News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Alonzo Adams signed a celebratory letter of intent May 5 to attend Pacific University in Oregon, where he'll play basketball and study hard. In a small ceremony in the Lake Roosevelt High School HUB with family, friends and teammates, Adams signed the letter saying he intends to play basketball for NCAA Division III school in the 2022-23 school year. A table of basketball mementos from his high school years also included a framed certificate of admission to Pacific University as a "trustee...
I wrote a request for everyone to write a letter of support for dedicating Highway 20 to the Vietnam Veterans. I thought it was a great idea and I accepted the role as chair from Hodges Post #84, in Oroville. I thought the response would be immediate and overwhelming due to those families in the three-plus counties of this state would have had family members that need to be recognized for their dedication to duty during that war. I hope I am not wrong, I need the letters. So, would you take time write me a short letter of support? I am requesti...
Google Home speakers are “smart,” to use the language of our times. They’re also stolen. That’s according to a recent ruling from the U.S. International Tradex Commission that found Google infringed on five patents from Sonos, a speaker company. The ruling prohibits Google from importing products that infringe on the patented technology -- a decision that could have multimillion-dollar consequences for the folks in Mountain View. Google’s case is no outlier. In August, a federal jury slapped Apple with a $300 million verdict for stealing...
Having just watched a Supreme Court nominee supported by a comfortable majority of Americans draw just three Republican votes in the Senate, you could be forgiven for thinking bipartisanship in Congress is a thing of the past. But if you look carefully, there are plenty of signs that bipartisanship is still possible in Washington. President Biden recently signed a bill reforming the Postal Service, which drew strong support from both parties in Congress. The same happened with a measure that keeps companies and universities from shielding...
The hulking shell of a construction project will be revived at some as-yet-unknown date, but a tangle of legal problems has been resolved to allow the Bureau of Reclamation's fire station project to move forward. The agency announced an agreement with the insurance company April 28. The bureau said in a press release that Berkley Insurance Company has selected J.S. Held LLC to coordinate the project with National Native American Construction, Inc. "The mobilization date is unknown but is...
Electric City is able to keep $278,979 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds it wasn’t sure how to spend. The city had planned a special city council meeting to decide last week, just before and application deadline, until a final ruling from the U.S. Treasury Department was distributed, clarifying how the money could be used by local governments. The $1.9 trillion plan passed by Congress was signed into law by President Joe Biden in March and includes $350 billion in funds for state, local, tribal and territorial governments in C...
It's Mother's Day weekend in May, which means it's also Colorama time. If you're new to the area, it's pronounced with the word "color" in it. Some people unfamiliar with our unusual spring festival name see it in a medical context, rendering a completely different connotation. So why is the festival called Colorama; what's so colorful? When local folks first decided to have a big spring hoot, they called it Western Days, a spirit that still lives on in Colorama with the popularity of the...
Below the surface of Puget Sound, disappearing kelp forests and eelgrass beds are threatening the stability of dependent species. The shrinking population is now drawing the attention of lawmakers, with a variety of approaches encouraging restoration of the building block of this aquatic ecosystem. A bill signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee earlier this year will provide the Department of Natural Resources with funding to create a plan to conserve 10,000 acres of kelp and eelgrass habitats by 2040. The department will work with partners and...
Anytime you go out anywhere, it is so apparent that people are feeling exhilarated to be outside, and the community is not holding back. After the end of most covid-warranted restrictions in most places, we’re breathing sighs of relief and flexing our collectively stiff, out-of-shape social muscles. And it feels so good. Last night, a junior high softball game and two very young kids’ baseball games were all going on at the same time on Ludolph Field, the athletic field of the former middle school. A breeze seemed to blow good will across eve...
This week, as Native American tribes and communities gather to honor the women and girls who have been murdered or gone missing at alarming rates here in Central Washington and across the country, the glaring question remains: When will this end? For decades, indigenous women have faced a murder rate 10 times higher than the national average, and in Washington state, native women account for 7% of all reported missing women. The lack of a streamlined reporting apparatus and accurate data combined with jurisdictional challenges have left tribes...
Re: “Consolidation touched upon briefly at mayors meeting” I find it interesting that the idea of consolidating our town is coming up again. For a point of clarification, a town in Washington does not need to be in one county. Coulee Dam is in three counties: Okanogan, Grant, and Douglas. Grand Coulee is in two counties: Grant and Lincoln, Elmer City is in Okanogan and Electric City is in Grant. Some years back a lot of time and money was spent trying to consolidate the towns, but the effort never reached a vote. We even formed a hospital dis...
Thousands of young doctors recently learned where they’ll be spending the next few years of their lives in residency. A significant number of them will be U.S. citizens who completed medical school abroad. This corps of internationally educated doctors has become increasingly important to the U.S. healthcare system -- and is tackling a disproportionate share of America’s biggest healthcare challenges. The United States desperately needs doctors. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, we could face a deficit of up to 124...
As our politics degrade, so does our ability to deal with the most urgent issue we all face. Climate change is so very hard to wrap your head around, especially for people like us who live in an area where a river runs through it and powers our homes and businesses with green, hydro-electric energy. It’s easy to be complacent here, until August anyway. That’s when, over the last few years, we’ve come to expect “smoke season” if we’re lucky, “fire season” if conditions push the nature around us to kindling levels and something, anything, causes...
