News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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When Presley Steffens was in sixth grade, her future coach, Jaci Gross, gave her a shot at batting against standout Lady Raider pitcher Emma Marchand, just to try it out, see how it feels. Marchand got one past her. The next one went over the fence. Friday night, Steffens, now a sophomore, demonstrated her skills at both pitching and batting, slugging one over the fence in the fourth inning to bring in Taylor Thomas Vargas and herself, bumping the score to its final 15-4, then taking the mound f...
Leaders of two school districts Tuesday night, agreed to a “tuition” plan that’s been in dispute for months, which threatened to cost them over half a million dollars that would otherwise go to educating their students. Everyone was relieved at a joint meeting of the boards of directors of the Nespelem and Grand Coulee Dam School districts. “Thank you so much for working hard to make that agreement successful,” GCDSD Board President Rich Black said. “I know it wasn’t exactly what you had in mind. It wasn’t exactly what we had in mind.” At is...
The Lady Raiders took a loss after a win this week in their quest to make it to the state Fastpitch Softball Championships at Yakima's Gateway Sports Complex May 24-25. In District 6 playoffs, Lake Roosevelt bested Tonasket 8-7 in Grand Coulee May 10, as league pitcher of the year Presley Steffens struck out 13 batters. Last night, however, LR lost to the Lady Bulldogs, 5-2, in Okanogan. LR (17-5) will now play Brewster on the Raider's home diamond in Grand Coulee Friday at 4:30 p.m. in a...
It will start at 11 a.m., just as it has for decades, but for a few hours, chamber leaders thought the upcoming annual Colorama Parade on Saturday would have to be canceled. In fact, it was called off on Monday afternoon. Until about 5 a.m. Tuesday. That's when the executive director of the chamber got an email from the Grant County Sheriff's Office, saying they would, after all, be able to send three deputies in cars to help with traffic control. Closing two intersecting state highways for an h...
Two students at Lake Roosevelt Jr./Sr. High School were expelled on an emergency basis Thursday after an investigation of their emails revealed threats to kill five students at the school. During an authorized investigation into one student’s emails, school personnel came across a “hit list” of five students to kill, naming two of them. The responding student asked who they were and wrote that he or she would help. The two students doing the emailing were not in school on Thursday and now won’t be, following the emergency expulsion. The school...
Jericho Desautel was crowned queen of the prom Friday night, with Damon Landeros crowned king. Alice "Wheatie" Desautel said Jericho's classmates had been "nothing but amazing," supporting the girl who has a rare chromosomal disorder that causes developmental delay. "As her family, the people that love her, we find comfort that since day one, her classmates have loved her, cared for her, watch out for her, acknowledge her as their peer, and treat her like she's a part of THEM," Desautel wrote...
One minute, they were heading to another party. The next was chaos, blood and death. That was the scene outside the Nespelem Community Center April 18 as unveiled in an elaborate enactment involving vehicles full of Lake Roosevelt High School students. Most of the student body stood on the other side of the black plastic curtain and a taped off border. Beyond it, many of their classmates lay in a bloody scene depicting the kind of instant carnage that can happen when fragile flesh is forced...
Update: Two students have been arrested by police and taken to jail or juvenile detention, Superintendent Rod Broadnax said about 7:45 Thursday night. The two students at Lake Roosevelt Jr./Sr. High School were expelled on an emergency basis earlier Thursday after an investigation of their emails revealed threats to kill five students at the school. During an authorized investigation into one student's emails, school personnel came across a "hit list" of five students to kill, naming two of them...
Some deep thinking has been going on, and its helping. Last week, many local professionals in law enforcement, emergency medicine, and other first responders, — the folks who have to live with the possible trauma of a car crash to which they only responded to help — took time to show every local high school student just what happens in a crash. Many of them worked for weeks or months in preparation and planning. Teenagers as a group are far more likely to be involved in car crashes, and this area has too often seen the worst side of those sta...
The Raider tennis team will host the District 6 Tournament on Saturday, May 11, and Wednesday, May 15, Coach Casey Brewster said. The tournament will take advantage of the four courts at the high school, likely the newest in the district, built in 2015, and the two courts at Coulee Dam's Cole Park just across the river, originally built in the 1930s but resurfaced during Coulee Dam's Quincy Snow administration more than 10 years ago. Visiting teams will include those from Liberty Bell High...
From Newman Lake to Lake Stevens, they came to fish Banks Lake last weekend to try to catch three different species of fish on each of two days. Local Brian Walters completed the task, with the greatest combined weights to take the big prize of a tricked-out Jackson kayak. Reel Recreation, a local non-profit led by fishing friends and dedicated to promoting fishing and other outdoor activities for kids, put on the Triple Fish Challenge tournament, which started in 2013 under the local chamber...
High school students tomorrow may pretend to die or be injured in a mock car crash planned for Thursday morning in an exercise designed to resemble the real tragedy. That will include "toning out" police and ambulance units to respond to the event at the Nespelem Community Center, so don't panic if you hear those genuine-sounding calls. The purpose is to portray to students just what can happen in the seconds and minutes after someone makes a mistake: distracted driving, driving intoxicated,...
