News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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An organization dedicated to "serving people facing unplanned pregnancy and related sexual issues" has opened an office in Grand Coulee. Funded by local churches, Care Net opened its fourth office Aug. 1 at 402 Burdin Boulevard in Grand Coulee. It also operates centers in Omak, Oroville and Brewster. All services are free. The effort is funded through local churches, and services are delivered in a completely non-judgmental manner, said Rachel Harris, the facility's only staffer, who works part... Full story
The Electric City council got an earful of complaints about the city’s proposed trail system at its meeting last Tuesday night. The complaints were a continuation of what the city has been hearing since the Pathway and Revitalization study began a few months ago. There was standing room only as local residents lined up and signed up to speak on the proposed trail. “We are not being told the truth” about the pathway, said one resident, Rhonda Erickson, who lives on Lakeview. “It’s been in the works for over a year.” The Star reported on... Full story
The Electric City Council last week selected Richard McGuire and Brad Parrish as representatives to the city’s hotel/motel tax fund committee. The two have been on the committee, and the appointment is for the rest of their terms — two years. The committee reviews requests for hotel/motel tax funds collected for boosting tourism and makes recommendations to the council as a whole. The city plans to advise those who have sought hotel/motel funds in the past to make their request during the month of September. These requests for 2017 funding wil... Full story
My oldest daughter was a new baby when she attended my high school graduation, so I can attest to the importance of a network of support for young parents barely old enough to grasp the coming meaning of adulthood. Her mother and I had plenty of support from our family members, but that’s not always the case for many young people about to be charged with the most important job on earth — raising a child — and not a clue how to even begin. So a new venture in Grand Coulee should be a welcome development to the community. Care Net opened its d... Full story
All four local municipalities are cooperatively putting in for a Department of Transportation TIB grant this week. If the grant applications are successful, it will enable the four cities and towns to get a better bid on the work, Elmer City Public Works Director “Jimmer” Tillman said Tuesday. The grant would be for chip sealing and crack sealing of selected streets within the four municipalities. Tillman, who sparked the idea, said that it costs a lot of money for contractors to come and set up, especially for smaller jobs. “If they had jobs... Full story
A series of wildland fires around the region the last two weeks have kept fire fighting agencies busy and yesterday prompted a burning ban in Grant County. A nearly 2,000-acre fire about 15 miles south of Inchelium has been 65 percent contained, the Northwest 9 Management team reported Tuesday. Evacuation levels have been reduced to level one throughout the fire region, fire officials reported. The Kewa blaze started Aug. 2, and has burned 1,912 acres of rangeland and timber. The NW 9 Management incident commander, Brian Goff, reported that... Full story
The chamber of commerce's Economic Development Council (EDC) received an unusually strong response to a consolidation survey mailed to 2,235 residents and placed online in June. Some 546 residents responded, a 24.4-percent return. Such surveys need only generate about a 6-percent response to be considered statistically valid, information garnered by the chamber states. The subject, consolidation of local towns and cities, is not unfamiliar to residents who have been around here awhile.... Full story
Phase two of the facelift of Electric City's municipal building was completed last Wednesday with the hanging of a new sign, and there's more to come. City officials have stated that the 2017 budget will include money to replace windows and doors to city hall. Former mayor Jerry Sands got it started a few years ago with work inside that included painting, new carpet, and refitting city council chambers with a remodeled conference table and new chairs, all at bargain basement prices. Reached... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District approved the contracts of two new coaches at Lake Roosevelt High School and a fourth grade teacher for the elementary school. Approved Monday, during a special meeting, were Casey Moore, for girls’ soccer, and Loren Endsley as head football coach. Moore, who works for the Colville Tribes, recently convinced the school board to offer girls’ soccer this fall for Lake Roosevelt athletes. The board approved the proposal and found some $21,500 to begin the program. Turnouts begin Aug. 22. Six schools in the North... Full story
The volume of cases and restrictions on sentencing imposed by the state Legislature are two handicaps on his office, Grant County Prosecuting Attorney Garth Dano told chamber of commerce members at a recent meeting. Dano started out by asking chamber members if they wanted to pay more taxes, to a negative response. Then he pointed out that his office is working with three fewer lawyers than when he took office a year and a half ago. Budgets are indeed a factor in how long it takes to handle and... Full story
Having recently lost a father to the devastating effects of Alzheimer’s Disease, I feel strongly about the importance of research to prevent and cure this horrible disease. Alzheimer’s is currently the most expensive disease in America, not only in terms of medical care costs, but the negative financial and emotional impact it has on family members of Alzheimer’s Disease patients. Alzheimer’s will cost more than $236 billion this year alone. Not to mention the threat it poses to the long-term financial viability of the Medicare & Medicai... Full story
Theodore Roosevelt, who championed the cause of conservation during his presidency, once said, “Conservation means development as much as it does protection. I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful means, the generations that come after us.” We have a responsibility, not simply to preserve the natural world around us, but to improve the economic condition of the communities that depend on natural resources and... Full story
Coulee Dam has narrowed the field of candidates for a new chief of police to two, the mayor said Tuesday. The top candidates, from an original field of five, are Mark Farrel, a recently-retired colonel from Pinedale, Wyoming, and Paul Bowden, who has served as chief in Wilbur for two years. Farrel currently lives in the Seattle area. Bowden is the husband of the Coulee Dam town clerk, Stefani Bowden. Mayor Greg Wilder said the town’s civil service commission had forwarded three candidates for his consideration. He put together an interview c... Full story
The former Center Elementary School in Grand Coulee was broken into for the third time last week, with hundreds of dollars of damage done and questions about the building's future looming unanswered. In addition to damage from the break-in on or about July 25, the building and grounds show windows and doors boarded up, many windows broken, and the grassy areas covered with weeds. Police stated that some youth had broken through a plywood sheet covering a door and gone inside, throwing paint... Full story
Update: One of two suspects in a Soap Lake shooting turned himself in to authorities Sunday night, the Grant County Sheriff's Office said Monday morning. Tomas Miguel Lopez turned himself in about 7 p.m., was interviewed and booked into Grant County Jail. The sheriff's office said they still are seekng information about a second suspect and that tipsters can remain anonymous. Original story: Two people narrowly escaped serious injury after two men reportedly started shooting at them in their veh...
