News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 1875
Residents pressed Grand Coulee city leaders last week to crack down on long-running nuisance and drug problems they say are driving away tenants, scaring off potential homebuyers and damaging the town's reputation. During a council meeting Thursday night, multiple speakers focused on a cluster of problem properties - especially on Dill Street - where people are living in RVs and tents without utilities, dumping waste outdoors and attracting steady drug activity. "I have numerous rentals in...
Lake Roosevelt’s alternative education program has a new name and, soon, a new home. The district is moving ahead with a disputed plan to relocate the ALE program from the old middle school campus miles away to a controlled classroom in the CTE building on the main Lake Roosevelt campus, even as staff raise safety and supervision concerns. The Grand Coulee Dam School District board on Aug. 24 unanimously approved renaming the district’s ALE program the Lake Roosevelt Alternative Learning and Online Alternative Learning Experience, a change req...
We don’t have all the comforts of city life in this community, but we don’t always realize what we do love about life here. When we lose one little aspect of it, even temporarily, we can get cranky. That’s been the experience of many since the emergency repair work began on the SR-155 bridge over the Columbia River as our little region has suffered the absolute injustice of the addition of traffic lights. The horror! Probably, when engineers were faced with an emergent need to specify the deck repairs on the bouncy, clanking bridge surfa...
The Grand Coulee Dam School District board on Tuesday approved a one-season agreement allowing Nespelem high school students to join Lake Roosevelt High School’s football and girls’ volleyball teams this fall. Nespelem’s board had yet to vote on it. GCD board members voted unanimously to adopt the Interdistrict Athletic Combine Agreement with the Nespelem School District for the Fall 2026 season. The agreement covers only high school football and high school girls’ volleyball, and will expire at the end of the season unless the distric...
Ben Dupris outlined an ambitious vision last week for transforming the former theater space into the Coulee Art House, telling the Coulee Dam Town Council that renovations are underway and aimed at creating a year-round community hub for youth, families and elders. Dupris, who is renting the former Village Cinema space from the city, said they have been addressing long-standing maintenance issues in the building, including holes in upstairs drywall and areas in the lobby that appeared to have mold or water damage. They have stripped problem...
Elmer City council members tightened local parking rules and updated rental and utility service fees Thursday night, then heard from an Okanogan County District Court judge making a rare outreach visit to the small town. Parking overhaul replaces 1950 ordinance The council unanimously adopted Ordinance 394, a major update to the town’s parking regulations for vehicles, on city streets, sidewalks and alleys. The new law repeals a 1950 parking ordinance and largely brings Elmer City in line with state standards. It: • bars parking within 30 feet...
Following Tuesday’s inspection of their school buildings by their insurance company, environmental consultant, and property restoration team, Nespelem School Superintendent Linda McKay announced the district had been informed that they “will need to delay the first day of school until Tuesday, September 8.” The school’s buildings were inundated with thick smoke during the recent wildfires, and McKay told the school board July 27 that she would have the inspection done. Air Quality Index measurements inside the school remained elevated on Tues...
With no takers for Electric City’s police services contract and a November deadline looming, the city council on Tuesday agreed to modify and reissue its request for proposals while also beginning a deeper look at the cost of creating its own police department. Mayor Blake Martin told council members the city had received no formal bids on its current police contract RFP, which closes Aug. 15. Grand Coulee and Soap Lake have both declined to submit proposals, citing staffing and short-contract concerns, while the Grant County Sheriff’s Off...
Grand Coulee Dam School District directors Tuesday accepted and countered an offer for the sale of the old middle school to a local company, but the sale is contingent on successful negotiations of specifics. “I think the biggest comment is that we are still trying to do this for what’s best for our students,” noted Director Alex Tufts in a special board meeting called mainly to approve the offer. “We’re not going to make the sale of this if it’s going to harm our students.” Superintendent Rod Broadnax agreed. “Just going to negotiate, and if i...
Sue Dickey, right, accepts an ice cream bar from Harlan Holt as Harvest Foods and Variety gave out ice cream, lemonade and hot dogs to customers to celebrate the store's 50th anniversary Friday. Ray Duclos, center, sips a lemonade instead of working. The founder is now retired but showed up for the day and visited with patrons, including Dickey. She was there when they opened five decades ago, too, and won a drawing. At left Kota and his mom, Sarah Holt help Stephanie Duclos staff the welcoming... Full story
Grand Coulee Dam School District Directors will meet in a special meeting, online only, at noon Tuesday, Aug. 11, to discuss the sale of the old middle school in Grand Coulee. The Zoom link to the meeting is https://gcdsd.zoom.us/j/89474772041?pwd=Zk5pNnB6MWovOUNLMEtUcTR1MEsyQT09 Or you can go to the district homepage at https://www.gcdsd.org and scroll to the bottom for the link and directions. The school board had planned last Monday to meet online in the next few days to vote on the sale,... Full story
Staff, community and school board members heard and voiced concerns during a hearing July 27 about the proposed upcoming sale of the old middle school that the Grand Coulee Dam School District seeks to sell. Most of the debate centered on longterm access to the gym and safety for student athletes. Athletic Director Casey Brewster urged the board to slow down until a clear plan is in place for replacing the facility, saying the gym and adjacent spaces are heavily used yearround by school and community programs. Brewster said losing the building...
