News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Newly elected Grant County Commissioner Danny Stone spoke with the Grand Coulee City Council during their Feb. 16 meeting held via Zoom. Stone is the first county commissioner from the northern part of the county in recent memory, possibly since Fred Ludolph in the 1940s. Stone introduced himself and told the council that he was available to talk with them. "If you need something," Stone said, "I can't tell you I can always fix or help, but I can sure be a part of the discussion and be...
What does charging an electric car have to do with treating sewage? Turns out, quite a bit! The Grand Coulee City Council last week approved amending parts of their municipal code to address how to add electric vehicle charging stations within the city. The topic of electric vehicle charging stations comes with nuances in the form of types of charging stations, their electrical requirements, where the spaces are allowed, and restricting other cars from using those parking spaces. Adding more complication is that council members felt rushed to...
About 30 seniors of the Lake Roosevelt graduating class of 2021 are interested in a senior trip, a tradition for seniors, to Huntington Beach, Calif., but COVID-19 restrictions might keep them in Washington. The class has raised about $20,000 towards such a trip during their years in high school. According to a report submitted to the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors during their Feb. 22 meeting, the students would fly down to Los Angeles on May 29, busing to Huntington Beach, and spending the next couple days on beaches, at...
Popular local events that didn't happen last year are at least tentatively scheduled to happen this year. The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce will tentatively be hosting 10 events in 2021, including Colorama, the Festival of America, and Harvest Festival. "We are really looking forward to providing the community with some fun and excitement this summer," Executive Director Rachelle Haven told The Star in an email. "We have the opportunity with our events to try new things and create a...
The Elmer City fire department, also known as Okanogan County Fire District #2, is interested in getting a new building built behind their old one, and in finding more volunteers. Public Works Director Jimmer Tillman told the town council Feb. 11 that the fire department, for which he has been a volunteer for about 30 years, was interested in a new storage facility for its trucks. He said the city would look into grant options for such a thing, something for which he understands there to be multiple opportunities. Tillman explained that the...
Outrage over deaths of citizens in police custody sparked efforts by lawmakers to address racial equity, hiring and training, and the use of force within law enforcement. Now, nearing the halfway point in the 2021 legislative session, the steps toward major reform of police tactics have gained support from both sides, though not without controversy. “I wouldn't argue that we have complete agreement amongst all of them but we're continuing to work to bring people together and to move the bills,” said House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, in...
The North Central Region of the state, including this area, entered the less-stringent Phase Two of Washington State's Roadmap to Recovery planned approach to the COVID -19 pandemic just in time for Valentine's Day Feb. 14. Gov. Jay Inslee announced last Thursday that five more regions would join the Puget Sound and West Regions in Phase Two, with only the South Central region not meeting the four requirements to open up to the next phase. That changed on Feb. 14 when the state Dept. of Health announced that a data error had been discovered in...
Recycling at the Delano Transfer Station has been successful, and Sunrise Disposal, the contracted solid waste hauler in the area responsible for the recycling bins there, is working to make it easier. Recycling bins were placed outside of the Delano Regional Transfer Station in January of 2020. Earl Cole, who runs Coulee View Mobile Park in Electric City, hauls recyclables from tenants there to Delano. Cole told Electric City Mayor Diane Kohout about the difficulty of placing the goods through...
Whether restricted by COVID or by distance, Lake Roosevelt Raider fans far and wide should soon be able to watch sporting events, assemblies, and graduations from the comfort of their own homes. The Grand Coulee Dam School District bought a one-year, $2,000 service from Justagame Live, which will allow LR to livestream games and more online. The games can be recorded and streamed via smartphones and tablets operated by students, staff, or parents, or through hard-mounted cameras that could be operated remotely and cost around $750 each,...
Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson’s $33 billion plan to remove the lower Snake River dams is unwise. However, if he pushes it, he needs to include the impact of breaching dams in his home state, which completely shuts off salmon and steelhead migration. Simpson, a Republican representing eastern Idaho, announced he wants to rupture the four lower Snake River dams — Ice Harbor, Little Goose, Lower Monumental and Lower Granite — all in southeast Washington. Those impoundments have fish passage systems to allow adult anadromous fish to conti...
A man driving a stolen Grant Transit Authority bus out of Moses Lake was pursued by more than two dozen police on the morning of Feb. 3, with the chase ending in a minor crash. The bus had been reported stolen at about 7 a.m., and Moses Lake Police and other agencies were watching for it when a Grant County Sheriff's deputy spotted it about 30 minutes later. The driver, 62-year-old Richard D. Manley of Grand Coulee, was on highway 28 near Stratford. He turned north on Pinto Ridge Road. Lake Roos...
A meeting held by the city of Electric City on Jan. 23 to engage with its citizens and get their input on various issues was a success, the mayor says. “We had a pretty good event,” Mayor Diane Kohout later told The Star. People representing the city included Kohout, herself, Councilmember Cheryl Hoffman, Planning Commissioners Al Miller and Ian Turner, City Engineer Steve Nelson of Century West, and Public Works Director Jared Armstrong. “We all felt it was a good start to bring our residents information about potential projects and needs...
