News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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A car fire in Coulee Dam and a burning house in Grand Coulee kept local firefighters busy this week. Very early Monday, Grand Coulee and Electric City volunteers were dispatched to a house fire on Roosevelt Drive in Grand Coulee. A police officer arrived first and made sure the occupants were outside and OK. Firefighters said they found the home filled with smoke and a storage room in the basement filled with smoke and smoldering fire, which they extinguished. "The home sustained smoke damage...
Public safety laws on the Colville Reservation will be strictly enforced during the current spike in COVID-19 cases, a Dec. 9 press release from the Colville Tribes says. “The Tribal Health Department is issuing specific orders to infected or exposed people which are intended to control the spread of the disease,” the release reads. “These orders may be for an individual to quarantine or isolate and avoid all contact with others. Any violation of a Tribal Health order is a criminal Class A violation of the Colville Tribal Criminal Code punis... Full story
Grant County Health District is reporting 11 additional confirmed COVID-19 associated deaths of Grant County residents. Ten deaths were associated with Long Term Care Facilities (LTC) outbreaks first reported on Nov. 20. All those residents had underlying conditions putting them at higher risk for severe complications due to a COVID-19 infection. Lake Ridge Center in Moses Lake has had a total of 15 confirmed COVID-19 associated deaths during the recent outbreak. There are 3 known additional deaths pending death certificate review. These most r... Full story
The return to school for seventh- through 12th-grade Lake Roosevelt students on Monday, Dec. 7 continued under a plan modified in an emergency school board session Friday night that sets a much higher threshold for the number of local Covid cases it would take to stop in-person schooling. The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors held an Emergency Board Meeting tonight via Zoom where they voted 4-1 to modify the plan, previously approved on Nov. 9, for junior/senior high students to return part time to physical school on Dec. 7....
A COVID-era rule intended to help individuals has meant lost revenue for cities, and utilities. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s Proclamation 20-23, first issued in March of 2020, doesn’t allow utilities to be shut off for a resident, nor for late fees to be charged. That has meant that those who charge for utilities, such as local cities and electric companies, are holding higher amounts of their customers unpaid bills than usual, and that they also haven’t been able to bring in money from late fees like they have before. Locally, the city of Gr...
Paul Stout delivers an empty grocery bag to a doorstep in Coulee Dam Saturday. The Scouts BSA boys and girls troops 24 and 52 will be picking up those bags, which they left all over the community last week, this coming Saturday after you fill them with food. The full bags of food will be delivered to the local food bank, which will be glad to get them since food drives have been more difficult to organize in the year of Covid. - Scott Hunter photo...
If you have a drivers license and an insured vehicle, you could help local senior citizens by volunteering to deliver meals to them. “We are in desperate need of volunteer delivery drivers,” Senior Meals Director Chay Heilman said. Deliveries have gone up during the COVID pandemic since the dining room of the Grand Coulee Dam Senior Center, where the food is prepared and normally served, is closed. Heilman said that three drivers are needed for each of the five delivery times throughout the week: at 9 a.m. on Mondays and Fridays, and at 3 p.m... Full story
If you heard loud booms on Friday or Saturday night, it was probably local man Alan Cain lighting them off with about eight of his friends from the Northwest Pyrotechnics Association. The fireworks were lit on Cain’s property along SR-174 near the Lakeview Terrace area. The group obtained a permit from the city of Grand Coulee, whose fire department manages that area, about 45 days in advance. Cain said the group shot off about 50 “cakes” or bundles of various professional-grade fireworks, which they are licensed to use. “It’s sort of a reli...
As of Dec. 8, Grant County had reported 5,585 total COVID-19 cases, including 54 deaths, 18 of those in the past week. There have been 22 cases in the Grand Coulee Dam area and 23 in the Coulee City area. The county has had 880 cases in the prior 14 days for an incidence rate of 900, down from 1,104 Dec. 1. The incidence goal is 25 or fewer cases per 100,000 population. All local counties are seeing rates in the multiple hundreds, as is the state as a whole. As of Dec. 8: Okanogan County has... Full story
Coulee Dam’s town council gave a preliminary nod to a proposed budget for 2021 Monday night in a special meeting online despite uncertainties about next year’s revenue forecast. The council voted to approve a first reading of the ordinance authorizing use of the $5 million budget proposed by Clerk Stefani Bowden. The council has mulled the budget in several special workshops over several weeks. Mayor Bob Poch said the council could have approved the budget Monday, but he wanted to present it only as a first reading, then pass it at the nex...
The Colville Tribes has imposed a curfew in Inchelium due to a COVID outbreak there with dozens diagnosed. The curfew is active each day between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., according to a Dec. 7 press release from the tribes. During that time, all residents or visitors to the Colville Reservation in the area must remain indoors. Travel is allowed only if essential, such as to or from a verifiable place of employment or to seek urgent medical attention. Those who violate the curfew may be cited or prosecuted pursuant to the Colville Tribal... Full story
People at a virtual auction last weekend bid each other up as much or more than they do in person and the chamber benefited. With its annual Vintners and Brewers dinner and auction canceled for Covid, the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce licensed online bidding software and held the auction anyway, with most participants buying dinner prepared by PK’s Culinary and heating it up at home. The auction of all-donated items brought in $15,396. “That will keep us going for a while,” said chamber President Natalie Dennis. The chamber has n...
Grand Coulee Police 12/2 - On Bowen Street, a man and woman agreed to separate for the day after getting into an argument when the man wanted to get his iPad for work. - A woman on Lakeview Avenue complained to officers about various topics, none of which they could do anything about. Complaints included those about people around her rubbing their ears, and about someone breaking her car, on which she didn’t provide any more details. She thanked the officers for their time. 12/3 - A woman at apartments on Lakeview Avenue said a woman had tamper...
