News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Lake Roosevelt graduate Calen Farmer spent six years in the Navy before pursuing an electronics engineering degree, and the experience took him around the world. Farmer graduated from Lake Roosevelt in 2008 and enlisted in the Navy in February of 2012, just two days before his 22nd birthday. " Like most young people, I was lost in life and didn't know what to do with my future," Farmer said. "I tried going to school, but it just was not for me at the time. After realizing I wasn't going...
Sixth-graders at Lake Roosevelt Elementary look up with a wow a second after launching a group of three rockets Friday afternoon. They, and high schoolers earlier in the day, had just assembled the rockets inside the school, with coaching from University of Washington students and faculty in coordination with NASA. The program had also visited Nespelem Elementary and schools in Keller and Inchelium. The group is hoping to recruit young students into science fields and is offeirng a contest...
Eyeing free grant money to help stretch local dollars, school leaders Monday told a consulting company to go after grants that would help modernize the heating and cooling system in the old gym at Lake Roosevelt High School and more. The Grand Coulee Dam School District board voted to continue to have the company McKinstry pursue grants for upgrades to school buildings. The district hired McKinstry to look for repairs and upgrades that could be made to the former middle school, the annex to the middle school where the Alternative Learning...
Coulee Dam rates heading up Residents and electric ratepayers in Coulee Dam can expect an increase in rates next year, town councilmembers indicated during discussion at a budget workshop Monday. Citing the need to replace large transformers and other electric system needs, councilmembers were leaning toward an increase greater than 20 percent, boosting the charge per kilowatt hour to 6 cents, plus increasing a base charge from $6 a month to $13. Charges for sewer service, currently at $56 a month, will likely go to about $67, a jump planned...
The annual veterans assembly at Lake Roosevelt Schools will be held this Friday at the gym in Coulee Dam. Changing things up from previous years, the event will be split into two segments: one for kindergarten through sixth-grade students, and another for seventh through twelfth grades, with an intermission in between. "Veterans and public are welcome to join us for either or both," said teacher Sandy Hood, who organizes the event and felt that one assembly with the full student body was a bit t...
Strong opinions surrounded a post on The Star’s Facebook page when The Star shared an article from the paper headlined “Transgender policy, club approved at school board meeting.” Opinions on both sides of the argument centered around the idea of boys using the girls’ restroom. “So this means that a BOY who thinks he is a girl or wants to be a girl can now go into the female bathroom with my daughter? If that’s the case I do not agree with it,” a Michael Dennis wrote on Facebook. “If you have a wiener you go into the bathroom where the sign...
STATE MEASURE 1631 G O L D Statewide Yes 3,585 2,448 718 1,825 850,861 No 16,005 6,414 4,040 6,288 1,097,277 STATE INITIATIVE 1634 G O L D Statewide Yes 14,474 5,441 3,362 5,374 1,062,381 No 5,731 3,395 1,394 2,726 876,921 STATE INITIATIVE 1639 G O L D Statewide Yes 6,316 3,153 1,207 2,962 1,181,218 No 13,900 5,730 3,549 5,177 775,902 STATE INITIATIVE 940 G O L D Statewide Yes 7,775 4,071 1,630 3,367 1,151,495 No 12,232 4,719 3,049 4,728 793,581 SENATE BILL 6269 G O L D Statewide Repealed 15,190 5,967 3,647 2,236 982,524 Maintained 4,239 2,451...
Grand Coulee 10/28 - Police were unable to locate a stolen vehicle that Colville Tribal Police suspected could be on Weil Place. 10/29 - A man and woman at North Dam Park were reported to be suspicious, possibly arguing and possibly on drugs. The woman reportedly had slammed a gate open. An officer spoke to the pair, noting they didn’t appear to be on drugs and were just walking through the park. - Police helped dispose of a fawn with a broken leg on Roosevelt Drive. - A Prims Pl. woman reported seeing a man she thought was stealing a bike. T...
The Grant County County Health District warned in an alert Tuesday that one of two cases in the county of a potentially serious, contagious illness involved a student at Lake Roosevelt Schools. Grant County Health Officer Dr. Alexander Brzezny issued the the alert to the Grant County media, stating that health district staff are investigating two Grant County residents with laboratory-confirmed whooping cough, also known as pertussis. The other case involves a student at Port Orchard Elementary in Moses Lake. “Exposure letters have been d...
Grand Coulee and its dam have been mentioned in songs by a number of popular artists over the years. Woody Guthrie started things off, penning a number of songs in 1941 mentioning Grand Coulee Dam. Most obvious is the song "Grand Coulee Dam," but the dam is also mentioned in what is easily one of the most famous and hauntingly beautiful folk songs ever written, "Pastures of Plenty," where Guthrie sings "Green pastures of plenty from dry desert ground/From the Grand Coulee Dam where the waters...
Second-grader and possible future basketball player Jace Lewis, dressed as a Zombie, makes a basket at the "Harvest Festival" held at Lake Roosevelt Schools Oct. 25. The event included a costume contest, food, games, and more, and was put on by The Grand Coulee Dam PTA, the Johnson O'Malley program, the Lake Roosevelt Elementary Associated Student Body and others. - Jacob Wagner photo...
The Grand Coulee Dam School District board has approved a policy related to transgender students and allowed the continuance of a club for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and straight ally students. At the Oct. 22 school board meeting, the board approved without much discussion a transgender policy that states: “The board believes in fostering an educational environment that is safe and free of discrimination for all students, regardless of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression,” the policy reads. “To that...
