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 annual Run the Dam races start at 9 a.m. in staggered times Saturday as runners and walkers of all abilities head up hill to North Dam and along Banks Lake. The 5k ends at the finish line in Banks Lake Park. The 10k and Half Marathon runners keep going along Highway 155 to designated distances. A challenging and scenic race, Run the Dam is still "fun for the entire family and for all running and walking enthusiasts and abilities," its promoters say. All races finish in Banks Lake Park "in...
The city council in Grand Coulee voted Tuesday to get started adopting a new ordinance intended to encourage commercial property owners to use their property, clean it up or sell it. Councilmember Tom Poplawski said he’s had no contacts from the owners of what he estimated were 10-15 local properties that are deteriorating instead of housing some business. Poplawski in July had brought to council examples of similar programs in other cities, including an actual ordinance from Medical Lake. A study undertaken in Blaine, Washington was also inclu...
Stewart Williams prepares to cut down the pole Friday that held up the Wildlife Restaurant's parking lot sign (on the trailer in the background) decades after the Midway Avenue restaurant closed and the building housed other successive restaurants, most recently remembered as Pepper Jack's. Williams said he plans to open a Wildlife Tavern in Belfair, Washington, southwest of Bremerton. - Scott Hunter photo...
A volunteer staffs a voter registration table on Midway Saturday during the Wayfinders' weekly demonstration march. The group will also be available to register voters during the Run The Dam event this Saturday at the Run the Dam Festival vendor fair at North Dam Park from 9-5. - Scott Hunter photo...
by Scott Hunter The driver of a late model car left Spring Canyon Road after apparently losing control Saturday afternoon about 3, landing in dry brush and starting a fire. The crash happened right in front of a home at 4550 Spring Canyon Road. Firefighters got there quickly, according to Coulee Dam Police Officer Josh Watkins, who was at the scene for traffic control. No injuries were reported, other than financial. Only a metal hulk was left of the apparently late model car. Firefighters...
Electric City will shift dollars from a project city council members decided to give up on after years of setbacks, spending it instead on a popular park project that is taking shape but needs a financial boost. The city park being built just uphill from the fire station, but will eventually need more funding that what was currently available, despite fundraising efforts. Mayor Diane Kohout said a vote was taken at a special council meeting Aug. 28 to drop the Shoreline Waterfront Trail project that now would cost about $1.4 million to...
Since Lake Roosevelt School are now on a four-day school week, students won't be there for Friday meals, which is a problem for many students. The school district directors agreed Monday to change that with an amendment to their contract with Chartwells, the company that provides the food service, which noted they lost 20 percent of their revenue under the contract when the district went to a four-day week. Superintendent Rod Broadnax said he told Chartwells the district would not pay full...
Mosquitoes carrying West Nile Virus have been detected near Crab Creek in Grant County, the Grant County Health District said Sept. 4. The blood suckers were collected during routine testing on Aug. 24, and the positive result was confirmed at Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Sept. 3. It is possible there could be mosquitoes carrying the virus in other areas. Most people infected with WNV will not get sick, but in some cases it can be serious. About 1 in 150 people who are infected develop a severe illness affecting the central nervous...
Over 700 firefighters are battling two blazes on the Colville Reservation that have burned more than 23,000 acres of forested land. The Rattlesnake Fire started Sept. 1 from lightning and had burned 19,367 acres as of early Wednesday morning in the southeast corner of the reservation. It's 33% contained. The Lynx Mountain Fire has burned 4,226 acres since its Sept. 2 start from and undetermined cause. It is 5% contained. There are 762 firefighters on the fires. Evacuation levels have been set...
Friends and family gather to help Roger Lucas celebrate his 95th birthday Thursday evening at Auntie Dannee's, where he is a regular at breakfast. Lucas, who still writes his weekly column for The Star on page 2, joined the paper in 1989 after working at newspapers for decades and retiring from managing a weekly in Bothell, Washington, then returning to the Grand Coulee Dam area where he and his wife, Dorothy, had lived early in their life together. From bottom left, Lacey Ward, granddaughter...
After a relatively easy early fire season, September started with a rash of new fire starts amid high temperatures and thunderstorms, resulting in thick wildfire smoke socking us in for a time on the first day of school in Coulee Dam. The Grant County Health District issued a warning that the smoke was thick enough across much of the county as to be "unhealthy" and warrant limiting time outside. "Poor air quality conditions are expected to continue as wildfires in Washington and neighboring...
Rod Broadnax has goals for Lake Roosevelt Schools. He wants Lake Roosevelt students safe and learning, in a school that is recognized for its academic rigor, as well as its athletics programs, and is fiscally solid, while increasing student enrollment and parental engagement. That's a lot. And big changes have been made to address the challenges ahead. The Grand Coulee Dam School District superintendent took time to speak with the Rotary Club Thursday, the same day he was explaining new...
