The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

Is it surprising just how much innovation is required to build a community, or a school? Learning that some 4,000 concrete blocks will build a retaining wall for the new school site, one is tempted to draw analogies to the building blocks of communit...

Tribal election polls Saturday recorded 1,619 votes in the election races for seven Colville Business Council seats, many of which will be determined with the count of absentee ballots on Thursday. In the Nespelem District, Ricky Gabriel polled...

A wildfire of unknown origin was contained by firefighters Friday night after consuming a little more than 200 acres of grass, brush and some trees just east of the Colville Indian Agency campus and w...

Our Grand Coulee Dam Area Visitors Guide online site has the map of activities for Saturday's Koulee Kids Fest, at which some lucky kid will win an iPod Touch. Check it out here: h...

If anyone could figure the odds of an international finance engineer ending up in Grand Coulee running a quilting business, Marlene Oddie could. She’s opening her KISSed Quilts business at 12:15...

A 21-year-old Nespelem woman was injured when the car she was driving hit a deer on the highway south of Grand Coulee Monday morning. Breanna Salas, 21, was driving a red 2002 Chevy Impala when it...

A 21-year-old Nespelem woman was injured when the car she was driving hit a deer on the highway south of Grand Coulee Monday morning. Breanna Salas, 21, was driving a red 2002 Chevy Impala when it struck a deer on SR155 19 miles south of Grand...

The collapse of a Skagit River bridge on I-5 last week should give all of us pause to think about our nation’s longterm strategy, including local infrastructure. Stuff wears out, even steel bridges. That’s a dynamic that challenges the best...

Community members listen at the annual Isle of Flags memorial service at Spring Canyon Cemetery to remember veterans on Memorial Day. The Isle of Flags committee hoisted some 530 U.S. flags this...

A candidate for the Colville Business Council has filed a formal grievance against the tribal election committee, saying she was denied a recount required as automatic by tribal law, she said. Charlene BearCub, who ran for the position 2 seat in the...

Three science teams from Lake Roosevelt High School competed in the Imagine Tomorrow event at Washington State University in Pullman last weekend, bringing home cash and kudos for a big effort from a...

A couple girls ride the Octopus at the Colorama carnival Friday night. More photos of the Colorama weekend are available to view online. Follow the slideshow below and just click through to see it in...

A drive to raise $95,000 to replace Village Cinema’s projection equipment with new digital technology has failed, and the theater’s owners hope to end their lease early, unable to continue with a broken, obsolete projector. A report on...

• Congratulations to Fern Blaylock, who was recognized by Gov. Inslee last week for her volunteer service. Often nominated for The Star Volunteer of the Year award, Blaylock’s service is something many people in the local community appreciate....

The Coeur d'Alene Press reported on its website May 1 that a firm based there has recently been awarded a contract to build an administration building for the Colville Tribe. Contractors Northwest, Inc. as offices in Coeur d'Alene and Boise, Idaho....

Grand Coulee Dam School District Athletic Director Rich Black reports the following is an updated sports schedule for Lake Roosevelt High School as of Friday afternoon. May 6-11: *Monday, May 6th: Baseball District Playoffs versus White Swan at...

The first time I met Guillermo Guzman he had just done the butterfly stroke across Crescent Bay and back in September. I had taken his photograph for possible use in the paper and so introduced myself and asked his name. His thick Mexican accent was...

At an arraignment hearing for his brother Monday, Carlos Guzman Romo anxiously showed a reporter a portfolio stuffed full of evidence he thought showed that his brother is a “really good guy” who...

Life changed for Charli Knight after her sister was murdered by her husband in 2009. Charli was a freshman in high school at the time, and her dream was to become a chef, an ambition that lost its...

Science teacher Ralph Rise was presented with a statewide award last week, an example for educators across the state. Sonia Siegel Vexler, co-director of LASER, the Pacific Science Center’s...

Electric service went down in the town of Coulee Dam just after 7 a.m. Wednesday, morning and would not be restored until late afternoon. Lake Roosevelt High School dismissed for the day, and...

The power outage in Coulee Dam will likely last until 5 or 6 p.m. tonight, one source told The Star. Lynne Brougher, with the Bureau of Reclamation, said USBR personnel are helping Coulee Dam crew and...

A Spanish teacher at Lake Roosevelt High School is in Okanogan County Jail this week, facing charges of forgery and identity theft, after being arrested last Thursday by Coulee Dam police. Guillermo...

The Bureau of Reclamation is having trouble attracting and retaining new skilled employees, Power Manager Mark Jenson told a number of local leaders Monday afternoon. Jenson said that often a combination of local factors creates a problem for...

Steven Riehart, of 24-7 Property Maintenance drops a limb from a huge fir tree at the Fercha home at Fir and Civic in Coulee Dam. Reportedly one of the oldest trees in town, it measured about five...

