News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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If you notice a few 10th-graders in the greater downtown Coulee Dam area around lunchtime next week, they're not skipping school. The Grand Coulee Dam school board Monday voted to give the class of 2027 an off-campus priveleges trial period. The decision followed a presentation by the class officers asking for relief from a decision made about some earlier sophomore class that apparently had had discipline issues off campus. "We have never had a chance to go out and prove ourselves," Jaci Clark...
Elmer City leaders will consider a method of building in minimal annual raises on utility rates to keep from falling behind costs of providing the services. City Clerk/Treasurer Kelly Ross asked the town council Thursday to consider the step and hold a public hearing on it at the scheduled February meeting. The council approved a resolution for increasing the percentage of water and sewer service sales that is sent to the city’s reserve funds from 1.5% to 2.5%. Ross suggested a $1 annual increase on each rate for garbage collection, sewer, a...
The Raiders took down the 1-A Cascade Kodiaks by 50 points last night, highlighting a five-game winning streak away from home. Now 11-1, the Raiders left the Leavenworth team with a 2-9 record overall. The Raiders are ranked third in the Central Washington 2B League, but fourth among the 54 teams in the state at their 2B level, according to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association. Columbia (13-1), at Burbank, and Colfax (11-1) are listed first and second, and Freeman (8-1) at...
The Lady Raider wrestlers took seven wrestlers to Connell Saturday, and they all placed. Lake Roosevelt took third place in the 31-team tournament with schools sizes ranging from 1B to 4A. LR’s 120.5 points earned their third place. Prosser took second with 132. Othello won it with 147 points. “It was a tough tournament for the girls but good prep for the state tournament,” Head Coach Victor Landeros said. “They are working hard every week, making small adjustments to fine tune their wrestling,” Landeros added. “All of us coaches like where...
With eight wrestlers, the Raider boys finished fourth among 20 teams at Northwest Christian’s Crusader Classic wrestling tourney last Saturday. “The team finished 4th overall with 8 wrestlers competing. “They finished as the second highest 2B team in the tournament,” Coach Casey Brewster noted. “They wrestled hard and continue to make progress every week, and it shows at every tournament.” Rodger Cate took first at the 113-pound bracket, earning 28 points for the Raiders. Collin Christman, at 106, took second for 16 points. Collin Chaney also...
When he approached the broken city hall front door from the inside late Saturday night, the suspect in widespread vandalism there saw the targeting dots on his chest from an officer's taser and immediately complied with an order to lie down. Coulee Dam's Officer Mathew Ponusky, driving by on patrol just before 11 p.m., had noticed the broken glass door on the front of the building and stopped to investigate. Ponusky could hear glass breaking at the southwest corner of the building, and, looking...
Accountability and words like it came up repeatedly during a special meeting of the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors Monday night as they hashed out their priorities among a list of recommendations for strengthening the district in a new report. The “Performance Audit Report” commissioned by Superintendent Rod Broadnax is barely 16 pages but intends to offer “a basis for discussion and a roadmap for the future.” The report by “Burns/ Van Fleet” of Houston, Texas, is based on a review of district policies and documents,...
Most of the boys' basketball game with Liberty Bell Friday night seemed to be going according to norms. Tight competition: it ended regular play going into overtime 46-46. And that is where the Mountain Lions apparently decided they would score no more. They kept their score at 46, even as Raiders racked up 60 points. It's not like Liberty Bell wasn't equal to the task, they just didn't do it. Worse, they continually fouled so LR would head to the free-throw line, racking up the Raider win...
Consultants working on a project to convert the old Center School into a senior living facility gave community a progress update last week, at a gathering Tuesday night at the Voltage Coffee House. Patti Westby, of Westby Associates, Inc., said a feasibility study is done after gathering input from a series of 84 interviews with "prioritized contacts," community members and stakeholders. They were gathering feedback and "estimating potential support" for what is likely a $15 million project to...
by Scott Hunter Emma Isaak is looking forward to a lifelong learning curve, so she's picked a good profession in financial management. The last year hasn't let her down. That's when she moved to Coulee City after growing up in Spokane, graduating high school at Northwest Christian, and getting her master's degree in business administration at Gonzaga following a bachelor's in psychology at Wheaton College, in Illinois. Quite a jump from psychology to financial management? "You know, you would...
It's been a long time coming, but Nespelem saw a victory on their home basketball floor Saturday night, some 56 years (that was a best guess by school officials) after their last high school closed and their students started attending Graxnd Coulee Dam schools for high school. The Nespelem Eagles hosted the Columbia Lions, from Hunters, for the 68-31 win, which had to feel good after their 20-point loss at Republic the night before, 68-44. The Eagles are not playing in a league this year,...
Following a public hearing Nov. 25, school directors decided students will attend Lake Roosevelt Schools for four days each week instead of five, beginning in the fall of 2025. People at the hearing expressed support and concerns, urged the board to consider how it would affect academic progress, and questioned whether enough research had been done into the idea. Superintendent Rod Broadnax assured people the decision would have no impact on the district funds and the board’s decision would have to be based on what’s best for the kids. Boa...
