News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Music fans float just offshore behind the stage to listen to the music at Sunbanks Lake Resort's music festival Saturday night. A dozen or so floaters, including a contingent of kayakers stopped in for a listen. - Scott Hunter photo...
Local park district commissioners have secured funding from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to help keep North Dam Park alive for several years to come, provided matching funding can be secured for a park that is the center of community-wide events. “It looks like we have done it, mission accomplished,” Commissioner Kevin Portch of the Coulee Area Parks and Recreation District said Aug. 31 in an email to the other commissioners and interested parties, including The Star. CAPRD, which manages North Dam Park, located on USBR land, was in some fin...
People at last week's "First Friday" market shop from various vendors at North Dam Park as a couple talk with a candidate running for sheriff. The park, a center of community events, relies on funding from the Bureau of Reclamation matched by local dollars through the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District. - Scott Hunter photo...
Fall approaching doesn't mean we are in the clear as far as wildfires go, and many of our worst fire seasons have happened in September and October. "Washington state is in the midst of wildfire season," the Washington State Department of Health warned in a statement last week. "Although it's been a mild season to date, it is important to be prepared and ready to protect yourself and your family from wildfire smoke before the smoke hits." It was in September of 2020 that about half a million acr...
Seven men were arrested in Grant County over the course of several days as part of an operation identifying individuals allegedly involved in the sexual abuse and exploitation of children, after a multi-agency law enforcement effort, officials said late last month. The multi-day operation involved the Washington State Patrol (WSP), local Grant County law enforcement agencies and several partner agencies. The cases will be reviewed by the Grant County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to determine whether or what criminal charges should be filed. ...
The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation honored Lawney Reyes upon his death on August 10 at the age of 91. The Native American artist, sculptor, interior designer, architect and writer was a longtime Seattle resident. Reyes was the son of an immigrant Filipino father and a Sinixt mother. Throughout his work, Reyes was inspired by his mother’s tribal stories. Reyes’ mother, Mary Christian Hall Wong, was a fabled storyteller. After she was killed in a car crash on Memorial Day, 1978, Reyes devoured the taped interviews and dia...
A Nespelem man and two women from Omak ran into trouble and fruit crates Monday evening before Okanogan County Sheriff's deputies arrested them on several charges, the sheriff said. When a deputy tried to pull over a Ford F-250 in connection with thefts from a Tonasket retail store, the driver wouldn't stop, reached a dead end, then turned and tried to run into the deputy's vehicle, Sheriff Tony Hawley said in a press release. "Deputy Ray was able to accelerate and swerve away to narrowly avoid...
EMS stands for “emergency medical services,” not “emergency management services” as The Star incorrectly wrote in a recent article titled “Regional EMS district idea floated to city leaders.” The writer had some wires crossed....
Sunbanks Lake Resort's "Blues & Roots Festival" begins Thursday night and runs through the weekend, and locals get a discount to enjoy the music. In the resort's third and final music festival of the year, the tunes aren't limited to "blues" in the strictest sense of the term, although one of the Pacific Northwest's favorite blues rocker bands, Too Slim and the Taildraggers, will top off the show Sunday night. Before the Taildraggers take over the stage, the weekend will be filled with music...
With emergency medical services, such as ambulance services, being desired everywhere in the Coulee, it’s important to have a successful EMS system in place, city leaders heard last week. Nic Alexander, who serves as assistant fire chief to Chief Ryan Fish for the Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department and the Grand Coulee Ambulance, spoke at the city’s Aug. 23 council meeting. “We need to be ready for the future,” he said. Alexander noted forming an EMS tax district is just one option for providing support to the service that is current...
Monte Murbach gives a "look at this scenery" gesture as his wife snaps a photo on the Candy Point Trail in Coulee Dam Aug. 24. Starting from a trailhead behind a residence at the end of Columbia Avenue, hikers can detour up to Crown Point or continue toward Fiddle Creek, city hall and the old railroad tunnel. - Diane Murbach photo...
When the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services flew from Washington, D.C. to Seattle a couple weeks ago on a fact-finding mission, the CEO of Coulee Medical Center was on hand to give her some. Like the fact that in 2019, only fog or wildland fires could stop the transfer of a patient to another hospital for needed care, and that was rare. Now it happens from three to 10 times a week, and not because anyone is overrun with Covid-19 patients. Chief Executive Officer Ramona Hicks...
A grand opening of a new Nespelem Softball/Baseball Field will be held Friday, Sept. 16, at 1 p.m. “Fun events are planned, and additional details about the celebration will be shared in the near future,” a press release from the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation reads. “The field is Little League and standard high school softball size,” the release continues. “It is multi-purpose and can be used for sports such as soccer or flag football. It features synthetic turf and a large scoreboard. The turf will allow for minimal m...
