News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Popular local events that didn't happen last year are at least tentatively scheduled to happen this year. The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce will tentatively be hosting 10 events in 2021, including Colorama, the Festival of America, and Harvest Festival. "We are really looking forward to providing the community with some fun and excitement this summer," Executive Director Rachelle Haven told The Star in an email. "We have the opportunity with our events to try new things and create a...
The Elmer City fire department, also known as Okanogan County Fire District #2, is interested in getting a new building built behind their old one, and in finding more volunteers. Public Works Director Jimmer Tillman told the town council Feb. 11 that the fire department, for which he has been a volunteer for about 30 years, was interested in a new storage facility for its trucks. He said the city would look into grant options for such a thing, something for which he understands there to be multiple opportunities. Tillman explained that the...
I am writing in response to John Adkins’ series of letters to the editor, the most recent being 2/17/21. As a Lake Roosevelt teacher of nearly 17 years, I have had the opportunity to experience the changing tides of many administrators, several superintendents, and more changes in education than I can honestly remember at times. As a parent of school-aged students for the last 21 years, I have navigated three school districts ranging in size from 250 students to 9,000. I have been trying to determine what point John Adkins’ series of letters is...
When I see Kenny Hoke he always waves and makes my day. Every time this happens, I think about the state championship basketball team he was on back in the days when the rim and net were real baskets. Since Grand Coulee and Coulee Dam combined into the Grand Coulee Dam School District there has only been one Raider team that has won a state championship. That championship was in Track & Field. Raider Track & Field has won multiple team state trophies. It also has had more individual state champions and medalists over time than any other Raider...
The North Central Region of the state, including this area, entered the less-stringent Phase Two of Washington State's Roadmap to Recovery planned approach to the COVID -19 pandemic just in time for Valentine's Day Feb. 14. Gov. Jay Inslee announced last Thursday that five more regions would join the Puget Sound and West Regions in Phase Two, with only the South Central region not meeting the four requirements to open up to the next phase. That changed on Feb. 14 when the state Dept. of Health announced that a data error had been discovered in...
Recycling at the Delano Transfer Station has been successful, and Sunrise Disposal, the contracted solid waste hauler in the area responsible for the recycling bins there, is working to make it easier. Recycling bins were placed outside of the Delano Regional Transfer Station in January of 2020. Earl Cole, who runs Coulee View Mobile Park in Electric City, hauls recyclables from tenants there to Delano. Cole told Electric City Mayor Diane Kohout about the difficulty of placing the goods through...
Whether restricted by COVID or by distance, Lake Roosevelt Raider fans far and wide should soon be able to watch sporting events, assemblies, and graduations from the comfort of their own homes. The Grand Coulee Dam School District bought a one-year, $2,000 service from Justagame Live, which will allow LR to livestream games and more online. The games can be recorded and streamed via smartphones and tablets operated by students, staff, or parents, or through hard-mounted cameras that could be operated remotely and cost around $750 each,...
My wife, who knows me well after 47 years, says I’m the most patient person she has ever met. When you combine this patience with the actions of putting others first and practicing sound human dynamics, learned from Gonzaga’s leadership program, you’ll see why I’ve finally been speaking up about our local school district. The GCDSD means so much to me, but these important qualities are not practiced at the top level of this organization. When someone talks about my opinion, they need to realize I’m speaking for me and a lot of people who have...
A man driving a stolen Grant Transit Authority bus out of Moses Lake was pursued by more than two dozen police on the morning of Feb. 3, with the chase ending in a minor crash. The bus had been reported stolen at about 7 a.m., and Moses Lake Police and other agencies were watching for it when a Grant County Sheriff's deputy spotted it about 30 minutes later. The driver, 62-year-old Richard D. Manley of Grand Coulee, was on highway 28 near Stratford. He turned north on Pinto Ridge Road. Lake Roos...
A meeting held by the city of Electric City on Jan. 23 to engage with its citizens and get their input on various issues was a success, the mayor says. “We had a pretty good event,” Mayor Diane Kohout later told The Star. People representing the city included Kohout, herself, Councilmember Cheryl Hoffman, Planning Commissioners Al Miller and Ian Turner, City Engineer Steve Nelson of Century West, and Public Works Director Jared Armstrong. “We all felt it was a good start to bring our residents information about potential projects and needs...
The current plan for fan attendance at Lake Roosevelt sporting events is to allow each player to give two tickets to fans, be they family or friends, for home events only, with no opposing team visitors allowed. Athletic Director Tim Rasmussen updated the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors on the matter at their Feb. 8 meeting. Rasmussen said some schools won’t even allow home-event attendance, something he wanted to avoid. Additionally, the school is purchasing cameras and partnering with a company to livestream sports e...
Lake Roosevelt Schools could get new sports facilities built if they are "shovel ready" when and if grant money becomes available. Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Paul Turner spoke to The Star on Monday about plans to issue a Request for Qualifications soon for an architect to work with on facilities projects. Turner said the school board needs to look at the "bigger picture" of the district's facilities and decide what their vision is. "When we built [the new school] we had...
