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 Nespelem man jumped off the Columbia River Bridge in Coulee Dam Friday morning, reportedly because he thought he could make it. The 28-year-old jumped from the bridge around 7 a.m. Another person was trying to keep him from doing it, said Coulee Dam Chief of Police Pat Collins. Soon, three boats were in the river searching for Jamie Williams, but by 9:30, it was more likely a recovery effort than a rescue, since the man had been in the river for hours, Collins said. The jump was not a suicide... Full story
Response to a fire in the heat of Monday afternoon in Grand Coulee underscored the nervousness of local fire fighters in the current, extreme heat conditions, with fireworks legal. As a summer thunderstorm rolled through the area at just after 5 p.m. downpours heralded thunderclaps, and lightning may have lit up a mostly empty lot on B Street, empty except for several large piles of firewood. Even with the downpour, the fire caught, and high winds fanned it. "It does show the extreme fire behavi... Full story
Grand Coulee Dam area fire fighters are concerned because of the extreme, hot weather we have been experiencing, which is predicted to continue for the next 10 days. Any fire activity will put extra stress on the firefighters because of the high temperatures. We are asking everyone to be extremely careful during all their outdoors activities. The probability of fire starts are extremely high from any ignition sources, even small sparks. Fireworks need to be used very carefully; even legal “Safe and Sane” fireworks will start fires very easily.... Full story
Members of Congress get categorized in all sorts of ways. They’re liberal or conservative; Republican or Democrat; interested in domestic affairs or specialists in foreign policy. There’s one important category, though, that I never hear discussed: whether a member wants to be an inside player or an outside player. Yet where members fall on the continuum helps to shape the institution of Congress. Insiders focus on making the institution work. They give fewer speeches on the floor, issue fewer press releases, and spend less time con... Full story
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A man jumped off the Columbia River Bridge in Coulee Dam this morning, reportedly just because he thought he could make it. The 28-year-old jumped from the bridge just before 7:30. Another person was trying to keep him from doing it, said Coulee Dam Chief of Police Pat Collins. Collins said at 9:30 that three boats were in the river searching for the man, but that it was more likely a recovery effort than a rescue, since the man had been in the river for hours. Collins said the jump was not a... Full story
Make a wish and it might come true. At least if you're a Grand Coulee 6-year-old with some serious health issues. The Make a Wish Foundation sent Keyshia Goodlance and her family on a trip across the state last weekend, an answer to Keyshia's wish for a simple shopping trip to buy makeup. The foundation helps children with life-threatening illnesses to make their wishes come true. They arrange for special treatment with businesses that range from big corporate partners to small-town retailers... Full story
My wife was about to leave me this week, illustrating a startling fact of modern life. She wasn’t leaving because it was over between us. No, we have a strong marriage. But a different kind of problem was about to take her away for as long as it took. For as long as it took for someone to fix our connection to the Internet. Since last Friday, our home connection had been down. It was restored Tuesday night after multiple contacts with people at several levels of CenturyLink. I’m still not sure what caused the outage (which happened to some oth... Full story
Photos from Saturday's graduation at Lake Roosevelt High and from the Nespelem's eighth-grade recognition ceremony, are now online. You can click through to our photo site to download any of them you may want, no charge. The password for downloads is grads. And there's a slide show below.... Full story
Security for the biggest event in golf in the United States is all up to a guy who graduated from Lake Roosevelt High School in 1983. Scott Mielcarek is coordinating efforts with dozens of law enforcement agencies and hundreds of personnel for the U.S. Open, happening this week near Tacoma, at the Chambers Bay golf course on Puget Sound. The USGA expects 235,000 spectators to attend the event. Mielcarek, a captain with the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, is is charged with keeping them as sa... Full story
I spend a fair amount of time talking to students and other young people about Congress and politics in general, and I’ve noticed something. It used to be that I’d regularly get asked how one runs for office. Nowadays, I rarely do. A lot of young people are repelled by politics; they’ve lost faith in the system just as many other Americans have. But look. If you don’t have people who are willing to run for office, you don’t have a representative democracy. As the leading edge of the Millennial generation reaches the age where running for offic... Full story
Three local leaders recalled a time when the community was more united than it currently is, and called for revisiting a list of goals drawn up in the 1980s that remains relevant today. Jim Keene, David Schmidt and Mary Jane Bailey attended last Thursday’s chamber of commerce meeting to remind people of the effort that helped spawn many initiatives we see as realities today, including the laser light show, the formation of a park district, building ball fields at North Dam Park, and constructing entrance signs to the “Grand Coulee Dam” commu... Full story
Coulee Medical Center is “planting a seed,” actually a lot of seeds, with an intent to grow into a better facility far less dependent on outsourcing its work. From billing to building medical staff, CMC is getting a handle on its future, staff reports last week indicated to hospital district commissioners. Three new health care providers are scheduled to begin practice in August, and CEO Debbie Bigelow said there may be a fourth ready to start, too, relieving the load doctors and mid-level providers have carried for years. The hospital has bro... Full story
