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 best answer city officials could give Electric City resident Mike Dennis last Tuesday night was, it’s in the works. Dennis has been pressing the city to get changes to its master plan on the size of auxiliary buildings (metal storage sheds, shops) allowable in the city. He asked what was happening on getting some revisions to the code and was told that the city’s planner has the proposal from the city’s planning commission and is still looking at it. Dennis has appeared before the council on a regular basis trying to follow up on his reque... Full story
Grand Coulee’s Civil Service Commission is still trying to decide how to continue in its efforts to test and recommend the hiring of, a new police officer. The commission met in a special meeting Friday in an effort to schedule testing for seven applicants for a vacant patrolman position in the city. Commissioners discussed using a testing firm, Public Safety Testing of Lynnwood, Wash., and heard a telephone conference presentation by a representative. The discussion lasting over a half hour, produced little result and prompted commissioners t... Full story
Students and staff at Grand Coulee Dam Middle School were on pins and needles Friday morning, gathered for a special assembly with a secret subject ... Until they saw the TV camera and anchors. Cheers broke out as Dan Kleckner and Stephanie Vigil of KHQ TV entered the gym to bestow the Eastern Washington University Teacher of the Month honor on Jaci Gross. Gross had been nominated by student Taylor Holeman, who called her an important part of the school and a "great community member." Kleckner... Full story
Electric City’s council decided last Tuesday night to stick with its policy, at least for now, on how it spends its hotel/motel tax revenues. Its current policy puts half of its hotel/motel revenues in a reserve fund and makes the other half available to promote the area. Currently, the city has $245,416 in its hotel/motel reserve fund. Using 2012 figures, and the amount budgeted by the city for this year, that will put $34,400 into the reserve fund and make the same amount available for promotion purposes. Going into the promotion budget f... Full story
City supports health district After a presentation by Grant County Health District’s Jeffrey Ketchel, the Electric City council voted to give the district $2,000. The district had asked for $2 per resident or $2,000 from the city to help with its outside expenses. And senior meals The Grand Coulee Senior Meal program is the beneficiary of a $2,000 donation from the city of Electric City as the result of council action last Tuesday night. The meals program report stated that it provides 200 meals a month to seniors in Electric City alone. C... Full story
If you are old enough, do you remember where you were on Nov. 22, 1963, when the nation and the world was informed that President John F. Kennedy was shot? You can record your recollections of that date and incident at the Coulee Pioneer Museum in Electric City in a special notebook there. The notebook was placed there along with a collection of Kennedy dolls owned by Constance Wilson, a Coulee Dam resident. The collection has attracted some attention by museum visitors. The museum is open from... Full story
A quarter mile long piece of the Downriver Trail system might soon be reopened, Bureau of Reclamation officials stated last week. The trail would extend through a pedestrian gate along the rip-rap on the east side of the Columbia River near the bridge to just short of the Third Powerhouse. If approved, hikers could go from the north end of the trail near Seaton’s Grove all the way to near the Third Powerhouse. Public Affairs Officer Lynne Brougher said the change is being evaluated and that the agency will seek approval if everything goes w... Full story
Coulee Dam’s council approved a $9,700 change order on its proposed LED street light project at its meeting last Wednesday night. The change order will enable the contractor, Northwest Edison, to install 291 TRS series photocontrols with the new energy saving street lights. The cost of the change order has been okayed by the state’s Transportation Improvement Board, the organization funding the 100-percent grant. The project will replace old style street lights with LED (light-emitting diode) lights which will save the town about 60 percent of... Full story
With just over 300 ballots in Okanogan County left to count, the mayoral race in Elmer City is the closest local race in last week’s election, hanging by one vote. If the current count holds, there will be a turnover in the mayor’s office as challenger and sitting council member Gail Morin will have defeated current Mayor Mary Jo Carey, 43-42. County elections officer Mila Jury said Tuesday that only the mayoral race in Pateros is closer, tied at 71 votes each for Gail Howe and write-in candidate Liberty Harrison. Jury said the elections boa... Full story
A Bureau of Reclamation employee was flown to Harborview Medical Center with injuries after a fire Monday in the John W. Keys III Pump Generating Plant, which a bureau press release said is believed to have been caused by a switch gear failure. Another employee is being treated locally for smoke inhalation. All plant employees were evacuated and acrid smoke rose out of the pump generating plant around noon Monday as multiple fire trucks were staged outside and firefighters were seen entering...
