News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 1524 - 1548 of 1807
Voters in the Colville Tribes’ Omak District Sunday voted in a longtime member to fill a vacancy on the Colville Business Council, seating him next to his son, whom they had voted in for another vacancy March 1. Mel Tonasket, a one-time chair of the CBC, garnered 79 of 172 votes, according to a tribal press release issued Tuesday. His son, Richard Tonasket was chosen earlier for the first of two seats recently vacated as one member resigned and the council expelled another. The elder Tonasket is to be sworn into office today (March 19), r... Full story
For nearly three decades, Coulee Dam has benefited from the reliably calm and deliberate approach taken by Councilmember Bob Poch, who announced his resignation last week. While it’s understandable that after 28 years he’s decided to step away, he will not leave an easy vacancy to fill. Poch’s nearly unflappable public presence has often served to calm a brewing storm when the council meeting room filled with unhappy citizens. And anyone diligent enough to keep up with the sometimes arcane details needed to navigate municipal government for d... Full story
Revelations and rancor dominated a two-and-a-half-hour hospital commission meeting that culminated with steps taken toward the possible ouster of Coulee Medical Center's CEO and for an independent evaluation of physician pay. The meeting, held in Coulee Dam's town hall Monday night because of the anticipated size of the crowd, offered a nearly steady stream of news about internal hospital business and public disaffection of it. About 90 people attended. It started with a discussion of $180,000... Full story
Here is an interesting video that highlights a technology that will soon begin to impact our community, our lives: 3D Printing. Someday, you'll "print" the sweater you plan to wear the next day. Or, finding that you need a new part to repair your kitchen sink, you'll download a recipe for it and print it out. This could have enormous implications for rural communities. Currently, 3D printing is used by hobbyists to make trinkets and small objects, but the people in the video below are beginning... Full story
An accident and resulting fire that put the John W. Keys III Pump Generating Plant at Grand Coulee Dam out of commission last fall has cost the Bureau of Reclamation $990,000 for cleanup, fire response and incident investigation alone, and will lead to a “corrective action plan” by April. An investigative team issued its report last week on the cause of the incident that left one worker severely burned in the Nov. 18, 2013 incident and facing a lengthy recovery. Actual repair costs for damaged are still unknown. But of 12 units that can pum... Full story
An investigation, or lack thereof, of missing public records and a town computer has been to Olympia and back via Waterville, where it may soon end up anyway. Coulee Dam Mayor F. Gregory Wilder, finding nothing but a brand new, unused computer in the mayor’s office on his first day on the job, asked Douglas County Sheriff Harvey Gjesdal for an investigation into the disappearance of the former mayor’s computer, along with all the public records it contained, including emails. That computer, he had learned, had been unplugged and stored in a r... Full story
Hospital District 6 commissioners will meet tonight at 7 p.m. at the Coulee Dam Town Hall, a new venue picked because meeting rooms available at the hospital were expected to be too small to accomodate all those wishing to attend. Two executive sessions are listed, one early in the meeting. Below is the agenda for tonight:... Full story
A health care provider of nearly 20 years at Coulee Medical Center is resigning from her full-time position, citing adverse health affects from working with what she calls an incompetent and hostile administration. Dawn Lovelace, a nurse practitioner and nurse midwife who has delivered about half the babies at the hospital for two decades, tendered her letter of resignation Monday. Her departure will increase the pressure on the two remaining doctors who deliver babies, Andrew Castrodale and Jacob Chaffee. That responsibility and their... Full story
Whether he believes he’s making all the right decisions as a manager or not, Coulee Medical Center’s CEO should resign if he cares at all for the community asset he’s tried to lead since 2009. Events in recent months, including the resignation of a key health care provider on Monday, similar threats from others and the recent unionization of much of the staff, give an unfortunate answer to a question asked at a hospital commission meeting: What evidence is there to suggest he hasn’t done what he was hired to do — lead and guide the hospital?... Full story
The chamber of commerce named two of its own to awards last Thursday night as the "Achiever of the Year," and "Business of the Year." The awards are made by the vote of members of the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce. Named "Achiever of the Year" was Bob Valen, the chamber's own vice president and a retired National Park Service employee. Valen served over 35 years with the NPS, and in retirement has been as busy as ever. He also now serves as chairman of the Coulee Area Park &... Full story
Large groups wanting to use North Dam Park will be charged according to a new fee schedule approved recently by the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District Commission. Individual users and small family groups will not be charged, but organizations planning to dominate one or more areas of the park will. Arranged by area and length of time, a fee schedule grid lays out fees that range from $150 for a fill day of using the picnic shelter and lawn area to $10 for use of an “Electric Plug-In.” A refundable damage deposit of $200 will also be col... Full story
Both the girls’ and the boys’ Raider basketball teams will play Saturday in loser-out games for a shot at second-place in the league championship. They each beat their opponents in Wenatchee Wednesday to earn that chance. The Lady Raiders will play Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Wenatchee High School against Oroville. The Raider boys play at 11 a.m. in the same venue against Liberty Bell.... Full story
