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

Dozens of local elected positions are among more than 3,000 in the state for which people interested in serving the public filed intentions to seek or keep office last week. Incumbents in Electric City fared best in primary election filings with no...

The Sanpoil Ferry is taking shape. The pilot house is on and for the most part the structure nears completion in the big tent at Crescent Bay. Workers said there is still a lot to do before late July...

Newspaper office closed for holiday The Star newspaper office will be closed Monday, May 27, due to the Memorial Day holiday. Regular hours will resume on Tuesday, May 28, at 9 a.m. Articles for the May 29 issue of The Star should be in the office...

The annual Memorial Day Isle of Flags ceremony to honor deceased veterans will be held at Spring Canyon Cemetery Monday, May 27, at 11 a.m., American Legion post officials said this week. The ceremony will be preceded by a Veteran’s Day Breakfast...

The city of Grand Coulee continues to make headway in its billings and collections in both its municipal court and ambulance programs, City Clerk Carol Boyce told the city council at its most recent meeting. Court billings had fallen...

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...

Hey, aren’t those wild turkeys cute? That depends upon whom you ask. One person who has changed her mind on turkeys is Helen Jordan in Grand Coulee’s East Heights. “When I came here five years a...

A Lumalaser worker installs part of the new equipment that will display the new laser show beginning Aug. 8. The equipment will be able to fire up the old show until then, beginning on Memorial Day...

The Regional Board of Mayors voted last week to extend the garbage collection contract with Sunrise Disposal for five years. The issue now has to be ratified by the four municipal councils before it can take effect. The current contract extends to...

Two meetings are planned on the Colville Indian Reservation to bring the public up to date on the wolf population in the area. A meeting will be held at 6 p.m., Tuesday, May 28, at the Nespelem Community Center, and a second meeting will be held June...

An Electric City resident has requested approval to build an oversize accessory building Mike Dennis, who lives at 118 Lincoln Avenue, was told by the city council last week to make his request to the city’s planning commission. Dennis was told tha...

by Roger S. Lucas A runaway truck early Monday morning almost made Jack’s 4-Corners Union 76 & Mini Mart a drive-in as it crashed its way through the southwest corner of the building. The driver,...

Center School could get a little crowded next fall. The district will have three first grades and three kindergarten classes as well as providing preschool for 3- to 5-year-olds, according to Superintendent Dennis Carlson. The district received word...

Colorama huge hit Despite the fact that new Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce Manager Peggy Nevsimal broke a collarbone Friday night, which kept her from seeing the fruits of most of her work on the event, reviews have been largely positive....

Candidates for upcoming elections are filing for positions on school boards, city councils, hospital boards and some junior taxing districts this week. In early filings, three have filed for positions in Hospital District 6. These include two...

A request from the town of Elmer City to get out of its wastewater plant joint operating agreement with Coulee Dam was turned down by that town council last Wednesday night. In a letter to Coulee Dam officials, Elmer City Mayor Mary Jo Carey...

Two Colville Business Council incumbents lost out in their bids for another term in the primary election certified last week. Losing in the primary were Brian Nissen, in position 1 in the Nespelem District and Darlene Zacherlie in the position 1...

Bull rider Erik Bala of Ellensburg gets ready to dismount just as photographer Biffle French makes a big mistake at at the end of the last ride of the last event of the 57th Colorama Rodeo Saturday...

Lake Roosevelt High School counselor Sue Hayes is one of this year’s senior class’s biggest boosters. Hayes spent 20-30 minutes with each senior available for an exit interview and was so impressed she made a report to the school board about this...

Every May over Memorial Dayweekend, the citizens of the oldest town in Grant County put on their boots and dust off their hats for an action-packed weekend with Coulee City’s “Last Stand Rodeo.” The May 24-26 event historically has drawn some o...

The Village Cinema in Coulee Dam is history. Its fate was settled last Wednesday night by mutual consent of the town council and the cinema operator, Lynette Zierden and her family. She asked for relief from her lease with the town and explained...

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...

Charlie Knight leads a group of 164 walkers during “Walk for a Fight,” the fund raiser the high school senior organized to raise awareness of domestic violence issues and funds for The Support...

Three seniors at Lake Roosevelt High School have been selected as Gates Millennium Scholars, the district announced recently. Selected were Kendall Piccolo, Johnny Medina-McCraigie and Charli Knight....

