News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Lake Roosevelt Schools are seeking a community review panel for their School Improvement Plan. “We are in the process of finalizing the LRHS School Improvement Plan (SIP) and would like feedback from our community stakeholders,” a description on the school’s website reads. The SIP is a document required by Washington State and “includes academic outcomes and action steps that focus on improving school goals, community engagement, equity, and other important factors for school success.” The SIP review will take place sometime from April 26-...
Nez Perce descendents who are currently in fourth through eighth grades have until April 27 to apply for a free rafting trip down the Snake River in their ancestral Nez Perce homelands. The rafting trip program seeks to have 15 youth from three different areas with Nez Perce residents to go on a 32-river-mile trip along the Snake River July 25-29, which includes two nights camping along the river. The program, paid for with grant money from the Gray Family Foundation, is being conducted in a partnership between the Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland Pr...
A woman standing on two horses and jumping through a hoop of fire is something you have to see, and can see, at this year's Colorama Rodeo. Haley Proctor, wife of Grand Coulee's own national rodeo star Shane Proctor, is a trick rider in rodeos herself. Having seen her uncle do trick riding when she was little, Haley Proctor got in trouble trying to do things she wasn't supposed to do like standing up on her horse or hanging off the side. So her parents told her if she was going to do trick...
Grant PUD announced last week that it would join in a partnership with two other entities to pursue building a nuclear power project. The county-based utility that already operates two hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River will work with Energy Northwest and X-energy, in a "TRi Energy Partnership," a "mutual partnership to support the development and commercial demonstration of the country's first advanced nuclear reactor," the public utility district announced in a press release Thursday....
Having grown up on a cattle ranch in Nespelem, Rachel McClure now finds herself working for a congressman, striding two worlds connected by legislation with a large influence on agriculture. McClure grew up on her family's cattle ranch, near Nespelem, that has been in operation for over 100 years. "My roots are deep there," she told The Star in an interview conducted over email. " I feel very fortunate to have grown up in such a beautiful place and with access to horses, fishing, and all the...
The area comprising the Grand Coulee Dam School District has a 14-day COVID-19 incident rate of 263 cases per 100,000 population. The district’s website, www.gcdsd.org, includes a link to a Covid report compiling data from the five local zip codes within the district including 99123, 99133, 99155, 99124, and 99116. Updated on Friday, the report shows 11 cases within those zip codes making for the incidence rate of 283 cases per 100,000 population, as of March 26. In Grant County, the incident rate as of March 26 was 211. As of March 29, t... Full story
Nespelem School has been phasing students into in-person schooling. The school board approved the return to in person school at their meeting held at the end of February. Principal and Superintendent Effie Dean told The Star that Indian Health Services vaccinated the school staff in February, giving the school board the confidence to bring kids back to in-person school. Dean said the school started phasing students into in-person schooling a couple of weeks ago with kindergarten through second-grade students attending for about a full day of in...
If awarded a grant, Grand Coulee’s Shane Proctor Park could have new playground equipment, a half-court basketball court, and more. The city of Grand Coulee applied for a $162,000 grant from the Ephrata-based Paul Lauzier Foundation to make improvements to the park located along SR-174 between the gas station and the Mexican restaurant. The grant would pay for new playground equipment and playground surface, a half-court basketball court, and to make the park compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. “The last couple of years the...
The Colorama Rodeo this year will include a show put on by Jason Dent, also known as Whistle-Nut, and his pet bull that he can ride around like a horse. Whistle-Nut is an entertainer, barrel man, clown, and stuntman "all rolled into one," he told The Star over the phone on Monday. "We're the real deal. ... They can expect to really be wowed," he said about his show that includes comedy, stunts, and personal interaction with the crowd. Ole (pronounced OH-lee), now 15 years old, was trained as a...
The annual spring cleanup will be free after all. The Regional Board of Mayors, after being awarded a grant, chose during a special meeting March 18 not to charge locals for dumping yard waste at the Delano Regional Transfer Station during spring cleanup week, which runs from April 3-16, with days depending on each town (see the ad on page 2). Originally, the mayors had chosen this year to charge a fee for pickup loads of yard waste taken to the transfer station to cover the costs of taking that waste to the landfill in Ephrata. They were previ...
Pedestrians in Elmer City will be more footloose and fancy-free with a pathway project being completed later this year. In 2018, phase one of the pathway project built a path along the Lower River Road from Third Street to about halfway to Front Street, with two crosswalks connecting to the Downriver Trail across the Lower River Road. Phase two will finish the path down to Front Street. Front Street’s sidewalk, which currently stops short of the corner with the Lower River Road, will be completed and connect with the pathway. During their M...
Scouts are staying busy with another food drive. “A food drive is always helpful,” said Carol Nordine, who manages the local Care and Share Food Bank located at the Nazarene Church on the outskirts of Grand Coulee heading east on SR-174. “It gets us a variety of things we normally don’t have.” The boys and girls in the local troops left bags at area residences last weekend with a flier explaining how to donate food. Residents are encouraged to place food in the bags and leave them outside their homes before 9 a.m. this Saturday, March 27,...
Raiders win third straight football shutout The Lake Roosevelt Raiders football team defeated the Manson Trojans 41-0 in Coulee Dam Friday, their third straight shutout in a row, for a 3-0 win-loss record. The Raiders first got on the scoreboard when quarterback Hunter Whitelaw powered his way into the endzone on a short run after the Raiders made their way downfield. Next, Whitelaw threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Sam Wapato, and then ran a 50-yard touchdown run to end the first quarter with...
