News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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There may soon be more room for that load of stuff you wanted to haul to the dump. The Regional Board of Mayors is considering the purchase of another transfer trailer. The mayors have sought a used trailer to provide extra dumping room for several months but have been unable to find one. A used one would cost from $40,000 to $50,000. The mayors Monday looked at a new one from Wilkens Industries, Inc., from Morris, Minn., at a cost of just over $100,000. The sticker price shock was enough to delay making any decision Monday. Transfer station...
Police are looking for a man on a variety of charges, including burglary. Raymond L. John, 20, whose driver’s license gave an address as 4117 Rocky River HUD Road, Omak, eluded officers on several occasions after entering a house on Bowen Street in Grand Coulee, police said. A man and woman at a home at 231 Bowen, who said they don’t know John, told police he came in through a sliding door and sat down on the couch with them. The incident occurred about 3:30 p.m. last Wednesday, and police responded to a burglary-in-progress call. Seated on the...
The public is in for some surprises when they tour the new school complex in Coulee Dam this Friday: - Polished concrete floors sparkle and give off a sense of expensive treatment. Workers have ground square borders in areas to resemble tiles. - Rooms in the elementary wing have colored canopies over the doors, which match colors inside the room, so younger students can find their classrooms. - Outside each classroom, a small panel gives the teacher’s name and where they went to college. - Every classroom has a great view of the o...
A burned-out house that has been the focus of concern in Coulee Dam will soon be razed. Coulee Dam Mayor Greg Wilder said last week that he has received indication of cooperation of the property owner to assist the town in covering the expenses of tearing the house down and cleaning the property. The house at 609 Holly Street burned about two years ago and residents along the street have been raising their voices to get the property cleaned up. Just recently, one of the wind storms added fuel to the fire as two very large limbs were torn from...
The Grand Coulee Dam School District has expanded the open house for its new K-12 school complex. Superintendent Dr. Dennis Carlson said Tuesday that the district will have a ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 12, with tours of the new complex to follow. Carlson said that another tour will be added from 6-8 p.m. to accommodate those who work in the daytime and can’t get to the earlier open house. The new school will welcome students, Monday, Sept. 15. Last week the final material from the demolition of the classroom wing of Lake R...
Grand Coulee’s new police officer is on the job. Christopher McClanahan completed his academy training and began duties in the department Sept. 1. Chief Mel Hunt said that McClanahan was voted vice president of his academy class and placed second in his class academically. McClanahan placed first in firearms at 99.1 percent and first in the class overall. Hunt said it was the highest any of his officers have scored at the academy. “Officer McClanahan is to be congratulated on his efforts and all the extra work he did,” Hunt state...
The town of Coulee Dam has submitted grant requests to the State Transportation Improvement Board for three major projects. The first is for improvements around the new K-12 school complex. A second is for the reconditioning of Sixth Street, and the third for improvements to Lincoln Avenue. In the school portion of the grant request, the town points out that there will be an increase in general traffic, an increase in heavy vehicles such as school buses and heavy delivery vehicles and an increase in pedestrian traffic. The town’s submission i...
Sunbanks Lake Resort’s fall Rhythm & Blues Festival kicks off tomorrow (Thursday, Sept. 4) and run through Sunday, Sept. 7. Thursday bands will begin playing at 8 p.m. in the Coulee Cantina (directly behind the lodge). Music on the main stage begins Friday at 5 p.m., Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. A variety of bands will play each evening until about midnight. Bands featured include The Fat Tones, LeRoy Bell, Junkyard Jane and Too Slim and the Taildraggers. Promoters stated that there will be a total of 19 bands performing during t...
When you think of a Harvest Festival vegetables and fruits come to mind. The Chamber of Commerce’s Harvest Festival, Sept. 12-14, the third annual, at North Dam Park, is entirely different. It’s a fun festival for the entire family and a good way to polish off what has been a great summer. And it’s free! Always wanted to take a helicopter ride? You can do it at this year’s Harvest Festival, at a nominal price. Soar through the sky and look down on the things you’ve seen all year long except from a different vantage point. Rides are available...
Grant County residents may dispose of household hazardous waste free on Friday, Sept. 12, from noon to 4 p.m. at the Delano Regional Transfer Station. Only hazardous waste generated by households will be accepted. Hazardous products have labels with words such as warning, danger, caustic, flammable and poison. These chemicals should be disposed of through hazardous waste collection opportunities, not in the garbage, down the drain, or on the ground. Examples include oil-based paint, contaminated used motor oil, thinners, household batteries,...
Mayor Chris Christopherson made an appointment to the Grand Coulee Civil Service Commission last week, bringing it up to full strength. Named to the three-member commission was Bill Moore, a retired school teacher, and former city council member. Moore replaces Kenneth Carroll, who resigned earlier this month. Moore taught social studies, general math, shop and traffic safety during his 32-year teaching career. He retired in 1997. The commission is made up of Chair Alan Cain, Mark Graves and now Bill Moore. The Civil Service Commission meets...
The school board Monday night was told not to believe rumors going around that the new school would not make the start date of Sept. 15. In fact, Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Dennis Carlson told members of the board, the special ribbon cutting for the new school will be at 10 a.m., Friday, Sept. 12, with tours for the public immediately after. Seems there has been talk about town that the school won’t be ready for students on opening day. Only a rumor, Carlson stated. He added that teachers were asked about the “what ifs...
