Protests, Politics, Plane Rides and Biscuit Roots: A Look Back at My Favorite Stories of 2023
And a look at what's on the horizon for 2024
Before the beginning of a new year, I wanted to take a few moments and look back on what we’ve covered in 2023. The end of the year is a good time to look back and take stock and I, like many, have been doing that lately.
We began the new year in Chelan County with the swearing-in of a new sheriff, which is something I don’t think many people would have expected in summer 2022. But there are other stories I want to briefly highlight in this end-of-year recap. Then I’ll outline what’s in the works for 2024.
Here’s some of what we covered in 2023:
Felix Dotson’s Experience with Racism in the Cashmere School District
Dotson was one of very few black students at Cashmere High School, where he said he was used to hearing the “N-word” an average of 100 times a week. Sometimes it was directed at him, and other times it was used around him by classmates trying to provoke a reaction from him. The racially charged bullying came to a head when Dotson was assaulted by a classmate who used the word while putting him in a headlock. I wrote about that for Crosscut in June, and followed up with a piece about it on Substack after that.
Dotson is doing well, last I checked. He moved out of his parents’ house right after graduation, has a job and his own place. The NAACP expressed interest in helping him bring a legal suit against the Cashmere School District and I know he met with lawyers. So there could be developments in that story yet.
Native American History Tour Offers A Glimpse Back In Time
In May, I took a Native American history tour led by Colville Tribal Elder Randy Lewis and wrote about that for Crosscut as well. It was a fascinating tour of Moses Coulee and the channeled scablands up to the Grand Coulee dam, and it was hands-down one of my favorite pieces I’ve ever written.
In July, Lewis invited me to join him and some other guys for the salmon bake at Walla Walla Point Park in Wenatchee for the annual Independence Day event on the banks of the Columbia River. I was pretty busy that day, so I didn’t take notes or record audio for an article, but I did create this Tik Tok video of the experience.
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Confluence Health News
In March I wrote about nursing staffing changes that Confluence Health’s nursing union said would lead to further burnout and exacerbate the problem of lack of staff. Union rep Sara Bergenholtz said not only would the policy changes overwork nurses already stretched thin, but it would mean patients will not get the quality of care they have come to expect from Confluence.
In July, I got a packet of leaked Confluence documents that showed the organization was failing to meet its internal goals, and was not meeting its benchmarks for revenue. That’s part of the reason Confluence decided to close “MU1,” which is specialized unit for medical patients suffering from mental health crises and/or demential-related issues this year. I was the first to break that story and attended a National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) meeting locally to get an idea of how people in that community and those with loved ones dealing with mental illness felt about the news.
Chelan County Regional Jail Chaplain, Grace City Church Pastor Organizes Anti-SSP Protest at County Commissioners Meeting
In a turn of events reminiscent of Pastor Carey McPherson’s call for followers and supporters to ambush a Wenatchee School Board meeting in a protest against vaccines and masks in 2021, in August of this year jail chaplain and GCC pastor Chris Neuberger called for followers and supporters to gather to dominate a joint Chelan and Douglas County Commissioners meeting where local public health leaders were set to give information about what a syringe services program is and how it could benefit public health in the region.
Those expert witnesses were talked over and shouted down by the angry mob during the meeting and then dominated the public comment time at the end. It was never on the agenda to vote for or against instituting an SSP in the region, it was only an informational session, and this was the response of the folks Neuberger helped assemble.
Chelan-Douglas Health Board Member Emcees Anti-Vaxxer Event
In January, anti-vaccine activist and Chelan-Douglas Health Board member Bill Sullivan (shown in the freeze-frame in the video clip above) emceed a conspiracy-laden anti-vaxxer event in Wenatchee featuring special guest John Stockton, an NBA Hall of Famer.
The keynote speaker at that event was Karl Lambert, the ivermectin-advocating alternative medicine guru of North Central Washington. Folks have accused Lambert of medical malpractice in the past, and one woman said his Covid treatment nearly led to her elderly father’s death. Yet Lambert was featured on the front page of The Wenatchee World being applauded by supporters and none of his problematic history was addressed in that article, or any of KPQ’s coverage of that event. So I had to do a follow up with more info on Lambert’s various department of health investigations, as well as his ideologically and religiously-informed medical opinions, according to his ex-wife.
Lambert is a member of Grace City Church and GCC pastor Brian Blair gave the closing prayer at that event.
