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Articles from the August 21, 2019 edition


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  • Salmon released above dam mark first of their kind in 79 years

    Jacob Wagner|Aug 21, 2019

    The Colville Tribes released 30 Chinook salmon at the Keller boat launch, just north of the Keller Ferry, on Aug.16, the first time salmon have been above the Grand Coulee Dam in nearly 80 years. Roughly 300 people attended the event in which people formed two parallel, single-file lines stretching from a Colville Tribes Fish and Wildlife truck containing the salmon, to the shore. The large fish were scooped out of the truck one at a time, placed into a rubber bag that was then passed along the...

  • Fireworks discussed at Electric City

    Jacob Wagner|Aug 21, 2019

    Fireworks won’t be banned from Electric City, the result of a discussion last week considering such an action by the city council. Citizen and firefighter Ken Dexter told the city council Aug. 13 that he was speaking for himself and Electric City Fire Chief Mark Payne when he made a few points against a possible ordinance outright banning fireworks within city limits. “The main reason we are against this fireworks ordinance is we don’t want to drive people outside the city,” Dexter said. “My main concern is we don’t want to drive people out...

  • Creative chef about to offer her services at home

    Jacob Wagner|Aug 21, 2019

    If culinary cred, zeal and creative thinking have anything to do with it, Patty Davis is about to make a mark on her home turf. Davis has studied and worked in the culinary arts from coast to coast in the United States, and in Hawaii, especially, before coming back to the coulee area, where she's starting a business to share her gift with her fellow community members. A Lake Roosevelt graduate, Davis left the state of Washington for Hawaii at the age of 21 to pursue her culinary dreams. There...

  • Upgrades planned in Coulee Dam

    Scott Hunter|Aug 21, 2019

    The Coulee Dam Town Council voted Aug. 14 to accept one grant and apply for another from the state’s Transportation Improvement Board totalling nearly $900,000 for street and sidewalk repairs. The agency granted $120,000 for new sidewalks on Ferry Avenue, rather than a slightly lesser amount sought by the town, and required no matching funds. The application included a letter bearing the signatures of 74 citizens contacted by Councilmember Fred Netzel. Across town, the “worst street in town” could get a remake at a cost of $734,670, none of it...

  • Newsbriefs

    Aug 21, 2019

    Williams Flats Fire 88% contained The Williams Flats fire, located upstream from the Keller Ferry area, is said to be 88% contained at 44,515 acres, the Northeast Washington Interagency Incident Management Team stated Tuesday. The fire, started from lightning Aug. 2., had 420 personnel assigned to the fire, down from over 1,200 at its peak. Two champs to wed World champion bull rider Shane Proctor, originally from Grand Coulee, will marry Haley Ganzel, a world champion trick rider in October, the Omak Chronicle reported Tuesday. The couple are...

  • Boy didn't win, but gets dream playhouse anyway

    Jacob Wagner|Aug 21, 2019

    Oh, the joys of being a homeowner. Aiden Picard was surprised to learn on Aug. 7, the day before his fifth birthday, that he'd be getting his dream home. That dream home, a playhouse, was made by DWK Fowler Construction to be raffled off to raise money for the Ridge Riders Junior Rodeo. Young Picard had wanted allowance, or any other money he would have received, to go toward raffle tickets with his grandmother, Reyne Finley. "He was just determined to buy that house," his mother, Meghan...

  • Warnecke appointed to commissioner spot

    Jacob Wagner|Aug 21, 2019

    Brian Warnecke has been appointed as a new commissioner for the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District following the resignation of longtime member Bob Valen. Valen still intends to be available to consult with other members of the group. Commission President Kevin Portch praised Valen’s wealth of knowledge on topics related to the district. Warnecke spoke about his family’s long history in the area, his love of baseball and softball, being born in the local hospital, and other community involvement such as working for UPS for 19 years and...

  • Everything to gain

    Scott Hunter|Aug 21, 2019

    Watching even the “cultural” reintroduction of salmon to local waters denied to them for eight decades can inspire wonder, grief, admiration, joy, hope, questions, and anticipation. Over the last couple weeks, as the Colville Tribes and a coalition of other tribes and state and federal agencies have held ceremonial plantings of hatchery Chinook salmon above the dams that keep them from spawning in the upper Columbia River, the meaning to the tribes of the return of the fish echos like an eternal drum off a canyon wall, deeply felt and acu...

  • Liked it so much, we moved here twice

    Roger Lucas|Aug 21, 2019

    My wife and I liked the coulee so much that we moved here twice. The first time was in 1954 when I accepted a job grading lumber at the planing mill above the dam. I worked for Everett Kirkpatrick and a junior partner. Old timers will remember the mill and Kirkpatrick. I had come to the area to take a position as lumber grader at Lincoln Lumber Company, a few miles upstream. I’d had earlier training at Potlatch Lumber Company in Potlatch, Idaho. At that time, they floated logs down the Columbia River to the mill site. Sad to say that the o...

