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  • Consolidating towns to be topic of informal discussion

    Jacob Wagner|Sep 19, 2018

    The topic of consolidating local area towns will be discussed in a social setting at the Wine Bar in Grand Coulee Sept. 27 at 5:30 p.m. and the public is invited to attend. Attending will be three representatives from SCJ Alliance, a company that specializes in land use, engineering, outreach, and facility planning and which was involved in the consolidation of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, a combination of Army and Air Force bases south of Tacoma. The representatives will be able to answer questions about the topic. Consolidating towns is not a...

  • Electric City discusses putting restriction on RVs on empty lots

    Jacob Wagner|Sep 19, 2018

    Are recreational vehicles taking up city lots that could be used for houses? That’s a concern officials at Electric City have. At the Sept. 11 city council meeting, City Clerk Russ Powers brought an emerging issue to the council’s attention to see if they wanted to leave things alone, or take some form of action. Currently, people can buy a lot and park multiple RVs on it, often just for a summer spot for people who like to fish or vacation in the area. “Instead of buying a house or building a house, they’ll just create a lot with an RV on i...

  • Raider football continues to shut out opponents

    Jacob Wagner|Sep 19, 2018

    The Raiders won their third shutout in a row, winning 46-0 against the Liberty Bell Mountain Lions at home in Coulee Dam on Friday. The Raiders had won 44-0 in week one of the regular season against the Okanogan JV team, and 48-0 against Tonasket the following week. Under the Friday night lights against the Mountain Lions, things went the Raiders' way from start to finish. On fourth down in the first quarter, quarterback Steven Flowers completed a 22-yard touchdown pass to Darin Whiteman. Tony...

  • Thompson named WIAA player of the week

    Jacob Wagner|Sep 19, 2018

    Lady Raider volleyball player Mikaylah Thompson was named the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association's player of the week, WIAA announced last Wednesday. "I'm thrilled that they chose her! She is very deserving!" said Head Coach Teri Sue Reed, who had nominated Thompson for the award. "Thompson had an impressive showing against Wilbur-Creston, where the Raiders won in five tough sets," the WIAA website said. "They were led by the junior who totaled 25 kills and served nine aces."...

  • Lady Raiders out-volley Shockers

    Jacob Wagner|Sep 19, 2018

    The Lake Roosevelt Lady Raiders volleyball squad swept Waterville 3-0 at home Sept. 13. "Excellent serving game from Megan Abel," remarked Head Coach Teri Sue Reed. "She led the team with nine aces." The 6-foot-plus Hansen sisters - Audrey, Ellie, and Addison - stood tall in their blocking game, as well. "The trio of Hansens combined for 10 blocks, with Ellie in the front with six," Reed said. The Lady Raiders were scheduled to play in Tonasket yesterday against the Lady Tigers, results of...

  • Soccer players find their niches

    Jacob Wagner|Sep 19, 2018

    The Lady Raiders soccer team maintained a 3-2 lead against the Manson Lady Trojans in Grand Coulee, nabbing a victory in their first home match Sept. 11. "Bryn Chaffee was the first to score, breaking through Manson's defense with a perfectly placed shot," stated Head Coach Casey Moore. "Maddie Toulou followed suit with a first-half score, and Bryn took advantage of a ball deflected off the goalie and easily scored the third and final goal for LR." At halftime it was obvious that some...

  • CC runs at Bridgeport

    Jacob Wagner|Sep 19, 2018

    The Lake Roosevelt Raider cross country team ran at the Lake Woods Golf Course in Bridgeport on Sept. 11, where the highlight came from the junior high race. “Our standout athlete from this meet was definitely Chase Marchand,” said Coach Travis Adams. “Chase is a seventh-grader that battled it out with eighth-graders and took first by less than a second at the finish line.” “It came down to a photo finish,” added Coach Ann Green. Marchand finished the 1.5-mile race in 8 minutes, 52.65 seconds, just ahead of eighth-grade Brewster runner Enri...

  • LR students react to assembly, staff react to students' surveys

    Jacob Wagner|Sep 12, 2018

    An assembly held at Lake Roosevelt in May included stories of how drugs and alcohol can affect someone, as well as rap music, and the students reacted strongly to it all. A survey of the students following the survey has helped enlighten staff to issues the student body is facing, and has propelled them toward helping deal with these issues. At the assembly in May, James Pakootas spoke about the dark path of drugs and alcohol he went down, how it negatively affected him, how he got into it, and...