Whether they continue to share a wastewater treatment facility with Coulee Dam, or build their own, Elmer City ratepayers are looking at higher sewer rates, but how much higher remains to be determined. The Elmer City council watched a presentation from Project Engineer Nancy Wetch of Gray and Osbourne last Thursday night. Wetch’s report compared the estimated cost of building Elmer City’s own wastewater treatment facility to the costs of renegotiating their current agreement with Coulee Dam, which expires at the end of 2024. The report loo...
The need for a community basketball court was discussed at a parks district meeting last week. Commissioners for the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District met on March 10 via Zoom for the first time since December. Commissioners discussed pursuing grants for projects in North Dam Park, such as for new playground equipment, which was a top priority for respondents to a poll The Star conducted in December. Respondents to that poll also expressed wanting a full-size basketball court, with the current single basketball hoop at the park, on a...
Electric City will be holding its second informal meeting with the community where people can give their input and ask questions about the goings on of the city. The meeting is scheduled for Saturday, March 20, from 1-3 p.m. at the American Legion building on Coulee Boulevard. The mayor, city engineer, and members of the city planning commission and city council will be available to talk to the public. Topics at the meeting include sidewalks being built, the pedestrian waterfront pathway project, an informal poll on a community park, changes to...
American Legion #157 Commander Jim Brakebill spoke to the Regional Board of Mayors March 8 about wanting to create a veterans’ memorial for the Coulee area. Brakebill emphasized the idea for a memorial was only in the earliest stages, and he wanted to involve the mayors and communities so that people could share their input on the project. Various possibilities were discussed in brief, including the options of having lighted flags for the different branches of the military, and of selling bricks with the names of service members printed on t...
The annual spring cleanup in the area will be different this year due to not having curbside pickup from the cities, as well as there being a charge to dump the yard waste you haul yourself. The Regional Board of Mayors on Monday set April 3-10 as the week for spring cleanup when people can bring their yard waste to the Delano Regional Transfer Station, but this year there will be a charge. A pickup load of 2.5 cubic yards, which is a standard size pickup bed filled level with the sides of the bed, will cost $5.25 per load, including tax. Any...
Staff members at Lake Roosevelt Schools received COVID-19 vaccines at Safeway in Grand Coulee and at the Okanogan fairgrounds this past week as part of a nationwide effort to vaccinate school staff before the end of the month. On March 2, President Joe Biden announced a directive to all states to get every pre-K educator, K-12 teacher, and childcare worker at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine in the month of March. Following that announcement, Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Paul Turner said he began working with Okanogan...
Will the Laser Light Show and Visitor Center at the Grand Coulee Dam, which saw nearly 200,000 people in 2019, open this spring? The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation didn’t answer the question from The Star with a straight yes or no, but did answer. “At this time, the laser light show and Grand Coulee Dam Visitor Center will remain temporarily closed in support of the recommended guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” said Public Affairs Specialist Erika Lopez, who works in Boise, Idaho, in an email. Lopez said that the G...
The COVID-19 pandemic, having been prevalent in the US for about a year, has had an affect on the lives of people around the world, including an affect on mental health. “The pandemic has been hard on everyone,” Dr. Marilynn Holman, a psychiatrist at Coulee Medical Center, told The Star in an email. “Financial concerns, social isolation, increased childcare, fear for health of self and others – all can worsen stress and mood.” Holman also said that “those with limited internet/phone access have been particularly impacted as many services or...
Raiders win football season opener The Lake Roosevelt Raiders were strong as ever on Friday when they defeated the Tonasket Tigers, 37-0, in a football blowout in Tonasket. The Raiders were "led by a strong rushing attack," Head Coach Tim Rasmussen wrote on the team's website. Senior Hunter Whitelaw led the attack, running for three touchdowns. Sophomore Brit Egbert threw two touchdown passes, one to sophomore Chase Clark and one to junior Gabe Waters. The Raiders will host the Oroville Hornets...
Tonight, 13 Lake Roosevelt High School students will be inducted into the National Honor Society, joining 18 of their peers. The students are being inducted tonight, Wednesday March 10, at 7 p.m., with some students to be present in the gym and some attending virtually. Students can invite two guests each to the physical event, which will also be live streamed online. The inductees this year are: Penelope Antoine, Ashley Baker, Camryn Carden, Chase Clark, Brit Egbert, Tanner Kiser, Landon Krohn, Elijah Rasmussen, Kawika Whalawista, Hunter...
The Banks Lake Pumped Storage Project, which would bring an estimated 1,000-2,000 workers to the area during construction and add an extra 500 megawatts of hydropower electricity per hour, is still in the works, if a little Covid delayed. Secretary Manager Darvin Fales of Columbia Basin Hydropower spoke to The Star on the phone Tuesday, with an update on the project for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The gravity-feed system would power two 250-megawatt generating units, or...
A senior trip to Huntington Beach, California is still looking like a go after the board approved the trip contingent on another update in April. About 30 Lake Roosevelt High School seniors are interested in taking the trip on which they would fly to San Diego May 29, bus to Huntington Beach, spend time at an art center, surfing, and at a campfire on the beach before returning to Washington May 31. The trip was discussed at a Feb. 22 school board meeting, but wasn’t yet approved because of confusion as to travel restrictions related to going t...