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 Electric City Council last week selected Richard McGuire and Brad Parrish as representatives to the city’s hotel/motel tax fund committee. The two have been on the committee, and the appointment is for the rest of their terms — two years. The committee reviews requests for hotel/motel tax funds collected for boosting tourism and makes recommendations to the council as a whole. The city plans to advise those who have sought hotel/motel funds in the past to make their request during the month of September. These requests for 2017 funding wil... Full story
Councilmember resigns Erin Nielson has resigned his position on Grand Coulee’s city council. Nielson was in his second four-year term and submitted a resignation letter to the city this past week. Nielson, a Bureau of Reclamation employee, stated that he has taken a job in Boise, Idaho. EDC excited to work with city Economic Development Councilmember Bob Valen said last week that he was encouraged by Grand Coulee’s planning commission interest in their ideas. He told the chamber of commerce that the EDC had been “received very well” when pr... Full story
People gathered at Spring Canyon Wednesday night observe the night sky through their own and National Park Service telescopes in an event put on to help enthusiasts learn how to use them. NPS education specialist Janice Elvidge, right, looks up as a woman trains an eight-inch diameter scope on a celestial body. The group also caught sight of a few meteors in the August Perseid meteor shower. Elvidge leads several sky-watching events each summer. - Scott Hunter photo... Full story
Gary Haven, Electric City’s code officer has resigned. Haven advised the city a week ago that he planned to quit the position he has held for the past eight years. He said Tuesday that it was “time for a change.” Haven who is also the code enforcement officer for the town of Coulee Dam, indicated Tuesday that he plans to continue in that position. Code enforcement officers address lapses in meeting city codes, including nuisance codes such as public safety violations including unmowed, dried yards and other fire hazards. “In the summer,... Full story
All four local municipalities are cooperatively putting in for a Department of Transportation TIB grant this week. If the grant applications are successful, it will enable the four cities and towns to get a better bid on the work, Elmer City Public Works Director “Jimmer” Tillman said Tuesday. The grant would be for chip sealing and crack sealing of selected streets within the four municipalities. Tillman, who sparked the idea, said that it costs a lot of money for contractors to come and set up, especially for smaller jobs. “If they had jobs... Full story
A series of wildland fires around the region the last two weeks have kept fire fighting agencies busy and yesterday prompted a burning ban in Grant County. A nearly 2,000-acre fire about 15 miles south of Inchelium has been 65 percent contained, the Northwest 9 Management team reported Tuesday. Evacuation levels have been reduced to level one throughout the fire region, fire officials reported. The Kewa blaze started Aug. 2, and has burned 1,912 acres of rangeland and timber. The NW 9 Management incident commander, Brian Goff, reported that... Full story
The chamber of commerce's Economic Development Council (EDC) received an unusually strong response to a consolidation survey mailed to 2,235 residents and placed online in June. Some 546 residents responded, a 24.4-percent return. Such surveys need only generate about a 6-percent response to be considered statistically valid, information garnered by the chamber states. The subject, consolidation of local towns and cities, is not unfamiliar to residents who have been around here awhile.... Full story
Phase two of the facelift of Electric City's municipal building was completed last Wednesday with the hanging of a new sign, and there's more to come. City officials have stated that the 2017 budget will include money to replace windows and doors to city hall. Former mayor Jerry Sands got it started a few years ago with work inside that included painting, new carpet, and refitting city council chambers with a remodeled conference table and new chairs, all at bargain basement prices. Reached... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District approved the contracts of two new coaches at Lake Roosevelt High School and a fourth grade teacher for the elementary school. Approved Monday, during a special meeting, were Casey Moore, for girls’ soccer, and Loren Endsley as head football coach. Moore, who works for the Colville Tribes, recently convinced the school board to offer girls’ soccer this fall for Lake Roosevelt athletes. The board approved the proposal and found some $21,500 to begin the program. Turnouts begin Aug. 22. Six schools in the North... Full story
About 300 alumni at the Coulee Dam All-Class Reunion gather in the bleachers for a photo Saturday afternoon. With about 500 attending the gathering, which had confirmations from schoolmates from as far back as the class of 1943, the gathering cleared expenses by about $3,000, which will be donated to the Lake Roosevelt High School athletic fund, organizer Bert Smith wrote on the group's Facebook page. - Scott Hunter photo... Full story
There’s a good chance there will be a significant meteor shower beginning Thursday night and possibly extending for the next two nights. Experts think the annual Perseid meteor event could provide a great display this year, up to 200 meteors an hour, because Jupiter’s gravity will force them nearer to earth. Peak viewing should occur after midnight Thursday into Friday morning. If you miss it, or it inspires you, the next two nights also offer a local opportunity to delve into deep space. Janice Elvidge, education specialist for the Lake Roosev...
