward in an effort to best [...]

While our national debt continues to be a rallying cry for some on the right, we must remember that we can’t always cut our way to prosperity. While past stimuluses have shown some small positive effects for our overall economy, there’s definitely no guarantee that drastic cuts, austerity programs if you will, would have grown [...]

Our readers aren’t usually shy about letting us know how they feel. It’s not unusual for people to approach G-T staff members as they go about their daily lives. And although sometimes we have to beg off to get to a story or work on a deadline, we’re usually happy to hear what our readers think – even if it’s criticism. Sometimes it’s just a chance to vent and as the messenger we occasionally get caught in the crossfire.