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 speed limit between Electric City and Grand Coulee, currently at 45 miles per hour, could drop to 30 with the construction of a new pedestrian/bike pathway. The Star would like to know whether you want the speed limit lowered. With pedestrians regularly traveling the stretch of road, a pathway is seen as a way to give them a safe place to walk or ride their bikes. In 2018, the project was accepted for a $672,410 grant from the Washington State Department of Transportation with a 5%, $35,390 match from Electric City. The original ped... Full story
Well, it lasted longer than 8 seconds, but after just four years of being named Shane Proctor Park, that park is going back to its old name. The park on SR-174, in Grand Coulee between a gas station and La Presa restaurant is called Grand Coulee City Park. In 2017, the city council approved renaming the park after professional bull-riding champion and Grand Coulee native Shane Proctor. Now, after just four years as Shane Proctor Park, it's being changed back to Grand Coulee City Park. On August...
The mental health of students should be addressed more regularly by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, according to a letter school superintendents sent to him and to the state Department of Health. Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Paul Turner is one of 40 superintendents in Washington that signed an Aug. 18 letter to Inslee in response to a July 28 DOH update requiring masks for all K-12 students and staff. “OUR STUDENTS NEED HOPE,” the letter starts. “Coming off an unmasked summer of Washington State being ‘fully open’, our students...
Students at Lake Roosevelt Schools may start saying “TGIF” for two more reasons this school year: early release, and a different educational approach. On Fridays, students at LR, from kindergarten age to seniors in high school, will be participating on “STEAM” focused projects, or projects that revolve around Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. “Activities and experiences will look different depending on grade level and topic,” Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High Principal Sara Kennedy explained to The Star in an email Tuesday...
An agreement, new this year, allows state firefighting helicopters to park at the Grand Coulee Dam Airport and that's helping put out local fires sooner than later. The Washington State Department of Natural Resources has an emergency-use agreement with Grant County Port District 7 to pay $1,500 a month to keep two helicopters parked at the airport, plus $750 for each additional one that may go there, based on available space. "It looked like a strategic place for us," said Russ Lane, assistant...
A new semi-truck to haul the trailers of trash that come out of the Delano Regional Transfer Station to a landfill in Ephrata will cost a pretty penny in the ballpark of $180,000-$200,000. The Regional Board of Mayors, which includes mayors from Electric City, Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam, and Elmer City, discussed with transfer station manager Randy Gumm Aug. 9 the need for a new truck. City Clerk Peggy Nevsimal of Electric City said possible funding options for the truck included a grant/loan package from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Am...
The lack of animal control locally has been an ongoing issue since time immemorial, but gears are turning in Electric City minds to find a solution for all the local towns. It’s an issue that rears its head at least a couple times a decade, but at the Regional Board of Mayors meeting Aug. 9, Electric City employee Mike Shear and City Clerk Peggy Nevsimal spoke to the board concerning details on how to set up an animal control program. Shear, who currently does code enforcement work for the city and works for the Delano Regional Transfer S...
What if all school sports were played at the same location? The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors recently looked at slides of what the Lake Roosevelt Schools campus could look like under different options. The designs, from the school's recently hired NAC Architecture, showed a football/soccer field with a track around it being located near the current one in Coulee Dam, but at a different angle. A separate baseball field and softball field could fit near it. A new gym could b...
With no music teacher at the school, Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High students will have a different kind of opportunity to play music. Music teacher Karen Pace retired at the end of the last school year from a position not easily filled, but a club called Raider Rock Band was approved by the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors during their Aug. 9 meeting. History teacher Justin Thompson will sponsor the club. He says there are eight students he thinks will definitely join it, and at least 25 who expressed interest. The club...
Everyone who enters Lake Roosevelt Schools’ indoor areas this year should expect to wear a mask regardless of vaccination status, including staff, students, and visitors. Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Paul Turner told The Star on Monday that he intends to follow the masks-for-all guidelines from the Washington State Department of Health and State Superintendent Chris Reykdal. The DOH guidelines state that “all staff and students must continue to wear face coverings/masks, regardless of vaccination status.” A letter from Reykd...
"If you smell smoke, you're breathing smoke," a smoke outlook report from fires.airfire.org says. Today, Wednesday, Grand Coulee is projected to have air that is "unhealthy for sensitive groups," according to the report, and those sensitive groups should avoid physical activity outdoors. Fires producing smoke in the air include the Summit Trail Fire near Inchelium, which on Tuesday morning was at 22,305 acres and 15% contained; and the Cheweah Fire, which is holding at 36,752 acres and is 90%... Full story
Grand Coulee has decided to allow local property owner Sam Hsieh to continue to display multiple advertising signs along his lot located on Main Street called “Coulee Plaza.” “I would like to thank the mayor and the city council for working together with me through this,” Hsieh told The Star on Tuesday. “I’m excited to see Coulee Plaza continuing to serve the community!” The issue has been ongoing since October of 2020 when the city council had initially voted against allowing the signs to stay. Hsieh was told by the city following a c...
