News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 1003 - 1027 of 1807
A capital improvements levy to support the Grand Coulee Dam School District appears to have passed in Tuesday’s election with more than 55 percent of the vote. The levy will enable safety, technology and facilities improvements in the district and then let it pay for some items that otherwise would have come from its general fund as the transition is made to the new system of financing basic education in the state. In other contested primary elections, 4th District incumbent Republican Congressman Dan Newhouse led Democrat Christine Brown 6...
Evacuation levels on the Grass Valley Fire have not changed since last night, officials say. Although milder conditions have allowed the fire behavior to settle down today, that could change, and hot areas still close to towns flare up with a new wind. I would expect a new assessment in the near future, after firefighters get a better overall look at the total fire from the air. SR-174 is still closed from Leahy Junction to Grand Coulee. SR-155 is open, as is SR-17. Businesses are open in the...
The owner of a popular restaurant was arrested on domestic violence charges last week and remains in jail. Juan Moreno, the owner of The Melody restaurant in Coulee Dam, was arrested by Grand Coulee Police July 23 after his estranged wife and her boyfriend told police he threatened them with a knife and baseball bat, abducted her and tried to run over him. An Elmer City woman, who had called 911 about a disturbance next door to where she was visiting in Electric City, told police details that backed up what the two alleged victims had said....
A young Nespelem man died early Wednesday morning when the motorcycle he was riding went off the highway five miles north of Coulee Dam. Patrick J. Morin, 18, was riding a 2017 Yamaha FZ-09 south on SR-155 when he entered a curve too fast, lost control and struck a tree, according to the Washington State Patrol. The patrol report stated the July 25 crash occurred at 4:21 a.m. at milepost 35.7. That is in the area known as Belvedere. It was not known whether drugs or alcohol were involved, the report stated. Morin did not have a motorcycle...
It will take nearly 44 percent of Nespelem School District’s reserve funds to keep it in the black over the coming school year, a budget passed by the school board Monday night indicates. The district will take in more than $4.2 million in revenue from all sources, including $67,274 in local taxes, but that’s $348,986 short of what it will spend, according to the budget. The district will spend $4,486,171 to operate. That includes $1,118,974 on support services, the rest on instructional programs. Reserves will shrink from $800,000 to $45...
Coulee Dam seemed likely to follow a path already pursued by Electric City and Grand Coulee last week, when the town council heard nothing but favorable remarks during a public hearing on allowing people to drive four-wheelers on city streets. About a dozen people attended the hearing Wednesday night, not all of them from Coulee Dam. "It's a cheap way to get around," commented a man named Wes, who Councilmember Keith St. Jeor said was from Wenatchee. "It's a boon to the city." Coulee Dam is...
Healthcare professionals at the local hospital were alarmed last week at a big spike in people who had died by suicide. In the space of as many days, seven people took their own lives and one also took the life of another, hospital officials said. Suicide often happens in conjunction with taking alcohol or drugs, which can lead to deeper depression at the same time decision-making capabilities are impaired. If you are someone who is thinking about it, there is help available, if even just by phone through a hotline or by merely calling 911. If...
A young Nespelem man died early Wednesday morning when the motorcycle he was riding went off the highway five miles north of Coulee Dam. Patrick J. Morin, 18, was riding a 2017 Yamaha FZ-09 south on SR-155 when he entered a curve too fast, lost control and struck a tree, according to the Washington State Patrol. The patrol report stated the July 25 crash occurred at 4:21 a.m. at milepost 35.7. That is in the area known as Belvedere. It was not known whether drugs or alcohol were involved, the report stated. Morin did not have a motorcycle... Full story
Summer heat seems to make us a little surly at times, but we’re better off keeping our cool. Like when you come across road maintenance work. In the heat. When you’re in a hurry. Time for a deep breath, often needed when traveling out of town, but this summer, locals may be in for patience-testing even close to home. You know about that if you live in east Coulee Dam, where crews are building improved sidewalks and curbs in spots lined out in a Transportation Improvement Board-funded project in much of the area around the school buildings. Pat...
A weekly market at North Dam Park will now include activities for kids, a feature added by the sponsoring Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce. The Wednesday evening markets, running from 4 to 7 p.m., will feature a new activity each week will be sponsored by local businesses. Tonight at 6 p.m., kids get to “slip and slide” and enjoy water balloons in an appropriately cool activity, sponsored by the Grand Coulee Dam Senior Center. That plan seemed popular on the chamber’s Facebook page. Upcoming activities include a bubble station, makin...
Voters should keep local schools at the same level of tax support voters have been used to for some time. Local school patrons, staff and others have made clear their concerns about local schools. But concerns about discipline issues at the forefront are an entirely separate problem than the one school leaders are hoping to address with the proposed capital projects levy on which voters will decide Aug. 7. That levy would address maintenance and safety issues and swap a burden that has fallen in the past on the general budget to levy dollars,... Full story
Paul Turner has a goal: to make Lake Roosevelt Schools a bit of a worry to neighboring school districts because it’s where students want to be. But a kink got thrown into the plans to keep the Grand Coulee Dam School District, of which Turner is superintendent, moving forward financially, he told groups in public meetings last week, seeking to explain the proposed fix. When the Washington State Supreme Court ruled in a case known as “McCleary” that the Legislature wasn’t fully funding basic education as required by the state’s constitut...
