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Seventh Grade Press
Volume 1, Number 7
| June 29, 2016
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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
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seventh grade press
Ancient Pend Oreille County
June 29, 2016 |
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A trip to Devils Well By Lilly Johnson
My dad told me a story of when my Uncle Paul had once jumped into Devil’s Well. Dad said, Uncle Paul swam down, trying to discover the bottom of the enormous well. When we went to Horseshoe Lake my dad asked, “Would you like to go and see the Devil’s Well?” When we got off the boat we started to climb to see the Devils Well. When I peered over the hilltop I was amazed at what my eyes saw. There was this giant hole in the ground, an enormous well, it has been there for who knows how long. It was just breathtaking. I didn’t think that is what it was going to be, I thought it was going to be a well that pumps water or something. My visit at Devils Well was amazing. I would like to go and see the Devil’s Well every single year with my family. I love to go to Horseshoe lake and go swimming then go and see the marvelous Devil’s Well.
By Emma Bradbury
While I was looking for information about the Missoula flood I found this YouTuber called ingonar200. This is an animated video that demonstrates what happened. It said “The Pleistocene Epoch is typically defined as the period that began about 1.8 million years ago and lasted about 11,700 years.” At this time, of the most recent ice age, huge glaciers covered a massive part of the planet Earth, including Pend Oreille County. The actual ice age began 2.4 million years ago. This is not the actual ice age that most people have in their imagination with instant ice everywhere. This is how it begins and how it ties into the Missoula Flood. Ice glaciers don’t take 2 seconds to build up, they take millions upon millions of years to grow and form the gigantic ice glaciers that we know of today. The Cordilleran Ice Glacier stretched from Canada into Washington, Idaho, and Montana, which is also known as the Montana Ice Glacier. When this glacier was there, the melting runoff formed the Clark Fork River. When the ice started to melt, this caused the reaction of the glaciers to start breaking down and when they broke down, the Clark Fork River Basin was released. That is when the flood happened. The Clark Fork Basin is the beginning of the Pend Oreille Watershed. If the Missoula flood went through this area
BEFORE
Devil’s Well at Horseshoe Lake
AFTER that we live in now, there would be very little people who would have died, in fact the flood only went through a little part of our county. We would have either been drowned or crushed by boulders, we probably would have never survived it if it happened today. You can still admire the ferocity of the water with all of these rocks that it dragged
all over the place, and the ravines carved by the Missoula Flood. I do believe that when the Missoula flood happened there could have been hundreds of people, animals and plants that were destroyed. It is called the Missoula Flood because it began in the Missoula Basin, filled up with water, and made the lake behind an ice dam on the Clark
Fork River. Even though the flood began in Missoula it had an effect on the Pend Oreille River Valley. My parents told me that the reason why the Pend Oreille River flows north instead of south is because of the Missoula Flood and the Cordilleran Ice Glacier that gouged it out. I think that was pretty cool information that my parents gave me.
Proud of our history Proud of our community Making decisions with tomorrow in mind
BAMONTE: Bon Marche case the most dangerous From Page 4B
He said “It had a nice feeling to it.” “What did it feel like to solve the oldest active murder case?” I asked him then. He said, “It felt good to expose a lie that’s been perpetuated for so many years.” I asked him, “what was the most dangerous case he had worked on?” He said, “The Bon Marche case, the first murder case I worked on.” “Have you ever had a gun pulled on you?” I asked him. “Yes, during the Bon Marche case, a 38 revolver.” He told the story that when he was a young Spokane officer, he was on his motorcycle at the time, and was only a few blocks away when the call came in for a robbery and a shooting. When he ran into the Bon Marche and up the escalator another guy was running down. He pulled his gun on the guy and made him stop. But that was not the robber, it
was the store security guard. The security guard said, “Follow me,” and they both ran to the back door where police officers had the back door blocked so no one could come in or out. The robber had a garbage can under his arm and the police thought he was the janitor. The security guard said, “That’s him,” and the robber pulled his gun and dropped the wastebasket that was full of the money he stole. Tony Bamonte shot him just in the nick of time. I asked, “What inspired you to become Sheriff?” “I had early domestic violence in my childhood,” he replied. When police responded to his home he said, “They were very nice and knew how to calm the kids so they weren’t afraid anymore.” “Did anything change your mood from happy to sad, or too mad, too confused, or irritated? How did you deal with your feelings?” “Well all I had to do is to try to think positive thoughts, and be
fair and honest to whoever I come in contact with.” How did you get interested in writing? “I was always good at it and you should, or can give back to the community.” Bamonte wrote books about police and crimes and a lot of people are learning about Pend Oreille County. “What type of gun did you carry on you”? “I carried a 38 pistol.” Tony Bamonte is a great man, had a great story and knows a lot. The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it. Like the two officers, Dan and Bill, who threw the gun away and did nothing. In this world there are bad cops and good cops. Tony Bamonte was a good cop. He did the right thing and he is a good person. He cares about people and loves to listen to other people’s life story, also I really respect him. Sources Tony Bamonte, Breaking Blue Book, Sheriff’s records book.
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FOLKLORE: Stepping on books lessens knowledge From Page 4B
you see a cow laying down in the field check the weather forecast and see if it is going to rain. What about the rabbit’s foot? Is it good luck? … not for the rabbit. Hang the horseshoe over the doorway with the curve going up so it can hold good luck for the household. If you hang it upside down the luck will drain out. Dreams, now there are legends built around dreams of many. One thing I’ve heard is that
if you dream you are falling in your dream then you will actually die, wake up dead some people say. I want to know if someone dies from of dream of falling, how do we know what they dreamed before they died? Then there is the Sasquatch. Is he or isn’t he? ... in existence I mean. Never step on books, it lessens your knowledge. Firm believer in the mystical powers of ‘knock wood? If you find a penny you will have good luck.
My favorite is one of those many tales, the Rhinelander Wisconsin Hodag. This folkloric beast was said to have the eyes of a frog, the grinning face of an elephant, thick short legs set off by huge claws, the back of a dinosaur, and a long tail with spears at the end. But in the end, its creator, Eugene Shepard, was forced to admit that the Hodag was a hoax due to a small group of scientists of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. Folklore is fun and
interesting. Don’t you wonder what is behind these tales? Sometimes it might be fear, and sometimes I suppose it could be wanting to see if you can get people to believe something you make up. Some people have superstition things they do to help their team win. Super Bowl commercials show some sports superstitions. Whatever the reason we have these tall tales, they just keep changing with the times. I think folklore is here to stay.
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