A meeting called by three of four hospital district commissioners, cancelled by the commission president on Friday, will take place anyway, a commissioner said. President Greg Behrens cancelled the meeting on the advice of the district’s attorney, who said calling the meeting, while not already in a meeting, violated the state’s Open Public Meetings Act, which forbids a majority of such a governing body to convene without proper notice to all its members and to the news media. Kennedy disagrees, and said at that at least two members of the boa... Full story
Three of four commissioners of the public hospital district that runs Coulee Medical Center have called a special meeting of the commission for Monday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. Special meetings must adhere to a pre-announced agenda. The agenda emailed along with the notice to The Star Thursday night is a full one, including several non-standard items. Those include the selection of "independent counsel," followed by an executive (closed) session, followed by personnel action, then a "Reorganization of... Full story
An accident two miles north of Keller has resulted in a death, the Washington State Patrol stated this afternoon. A WSP press release indicates the single-car collision took place on SR21 at milepost 119 in Ferry County at 3:50 p.m. today (Nov. 14) and that the road is partially blocked. A second notice states that Colville Tribal Police will handle the incident with state assistance.... Full story
There will be a new mayor and two new council members in Coulee Dam, all defeating incumbents, vote totals as of last Friday show. The new mayor will be Gregory Wilder, who defeated longtime Mayor Quincy Snow, 231-107. New council members will be Gayle Swagerty who defeated incumbent Karl Hjorten, 206-104; and Duane Johnson, who won over Andrew Trader, 226-83. All take office in January. The three new leaders had joined in the effort to derail the Coulee Dam wastewater treatment plant project seeking a delay and possible relocation. They had... Full story
by Roger S. Lucas Although the final count won’t take place until Nov. 26, the official certification date, several local elections seem likely to withstand any late mail-in ballot arrivals. Winning a seat on the Electric City council was Aaron Derr who gained the Position 1 spot over Birdie Hensley, 160-134. In Hospital District 6, Betty Brueske won Position 5 seat, an open position, by defeating Diane Larson, 712-514. Incumbents winning back their seats were Jerry L. Kennedy who defeated Gerry L. Salstrom, 948-361; and Kristan Hare who d... Full story
Local PTA officials are already making plans to have another Missoula Children's Theater performance next year. "Blackbeard the Pirate," put on in two performances Saturday, attracted enough theater fans to encourage officials to look forward to another run in 2014. PTA Vice President Crystal Jones said Monday that she was pleased with Saturday's performances, when 32 children from local schools, kindergarten through the sixth grade, participated. She said that Missoula Children's Theater dates... Full story
The public hospital district that runs Coulee Medical Center is aiming for zero next year. That is, a net gain of nothing on its bottom line, which would be an improvement over this year and last. Commissioners for Douglas, Grant, Lincoln, Okanogan Hospital District 6 approved a budget Oct. 30 that sets out that break-even goal on total patient revenues of $37.3 million, which gets cut to $22.9 million after adjustments for Medicare, Medicaid and insurance payers, charity care, bad debts and other deductions. The hospital is on track to lose... Full story
A Grand Coulee man cited for operating a business in a residential district without a license may get his day in court soon. Donovan Picard, of 431 Grand Coulee Avenue, could argue his case before municipal court judge Richard Fitterer as early as Friday, Nov. 22. Picard has been served a citation with a penalty of $750 by Grand Coulee Police, telling him to cease repairing vehicles at his home garage in violation of the city’s ordinances. Two mechanic firms in Grand Coulee, MPH and Jack’s Service, had complained to the city council back in... Full story
A subcontractor advised police that someone had gained access to a tool trailer at the new school construction site and made off with a number of tools. David Hall, foreman for Icon Corporation, said that two padlocks on the tool shed had been cut with bolt cutters. Missing were four DeWALT screw guns two Leister heat guns, a Hitachi grinder and a small tool satchel full of tools. Police stated that several people had handled the cut locks so there was no chance of picking up fingerprints. The forced-entry theft occurred sometime last... Full story
Commission to hire police will meet Grand Coulee’s Civil Service Commission meets Friday, Nov. 15, at 5:30 p.m. in the council chambers, where members will work on the details of how to proceed in the hiring of a new police officer, set test dates, and other matters before the commission. Church to offer Thanksgiving dinner The Church of the Nazarene will hold its community Thanksgiving dinner from 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 24, at the Senior Center, according to Pastor Adrian Harris. Corridor group to meet here The November monthly meeting of t... Full story
The Colorama Rodeo was named “Rodeo of the Year” for the second time in a row at a meeting of the Pro-West Rodeo Association last Saturday night. The award was announced at the association’s annual awards banquet in the Tri-Cities area. George Kohout, president of the Ridge Riders, said that he was pleased with the announcement. Kohout is in his second year as president of the group, and was honored by the chamber of commerce as “Achiever of the Year” for his activity on behalf of the Ridge Riders. “We could never have done this without the... Full story
Colville Tribal police received a possible bomb threat Friday at 3:30 p.m., at Tribal Trails gas station at Barney’s Junction near Kettle Falls, also known as “Noisy Waters.” Tribal officers were dispatched, along with Ferry County deputies, and the building was evacuated and the perimeter around the building secured. A caller had stated that a bomb would go off within the hour. Washington State Patrol was notified, and a portion of SR-20 was shut down. Stevens County Emergency Services were also placed on standby. A bomb squad for the area... Full story
Randy and Lila Watson were named as managers of Sunbanks Lake Resort last week. Managing partner Pat Welton said that “the pair bring a history of resort management” to the Electric City resort on Banks Lake. The Watsons have had resort management experience in Minnesota and more recently are from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The Watsons are scheduled to assume duties at Sunbanks later this week. They replace Sandy McInnis, who had managed Sunbanks since 2007.... Full story
At each end of a big holiday decoration, city maintenance heads for Electric City (Ken Dexter, right) and Grand Coulee (Dennis Francis) unload one of several big pieces of decorations at the Electric City shop Friday. Not used for years, the colored light adornments will likely need many new bulbs. Electric City Mayor Jerry Sands said he hopes to put some of them to use this year, and plans on refurbishing the steel structures with new LED lights for the future. - Scott Hunter... Full story
Greg Wilder is Coulee Dam's mayor-elect. He was ushered in by voters with a substantial margin over his four-time mayor opponent Quincy Snow. Wilder had swept his way into the general election by a 3-1 margin over Snow who was running for his fifth four-year term. The margin Tuesday night was 110 for Wilder and 54 for Snow. A few late ballots will not change the outcome. The major issue in the campaign has been Coulee Dam's proposed wastewater treatment plant. Wilder had opposed the $4.92... Full story