News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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When his head isn't buried in an engineering textbook, Scott Abrahamson spends his time jumping from one bareback horse to another in races. The 2016 Lake Roosevelt salutatorian, Abrahamson continues to excel at academics, pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering at Eastern Washington University, where he recently pulled a 3.8 grade-point average. "All through school, he was pulling 4.0s," his mother, Gina Palmer said. "He's always been super smart. He was in the advanced classes."...
The Bureau of Reclamation was fined $115,500 by the Environmental Protection Agency for hazardous waste handling violations at the Grand Coulee Dam. The EPA said in a press release Tuesday that the action was taken at the request of the state of Washington’s Department of Ecology. “We conducted this inspection at the Dam at the Department of Ecology’s request and found some areas of non-compliance,” said Chris Hladick, EPA Regional Administrator in Seattle. “Proper handling and management of hazardous waste is a serious responsibility that prot...
Grand Coulee is still considering an ordinance addressing the problem of drug houses. Councilmember Tom Poplawski updated the council on the endeavor the city started looking at earlier this year. A nuisance or drug house, with a history of crimes occuring there, or of people being charged with crimes while staying there, could be boarded up for a year. In such an instance, the city would report the house, and a Grant County Superior Court judge would look at the case to approve or deny the seizure of the property. Poplawski said he has...
A Nespelem man was airlifted to Sacred Heart hospital in Spokane Friday night after a police chase ended in a wreck in a ravine. At 9:53 p.m. Sept. 21, Jeremiah Wippel, 41, was allegedly attempting to elude Coulee Dam police officer Michael Sullivan when high speeds led Wippel to strike a guardrail on a turn near milepost 31, north of Elmer City. The car Wippel was driving came to a rest on its top in a ravine near the rock cut. Officer Sullivan had attempted to pull Wippel over after seeing Wippel speeding 39 miles per hour in a 20 mph zone...
A private water association that provides water services to residents in the Delano area is maxed out in its ability to provide water to people and expressed interest in Grand Coulee taking it over. The New Columbia Water Association buys water from Grand Coulee, then provides it to their clients. Wayne Fowler, who has developed property within the association’s boundary lines, has requested water service, which the association approved. But their equipment — pipes, pumps, and meters — are is essentially at their limits as far as provi...
Grand Coulee Police 9/13 - A man pulled over on 2nd St. was cited with driving without insurance and failure to use his turn signal. - A woman was cited for speeding, going 45 mph in the 30 mph zone near Pole Park. - A man driving a U-Haul was cited with going 40 mph in the 30-mph zone near Pole Park. He was also cited for not having a valid license. 9/14 - A person requested a welfare check on a man who lives at the Continental Heights apartments. The subject wasn’t home, but a neighbor said he was visiting his friend in Moses Lake. - An o...
Figuring out how to combine needed upgrades on two old school buildings is expected to save money, so the firm McKinstry is currently performing an “audit” of the former middle school, and on the former high school, referred to now as the Career Technical Education building. McKinstry, a “design, build, operate and maintain firm,” will identify things that can be fixed in these buildings, such as lighting, heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, roofing, windows, doors and more, and to use that information to create big projects on which t...
A study of the Bureau of Reclamation’s problems in attracting qualified employees to the area is leading to broader avenues of local communication and could even result in the privatization of some federal land. “In all the places I’ve worked in the United States, I’ve never seen this situation,” Jeffrey Simons, of Stantec, told the local Rotary club last Wednesday. “Not only do you have four communities, but you have multiple counties and the tribes.” Simons, who also spoke to the chamber of commerce’s Economic Development Committee the n...
Chickenpox in county Grant County Health District is warning it has identified cases of chickenpox in county schools. “Chickenpox is a contagious, vaccine-preventable disease that can have serious complications (including death), especially for those who are immune compromised or have other health conditions,” a press release from the district states. Park Orchard Elementary, North Elementary and Longview Elementary have “confirmed and probable” cases, and the spread to other schools is highly likely. There was also an exposure on Sept. 7...
Runners and walkers finish up their Run the Dam routes on Saturday at the south end of Banks Lake Park. With a cool day that only hinted at rain, the run and the chamber of commerce's Harvest Festival were busy with people, vendors and the Pacific Northwest's top competitors in a barbecue competition. - Scott Hunter photo...
The topic of consolidating local area towns will be discussed in a social setting at the Wine Bar in Grand Coulee Sept. 27 at 5:30 p.m. and the public is invited to attend. Attending will be three representatives from SCJ Alliance, a company that specializes in land use, engineering, outreach, and facility planning and which was involved in the consolidation of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, a combination of Army and Air Force bases south of Tacoma. The representatives will be able to answer questions about the topic. Consolidating towns is not a...
Are recreational vehicles taking up city lots that could be used for houses? That’s a concern officials at Electric City have. At the Sept. 11 city council meeting, City Clerk Russ Powers brought an emerging issue to the council’s attention to see if they wanted to leave things alone, or take some form of action. Currently, people can buy a lot and park multiple RVs on it, often just for a summer spot for people who like to fish or vacation in the area. “Instead of buying a house or building a house, they’ll just create a lot with an RV on i...
