News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 2879 - 2903 of 6722
Snyder Hill residents raised a rousing ruckus at the July 10 Electric City council meeting on the agreement made with the city concerning their 2010 annexation to the city. During a public comment time slot on the council meeting agenda, complaints from citizens of Snyder Hill ranged from the city not treating the roads of the area to the failure of the city to plow snow to certain points of the roads, something understood by residents there to be conditions of the annexation. A solution for the snow plow issue is in the works as the city...
Peter Dan Road to be closed July 23, traffic delays in meantime Peter Dan Road, which connects the Elmer City area to the Keller area, will be closed between Highway 155 and Buffalo Lake Road from July 23 through August 21. “This closure is necessary to safely excavate the failed slope above Peter Dan Road,” a July 16 Okanogan County press release states. “A detour route is signed via Buffalo Lake Road.” Construction started on July 16, and traffic control delays are to be expected. Volunteer firefighter accepted Michael Adolph was approve...
Rodney Cawston was named the new chairman of the Colville Business Council July 12 after a ceremony in which seven recently elected council members were sworn into office and positions were assigned to the 14 members of the CBC. At the Lucy Covington Government Center near Nespelem Thursday morning, the oath of office ceremony started with traditional native American songs and drumming, and a prayer from Cawston. Six out of the seven recently elected CBC members are new, with only Joseph...
Electric City Councilmember Rich McGuire addressed the issue of the city’s appearance at the July 10 council meeting, and the council may form a committee to improve its appearance at their August meeting. McGuire said he was responding to a Star newspaper opinion column by Roger Lucas, headlined “Ugliest town in the west can do better.” “The many eyesores along the entrance to the city stood out like sore thumbs,” Lucas wrote, describing the city in his column. McGuire agreed with the sentiments of the Lucas piece. “I walk and I walk and I wal...
The Washington Flats area burns last week as temperatures climb and humidity drops in the summer fire season. See the story on the front page. - Jacob Wagner photo...
Grand Coulee Police 7/7 - An officer pulled over a car at the the overlook area just above Grand Coulee Dam because the registered owner was known to have a suspended license. The driver was the registered owner’s son, who didn’t have a license, and was issued a citation for driving without one. 7/10 - Police told a man sleeping in his car near the fish-raising net pens in Electric City to leave after a report of a suspicious vehicle. - A boy waiting for his grandmother in the passenger seat of a car was warned to turn his music down at abo...
The Grand Coulee Dam School District board Monday night approved the hiring of Ronanda Liberty as the new interim high school principal. Hired for a year, Liberty will serve as the principal while the search continues for the right fit for the long term. “I feel real strongly that her presence with the staff; they know her, it’s not something new. ... She’ll be a great asset for us,” said Superintendent Paul Turner. Liberty, whose home is in Ritzville, served as principal in the 2015-16 school year, the first woman to fill the position in the...
A 385 acre wildfire burning on Washington Flats across the Columbia River from the Seaton's Grove area near Elmer City is no longer spreading, and ground crews from the Department of Natural Resources and the Bureau of Land Management are securing the perimeters. "Threat is pretty minimal at this point," said Jeff Dimke, fire management officer for the Bureau of Land Management. The fire, first reported at about 2 p.m. on July 11, had helicopters scooping water from the river to dump on the fire, as well as four single engine air tankers and...
The Washington National Guard's "Full Metal Racket" rock band gets people on their feet at the Festival of America July 4 at the park below the Visitor Center at Grand Coulee Dam. For more photos of the Fourth, see page 5. - Scott Hunter photo...
There’s more to decide than just the local school levy in the upcoming primary election Aug. 7. With local voters tasked with making choices between some 70 candidates seeking nine offices in the upcoming primary, The Star has reached out to all candidates, asking them to tell readers why they deserve your vote. Voters looking for a reason to pick one candidate over another may look for their responses in our Aug. 1 issue, in which we will publish their paid advertisements submitted in response. Local voters, split up into many different d...
A guy who had brightly colored hair in his youth, but wears a tie to work now, would like to see the local skateboarding scene grow to include more features at the park, local competitions, and more, and would like all the support he can get from local skaters. Ben Hughes, a commissioner on the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District since February, has a background in skateboarding himself. "I started skating in 1985 on a bright orange banana board (now called Penny boards)," Hughes says, and...
Powwow starts Thursday night The 133rd Annual Fourth of July Celebration Powwow will take place at the Nespelem powwow grounds from July 12 through July 15. Tribal council oath of office Thursday morning The Colville Business Council oath of office ceremony will take place on July 12 starting at 9 a.m. in the auditorium of the Lucy Covington Government Center at the Colville Indian Agency. No local fires July 4 July 4 was blessedly boring for most local firefighters, who are used to responding to fireworks-related incidents on the national...
Pronghorn antelope, native to the area before being wiped out, were transplanted on the Colville Indian Reservation by way of Nevada in 2016, and again in 2017, and appear to be doing well. With 51 of the animals wearing tracking collars, there are at least 89 adults and 29 fawns, according to an aerial headcount by Colville Tribal Fish & Wildlife Biologist Sam Rushing. "I know there's more out there," Rushing said. The animals have been roaming as far south as Wenatchee and Quincy, and as far...
