News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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The annual spring cleanup will be free after all. The Regional Board of Mayors, after being awarded a grant, chose during a special meeting March 18 not to charge locals for dumping yard waste at the Delano Regional Transfer Station during spring cleanup week, which runs from April 3-16, with days depending on each town (see the ad on page 2). Originally, the mayors had chosen this year to charge a fee for pickup loads of yard waste taken to the transfer station to cover the costs of taking that waste to the landfill in Ephrata. They were previ...
Pedestrians in Elmer City will be more footloose and fancy-free with a pathway project being completed later this year. In 2018, phase one of the pathway project built a path along the Lower River Road from Third Street to about halfway to Front Street, with two crosswalks connecting to the Downriver Trail across the Lower River Road. Phase two will finish the path down to Front Street. Front Street’s sidewalk, which currently stops short of the corner with the Lower River Road, will be completed and connect with the pathway. During their M...
Scouts are staying busy with another food drive. “A food drive is always helpful,” said Carol Nordine, who manages the local Care and Share Food Bank located at the Nazarene Church on the outskirts of Grand Coulee heading east on SR-174. “It gets us a variety of things we normally don’t have.” The boys and girls in the local troops left bags at area residences last weekend with a flier explaining how to donate food. Residents are encouraged to place food in the bags and leave them outside their homes before 9 a.m. this Saturday, March 27,...
Raiders win third straight football shutout The Lake Roosevelt Raiders football team defeated the Manson Trojans 41-0 in Coulee Dam Friday, their third straight shutout in a row, for a 3-0 win-loss record. The Raiders first got on the scoreboard when quarterback Hunter Whitelaw powered his way into the endzone on a short run after the Raiders made their way downfield. Next, Whitelaw threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Sam Wapato, and then ran a 50-yard touchdown run to end the first quarter with...
Surprisingly, there is something U.S. Presidents agree upon: America’s economic and national security hinge upon maintaining our technology edge in semiconductors. Those tiny computer chips are the brains of modern electronics. They operate our laptops and smart phones and permeate every sector of our lives from farming and manufacturing to health care and public safety. They are embedded in our military’s most advanced equipment and give us a tactical edge. Semiconductors are among our nation’s top five exports. The Semiconductor Indus...
Whether they continue to share a wastewater treatment facility with Coulee Dam, or build their own, Elmer City ratepayers are looking at higher sewer rates, but how much higher remains to be determined. The Elmer City council watched a presentation from Project Engineer Nancy Wetch of Gray and Osbourne last Thursday night. Wetch’s report compared the estimated cost of building Elmer City’s own wastewater treatment facility to the costs of renegotiating their current agreement with Coulee Dam, which expires at the end of 2024. The report loo...
The need for a community basketball court was discussed at a parks district meeting last week. Commissioners for the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District met on March 10 via Zoom for the first time since December. Commissioners discussed pursuing grants for projects in North Dam Park, such as for new playground equipment, which was a top priority for respondents to a poll The Star conducted in December. Respondents to that poll also expressed wanting a full-size basketball court, with the current single basketball hoop at the park, on a...
Electric City will be holding its second informal meeting with the community where people can give their input and ask questions about the goings on of the city. The meeting is scheduled for Saturday, March 20, from 1-3 p.m. at the American Legion building on Coulee Boulevard. The mayor, city engineer, and members of the city planning commission and city council will be available to talk to the public. Topics at the meeting include sidewalks being built, the pedestrian waterfront pathway project, an informal poll on a community park, changes to...
American Legion #157 Commander Jim Brakebill spoke to the Regional Board of Mayors March 8 about wanting to create a veterans’ memorial for the Coulee area. Brakebill emphasized the idea for a memorial was only in the earliest stages, and he wanted to involve the mayors and communities so that people could share their input on the project. Various possibilities were discussed in brief, including the options of having lighted flags for the different branches of the military, and of selling bricks with the names of service members printed on t...
The Senate on March 6 voted 25-24 to pass Senate Bill 5096, a proposal that seeks to create a state income tax on capital gains. The Senate’s passage of a state income tax is beyond disappointing, although not entirely unexpected. This proposal has been a concern of mine for the past few years, and it finally advanced. In the past, the Senate has been a helpful backstop against new tax proposals. In recent years, either Republican senators or a few conservative Democrats helped block the income tax. I’m afraid that the 25 to 24 vote shows that...
The annual spring cleanup in the area will be different this year due to not having curbside pickup from the cities, as well as there being a charge to dump the yard waste you haul yourself. The Regional Board of Mayors on Monday set April 3-10 as the week for spring cleanup when people can bring their yard waste to the Delano Regional Transfer Station, but this year there will be a charge. A pickup load of 2.5 cubic yards, which is a standard size pickup bed filled level with the sides of the bed, will cost $5.25 per load, including tax. Any...
Staff members at Lake Roosevelt Schools received COVID-19 vaccines at Safeway in Grand Coulee and at the Okanogan fairgrounds this past week as part of a nationwide effort to vaccinate school staff before the end of the month. On March 2, President Joe Biden announced a directive to all states to get every pre-K educator, K-12 teacher, and childcare worker at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine in the month of March. Following that announcement, Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Paul Turner said he began working with Okanogan...
