News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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The Raider boys scored their fifth straight win Tuesday night, defeating the Mountain Lions at Liberty Bell 61-52. "The game started out very slow and sluggish for us but once we got our tempo picked up things turned around for us," said Head Coach Ed Wolfe. Brandon Pino picked it up early and finished with 22 points to lead in Raider scoring. In the first quarter, Chase Marchand scored the 1,000th point in his high school basketball career, a rare feat and "huge milestone for him," Wolfe said....
Grand Coulee will offer a new police chief a starting salary range from $95,000 to $110,000 a year. That was decided at the Nov. 21 city council meeting to prepare for the coming retirement of Chief John Tufts, who is currently paid a salary of about $127,200 per year, the mayor said. That outpaces salaries for chiefs in many other cities of similar size in Washington, according to Councilmember Anita Eylar, who looked up several with populations around 1,000 currently paying in a range of $4,800-$6,100. Others pointed out that population size...
Elmer City residents should look in their utility bills for a link to a survey that is the first step in the town's planning efforts toward coming up with a plan to improve its park or outdoor recreation offerings, and apply for funds to make them real. In addition to the online link, paper copies will be available at the town hall. "It is important that the Town receive a high return rate in order to accurately assess community desires," a press release on the subject states. "It is fine for...
Six local municipalities will receive nearly $3.9 million in funding help for street projects in 2024, having been selected by the state Transportation Improvement Board, the agency announced this week. Coulee Dam will get more than $1 million for two projects: $546,185 will go for chip sealing many streets in the city. Another $486,406 will go to wheelchair ramp upgrades in multiple locations. Electric City will get $155,000 for street maintenance. Grand Coulee will get $126,875 for Spokane Way improvements from Alcan Road to East Grand...
A plan to aid the police department in Grand Coulee was awarded a large federal grant that may help pay for a school resource officer, training, community engagement, and more. It’s the plan that officer Matt Gilbert pitched to his city council last week after learning the Justice Department grant he’d applied for last May had actually been awarded, the same plan he put forth to the Grand Coulee Dam School District board Nov. 13, a plan for which they would each have to significantly adjust their budgets. Gilbert told both the council and the...
Ken Stanger is retiring from the school board after 14 years and received official thanks for his service at Monday night's meeting. Rich Black, president of the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors, presented Stanger with a framed letter of commendation Monday night at their regular meeting. "Your service has had a lasting, positive impact on the local community, the Grand Coulee Dam School District staff, the parents of district students, and most importantly, the students that...
Over a month after Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel and her people, both parties have agreed to a deal on hostage and prisoner exchanges, and a ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. While civilians will receive food, water, and emergency care amid the exchange negotiations, Hamas’ radical indoctrination of antisemitism will continue to spread. “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. Then the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: O’ Moslem, there is a Jew h...
Electric City’s council last week raised questions and concerns about the funding and staffing of the only ambulance service for the area. The service is run by the city of Grand Coulee’s volunteer fire department, which depends on voluntary staffers responding to calls. The city council’s attention was drawn to the question a month earlier when Grand Coulee City Councilmember Tom Poplawski visited to ask Electric City to consider contributing toward the costs of calls that Grand Coulee can’t bill for because it doesn’t result in a patient t...
A police officer pitched to the school board the idea of writing grants to get a “resource officer” into Lake Roosevelt Schools. Matt Gilbert, an officer with the Grand Coulee Police Department, spoke to the Grand Coulee Dam School District directors Nov. 13 after having met with Superintendent Rod Broadnax earlier. Gilbert said he’d actually written a grant application earlier that could have paid for new locks the board had just learned, in previous presentation that night, would cost the district about $28,000. “We were denied it based upon...
A local chef approached the school board last week about the possibility of using a school classroom to teach cooking classes to the public for a fee if it wouldn’t go against a district policy. Patty Oliver, owner of PK’s Culinary, told Grand Coulee Dam School District directors she would start with one-day cooking workshops on “endless topics,” including, for example, cooking pastas, sauces, sushi, appetizers and more. “I’m just looking for a space to do it,” she said, and teacher Susan Duclos’ room at the school is the best she’s found in...
I have waited approximately eight years for a determination on when we, Colville Tribal Members, were going to be compensated for the 2015 North Star fire. Since I haven’t heard of any compensation, I decided to file a FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] request with the BIA Regional office in Portland, Oregon. I filed this request on January 13, 2023, and I have received two answers as of this writing and will receive a final third response in the near future. I am going to share a portion of what I received because I believe it is in the b...
She was just filling in this season, but Lake Roosevelt's Lady Raider volleyball team head coach, Kasey Garvin, was honored as "Coach of the Year" in that sport among Central Washington B League schools. No newcomer, Garvin has previously coached the sport she once took part in as a Raider athlete but had not planned to take the lead this year until she was tapped when last year's head coach needed to take a time out. Raider varsity volleyball players joining her in the list of league honorees...
A local lending business is looking for a larger space to operate and is eyeing Coulee Dam’s “Community Building” as a future possibility. Jordan Ruiz, the newly appointed executive director of the Northwest Native Development Fund approached the city last week about the building that houses, a closed movie theater, an operating bowling alley, the Rio Grande restaurant, and the city’s fire department. She said NNDF wouldn’t need any of the occupied spaces but would like to explore altering the space the theater used to operate in to accommoda...
