News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Levi Johnson sees public safety as the most pressing issue facing Electric City. So do his fellow officers. Johnson is a police officer in Grand Coulee, as are two other candidates running against incumbents for Electric City council seats. Johnson, who joined the Grand Coulee Police Department in 2015, says that's no accident. When the Electric City Council decided to change its police services contractor, choosing Coulee Dam over Grand Coulee last year, they took notice. "I think that's kind...
The Raider volleyball team scored two wins this week to put them third in the Central Washington 2B League with a 9-5 win-loss record. The Lake Roosevelt girls put away the Brewster Bears Oct. 19 in three sets on LR's home court on senior night, a label that applies to two-thirds of the varsity team. LR bested Brewster 25-23, 26-24, 25-21, with displays of discipline and versatility. Precision setting by Shy Marchand preceded several Carly Neddo kills like clockwork, a pattern that repeated...
Most streets in Electric City could be in for some upgrades if the grants come through, a long-hoped-for waterfront trail should be built by late next summer, and the city’s corroding sewer pipes might be saved with a lining for over $1 million, a small group of citizens attending a meeting at the fire hall learned Tuesday night. Trent Ward, of Century West Engineering, the city’s consultant, said the 8-foot-wide trail along SR-155 from Coulee Playland to North Dam Park will cost about $870,000, including a two-foot gravel pathway on each side...
If you were planning to rent out a shipping container or RV on your property in Coulee Dam, or use it for events such as weddings, sounds like you’re out of luck, but the town council heard last week exactly how short rentals will be allowed and under what circumstances. Mike Manning, of SCJ Alliance went through a long list of requirements Wednesday night during a public hearing before the regular council meeting, seemed like common sense, but some added restrictions you might not think about. Among those are an annual requirement to pass a...
An obsolete recall sign and that one about the ugliest town in the west came up as subjects of poor taste at last night’s Electric City meeting. A woman asked if the city might be able to encourage a sign seeking a recall of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to be brought down now that he’s not running for re-election. She said she’d had company recently who commented on it. “It’s just bad taste,” said the woman, who did not identify herself. Mayor Diane Kohout said the city could contact the property owner to ask about it. The woman also asked about...
I was honored and ambivalent at the same time earlier this month to accept the highest honor awarded by the 136-year-old Washington Newspaper Publishers Association (WNPA) at a time when, more than ever, I’m still trying to figure this business out. Because it’s much more than a business; community newspapering is an institution and a calling that from the early days of America has been recognized as a big part of what makes this country work. Newspapers were “the power which impels the circulation of political life,” philosopher Alexis de Tocq...
The good news is “we have good people in the right place” at Lake Roosevelt Schools, a consultant hired to coach principals in the school district told the board of directors Tuesday night, but “we have our work cut out.” Mike Horn had been working in the district for a 10-day period of coaching principals, also talking with staff to get input. In the course of discovering the district’s needs, he said, he’d learned that 78 percent of students at the school miss 10 percent of classes. “That’s daunting,” he told the board. Hiring Horn was one of...
A discussion on a persistent problem with vaping at school turned into an opening conversation on how to solve that and other discipline problems for some students at Lake Roosevelt Schools. Layla Flett, a student representative on the board of directors for the Grand Coulee Dam Area School District, cautioned the board and superintendent Tuesday night that some measures may not work as intended. The subject came up when Superintendent Rod Broadnax asked Flett how she thought the school year was going so far. Flett said the only real issue she...
Gone are the days when the area was served by two volunteer ambulance services, one in Coulee Dam, one in Grand Coulee, which now is the only one left. That’s getting to be a big job for the few volunteers left on the crew. And the city of Grand Coulee knows it’s picking up the whole tab. Grand Coulee Councilmember Tom Poplawski told local mayors at their Regional Board of Mayors meeting last week that the city would like them to start thinking about helping out with a specific portion of the cost. Every time an ambulance rolls out of the sta...
An agreement that lets the local community send trash to the local transfer station is in question because some of that trash comes from outside Grant County, where it ends up. The problem has to do with how state money is allocated down to counties for solid waste disposal. The Regional Board of Mayors first learned of the problem last month. Chairing the Oct. 4 meeting, Electric City Diane Kohout gave an update. As Grant County Solid Waste department was preparing a plan, they noticed that Coulee Dam was in their written plan, but Elmer City...
The Lady Raiders split the week with a win and loss, but their coach doesn't really see it that way. The Lake Roosevelt team beat Bridgeport in three sets in Coulee Dam Tuesday night, 25-12, 25-7, 25-17. With a 6-4 win-loss record in league (6-4 overall), the Raiders are two-thirds through their season, currently third in the league between Okanogan (7-1, 9-1), and Brewster (4-3, 4-4). After LR's win over Bridgeport in Coulee Dam Tuesday, Coach Kasey Garvin reflected on the win and on their...
