News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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It was a scene that would have made Clint Eastwood laugh. I had learned that Burma was allowing travelers in on 72-hour visas, and since I would be traveling in the Far East I booked a flight out of Thailand to Rangoon. The country hadn’t allowed people to travel there and placed a lot of restrictions on those who did. I stayed at the Strand Hotel. It had been a resting place for the likes of Oliver Stone, David Rockefeller, Mick Jagger, Peter Ustinov, Lord Mountbatten, and Rudyard Kipling, but not while I was there. It had been one of the jewe...
Young people today, when you make up your bucket list, be sure to put in a train ride. Transportation by train is a rarity today, and only on occasion do you stumble on a coal-fired engine. I was a “gandy dancer” for the Northern Pacific Railroad during my high school career, working from 7-4 on Saturdays as part of their section crew. My fascination with steam locomotives didn’t start then. I remember that, as a kid, whenever a train went through Palouse we would be down by the tracks to watch it. Sometimes the engineer would wave at us, m...
I am a lousy fisherman, getting boxed out, except one time. That was out of Kodiak, Alaska, fishing for halibut. I was on a charter boat that had twin engines and a lot of speed. We were 50 miles out, where the skipper said that the area had a good halibut bed. I was in Alaska to assist the owner of the Kodiak newspaper in preparing her property for sale, and every weekend she set me up with a new experience. The skipper of this experience had a boatload of people and had prepared all the poles for each of us. He explained that landing a...
The Major League Baseball season is upon us. The game is looking less like the “National Pastime” each year. I remember when every little town or city had its own baseball team. There was no talk then of major changes to the game’s rules. The truth is that the sport has lost a lot of its fan base. Rule changes proposed and made won’t bring them back. Sports fans have changed, and I fear they have left baseball behind. Fans now like tougher sport action, the kind that leaves a targeted quarterback or receiver on the field and hauled off on a st...
As a kid growing up in Palouse, I loved the snow. Snow meant sledding, and we had a couple of great runs, one in town and the other on the outskirts. The one in town was from the top of North Hill that wound its way through the residential section and ended up on Main Street. It was probably a quarter mile long, and in places steep. Our parents or some of the kids would post themselves at intersections to make sure that traffic wouldn’t interfere with sledding. There was always someone who would furnish hot chocolate and a treat during the e...
Gail Morin, of Elmer City, is on her 62nd book. Are they western adventure, romance, war stories, children books? No, nothing like that. Gail writes geneology-type books, getting all her information from public records. Her books, many of them available on Amazon, have titles such as: “Manitoba Scrip” “Stignace Parish of Willow Bunch, Saskatchewan 1882 - 1910 Baptisms, Marriages and Burials” “Chippewa Half-Breeds of Lake Superior - Concerning the applicants for Half-Breed Scrip” and “St. Joachim, Fort Auguste (Fort Edmonton) 1858-1890”. T...
Boise, Idaho, was a great baseball town — home to the Boise Braves, a Milwaukee Class C farm club in the Pioneer League. But it was the large number of big-league players that set the tone in the valley. Larry Jackson, Harmon Killebrew and Vernon Law made their home in the city and in nearby towns. Jackson was from Boise, Law from Meridian and Killebrew from Emmett. It was Jackson, a teammate of Stan Musial, who helped me get a long interview with Musial. Jackson, a right-handed pitcher, played with Musial with the St. Louis Cardinals for a n...
Yes, the fireworks off Grand Coulee Dam will be on July 4 this year. Doing the show will be Rocketman Pyro, out of Spokane. It is the third straight year for the Spokane firm to light up the top of Grand Coulee Dam. Speaking for Rocketman Pyro, Dan VerHuel said the firm is planning about a 20-minute display. Workers will start setting up the show, using some 40 cases of explosives, about 9 a.m. July 4. “Once we gain access to the top of the dam, we are not allowed outside the gates until the show is over,” VerHuel stated. The show starts right...