Will the Laser Light Show and Visitor Center at the Grand Coulee Dam, which saw nearly 200,000 people in 2019, open this spring? The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation didn’t answer the question from The Star with a straight yes or no, but did answer. “At this time, the laser light show and Grand Coulee Dam Visitor Center will remain temporarily closed in support of the recommended guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” said Public Affairs Specialist Erika Lopez, who works in Boise, Idaho, in an email. Lopez said that the G...
The COVID-19 pandemic, having been prevalent in the US for about a year, has had an affect on the lives of people around the world, including an affect on mental health. “The pandemic has been hard on everyone,” Dr. Marilynn Holman, a psychiatrist at Coulee Medical Center, told The Star in an email. “Financial concerns, social isolation, increased childcare, fear for health of self and others – all can worsen stress and mood.” Holman also said that “those with limited internet/phone access have been particularly impacted as many services or...
Presently there are three vaccines for COVID 19 corona virus that have been approved in the USA for use. 1. Pfizer vaccine; 2. Moderna vaccine; 3. Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines used no aborted baby cells in the testing or production of their vaccine and require two shots. Johnson & Johnson used aborted baby cells in both the testing and production of their vaccine and requires only one shot. The moral concerns and decisions are up to you. Thank you, Al & Judy Bosco...
A portion of the geographic United States, specifically the Southern Plains and Gulf Coast, were hit hard in late February with unusual life-threatening winter weather. The state of Texas became the epicenter of this winter event for several reasons. Widespread power outages, freezing water pipes and significant snowfall occurred, which, in some parts of Texas and the Gulf Coast is a rare happening. What was the cause — the Polar Jet Stream or the Arctic Polar Vortex? First, let’s take a loo...
Raiders win football season opener The Lake Roosevelt Raiders were strong as ever on Friday when they defeated the Tonasket Tigers, 37-0, in a football blowout in Tonasket. The Raiders were "led by a strong rushing attack," Head Coach Tim Rasmussen wrote on the team's website. Senior Hunter Whitelaw led the attack, running for three touchdowns. Sophomore Brit Egbert threw two touchdown passes, one to sophomore Chase Clark and one to junior Gabe Waters. The Raiders will host the Oroville Hornets...
Tonight, 13 Lake Roosevelt High School students will be inducted into the National Honor Society, joining 18 of their peers. The students are being inducted tonight, Wednesday March 10, at 7 p.m., with some students to be present in the gym and some attending virtually. Students can invite two guests each to the physical event, which will also be live streamed online. The inductees this year are: Penelope Antoine, Ashley Baker, Camryn Carden, Chase Clark, Brit Egbert, Tanner Kiser, Landon Krohn, Elijah Rasmussen, Kawika Whalawista, Hunter...
The Banks Lake Pumped Storage Project, which would bring an estimated 1,000-2,000 workers to the area during construction and add an extra 500 megawatts of hydropower electricity per hour, is still in the works, if a little Covid delayed. Secretary Manager Darvin Fales of Columbia Basin Hydropower spoke to The Star on the phone Tuesday, with an update on the project for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The gravity-feed system would power two 250-megawatt generating units, or...
A senior trip to Huntington Beach, California is still looking like a go after the board approved the trip contingent on another update in April. About 30 Lake Roosevelt High School seniors are interested in taking the trip on which they would fly to San Diego May 29, bus to Huntington Beach, spend time at an art center, surfing, and at a campfire on the beach before returning to Washington May 31. The trip was discussed at a Feb. 22 school board meeting, but wasn’t yet approved because of confusion as to travel restrictions related to going t...
All eight of Washington's regions are in Phase Two of the state's phased plan for reopening from the COVID-19 pandemic and will be there for "at least several weeks," according to the office of Gov. Jay Inslee. Phase Two of the plan has less stringent restrictions on individuals, schools, and businesses. Regions were required to meet data metrics related to COVID in order to move to Phase Two, and warned that if those stats got worse, a region could move back to Phase One. However, Inslee announ...
A new book by Colville Tribal member Arnie Marchand titled "What Is Your Name?" describes the way of life of the Okanogan Native Americans, examining the lives of individuals and the history of the people. The book, Marchand's second, is published by Heritage Productions out of Oroville where Marchand lives, and is available on Amazon as well as through the North Central Washington library system, which includes the Grand Coulee Library. "In this work I want to let you know some things about...
As a former council member and current park committee member, along with my co-park committee member, I have sat back, listened, and read the newspaper. We feel it is important to correct information regarding the Electric City Park. Our previous and current committee members worked on the Plans for the Park and the Funding for the Park. The current city council has chosen not to use the RCO Grant or Hotel Motel Tax Funds which was for this purpose. We want to inform the public that the Hotel/Motel Tax can be used for Capital Improvement for...
Lake Roosevelt athletes participated in sporting events for the first time in about a year. "It was great to see the kids back in action and going," Athletic Director Tim Rasmussen said. "It was great to be able to follow all the safety guidelines and protocols and get kids back playing games. First weekend, we had a huge success for Raider Nation." Streaming football and volleyball online was also a success, Rasmussen said, with links to view broadcasted events found at www.lrraiders.com ....
Student performance at Lake Roosevelt has been going up since the start of the 2020-2021 school year, as students and teachers get used to the routine and gain from more in-person time with teachers, school leaders say. In the first quarter of school, which ended on Nov. 9, Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High School, Principal Kirk Marshlain said, roughly 68% of 7th- through 12th-grade students had one or more Fs and/or no credits. On Jan. 4, that number dropped to roughly 60%, and at the end of...