The National Night Out street party in Coulee Dam scheduled for Aug. 4 was postponed Monday due to smoke-related health concerns. The Coulee Dam Police Department's annual participation in the nationally promoted community get-together, always scheduled for the first Tuesday in August, was coming up at a poor time to hold a celebration, the city said in a broadcast text message and in an email to The Star. "We feel it would be unsafe to have people out in these smoky conditions," explained City...
by Shyleigh Gray and Scott Hunter Republican congressional candidate Jerrod Sessler came to Grand Coulee Saturday amid outrage regarding statements he had made in Moses Lake about the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. Arriving at the Voltage Coffee House Saturday, Sessler was met with extreme disapproval from the small crowd that gathered. Sessler's opening statements were an attempt to explain himself and his comments. "Most of what I have seen has been totally misconstrued in...
The National Night Out street party in Coulee Dam scheduled for Aug. 4 has been postponed. The Coulee Dam Police Department's annual participation in the nationally promoted community get-together, always scheduled for the first Tuesday in August, was coming up at a poor time to hold a celebration, the city said in a broadcast text message and in an email to The Star. "We feel it would be unsafe to have people out in these smoky conditions," explained City Clerk Stefani Bowden in an email... Full story
More than 1,000 personnel are assigned to the fight against the Kaiser Canyon Fire on the Colville Reservation, officials said Tuesday morning, 12 days after its start from lightning July 16. Fire took out more homes in Nespelem, too, on Friday, although an information release said that fire was not considered part of the larger conflagration and was named the HUD fire. Tuesday morning the fire's size was said to be 126,402.2 acres, considered 16% contained. Then later in the day, a new flareup...
Homes were lost in minutes, animals raced for refuge, people fled ahead of flames as the Kaiser Canyon Fire grew relentlessly this week from a few acres on the morning of July 16 to more than 68,000 Tuesday. Firefighters and volunteers managed to save Nespelem proper. Several people credited the Palmer family with working tirelessly on bulldozers to create fire breaks around outlying homes that could have burned without that protection. On Monday, a drive through the area, still closed off on th...
The Grand Coulee Dam School District board will meet in a special online meeting via Zoom Thursday, July 30, at noon for the purpose of passing the 2026-27 school year budget, discussed Monday night in a public hearing. Approval of Budget Resolution 26-27/01 is the only thing on the agenda, along with public comment after that approval. No other items can be discussed. The Zoom link can be found at the bottom of the district's homepage at gcdsd.org, or here: https://gcdsd.zoo... Full story
Electric City's new Ray Halsey Memorial Park opened this week with applause, laughter and memories of the longtime mayor who "always wanted a park for the people." The park, years in the making, was celebrated as a model of volunteerism and partnership between the city, local nonprofits and businesses. Speakers praised the committee that planned and built the project, the city's public works crew that rushed to finish details, and the late Mayor Ray Halsey, whose legacy now bears the park's name...
Neighbors frustrated by growing disorder on Dill Avenue pressed Grand Coulee City Council members Tuesday night to crack down on what they described as dangerous and unsanitary conditions on two nearby properties. Resident Mike Coffee, who lives on Dill Avenue, told the council he has dealt with repeated thefts, suspected illegal power hookups, and human waste being dumped on the ground outside a neighboring trailer. Coffee said one man living in the trailer was caught on his security cameras cutting wires from the front of his boat. Coffee...
Some of our nation’s thinkers are coming around to the conclusion that maybe our inclination to keep things fair for all individuals all the time has been accidentally making things worse in a number of ways for all of us, with some serious consequences. But one idea could suggest a way to solutions. Take our housing shortage, for instance. Any diehard capitalist will cite the principal that if you discourage supply, demand will rise, along with prices, as supply goes down. That pretty much describes the current housing market, the paucity o... Full story
Electric City will begin shopping around for possible providers of police services, voting Tuesday night to send out a request for proposals to nearby agencies, including other cities’ departments and county sheriff’s offices. The RFP seeks a comprehensive, turnkey law enforcement package. The selected agency would be responsible for: 24/7 response to all 911 calls originating in Electric City Routine patrols by vehicle and on foot, including park patrols, business checks, residential vacation checks and traffic enforcement Criminal inv...
Elmer City is working on handling a parking problem in town by enforcing an ordinance that says cars not in compliance can be towed after seven days, with notice. Town Clerk Kelly Ross said she would have a revised ordinance ready for the council to consider next month that aligns with current reality. The current ordinance was passed in 1950, and assigns the job of tagging non-compliant parked rigs to the town marshal, which the town hasn’t had for decades. The 1950 ordinance, number 28, states the offender can be made to pay the cost of a...
This might be worth contemplating, or not, but for the first time in at least 30 years, we heard no fireworks in Coulee Dam other than the official show off the dam. Police actually wrote a report to say that they had no fireworks reports. Local firefighters did not have to respond to fire emergencies in local towns. The closest local report came from Steamboat Rock State Park. Fire, and firefighting, are not as simple things to figure out as one might assume, with as many possible scenarios as the infinite mix of factors such as wind...
A few words of thanks and a ribbon cutting opened up a long-hidden part of the Grand Coulee Dam Project Thursday, as Bureau of Reclamation officials beamed to share a smaller but very interesting engineering feat, an old model of the Grand Coulee Dam at 1:60 scale. The model, most of which was hidden from view after it last operated as a tool for hydrologic research in 1952, was built to give engineers a way to test different water flow scenarios, measuring the results in the included scale...