Since day one in the White House, President Biden has touted that his administration would promote “the most ambitious climate change agenda in history” and “expand affordable clean energy to every American.” While this is a talking point we continuously hear from both the President’s campaign and at the White House’s daily press briefings, I fear President Biden has a misunderstanding of how we can actually achieve the clean energy future he talks about. We cannot face our climate challenges today by viewing the issue through a straw hole....
In local elections Tuesday, Electric City voters demonstrated a preference for change, favoring two newcomers over one current and one former city council member, and giving another current councilman a fairly close race, with two of the three Grand Coulee Police officers who ran for council poised to take office. Incumbent Councilmember Brian Buche appears to have survived a challenge from Thomas Levi Johnson for council position 3 by a vote of 117 to 89 or 57-43%. But Matt Gilbert clearly won the race for position 4 seat that former council...
Inside this issue of The Star and inside Lake Roosevelt Schools this week are two things designed to help you remember what Veterans Day is all about. And if that were not enough, how about adding a good breakfast. At Lake Roosevelt Schools this Thursday, the public is invited to a special assembly in honor of veterans at 9 a.m. in the gym. The assembly both honors the veterans and impresses on students the importance of understanding their commitment to the country. At the annual assembly students personally honor attending veterans, and a...
Congrats on the Turnbull Award. Journalism is a tough gig right now and rural journalism even tougher. You’ve managed to keep the community informed and educated and entertained despite their resistance at times. The Star is really a hub for the whole area and you are doing consistent, outstanding work. I’m pleased it has been recognized by your peers. It’s well earned. And ask Carl Russell if he’s ever heard of James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Zachary Taylor or Herbert Hoover. You should know all the preside...
Caden Portch competed at the state cross country meet at the Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco last Saturday, turning in his best time ever in the 5,000-meter race. The sophomore Lake Roosevelt Raider completed the course in 18 minutes, 13.3 seconds, a time he fairly steadily whittled down all season from a high of 21:56.9 in Manson on Sept. 16. when he finished 21st. Two weeks later, he took the top honors at Tonasket in 19:35.8, then trimmed his time to 18:58.0 in Omak a week later. "He's a...
The Lady Raiders lost their last volleyball game of the season in three sets Saturday to the Lind-Ritzville-Sprague Broncos at Mead High School in Spokane. The teams met in a District 6/7 2B Volleyball Crossover game in which the Broncos prevailed in three sets 25-14, 25-14, 25-9, sending them to the state tournament this coming weekend in Yakima. Lake Roosevelt finished the season with a 9-5 win-loss record in the Central Washington B League, 10-9 overall....
The Raiders ended their football season with a drubbing at the hands of Northwest Christian in the District 6/7 Crossover game at Riverside High School in Chattaroy Friday night. The Crusaders (10-1) took down the Raiders 76-14, ending the season for Lake Roosevelt with a 5-5 win-loss record overall. Lake Roosevelt's team scored two touchdowns in the first quarter, one on Francis Louie's long run after he had the presence of mind to pick up a still-live ball near the end of a play, took off for...
Blake Martin thinks the Electric City Council has a relationship problem with its citizens. If he were to win the election for a seat at that table, he could help change that, he says. "I don't feel like community concerns are being heard and responded to as they should be," he said. "I feel as there is a current disconnect there between our elected city officials and the general public." Although Martin said he is a fan of the community meetings the city has been having, they still fall short...
Birdie Hensley is running for Electric City Council to find out what’s going on, and to fix some earlier mistakes. “I just think if you’re in the community, you should be involved,” she said. “And if you’re not on city council, you don’t find anything out about the city.” She’s been on council before, when the council made new rules on development requirements for curbs and sidewalks. That was during a time when the city annexed land with an eye on possible expansion to the south. Now she sees that push had some unintended consequences, mak...
Coulee Dam Police Chief Paul Bowden briefed the city council last week on a couple possibilities for expanding the kinds of services his agency can provide. They include connected cameras that read license plates, and also trained police dogs that can search for drugs. Bowden would like to consider the purchase of four cameras, two for Coulee Dam , two for Electric City, which his department serves, to mount and record license plates as they come through town. He said he was considering applying for an available grant to pay for the cameras,...
If you live in Grant County and power your home with Grant PUD electricity, you pay below the utility’s cost to produce it, and discussions are underway now on how to gradually increase rates to get back on track toward “target goal posts” after a four-year hiatus. Grant PUD commissioners told an audience in their packed boardroom Oct. 24 that their ongoing “discussion over how to set electric rates and arrive at a rate increase for 2024 will take into account all the county’s economic sectors and ensure ‘core customers’ are protected,” a...
The Raider girls beat Liberty Bell in their first District 6 playoff game Saturday at Omak High School 3-0, but lost three hours later to Okanogan in three sets. Then on Tuesday, Halloween night, at 6 p.m., Lake Roosevelt met the Bears in the Omak gym, this time falling 1-3 to Brewster and taking fourth place in District 6. Now it's time to broaden the competition. LR's girls will move on to the District 6/7 2B Volleyball Crossover Saturday, Nov. 4 at Mead High School in Spokane. They'll play...