News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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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...
The Lake Roosevelt Lady Raiders opened at home in dominant fashion Wednesday, piling up 23 hits in a 17-2 win over Liberty Bell in Grand Coulee. Lake Roosevelt wasted no time taking control, scoring five runs in each of the first two innings to put the game out of reach early. Cambry Brown set the tone at the top of the lineup, going 4-for-4 with three runs scored. Ayamea Batten-Bob added a strong performance with four hits, a run driven in and three runs scored. Shae Crollard delivered one of the biggest offensive efforts of the day, finishing...
Lake Roosevelt athletes did well in Manson April 1, where they placed highly in several track and field events, including taking four championships and placing highly in many others. “The girls team showed up on the scoreboard in a big way, scoring 60 points and nearly catching third place as a team,” Coach Lori Adkins said. “They are starting to have depth in the sprints scoring plus individual scoring in distance and jumps to achieve team standings.” “Most of their results were Season Bests,” she added. Elliyana Trevino brought home the go...
A young Lake Roosevelt Raiders squad endured a challenging week on the diamond, taking on a series of more experienced opponents while continuing to gain valuable varsity experience.Lake Roosevelt opened the stretch with a 12-1 loss to Liberty Bell in Coulee Dam, where the Raiders showed some early promise before the visiting Mountain Lions pulled away in the middle innings. Bradyn Yazzie, Jayden Zaugg, Noah Marconi and Blayne Picard each recorded hits for the Raiders, while Marconi scored the team’s lone run. LR also showed patience at the p...
Coulee Dam is preparing for what organizers say will be its biggest Festival of America yet, stretching to two and a half days and expected to draw between 20,000 and 25,000 visitors. Speaking to the Coulee Dam Town Council Wednesday, Chamber representative Krystal Fillis said last year’s oneday festival drew about 15,000 people. But with the Fourth of July falling on Saturday this year, the decision was made to expand after securing bigger-name entertainment and additional support. The festival will run Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, with T...
A group of volunteers organized by Reel Recreation responded Saturday to their call to help clean up the area around Osborn Bay, where garbage has been piling up over time. The effort resulted in several trailers full of junk picked up from the area. "Thank you to everyone who showed up and helped us clean up Osborn Bay - this is what community looks like," Reel Rec posted in a video on Facebook. President Nic Alexander noted the help and equipment use of Clay Hearne, Boutain Equipment Rentals,...
A local couple says they are nearly ready to sign a lease and begin work to reopen the former theater space in Coulee Dam as a combined movie house and creative media center. Appearing before the Coulee Dam Town Council, Ben and Naomi Dupris reported that they have “got our loans kind of taken care of” and have some key people on board to help in the venture. The Dupris have been interested in the theater for a long time, and had spoken at council a few months ago about their interest, saying they some things to work out before moving ahe...
From the people who are adopting the Gerkhe Windmills for restoration to those volunteers who picked up a ton of trash around Osborn Bay this weekend, or those dedicated folks working to bring about assisted living homes, it seems there is no shortage of people eager to make this a better place. That goes for those preparing to put on events, too, whether it’s fixing up the Colorama Rodeo grounds, or working to boost the next Festival of America with extra oomph for America’s 250th birthday. It just feels like we’re all leaning toward somet... Full story
The Lake Roosevelt Raiders dropped both games of a doubleheader to Okanogan on Saturday, falling 13-0 in the opener and 14-4 in the second game. In Game 1, Okanogan took control early and never let up, scoring four runs in the first inning and pulling away for a 13-0 victory. The Bulldogs added a run in the second and broke the game open with a seven-run fourth inning. Lake Roosevelt was limited to just two hits in the contest, with Hoss Lauseng and catcher J. Zaugg each recording a hit....
The Lake Roosevelt Raiders wasted no time getting the bats going Monday, erupting for 14 runs in the first inning and cruising to a 23-4 win over Liberty Bell in a fastpitch matchup. Lake Roosevelt sent 18 batters to the plate in the opening frame, capitalizing on patience at the plate and timely hitting to build a lead it never relinquished. The Raiders added nine more runs over the next two innings to end the game early. “We capitalized on our base running and stole base after base,” Coach Khani Priest said. Cambry Brown sparked the off...