There have only been a few cases of Covid locally in the past month. Since June 30, when The Star last reported local covid numbers, there have been zero cases reported from Grant County Public Health for the Grand Coulee and Electric City area of the county, with a total of 48 in those cities since the pandemic began. According to Okanogan Public Health, Coulee Dam has seen 68 total cases, up one since June 30, and Nespelem has seen three new cases since that date for a total of 83. Elmer City has stayed at a total of 20 cases. OPH breaks... Full story
Gov. Jay Inslee met with tribal leaders and people affected by wildfire in Nespelem last week, characterizing the area as perhaps "the epicenter of climate change." He met with the Colville Business Council as well as with incident command staff from recent reservation fires in a closed meeting inside the Lucy Covington Government Center, the Tribal Tribune reported. "These are such difficult days dealing with COVID and these fires," Inslee is reported as saying in the July 21 meeting. "No...
Firefighters work up an appetite saving homes and lands, and they have to eat, often in a small town with no notice of a big need for food. The Grand Coulee Dam Senior Center served 500 meals this past weekend to firefighters who fought the Northrup Fire that started on Thursday. The senior center had helped feed firefighters on the Grass Valley Fire a few years ago, and they appreciated it so much they asked if the senior center could help feed them again. On Friday, a dinner was provided, on...
Local cities will be able to spend money from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, with a combined total of about a million dollars, on things like infrastructure and helping residents. The cities receive money based on their estimated 2019 populations. A list of distributions to cities from the Department of Treasury shows that Electric City, with a population of 1,002, qualifies for $279,706; Grand Coulee, population 1,048, qualifies for $292,547; Coulee Dam, population 1,080, qualifies for $301,480; Elmer City, population 248, qualifies...
A 2021-2022 school budget of $14.6 million in expenditures was approved on Monday. The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors approved the budget in their regular meeting following a public hearing in which there was no public input. The beginning fund balance is roughly $1 million, and with about $14,455,000 in revenues, the total funds available in the 2021-22 school year total about $15,480,000. Those revenues include roughly $816,000 in local taxes dollars (property taxes), $900,000 in local “non-tax” dollars, $6.9 million in...
A $4.9 billion pumped-storage hydropower project has been given preliminary nods by regulators for a site 35 miles upstream from Grand Coulee Dam, near Creston. Similar to the proposed Banks Lake Pumped Storage Project being developed for the Grand Coulee area, the 2,650-Megawatt Halverson Canyon Pumped Storage project got a preliminary permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Developer Daybreak Power Inc. says the project "would connect to the nearby Bonneville Power...
A fire across SR-174 from the Lakeview Terrace trailer park was nipped in bud before it could spread through the dry terrain July 17. The fire scorched under half an acre, burning multiple older vehicles, including an old camp trailer, tires, and garbage, according to Grand Coulee Fire Chief Ryan Fish. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. The fire started at about 1 p.m. when fire departments of Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam, and Elmer City responded, as well as Bureau of Reclamation...
The topic of ethnic studies being taught in public schools will be coming up in future school board meetings within the Grand Coulee Dam School District. Monday’s school board meeting continued even after it was adjourned as Superintendent Paul Turner told the board that they should be ready for the topic of “critical race theory,” to come up at future meetings. The term “ethnic studies” is used in state legislation, rather than “critical race theory.” Director of Communications Kate Payne of the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instru...
Ben Hughes, running for Grand Coulee City Council, picks his battles when it comes to the issues, and among them is consolidation of Grand Coulee with Electric City. "I love the town, I want to help," Hughes told The Star on Tuesday about why he's running. "We have a really beautiful town full of great people and I want to help those people live a better quality of life if I can." Hughes, who has lived in Grand Coulee since 2015, is interested in bringing in businesses to the community, which...
Local popular target-shooting spots are technically illegal because of federal laws, but state agencies say they are unable to enforce federal laws. A Star article June 16 examined the legality of a popular shooting range at Osborn Bay where a wildfire took place last month. The fire didn’t start at the main shooting range, as “Wildfire brings scrutiny of illegal shooting range” had reported, but at a former shooting area located roughly a quarter to half a mile south of the main shooting range, according to Electric City Fire Chief Mark Payne...
The boat launch at the “Million Dollar Mile” area along SR-155 will be getting a makeover to the tune of $965,000 in grant money from the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office. “The Department of Fish and Wildlife will use this grant to redevelop the Million Dollar North Access Area on Banks Lake in Grant County, about 9 miles north of Coulee City,” a description of the project reads. “The department will pave the entrance road and parking lot and install a restroom, loading platform, a concrete boat launch, and large boulders...
B Street’s closure has been extended as construction on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s fire station remains at a standstill. Grand Coulee’s city council passed a motion last month to allow Mayor Paul Townsend to sign a new agreement with the USBR for the continued closure of B Street near the construction site of the bureau’s fire station. Officials of the bureau attending the June 15 meeting via Zoom included Doug Anderson, chief engineer at the Grand Coulee Dam; Colby Clifford, the contracting officer for the fire station; and Misty Gates,...
With major park improvements on the horizon, Grand Coulee wants to address the issue of vandalism at Shane Proctor Park. The park between the gas station and the Mexican restaurant on SR-174 has experienced numerous incidents of vandalism in recent months, including someone breaking the seats on the see-saws, and trashing the restroom. Since The Star reported on these incidents in May, the restroom has been trashed multiple times, leading to the city simply locking and closing the restroom. Mayor Paul Townsend said the city is looking into...