News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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One of the least threatening places you can go is a beach in late afternoon where a couple of old anglers are quietly staring at the water, waiting for a line to move. If anybody understands the unwritten rule, the need for common courtesy, the paramount importance of everyone doing his or her part to maintain the norm, it’s people who like to sit quietly and fish. That could have something to do with why no instances of unsafe or uncivil behavior come to mind, over the last several decades, at the place that has come to be known as Geezer B...
Paul James Schepler, 68, born Thursday, July 6, 1950, in Sterling, Colorado to the home of Walter and Edna Florence Dick-Schepler, has passed away in Coulee Dam, Washington. Growing up on his family's dairy farm in Oral, South Dakota, Paul graduated from Hot Spring High School, then attended the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. During his professional career, Paul worked in concrete and masonry with Schepler Construction in South Dakota, the Bureau of Land Management in Anchorage, AK... Full story
Grand Coulee could turn over a stretch of the infamous B Street to the Bureau of Reclamation. The city council discussed the topic at their May 21 meeting. Public Works Director Dennis Francis brought the topic up, noting that the bureau didn’t want contractors doing repair work on B Street while they were working on the fire station the Bureau is building along SR-155 where it connects to Industrial Road, a small stretch that connects to B Street. Francis said that Ian Turner, the project manager for the bureau’s fire station, came up wit...
Considering the fact that the lowering of the speed limit from 40 to 30 mph on a short strip of three-lane from Grand Coulee to the Grand Coulee Project offices had nothing to do with construction safety concerns, the Bureau of Reclamation’s suggestion that it should own a portion of B Street should be considered, with conditions. The real reason the bureau lowered that speed limit on the portion of State Route 155 that it owns was to make legal what it has been doing since it took delivery of a couple dozen all-electric utility vehicles t...
The Grand Coulee Dam was built during the Great Depression and is now entering the future via interactive, 360-degree virtual reality tours becoming available this weekend. Seattle-based virtual reality company Pixvana partnered with Big Power Project, a content production studio in Seattle, to create the five-minute experience that becomes available at the Grand Coulee Dam Visitors Center this weekend, May 25. Up to four users at one time will wear Oculus Go headsets that will allow them to exp... Full story
What is your obligation or commitment to your community? Another Colorama weekend is done and this was a particularly challenging one for those of us at the Chamber of Commerce. In 1994, 38 years into the 63-year history of Colorama, the carnival moved from Coulee Dam onto “carnival flats” in North Dam Park, and the vendor and food fair moved into the picnic area in the same park. Permits to use this land are secured each year from the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), and, in recent years, from the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District (CA... Full story
Locals overwhelmingly oppose a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation proposal to ban cars from driving on “Geezer Beach,” a beach named after the elderly who frequent the spot because of its easy accessibility. The issue is a hot topic among locals passionate about the popular fishing spot behind the Third Powerhouse of the Grand Coulee Dam. The bureau released its “Draft Environmental Assessment” in April, outlining options of leaving the situation alone, blocking vehicles from the shore, or simply banning recreation in the area altogether. “The pu...
Commissioners from the Coulee Area Park & Recreation District met at North Dam Park April 30 to walk around the park and discuss aspects of it, future plans, and talking points for an upcoming meeting with the Bureau of Reclamation, which owns the land, and for which CAPRD manages the park. Chairman Kevin Portch and Commissioners Bob Valen, Josh Vega, and Ben Hughes attended the meeting. Absent was Commissioner Carla Marconi. The group toured the concession stand at the upper ballfield and...
Mary Ellen Combs was born in Avon, South Dakota, December 22, 1934, to Emanuel and Lydia Hinzman. She passed away April 15, 2019, on her late husband Everett's birthday. Mary Ellen graduated from Avon High School in Avon, South Dakota. She then attended Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Her mom, Lydia, sold the family farm and moved to Sioux Falls while Mary Ellen went to college. After graduation, Mary went to work for the VA Hospital in Sioux Falls. There she met Everett Combs,... Full story
Construction has resumed on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation fire station off SR-155, with completion anticipated for March of 2020. The $13.6 million contract was originally awarded to Innovative Construction & Design Ltd. in 2016, with construction beginning in April of 2017. The termination of that contract was confirmed by the bureau in March of this year, and construction has resumed in April by Northcon Construction. "Basically what is going on is ICD originally had the contract, and...
USBR tour guide Theresa Wilder watches as kids at the Earth Day celebration in Nespelem Friday interact with an exhibit on renewable energy, brought by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The event "was a huge success," said Joaquin Bustamante who manages Colville Tribal Recycling. "We gave away over $15,000 in giveaway items. Food items. That's the most we've ever given out. That was a huge thing. Between what we put on and the message that everyone was giving out there, it was positive towards...
What would happen to North Dam Park if a local group didn’t take care of it? Commissioners for the Coulee Area Park & Recreation District discussed renewal of their contract with the United States Bureau of Reclamation at their April 1 meeting. The bureau owns the land at North Dam Park, but contracts with the district to take care of it. That 10-year contract is coming up for renewal. “Let’s talk about the downside,” said Commissioner Kevin Portch. “If we don’t take this up, then it falls back to where it was 10 years ago before CAPRD, and...
Twenty Years Ago The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a Y2K forum Tuesday night to address local concerns about the millennium bug that could infect computers January 1, 2000. Wright Elementary students Brieanna Clark, Courtney Kennedy, Andrea Schumaker, Leah Philmon, Amanda VanGeystel and Emily Rehn raised over $110 for their school in their crusade for new playground equipment. Thirty Years Ago Grand Coulee’s pilot well near Crescent Lake hit an aquifer 61 feet below the ground Feb. 7, giving rise to hopes that engineers p...