Those looking for a good place to create a daycare center should be encouraged and helped to answer this critical, unmet need in the community. To the casual observer, it may sound like a picayune cause over which to get worked up, but in this...

They’re not the Frisbees you’re used to tossing around on Saturdays, but they’re similarly shaped and heavier, and disc golfers will travel to courses set up for playing with them. Disc golf is a growing sport that Josh Rabe thinks would catch...

Political stupidity in Washington, D.C. is about to come down hard on our local area. Some economists argue that the sky will fall because of the “sequester,” a budget cut imposed by Congress and signed by the President in 2011 in a move...

Tours, visitor center hours and laser light show offerings might be curtailed because of budget cuts, officials confirmed this week, but they’re still hoping for a reprieve from the national budget cutback known as “sequestration.” Although...

A dinner and auction to raise money for a family who recently lost their home to fire was a big success at the Eagles club on Saturday. Heather Downs said the event brought in $3,000 in cash for...

A group of citizens met Friday afternoon to discuss a planning a day-long picnic for Coulee Dam and Elmer City residents to get together, probably sometime in June. And one person announced she would run for a town council seat this year. “I think...

In what they say is the first such offering in the state of Washington, the Colville Casinos will soon offer gaming apps and a website that makes a range of free gaming readily available to casino...

A family shocked by the loss of their home to fire Thursday night is also amazed at the instant support pouring in from the community. Fifteen years ago, Warner Whybark built their home on a hillside overlooking Banks Lake in the North Shores...

Few stories are as heartwrenching as those about a family losing a home to fire. The only thing worse is the death of a relatively young person, especially a child. But one fact found and appreciated somewhat mitigated the tragedy of last week’s...

An explosion at Grand Coulee Dam Saturday morning damaged the right powerhouse when a line and equipment connecting a generator and transformer exploded. No one was injured. A “buss,” essentially...

A suggestion to finance a rebuild of Coulee Dam’s wastewater treatment plant over a period longer than it will last should raise concerns. It’s certainly something that could be done for the sake of lowering rates, but would you finance a new...

The explosion at Grand Coulee Dam this morning was not a transformer or a generator, but a line and equipment connecting the two. Conflicitng reports this morning suggested that one or the other had...

In this community, whose economy is based overwhelmingly on a federal payroll and outsourced contracts, not a lot is yet certain about how the latest fiscal political drama emanating from the other Washington will play out. “Sequestration”...

With the announcement least week of an upcoming vacancy on Port District 7’s commission, someone wishing to make a difference for the community got another opportunity. Port districts across the...

A total of 18 girls each gained a title at the Feb. 16 Queen of Hearts pageant held at the Village Cinema. Organizer Heather Downs said it was standing room only at the theater, the use of which was d...

The Chief Joseph Hatchery is scheduled for completion in May and should be rearing chinook salmon in July. The $49 million facility near Chief Joseph Dam will, by 2015, raise 2.9 million salmon a year...

Enough is enough. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has apparently adopted a reckless and callous attitude toward community assets not made of concrete or steel, assets that make living easier in this semi-arid desert, assets that often take much...

It will be interesting to see what emerges from a public records request in Grand Coulee causing the police department to review some 13,000 documents. It’s not clear what one of the department’s own officers is looking for, but what is clear is...

This week's extra photos are online, including dozens from the regional wrestling tournament in Reardan last week. Here's a slide show. http://coulee.photoshelter.com/gallery/2-13-...

Coulee Medical Center took a $1.9 million loss on its books for November, 2012, officials announced Wednesday after first briefing employees on the news. Most of the loss has actually accrued over time, but was recognized on the books now after a...

Lake Roosevelt wrestlers have earned medals at the state Matt Classic in Tacoma tonight. At 145 pounds, Orrin Gross is the state champion in the B division with a 13-5 win over Milo Holston of Liberty Bell. At 182, Sean Waters took second in a 6-3...

An 88-year-old Omak man was found dead Feb. 9, and police are investigating his death as a homicide. On the Colville Indian Reservation just outside Omak, the vicitm was found by his daughter who...

And some of the rest of the photos from this week ... http://coulee.photoshelter.com/gallery/2-6-13-Star/G0000N8LdmzadAWQ http://coulee.photoshelter.com/gallery/2-6-13-Star/G0000N8LdmzadAWQ - Images by http://coulee.photoshelter.c...

The civil discussion at the Coulee Dam council meeting was a welcome relief from the tension building over the wastewater treatment plant issue. More than that, it was a model of how a town council meeting should be run. Kudos to all involved....

Two days earlier, people on opposite sides of a contentious issue hadn’t gotten along so well, but the regular meeting of the Coulee Dam Town Council Wednesday progressed with civility remarkable by contrast. The town council accepted without...