News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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In North Central Washington, the Columbia River is the cornerstone of life. But even more important is the infrastructure that makes up the Columbia Basin Project. Grand Coulee dam provides electricity, flood control, and recreation and the ditches and canals deliver water to fields — all critical to the economic vitality of our communities. In the 1930s, President Roosevelt had the vision. The Columbia Basin Project would bring families to settle the land, make it productive, and supply the country with food. At the same time our country n...
Repeating history that failed us is not the answer In response to the opinion piece about addicts, and a new jail being built: There’s a few layers to her argument that I just can’t agree with here ... absolutely no empathy, for one. I’m not saying feel sorry, coddle, or enable those stuck in the grips of their addiction, but to not see that there’s still a human being underneath the dysfunction is when hope is truly lost. I was given multiple chances, lessened sentences, deferred prosecutions, and treatment options because the judicial system...
Well, I think Grant County needs to take a trip to Clark County (Vancouver, WA) and spend a couple days there and get as much information as they can from what they have been and currently are doing to lower the recidivism rate — the programs they have in place to help addicts overcome their addictions to become a productive member of the community. I do not see this in our county or anywhere near us. Michael Dennis...
So, Electric City politicians and town administrator are going to do it. They are actually going to shut down a perfectly good (and heavily used) street in order to build a park that nobody wants. They are going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on this idiotic project seemingly out of sheer spite. Think about that. Hundreds of thousands of dollars spent AND shutting down a street. I mean it is one thing to spend money to FIX a city street, but noooo … Electric City is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to shut a street down. I...
It was a scene that would have made Clint Eastwood laugh. I had learned that Burma was allowing travelers in on 72-hour visas, and since I would be traveling in the Far East I booked a flight out of Thailand to Rangoon. The country hadn’t allowed people to travel there and placed a lot of restrictions on those who did. I stayed at the Strand Hotel. It had been a resting place for the likes of Oliver Stone, David Rockefeller, Mick Jagger, Peter Ustinov, Lord Mountbatten, and Rudyard Kipling, but not while I was there. It had been one of the jewe...
If your Labor Day weekend was anything like mine, it was packed full of awesomeness, and we stayed busy. I saw lots of you doing lawn work, finishing honey-do lists and traveling over the unofficial last weekend of summer. There were some special moments for our family, as well. Let me give you a sneak peek of our weekend. If you haven’t heard by now, Karrie and I are in what we call a transition stage. We are morphing into grandparents, and as a part of that Karrie has decided to stay home t...
On the east side of the Columbia River, several landslides had already occurred, burying equipment and threatening lives, slowing down the construction of Grand Coulee Dam. Reporters watched the 200,000-cubic-yard hillside for the next story, and in July 1936, the story broke that a solution had been found: the WMAK engineers planned on freezing the slide area. They did it with a refrigeration plant, the largest ever used in construction at the time, which had the ability to make 80-100 tons of ice per day. By the end of August, six miles of 3-...
I attended the Grand Coulee Council meeting, Tuesday, Aug. 20. I had forgotten about the meeting until I saw four Grant County Sheriff’s vehicles in front of City Hall. I realized then it was council night. I went to investigate, thinking all this show of force was for the drug and criminal problems that plague our community. Instead it was Grant County Sheriff Tom Jones giving a presentation and wanting support to build a new jail. “The Power of Building a Safer Grant County.” Someone has finally noticed that the existing jail is too small to...
Here we are again at the end of our sale season as we come to the community to thank everyone for a fantastic thirteen-week run at the VET Center. Our American Legion Post appreciates everybody has who stopped by and shopped with us during our sale. Although it seemed like a very long stretch for those of us who worked every week to gather and prepare all the treasures that we had for sale, the time flew by as we greeted many of the same people on a weekly basis. With all the community support, our sales set a record this year, bypassing our...
Summer 2019 has almost expired, and that means the kids have worn out their welcome at home and are being sent out with new clothes, a backpack and made to get on the big yellow bus. At the same time teachers and others school workers must now get up to the early alarm, drag themselves to the school house and prepare for the new year. Smiles and grimaces of all sizes will enter the school doors prepared for the education process. Custodians will have the building shining, food will be ready, bus...
There has been a loud nationwide conversation about clean and carbon-free energy sources, and I am proud to represent Central Washington, where we are leading in renewable energy production. If you drive through our congressional district, you’re bound to see the rolling hills topped with windmills, whose turbines generate about 3,076 megawatts of renewable energy each year throughout the state. If you keep driving, you may end up in Adams County, where Washington’s largest solar farm opened north of Lind late last year. The facility is 25 tim...
Watching even the “cultural” reintroduction of salmon to local waters denied to them for eight decades can inspire wonder, grief, admiration, joy, hope, questions, and anticipation. Over the last couple weeks, as the Colville Tribes and a coalition of other tribes and state and federal agencies have held ceremonial plantings of hatchery Chinook salmon above the dams that keep them from spawning in the upper Columbia River, the meaning to the tribes of the return of the fish echos like an eternal drum off a canyon wall, deeply felt and acu...
