News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Nearly new sidewalks that Grand Coulee had installed in 2015 are already cracking and crumbling, a situation that could require time in court to work out. Grand Coulee's city council voted at their Feb. 19 meeting to have their lawyer send a letter to Travellers Insurance, which insures Davenport-based Halme Builders, who installed the sidewalks. The 2015 project to install new sidewalks and gutters on Federal Avenue and Main Street cost $407,816.53, paid for with money from a state...
Geologist Nick Zentner will be making a free presentation related to the coulee area at the Grand Coulee Dam Visitor Center March 9 at 1 p.m. Zentner hosts a series called "Nick on the Rocks" that has aired on PBS and is available on YouTube. Zentner, a professor of geology at Central Washington University, is being sponsored for the local visit by the Grand Coulee Dam Rotary Club. "We know when and why the coulee was carved," Zentner told The Star, "but we're still looking for clues as to how...
Elmer City’s council approved a resolution Feb. 21 allowing the city to apply for funding to build its own wastewater treatment facility. There was no discussion of the resolution before the vote at the council meeting. There has been bad blood between Elmer City and Coulee Dam regarding their shared sewage treatment plant and Coulee Dam’s process for building a new one that Elmer City representatives have felt left out of, feel overcharged for, and that they say violates a 50-year contract from 1975 between the two cities. “It has been well...
The Care and Share Food Bank, located at the Nazarene Church on SR-174, filled their almost-empty shelves with food from Yakima-based nonprofit Northwest Harvest last week. Carol Nordine, who manages the food bank, was present, and a number of volunteers helped unload the food onto the shelves Thursday. Nordine noted that Shawn Neider, who pastors the Zion Lutheran Church, helps her a lot with food bank efforts. Neider helped clear the parking lot of snow before the food arrived. "The food is ne...
The Natural Helpers program at Lake Roosevelt High School has been a success, staff members and students say, and they want to keep it going. The program, which used a student survey to identify 21 students to whom other students feel comfortable turning in a time of need, took those students on a multi-day retreat to K Diamond K Ranch outside of Republic last fall. There, the Natural Helpers learned how to help peers deal with issues such as depression, suicide, drugs, alcohol, and physical and emotional abuse. The program was discussed at a...
Grand Coulee Police 2/24 - A Batchelor Square man complained about his neighbor’s wood stove, saying that the odor and smoke cause him respiratory problems, and he believes the wood being burned isn’t seasoned. An officer told the man he couldn’t test the air quality, and suggested the man write a detailed complaint to the Environmental Protection Agency to see how they handle these types of issues. 2/26 - There was a dispute involving an intoxicated woman who left the Hi-Dam Tavern and a man who was called to give her a ride. The intoxicated m...
Park district commissioners Monday voted to accept the resignation of one commissioner, then immediately filled her position with a young recruit. Commissioner Debbie Bigelow, who has served for nearly three years despite being retired. "Although I will continue forever to support this organization," she said, "I no longer have the energy or community connections that are so important to the success of this organization." Bigelow, who retired as chief executive officer of Coulee Medical Center,...
The Colville Business Council, meeting in special session Thursday with all tribal representatives present, expelled fellow council member Andrea George from their ranks on ethics charges, which she denied in a detailed statement. George, elected last summer to represent the Nespelem District on the Colville Tribes’ governing body that serves as both the tribes’ legislature and head of its executive branch, is a lawyer whom her supporters insist was being expelled for calling into question procedures and actions the council takes, not for act...
Fog fills in the valley through which the Columbia River flows downstream from Grand Coulee Dam, which rises above it in the background Thursday morning. A weather forecast for the coming week can be found on page 4. - Scott Hunter photo...
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 Lake Roosevelt High School gym will likely be closed during the summer to upgrade its heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system. The new HVAC system will be installed on the roof, keeping the noise from the system out of the gym, and granting easy access to the system. The board and superintendent of the Grand Coulee Dam School District discussed the upcoming project and others at their Feb. 25 meeting. The projects will be paid for with about a million dollars from the district’s Capital Projects Levy, which will bring in roughly h...
Grand Coulee considered adopting a resolution refusing to enforce Washington state’s Initiative 1639 related to gun control, but chose instead to have a resolution drafted saying the city supports the United States Bill of Rights. Several sheriffs and police chiefs in Washington have refused to enforce the law, and a resolution Cowlitz County commissioners approved stating their refusal to enforce the law was included in the council’s agenda packets as an example of what the city could adopt. I-1639 took effect on Jan. 1, and raises the age...
