News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 1217 - 1241 of 1807
People at last week’s Coulee Dam Town Council meeting speaking up about local crime were stating out loud what we’re all feeling: the community is not as safe as it once was. There have been times in the last three decades when petty crimes spiked in the local area, only to recede after one or two arrests. This may be different. It feels different. In the past, the local petty crime rate would rise and fall depending on which thief just got out of jail. Police knew where to find him or her, and it was only a matter of time before the rep...
Roads leading to the Bureau of Reclamation's east gate near Pole Park are closed today (Thursday) from 10 a.m. until about 3 p.m., the USBR said. Industrial Road from highway 155 and B Street are closed from Division Street. Potential contractors who may bid on building a new Reclamation Fire Station will be at the Grand Coulee facilities for an on-site visit....
An organization dedicated to "serving people facing unplanned pregnancy and related sexual issues" has opened an office in Grand Coulee. Funded by local churches, Care Net opened its fourth office Aug. 1 at 402 Burdin Boulevard in Grand Coulee. It also operates centers in Omak, Oroville and Brewster. All services are free. The effort is funded through local churches, and services are delivered in a completely non-judgmental manner, said Rachel Harris, the facility's only staffer, who works part...
My oldest daughter was a new baby when she attended my high school graduation, so I can attest to the importance of a network of support for young parents barely old enough to grasp the coming meaning of adulthood. Her mother and I had plenty of support from our family members, but that’s not always the case for many young people about to be charged with the most important job on earth — raising a child — and not a clue how to even begin. So a new venture in Grand Coulee should be a welcome development to the community. Care Net opened its d...
A series of wildland fires around the region the last two weeks have kept fire fighting agencies busy and yesterday prompted a burning ban in Grant County. A nearly 2,000-acre fire about 15 miles south of Inchelium has been 65 percent contained, the Northwest 9 Management team reported Tuesday. Evacuation levels have been reduced to level one throughout the fire region, fire officials reported. The Kewa blaze started Aug. 2, and has burned 1,912 acres of rangeland and timber. The NW 9 Management incident commander, Brian Goff, reported that...
Coulee Dam has narrowed the field of candidates for a new chief of police to two, the mayor said Tuesday. The top candidates, from an original field of five, are Mark Farrel, a recently-retired colonel from Pinedale, Wyoming, and Paul Bowden, who has served as chief in Wilbur for two years. Farrel currently lives in the Seattle area. Bowden is the husband of the Coulee Dam town clerk, Stefani Bowden. Mayor Greg Wilder said the town’s civil service commission had forwarded three candidates for his consideration. He put together an interview c...
Update: One of two suspects in a Soap Lake shooting turned himself in to authorities Sunday night, the Grant County Sheriff's Office said Monday morning. Tomas Miguel Lopez turned himself in about 7 p.m., was interviewed and booked into Grant County Jail. The sheriff's office said they still are seekng information about a second suspect and that tipsters can remain anonymous. Original story: Two people narrowly escaped serious injury after two men reportedly started shooting at them in their veh...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...