News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Maggie Stewart presents a handmade drum to Launi Ritter, representing the Chamber of Commerce, at the group's weekly meeting Thursday at the Grand Coulee Dam Senior Center. Stewart gave a presentation on her many crafts, from beadwork to dolls in buckskin, and her longtime career of selling them to clients as far away as Germany. She made the drum just for the occasion. - Scott Hunter photo... Full story
Some streets in Electric City will be receiving new names and numbers as a result of an ordinance passed last week by the Electric City council. The new names and numbering are being assigned to those properties that were taken in at the city’s latest annexation. The city has been working with the property owners affected in an effort to make the changeover without a hitch. A few of the property owners attended the last council meeting and seemed satisfied with the explanations given by Deputy Clerk Russell Powers. The numbering changes will m... Full story
There could be an announcement soon on who is going to be Coulee Dam’s new police chief. The town’s Civil Service Commission, made up of Herb Sherburne, Joe Tynan and Councilmember Shawn Derrick, has received 10 applications of interest in the position. The commission has pared this down to six final candidates. A four-member interview team, made up of Sherburne, Tynan, town Councilmember Ken Miles and Nate Piturachsatit finished interviewing six of the 10 candidates who made it to the interview process last Saturday. Sherburne said the six... Full story
The Electric City Council has agreed in principle to a proposal by Grand Coulee to provide police services to the city. The particulars were scratched out over an earlier agreement between the two parties and the council asked that it be finished up and prepared for adoption at its Dec. 8 meeting. The agreement for 2016 and 2017 would have Electric City pay $125,000 for Grand Coulee’s police services the first year. For 2017, the amount would increase according to the Consumer Price Index, not to be less than 2 percent or more than 5 p... Full story
The Bureau of Reclamation is going green. You will soon see the all new electric-powered vehicles the bureau has added to its vehicle fleet. They are so quiet you could almost hear a pin drop. That is a fair description of the Bureau of Reclamation's new electric utility vehicle (EUV) fleet of 27 passenger and maintenance vehicles. The vehicles will be seen throughout the Grand Coulee Dam Project area soon and will save the government an estimated 10 to 15 percent a year in just gasoline...
Elmer City hopes to establish a Transportation Benefit District (TBD) which will allow the town to collect $20 on most new licenses issued for vehicles. The town will have a public hearing on the issue at 6:45, Thursday, Dec. 10, and will have an ordinance on the agenda that night for passage. The town council has indicated that any funds generated through a Transportation Benefit District would go into the town’s street fund for the improvement of town streets. After the TBD has been in effect for 24 months, the town may collect $40 per v... Full story
A dog owned by a city employee in Electric City was declared a "dangerous dog" at the council meeting last Tuesday night. The owner of the dog, Jared L. Armstrong, of 32 Hillcrest Place, who is an employee of the city's public works department, appeared to defend his dog. The gray, tan and white dog with spots, named Felicia, about 40 pounds, was described by Armstrong as nothing more than a 10-month-old puppy. "I would have brought him tonight and he would have probably licked all of you and... Full story
Ken Miles mixes pancake batter for the Veterans Day breakfast, which constantly served breakfasts from 6:30 a.m. on and brought in more than $900 in donations for American Legion Post 157 during the Veterans Day Nov. 11 event. The group also held their winter coat giveaway on Saturday, providing 44 coats to local area residents. The legion gleaned hundreds of good-quality hats, coats, scarves and gloves during the post's summer-long weekly yard sale, when people aren't interested in warm... Full story
No pay for council Electric City councilmembers voted not to pay themselves $20 a meeting and to not give Mayor John Nordine II a $50-a-month raise last Tuesday night. Councilmember Lonna Bussert was adamant that she saw serving on the council as a public service. The other councilmembers agreed. The council twice before had voted down paying its members by the meeting. The council also voted not to increase the mayor’s salary from $250 a month to $300 a month. Wages of full-time staff members went up 1 percent for 2016, and this also passed t... Full story
Electric City council agreed to the allotment of hotel/motel tax money for 2016 at its meeting last Tuesday and will consider keeping more than a quarter million dollars in tourism-promotion funds toward funding a pathway. The council tourism committee, made up of councilmembers Brad Parrish and Richard McGuire, recommended allotting the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce $25,000 for tourism promotion, with the stipulation that $3,200 be taken from that amount to make up for overpayments the city made during 2015. That created a debate... Full story
The town of Coulee Dam is set to gain a new sewer plant but lose an ambulance service. The town expects to spend nearly $7 million of its wastewater fund in 2016, when a long-awaited revamp of its wastewater treatment plant is anticipated to begin in late summer. A preliminary budget shows the town ending next year with nearly $857,000 in reserves, even after spending some $10,053,652, most of that on the sewer plant. At the town council’s Nov. 12, meeting there was no discussion on the budget or on Mayor Greg Wilder’s 2016 “budget messa... Full story
The Ridge Riders have received another banner for being named Pro-West "Rodeo of the Year" for their Colorama Rodeo last May. "We couldn't do this without everyone in our organization doing their part," Ridge Riders President George Kohout said. Kohout has been president for the past four years, with the Ridge Riders winning the top rodeo-of-the-year award three of those years. The Professional Western Rodeo Association sanctions about 60 rodeos throughout the West. The Ridge Riders will be... Full story