Grand Coulee and Elmer City have both cast their vote for a recycling option, both wanting a receptacle at the Delano Transfer Station for no extra charge to the cities or the residents. Electric City also chose that option but wanted the receptacle placed outside the Delano Transfer Station fences. Grand Coulee and Elmer City both specified that they want it inside the fence. Coulee Dam's town council discussed it briefly Feb. 13, with some members saying a single recycling container would get...
by Jacob Wagner The city of Grand Coulee’s financial records seem to be getting in order after years of chaos, but there’s still a ways to go. “Things are getting back on track, and at least our financial system balances to what our bank statements say we have,” said City Clerk Lorna Pearce, who took the position in 2018. “We’re pretty sure the numbers we have are actually what we have.” According to the audit of the year 2017 by the State Auditor’s Office, “since 2012, we have reported the City of Grand Coulee did not have adequate controls...
OLYMPIA – A bipartisan bill to enable public utility districts to sell and distribute hydrogen fuel and sponsored by 33 senators — well over half the state Senate — unanimously passed the chamber and is now in the House of Representatives for consideration. Senate Bill 5588 would authorize public utility districts to sell renewable hydrogen to consumers via pipeline or shippable pressurized containers. “If you take H2O and you separate the ‘O,’ you end up with H2, which is hydrogen,” said Sen. Brad Hawkins, R-East Wenatchee, prime sponsor...
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 Colville Business Council, meeting in special session Thursday with all tribal representatives present, expelled fellow councilmember Andrea George from their ranks on ethics charges that she denied in a detailed statement. George, elected last summer to represent the Nespelem District, is a lawyer her supporters insist was being expelled for calling into question procedures and actions the council takes, not for actual ethics violations. Too many of those supporters gathered outside council chambers at 9 a.m. meeting to fit inside the...
Coulee-ites will be treated to a guest lecture from Nick Zentner, a geologist and host of "Nick on the Rocks," which has aired on Pacific Northwest Public Broadcast System stations and is available to watch on YouTube. Zentner will be at the Grand Coulee Dam Visitor Center March 9, at 1 p.m., to discuss geology in a free lecture sponsored by the Grand Coulee Dam Rotary Club to celebrate their 70th year. "Grand Coulee is famous for geologists," Zentner said in an email to The Star. "Huge valley...
Electric City’s council voted Feb. 12 to go out to bid on a welcome sign to the city. The sign would be placed at Electric City’s southern limits on SR-155 on the south side of Osborne Bay and would read “Welcome to Electric City,” and “Re-energize your recreation,” with the city’s logo suspended between basalt columns. An earlier cost estimate for the sign from Graybeal Signs was $42,000. The council discussed whether to have the sign framed by actual basalt columns or by aluminum made to look like rock columns and questioned how long actual b...
Kettle Falls Marina gets 10-year contract Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who represents Washington’s 5th District in Congress, including Lake Roosevelt, recently announced a decision by the National Park Service to award a 10-year concessionaire contract for the Kettle Falls Marina. “Outdoor recreation is part of life in Eastern Washington, and the Kettle Falls Marina has served our community for decades,” McMorris Rodgers said. “I was proud to advocate directly to the National Park Service in support of a new contract and appreciate them fo...
A retired businessman with plenty of experience took a seat on the Coulee Dam City Council last week. The decision to seat Merv Schmidt came immediately following an executive session called to make a hard choice between Schmidt and another experienced former council member, Ken Miles. Schmidt served on the council for many years, beginning in 1984 and including years when the council initially began planning for a new wastewater treatment plan, a project that is just now getting done after year...
A longstanding local group whose efforts have enhanced area fisheries and outdoor sports for decades is likely to disband, says its longtime leader. Promoters of Wildlife and Environmental Resources, or POWER, runs the fish-raising pens in Banks Lake in Electric City and has headed or managed other wildlife-related efforts over the past 30 years, such as feeding wild game birds. It now looks like it will shut down for the lack of someone to manage volunteer work. The group met Feb. 6, and discus...
Grand Coulee 2/11 - A Burdin Boulevard man reported that a neighbor pushed in the mirrors of his wife’s car and opened the door to the gas cap. There was no noticeable damage. There is an ongoing issue between the neighbors. 2/13 - A husky-like dog was reported running at large in the area of West Grand Avenue. The dog’s owner was located and given a verbal warning. - A Coulee City man became angry while on the phone with a hospital employee when she wouldn’t give patient information over the phone. The man reportedly said he would kick the h...
The sale of a cable television and internet provider to Coulee Dam residents will take a few more months, Coulee Dam town council members were told last week. Charter Communications, a nationwide cable, telephone and internet provider, is working on purchasing Country Cable, which has been in business serving Coulee Dam ever since it purchased the Coulee Dam Television Station more than a decade ago. The deal has been in the works for some time and is now expected to close March 1, an email from a company senior manager to City Clerk Stefani...
A levy to support the Grand Coulee Dam School District appeared to be passing with vote counts listed for the four counties in favor by 58.14 percent. Passage of a school levy requires a simple majority of 50 percent plus one. The replacement levy, which asked voters to approve an approximate $1.50 rate per thousand dollars of assessed property value, was approved in each of the counties: by 61 percent in Douglas County, 61-39 votes; by 55.79 percent in Grant County, 260-206; 56.89 percent in Lincoln County, 49-37; and by 61.92 percent in...