News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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A 69-year-old man spent over 10 hours shivering in Banks Lake after his boat capsized Saturday afternoon, Oct. 1. Donald L. Childers, of Brewster, had been fishing on Banks Lake for about an hour when wind-swept waves capsized his 13-foot fishing boat about 2:30 in the afternoon. Childers said he thought he was going to die because he was so cold and no one was responding to his calls for help. Childers said last Monday that when water started coming in he rushed to the front of the boat to grab his life jacket while slipping off a heavy coat... Full story
The Electric City Council rejected an offer from Grant County Mosquito District 2 to sell the city a 10-foot by 90-foot strip of land on property it owns on Coulee Boulevard, where it plans to build a pole building for its headquarters. The mosquito district, in a letter to the city, said that a survey of its property showed that Kent Street encroaches 15 feet onto its property and also that the city’s fire hydrant is also on its property. The district was asking $1.81 a square foot for the property, and for the city to waive its hookup fees fo... Full story
An event that drew a rebuke by the Electric City Council against one of its members is still on the books. Councilmember Birdie Hensley was officially warned last month for presuming to speak for the city when she and fellow Councilmember Lonna Bussert proposed a Christmas event at North Dam Park. The reprimand stuck on Hensley, who took the blame for proposing an event without clearing it with the full council. On Sept. 13, the council issued Hensley the rebuke, overlooking Bussert’s part in the planning for the Christmas event. Hensley got h... Full story
The administration and board of Grand Coulee Dam School District have set their sights on improving the graduation rate of Lake Roosevelt seniors. Under the district’s policy “Accountability Goals” the graduate rate objective is 85 percent. Superintendent Paul Turner said last week that the policy is outdated and that the board is waiting for information from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to update the policy. “The goal won’t change, but our goal is always 100 percent,” he said. The graduation rate of the 2015-16 cla... Full story
A Coulee Dam woman chased a thief off with a shovel in the middle of the night last week when she realized someone was stealing her motorcycle. The dirt bike stolen from Jaci Gross at her Coulee Dam residence on Stevens Avenue very early last Wednesday, Oct. 5, was recovered about noon the same day in Electric City. Gross was out in her lawn with a shovel when police arrived and told officers she was looking for the person who stole her motorcycle. She said in a Facebook post that the thief had also tried to take her four-wheeler ATV, “but I c... Full story
Heard about the successful moose hunt — by a school bus? With a load of young volleyball players aboard, driver Keith Powell had a young cow moose charge in front of his school bus last Wednesday night, Oct. 5, about 8:30, as they were returning from a volleyball match in Okanogan. The moose was alongside SR-155, and charged in front of the bus just after it had gotten over Disautel Pass. The bus hit the moose with its front fender, killing the animal. The bus held both the seventh- and eighth-grade girls volleyball squads that had just c... Full story
School officials plan an open house Oct. 27, so visitors can see a number of abstract paintings, which were installed last June at Lake Roosevelt Schools, and meet artist Lucinda Palmer. Palmer painted six large paintings as part of the Washington Arts Commission grant for arts for public buildings. Palmer, from Portland, Oregon, was selected from a number of applicants to create the paintings, part of a $70,000 grant. Two paintings were hung in the elementary school cafeteria, two in the junior/senior cafeteria and one in each of the... Full story
The Electric City Council passed tourism promotion funding package for local interests at its meeting Tuesday night. There was money from the city’s lodging tax for new activities, but less money than the city had given the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce in the past. Through a number of proposals, the chamber received $16,500, down from almost $30,000 the year before. The city council tourism committee, made up of councilmembers Richard McGuire and Brad Parrish, had proposed $12,000 to the chamber of commerce for fireworks on July 4... Full story
Church to hold first service and open house The rock church in Coulee Dam will host its first service and open house this Sunday, October 9, after the Almira Community Church took ownership. Pastor Paul McArthur said a brunch and games with an apple theme would be offered after the 8:45 a.m. service, and everyone is welcome to attend. Encouraging Raider gear Dig out your Lake Roosevelt shirts and jackets; it’s time to make a color splash for Raider home games. Lake Roosevelt personnel are encouraging fans to wear Raider colors to show s... Full story
A good pair of walking shoes and a cot at night. Those were the essentials for Miss G's 500-mile trek last summer on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage across Spain. "Miss G" is Jaci Gross, a 16-year teacher at Lake Roosevelt Elementary School, where students know her affectionately by that name. Her long trek, actually a pilgrimage, traced the centuries-long route from the Pyrenees Mountains in France, across Northern Spain, and finally ending at Santiago. It is the route of St. James (the... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District board approved construction of a heavy-gauge chain link fence at the district's bus complex to protect its fleet from fuel thieves. At a meeting Thursday, board members received a rundown on incidents when thieves have emptied fuel tanks, stolen tires and batteries, and even taken extension cords. Just recently, bus personnel have had to contend with thieves cutting fuel hoses on three Head Start buses. The cost of replacing hoses on those buses runs about $1... Full story
Steamboat Rock State Park is on the grow. Already one of the largest and most popular state parks, a project is underway to add 30 more campsites. When it's finished, 193 of the park's camp sites will be in the main camping area; another 12 are boat sites, only reachable by water. The project, bid at $2.5 million, had to be re-bid since the original low bid of over $3.1 million was above the state park budget. The successful bidder and general contractor is Wesslen Construction, of Spokane.... Full story
