News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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A large group of Eagle Scouts took a hard-hat tour of the Grand Coulee Dam June 25, going deep into the dam to explore the inner workings of the marvel of engineering. The group, known as Eagle Scouts Cycling Across America, is currently bicycling across the country, starting in Seattle and ending in Virginia later in the summer. The group of 32 people, ranging in age from 16 to 67, includes people from 12 different states, with many hailing from Virginia and Pennsylvania, in particular. "It's...
Grand Coulee Councilmember Mike Horne said at the latest council meeting that Sunrise Disposal, who performs garbage collection service in the area, will be using new global positioning system (GPS) equipment in their trucks around the time that their contract with the cities expires at the end of 2019. The GPS system will allow truck drivers to check off houses that they’ve stopped at as they go along their routes. “It’s going to make things a lot easier,” Dick Howe of Sunrise Disposal said, explaining the system at an Electric City council...
Lake Roosevelt Schools will have a new athletic director, physical education teacher, and football coach in Tim Rasmussen, and new elementary school teacher in his wife, Nicole Rasmussen. The Rasmussens are returning to their home state of Washington by way of Texas, where they’ve worked at a school the past few years. “We’re excited to have them,” said Superintendent Paul Turner. “Tim’s going to fill a void we’ve been concerned about, and (Nicole) is a rockstar....
High staff turnover this year in the Grand Coulee Dam School District has led some to wonder why. In many cases, it is simply the right personal decision for the individuals involved, some said. Such is the case with Brian Daniels, who is resigning as a high school English teacher and cross country coach to move to Spokane. “We have always wanted to end up there,” Daniels said about his wife and himself wanting to be closer to extended family. He added that he’ll miss his colleagues, friends, neighbors, and students from this area. Other staff...
Consolidation, or the combining of local towns, is a topic that’s been in discussion for decades. A survey conducted by the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce in 2016 revealed that out of 514 respondents, the majority were in favor of consolidation of two or more of the local towns, with 308 being strongly in favor and 84 being somewhat in favor, as opposed to 99 strongly opposed and 23 somewhat opposed. But what’s happening now? Many ramifications of consolidating the towns would need to be researched by an outside consulting group befo...
Elmer City council last week elected Jesse Tillman as the new mayor following the resignation of Gail Morin last month. Tillman was the only councilmember to throw his hat into the ring for the mayoral position to replace Morin, which will be up for re-election for a two-year term in November 2019. "He's a fourth-generation mayor," said Public Works Director Jimmer Tillman, Jesse's uncle. "His great-grandfather served as mayor, his grandfather, his father, and now him." Tillman's great...
A young bull got loose at the Cleatis Lacy Memorial Bull Riding and Wild Horse Racing last weekend and is still out there somewhere. “He’s running the hillside somewhere,” said Sorrell Katich, of Red Knection K Bulls, based out of Keller. A group of cowboys tried to get the bull back under their control but he jumped off a small cliff, Kattich said, and they weren’t able to continue following him. The bull reportedly ran off toward the Eden Harbor area, and Kattich imagines it will end up somewhere around Wilbur or Almira. The bull “jumped...
The Elmer City council approved Michael Humiston as a new council member at their June 14 meeting. “I enjoy living here, and feel that by serving on the council I can do my part to help support the community,” Humiston said later. Humiston, who was born in Bremerton and raised in Tacoma, received a law degree from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 1990, and also studied European Union law at the University of Amsterdam. “My three areas of expertise are criminal defense, child welfare, and federal Indian law,” Humiston explain...
Newly appointed Elmer City Mayor Jesse Tillman said at the town’s June 14 council meeting that he had spoken with Coulee Dam Mayor Larry Price about the ongoing wastewater treatment plant issue between the two towns. Coulee Dam is building a new wastewater treatment plant and wants Elmer City to pay for lift pumps that would allow Elmer City to continue to send its wastewater to Coulee Dam for treatment. Elmer City doesn’t want to pay for those lift pumps. Tillman explained that he and Price think they should have a meeting with themselves and...
Electric City resident Wayne Snyder argues that details of a deal he made with the city to annex a neighborhood he developed aren’t being honored. Snyder owns the land on “Snyder Hill,” located in the northern part of the city limits, which includes half a dozen houses and about 17 acres of land. “(Then-mayor) Ray Halsey said that if we would annex to the city, they would accept the road as-is, and chip seal the roads within two years, and take care of weeds and snowplowing,” Snyder said of a 2008-2009 annexation agreement made about Snyder Hi...
Yippy ki yay! The 7th Annual Cleatis Lacy Memorial Bull Riding & Wild Horse Race is coming up this weekend, named after a rodeo legend who called the Coulee home. Friday, June 15, will see the events start at 6 p.m. at the Ridge Riders Rodeo Grounds on Alcan Road in Delano. The event is named after local cowboy legend Cleatis Lacy, who moved to the area in 1945. Raised in eastern Montana, immersed in the life of a country boy, Lacy had plenty of experience riding animals, even riding wild horses and saddle broncs as a teenager, representing...
“Ooh! … Ah!” Those words are the universal language for “look at the fireworks!” This Saturday night at 9 p.m. the Northwest Pyrotechnics Association, of which local man Alan Cain is a member, will put on a fireworks show near North Dam on Banks Lake. “It’s going to be a good half hour of pyrotechnic fun for a happy Fathers Day,” Cain said. A good view of the show will be available from Banks Lake Park and North Dam Park, both near the dam, and Cain says the best views “are probably going to be by Coulee Playland.” Another fun option is to go...