Washington’s governor last week defended his plan to phase in the opening of businesses by region, saying he knows it goes too slow for some people. “Everybody can have a rational argument against what we’re doing, but you can’t argue with the results,” Gov. Jay Inslee said, “which is that we are ahead of 45 other states.” According to Inslee, that translates to an extra 8,000 saved lives in the state with more than 700,000 individuals already vaccinated. However, many Republicans remain unsatisfied with Inslee’s approach. Several hours b...
School finance is becoming more and more challenging. When we keep losing ground we cannot continue to make up the deficit by asking our community members to fill the funding gaps. For factual information look into all Washington state school ballot measures. Most districts are asking for $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property values. One in our region is asking for $2.50 per $1,000 but not continuing with their capital projects measure to balance the costs for their voters. If the GCDSD would have kept their levy total at $1.50 it would still...
A man driving a Grant Transit Authority bus out of Moses Lake was pursued by police on Wednesday morning, with the chase ending in Electric City at the intersection of Hillcrest Avenue and SR-155 where the driver hit a stop sign and came to a stop. The bus had been reported stolen at about 7 a.m., and Moses Lake Police and other agencies were watching for it when a Grant County Sheriff's deputy spotted it about 30 minutes later. The driver, 62-year-old Richard D. Manley of Grand Coulee, was on...
Tentative dates for spring and winter sports seasons have been set by athletic directors of the North Central Region, which includes Lake Roosevelt High School. The high school athletic season starts with sports traditionally played in the fall, for which a schedule was already set. For fall sports, football practice starts Feb. 16, while cross country, soccer, volleyball and cheer practices start Feb. 22. All of those sports run through April 3. A tentative schedule presented in Athletic Director Tim Rasmussen’s report to the Grand Coulee D...
With case counts rising and hospitalizations of patients with COVID-19 shooting up, the North Central Region of Washington remains in Phase One of the two-phase Healthy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery plan for handling the COVID-19 pandemic, while the Puget Sound and West regions both moved to Phase Two. Grant, Okanogan, Douglas, and Chelan counties are grouped into the North Central Region, which currently only meets one of the four requirements to move to Phase Two, which has less stringent restrictions on individuals, businesses, and s...
An addition to the local airport that would make it safer and more usable is on the horizon and may land if a major grant comes through to pay for it. A new Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) at the Grand Coulee Dam Airport would offer various aviation advantages, specifically by increasing safety and ease of landing. The estimated $274,000 AWOS project should be paid for in part with a 90% Federal Aviation Administration grant, and a 5% Washington Department of Transportation Aviation...
Electric City's tourism fund appears to have benefitted during the COVID-19 pandemic, while Grand Coulee has brought in more sales tax this year, reflecting different areas of strength in each city's economy. The Star looked at data provided by city clerks, which show that Electric City's revenue from lodging tax, collected on motel and campground stays, went up in 2020. That revenue category went down in Grand Coulee and Coulee Dam last year, which may reflect the fact that Electric City has...
A popular beach at Steamboat Rock State Park, located northeast of the boat launch, is being closed permanently due to erosion, authorities say. "The Bureau of Reclamation in cooperation with Washington State Parks will permanently close a beach area located in Steamboat Rock State Park in order to provide resource protection," a legal notice published throughout December 2020 in the Columbia Basin Herald states. "The closure will take place on January 1, 2021. Washington State Parks will...
Superintendent Paul Turner told the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors on Monday that an investigative report should be ready later this week concerning an incident in which someone left religious/political propaganda on the desks of 11 teachers at Lake Roosevelt Elementary School. Sometime during the weekend of Jan. 5-6, someone left black-and-white copies featuring the writings of Kim Clement on the teachers’ desks. Clement’s prophecies are for sale in several books on Amazon.com, and a “House of Destiny” website offers,...
Lake Roosevelt Schools have continued in-school teaching even when local infection rates of COVID-19 crossed a threshold set by the school board, a teacher showed its directors Monday night. A committee that will be tasked with informing school staff and the public about the latest Covid developments in the area is one result from Monday's meeting of the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors. Teacher Pam Johnson, during the public comment period of the meeting, presented facts,...
Our small community has many exceptional people. I want to take a moment to highlight just a few that have earned my admiration over decades, years or recently. Their messages during this extremely challenging, chaotic time are wonderful and heartwarming. Roger Lucas – I’ve known Roger for decades. Like fine wine, he just gets better over time. I look forward to his articles because he knows that simple things in life are by far the most rewarding, and his sense of humor always makes me smile. Almost 70 years ago, sneaking away with his gir...
Just when residents of Washington will have access to a COVID-19 vaccine depends on how many doses the federal government delivers and how many the state can administer in a day. Currently, the state is receiving 100,000 doses per week and administering 14,000 doses per day, but Gov. Jay Inslee acknowledged Jan. 18 there have been major bumps in the road so far. "I have to be forthright with Washingtonians," Inslee said. "Patience is going to be one of the most important assets for us in the...
Diane Kohout became the new mayor in Electric City just before the COVID-19 pandemic started, but that hasn’t stopped her from doing her mayoral duties. In speaking with The Star over the phone on Monday, she said her two biggest hopes for the city are for the pandemic to end, as well as to increase public input on projects and other citizen concerns, communication between the city and residents being an issue that she and new council members ran on when they were elected in 2019. Part of increasing public input, something made challenging b...