The volume of cases and restrictions on sentencing imposed by the state Legislature are two handicaps on his office, Grant County Prosecuting Attorney Garth Dano told chamber of commerce members at a recent meeting. Dano started out by asking chamber members if they wanted to pay more taxes, to a negative response. Then he pointed out that his office is working with three fewer lawyers than when he took office a year and a half ago. Budgets are indeed a factor in how long it takes to handle and... Full story
Coulee Dam has narrowed the field of candidates for a new chief of police to two, the mayor said Tuesday. The top candidates, from an original field of five, are Mark Farrel, a recently-retired colonel from Pinedale, Wyoming, and Paul Bowden, who has served as chief in Wilbur for two years. Farrel currently lives in the Seattle area. Bowden is the husband of the Coulee Dam town clerk, Stefani Bowden. Mayor Greg Wilder said the town’s civil service commission had forwarded three candidates for his consideration. He put together an interview c... Full story
Big reunion starts Friday The 2016 Grand Coulee All- School Reunion is here this week. All former Grand Coulee School District students, teachers and employees are invited to gather at North Dam Park at 7 p.m., Friday night, to renew old friendships. On Saturday the group is invited to tour the old high school (most recently the middle school) and the new Lake Roosevelt School. The Saturday potluck will be at noon Saturday at North Dam Park, and music is scheduled at 8 p.m. that evening at Electric City Bar and Grill. Horse equipment needed A... Full story
The former Center Elementary School in Grand Coulee was broken into for the third time last week, with hundreds of dollars of damage done and questions about the building's future looming unanswered. In addition to damage from the break-in on or about July 25, the building and grounds show windows and doors boarded up, many windows broken, and the grassy areas covered with weeds. Police stated that some youth had broken through a plywood sheet covering a door and gone inside, throwing paint... Full story
Update: One of two suspects in a Soap Lake shooting turned himself in to authorities Sunday night, the Grant County Sheriff's Office said Monday morning. Tomas Miguel Lopez turned himself in about 7 p.m., was interviewed and booked into Grant County Jail. The sheriff's office said they still are seekng information about a second suspect and that tipsters can remain anonymous. Original story: Two people narrowly escaped serious injury after two men reportedly started shooting at them in their veh...
Running Banks Lake Golf Course with volunteers is working, Port District 7 commissioners declared last Thursday. In a financial report to commissioners, treasurer Joanne Davidson noted that the golf course is nearly $40,000 ahead of where it was last year at this time. The course is being managed by commissioners and other volunteers, the first year of operation without paid staff. "We have learned how to run a golf course," commission President James Keene said at the district's Thursday... Full story
Electric City’s fish pen operation is great for fishing in Banks Lake, but it also benefits the area in a different way. A good fishery in Banks Lake adds greatly to the area economy. Currently, the volunteer group that raises some 300,000 rainbow trout annually is looking for a new manager of the fish net pen operation. Former manager Carl Russell is retiring after 25 years tending the enterprise of POWER (Promoters of Wildlife and Environmental Resources). The trout are released from the pens twice a year and, accordingly, the releases have m... Full story
Grant County Mosquito District 2 planned another aerial granular larvicide drop along Banks Lake today (Wednesday), weather permitting. The new treatment, the second aerial drop this year, is necessitated by new evidence of mosquitos from Sunbanks Lake Resort, Steamboat Rock State Park and Electric City. The first aerial treatment was made in May and resulted in a big mosquito larvae kill and reports of mosquito-free patio and camping times throughout the area. But recent tests along the lake revealed mosquito larvae to the extent that another... Full story
Some mosquitos near Kettle Falls day use and group site campground have tested positive for West Nile Virus, the National Park Service said last week. Conditions this summer at Lake Roosevelt have been optimal for mosquitos, the NPS noted. Visitors, park staff, and our neighbors and partners have been dealing with an extraordinarily large mosquito population, especially in the Kettle Falls area, NPS officials have stated. The NPS is encouraging visitors to contact Julie Graham (360-236-4078) at the Washington Department of Health concerning... Full story
A car is about to be hoisted back up a ravine just below the intersection of SR-155 and Peter Dan Road north of Elmer City Tuesday night, following a two-car crash. No other information was available at the time. The Star will provide updates online with information as it becomes available from Colville Tribal Police. - Scott Hunter photo... Full story
The artist who produced the Gehrke windmills could get some overdue attention if the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District can find funding for a few interpretive signs to tell his story. Electric City resident Kristen Heidenthal last month proposed working on four interpretive panels to explain to visitors a colorful history of the artist beyond his time in the Grand Coulee area. Emil Gehrke is recognized as a legitimate American folk artist and his work is more widely known and respected than many appreciate, district President Bob Valen... Full story
Grant County Port District 7 commissioners OK’d a contract with J-U-B Engineers to do an Airport Geographic Information System study during the current year. The project, approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, will begin soon and involves an aerial mapping of the airport and surrounding area, identifying any obstructions that might interfere with airplane activity in the area. Commission President James Keene said at the commissioners’ meeting Thursday that the cost of the project will be about $97,000, and needs to be done while the... Full story
A full report on Electric City’s proposed Pathway and Revitalization project could come by late August, city Deputy Clerk Russell Powers said last week. The Washington State University Rural Communities Design Initiative team will be finishing up its report and then it will be reviewed by Electric City’s community committee. The city council then will review it and it eventually will become part of the city’s comprehensive plan. The WSU team, made up of Assistant Professor Kathleen Ryan and three students, was in Electric City July 16 for t... Full story
At the second annual Plateau Native Art Show in Grand Coulee, put on Saturday by Northwest Native Development Fund, artist Nevin Pfaltzgraff, of Coulee Dam, left, chats with patrons as Bill Stevens takes in Pfaltzgraff's first-place winning painting of a dahlia. Jeannie Jerred took second with her white moccasins beaded with roses, and ledger art by Cheryl Grunlose took third. - Scott Hunter photo... Full story