News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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On any given week, Star photographers take far more photos than can be used in the newspaper. But the best of the rest are included on a website anyone can explore, and it has just been redesigned. We hope readers enjoy looking through them and feel free to share them in social media as they like....
A water line extension project in Electric City to service Sunbanks Lake Resort is scheduled for April, city officials stated. Mayor Jerry Sands said this week that the city is going to upgrade the 8-inch water line to a 10-inch water line at the city’s expense so it will be in a position to serve any future water needs on the south side of the causeway. The line will be stubbed where it goes into the Sunbanks property. Sands said Sunbanks will pay for the 400-foot extension of the water line from State Street to the turn into the resort p...
CMC commission meets tonight Commissioner for Public Hospital District 6, which operates Coulee Medical Center, will meet at their regular monthly meeting tonight at 6 p.m. in the CMC public meeting room. Among items on the agenda are the elections of officers for the new year and a closed session that relies on the state’s exception to open meetings for evaluating the performance of a public employee. Seat open on city council Parties interested in serving on the Grand Coulee City Council still have a couple of days to get their letter of i...
A school bus Tuesday passes by the Grand Coulee Dam School District's new kindergarten-through-12th grade complex being built in Coulee Dam. - Scott Hunter photo...
Electric City Volunteer Fire Chief Mark Payne will keep his job despite two incidents of illegal burning at his home. Mayor Jerry Sands made the statement at a meeting Monday night of several local firefighters. “I am not going to remove Payne as fire chief,” Sands said. Earlier in the day, he admitted that he was pondering doing that. Instead, Sands said he was going to use the incidents as a public education effort to inform residents about the burning ban that covers all areas within the urban growth boundaries in cities and towns thr...
A $750 fine of a home mechanic’s illegal operation was supported in Grand Coulee’s municipal court last Friday. The mechanic, Donovan Picard, who lives at 431 W. Grand, was issued a $750 ticket by Grand Coulee police for doing mechanical repair at his home garage in a residential zone and for not having a business license. Last September two local businessmen appeared before the city council to complain that Picard was operating in a residential zone and didn’t have a business license. They said he was siphoning off business from their shops...
The chamber of commerce has asked the state Department of Transportation and the city of Grand Coulee to consider adding a couple of crosswalks on Midway Avenue. Chamber Vice President Bob Valen made the request to the DOT and to city hall and it came before the city council at its last meeting. Valen said this week that two businesses on Midway, Jess Ford and Coulee Hardware, have expanded their activity to places across the highway and have employees going back and forth. There are no crosswalks at either location. Valen said that he has hear...
An argument over a dead horse brought police to a Delano horse rescue address. Officers found that two women, Terry Jo Merbach and Heather Catherine Downs, had been in an argument over who overfed a “rescue” horse, causing the animal to die. Downs had stated that Merbach threatened her and she retreated to the stable area for her own protection. Merbach claimed the reverse. Rescue manager Chris Holeman told police that emotions had been running high on the loss of the horse on Sunday, Jan. 19. Holeman told police that Merbach had been the one...
A Coulee City man was hospitalized after he rolled his car just north of Coulee City Sunday morning. The Washington State Patrol reported that Henry Visker, 63, lost control of the southbound 1998 Toyota 4Runner he was driving about 6:15 a.m. two miles north of Coulee City on SR 155. He was taken by ambulance to Coulee Medical Center with unspecified injuries, and the car was totalled. The WSP listed the cause of the accident as “speed too fast for conditions....
Larry Donnelly, Sunbanks Lake Resort's new manager, arrived on the scene here running, and he's still running. Born in Seattle, and now a Longview resident, driving home on the weekends gives Donnelly plenty of time to think about his new assignment. The resort plans a major water hook-up with the City of Electric City in April, the addition of three new beachfront cabins, and a re-building of the stage area, and that's for starters. Donnelly a 20-year veteran of the Navy, has managed several...
A water line extension project in Electric City to service Sunbanks Lake Resort is scheduled for April, city officials stated. Mayor Jerry Sands said this week that the city is going to upgrade the 8-inch water line to a 10-inch water line at the city’s expense so it will be in a position to serve any future water needs on the south side of the causeway. The line will be stubbed where it goes into the Sunbanks property. Sands said Sunbanks will pay for the 400-foot extension of the water line from State Street to the turn into the resort p...
The priorities in a push for a golf course enhancement grant took a shift last Thursday night as a dozen people gathered to discuss the six parts of the preferred list of ideas. Number six on the list, the RV park project, took front and center as stakeholders took a serious look at how the grant application to the state's Recreation and Conservation Office might be structured. The RV park would provide a revenue source for the money-starved, 18-hole Banks Lake Golf Course, while the other five...
MOSES LAKE, Wash. (Jan. 27, 2014) – Four men are jailed today after Grant County law enforcement officers in search of stolen property raided a home east of Moses Lake, the county sheriff said in a media advisory Monday afternoon. Around 9 a.m., the Moses Lake Regional Tactical Response Team served a search warrant at 4562 Road N-Northeast. The raid was related to an investigation into the Jan. 20 thefts of property from National Frozen Foods in Moses Lake. During that crime, a utility t...