This week's photos are now online. More than 80 photos taken in the last week, some we really wish we could have used in the paper, are ready to view. Here's a slide show: 2-12-14 Star - Images by Scott Hunter... Full story
Facing another litany of complaints about mismanagement, hospital commissioners Monday directed changes in two key policies that have angered community members and medical staff. The commission directed CEO Scott Graham to find a legal way to relaunch a popular lab test discount program that has taken place each spring for years but was halted last year on advice from the hospital district’s former attorney. The personnel/compliance com-mittee had been “bombarded” by concerns from the community after Lincoln Hospital of Davenport adver... Full story
It’s times like these that make you wonder if there’s something to astrology. There is always turmoil somewhere in the world, but when it rears its chaotic head in local communities, it begs the profound question, What the heck? With months of employee and community unrest surrounding Coulee Medical Center coming to a head, and a year of heated discontent within the city of Grand Coulee coming to the fore this week, it’s hard not to ask that question. There may be no sign of the Age of Aquarius in sight, but let’s hope that as the new year un... Full story
With their constituents voicing impatience, hospital district commissioners took no actions after coming out of a closed session last week, but they voted in new leadership and streamlined committee assignments. Tom Poplawski got applause from the full meeting room when he said deferring the beginning of action on a standoff between administration and medical staff was "unacceptable." "Make a decision and let's move on," he said. "We need to start with a new goal here of getting somewhere."... Full story
A large majority of registered nurses at Coulee Medical Center have signed cards asking to be represented by a union, an organizer said Tuesday night. Austin DePaolo, of the United Food & Commercial Workers Union, Local 1439, said more than 70 percent of the nurses at the hospital had signed cards seeking representation. DePaolo said he couldn’t say the exact number of RNs that would be in the bargaining unit, but he suspected it was about 30. DePaolo said both hospital administration and the state Public Employment Relations Commission (... Full story
Colville Members for Justice will meet Saturday morning in Elmer City to discuss the status and updates on their effort to sue the Colville Business Council over decisions on how much of a $193 million settlement with the United States government to distribute directly to tribal members. Their civil complaint was dismissed in tribal court, but the groups has filed for an appeal. A hearing on that is set for Feb. 21. “We still do not have legal counsel and plan to discuss this and other measures available to us,” said Yvonne Swan, who is spearhe... Full story
People are understandably anxious about the lack of resolution of the issues embroiling Coulee Medical Center. While we feel obliged to report on the controversy, it’s not as easy, and much more technical, to report on the hospital’s progress. Although tensions are high and morale may be low at that crucial community institution, everything has not really gone kaput, as one person recently said, despite appearances. After all, CMC reported a slight gain for 2013 of $71,000, and that’s a big improvement from the hole it was in earlier in the yea... Full story
County sheriffs in the region have been collaborating on finding out who has been stealing from rural residents and getting their property back. Last week, the sheriffs of Grant, Lincoln and Adams counties met in Lincoln County with their detectives to discuss the crimes and suspects, Lincoln County Sheriff Wade Magers said. "As a result of communication, I believe that we have solved numerous crimes," Magers said. "Search warrants in Lincoln County, Grant County, and Spokane Counties were... Full story
On any given week, Star photographers take far more photos than can be used in the newspaper. But the best of the rest are included on a website anyone can explore, and it has just been redesigned. We hope readers enjoy looking through them and feel free to share them in social media as they like.... Full story
Got some good shots at the LRHS Raider basketball game against Oroville Friday night and decided to get a slideshow up for you: To see photos larger, click on them at this site: http://ow.ly/t0SyM... Full story
A worker burned in an accident at Grand Coulee Dam last November is due to be released from hospital today, the Bureau of Reclamation has informed an irrigation district. The Columbia Basin Development League reported to members in its email newsletter last week that the bureau said Dan McCulloch would be released Jan. 22. McCulloch, 54, was flown to Harborview Medical Center with extensive burns Nov. 18 after a mishap with switch gear for Pump Generator 12 in the John W. Keys III Pump-Generating Plant. Of the 12 units in the plant, six are... Full story
It was uncomfortable at first, but the nursing staff at Coulee Medical Center has made a cultural adjustment for transparency in the service of improvements to patient care at the hospital. So said Chief Nursing Officer Ramona Hicks in a presentation to the chamber of commerce on substantial changes in nursing and other processes at the facility. Hicks, whose CNO position gives her oversight of nursing, surgical services, pharmacy, laboratory, radiology, outpatient services, labor and delivery... Full story
Lincoln County Sheriff Wade Magers last week awarded Wilbur resident Seth Coffman for his role in the saving the life of a woman thrown from a boat near Keller Ferry Marina in 2011. Magers gave Coffman a letter and a “Lincoln County Sheriffs Office Challenge Coin.” Coffman commandeered a boat just before noon Oct. 7, 2011 when a boat was noticed circling out of control in tight circles. “You had heard the commotion and responded to the marina where you commandeered a boat and heroically responded to the scene to assist the two strangers in ne... Full story