News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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There could be complications this summer if you’re planning to use a paved parking lot at Spring Canyon or any other Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area facility, including campgrounds with pavement and boat launches with paved parking lots. The National Park Service will stop taking reservations for this summer for its facilities in the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area and will offer refunds to those who’ve already reserved their campsites, the NPS announced Tuesday. A project to repave every bit of asphalt in the park this yea...
Evelyn Russell doesn't know how many people are involved in an annual effort to put together dozens of quilts for the benefit of people in need, around the world and at a nearby crisis shelter. "We've got a box in the back," Russell said, standing inside the sanctuary of Zion Lutheran Church in Grand Coulee Saturday, with 91 colorful quilts covering every available surface, anointed by sunlight coming through the colored glass. The box collects pieces that quilters finish at home. The tops and...
One has devoted her career to the success of a local institution, the other just started a new business last year to fill a local need and fulfill a longtime ambition. Solveig Chaffee's Voltage Coffee House was named business of the year, and hospital CEO Ramona Hicks was honored as achiever of the year at the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce annual awards banquet Thursday at Pepper Jack's Bar and Grille. "Thank you for bringing a new business to the community ... putting in your own...
Before it’s too late, a word of thanks needs to be said for those who plow snow. This was a tough winter, but local roads remained remarkably open after initial attacks were completed, allowing drivers to travel intact. That’s no small thing, and we should be thankful in the coulee for roads well plowed by folks who most of the time got up early to get ready for our morning commutes. Scott Hunter editor and publisher...
People who felt the loss of convenience when The Variety Store in Grand Coulee closed down will welcome the news that a new proprietor will open a new store by the same name in the same building. Launi Ritter, who had attempted to come to rental terms with former owners of the building between Safeway and Coulee Hardware over a year ago. She and her parents, Doug and Mary Lou Lockard, had researched the business and were ready to start it up, but could not find a location with the right terms. That changed Feb. 27, Ritter said, when A. J. Gerar...
After a delivery last week had added to the meager stores at the Care and Share Food Bank a couple weeks ago, volunteers came once again to unload another truck on Thursday, this time stuffing shelves with the proceeds made possible by local donations last fall. If you wondered exactly when that donation you made at Safeway to the local food bank last November or December would actually arrive, the answer is last week. "This is the time of year we really need that," said Carol Nordine, the...
Park district commissioners Monday voted to accept the resignation of one commissioner, then immediately filled her position with a young recruit. Commissioner Debbie Bigelow, who has served for nearly three years despite being retired. "Although I will continue forever to support this organization," she said, "I no longer have the energy or community connections that are so important to the success of this organization." Bigelow, who retired as chief executive officer of Coulee Medical Center,...
The Colville Business Council, meeting in special session Thursday with all tribal representatives present, expelled fellow council member Andrea George from their ranks on ethics charges, which she denied in a detailed statement. George, elected last summer to represent the Nespelem District on the Colville Tribes’ governing body that serves as both the tribes’ legislature and head of its executive branch, is a lawyer whom her supporters insist was being expelled for calling into question procedures and actions the council takes, not for act...
LR beats Liberty from The Star on Vimeo. Raider fans shouted cheers as the Raiders defeated Liberty High School (Spangle) Wednesday at the WIAA State 2B Basketball Tournament in Spokane, 41-37. They'll play Life Christian Academy tomorrow at 2 p.m. Winning that would put them one game away from the championship game; losing would mean they would play at 10:30 a.m. on Friday for a shot at either fourth place or sixth. A win tomorrow would pit them on Friday at 5:30 p.m. against the winner of the... Full story
The Colville Business Council, meeting in special session Thursday with all tribal representatives present, expelled fellow councilmember Andrea George from their ranks on ethics charges that she denied in a detailed statement. George, elected last summer to represent the Nespelem District, is a lawyer her supporters insist was being expelled for calling into question procedures and actions the council takes, not for actual ethics violations. Too many of those supporters gathered outside council chambers at 9 a.m. meeting to fit inside the...
A retired businessman with plenty of experience took a seat on the Coulee Dam City Council last week. The decision to seat Merv Schmidt came immediately following an executive session called to make a hard choice between Schmidt and another experienced former council member, Ken Miles. Schmidt served on the council for many years, beginning in 1984 and including years when the council initially began planning for a new wastewater treatment plan, a project that is just now getting done after year...
The sale of a cable television and internet provider to Coulee Dam residents will take a few more months, Coulee Dam town council members were told last week. Charter Communications, a nationwide cable, telephone and internet provider, is working on purchasing Country Cable, which has been in business serving Coulee Dam ever since it purchased the Coulee Dam Television Station more than a decade ago. The deal has been in the works for some time and is now expected to close March 1, an email from a company senior manager to City Clerk Stefani...
