News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Several wildland fires were burning in the region last night as "Red Flag" conditions predicted by the National Weather Service proved accurate. Around 8 p.m. fires along the Columbia River Road and Omak Lake Road were spreading in the windy and low-relative-humidity conditions that prompted an "immediate evacuation" order for a large area and closed roads. The Kartar Fire was estimated to have burned 1,700 acres before 9:30 p.m. The Omak Lake Road Fire a few miles north was still listed at 50 a... Full story
Nearly $3 million in federal grants since 2008 have helped Grant County Port District 7 improve the Grand Coulee Dam Airport, adding equipment and technology that saves lives and property. Airport officials say the upgrades have made the airport increasingly important for emergency medicine, firefighting and regional transportation. A review of Federal Aviation Administration records identified at least $2.89 million in confirmed federal airport grants awarded to the district since 2008. State m...
The Grant County Board of Commissioners announced Monday that the county will be accepting applications for the Grant County Treasurer position, following the announcement of Treasurer Darryl Pheasant’s retirement. He is set to vacate the office June 30. Pheasant had stated earlier this year that he did not intend to seek re-election, but his current term would normally end at the end of this year. By state law, the county treasurer is responsible for the custody of the county’s money and is the administrator of the county’s financial trans...
If Lake Roosevelt High School's graduating class of 2026 hadn't actually thought about it, the speakers representing them at Saturday's graduation ceremony certainly did: The end of high school is a time of profound change, one the 38 seniors advanced to together. The class heard traditional speeches by the valedictorian and salutatorian, plus two elected class speakers, and a "guest speaker," who, for the second year in a row, was chosen from their own faculty. Each observed or even probed...
While fielding complaints about cuts to programs, teachers and others for the third school board meeting in a row, district leaders announced Monday night that some cuts had already been reversed because of over $800,000 in unexpected funds that came from more than one source. Superintendent Rod Broadnax said the money came, in part, from the state after its Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction determined a miscalculation in March of the amount due the Grand Coulee Dam School District for “apportionment,” that is, for the num...
A new city park next to the Electric City fire station is nearing completion, with officials eyeing a July 16 ribbon-cutting to coincide with the city's annual barbecue. Fire Chief Mark Payne told the City Council May 14 that the sidewalks in and around the fenced play area are finished and the new restroom building has passed its insulation inspection. The restroom, has been sheetrocked since that meeting, will include a baby-changing station and a storage area for some supplies. A contractor...
Five Lake Roosevelt High School track and field athletes competed with all other 2B schools in the state at the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association State Championship Meet in Yakima last weekend. The lone girl from LR to make it to state, senior Madelynn Carman took fifth place in the 4-kilogram shot put event with a toss of 34 feet, 2.25 inches. It was Carman's first season in the event. Carman also competed in the long jump with a distance of 14 feet, 11.5 inches. Senior Ezekiel...
by Scott Hunter Grand Coulee Dam School District teachers and staff pressed board members and administrators for clearer budget information and a different approach to staffing cuts during at Monday’s school board meeting, saying the current reductions are eroding morale and will ultimately harm students. Several elementary teachers described rising class sizes, increased responsibilities, and what they see as a lack of shared sacrifice between district office staff and those working directly with students. “I would like to see the real dat...
They were about to wrap it up in the seventh inning with a sweet payback win that would have sent the Coyotes home and the Lady Raiders on for a chance at third or fourth place in the state. It was not to be. Lake Roosevelt's softball team, three outs from extending its season, saw an 11-7 lead slip away in the final inning as Kittitas rallied at the end of the seventh, pulling past LR 13-11 on the final play. Despite the loss, the game capped a strong state appearance for the Lady Raiders, who...
Connor Shillam can play just about every musical instrument in the band room at Lake Roosevelt Schools, where he’s just finishing up his second and last year in the school district. Shillam has lost his job to the current cutbacks at the district. He offered to give his perspective on the situation in an interview. We spoke over Zoom. Obviously, he thinks music education has value to students, so what does it offer, I asked him during our conversation. His answer didn’t have anything to do with quarter notes, but everything to do with eve...
It’s hard enough to understand the difficulties the local school district finds itself in without making an argument that resorts to deliberately cherry-picking facts to color the origins of the problems in much darker hues than a clear picture would provide. For example, citing a chart that peaked with an anomalous high enrollment of 311 students higher than the current count gives a distinctly worse impression than a more accurate average of the seven prior years, which would tell you the district is down about 130-150 students from that aver...
Seven Lake Roosevelt athletes qualified to compete at this Thursday’s District 5 Championship Track and Field Meet to be held at Central Washington University in Ellensburg — six boys and one girl. They qualified last week at the Central Washington 2B League Championships at Liberty Bell May 14, where Terrell Bush ran his best 100 of the season “due to an amazing start,” said Raider Head Coach Lori Adkins. From the girls’ team, Madelynn Carman came on strong in the field events, qualifying in the shot and discus, and in the long jump. “I...