Grant County Health District (GCHD) continues to observe a rise in COVID-19 in Grant County. The increase in COVID-19 activity has resulted in a rising number of people with COVID, including a significant outbreak in a local long-term care facility. The outbreak has affected more than 45 residents and staff, with two lives lost and one additional death under investigation. “Everyone, particularly those 65 years of age and older and children aged 6 months to 23 months of age, should get the updated COVID-19 vaccine,” GCHD said in a release. “Th...
That roadside trail between Electric City and North Dam may get built yet, providing a safe path for pedstrians along the highway. The city council, frustrated with a lack of progress, in July had decided to explore starting over with their new engineering firm, but that firm talked them out of it at their meeting Aug. 12. Marissa Siemens, of TD&H Engineering, said the city's previous contracted engineering firm, Century West, has the plans about 90% complete for the project that would add a...
Nespelem School District Tuesday awarded the job of constructing its new CTE building to Lakes General for $1.38 million. The project may look more like a shop than a typical school builading, and the budget currently allows for not much more than an outer shell and a few rooms, including a bathroom. Add-ons could include specialized rooms for special purposes to fit the Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. The district exceeded its $1 million budget for the CTE building project, a part of the district’s expansion plan that has result...
A boat with a blue light cruises on Banks Lake at sunset Tuesday with a pink sky reflected in the water as thunderclouds rise in the west. - Scott Hunter photo...
Coulee Medical Center has received a Critical Access Hospital Achievement of Quality Excellence award from the Washington State Hospital Association for its Quality Excellence Program. The Association presented the award to Coulee Medical Center during its Rural Hospital Leadership Conference in Chelan on June 25. WSHA represents more than 100 hospitals and health systems in the state, including those that are non-profit, investor-owned, and county, state, and military hospitals. CMC, a 25-bed Trauma Level IV Critical Access hospital, earned...
Patrick Canady, originally of Grand Coulee, right, is sworn in as chief of police by Soap Lake Mayor Peter Sharp at the senior center in Soap Lake Aug. 20 during a city council meeting. About 50 people - citizens, council members, city staff, friends and family, were on hand for the occasion, including his mother, Diane Canady, of Grand Coulee. The new chief actually started the job on Aug. 11. Sharp said he was excited and looking forward to Canady leading the department into the future. Chief...
Several states’ attorneys general, including Washington’s Nick Brown, have reached an agreement requiring the Trump administration to release the full balance of education funding for Washington schools at the heart of a multistate lawsuit filed last month, a release from Brown’s office stated Tuesday. Under the terms of the agreement and as required by law, the U.S. Department of Education must release the funds no later than Oct. 3. Last month, Brown joined a coalition with 23 other states and the District of Columbia in suing the Trump admin...
Coulee Medical Center (CMC) is assuring patients, staff, and the community that its operations remain stable and its future secure, following the release of a recent report that listed the hospital among rural facilities “at risk of closure.” The hospital issued a press release on the matter Tuesday, following a story published in The Star and other papers last week that drew on an analysis report by a research firm. The report, from the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, is based on projections tied to Medicaid funding changes...
Electric City wants to move ahead with discussions on forming a regional fire authority, an option proposed last fall in an all-community meeting called to discuss the future of local emergency services. The city council agreed last week to send a letter stating the city is in favor of moving ahead with talks to pursue the establishment of a regional fire authority with five other entities: Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam, Grant County Fire District 14, Lincoln County Fire District 9, and Okanogan...
The Care and Share Food Bank, currently seeking contributions, is open Fridays from 1 to 3 p.m. in the basement of the Church of the Nazarene at 45925 State Route E Hwy 174 (on the way to Wilbur). A story in the Aug. 13 edition of The Star stated incorrect open times....
Gov. Bob Ferguson makes remarks during a press conference at the state Capitol in Olympia, on Aug. 19, responding to a letter he received the previous week from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, threatening to withhold federal funding if the state does not change its approach cooperating on federal immigration enforcement. — Bill Lucia/Washington State Standard Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson swiped back Tuesday in response to threats from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to withhold federal funding and potentially prosecute officials if they fail t...
Larry Hernandez got his lease extended for the Village Cinema last week, with monthly rent coming to $1,500 a month, including $600 plus $900 of in-kind work on the building. The town council wouldn't budge Wednesday on his request to put off the collection of the $600 cash component for another three months. Hernandez approached the town a year ago with a plan to take over the space if he could have a year to get it functional again as a theater and more, with his upgrade work paying the rent f...
A wildland fire put Electric City on evacuation alerts Aug. 6 as firefighters from many agencies helped local firefighters in the steep terrain. The Silver Fire ignited in the rocky, wooded hillsides outside the southeast corner of the city where a small forest rises on cliffs overlooking houses and pastures Wednesday afternoon. By 2:30 a large, blackened area dwarfed firefighters with brush trucks hosing the perimeter closest to homes just off the corner of Sunset Drive and Electric Boulevard....