I Got A Rare Opportunity To Take A Ride in the Miss Veedol
Not many people get the opportunity to take a ride on the iconic Miss Veedol, a working replica of the first plane to complete a non-stop trans-Pacific flight, but I did so I didn’t waste it.
I arranged a chase plane with a videographer, set up GoPro cameras and took my own along so I could film from the tiny cockpit of the famous plane. Then I edited this video of the experience.
Getting in and out of the cockpit through a tiny window was not fun, but it was totally worth it because it was the experience of a lifetime.
I Watched First Responders Save A Woman’s Life with Narcan
In March, my wife and I watched Wenatchee Police officers use Narcan to arrest an overdose in the Albertson’s parking lot in Wenatchee and it made a huge impression on me. I have covered the fentanyl and opioid crises in the past, and covered the installation of Narcan vending machines in our region, but I had never seen Narcan used in the field in a real-life emergency situation. It left a lasting impression on me, so I wrote about that and I’d have to say it’s probably in the top three favorite pieces I’ve ever penned.
There’s so much more we covered in 2023. I’m not even touching on the politics or the latest accused pedophile affiliated with Grace City Church who was arrested on sex charges in September.
But those are six of my favorite stories from this year and I want to briefly highlight what I am working on for the new year.
A Look At What It’s Like To Live in The Cascadian Apartments
The Cascadian Apartments provide low-income housing to seniors and disabled adults in Wenatchee, and tenants complain about a lack of heat in the winter, adequate sanitization and garbage removal services and ADA accessibility to the building.
While visiting a tenant for an interview recently I noticed she had her small oven open and on. She said it was to help heat her small apartment. I spoke with tenants, family members of tenants, fire officials and the building manager and am waiting for responses to questions I sent the building owner. I plan to release that story this week whether or not I hear back from the owner or management.
How A Confluence Health Doctor’s Cancer Misdiagnoses Hastened the Suffering and Death of One Man
After an Omak man was diagnosed with esophageal cancer by a Confluence Health oncologist, they started aggressive chemotherapy and treatment to arrest its progression. But he didn’t have esophageal cancer at all. And his loved ones say the misdiagnoses and mistreatment allowed the cancer he did have to spread, kept them from seeking treatment that could have fought the cancer he did have, and resulted in painful and unnecessary surgeries before his death.
Why Is Insulin So Hard To Get in North Central Washington?
Type 1 diabetics with high-quality healthcare plans in the region have had a hard time getting the insulin they need to survived. I sat down with parents of diabetic kids, diabetics themselves, and am reaching out to pharmacies and insurance companies to ask why some folks are finding themselves with just a few days’ supply of this life-sustaining drug.
We’ll look into those stories and more in 2024.
A Note of Thanks to Supporting Subscribers
Before the end of the year and the end of this piece I’d like to take a moment to thank my subscribers, especially sustaining subscribers. Your support allows me to spend the time and energy it takes to follow stories in progress, following up on leads, pay for public records and more.
And the notes of encouragement and support I get from folks are also very much appreciated. This type of journalism requires tenacity and perseverance, and that can be incredibly taxing psychologically and emotionally. Thankfully I have an aptitude for ferreting out stories and I find it to be rewarding work, but hearing from folks who appreciate what I am trying to do in this community is nice.
And I get a lot of questions about what, exactly, I am trying to do. Some accuse me of being an atheist with an ax to grind against Christianity. Some say I must have a vendetta against Grace City Church in particular. Neither of those things are true.
What I am trying to do is bring transparency and accountability to our shared public life. If a religious organization is exerting pressure over our elected officials, law enforcement agencies and public schools, that impacts every citizen. Therefore we citizens have a right to know who or what is exerting that pressure, wether it’s a special interest group, organized crime syndicate, political club or even a religious organization.
I have no specific bone to pick with Grace City Church or the McPherson clan. They’re simply too interesting not too cover. And while the local media establishment has not historically agreed with my editorial judgement in this, members of the national media certainly do.
I am proud to announce that after a couple years of work, a national media outlet is getting ready to publish a long-form piece about GCC and its impacts on the social fabric of the Wenatchee Valley.
But I could not have spent the time and energy required to bring this massive story without the support of sustaining subscribers and this community.
I will provide more news about that as we get closer to a publishing date, but I wanted to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to you, the subscriber. Thank you so much.
Thanks for an outstanding year of investigative journalism, Dominick! Grateful for the service you provide for people in our community who want the truth.
Thank you for your very interesting articles that cover information not offered anywhere else about what ALL is going on in our valley . Best wishes for a good year 2024! :)