There’s a rooster in Electric City. And it is a direct violation of the city’s chicken ordinance, which allows a handful of hens, but no roosters. A clear violation of equal treatment under the law. The city council, who started this farce by refusing to allow people to have roosters, got the challenge at a recent meeting when a woman told the council of a dog problem she had and then reported that she heard a rooster crowing. That should have prompted an exodus from the meeting by city council members, fanning throughout the city to find the...
Police arrested and jailed a 41-year-old Grand Coulee man after he was identified by separate people as the person entering a house at 208 Banks Avenue after another local house had been broken into and guns taken. Jonathan J. Anderson was booked into Grant County jail by police Sunday evening after he allegedly had kicked in a door to enter a residence at 100 Banks Avenue in Grand Coulee, then left with three rifles and a handgun. Witnesses told police that a man had been chased away from another person’s property and that he was seen entering...
There's a new handicapped-accessible parking and viewing area at the Ridge Riders Rodeo Grounds, just in time for this year's Colorama Pro-West Rodeo. Workers prepared the site last week and concrete was poured Thursday morning. Inspiration for the project was attributed to Ann Elliot, who had used the handicapped seating area, described by one Ridge Riders official as "poorly designed," and offered a good report on what she could see of the 2017 rodeo event, which wasn't much. The Ridge Riders...
The fish-raising program that keeps Banks Lake supplied with trout is in danger of ending. Carl Russell, who ran POWER (Promoters of Wildlife and Environmental Resources) for a number of years and is still active in the organization, said this week that volunteers are sorely needed to keep the program operating. POWER releases some 150,000 fish twice a year into Banks Lake, making it one of the most popular and productive fisheries in Central Washington. All that could come to an end. The group released some 150,000 fish into the lake in March...
The Coulee Dam Federal Credit Union, in conjunction with 2nd Harvest, is sponsoring a “free food distribution” Thursday at the Zion Lutheran Church parking lot. It will be the third year that the credit union has sponsored the program here in the coulee area. The 2nd Harvest mobile food bank truck will be in the church parking lot from 10 a.m. to noon this Thursday issuing food to anyone who shows up. Food items include perishable produce and more. A credit union spokesperson stated that while the “free food distribution” program is for fam...
The 62nd annual Colorama Pro-West Rodeo is ready to go, Ridge Rider president George Kohout said this week. The rodeo will play out over two days, May 11 and 12, beginning at 6 p.m. Friday night and then at 4 p.m. on Saturday at the Ridge Riders rodeo grounds in Delano. New this year will be a large replay screen. It was scheduled last year at the Cleatis Lacy Memorial Bull Ride, but failed to work. Spectators will get to see replays of some of the outstanding performances on the big screen. “This year we have a backup screen, just in case s...
Drivers on a main Grand Coulee street will notice a major maintenance effort this year, as Spokane Way and other streets receive a pavement treatment. Grand Coulee has hired Gray & Osborne as its engineering firm to oversee a pavement maintenance project expected to be done sometime this year. Public works Director Dennis Francis said the chip-sealing project will begin at SR-174, and come down Spokane Way to the Teepee Restaurant, then start again on the other side of Midway Avenue, up Second Street to B Street. Some small “dig outs” are als...
Carnival tickets are on sale this week, offering substantial savings for early birds, a chamber of commerce official reported. Executive Director Peggy Nevsimal stated those who purchase carnival tickets by Thursday, May 10, will save $10. Tickets for early buyers are $20, while the same ticket will cost $30 the day of the carnival. Nevsimal said tickets will be available at the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce office, Coulee Dam Federal Credit Union, Coulee Hardware, The Star newspaper, Loepps Furniture, H&H Grocery and the Trading...