Some 820 students have enrolled in local schools for the 2022-23 school year, including Lake Roosevelt Schools and Nespelem Elementary School. There are 689 students at Lake Roosevelt Schools. The junior/senior high side of the school has 352 students enrolled, according to a report submitted by Principal Natalie Kontos included in the Grand Coulee Dam School School District’s Aug. 22 board meeting packet. Those 352 students include 47 in seventh grade; 55 in eighth; 66 freshmen; 74 sophomores; 65 juniors; and 45 seniors. Those numbers do n...
A local restaurateur is among those nominated by a Wenatchee organization as “Entreprenuer of the Year.” Patty Oliver, who with husband Brad Oliver owns PK’s Cullinary in Grand Coulee, is up for the honor to be awarded later in September at the NCW Tech Alliance’s Annual Innovator Awards Luncheon at the Wenatchee Convention Center. Oliver is one of three nominated for the award. “Entrepreneurs are people with vision and the ability to see a need and fill it. They have the courage to make change and the stamina to await results. This individua...
Rock ‘n’ Roll has come a long way since LIttle Richard, continuing to both dazzle and offend, allowing young people to express themselves, and now, earn credits in high school. Raider Rock Band started as a club last year with history and creative writing teacher Justin Thompson leading the group, and now it is an actual class taught on the stage at Lake Roosevelt Jr/Sr High School, open to grades 9-12 for the year-long course that applies to a student’s art credits. “Last year, rock band club became something really special, although not ent...
Paul McArthur takes a selfie with a new friend Aug. 19 after the great horned owl crashed on the cab of his harvest truck in the heat of the day. "When you're farming, you never know what is going to happen," McArthur wrote on Facebook. "The poor little thing could hardly move." Realizing the bird was suffering from heat exhaustion, he and others moved it to a shady spot and got it water. Temperatures reached around 100 degrees that day. "After about 30 minutes, he/she was standing back up and...
A computer system shut down the water system supplying Coulee Dam residents with drinking water sometime last weekend, but nobody knew it until pressures dropped low enough Monday morning. City Superintendent Mike Steffens said a computer programmer worked on restoring the system Monday morning, but the city crew still had to manually operate different valves across the system to equalize pressure and restore functionality. At Steffens' urging, the city purchased a new computer system to replace...
If Electric City is going to grow, it will be in the Osborn Bay area. The city was approved for an $11,600 grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce Community Economic Revitalization Board to conduct a water feasibility study in the Osborn Bay area with the city providing an additional $2,900 towards the project. There is land just south of Osborn Bay within city limits, owned by various people, but no utilities there. “We’d like Electric City to grow, and that’s the only area to even look at,” Mayor Diane Kohout said at an Aug....
Sometimes it's hard to know where to look for help when it comes to things like getting food or energy assistance, or how to go about receiving medical care, but luckily some people specialize in connecting you to the right people. The STAR Hub, located on Midway Avenue in Grand Coulee since November of 2021, is a division of Rural Resources Community Action, a non-profit based out of Colville, and they specialize in connecting people to organizations that may be able to help. The STAR acronym...
Grand Coulee City Hall could get painted next year Budget time is right around the corner, and money may be set aside for Grand Coulee to paint their city hall building on Midway Avenue which also includes the city police station. At their July 19 meeting, the city council discussed painting city hall, deciding simply to look into options but not discussing what color they’d like to see it painted. City Clerk Lorna Pearce said in an email to The Star this week that the issue will be looked at more closely at budget time, and that city hall d...
Rob Carroll takes a direct hit to his feet during a Sunday evening water balloon fight on Stevens Avenue in Coulee Dam as Westlyn Landeros prepares to launch a counterattack against either her brother Damon (not pictured) or Collin Chaney, left. Carroll decided to arrange the event, a neighborhood tradition he said had gone dormant for too long, for his own birthday. Neighborhood kids and friends used up 2,000 balloons in about 45 minutes, then had Glo Carroll's German chocolate cupcakes. -...
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is open to receiving any questions, comments, or concerns regarding security upgrades they are planning on making at the Grand Coulee Dam and related facilities. The bureau has identified eight areas where it says security upgrades are needed, from new or upgraded gates and fences to a new security department office. The bureau "invites the public to identify issues or alternatives for consideration in the development of an environmental assessment for the Grand...
A Nespelem man — who kidnapped three minor children at gunpoint in June of 2020, robbed and sexually assaulted another, stole a truck, committed arson, and led police on a high-speed chase — was sentenced last week to 22 years in federal prison in a case that authorities hailed as the result of great collaboration among several law enforcement agencies and the courage of his young victims. John Edward McGinnis, 35, of Nespelem, was sentenced Aug. 9 by United States Senior District Judge Rosanna Malouf Peterson to 264 months, followed by a fiv...
Short-term rentals are an unpopular idea to some in Electric City, but the idea keeps getting brought up. The city voted down the idea of allowing short-term (under 30 days) rentals in 2019 after more than a year of discussing the issue. But the idea was brought up again last month, with the city council discussing various pros and cons to the idea, and rules they could make to address problems that can arise from short-term renters. Such rules could include requiring owners to live within a certain distance of a rental property, requiring the...