Grant County Port District 7 is in its third year as manager of Banks Lake Golf Course, which is inching forward and soon will be in the black, according to port commissioners. The Port District took control of the golf course in the spring of 2012, under distressed circumstances. Now, with a membership of 86 and a successful year of managing the course, primarily with volunteers, things are looking good, Port District Chair James Keene said last week. Commissioners praised volunteers for...
It sits on a flat area overlooking the Columbia River at the north end of Coulee Dam and may someday be the site of a development to assist visitors to the area. The gift to the town by Diane Hartzell, an Anacortes resident, was made last Thursday with a signing ceremony at city hall. The property was owned by Hartzell's father, Melvin Hartzell, who worked on Grand Coulee Dam in the mid 1930s when the large concrete structure was just starting to take shape. He had always wanted to build his...
Students, staff, bus drivers, and the entire lot, will celebrate the opening of the new Lake Roosevelt school Sept. 15, with T-shirt mania. Everyone will receive a Lake Roosevelt T-shirt to wear on the first day of school. The gold, black and white design is on a crimson colored t-shirt background featuring a new Lake Roosevelt logo on the front and sponsors on the back. Near the shoulder on one side is the date, Sept. 15, 2014, signifying the first day in the all-new school. The T-shirt will...
by Roger S. Lucas and Scott Hunter This year's Harvest Festival will feature a barbecue competition with some $3,500 prize money, as the event continues to evolve in its third year. That and a lot more will be part of the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce's Third Annual Harvest Festival, Sept. 12-14, at North Dam Park. The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce's Third Annual Harvest Festival, Sept. 12-14, at North Dam Park will also offer wagon rides, helicopter rides, an apple and...
A resident on Columbia Avenue in Coulee Dam is about to throw up his hands in resignation from the runaround he has been getting on a serious water drainage problem. During the most recent storm, his driveway, garage and outbuilding were all flooded. The problem is that the drain at the street side of his driveway will not take all the water that gushes down Douglas Avenue, runs along the curb, and spills over into his yard and into his garage. Daniel and Ann Marie Morfenski have talked with...
An Electric City man, already wanted on a warrant, was arrested Sunday on various charges, including possession of stolen jewelry. Arrested and taken to Grant County Jail was Jerome J. Harrington, 60, of 58220 Spokane Boulevard. When arrested Harrington had what was estimated at $15,000 worth of jewelry, including one very large diamond. Harrington is charged with breaking into an apartment occupied by Kelly Walker, 57, who lives in an apartment house on Continental Heights in Grand Coulee. Harrington is being charged with burglary,...
An Electric City woman read a prepared statement before the Electric City council last week, taking apart the city in general, the planning commission, and, in particular, Gary Haven, the city’s compliance enforcement officer. Linda Zernick, who lives at 218 Stevens, was trying to find out who made a complaint about her property, to no avail. She received in the mail a notice that she needed to bring her property into conformance with city ordinances or face a citation. A walk through of her property revealed that it is perfectly landscaped and...
Grand Coulee police Chief Mel Hunt and Sgt. John Tufts have about 70 years of combined service to the area. That's about to change, with Hunt ending 39 years of service to the Grand Coulee area beginning in 1975 as a reserve office and ending Oct. 1, 2014, as police chief for the past 35 years. Sgt. Tufts started with the Grand Coulee police department in 1984, after spending two years as an Okanogan County deputy sheriff. He has been sergeant since 2002. Tufts said Monday that he plans to...
Electric City Mayor Jerry Sands took issue at the city council meeting last Tuesday night, Aug. 12, with two stories about him that appeared in successive weeks in The Star newspaper. “It makes me look like a village idiot,” he told the council and some dozen members of the community who had come to the meeting. The first story had outlined how the mayor went to police headquarters in Grand Coulee and told Chief Mel Hunt to back off enforcing Electric City’s noise ordinance. Police had issued a citation to Electric City Bar and Grill becau...
A Spokane Valley man found that you can’t dig holes in a Grand Coulee park even though you are looking for buried treasure. Steven Harder, 46, was found Thursday, along with his metal detector, and dressed as a treasure hunter, digging in the park alongside SR-174 just west of La Presa restaurant. When police officer Joe Higgs got to the site, he found Harder with hand tools walking the park. He explained to Higgs that he was digging for buried treasure and always filled up the holes he dug. Higgs told the man that he was digging in a city p...
Demolition of the classroom wing of Lake Roosevelt High School started Monday. Walker Construction, which has the overall contract, expects the demolition to be completed by the end of this week. A subcontractor from Moses Lake, Advance Demolition, after completion of the demolition, will take out the concrete foundation and provide some 8 feet of fill, raising the area where the classroom wing was located to match the elevation of the new construction area. Most debris from the demolition will...
A Spokane Valley driver was critically injured last Friday when the vehicle she was driving crossed the center line and hit a tractor trailer head on. The accident occurred at about 8:20 a.m., about five miles west of Wilbur in Lincoln County on SR-174, according to the Washington State Patrol report. Deceased at the scene was Melinda L. Hirst, 53, driving a 2003 Thunderbird. Hirst was wearing her seatbelt when the accident occurred. The Thunderbird crossed the center line and struck a 2014 Volvo tractor trailer. The semi-truck was driven by...
Plastic explosives from a mining operation in Canada have been showing up in Lake Roosevelt with some degree of regularity, the most recent near Crescent Bay. A tube of the explosives, about a foot long and several inches wide, was detonated at Crescent Bay by the Spokane Bomb Squad on July 31. The Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department was on standby during the detonation. One local resident, who saw the detonation, said it made a pretty big bang. Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area Chief R...