News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 1224 - 1248 of 1807
The artist who produced the Gehrke windmills could get some overdue attention if the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District can find funding for a few interpretive signs to tell his story. Electric City resident Kristen Heidenthal last month proposed working on four interpretive panels to explain to visitors a colorful history of the artist beyond his time in the Grand Coulee area. Emil Gehrke is recognized as a legitimate American folk artist and his work is more widely known and respected than many appreciate, district President Bob Valen... Full story
A local baseball player is on the team headed from the Pacific Northwest to the Babe Ruth World Series this month. Dalton Kentner, playing for the Columbia Basin Riverdogs in the 15-and-under bracket, will head to the big Babe Ruth League ultimate competition in Williston, North Dakota Aug. 13-20. The Riverdogs, from the North Washington region, took the championship at the 2016 Pacific Northwest 13-15 Year-Old Babe Ruth Tournament in Camas, Washington July 25-31, winning 2-1 Sunday over Hazel... Full story
The eventual degradation of an empty building is nothing new, totally expected. Which is why leadership at the Grand Coulee Dam School District and an economic development committee of the chamber of commerce began working, before the new Lake Roosevelt Schools building was completed, on a transition plan for Center School. Like many other aspects of this community, it was complicated. The building and property were not owned by the school district; it had been provisionally deeded to the district decades ago, but only so long as it remained a... Full story
A candidate running for Sen. Linda Evans Parlette's 12th District seat in the Washington State Legislature visited Grand Coulee Thursday, speaking to members of the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce. Jon Wyss, who has been a Gebbers Farms executive for 11 years, said he visits Grand Coulee often from Brewster to get his vehicle's oil changed at Jess Ford. He's running in the primary against Brad Hawkins, who has represented the 12th District in the state House of Representatives since... Full story
The soon-to-be newest chief executive officer of Coulee Medical Center attended Monday night's public hospital district commissioner's meeting, saying he and his family are excited to be moving here. Jonathan Owens and family will be moving to the community on Friday, but Monday was the first of two votes of the commission required under state law to seat him as the man to replace current CEO Debbie Bigelow, who is retiring. "We're thrilled to death to be here," he said. "We feel like we've... Full story
The Moose Lodge in Grand Coulee Saturday hosted 10 girls for dinner who are the organization's reason for raising funds. The girls, from 8 to 12 years old, live on a 1,000-plus acre campus outside Chicago, Illinois, and benefit from the Grand Coulee lodge's fundraising efforts every month. "Mooseheart" is about a third of the national Moose organization's reason for existence. It's called "The Child City ... a home for children and teens in need, from infancy through high school." Its residents... Full story
Did you see a tornado near Grand Coulee Friday? KREM reports that one touched down here about 3 p.m. And they have video of one near the Northern Quest Casino in Airway Heights. If you have photos, we'd love to see them....
You probably can’t blame the heat; this is the coolest July in recent memory. So maybe some locals are taking their cues about civility, or lack of it, from national movements and leaders. They shouldn’t, but it can be hard to avoid. Reportedly, there was a lot of shouting going on in local public meetings last week. While it’s undoubtedly true that people are frustrated, they are not more so than citizens of the past. Our system of government, never easy, almost ensures some degree of frustration. But when reasoned, heated debate gives way t... Full story
Coulee Medical Center will likely meet its new chief executive officer later this month, following a Monday-night decision to offer the job to one of two candidates board directors had been considering. In special session Monday night, the board of commissioners of Public Hospital District 6 authorized current CEO Debbie Bigelow to negotiate a contract with Jonathan Owens, Bigelow said Tuesday. “He’s very excited,” she said after calling him. Bigelow sent him a proposed contract. If he accepts, it will be reviewed the first of two times at th... Full story
An environmental group has sued the Bureau of Reclamation to force compliance with the Clean Water Act, which it contends Grand Coulee Dam and other big dams are not meeting. Pollution discharges from the USBR’s operation of the dam “contribute to the pollution crisis on the Columbia River,” the suit brought Thursday by Columbia Riverkeeper says. The group wants Reclamation to switch to using so called eco-friendly oils and greases as lubricants in machinery that contacts water and file for a pollution permit under the Clean Water Act. In 20... Full story
New interpretations of old regulations forced a last-minute change to plans for a water park, a new feature of the chamber of commerce's Festival of America. The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce put on the festival and an associated feature for kids planned to be mostly water features, but it was less so than planned. The change followed an 11th-hour phone call from a Grant County Health District official who said the district wouldn't allow the features that had been planned. The... Full story
It wasn't the smoothest sailing for festival planners over this Independence Day weekend. Problems started with short notice from Grant County Health District authorities that a water park for kids couldn't happen the way it was planned. Smaller complications, such as reportedly rude political protesters and a lost child (she was found) were wedged between that announcement and the final blow - a power outage that cancelled the Laser Light Show during the biggest festival of the year. Officials... Full story
County commissioners told those attending the sixth public meeting on the Okanogan County’s Juvenile Department last week that they would commit to continue housing juveniles in the county facility in Okanogan, rather than outsource the job to a far-away place. The latter possibility had brought 100 or more citizens, including two opposed superior court judges, out to a series of meetings in which commissioners explored various aspects of the question. Their announcement June 21 followed the filing of a lawsuit against them a day earlier by t... Full story
New interpretations of old regulations forced a last-minute change to plans for a water park, a new feature of the chamber of commerce's Festival of America. The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce, which is putting on the festival and an associated feature for kids meant to be more about water features, is less so than planned. The changed followed an 11th-hour phone call from the Grant County Health District, which said it wouldn't allow the features that had been planned. There are...
