News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Update As of 9 a.m., Thursday, Aug. 7, the fires had consumed nearly 8,300 acres and was threatening some 50 homes and 50 other structures. One outbuilding has burned. San Poil Valley residents were ordered to evacuate Tuesday due to several fires on the Colville Indian Reservation that have burned about 2,000 acres, according to officials at the Mt. Tolman Fire Center. Some 20 to 25 homes are threatened, along with cultural resources, power lines and commercial timber. One fire, burning in...
Thanks to the observations of our astute community members, we can classify that remarkably weird little storm that blew through Aug. 2 as a type that is more common to Africa, the arid Middle East, Central Australia and the American Southwest. Using the photo shared on The Star's Facebook page by Erika Jennings and the quick research of Glo Carrol, what we could just call a dust storm might more accurately be called a "haboob." The Wikipedia entry on this phenomenon says, "During thunderstorm...
The Grand Coulee Dam School District's new school complex in Coulee Dam stands close to completion Tuesday morning. The K-12 school is on schedule for its mid-September opening. Said one construction worker as he passed by a photographer taking pictures of the progress: "Taking pictures of the beautiful new school? You should. We're changing lives here."...
When her sister died suddenly in June, Carla Kneeland had already happened to have had a conversation with her about what to do next: give the contents of the home she and her husband made in Grand Coulee to the Grand Coulee Dam Senior Center. That’s why a big yard sale coming up Saturday is a special one. Kneeland's sister, Christie Arbaugh died of a stroke June 14, six months after her husband, Pete Arbaugh had died while fishing at Crescent Bay. “We believe the stroke was caused by a broken heart,” Kneeland said. Pete would fish just about...
Recent leadership exhibited by many on municipal councils indicates what we hope is flowering trend in local governance: intelligent cooperation toward common goals. Within the space of a few months, at least two examples, involving a total of four local legislative bodies, show that problems can be addressed when cool heads come together and work to work on them. The council committees of John Nordine and Aaron Derr of Electric City and David Tylor and Erin Nielsen of Grand Coulee were able to work together and make progress on the police...
The massive Carlton Complex fire has destroyed 300 homes, and regional and nationwide response has been in some ways "overwhelming," says Okanogan County Frank Rogers. Here's is his latest update, including what vicitims currently need: Members of the EOC and County Assessor’s Office have been out checking the burn areas and today were able to finish up the area that has been destroyed by the fire. The count today on homes lost is now 300. The Okanogan County Emergency Operations Center asked for state assistance on Tuesday, 07-22-14, for addit...
When a storm system moved across the region July 14, lightning started multiple fires just as temperatures would reach into the 100s for days, feeding what would become the largest wildfire in state history. Local firefighters from Grand Coulee, Electric City, Coulee Dam and Elmer City would answer calls for help as Brewster and Pateros evacuated and a hundred homes burned. As of Tuesday, the largest complex of fires, the Carlton Complex, had consumed 250,000 acres of timber, an area four times...
The degree to which the people and their elected representatives get involved in the day-to-day details of governance depends on how keenly the results are felt and on the relative opportunity for corruption. Our Constitution sets up a purposely cumbersome system of checks and balances between three branches of government, a principal that follows all the way down to the local level, where it sometimes seems forgotten. The legislative branch (municipal councils) make the laws and set the budget. Seeing that those things get carried out in a...
It's difficult to grasp the size of the fires burning in Washington when some says they've burned 168,000 acres. But most of us are familiar with our area on maps. Here's a map of the area, with red dots representing the burn area and arrows giving wind direction. The fires at Brewster and Pateros are more than 40 miles away. The smaller R Road fire near Leahy Junction is about 14 miles away as the ash flies. That fire is just smoldering. The Carlton Complex is not contained and grew at...
A brush fire that started south of Leahy Junction Wednesday afternoon had consumed nearly 7 square miles of grass and brush by this morning after some short-range jumping and fast movement late Wednesday. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Eric Braaten discovered the fire about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. With crews totaling 20 firefighters and three fire engines, what's now called the R Road fire set local mutual-aid agreements into play, and firefighters from Grand Coulee and...
As the local chamber of commerce got ready to host thousands of people in the area to its annual Festival of America last Friday and Saturday, members became aware of misperceptions among the public in general of just how those festivities are funded. As chamber members picked up fireworks donation cans from various public countertops, comments indicated that many people assume the whole thing is funded by the federal government. Not so, hence the attempt to solicit small donations that brought...
A number of small fires marred the busy July 4 holiday weekend, Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Chief Richard Paris reported this week on behalf of several responding agencies, and one large fire near Keller was still being battled Tuesday morning. At least five of the fires were caused by fireworks incidents, but none covered more than small areas. Thursday night Electric City firefighters responded to a small fire just north of Devil’s Punch Bowl along Banks Lake. That fire covered a tenth of an acre. Friday night, July 4, Grand Coulee f...
A civic minded man made a big contribution of labor Saturday, helping to clean up the top of North Dam after Fourth of July fireworks the night before. But no one knows who he is. The young man, say Bureau of Reclamation officials, was walking by the mess left by private individuals lighting off fireworks from the top of the earthen dam that holds back Banks Lake when he decided that just wasn't right. He had gathered most of the refuse into piles to make it easier to clean up, and hauled some to a dumpster at North Dam Park by hand. The top...
