News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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A longtime tradition sidelined during covid will come back March 18 as people meet and eat pancakes and pie to benefit the firefighting crew in Elmer City. The 59th Pancake Dinner will be held at Coulee Dam’s city hall from 4:30 to 8 p.m. And, yes, the dinner includes pie. Tickets will be $10, or two for $18. A family can get in for $30. The money raised helps outfit the fire station at Elmer City — Okanogan County Fire District 2....
Coach Pleasants was surprised when he walked into the banquet room at the Coulee Dam Community Church to be greeted by dozens supporters there to wish him well and honor his time as a Lady Raider coach. Wallace "Peewee" Pleasants coached the Lake Roosevelt High School girls' basketball program for 12 years, ending in 2022 at the state tournament in Spokane, each year punctuated with motto to drive home a lesson. His coaching career started 24 years ago, when he coached his son Mathew's...
Keller Ferry is closed tonight due to high winds, the state Transportation Dept. said. It should be reopened at 6 a.m. tomorrow, Feb. 21. Winds are expected to be around 14 mph with gusts of up to 41 tonight. While a high of 46 is expected Tuesday, the low Tuesday night is expected to get to 22, and on down to 11 on Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service in Spokane. The change in weather has to do with a "massive winter storm" about to hit. "A massive winter storm is expected to impact a large portion of the U.S. the next... Full story
The ice on Banks Lake could "could rapidly change without warning" as the Bureau of Reclamation will begin pumping water into the lake on Friday, Feb. 17, the Bureau announced Thursday. A similar warning applies for those fishing at Potholes Reservoir. The most popular spot for ice fishing in the local area may well be the area near North Dam where the feeder canal brings in water from deep in Lake Roosevelt. That starts Friday, and "Recreationalists on Banks Lake and Potholes Reservoir should... Full story
One thing sometimes leads to another. A recent change in Electric City is causing leaders in Coulee Dam and Grand Coulee to look at more possible changes for area fire departments and the ambulance service. Electric City this year awarded its contract for supplying police services to Coulee Dam, after decades of Grand Coulee supplying the service. The two towns are largely in different counties, and each has used different county dispatch systems — Coulee Dam’s with Okanogan County, Electric City’s with Grant County’s Multi-Area Communi...
Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Paul Tuner will retire this coming July, he told his school board in a letter Monday. Turner, hired in 2016, put forth a plan a year ago to work part time for two more years alongside a full-time assistant, who could then take over. That assistant was never hired. In his letter, Turner recounted accomplishments and obstacles. Among them, upgrading the CTE building, working with the tribe to establish a Native language/culture program, and establishing a viable alternative learning environment...
A school bus returning kids to home after sports and afterschool activities Thursday ran off the road in Electric City. No one was seriously injured. “No serious or major injuries were reported,” the school district stated in a noted about the incident posted on its website. “However, there were some minor bumps and scrapes.” The students were either picked up by families or were taken home on another bus. The accident happened at 5:49 p.m. as the bus was headed south on SR 155 at Kent Street. The driver had realized he turned south, the wro...
An angler employs strategic patience to fish from the shoreline of Lake Roosevelt Saturday, along with a couple rods and a campfire, as the lowered lake provides a sculpted beach backdrop. - Scott Hunter photo...
Heaving sidewalks along Coulee Dam’s Ferry Avenue will finally get replaced this year, after years of delays. J.M. Pacific Construction Inc, of Moses Lake, will replace the sidewalks for $195,390. The total cost on the project, including engineering, construction, consultants and more, comes to $230, 514. The project is completely funded by the state Dept. of Transportation and Chelan-Douglas Transportation. The work must be done by September....
The Running Start program, which allows high school juniors and seniors to earn college level credits, will expand to include sophomores if a proposal in the state Legislature is approved. “It’s a heavy lift when you’re a junior and senior to try to accomplish your two-year degree in those two years,” said Sen. Brad Hawkins, R-Wenatchee. “A little running start to Running Start might be good to actually accomplish some of the two-year attainment that we’re seeking in the state.” Running Start allows high school students to earn credits at co...
People mingle at Voltage Thursday night in a "Chamber After Hours" event designed to give businesspeople in town a time and space to just visit in a social setting. - Scott Hunter photo...
Students in Jaci Gross's fifth grade class at Lake Roosevelt Elementary School have been learning in more ways than reading at a desk lately. . Gross, in her 23rd year at LR, applied for a grant from Petco to acquire two leopard geckos and essentials for raising the lizards, which arrived Jan. 21. Now her students "are learning about how to handle the geckos," she said. "Along with it being pretty cool to have geckos, the students are learning how to care for them and will completely care for...
The state Dept. of Ecology may be about to provide the community with a woodchipper to help with community cleanup of wood debris during annual cleanup times — if it comes in time. Electric City Mayor Diane Kohout told the Regional Board of Mayors Feb. 1 that Ecology has said the board can apply for, and receive, $50,000 in funding for a chipper that handles annual yard cleanup wood waste the community has traditionally taken to the Delano Landfill, and more recently, the transfer station. But transferring that wood waste to the landfill in E...
