News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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As most of the country’s election map turned red last night, so did most of Washington states but with different results overall. With only 64 % of votes counted in the state as of 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris, with 51% of the vote nationally had received 58% in Washington, giving the state’s 12 electoral college votes to her. Results are unofficial until they are certified Nov. 26 by county officials, then by the secretary of state on Dec. 5. That blue leaning in the most heavily populated areas of the state carried thr...
When you've had one win all season and your last league game will be against one of the top 2B football teams in the state with 22 straight wins, you might not think it could be fun. But don't tell that to Lake Roosevelt's Raiders, at least not those who made the trip to the home of Bulldogs Friday night to endure a 78-8 drubbing. "We took 16 players to Okanogan, five of them freshmen," said Raider Head Coach Geary Oliver. "At the end of the game we had 13 able to play. Our guys played hard...
A popular program that provided after-school and summer educational activities for students may return to Lake Roosevelt Schools next year. School District Superintendent Rod Broadnax told the district board of directors Monday that several people have volunteered to help get the funding back that is lacking this year from the 21st Century grant program that once funded the District’s SHARP Kids program. Broadnax said Gene Sharrett, former NCW Education Services District superintendent, and one other person met with him Friday. “I’m very excit...
With their season about to wrap up, the Raiders grabbed a football win on the Lake Roosevelt field for their homecoming game Friday. They beat the Tonasket Tigers 40-35, boosting the Raider win-loss to 1-6. "I'm always proud of our players, but this week our team built on the value of personal sacrifice," said Head Coach Geary Oliver. "Our defensive line was asked to play a technique which would result in no personal accolades. However, it would give us our best chance to win the game. It was a...
A letter from the city’s attorney to the Bureau of Reclamation official, which the city council ratified last week, confirms that the city of Grand Coulee and the federal agency “have mutually agreed to ‘pause’ or significantly reduce service under the Contract due to the lack of City personnel to fulfill the Contract service requirements.” Along with the city’s current police staffing shortage, the Oct. 2 letter from City Attorney Julie K. Norton to Sandra Snediker at Reclamation’s Pacific Northwest Regional Office in Boise, Idaho, unders...
Fixing the heating and cooling system in Coulee Dam’s “Community Building,” where the Rio Grande Restaurant, the bowling alley and soon a reopened theater operate, just got a higher priority. The city council OK’d a plan to tap funds, if needed to patch the roof, as Larry Hernandez digs into his project to get a new HVAC system in the building. He’s been consulting with companies to get the place heated over the winter. Hernandez plans to re-open the Village Cinema, which close 11 years ago when the industry changed to require all digital p...
The switchyards that direct the power from Grand Coulee Dam have been owned by that Bureau of Reclamation project since it was all built, but that just changed. On Tuesday, the Reclamation formally handed over ownership of those assets to the Bonneville Power Administration at a signing ceremony in front of the dam, much of which was used to recognize those in each agency who worked to make it happen, many of them for years. Grand Coulee Power Manager Coleman Smith said he has been working on th...
Leaders at one local school district broached the idea of changing the yearly school calendar to an alternative that cuts down on the long summer break. The state’s Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction calls the concept a “balanced calendar” approach, which generally means taking the same 180 days a year of school and not concentrating them all into nine months, then taking all summer off. Nespelem School Superintendent Effie Dean said she’s noticed frustration on the part of teachers whose students are taking longer than expecte...
A cooking mishap turned a house to ashes Friday, leaving a family without a home, but well, not including one or more less fortunate pets. Firefighters got the call at 5: 24 that evening, according to a post on the Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department's Facebook. When they arrived, "the fire had progressed enough to determine it would be a defensive attack," the post states, so firefighting would emphasize keeping it from spreading to other structures and the dry grass in the adjacent lot. A...
A young man came down from the top of the Columbia River Bridge in Coulee Dam Thursday evening, coached down by a Nespelem Valley Electric worker with a bucket truck. Police had called for the truck earlier in the day from the Rural Electric Authority utility, which also contracts to do line repairs for the city utility in Coulee Dam and was nearby. Police were looking for a way to communicate with the man and planned to have a cell phone delivered with the bucket truck. But the man in the...
As a newspaper, we actually try not to cover certain stories if they’re arising from an individual’s personal mental health problems. It’s not unusual to get a report that authorities have responded to an individual in distress, or worse. But if someone threatens to do themselves harm, most often it seems far less likely that a news story would help either the individual or society, which might only suffer greater loss if a news article placed more pressure on an already bad situation for that individual. Most of the time. But it was diffi...
Update A young man came down from the top of the Columbia River Bridge in Coulee Dam Thursday evening, coached down by a Nespelem Valley Electric worker with a bucket truck. Police had called for the truck earlier in the day from the Rural Electric Authority utility, which also contracts to do line repairs for the city utility in Coulee Dam and was nearby. Police were looking for a way to communicate with the man and planned to have a cell phone delivered with the bucket truck. But the man in... Full story
This Saturday’s Swing for the Good Charity Scramble at Banks Lake Golf Course will help the cause of developing a new park in Electric City. The event, sponsored by Jess Ford and the Columbia Basin Foundation offers teams of four a fun tournament Saturday morning with an 11 a.m. shotgun start. The $400 registration fee for the foursome includes green fees, cart fees, lunch, goodie bags, and prizes — plus that chance to win a new vehicle. Run the Dam, the local non-profit that puts on the annual Run the Dam race coming up on Sept. 21, will get...
