News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Sewer rates will likely go up in Electric City after the city council approved a funding package obtained by Grand Coulee to redesign and refurbish the wastewater treatment plant they both use. A grant/loan package from the Washington State Dept. of Ecology will fund the final design stage of the project for $1.452 million in engineering bills from Gray & Osborn, Inc., Electric City’s share of which is about $268,620. The total project cost is projected at over $12 million. The cities are looking at a completion date of 2027 or 2028. Loan p...
To enforce or not to enforce was the question Tuesday night as Electric City officially entered the dog days of summer. The city, it seems, has been sending letters to several residents about the city’s pet code, many of whom have been ignoring them, some by a wide margin of error. The city gets complaints, has tried to persuade owners into compliance through other means, and it’s now down to writing tickets, but city employees wanted some guidance on how hard-nosed they should be about it. City Clerk Peggy Nevsimal gave the council exa...
It began with a roadside fire July 5, along SR-155 south of Electric City where a small blaze burned grasses both sides of the highway near jeopardizing homes. In the following days, various agencies in the region would call for immediate evacuations of areas where a wildfire had started quickly. Thunderstorms with multiple lightning strikes didn't help amid conditions the National Weather Service had predicted would include low relative humidity with stiffer winds, calling for a "Fire Weather...
Native communities are disproportionally impacted by the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls (MMIW). Having engaged with the tribes and law enforcement officers throughout Central Washington; it’s clear they need more resources, assistance, and qualified personnel to safeguard our communities. In response, I introduced the Parity for Tribal Law Enforcement Act to enhance hiring, improve retention, and bolster the effectiveness of tribal law enforcement officers, ultimately leading to safer communities for all. Tribes a...
A fairly heavy rain storm, with lightening is head into the area right now. Staying inside and unplugging electronics are good advice. Here's a screenshot of lightning strikes in the area a few minutes ago....
Coulee Dam doesn't do enough to get property owners to control weeds, and neither does Okanogan County. That's the assessment of Councilmember Keith St Jeor, who complained about no enforcement despite a recent increase in his property taxes, which he said supposedly includes payment for weed control. "That place across the street from me ... has been treated by the town like a joke" for the 21 years he's lived in his home," St. Jeor said at the June 28 council meeting. Thinking he paid...
Coulee Dam’s city council unanimously passed a resolution June 28 intending it to put a hold on any enforcement against so called short-term rentals of private property, following a plea from the owner of one such property two weeks earlier. Coulee Dam doesn’t have an ordinance specifically making such an enterprise illegal, but it’s also not specifically allowed in its zoning codes either, which distinguish between residential and commercial zones. At least two houses in east Coulee Dam are advertised on Airbnb, a site that handles the trans...
Early Monday morning, someone stole a tractor from the Spring Canyon Cemetery. The thief was there for at least 40 minutes, apparently breaking into one building through an old, wooden panel covering a door window, then probably taking keys found inside to open another building that housed the tractor, a 1996 John Deere 1070 loader with a backhoe attachment. The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office is hoping the pickup may look familiar to someone, so they put photos on a Facebook page and asked for...
A man who has been operating his house on Central Drive as a short-term rental took exception to a cease-and-desist letter from the city that said that activity is illegal. Danny Wiyrick didn't back down at a city council meeting June 14, had his arguments ready to go point by point, and had council members wanting to find a way to make it legal before the end of the meeting. But tonight (June 28) they consider a draft resolution declaring a moratorium on such rentals as Wiyrick's Airbnb...
Several years ago, the Grand Coulee Dam School District decided to fence off its “bus barn” near the baseball field in Coulee Dam due to repeated thefts happening at night. Earlier this month, as city officials gathered at the Delano Transfer Station to learn about their new equipment, a good sized $50,000 wood chipper obtained with a grant, transfer station manager Randy Gumm wondered aloud about the advisability of keeping it there; he’s had a lot of problems with theft. Other city officials from Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam, and Elmer City...
Kids from all over the area took part in the annual Koulee Kids Fest Saturday, organized by the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce and supported by businesses and organizations. About 17 of them put on little activities for kids from 10 a.m to 2 p.m., when the day capped off with a learning opportunity as The Reptile Man taught and entertained kids with live snakes, an alligator, and other reptiles. At least two activity sponsors offered prizes in drawings. Kids who filled in a...
Their house didn't burn, but firefighters couldn't save the garage/shop at Bill and Heather Williams' home in Electric City Monday when fire cut short their plans to work on an old pickup. Searching for the bright side as firefighters sprayed down the charred wood and hot metal siding, Heather Williams said at least they wouldn't have to decide what to keep from a collection of belongings they'd moved into the garage to sort. Electric City Volunteer Fire Department Chief Mark Payne said Bill...
Students from four area schools got to stomp around a field on the Colville Reservation in a citizen science experiment that continued this June. The students, from Nespelem and Keller schools on June 6 and from Lake Roosevelt and Inchelium schools June 7, had prepared in class a lot of "seed bombs," for planting native wildflowers on a field of native bunchgrass. The bombs, which a year ago had been made of clay and a pinch of seeds for the same experiment, this year had a bit different makeup...
