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 pedestrian/bike path along SR-155 that would connect the Coulee Playland area to Banks Lake Park is still in the works. With the path in the design phase currently, the path between the north end of Electric City and the south end of Grand Coulee would be completed in 2021. The vision for the pathway is a half-mile-long paved area less than 10 feet wide on the lake side of the guardrail along Banks Lake, where pedestrians and cyclists can travel comfortably. The $707,800 project will be paid for with $672,410 from a Washington State...
The incidence rates for COVID-19 have gone down significantly in Grant, Okanogan, and Douglas counties, while Lincoln County’s rate surged last week, and two additional cases have popped up in both Elmer City and Nespelem. Counties need an incidence rate of 25 cases or fewer per population of 100,000 in the past 14 days to move forward a phase in the Washington Safe Start Recovery plan. And to partially open in-person schooling locally, that rate must not exceed 75. Here are the latest data for COVID-19 in Grant, Okanogan, Lincoln, and D...
A porcupine that survived the largest of the wildfires in the state, has been recuperating in the care of its human neighbor. Riley Wisdom was driving Sept. 10 on the road leading to her home, along with her boyfriend and mother, when they saw the porcupine they had named Porky huddled by a tree in an area scorched in the recent Pearl Hill Fire which had burned nearly 234,000 acres, including right up to their home located about 30 minutes from Mansfield. "She has lived on our road for several y...
Electric City has a newly formed planning commission now. Mayor Diane Kohout announced at the Sept. 8 city council meeting that members were chosen for the commission: Chairman Don Redfield, Secretary Doug Lockard, Alric Miller, Steve McDaniels, and Ian Turner. The commissioners will be joined by Councilmember Brian Buche, City Planner Kurt Danison, and Hearing Examiner Andrew Kottkamp. The commission will "review and advise the City Council on public and private activities involving the...
Small businesses that operate in Electric City will be receiving some financial relief from the economically distressed times caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Electric City council voted at their Sept. 8 meeting to approve distributing $24,000 in federal relief money to local businesses through a grant application process they held during the summer. The money comes from a grant program set up using some of the city’s $30,900 the city is qualified for in total in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds. The 12 b...
Cases of COVID-19 continue to accumulate in local counties, but the rate at which they occur has decreased for some. Here are the latest data for COVID-19 in Grant, Okanogan, Lincoln, and Douglas (GOLD) counties. Counties need an incident rate of 25 cases or fewer per population of 100,000 in the past 14 days to move forward a phase in the Washington Safe Start Recovery plan, and most local counties are far from that goal. As of Sept. 6: As of Sept. 8, Grant County has: 2,497 total cases, including 16 deaths; seven cases in the Grand Coulee Dam... Full story
The Grant County Commissioner #1 position is between Earl Romig of Moses Lake and Danny Stone of Hartline, both Republicans. Stone lives north of Hartline and Almira and manages a dry-land grain operation in Grant and Lincoln counties. He has served as a Precinct Committee Officer in both Lincoln and Grant Counties and currently serves on the Executive Board of the Grant County Republican Central Committee as the 12th Legislative District chair. "I am a Christian and a constitutional...
The Colville Tribes is working to address the problem of students in the Nespelem area not having access to the internet while schools are switching to a distance-learning model of education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Nespelem School District board of directors Aug. 26 approved allowing the Tribes to build an internet tower on school grounds, something that Superintendent/Principal Effie Dean said would bring internet access to the town of Nespelem. And beyond the town people could create “hotspots” using their phones, altogether bri... Full story
The political race for representative #1 for Washington's 12th Legislative District, which includes much of the Grand Coulee Dam area, is between Republican incumbent Keith Goehner and challenger Adrianne Moore, a Democrat. Goehner, a former teacher from Dryden, has served as Chelan County commissioner and is currently finishing his first two-year term in the Legislature. His priorities include "addressing unfunded mandates on local government, agriculture and tourism," his website says. "It is...
A woman, a man, and a teenage boy from Portland, Oregon were arrested near Lamona in Lincoln County on felony residential burglary charges Wednesday. On Sept. 2, the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office received a 9-1-1 call at about 11 a.m. reporting a residential burglary in progress in Lamona, according to a press release from Sheriff Wade Magers. Lamona is almost halfway from Odessa to Harrington along SR-28. Undersheriff Kelly Watkins, Deputy Chad Cunningham, and Deputy Luke Mallon responded to...
Small businesses are being helped out by local governments, and Okanogan County business owners have only a couple more days to apply for funds from that county. The Okanogan County Economic Alliance has the grant application for small businesses to apply for up to $10,000 at http://www.economic-alliance.com/. That money comes from $250,000 set aside by the county from federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act money. That application is due on Aug. 28. Grant County commissioners set aside $2.5 million out of the... Full story
Gary Carden began taking the COVID-19 virus very seriously after he contracted the disease, was put on a ventilator - and survived. Relaying his story over the phone on Monday, Carden, 63, said that on June 18, he was sitting in his chair in Nespelem, where he lives and runs The Ketch Pen Tavern. He was feeling "weak and woozy." His sister told him that he didn't look too good, and they decided to call an ambulance, which took him to Coulee Medical Center. After about two hours at the hospital,... Full story
Grant County business owners have two more days to apply for up to $10,000 in a second round of COVID-19 relief grant money through Grant County to make up for costs associated with the pandemic, including lost revenue. County commissioners set aside $2.5 million of the county’s $5 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act money to go toward small businesses (20 employees or fewer) and nonprofit organizations. The Grant County Economic Development Council developed the application process for the funds. ... Full story
Citizens of Electric City can have more say in the goings on of the city. The city of Electric City would like local residents to be a part of their planning process in the form of a commission. The city council has discussed in recent meetings forming a planning commission, a new version of a planning “agency” that existed in the past. The commission would consist of the city planner and five local residents and would address situations revolving around rezoning, subdivision, planned unit developments, special use reviews, and site and arc...