  • Hardworking farmers deserve a strong trade agreement

    Dan Newhouse Representative 4th Dist|Aug 21, 2019

    A story out of Ritzville recently gained national attention: Larry Yockey is a fourth-generation wheat farmer, and for nearly fifty years, he hasn’t missed a harvest. Sadly, Larry was recently diagnosed with stage four cancer, allowing him to only spend a short amount of time in the fields. He was worried that his streak would come to an end, but his neighbors wouldn’t allow that to happen. Larry’s friends, neighbors, and community members surprised the Yockey family by storming in on 18 semis, 17 combines, and 11 bankouts. The harvest that...

  • Shaking, Shifting and Sifting

    Jess Utz|Aug 21, 2019

    I have heard these three words a lot lately. I have heard them from people in government, in the education system, from friends, and from the pulpit. They have been used in a physical sense, in a business arena, in the changes occurring around us and in the spiritual atmosphere. So, if we break down these three words, what exactly are we talking about? Without boring you with definitions from Mr. Webster or from Lady Google, the basic general consensus is change. Obviously, shaking can be used i...

  • Drones planting trees in burned wildlands

    Don Brunell|Aug 21, 2019

    Drones planting trees in burned wildlands While drones are coming of age in firefighting, they are also establishing a foothold in restoring fire-scorched forests. Firefighting drones grabbed the spotlight last April 15 as viewers around the world watched Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris go up in flames. It has stood for over 850 years, through wars, natural disasters, and everything in between, including the fire. At first, it appeared the iconic building would be completely destroyed; however, French firefighters used thermal vision drones to di...

  • Meetings and Notices

    Aug 21, 2019

    Chamber Taking a Break Chamber will not be holding meetings through the month of August. They will resume in September. Grant County Fire Dist. 14 to Meet The Grant County Fire District 14 will hold its regular monthly meeting Monday, August 26, at 7 p.m., at the Electric City Fire Station. Food Bank Distributing Hours The food bank normal operating hours are every Friday from 2 to 4 p.m. It is located at the Church of the Nazarene, Hwy 174, Grand Coulee. Clients are encouraged to provide their own containers to carry groceries home in. Call... Full story

  • Local unions lead school-supply drive

    Jacob Wagner|Aug 21, 2019

    It's hard to go to school without school supplies. The Public School Employees union from Lake Roosevelt, joined this year by the teachers union, worked on Monday to "Stuff The Bus" with school supplies for students ranging from preschoolers to seniors in high school. PSE members stationed themselves along Midway Avenue with a school bus in Grand Coulee to collect supplies and cash donations towards supplies, while Grand Coulee Dam Education Association members stationed near Harvest Foods in...

  • Masquers to hold membership gala

    Aug 21, 2019

    The Masquers Theater will hold its annual membership gala on Saturday, August 24, 2019, at the Masquers Theater in Soap Lake. Hors d’oeuvres will be served beginning at 6:00 p.m., with the program beginning at 7. Admission is free. This year, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the theater’s founding in 1979, the Masquers are holding a “Ruby Anniversary” themed gala. It will be a formal affair, and attendees are encouraged to dress in black tie attire with a splash of red. The membership gala, held annually, is a chance for the theater... Full story

  • Bowman Electric wins tourney

    Jacob Wagner|Aug 21, 2019

    The Bowman Electric softball team Saturday emerged the champions from this year's Grand Coulee Dam Area Adult Summer Softball League's 2019 Kenny Hearne Summer Classic Softball Tournament, following the season that spanned the summer. Bowman Electric went undefeated in the three-day tournament held at North Dam Park Aug. 15-17. They faced off against the ECT team, who, after losing in the first round, won the loser's bracket to make it to the championship. Bowman Electric won the championship...

  • Legal Notices for August 21, 2019

    Aug 21, 2019

    IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF WASHINGTON FOR OKANOGAN COUNTY In re the Estate of: LARRY EUGENE GREEN, Deceased. Probate No. 19-4-0011224 PROBATE NOTICE TO CREDITORS (RCW 11.40.030) The Personal Representative named below has been appointed as Personal Representative of this Estate. Any person having a claim against the Decedent must, before the time the claim would be barred by any otherwise applicable statute of limitations, present the claim in the manner provided in RCW 11.40.070 by serving on or mailing to the Personal Representative or the Pers... Full story

  • Coulee Cops

    Aug 21, 2019

    Grand Coulee Police 8/14 - Yakima County Sheriff’s Office requested assistance from Grand Coulee Police regarding a report of a missing person from the Yakima area possibly having been spotted along Old Coulee Highway and Rosenberg Road outside of city limits about 4.5 miles. It was determined to have been a misidentification. - Coulee Medical Center reported a phone stolen from its coffee stand inside the hospital. Security footage showed a man, identifiable to an officer, approach the closed coffee stand at about 10 p.m., take something, and...

  • State Parks Boating Program urges stand up paddleboarders to wear life jacket, leash

    Aug 21, 2019

    OLYMPIA – The Washington State Parks Boating Program is urging stand up paddleboarders to be safe on the water by always wearing a life jacket and leash. According to Washington state recreational boating accident data, six stand up paddleboard fatalities have occurred in the last 29 years — four of those have been in the last 30 days. “The fact that we’ve had four back-to-back fatalities is alarming,” said Rob Sendak, State Parks Boating Law Administrator. “Stand up paddleboarding is typically a safe and enjoyable activity, but it comes with...