News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 151 - 175 of 328
Center School will go on the block again. This will be the third time that Grand Coulee Dam School District has advertised the old elementary school for sale. The school board has held firm on $150,000 as the lowest price it will accept for the building and surrounding property, about eight acres, and has authorized another advertising of the property. At the last “for sale” go-round, one interested person, Elijah Kleimenov of Moses Lake, had tentatively agreed to purchase the property. At the time he agreed to the price, Kleimenov said he tho...
Grand Coulee Mayor Paul Townsend dismissed Carol Boyce as city clerk late last week. "Carol has made a longstanding contribution to the community and city, and I regret that this became necessary," Townsend said in a statement Tuesday. Boyce came to work at city hall 17 years ago, and for the past seven years has served as city clerk. Townsend didn't go into details on why he is replacing Boyce. State audit "findings" last summer detailed several deficiencies, and the city has had to hire an...
Elmer City received six bids, and town officials will likely award its “Complete Streets” project to one of the low bidders at its meeting Feb. 8. The $250,000 project is the result of a grant from the state Department of Transportation’s Transportation Improvement Board and will cover both the engineering and construction cost of a 2,300-foot pathway along the Lower River Road. Bids were opened last Wednesday, with DW Excavating, Inc., from Davenport, submitting the lowest bid of $159,726. The engineer’s estimated construction cost was $160,00...
The mild winter weather has people thinking about the upcoming golf season. Not the least of those looking ahead are commissioners of Grant County Port District 7, who are responsible for management of the 18-hole course in Electric City. The course normally opens March 1, but it could be earlier this year since rain and warm weather have cleared snow from the fairways and greens. Commissioners have decided to continue last season’s membership rates and single-day fees for 9-hole and 18-hole play, and for cart rentals. Individual season members...
Progress, albeit slow, on the “dangerous” building issue in Grand Coulee, is moving forward. A meeting between the city Building Inspector Gary Lampella, and attorney Tom Geiger, who represents the Vlachos family, didn’t occur last Wednesday as scheduled, but Geiger wrote to the city and to Birdie Hensley, who oversees the Coulee Pioneer Museum, and his message is promising. Lampella had declared the museum building that Constantinos Vlachos had owned at 136 Spokane Way “dangerous,” and was working with the city council to raze the colorful...
The state’s new plan for funding education is going to make it difficult to put together the budget for the 2018-19 school year, officials here have indicated, and they’re planning for a second round of big cuts. Superintendent Paul Turner, who trimmed the current year’s budget by over $500,000 last spring and summer, will be faced with the task of doing it again. It is all tied to the McCleary ruling handed down in 2012 when the Washington State Supreme Court told the Legislature that it had to fully fund basic education. The Legis...
Voters in Grand Coulee this week received their mail-in ballots asking whether they approve of creating a Transportation Benefit District (TBD) and bumping up the sales tax rate to pay for it. The city council voted back in October to create a TBD to raise money for streets. If voters pass the issue, residents and anyone else purchasing taxable items within the city limits will pay two-tenths of one percent more in sales tax. The new money would develop funds to repair streets within the city. A transportation benefit district can use one of...
If you were to rate the reception you get at the Grand Coulee Dam Visitor Center on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the greatest, you might rate Ivan Snavely's welcome an 11. Snavely runs the tour program and the Visitor Center for the Bureau of Reclamation. "It's the best job I've ever had," Snavely said last week. His smile, and interest in meeting and serving people, is contagious. Snavely has been on the job here for eight years, and recalls when he filled out the applications for a variety...
A resident of River Drive has proposed that it be turned into a “school zone” and earned the support of the school district. Amanda Burton appeared before the Grand Coulee Dam School District board of directors Monday night to make her proposal, citing the fact that there are no crosswalks allowing students walking to school to cross River Drive, which is SR-155 as it passes the school in Coulee Dam. “It is only a matter of time before a speeding semi hits a child and I would prefer the school be proactive in preventing this rather than react...
How do you make a building constructed in 1938 look new? You can, but it takes hundreds of hours of painstaking work to make it happen. Solveig Chaffee has done it. She plans to open the Voltage Coffee House at 140 Spokane Way in Grand Coulee in late March or early April. The building originally housed the Carpenter's Union when it opened in 1938, and later a hair salon and at one time a bakery. Solveig laughingly stated last week that, "I've created a job for myself." People familiar with the...
Garrett Jess, left, presents Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Paul Turner with a check for $667, funding the Steve Breeze Memorial Scholarship at Lake Roosevelt High School. Breeze was a former principal at Lake Roosevelt High School and died from a bout with cancer. Jess Ford also partially provides the school's Driver's Education vehicle. - Roger S. Lucas photo...
A proposal for a student body assembly and concert focusing on opioid addiction, plus a dance, got approval from the school board to proceed Monday night. Making the presentation were James Pakootas and Miah Bearcub, both telling their personal experiences with opioids, drugs ranging from morphine to many common painkillers to heroin. Pakootas explained to the school board that the program was fully funded by the Colville Tribes. He cited his own battle with addiction, and Bearcub called attention to the fact that she lost both her parents in...
The Grand Coulee Dam School District has two new bus drivers. And they need more. Joining the drivers recently were Joan Gross and Chris Wonch. They had completed a comprehensive training schedule and were both on routes last Tuesday. Gross had a route in Electric City and Wonch was subbing for another driver. Both were trained by Transportation Supervisor Stephanie Duclos. "We need more drivers," Duclos said last week. She would welcome anyone interested to get in touch with her at the...