Jim Boyd, leader of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and renowned musician and recording artist, died unexpectedly last week at the age of 60. "This is a very, very sad day for the Colville Tribes," said Vice Chairman of the Colville Business Council Michael Marchand. "One of our most respected leaders and talented tribal members is no longer among us. The sheer enormity of our loss has not set in yet, and I doubt that it will for quite some time." Boyd, who won seven Native... Full story
I didn’t know Jim Boyd well, just enough to like him and admire his talent. So it came as a complete surprise when the sudden news of his death overwhelmed me last week. That reaction likely has something to do with being nearly the same age, but it was more than that. Boyd was an artist who was a leader, someone who could articulate for those of us on the outside of his culture, his tribe, the importance of the commonplace and of the sacred. Because he had that ability, politics somehow seemed less about self-interest than about grappling w... Full story
The Colville Tribes announced this morning (6-22-16) that Chairman Jim Boyd has died at the age of 60. What follows is the tribal press release: Chairman Boyd walks on NESPELEM, WA - The Colville Business Council has announced today that the Chairman of the Colville Tribes, James L. Boyd, has passed on. He was 60. Boyd, a prolific songwriter and entertainer, was well known throughout Indian Country. He travelled throughout the United States, was known for his love ofHarleyDavidson Motorcycles,... Full story
Hospital officials met last week with Washington State University officials working to make that institution's new medical school a reality. Kenneth Roberts, the vice dean for academic and community partnerships for the WSU College of Medicine, along with Jeffrey Bell, a partner at Gallatin Public Affairs, stopped at CMC to give officials there an update on WSU's progress in launching the new medical school. They've also been touring rural hospitals to undertand the needs and capabilities they h... Full story
A major art show, drawn in cloth and stitches, and honoring the National Park Service in its 100th year, will arrive in Coulee Dam just in time for the Fourth of July. The "Inspired by the National Parks" Quilt Show will be on display in the Lake Roosevelt Elementary School gym July 1-4, with more than 180 art quilts. Don't think about those warm blankets sewn from scraps that may first spring to mind. These quilts depict something inspirational from the nation's most beautiful places. Detailed... Full story
If you see a huge aircraft flying low over the Colville Indian Reservation from now through next Tuesday, you're seeing the world's largest supertanker aircraft and crews practicing in a firefighting training exercise. Global Supertanker Services will fly over the Keller Butte area Saturday with a Boeing 747 tanker to practice flying in a mountainous area in advance of the coming fire season. A lead plane and possibly a photo plane likely will also be in sight. On some flights, potable water... Full story
Pop quiz: How would you feel about merging local towns? That’s the essence of a new, very short survey that likely arrived in your mailbox early this week. It’s being asked by the local chamber of commerce in order to gauge the interest local citizens have regarding the subject, and what their feelings are. The chamber was approached by elected leaders in Grand Coulee and Electric City some time ago and asked to facilitate a community discussion on the subject. Evidently, they, like many business people in the area, saw a potential for better s... Full story
She described it perfectly, although few could hear her. “Everybody’s worst nightmare,” was the way Principal Ronanda Liberty pegged the experience she was having in front of a gymnasium full of people anxiously waiting to see and hear the names of their sons, daughters, friends, relatives at a key life passage — high school graduation. Liberty had stepped up to the microphone, ready for the happy event, only to discover the sound system didn’t work. Batteries were changed. Nothing. Switches and settings checked. Nothing. It had worked ea... Full story
Officials have encountered numerous reports in the region recently of con artists calling people to demand immediate payment and even threaten jail time with a supposed warrant for the arrest of the person getting the call. The callers are often good at what they do and are very convincing, as one local woman recently found out after forking over $1,500. Such a call recently came to the home of Mike Ianetta, he said, and his wife was about to get out the credit card for payment. They wanted $4,000 immediately. Ianetta said the caller had the... Full story
At a horrific scene in the middle of the school day last Friday, the screams of victims and their mothers twisted the air with an agony many seemed to feel - even though they knew it wasn't real. Some 200 or more students and staff from Lake Roosevelt High School arrived at the scene at the Nespelem Community Center by bus and crowded near blue tarps held up as a curtain between them and the sight of dead classmates killed in a drunken driving crash. As the curtain lowered, LR students could... Full story
A sale of used items on the sidewalk outside of Harvest Foods and Variety in Coulee Dam Saturday drew huge support from contributors, raising about $6,400. The sale was held to give support to the family of Justin "Jay" Arnold in their efforts to bring him closer to home from a New York care facility. Arnold suffered a critical brain injury when he was struck by a car in New York, where he was pursuing his education as a chef. Transporting him across the country required a special flight, which... Full story