News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Merle Roberts, of Grand Coulee, earned a blue ribbon in photography last week at the state fair in Puyallup. Roberts named his photo, in dramatic dark gray shades of a local tree growing right out of rock, "Its A Tough Life." It took Best of Scenic for black and white photography. He entered it in the International Photography Exhibit at the fair, which he said meant he would go up against entries from New York and California, or even Hong Kong. "Yeah, you have to butt heads with the biggest...
When it burned down on Oct. 12, 2021, Almira's school was so completely destroyed that only about 33 bricks of the old red-brick school could be salvaged. Those are now encased in concrete outside the brand-new school the community opened Aug. 31 for an open house and celebration by the community. They filled the new multi-purpose room to overflowing, necessitating moving the staff from the side of the new foldout bleachers to up onto the new stage, where the music and drama teachers plan to...
Coulee Dam is considering rezoning two properties for a use for which most people think they’re already zoned. Two buildings across Lincoln Avenue from city hall, built as dormitories in the 1930s, have been used as residences, a bed-and-breakfast, an assisted living facility, and as a place to stay for visiting medical professionals working at Coulee Medical Center. The current proposal would alter the city’s comprehensive plan to reflect such uses. A public hearing on the proposal will be scheduled, perhaps as soon as Sept. 27 if pro...
If you've ever wanted to fish but don't really know how, now's your chance to fix that. The Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area is offering "Fish Fest" this Saturday at Spring Canyon, and they'll be giving away free fishing poles to the first 300 kids 14 and under. If you're ready to get "SCHOOL-ed in how to fish," as the National Park Service folks teased on Facebook, show up early during the 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. event to "to learn how to cast, reel, and tie knots." At the free family friendly f...
Students racked up a policy victory at Lake Roosevelt Jr/Sr High School Monday when the school district board of directors voted to implement most of their recommended changes to the dress code, one evening before school began. A group of Associated Student Body officers and representatives had presented their ideas to the board Aug. 14 using a sneaky tactic: they looked and acted exactly like typical high school students, then admitted that only one of the eight of them was meeting the current...
Grand Coulee’s city council voted just days before they had no operator to sign a one-year contract for operation of its sewer plant via an independent contractor, on an emergency basis. At the time on Aug. 23, the current employee had given notice earlier this month to retire on Aug. 25 after months of being the lone operator. The contractor, SJ Environmental, had already been in talks with both Grand Coulee and Electric City about running the plant and doing other related work. The plant processes 184,000 gallons of waste a day in the s...
The plan is to make it across the country in 44 stops, while along the way garnering even more pledges of support for veterans' causes, and, around here, dodging wildfires. A group of bicyclists stayed overnight in Coulee Dam and Grand Coulee Saturday, leaving early Sunday morning on day five of their trek that started at the naval airbase on Whidbey Island. Their "Navy '83 Ride Across America" will get them to their Naval Academy class of 1983 reunion in Annapolis, Maryland in October. Allan...
Firefighters from at least 10 different agencies fought a "stubborn" fire on a windy Friday weather forecasters had predicted could be a bad one. It was. The fire dubbed the Plum Point Fire erupted the same afternoon fires near Coulee City, Quincy, Medical Lake, and Elk started amid a Red Flag warning by the National Weather Service that fires that starting in the windy, dry conditions could spread rapidly. Initially estimated at 60-80 acres about 1:15, the Plum Point Fire was finally kept down...
A longtime community leader who revived the ailing Colorama Rodeo over a decade ago and focused on strengthening its sponsoring Ridge Riders Saddle Club, has died. George Kohout "was the epitome of Ridge Riders and Colorama Pro Rodeo, a community leader, the truest of cowboys from his hat to the bottom of his boots, and one of the greatest men the rodeo world will know from Grand Coulee" an announcement reads on the Ridge Riders' Colorama Pro Rodeo Facebook. "Our community and the area rodeo...
It’s not certain exactly how the wastewater treatment plant that serves the roughly 2,000 citizens of Grand Coulee and Electric City will keep operating after nine days from now. That’s when its current operator will retire. Currently, Grand Coulee has no one to replace that employee, and the city has been in talks to outsource operating the plant to an independent company on a contractual basis. That’s if the union representing employees will allow it, or if the contractor can justify that wage scale. All of that is uncertain, even unlik...
Update: 9:12 p.m. Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Dept Chief Ryan Fish said all Grand Coulee units were leaving Plum Point. Multiple fire departments were working the fire in Lincoln County. The fire began to grow again about 3 p.m. after it had looked like it was about under control until the wind kicked up. At 5 p.m. three Fireboss planes arrived, and worked for more than half an hour, repeatedly dousing the fire with water from Lake Roosevelt. By 6:30 p.m. flames were mostly knocked down but... Full story
Electric City voters will be asked to decide on whether to de-annex a part of the city they agreed to add back in 2009. The city council voted Aug. 8 that the city should place a measure on the General Election ballot in November to shed the city of some lands annexed to the east of SR-155 south of the causeway across Osborne Bay that belong to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation or the Washington Department of Natural Resources. Other lands on the other side of the highway, including the area containing Sunbanks Lake Resort, would remain within...
