News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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The Electric City council got an earful of complaints about the city’s proposed trail system at its meeting last Tuesday night. The complaints were a continuation of what the city has been hearing since the Pathway and Revitalization study began a few months ago. There was standing room only as local residents lined up and signed up to speak on the proposed trail. “We are not being told the truth” about the pathway, said one resident, Rhonda Erickson, who lives on Lakeview. “It’s been in the works for over a year.” The Star reported on... Full story
The Electric City Council last week selected Richard McGuire and Brad Parrish as representatives to the city’s hotel/motel tax fund committee. The two have been on the committee, and the appointment is for the rest of their terms — two years. The committee reviews requests for hotel/motel tax funds collected for boosting tourism and makes recommendations to the council as a whole. The city plans to advise those who have sought hotel/motel funds in the past to make their request during the month of September. These requests for 2017 funding wil... Full story
All four local municipalities are cooperatively putting in for a Department of Transportation TIB grant this week. If the grant applications are successful, it will enable the four cities and towns to get a better bid on the work, Elmer City Public Works Director “Jimmer” Tillman said Tuesday. The grant would be for chip sealing and crack sealing of selected streets within the four municipalities. Tillman, who sparked the idea, said that it costs a lot of money for contractors to come and set up, especially for smaller jobs. “If they had jobs... Full story
A series of wildland fires around the region the last two weeks have kept fire fighting agencies busy and yesterday prompted a burning ban in Grant County. A nearly 2,000-acre fire about 15 miles south of Inchelium has been 65 percent contained, the Northwest 9 Management team reported Tuesday. Evacuation levels have been reduced to level one throughout the fire region, fire officials reported. The Kewa blaze started Aug. 2, and has burned 1,912 acres of rangeland and timber. The NW 9 Management incident commander, Brian Goff, reported that... Full story
The chamber of commerce's Economic Development Council (EDC) received an unusually strong response to a consolidation survey mailed to 2,235 residents and placed online in June. Some 546 residents responded, a 24.4-percent return. Such surveys need only generate about a 6-percent response to be considered statistically valid, information garnered by the chamber states. The subject, consolidation of local towns and cities, is not unfamiliar to residents who have been around here awhile.... Full story
Phase two of the facelift of Electric City's municipal building was completed last Wednesday with the hanging of a new sign, and there's more to come. City officials have stated that the 2017 budget will include money to replace windows and doors to city hall. Former mayor Jerry Sands got it started a few years ago with work inside that included painting, new carpet, and refitting city council chambers with a remodeled conference table and new chairs, all at bargain basement prices. Reached... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District approved the contracts of two new coaches at Lake Roosevelt High School and a fourth grade teacher for the elementary school. Approved Monday, during a special meeting, were Casey Moore, for girls’ soccer, and Loren Endsley as head football coach. Moore, who works for the Colville Tribes, recently convinced the school board to offer girls’ soccer this fall for Lake Roosevelt athletes. The board approved the proposal and found some $21,500 to begin the program. Turnouts begin Aug. 22. Six schools in the North... Full story
The volume of cases and restrictions on sentencing imposed by the state Legislature are two handicaps on his office, Grant County Prosecuting Attorney Garth Dano told chamber of commerce members at a recent meeting. Dano started out by asking chamber members if they wanted to pay more taxes, to a negative response. Then he pointed out that his office is working with three fewer lawyers than when he took office a year and a half ago. Budgets are indeed a factor in how long it takes to handle and... Full story
The former Center Elementary School in Grand Coulee was broken into for the third time last week, with hundreds of dollars of damage done and questions about the building's future looming unanswered. In addition to damage from the break-in on or about July 25, the building and grounds show windows and doors boarded up, many windows broken, and the grassy areas covered with weeds. Police stated that some youth had broken through a plywood sheet covering a door and gone inside, throwing paint... Full story
Running Banks Lake Golf Course with volunteers is working, Port District 7 commissioners declared last Thursday. In a financial report to commissioners, treasurer Joanne Davidson noted that the golf course is nearly $40,000 ahead of where it was last year at this time. The course is being managed by commissioners and other volunteers, the first year of operation without paid staff. "We have learned how to run a golf course," commission President James Keene said at the district's Thursday... Full story
Electric City’s fish pen operation is great for fishing in Banks Lake, but it also benefits the area in a different way. A good fishery in Banks Lake adds greatly to the area economy. Currently, the volunteer group that raises some 300,000 rainbow trout annually is looking for a new manager of the fish net pen operation. Former manager Carl Russell is retiring after 25 years tending the enterprise of POWER (Promoters of Wildlife and Environmental Resources). The trout are released from the pens twice a year and, accordingly, the releases have m... Full story
Grant County Mosquito District 2 planned another aerial granular larvicide drop along Banks Lake today (Wednesday), weather permitting. The new treatment, the second aerial drop this year, is necessitated by new evidence of mosquitos from Sunbanks Lake Resort, Steamboat Rock State Park and Electric City. The first aerial treatment was made in May and resulted in a big mosquito larvae kill and reports of mosquito-free patio and camping times throughout the area. But recent tests along the lake revealed mosquito larvae to the extent that another... Full story
Some mosquitos near Kettle Falls day use and group site campground have tested positive for West Nile Virus, the National Park Service said last week. Conditions this summer at Lake Roosevelt have been optimal for mosquitos, the NPS noted. Visitors, park staff, and our neighbors and partners have been dealing with an extraordinarily large mosquito population, especially in the Kettle Falls area, NPS officials have stated. The NPS is encouraging visitors to contact Julie Graham (360-236-4078) at the Washington Department of Health concerning... Full story
