News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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The Colville Tribes plans to remove between 1,000 and 1,500 feral horses from the reservation between January and March of 2019. In 2015, 422 feral horses were removed in a similar effort using an "aerial capture" method that uses a helicopter to help round up the large mammals. Colville Tribal Fish and Wildlife aerial counts showed a wild-horse population count of 148 in 2007, 309 in 2009, 723 in 2010, and 1,500 in 2014, according to the "Colville Tribes Integrated Resource Management Plan"...
New Year's Eve revelers at The Wine Bar's New Year's Eve party in Grand Coulee gather for a celebratory photo Monday night after an early countdown. The bar offered two countdowns to midnight, including one on Eastern time (9 p.m.). From the upper left are proprietors Levi Seekins, Brad Oliver and Rachel Seekins. - Scott Hunter photo...
Grand Coulee 12/22 - A man is being charged with malicious mischief and third-degree theft after he allegedly punched holes in a Hill Ave. woman’s apartment, threw binoculars at her, and, while at a nearby gas station with her, took the keys out of her car’s ignition, threatening to throw the keys, and her, into the river if she didn’t give him $20. The woman said she gave him $20 and he gave her the keys. Tribal police were in pursuit of the man who took off on foot, but he eluded them. Grand Coulee police spoke to the woman. 12/23 - There...
Many pundits predict American political warfare will worsen in 2019 and grow more ruthless in 2020 our next presidential election year. The swamp that candidate Donald Trump promised to drain is expanding. James Astill, Washington bureau chief for The Economist, wrote: As America approached the mid-point of President Donald Trumps first term, sober commentators suggested it had not been so divided since the 1850s. Political disagreement is the heart of Americas way of governing. Diversity of opinion makes our country strong as long as those...
Chamber This Week Chamber will meet this Thursday, January 3, at Voltage Coffee House, beginning at noon. The guest speaker will be the 2019 Colorama Rodeo Queen. American Legion to Meet The American Legion Post 157 next meeting will be at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, January 8 at the Vets Center in Electric City. Eagles Auxiliary Meetings Change Dates The Eagles Auxiliary meeting for January 2019 will move to the second and fourth Tuesdays at 2 p.m. Regularly scheduled meetings on the first and third Tuesdays, 2 p.m. will resume in February. Eagle...
Federal and tribal officials said last week that the question of whether fishermen should continue to be able to drive on the sand along Geezer Beach behind the Grand Coulee Dam stemmed from tribal concerns. The Bureau of Reclamation has been collecting comments on the issue as they do an environmental assessment on whether to continue allowing people to drive on the beach. USBR Public Affairs Specialist Lynne Brougher said the idea of banning cars from the beach started when the bureau received a request to address the issue from the Colville...
The Bureau of Reclamation is looking to modernize three more generators in the Third Power Plant of the Grand Coulee Dam in a project that should get underway in about four years. The upgrade of generators G19-G21, if approved, would take about 10 years to complete, beginning in 2023 at the earliest, and would add tens of millions of dollars to the regional economy, a draft environmental assessment states. A similar project, modernizing G22-G24, started in 2010 and still continues. It has cost...
The Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area will remain accessible to the public, but with no visitor services, during the current shutdown of the federal government. That’s according to a statement issued by the National Park Service unit on Saturday, after Congress and the president failed to compromise on a bill to keep the government fully open. “During the shutdown of the federal government due to the lapse of appropriations, national parks will remain as accessible as possible while still following all applicable laws and pro...
A Nespelem man is being held on $500,000 bond in Spokane County jail after his involvement in a deadly car crash that killed a Spokane veteran three miles west of Airway Heights Dec. 19. Ryan E. Labreck, 36, of Spokane, died at the scene Wednesday morning after his 2016 Subaru Crosstrek, which was stopped in a turn lane as he waited to turn left from U.S. 2 onto Christensen Road, was struck from behind by a 2002 Dodge Caravan driven by Thomas Aripa, 45, of Nespelem, a Washington State Patrol investigation found. Labreck’s westbound Crosstrek wa...
OLYMPIA – Dec. 18, 2018 – Washington State Parks’ online reservation system will be down from Wednesday, Jan. 8 through Tuesday, Jan. 15, as the agency puts the finishing touches on a new and improved system to be launched Jan. 16. During that transition week, all Washington state park campsites, day-use shelters and accommodations will be first come, first served and payable at the park by cash only. On Monday, Jan. 14, the system is scheduled to open for existing customers to update their accounts, including changing passwords, but it will...
Grand Coulee 12/18 - An officer helped a Sunny Dr. man lift his wife into a wheelchair for an appointment. - A man reported a Honda Civic tailgating him while driving near Pole Park, then passing multiple vehicles in a no-passing zone. 12/20 - It was reported that a white car had been parked at Osborn Bay all day with its lights on. An officer found only a white truck parked there with three men bird hunting nearby. - A UPS driver told an officer that someone on Division Street would likely be reporting stolen packages from their porch. It...
The recently resigned mayor of Coulee Dam is the subject of a sexual harassment complaint filed by a female city employee in October, according to a document obtained under the state’s Public Records Act. A Dec. 4, 2018 letter to the city’s attorney from an independent investigator hired by the city details what he found from interviews with most of Coulee Dam’s employees after the city contacted Clear Risk Solutions of Ephrata Oct. 29, regarding allegations about Mayor Larry Price. An assistant clerk/records specialist, whose name was redac...
