News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Six local municipalities will receive nearly $3.9 million in funding help for street projects in 2024, having been selected by the state Transportation Improvement Board, the agency announced this week. Coulee Dam will get more than $1 million for two projects: $546,185 will go for chip sealing many streets in the city. Another $486,406 will go to wheelchair ramp upgrades in multiple locations. Electric City will get $155,000 for street maintenance. Grand Coulee will get $126,875 for Spokane Way improvements from Alcan Road to East Grand...
From left, Grand Coulee Fire Chief Ryan Fish, Ambulance Chief Rick Paris, Santa Claus (Chris Holman), Firefighter and EMT Merlee Liberty, and officer Matt Gilbert at the Coulee Wall Variety Store during last week's Shop with a Cop event, organized by Gilbert to help kids see police in a supportive, non-threatening setting. It was part of a day spent with kids. "We started the day at the Library, with GC Police and GCV Fire Fighters reading with the kids and showing off our Truck," the fire...
A plan to aid the police department in Grand Coulee was awarded a large federal grant that may help pay for a school resource officer, training, community engagement, and more. It’s the plan that officer Matt Gilbert pitched to his city council last week after learning the Justice Department grant he’d applied for last May had actually been awarded, the same plan he put forth to the Grand Coulee Dam School District board Nov. 13, a plan for which they would each have to significantly adjust their budgets. Gilbert told both the council and the...
Sticking their necks out in a "turkey trot" at Steamboat Rock State Park on Thanksgiving morning, Samantha Thomsen, left, with Natalie Dennis and Tarina Mott sport inflatable turkey outfits (OK, they're chickens, but close enough) at the 5K (3.1 miles) race/walk where 50 or 60 participants enjoyed a perfectly blue sky and good weather. The event was organized by Run the Dam as a fundraiser and also accepted donations for a local cancer-support charity. - Scott Hunter photo...
Ken Stanger is retiring from the school board after 14 years and received official thanks for his service at Monday night's meeting. Rich Black, president of the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors, presented Stanger with a framed letter of commendation Monday night at their regular meeting. "Your service has had a lasting, positive impact on the local community, the Grand Coulee Dam School District staff, the parents of district students, and most importantly, the students that...
BEES, BEES, BEES. When you think of bees what do you think of? Honeybees? Bumble bees? Or maybe yellow jackets? I refer to native bees. The ones you usually don't think about that do the major pollinating work for us on native plants and cultivated ones, too. This year, the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) initiated the first-ever Washington Bee Atlas and the second Bee Atlas in the United States. The first Bee Atlas is in Oregon. The Washington Bee Atlas is an ambitious...
Electric City’s council last week raised questions and concerns about the funding and staffing of the only ambulance service for the area. The service is run by the city of Grand Coulee’s volunteer fire department, which depends on voluntary staffers responding to calls. The city council’s attention was drawn to the question a month earlier when Grand Coulee City Councilmember Tom Poplawski visited to ask Electric City to consider contributing toward the costs of calls that Grand Coulee can’t bill for because it doesn’t result in a patient t...
A police officer pitched to the school board the idea of writing grants to get a “resource officer” into Lake Roosevelt Schools. Matt Gilbert, an officer with the Grand Coulee Police Department, spoke to the Grand Coulee Dam School District directors Nov. 13 after having met with Superintendent Rod Broadnax earlier. Gilbert said he’d actually written a grant application earlier that could have paid for new locks the board had just learned, in previous presentation that night, would cost the district about $28,000. “We were denied it based upon...
A deer settled down for a morning nap on the median of Coulee Dam's Douglas Avenue watches a man with a noisy leaf blower cleaning up leaves from the city's trees last week. Leaf pickup has been going on most of the month in the city. - Scott Hunter photo...
A local chef approached the school board last week about the possibility of using a school classroom to teach cooking classes to the public for a fee if it wouldn’t go against a district policy. Patty Oliver, owner of PK’s Culinary, told Grand Coulee Dam School District directors she would start with one-day cooking workshops on “endless topics,” including, for example, cooking pastas, sauces, sushi, appetizers and more. “I’m just looking for a space to do it,” she said, and teacher Susan Duclos’ room at the school is the best she’s found in...
Average gasoline prices in Washington have fallen 7.2 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $4.36 Monday, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 2,666 stations in Washington. Prices in Washington are 41.3 cents per gallon lower than a month ago and stand 22.5 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has fallen 6.9 cents in the last week and stands at $4.28 per gallon. According to GasBuddy price reports, the cheapest station in Washington was priced at $3.43 Sunday, while the most expensive was $5.62, a d...
Mist rising off Lake Roosevelt is backlit by the sun rising behind Grand Coulee Dam Tuesday morning. - Scott Hunter photo...
Construction work at the Grand Coulee Dam Fire Station is closing in on the final few months of construction activities. As of Oct. 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said Monday, the bulk of the electrical, plumbing, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and the fire protection systems had been installed. The exterior concrete masonry veneer and the polished concrete floors also had been completed. Focus areas for November will be the remaining interior work, terrazzo floors, exterior...