Grand Coulee Police 3/24 - A woman showed an officer a video of a neighbor shooting a bb gun at something, reportedly birds. The officer told the neighbor not to shoot within the city limits, and the neighbor said he would comply. - A woman reported that her daughter had left for a trip to Canada with a friend two days prior and hadn’t returned. Soon after reporting her daughter missing, the daughter’s grandmother called and said she was on her way home. - The Grant County Sheriff’s Office requested assistance with a domestic issue on Cardi...
A valve deep in the Third Powerhouse at Grand Coulee Dam was opened last week, partially flooding an elevator shaft and an elevator control room, authorities said. Police Chief John Tufts, of the Grand Coulee Police Department, was called to the Third Powerhouse at about 4 p.m. March 19, his written report states. Tufts was told that sometime between noon and 3 p.m. someone had opened a water valve on the “919 level,” that is, 919 feet above sea level, and that the valve was left open for about three hours, partially flooding the inside of an...
A $13.6 million fire station being built for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation along SR-155 has faced numerous delays, and a bigger delay now with the termination of the contract between the bureau and the construction company. The contract for the project was awarded to Post Falls, Idaho-based Innovative Construction & Design Ltd. in 2016, with construction beginning in April of 2017. The building was originally scheduled to be complete in April 2018, according to a bureau press release issued in...
Twenty Years Ago The Town of Coulee Dam may be ready to sell its town shop to a private developer if a suitable site can be found to build a new shop. Coulee Community Hospital is finding it tough to get the state’s attention focused on its $300,000 hillside slippage problem at a time when western Washington rains have loosened the footing of multi-million dollar neighborhoods. Scott and Paul Townsend of TNT Welding built frames for signs to be installed on the Columbia River Bridge. The signs depict the history of the Grand Coulee Dam c...
Twenty Years Ago Hospital Park is a park no more – Grand Coulee’s city council approved the sale of the park Tuesday night to Grant County. Grand Coulee Dam is the first dam chosen in a worldwide study of the environmental effects caused by established older dams. Four months after work began on the expansion of the Safeway store in Grand Coulee, it is complete. As a very conspicuous balloon on top of the store attested to, they held a grand opening last Wednesday to celebrate. Selected as the Employee of the Year at the Colville Con...
Twenty Years Ago Work has begun on the expansion of Banks Lake Golf and Country Club. The Grand Coulee Dam is one of few dams which hasn’t been mentioned for removal, but according to economic consultant Bob Lonn, the disappearance of other dams in an effort to save fish populations will be damaging to the local economy. The continued slow crumbling of the hillside below Coulee Community Hospital and parallel to Fortuyn Road has forced the hand of the Grand Coulee Council to declare a city emergency. Going to state wrestling for the Raiders i...
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Grand Coulee Dam School District disagree on the impact a bureau project will have on local schools. The USBR is planning a 10-year project to update three generators, named G19-21, in the Third Powerhouse starting in 2023, similar to the ongoing project of updating G22-24 that started in 2010, and is estimated to cost $100 million. The USBR’s Environmental Assessment for the proposed G19-21 update states that the project would have at most 103 workers and “could result in an increased enrollment of five stu...
The Electric City council approved the draft last week of a proposal for a 500-foot-wide “no shooting” buffer zone between the main part of the city and Osborne Bay, where shooting firearms would be prohibited. The proposal needs to be approved by the city, the state Departments of Fish & Wildlife and Natural Resources, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and Grand Coulee Police. The city would pay for signs to line the 7,281-foot-long buffer-zone border, and F&W would pay for the posts and install the signs. The signs would explain the buffer zon...
The Grand Coulee Dam School District is contesting the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s claim in a draft Environmental Assessment concerning the minimal impact it says a project will have on the district. The USBR is planning on a 10-year project to update three generators, G19-21, in the Third Powerhouse starting in 2023, similar to the ongoing project of updating G22-24 that started in 2010, and is estimated to cost $100 million. The USBR’s Environmental Assessment for the proposed G19-21 update, states that the project would have at most 103...
Twenty Years Ago Nick Caramandi hears about all kinds of service projects when people come to his store looking for supplies. This spring he takes on a challenge of his own – building a skating rink at North Dam Park. Recipients of the Business of the Year award for 1998 were Tim and Michéle Arrants of Tims Four-Corner Texaco. Achiever of the Year was Susan Miller. Hired as new police chief for the Colville Tribal Police is John Shelhart. Selected as student of the week at LRHS was Scott Leadingham. Athlete of the week was Beau Brown. Thi...
Allan Graham, age 88, passed away on Tuesday, December 22, 2018, in Spokane, Washington. He was born in Blenheim, Ontario, Canada, on March 30, 1930. He was raised in Windsor, Ontario, and, in 1952, joined the United States Air Force. He was stationed at Stead Air Force Base in Reno, Nevada where he met his wife, Alyce. They were married in Reno in 1957. Allan and Alyce had three children, all born in Reno. After Allan's honorable discharge from the USAF in 1956, he worked for the Bureau of Mine... Full story
A 500-foot-wide, 7,281-foot-long, no-shooting "buffer zone" is being proposed between residences of Electric City and the Osborne Bay area. The buffer zone would be an area people cannot shoot guns out of or into. City Clerk Russ Powers said the city has had several complaints regarding hunters behind houses on Silver Drive, and that just last week he saw people with high-powered rifles in the Osborn Bay area near homes. "That is just too close for my comfort," Powers said. Currently Electric...