News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 1486 - 1510 of 1807
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...
In the wake of state inspections and allegations of harassment and retaliation, the mayor of Coulee Dam has ordered immediate changes in the town’s paid volunteer ambulance service, some of which have sparked threats of EMTs purposely not responding, he said. The state Department of Health inspected the ambulance May 8 at the invitation of Mayor Greg Wilder and found a dozen “areas of non-compliance” with state law and standards. Those were detailed in a letter to Fire Chief Robert Jackson dated May 14. Issues cited ranged from candy bars...
A special meeting of the commissioners that govern Coulee Medical Center will occur this afternoon, but will not take any action other than adjournment following a closed session, according to revised agenda the hospital district published Sunday morning. Below is that notice and agenda: PUBLIC NOTICE There will be a special Board Meeting of the Commissioners of Douglas, Grant, Lincoln, & Okanogan Counties Public Hospital District No. 6 on Tuesday, May 27, 2014, 4:00 PM in the Education Conference Room, located at 411 Fortuyn Road, Grand...
An airplane accident has killed a man on Banks Lake near Steamboat Rock. Kenneth A. Berger, 60, of Monroe, Wash. had already put down his Searay 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, witnesses said. Nearby boaters got to the craft, and two women at the Northrup Point boat launch said they had been approaching to offer CPR but were turned back by men who had recovered the pilot...
The American Legion Post in Electric City will cook breakfast during this holiday for any who would like to help support local veterans while having a nice meal in a community setting. Saturday, the group will serve a breakfast of pancakes, eggs, ham, sausage, coffee and milk from 6:30 to 11 a.m., and Monday from 6:30 to 10 a.m. The breakfast costs $6. The hour shorter period on Monday will allow people to get to the Isle of Flags Memorial at Spring Canyon, which starts at 11...
Coulee Medical Center staff pulled together a recruitment booth for a medical conference in Spokane last month where Dr. Andrew Castrodale was a featured speaker. Chief Executive Officer Debbie Bigelow told hospital commissioners Monday night that staff members displayed beautiful photographs of the area and the hospital and wrote articles about “what a great place this is to live and work.” Recruiting physicians to rural areas is not easy, but CMC’s previous CEO was content to use traditional recruitment firms for the task. Castrodale has purs...
In 1964, the average annual salary in the United States was $5,880. It cost 5 cents to mail a letter. You could buy a fine house for $20,000 and a brand new Ford Mustang cost a whopping $2,400. And when Merv Schmidt came to run a gas station in Coulee Dam, the price of gas in Spokane was 34.9 cents a gallon. Locally, it was 39.9 cents. That nickel difference seemed like a lot to Merv, but people bought the gas, even though it was 14 percent more than in Spokane. When I got here in 1988, there were six local gas stations. All of them were much...
As you enjoy Colorama this week, be thankful for the place where much of it comes together — North Dam Park and Event Center — and think about the sand dunes that would replace it if ceases to exist, which it could. This community asset is just one of the potential casualties of irrational stinginess on the part of some city council members who think the only funds they currently spend on the park just shouldn’t be spent that way. A very large cache of those funds, from hotel/motel taxes that are supposed to support tourism, sit doing nothi...
One of several traits that I owe overwhelmingly to my mother is a little understood love of argument. In that way, my mother touches you today. Mom was a very intelligent woman, who instilled in me the unshakeable feeling that every side of a discussion must be heard and argued. I also married a woman with whom I share an understanding that debate and argument is sport. So you may understand when I publish an editorial in the coming issue of The Star that most of you will dislike and some will...
Until 6 p.m. today, anyone taking a test drive can get Ford Motor Co. to send $20 to the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District, plus your name gets entered into a drawing for a barbecue grill. Three Jess Ford workers are ready to let you test drive one of several brand new vehicles at the North Dam Park Skate Park right now....
State Sen. Linda Evans Parlette said she is still looking for ways to get federal help with Grand Coulee Dam school construction needs, and she has just two years to get it done. Speaking at the Grand Coulee Dam Rotary Club April 23, Parlette said she's still trying to connect with Sec. of Interior Sally Jewel, but she may have a new ally to call on in the U.S. Senate. Parlette's leadership, said Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Dennis Carlson, was the crucial factor in getting...
A video has been posted on Youtube of a man being arrested after fishing in a restricted area below Grand Coulee Dam and allegedly resisting arrest. The Wilbur man's arrest was the subject of a police reports brief in the April 30 Coulee Cops. Taken from a distance April 24, the video is nearly 20 minutes long and includes language many may find offensive from people in the background. It also includes audio early on of a man apparently warning the subject of the arrest, possibly by radio of cell phone, that the approaching officer was about...