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Seventh Grade Press
Volume 1, Number 7
| June 29, 2016
ThE mineR
E d ito r’s n ote
T
he Seventh Grade Press is a series of stories written by seventh graders in Ms. Irene Ewing’s class at Sadie Halstead Middle School in Newport. Each student chose a topic of local historical importance, conducted research and interviews and went through a lengthy editing process. More than 80 students participated and each one will get a ‘by line’ in The Miner Newspapers. This is the seventh week of the project. Check back for the next several weeks for more on local history. See more on page 5B. If you find that you have something to add, interview candidates the class should talk to, or documents and artifacts you want registered in the local museum, contact the Seventh Grade Class at Sadie Halstead Middle School, in Newport. They have agreed to collect and catalog everything that comes in, and deliver to the museum for archiving.
Bald Eagles of Pend Oreille By Mariah J. Melendez
There are many types of birds in Pend Oreille County, but to me the most interesting is the Bald Eagle. They are quite interesting birds. They are actually not bald, they appear bald because their head is white. I bet you’ve never seen a baby eagle because they don’t leave the nest until they are as big as their parents, and that is in about five months after being born. As soon as they are born they can eat whole food. If
they can’t rip their own food the parents will rip it into little pieces and shove it down their throat. When the babies leave the nest the parents feed them for a little while, then they have to catch their own food which can be hard because they are not that fast. They can only catch injured or dying ducks or fish. They hang around the stream where the fish have babies and soon after the fish lay their eggs they swim away and begin to die. When the fish die
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along the stream banks there is a lot of food for bald eagles there. Eagles like to go to the stream at the time of when the fish are dying to get some food because it’s a lot easier to get. When other bald
Folklore is here to stay By Toby Barnwell
I chose the topic Folklore because myths and fantasy have always interested me. Do you know why people came up with these folktales or tall tales? People came up with folktales to make their superstition seem normal. People also came up with folktales to make sense of things that may be difficult to explain. Some local folk superstitions are that if a woman is working in the kitchen and she drops a knife, then a man is coming to visit. Sometimes it happened, and that could make a believer out of anyone. Some people say you get warts from touching frogs, yet we now know warts come from a virus. Many people still think Friday the thirteenth is unlucky. Walking under a ladder
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will bring you bad luck. I guess it will if you bump the ladder and knock the paint down, knock the worker off, or knock the ladder over on yourself. Let’s not forget black cats, they are dangerous. Folklore like these can change the things people do. Did your grandmother ever tell you any of these folk lore tips? Like if the crescent moon is tipped to look like it could hold water, then it’s going to rain. But wait, the rain comes from the atmosphere, and the moon is that shape just because the shadow of the earth is covering part of it and nothing to do with the atmosphere. Some say if a cow is lying down in the field it’s going to rain. Next time See folklore, 5B
Kelly’s second oldest bar in the state By Ricky Ugartechea
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eagles enter their area they won’t do anything unless there’s a baby in the nest and if the other eagles get too close to the nest, they’ll fight them off. Be careful and don’t go too close to an eagle’s nest.
Kelly’s is the second oldest licensed bar in the state of Washington. In the beginning of Newport WA, 1809, there was a man named Thomas J. Kelly, or T.J. as he liked to be called. T.J Kelly was one of the first people to get to Newport. He was the founder of Newport’s first bar. Kelly’s Restaurant & Lounge they called it. It was where the “Kool Kids” went, uh, I guess I mean the grown ups since it was a bar. Not only was it the first bar in Newport, it still is the second licensed bar in the State of Washington. It’s never closed. It has been licensed since Washington became a state. T.J Kelly’ parents had emigrated to America from Ireland. With a strong Irish heritage Kelly built a glamoured up wooden back bar. His bar was the place to be for good times because there was booze, food, and dancing. There was no train yet, there was no road, so only ships on the river brought people in. Thomas Kelly may have built Kelly’s, but after that he built a grocery and general store. He built a lot of businesses that made Newport thrive. He was the first mayor of Newport. In conclusion Kelly was a very important person to the town of Newport and the state of Washington, he helped expand the state and the town. May he rest in peace.
Smith Estate funds Newport Schools By Evan McKinley
I’ve always had an affinity for reading books. They’re a very enjoyable way to pass the time because you can experience new things, educate yourself, and care about fictional or nonfictional characters, some of which I find difficult to do without books. I think Hubert Smith might’ve felt this way as well, with all he’s done for the sake of reading and education. I found articles about Mr. Smith in the Daily News, September 21, 1991, that told of Mr. Smith helping our library. I then accessed some old Newport School District Board Meeting notes from December 1994. Hubert David Smith Jr. was born Dec. 16, 1946, in Spokane. However, most of his life he lived in Newport. He attended Lower Columbia College, Eastern Washington University, and Washington State University. I would be proud of myself for even attending one of these places, let alone all of them. Hubert taught as an elementary school teacher for about 20 years, his specialization being in reading. When Mr. Smith was 31 he was paralyzed in a tragic traffic accident with what he was fairly certain was a bus from Greyhound Bus Lines. Regardless of the uncertainty of which bus company actually caused the accident, Greyhound was sued. I’m sure Greyhound has a lot of money, being a major bus company, but I would hate to have to give up the amount they did when they were sued. In return for having likely been the ones that rendered Hubert a quadriplegic, Greyhound Company was sued for one million dollars! And what did he do with his new estate? He left it to the Newport School District to be used equally to award scholarships and further supplementing our libraries. Before this incredibly generous donation, our library was practically devoid of any books of interest. Now however, we have three expansive, up to date, and state of the art libraries with a large variety of interesting books that the students in our district can read.
Tony Bamonte has stories of his own By Tekoa Preston
I interviewed Tony Bamonte because he has done a lot of research on Pend Oreille County. After hearing the story about the creamery murder I was very interested in his work. I have read his books. Tony Bamonte came to my school and I talked to him in the library. I asked him: What was the longest case you worked on? He said, “Breaking Blue the Creamery murder committed in 1935.” I asked how long he worked on it. From eight to nine months, he said. He said he heard rumors of the crime when he was a Spokane officer. When he became Sheriff in Pend Oreille County, his childhood home, he followed up on the rumors. He got two of the retired officers to talk about where they chucked the gun into the river. So much time had passed they couldn’t get in trouble for it. The Spokane cop that committed the murder was arrested. I asked, “What was it like to solve your first sheriff assignment?” See bamonte, 5B