POINT OF VIEW: The Peninsula’s dental health emergency

POINT OF VIEW: The Peninsula’s dental health emergency

ACROSS THE STATE and in the North Olympic Peninsula, low-income people are facing an oral health crisis. Simply put, there are not enough clinics and… Continue reading

POINT OF VIEW: The Peninsula’s dental health emergency

PAT NEAL: By chance, spared the savage sea

SOME SAY THERE is no such thing as a coincidence. They say it’s luck, fate or God working in some mysterious way. Coincidence becomes legend… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The seeds of our fishless halibut fishery

IT WAS ANOTHER tough week in the news for the diminishing breed of fishing-license buyers who insist on fishing in Washington. Oregon has a halibut… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Will the Sasquatch ascend the cryptid throne?

IT MUST HAVE been a slow day at the Legislature. Somebody cracked open the Oxford English Dictionary and found the word “cryptid.” According to the… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Don’t get suckered in by sunshine

IT WAS DAYLIGHT on the river. Something had gone terribly wrong. Maybe it was just the old guide instincts kicking in, but it seemed like… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Cabin fever cure, the alternative

IT’S OFFICIAL. THE cabin-fever season has officially attacked the North Olympic Peninsula in a vise-like grip that shows no sign of weakening in the foreseeable… Continue reading

POINT OF VIEW: A challenging voice among voices

I HAVE TAKEN an internal Hippocratic oath of choir participation: At first, do no harm. The best way to proceed would be quietly, preferably very… Continue reading

WEST END NEIGHBOR: Stretching a hand from Forks to India

WEST END NEIGHBOR: Stretching a hand from Forks to India

SOME PEOPLE TEACH and find ways to learn no matter where they go, even if it’s the eastern shore of India. Diane Cowles is the… Continue reading

WEST END NEIGHBOR: Stretching a hand from Forks to India

PAT NEAL: A saga of mice and me

I CONSIDER MYSELF a humane person. I brake for crows. I swerve to miss squirrels who employ the practice of using automobiles to crush spruce… Continue reading

FROM A WRITER’S NOTEBOOK: Serenity in accepting things as they are

AT FIRST, IT just felt like a crazy new year. It took me awhile to realize it is something else, too. Demi pointe: supporting your… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Steelhead fishing’s last bastion gasping

I KNEW IT was the end when a low-holing, fly-flogging fishing guide floated past on the river and said, “We’re going to get rid of… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Leave your garbage-bag rain gear at home

THE RECENT MARTIN Luther King Jr. holiday is a three-day weekend that traditionally marks the peak of the winter steelhead season on the North Olympic… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Rest in peace, Granny

THEY SAY THE good die young, but there are exceptions. The oldest orca in Puget Sound is missing and presumed dead. She was nicknamed “Granny”… Continue reading

WEST END NEIGHBOR: Community celebrates drugstore owner

WEST END NEIGHBOR: Community celebrates drugstore owner

“STAN THE MAN.” So read the words in the center of a photographic display on a table at the Forks Rainforest Arts Center. The photos… Continue reading

WEST END NEIGHBOR: Community celebrates drugstore owner

FROM A WRITER’S NOTEBOOK: Dancing magic in New Zealand

I’M NOT UNLIKE many professional artists. My work means piecing together a career from teaching, publishing, speaking fees, grants, honorariums and applying to choreograph in… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: For deep snow, tread back in history

THE HISTORY OF the Earth goes back billions of years. The history of Man keeping weather records goes back a few hundred years. To compare… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Lions and tigers and log cabins, oh my!

IT WAS A gratifying end to the old year and a hopeful beginning to the new to read about Judge Robert B. Leighton’s ruling (“Judge… Continue reading

WEST END NEIGHBOR: World of winter break’s a stage

WEST END NEIGHBOR: World of winter break’s a stage

IF I DON’T time it right, I’ll never get into my own bathroom. As if the two adults and two teens of my family don’t… Continue reading

WEST END NEIGHBOR: World of winter break’s a stage

PAT NEAL: An Olympic Peninsula pioneer’s Christmas

SOMETIMES, WHEN FEELING overwhelmed by the stress of the modern holiday season, I think of a story that was told to me by an old… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Harkening back to the Christmas letter

THIS IS A special time of year when the joy and warmth of the holiday season can drive you right over the brink. The end… Continue reading