Lacy Ward has been working hard and got caught doing it - by the new school district superintendent. Superintendent Rod Broadnax honored Ward Monday night with the first of what he calls the "Superintendent's Spotlight" for "going above and beyond." Broadnax said since his arrival July 1, he's been observing employees and noting who he thinks should be recognized for extra effort, noting Ward's work several times. Ward runs the SHARP Kids program, which engages students after school and had a...
Fire fighters scrambled to attack five fires that started Sunday afternoon as a slow-moving lightning storm torched brush and grass in Douglas and Grant counties and prompted a "county-wide" call from local fire chiefs. In Douglas County, a fire at Road 28 Rex was first reported at 4:26 p.m., followed seven minutes later by reports of fires at Pendell Road, two in Grant County in and near Pleasant Valley on the north side of Banks Lake, and another at Barker Canyon at 4:35. Douglas County Fire...
After their daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes last year, they're forming a new group to bring awareness about the disease and to support kids who have it. The group, with the help of donors, are putting on a free barbecue at Grand Coulee's park on SR-174 near La Presa. And they had a table at last week's National Night Out event in Grand Coulee to promote the effort. Kinzley Dennis got the diagnosis one day after she turned 10 last November, said her dad and the group's president,...
It all ended well, with a young rock climber apparently still healthy after hanging for hours in a harness off a cliff at Northrup Canyon Saturday night, unable to go up or down. The canyon, an offshoot of the Upper Grand Coulee faces Steamboat Rock of highway 155 cutting into the coulee wall. The terrain features "steep cliffs, massive boulders, thick brush and a small crevice that would be difficult to bring equipment through," noted Grand Coulee Police Officer Kline, who was first on the...
Under 200 voters chose the two candidates who qualified Tuesday to run for mayor of Grand Coulee in the November general election. The names of Mike Eylar and Chuck Crowe will appear on the ballot. The race required a primary election to narrow the field of three candidates to two. Eylar garnered 164 votes, or 82.83 percent. Crowe took 23 votes (11.62%), and Kimberly Christensen got four of the 198 votes cast, according to the unofficial results published by the Washington Secretary of State....
Families mingled as a live band played, kids cooled on an inflatable water slide, and fire fighters practiced tearing apart a car during a National Night Out event put on by the Grand Coulee Police Department Tuesday night. Police officers of many kinds also mingled or offered information from booths, including Colville Tribal Police, National Park Service rangers, State Parks rangers, and, of course, the sponsoring Grand Coulee officers. They had closed Midway Avenue and diverted traffic for...
The ground has shifted beneath community journalism, and the new landscape has a different feel. These days, good cameras in almost everyone’s pocket and the emergence of social media turns the possibilities around from what existed even a decade ago, and that is both good and bad. Last week, The Star reported on the funding found for Elmer City’s new fire engine storage facility. Part of the information for that story came from a couple sources that would have been impossible a few years ago. A group of volunteers called Okanogan County Wat...
People on the Grand Coulee City Council think the city may have to find a way to keep services going that some citizens may well take for granted: fire and ambulance. A discussion last week centered around whether to hold public meetings first, or decide on a possible solution before presenting it to the public at large, even beyond Grand Coulee. The city’s ambulance service is already serving a larger area. Coulee Dam no longer has a functioning service, and those in Grand Coulee’s regularly cover calls to the other three local cities. Get...
The only reason North Dam Park is still green and lovely is spelled: The Coulee Area Park and Recreation District, an entity run by volunteers, at least some approaching burnout. CAPRD is an actual government organization, created in 2003 by a vote of the people within its boundaries, which stretch from Disautel Pass to Steamboat Rock, a design intended to give it enough reach to empower everyone to contribute minimal amounts to a collective benefit and initial target: siting and building a new...
After 26 years in Las Vegas law enforcement and another five in the in security and investigations at a resort there, Mike Eylar feels "It's good to be home," he said. Now retired, he'd like to see if he can make a contribution, so he's running for the mayoral seat being left open by Mayor Paul Townsend's decision not to run again. Eylar is one of three candidates for the job hoping to make it through the primary election ending Aug. 1 to make it to the general in November. He faces Kim...
American Rescue Plan Act money will round out what had been another shortfall in funds intended to get a new building constructed for the fire department in Elmer City. The final $150,000 was pledged by Okanogan County commissioners last week after Jimmer Tillman, public works superintendent, and Kelly Ross, the town clerk, had appealed to them June 26 to ask for help overcoming the shortfall. Okanogan County Fire Protection District 2 parks some fire trucks outside, which is bad for the equipment. Two years ago, they started seeking funding...
The new superintendent at the Grand Coulee Dam School District has set a schedule to be available on one Tuesday a month for either morning coffee or evening pizza to sit down and chat. It’s something he has done in other districts with some success, Superintendent Rod Broadnax said when he dropped off a flyer at The Star with a schedule through next May. “Parent & Community Engagement Opportunities with the Superintendent” will offer coffee at 10 a.m. for an hour. The first one is set for Aug. 29. Broadnax said it will likely take place at Vo...
Two local police departments will hold separate events to get together with citizens for some fun on the same date. “National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer, more caring places to live,” explains the website that promotes the event that started in 1984. It’s always on the first Tuesday in August. Coulee Dam Police Department will hold their event at Mason City Memorial Park on Mead Way Aug. 1 beginning at 5 p.m. Mead...