City hall in Electric City will get a facelift sometime in 2016. The council tucked away a little over $26,000 to dress up the city’s municipal building. The building is targeted for a repair of existing concrete blocks, a paint job, a rock wainscoting on the outside, plus three new air conditioning units. The city is also planning on a new sign on the side of the building and a small readerboard sign to advertise its meetings and other information to the public. The color of the building hasn’t been determined, officials said. In the past two... Full story
In an exercise, Bureau of Reclamation emergency and security personnel stage a response to a possible hazardous waste contamination incident Tuesday morning. Scanner monitors can relax.... Full story
Three important steps are in the works for Electric City’s pathway project. That project would, if everything worked out, build a pedestrian and bicycle pathway from Sunbanks Lake Resort to North Dam Park, in different phases. Phase one would be from Coulee Playland to North Dam Park. No date has been set for the start of the project, but one meeting was held last Tuesday. That phase is estimated at $500,000. One of the first steps will occur next Tuesday when the city council is expected to provide $40,000 from its lodging tax money for a c... Full story
Jo Ayers, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II, accepts a spontaneous ovation after being introduced as one of several Marines, but the only woman Marine present, at the Veterans Day assembly at Lake Roosevelt Schools Friday. Veterans were introduced and honored by service branch, after which each branch's song was performed by the senior choir. - Scott Hunter photo... Full story
One of the issues Electric City council members will decide next Tuesday night when they meet is whether they want to pay themselves. The issue has come up twice in the past and both times was voted down by the council. Most small cities and towns pay council members by the meeting, but not all, and never much. City Clerk Jackie Perman said that the resolution will suggest $20 per meeting, and not to exceed two meetings a month. The council as a whole meets once a month, but various members have committee meetings. Also on the agenda will be... Full story
A run over the top of Grand Coulee Dam will be revived, even after its last organizers dropped it, if Kelly Buche has anything to say about it. Buche, a local accountant and active runner, is aggressively planning how to organize, promote and pull off a race that at one time in its long history drew 400 runners. Run the Dam can offer a lot to the running public if promoted the right way and set at the right time of year, Buche told the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District at their Nov. 2... Full story
This could be good news for area bowlers. Riverview Lanes could be opening again, with a new owner, perhaps as early as Dec. 1. “There are still a lot of things that have to happen, but I am working toward that opening date,” said Scott Elmore, a westsider who looks forward to life on the east side of the state. Elmore is working with the owners of the alley, Pat and Sara Zlateff, on the details of the sale, the reconditioning of parts of the alley, and with the town of Coulee Dam. Riverview Lanes was broken into twice in October, and dam... Full story
Pat Zlateff is anything but your typical veteran. Most local people will remember him as owner of Riverview Lanes, where he and his wife, Sara, kept the bowling alley in Coulee Dam open because the couple thought local people deserved a place to go for fun and enjoyment. Pat graduated from Coulee Dam High School back in 1964, having spent two years at Grand Coulee High School and finishing up at Coulee Dam. Then Pat got in some time at Eastern Washington University and played as a running back... Full story
Museum calendar fund raiser starting Coulee Pioneer Museum’s 2016 calendar, goes on sale next Thursday. The calendar sells for $10. Add membership in the museum and you get both for $30 (a $35 value). The sale opens at the Chamber of Commerce meeting at noon Thursday at the Grand Coulee Dam Senior Center, but can also be purchased from Birdie Hensley, 631-0303. Give blood Monday, save lives There will be an Inland Northwest Blood Center blood drive at the community room at Coulee Medical Center, Monday, Nov. 16. Donation hours are 11:30 a.m. ... Full story
A new project aimed at refurbishing very old structures atop Grand Coulee Dam, like so much of the dam, is likely to yield the largest such device ever built. The 11 drum gates used to control the lake level, at 75 years old, are in need of major refurbishing, not just annual maintenance, explains Public Affairs Officer Lynne Brougher. But that poses big problems without a way to plan long-term projects around the operation of a reservoir used to control the flow of the Columbia River, for... Full story
There will be some new faces on both the Electric City and Coulee Dam councils in 2016. In Electric City, former council- woman Birdie Hensley will have a seat back on the council, after defeating Gladys (Carol) Nordine, 142-126. Nordine had led in the Position 3 race at the end of polling Tuesday by a single vote, 81-80. Nordine had been appointed to her position this summer to fill a vacancy. In other Electric City council races, Richard McGuire won re-election to Position 2, by defeating Daniel Greeley, 168-74. Brad Parrish won his Position... Full story
The relationship between the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce and Electric City reached a new low this past week. While the relationship has been simmering for a long time, it spilled over Oct. 22, when the chamber’s weekly meeting was devoted to a perceived problem in how Electric City handles its hotel/motel money. There was even a suggestion that the chamber sue the city. The situation got worse last week when the chamber sent registered letters to all Electric City’s council members, its mayor, city clerk and the city att... Full story
The Star print edition next week will be out two days early, on Monday, due to the Veterans Day holiday falling on the newspaper’s normal Wednesday publication day. The issue will include our annual salute to area veterans, and we wanted it in most readers’ hands before the holiday. Accordingly, deadlines for the issue come very early. Community news, announcements and advertising needs to be in by Thursday at 5 p.m....