  • Man passes through coulee on 1,250-mile kayak journey

    Jacob Wagner|Sep 12, 2018

    Imagine kayaking 1,250 miles down the Columbia River from Columbia Lake, in British Columbia, down to Astoria, Oregon. That's exactly what John Kuntz, of Fort Gamble, Washington, is doing. "It's beautiful," Kuntz said. "Lots of beaches, dramatic landscapes," adding that he's seen a variety of wildlife, including bear, elk, moose, river otter, turkey, coyotes, and at least the prints of cougars. Kuntz, who is paddling the river in part as a way of "teaching youth the art of adventure," left the...

  • Raiders ransack Tonasket

    Jacob Wagner|Sep 12, 2018

    Lightning struck, and the Raider football team demolished the Tonasket Tigers in a game that took two days to complete. The Raiders were winning 12-0 in Tonasket on Friday, Sept. 7, when the game was called due to weather after a two-hour lightning delay. With about nine minutes left in the second quarter, the game started back up on Monday, Sept. 10. The Raiders racked up an additional 36 points on Monday, making for a final score of 48-0. "We had great defense and special-teams play," said...

  • Lady Raiders drop first soccer game to Fillies

    Jacob Wagner|Sep 12, 2018

    The Lady Raiders lost their soccer season opener Sept. 6 to the Bridgeport Fillies, on the Fillies’ home field, 5-1. Head Coach Casey Moore said it was a “tough loss.” “Overall, the entire team played very well,” Moore said. “Key improvements included communication, passing, and defense.” Sophomore Bryn Chaffee scored the only goal for Lake Roosevelt off an assist from Ravina Pakootas, who “brought the ball to mid-field from the defensive line and passed it to Bryn, who dribbled through three defenders to score a perfectly placed shot,” a...

  • Lady Raiders split games to start the season

    Jacob Wagner|Sep 12, 2018

    The Lady Raiders lost against Manson but won against Wilbur/Creston in their first week of the volleyball season. At home on Sept. 6, the Lady Raiders lost 3-1 against the Manson Lady Trojans. "We struggled with serving, missing 16, and had nine 'in the net' calls," said Head Coach Teri Sue Reed. "That's just giving away too many points!" But the Lady Raiders had their highlights. Megan Abel made a whopping 17 assists, Ellie Hansen led the Lady Raiders with eight kills, Addison Hansen made a...

  • PUD ups costs for Bitcoin miners

    Jacob Wagner|Sep 5, 2018

    An electric utility has created a new rate class that could dramatically affect the local development of an “evolving industry” with an Electric City participant. Grant County Public Utility District commissioners voted last week to increase electricity rates for high-power cryptocurrency miners to protect “Grant PUD and its customers from risk,” a PUD press release stated Aug. 28. “Starting April 1, 2019, cryptocurrency miners and other ‘evolving-industry’ firms will pay the first of a three-year, graduated increase to a new, above-cost el...

  • Hospital educates congressman

    Jacob Wagner|Sep 5, 2018

    Congressman Dan Newhouse, who represents Washington's 4th District, visited Coulee Medical Center Aug. 29 to discuss issues with rural hospitals, particularly in relation to obstetrical services. Newhouse, joined by staff member Liz Daniels, sat down to lunch from the Fusion Café with CMC staff at the hospital and watched a presentation by Beth Goetz, the obstetrical nurse manager at CMC. Goetz presented statistics related to rural area infant mortality compared to urban, maternal mortality,...

  • Brews, views and more on tap for Harvest Festival

    Jacob Wagner|Sep 5, 2018

    There’s nothing like some good views, brews and tunes to ring in the autumn season. At the Harvest Festival this year, helicopter rides will be available from Inland Helicopters from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 15, and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 16. Those who go along for the ride will receive a scenic bird’s-eye-view of the coulee’s unique landscape, a great opportunity to take photos for the photographer in all of us. And when you need to calm down from the adrenaline rush of flying in a helicopter, the Harvest Festi...

  • Raiders rub Bulldogs' noses in it

    Jacob Wagner|Sep 5, 2018

    The Lake Roosevelt Raiders football team defeated the Okanogan JV team in the first game of the 2018-19 season with a final score of 44-0. With Bridgeport and Waterville not having football teams this year due to lack of qualifying players, LR took on the Okanogan JV team in a non-league game to help fill out the season, and will later play Kettle Falls, not a usual opponent. Towering over most of their opponents, LR controlled the entire game, leading 30-0 at the half before adding another 14...

