News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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I entered Electric City the other day through its southern portal, and was shocked. I don’t know why; I had entered the city through its south end a hundred times before. But this time the many eyesores along the entrance to the city stood out like sore thumbs. There are a number of eyesores — all, I think, owned by individuals — that would shock anyone. I wondered, are all these landowners from Kansas, and why had they all settled here? Maybe the former city attorney had it right after all. He painted a welcoming sign on the front of his b...
Strike, ball, foul ball, you're out, you are safe - all calls you would expect from an umpire. Right? Meet one umpire that has added a whole lot more. Kenny Dexter. Ken was the public works director for Electric City, retiring about a year ago after nearly 40 years on the job. He not only had a long career working for the city, but Ken has been a softball umpire for about 20 years now, and is still at it. He's added a new dimension over the years to umpiring. Sitting in the stands, you probably...
Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Dennis Carlson announced Wednesday that both he and Nespelem School District Superintendent Rich Stewart have agreed to delay the opening of their respective schools until Sept. 8. Both schools were scheduled to begin Sept. 1, but with the problem of wildfires and smoke, it was decided on the delay. In Nespelem, Sept. 8 will actually be a training day for teachers, not a school day for students. Nespelem's annual welcoming barbecue is set for Sept. 9 at 5 p.m. The first full day of classes is...
Animal control workers removed over 60 cats from a home in Electric City Monday. Representatives from Pasado’s Safe Haven, a rescue operation from Monroe, Wash., along with Grand Coulee Police Chief John Tufts, completed taking the cats from Mardee Davis at 103 W. Grand Avenue. Davis said Tuesday that she had called Pasado’s for help. “I have been trying to get help since things started piling up on me,” Davis said. Friends are coming this weekend to help her clean the place, she explained. Davis said she had been busy helping her ailing... Full story
Update As of 9 a.m., Thursday, Aug. 7, the fires had consumed nearly 8,300 acres and was threatening some 50 homes and 50 other structures. One outbuilding has burned. San Poil Valley residents were ordered to evacuate Tuesday due to several fires on the Colville Indian Reservation that have burned about 2,000 acres, according to officials at the Mt. Tolman Fire Center. Some 20 to 25 homes are threatened, along with cultural resources, power lines and commercial timber. One fire, burning in... Full story
A new mayor and two new council members were sworn in at Coulee Dam last Monday. Mayor-elect Greg Wilder, and council members-elect Gayle Swagerty and Duane Johnson all took their oaths of office at a ceremony at town hall with U. S. Attorney Michael C. Ormsby, United States Attorney from the Eastern Division of Washington, and Dana Cleveland of the Office of the Reservation Attorney at the Colville Indian Agency, officiating. Over 60 persons showed up for the official swearing in process.... Full story
Two fires separated by a couple of miles and a day scrambled local fire fighters early this week to protect property. Brisk winds pushed a fire Sunday night perilously close to Lone Pine homes and briefly brought on a level-three evacuation notice for that area as well as River Drive in Coulee Dam. Monday, fire marshals were combing the area trying to determine the cause of the 15-acre blaze. The fire started shortly after 7 p.m. and lit up the skies as flames worked their way through grass,... Full story
A chamber of commerce-sponsored meeting of community leaders Monday selected a committee whose goal is to approach the three municipalities that collect hotel/motel tax money about the possible formation of a tourism advisory board to oversee spending it. Many in the room clearly would like to see local municipal councils shake loose of nearly a half million dollars not being used to increase tourism, the intent of the law that authorizes the tax. The meeting was a continuation of an earlier gathering where many of the same people discussed... Full story
A drive to raise $95,000 to replace Village Cinema’s projection equipment with new digital technology has failed, and the theater’s owners hope to end their lease early, unable to continue with a broken, obsolete projector. A report on Kickstarter, an online fund raising site, reported at the end of the drive, May 4, that only $2,688 had been pledged, less than 2 percent of what was needed to make a transition to digital equipment required by new industry standards next year. Owner Lynette Zierden said they just made the last payment to the... Full story
Three seniors at Lake Roosevelt High School have been selected as Gates Millennium Scholars, the district announced recently. Selected were Kendall Piccolo, Johnny Medina-McCraigie and Charli Knight. That makes a total of 13 Gates Scholars selected from LRHS since the program began in 1999. The three new “scholars” willl receive at least four years free tuition and fees at their universities of choice, with the possibility of continuing through a doctorate degree. School counselor Sue Hayes stat... Full story
A 100-year-old cottonwood tree on Banks Lake whose branches attracted as many as 10 eagles at a time is no more, cut down by the Bureau of Reclamation a couple of weeks ago. While Bureau employees said the tree was rotten, the stump, at least five feet across, shows no sign of rot. Several other nearby trees also cut down had rotted in the center. “We would watch the eagles fly from the tree to scoop up fish in the lake by the hour,” said Lela Haydock, who lives nearby and had enjoyed the sha... Full story
A public disclosure request for information from police documents made a few weeks ago by police officer Sean Cook has been discontinued at his own request, The Star learned this week. A request the Grand Coulee officer made recently had the police administration and officers pouring through some 13,000 reports looking for any evidence of force used by officers and a variety of other things. Cook asked that the search of documents be at least temporarily discontinued. The request came a day after the newspaper reported on the search that had... Full story