A wide variety of free kid-friendly activities will be offered throughout the community for Koulee Kids Fest this Saturday, June 16, including a live show from entertainer Leapin’ Louie Lichtenstein. Children will get a “passport” showing the station where each activity is located, and get their passport stamped at each station. When a child gets six or more stamps on their passport, they will be entered into a raffle to win fun prizes at the end of the day’s activities. Passports can be picked up at the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Comm...
The New Old Time Chautauqua troupe will be visiting local communities this month to provide free shows, parades, and activities. A “chatauqua” is a traveling show that includes entertainment as well as education in the tradition of the Chautauqua Institute in New York state. The traveling shows flourished from the late 19th until the early 20th century. “Lectures by author Mark Twain, suffragette Susan B. Anthony, or a production of ‘The Tale of Two Cities’ are the kinds of entertainment one could expect at a chautauqua show,” the troupe’s webs...
The sale of the Center School from the Grand Coulee Dam School District to Centerline Development is still in development, but a survey is now required as a part of the process. “The parties want to get it done, and it will happen,” school board Director Butch Stanger said at a June 11 board meeting. Centerline Development, LLC is the name of the company that will be buying the school, a new company started by Nic Alexander of Coulee Construction and Ian Turner for the purpose of the Center School project. The title insurance company needs to...
A large number of absences from school is a larger factor than are poor test scores in not finishing high school. That’s one of the key points made in a presentation by Lake Roosevelt teachers Brian Daniels and Jeremiah Seekins at Monday’s Grand Coulee Dam School District board meeting. “Chronically absent,” is defined as missing 10 percent or more of a school year, or 18 days or more, whether they are excused absences or not. The state average for chronic absenteeism is 17 percent, with Lake Roosevelt schools combined being at 25 percent...
Children of the coulee will get some stamps in their event “passport” on Saturday, June 16, when Koulee Kids Fest will be held all around the community. Stations will be set up at area businesses where children can enjoy a variety of free activities, including painting piggy banks at North Cascades Bank, chalk drawing at Coulee Medical Center, building a dam and a river at the Grand Coulee Dam Visitor Center, piloting pedal boats at Coulee Playland, eating free ice cream at Coulee Creamery, and more. Children will get stamps in their “pa...
Neal Moore, who is canoeing 7,324 miles on 22 American rivers over the course of two years, received some help getting around the Grand Coulee Dam on the last weekend in May. Elmer City man Jayme Brashears gave Moore and his canoe a ride from Lake Rufus Woods near Nespelem Creek to the King's Court trailer court area, thus getting Moore around the dam. Moore had run into strong currents and needed some help getting past the rough spots of the river. Moore stayed the night at the King's Court...
If you see some unidentified flying objects near the Grand Coulee Dam, don't be alarmed! It most likely isn't aliens studying hydroelectric power, but rather "drones" capturing aerial footage of the dam. The Bureau of Reclamation detailed the flights in a June 4 press release, saying the purpose is to "photograph and obtain video footage of the structure while water is spilling over the drum gates during the month of June." The new footage will show infrastructure improvements made over recent...
Golf season is in full swing, with tournaments and opens happening throughout the spring and summer at Banks Lake Golf Course. About 26 people competed in the successful ECT Tournament on May 27. Winners of the four-man scramble were Dennis Whiteman, Derek Whiteman, Neil Johnson, and Nick Barnaby. The Moose Tournament is set for June 16. Entry fee is $75. Those interested should sign up at the golf course or at the Moose Lodge in Grand Coulee. An Indian taco feed will take place after the tournament at the Moose Lodge. The Coyote Open will be...
Students and teachers are being surprised with gestures of kindness on their lockers, walls, doors, and desks in Lake Roosevelt Elementary. Christi Berry is having students in her SHARP Kids morning group tape heart shapes with inspiring quotes on them to color up the school a bit. "I started this project right before spring break and told the kids we need to spread kindness in our school," Berry said, saying she wanted the place covered before the end of the school year. Berry has the kids,...
Approximately 836 miles away via the Trans-Canada Highway lies a town known as Grand Coulee, Saskatchewan. The town of approximately 650 people is located 10 minutes west of the city of Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan. "We are a bedroom community surrounded by farmland," Tobi Duck, administrator for the town of Grand Coulee said by email. "How and why they came up with the name Grand Coulee is anyone's guess as we are as flat as a pancake." Duck said that the people in the Canadian Grand...
Do you enjoy fishing in Banks Lake? Do you know people who do? Do you recognize fishing as a part of culture in the coulee? Then maybe you’d like to volunteer to help keep that viable. POWER, which stands for Promoters of Wildlife and Environmental Resources, is in need of volunteers, without whom they will shut down their fish-raising pens. The organization releases 150,000 trout twice a year into Banks Lake from their feeding nets located in Electric City. That’s 300,000 fish annually released into the reservoir by the group. Some of tho...
Karrie Utz accepted an award as "Public School Employee of the Year" for the state of Washington in the Lake Roosevelt gymnasium May 29, chosen out of over 30,000 PSE members in the state. Utz appeared completely surprised when her name was announced at the mystery assembly as the gym roared with applause. Utz thanked her family, students, and fellow staff members in an emotional thank-you in front of the student body and staff for Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High School. "This is so...
Erin Gruwell, the teacher who inspired the movie "Freedom Writers," visited Keller Elementary last week at the invitation of the students. The movie highlights Gruwell's efforts to teach underprivileged students in Southern California to reach their full academic potential. Her methods have been adopted around the world, and include having students write honestly about who they really are. A book called "The Freedom Writers Diary" was published, including her early students' works, and was...