  • Teachers present case for higher pay

    Jacob Wagner|Aug 29, 2018

    More than a dozen teachers attended Monday's Grand Coulee Dam School District board meeting, where Pamela Johnson and Carrie Derr spoke on behalf of their union to make a case for higher pay to keep quality teachers in the district. Johnson and Derr, the president and vice president of the Grand Coulee Dam Education Association, took turns reciting lines from their prepared speech. "In our last school year we lost one third of our teaching staff," the speech began. "Most of these teachers have...

  • District considers lowering standard for substitute teachers

    Jacob Wagner|Aug 29, 2018

    The Grand Coulee Dam School District may change the qualifications for a substitute teacher so that more people would qualify. According to the Office of Superintendent for Public Instruction, Washington state requires a substitute teacher to have a bachelor’s degree or higher, to have completed a teacher preparation program, an alternative route program leading to certification, or three years of out-of-state teaching with an out-of-state certificate, fingerprints, and a background check. An emergency substitute teaching certificate, on the o...

  • City may just let state issue business licenses

    Jacob Wagner|Aug 29, 2018

    Due to complications from a new state law, the city of Grand Coulee is considering no longer issuing business licenses. The new law requires a lot of extra work for the city to coordinate with the state and the businesses, work that City Clerk Lorna Pearce feels may not justify the $4,500 a year the licenses bring into the city. If Grand Coulee chooses to continue issuing licenses, Pearce explained, their licenses would have to be issued from the state of Washington website. “We’ll have to wait for them to give us our money, pull reports fro...

  • From Grand Coulee Dam area, he's now making movies in Los Angeles

    Jacob Wagner|Aug 29, 2018

    After being kicked out of the Grand Coulee Dam School District in 2006 for not taking school seriously, Devin White moved to the Vancouver-Portland area, where he earned his graduation equivalency diploma and began to be classically trained in theater and film acting. White has studied at Clarke College and with the Portland Actors Conservatory, the second largest theater in Portland; the Artists Repertory Theatre; Blanche-Rooney Studios; the Actor Experiment; with Jana Lee Hamblin at ActNow...

  • Landlord's water bill keeps business from operating

    Jacob Wagner|Aug 29, 2018

    Red tape, protocol, and a failure to communicate is keeping the Grand Gallery of Arts from reopening. Faran Sohappy owns a business called Music and Beyond. First located off of Midway Avenue across from Safeway, Sohappy was selling CDs, music equipment, movies, and more. Sohappy jumped at the opportunity to move his business to the Grand Gallery of Arts building on Main Street. The move to the new rented space would enable Sohappy to, in addition to running his shop, host music events on the stage and produce music, something he is passionate...

  • Top BBQ chefs to compete at festival here

    Jacob Wagner|Aug 29, 2018

    Better put another notch in your belt, the barbecue competition will be back at Harvest Festival. The Pacific Northwest BBQ Association will be bringing their competition to Banks Lake Park on Saturday, Sept. 15 and Sunday, Sept. 16. The event runs on Saturday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. the public can get their fingers on the tasty morsels. You can get four samples for $10. Prizes in the competition total $6,500, in addition to trophies and ribbons for the best meat masters....

  • New federal fire help makes a difference

    Jacob Wagner|Aug 22, 2018

    The federal Bureau of Land Management’s recent agreement with the Bureau of Reclamation and local fire districts has already paid off this fire season. The USBR turned over 200,000 acres to the BLM to manage. With Grand Coulee’s fire district already on board with the agreement, Electric City has joined up as well. Fire Chief for Electric City Mark Payne spoke to the Electric City Council last week about the benefits of the agreement. “Ninety percent of our district is bureau ground,” Payne said, “and so we had access to ground troops, cats; it...

  • Run the Dam will add to Harvest Festival

    Jacob Wagner|Aug 22, 2018

    Lace up your running shoes, Run the Dam 2018 will be held on Sept. 15. Participants can walk or run a 5k, 10k, or half-marathon distance, beginning on the east side of the Grand Coulee Dam, running across the largest concrete structure in North America, through "Old Grand Coulee" along B Street, and back along Banks Lake, finishing at North Dam Park, where Harvest Festival will be taking place. Kelly Buche, who is in her third year organizing the event, is expecting about 220 people to...

  • Which cell phone carrier should you choose?

    Jacob Wagner|Aug 22, 2018

    Depending on where you live and work in the area, it can be hard to choose a cell-phone service provider that has service where you are. Who better to ask about where they have coverage than local citizens? Responding to an August 9 post on the Star’s Facebook page, people weighed in on three big cell-phone companies: AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. People appear happiest with T-Mobile and Verizon, with AT&T being very spotty in Coulee Dam despite working above the dam and in Nespelem. “T-Mobile [is] the only way to go,” Gary Haag commented. “Year...

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