Eleven people in a Tonasket facility have died of COVID-19, Okanogan County Public Health, stated in a press release Monday night. All of the them were residents at North Valley Extended Care, a 42-bed facility where 32 residents have tested positive for the illness. “Multiple caregivers” are also under quarantine and two employees have been hospitalized, “reportedly doing well,” the agency said. “OCPH sends their heartfelt condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones,” the release stated. The 11 confirmed deaths bring the t... Full story
The Grant County Sheriff’s Office in Ephrata will be closed as staff tested positive for Covid. The closure is in effect as of Dec. 8 until further notice, GCSO said in a notice Monday evening. “This temporary closure is due to four members of Corrections Division who have tested positive for COVID-19,” GCSO said. “Close contacts of any of these four people have been notified. There are no reported cases with any inmates.” Front office support staff will be working remotely, and the public will still be able to reach the administr... Full story
Free COVID-19 testing will be offered to all community members in the Grand Coulee Dam area tomorrow, Dec. 8, from 3-8 p.m. at Lake Roosevelt High School. Look for Lifeline Ambulance in the athletic field parking lot. All are welcome, not just residents of Okanogan County. The testing will be drive-thru, at the football field parking lot near the tennis courts. Look for LifeLine Ambulance vehicles and personnel on site. Pre-registration is encouraged at https://forms.gle/UMVVBjjf8f9GBeut8 but on-site registration also available. "Results will... Full story
The return to school for seventh- through 12th-grade Lake Roosevelt students on Dec. 7 will continue under a plan modified in an emergency school board session Friday night that sets a much higher threshold for the number of local Covid cases it would take to stop in-person schooling. The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors held an Emergency Board Meeting tonight via Zoom where they voted 4-1 to modify the plan, previously approved on Nov. 9, for junior/senior high students to return part time to physical school on Dec. 7.... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors will be holding an Emergency Zoom Board Meeting today, Friday Dec. 4th at 5:00 p.m. to discuss 7th-12th grade re-opening. The meeting can be accessed via Zoom at https://gcdsd.zoom.us/j/677070515 The board previously decided on Nov. 9 for 7th-12th grade students to return to in person school, starting with one day per week, beginning on Dec. 7. Kindergarten through sixth grade students have already been going to in person school part time. Since then, there has been a surge in COVID cases... Full story
With the surging of the coronavirus around the country and even in local counties, there’s still enough evidence to give experts confidence that schools are not major spreaders of the illness, if managed for it and if local COVID cases aren’t out of hand. So what, exactly, do Lake Roosevelt Schools do to keep COVID off the campus? Health officers from Region 7 (Okanogan, Grant, Douglas, Chelan, Kittitas) counties have set up a protocol for screening for COVID-19 at schools, which Lake Roosevelt follows. The protocol allows students and sta... Full story
Nespelem School, which had planned to start bringing students back to part-time, in-person school in November and to have them all back full time in January, delayed those plans indefinitely. A Zoom meeting on Nov. 4 between the school district and parents and community members was held to see how they felt about returning to school. Principal and Superintendent Effie Dean told The Star on the phone on Tuesday that on that day COVID rates started “going through the roof,” which changed how people felt about returning to physical school. Dean sa...
Local boys and girls this weekend will be delivering grocery bags to the doors of the community that they hope you will fill — with food. The BSA Boy and Girl Troops will come back the following Saturday to pick up your bag of food items to help the families of the Grand Coulee Dam Area. The local food bank is particularly looking for canned vegetables, canned fruit, and boxes of Mac’n’cheese. Note that they don’t want Costco giant sized cans, and that they can’t accept expired food items. Donations will be picked up on Saturday, Dec. 12,... Full story
COVID rates are up across the map in local counties. As of Nov. 30, Grant County had reported 5,019 total cases, including 36 deaths. There have been 21 cases in the Grand Coulee Dam area, 18 in the Coulee City area. The county has had 1,060 cases in the prior 14 days for an incidence rate of 1,085, up from 565 on Nov. 17. Grant County Health said in a Facebook post Tuesday night that rate may be starting to trend downward, but it was too early to tell if that was due to a Thanksgiving lag in testing. The incidence goal is 25 or fewer cases... Full story
The Hughes household in Grand Coulee includes two geese and a duck, all named after violent gangsters. A duck named Allie was originally named Al Capone, but when she started laying eggs, her name was changed. "Duck eggs are delicious," Ben Hughes noted, speaking with The Star about his family's pet flock over email. Allie, along with a goose named Pablo, after Pablo Escobar, both came from North 40 Outfitters in Omak. The other goose, named Chapo, or El Chapo, comes from NorthWest Seed & Pet...
Lake Roosevelt High School’s Associated Student Body will lose revenue from restrictions imposed from a new state law. House Bill 1660, which passed the state Legislature earlier this year and affects the current school year, will prevent schools from charging students who qualify for free or reduced lunches for ASB cards, as well as for admission into sports games. Their guests over the age of 65 might also not have to pay admission into sports events, or would pay a reduced entry fee. The bill aims to create more equity in schools, saying tha...
Keller Ferry users who travel across the Columbia River on State Route 21 will need to find alternate routes beginning Saturday, Dec. 5. The M/V Sanpoil will be removed from service on Saturday, Dec. 5, and Sunday, Dec. 6, for crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation to replace the roller assemblies on both terminals and realign cables. The work being done is part of the Keller Ferry pontoon and terminal replacement project that began in 2019 and replaced both terminals on both sides of the river. The ferry is...