The Colville Tribes announced Monday it had released nearly two dozen buffalo onto the open range on the reservation "to live in the wild" and that they planned to release all 30 they were receiving from the Kalispel Tribe. The animals once lived by the millions, primarily in the central plains for North America, until they were nearly driven to extinction through uncontrolled hunting and a U.S. government policy of eradication tied to intentional harm against, and control of, tribes, according...
Old cars are becoming a problem in Coulee Dam, just one of many that are increasing because the city’s ordinances don’t wield enough clout, according to one city council member. Councilmember Keith St. Jeor said he gets complaints from people who know the city has laws on the books to keep unlicensed cars from accumulating on the streets but they see no enforcement. “We don’t have a fee or fine schedule,” St. Jeor said, urging the city to create one to blanket many ordinances with a progressively increasing cost per violation. St. Jeor said...
When it comes to Brewster, there have been years when Lake Roosevelt could have claimed a moral victory if they'd held the Bears to two touchdowns by halftime, but not this year. The two teams looked like a good match on LR's field Friday night, better than Brewster's winning score of 19-8 might let on. "I think we played hard. We just lost our focus late in the game," Coach Geary Oliver said, and injuries didn't help, putting the team down three offensive line starters. "The replacement...
A month into the new school year, the school district in Grand Coulee Dam is teaching 23 fewer students than a year ago, the superintendent reported Monday night, but the Nespelem district has gained more than expected in its new, limited high school program. Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Rod Broadnax told the school board 10 specific students had not yet shown up but may yet. He did not say which grades those students would be in. Broadnax reminded the board that enrollment numbers affect the budget. In Nespelem Tuesday night...
How does that shirt hanging in your closet — that one (or five) you haven’t worn for a long time — fit in with high school spirit? Believe it or not, a week of school-spirit activities in October will include a clothing drive at Lake Roosevelt Jr/Sr High School that the community can participate in — either with donations or usage of what gets collected. The “LR Closet” is an intra-class competition to see which class can gather the most donations during Spirit Week, which will culminate in the annual homecoming football game Friday, Oct...
Lake Roosevelt's cross country athletes have been running all over - from Manson to Okanogan to Kettle Falls - and they're scheduled in Tonasket, Omak and Winthrop coming up. Their times at the Trojan Invite were reported last week. Below are Raider results from Okanogan with 11 other schools, and from Kettle Falls, with 17 other schools. The Raiders are scheduled to run in Tonasket Wednesday, Omak Oct. 4, and at Liberty Bell Oct. 7. Okanogan Invite LR varsity boys Place Grade Athlete Time Note...
A mechanic repairing his company’s semi-trailer died Sept. 11 at Coulee Medical Center as he was repairing its suspension, the company said in a press release. Mike Coppess, of Bellevue, Washington, was 68, married and the father of two, said Rich Braedt, director of Clinical Operations for Heritage Imaging. Emergency personnel responded to the scene at the hospital, where Coppess was pronounced dead. The trailer he was working on contained magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment, a service the company has been supplying at Coulee Medical C...
Coulee Dam is reviewing a proposed change in the rules that govern how property owners can rent their property for short periods of time. The change is sought by those who want to meet what they say is a consistent need in the local market already served by online companies like Airbnb that serve both property owners and renters for stays under 30 days. The city council spoke with Mike Manning of SCJ Alliance, a planning consultant for the city at their Sept. 13 meeting. Manning has been drafting changes to the city’s Comprehensive Plan to spel...
The Raiders dominated the visiting Vikings of Mabton Friday in a game that racked up yardage for the Lake Roosevelt offense and showed off strengths of several Raiders, including some off the bench. LR prevailed 54-14, even after affording field time to less experienced players going into the second half up 40-0. Before the first home game of the season Friday, the team and fans paid homage with a moment of silence for their former coach and mentor, Bubba Egbert, who died in a horse-related acci...
Hundreds turned out for the Fish Fest at Spring Canyon last Saturday for what Emilee Franklin hopes will become an annual event. Franklin, and education specialist at Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, said the event drew over 500 people into the park. Five of them actually caught fish, but 175 caught free fishing poles at the event that was put on to help kids learn to fish. "I think for the first year of the park ever doing anything like this in the community, it was a pretty big...
Commissioners of Grant County Port District 7 have been in negotiations with the Colville Tribes for a possible sale of Banks Lake Golf Course. Commissioners met in a special meeting Sept. 6 to consider the sale and its details in a closed session, then reconvened to vote on giving President Jim Keene authority to continue to negotiate. The purpose of the special meeting stated on the agenda was to discuss a “Purchase and Sales agreement — Real Property.” The only action to be taken: “Motion to accept, reject, or ‘accept-with-changes’ the CCT P...
The city of Coulee Dam has agreed to pay over $70,000 to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failure to file paperwork on time regarding its new wastewater treatment plant. A “Consent Agreement” and “Final Order” detail the town’s alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and its operating permit. They include not submitting a notice to both EPA and the Colville Tribes on time that the new plant was up and running or that the old plant had been taken offline. EPA said the city was years late in giving written notice that it had develop...
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...