News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Rock ‘n’ Roll has come a long way since LIttle Richard, continuing to both dazzle and offend, allowing young people to express themselves, and now, earn credits in high school. Raider Rock Band started as a club last year with history and creative writing teacher Justin Thompson leading the group, and now it is an actual class taught on the stage at Lake Roosevelt Jr/Sr High School, open to grades 9-12 for the year-long course that applies to a student’s art credits. “Last year, rock band club became something really special, although not ent...
President Joe Biden likes to promote “union jobs” whenever he can, recognizing the tremendous contribution the union movement made in American history in the last century. This century, it’s less clear cut, as union numbers were decimated in most industries over recent decades, but it’s still worth recognizing and pondering. Today, some argue that with the emergence of artificial intelligence and robotics coming on, the role of human workers is actually somewhat questionable. Note that China is planning a large new hydroelectric dam — to be...
I appreciate these letters and I hope people are reading them. So far, we have been lucky in our interaction with the school, and I hope to see that continue — and that is the point of view that I am commenting from. There have been issues here and there but they have ultimately been handled appropriately. I think that an explanation of the specific ways in which the district’s hands are tied with respect to discipline would help the community understand why the school handles certain behaviors in the way they do rather than how people may thi...
With covid numbers down, people have resumed long delayed travel interest. My family is no exception. It’s a test to balance caution and adventure. It started with my grandson, William, from Portland, closing out last year with a nine-week trip through Europe. How you can talk an employer into letting you go for nine weeks and still have your job waiting for you is beyond me. But he did. As a caution, William donned a mask when around large numbers of people and made the best of it. The overwhelming interest on the trip, which included n...
A computer system shut down the water system supplying Coulee Dam residents with drinking water sometime last weekend, but nobody knew it until pressures dropped low enough Monday morning. City Superintendent Mike Steffens said a computer programmer worked on restoring the system Monday morning, but the city crew still had to manually operate different valves across the system to equalize pressure and restore functionality. At Steffens' urging, the city purchased a new computer system to replace...
Sometimes it's hard to know where to look for help when it comes to things like getting food or energy assistance, or how to go about receiving medical care, but luckily some people specialize in connecting you to the right people. The STAR Hub, located on Midway Avenue in Grand Coulee since November of 2021, is a division of Rural Resources Community Action, a non-profit based out of Colville, and they specialize in connecting people to organizations that may be able to help. The STAR acronym...
A neat trick in American politics is taking advantage of our collective unwillingness to really pay attention to what’s being said. So, when they talk about a real problem, attributing it or at least insinuating it’s due to some nefarious plot or stupidity by the other side, we nod our heads and sleepily agree when in the next sentence they offer a solution that is completely unrelated but liked by their own side. They’re relying on us to be long-blinking right past the propaganda, especially in the dog days of summer. That’s like naming a colu...
This is the last of three letters intending to bring clarity and facts to the community about the Grand Coulee Dam School District. This installment will address the complicated and challenging issue of school discipline. ISSUE: School Discipline This issue may be the most complex problem to quantify and eventually resolve in large part because it requires an all-hands effort to succeed. In short, there are no easy answers here. It is accurate to note that public school discipline is a wide-ranging challenge covering nearly every school...
I was excited to learn Norway’s government is investing €10 million over five years to develop cultivated meat and precision fermentation. For those who don’t know, cultivated meat is grown from animal cells, without slaughter. It’s better for the environment, public health, and livestock. “We can increase self-sufficiency in food in Norway, and we do not have to kill animals to produce the necessary protein,” said the project’s leader, Sissel Beate Rønning. “In Norway, we have both the expertise and the money needed to develop new tech...
There is a national shortage of teachers, leaving some districts short of covering all their classrooms. While current events are creating problems in education, not the least of these problems are politics and financial resources. That teachers are underpaid is pretty well understood and agreed upon nationally. Teachers should be paid at least 25% more than they now receive. Something needs to happen nationally to shut down the vast exodus of teachers leaving. In order to provide new teaching recruits, we should provide four-year scholarships...
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is open to receiving any questions, comments, or concerns regarding security upgrades they are planning on making at the Grand Coulee Dam and related facilities. The bureau has identified eight areas where it says security upgrades are needed, from new or upgraded gates and fences to a new security department office. The bureau "invites the public to identify issues or alternatives for consideration in the development of an environmental assessment for the Grand...
A Nespelem man — who kidnapped three minor children at gunpoint in June of 2020, robbed and sexually assaulted another, stole a truck, committed arson, and led police on a high-speed chase — was sentenced last week to 22 years in federal prison in a case that authorities hailed as the result of great collaboration among several law enforcement agencies and the courage of his young victims. John Edward McGinnis, 35, of Nespelem, was sentenced Aug. 9 by United States Senior District Judge Rosanna Malouf Peterson to 264 months, followed by a fiv...
Short-term rentals are an unpopular idea to some in Electric City, but the idea keeps getting brought up. The city voted down the idea of allowing short-term (under 30 days) rentals in 2019 after more than a year of discussing the issue. But the idea was brought up again last month, with the city council discussing various pros and cons to the idea, and rules they could make to address problems that can arise from short-term renters. Such rules could include requiring owners to live within a certain distance of a rental property, requiring the...
