MOSES LAKE — Rachal Pinkerton loves to write.

“I have wanted to write books ever since I was as kid,” she said. “I took a journalism class in college, and that steered me away from the notion that I’d ever write a fiction story.”

“I could never come up with a plot line,” Pinkerton added. “Journalism is so much easier. Everyone comes up with plot lines for you.”

Pinkerton is the latest addition to the Columbia Basin Media Group’s staff as our south county reporter, with a focus on Othello, Royal City, and Mattawa. She will mainly be devoting her time to writing for the Sun Tribune newspaper, a weekly publication, and the Basin Business Journal, a monthly publication that focuses heavily on business and agriculture.

Pinkerton, a graduate of Kentucky Mountain Bible College and married mother of two, is no stranger to the newsroom or even the Columbia Basin. A Quincy native, Pinkerton said she “bleeds green and gold” (the colors of Quincy High School) and worked for five years at the Quincy Valley Post-Register.

“I was a reporter, did layout and was an editor for a short time,” she said.

However, Pinkerton said she took six years off to stay at home and focus on her family and other kinds of writing, especially on her personal blog.

“I like human interest stories. I love to write historical articles; my favorite has been about the Trinidad Gold,” she said.

By the Trinidad Gold, Pinkerton is referring to the 200 pounds of gold reportedly left behind in or near the former Grant County of town of Trinidad — not far from today’s Crescent Bar — by a group of miners on their way to Portland.

“The hidden gold at Trinidad is still a mystery today,” Pinkerton wrote in 2011. “No one is sure who actually found the gold or if it has really been found.”

In addition, Pinkerton is also a licensed amateur radio operator, and she likes to makes jewelry in her spare time.

“I don’t use it that often,” she said of her ham radio license. “It’s a family tradition. I got my license in college. My husband is licensed too.”