News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Elmer City has been awarded a grant to study a critical piece of its wastewater infrastructure, which, if it needs replacing, could tip the decision on building its own treatment plant and splitting from Coulee Dam’s service. Elmer City received a $30,000 Community Development Block Grant from the state Department of Commerce for an assessment and feasibility study of their “force main,” a pipe that carries sewage from Elmer City to the wastewater treatment plant in Coulee Dam, to see if it needs to be replaced. Town Public Works Direc...
Games could be forfeited at high school sports events if fans don’t comply with mask requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic. Raider fans need to wear masks and wear them correctly at Raider indoor events, the school district superintendent says. A Sept. 15 notice from Superintendent Paul Turner addressed to “Raider Boosters” seeks to get everyone “on the same page” and asks them to adhere to the masks mandate. “During these unprecedented times, there are many inconveniences that we need to adhere to in order to keep school staff and student...
The Lady Raider volleyball squad defeated Tonasket 3-0 Sept. 16. “The girls did an amazing job,” Head Coach Meagan Caudell said. “Our focus going into this match was to take each set one at a time. All three sets were really close, so our girls worked really hard to get the W in those first three. All of our girls at one time or another knew that they needed to dig deep and play smart. They were really focused in on making sure that we could place the ball, but also read where the ball could go on our side. I was really proud of them for how t...
Local voters will decide whether to support at least one school levy in the spring of 2022 that would take effect in 2023. The Grand Coulee Dam School District currently has three levies, all expiring before 2023. Superintendent Paul Turner described them to the district board as an “original” levy which charges $1.50 per $100,000 of assessed property value for a person’s property taxes; a “supplemental” levy of $1 that supports it; and a “capital” levy of $1.70 that goes toward facility expenses. Turner said the school district board of dire...
Sidewalk sections on Main Street and Federal Avenue in Grand Coulee are being replaced again after issues came up following the original 2015 installation. The 2015 project to install new sidewalks and gutters on Federal Avenue and Main Street cost $407,816.53. It was paid for with money from a state Transportation Improvement Board grant. Settlement issues causing the concrete to crack were noticed in November of 2016, and a few months later spalling on surfaces was also noted. Since then, comm...
Lake Roosevelt students in sixth grade and up have the opportunity to go to the eastern United States and see cultural and historical sites in New York City and Washington D.C. The trip, taking place after school is out for the summer in June of 2022, isn’t technically a school function, but the school board on Monday voted to show their support for the trip, and to allow for advertising within the school for it. The trip would allow students to “explore the rich culture and heritage of our great nation,” a description provided to the schoo...
The Lady Raiders soccer team lost their season opener 2-1 to Bridgeport on Saturday in Grand Coulee. Senior Sadie Trotter, one of the team's captains, made LR's goal in the second half from a penalty kick resulting from a handball offense from Bridgeport. With the score tied at 1-1, a mistake from LR led to Bridgeport's go-ahead goal for the 2-1 final score. "Bridgeport is one of the top four teams in the league, so the girls played really well," Head Coach Micah Esmond said. "The goals we conce...
The Lake Roosevelt Raiders cross country team ran five kilometers at Wapato Point in Manson on Saturday. “I really enjoyed Manson’s cross country course,” Head Coach Matthew Timentwa said. “It’s right there on Lake Chelan so it’s got a beautiful view while running, which is not something you can say for every course. It’s also a pretty good opening course as far as terrain goes. It has a good mixture of flats and hills with some grass thrown in there as well.” “I was proud of all of my runners that got to participate because all of them did a...
The Lady Raiders volleyball team defeated Almira-Coulee-Hartline 3-1 in Coulee City Sept. 9. Lake Roosevelt played the first two sets “with absolute fire,” Head Coach Meagan Caudell said. The first set was won 25-9. “Audrey Hansen’s serves carried us through that set,” Caudell said. LR won the second set 25-19. The Lady Raiders lost the third set 25-21, then won the fourth 25-21. Player highlights include the work of Hansen, who had 10 kills for the evening. Aehsley Piturachsatit had 12 assists, and Shyanne Marchand had eight. Carly Neddo, wh...
We could all use a morale boost these days, and a little bit of kindness can go a long way. Rachelle Haven, executive director of the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce, has started a project called Coulee Kind that encourages people to perform “random acts of kindness.” “I started [Coulee Kind] because I had been hearing from business owners that they were struggling with morale within the community, whether it be employees, themselves, or customers,” Haven told The Star. “I know a lot of people are home right now due to the delta var...
Harvest Fest has been cancelled due to a surge in COVID-19 cases. The board of directors of the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce called a special meeting Sept. 1 to make the decision on the seasonal festival, originally planned for Sept. 18-19, Chamber Executive Director Rachelle Haven said. “The decision was not made lightly,” she said. “While we know that everyone wants to get back to business as usual and in person events again, we felt, with the surge of COVID cases in the community, it would not be responsible of us to host an ev...
When you drive across it on highway 2, you may not think of Moses Coulee as anyone's home, but once it was a place where people lived in villages, grew gardens and gathered what they needed to live. Previously undocumented rock feature sites in the Moses Coulee region, significant to local tribes, can now be recorded with help from National Park Service dollars. The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation are one of 12 recipients of Tribal Heritage Grant money. Congress appropriated...
