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 test to fill a vacated sergeant position in the Grand Coulee Police Department has been scheduled for April 11. Civil Service Commission Chair Alan Cain said the position will be filled from within the department. Four officers have applied. Cain said the oral interviews will be handled by the CSC’s chief examiner, Kris Theisen, and several law enforcement officials from around the area. The officers will be rated after the oral tests, and the top candidates will go to police Chief John Tufts for appointment. The officer selected will r... Full story
Big changes may come to the four-corners intersection of the two state highways in Grand Coulee, or not, after a petition got the attention of a state agency with 1,100 signatures. Local residents will have an opportunity to see some of the state Department of Transportation's proposed traffic control alternatives to the intersection at a meeting of the Grand Coulee City Council, April 7. The session starts at 6 p.m. DOT Traffic Engineer Terry Berends said his presentation will include a number... Full story
Center Elementary School and its surrounding property is officially for sale. The Grand Coulee Dam School District board had declared the property surplus in February, and after a public hearing to determine what to do with the property Monday night, it decided to list the building and the total 8.5 acres. The school board also authorized Superintendent Dennis Carlson to order an appraisal of the building and property. Only a single resident, Hank Wiebe, spoke to the board about the property. Wiebe resides next to the school, and commented... Full story
John Nordine is Electric City’s new mayor, sworn in last Tuesday evening by the city’s attorney, Katherine Kenison. Nordine, a serving council member, was mayor pro-tem, and had indicated that he would be willing to take over the city’s top political post after Jerry Sands resigned. The council agreed, and voted to make him mayor. He was quick to put an end to the constant interruptions the council has been experiencing lately from people attending the meetings, with exchanges between members of the audience and council members, and somet... Full story
The things people flush down their toilets is giving Grand Coulee’s wastewater treatment staff fits. And it isn’t just Grand Coulee that is having this problem. Councilmember David Tylor brought the problem up at a recent council meeting and stated that the city needs to find a way to get people to stop putting handy wipes, toys, articles of clothing and other things into their toilets and then flushing them down. City Clerk Carol Boyce explained that the handy wipes are probably the worst thing placed in toilets. Gary Abbott, of the was... Full story
Tim Lynch, Coulee Dam's wastewater treatment manager, is a remarkable fellow. He completed 40 years on the job last Wednesday, and town officials recognized him with pizza and cake at the town hall. What's so remarkable is that he has completed 40 years with the same employer, the town of Coulee Dam. In talking about it later, Lynch said it actually is about 43 years, since he also worked earlier summers as a part-time employee. What's really remarkable is a visit to his wastewater treatment... Full story
The council at Electric City voted last Tuesday night to submit changes to the city building code to the state for review, providing local residents and others a 60-day period to respond to the changes. The council amended a report from the planning commission to state that the size of accessory buildings has to conform to the International Building Code, which allows up to 3,000 square feet. But submitting the changes to state for review didn’t happen soon enough to satisfy three members of the planning commission who resigned after the c... Full story
Local citizens will have an opportunity to comment on the proposed sale of Center Elementary School and its surrounding property at a meeting before the school board, Monday, March 23, beginning at 5:30, at the secondary library in the new education complex. The district acquired the building and some 8.5 acres of land for $155,000 from the Continental Land Company earlier this year and proposes to sell the property after the school board declared it surplus at its meeting Feb. 2. Citizens can comment on the sale or why the district should reta... Full story
The future of Electric City may one day be more pedestrian-friendly, if an idea the city is pursuing ever comes to fruition. The Electric City Council is in favor of a pathway in the city proposed by one of its members. But don't look for anything to happen any day soon. Councilmember Brad Parrish, who is proposing the pathway, explained to the council that any pathway in the city would involve the cooperation of a number of agencies. "It will be difficult," but not impossible, he told fellow... Full story
A Nespelem man, Nicholas Patrick Stanger, 25, was killed last Wednesday in a one-car accident on Gold Lake Road. Stanger was a Lake Roosevelt High School graduate and was active in sports. Also in the vehicle at the time of the accident was his twin brother, Michael, who was taken to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane for treatment. He was released Monday. The deceased was born in Spokane to Robert and Lily Stanger and he worked at Mt. Tolman as a senior weed contractor. The obituary for Stanger can be found in this week’s S... Full story
A class of 21 future emergency medical technicians are currently working on their certification, and when they finish their training at least 12 of them will be available to serve in the Grand Coulee Dam area. Saturday, the whole group met together for the first time at the fire station in Grand Coulee. Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department Chief Rick Paris said the trainees are from a wide range of places, including Moses Lake, Electric City, Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam, Wilbur, Inchelium, and...