Two men whose crime spree ended with murders on the Colville Reservation in 2022 were convicted Monday in federal court of those and other crimes, including shooting a Colville Tribal Police sergeant. Zachary L. Holt, 24, and Dezmonique D. Tenzsley (a/k/a “Privilege”), age 35, were found guilty on all 17 counts presented at trial, including Felony Murder in Indian Country, Attempted Murder of a Federal Officer, Assault of a Federal Officer, Attempted Robbery in Indian Country, Robbery Affecting Commerce, as well as several firearm off...
The treaty that has governed how the United States and Canada have managed the Columbia River for the last 60 years was set to expire in September, but the two countries announced in July they had reached a new agreement in principle “on the key elements for a modernized Treaty regime,” according to the U.S. State Department. Next week, you can attend an online meeting to find out what that means for how Grand Coulee Dam, and Lake Roosevelt behind it, will likely operate in the future. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and Bureau of Recl...
The basement of the Church of the Nazarene in Grand Coulee was filled with help Saturday as local scouts hauled in the results of their annual food drive for the Care and Share Food Bank, an effort that restocked shelves that were getting empty. Care and Share is currently serving around 130 local families, according to Director Carol Nordine, including many young families with children and working parents who find it hard to keep up. About a dozen volunteers, plus the scouts, made fairly quick...
Two people were taken to hospital following an incident in which a 17-year-old had reportedly slashed two people with a knife at a party early Sunday morning. Coulee Dam Police responded to a Grand Coulee residence after overhearing a Grant County dispatcher call out a county sheriff’s deputy to the scene of a large fight about 2:15 a.m. at 213 Second Street. A Coulee Dam Officer responded after asking if the Grant County Sheriff’s Office wanted the assistance. On the way to the active scene he called another Coulee Dam officer for help. Whe...
It's gotta make a guy feel pretty appreciated when a send-off-to-state rally is held just for him, as it was for Caden Portch Friday. The Raider junior alone among his cross-country teammates qualified for the state meet at Pasco's Sun Willows golf course held Saturday. So Lake Roosevelt saw him off Friday in the school's traditional style with an assembly, the "tunnel," and sirens and lights supplied by police and emergency services folks escorting him through town on the way out. Portch ran...
As most of the country’s election map turned red last night, so did most of Washington states but with different results overall. With only 64 % of votes counted in the state as of 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris, with 51% of the vote nationally had received 58% in Washington, giving the state’s 12 electoral college votes to her. Results are unofficial until they are certified Nov. 26 by county officials, then by the secretary of state on Dec. 5. That blue leaning in the most heavily populated areas of the state carried thr...
When you've had one win all season and your last league game will be against one of the top 2B football teams in the state with 22 straight wins, you might not think it could be fun. But don't tell that to Lake Roosevelt's Raiders, at least not those who made the trip to the home of Bulldogs Friday night to endure a 78-8 drubbing. "We took 16 players to Okanogan, five of them freshmen," said Raider Head Coach Geary Oliver. "At the end of the game we had 13 able to play. Our guys played hard...
A popular program that provided after-school and summer educational activities for students may return to Lake Roosevelt Schools next year. School District Superintendent Rod Broadnax told the district board of directors Monday that several people have volunteered to help get the funding back that is lacking this year from the 21st Century grant program that once funded the District’s SHARP Kids program. Broadnax said Gene Sharrett, former NCW Education Services District superintendent, and one other person met with him Friday. “I’m very excit...
With their season about to wrap up, the Raiders grabbed a football win on the Lake Roosevelt field for their homecoming game Friday. They beat the Tonasket Tigers 40-35, boosting the Raider win-loss to 1-6. "I'm always proud of our players, but this week our team built on the value of personal sacrifice," said Head Coach Geary Oliver. "Our defensive line was asked to play a technique which would result in no personal accolades. However, it would give us our best chance to win the game. It was a...
A letter from the city’s attorney to the Bureau of Reclamation official, which the city council ratified last week, confirms that the city of Grand Coulee and the federal agency “have mutually agreed to ‘pause’ or significantly reduce service under the Contract due to the lack of City personnel to fulfill the Contract service requirements.” Along with the city’s current police staffing shortage, the Oct. 2 letter from City Attorney Julie K. Norton to Sandra Snediker at Reclamation’s Pacific Northwest Regional Office in Boise, Idaho, unders...
Fixing the heating and cooling system in Coulee Dam’s “Community Building,” where the Rio Grande Restaurant, the bowling alley and soon a reopened theater operate, just got a higher priority. The city council OK’d a plan to tap funds, if needed to patch the roof, as Larry Hernandez digs into his project to get a new HVAC system in the building. He’s been consulting with companies to get the place heated over the winter. Hernandez plans to re-open the Village Cinema, which close 11 years ago when the industry changed to require all digital p...
The switchyards that direct the power from Grand Coulee Dam have been owned by that Bureau of Reclamation project since it was all built, but that just changed. On Tuesday, the Reclamation formally handed over ownership of those assets to the Bonneville Power Administration at a signing ceremony in front of the dam, much of which was used to recognize those in each agency who worked to make it happen, many of them for years. Grand Coulee Power Manager Coleman Smith said he has been working on th...
Leaders at one local school district broached the idea of changing the yearly school calendar to an alternative that cuts down on the long summer break. The state’s Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction calls the concept a “balanced calendar” approach, which generally means taking the same 180 days a year of school and not concentrating them all into nine months, then taking all summer off. Nespelem School Superintendent Effie Dean said she’s noticed frustration on the part of teachers whose students are taking longer than expecte...