News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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From small town Washington to Music City, Lila Rose is an outlaw in song only, and performing on the Fourth of July at the Festival of America at the Grand Coulee Dam. Lila Rose Bowden is the daughter of Coulee Dam Police Chief Paul Bowden and Coulee Dam City Clerk Stefani Bowden. She performs under the name Lila Rose. "I'm sure this confuses some people around here that have known me my whole life," she said, "but I like to keep my last name out of my music so that someday when I get married, a...
Locals can expect new options for television, internet, and phone services soon with a new service provider investing in area infrastructure. Spectrum, the brand name that Charter Communications uses to sell cable television, internet, and phone services, is almost done with upgrades to their system here in the Coulee area that will make those offerings possible. Charter/Spectrum expects to set up "pop-up shops" to answer questions and take orders at Coulee Dam City Hall in August, said Senior...
Them Dam Writers, a local group that has existed in one form or another for decades, has been putting their stories on the internet, helping preserve both-well known and lesser-known local history, and sharing photos both old and new. The group was started in 1985 and helped focus the efforts of locals who had been helping record local history for decades before that, eventually publishing a book titled "Coulee Collection" in 1998. Most recently, Jay Kemble has helped revive the group, bring it...
Citing a dry landscape, federal officials this week put a halt to what has become something of a tradition in recent years at North Dam, where local families have set off fireworks on Independence Day. The Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Reclamation issued a fire restrictions order on public lands where BLM fights wildfires, which includes North Dam, according to a June 19 press release from BLM. A release from Reclamation Monday afternoon clarified that that includes the top of North Dam. “Dry, fire-prone vegetative conditions i...
A buffer zone between the residential neighborhoods of Electric City and Osborne Bay, where the discharge of firearms will not be allowed, was made official at the June 11 Electric City city council meeting. The 500-foot-wide, 7,281-foot-long buffer zone, required the cooperation of various entities to establish: the Bureau of Reclamation, the state’s departments of Natural Resources and Fish and Wildlife, Sunbanks Lake Resort, and the city of Electric City. The zone is being established to create a safety zone for residents who don’t live far...
The Ice Age Park in Electric City may be done as soon as the late summer of 2020. The city council June 11 approved to have SPVV Landscape Architects, who designed the master plan for the park in 2018, move forward with specific designs for the park. The city applied for grant money from the Washington State Recreation & Conservation Office and is ranked 15th out of 91 applicants to get a grant in the amount of $257,649, which the city must match, for a total project cost of $515,298. Jena Jauchius of SPVV said the park will be Electric...
Do fear tactics work as a discipline technique in schools? Not according to a slideshow that the Grand Coulee Dam School District board presented at their meeting in the Raider Hub at Lake Roosevelt High School. Between 30 and 40 people attended the June 10 board meeting for a workshop on discipline within the school system. A video slideshow with a recorded narrative from ChangeLab Solutions focused on things like “Why School Discipline Practices Matter,” and delved into the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, on stu...
Did you listen to Smokey the Bear? He wasn’t just talking to children; he was talking to you there, mister, flicking your cigarette ashes out of the car, lighting fireworks to enjoy their exploding lights and sounds, mowing the lawn because it needs mowing. I think many Americans have a bit of fire-related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the fires in recent years. Has anyone else been on evacuation notice recently? Has anyone else had a vacation marred by smoke? Decided not to go out on the boat because you couldn’t breath? Felt like lockin...
The Electric City council voted unanimously to not allow short-term rentals anywhere in the city. Short-term rentals are instances in which a home owner who doesn’t live in a residence rents that residence out to someone for less than 30 days. Residents Mark Jenson, Jim Bailey, and Nancy Brown attended the June 11 council meeting to speak against short-term rentals. “I don’t believe they are compatible with residential zones,” Jenson said. Brown said that the primary concerns with short-term rentals were “commercializing and destroyin...
A fire burned a patch of land near the canal near North Dam on Saturday night. A fireworks show put on by the Northwest Pyrotechnics Association went awry when a fire erupted and burned between two and three acres. The permitted event had fire personnel standing by for such an occurrence, with four trucks on standby. A press release from Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department Chief Rick Paris said that the fire started at 10:30 p.m. and that Grand Coulee and Electric City Volunteer Fire Departments were called in to assist Bureau of...
Several canoes launched from the Crescent Bay boat launch near the Grand Coulee Dam Friday on an eight-day journey toward Kettle Falls. The Inchelium Language and Culture Association, in association with River Warriors and the Upper Columbia United Tribes (UCUT), organized the event for the third year in a row. A film crew from KSPS was present at the event, which included speakers from these various groups, the singing of a traditional song, and mingling between the paddlers and well-wishers...
The city council approved the creation of the position of “city administrator” and to have current clerk Russ Powers fill the position. The council discussed the need for the position and the justification for the added pay that comes with it for Powers at their June 11 meeting. “So the idea here,” Councilmember Aaron Derr asked, “is we’d have someone at city hall that can make more decisions, given that our mayor will typically have a full-time job and can’t be here on a day-to-day basis?” “Correct,” Mayor John Nordine said. “It makes sen...
Imagine how traveling to another country can change your perspective on life. Local cosmetologist Aly Van Geystel doesn t have to imagine, having returned from a month-long trip to Cambodia, where she taught the trade of cosmetology to former victims of sex trafficking so they can start their own careers. She found out about the Justice and Soul Foundation last year, and decided she wanted to be involved in what they do. A lot of the time," Van Geystel told The Star before leaving, former...
