News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Readers have until Jan. 12, next Monday, to send in their nominations for the annual volunteer of the year honor to be decided by community poll. The initiative will choose a worthy volunteer to be honored as an example of selfless service to others. Any community member who has not been given the honor before is eligible. Many people give of their time and talents throughout the year to help one or many members of the community, whether through unsung efforts to help a neighbor or in much publicized widespread efforts to tackle a bigger... Full story
Grand Coulee’s legal counsel has advised the city’s Civil Service Commission that their list of top candidates for police chief must be delivered to the mayor, not the city council. In an email, City Attorney Chuck Zimmerman advised the city that the Civil Service needs to follow the “rule of three” as outlined in state law. Earlier, Civil Service Commission Chair Alan Cain had stated that the top three candidates would be given to the council, bypassing Mayor Chris Christopherson. Zimmerman told the CSC that it must forward the top three c... Full story
If you are at least 18 years of age, the welcome mat is out for you at the Grand Coulee Dam Senior Center. “It’s really a community center,” new President Birdie Hensley said last week. While the center is widely used by seniors, with 184 members, there is lots to do for people of all ages, she said. Like to play pool? The center offers an open pool table. Like to play cards? You can find card games going on most days when the center is open. One thing Hensley is focusing on as the new year begins is to develop the Senior Center volun... Full story
A man who allegedly keyed nine cars in front of the Banks Lake Pub, Dec. 12, is accused of doing it again, this time with a cellphone and in the Electric City Bar & Grill parking lot, according to police. They once again arrested and took to Grant County Jail, Nicholas Swartz, 26, who gave his address as Everett, Wa. He was arrested this time on New Year’s day after allegedly scratching the trunk lid of a car owned by Mary Adkins. Bartender Jessica Sumner told police Swartz scratched the trunk lid with a cell phone, then fled on foot up W... Full story
Southwest Washington - On January 4, 2015, troopers in Lewis County were called to a two vehicle collision on State Route 12 involving a passenger car and semi-truck. The driver of the passenger car, Mr. Jay Sume of Randle, WA, was fatality injured when the vehicle he was driving crossed the center line, impacting the front of the semi-truck. The cause of the collision is still under investigation. This fatality collision presented another obstacle for troopers. The wife of Mr. Sume arrived on scene after reading a message of the incident on...
A friend of mine from South Dakota noted that the U.S. Postal Service delivered a lump of coal to many small towns last Christmas when it proceeded to eliminate overnight mail in most of the nation in 2015. That was a good description. USPS will slow delivery officially by one day for First-Class and Periodicals mail. Many members of Congress have asked it to hold off. But USPS is plowing ahead. It is time for lawmakers to consider how rural and small town mail is suffering. The USPS plans to close more than 80 mail processing plants in 2015.... Full story
When thinking about the $1.1 trillion spending bill passed by Congress last month, one might ask, what does Congress have against conservation? They made huge cuts to conservation programs, such as the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) that supports conservation practices on cropland, pastureland and rangeland, totaling $402 million over ten years. This cut means 2.3 million fewer acres enrolled in the program. This anti-conservation spending bill also cut the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) by $136 million for this fiscal... Full story
When my parents graduated from high school in 1936, a college education was too expensive for the son of a copper miner and the daughter of a plumber. Eighty years ago, our country was in the middle of the Great Depression and teens took odd jobs to help put food on the table and pay the family bills. In those days, no bank would lend money to college students. Following World War II, there was new hope. The GI bill paid for veterans to complete their college or trade school education. My father... Full story
The Grand Coulee Civil Service Commission will offer up its top three candidates for police chief to the city council, not the mayor, Chairman Alan Cain said last week. Cain said the decision was made after talking with a couple of council members who liked the idea. Cain said oral examinations of the six candidates will take place in early January and the top three will move up for interviews by the council. “We plan to have just oral exams, not written ones,” Cain said. “They have all been through the written exam phase in order to becom... Full story
Readers have until Jan. 12 to send in their nominations for the annual volunteer of the year honor to be decided by community poll. The Star initiative picks a worthy volunteer to be honored as an example of selfless service to others. Many people give of their time and talents throughout the year to help one or many members of the community, whether through unsung efforts to help a neighbor or in much publicized widespread efforts to tackle a bigger problem. The Star will publish the annual volunteer of the year award in January again this... Full story
Electric City was set to make a decision late Tuesday on providing police protection for the city after its current contract with Grand Coulee expires at the end of the year. The Star, which had an early deadline due to the New Year’s holiday, will file an online update at grandcoulee.com with the results of the 8 p.m. special council meeting. Council committees from both Electric City and Grand Coulee met Dec. 23, in an effort to see if they could come to an agreement differing from one they had reached earlier. The two council committees ... Full story
A plan for improvements to Coulee Dam's wastewater treatment plant is "a work in progress" that could cost residents a quarter of the amount financed in an earlier plan, Mayor Greg Wilder told the town council and a good number of residents during a December meeting. Wilder said he is exploring the possibility of several improvements to the plant, but he plans on further public meetings before doing anything. One of the meetings will be scheduled in January, Wilder stated. Wilder is trying to... Full story
I am in complete agreement with Carol Netzel’s letter regarding the quarrels that have overtaken our community. In Alfred Lord Tennyson’s well known New Years poem “Ring Out, Wild Bells” one stanza reads: Ring out false pride in place and blood, The civic slander and the spite; Ring in the love and truth and right, Ring in the common love of good. These words ring true in 2015 as they did in 1850. So, please, neighbors, take Carol’s advice and do some soul searching. We can do better than this. Alice Frost Coulee Dam... Full story