John Duresky stopped in Grand Coulee Friday on a trip to talk with people in the far north end of the Washington's Fourth Congressional District, which he'd like to represent in the other Washington. The longtime Democrat lists 37 years of government service to his credit, 10 of those working at Hanford after a career in the US Airforce where he attained the rank of major. Retired from all of that, when Duresky learned Dan Newhouse, the Republican currently representing the Fourth District, had...
Aaron Derr told the school board Monday that cuts to personnel were going drastically in the wrong direction to satisfy budget tightening needs in response to lowering enrollment. Derr, a teacher at Lake Roosevelt, said he'd used data from the state website for the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the lead K-12 education agency in the state, or OSPI. The Grand Coulee Dam School District has lost 120 students in the last three years, he said, and OSPI recommends about the...
PATEROS, Wash. - The Lake Roosevelt Raiders boys golf team successfully defended its league title Wednesday at the CWB League Golf Championships held at Alta Lake Golf Course. Lake Roosevelt's Sylas Johnson also claimed the individual boys' championship. Lake Roosevelt clinched the team title with a score of 363, finishing ahead of Okanogan (372) and Manson (393). Johnson won the individual crown by shooting an 84. He was followed by teammate Collin Christman, who finished second with an 86. Four boys from Lake Roosevelt will advance to the...
An early peek at a survey done by the Grand Coulee Dam School District to gauge feelings about the transition to a four-day school week for students indicates most parents are more pleased than not with the change, Superintendent Rod Broadnax says. Broadnax presented the school board the results so far at the last school board meeting April 27 and discussed it at an informal meeting with constituents at Voltage Coffee House the next morning during his bimonthly "Coffee with the Superintendent"...
by Scott Hunter As the Colorama Rodeo comes barreling at them, volunteers on Monday were fixing up the rodeo grounds to get ready, from minor to major improvements or repairs. John and Cheryl Pryor were concentrating on the stock chute gates, apparently fixing some small detail. Mike Clanahan and Randy Willette were placing huge concrete blocks inside a newly excavated flat space to hold more bleachers east of the Rattlesnake Saloon. Wayne Fowler, who got elected president after George Kohout di...
The Lake Roosevelt Raiders' baseball week took an unusual turn Tuesday night in Okanogan, where a 10-0 loss to Brewster in the Central Washington 2B league tournament became a forfeit win after the Bears were found to have used an ineligible pitcher, according to LR Coach Billy Nicholson. The ruling kept the Raiders alive long enough to face Okanogan later that night. The Bulldogs won that game 22-2, but Lake Roosevelt will continue its postseason Friday at Tonasket, where the Raiders will play...
Lake Roosevelt's softball team kept its late-season roll going this week, sweeping Almira-Coulee-Hartline and Inchelium to stretch its winning streak to nine games, counting two forfeits from Bridgeport. The Lady Raiders opened the week April 30 with two wins over Almira-Coulee-Hartline, taking the first game 7-2 and the second 7-3. In the opener, LR collected 11 hits. Juel Swager went 3 for 3 with two runs and a double, while Shae Crollard and Paisley Fury-Smith each had two hits. Crollard...
The Nespelem Junior Rodeo drew kid contestants for the two day event last weekend eager to compete in events ranging from a "chicken scramble" to a bull ride and more types of events than you knew existed. Here are a few photos.... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District's reduced education program is colliding headon with the people who run classrooms every day. Over the last two board meetings, staff and community members have spoken up to plead for preschool, career and technical education (CTE), athletics, and key administrative positions they say are holding the system together - even as district leaders stress that the math simply no longer works. "We're shrinking, we're going away" At the March 24 meeting, CTE...
The forces shaping decisions about the Grand Coulee Dam School District are stubbornly calling for what one might reasonably conclude are exactly the wrong decisions. Last fall, when the process of laying out a “modified education plan” — the term in education for layoffs — members of the public were calling for the district to stem its financial losses by increasing the amount of money coming in, rather than cutting expenses. In public education, that means bringing in more students — through increased offerings, not fewer. The district... Full story
At Lake Roosevelt Elementary, students start many mornings not by quietly filing into classrooms, but by moving, reading and thinking all at once in a program staff say is helping focus and literacy: LitFit. Principal Lisa Lakin said the key to LitFit's success is that the school has committed real time to it, treating it as an essential part of the day rather than an add‑on. "We put dedicated time into our schedule for it, and it's like, non‑negotiable - we do it every day that we can," Lak...
A lease was approved by the city council in Coulee Dam last week so that a couple who moved to town again last August can re-imagine what was the Village Cinema into something new. Ben and Naomi Dupris were set to sign the lease Wednesday. The couple envision an art-centered community space for all ages, one that will honor Ben's memory of, and hope for, the community he grew up in, meet the needs of its people today, and embody a business model emerging for such spaces. Ben is a 1992 graduate...
The Funday Friday that starts the Triple Fish Challenge is set for noon to 6 p.m. at Coulee Playland Resort and will feature more than a dozen different stations of free kids’ activities. “Outdoor fun for all ages,” as the poster promotes for Reel Recreation’s annual fishing derby on Banks Lake. This year, an animal processing demonstration will take place at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. The Triple Fish Challenge is a “family-friendly fishing tournament like no other!” Reel Rec’s website says. “Anglers will compete to catch three different speci...