Here's what our elected legislators in the state House of Representatives and the state Senate did last week on various issues, according to Washington Votes. This week, the House passed a number of non-controversial bills with few or no dissenting votes. Votes on the higher education measures and a flame retardant bill described below, however, were split more significantly. No votes were taken in the Senate. House Bill 1251, Increasing membership on the Opportunity Scholarship Board. Passed the House on Friday, January 24, 2014 by a vote of...
The Bureau of Reclamation announced last week that Kerry McCalman of Denver, Colo., has been named the interim power manager at Grand Coulee Dam, starting last Wednesday. McCalman is Reclamation’s senior advisor for Hydropower and Electric Reliability compliance officer based in Denver. He replaces Mark Jenson who has been the Grand Coulee power manager since April 2011. Jenson will remain at Grand Coulee Dam to lead the Project Management Group, which is directly involved in repairing, replacing, and upgrading power equipment throughout the f...
A worker burned in an accident at Grand Coulee Dam last November is due to be released from hospital today, the Bureau of Reclamation has informed an irrigation district. The Columbia Basin Development League reported to members in its email newsletter last week that the bureau said Dan McCulloch would be released Jan. 22. McCulloch, 54, was flown to Harborview Medical Center with extensive burns Nov. 18 after a mishap with switch gear for Pump Generator 12 in the John W. Keys III Pump-Generating Plant. Of the 12 units in the plant, six are...
A vacated house in Electric City may have as many as 15 nuisance ordinance violations, according to Councilmember Brad Parrish, who lives close by. Parrish, who lives on Washington Place, asked City Clerk Jackie Perman to put the nuisance ordinance issue on the docket for last Tuesday night's meeting. Parrish then went on to show pictures of the untidy place and point out that the door has been left open and that he has seen pack rats around the place. He asked that something be done about it,...
Stefani Bowden, Coulee Dam's new town clerk, will be at her first town council meeting tonight. She served almost 10 years as deputy clerk at Wilbur before coming to Coulee Dam. "All cities are similar, but each one has its own unique qualities," Bowden said. She stated that the one thing she really liked about being in a city hall is that you get to meet a lot of people. "I am a people person, and think it is the responsibility for the town clerk to help people when they come in with a...
Playland holds steady The Electric City Council approved Coulee Playland prices and fees for the coming tourist season. Manager Hal Rauch informed the council that most rates for overnight stays will remain the same. Rauch stated that he was in his 29th season as manager of the resort. This year the resort plans to introduce a stand-up paddleboard for rent. Electric City appointments made Councilmember John Nordine was elected mayor pro-tem for Electric City at its last council meeting. The mayor pro-tem takes over for the mayor when he is...
It was uncomfortable at first, but the nursing staff at Coulee Medical Center has made a cultural adjustment for transparency in the service of improvements to patient care at the hospital. So said Chief Nursing Officer Ramona Hicks in a presentation to the chamber of commerce on substantial changes in nursing and other processes at the facility. Hicks, whose CNO position gives her oversight of nursing, surgical services, pharmacy, laboratory, radiology, outpatient services, labor and delivery...
New Wood Resources announced Jan. 16 that David Niessner has joined the company as general manager of Omak Wood Products in Omak, Wash. Niessner will help manage the 90-person team at Omak Wood Products, which was formed through an agreement with New Wood Resources and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation to restart the veneer mill in Omak, and to enter into a long-term log supply agreement from tribal-owned timberlands. “David brings expert leadership and a keenly analytical mind to the unique opportunity and partnership New W...
Lincoln County Sheriff Wade Magers last week awarded Wilbur resident Seth Coffman for his role in the saving the life of a woman thrown from a boat near Keller Ferry Marina in 2011. Magers gave Coffman a letter and a “Lincoln County Sheriffs Office Challenge Coin.” Coffman commandeered a boat just before noon Oct. 7, 2011 when a boat was noticed circling out of control in tight circles. “You had heard the commotion and responded to the marina where you commandeered a boat and heroically responded to the scene to assist the two strangers in ne...
OLYMPIA — Discover Pass revenue is going up, but not fast enough. With the general fund money gap, it’s hard to keep parks open. But they are managing by trying to promote the pass program and reduce staff. Three years after Washington’s Discover Pass program was implemented, revenue from sales of the pass continues to grow. The pass, which is a user fee for vehicle entry into public lands such as state parks and natural resource lands, brought in an average of $13 million a year during its first two years. But during the fiscal year ending in...
OLYMPIA—The push to label genetically modified organisms – termed GMOs – is back on the table in Olympia. But the focus is on genetically engineered, or transgenic, fish. A transgenic animal has had one animal’s DNA spliced with another to create an animal with new characteristics. House Bill 2143 proposes to ensure that consumers will know exactly what kind of fish they are purchasing at the supermarket – whether it’s farm-raised, wild-caught or “genetically engineered.” Before a Jan. 17 hearing on the bill in the House Agriculture and...
This week's photo extras are now online for your viewing pleasure. 1-22-14 Star - Images by Scott Hunter...