In recent years, this community has grown apart. It’s time to reverse that trend. While municipal leaders always tend to watch out for their own interests, that propensity doesn’t have to get in the way of the whole Grand Coulee Dam community moving forward together. The difference may be as simple and as subtle as one of perspective. If decisions are made for the good of one’s own town, fine. But another over-arching consideration should also be, how does this move us all forward? A presentation last week on Project REV (see story on the f... Full story
Raider Tennis received the CWL Sportsmanship award from the Central Washington B League for the 2015 season for the excellent sportsmanship exhibited by both boys' and girls' tennis squads. This is the first such award for LR in some time. "I am very pleased that our teams' sportsmanship was recognized by the other schools," Head Coach Steve Archer said. Archer had included a program this season to emphasize sportsmanship as part of team expectations. "We have a team focus, F. I. T. which... Full story
A set of conceptual drawings that could significantly affect the quality of life in the area were delivered to the park board last week. The renderings, intended to form a basis for planning a new community center, were commissioned by the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District, which had obtained a grant from Grant County's Strategic Infrastructure Program to get architectural help envisioning what a new "wellness center" might look like. NAC Architects of Spokane did the work. District... Full story
After years of study and political upheaval around the subject, Coulee Dam is on the path to building a new modular wastewater treatment plant, following a decision by the town council last month. The new facility will be built on the existing site with about a third of the capacity of that called for in an earlier facility plan. After an alternatives study, the longterm costs of building the new plant, versus refurbishing the old one, are projected to be less. A summary presented to the council May 13 assumes a $5.4 million funding package,... Full story
A local veterans’ organization is taking on a project that would make sure kids who might otherwise not be fed much on the weekends go home Friday with a supply of food. Three American Legion Post 157 members addressed a luncheon of the chamber of commerce recently to outline the program. Jim Brakebill, Ben Alling and Shawn Neider said a new connection with a hunger-fighting organization had made the effort more feasible. A package program from Second Harvest would allow the group to send home a package for $144 per year, per child. The ... Full story
I see that the Grand Coulee City Council has once again blocked legal cannabis (marijuana) businesses in our city, and has once again cited federal law as their basis for said decision (or lack thereof). The official position of the federal government in such cases can be read here: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-update-marijuana-enforcement-policy In most cases, it is easy to see that federal agencies must be “called in” by local and/or tribal government leaders before investigative action would be taken by sai... Full story
Why are there fewer butterflies, lady bugs, small to large bees, praying mantis, etc., etc. Are we the cause? Is it because the spray used to kill one insect is killing them all? Even the butterflies and humming birds are nearly gone. Why? Liz Palachuck... Full story
If you were asked to describe a “navigable waterway” in the U.S., you would most likely not think of the stream in your backyard or the irrigation ditch in your field. You would probably mention the Columbia and Mississippi rivers or the Great Lakes. These massive bodies of water are navigable because they function as highways for commercial traffic by ship or boat. Under the Obama Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would disagree. These agencies have defined waterways in a way that only D.C... Full story
Two senior Raiders ended their high school track and field careers last week by placing in their events at the state track meet in Cheney. At the WIAA State Track Meet in Cheney, LR was represented by Senior throwers Katelynn Schilling and Octavio Alejandre. "The competition was very tough, and they brought home hardware!" Raider Head Coach Lori Adkins said. In the meet at Eastern Washington University Friday, Alejandre competed in the shot put against the best field in years for State B. He... Full story
Mike Horne awoke to an odd sound early Saturday, opened his bedroom curtain and faced a fireball blazing outside, as the house next door burned. "I opened the bedroom curtain and it went from 65 degrees to 130 instantly," he said. "I couldn't get out of there fast enough." Horne lost windows on that side of his house, so intense was the heat from fire a few feet away. He said the whole house likely would have burned if it hadn't been sheilded by its old asbestos siding. A camper and old pickup... Full story
On Friday evening of Colorama weekend (and Mother’s Day) my mom’s refrigerator died. Luckily, she had her old one in the garage, but it was still concerning as we had eight adults and seven kids (7 and under) coming for the weekend. First thing Saturday morning, she called Loepp’s and they said they had lots to choose from. She went down before the parade, purchased a new frig and was told even though they didn’t have any deliveries scheduled for that day, they would bring it out a half hour after the parade was over. They were there at 12:30,... Full story
Why is it every time someone tries to bring something new into one of our little towns it is met with so much opposition? Are we as a “whole” community simply opposed to growth? Have we become so suppressed with our decision-making skills that we lack that of common sense? I fail to understand why so many people oppose any change or growth in our community. However, I fully understand that it’s those same people, yes some of you whose names have been in the paper, who complain that there is no growth or change in our towns. The most definite an... Full story