The two letters below on separate problems at nearby state and national parks illustrate a larger problem with a policy stance the entire nation has adopted through its politics. For decades now, the drumbeat, originating from the Chicago School of Economics in early 1960s, has insisted the solutions to all our problems can come from cutting government budgets and subjecting every government service possible to the forces of the open market gods, which can do no wrong. The adoption of that economic religion has led to some good and some bad...
As absurd as it is starting to appear, the current discussion between Grand Coulee and Electric City regarding their police services contract at least serves to illustrate why an area with a tiny population continues to burden itself with four separate towns where one would do nicely. The problem is we’re too focused — on ourselves. Electric City is now considering the possibility of launching its own police department rather than accept the sticker shock of a proposed huge increase in the rate it pays to Grand Coulee for the service. Tha...
Nespelem School District is searching for a new principal and superintendant after accepting the resignation last week of John Adkins. Adkins has held that office for five years. He has accepted the superintendent job at Wellpinit School District on the Spokane Indian Reservation, which serves about 500 students. Nespelem, with about 150 students in preschool through eighth grade, is beginning a search for a candidate to fill the spot “with a strong likelihood of an interim” superintendent/principal, according to Rich McBride, executive dir...
Spending more than a million dollars to reside and reroof old school buildings, construct stares and fix tennis courts shouldn’t have to happen, but it’s a good thing that it will. Apparently, that’s due to good stewardship of the construction process for the new K-12 school complex and some good timing and decent luck during the bidding phase. Despite that good management, we should not lose site of the fact that buildings and property deteriorate and will again require repairs. If that means a few more dollars from each of us per year to so...
With two key health care providers working on a very limited basis and revenues limited as a result, Coulee Medical Center is losing money and faces yet another challenge: a physician will leave for a year, starting in January. Dr. Jacob Chaffee announced last week that following the battles with the former administration last year, he needs some time off. “The past six months here at Coulee Medical Center have been difficult and I have come to the point that I need to take a sabbatical,” he wrote in CMC’s email newsletter. “My family and I w...
Lake Roosevelt High School pushed 31 of its students into the world last Saturday. The graduating class of 2014 celebrated the accomplishments of all, taking special note of its top scholars, community volunteers and athletes, and listing some $568,168 in offered scholarships. Below is a list of the class accomplishments. 2014 Lake Roosevelt High School Graduation Awards & Scholarships The Class of 2014 Valedictorian: Chyenne Kelly-Marconi The Class of 2014 Salutatorian: Daniel Campobasso High H...
Apparently, the mayor of Grand Coulee does not want his police department serving Electric City. That seems the most reasonable way to interpret his proposed tripling of the cost Grand Coulee charges Electric City for answering calls to Electric City. Why this might be is a matter for speculation. On a more hopeful note, the same two cities will explore the possibility of effectively completing a nearly community-wide walking trail. Crossing the causeway and joining Electric City and Grand Coulee with a pedestrian pathway would enhance local li...
Firefighters from the Mt. Tolman Fire Center on the Colville Reservation battle a blaze last week that consumed some 700 acres of brush and grass. Fire Management Officer Ike Cawston said they’re still patrolling the area to watch for hot spots. The fire, which burned near Belvedere and along the Columbia River, was reported Wednesday at 8:25 p.m. It burned mostly in grass and sage, but structure protection was called in for the Belvedere area. No structures were lost. Earlier the same day, an unrelated fire started near Omak and another n...
Coulee Medical Center's hospital district commissioners will meet at 7 p.m. tonight (Monday, 6/9/14) for their regular monthly meeting. They will meet in the CMC Medical Arts Building (old clinic building lobby). The agenda is below, including an executive (closed) session dealing with the evaluation of applicants for public employment. The closed session is allowed under the state's Open Public Meetings Act with this clause: "(g) To evaluate the qualifications of an applicant for public employm...
After several years of collaboration, two local school districts will go their own way next year as they seek to augment students’ education with after-school programs. Nespelem’s school board last week voted to follow a different path, leaving the Grand Coulee Dam School District to apply for the next five years of funding for its SHARP Kids program on its own. The SHARP acronym stands for Safe, Honest, Aware, Respectful, Present. The program is the local implementation of the use of federal funds through the 21st Century Community Learning Ce...
An airplane accident killed a man on Banks Lake near Steamboat Rock Saturday. Kenneth A. Berger, 60, of Monroe, Wash. was an accomplished pilot, attorney and longtime city councilman who built his plane from a kit, according to the Monroe Monitor. Berger had already put down his SeaRey LSX amphibious plane at about 5 p.m., witnesses said. They said he apparently was trying to take off again, when the plane flipped over forward into the water. Nearby boaters got to the craft, and two women at...
Following the change in Coulee Medical Center’s top manager last month, three more high-level executives will be leaving the hospital, Interim Chief Executive Officer Debbie Bigelow announced last week, and more changes are coming. In the medical center’s “Communicator” emailed newsletter issued Thursday, Bigelow said the next to leave would be Chief Operating Officer Alan Wagner, Chief Financial Officer Joe Vessey and Director of Communications and Marketing Steve Becker. With CMC for nearly four years, Wagner “has played a key role in profes...