News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 2006 - 2030 of 7269
The local area has now seen more than 20 cases of COVID-19, according to statistics offered by local county health authorities. Okanogan Public Health reports two in Coulee Dam and 11 in Nespelem. Grant County Health District reports seven cases in the Grand Coulee area, plus one in Coulee City they have not been able to confirm is a resident. Okanogan County has seen a total of 782 cases, 297 of them in the last 14 days, including eight deaths. Grant County has seen 1,343 cases, including 10 who have died. GCHD counts 688 of those as... Full story
In past columns, I’ve shared information regarding climate change and the measurable impacts that are occurring. The impacts are measurable, and the science on climate change is being documented around the world. Back in June 2017, the column was about tree species migration. The most recent column provided information about the declining populations of songbirds. This column, we will read what researchers at the University of Wyoming are doing. Their published work addresses Climate Change impacts on mule deer habitat and migration. The r...
A drive through the Hartline area the other day showed piles of wheat forming outside granaries, an indication of an abundant harvest. I was born on a farm about four miles south of Palouse, delivered by my aunt while my dad went to town to get Dr. Dart, the area medical czar. I was on the farm until age 5, when the family moved to town so I could start school the next year. There was a custom, a sort of a rite of passage, that young kids could ride the harvest trucks during harvest. We would go down to the warehouse, and when the trucks would...
The first locomotives to haul construction material for the dam were old and tired. Two were on hand in 1935 and had been bought by MWAK to get trains moving. For the section from Electric City down to below the dam, an old logging locomotive, built in 1926, was purchased. It was of the Shay type of geared steamer, in that it was designed to move via pistons turning a common shaft via gearing attached to the wheels. The speed wasn't high, nor was the pulling power great, but it was perfect for...
The Grand Coulee Dam School District is asking for more money as they enter the uncharted territory of beginning a new school year during the COVID-19 pandemic. The district board of directors Monday night approved a budget for the 2020-21 school year, as well as a resolution authorizing a new enrichment levy that will ask property owners for an additional dollar per $1,000 of assessed value on their property. Voters will decide in the November general election whether the district gets that extra dollar. The history of local school levies in...
A fire that started Thursday afternoon near the tribal greenhouses near the Columbia River east of the Colville Indian Agency moved rapidly over dry hills to Schoolhouse Loop Road about two miles away, burned the tribal recycling center and threatened the correctional facility, the school, the tribal archives and the town itself, the Mt. Tolman Fire Center said. By evening, the blaze had burned about 1,200 acres of grass, sage and bitter brush as winds pushed it quickly across steep slopes...
The superintendent of the Grand Coulee Dam School District will answer your questions related to reopening school for the 2020-21 school year during the COVID-19 pandemic in weekly question-and-answer sessions held online. Superintendent Paul Turner sent an email on July 22 to parents, staff, and community members detailing the meetings. “In light of all the COVID-19 uncertainty about school reopening, I would like to schedule weekly Q&A sessions online,” Turner said. “At this point the district has developed some re-opening strategies with mor...
Even cities have to deal with electronics becoming obsolete. The cities of Grand Coulee and Electric City need to buy a new computer for their arsenic treatment plant, which treats the water that comes from Electric City wells and is used by both cities. Both city councils discussed the issue at their respective council meetings held earlier this month. The computer is not your average at-home computer. It may cost in the vicinity of $20,000, unless a cheaper option is found. Electric City Mayor Diane Kohout threw some numbers out to the Electr...
A Grand Coulee woman died last week when the car she was driving crashed in Douglas County. Maureen K. Horrobin, 63, was found deceased at the scene of the collision when local emergency personnel responded to a reported injury accident on Pendell Road, about seven tenths of a mile off Crown Point Vista Road. Her vehicle had rolled about 200 yards off the roadway, Douglas County Undersheriff Tyler I. Caille reported. The crash occurred about 8:19 p.m. July 21. The preliminary investigation showed speed was a contributing factor to the...
Grand Coulee residents can now rent out their homes for a weekend if they want to. The Grand Coulee City Council approved an ordinance July 21 allowing short term rentals in residential zones within the city. The ordinance says that short-term rentals will “allow for increased tourist accommodations,” and that there is a need for that in the city. Short-term rentals are defined as rentals for less than 30 days and are also referred to as “vacation rentals,” or “nightly rentals.” The council discussed that Electric City doesn’t allow short-t...
A fire in the "Wilbur Hill" area, called the Neal Canyon fire, burned about 70 acres of grass brush and light timber on July 24. The fire, the cause of which is still under investigation, started on a hill near milepost 27 on SR- 174 at roughly 11 a.m. on July 24 and had "high spread potential," according to Veronica Randall, public information officer for the Colville-based Northeast Washington InterAgency Communication Center. The fire had been moving toward wheat fields above the hill, where...
It’s almost unimaginable. Music, whether we realize it or not, plays an important part in all our lives. My earliest recollection of music was when I was very young and my father sang to me. My father had an ocean of Irish ditties that he would sing while I was sitting on his lap. What I wouldn’t give to remember all of them. But I do remember one “Froggy went a courtin.” I don’t remember why this one stuck to me. I don’t even remember if my dad had a good singing voice, but it was magical to me. We can be depressed, lonely, sick, but music is...