There’s more to decide than just the local school levy in the upcoming primary election Aug. 7. With local voters tasked with making choices between some 70 candidates seeking nine offices in the upcoming primary, The Star has reached out to all candidates, asking them to tell readers why they deserve your vote. Voters looking for a reason to pick one candidate over another may look for their responses in our Aug. 1 issue, in which we will publish their paid advertisements submitted in response. Local voters, split up into many different d...
A guy who had brightly colored hair in his youth, but wears a tie to work now, would like to see the local skateboarding scene grow to include more features at the park, local competitions, and more, and would like all the support he can get from local skaters. Ben Hughes, a commissioner on the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District since February, has a background in skateboarding himself. "I started skating in 1985 on a bright orange banana board (now called Penny boards)," Hughes says, and...
At 18, Silas Sherbourne wasn't sure what to do with the rest of his life, so he left home the day he graduated from high school and hit the road - on one wheel. Sherbourne is unicycling 4,000 miles across the country to Savannah, Georgia, for a cause and for some clarity. "I concluded that the best action for me was to spend some time after graduation meditating on what really matters to me, in order to figure out what I should do," Sherbourne wrote on his gofundme page, hoping to raise $2,000...
The idea of building a community wellness center has not died. Coulee Area Park and Recreation District commissioners talked Monday night about reviving the topic for further pursuit after a couple years of its stagnation. “We could maybe get that thing back on the table in a discussion mode,” Commissioner Bob Valen said. “I would like to see it resurrected again.” Although still enthusiastic, Valen said he was not optimistic, knowing the cost of such a project. He said when CAPRD explored the idea a few years ago, architects gave a rough e...
Coulee Dam may soon allow the driving of all-terrain vehicles on city streets, if the council adopts a law similar to those passed by Electric City and Grand Coulee recently. It’s already happening, anyway, and state law allows it on the highway that runs through town, Councilmember Keith St. Jeor said, but Coulee Dam hasn’t adopted standards for the practice. St. Jeor said at the June 27 council meeting that citizens have been bringing it up and he’d like to see the town adopt the same standards passed by the Legislature several years ago f...
The most important thing for Americans to remember on July 4, 2018, is that we are Americans. Regardless of political party affiliation, philosophy, religion, creed or race, no matter if we are conservative or liberal, veterans or war protesters, soldiers or civilians, we are Americans. We are petty and noble, hateful and loving, proud and humble, but we are Americans. We may differ, as we always have, on what that even means, or on how to solve our problems, but we will eventually rediscover that we are Americans. So enjoy the national...
Local firefighters were busy over the last couple weeks, from fighting wildland fires to attending to one right behind the fire station in Grand Coulee. Firefighters were called to help on a large fire that burned more than 2,000 acres just north of Soap Lake a couple weeks ago that garnered a state fire mobilization after two Grant county-wide calls slowed it down, said Grand Coulee Fire Chief Rick Paris. It took several days to control. Last Wednesday, a fire north of Rebecca Lake Road drew every local agency in a rapid response amid signific...
A certain seemingly innocent, even holy-sounding, reference made recently by a high government official in defense of an unpopular policy should give Americans pause. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions sought to shore up the position of the government by using the authority of scripture, quoting the Apostle Paul when he advises following the laws of the earthly government. “I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of o... Full story
Coulee Dam’s law that protects its trees may be overhauled at the next council meeting June 27. Resident Bruce Bartoo has asked permission to remove two town-owned ornamental cherry trees from the planting strip in front of his house at 310 Stevens Avenue, saying he would plant Hawthornes in their place. Bartoo has asked for their removal several times over a course of a few years, but now says the trees are creating a hazard in his and a neighbor’s lawn, sending up sharp sprouts. The request has been stalled in the past, either directly by the...
It was not the usual graduation Saturday at Lake Roosevelt High School, where announcements of honors and awards earned by graduates, important as they are, were outshone by speeches that honored faculty and staff and told of the determination of the young about to overcome all obstacles. For Khani Priest, obstacles overcome have steeled her resolve to make it and to help others know that they can too. "I'm talking to you not only as salutatorian of my class, but also as a Native American...
The body of a 17-year-old Lynnwood, Washington boy was recovered Saturday evening from the waters of Banks Lake after he went missing late Friday evening near Steamboat Rock State Park, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office reported Sunday morning. Friends had reported David V. Fesko missing around 8:30 p.m. Friday after watching him try to swim to shore after falling off a personal flotation device. Fesko went under water and didn’t resurface. Deputies, state park rangers and boaters searched the waters and shoreline until nightfall suspended the...
They've been wanting to develop an art scene locally, and last Saturday officials of the Northwest Native Development Fund took a big step: opening an art gallery. Board member Molly Morris cut the ribbon on the three-room Titwáatit Native American Art Gallery at 312 Spokane Way, close enough to Flo's Cafe next door for attendees to smell bacon cooking. NNDF has organized three local "Plateau Native Art" shows in the last three years, each bigger than the last, and attracted grant funding for...
An Idaho man died Saturday afternoon between Wilbur and the Keller Ferry when his motorcycle crossed the centerline on a sharp curve and struck a guardrail, the Washington State Patrol reported. Larry Everett Merriman, 75, was headed north on a 2002 Yamaha XVS11AP near milepost 99 and entering a sharp, left-to-right curve when he crossed the southbound lane, striking the guardrail just after noon May 26. Merriman was wearing an approved helmet, and neither drugs nor alcohol were a factor in the crash, the State Patrol reported. His family was...