News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Following Tuesday’s inspection of their school buildings by their insurance company, environmental consultant, and property restoration team, Nespelem School Superintendent Linda McKay announced the district had been informed that they “will need to delay the first day of school until Tuesday, September 8.” The school’s buildings were inundated with thick smoke during the recent wildfires, and McKay told the school board July 27 that she would have the inspection done. Air Quality Index measurements inside the school remained elevated on Tues...
With no takers for Electric City’s police services contract and a November deadline looming, the city council on Tuesday agreed to modify and reissue its request for proposals while also beginning a deeper look at the cost of creating its own police department. Mayor Blake Martin told council members the city had received no formal bids on its current police contract RFP, which closes Aug. 15. Grand Coulee and Soap Lake have both declined to submit proposals, citing staffing and short-contract concerns, while the Grant County Sheriff’s Off...
Grand Coulee Dam School District directors Tuesday accepted and countered an offer for the sale of the old middle school to a local company, but the sale is contingent on successful negotiations of specifics. “I think the biggest comment is that we are still trying to do this for what’s best for our students,” noted Director Alex Tufts in a special board meeting called mainly to approve the offer. “We’re not going to make the sale of this if it’s going to harm our students.” Superintendent Rod Broadnax agreed. “Just going to negotiate, and if i...
Sue Dickey, right, accepts an ice cream bar from Harlan Holt as Harvest Foods and Variety gave out ice cream, lemonade and hot dogs to customers to celebrate the store's 50th anniversary Friday. Ray Duclos, center, sips a lemonade instead of working. The founder is now retired but showed up for the day and visited with patrons, including Dickey. She was there when they opened five decades ago, too, and won a drawing. At left Kota and his mom, Sarah Holt help Stephanie Duclos staff the welcoming... Full story
Grand Coulee Dam School District Directors will meet in a special meeting, online only, at noon Tuesday, Aug. 11, to discuss the sale of the old middle school in Grand Coulee. The Zoom link to the meeting is https://gcdsd.zoom.us/j/89474772041?pwd=Zk5pNnB6MWovOUNLMEtUcTR1MEsyQT09 Or you can go to the district homepage at https://www.gcdsd.org and scroll to the bottom for the link and directions. The school board had planned last Monday to meet online in the next few days to vote on the sale,... Full story
Staff, community and school board members heard and voiced concerns during a hearing July 27 about the proposed upcoming sale of the old middle school that the Grand Coulee Dam School District seeks to sell. Most of the debate centered on longterm access to the gym and safety for student athletes. Athletic Director Casey Brewster urged the board to slow down until a clear plan is in place for replacing the facility, saying the gym and adjacent spaces are heavily used yearround by school and community programs. Brewster said losing the building...
The National Night Out street party in Coulee Dam scheduled for Aug. 4 was postponed Monday due to smoke-related health concerns. The Coulee Dam Police Department's annual participation in the nationally promoted community get-together, always scheduled for the first Tuesday in August, was coming up at a poor time to hold a celebration, the city said in a broadcast text message and in an email to The Star. "We feel it would be unsafe to have people out in these smoky conditions," explained City...
by Shyleigh Gray and Scott Hunter Republican congressional candidate Jerrod Sessler came to Grand Coulee Saturday amid outrage regarding statements he had made in Moses Lake about the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. Arriving at the Voltage Coffee House Saturday, Sessler was met with extreme disapproval from the small crowd that gathered. Sessler's opening statements were an attempt to explain himself and his comments. "Most of what I have seen has been totally misconstrued in...
The National Night Out street party in Coulee Dam scheduled for Aug. 4 has been postponed. The Coulee Dam Police Department's annual participation in the nationally promoted community get-together, always scheduled for the first Tuesday in August, was coming up at a poor time to hold a celebration, the city said in a broadcast text message and in an email to The Star. "We feel it would be unsafe to have people out in these smoky conditions," explained City Clerk Stefani Bowden in an email... Full story
More than 1,000 personnel are assigned to the fight against the Kaiser Canyon Fire on the Colville Reservation, officials said Tuesday morning, 12 days after its start from lightning July 16. Fire took out more homes in Nespelem, too, on Friday, although an information release said that fire was not considered part of the larger conflagration and was named the HUD fire. Tuesday morning the fire's size was said to be 126,402.2 acres, considered 16% contained. Then later in the day, a new flareup...
Homes were lost in minutes, animals raced for refuge, people fled ahead of flames as the Kaiser Canyon Fire grew relentlessly this week from a few acres on the morning of July 16 to more than 68,000 Tuesday. Firefighters and volunteers managed to save Nespelem proper. Several people credited the Palmer family with working tirelessly on bulldozers to create fire breaks around outlying homes that could have burned without that protection. On Monday, a drive through the area, still closed off on th...
The Grand Coulee Dam School District board will meet in a special online meeting via Zoom Thursday, July 30, at noon for the purpose of passing the 2026-27 school year budget, discussed Monday night in a public hearing. Approval of Budget Resolution 26-27/01 is the only thing on the agenda, along with public comment after that approval. No other items can be discussed. The Zoom link can be found at the bottom of the district's homepage at gcdsd.org, or here: https://gcdsd.zoo... Full story
Electric City's new Ray Halsey Memorial Park opened this week with applause, laughter and memories of the longtime mayor who "always wanted a park for the people." The park, years in the making, was celebrated as a model of volunteerism and partnership between the city, local nonprofits and businesses. Speakers praised the committee that planned and built the project, the city's public works crew that rushed to finish details, and the late Mayor Ray Halsey, whose legacy now bears the park's name...
