A couple blocks away Patrick Nowacki, wearing a Pink Floyd shirt that screamed "younger demographic," says "I haven't heard anything about him," after the Goldmark retinue clip-clopped past.
Nowacki, who works at Gonzaga University and plays in the band Hung Phat, admits to voting for McMorris in 2004 even though he says he mostly goes Democrat. "She's middle of the road, she's status quo. She's just starting out, and I think that's great," Nowacki says.
Several blocks later, Dan Ritchie, chaplain at Sacred Heart Medical Center, says, "Goldmark? I've never heard of him. He's a Democrat? I'll have to check him out."
Cathy Ritchie, rocking their grandson, Daniel, in a stroller, says farm concerns aren't high on her radar. "My main issue is the war, especially since both of his parents," she says, pointing at Daniel, "serve at Fairchild."
Energy Independence
Goldmark, in his kitchen earlier that week, says, "I think, increasingly, people are troubled by the war in Iraq, troubled by the unending destruction of men and women and resources to no apparent benefit."
Especially, he contends, when the war appears to be "... adventuring for oil ...
"I'm a strong advocate of getting energy flowing the right way," Goldmark says, "by having incentive for farmers to grow what I call National Security Crops ... Those can be biofuels, they can be ethanol. ... And it is national security: Imagine saving the millions of dollars we spend - and the human life lost - while we go adventuring for oil in the Middle East. Imagine the good to our communities to grow, process, refine and burn our own domestic fuel supply."
Quite a number of farmers see alternative fuels and renewable energy crops - canola, switchgrass, mustard - as a way out from the crushing paradox of soft white winter wheat, where costs have exploded, program supports have withered and prices are still your dad's prices.
The district's wheat farmers are stuck, says Read Smith of St. John. "Over time, we have allowed the whole infrastructure to be designed and built around a commodity market: We have large elevators, river ports, ship-loading facilities - everything is geared towards what was successful in the '60s. Those are not successful today, but how do we change to a system that doesn't put wheat on barges to Portland or Kalama to go to a country that hates our guts and the price they pay is less than the cost of production ... How do you break out of that?"
To Goldmark, it's local products for local distribution and consumption. Oil crops are one thing - especially when tied to local crushers and refiners and burned as fuel in local cars - but other crops that connect farmers and city people are important, too.
He cites his own switch to grass-finished cattle sold to niche markets within the state. He finds consumers are happy to support a small operation instead of buying meat from an industrial supply chain that may spread around the world.
Smith agrees with this approach and is himself involved with Shepherd's Grain, a business model that sells locally grown wheat to local bakers for local bread.
"We need more of these things ... We're creating a new paradigm, [but] the whole marketing system is against you because when you try to break in you are displacing someone else and there's a little bit of pushback," Smith says.
This is where, Goldmark says, a legislator more familiar with the district's ag issues could help. He pledges to seek a spot on the Ag Committee if elected.
Given the relatively small circles of 5th District agriculture, Smith says he knows both Goldmark and McMorris personally (and also was a friend of former U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Spokane). He likes both candidates, but notes this difference: "Cathy is a young, career politician. He is a farmer and a rancher and a scientist. She's not even in the ballpark with Peter when it comes to ag - and that's nothing against her."
Goldmark, his resume suggests, cares about his land and his family. When Okanogan County was facing difficult land-use questions in the late 1970s, he ran for the plan commission. When his kids were in school, he ran for school board.
Nowacki, who works at Gonzaga University and plays in the band Hung Phat, admits to voting for McMorris in 2004 even though he says he mostly goes Democrat. "She's middle of the road, she's status quo. She's just starting out, and I think that's great," Nowacki says.
Several blocks later, Dan Ritchie, chaplain at Sacred Heart Medical Center, says, "Goldmark? I've never heard of him. He's a Democrat? I'll have to check him out."
Cathy Ritchie, rocking their grandson, Daniel, in a stroller, says farm concerns aren't high on her radar. "My main issue is the war, especially since both of his parents," she says, pointing at Daniel, "serve at Fairchild."
Goldmark, in his kitchen earlier that week, says, "I think, increasingly, people are troubled by the war in Iraq, troubled by the unending destruction of men and women and resources to no apparent benefit."
Especially, he contends, when the war appears to be "... adventuring for oil ...
"I'm a strong advocate of getting energy flowing the right way," Goldmark says, "by having incentive for farmers to grow what I call National Security Crops ... Those can be biofuels, they can be ethanol. ... And it is national security: Imagine saving the millions of dollars we spend - and the human life lost - while we go adventuring for oil in the Middle East. Imagine the good to our communities to grow, process, refine and burn our own domestic fuel supply."
Quite a number of farmers see alternative fuels and renewable energy crops - canola, switchgrass, mustard - as a way out from the crushing paradox of soft white winter wheat, where costs have exploded, program supports have withered and prices are still your dad's prices.
The district's wheat farmers are stuck, says Read Smith of St. John. "Over time, we have allowed the whole infrastructure to be designed and built around a commodity market: We have large elevators, river ports, ship-loading facilities - everything is geared towards what was successful in the '60s. Those are not successful today, but how do we change to a system that doesn't put wheat on barges to Portland or Kalama to go to a country that hates our guts and the price they pay is less than the cost of production ... How do you break out of that?"
To Goldmark, it's local products for local distribution and consumption. Oil crops are one thing - especially when tied to local crushers and refiners and burned as fuel in local cars - but other crops that connect farmers and city people are important, too.
He cites his own switch to grass-finished cattle sold to niche markets within the state. He finds consumers are happy to support a small operation instead of buying meat from an industrial supply chain that may spread around the world.
Smith agrees with this approach and is himself involved with Shepherd's Grain, a business model that sells locally grown wheat to local bakers for local bread.
"We need more of these things ... We're creating a new paradigm, [but] the whole marketing system is against you because when you try to break in you are displacing someone else and there's a little bit of pushback," Smith says.
This is where, Goldmark says, a legislator more familiar with the district's ag issues could help. He pledges to seek a spot on the Ag Committee if elected.
Given the relatively small circles of 5th District agriculture, Smith says he knows both Goldmark and McMorris personally (and also was a friend of former U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Spokane). He likes both candidates, but notes this difference: "Cathy is a young, career politician. He is a farmer and a rancher and a scientist. She's not even in the ballpark with Peter when it comes to ag - and that's nothing against her."
Goldmark, his resume suggests, cares about his land and his family. When Okanogan County was facing difficult land-use questions in the late 1970s, he ran for the plan commission. When his kids were in school, he ran for school board.
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