News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 1018 - 1042 of 1807
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...
Grant County sheriff’s deputies on Wednesday morning, May 23, recovered the body of a man from the waters of Banks Lake south of Electric City. Deputies were called around 7:30 a.m. after a boater discovered the body, later identified as 72-year-old Garlan W. Crosswhite of Olalla, Kitsap County. Crosswhite’s boat was found beached along the east shoreline about two miles away. Campers at a campground just north of the Million Dollar Mile, about milepost 9 on SR-155, told a Grand Coulee police officer assisting that a camper and boat tra...
After attending the opening of the wine bar on Main Street Friday night, the ribbon cutting at the new art gallery on Spokane Way on Saturday, and getting a bite and a cup afterward at the new coffee house a block away, a niggling, suppressed hope fought its way to the surface. Its seed has always been present, but lately held at bay. Statements from some who return to the coulee after long absences that “this place never changes,” and our own feeling that we’ve been using the word “potential” about the economics of the area for too long for...
An Idaho man died Saturday afternoon on SR-21 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... Full story
To call it a "school assembly" might give you the wrong impression. It was a rap concert at the end, but the bulk of it before the bass throbbed was all about honesty, mistakes, permanent hurt, forgiveness, letting go, and choices. James Pakootas was on a destructive path not too long ago, until he realized he was making the wrong choices. He told students at Lake Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School, plus a few from the elementary grades, that he had chosen the wrong way to deal with the hurt...
When Amanda Burton moved into a house on River Drive in Coulee Dam, she noticed it's a very busy road with no crosswalk where drivers often speed through, very near Lake Roosevelt Schools. Her kids are a couple years away from walking to school, but about 15 kids cross to and from the school every day, she told the Rotary Club last week. River Drive is also SR-155, which slows to a 35 mph speed zone at the city limits as drivers approach from the north. "A lot of people don't slow down when... Full story
Students at Lake Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School intend to petition the state Legislature to reject the state’s official folk song because its original lyrics contain references they consider racist. Seventh-grade students studying state symbols in Washington state history were upset when they recently heard lyrics in Woody Guthrie’s seminal “Roll on, Columbia,” which are not listed in the Secretary of State’s web page about the song. Written just after Guthrie had seen Bonneville Dam on his month-long commission from the Bonnevill...
An alarm that drew six fire engines, an ambulance, 22 firefighters and emergency medical personnel, plus three police officers tested their response plan but revealed only smoke at the high school gym Thursday about 3:45 p.m. The problem was apparently an old electrical breaker in an electrical room in the basement of the old gym, according to a press release from area fire chiefs. Damage was limited to the electrical equipment and the related smoke damage. When firefighters arrived, the room was filled with smoke, but no flame. The cause is st...
A candidate for Congress announced a tour of the state’s 4th Congressional District that includes a town-hall meeting tonight (Wednesday) in Coulee Dam and a coffee shop visit the next morning. The Christine Brown for Congress campaign announced last week a “Big Table Tour” that includes stops in small towns. It started in Oroville on Monday morning. Brown will hold a public meeting at Coulee Dam Town Hall, 300 Lincoln Avenue, tonight from 6-8 p.m. The next morning from 8-10 a.m. she’ll hold a “Coffee with Christine” at Voltage Coffee Hous...
It's not easy for most people in policy-making positions far away to appreciate what the word "rural" actually means. That's a problem when it could mean life or death. That's a point people with Coulee Medical Center's obstetrics program tried to make last week with a regional bus ride and presentation aimed at those who can influence policies that can either make it possible or impossible for the hospital to continue delivering babies. Leaders at the hospital fee strongly that stopping that se...
Jarred-Michael Erickson leads Janet (Wak Wak) Nicholson by just one vote in the Saturday polling for Nespelem Position 1 on the Colville Business Council, one of seven seats up for election. The poll vote was certified Monday, but can change dramatically as absentee ballots are counted later this week. Nicholson held the edge 50-51, followed by Charlene Bearcub, 30; Joaquin Marchand, 27; and Anna Vargas, 20. Andrea George held only a two-point lead over Darnell Sam for Nespelem Position 2, 56-54, followed by Sheilah Cleveland, 40; and Jonnie...
Few things in modern life are as complicated as healthcare. That fact was all too apparent last week as Coulee Medical Center officials presented their case for supporting the practice of delivering babies in rural hospitals, especially CMC. From a simple accounting perspective, obstetrics would make lots of sense to cut out if the budget is tight (and it is). But that could mean also getting rid of other services that support obstetrics, along with other services. CMC’s push to highlight the need is on the front page. And then there’s the opi...
A candidate for Congress announced a tour of the state’s 4th Congressional District that includes a town-hall meeting tonight (Wednesday) in Coulee Dam and a coffee shop visit the next morning. The Christine Brown for Congress campaign announced last week a “Big Table Tour” that includes stops in small towns. It started in Oroville on Monday morning. Brown will hold a public meeting at Coulee Dam Town Hall, 300 Lincoln Avenue, tonight from 6-8 p.m. The next morning from 8-10 a.m. she’ll hold a “Coffee with Christine” at Voltage Coffee Hous... Full story
The curtain on the stage in the Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High School gym, the one the class of 2018 will walk under to pick up their diplomas in June, is falling apart, a problem possibly remedied by spaghetti. At least that's what the Grand Coulee Dam Rotary Club hopes to do with a fundraising dinner this Saturday at the school cafeteria. The club, famous locally for its spaghetti, is selling tickets for the dinner that will be dished up from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. The curtains, said music...
The town of Coulee Dam and the Colville Tribes are negotiating on working together so that each might complete projects to bring high-speed internet service to the town and to the Colville Reservation. "Whether we like it or not, the internet is air," Sanjay Saggere told the town council last week. "I come from a place where I could breathe internet; here I can only breathe air." Saggere, who the tribes hired as their new chief information officer earlier this year, said that the Colville Confed...
All those at the scene of what could have been a horrific tragedy Saturday evening, at the Columbia River Bridge in Coulee Dam, were greatly relieved when it wasn’t. Viewed from the bridge, a woman on the road far below near the river was screaming the name of her teenage daughter, apparently convinced she’d fallen from the bridge. After a passerby called 911 about 6:20, police and first responder emergency crews arrived, trying to help, assessing the situation. Searchers were watching the sho...