News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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If you live in the Coulee, it’s likely you have an inkling of glacial history and the power that can be unleashed by glaciers. The Grand Coulee is prime evidence of glacial activity. There have been about a half dozen major Ice Ages in the history of Earth over the past three billion years. The landscape we live on was, in part, created by glacial activity, cataclysmic flooding and thousands of years of lava flows. Drive the Coulee Corridor and read the new roadside exhibits, or read about t...
Not only is the world in the grasp of the COVID-19 pandemic, but America’s western wildlands are burning up as well. Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters California has a dual crises: the massive wildfire complexes and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. “At this time last year, California had seen 4,292 fires that burned 56,000 acres. So far this year, we’ve had 7,002 fires that have burned a whopping 1.4 million acres.” California reports more than 660,000 coronavirus cases. In Washington, the gig...
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
Sunny summer weather helped restaurant owners and workers recover after they were broadsided by the coronavirus pandemic last March. However, as fall morphs into winter and diners are forced back inside, the big question will be: Are there enough customers to keep what’s left of the restaurant sector financially viable? The worst fears of many American businesses are coming true. With no recovery in sight from the COVID-19 pandemic, 72,842 businesses across the U.S. have permanently closed, acco...
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...
If Americans are to receive all of their electricity without coal and natural gas by 2035, they will need nuclear power. Even if Washingtonians, who already procure over 70 percent of their electricity from hydro, are to be completely devoid of fossil fuel generation by 2045, they must have nuclear. Washington’s Clean Energy Transformation Act passed earlier this year by the Legislature leans heavily on renewable fuels, particularly wind and solar. It calls for electrical generation to be c...
In January 1950, a group of community leaders formed the Grand Coulee Dam Athletic Association to fund community athletic teams. To help provide funding, the association booked nationally recognized dance bands to the Coulee Dam high school gym. A member from the association had a close contact within the Music Corporation of America, which was the nation's largest booking agency for famous-name bands. What followed between January 1950 and May 1953 was then described as the "Parade of Bands."...
The people of the 12th District are so fortunate to have a meaningful choice in the legislative race to represent us in Olympia. Adrianne Moore is an exciting, hardworking candidate with family roots five generations deep in North Central Washington. Having worked in long -erm recovery from the impact of wildfires, she is primed to get the economy going following COVID19. Having worked to assist people to access health care, she will do all in her power to make sure people have adequate healthcare coverage. Our local hospital administrators in...
Grand Coulee creates an image in our minds - the Grand Coulee Dam or the City of Grand Coulee, maybe the general area around the dam. Of course, the Grand Coulee, as well. However, where is Grand Coulee National Park? Well, the story of what could have been a national park goes back some 108 years to1912. Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the American Geographical Society of New York, an organized excursion was planned and implemented — The Transcontinental Excursion of 1912. Geologists and ge...
The area around where Grand Coulee sits today was sparsely populated around the turn of the 20th Century, and the few settlers and ranchers all knew each other. They also knew Texas Jack, a loner who lived down in the bottom of Rattlesnake Canyon, in a cave. One day, Texas Jack returned home with a young mixed-race woman. He never called her by name in public and referred to her as 'Woman" as if that was her name. She dressed rugged and in men's clothes. Some people in the community took pity...
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...
In past columns, I’ve shared information regarding climate change and the measurable impacts that are occurring. The impacts are measurable, and the science on climate change is being documented around the world. Back in June 2017, the column was about tree species migration. The most recent column provided information about the declining populations of songbirds. This column, we will read what researchers at the University of Wyoming are doing. Their published work addresses Climate Change impacts on mule deer habitat and migration. The r...
The first locomotives to haul construction material for the dam were old and tired. Two were on hand in 1935 and had been bought by MWAK to get trains moving. For the section from Electric City down to below the dam, an old logging locomotive, built in 1926, was purchased. It was of the Shay type of geared steamer, in that it was designed to move via pistons turning a common shaft via gearing attached to the wheels. The speed wasn't high, nor was the pulling power great, but it was perfect for...
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...