A pit bull killed three Chihuahuas at a residence on Kent Street in Electric City, April 14. The pit bull was among six dogs owned by Trina R. Davis, and housed at 202 Kent Street, where she had lived with Raymond E. Atchison, before the couple had separated, according to police reports. Atchison told police that when he had returned home Saturday he found that the pit bull, which Davis had found and brought home, had killed three of her five Chihuahuas and injured another. A nearby neighbor had reported the killing incident to police dispatch...
Plans for a proposed "Ice Age Park," behind the fire department building in Electric City, have a few changes that would save $180,000, and the city has hired a different landscape architect. It happened last Tuesday night as the city council looked at and approved changes to the proposed park, and agreed to contract with SPVV Landscape Architects, of Spokane, for professional services that will take the city through its grant application process. The city relieved Robert Doll, landscape...
People are due for both a "shock" and a "treat" with the opening of Grand Coulee's new Voltage Coffee House next week. It may be a shock for those who remember the old Carpenter's Hall on Spokane Way, or the bakery, or the salon, all in the same building. During at least part of this time, the building was cut up into seven small rooms. Not anymore; it has a sense of spaciousness. The new coffee house, long the dream of owner-operator Solveig Chaffee, will also offer customers a treat when they...
The Grand Coulee Dam School District is looking for someone to serve on the school board. School board Chair Joette Barry recently resigned because she is moving outside the district, and the district is looking for a replacement. Since, for the most part, members of the board represent certain districts, a replacement for Barry would have to come from the Electric City area. If you live in Electric City and would be interested in serving on the board, write a letter stating your interest and drop it off at the district office in Coulee Dam....
You can stock up on books for kids at the Scholastic Book Fair at the Lake Roosevelt Elementary library, April 16-20, and have a lot of fun at the same time. There’s competition, entertainment, and treats all woven into the school’s week-long book sale, designed for kids of all ages. Hours for the book experience are Monday and Tuesday, April 16-17, from 8-3:30; Wednesday, April 18, 8-8; Thursday, April 19, 8-3:30; and Friday, April 20, 8-1. There will be competition among elementary classes to see who wins the “coin war” and wins an ice-cre...
The school board accepted two resignations Monday night, one of them from an assistant principal, and granted one supplemental contract. Assistant Principal Margo Piver submitted her resignation from the elementary school; she is in her second year here, having come to the district from the Walla Walla School District. She plans to take a position in the Milton-Freewater School District in Oregon for the next school year. Also resigning was Carisa Brown-Erickson, who is currently in the district’s nursing office. Jessica Tufts was given a s...
It’s just another reason why they call it Colorama! The 5K Color Run on Saturday, May 12, has a lot of attractions. First and foremost, it’s going to be a fun, colorful experience and a good brisk walk or run that is good for your health. It’s starts at 9 a.m., and could get you decorated for the rest of the day. At several places along the 5K run, if you choose to, you could be dusted with a brightly colored material that will make your day a real “Colorama.” Getting sprayed with the colorful material is optional. The 5K Color Run is all in th...
A Grand Coulee man wanted on three warrants was arrested at a closed local cafe March 26. Police arrested Martin L. H. Scranton, 25, and took him to Grant County jail on the warrants. He is facing additional charges of possession with intent to deliver heroin, possession of heroin, and having a dangerous weapon on his person. Officers Joe Higgs and Chris McClanahan made the arrest after Higgs saw Scranton inside Flo’s Cafe about 8:30 p.m. Before the cafe door was opened for Higgs, Scranton disappeared from view, but after a search was found i...
All the questions you have about small planes could be answered May 12, during a special fly-in at the Grand Coulee Dam Airport. The fly-in is sponsored by four organizations: The Colville Confederated Tribes, NASA Science Mission Directorate, Northwest Earth and Space Pipeline (NESP), and the Red-Tailed Hawks Flying Club from Everett, Washington. NESP spokesman Tedrick Mealy said last week that he expects at least seven planes for the event, which will run from noon to 3 p.m. It will be a teaching experience with pilots explaining the...
