News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 1305 - 1329 of 1840
Two examples glare in the news this week, showing why consolidating local towns into one city would make so much sense. It’s far from clear that consolidation would actually cut down on personnel or save as much money as one might assume, but freeing oneself from a doomed mindset isn’t about the money it would save. Such a mindset currently steers the actions city councils in Grand Coulee and Electric City must believe they have to follow. It’s a mindset that draws needless distinctions between the two, when in truth, the people could be serve... Full story
Elmer City's volunteer firefighters are preparing to put on their 55th Annual Pancake Feed Saturday, and they're hoping you'll attend. There's a good chance of that, judging from the past experience of the popular fundraiser. Firefighter Brad Dudley said the folks who man the fire engines at Okanogan County Fire District No. 2 usually feed more than 300 people at the event. "It's huge support," Dudley said, noting that more than 50 businesses have donated items for a raffle and silent auction... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam Yacht Club has been working on tearing out its aging docks at Eden Harbor over the last three weeks to make way for new ones. Keith St. Jeor said Friday, while pulling the old docks apart, that the club had determined it made sense to replace them. They were installed in 1981-82. The club has purchased used docks from a Lake Pend Oreille marina that suffered damage in a wind storm. About 10 members drove up there in pickups and trailers to pick them up last August. Now that... Full story
Most of us would never put ourselves in harm’s way, knowing that a man with a gun might be approaching with evil intent. A few of us just did. Local police were asked last week to block the highway heading into Electric City from the south because a man had threatened to shoot up the school in Coulee City. He didn’t show up here; police caught him outside Soap Lake. But he could have, and police here had to be ready to defend the rest of us from an armed lunatic. Citizens shouldn’t take that for granted. Scott Hunter editor and publi... Full story
It’s hard to go to work if you’ve got no one to watch the kids. That’s a problem Coulee Medical Center will tackle, at least for its own employees, following a decision by hospital commissioners Monday night. They voted to spend up to $15,000 to fund a refurbishment of the basement of the old clinic building to house a daycare program for hospital employees. A relative lack of daycare facilities was identified as a problem for economic development locally as far back as 2009 by the Horizons study funded by a grant through Washington State... Full story
The Grant County Sheriff’s Office says schools in Coulee City are closed this morning “as a precaution.” GCSO adds only that there have been no injuries and that law enforcement officers are at the school. Reports coming from a person near the school say those officers look “pretty calm” and that the street has not been cordoned off. The sheriff’s office has not said what the nature of the threat is, only that they “will share more information when we can.” Possible update: GCSO is asking the public (at about 9:50 a.m. Wednesday) to a...
Not too long ago, a couple moving into the area told us they felt safe moving here after reading Coulee Cops in The Star for several weeks. They concluded that if that’s as bad as it gets, this must be a very safe community. And they’re still right to an extent. Coulee Dam was recently noted as “one of the safest cities in the U.S.” by Consumer Affairs, ranking number two in the state, right behind Odessa because some algorithm noticed a 100-percent drop in the burglary rate. That’s nice, but feels pretty far off the mark this week. With mult... Full story
Boaters in Washington state born after Dec. 31, 1954, now need to take a boater education course and carry a state Boater Education Card. An online course is offered by a private company for $29.50 at boat-ed.com, but the Boat US Foundation is also offering a free online course. (Thanks to reader Randy Semanko for that tip.) And the Grant County Sheriff’s Office is offering a course, in person, for free as listed below. February 20: Moses Lake – 1274 Lowry Street (Sheriff’s Substation) May 7... Full story
Below are this year’s nominations for The Star’s annual Volunteer of the Year award. Each of them are highly deserving of the honor. When chosen by our readers, they will stand for the honor meant to recognize the many in the community who give of their time and talents for the sake of others. Read the nominations, then help your community deicde which to choose. You can let your choice be known: • by mail to Volunteer, PO Box 150, Grand Coulee, WA 99133, • in person to The Star, 3 Midway Ave., Grand Coulee, or • use the poll below. Responses... Full story
The Raider boys kept their dreams of the state basketball tournament alive Saturday with a dramatic one-point, at-the-buzzer win over Liberty Bell after fighting back from a 13-point deficit at the District 5/6 Tournament in East Wenatchee. The win came after a surprising first-round loss to Kittitas on Wednesday, when the Raiders could not slow down Brock Ravet who scored 41 points that placed him in a three-way tie for fourth place in the District 6 single-game scoring tournament record with... Full story
An after-school program promoting values, leadership, family and education received a multi-state award last week when its director, Kim Stanger, was in Washington D.C. to encourage more funding from Congress. The Cultural Enrichment Early Out Monday program at Lake Roosevelt Schools received an award as an "Exemplary Program" in Region 6, the Northwest, of the National Johnson-O'Malley Program in the Bureau of Indian Education. The program takes advantage of the schools' "early out" Mondays... Full story
A popular educator and rising young school administrator was taken from Lake Roosevelt Schools in handcuffs last week, after a Seattle-based task force on Internet crimes served warrants to search his home, office and vehicle. Nate Piturachsatit, 37, was arrested at the school Feb. 3, after law enforcement officers from several agencies, all part of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, arrived at 10 a.m. with a warrant to search his office and computer. When they left, they didn't... Full story
A levy to support Nespelem School District passed by a large margin Tuesday night with only 14 percent of the ballots in Okanogan County left to count. As of Tuesday night, 52 voters said yes to the measure that will tax property owners at about $2.49 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation, compared to 17 against it. The 75.36-percent margin assures the passage of the levy, which will directly bring in only about $34,000 a year, but makes the district eligible to receive state “levy equalization” funds of nearly $318,000 more. The fou... Full story
A levy to support Nespelem School District passed by a large margin Tuesday night with only 14 percent of the ballots in Okanogan County left to count. As of Tuesday night, 52 voters said yes to the measure that will tax property owners at about $2.49 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation, compared to 17 against it. The 75.36-percent margin assures the passage of the levy, which will directly bring in only about $34,000 a year, but makes the district eligible to receive state “levy equalization” funds of nearly $318,000 more. The fou... Full story
The arrest last week of a popular educator is an emotionally wrenching trauma for a significant portion of the community, not just for him and his family. If he’s guilty of what the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force say he is, they’ve either stopped a budding deviant or just a mid-life crisis that strayed far afield from the norm, ruined his future and hampered the futures of many others. Whatever the case, the community in general will need to rebound from severe disappointment. The good news is, it will. Part of that rebound wil... Full story
Facing a foe who had beaten them by more than 20 points at their last meeting, Lake Roosevelt's Lady Raiders prevailed with a one-point lead in the final seconds of a district tournament game against Waterville Wednesday night in Wenatchee. LR had the 17-15 edge at the half, but Waterville had gained the upper hand at the end of three, 25-23. With 3.3 seconds left in the game, Joceyln Moore drew a foul under the basket with her LR team down by one. Moore sunk both free throws for a thrilling...
