News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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If you have a drivers license and an insured vehicle, you could help local senior citizens by volunteering to deliver meals to them. “We are in desperate need of volunteer delivery drivers,” Senior Meals Director Chay Heilman said. Deliveries have gone up during the COVID pandemic since the dining room of the Grand Coulee Dam Senior Center, where the food is prepared and normally served, is closed. Heilman said that three drivers are needed for each of the five delivery times throughout the week: at 9 a.m. on Mondays and Fridays, and at 3 p.m...
If you heard loud booms on Friday or Saturday night, it was probably local man Alan Cain lighting them off with about eight of his friends from the Northwest Pyrotechnics Association. The fireworks were lit on Cain’s property along SR-174 near the Lakeview Terrace area. The group obtained a permit from the city of Grand Coulee, whose fire department manages that area, about 45 days in advance. Cain said the group shot off about 50 “cakes” or bundles of various professional-grade fireworks, which they are licensed to use. “It’s sort of a reli...
The return to school for seventh- through 12th-grade Lake Roosevelt students on Dec. 7 will continue under a plan modified in an emergency school board session Friday night that sets a much higher threshold for the number of local Covid cases it would take to stop in-person schooling. The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors held an Emergency Board Meeting tonight via Zoom where they voted 4-1 to modify the plan, previously approved on Nov. 9, for junior/senior high students to return part time to physical school on Dec. 7....
With the surging of the coronavirus around the country and even in local counties, there’s still enough evidence to give experts confidence that schools are not major spreaders of the illness, if managed for it and if local COVID cases aren’t out of hand. So what, exactly, do Lake Roosevelt Schools do to keep COVID off the campus? Health officers from Region 7 (Okanogan, Grant, Douglas, Chelan, Kittitas) counties have set up a protocol for screening for COVID-19 at schools, which Lake Roosevelt follows. The protocol allows students and sta...
Nespelem School, which had planned to start bringing students back to part-time, in-person school in November and to have them all back full time in January, delayed those plans indefinitely. A Zoom meeting on Nov. 4 between the school district and parents and community members was held to see how they felt about returning to school. Principal and Superintendent Effie Dean told The Star on the phone on Tuesday that on that day COVID rates started “going through the roof,” which changed how people felt about returning to physical school. Dean sa...
The Hughes household in Grand Coulee includes two geese and a duck, all named after violent gangsters. A duck named Allie was originally named Al Capone, but when she started laying eggs, her name was changed. "Duck eggs are delicious," Ben Hughes noted, speaking with The Star about his family's pet flock over email. Allie, along with a goose named Pablo, after Pablo Escobar, both came from North 40 Outfitters in Omak. The other goose, named Chapo, or El Chapo, comes from NorthWest Seed & Pet...
Lake Roosevelt High School’s Associated Student Body will lose revenue from restrictions imposed from a new state law. House Bill 1660, which passed the state Legislature earlier this year and affects the current school year, will prevent schools from charging students who qualify for free or reduced lunches for ASB cards, as well as for admission into sports games. Their guests over the age of 65 might also not have to pay admission into sports events, or would pay a reduced entry fee. The bill aims to create more equity in schools, saying tha...
There are birds aplenty in the world, the country, the state of Washington and in the Grand Coulee Dam area, and if you need something to do, looking for birds is one option. "There are many opportunities locally for bird watching, wildlife observation or wildlife photography in general," said Eric Braaten, a local biologist for the state Department of Fish & Wildlife, in an email to The Star. "With a mixture of private and public lands, our area is species-rich most of the year with different...
As of Monday, school is intended to continue as planned, with high COVID numbers in local counties, but not in the area itself. At Monday’s Grand Coulee Dam School District board meeting, Superintendent Paul Turner presented a document outlining the current COVID-19 pandemic situation in relation to the school. Turner explained that although COVID numbers are currently high in local counties, in talking with county health officials, spikes are related to incidents outside of the Grand Coulee Dam area, such as in northern Okanogan County and d...
Thanks, Donna DeWinkler, for the thoughts you shared in The Star Newspaper recently. Tolerance of a diversity of viewpoints is always healthy. Everyone needs to have a growth mindset and be open to learning from each other. We get better together when different perspectives are valued. Often times we listen to others but we don’t validate that they have been heard. It is time in our local school district, that we love, for a new progressive direction to be taken that has true collaboration from all stakeholders involved. Donna went old s...
Billboards along Main Street in Grand Coulee will be allowed to stay, at least until leases for the billboards are over, and a committee will be looking at ways to possibly allow them to stay indefinitely. Following a couple of complaints, Sam Hsieh, who owns Coulee Plaza, a lot of grass and picnic tables on Main Street, was told he’d have to take down his advertising signs that line the property. The money brought in from those signs helped pay the mortgage and maintenance costs of the property. After being told he’d have to take them dow...
The fate of Electric City’s potential Ice Age Park may be decided at the city’s Dec. 8 council meeting. At their Nov. 10 meeting, the council discussed the park following the failure of a levy to raise funds for maintenance of the park for one year. That levy failed 330-192 in the Nov. 3 election. During the public comment period of the meeting, Mayor Diane Kohout read aloud an email signed by Ian and Cara Turner. The email offers “some insight from the perspective of a community member, planning commissioner, and parent to young child...