Some details on short-term rentals in Grand Coulee will still have to be decided before they are allowed. The Star reported previously that the Grand Coulee City Council approved an ordinance allowing for short-term rentals in residential zones in the city but neglected to report that it will still take some time before people can actually offer the short-term rentals. “The ordinance we passed was the first step in preparation for the updated Comprehensive Plan,” City Clerk Lorna Pearce explained in an email, with the updated comprehensive pla...
COVID-19 hasn't slowed people from going to Steamboat Rock State Park, which includes the Steamboat Rock area, Northrup Canyon, and Northrup Point boat launch. Statistics from Washington State Parks show a 23% increase in the total number of visitors to the state park in June, compared to last year. In the month of June, Steamboat Rock State Park received 86,566 visitors in 2020, compared to 70,434 in June of 2019, 69,658 in 2018, and 72,590 in 2017. You have to go back to June of 2016, when...
The Grand Coulee City Council is looking into upgrading their tech with federal coronavirus relief money. At their July 21 council meeting held via Zoom, City Clerk Lorna Pearce presented the idea of using some of the city’s qualified amount of $31,650 in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) funds to buy tablets for council members, which they could use for their council meetings now held electronically because of the COVID-19 pandemic, relieving them of having to use their own personal devices to conduct city b...
The Grand Coulee Dam School District is asking for more money as they enter the uncharted territory of beginning a new school year during the COVID-19 pandemic. The district board of directors Monday night approved a budget for the 2020-21 school year, as well as a resolution authorizing a new enrichment levy that will ask property owners for an additional dollar per $1,000 of assessed value on their property. Voters will decide in the November general election whether the district gets that extra dollar. The history of local school levies in...
The superintendent of the Grand Coulee Dam School District will answer your questions related to reopening school for the 2020-21 school year during the COVID-19 pandemic in weekly question-and-answer sessions held online. Superintendent Paul Turner sent an email on July 22 to parents, staff, and community members detailing the meetings. “In light of all the COVID-19 uncertainty about school reopening, I would like to schedule weekly Q&A sessions online,” Turner said. “At this point the district has developed some re-opening strategies with mor...
Even cities have to deal with electronics becoming obsolete. The cities of Grand Coulee and Electric City need to buy a new computer for their arsenic treatment plant, which treats the water that comes from Electric City wells and is used by both cities. Both city councils discussed the issue at their respective council meetings held earlier this month. The computer is not your average at-home computer. It may cost in the vicinity of $20,000, unless a cheaper option is found. Electric City Mayor Diane Kohout threw some numbers out to the Electr...
Grand Coulee residents can now rent out their homes for a weekend if they want to. The Grand Coulee City Council approved an ordinance July 21 allowing short term rentals in residential zones within the city. The ordinance says that short-term rentals will “allow for increased tourist accommodations,” and that there is a need for that in the city. Short-term rentals are defined as rentals for less than 30 days and are also referred to as “vacation rentals,” or “nightly rentals.” The council discussed that Electric City doesn’t allow short-t...
A fire in the "Wilbur Hill" area, called the Neal Canyon fire, burned about 70 acres of grass brush and light timber on July 24. The fire, the cause of which is still under investigation, started on a hill near milepost 27 on SR- 174 at roughly 11 a.m. on July 24 and had "high spread potential," according to Veronica Randall, public information officer for the Colville-based Northeast Washington InterAgency Communication Center. The fire had been moving toward wheat fields above the hill, where...
The Grand Coulee Dam area has had an additional three cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the past few days. A July 20 update from the Grant County Health District said they received an additional 59 cases between the evening of July 17 and 5 p.m. on July 20, including one in the Grand Coulee area of Grant County. “There is widespread community spread in Grant County,” the district wrote in its daily report online Monday. “It is not limited to one employer, community or household.” They then received another 20 cases by 5 p.m. July 21, including ano... Full story
The upcoming school year will be a hybrid mix of online and in-school learning for most students, if plans in development at Grand Coulee Dam School District come to fruition amidst current uncertainties about timing and COVID-19. That was the topic of discussion at a Zoom school board meeting Monday night, which was well attended by staff, parents, and more. The superintendent and board of directors met in the library at Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High, passing a health screening before entering the building, wearing masks, keeping a... Full story
High school football, volleyball, and soccer will be played in the spring, rather than the fall. The executive board of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association made the decision July 21 in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The school year will break down into four WIAA seasons, with lower-risk sports able to occur earlier in the year, and higher risk sports starting later in the hopes that Washington counties by then will have moved into later phases in the Washington State Safe Start Recovery Plan. Depending on what phas... Full story