The current plan for fan attendance at Lake Roosevelt sporting events is to allow each player to give two tickets to fans, be they family or friends, for home events only, with no opposing team visitors allowed. Athletic Director Tim Rasmussen updated the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors on the matter at their Feb. 8 meeting. Rasmussen said some schools won’t even allow home-event attendance, something he wanted to avoid. Additionally, the school is purchasing cameras and partnering with a company to livestream sports e...
Lake Roosevelt Schools could get new sports facilities built if they are "shovel ready" when and if grant money becomes available. Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Paul Turner spoke to The Star on Monday about plans to issue a Request for Qualifications soon for an architect to work with on facilities projects. Turner said the school board needs to look at the "bigger picture" of the district's facilities and decide what their vision is. "When we built [the new school] we had...
Last month we addressed the general state of air quality monitoring across the nation and more specifically here in the state of Washington and locally. To summarize, the agencies that are charged with the matters of informing their public of air quality issues are lacking. Regrettably, their bureaucratic hands are somewhat inhibited due to funding shortfalls amid other things. Regarding awareness of local air quality, up until the past few years, we simply didn't know what was happening with...
Why would any company spend $5.5 million for a 30-second Super Bowl ad that leaves viewers perplexed, as some glitzy and abstract commercials did? After production costs are tacked on, you’d think advertisers would want their messages clearly understood, especially in difficult times. Some prominent advertisers, such as Coca Cola, Budweiser and Pepsi, traditional large buyers, skipped Super Bowl LV; however, Weather Tech did not. After the game, the list of best and worst ads was released. It did not include three commercials sponsored by W...
A man driving a Grant Transit Authority bus out of Moses Lake was pursued by police on Wednesday morning, with the chase ending in Electric City at the intersection of Hillcrest Avenue and SR-155 where the driver hit a stop sign and came to a stop. The bus had been reported stolen at about 7 a.m., and Moses Lake Police and other agencies were watching for it when a Grant County Sheriff's deputy spotted it about 30 minutes later. The driver, 62-year-old Richard D. Manley of Grand Coulee, was on...
Tentative dates for spring and winter sports seasons have been set by athletic directors of the North Central Region, which includes Lake Roosevelt High School. The high school athletic season starts with sports traditionally played in the fall, for which a schedule was already set. For fall sports, football practice starts Feb. 16, while cross country, soccer, volleyball and cheer practices start Feb. 22. All of those sports run through April 3. A tentative schedule presented in Athletic Director Tim Rasmussen’s report to the Grand Coulee D...
With case counts rising and hospitalizations of patients with COVID-19 shooting up, the North Central Region of Washington remains in Phase One of the two-phase Healthy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery plan for handling the COVID-19 pandemic, while the Puget Sound and West regions both moved to Phase Two. Grant, Okanogan, Douglas, and Chelan counties are grouped into the North Central Region, which currently only meets one of the four requirements to move to Phase Two, which has less stringent restrictions on individuals, businesses, and s...
An addition to the local airport that would make it safer and more usable is on the horizon and may land if a major grant comes through to pay for it. A new Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) at the Grand Coulee Dam Airport would offer various aviation advantages, specifically by increasing safety and ease of landing. The estimated $274,000 AWOS project should be paid for in part with a 90% Federal Aviation Administration grant, and a 5% Washington Department of Transportation Aviation...
Electric City's tourism fund appears to have benefitted during the COVID-19 pandemic, while Grand Coulee has brought in more sales tax this year, reflecting different areas of strength in each city's economy. The Star looked at data provided by city clerks, which show that Electric City's revenue from lodging tax, collected on motel and campground stays, went up in 2020. That revenue category went down in Grand Coulee and Coulee Dam last year, which may reflect the fact that Electric City has...
A popular beach at Steamboat Rock State Park, located northeast of the boat launch, is being closed permanently due to erosion, authorities say. "The Bureau of Reclamation in cooperation with Washington State Parks will permanently close a beach area located in Steamboat Rock State Park in order to provide resource protection," a legal notice published throughout December 2020 in the Columbia Basin Herald states. "The closure will take place on January 1, 2021. Washington State Parks will...
Superintendent Paul Turner told the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors on Monday that an investigative report should be ready later this week concerning an incident in which someone left religious/political propaganda on the desks of 11 teachers at Lake Roosevelt Elementary School. Sometime during the weekend of Jan. 5-6, someone left black-and-white copies featuring the writings of Kim Clement on the teachers’ desks. Clement’s prophecies are for sale in several books on Amazon.com, and a “House of Destiny” website offers,...
Lake Roosevelt Schools have continued in-school teaching even when local infection rates of COVID-19 crossed a threshold set by the school board, a teacher showed its directors Monday night. A committee that will be tasked with informing school staff and the public about the latest Covid developments in the area is one result from Monday's meeting of the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors. Teacher Pam Johnson, during the public comment period of the meeting, presented facts,...
If you are a resident or landowner concerned about how water, air, and land resources in our county will be managed for humans, wildlife, and natural occurrences such as wildfire in the coming decades, you should read the County Legal Notices with the eyes of an eagle in the next week or two. This year, the Omak Chronicle is the county’s official newspaper of record for these legal notices. According to the County Commissioners’ proceedings, your first deadline for comment on new draft Comprehensive Plan documents will be February 10th. The...