News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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When I was a tyke growing up with my brother Ed and sisters Betty and Anita on Roosevelt Drive, Grand Coulee didn’t have a community park. There was an empty field across the road from our house that we and the other neighborhood kids would play in. Although it was an empty field, it has its drawbacks. It was full of weeds, rocks, a clump of sagebrush here and there, and now and then a rattlesnake. I think the Pachosa family owned the field. Later, when a row of houses was built in the field, there was still room enough for us to play. Bob Pach...
To the Grand Coulee Plow Crew: We all, who live on Wetzel Street in Grand Coulee, thank you so very much for keeping our road open and safe. You people had a hard job but made it look so easy at the same time. Once again, thank you. M. Townsend And all the neighbors...
Think back to our younger days, a time where we had to find a summer job. It seemed a requirement at the time, and for many parents it was a requirement. The reason I bring this up is because the teens of Coulee Country are once again asking the question, “Where can I get a job this summer?” It is becoming harder and harder for the youth of our area to find summer employment in the area. There are many reasons for this, but part of the hardship for the kids is they do not know where or how to...
Nobody knows how deep the impact of the coronavirus will be, but one thing that it is destined to test is how effectively people will work from home. Washington is at the point of the spear. Of the 22 U.S. deaths attributed to COVID-19, there are 19 in our state. To avoid further exposure, employers are encouraging telecommuting, canceling meetings, events and travel, and, taking extra caution to sanitize work locations. Seattle-based Alaska Airlines is among the carriers taking additional...
The role of a journalist is to be the eyes and ears for the readers. So while at a school board meeting, city council meeting, events, and so on, things that people may not have the time to go to, or don’t have a large enough interest in going to, my job is to listen for what’s interesting and present that to the readers. What are school or city officials saying? What are they doing? What laws are they passing? What changes are happening? What are people saying during the public comments part of the meeting? Public meetings are on the rec...
This week I am bring you another senior from the halls of Lake Roosevelt High School. My interview was a little different this time because I sat down with Jordan Flett in front of the entire Journalism class at LR to interview her to give them a taste of the interview process. So here is a little bit of my very personal interview with “Air” Jordan. As I start all my interviews with the seniors, I asked her about her year so far, and she opened up immediately in her shy voice that got bol...
Don Brunell’s recent article titled “Dams are the Northwest’s Flood Busters” (Star, Jan. 21, 2020) relies on fearmongering, rather than facts, to make his point. Brunell takes a circuitous route through disasters in the Midwest, conjuring up images of flooded farms and billions of dollars in losses, before getting to his real point: his belief that restoring the Snake River to improve salmon and steelhead runs isn’t worth the untold natural disasters that would impact all of us living and recreating in its flood plain. Here’s the problem: th...
Washington and Oregon lawmakers want to end their legislative sessions; however, accounting for the costs of carbon emissions is a major roadblock. In Salem, rural Republican senators are boycotting the session and thereby denying majority Democrats a quorum to vote on a “cap and trade” bill. The measure calls for an 80-percent state reduction in greenhouse gases (GHG) by 2050. The system would be similar to existing programs in California and some Canadian provinces. The state would set a cap o...
Sometimes the foundation of an institution can be shaken. The Lake Roosevelt Raiders have lost two very important educators and friends this year, but their impact in the community goes way deeper than a school setting. These two have written the history books when it comes to our little community, and their impact is felt by generations and distance that goes beyond the walls that surround us. If you ever went into the old Flo’s Café, needed a piece of glass or were looking for a piece of an...
Electric City will soon have a new city clerk. Peggy Nevsimal is leaving her post as executive director of the local chamber of commerce to accept another community challenge. It was a wise move by the council there. Peggy has been head of the chamber for eight years, moving it from a largely information center to a festival-centered organization. Peggy brings with her a knowledge of the community. She knows most everyone, and most know her. She is a great people person whose influence will be felt in Electric City. While the two tasks are...
Last week, we visited the Grand Canyon National Park in northern Arizona. It is part of our National Parks “bucket list.” The trip was a real eye-opener. The Canyon is spectacular. It is hard to believe over a billion years ago it was flat ground and covered by ocean waters. In ancient times, there was too much water. Today, it is a deep gorge with a ribbon of water running through it. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, over a mile deep and 10 to 18 miles across. The famed Colorado River run...
Our nation values those who have come before us, and that includes our seniors and retirees. Past generations have paved the way for future growth, and I truly believe we owe them the respect — and the benefits — they have earned. Despite my gray beard, I am not a member of the greatest generation, but I am proud to be an ally to seniors across Central Washington. While I believe we must balance the federal budget, many seniors have worked their whole lives to pay into the Social Security and Medicare systems with the promise that those fun...