Elmer City residential sewer rates will likely go up by about 20% in 2021. The raise was discussed by the city council during a budget discussion meeting Nov. 12. A sewage lift station pump replacement in the Lone Pine area may cost up to $25,000, Public Works Director Jimmer Tillman explained. With 166 sewer customers, the council and mayor discussed, a $10 boost in rates would raise $19,992 a year, which would go towards the pump and any future sewer-related expenses that may come up. In-town rates would go from $51 to $61, and out-of-town...
It’s no secret that the Coronavirus pandemic has made a huge impact on how Washington retailers and restaurants operate. With additional restrictions implemented at the start of the holiday season as cases surge, it’s another challenge for local small businesses. But that’s where we as a community can step in. Small retailers and restaurants are relying on us to send a message with our dollars that says, “We’ve got your back.” And in 2020, this support is needed more than ever. Approximately 62% of small businesses have reported they need t...
Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High School students will start returning to in-person school on Dec. 7 with a phased approach. The Grand Coulee Dam School District board of directors again discussed reopening in person school to 7th- through 12th-grade students at their Nov. 9 board meeting. Just two weeks ago the board chose not to bring back Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High students until maybe the second semester, which starts Feb. 1, 2021. Kindergarten through sixth graders are already going to in-person school part time. During Monday’s m...
The Grand Coulee Dam School District's Supplemental Educational Programs and Operation passed with 51% of the vote last Tuesday. Results of the Nov. 3 general election show that Okanogan County voters liked the levy more than voters in Grant, Douglas, and Lincoln counties, and liked it enough to help it pass. A majority of school district voters in Grant County voted against the levy 544-481; in Douglas County said no by a 98-89 vote; and in Lincoln County 55% voted no, 105-86. But in Okanogan...
Voters hung the fate of Electric City’s proposed Ice Age Park in the cold November breeze as a levy for funding maintenance for the park failed to pass last week. The levy failed with 303 (62%) against it, and 182 (38%) for it. The one-year levy asked for 14.2 cents per $100,000 in property value, or $14.22 for a $100,000 property, and would have gone towards maintenance of the park estimated at $7,000-$10,000 a year. The levy itself costs about $5,000 to get on the ballot for the Nov. 3 general election. Now that the levy has failed, the c...
The group that puts on popular events such as Colorama and the Harvest Festival is seeking to raise funds in a virtual auction and dinner to help them to keep functioning and hosting these events. With a slew of events canceled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce has lost out on a lot of revenue to pay expenses such as rent and wages for its lone employee. “We really want the chamber to survive into the future when we can do live events again,” said board member Solveig Chaffee, who is wor...
Locals want to attend public meetings both online and in person, recognizing the benefits and drawbacks of each, a quick survey of readers over the last several days seems to indicate. A short survey posted in The Star online Thursday asked respondents what they thought of public meetings, such as school board and city council meetings, being held online, and how those compare to meetings held in person. The survey only received 18 responses, but those responses show a variety of perspectives, with only one respondent saying they haven’t a...
A Main Street property owner is working to change Grand Coulee’s mind toward letting him advertise with signs on his lot, a practice the city says goes against code but which is gaining supporters online. Sam Hsieh, who owns Coulee Plaza on Main Street, was told by the city following a complaint that signs advertising businesses on his property are against City Code Chapter 17.60. That code states that only one freestanding sign is allowed for single-occupancy buildings, as well as for multiple offices or businesses within a structure or planne...
The Nespelem School District will hold a public Zoom meeting with parents of students tonight (Wednesday) to see how they think and feel about students returning to physical school. That meeting will be held on Nov. 4 at 5:30 p.m. at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81107207311?pwd=Y0FoZlhrd3FtMTVnWkVPY1JOVFVWQT09 Principal and Superintendent Effie Dean told The Star on Thursday that kindergarten- through second-grade students would be the first to return, and that the next group of students would...
A minimal garbage rate increase for local residents could result from landfill rates going up in Ephrata. The landfill in Ephrata, to where the garbage from the Delano Regional Transfer Station currently ships, hasn’t raised its rates in 12 years. In March of 2021, those rates could go up nearly 69 percent, from $28.31 per ton to $46.76 per ton, or $49.93 after tax. That would result in about $72,000 more in annual fees for the Delano station, as was discussed at an Oct. 12 Regional Board of Mayors meeting. To cover those fees, rates would rise...
Elementary students will be at school while junior/senior high students keep on distance learning at home, a decision rendered in a three-hour school board meeting Monday. The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors voted 4-1 to have third- through sixth-grade students return to physical school two days each week in alternating groups, but that 7th- through 12th-grade students must still wait to return, possibly until the second semester starts Feb. 1, 2021. Kindergarten through...
The Nespelem School District will hold a public Zoom meeting with parents of students next week to see how they think and feel about students returning to physical school. That meeting will be held on Nov. 4 at 5:30 p.m. at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81107207311?pwd=Y0FoZlhrd3FtMTVnWkVPY1JOVFVWQT09 Principal and Superintendent Effie Dean told The Star on Thursday that kindergarten- through second-grade students would be the first to return, and that the next group of students would come three wee...
The Grand Coulee City Council voted last week against allowing a local man to keep several small billboards on his property on Main Street. Sam Hsieh owns "Coulee Plaza," a lot with grass and picnic tables overlooking the end of Main Street where he has hosted events ranging from Cars & Coffee to Koulee Kids Fest activities and more, and where he hopes to host live music, wine tastings, and more in the future. Helping pay for the maintenance of the lot is advertising money that comes from signs...