Jason Bauer, whose Warpig BBQ won the grand champion prize at the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce's Harvest Festival competition, displays his trophy and winnings envelope Sunday after getting the award from chamber President Kerry Higgins, right. Bauer took home $2,000 from the event. - Scott Hunter photo...
In a legal victory for the Colville Tribes against international mining giant Teck Metals Ltd., the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Friday affirmed lower court rulings holding Teck responsible for cleaning up its releases of hazardous substances in the upper Columbia River. “The Colville Tribes is very pleased that the Ninth Circuit agrees that Teck has polluted our river for decades and that the company is responsible for the costs of cleanup,” Colville Business Council Chairman Rodney Cawston said Friday in a news release. “This has been...
Shoshanna Palmanteer, Coulee Medical Center's rural health clinic director, hands a child prize money for winning a dance competition at the medical center's third annual Gathering of Wellness Powwow Friday. The hospital has been working with Colville Tribes health officials to address area health needs. The powwow, Palmanteer's idea, has been a part of that effort. - Scott Hunter photo...
Grand Coulee 9/10 - An officer advised the men in a car on Bowen St. not to drive after smoking marijuana. The officer was responding to a noise complaint on the vehicle. - An officer was unable to find a reported fight on Diamond St. 9/11 - A man pulled over near H&H Grocery was arrested on a felony warrant, taken to Grant County Jail, and issued citations for defective brake lights and for failure to provide proof of insurance. 9/12 - An officer was flagged down at North Dam, where a pedestrian had spotted a bag of needles in the bushes near...
Teachers in the Grand Coulee Dam School District will get a 15.2-percent across-the-board increase in salary this year, following an agreement reached between the local teachers union and the district that some have called “life changing.” Superintendent Paul Turner told the school board Monday night that the increase is covered by the new salary allocation coming from the state, but just barely, with the district getting about $2.6 million for teacher salaries. He said the average of teacher salaries in the district is now at $65,614. The new...
Meet the candidates planned American Legion Post 97, in Brewster, will host a Fall Candidate Forum on Wednesday, Sept. 26, at 6 p.m. Okanogan County candidates vying for auditor, commissioner for District 3, sheriff and prosecutor positions have all been invited to speak and answer questions. Refreshments will be provided. Meet & greet planned to discuss idea of consolidating towns The topic of consolidation of local area towns will be discussed at a meet and greet to be held at The Wine Bar in Grand Coulee on Sept. 27, starting at 5:30 p.m....
An assembly held at Lake Roosevelt in May included stories of how drugs and alcohol can affect someone, as well as rap music, and the students reacted strongly to it all. A survey of the students following the survey has helped enlighten staff to issues the student body is facing, and has propelled them toward helping deal with these issues. At the assembly in May, James Pakootas spoke about the dark path of drugs and alcohol he went down, how it negatively affected him, how he got into it, and...
The number of vendors planning to offer wares at the Harvest Festival this weekend in North Dam Park has grown substantially from the event several years ago when a community yard sale was its most significant offering. In fact, the list of vendors has grown by at least half just since last year, with some 37 vendors coming to sell their wares, plus 11 food vendors. Many of those will hail from the local area, with many from the popular Wednesday market attending. In addition to the vendors, the event hosts the final competition of the Pacific...
Imagine kayaking 1,250 miles down the Columbia River from Columbia Lake, in British Columbia, down to Astoria, Oregon. That's exactly what John Kuntz, of Fort Gamble, Washington, is doing. "It's beautiful," Kuntz said. "Lots of beaches, dramatic landscapes," adding that he's seen a variety of wildlife, including bear, elk, moose, river otter, turkey, coyotes, and at least the prints of cougars. Kuntz, who is paddling the river in part as a way of "teaching youth the art of adventure," left the...
CJ Saxon wins a heat in the junior relay race Sept. 8 at the Okanogan County Fair. In the fifth of the day’s races, Saxon was riding for the Marchand Relay team. — Scott Hunter photo...
Grand Coulee Police 9/3 - A chainsaw, valued at $1,500, was stolen out of a man’s truck on Good St. in Electric City. 9/5 - A Grand Coulee man said another man had threatened to punch him in the face a few days earlier. - A driver pulled over on Kent St. in Electric City was charged with driving with faulty brake lights. His passenger was charged with openly smoking marijuana in public after the passenger blew a cloud of smoke out the rear window during the traffic stop. 9/6 - A driver pulled over on Hillcrest was cited with driving without a...
An electric utility has created a new rate class that could dramatically affect the local development of an “evolving industry” with an Electric City participant. Grant County Public Utility District commissioners voted last week to increase electricity rates for high-power cryptocurrency miners to protect “Grant PUD and its customers from risk,” a PUD press release stated Aug. 28. “Starting April 1, 2019, cryptocurrency miners and other ‘evolving-industry’ firms will pay the first of a three-year, graduated increase to a new, above-cost el...
Any land owners, ranchers or farmers impacted by last month’s wildfires in Douglas County, including the Grass Valley Fire that threatened Grand Coulee and Coulee Dam, can attend a meeting next week to discuss “post-fire needs and priorities,” the Foster Creek Conservation District says. The district will hold the meeting next Tuesday, Sept. 11, from 4-6 p.m. at Pepper Jack’s Bar and Grille on Midway Avenue in Grand Coulee. For more information, contact district Manager Amanda Ward at 509-888-6373 or 509-449-2158.... Full story