News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 967 - 991 of 1383
A Nespelem woman has taken her four children out of the school there and enrolled them in the Grand Coulee Dam District because of a pellet gun incident. Charity Carson said Tuesday that her 9-year-old was threatened by a 13-year-old student armed with a pellet gun while riding the school bus home in the afternoon, in mid-March. Nespelem School District Superintendent and Principal John Adkins, when questioned about the matter, said: “It’s a confidential matter investigated by the school district, and I can’t comment on it until I get guida... Full story
The city of Grand Coulee faces major changes to its police department communications network that could cost up to $75,000 within the next 18 months. The new network modification, required by the state, will provide security in the transfer of confidential materials. Juan Romo, of RISC Network Solutions of Moses Lake, made a presentation at the council meeting last week, showing equipment costs and installation of around $62,000 and annual maintenance costs of $15,000 more. The new computer equipment and software would encrypt transmissions so... Full story
Port District 7 is looking for a third commissioner. The district controls both the airport and 18-hole Banks Lake Golf Course and is governed by three commissioners. The district now has two commissioners, chair James Keene and Dennis Lohrman, and is looking for a new commissioner to replace Orville Scharbach, who recently resigned. The applicant must live within the district boundaries and be a registered voter. Anyone interested can contact Keene at 633-3108, or secretary Joanne Davidson, 633-2317, for additional information, or attend the... Full story
The Colville Tribes, under a contract awarded March 10, began providing law enforcement coverage Tuesday on the east side of the Columbia River for Bureau of Reclamation lands and facilities. The law enforcement coverage on this portion of the Grand Coulee Dam Project and lands was formerly provided by the town of Coulee Dam. A Friday press release stated the award was for $697,000. Grand Coulee police provide security coverage on the west side of the river, and recently were awarded a three-year contract for about $1.4 million. The Grand... Full story
North Central Regional Library is going to assist the school district here when it sets up its two libraries in the new school complex. Dan Howard, executive director of the 29-community library district, was in Coulee Dam last week to meet with Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Dennis Carlson and tour the new school site, paying particular attention to the two library spaces in the new building complex in Coulee Dam. One library will serve grades 7-12 and the other grades K-6. The school district faces the task of moving its... Full story
The city of Grand Coulee will hold a public hearing on requests for a bus facility for seniors and for a daycare center in the central business district at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 15, at the council chambers in city hall. Representatives of the Grand Coulee Dam Senior Center have appeared before the city council several times to ask for permission to build a garage on property behind the center to house their two buses. It was explained to them at the time that doing so would violate the city’s land use plan. Also, a request had been made t... Full story
About a dozen people were on hand last Tuesday night to help develop a road map for the Coulee Area Park & Recreation District's master plan for North Dam Park. Guiding the group was graduate student Danielle Roslevich from Eastern Washington University. She will take some of the information developed Tuesday night to the drawing board and incorporate it into a master plan of development. She told the group that she was already working on some of the ideas shared by those attending the meeting,... Full story
Local young rodeo hopefuls will be able to chat with the professionals next Monday and Tuesday, April 8, 9, at the fifth annual Shane Proctor bull/steer riding school at the Nespelem rodeo grounds. Grand Coulee’s own Shane Proctor and a number of his Professional Bull Riders friends will be on hand to instruct and visit with young people signing up for the two-day event. The clinic opens each day at 9 a.m. Proctor, who now lives in North Carolina, was the world champion bull rider in 2011 and returns to the area where he grew up and went to s... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District amended its policy on accepting non-resident students at its meeting March 24. The district, anticipating a surge of new students anxious to attend the new school, now will allow administrators to refuse to admit non-resident students if it would push the total number of students over the allowable number, or if it would cause the need for additional classroom space. The district invited Nespelem School Principal and Superintendent John Adkins to attend the meeting. Adkins has earlier stated that the small... Full story
The Bureau of Reclamation will open its pedestrian access trail from the bridge at SR-155 to near the Third Powerhouse on April 15, Public Affairs Officer Lynne Brougher said Monday. The quarter-mile section has been closed for the past 12 years because of security concerns. Brougher said this will be an interim opening, making it possible to go from the Downriver Trail’s north end to close to the Third Powerhouse. Brougher said that after some trail improvements are made, “probably by September,” pedestrians will be able to go to within 150 fe... Full story
The town of Coulee Dam is receiving an $8,000 grant from the Washington State Archives to preserve public records and maintain government transparency. Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman sent a letter to Mayor Greg Wilder. The grant money includes: • $5,700 to digitize ordinances, minutes and resolutions now in the custody of the Central Regional Archives, • $1,100 to digitize ordinances, minutes and resolutions still held by the town and • $1,200 to purchase locking file cabinets to secure records. The town is currently doing an inven... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District amended its policy on accepting non-resident students at its meeting March 24. The district, anticipating a surge of new students anxious to attend the new school, now will allow administrators to refuse to admit non-resident students if it would push the total number of students over the allowable number, or if it would cause the need for additional classroom space. The district invited Nespelem School Principal and Superintendent John Adkins to attend the meeting. Adkins has earlier stated that the small... Full story