Two Ice Age floods hikes and lectures are scheduled for the Grand Coulee area within the coming week. The hikes and lectures are part of several Cheney-Spokane Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institutes efforts to give interested parties a hands-on experience to learn about the floods that scoured the area about 15,000 years ago. Saturday, Oct. 8, beginning at 9:30 a.m., two geologists-authors, Gene Kiver and Bruce Bjornstad, will lead a hike and provide information on a 7.2-mile trek up Northrup Canyon to the lake and back. The hike is listed... Full story
Here's an opportunity to run, or walk, for fun and a good cause. It's Saturday's "Color Me Pink and Purple Fun Run," a breast cancer awareness run and walk. Registration is set for 9:30 a.m. Saturday, with the walk and run scheduled for 10:30. Participants in the 3K event will begin at Coulee Medical Center, go to North Dam Park and back to CMC. Pink and purple corn flour will be tossed onto finishers who want to be "colored" for the event. Guild officials said those who want to be colored... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District is “seriously” short of bus drivers. Recruiting bus drivers hasn’t worked, and “advertising for them the past few years has failed to replace retiring drivers,” bus manager Bill Kemble said this week. Former bus manager George Davis, who is now the district’s chief mechanic, explained that it’s just the “situation” the district is in. Although a driver has to work only 17.5 hours a week to qualify for benefits, only a couple drivers currently work that many hours. Part of the “hours” problem was caused af... Full story
Electric City has adopted its Revitalization and Pathways plan by a 5-0 council vote and is already moving ahead to accomplish one of its goals — sidewalks and curbing along SR-155 as it goes through the city’s business district. The city has applied to the state Department of Transportation’s “Transportation Improvement Board” for a Small City Sidewalk Program funding grant of $855,000. The grant request, if approved, would pay 95 percent of the total cost of the sidewalk project, including engineering. The sidewalk component of the Revitaliz... Full story
Two residents have indicated interest in the vacant council seat in Grand Coulee. The city had advertised for someone to fill the vacancy that occurred when Erin Nielsen resigned after taking job in Boise, Idaho. Expressing an interest in serving were Mike Horne and Alan Cain. Horne is owner of MPH Auto and Marine, a mechanic shop on Midway Avenue, and currently is on the city’s planning commission. Cain earlier served on the city’s planning department and currently is on its Civil Service Commission. The vacancy is for position four on the... Full story
Area vehicles could have a lot of sticky tar on their tires if a four-town request for grants to chip seal a number of area streets comes through in October. Four towns have applied for a state Transportation Improvement Board chip seal grant totaling nearly three-quarters of a million dollars. Chip sealing is the process used to extend the life of an asphalt road by applying a covering of oil and gravel, which hardens as it cools and is smoothed out by repeated traffic. The four municipalities — Elmer City, Coulee Dam, Grand Coulee and E... Full story
Jess Ford of Grand Coulee has had 15 vehicles' fuel tanks drilled by thieves in the past four months. Several of the tanks were drilled while inside a fenced-in storage area off Van Tyne Avenue, just a block off Midway, owner Wade Jess said Monday. Others were drilled while parked across the street from the Ford dealer's office. The Van Tyne drilling incidents came in waves. "They would do two or three vehicles, and then wait a few weeks and do it again," Jess said. Thieves would cut the wire... Full story
The school board has set four main goals as the Grand Coulee Dam School District heads into the new school year. Superintendent Paul Turner and members of the board met in a long evening retreat to discuss school affairs and to set some specific goals a few weeks ago. The four major goals are: • Improve student attendance and how attendance relates to a good education. • Address specific facility issues. • Improve communications and promotion of Lake Roosevelt. • Fine tune the budget process. On the attendance issue, the board is considering a... Full story
The Electric City Council reprimanded one of its own members for violating rules of procedure at its meeting last Tuesday night. The complaint against Councilmember Birdie Hensley originated from an online posting she’d made that stated that Electric City parks planned to have a Christmas tree event at North Dam Park. But Hensley had not cleared that with the full city council. The complaint was filed with the city clerk by Councilmember Richard McGuire and automatically placed on the council agenda. The reprimand motion was passed, 3-2, w... Full story
A large number of “not in my neighborhood” trail opponents turned out last Tuesday night to express their fears about Electric City’s Pathway and Trails plan. Their appearance and comments dominated the first half of the city council meeting, and Mayor John Nordine’s explanation that no decision has been made about the trail was less than convincing to the crowd. Several had signed up to address the council, but it was largely left to Cheryl Edick, who lives on Lakeview Avenue, to provide the reasons why they were opposed to the “waterf... Full story
Thieves hit the school district's bus operation again last weekend. This time they siphoned gas from one bus and stole two batteries from the district's boom truck. Bus officials stated early Tuesday that they called the Coulee Dam police department Monday after the thefts were discovered, but still hadn't seen an officer come to the bus area to investigate. Moments later, a police officer did show up to take a small baggie of crystals from bus personnel, suspected to be methamphetamines, and st... Full story
Paul Bowden joined the Coulee Dam police force Monday. Bowden comes to the Coulee Dam Police Department from Wilbur where he served as an officer for 12 years. The new officer was appointed a sergeant. Coulee Dam has been advertising for a police chief; however, acting Chief Larry Hall will continue in his present role, town officials stated. Bowden’s wife, Stefani, is Coulee Dam’s town clerk. The two served together before, when Stefani was the clerk in Wilbur. The new police sergeant was born in California, and raised in Wilson Creek aft... Full story
It was like grill heaven Sunday at North Dam Park. Seventeen grills were cooking and grill masters turned out from Idaho, Oregon and throughout Washington, going after prize money and having fun at the same time. Many of the top 10 competitors in the Northwest competed. It was the final event of a two-day Harvest Festival, in its fifth running. Vying for the big bucks, a Tacoma, Washington griller, Pitbull BBQ, picked up the top prize of $2,000 and the grand champion award. Wine Country Q, from Duvall, Washington, picked up reserve grand... Full story