At 18, Silas Sherbourne wasn't sure what to do with the rest of his life, so he left home the day he graduated from high school and hit the road - on one wheel. Sherbourne is unicycling 4,000 miles across the country to Savannah, Georgia, for a cause and for some clarity. "I concluded that the best action for me was to spend some time after graduation meditating on what really matters to me, in order to figure out what I should do," Sherbourne wrote on his gofundme page, hoping to raise $2,000...
Grand Coulee Police 7/2 - An Electric City man reported his truck stolen. He had returned from fishing to his Kelso Avenue home at about 10 p.m. on July 1 and left his truck in his garage that night, and also left the keys in the garage. Items that were in the truck were found nearby, down the street from the residence, including a pair of binoculars and a weed eater, as well as bolt cutters, which didn’t belong to the victim. There are no suspects or clues as to which direction the stolen vehicle headed. - A group of campers at Sunbanks L...
The idea of building a community wellness center has not died. Coulee Area Park and Recreation District commissioners talked Monday night about reviving the topic for further pursuit after a couple years of its stagnation. “We could maybe get that thing back on the table in a discussion mode,” Commissioner Bob Valen said. “I would like to see it resurrected again.” Although still enthusiastic, Valen said he was not optimistic, knowing the cost of such a project. He said when CAPRD explored the idea a few years ago, architects gave a rough e...
Coulee Dam may soon allow the driving of all-terrain vehicles on city streets, if the council adopts a law similar to those passed by Electric City and Grand Coulee recently. It’s already happening, anyway, and state law allows it on the highway that runs through town, Councilmember Keith St. Jeor said, but Coulee Dam hasn’t adopted standards for the practice. St. Jeor said at the June 27 council meeting that citizens have been bringing it up and he’d like to see the town adopt the same standards passed by the Legislature several years ago f...
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Some mothers get a card or flowers for Mother's Day, others get a customized granite walkway in the backyard. Ron Williams, who owns Guaranteed Welding, made his mother, Alice Jimeson, a deck-of-cards themed walkway for her home in Electric City, complete with a large spade, club, heart, diamond, and, for the coup de gras, a joker. Jimeson loves to play cards. The joker's face alone took about 12 hours, Williams said, and the surrounding pieces, such as the jester hat, took another 15 to make....
The official vote counts for the June 16 general election for the Colville Business Council, including the absentee ballots that were announced June 28, with several incumbents voted out, including the current chairman of the council, which governs the Colville Tribes. In the Omak District Position 2 race, Margie Hutchinson won the election with 391-253 votes over the current council chairman, Michael E. Marchand. In the Nespelem District Position 1 race, Janet (Wak Wak) Nicholson’s won 428-390 over Jarred-Michael Erickson. In the Nespelem D...
Ridge Riders report break-in The Ridge Riders Saddle Club, which puts on the Colorama Rodeo and the more recent bull ride and race horse race, suffered a break-in and damage last week. Club President George Kohout said someone cut padlocks off gates and took an axe to the door of the shed that houses the bar of the Rattlesnake Saloon at the rodeo grounds last Wednesday night. He said the Grant County Sheriff’s Office is investigating. Child safety seat event planned Tribal Traffic Safety announced that certified Child Passenger Safety t...
A large collection of logs and debris floating at Crescent Bay should be all tugged away by a tugboat sometime between mid- and late July. "The Bureau of Reclamation has a contract with Columbia Navigation to collect the logs that come down the river during the spring runoff," said USBR Public Affairs Officer Lynne Brougher. "The logs that are at Crescent Bay and the logs that have collected behind Grand Coulee Dam in the Forebay area will be gathered together and Columbia Navigation will use...
Sarah Shanning was quite upset when she couldn't find her 7-year-old African land tortoise, Mrs. Doubtfire, who escaped from her yard in Elmer City on May 26. Shanning put up fliers looking for Mrs. Doubtfire, and took out an ad in The Star newspaper. Weeks later, on June 15, Shanning was reunited with Mrs. Doubtfire while at her job at the Tee Pee Drive In. "We were beginning to lose hope about finding her, and then there she was!" Shanning said of the reptile, which she thinks is 7 or 8 years...
People who live in areas that are zoned as low-density residential areas in Grand Coulee aren’t allowed to operate a business there. That includes short-term rentals, such as bed-and-breakfast places, even if owner-occupied, or through AirBnB or other websites specializing in short-term rentals. The city’s code states that it’s OK for friends or family to stay in an extra room at someone’s house. Or, in the case of a motorhome, a guest can stay for up to 14 days within a three-month period, but that no rent can be charged, and the vehicle...
Grand Coulee Police 6/26 - Nothing appeared out of place and no signs of forced entry were seen when an open door was investigated at a Grand Avenue house in Electric City. - An officer checking on the welfare of a Grand Coulee man, at the request of his mother, found him deceased at his Partello Parkway residence. The body was turned over to the county coroner. 6/27 - A burglary alarm had been tripped at Les Schwab; all doors were found to be secured. - A loud bang on Goodfellow Avenue in Electric City was likely a blown fuse. - A suspect in a...