The owner of a local restaurant was sentenced Oct. 22 on assault and criminal trespass charges to which he pleaded in Grant County Superior Court. Juan Moreno, 41, pled guilty to one count of criminal trespass and entered an Alford plea to one count of fourth-degree assault. With an Alford plea a defendant is not pleading guilty to a crime, but believes he would be found guilty if the case were to proceed to trial. Grand Coulee police had arrested him July 23 after his estranged wife and her boyfriend said he threatened them with a knife and...
Coulee Dam may raise its utility rates significantly over the coming years, if a discussion at last week’s town council meeting is an indication. With a shift in philosophies kicking in for the first budgeting season of a new council and mayor, town leaders were emphasizing a need to build up reserves for coming large expenses. Some reserves had been drawn down under the prior administration as then-mayor Greg Wilder felt it more prudent to take advantage of historically low interest rates where necessary, and to bring the town’s reserve fun...
Grand Coulee 10/22 - A tow tag was placed on a Honda on Hill Avenue and a letter sent to the registered owner. - A man reported he was being harassed on social media by another man. Police contacted the other man and told him not to contact the first man anymore. - A Roosevelt Drive woman filmed a chihuahua defecating in her yard, then showed the police. The dog was seen at a nearby residence, but the owner wasn’t home. The owner was mailed a $66 citation for having a dog at large. 10/23 - A man pulled over on Banks was cited for having an e...
The city of Grand Coulee voted to put consolidation, or the merging with other area towns, on next year’s ballot, the first of the four local towns to do so. Councilmember Tom Poplawski spoke about the issue at the Oct. 16 council meeting. “We’re in a position now where we have some things moving,” Poplawski said. He had attended a consolidation discussion meeting at The Wine Bar last month. “I believe Grand Coulee should step to the front of this and move to the head of the line and say ‘we are in favor of this,’ and this council shoul...
Community members gather Sunday to eat spaghetti and donate to the cause of Melody Restaurant owner Juan Moreno, who, after running into legal trouble in a domestic dispute last summer, wound up being detained in Grant County Jail on a retention order from from federal immigration authorities. "The response was awesome," said Lonna Bussert. "I was shocked." She and Lynda Anderson headed up the effort that put out about 100 tickets to the event for $15 donations and netted nearly $3,000, Bussert...
Coulee Dam’s sewer plant customers could end up paying three quarters of a million dollars more to add a lift station to carry Elmer City’s sewage to the new wastewater treatment plant, a new cost for which a search for funding will now begin. Meeting in a special session Monday night, the Coulee Dam Town Council voted to pursue one of two options laid out in a hurry by Varela and Associates engineer Daniel Cowger last week following a closed session of the council. Cowger’s $760,000 was described as a “rough” estimate for the cost for the a...
Coulee Dam power rates may rise The rates people pay for electricity in Coulee Dam will likely go up next year. The town council discussed the issue during a special council meeting Monday night. Coulee Dam ratepayers are charged a base rate of $6.07 a month, plus 5 cents per kilowatt hour. Discussion Monday included suggestions of a 40-percent increase to the base rates, plus 5.7 cents per kWh. The council will discuss more on the coming year’s budget at a budget workshop open to the public at 5:15 tonight (Wednesday), just before the r...
Members of the union that represents "classified" school district employees, such as bus drivers, secretaries and more, showed up at Monday night's school board meeting for a direct appeal to the board, following an apparently fruitless second negotiating session with the district through a mediator last week. The school board listened to Jesse Utz speak on behalf on the Public Service Employees, who feel they deserve more money for the work they do. Community members, teachers, and PSE members...
Grand Coulee city council members don’t like having drug houses in the community, and so approved an ordinance that gives them some teeth in the matter. Council approved adding to their ordinances the state law on the abatement of drug houses, Revised Code of Washington 7.43, at their Oct. 16 council meeting. If a house is regularly the scene of police enforcement, drug use, drug dealing, or otherwise, the home could be evacuated and boarded up for a year to effectively remove any ongoing nuisances. “Any final order of abatement issued und...
If you’ve noticed a bit of smoke in the air, there’s a chance it’s from controlled burns performed by the Colville Tribes. Acting “fuels manager” for the Colville Tribes, John Elliott explained in a phone call to The Star that the burns should be finished before Thanksgiving. “At that time it’s usually getting too cold to have a lot of success burning,” Elliott said. “At the moment we’re probably about half done with what we’re trying to do in the fall.” Elliott said that they are burning some slash piles that were thinned out by loggers....
An independent candidate for the state Legislature visited the Grand Coulee Dam area last Thursday and Friday, knocking on doors and speaking at the chamber of commerce luncheon. Ann Diamond is running to represent the 12th Legislative District, which includes most of the Grand Coulee Dam area. A physician who founded the first family practice clinic in the Methow area, Diamond, said her travels during her campaign have taught her that small towns share in common many issues of concern:...
Grand Coulee Police 10/16 - An officer assisted Colville Tribal Police in standing near while a patient with a history of violence and non-compliance whom they had brought in was treated at Coulee Medical Center. - An Electric Blvd woman complained about a neighbor’s music. The officer asked the neighbor if he could turn down his music, which he did. 10/17 - A woman approached an officer saying she was wanted on a warrant and that she wanted to turn herself in. The officer didn’t find a warrant for her. She said it might be a tribal war...
Salley Bull, who is running for Okanogan County commissioner for District 3, spoke to the Elmer City Town Council at their meeting on Oct. 11. District 3 spans from about Wauconda to Conconully, Bull noted, but everyone in Okanogan County gets to vote in the general election. “My family homesteaded in the Chiliwist Valley,” Bull said. “My relatives were community-minded doctors, nurses, teachers, preachers, council members, and on boards for the school, hospital, and irrigation district.” “I’ve been active in the community on the county level f...