Running Banks Lake Golf Course with volunteers is working, Port District 7 commissioners declared last Thursday. In a financial report to commissioners, treasurer Joanne Davidson noted that the golf course is nearly $40,000 ahead of where it was last year at this time. The course is being managed by commissioners and other volunteers, the first year of operation without paid staff. "We have learned how to run a golf course," commission President James Keene said at the district's Thursday... Full story
Electric City’s fish pen operation is great for fishing in Banks Lake, but it also benefits the area in a different way. A good fishery in Banks Lake adds greatly to the area economy. Currently, the volunteer group that raises some 300,000 rainbow trout annually is looking for a new manager of the fish net pen operation. Former manager Carl Russell is retiring after 25 years tending the enterprise of POWER (Promoters of Wildlife and Environmental Resources). The trout are released from the pens twice a year and, accordingly, the releases have m... Full story
Grant County Mosquito District 2 planned another aerial granular larvicide drop along Banks Lake today (Wednesday), weather permitting. The new treatment, the second aerial drop this year, is necessitated by new evidence of mosquitos from Sunbanks Lake Resort, Steamboat Rock State Park and Electric City. The first aerial treatment was made in May and resulted in a big mosquito larvae kill and reports of mosquito-free patio and camping times throughout the area. But recent tests along the lake revealed mosquito larvae to the extent that another... Full story
Some mosquitos near Kettle Falls day use and group site campground have tested positive for West Nile Virus, the National Park Service said last week. Conditions this summer at Lake Roosevelt have been optimal for mosquitos, the NPS noted. Visitors, park staff, and our neighbors and partners have been dealing with an extraordinarily large mosquito population, especially in the Kettle Falls area, NPS officials have stated. The NPS is encouraging visitors to contact Julie Graham (360-236-4078) at the Washington Department of Health concerning... Full story
The artist who produced the Gehrke windmills could get some overdue attention if the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District can find funding for a few interpretive signs to tell his story. Electric City resident Kristen Heidenthal last month proposed working on four interpretive panels to explain to visitors a colorful history of the artist beyond his time in the Grand Coulee area. Emil Gehrke is recognized as a legitimate American folk artist and his work is more widely known and respected than many appreciate, district President Bob Valen... Full story
Grant County Port District 7 commissioners OK’d a contract with J-U-B Engineers to do an Airport Geographic Information System study during the current year. The project, approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, will begin soon and involves an aerial mapping of the airport and surrounding area, identifying any obstructions that might interfere with airplane activity in the area. Commission President James Keene said at the commissioners’ meeting Thursday that the cost of the project will be about $97,000, and needs to be done while the... Full story
The annual summer softball tournament, now named The Kenny Hearne Summer Classic, will be held from Thursday through Saturday, August 4 – 6, on the North Dam Park upper and lower fields. Twelve teams are signed up to play. On both Thursday and Friday, two games will be played simultaneously on the upper and lower fields at 6 p.m., and two more games at 7:15 p.m. Games are scheduled to start at 9 a.m. on Saturday. Kenny Hearne, who passed away last year, had a love of softball and had played i... Full story
A local baseball player is on the team headed from the Pacific Northwest to the Babe Ruth World Series this month. Dalton Kentner, playing for the Columbia Basin Riverdogs in the 15-and-under bracket, will head to the big Babe Ruth League ultimate competition in Williston, North Dakota Aug. 13-20. The Riverdogs, from the North Washington region, took the championship at the 2016 Pacific Northwest 13-15 Year-Old Babe Ruth Tournament in Camas, Washington July 25-31, winning 2-1 Sunday over Hazel... Full story
The eventual degradation of an empty building is nothing new, totally expected. Which is why leadership at the Grand Coulee Dam School District and an economic development committee of the chamber of commerce began working, before the new Lake Roosevelt Schools building was completed, on a transition plan for Center School. Like many other aspects of this community, it was complicated. The building and property were not owned by the school district; it had been provisionally deeded to the district decades ago, but only so long as it remained a... Full story
I am, as an intern, experiencing my first bout of what can only aptly be referred to as Dilbert Syndrome or Office Fatigue. I’ve been here at The Star for about seven months now. The hours, the days, the weeks, the months… all melt off the calendar, and I wonder where the time goes. Time, the thing which when lost, you cannot recover (unlike my jacket, which I lost and then found in the folds of couch and throw pillows in the throes of a panic). Staring at the computer screen … day after day … hour after hour … I have to wonder if I’m fryin... Full story