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 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...
Raider athletes were honored for excellence in athletics as well as academics at a state and nationals send-off assembly on May 24. Going to the national Future Business Leaders of America competition is Alan Nordine, who will travel to Baltimore, Maryland, at the end of June. Nordine had placed fourth in the "Help Desk" category at a state competition in Bellevue in April. Nordine encouraged younger students at the assembly to join FBLA. Going to state for track were Elijah Harris (high jump...
Four Raiders competed at the state track and field meet on Friday in Cheney at Eastern Washington University. Steven Flowers placed second in state in the shot put event, throwing for 47 feet, eight inches. “Steven was certainly the highlight of the meet for Lake Roosevelt,” remarked Head Coach Lori Adkins. “He was edged out by mere inches by North Beach on the final throw.” Ben Poplin from North Beach took first in the event, throwing for 48 feet even. “Steven earned eight team points at state, which scored LRHS ahead of most schools i...
If a house becomes a place where drug-related nuisances frequently arise, can a town do anything about it? That question was raised at this month’s Grand Coulee City Council meeting, where Councilmember Mike Horne suggested at the May 15 meeting that the city look into adopting into its code something along the same lines as the city of Medical Lake has, where if a house is a crime hub and police are called there regularly, and multiple charges are filed, the property and home can be seized for a year. Horne reasoned that adopting such a c...
The mayor of Elmer City resigned unexpectedly in a letter the city received on May 15. Former Mayor Gail Morin later told The Star that she had been considering resigning for a while. “It is mostly health issues that I didn’t have last Spring when I filed,” she said in an email. “The next three years will need someone with more energy than me. Elmer City will be fine. Someone will step up.” Councilmember Jesse Tillman, the mayor pro tempore, will take Morin’s place in the meantime until the next Elmer City council meeting on June 14 at 7 p.m...
A heated discussion took place concerning loose dogs at the Elmer City council meeting May 10. After the council was finished with the main agenda, which including disposing of an old trailer, the topic of loose dogs came up in a discussion. Several members of the council, as well as city employees, noted that dogs running loose, intimidating children, and getting into people’s yards, is an issue in the town. “I would just shoot them if they came in my yard,” said Councilmember Don Bonertz, “which is too bad; it’s not the dogs’ fault, it’s...
"It's our responsibility as citizens to participate," Alan Cain said before being sworn into the Grand Coulee City Council on May 15. Cain, who has up until recently served as the chair of the Civil Services Commission, will have to step down from that position now that he serves on the council. Cain had also in the past chaired the planning commission in Grand Coulee. Cain has experience working with other governments as well, having been a cartographer for the city of Springfield, Missouri,...
"We're very lucky to have her," Lake Roosevelt kindergarten teacher Jan Erickson said about Fern Blaylock, who volunteers daily with the kindergarten classes and recently received an award from the North Central Educational Service District. Blaylock does activities with three kinder garten classes, ranging from art activities to reading and writing activities, math, and more. Several years ago, she decided to start riding the school bus at a time when some kids needed instruction in how to...