News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 1270 - 1294 of 1383
A California woman arrested last Thursday who allegedly made a bomb threat while on a tour at Grand Coulee Dam, was booked into Okanogan County Jail and released the next day on her personal recognizance. Christina Frisvold, 33, was arrested by Coulee Dam police officer Michael Sullivan after she told him two times that she had a bomb, according to police. She was on the tour with her boyfriend, Robert Marty, also from California, who, according to a police report, had told her to stop talking about a bomb. She later told officials that she...
Grand Coulee is going to make an effort to get a daycare center in its Central Business District zone. The public interest in a daycare center has attracted the attention of city officials, and the ways and means of making a zoning change was discussed last Tuesday night with Vivian Ramsey of SCJ Alliance, the city’s planning group. The city’s planning council, made up of council members and city staff will have to be reconvened and a recommendation will have to be made to council. When this is done the recommendation goes before the State Env...
The K-12 school project is underway. It started at 9 a.m. Tuesday with a formal groundbreaking, and immediately Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Dennis Carlson met with builder representatives from Walker Construction to get the project moving. Four members of the school board, Joette Barry, Ken “Butch” Stanger, Carla Marconi and Ted Piccolo, all turned the initial spades of dirt over to declare the near $23 million project started. Members of the Colville Business Council also tu...
Grand Coulee officials are trying to get a sidewalk project on Spokane Avenue changed to the same kind of improvement on Federal Avenue. A sidewalk on Spokane Way lost its main focus when city officials realized that Center School would no longer be in use after the 2013-2014 school year since students would move to a new building in Coulee Dam. The project’s main intent had been to provide sidewalk service to Center school. Now the city is checking with the State Transportation Improvement Board, the source of the funds, to see if the a...
The Chamber of Commerce will host a beer tent during the Colorama Festival celebration at North Dam Park. Chamber Manager Peggy Nevsimal said a 1500 square-foot tent will be located on the tennis court at North Dam Park and staffed by volunteers. Nevsimal said that people’s IDs and age will be checked at the entrance to the area and that beer and wine will be available. She said the beer tent will be open from 4-9 p.m. Thursday, May 9; 4-9 p.m. on Friday, May 10; and Saturday, May 11, from 4-10 p.m. Live music will be featured both Friday a...
The Lower Crest Drive project in Coulee Dam will begin Monday, public works director Barry Peacock reported. The quarter-mile road project will go from River Drive to the city limits at the bottom of the hill. Granite Construction, from Wenatchee and Omak, won the bid to do the project and it could take about two weeks or more to complete. The town received a federal grant of $302,750, for the project, and the State Transportation Improvement Board is paying the town’s matching share of $47,250, Peacock stated earlier in a council meeting. M...
A Spanish teacher at Lake Roosevelt High School is in Okanogan County Jail this week, facing charges of forgery and identity theft, after being arrested last Thursday by Coulee Dam police. Guillermo Guzman has also had a hold placed on him by Border Patrol agents and he will face deportation hearings in Tacoma when he is finished in Okanogan County, according to a jail spokesman. Guzman was picked up by Coulee Dam police officers along with a Border Patrol agent after a man with a similar name...
The Bureau of Reclamation is having trouble attracting and retaining new skilled employees, Power Manager Mark Jenson told a number of local leaders Monday afternoon. Jenson said that often a combination of local factors creates a problem for workers recruited or transferring to work here on the Grand Coulee Dam project. Jenson stated that project employment, now 466 workers, will move to 582 by September of 2014. That’s a payroll jump from the present $32.6 million to $42 million in 2015. That expected boost of 116 employees is “not a tem...
The largest producer of hotel/motel taxes in the area proposed changes to the way the funds are used at a meeting of some 20 community people Monday. Pat Welton, managing partner of Sunbanks Lake Resort, stated that the three local municipalities that collect the tax are currently “hoarding” the money and releasing it bit by bit. The fourth local community, Elmer City, doesn’t have any campgrounds or motels within its borders. Sunbanks, located inside Electric City’s boundaries, accounts for about $60,000 a year of the funds collected from th...
A solution to the Coulee Dam wastewater treatment plant controversy that could satisfy a large number of the stakeholders could come next Wednesday night when the council meets. Councilmember Karl Hjorten said Tuesday that he plans to make a motion next Wednesday to move forward on the project doing only what is necessary to take care of the sludge, chemical levels and rotor problems. This would cut the costs of the project down to around $2 million to $2.5 million, Hjorten stated. Currently the...
The Colville Tribes pitched the Elmer City council last Thursday to provide the town’s official police force. Appearing at the town council were Public Safety Director Bill Elliot and Tribal Police Chief Corey Orr. Elliot told the council that the Tribal Police Department would like to put in for a state-funded police grant, but to be successful it must represent a town or city. He said that the Tribal Police would not charge the town anything to be its law enforcement department, but would use the grant to supply reserve officers to cover Elme...
The Spanish teacher at Lake Roosevelt High School, Guillermo Guzman, was arrested Thursday by U.S. Border Patrol agents and Coulee Dam Police on a number of federal charges, and is currently in Okanogan County Jail. Among a list of charges that Police Chief Pat Collins said was expanding: Guzman had used someone else’s Social Security number, wasn’t a citizen, and didn’t have a valid work permit. The arrest was made late afternoon Thursday, and came about after the person whose Social Secur...
Two local residents, Andrea Marconi and Angela Feeley, who appeared a few weeks ago before Grand Coulee’s city council to look into starting a daycare service on Main Street, met the same results again last Tuesday night. They were informed that it took the city two years to get its zoning ordinance in place, and the city wasn’t interested in changing it. The zoning code doesn’t allow a daycare center in the “central commercial” zone. Mayor Chris Christopherson encouraged the two to seek a different location, one zoned for their interests...