"Music is part of human nature," according to new Lake Roosevelt Music Teacher Gabriel James, who moved to Coulee Dam recently for the gig. James, who grew up in Spokane, received his undergraduate degree in jazz performance from Whitworth University, then a master's degree in teaching in June of this year. Saxophone is his main instrument, and he also plays flute and clarinet. While in high school, James played in the Spokane Area Wind Ensemble, and Spokane Area Jazz Ensemble, both of which...
The Raider varsity football team won their season opener Friday, defeating the Chewelah Cougars 12-7 in Chewelah. “We knew that Chewelah was a tough opponent,” Raider Head Coach Tim Rasmussen told The Star on Monday. “It was a very good battle, a great defensive game from both schools.” “When it comes down to it, we made more plays than they did,” Rasmussen continued. “I was impressed with our team. We were fighting together and not letting things, like the adversity on the field, affect us.” After a 0-0 tie at the end of the first half, Rai...
The Lady Raider volleyball team warmed up for the regular season in a tournament in Davenport on Saturday, where the Lady Raiders defeated Springdale and Davenport but lost to Odessa and Reardan. “We had more logistic things like rotation to work on, otherwise the girls did great,” Head Coach Meagan Caudell said. “We just beat ourselves when it came to those logistic things, but it was a good learning experience!” “My impression [from the tournament] is that our girls have grit,” she said. “They bring their A game to every single game, and onc...
The idea of lowering the speed limit from 45 to 30 miles per hour on SR-155 between Electric City and Grand Coulee is a vastly unpopular idea, a Star survey reveals, with 88% of people being against it. However, it may be necessary to lower the limit if a pathway project is to be built at all. Last week, The Star reported on the possibility of the speed limit being lowered by the Washington State Department of Transportation after a pedestrian pathway is built connecting Coulee Playland to Banks Lake Park between the highway and Banks Lake, on...
You may notice some greenery missing from the drive along SR-155 near the north end of Grand Coulee in the future. About 30 pine trees near Grand Coulee’s wastewater treatment facility on the north side of the road will be removed due to issues caused by the trees for the facility. The trees pose a risk of damage to the facility if they or their limbs fall onto equipment. Already, tree debris such as needles and cones have fallen into the facility and clogged up pipes and the like. According to Assistant Treatment Plant Operator Travis Irwin i...
The speed limit between Electric City and Grand Coulee, currently at 45 miles per hour, could drop to 30 with the construction of a new pedestrian/bike pathway. The Star would like to know whether you want the speed limit lowered. With pedestrians regularly traveling the stretch of road, a pathway is seen as a way to give them a safe place to walk or ride their bikes. In 2018, the project was accepted for a $672,410 grant from the Washington State Department of Transportation with a 5%, $35,390 match from Electric City. The original ped... Full story
Well, it lasted longer than 8 seconds, but after just four years of being named Shane Proctor Park, that park is going back to its old name. The park on SR-174, in Grand Coulee between a gas station and La Presa restaurant is called Grand Coulee City Park. In 2017, the city council approved renaming the park after professional bull-riding champion and Grand Coulee native Shane Proctor. Now, after just four years as Shane Proctor Park, it's being changed back to Grand Coulee City Park. On August...
The mental health of students should be addressed more regularly by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, according to a letter school superintendents sent to him and to the state Department of Health. Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Paul Turner is one of 40 superintendents in Washington that signed an Aug. 18 letter to Inslee in response to a July 28 DOH update requiring masks for all K-12 students and staff. “OUR STUDENTS NEED HOPE,” the letter starts. “Coming off an unmasked summer of Washington State being ‘fully open’, our students...
Students at Lake Roosevelt Schools may start saying “TGIF” for two more reasons this school year: early release, and a different educational approach. On Fridays, students at LR, from kindergarten age to seniors in high school, will be participating on “STEAM” focused projects, or projects that revolve around Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. “Activities and experiences will look different depending on grade level and topic,” Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High Principal Sara Kennedy explained to The Star in an email Tuesday...
An agreement, new this year, allows state firefighting helicopters to park at the Grand Coulee Dam Airport and that's helping put out local fires sooner than later. The Washington State Department of Natural Resources has an emergency-use agreement with Grant County Port District 7 to pay $1,500 a month to keep two helicopters parked at the airport, plus $750 for each additional one that may go there, based on available space. "It looked like a strategic place for us," said Russ Lane, assistant...
A new semi-truck to haul the trailers of trash that come out of the Delano Regional Transfer Station to a landfill in Ephrata will cost a pretty penny in the ballpark of $180,000-$200,000. The Regional Board of Mayors, which includes mayors from Electric City, Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam, and Elmer City, discussed with transfer station manager Randy Gumm Aug. 9 the need for a new truck. City Clerk Peggy Nevsimal of Electric City said possible funding options for the truck included a grant/loan package from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Am...
The lack of animal control locally has been an ongoing issue since time immemorial, but gears are turning in Electric City minds to find a solution for all the local towns. It’s an issue that rears its head at least a couple times a decade, but at the Regional Board of Mayors meeting Aug. 9, Electric City employee Mike Shear and City Clerk Peggy Nevsimal spoke to the board concerning details on how to set up an animal control program. Shear, who currently does code enforcement work for the city and works for the Delano Regional Transfer S...
What if all school sports were played at the same location? The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors recently looked at slides of what the Lake Roosevelt Schools campus could look like under different options. The designs, from the school's recently hired NAC Architecture, showed a football/soccer field with a track around it being located near the current one in Coulee Dam, but at a different angle. A separate baseball field and softball field could fit near it. A new gym could b...