A popular educator and rising young school administrator was taken from Lake Roosevelt Schools in handcuffs today, after a Seattle-based task force on internet crimes served warrants to search his home and office. Nate Piturachsatit was arrested at the school today after law enforcement officers from several agencies, all part of the regional task force, arrived with a warrant to search his office and computer. When they left, they didn’t take the computer with them, but they did take his cell phone. Piturachsatit is the vice principal of L... Full story
Voters will decide Feb. 9 whether to continue property tax support of Nespelem Elementary School by paying only about a tenth of the amount of money the levy actually would bring to the school. The school teaches about 120 students in pre-school through eighth grades. That count is up from last year, says Rich Stewart, superintendent of the district, whose board of directors budgeted for only about 100 students this school year. "We are hoping this trend continues as our program has made... Full story
The town council last week narrowly repealed a vote it took in December to remove two town-owned trees along the 300 block of Stevens Avenue after one council member said he felt deceived and embarrassed. Coulee Dam Councilmember David Schmidt said a letter he had signed as a member of the Parks and Natural Resources Board had the wrong addresses on it, not the addresses where two trees they’d inspected needed to be removed. “We didn’t look at either one of those trees,” Schmidt said. “We never would have approved their removal because t... Full story
Bonuses given out in 2014 to hospital executives prior to a turnover in leadership will likely result in a “finding” from the State Auditor’s Office, Coulee Medical Center’s top executive told her board Monday night. “The auditor has alerted me that we could very possibly receive a ‘finding,’” CEO Debbie Bigelow said. “We may not have been that administration, but we are that hospital.” An auditor’s “finding” is the strongest criticism possible. Bigelow said bonuses given to executives in early 2014 for work performed in 2013 caught the audito... Full story
The woman who took the helm of the troubled hospital she’s spent most of her career at will not renew her contract, opting instead for some time with grandchildren, she reiterated to commissioners Monday. Debbie Bigelow had sent a letter to commissioners in December to that effect, encouraging them to get started finding a replacement soon. Bigelow underscored that point at the Hospital District 6 Commission meeting Monday, but said she will stay on long enough for an orderly transition. She took over as an “interim” chief executive offic... Full story
Nespelem area voters should have ballots in hand soon for deciding on a school levy that would turn some $34,000 of their tax dollars into an additional $318,000 in state funds. Nespelem School District Superintendent Rich Stewart said the rate of tax on private property would come to about $2.49 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation. The owner of a $100,000 house would pay $249 a year to support the local school, which serves about 120 students. The levy would replace the current levy, which nets the district $32,000 at $2.14 per thousand... Full story
Grand Coulee’s mayor is right when he says in a front-page article this week (“New twist could bring towns’ functions together”) that his city has “a lot to offer” other municipalities in considering how the four in the Grand Coulee Dam area might benefit by combining efforts. That’s basically because working together is usually a better way to solve problems among people of good will: problems such as how to pay for police services, firefighting and ambulance service; water, sewer and street maintenance, and the education of our children. Tha... Full story
The demise of the Alcoa aluminum plant in Wenatchee has led to a change in the location of the union lodge for machinists and a Bureau of Reclamation worker is now president. Wallace "Peewee" Pleasants was appointed president Thursday night, Jan. 8, of the Grand Coulee local lodge of International Association of Machinists. "We're all nervous, but at the same time, it's exciting," said Pleasants, a hydromechanic at Grand Coulee Dam. The development could spur more participation locally on the pa... Full story
A story that starts on page 2 this week comes through The Star’s association with the state association that works with colleges in the state to encourage and support journalism education. “Governor, DNR 2016 budget proposals seek wildfire fighting, recovery funds” was written by a student through a special arrangement between The Washington Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation and the University of Washington’s journalism education program. You’ll likely see more coverage from the state’s capital again this winter as The Star uses stori... Full story