Thank you from the Trees of Sharing committee to everyone who helped provide Christmas gifts to 161 children in 63 families on Saturday, Dec. 20. We extend special thanks to Coulee Dam Federal Credit Union, Coulee Family Medicine, Flo’s Café, Harvest Foods, and Safeway for helping collect names and/or displaying the trees with gift tags. New this year was a spaghetti dinner fundraiser at Flo’s for which we are grateful. Additionally, we thank the United Methodist Church, the Lions Club, The Star, and the shopping, wrapping, and delivery volu... Full story
Why has there been no article on the poachers that were caught netting fish on Banks Lake on December 8, 2014. Had to have my brother call me from Wenatchee and tell me about the article in the Wenatchee World and the other article in the Spokesman Review. If people are kept informed about issues like this in this area it helps to make them more aware and alert. They are more likely to report suspicious activity to authorities when they observe it. Glen Graevell Editor’s reply: Good question. Answer: Because daily newspapers’ dedicated out... Full story
by Scott Hunter Following a shakeup in the Coulee Dam Fire Department that came to a head two weeks ago, town leaders last week stated their confidence that citizens are safe and that calls for emergency services will be met. “In terms of providing protection, we’re safe,” Mayor Greg Wilder said in an interview Wednesday, but he said there are definitely longterm issues that are being addressed. Within the week, Wilder had received three resignations of longtime fire department and ambulance personnel. First, the fire chief, Robert Jacks... Full story
Grand Coulee and tribal police are looking for a 28-year-old Nespelem man who avoided capture after a 100-mile-an-hour chase Dec. 12, that ended up on the Colville Indian Reservation. Michael D. Desautel, Jr., was seen by Tribal Police Cpl. Harold Allan Oneal, at Coulee Gas and informed police dispatch of the incident. Oneal knew the red 2012 Ford Escape had been reported stolen from Melvin Zacherle, a Nespelem resident. Dispatch notified Grand Coulee officer Dan Holland, who saw Desautel get into the car at the gas station, across the street... Full story
Grand Coulee’s new police chief will have civil service protection because of action the city council took Dec. 16. The council undid work from its previous meeting when members had been persuaded by Mayor Chris Christopherson and city attorneys to remove civil service protection when the city hires its new chief of police. The back-and-forth council action came after the mayor previously had stated that he would let the Civil Service Commission do its work in advertising for and testing police chief applicants. A few weeks ago the council h... Full story
A Grand Coulee woman who lost her life savings in gold Krugerrands has charged that police here show no interest in pursuing ideas she has offered on who might have taken them. Dorothy Harris reported to police early in June this year that someone had taken 200 gold African Krugerrand coins along with other coins from her home. At the time, the Krugerrands were valued at $1,308 each, with the total loss at $261,600. Harris said she has gone to the police here a couple of times lately to provide ideas on who might have taken them, but the... Full story
Damon Eric Harrell and his wife Kymberly will usher in the New Year at midnight twice next week, if they can pull it off, and they will post to The Star’s Facebook page as they go. The Harrells (he is the son of Melvin Harrell Sr. of Grand Coulee) plan to fly to Auckland, New Zealand to watch the midnight fireworks from the 1,076-foot Sky Tower, then head across the International Dateline to catch the New Year’s Eve celebration in Honolulu, Hawaii. They plan to leave Auckland the morning of Jan. 1, 2015, taking an eight-hour flight scheduled to... Full story
An Everett man was arrested Dec. 12, after allegedly damaging a number of cars in front of Banks Lake Pub in Electric City. Nicholas Swartz, 26, found himself in Grant County Jail on a first-degree malicious mischief charge for allegedly “keying” some nine cars in Electric City and fighting with witnesses who reported the incident to police. The report stated that Swartz had circled nine cars and key scratched them on both sides. Police stated that there could be as much as $5,000 damage to the vehicles. Police confronted Swartz, who ref... Full story
The Lake Roosevelt High School gym roof is sealed and games there should resume in January when the Raiders have home games scheduled. Superintendent Dennis Carlson said Monday that workers had sealed the roof and reported only one tiny leak during a recent rain storm. “I expect the roof will be finished, weather permitting, within a few weeks,” Carlson stated. When workers initially started to put a new roof on the gym, they discovered asbestos, which delayed progress on the roof. Rain had caused some game changes when the roof leaked and lat... Full story
I have lived here for 65 years and I have never seen such quarrelsomeness among the entire community. In the past we have had our shares of disagreements between the towns and between the people of the towns. But now we seem to have reached a state where it seems like we can make no progress going forward, only backward. For example, Coulee Dam cannot go forward with their waste-water treatment plan until Elmer City decides whether or not it will join in a communal plan. Electric City is faced with a lack of police protection until it can... Full story
It’s that time of year when we count our blessings. In America, they are abundant, especially this year. For starters, the unemployment rate is down from 7 percent last December to 5.8 percent. Washington state mirrors the national average. Housing starts, retail sales and our gross domestic product are all up from last year, signs of an improving economy. Since consumer spending drives economic growth, low interest rates have helped. Home mortgages and auto loans hover in the 3- to 4-percent range. Contrast that to Russia, where interest rates... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors Monday night approved a $1.1million four-year levy for maintenance and operations to go before district voters Feb. 10. In doing so, the board followed the recommendations of a special levy committee that had met twice to flesh out a levy plan for the district. The levy will ask district taxpayers to fund the $1,130,000 over four years, making it the third time the district has voted on a four-year levy plan. The levy, if approved, will help the district keep class sizes small, pay for pre... Full story