LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: We’ve got a lot to be grateful for

The rain is coming down this week and snow seems to be teasing us from just over the horizon. Eventually, we’ll have a winter wonderland and the red-nosed specter of Christmas swinging through for some holly jolly and some milk and cookies. But first — Thanksgiving.

I look at this year and I think about gratitude. There’s a great deal to be thankful for. We’ve had some rough spots in various communities, but people have been stepping up to figure out the problems and trying to make the counties and cities of the Columbia Basin an even better place to live.  

There are people like the folks in the Community Court program in Grant County who go out of their way to guide folks dealing with addiction and other issues to become healthy and successful. People like Judge Brian Gwinn, Alma Farias, Manny Garcia and Amy Paynter who bend over backward to ensure the people enrolled in the program have the resources they need to make their lives what they want them to be.  

There are folks at Grant County Animal Outreach, Adams County Pet Rescue and other nonprofits trying to care for the stray animals in our communities. This year, there’s been help from Grant County and multiple communities to look at creating a larger shelter for GCAO and to pass a ban on selling animals from the back of vehicles in parking lots in Moses Lake. There’s more work to do, but there was progress in managing strays this year.  

Each day, I open my email and find police blotter reports showing what happened the day or week before, depending on the department the notice comes from. Each of those reports has a sad side, but it also has a happy side — the help we see officers giving to community members struggling with everything from domestic violence to flat tires and just needing someone to talk to. Tragedies are out there, but as the old saying says, “look for the helpers.”  

There are also amazing organizations around like the Columbia Basin Foundation, Columbia Basin Cancer Foundation, HopeSource, New Hope and Serve Moses Lake — to name just a few. The folks at these nonprofits tackle everything from keeping people equipped with warm coats in the winter to walking them through end-of-life preparations. 

The community around us is filled with amazing humans who take care of one another each day. I think that’s something to be thankful for. 

On a personal note, I want to say that I am incredibly grateful for the team here at the Columbia Basin Herald. We have a management group that cares about the people here and a group that focuses on supporting each other every day. My bullpen is full of reporters who care about the communities we serve and do our best to cover as much as we can and to do so with a mindset for community service. I can never tell them enough how proud I am of them. 

On a personal note, I also must express an unimaginable level of gratitude for my wife, Brandee. She is the most amazing human I’ve ever known and has broadened my world in ways I don’t think I even understand. Her love and support are mind-blowing and I am lucky to even know her, let alone be married to her.  

Finally, but definitely not least on this list. I am grateful to our readers and advertisers for providing us with the resources to work in one of the most amazing and engaging fields in existence. Each of you make my life, and the lives of the rest of the Columbia Basin Herald crew, better each and every day. Thank you, and may you have an absolutely phenomenal Thanksgiving and holiday season.  

In gratitude and joy, 

R. Hans “Rob” Miller
Managing Editor
Columbia Basin Herald
Basin Business Journal