News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Harvest Fest has been cancelled due to a surge in COVID-19 cases. The board of directors of the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce called a special meeting Sept. 1 to make the decision on the seasonal festival, originally planned for Sept. 18-19, Chamber Executive Director Rachelle Haven said. “The decision was not made lightly,” she said. “While we know that everyone wants to get back to business as usual and in person events again, we felt, with the surge of COVID cases in the community, it would not be responsible of us to host an ev...
When you drive across it on highway 2, you may not think of Moses Coulee as anyone's home, but once it was a place where people lived in villages, grew gardens and gathered what they needed to live. Previously undocumented rock feature sites in the Moses Coulee region, significant to local tribes, can now be recorded with help from National Park Service dollars. The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation are one of 12 recipients of Tribal Heritage Grant money. Congress appropriated...
"Music is part of human nature," according to new Lake Roosevelt Music Teacher Gabriel James, who moved to Coulee Dam recently for the gig. James, who grew up in Spokane, received his undergraduate degree in jazz performance from Whitworth University, then a master's degree in teaching in June of this year. Saxophone is his main instrument, and he also plays flute and clarinet. While in high school, James played in the Spokane Area Wind Ensemble, and Spokane Area Jazz Ensemble, both of which...
The Raider varsity football team won their season opener Friday, defeating the Chewelah Cougars 12-7 in Chewelah. “We knew that Chewelah was a tough opponent,” Raider Head Coach Tim Rasmussen told The Star on Monday. “It was a very good battle, a great defensive game from both schools.” “When it comes down to it, we made more plays than they did,” Rasmussen continued. “I was impressed with our team. We were fighting together and not letting things, like the adversity on the field, affect us.” After a 0-0 tie at the end of the first half, Rai...
The Lady Raider volleyball team warmed up for the regular season in a tournament in Davenport on Saturday, where the Lady Raiders defeated Springdale and Davenport but lost to Odessa and Reardan. “We had more logistic things like rotation to work on, otherwise the girls did great,” Head Coach Meagan Caudell said. “We just beat ourselves when it came to those logistic things, but it was a good learning experience!” “My impression [from the tournament] is that our girls have grit,” she said. “They bring their A game to every single game, and onc...
The idea of lowering the speed limit from 45 to 30 miles per hour on SR-155 between Electric City and Grand Coulee is a vastly unpopular idea, a Star survey reveals, with 88% of people being against it. However, it may be necessary to lower the limit if a pathway project is to be built at all. Last week, The Star reported on the possibility of the speed limit being lowered by the Washington State Department of Transportation after a pedestrian pathway is built connecting Coulee Playland to Banks Lake Park between the highway and Banks Lake, on...
You may notice some greenery missing from the drive along SR-155 near the north end of Grand Coulee in the future. About 30 pine trees near Grand Coulee’s wastewater treatment facility on the north side of the road will be removed due to issues caused by the trees for the facility. The trees pose a risk of damage to the facility if they or their limbs fall onto equipment. Already, tree debris such as needles and cones have fallen into the facility and clogged up pipes and the like. According to Assistant Treatment Plant Operator Travis Irwin i...
The speed limit between Electric City and Grand Coulee, currently at 45 miles per hour, could drop to 30 with the construction of a new pedestrian/bike pathway. The Star would like to know whether you want the speed limit lowered. With pedestrians regularly traveling the stretch of road, a pathway is seen as a way to give them a safe place to walk or ride their bikes. In 2018, the project was accepted for a $672,410 grant from the Washington State Department of Transportation with a 5%, $35,390 match from Electric City. The original ped... Full story
Well, it lasted longer than 8 seconds, but after just four years of being named Shane Proctor Park, that park is going back to its old name. The park on SR-174, in Grand Coulee between a gas station and La Presa restaurant is called Grand Coulee City Park. In 2017, the city council approved renaming the park after professional bull-riding champion and Grand Coulee native Shane Proctor. Now, after just four years as Shane Proctor Park, it's being changed back to Grand Coulee City Park. On August...
The mental health of students should be addressed more regularly by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, according to a letter school superintendents sent to him and to the state Department of Health. Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Paul Turner is one of 40 superintendents in Washington that signed an Aug. 18 letter to Inslee in response to a July 28 DOH update requiring masks for all K-12 students and staff. “OUR STUDENTS NEED HOPE,” the letter starts. “Coming off an unmasked summer of Washington State being ‘fully open’, our students...
Students at Lake Roosevelt Schools may start saying “TGIF” for two more reasons this school year: early release, and a different educational approach. On Fridays, students at LR, from kindergarten age to seniors in high school, will be participating on “STEAM” focused projects, or projects that revolve around Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. “Activities and experiences will look different depending on grade level and topic,” Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High Principal Sara Kennedy explained to The Star in an email Tuesday...
An agreement, new this year, allows state firefighting helicopters to park at the Grand Coulee Dam Airport and that's helping put out local fires sooner than later. The Washington State Department of Natural Resources has an emergency-use agreement with Grant County Port District 7 to pay $1,500 a month to keep two helicopters parked at the airport, plus $750 for each additional one that may go there, based on available space. "It looked like a strategic place for us," said Russ Lane, assistant...