A new Alternative Learning director at Nespelem School told its board of directors Aug. 26 he was excited for the program. “I just wanted to thank you all for the opportunity of bringing an alternative program to Nespelem,” said Mark Herndon, who made the move to Nespelem this fall after heading the ALE program at Grand Coulee Dam for several years. Nespelem’s program is integral to the startup last year of its emerging high school offerings, designed to develop a Career and Technical Education component, working with the Colville Tribe...
Elmer City officials and citizens met to look over a draft of the town's park and recreation plan Aug. 22. Planning consultant Kurt Danison of Highlands Associates presented the draft as the small group discussed ideas and additions or changes to it. The town hired Danison to help put together a master plan that will serve in the ever-important process of acquiring grant money for projects to improve the quality of life in the town with better recreational amenities. That process, itself, is...
Larry Hernandez sat alone Tuesday in the Coulee Dam theater that hasn't been operating as one since 2013, testing speakers with the big screen blank, streaming the audio from his phone via a Bluetooth connection, the 1985 movie "Back to the Future" blaring out. That alone could be taken a hopeful sign for the theater that closed 11 years ago as technological updates mandated by the movie distribution industry collided with small-town realities in many places that still operated with projectors...
A 17-year-old lost her life in a tragic crash Aug. 13 as she and her four passengers headed north on SR-155 five miles south of Nespelem. The Washington State Patrol reported that at 9:24 p.m., the 1999 GMC pickup Jaelynn F. Vallee was driving failed to negotiate a curve, drove onto the shoulder, overcorrected, came back across the northbound lane, rotated and rolled onto the southbound shoulder. The four other children in the vehicle injured and taken to hospitals: a 3-year-old girl to Coulee Medical Center, along with a 12-year-old boy; a...
Central Washington’s longtime man in Congress, Rep. Dan Newhouse managed a majority in Grant County in last night’s primary, but that was the only county he won of the eight that the 4th Congressional District reaches into. Newhouse was bested by challenger Jerrod Sessler, one of three fellow Republicans seeking to oust him from his seat following Newhouse’s vote in 2021 to impeach then-president Donald Trump. Newhouse was leading by a nose in Grant, according to unofficial results at the Secretary of State’s Office, but overall, the distric...
Firefighters plumed the area in smoke for a few days over the last week, but their prescribes burns paid off. The Swawilla I Fire encompasses 53, 462 acres and is 94% contained as of about noon Tuesday. The Bridge Creek Fire is 100% contained at 3,998 acres. Its 50 firefighters were to be transferred to the Swawilla I Fire. There are still 556 personnel on that fire, and a change of incident management teams has transitioned to the next phase of fire management. The Northern Rockies Incident Management Team 6 handed the fires off to the Souther... Full story
Wildfires on the Colville Reservation forced people to leave their homes, roads closed, and a ferry to re-open just to help them leave, evacuation centers to open and the burning of more than 51,000 acres on two fires. With a wind shift on the Swawilla I Fire, Colville Tribal Emergency Management early July 24 called for a Level 3 (Go Now) evacuation of Buffalo Lake and McGinnis Lake areas, Belvedere and Seaton's Grove as the fire grew rapidly toward the northwest. Air support increased on...
Update: A Level 3 EVACUATIONS "GO NOW" just issued for residents of Peter Dan Road, McGinnis Lake, Reynolds Resort, Belvedere, and Seatons Grove. Due to increased fire danger from the Swawilla Fire, the current Level 2 evacuations status for your area is now elevated to LEVEL 3 EVACUATION. A shelter is open at Lake Roosevelt High School Gym, 500 Civic Way, Coulee Dam, WA. For information call Tribal Emergency Operation Center at 509-634-7350 or 509-634-7359. There will be a public meeting on... Full story
Bob Valen sent us the time-lapse video above, condensing an hour of smoke and cloud formation above the fire into 30 seconds, shot from across Lake Roosevelt above the Sring Canyon area. Keller evacuated, fire doubles overnight With a wind shift, Colville Tribal Emergency Management early Wednesday called for a Level 3 (Go Now) evacuation of Buffalo Lake and McGinnis Lake areas, Belvedere and Seaton's Grove as the fire grew rapidly toward the northwest. /Users/scotthunter/GCDStar Dropbox/Scott... Full story
Nespelem School District’s high school will add a 10th grade this year, plus an alternative learning experience program that could push enrollment high enough to add a high school basketball program. The school board Monday night approved hiring Marion Ives and Rowena Antone as coaches for the high school boys’ and girls’ teams. They coached them at the middle school level in the 2023-24 season, superintendent Effie Dean said. The district, which started its new high school program in 2023 with just ninth grade, plans to add 11th grade, then...
Nearly a hundred kids attended a Mega Sports Camp organized by Faith Community Church last week, ending in a cool way to conclude a very hot week. The four-day event had community volunteers teaching elementary-age children the basics in football, soccer, basketball, and cheerleading, said Shannon Hitchcock from the church. Hitchcock said the event was also designed to teach several core concepts important in sports and in life in general, including preparation, commitment, endurance, an all-in...
A fire that originated at a local resort spread rapidly over a hill separating the resort from the rest of Electric City, but ultimately required all local fire crews, federal wildland firefighters, and air support to suppress Tuesday. Fire calls went out between 2 and 3 p.m., drawing in local firefighters from all stations, and prompting fire chiefs to call for air support. The blaze, which got away from a Sunbanks Lake Resort fire, the origin of which was not clear at the time of this writing,...