America desperately needed some positive news and a reprieve from the coronavirus pandemic and rioting which is ripping apart our country---most notably in Seattle, Olympia and Portland. We needed reaffirmation that our political leaders can come together, set aside bitter partisan differences, and act in our country’s best interests. That actually happened in the course of the last month. The result would undoubtedly please the legendary U.S. Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson (D-WA) — the master...
Update 3 p.m. 7/24/20: Level 3 evacuations have been lifted in the Nespelem-to-agency area today, but Level 2 Evacuation has been issued for the area north of Nespelem from the Catholic Cemetery to the Jackson Ranch off SR-155. People in that area are warned of “significant danger” and asked to “consider voluntarily relocating to a shelter or with family/friends outside of the affected area.” There’s a Red Flag Warning for fire weather today until 8 p.m. for gusty winds and low relative humidity...
The Grand Coulee Dam area has had an additional three cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the past few days. A July 20 update from the Grant County Health District said they received an additional 59 cases between the evening of July 17 and 5 p.m. on July 20, including one in the Grand Coulee area of Grant County. “There is widespread community spread in Grant County,” the district wrote in its daily report online Monday. “It is not limited to one employer, community or household.” They then received another 20 cases by 5 p.m. July 21, including ano... Full story
The upcoming school year will be a hybrid mix of online and in-school learning for most students, if plans in development at Grand Coulee Dam School District come to fruition amidst current uncertainties about timing and COVID-19. That was the topic of discussion at a Zoom school board meeting Monday night, which was well attended by staff, parents, and more. The superintendent and board of directors met in the library at Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High, passing a health screening before entering the building, wearing masks, keeping a... Full story
High school football, volleyball, and soccer will be played in the spring, rather than the fall. The executive board of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association made the decision July 21 in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The school year will break down into four WIAA seasons, with lower-risk sports able to occur earlier in the year, and higher risk sports starting later in the hopes that Washington counties by then will have moved into later phases in the Washington State Safe Start Recovery Plan. Depending on what phas... Full story
More local events that have become traditions have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Run the Dam running event, as well as the Harvest Festival, have both been canceled this past week. Both were originally scheduled for the third week in September. The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce announced on July 17 the cancellation of what would have been the ninth Harvest Festival on their Facebook page. Their board of directors "have explored all possible options to keep this... Full story
Two proposals for drive-through coffee stands are being considered by the town council in Coulee Dam, each by different would-be entrepreneurs who must navigate the murky waters of city and tribal regulations and interests. Dan Moomaw and Casey Garvin each attended a call-in city council meeting July 8 and may again be at tonight’s 6 p.m. call-in meeting (July 22). Moomaw has attended several this year, expressing frustration at not being able to meet in person and lay out plans for discussion. Garvin last week pulled out a 2018 business p...
With local fires sometimes taking place across a lake, should a fire department have a boat ready to take firefighters there? At Electric City’s July 14 council meeting, Public Works Director Jarred Armstrong brought up the idea that the Electric City Volunteer Fire Department should have a boat. While discussing the Fourth of July weekend, Armstrong mentioned a boating accident that took place, as well as fires that burned near SunBanks Resort and as Barker Canyon, incidents requiring responses via boat. Armstrong commended Fire Chief Mark P...
No matter what you think of the plans for the upcoming school year, the good news is that along the way to hacking out a path through an impossible situation, the Grand Coulee Dam School District directors Monday displayed what could well be the future model of civic engagement. The board, while holding its latest Zoom online meeting accessible by the public, did exactly what they are supposed to do in full view of all. Usually, when citizens call up a board member about an issue, the elected representative of the people takes the information a... Full story
Ever wonder why some of our elected officials have it in for immigrants? All of us could easily trace our citizenship back to the time that our forebears arrived on our shores. In a sense we are all immigrants, some more mindful of it than others. I have always wondered what my first immigrant families might have uttered when they first saw the USA. My Lucas family came by sailing vessel to America in 1710. They had escaped religious persecution in France and escaped to Germany in what would be a hardship journey. The family was in Germany for...
It was a sultry Saturday evening, July 24, 1937. The blaze started about 9:15 p.m. in the rear of the Public Market grocery, and quickly ate the half block of frame buildings located in the heart of the business district. The flames threatened the entire business district for over four hours as they raced down the block of buildings before a high wind. The Kozy Korner restaurant, the Hub Clothing company, Ross department store, Public Market, Stone's Market, and the Grand Coulee News office and...
Two local counties reported two more deaths this week amid a surge of COVID-19 cases in their counties, in the state and in many parts of the nation. Okanogan County Public Health reported that 71 new cases of COVID-19 emerged in the county on Monday and Tuesday alone, with over half its cases all year breaking out within the last two weeks - 147 of its total of 263. Those include the county's third death, which OCPH learned of yesterday. The victim was an agricultural worker from Mexico in his... Full story
CHELAN COUNTY — A Chelan waterpark has been ordered to close immediately to prevent workers from being exposed to coronavirus (COVID-19). This action comes after a similar order from the state Department of Health last week. Today, the state Department of Labor & Industries delivered an “Order and Notice of Immediate Restraint” directing the waterpark to cease operations until the business is approved to operate under the Governor’s Stay Home Stay Healthy Order. In addition to the order and notice, after completing an inspection earlier... Full story