A driver who told police he was homeless and driving his father's car fell asleep and crashed through the guardrail at the south end of the causeway in Electric City last Thursday morning. Ira Wolash Wyena, 41, was not injured but a female passenger was taken to Coulee Medical Center, where she refused treatment. Wyena fell asleep at the wheel and the vehicle peeled back about 15 feet of the steel guardrail. It ended up in the ditch alongside SR 155 about 10 feet below the highway level. Parts... Full story
Summers seem too short? You could be in for a longer summer this year if the school board adopts the proposed district school calendar. Granted, the calendar for the 2014-15 school year presented at Monday night’s Grand Coulee Dam School District board meeting isn’t the final one, but it gives a hint that the start of school this fall will be later than usual. The district, in an effort to move into the new education facility on the first day of school, is looking at the opening date of Sept. 15. Superintendent Dennis Carlson brought sch... Full story
A dispute on the size of accessory buildings in Electric City will soon be on the front burner for city planners. When the city’s comprehensive plan was passed, it limited the size of accessory buildings to 850 square feet. At least two Electric City residents, Mike Dennis and Mark Payne, have appeared before the planning commission and city council on numerous occasions, asking for larger accessory buildings to be allowed in the city. Upon their initial appearance before planners, the commission members seemed to OK buildings up to 30 feet h... Full story
Coulee Dam is seeking town residents to serve on three boards and fill one council seat. Mayor Gregory Wilder is asking members of the public to step up and fill three Civil Service Commission seats, five Planning Commission places, and six commission seats on the town’s Natural Resource Board (tree board). The positions, Wilder stated, have either been vacant or unfilled, and he would like to get residents more active in town government. The council position became vacant recently with the resignation of Bob Poch, who served the town for 28 y... Full story
The school district, by action of the school board, will return to a seven-period day this fall. The district has had a six-period day for the past several years and a change to the seven-period day will allow students to receive a wider range of class options. The board had decided earlier to return to the seven-period day and a 24-credit requirement at the high school for graduation, but had an opportunity to delay it a year since the district would be moving into a new school. The board heard arguments that there would be enough adjustments... Full story
The school board got its first look at a plan for administrators for the new school complex. Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Dennis Carlson told the board that the new school will need two principals, a vice principal/dean of students and a part-time athletic director. Principal Lisa Lakin will administer grades K-6, including pre-school. The district is currently advertising for a combined junior high-senior high principal. Current high school principal Brandon Byers has indicated that he has already applied to continue his... Full story
The Grand Coulee council voted to fund three water projects at its meeting March 18. The three projects were awarded to Pipkin Construction of Wenatchee on a low bid of $422,539.64, and will be funded from the city’s water reserve fund. The projects are: (1) Replace water main along SR-155 from SR-174 to Main Street and along Main Street from SR-155 to Spokane Way. Pipkin’s bid on this leg of the project was $204,267.65; (2) Replacement of water main along Van Tyne Avenue from Kimball Street to St. Henry’s Catholic Church. Pipkin’s bid on this... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District received 17 responses to its advertisement to bid on furniture for the new school, but only two of the companies gave a full response to the specifications, Superintendent Dennis Carlson told the board Monday night. Carlson said that the district is going over the bids now and will make a recommendation to the board sometime in April. He said the bid material furnished to prospective companies included 103 line items. Carlson told the board that bids could come in some $200,000 below initial estimates. One... Full story
A 10-passenger airplane lost power Thursday morning and had to make an emergency landing at the airport near Electric City. The turbine-powered Quest Kodiak left Paine Field near Seattle on a flight plan for Sandpoint, Idaho. Somewhere near Lake Roosevelt's Swawilla Basin, the pilot experienced engine failure, turned back to the airport here and made a dead-stick landing. The plane had been flying at 13,000 feet and made a gliding return to the airport. It later was taken to a nearby hangar... Full story
Guillermo Guzman, who served as a Spanish teacher at Lake Roosevelt High School until April, 2013, was given a final separation payment by school board action last week. Guzman was arrested in 2013 by the Border Patrol and Coulee Dam police on a variety of allegations, including the use of someone else’s Social Security Number, not being a citizen and working without a valid work permit. Guzman holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Washington. Guzman had been on paid administrative leave since he was arrested, and agree... Full story
Sometime soon, Grand Coulee police officers will be wearing cameras that record video and audio to record your conversation when you are stopped for a violation. The new equipment is in the trial stage now with only one officer, Dan Holland, equipped with the device while the department develops practices and procedures on how the program will work. The camera is about three inches by two inches and clips onto the officer's uniform at an angle that allows video and sound. The process allows... Full story
The Christmas decorations are still up in Grand Coulee. Public works director Dennis Francis advised the city council Tuesday night that relying on volunteers to help take them down hasn’t been a viable option. Francis explained that the city doesn’t have the manpower to put the decorations up and take them down. He noted that the city has to borrow a bucket truck, and this year had to spend over $1,200 in replacement bulbs. The displays were purchased a number of years ago by local businesses through efforts of the Business Association in Cou... Full story
The town of Coulee Dam is advertising for a new councilperson. Veteran Councilmember Bob Poch announced that he is quitting the council after a 28-year stint and it was time to hang it up. He was recently elected to another four-year term last November. Poch was honored at last Wednesday’s council meeting for his long service to the town. Mayor Greg Wilder thanked Poch for his contributions to community life and said the town would begin advertising for a person interested in serving immediately. “Poch’s long-term service is symbolic of a ded... Full story