A levy to support the Grand Coulee Dam School District appeared to be passing with vote counts listed for the four counties in favor by 58.14 percent. Passage of a school levy requires a simple majority of 50 percent plus one. The replacement levy, which asked voters to approve an approximate $1.50 rate per thousand dollars of assessed property value, was approved in each of the counties: by 61 percent in Douglas County, 61-39 votes; by 55.79 percent in Grant County, 260-206; 56.89 percent in Lincoln County, 49-37; and by 61.92 percent in...
A Coulee Dam financial non-profit is proposing a way to increase available housing in the local area and will offer financing to make it possible. Northwest Native Development Fund Executive Director Ted Piccolo said last week that NNDF will dedicate up to $1 million to finance a two-pronged approach to addressing a local shortage of housing in the $150,000 to $180,000 price range. “The goal is that within two years there are 10-15 additional home owners in the region purchasing homes in the neighborhood of $180,000,” Piccolo said in a pre...
A tribal council member facing ethics charges amid controversy and backlash from tribal members was placed on administrative leave last week under an “Emergency Action Order.” Andrea George, elected to represent the Nespelem District of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation last summer, was placed on paid leave by the Executive Committee of the Colville Business Council, of which she is one of 14 representatives voted in by members. The Executive Committee issued the Emergency Action Order “for a situation that poses an immed...
The the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association announced Friday that all regional wrestling tournaments set for Saturday have been canceled due to bad weather conditions affecting travel. Instead, apparently every athlete who qualified for regionals will instead go to the state tournament next week in Tacoma. That means 23 Lake Roosevelt High School athletes will be headed to the Tacoma Dome for the tournament that starts in a week. Here's WIAA's email sent Friday morning: "Due to... Full story
A group of protesters gathered outside the Colville Business Council's meeting chambers Friday as part of the council debated a move that would lead to expelling one of their own members. Ethics charges had been filed, dropped and apparently filed again on Councilmember Andrea George, who won a seat at the council last summer to represent the Nespelem District. Amid chants and drumming outside the tribal headquarters Friday, cars and pickups drove by on SR-155 and honked in support of those...
Good luck to the Lake Roosevelt basketball teams and their fans in Richland today; win or lose (just saw that the girls won 46-43) , they may all have to take a long way home. Washington State Department of Transportation is showing I-82 closed between Yakima and Ellensburg, as well as minor state highways SR-24 and SR-241 through rural areas between here and there. SR 17 closed from Othello north, SR 21 is closed at Washtucna. That might leave US395 to Spokane and US 2 the only way home. But... Full story
If you have not already filled out your ballot, which you should have received in the mail by now, you should do so now. Grand Coulee Dam School District is proposing yet another levy, which won’t raise your taxes any higher than they already are. That’s because it’s just part of a two-levy remedy the district is hoping to implement to make up for money lost in the wake of new school funding structures put in place in the wake of the state Supreme Court’s McCleary Decision. The levy you’ll find on the ballot for the Feb. 5 election would kee...
Local voters will soon get ballots in the mail asking them to decide on a second levy for the Grand Coulee Dam School District and may wonder why when a levy just passed last November. The November vote will only allow the district to collect a little more than a third of the tax support voters had passed in 2015. That was ancient history, before the “McCleary Fix” was passed by the state Legislature, which mandated reducing local levies, added an extra statewide tax, and leaving the local district with trying to partially make up for it wit...
Coulee Dam has a new mayor. Bob Poch was elected by the city council last week to take the place of Larry Price, who resigned Dec. 6, 2018. The council did not discuss the motion made by Councilmember Ben Alling and seconded by Councilmember Keith St. Jeor, immediately voting to seat the new mayor, who had been filling the post as mayor pro tempore since Price's resignation. "Thank you all for your confidence," he said, before launching into the rest of the regular meeting of the council. Poch...
A legislator who represents the state's 12th Legislative District, including the Grand Coulee Dam area, has been appointed to head or serve on three important committees in the House of Representatives that could have an impact on local funding struggles. Rep. Mike Steele has been selected to serve as the ranking member on the House Education Committee, his office announced Monday. He's also assistant ranking member on the House Capital Budget Committee, and will serve on the House...
Watch that first step outside Thursday morning. The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather warning, expecting up to a tenth of an inch of ice on local roads after freezing rain starts to fall around 4 a.m. and continues until about 10 a.m.... Full story
The athletic director for the Grand Coulee Dam School District got a $4,000 annual boost in pay, and a 6-percent raise for non-union classified staffers is also coming following a vote by the school board Dec. 20. But not without questions and discussion that shed light on hard decision that may be coming. Superintendent Paul Turner told the board that Athletic Director Tim Rasmussen is "really doing a bang-up job," and Turner wants him to do more. Rasmussen teaches four classes of physical...
The Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area will remain accessible to the public, but with no visitor services, during the current shutdown of the federal government. That’s according to a statement issued by the National Park Service unit on Saturday, after Congress and the president failed to compromise on a bill to keep the government fully open. “During the shutdown of the federal government due to the lapse of appropriations, national parks will remain as accessible as possible while still following all applicable laws and pro...