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 cause of the fire that destroyed the Colville Tribes’ administration building July 29 is still unknown, Tribal Police Chief Cory Orr said Tuesday. Orr said private investigators had been unable as yet to determine a cause and federal investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are continuing the investigation. The building’s charred remains all collapsed into the basement of the building, leaving a black pile of rubble to sift through. Investigators still have to do that, Orr noted. He said earlier sta...
I would like to welcome the new Safeway manager, Mr. Ryan Dykes, to Coulee country. I'm sure Safeway has made a good choice in asking you to come and give them and us some much needed help. I know that you have already been asked to give us help with being able to afford to purchase local fuel. It is very disappointing to drive through our neighboring communities and see listed prices 30 cents lower than our hometown stations. My friends and I wish that Safeway would buy the nearby closed service station so we could afford to shop at home....
When our country was founded, Thomas Jefferson declared that governments should only derive their power from the “consent of the governed.” Four score and seven years later, at Gettysburg, President Abraham Lincoln reminded us that ours was a government “of the people, by the people, for the people.” Last week, the House of Representatives paid worthy tribute to the legacy of our Founding Farmers. We have renewed our commitment to putting people before politics. Last week, House Republicans took legislative action to curb an out-of-control, ove...
Star Online readers, This site will be down tonight as the site is migrating to faster servers. Downtime will start about 11:30 p.m., so you probably won't notice. I know I won't! IT guy says it should be down about four hours....
The building that has housed the headquarters of the Colville Tribes for decades burned down early Monday, leaving tribal leaders to figure out how to spread out even more of their government operations across the agency campus. The aging A-frame building, itself the subject of recent controversy, inspired emotions of a different sort in the pre-dawn darkness as flames licked the sky and what had been the roof over much important tribal history collapsed. “That was the face of our nation,” mourn...
Since arriving in April, the new Safeway store manager in Grand Coulee has been working to correct weaknesses in the store and repair some community relations, he told chamber of commerce members Thursday. Ryan Dykes stood in his Army National Guard camouflage to talk to the gathering at SunBanks Lake Resort’s Cantina, having driven back from a Yakima base to give the talk. Dykes said that on his first day, he walked over to the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce office to ask about j...
I would like to take a moment and compliment the community in which I grew up. I have had the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time in my home town this summer and have noticed several area improvements. I don’t have enough room to list them all, but the little things like North Dam Park, LRHS football field, local business fronts and just general appearance of the community. I watched the community fall from once (in my eyes anyway) proud and engaged, to full of disrepair. Only visiting on occasion, I am unsure of what the nature of the c...
History was made 80 years ago, July 16. Thousands of people gathered at the Grand Coulee Dam site in 1933 as Gov. Clarence Martin oversaw the groundbreaking for the dam. With a sledge hammer in hand, Martin promised that Grand Coulee Dam would deliver cheap power and millions of gallons of irrigation water to a country upended by the depression. It took more than eight years to build the dam. The hard work and hot, dry climate claimed 77 lives but helped millions of people. The Grand Coulee Dam stands as a monument to hard-working people. On Ju...
I think Greg Wilder would make a great new major. Quincy has done a good job for many years. Coulee Dam needs someone more in tune with younger families and their priorities now. The city council could probably use a burst of new energy, as well. Greg is well educated, has a wide range of experience, is very articulate, personable, enthusiastic and well liked in the community. With a fresh outlook on old and new issues concerning Coulee Dam, I don’t think we could ask for a better candidate! Carol Schoning...
A request to the town of Coulee Dam for public records, coupled with a possible misunderstanding of who the requestor was, has led the mayor to step squarely into the middle of a perpetual fight in the state Legislature between cities and open government advocates as a “poster boy” for the latter. The Association of Washington Cities (AWC) made “relief from harassing and abusive public records requests” a top priority in Olympia this year, citing claims of prison inmates and others filing requests just to harass officials at great expense to ta...
Just as the nation was about to celebrate its most patriotic holiday, one of its greatest symbols of achievement literally closed the gates on what would have been a welcoming spectacle. The Bonneville Power Administration makes the call on just when the Bureau of Reclamation should spill or not spill the Columbia River over the top of Grand Coulee Dam. Most years it seems they just make their goal of filling Lake Roosevelt by July 1, but weather sent extra water into the river this year, creating a need to spill water for many days just...
In an area often derided by its own citizens for not sticking together, it’s amazing how quickly and efficiently one very important part of the local infrastructure can congeal into an effective team. Several local fire departments attacked a fire Sunday night so quickly that, despite high heat and a freakish wind, a wildfire did not consume several local homes. From a vantage point across the river at Washington Flats, the fire could be seen as a wall of relentless flame driven by high winds. Tiny people squirting a little water or piloting a...
Two fires separated by a couple of miles and a day scrambled local fire fighters early this week to protect property. Brisk winds pushed a fire Sunday night perilously close to Lone Pine homes and briefly brought on a level-three evacuation notice for that area as well as River Drive in Coulee Dam. Monday, fire marshals were combing the area trying to determine the cause of the 15-acre blaze. The fire started shortly after 7 p.m. and lit up the skies as flames worked their way through grass,...