Remember the blood draw program at Coulee Medical Center every year during “National Hospital Week?” It’s history. Hospital officials said this week that the blood draw, which can give patients an indication of their health, actually runs counter to the law that governs public hospital districts. That was the message from hospital administrator Scott Graham. “The simple truth is, it has been brought to our attention that state regulations prohibit any sort of reduced fee gifting of services,” CMC’s Chief Executive Officer Scott Graham said...
by Roger S. Lucas Fishing for rainbow trout in Banks Lake is about to get a little bit better. The POWER organization (Promoters of Wildlife & Environmental Resources) plans to release 50,000 rainbow trout into Banks Lake April 20. Carl Russell, spokesman for the group, said that POWER will receive 50,000 more rainbow trout on April 23, and start the process of feeding them and growing them into maturity for future fishing. Fish scheduled for release April 20, were received last Oct. 24. They were then 2 to 3 inches long, and it took 21 of the...
Officials at Banks Lake Golf Course reported that sometime between last Tuesday and Wednesday nights, someone had entered the course’s golf cart shed and made off with over 100 gallons of both diesel and gas fuel. Orville Scharbach, chairman of the Port District 7 commission that runs the course, said the loss was about $763. The police report stated that entry to the fuel tank wasn’t forced, so it was likely the door was left unlocked or the thief had the combination to the lock. It was reported that locks on the tanks were unlocked from key...
The Regional Board of Mayors met and dismissed their meeting for lack of a quorum Monday afternoon. Only two of the four mayors showed up, Electric City’s Jerry Sands and Elmer City’s Mary Jo Carey. Both Coulee Dam’s Mayor Quincy Snow and Grand Coulee Mayor Chris Christopherson missed the meeting. Those attending did hear reports from the Delano Transfer Station. Grand Coulee produced some 759 tons of material for the transfer station, the leading city in the garbage department. Coulee Dam produced 602 tons of garbage, Electric City, 472 tons...
The Regional Board of Mayors met and dismissed their meeting for lack of a quorum Monday afternoon. Only two of the four mayors showed up, Electric City’s Jerry Sands and Elmer City’s Mary Jo Carey. Both Coulee Dam’s Mayor Quincy Snow and Grand Coulee Mayor Chris Christopherson missed the meeting. Those attending did hear reports from the Delano Transfer Station. Grand Coulee produced some 759 tons of material for the transfer station, the leading city in the garbage department. Coulee Dam produced 602 tons of garbage, Electric City, 472 tons...
The Ridge Riders, in their second annual auction and banquet, raised nearly $25,000 to support the various activities planned by the group this year. The auction raised $10,500; contributions for Rodeo Queen Erin Wieldraayer’s activities raised $1,200; and $2,000 was raised toward a new junior rodeo. Monty Fields, vice president of the Ridge Riders, stated that the Colorama Rodeo last year cost the group $20,000, and the bull riding events, $7,000. He said their April 1 banquet and auction w...
Tours, visitor center hours and laser light show offerings might be curtailed because of budget cuts, officials confirmed this week, but they’re still hoping for a reprieve from the national budget cutback known as “sequestration.” Although tours at Grand Coulee Dam resumed Monday after a normal winter stoppage, a hiring freeze across the Department of Interior has made it impossible to hire the extra help needed to keep operations open all week through the normal tourism season, explained Lynne Brougher, public affairs officer with the Burea...
There is good news and bad news for those who visit the area to see the laser light show. The new show won’t be ready until mid-July. However, the all-new laser equipment will be able to show the old laser show. Until recently that ability was an unanswered question. It all depends on the “sequester” and how that affects staffing the various visitor functions at the Bureau of Reclamation. Nicole Poisson, project manager for LumaLaser of Eugene, Ore., the firm that is developing the new show, said visitors are going to see something outst...
The chamber of commerce is sponsoring the “Are You Tough Enough” first annual Banks Lake Triple Fish Challenge, this weekend, April 6 and 7, out of Coulee Playland in Electric City, a major sponsor. The two-day event features a fishing derby for smallmouth bass, walleye, and rainbow trout. Competition is divided into two age categories, 0-14 years of age, and adults. So get out your rod and reel, read up on the contest, and get your 2013 fishing license, so you are all set for the big eve...
Officials from Coulee Dam, Elmer City, Gray & Osborne, the Colville Tribes and Indian Health Services are meeting and moving toward some decisions on proposed wastewater treatment plant work that has been halted by controversy. Larry Holford, town council member at Elmer City, said he was pleased with the cooperative attitude of those attending a meeting last Tuesday. “We need to let the principals get their report together,” Holford stated this week. Holford said that Alex Dailey, an engineer from Indian Health Services, Frank Friedlander fro...
Jim Keene, retired school administrator, was named to the Grant County Port District 7 board of commissioners last Thursday. Keene replaces Jerry Birdwell who resigned last month. Keene will take over his duties when the board meets the last Thursday of April. Keene has been superintendent of schools in the Grand Coulee Dam School District, in Clarkston and in Pendleton before his retirement brought him and his wife back to Delano. Keene has also served as president of the Grand Coulee Dam Rotary Club and is active in a number of local groups....
Work on preparing the old Melody Restaurant for opening has been so extensive that the town of Coulee Dam has given the owner, Juan Moreno another month’s free rent in exchange for an extended contract. City officials pondered another problem at the restaurant site, which is owned by the town, in a 40-year-old, walk-in cooler and a same-age freezer. Public works director Barry Peacock told the council that each unit would cost the city $10,000 or more. Councilmember Bob Poch noted that probably neither unit was energy efficient and that parts t...