Could be excellent pitching. Could be fast, smart base stealers. Could be good, solid bat-ting skills. It must be all of those. The Lady Raiders are having a season. The 1-A Omak Pioneers managed to get a point on them Saturday in Omak, losing 14-1. LR skunked Oroville last Thursday in Grand Coulee, 15-0. Yesterday, they scored 17 on Tonasket, holding the Tigers to 2 for their 10th win of the sea-son. They've only lost to Okanogan and ACH, once to each. The Raiders meet Manson there Thursday...
Ceremonial gold shovels overturned dirt after prayers, songs and speeches Tuesday, celebrating the coming construction of a new convalescent center north of Elmer City, where the Colville Tribes will build the new facility for elders and other clientele. Praise was high for the project and those who moved obstacles and legislatures to get it underway, but details were scarce. Jarred-Michael Erickson, chairman of the Business Council of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, said...
Lake Roosevelt Jr/Sr High School clubs are planning trips to Seattle and Montana, following Monday night’s school board blessing. The school’s Knowledge Bowl competitors will head to the University of Washington on a trip paid partially by their own fundraising efforts and supported by the gifted program and the Colville Tribes. Members of the team and advisor Pam Johnson advised the board of a transportation problem that is worsening as the group grows: They don’t fit in a Suburban. Johnson said they have a dozen high school students in the a...
Big maps up on a screen made an impression. The maps outlined all the areas burned by wildfires in Okanogan County. The first slide showed burns from 1982 through 2013. The second slide added what has burned since 2013. From a glance at the map, you might guess that possibly twice as much land burned in the last 11 years as in the prior 31. In a room full of firefighters and others concerned with keeping the county from burning up, it was an appropriate intro to the Community Wildfire...
Local organizations received accolades Tuesday night as the chamber of commerce announced the winners of three awards voted on by chamber members at a dinner for that purpose at MPH Hi-Dam. Addressing a fairly young crowd, Nancy Zimmerman-Boord, executive director of the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce, noted that young people are starting new businesses or taking over established ones. "What I love to see about this community ... is that our kids are stepping up into owning...
The third in a series of the "Okanogan County Community Wildfire Protection Plan" meetings will be held Wednesday evening, March 27, from 5-7 p.m., at the Lucy Covington Government Center, 21 Colville Street, Nespelem, the headquarters of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. Any Okanogan County residents can attend the meeting to be able to "engage with CWPP partners and discuss community-level wildfire concerns and values at risk," an agenda for the meeting states. "We will...
Sometimes city governments run smoothly, but as they operate with humans in a democracy, rough patches happen. Balancing human needs, egos, ambitions, desires, skills, or a lack of them, all within the confines of public perceptions, budgets, legal restrictions, and politics sounds like the kind of idea that might cause many stalwart business pros to run screaming from the room where it was suggested. But that’s exactly what it takes for a city, or any municipality that serves us, to operate. It’s natural when tensions rise, and they can be...
Local firefighters fought a stubborn fire in a Delano home early Monday, with one person being taken from the scene by ambulance for treatment. At approximately 1:47 a.m. Grand Coulee and Electric City fire departments were dispatched for the fire at 57928 Yakima Street NE in Delano. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation also responded for assistance and led fire ground operations, the Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department, stated on its Facebook Monday. The Grand Coulee Ambulance took one patient from the scene to Coulee Medical Center for...
A ribbon cutting ceremony in Elmer City will introduce to the public the town's new fire hall March 21 at 1 p.m. The recently completed structure is already in use, housing fire engines for Okanogan County Fire Protection District 2. The $1.3 million project, funded mostly by the state Legislature with the final $150,000 coming from the federal American Rescue Plan Act via Okanogan County commissioners, began in 2022 when the town began seeking state funds. The project involved the work of two...
Two longtime teachers at Lake Roosevelt Elementary were commended Monday night for their everyday work and leadership at the school. The two had just reported on their activities with a new Teachers Advisory Committee, which works to provide information and perspectives to administration and the board. Christy Portch, the committee president, and Jaci Gross, vice president, said the committee of 13 had just met that day, discussing pertinent facts that some educational statistics don't make...
Coulee Dam will get state and federal help planting new trees on a street it clear cut last summer. The state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced this week it will award Coulee Dam $71,180 for the work. The project is designed to restore and enhance Ferry Avenue’s tree canopy. More than 30 90-year-old maples were removed unexpectedly during a sidewalk replacement project in 2023. City engineer Marisa Stevens, of TD&H Engineering, applied for the funding to plant 24 new trees along Ferry Avenue, which was stripped of more than 30 of...
Raider pride runs deep. And for a group of young men who've been working hard together for years, their final win on the hardwood felt good Saturday as they took third place in the state of Washington at the WIAA 2024 2B Boys State Basketball Tournament at the Spokane Arena. It wasn't a given outcome, despite the obvious talent on the team. They have speed, not a lot of height. They're smart, dedicated, and fearless. And their coach figured they had the best defensive team in the state. "I feel...
One way to get people involved might just be to throw a good party. Or as they call it at the Indian Education Program at Lake Roosevelt Schools, a "Family Engagement Night." They had a good one last week, as 230 people showed up to an event they'd planned for 100. "We were blown away by the attendance," program coordinator Ashley Three Irons-Atkins told the school board Monday night. The theme for the Feb. 22 event was a valentine "Be My Huckleberry" relationship-building emphasis. Dinner was...