A local driver ended up in the water last week when her vehicle veered into Banks Lake about 5:44 p.m. Thursday. Stacey Joe White, 46, of Coulee Dam got out of the car and swam to shore before the Toyota Highlander sank, according to Trooper John Bryant of the Washington State Patrol. The incident happened on SR-155 about five miles north of the junction with US 2 just north of Coulee City. White was reportedly alone in the car. She was taken to Coulee Medical Center with minor injuries. The...
North Cascades Bank donated $2,500 Friday to help the Ridge Riders put on the Colorama Rodeo. The bank, said Branch Operations Manager Jerri Smith, sees the rodeo as "an important event for our local community. Not only does it give us something to look forward to each year, it's also an entertaining, family friendly event that benefits our community financially." Smith noted the bank has helped sponsor the rodeo for many years. This year, she said, "we are very excited to sponsor the...
Currently, a little over 1.3 million people are serving on active duty in our nation’s military—that is less than half of one percent of the U.S. population. Securing our national defense and protecting our interests is a heavy burden to rest on these men and women, and that is why continuing to care for our servicemembers and veterans is such a solemn duty for the federal government. I’m honored to represent over 39,000 veterans in Central Washington and consider it one of my highest priorities to ensure they receive the high-quality care and...
The annual Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce Triple Fish Challenge drew 50 anglers in 23 boats who caught a lot of fish over two days in highly variable spring weather. Saturday was windy and rough on Banks Lake, but after a day of sunshine Sunday, smiles were everywhere as they lined up for the final weigh-in at Coulee Playland. On day one, Jim Stanley caught the 3.38-pound smallmouth bass in the adult category. Derek Hilderbrand netted 7.97-pound walleye. No one caught a trout. Among...
by Scott Hunter Two people were arrested at the Lakeview Terrace trailer park April 5 and charged with burglary after a property manager reported he’d caught them straipping wiring from an unoccupied unit. The Star reported the development as it was in progress last Tuesday but had few details. Undersheriff Kelly Watkins said Thursday that one occupant of a mobile home had finally come out after initially declaring he would not. After deputies learned of the possibility of a rifle inside, Grant County sent a SWAT team at one point. Watkins s...
aMaybe it’s the perspective a long life brings, but I find myself eyeing with some skepticism the glut of “personal brands” that assault us every day on television, in print, and through social media. Entertainers, celebrities, politicians striving for acclaim, artists and writers who’ve mastered the public-relations game, journalists and media stars who are building their national profiles — all are “important” in terms of the attention they garner. But are they actually important? In some ways, of course, the question is impossible to...
Farming season is here, and unfortunately, due to supply-chain issues and rising energy costs exacerbated by President Biden’s policies, input costs are at a record-high. This has placed a huge burden on Central Washington farmers and will have a massive impact on this year’s harvest. A poor harvest does not just hurt a farmer’s bottom line, it hurts everyone up and down the supply chain, from the local community to the end consumer who faces higher food prices and even food shortages. Farmers from across Central Washington are concerned becau...
What do you do in someone just says no? That they are not going to follow the law? That’s a policy issue the Electric City Council discussed Tuesday night after approving new forms the city’s code enforcer will use to inform people when they need to correct a “nuisance” code violation. But the subject of a rooster came up. Someone owns one who lives near Councilmember Brian Buche. The city allows chickens — up to six — but not roosters, which can be persistently noisy. Buche said a neighbor not far from the offending bird in his neighborhoo...
Getting ready for next month's Colorama Rodeo, the Ridge Riders Rodeo Grounds Tuesday saw workers from Spokane mounting new speakers to the light poles for a better sound experience that should save money in the long run. President George Kohout said the speaker systems that announcers must bring with them are an expensive, added cost of putting on a rodeo. The investment taking shape this week will lessen that bill each year and upgrade other events that have been lacking a good sound system....
It is completely mind-boggling that amidst an energy and supply chain crisis, President Biden would remove a source of power and transportation for an entire region. Yet, just last week, the White House updated their blog with a post about doing just that: breaching the four Lower Snake River Dams. This “blog post” proves that the Biden Administration is beholden to radical, environmental lobbyists, and is only hearing their side of the argument. They are completely ignoring the devastating impacts that breaching the Lower Snake River Dams wou...
As in most of the country, housing in the Grand Coulee Dam area is in short supply, pushing prices high. “It’s happening everywhere,” said longtime local broker Merle Kennedy of Foisy and Kennedy. Nationally, prices on single family houses are up over 18 percent from a year ago, a trend that hold true in the Grand Coulee area, which Kennedy knows well. Speaking at a Rotary Club online meeting March 23, Kennedy illustrated with a story: A listing came up in the Northwest Multiple Listing Service on a Friday afternoon that he thought would inter...
Two drivers suffered a head-on collision in Grand Coulee about 1 a.m. Sunday when one crossed the centerline on SR-155 near Federal Avenue, the Washington State Patrol reported. Amy Glover, 39, of Wilbur was driving north in a 2018 Ford Explorer when it crossed the centerline, striking a 2004 Chevrolet Impala headed north. The Impala was driven by Malia Vogel, 26, of Almira. She told a Grand Coulee police officer first on the scene that she’d had to crawl out and that her leg hurt. The officer noted that front of the car was crushed to the f...