Grant County Port District 7 commissioners OK’d a contract with J-U-B Engineers to do an Airport Geographic Information System study during the current year. The project, approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, will begin soon and involves an aerial mapping of the airport and surrounding area, identifying any obstructions that might interfere with airplane activity in the area. Commission President James Keene said at the commissioners’ meeting Thursday that the cost of the project will be about $97,000, and needs to be done while the... Full story
A full report on Electric City’s proposed Pathway and Revitalization project could come by late August, city Deputy Clerk Russell Powers said last week. The Washington State University Rural Communities Design Initiative team will be finishing up its report and then it will be reviewed by Electric City’s community committee. The city council then will review it and it eventually will become part of the city’s comprehensive plan. The WSU team, made up of Assistant Professor Kathleen Ryan and three students, was in Electric City July 16 for t... Full story
If you are finding it more enjoyable sitting outside on the patio this summer, there’s a reason. Mosquitos! Or really, the lack of them. Grant County Mosquito District 2 officials used a new granular product this year in an aerial treatment around the shore of Banks Lake. The application came in May, and mosquito officials reported last week that it was “very effective.” Officials had planned for a second aerial application this season, if needed, but it appears that this might not be necessary. District Secretary Carl Russell said that distric... Full story
A 17-year-old was arrested and taken to Grant County Jail last Friday charged with attempted first-degree robbery after allegedly pulling a clear, plastic, air gun on a store clerk. The Auburn, Washington juvenile, only five days short of his 18th birthday, allegedly had entered Jack’s Four Corner Service, along with two other youths, and, after walking around the store, asked the clerk for a “swisher” (a cigar). The clerk asked for some ID and then refused the sale of a cigar, a police report states. Some words were exchanged; the youth left t... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District board adopted a $11,017,937 general fund budget for the 2016-17 school year at its Monday night meeting. The budget is about $500,000 higher than the previous budget and was described by Superintendent Paul Turner as austere. “We will have to tighten our belt this year,” Turner said. Turner noted that school districts are subject to decisions made by the Legislature and it isn’t always predictable what decisions might be made that affect school financing. In other funds, besides the general fund, the board... Full story
Police arrested a man for allegedly pointing a rifle at and threatening a woman and her child Sunday. An occupant of the Hill Avenue Apartments, Levi A. Redd, 29, was arrested Sunday, and taken to Grant County Jail, charged with first-degree assault and third-degree assault. A woman in the apartment complex told police that Redd had a rifle, “something with a banana clip,” and had pointed the rifle at her and “scared her and her son.” She told police officers Chris McClanahan and Dan Holland that the man was wearing a long, black trench... Full story
The school board accepted the resignation of Geary Oliver as head football coach at Lake Roosevelt High School at its meeting Monday night. The district has stated that it was exercising its long-established practice of awarding head coaching positions to sitting teachers, if they are qualified for the job. Advertisements for candidates to fill the position will soon be underway, and it is expected that Loren Endsley, Lake Roosevelt’s physical education teacher who acted as Oliver’s assistant last year, will apply. Oliver said Athletic Dir... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District hired a dean of students and a new athletic director at Monday night’s board meeting. Dean of students at Lake Roosevelt High School for the next school term will be Charles Pierce, from Soap Lake. Pierce will be in his final year for his principal certification at Whitworth College during the 2016-17 term. A person well known to hoop sports fans here, Levi Seekins, will take over as Lake Roosevelt’s athletic director, replacing Richard Black, who will retire in August. Black was named to the school boa... Full story
Electric City's revitalization and pathways project got just a little tougher last Saturday in the second of two public gatherings designed to pull together ideas on what residents would like to see done in their city. Apparently, a lot of them like it just the way it is, at least those who showed up Saturday and were the loudest. About 45 people showed up for the outdoor presentation by city officials and a group from Washington State University's Rural Communities Design Initiative, made up... Full story
The state Department of Ecology disapproves of a replacement sewer plant plan that resulted from the contested 2013 election of the mayor of Coulee Dam. In a July 1 letter to the town this month, Ecology had critical remarks about Coulee Dam’s current wastewater treatment project, developed after the new mayor insisted all the options had not been analyzed. The letter was made available to town council members, by people outside of town government, in time for their meeting last Wednesday night. The letter stated: “Ecology recognizes the need f... Full story
Newly elected Colville Business Council members were sworn into office Wednesday during the annual ceremony at the Colville Tribes’ center of government near Nespelem, the CBC announced. Council Members Sheilah Cleveland, Larry Allen, Georgia Simpson and William Womer were officially sworn in. Reelected council members are: Michael Marchand, Edwin Marchand and Joseph Somday, who will be working along with seated members: Ricky Gabriel, Jack Ferguson, Susie Allen, Bessie Simpson, Mel Tonasket, Andy Joseph Jr., and Richard Tonasket. The c... Full story
A Coulee Dam resident asked town officials what they planned to do about some of the town's sidewalks that need repair. Fred Netzel had reviewed the town's Six-Year Street Plan and asked the council if it could designate over $600,000 to repair its streets, why council members couldn't also address the sad status of many of its sidewalks. City Clerk Stefani Bowden told Netzel that the street plan was only a wish list that the town had to create every year, and that there wasn't money available f... Full story