A young teacher from Wenatchee is spending his first summer off standing on the water, for 1,200 miles. Matt Honor pulled his paddle board ashore at Crescent Bay Saturday afternoon, needing portage around Grand Coulee Dam. Honor had called ahead, and chamber of commerce members met him to help. He decided he wanted to watch the outgoing laser light show on the dam, and so stayed the night at the Columbia River Inn, resuming his trip Sunday morning with a ride to Seaton’s Grove boat launch. His b...
Coulee Medical Center lost nearly $100,000 in May after income fell some $430,000 short of expectations, although June numbers were looking far better, commissioners were told June 26. Financial statements given to Public Hospital District 6 commissioners indicate the latest bad month for CMC brought the year-to-date loss to $321,213 on total net operating revenues of $9,027,825, a margin of negative 3.5 percent. The facility had budgeted for a year-to-date gain of nearly the same amount by the...
Wildland fire breaks out on reservation Wildifire consumed more than 500 acres on the Colville Indian Reservation July 4, on the 10th anniversary of a fire that burned more than 10,000 in the same area. The Mt. Tolman Fire Center got the call at 3:47 p.m. for the blaze about 50 miles southeast of Keller on the north side of Lake Roosevelt. The cause is under investigation. As of 9:30 Friday morning, the 2013 Rattlesnake Fire had consumed 516 acres of grass, sage, and bitter brush in steep, rocky...
The National Weather Service has issued not only a heat advisory, but a “Red Flag Warning” until late Thursday night for a large area that apparently includes North Dam, a popular site for lighting fireworks. Grand Coulee officials are still planning to allow people to use the top of the dam for fireworks, however, because they see it as the the safest spot in the area for lighting up the traditional explosives. The alert was issued due to expected windy conditions mixed with very low hum...
Thank you to everyone involved in getting the carving done in Coulee Dam. They look wonderful and add a nice touch to that great little park. “Well done,” to everyone who was involved. Cheryl Piturachsatit...
I had the privilege of attending a by invitation only preview of the menu and food at The Melody, opening this week under new ownership. The citizens of the area are in for a culinary treat. Juan has done a wonderful job of creating fine dining in a very clean, casual setting. I was able to sample the Shrimp Scampi and the Chicken Gorgy and both were amazing. The side salad was fresh, crisp and served with homemade dressing. It’s great to see empty business re-opened with a fresh look and menu. Here’s to wishing him success in this new ven...
A chamber of commerce-sponsored meeting of community leaders Monday selected a committee whose goal is to approach the three municipalities that collect hotel/motel tax money about the possible formation of a tourism advisory board to oversee spending it. Many in the room clearly would like to see local municipal councils shake loose of nearly a half million dollars not being used to increase tourism, the intent of the law that authorizes the tax. The meeting was a continuation of an earlier gathering where many of the same people discussed...
We decided to retire here 15 years ago. Fishing and golfing were our favorite things. Whoops … Seems we entered at the time the golf course was going into a BIG change wanting to go from 9 to 18 holes. Needless to say, things changed. Lots of things we still do not understand happened, and lots of different messes. Including, seeing the course last year in a devastated state. TODAY, the course is in the best shape we have seen it since moving here. And guess what? Volunteers stepped in and are working hard to keep an asset that this c...
Thank you for making The Star available. It brings back many memories. I am in Oregon and have lived here since we moved from CD in 1951. My father, Les Hubbard was first a shovel operator and then crane operator. My grandfather, Hartley E. Hubbard (1889-1970) was a rock mason and did the rock work in the parks, and after he retired did the rock work on the Community Church. He lived in Lone Pine and we lived in Koonsville and Coulee Dam on Camas Street. Those my age (73) that grew up there will remember some of my teachers: Mrs. Foley, Mrs....
Just read the wonderful story about the fellow who asked his son why he loved him and the son said "It's just a given." From a 4-year-old! That is incredible. Warms my heart. Linda Thompson...
Is it surprising just how much innovation is required to build a community, or a school? Learning that some 4,000 concrete blocks will build a retaining wall for the new school site, one is tempted to draw analogies to the building blocks of community. As we enter fire season, remember to be careful out there. I don’t ever want to see fire descending the hillsides around town again, as we did last year, but I’m afraid we may yet again in our lifetimes. Yes, our climate is changing; it’s obvious. A firefighter who has been in that business since...
Tribal election polls Saturday recorded 1,619 votes in the election races for seven Colville Business Council seats, many of which will be determined with the count of absentee ballots on Thursday. In the Nespelem District, Ricky Gabriel polled narrowly ahead of Deb Louie 117-101 for Position 1. Neither is an incumbent but they’ve both held the job before. For Nespelem Position 2, incumbent Andrew Joseph Jr. garnered 209 votes to Enid Wippel’s 89. There were 423 absentee ballots to count for the Nespelem District as of Tuesday afternoon. Bal...