The Coulee Community Choir performs in their annual Christmas Concert on Sunday in St. Henry's Catholic Church, where more than 70 people from many denominations gathered to listen and to visit afterward. The choir includes Sue Shear, Vera Condict, Cathy Dunlap, Marsha Fields, Barb Peter, Liz Bock, Barb Kelton, Carol Boyce, Judy Kurth, Janice Elvidge, Debbie Rapp, Nora Jenn, Charlene Fountain, Rob Loch, Jeremy Hansen, Shawn Neider, Jim Maher, Bob Schryvers, Kerry Vigue and Dave Ristrom. It was...
The city of Coulee Dam will oppose changes to the operation of a beach upriver from the Third Powerhouse behind Grand Coulee Dam being considered by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The city council unanimously voted last week to send a letter to that effect. The bureau is considering restricting people from driving vehicles onto the beach during low drawdowns of Lake Roosevelt, or possibly closing the area to fishing entirely. It is seeking comments to include in its decision-making process. The spot is popular with older anglers, from whom...
Phone scammers posing as Grant PUD Grant PUD customers are reporting receiving calls claiming to be from the utility saying that their power be will shut off if they don’t receive an immediate payment. The scammers will even call from a local number. Those receiving these calls should hang up and block the number if possible, authorities say. “If customers are unsure about the status of their account, they can always call us at our customer service number, which is 509-766-2505, to talk to a Customer Service Representative in our call cen...
VROOOOOM! Whoa, that was close. Pedestrians walking between Electric City and Grand Coulee soon won't have to worry about getting run over anymore, thanks to Electric City being awarded a grant for a pathway connecting the Coulee Playland area to Banks Lake Park along SR-155. The $707,800 project will be paid for with $672,410 from a Department of Transportation pedestrian and bicycle program funding grant, and a 5-percent, $35,390 match from Electric City. The vision for the pathway is a...
Electric City is taking action to prevent looking like a glorified RV park. The Electric City council approved a zoning revision last week that limits the number of recreational vehicles or utility trailers that can be parked on someone’s property, and requiring there to first be a building on that property, or have a building permit in hand. The revision also limits the amount of time someone can live in an RV to 60 days a year. “Basically, this is to prevent people from buying lots just for an RV,” City Clerk Russ Powers said at the Dec....
Elmer City, population 238 in the 2010 census, will take nearly $1 million to run in 2019 according to the preliminary budget, but more than half that money will come from grants for sidewalks and street work. The Elmer City council discussed the preliminary budget at a meeting Dec. 15. Expenses include $110,365 from the current expense fund, from which most day-to-day expenses are paid, $620,532 from the street fund, $714 from the real estate excise tax fund, $5,000 from the criminal justice fund, $237,620 from the water sewer fund, and...
Grand Coulee 12/11 - Between Dec. 6 and Dec. 11 someone reportedly broke into the coin repositories of four machines in the laundry room in the apartments on Hill Ave. 12/13 - A Burdin Blvd. woman reported that she heard a loud diesel truck outside her home, walked outside, and saw that the taillights had been taken from her Dodge Ram. 12/14 - A King St. woman asked an officer to check her residence to see if her vehicle was missing after being warned by an Omak police officer that that might be the case. The vehicle was indeed missing. It was...
Even if a new “enrichment” levy passes next February, the Grand Coulee Dam School District is set to lose $800,000 per year the way things are currently budgeted, the result of recent changes in state law. If the levy doesn’t pass, that loss figure is closer to $1.2 million. According to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, many districts are on a course to lose major dollars. The 2012 McCleary decision by the state Supreme Court ruled that the state wasn’t fully funding basic education, and it required the Legislature to do s...
The Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department/Ambulance Service and the Grand Coulee Police Department members and spouses met Saturday night to honor and thank them for their service to the area. The year's activities were recounted, good teamwork the three departments had enjoyed and the fact all the departments had not had any injuries were reported this year. The major wildland fires and large fire in Elmer City with which the volunteers and police officers had been involved were also...
The local chapter of the Public School Employees union voted 28-8 to ratify a 6-percent raise in the Grand Coulee Dam School District late last month and the school board approved the change last Thursday. After months of deliberations, the PSE Nov. 27 approved the raise for the roughly 75 members, plus a $2-an-hour raise for the lead mechanic position and a 50-cents-an-hour raise to the Spanish paraprofessional position. The lead paraprofessional in the preschool was made a “coordinator,” which comes with a raise of about $1.15 an hour, as...
Coulee Dam’s mayor is resigning due to health concerns, he told The Star in a text message Sunday. Mayor Larry Price was elected in November 2017 and took the helm of the town at the start of this year. Price had told The Star last month he had suffered some “mini-strokes” and that he was taking a couple weeks’ leave of absence from his duties. Mayor Pro Tempore Bob Poch has presided over the last two council meetings and other duties. He will presumably preside again tonight, Dec. 12, as the town council considers several items on the agenda....
Grand Coulee approves senior meals donation Grand Coulee will donate $3,500 to the Grand Coulee Dam Senior Meals Program, the city council decided at their Dec. 4 meeting. The program donated over 16,000 meals to the Grand Coulee Dam area from October of 2017 to September of 2018. Grand Coulee approves hotel-motel tax distribution The Grand Coulee city council decided how to disperse their hotel-motel tax money for 2019, giving $4,000 to the Coulee Area Park & Recreation District, $7,000 to the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce, and...
Hank Wiebe and his friends are raising hell against the United States Bureau of Reclamation’s recent announcement that they are considering no longer allowing people to drive onto “Geezer Beach” behind the Third Powerhouse at the Grand Coulee Dam, or possibly not allowing fishing there at all. The Grand Coulee man has been placing petitions at local businesses to gather signatures to voice opposition against the idea. “People are fired up, saying, ‘Keep after them,’”Wiebe said. Wiebe said that he and his friends go fishing at the beach regular...