It’s a big week in the coulee. Local residents and visitors will be treated to the 56th Annual Colorama Festival celebration, beginning Thursday with the opening of the carnival and ending Saturday...

Thieves broke into Banks Lake Golf Course office sometime Sunday night and took the safe from the premises. It was the second time this year that the course’s safe has been taken. The first time...

A public art hunt is on for the new K-12 school project. Public buildings are required to set aside one-half of one percent of the cost of construction for art. The school board decided Monday night to seek art produced by local artists, that is...

Contractors doze the new school site in Coulee Dam area to grade as they get ready to begin construction of the near $23 million school complex that will place all the Grand Coulee Dam School...

A comment from a resident of Coulee Dam who asked why something isn’t being done to get people to clean up their properties, got a quick response from the police department. This past week police went on a real campaign to notify property owners...

The results of Saturday’s Colville Business Council primary election, minus absentee ballots, show that in two of the races, it appears incumbents are in for serious challenge. The Keller District position 1 incumbent, Darlene Zacherie got 23 votes...

The Grand Coulee/Coulee City meals program will not be affected by any cutbacks due to the sequestering of funds by Congress, Director Myrna Schryvers said Monday. While the Meals on Wheels program might feel some effect from federal cutbacks, the...

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....

A fire in a service bay at Jack’s Four Corners Union 76 that could have been a disaster was quickly extinguished by a combination of firefighters mid-morning Monday. A vehicle in the service bay at...

A task that many thought would be difficult proved a piece of cake for th e school board Monday night. Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Dennis Carlson had asked the board to allow him to name a committee to come up with three possible...

It was an unlikely night, with community activist Greg Wilder, who has opposed just about everything about Coulee Dam’s proposed wastewater treatment plant, going to work for the town. He isn’t being hired by the town, but he volunteered to...

Elmer City has advised the town of Coulee Dam that their agreement on the wastewater treatment plant is over. A letter dated April 22, states that a 1976, 50-year agreement no longer controls the relationship between the towns, and after Elmer City...

Walk-in freezer bid accepted Coulee Dam council voted to accept a bid of $8,650.60 from Cascade Mechanical of Omak to replace the walk-in freezer at the Melody Restaurant. The Community Building The Melody is located in is owned by the town. The...

The Coulee Dam branch of Bank of America will close its doors Aug. 23, corporate officials stated in notices distributed recently, Notices to business and regular customers started going out April 19, and customers have been referred to other BofA...

Fern Blaylock, a veteran volunteer at Center School, received an award April 25 from Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. The award, for outstanding volunteer service, was presented to her at the Governor’s...

Lake Roosevelt High School Principal Brad Wilson is taking a position as principal of the middle school in the Chelan School District. The school board accepted his resignation Monday night. Wilson has been in the Grand Coulee Dam School District 11...

Tickets for the Colorama Carnival went on sale last week at nine locations in the area. The Paradise Amusement Carnival will be held near North Dam Park, May 9-11, and is one of the featured attractions of the Colorama Festival. Tickets sell for $25...

Charli Knight said Monday she had about 80 participants signed up to “Walk for a Fight” in the 5K event she has planned for this Saturday, May 4 at 10 a.m. The Lake Roosevelt High School senior organized the walk to benefit The Support Center, a...

A public art hunt is on for the new K-12 school project. Public buildings are required to set aside one-half of one percent of the cost of construction for art. The school board decided Monday night to seek art produced by local artists, that is...

Bailey Nachtigal rounds the second barrel at the Nespelem Junior Rodeo Sunday to take the championship in the Senior Girls’ Barrels with a time of 18.674 and a score of 63. More photos from Sunday events are online at grandcoulee.com. — Scott...

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...

A California woman arrested last Thursday who allegedly made a bomb threat while on a tour at Grand Coulee Dam, was booked into Okanogan County Jail and released the next day on her personal recognizance. Christina Frisvold, 33, was arrested by...

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...

Grand Coulee is going to make an effort to get a daycare center in its Central Business District zone. The public interest in a daycare center has attracted the attention of city officials, and the ways and means of making a zoning change was...

The K-12 school project is underway. It started at 9 a.m. Tuesday with a formal groundbreaking, and immediately Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Dennis Carlson met with builder represen...