A leaky roof over the Grand Coulee police department’s document room is adding to the city’s cost of reviewing some eight years of documents at the request of police officer Sean Cook. When asked about the request, Mayor Chris Christopherson said, “I wouldn’t try to make a story out of it because it isn’t relative to the public.” The Star learned that the records request had to do with the use of force by the police and other matters. Christopherson stated that anytime a police officer stops a person, that is considered use of force. That... Full story
A commercial property on SR-155, near Western Avenue, was cleared by the city last week because of a nuisance problem. Jeff’s Towing of Coulee City took a pickup truck, a large truck with a boom on it, a boat and a storage shed off the property at 20 Coulee Boulevard East. City workers acted on a court order in support of the city’s nuisance ordinance and an officer from the Grand Coulee Police Department was requested to stand by. After the large items were removed from the lot, city wor... Full story
Development of Coulee Dam’s wastewater treatment plant upgrade is on hold for three months. The council made the decision at a hastily called meeting Monday afternoon on Martin Luther King Day. Even though the meeting date wasn’t announced until late Friday, the council chamber was packed and fireworks started immediately as community activist Greg Wilder and Mayor Quincy Snow tangled over the timing of the meeting. The council, which normally meets the second and fourth Wednesdays of the mon... Full story
Greg Wilder, 69, a Coulee Dam activist, said last week that he plans to file for the office of mayor as an “agent of change” when the filing period opens in May. Wilder has been at odds with two-term Mayor Quincy Snow, and the town administration as a whole, for the past two years, largely over the proposed wastewater treatment plant. Wilder says he has determined that the present $4.92 million plant now being designed is being overbuilt and that it will cost the citizens of Coulee Dam too high of sewer bills for the next 20 years. He has con... Full story
The new K-12 school complex is being advertised for bids this month. Design and school officials went over the project, estimated to cost $24 million, with townspeople last Wednesday night at a meeting in the Grand Coulee Dam Middle School library. Plans will be ready for review by prospective bidders on Jan. 29, and a pre-bid meeting for general contractors has been set for 2 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13 at the construction site. Bids will be opened, Superintendent Dennis Carlson said, on Feb. 25,... Full story
A local group of stakeholders will get the first look at the text for the all new laser light show within the next couple of weeks. Participants include the Colville Confederated Tribes, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Coulee Area Chamber of Commerce, the National Park Service, a representative from each town and someone from the irrigation district, as well as others. The inaugural showing of the new laser light show is scheduled for Memorial Day weekend, but Bureau of Reclamation officials said it might not make that date. The old laser light... Full story
Coulee Dam Mayor Quincy Snow, Greg Wilder and Elmer City Councilmember Larry Holford all met with the Colville Tribes Community Development Committee Tuesday to discuss the proposed wastewater treatment facility. The meeting, originally set for 9:30 a.m. was rescheduled at Snow’s request for 9 a.m. He told the group that the town had decided to delay proceeding with the facility plan, taking 90 days to get a fresh look at it, and he encouraged the Colville Tribes to participate. Holford and Wilder, who were expecting the meeting to begin at 9:3... Full story
School patrons will have an opportunity to see the final K-12 school plans tonight (Wednesday). The meeting for the plan review will follow a 6 p.m. school board meeting in the library at the Grand Coulee Dam Middle School. School officials said the school plan meeting will take place shortly after the school board meeting. Patrons will get a chance to see some final adjustments to the new school plan, plus a rundown on color schemes and different materials to be used in the new complex.... Full story
Elmer City’s town council is divided about what to do in regard to Coulee Dam’s proposed wastewater treatment project. Both Mayor Mary Jo Carey and Councilmember Larry Holford indicate interest in proceeding along parallel lines, trying to move forward with Coulee Dam while progressing on a plan to build their own sewer treatment plant. Newcomer to the council Gail Morin, who was sworn in last Thursday night, was adamant about Elmer City going its own way. Shortly after being sworn in, Mor... Full story
Elmer City Mayor Mary Jo Carey said her town would rather be part of Coulee Dam’s wastewater treatment plant project than develop its own plant. In an interview, she said Elmer City’s council voted to move forward investigating its own plant as a safety valve in case the town can’t work out its problems with Coulee Dam. “It’s all about money and how we have been treated,” Carey stated. “Our citizens can’t afford the high monthly wastewater treatment costs as outlined by Coulee Dam.” “What we’d like to see is for Coulee Dam to stop its plan... Full story
A petition asking Coulee Dam’s town council to reconsider it current course to upgrade the town’s wastewater treatment plant is being presented door to door by a half dozen people. Greg Wilder, a resident who has been skeptical of the proposed design and critical of the town’s process in the matter, said the group hopes to present signatures from 90 percent of the town’s households to the council at its Jan. 23 meeting. Monday afternoon, he said, some 200 signatures were in hand. The petition drive was started by Kathy and Tom Skordas, he said... Full story
Dan Foster has been named superintendent of the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area and Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail, it was announced last week. Foster is currently superintendent at Niobrara National Scenic River in Nebraska, a 76-mile-long free flowing river recreation area. Chris Lehnertz, Pacific West Regional NPS director, made the announcement and said Foster will take over his new duties here in February. Foster said last Thursday that he knows the area well, having lived i... Full story
Police arrested a 50-year-old transient after responding to a fire at a small house at 329 Tyne Avenue in Grand Coulee Monday night. The house had already been partially gutted by fire two years ago, and had been boarded up. Police officers Gary Moore and Joe Higgs arrived at the fire site at the same time as firefighters and discovered that there was someone in the house. Trang Hoa Minh exited the house and refused to tell officers if there was anyone else inside. Officers learned that Minh... Full story