Students should spend more time in school and less time on break so they retain the learning they acquire during the school year. That’s the opinion of Sen. Brad Hawkins, R-East Wenatchee, who has introduced a bill in the state Legislature that adds five days to the school calendar. “SB 5505 takes swift and decisive action to support learning recovery with a simple solution — providing our students with additional access to their teachers, their peers, and to dedicated support staff,” Hawkins said. Under current law, schools are require...
Legislators from the state's 7th Legislative District, which now includes most of the Grand Coulee Dam area, are inviting constituents to participate in a telephone town hall on Monday, Feb. 13, from 6-7 p.m., to discuss the current 2023 legislative session. Sen. Shelly Short, R-Addy, Rep. Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda, and Rep. Jacquelin Maycumber, R-Republic, will talk about legislation they are sponsoring, as well as their priorities for the legislative session. In addition, they will take...
Several Lake Roosevelt students will head to Spokane for the statewide competition in April, following their qualifying presentations in the Future Business Leaders of America regional meet in Wenatchee Jan. 28. Students qualify for state by placing in their competitions, with online testing or presenting to judges. LR had several middle schoolers and first timers compete in Wenatchee. State will be held in Spokane April 19-23. In the regional, Kailah Leadhingham took first place in Journalism...
The Bureau of Reclamation said Monday that parts of its fire station construction project should be complete by the end of February, but the entire project will take over another year to complete. "Progress on previous structural, electrical, and mechanical installations at the Grand Coulee Dam Fire Station are ongoing and slated for completion by the end of February 2023," a bureau press release stated. "The next phase of construction involves initiating unfinished construction activities in th...
Coulee Dam will accept a $906,000 bid by a contractor for work on a sewage lift station if funding and that award is approved by a federal agency. The city council voted last week to accept a bid from Strider Construction for $906,716 to update its west side lift station, which sends wastewater from the neighborhood on the west side of the Columbia River, across the bridge to the town’s new treatment plant. But that acceptance is contingent on the federal Dept. of Agriculture’s Rural Development Fund (RD)approving extra funding for the imp...
The Grant County Health District (GCHD) has investigated three confirmed, and one probable, flu-associated deaths during the 2022-2023 flu season thus far. The confirmed deaths occurred in a woman in her 80s, a woman in her 60s, and a man in his 60s. “These deaths are a painful reminder of the high influenza activity seen in our country and also in our area, especially at the end of the year. We offer our sincere condolences to the families and friends who lost their loved ones,” said Dr. Alexander Brzezny, Grant County Health Officer in a pre...
The Grand Coulee Dam and Nespelem school districts came to agreement Friday on terms of a "tuition" agreement they've been negotiating for the current school year. A solution for the next school year is still under discussion. The districts had until Jan. 31 to file applications with the U.S. Dept. of Education for "impact aid" funds that are meant to replace tax levy money they can't get because of non-taxable federal land within their boundaries. They've had an agreement since 1995 on sharing...
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and Gov. Jay Inslee say they are backing a package of new laws aimed at protecting workers, pedestrians and commuters. New bills would include reducing the blood alcohol concentration limit for operating a vehicle when driving, imposing more restrictions on high-risk drivers, and requiring a skills course for young and older drivers. Amber Weilert, a mother from Parkland, described how her son was struck and killed in a crosswalk while riding his bicycle. “I am here to be Michael’s voice to support him and...
Walkers across North Dam take advantage of sunshine Sunday next to frozen Banks Lake, where ice fishermen have been falling through spots where the ice is too thin. That happened again Thursday afternoon, when three reportedly fell in next to a log boom off Coulee Playland. All were OK, but a witness said two of them had to hang onto the logs until another fishermen could carefully push his sled to them and pull them to thicker ice. The Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department reportedly...
The Lions Club, which owns Spring Canyon Cemetery, is hoping to form a group to keep the operation going. “Like many other organizations, the Spring Canyon Cemetery board are few and aging, and are unable to do several of tasks needed to keep up the cemetery,” a statement from the club said this week. “The Lions do not want to see the Cemetery become a ward of the state like many other cemeteries in the State are.” The 4.5-acre cemetery was dedicated March 30, 1959, a year when 24 more people were buried there, after seven were the year be...
Virgil “Smoker” Marchand passed away Jan. 13. Smoker was currently serving in the Colville Business Council as an elected representative from the Omak District. The Chairman of the Colville Tribes, Jarred-Michael Erickson, said, “The Colville Business Council is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of our colleague, Smoker Marchand. Smoker was a strong voice for his people and he brought a unique perspective to tribal government. We will all miss him.” The Chairman continued, “There will be time in the future to discuss Smoker’s life and ac...
Noah Hunt, a sophomore from Coulee Dam, was a page for the Washington State Senate in Olympia during the opening week of the 2023 legislative session. Hunt was sponsored by Sen. Shelly Short, R-Addy, who represents the 7th Legislative District. This is the first time in two years pages have been back on the Capitol campus since the pandemic. Hunt was among 10 students who served as Senate pages for the first week of 2023 legislative session. The Senate Page Program gives Washington high school...