A pedestrian and bicycle pathway connecting the Coulee Playland area to the Banks Lake Park area will probably be done next year instead of this year, and now has some extra funding. Last February, the pathway's construction looked likely for this summer, but at the Aug. 9 Electric City council meeting, City Engineer Steve Nelson of Century West Engineering said the project looks more likely to be constructed next year, although it could still go out to bid in 2022. He also said that an addition...
Wildfires in recent years have had a devastating impact on the U.S., including within the Colville Indian Reservation, and a representative from the area will now serve on a federal commission tasked with addressing the issue of these fires. Recently appointed the Colville Confederated Tribes executive director and their former Natural Resources director, Cody Desautel is one of 47 people selected from 500 applicants nationwide appointed to the new federal Wildland Fire Mitigation and...
This letter is an effort to bring clarity and facts into the conversation about the financial operations of the Grand Coulee Dam School District rather than unsubstantiated opinions. This is the second installment of three total letters addressing issues related to the GCDSD. This installment will address financial management. ISSUE: School District Fiscal Management THE FACTS: Despite what some may suggest, the Grand Coulee Dam School District is not broke, but it is financially challenged. Public education in this country is a very, very...
After two years without the ability to open our doors, we are again at the end of our sale season as we come to the community to thank everyone for a fantastic TEN week run at the VET Center. Our American Legion Post appreciates everybody who has stopped by and shopped with us during our sale. Although it seemed like a very long stretch for those of us who worked every week to gather and prepare all the treasures that we had for sale, the time flew by as we greeted many of the same people on a weekly basis. With this year shortened by three...
After two years without the ability to open our doors, we are again at the end of our sale season as we come to the community to thank everyone for a fantastic TEN week run at the VET Center. Our American Legion Post appreciates everybody who has stopped by and shopped with us during our sale. Although it seemed like a very long stretch for those of us who worked every week to gather and prepare all the treasures that we had for sale, the time flew by as we greeted many of the same people on a weekly basis. With this year shortened by three...
I got my desire to take drives from my dad who used to take us for rides all the time. He had an old car from the mid 30’s. I remember when my dad got his first new car, it was in the early 40’s before all effort turned to making things for World War II. The local Ford dealer drove up with a new car, came to the door and handed Dad the keys. He told him to drive it and, if he liked it, to come down and they would make a deal on it. In my earlier days, everyone had a canvas water bag hanging from their front bumper. We often drove up into the...
If you want a glimpse of parched river bottoms behind “would be breached” lower Snake River dams, look at recent photos of European rivers and lakes. On parts of picturesque Rhine River there is often more dry land than flowing water. Europe is in the clutches of another drought — the second since 2018. It is so severe that countries across the continent are imposing water restrictions. There are massive fish kills and desiccated croplands. Shipping is endangered on the Rhine and the Danub...
Firefighters responded to two small wildfires in the Lone Pine area Aug. 3 amid high temperatures and low humidity. John Purdue said he didn't know until his neighbor told him that the steep hillside just inches from his back deck was on fire. Firefighters from Okanogan County Fire District 2 and Coulee Dam were applying water and foam to a stump and burned grass in a patch along the downhill side of the Elmer City Access Road, with Purdue's house at the bottom on Lone Pine about 5 p.m. It was...
There’s a line to tread for a school wanting student-athletes to be better students in order to participate in sports, while at the same time not wanting to take away their opportunity to compete as athletes. The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors, along with the district superintendent and junior/senior high school principal, discussed the topic of raising the academic standards for student-athletes at their Aug. 8 board meeting. Natalie Kontos, new to the principal position at Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High School, told t...
Cemeteries don’t take care of themselves, and the Spring Canyon Cemetery is no exception. The Grand Coulee Lions Club manages Spring Canyon Cemetery, and Birdie Hensley of the Lions Club spoke to the Regional Board of Mayors at their Aug. 3 meeting about them possibly taking over the management of the cemetery. Hensley explained that as Lions Club members are getting older, it’s getting to be less feasible for them to take care of the cemetery that has about 2,100 people buried in it, including about 450 veterans. Grand Coulee Mayor Paul Tow...
Apparent illnesses at Spring Canyon brought to light by a Facebook post apparently stopped on their own, officials said last week, although details were scant. “There are no facts,” stated Kim Hines at Lincoln County Public Health, noting the local clinic had recorded no cases of vomiting or diarrhea complained of by several people on the social media site after a commenter just wanted to find out how many might have been affected by whatever it was July 27-28. The Colville Tribal Health Dept. and the National Park Service each took sam...
Taking five minutes to use a new, free boat-cleaning station at Northrup Boat Launch could help save millions in dollars of damage that invasive species can cause. A new "Clean-Drain-Dry-Dispose" unit, also known as a "CD3" system, was demonstrated at Northrup Boat Launch Aug. 9 with representatives there from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which funded the system, as well as from the Washington Recreation & Conservation Office (RCO), Washington State Parks, the Washington Department of Fish &...