A local lending business is looking for a larger space to operate and is eyeing Coulee Dam’s “Community Building” as a future possibility. Jordan Ruiz, the newly appointed executive director of the Northwest Native Development Fund approached the city last week about the building that houses, a closed movie theater, an operating bowling alley, the Rio Grande restaurant, and the city’s fire department. She said NNDF wouldn’t need any of the occupied spaces but would like to explore altering the space the theater used to operate in to accommoda...
Northwest Native Development Fund (NNDF) announced Monday that Jordan Ruiz is the non-profit lender's new executive director. "I am honored to have been chosen as the Executive Director of NNDF," Ruiz said in statement issued Monday. "I will work tirelessly to uphold the integrity of this organization. I will lead NNDF with empathy and compassion. The amazing staff at NNDF will continue to work toward and never lose sight of our mission." NNDF's mission is to foster economic and financial...
Oakleigh Dice makes her best 4-year-old smile with "Elsa" Sunday at a party for her at Siam Palace before her next-day departure for Disneyworld in Florida. The Make-A-Wish foundation made that happen at her request, and she wanted to be able to dance with Elsa, the Disney character from the animated movie Frozen. Just in case that would not be possible in Florida, Elsa came to the Siam on Sunday. - Scott Hunter photo...
Students at Lake Roosevelt Schools deliver certificates of appreciation to veterans Thursday at the school's Veteran's Day assembly in their honor. The program included a version of The Star-Spangled Banner by the Raider Rock Band, narration on the meaning and reason for Veteran's Day, the individual recognition shown here for every veteran attending, and a slide show of local veterans with photos from their service time. - Scott Hunter photo...
In local elections Tuesday, Electric City voters demonstrated a preference for change, favoring two newcomers over one current and one former city council member, and giving another current councilman a fairly close race, with two of the three Grand Coulee Police officers who ran for council poised to take office. Incumbent Councilmember Brian Buche appears to have survived a challenge from Thomas Levi Johnson for council position 3 by a vote of 117 to 89 or 57-43%. But Matt Gilbert clearly won the race for position 4 seat that former council...
An 18-year-old Grand Coulee man was sentenced to 60 months in prison after having pleaded guilty to “Assault Resulting in Substantial Bodily Injury to a Spouse, Intimate Partner, or Dating Partner in Indian Country,” the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington Vanessa R. Waldref announced last week. Xander Lee Ostenberg also pleaded guilty to two counts of “Assault by Beating, Striking or Wounding.” U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice sentenced Ostenberg to the federal prison term to be followed by a three-year term of court supervi...
Grant PUD crews work to restore power to much of Grand Coulee Monday after a pole fire outside Coulee Medical Center caused an outage early in the morning. Most of the business district along Midway Avenue was without power. The hospital kept its emergency room and walk-in clinic open but rescheduled all morning appointments. The hospital announced it had power available again at 1:30 p.m. Grant PUD announced on X (formerly Twitter) that power had been knocked out for 328 customers in "the...
Inside this issue of The Star and inside Lake Roosevelt Schools this week are two things designed to help you remember what Veterans Day is all about. And if that were not enough, how about adding a good breakfast. At Lake Roosevelt Schools this Thursday, the public is invited to a special assembly in honor of veterans at 9 a.m. in the gym. The assembly both honors the veterans and impresses on students the importance of understanding their commitment to the country. At the annual assembly students personally honor attending veterans, and a...
Local artist Keith Powell sent us this image of a watercolor he painted as a study for a larger one he plans to do, inspired by the recent reintroduction of bison to the Colville Reservation. "I'm so happy that we are witnessing the reintroduction of bison," he said. "So cool." The view in the painting is from Jonah and Tera Whitelaw's house near McGinnis Lake with Castle Rock in the background. Powell noted that the last wild buffalo in Washington state was killed in the Grand Coulee in 1825,...
In observance of the Veterans Day holiday, Okanogan Behavioral HealthCare administration offices and Highland Center will be closed on Friday and will reopen on Monday, Nov. 13 with regular business hours. Crisis response services remain available 24 hours a day throughout the holiday by calling toll-free 1+(800) 852-2923, and are also available via TTY at (509) 826-2113, or by texting HOME to 741741. Shove House will remain operational throughout the holiday....
Blake Martin thinks the Electric City Council has a relationship problem with its citizens. If he were to win the election for a seat at that table, he could help change that, he says. "I don't feel like community concerns are being heard and responded to as they should be," he said. "I feel as there is a current disconnect there between our elected city officials and the general public." Although Martin said he is a fan of the community meetings the city has been having, they still fall short...
Spokane, Washington – Vanessa R. Waldref, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced that Xander Lee Ostenberg, 18, of Grand Coulee, Washington was sentenced after having pleaded guilty to Assault Resulting in Substantial Bodily Injury to a Spouse, Intimate Partner, or Dating Partner in Indian Country. Ostenberg also pleaded guilty to two counts of Assault by Beating, Striking or Wounding. U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice sentenced Ostenberg to 60 months in prison, to be followed by a 3-year term of court s... Full story