A new semi-truck to haul the trailers of trash that come out of the Delano Regional Transfer Station to a landfill in Ephrata will cost a pretty penny in the ballpark of $180,000-$200,000. The Regional Board of Mayors, which includes mayors from Electric City, Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam, and Elmer City, discussed with transfer station manager Randy Gumm Aug. 9 the need for a new truck. City Clerk Peggy Nevsimal of Electric City said possible funding options for the truck included a grant/loan package from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Am...
The lack of animal control locally has been an ongoing issue since time immemorial, but gears are turning in Electric City minds to find a solution for all the local towns. It’s an issue that rears its head at least a couple times a decade, but at the Regional Board of Mayors meeting Aug. 9, Electric City employee Mike Shear and City Clerk Peggy Nevsimal spoke to the board concerning details on how to set up an animal control program. Shear, who currently does code enforcement work for the city and works for the Delano Regional Transfer S...
What if all school sports were played at the same location? The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors recently looked at slides of what the Lake Roosevelt Schools campus could look like under different options. The designs, from the school's recently hired NAC Architecture, showed a football/soccer field with a track around it being located near the current one in Coulee Dam, but at a different angle. A separate baseball field and softball field could fit near it. A new gym could b...
With no music teacher at the school, Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High students will have a different kind of opportunity to play music. Music teacher Karen Pace retired at the end of the last school year from a position not easily filled, but a club called Raider Rock Band was approved by the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors during their Aug. 9 meeting. History teacher Justin Thompson will sponsor the club. He says there are eight students he thinks will definitely join it, and at least 25 who expressed interest. The club...
Everyone who enters Lake Roosevelt Schools’ indoor areas this year should expect to wear a mask regardless of vaccination status, including staff, students, and visitors. Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Paul Turner told The Star on Monday that he intends to follow the masks-for-all guidelines from the Washington State Department of Health and State Superintendent Chris Reykdal. The DOH guidelines state that “all staff and students must continue to wear face coverings/masks, regardless of vaccination status.” A letter from Reykd...
"If you smell smoke, you're breathing smoke," a smoke outlook report from fires.airfire.org says. Today, Wednesday, Grand Coulee is projected to have air that is "unhealthy for sensitive groups," according to the report, and those sensitive groups should avoid physical activity outdoors. Fires producing smoke in the air include the Summit Trail Fire near Inchelium, which on Tuesday morning was at 22,305 acres and 15% contained; and the Cheweah Fire, which is holding at 36,752 acres and is 90%... Full story
Grand Coulee has decided to allow local property owner Sam Hsieh to continue to display multiple advertising signs along his lot located on Main Street called “Coulee Plaza.” “I would like to thank the mayor and the city council for working together with me through this,” Hsieh told The Star on Tuesday. “I’m excited to see Coulee Plaza continuing to serve the community!” The issue has been ongoing since October of 2020 when the city council had initially voted against allowing the signs to stay. Hsieh was told by the city following a c...
There have only been a few cases of Covid locally in the past month. Since June 30, when The Star last reported local covid numbers, there have been zero cases reported from Grant County Public Health for the Grand Coulee and Electric City area of the county, with a total of 48 in those cities since the pandemic began. According to Okanogan Public Health, Coulee Dam has seen 68 total cases, up one since June 30, and Nespelem has seen three new cases since that date for a total of 83. Elmer City has stayed at a total of 20 cases. OPH breaks... Full story
Gov. Jay Inslee met with tribal leaders and people affected by wildfire in Nespelem last week, characterizing the area as perhaps "the epicenter of climate change." He met with the Colville Business Council as well as with incident command staff from recent reservation fires in a closed meeting inside the Lucy Covington Government Center, the Tribal Tribune reported. "These are such difficult days dealing with COVID and these fires," Inslee is reported as saying in the July 21 meeting. "No...
Firefighters work up an appetite saving homes and lands, and they have to eat, often in a small town with no notice of a big need for food. The Grand Coulee Dam Senior Center served 500 meals this past weekend to firefighters who fought the Northrup Fire that started on Thursday. The senior center had helped feed firefighters on the Grass Valley Fire a few years ago, and they appreciated it so much they asked if the senior center could help feed them again. On Friday, a dinner was provided, on...
Local cities will be able to spend money from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, with a combined total of about a million dollars, on things like infrastructure and helping residents. The cities receive money based on their estimated 2019 populations. A list of distributions to cities from the Department of Treasury shows that Electric City, with a population of 1,002, qualifies for $279,706; Grand Coulee, population 1,048, qualifies for $292,547; Coulee Dam, population 1,080, qualifies for $301,480; Elmer City, population 248, qualifies...
A 2021-2022 school budget of $14.6 million in expenditures was approved on Monday. The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors approved the budget in their regular meeting following a public hearing in which there was no public input. The beginning fund balance is roughly $1 million, and with about $14,455,000 in revenues, the total funds available in the 2021-22 school year total about $15,480,000. Those revenues include roughly $816,000 in local taxes dollars (property taxes), $900,000 in local “non-tax” dollars, $6.9 million in...
A $4.9 billion pumped-storage hydropower project has been given preliminary nods by regulators for a site 35 miles upstream from Grand Coulee Dam, near Creston. Similar to the proposed Banks Lake Pumped Storage Project being developed for the Grand Coulee area, the 2,650-Megawatt Halverson Canyon Pumped Storage project got a preliminary permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Developer Daybreak Power Inc. says the project "would connect to the nearby Bonneville Power...