Neighbors frustrated by growing disorder on Dill Avenue pressed Grand Coulee City Council members Tuesday night to crack down on what they described as dangerous and unsanitary conditions on two nearby properties. Resident Mike Coffee, who lives on Dill Avenue, told the council he has dealt with repeated thefts, suspected illegal power hookups, and human waste being dumped on the ground outside a neighboring trailer. Coffee said one man living in the trailer was caught on his security cameras cutting wires from the front of his boat. Coffee...
Some of our nation’s thinkers are coming around to the conclusion that maybe our inclination to keep things fair for all individuals all the time has been accidentally making things worse in a number of ways for all of us, with some serious consequences. But one idea could suggest a way to solutions. Take our housing shortage, for instance. Any diehard capitalist will cite the principal that if you discourage supply, demand will rise, along with prices, as supply goes down. That pretty much describes the current housing market, the paucity o... Full story
Electric City will begin shopping around for possible providers of police services, voting Tuesday night to send out a request for proposals to nearby agencies, including other cities’ departments and county sheriff’s offices. The RFP seeks a comprehensive, turnkey law enforcement package. The selected agency would be responsible for: 24/7 response to all 911 calls originating in Electric City Routine patrols by vehicle and on foot, including park patrols, business checks, residential vacation checks and traffic enforcement Criminal inv...
Elmer City is working on handling a parking problem in town by enforcing an ordinance that says cars not in compliance can be towed after seven days, with notice. Town Clerk Kelly Ross said she would have a revised ordinance ready for the council to consider next month that aligns with current reality. The current ordinance was passed in 1950, and assigns the job of tagging non-compliant parked rigs to the town marshal, which the town hasn’t had for decades. The 1950 ordinance, number 28, states the offender can be made to pay the cost of a...
This might be worth contemplating, or not, but for the first time in at least 30 years, we heard no fireworks in Coulee Dam other than the official show off the dam. Police actually wrote a report to say that they had no fireworks reports. Local firefighters did not have to respond to fire emergencies in local towns. The closest local report came from Steamboat Rock State Park. Fire, and firefighting, are not as simple things to figure out as one might assume, with as many possible scenarios as the infinite mix of factors such as wind...
A few words of thanks and a ribbon cutting opened up a long-hidden part of the Grand Coulee Dam Project Thursday, as Bureau of Reclamation officials beamed to share a smaller but very interesting engineering feat, an old model of the Grand Coulee Dam at 1:60 scale. The model, most of which was hidden from view after it last operated as a tool for hydrologic research in 1952, was built to give engineers a way to test different water flow scenarios, measuring the results in the included scale...
Many recounted great times had over the Independence Day weekend at The Festival of America, until the finale on America's 250th birthday celebration. That's when, as everyone looked up, a few fireworks haltingly shot toward the sky from the top of Grand Coulee Dam, until they just stopped a few minutes after starting, later igniting fireworks of a different kind on Facebook. A technical problem with the fireworks had led to a fire. That had to be dealt with quickly, then technicians had to...
Bridge repairs originally planned to start July 6 will now start a week later, on Monday, July 13 and are scheduled to conclude Aug. 21with this "emergency" fix. Travelers will encounter slowdowns, lane closures and delays, a Washington State Department of Transportation release stated. For this "temporary" repair, contractor crews next week will start repair of the bridge's expansion joints. They will remove existing asphalt and install steel plates to hold the bridge deck panels in place and...
Electric City's new park will officially open and be named for longtime Mayor Ray Halsey June 16 at 5 p.m. That's the date set for the city's annual Electric City Community BBQ in the lawn area behind city hall, and the park committee has been aiming to get the park open by that date. Several volunteers, including Mayor Blake Martin, Councilmembers Cheryl Hoffman and Robbin Boyce and more were laying sod one week earlier on Thursday morning. The park will feature two sets of playground...
As the nation celebrates 250 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Grand Coulee Dam area is celebrating too, and at the Festival of America that means three days with kids' games, fun, a beer garden, and vendors, and two afternoons and evenings with live music, then the culmination of the festival with fireworks off the top of Grand Coulee Dam on July 4th. See our guide to the festival in this issue's second section. The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce, which... Full story
The SR-155 bridge over the Columbia River in Coulee Dam will be getting some "emergency repairs" starting next Monday. The Washington State Department of Transportation issued a maintenance alert Monday. Expect alternating one-lane and two-lane traffic, reduced speed limits, and flaggers at milepost 28 until Aug. 17 from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. while crews perform emergency repairs on the bridge deck. Above, a look at the type of problems that have been developing and local drivers have been concerned... Full story
Town council members last week turned down a request from the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation to amend their fiber optics franchise with Coulee Dam, with the mayor arguing the change would interfere with a longplanned power line replacement project. At the June 24 council meeting, Mayor Bob Poch said the proposed fiber easement would run in the same narrow corridor where the town and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation have been working for 15 to 17 years to replace electrical feeders 1 and 3 coming down the hill into town. The...