News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 1368 - 1392 of 1807
An outdoor native American art exhibit last weekend drew a dozen artists for a first-of-its kind show. On Midway Ave. across from Coulee Hardware in the parking lot of Body by Dam, the judged show and market featured several artists from across the northwest and a style not often seen. You may be familiar with the art of coastal tribes with stylized whale images, for example. Or you might readily recognize the art of Southwest tribes, with prominent turquoise and silver. But this show was... Full story
A wildfire is burning on the hill just above SR 155 at North Dam and heading uphill toward structures. Firefighters are responding at 11:15 a.m. and law enforcement has been asked to close down the roadway. Grand Coulee are on scene, as well as U.S. Bureau of Reclamation personnel. Electric City firefighters have been called out twice. Evacuations are called for. UPDATE 11:43 a.m. 7/24/15: The fire is contained and USBR fire has given control of the scene to Grand Coulee firefighters. Those two...
Two men drown in nearby lakes last week in separate incidents, one on Banks Lake and one on Parks Lake. The body of a man missing in Banks Lake near Coulee City on Friday was finally recovered Monday. Craig Plummer, 69, of Ephrata, went missing Friday while swimming from a boat with relatives. State park rangers and Grant County marine deputies searched for him from about 5:30 Friday night until 9 p.m. and resumed the recovery effort each day. The marine unit found Plummer’s body about noon Monday. “Craig was a great man who dedicated a ful... Full story
Kelly Brageant races in the peewee division barrels at the Ridge Riders' Junior Rodeo happening this weekend, starting at 10 am, both Saturday and Sunday. There is no admission charge. The event had drawn 180 contestants from as far away as far away as Ellensburg and British Columbia...
Commissioners of the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District plan to visit Okanogan County Assessor Scott Furman this month about putting a tax levy on the ballot in November. Okanogan is the lead county for the four-county junior taxing district, which has never imposed a tax, but not for lack of trying. Commissioners have twice asked voters to commit to funding the district, in 2010 and 2012. The measures failed each time with about a 57-percent approval rating, shy of the 60 percent required for passage. President Bob Valen said the... Full story
We had a lot of extra pillows being used in the area last weekend. Against the odds imposed by truly oppressive heat, people streamed into this community continuously to celebrate the Fourth of July at the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce’s Festival of America. And that’s a lesson for local governments. That festival was originally conceived as an event with a dual purpose, which it is still supposed to fulfill. It succeeds on one of those counts, anyway; it shows off our area to folks who wouldn’t discover it otherwise. The chamb... Full story
The Grant County Sheriff’s Office suspended a search last night for a man who went missing while swimming in Banks Lake Friday afternoon, but would pick up the search this morning, a spokesman stated Friday night. Immediate family had been notified of the suspension, but the victim’s name would not be released until today, allowing time for other family members to be notified. A marine unit deputies and state park rangers at Steamboat Rock State Park had been on the scene since about 5:30 p.m. when the search suspension was announced about 9 p...
A Nespelem man jumped off the Columbia River Bridge in Coulee Dam Friday morning, reportedly because he thought he could make it. The 28-year-old jumped from the bridge around 7 a.m. Another person was trying to keep him from doing it, said Coulee Dam Chief of Police Pat Collins. Soon, three boats were in the river searching for Jamie Williams, but by 9:30, it was more likely a recovery effort than a rescue, since the man had been in the river for hours, Collins said. The jump was not a suicide... Full story
Response to a fire in the heat of Monday afternoon in Grand Coulee underscored the nervousness of local fire fighters in the current, extreme heat conditions, with fireworks legal. As a summer thunderstorm rolled through the area at just after 5 p.m. downpours heralded thunderclaps, and lightning may have lit up a mostly empty lot on B Street, empty except for several large piles of firewood. Even with the downpour, the fire caught, and high winds fanned it. "It does show the extreme fire behavi... Full story
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A man jumped off the Columbia River Bridge in Coulee Dam this morning, reportedly just because he thought he could make it. The 28-year-old jumped from the bridge just before 7:30. Another person was trying to keep him from doing it, said Coulee Dam Chief of Police Pat Collins. Collins said at 9:30 that three boats were in the river searching for the man, but that it was more likely a recovery effort than a rescue, since the man had been in the river for hours. Collins said the jump was not a... Full story
Make a wish and it might come true. At least if you're a Grand Coulee 6-year-old with some serious health issues. The Make a Wish Foundation sent Keyshia Goodlance and her family on a trip across the state last weekend, an answer to Keyshia's wish for a simple shopping trip to buy makeup. The foundation helps children with life-threatening illnesses to make their wishes come true. They arrange for special treatment with businesses that range from big corporate partners to small-town retailers... Full story
My wife was about to leave me this week, illustrating a startling fact of modern life. She wasn’t leaving because it was over between us. No, we have a strong marriage. But a different kind of problem was about to take her away for as long as it took. For as long as it took for someone to fix our connection to the Internet. Since last Friday, our home connection had been down. It was restored Tuesday night after multiple contacts with people at several levels of CenturyLink. I’m still not sure what caused the outage (which happened to some oth... Full story