My wife and I liked the coulee so much that we moved here twice. The first time was in 1954 when I accepted a job grading lumber at the planing mill above the dam. I worked for Everett Kirkpatrick and a junior partner. Old timers will remember the mill and Kirkpatrick. I had come to the area to take a position as lumber grader at Lincoln Lumber Company, a few miles upstream. I’d had earlier training at Potlatch Lumber Company in Potlatch, Idaho. At that time, they floated logs down the Columbia River to the mill site. Sad to say that the o...
A story out of Ritzville recently gained national attention: Larry Yockey is a fourth-generation wheat farmer, and for nearly fifty years, he hasn’t missed a harvest. Sadly, Larry was recently diagnosed with stage four cancer, allowing him to only spend a short amount of time in the fields. He was worried that his streak would come to an end, but his neighbors wouldn’t allow that to happen. Larry’s friends, neighbors, and community members surprised the Yockey family by storming in on 18 semis, 17 combines, and 11 bankouts. The harvest that...
I have heard these three words a lot lately. I have heard them from people in government, in the education system, from friends, and from the pulpit. They have been used in a physical sense, in a business arena, in the changes occurring around us and in the spiritual atmosphere. So, if we break down these three words, what exactly are we talking about? Without boring you with definitions from Mr. Webster or from Lady Google, the basic general consensus is change. Obviously, shaking can be used i...
Drones planting trees in burned wildlands While drones are coming of age in firefighting, they are also establishing a foothold in restoring fire-scorched forests. Firefighting drones grabbed the spotlight last April 15 as viewers around the world watched Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris go up in flames. It has stood for over 850 years, through wars, natural disasters, and everything in between, including the fire. At first, it appeared the iconic building would be completely destroyed; however, French firefighters used thermal vision drones to di...
I’m Mikayla Higgins, and I have lived in Electric City since I was 2. Two years ago, I left for the first time when I began college in Seattle at the University of Washington. When I got the opportunity for the internship at the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce, I was excited to spend a few more months in the town I grew up in, and to reconnect with people I have known my entire life. I have been reflecting on how much the area has shaped the young adult I have become. When I first moved to Seattle, I was moving to a large city to a...
Young people today, when you make up your bucket list, be sure to put in a train ride. Transportation by train is a rarity today, and only on occasion do you stumble on a coal-fired engine. I was a “gandy dancer” for the Northern Pacific Railroad during my high school career, working from 7-4 on Saturdays as part of their section crew. My fascination with steam locomotives didn’t start then. I remember that, as a kid, whenever a train went through Palouse we would be down by the tracks to watch it. Sometimes the engineer would wave at us, m...
Thank goodness for the rainstorms that flowed through the area over the weekend. It was great news for firefighters and for our area. I know not everyone was happy with the downpour. I am certain the tourists who were here for our beaches, boating and BBQs where wondering where the sun went, but there were at least three other people who found out that rain in the coulee can also mean “watch for falling rocks.” Saturday evening, part of the family and I decided to boogie on down to Ephrata rea...
Many families have rich memories of the Green Hut Restaurant and their key employees. Clarence D. Newland built the restaurant in Coulee Dam in 1938 on property overlooking Grand Coulee Dam and brought in McKinley (Red) Sayles as the head chef, who formerly was a chef on railcar diners. Mildred Bixler ran the curio shop, along with Shorty Compton, who kept a watchful eye on the waitresses. The restaurant provided a beautiful view of thundering whitewater cascading over the Grand Coulee Dam, but...
Officers for the year in one of the oldest, if not the oldest, service club in the area were announced this week. From left are incoming President Dena Avey, Vice President John Nordine II, Tail Twister Betty Brueske, Treasurer Rob Loch, and Birdie Hensley on membership. Not shown are Secretary Rick Bako, Lion Tamer John Nordine Sr. and Rich Avey, membership. Chartered in 1935, the club held its first Annual Lions Easter Egg Hunt in 1936. They place 2,000 eggs each year. The club has also...
In this week’s Star, we offer a short feature on a person relatively new to the area under the heading One of Us. We’d like to do more of this kind of story, those that help bring a new face to the community, or just tell us something many might not have known about someone who may be more familiar. If you know of someone who might make a good subject for One of Us, give us a call at 509-633-1350, or email star@grandcoulee.com with the details. Stories that tell us about each other can help bring us together as a community. We hope tha...
Who will stand up for geezer privilege? Without the benefit of definable organization, geezers are at a disadvantage. They lack status to call for a press conference or to issue position statements. The only recourse at present is to submit articles to local newspapers for publication. With no platform to speak from, public opinion seems to fall on deaf ears. There seems to be little or no interest or consideration offered by local politicians, or public officials. The apparent lack of traction on this issue may be attributed to apathy. People...
As global temperatures rise (June 2019 was the hottest June ever recorded) they tend to sustain wildfires. Earlier this summer, in June and July, hundreds of long-lived, intense wildfires burned within the Arctic Circle. Most of the fire activity was in Alaska and Siberia. Alaska alone had over 400 wildfires. There were also large fires in Greenland. Associated with these large-scale fires is the release of tiny particles — megatons of particulate matter. Black carbon particulates, also known a...
As we traveled around the state this summer and others asked where we were from, they would always get a look of excitement when we said Grand Coulee. Some had memories of long ago and others had fresh, exciting tales of all things Coulee. Here are the top things people mentioned when talking about Grand Coulee Dam area. Of course, the great concrete structure was always brought up and would unanimously be the number-one thing on this list, so I am going to just skip that one and give you the...