Sometimes, there’s a gap between what is right and what is legal. Government is good at falling into those. Locally, the four mayors who comprise the Regional Board of Mayors are asking their councils to consider a problem: an Electric City employee at the transfer station whose wages are funded by the RBOM had his long-term wage agreement altered several years ago without his knowledge or consent and is now asking to be made whole on the “longevity pay” increases he didn’t get. Most council members in Elmer City, Grand Coulee and Coulee...
The federal debt ceiling crisis was averted but tax cheats benefited. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 contained $79 billion for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS); $45 billion of it was to audit individuals or businesses making over $400,000 dollars annually, to catch those not paying their taxes. Funding cuts for many years rendered the IRS largely unable to audit the wealthy. Currently, the amount in taxes owed but not paid totals nearly $7 trillion over a decade; three-fifths is held by the top 10% of taxpayers, more than one-quarter by...
Forty students graduated from Lake Roosevelt High School Saturday as the class of 2023 gathered for that last time - on the stage at the gym in gown and cap. Much about the speeches echoed those sentiments that rightly drip from every high school graduation - "the last time," "the next chapter," and so forth. But the tone, the affection, the familiarity - as in, family-like - seemed something more. "The friendships that we have made over the years have shaped us into the young men and women...
With the face of Grand Coulee Dam as a backdrop Tuesday, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's top official wrapped up a tour of facilities in celebration of the agency's 120-year history and the 81 years since the first filling of Lake Roosevelt. Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton listed Reclamation stats the crowd could be proud of, perhaps part of the purpose of the visit and tour. It's not always popular being the "nation's largest wholesale water supplier" in an era when folks in the...
After the latest reactive management decision from our local GCDSD Board, community and staff members who are furious about the superintendent selection asked me to share their total lack of trust in these elected officials. As someone who has five Raider graduates, loved and fully supported the GCDSD for years, this selfish decision does not surprise me. I just wanted to wait until after the 2023 graduation was over before I shared thoughts that I truly feel are also supported by the majority of community and staff. As taxpayers there is obvio...
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a resounding victory for individual property rights for the people of Central Washington and rural America when they unanimously sided with the Sacketts in the Sackett v. EPA case. The decision brings clarity to landowners who have long been burdened by the draconian Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, which cast a cloud of uncertainty over their ability to fully utilize their property. Now, it’s time for the Biden Administration to repeal their flawed and unconstitutional WOTUS rule and f...
Readers of The Star may notice some changes next month, including weekly full color on some pages and a narrower width of the newspaper, but they come at great cost to Grant County. The venerable Grant County Journal, the Ephrata newspaper where The Star and The Star Buyers Guide have been printed for decades, will cease publication at the end of June after 116 years of serving that community and promoting community journalism in eastern Washington by backing independent publishers. The change means we will be printing at the Cheney Free Press...
Grand Coulee Police said Tuesday that their department email account had been “hacked,” after they were notified about 9:45 a.m. of a potential spam email that had been sent from Chief John Tufts account, containing an unknown attachment. The list of recipients was not known, but multiple organizations began notifying the MACC (Multiple Agency Communications Center) dispatchers that they had received the suspicious email, which contained an altered disclaimer and department name that indicated it was of a foreign origin. “Chief Tufts and Offic...
The Nespelem School board Monday OK'd an agreement with the Grand Coulee Dam School District to split the federal Impact Aid money received in the 2023-24 school year for Nespelem students, with 75% going to the GCD district, and 25% going to Nespelem, both for K-8 students and for older students who would normally transfer to Grand Coulee Dam for high school. The two districts have been in negotiations on a new "tuition agreement" the federal Dept. of Education said was needed to make the...
At home, the kitchen is at the heart of many American households. It’s from where we send our children off to school after cooking breakfast, enjoy delicious meals with family, and come together with friends and neighbors. While the kitchen serves a reliable place to gather, the Biden Administration is setting their sights on removing an unexpected target: gas stoves. In February, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) proposed an “energy efficiency standard” for gas cooking products — a blatant backdoor attempt to ban gas appliances. Accordi...
Raider Coach Steve Files was named “Coach of the Year” among the Central Washington 2B League golf coaches, four Raiders players were listed in the all-league teams, including a player of the year, and the Lake Roosevelt team got the sportsmanship award. Lake Roosevelt golfers named included the league boy “Player of the Year,” Terek Bush, also on the league’s “first team,” and Nikolas Seymor, Teyton Flores, and Trevan Barnaby, all named to the second team. In softball, Sawyer Steffens was named to the league “first team.” Presley Steffens...
More than 600 American flags fluttered in a gentle breeze Saturday as a couple hundred or more locals and relatives gathered at Spring Canyon Cemetery Memorial Day for the annual Isle of Flags service to remember the fallen veterans and dedicate flags to them. "I stand in awe of the decorations here today," said Grant County Commissioner Danny Stone, in his keynote address. "These flags that line these roads, these pathways around these graves ... It's a fantastic memorial. And it's the first...