Photos from Saturday's graduation at Lake Roosevelt High and from the Nespelem's eighth-grade recognition ceremony, are now online. You can click through to our photo site to download any of them you may want, no charge. The password for downloads is grads. And there's a slide show below.... Full story
Security for the biggest event in golf in the United States is all up to a guy who graduated from Lake Roosevelt High School in 1983. Scott Mielcarek is coordinating efforts with dozens of law enforcement agencies and hundreds of personnel for the U.S. Open, happening this week near Tacoma, at the Chambers Bay golf course on Puget Sound. The USGA expects 235,000 spectators to attend the event. Mielcarek, a captain with the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, is is charged with keeping them as sa... Full story
Three local leaders recalled a time when the community was more united than it currently is, and called for revisiting a list of goals drawn up in the 1980s that remains relevant today. Jim Keene, David Schmidt and Mary Jane Bailey attended last Thursday’s chamber of commerce meeting to remind people of the effort that helped spawn many initiatives we see as realities today, including the laser light show, the formation of a park district, building ball fields at North Dam Park, and constructing entrance signs to the “Grand Coulee Dam” commu... Full story
Coulee Medical Center is “planting a seed,” actually a lot of seeds, with an intent to grow into a better facility far less dependent on outsourcing its work. From billing to building medical staff, CMC is getting a handle on its future, staff reports last week indicated to hospital district commissioners. Three new health care providers are scheduled to begin practice in August, and CEO Debbie Bigelow said there may be a fourth ready to start, too, relieving the load doctors and mid-level providers have carried for years. The hospital has bro... Full story
In recent years, this community has grown apart. It’s time to reverse that trend. While municipal leaders always tend to watch out for their own interests, that propensity doesn’t have to get in the way of the whole Grand Coulee Dam community moving forward together. The difference may be as simple and as subtle as one of perspective. If decisions are made for the good of one’s own town, fine. But another over-arching consideration should also be, how does this move us all forward? A presentation last week on Project REV (see story on the f... Full story
A set of conceptual drawings that could significantly affect the quality of life in the area were delivered to the park board last week. The renderings, intended to form a basis for planning a new community center, were commissioned by the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District, which had obtained a grant from Grant County's Strategic Infrastructure Program to get architectural help envisioning what a new "wellness center" might look like. NAC Architects of Spokane did the work. District... Full story
After years of study and political upheaval around the subject, Coulee Dam is on the path to building a new modular wastewater treatment plant, following a decision by the town council last month. The new facility will be built on the existing site with about a third of the capacity of that called for in an earlier facility plan. After an alternatives study, the longterm costs of building the new plant, versus refurbishing the old one, are projected to be less. A summary presented to the council May 13 assumes a $5.4 million funding package,... Full story
A local veterans’ organization is taking on a project that would make sure kids who might otherwise not be fed much on the weekends go home Friday with a supply of food. Three American Legion Post 157 members addressed a luncheon of the chamber of commerce recently to outline the program. Jim Brakebill, Ben Alling and Shawn Neider said a new connection with a hunger-fighting organization had made the effort more feasible. A package program from Second Harvest would allow the group to send home a package for $144 per year, per child. The ... Full story
Mike Horne awoke to an odd sound early Saturday, opened his bedroom curtain and faced a fireball blazing outside, as the house next door burned. "I opened the bedroom curtain and it went from 65 degrees to 130 instantly," he said. "I couldn't get out of there fast enough." Horne lost windows on that side of his house, so intense was the heat from fire a few feet away. He said the whole house likely would have burned if it hadn't been sheilded by its old asbestos siding. A camper and old pickup... Full story
Jory Markiss was a happy cowboy Saturday afternoon when he won more than $4,000 as the lone bull rider to make the crucial eight-second mark atop a big bull. Markiss, of Stephenville, Texas, scored an 88-point ride to take home a $4,370 purse from the Ridge Riders' Pro-West Cletis Lacy Memorial Bull Ride. The event also featured another crazy wild horse race, when seven wild horses were let loose against three-man teams whose task was to saddle and ride their horse. A team from Warm Springs,... Full story
The doors of the middle school in Grand Coulee will be opened for a special meeting of the minds tonight (Wednesday) from 5-7 p.m., a time arranged for the community to tour it and talk about the building’s future and more. “Grand Coulee Dam Area 2020 Vision” will be a modest affair, offering a tour of the building that was until last fall the Grand Coulee Dam Middle School, and encouraging conversation about its possible uses and the direction of the community. The tag line on the event is “Let’s start envisioning our future – creating ou... Full story
About a dozen local firefighters this Friday night are attacking a wildfire across Banks Lake from the Grand Coulee Dam Airport. The fire is suspected to have started from a lightning strike in the storm that passed through the area about 4 pm. Eight firefighters, who were taken to the site by boat, are on foot at the fire, which is not large at this time. No flame is visible from Grant County Fire District 14's incident command at the airport. White and grey smoke is visible, hugging the...