Lake Roosevelt High School seniors are planning on a little salt water fun when they take their annual trip, June 1-3. Advisors Tammy Norris and Aaron Derr, and seniors Aidan Derr, Bradley Wilder and Rylee Pitner, presented their plan to the school board Monday night. So far, some 20 seniors, out of a class of 43, have signed up for the trip that will take them by train from Spokane to Portland, then by bus to Astoria, where they will prowl the Oregon Coast for a couple of days before their return, using both the bus and train back to Spokane....
A Lakeview Avenue couple in Electric City attended the council meeting last Tuesday to protest the proposed establishment of a short-term vacation rental area. David and Nancy Brown, who live at 19 Lakeview Avenue, responded to a neighbor who has been renting out his home next to them for periods ranging in length from one day to longer terms. Speaking to the council, Nancy Brown said the experience has been a nightmare with a number of issues, including unruly behavior, excessive noise, unsafe activity, traffic problems, trespassing, and fear...
Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Paul Turner had an opportunity to give state Senate lawmakers a touch of reality Jan. 9, after being invited to talk about discipline in schools. He was one of three superintendents that the Senate Education Committee invited to Olympia to tell what was going on in their school districts. Spokane and Battleground school districts were also invited. The invitation from the senators said not to bring up funding because that was not the purpose of the meeting. Turner was quick to challenge this....
Elmer City has a new town council member. Jesus Lopez was sworn in at the town’s last council meeting, Jan. 11, after telling the council that he would like to make a contribution to the town and see it grow. He came to the area from California about a dozen years ago and started up his construction business at that time. He told the council that he was interested in serving on the town’s governing body. Lopez is a general contractor and now serves on the town’s volunteer fire department. He replaces Larry Holford, who decided to retire from...
Residents of Electric City have let it be known how they wanted two proposed city parks to be named. City dwellers who came into the office to pay their utility bill were given an opportunity to cast their vote for the naming of the two parks last month. They voted for “Ice Age Park” for the development on McNett Avenue and for “Talus Park” at the Grand Avenue site. The names and votes received for the McNett park were: Ice Age, 26 votes; Fossil River, 22; and Mammoth, 18 votes. Votes for the Grand Avenue site names were: Talus, 28; Mammoth...
Superintendent Paul Turner was in Olympia Tuesday to address the Washington State Senate Education Committee on discipline in the Lake Roosevelt School District. Turner was one of several superintendents in the state invited to address the senate members. It was a unique opportunity for Turner to tell the district’s story and concerns that have dominated the local school scene in recent months. The senate committee was quick to point out that they were seeking information only, and that the appearance of the superintendents was not to be t...
The mayors of Coulee Dam and Elmer City plan to meet next Tuesday to discuss the eventual hookup of the Elmer City sewer system to Coulee Dam’s new plant and the discrepancy in several billing invoices. Elmer City has outlined how it can solve the need to pump sewage some 20-feet higher than it currently does, as a short term solution to the problem. The town indicated recently that it could put in two new pumps as a temporary step in meeting the date of the opening of the new Coulee Dam plant, now estimated at late summer. The cost of the two...
Those of you who are still wondering where the big sculpted wood fish has gone, just be patient, it might soon be back. You will recall the big blow back in July 2012, when one of the region’s fiercest wind storms toppled a couple of evergreen trees in Mason City Park. The freak storm became an opportunity to create artwork for the town (now a city) as then-mayor Quincy Snow, himself an artist, convinced the council it would be a great idea to use some hotel/motel money and have someone carve figures on the two remaining stumps. Snow had s...
A turkey problem in Electric City is more complicated that it seems. The council had invited wildlife agent Eric Braaten to its meeting Tuesday night to talk about wild turkeys and what the city could do about their ever-expanding numbers. If council members expected that Braaten represented some kind of Pied Piper that would lead the turkeys out of town, they were disappointed. Braaten lives in the city, on acreage, and often has them on his property. He explained that there was little the city can do about the growing number of turkeys, a...
A Sammamish couple, and their daughter from Electric City, continue to face barriers as they try to locate a new variety store in the area. Doug and Mary Lou Lockard, and daughter, Launi Ritter, have a variety store on the ready, but no location. The Lockards have tried to lease the building the Variety Store occupied before it closed out late last fall. However, according to Lockard, owners Bill and Stacia Mattson only want to sell the building, at $349,000, not lease it. A realtor handling the property, Chad Blevins, confirmed this Tuesday....
A search for a location for a new variety store is currently underway, and with everything else in place, principals in the business are hopeful for an opening sometime in February. Negotiations are currently stalled on a lease of the Midway Avenue building that until last fall housed The Variety Store, but Launi Ritter said she is also looking for another suitable location for the business. The principal investors would be her parents, Douglas and Mary Lou Lockard, of Sammamish, Washington. Ritter said they are interested in leasing space are...
The city of Grand Coulee may soon destroy an old museum on Spokane Way that once displayed the remnants of its owner's most radical invention - a car powered with a different kind of propulsion. The colorful old Constantinos Vlachos building has been declared a "dangerous" building by city building inspector Gary Lampella, and the matter is slowly working its way through the council. There are a lot of memories from the 1930s, '40s and '50s in regard to the old building. It housed a collection...