With the Second World War over, work started on the creation of a 27-mile-long reservoir from Electric City to Coulee City. The old highway ran down the Upper Coulee floor, and a new replacement route would have to be built. To avoid being flooded, the new highway would cling to the southern coulee wall. This road was named Secondary State Highway 2F and ran through several condemned farmyards as it made its way across the coulee. Just outside Coulee City, the ground at the base of the east wall was unstable due to a series of unpredictable...
Citizens in Electric City discussing the devil-containing details of park financing in Electric City are right to push the subject, on both sides of the discussion. Councilmember Cate Slater is right when she says there is “not a lot of stuff” here to entice families to want to move here. Ian Turner is right when he notes the population is getting younger and that should factor into decisions about how to develop the city. Councilmember Brian Buche is right when he says that “has to be something that’s manageable.” Wayne Fowler is right whe...
The 2020 race for the White House is heating. It’s shaping up to be a referendum on America’s market-based economic system. The central question: is government or the private sector going to provide our basic products and services? Last May, a Monmouth University Poll found most Americans say socialism is not compatible with American values, but only four in 10 hold a decidedly negative opinion of it. Americans are divided into two dominant camps – 29 percent have a positive view of capit...
Since 1980, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) has tracked United States weather and climate events. This tracking process is specific and addresses the economic and societal impacts. So far, the United States has sustained well over 250 weather events where the overall damage costs reached or surpassed the mark of $1 billion. The year 2019 witnessed many costly weather or climate events. A total of 14 events s...
In Central Washington, we understand that healthy forests are the true key to wildfire prevention. Each summer, we come face-to-face with the threat wildfires pose to our land, our communities, and our health. We are blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the world, surrounded by national forests and public lands. Unfortunately, decades of mismanagement and misguided funding have prevented the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) or the many engaged forest collaboratives in our region from properly caring for our lands. I have committed to the...
As a child growing up in west Coulee Dam, our outdoor playground was built by the toil of young unmarried men of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CCC was born out of the Great Depression in 1933 and was a voluntary public-works program of President Roosevelt's New Deal. Roosevelt's program put men of ages 18 to 25 to work on projects involving natural-resource development and conservation. The average wage was $30 per month, of which $25 was sent home to their families. With the...
Deny! Deny! Deny! When it comes to climate change, that seems to be our current national policy. This administration has systematically turned aside most climate policy tasks set by president Obama. The climate change problem will never be solved from the top down. It is going to take a movement from the bottom up. A 17-year-old girl from Sweden, Greta Thunberg, has been nominated for the 2020 Nobel Peace prize for her work in trying to get world leaders to focus more on climate change problems. The U.S. has pulled out of the international...
I notice we have at least one yahoo living amongst our four communities that loves to tear up church parking lots, federal roads and federal parking lots, along with the river trail and Washington Flats. This is his favorite time of year because the roads are thawing and we can leave deep, deep ruts for other drivers to follow in and we don’t even have to steer. He is starting his conquest this time of year. If you see him, maybe you can congratulate him on a yearly job well done. He does his off-roading at Washington Flats. Maybe he should b...
The last decade has seen a drastic shift in the way the U.S. generates electricity. We have shifted from relying primarily on fossil fuel burning power plants to a thriving clean energy industry that supplies renewable, low-cost electricity to consumers. A combination of demand from customers and diminishing technology costs have helped wind and solar projects sprout up across the country, and with them has come a range of economic benefits. Renewable energy systems have created new jobs and...
While wind farms generate “greenhouse gas free” electricity, there is increasing concern over the rapidly growing number of worn out blades ending up in landfills. Those blades, housed on giant towers reaching over 200 feet in the sky, are starting to reach the end of their useful life (15 to 20 years) and are being taken down, cut up and hauled to dumps in Iowa, South Dakota and Wyoming. Adding to the spent blade disposal problem, utilities are retrofitting existing wind farms with longer bla...
A proposal to build a 31-mile water tunnel under the Grand Coulee was made by Frank Harris, a civil engineer from Renton. His plan, publicly announced in December 1935, was to expedite the irrigation of approximately 500,000 acres of land in the Columbia Basin by a gravity system, without waiting for Grand Coulee power. He figured that the amount of water required to lift and fill what is now Banks Lake would be 20,320,000,000 cubic feet before any could flow out into the main distributing canal...
For the last few weeks, The Star has carried some stories from Olympia, written by student journalism interns serving as reporters in the news service of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association, of which The Star is a member. I serve on WNPA's board of directors, am a past president, and help edit a few of the stories when tapped on digital shoulder by a dedicated retired publisher overseeing the Olympia bureau. I try to pick stories most relevant to our local readers, although the students produce more than we could ever fit in. The st... Full story
I have not seen Bureau machines Going thirty On the highway. I don't know why I must comply, When they are not In my way. I do believe They do deceive. Does one exist? Doubtful I'd say. I drive so slow. I want to go! Cannot discern But just obey. I do feel fear There’s another year Going thirty On the highway. Barbara Durnil Just an Observation...