The Electric City council last week obliviated the idea of building a $40,000-plus entrance sign to the city. The city conducted a poll at city hall and online of citizens on the idea. Results showed that out of 81 citizens, 62 (77 percent) didn’t want a sign, and 19 citizens did. Citizens running for council or mayor in the upcoming November election, including Diane Kohout, Brian Buche, Cate Slater, Bob Rupe and Cheryl Hoffman, conducted a survey of their own, collecting signatures and asking Electric City residents if they were for or agains...
A plaque with a bronze Coulee Dam High School Beaver mascot will be installed on the basalt pillar in front of Lake Roosevelt Schools and unveiled July 4 at 11 a.m. in a brief ceremony to which all are invited. Coulee Dam High School was open from 1947 until 1971, when it merged with Grand Coulee High School to form Lake Roosevelt. “Beavers sent their fierce spirit to Lake Roosevelt Raiders,” the plaque reads. A plaque commemorating Grand Coulee High School, featuring their Tiger mascot, was installed on the same pillar in 2017. Bert Smi...
So what's going on with the effort to consolidate local towns into one? A group of local business owners and residents who have that goal met Thursday at the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce to discuss the logistics of the ambitious task. The Coulee Area Consolidation Committee consists of people from Electric City, Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam and some outlying areas, and those present discussed wanting to bring in someone from Elmer City for the committee as well. The group discussed...
Despite overwhelming public opinion against the idea, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has chosen to ban vehicles from parking on Geezer Beach, located behind the Third Powerhouse of the Grand Coulee Dam. A press release Monday from the bureau announced the decision, emphasizing "safety" as their reason for banning vehicles from the beach popularly fished by elderly anglers who have heretofore appreciated the easy access to the beach. "The Bureau of Reclamation will continue to allow fishing,...
How do you score sports centered around riding big animals like bulls and wild horses? It’s not as if you can see a ball go through a hoop, or someone carry a ball into an end zone. The Star asked George Kohout, president of the Ridge Riders Saddle Club — the organization that puts on local rodeos, including Friday’s Cleatis Lacy Memorial Bull Riding and Wild Horse Racing — to describe how those events are scored. In bull riding, the rider has to stay on the beast for eight seconds and will be judged on that eight seconds. He has to “suppos...
Washington state’s top legal officer will speak at local Rotary club’s June 12 meeting. Attorney General Bob Ferguson will be speaking about the work of the Office of the Attorney General and taking questions from those in attendance. The Grand Coulee Dam Rotary Club’s meeting at The Siam Palace starts at noon next Wednesday, and the public is welcome to attend. Although not a Rotarian himself, Ferguson has the goal of visiting every Rotary Club in the state, with the local club being the 151st out of roughly 180 in the state, according to a st...
Seventy-nine years to the day after the original Ceremony of Tears, about 80 paddlers will leave Crescent Bay in canoes June 14 for an eight-day journey to Kettle Falls, the site of the original ceremony that mourned the loss of salmon from the traditional fishing spot for Native Americans. The Inchelium Language and Culture Association, in association with River Warriors and the Upper Columbia United Tribes (UCUT), have organized the event for the third year in a row. In addition to the 80 paddlers leaving from Crescent Bay for Kettle Falls,...
Eagle parents along the Columbia River have their hands full with four eaglets in their nest in the Washington Flats area. Local wildlife photography enthusiast Nora Gabler Jenn, previously profiled in a Star article titled "Nora the Explorer," excitedly told The Star about seeing the eagles on her frequent drives around the area, as shown on her Facebook page. Jenn is watching three nests of eaglets this spring. "Four eaglets is kind of rare, but not too rare," said Eric Braaten, a local...
Lake Roosevelt Schools may receive a smoking rack for meat and some track and field improvements, courtesy of local Boy Scouts who want to earn the Eagle rank. Showaway Hunt and Reniff Herndon spoke to the Grand Coulee Dam School District board at their May 30 meeting to get the board's approval for separate projects they are working on to become Eagle Scouts. Hunt's project is to build a smoking rack for meat. He had spoken to the board earlier in the school year about the project, first to get...
Grand Coulee discussed the scourge of drugs in town at their latest council meeting. “I think we have a bit of a problem in terms of drug dealing,” Grand Coulee resident and business owner Kimberly Christensen said last week to laughter from a city council already familiar with the problem. “I’ve never been around it, I don’t want to be around it, I don’t want to see it. I’m concerned for everyone.” Christensen, who also owns the newly opened popcorn stand “The Popcorn Shoppe” on Midway Avenue and Main Street, addressed the city council May 21...
Grand Coulee could turn over a stretch of the infamous B Street to the Bureau of Reclamation. The city council discussed the topic at their May 21 meeting. Public Works Director Dennis Francis brought the topic up, noting that the bureau didn’t want contractors doing repair work on B Street while they were working on the fire station the Bureau is building along SR-155 where it connects to Industrial Road, a small stretch that connects to B Street. Francis said that Ian Turner, the project manager for the bureau’s fire station, came up wit...
The Colville Tribes have filed a lawsuit against major manufacturers of opioids, alleging devastating health effects on tribal communities resulting from the drugs. A May 10 press release from the tribes detailed the lawsuit, saying that “the Tribes has sued over 25 opioid-industry defendants in the action, which seeks both compensation for costs associated with the epidemic and injunctive relief.” “The Tribes’ complaint,” the press release says, “asserts claims against the defendants for allegedly marketing prescription opioids in a manner th...