The members of the Grand Coulee Dam Senior Center honored their "Volunteer of the Year" Tuesday night. Felix Marcolin, 78, was described as a "person who makes himself available 24/7'" to help other people. Seniors President Birdie Hensley stated that Marcolin does everything at the senior center, and more, and he was an easy selection. Marcolin was named "Volunteer of the year" in 2006 by The Star newspaper. The center held a contest to single out one volunteer for the top choice. It is the fir... Full story
The Ridge Riders kick off their annual schedule of events Saturday, March 14, with the annual banquet and auction. The event is planned for the American Legion Hall in Electric City with doors opening at 4:45 p.m. George Kohout, president of the Ridge Riders, stated that a few tickets remain for the event. The next event for the Ridge Riders is the Riding Clinic, again headed by Janet Doughty, scheduled for the arena April 4-7. That event will be followed April 9-10, with a barrel racing clinic, also at the arena. One of the highlights of the... Full story
Imagine Banks Lake without water, and a dairy and pig farm operation in its place with Steamboat Rock as a backdrop. That would take you back to the early 1900s, when George Baldwin farmed the canyon floor with a vegetable farm and orchard, adding to his animal operations. The old Baldwin farm comes up from time to time when oldtimers recall earlier days, and it came up again recently at a Grand Coulee City Council meeting. Some time ago, pictures dating back to the old farm found their way to... Full story
Five students in Moses Lake schools have whooping cough, and Grant County Health officials have the task of checking out 149 people who have had close contact with the infected five. The five cases have been confirmed through laboratory tests. The students are from Peninsula Elementary and Chief Moses Middle School, the health department reported “We are responding to a cluster of whooping cough cases among students in Moses Lake. Because of a large number of exposed and ill individuals in a very well-defined area, we are considering this a l... Full story
Virgil "Smoker" Marchand said he is ready to start his 7-foot-tall sculpture of Lake Roosevelt schools mascot that will be placed at the front of the new school. "I am just waiting for the go ahead, and then I can order the material," Marchand said. He was selected to do an art piece as part of the public art associated with the new school complex. "I have already designed 'Raider' and am anxious to get started on it," he said this week. Marchand plans to create Raider at his shop in Omak and... Full story
All three Electric City planning commissioners present resigned at their monthly meeting Tuesday afternoon, their first meeting following a city council meeting at which their recommendations were rejected or ignored. Only Merle Kennedy, who didn’t attend Tuesday’s meeting, remains as a member of the board of commissioners. Contacted about an hour after the meeting ended, Kennedy said he hasn’t decided what he will do. “I was disappointed in the council’s action, but want to give it some time before I make any decision,” Kennedy stated. The... Full story
There’s a shortage of volunteers at Banks Lake Golf Course. Port District 7 officials, who run the 18-hole course, are discussing the need to hire some more help at the golf course. Last golf season the port literally ran the course with volunteers, a small number of golfers who did the watering, mowing and maintenance. Port Commissioner Gary Haag told fellow commissioners last week that many volunteers are getting “burned out” from spending too much time at the course. He recommended that the port hire at least a part-time and hopefully a ful... Full story
The State Auditor’s Office has found that the city of Grand Coulee does not have adequate control of its financial operations, according to its latest audit report. A “finding” report stated that the city placed “public resources at risk of loss or misappropriation.” The audit report, released Monday, had said in a prior report that the city did not have adequate controls over financial operations, and the current audit found the city has not addressed many of the conditions, and found additional concerns as well. The audit was for the perio... Full story
Engineers told about 25 local residents in Coulee Dam last Wednesday that the benefits of building a new plant versus upgrading the present wastewater treatment plant is about a push. A completed study of many of the details of the proposed plant will come later, but engineer Kurt Holland of Varella & Associates, a Spokane firm, said that the study thus far shows that the present site will be the most cost effective site for the plant. The report showed that a new plant would come in at about $5.270 million, while a remodel would be about $4.7... Full story
Some requests for ambulance and fire improvements were OK’d last week by Coulee Dam’s town council, but some weren’t. Normally, the second reading of an ordnance is a formality for council passage. Not on Wednesday night at Coulee Dam, when an ordinance to provide funds for fire department and ambulance improvement ran into trouble. Council members wanted specific price information on a number of items seeking funds in a budget amendment ordinance totaling $78,840. The request had grown a little over $7,000 between the first and second readi... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District will provide an opportunity for public comment on the sale of Center School and its property, 5:30 p.m., Monday, March 23. The meeting will be held in the Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High School library, on the second floor of the new school complex. The district’s board of directors declared the school building and surrounding property (about 8.5 acres) surplus at their meeting Feb. 23. The public will have opportunity to comment on the sale or retention of the property. The district purchased the b... Full story
An abstract artist from the Portland area who has been commissioned to create art pieces for the new school complex had a tour of the building and area last week. Lucinda Parker, who was selected by a local art committee after being among those recommended by the Washington Art Commission, was fascinated by the colors of both the coulee rocks and waters in the area. Local committee members said Parker will return to the area, perhaps as early as late March, to continue to get a feel of the area. At that time she will likely have sketches to... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District board took steps Monday night to improve conduct on school buses and in the classrooms. After a debate about priorities, the board voted to add four temporary positions to provide better discipline in selected elementary classrooms, and adopted a tougher set of rules for students riding on school buses. The temporary positions will last through this school year. Superintendent Dennis Carlson said class disruptions and behavior on buses involved just a few kids, but they had become problems for the district.... Full story
John Nordine, mayor pro-tem in Electric City, said last week that he would be willing to fill out the unexpired term of Mayor Jerry Sands, who is resigning. Sands will serve until the last day of February. Sands became mayor in 2009, and resigned, saying he would like to spend more time with his family. Nordine was elected by the council as mayor pro-tem and Sands’ resignation caught him by surprise. After thinking it over for a few days, Nordine said he was ready to fill out Sands final 34 months on his elected term. Sands first became m... Full story