News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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A report of a “shooter” incident at Lake Roosevelt Schools was determined to be a rumor, according to investigators. Last Wednesday, a person overheard some high school students talking on the school bus about a “shooter,” thought that it might be a threat, and reported it late Thursday. “As soon as we heard about it, we started an investigation,” Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Paul Turner stated this week. That investigation continued late on Thursday, and on Friday school officials called a staff meeting to report that it had...
School officials this week are investigating who painted the words “white power” on a window at Lake Roosevelt School. Superintendent Paul Turner said that the incident occurred early last week, and was scrubbed off by school janitors. “We haven’t had any racial incidents at the school, and we are trying to find out who was responsible,” Turner said. Turner re-stated the fact that “words matter” and that students need to be made “more aware” of this. He was referring to a rumor of a “shooter” incident at the school, also last week. In that ca...
Work is scheduled to begin this week to make the Colville Tribal Museum in Coulee Dam handicapped accessible. Last week, museum workers were busy packaging everything up on the lower level to get ready for the project to begin. DWK Fowler Construction was the successful bidder on the nearly $800,000 museum remodeling. The project calls for ramps at both levels of the building to meet the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and new concrete siding, to replace rotting wooden materials. Entrance doors at both levels will be...
All four cities and towns have approved the Delano Regional Transfer Station budget for 2018. The budget shows revenues of $503,975 and expenses of $675,850. The deficit can be tied to two big-expense items: paying off the transfer station semi-truck at $142,615, and the purchase of another trailer, at $90,000. In spite of the deficit, the budget was passed with only one time through the monthly meetings of the four town councils. It hasn’t often been that way; in the past, some councils have been reluctant to approve measures that come to them...
After a year’s absence, this year’s senior class is bringing back the popular school-related fundraiser. The Penny Auction will be held Nov. 18, at both the senior and elementary cafeterias in the new school, from 11 a.m. to the drawings, scheduled for 1 p.m. A “baked potato” bar will be set up with a variety of desserts and drinks. Senior class advisors Tammy Norris and Aaron Derr were responsible for getting the Penny Auction started again. Norris stated that a number of community members said they missed the Penny Auction and were pleased...
The coulee area is a long ways from Chicago, Illinois. That's where Grand Coulee Dam School District Director Richard Black was born. But there's been a lot of life in between. The bulk of his growing-up time was spent near Los Angeles, California, and most of the rest was courtesy of the U.S. Navy. Captain Richard Black (Navy retired) is seeking a four-year term for Position 5 on the school board, the seat he now holds. Black was named to the school board about 15 months ago while still a...
Kelly Steffens is running for Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors Position 5. She and her husband, Mike, have two elementary age girls, 11 and 9, in the district, and have lived in both the Grand Coulee and now Smith Lake Road areas. "I am from a large school district when I lived in Portland, and had 400 students in my class. I have always wanted to live in a small city where everyone knows one another," Steffens said. "I am concerned with bullying and that discipline be...
Carla Marconi has strong ties to the Grand Coulee Dam School District, and she is seeking her third term on the school board. "I graduated from Lake Roosevelt High School in 1973, and all four of my children are also graduates from LRHS," Marconi stated this week. She has been on the board for nine years, having filled out a year of someone's term before she ran and won an election on her own. "I started attending school board meetings because I believed that there needed to be more...
Tammy James-Pino's life is centered around education. Currently, she is director of employment and education for the Colville Confederated Tribes and is running for the Position 1 seat on the Grand Coulee Dam School District board of directors. Her roots in education can be traced back to her earlier years, when she was a student at Lake Roosevelt. A move took her to New Mexico, where she completed her high school years and got both a bachelor's and master's degree from the University of New...
Elmer City voted last Thursday to build its own wastewater treatment plant. The measure to build a modular plant, on property to be determined, got a unanimous vote from the town’s five council members. The decision wasn’t much of a surprise, since the town has been in disagreement with Coulee Dam for some time over billings and other matters. Elmer City pumps about 21 percent of the flow to Coulee Dam’s present plant. With this decision, if successful, Elmer City will leave its larger neighbor with a new plant and no partner. While the vote...
Grand Coulee is completing an application to form its own Transportation Benefit District, which would bring in more revenue in the form of sales taxes. The TBD can use one of two forms for collection of special fees. Grand Coulee has decided to raise its Washington State Sales Tax locally, for non-food items, by two tenths of one percent, rather than collect fees from renewal of license tabs. That would take total sales taxes in Grand Coulee from the current rate of 7.9 percent to 8.1 percent. City Clerk Carol Boyce, in working with the state...
Electric City plans to distribute $40,000 of its hotel/motel tax funds to a handful of organizations in 2018, the council voted last Tuesday night. Upon recommendation of the city’s lodging tax committee, the council voted to fund its lodging tax applications with reserve lodging tax monies totaling $42,920, which includes $1,600 for advertising and $41,320 for the design and planning of two planned parks on McNett Avenue and Grand Avenue. The taxes are collected on motel and campground stays in the city. The committee further recommended that...
The Grand Coulee city council last week adopted new ambulance rates for 2018, adopting slight increases and providing different rates for non-residents. Beginning Jan. 1, ambulance attendants will be paid $15 an hour for their services. The new charges as adopted are below. Grand Coulee’s Volunteer Fire Department has made 374 ambulance calls so far this year, according to a report made to the city council last Tuesday night. Fire Chief Richard Paris stated that 50 ambulance calls were made during the month of September. Of those, nine were m...
Two entertaining events are planned for Saturday this week. You can take part in the “Breast Cancer Awareness Color Me Pink and Purple” fun run and walk, sponsored by the Coulee Medical Center Guild and Radiology Department, Omni Staffing, Coulee Dam Federal Credit Union and North Cascades Bank. (See the entry form on page 5 in today’s Star.) The run/walk begins at 11 a.m. at North Dam Park. Late registration will start at 10 a.m. All participants will receive a T-shirt, gift and a chance to win a Costco gift card. All money from the run stays...
A 23-year-old felon, who gave a Spokane address, was arrested Sept. 30 and taken to Grant County jail. Arrested was Chance Carson, who had a felony assault warrant out for him out of Spokane and was listed by local police as a “violent felon.” Charges filed included resisting arrest, obstructing a law enforcement officer, and escape in the third degree. Carson was seen getting into the back seat of a vehicle that was getting fuel at Coulee Gas. The police plan, according to their report, was for one patrol car to block the back of the sus...
Electric City officials got a look at what their two new proposed parks might look like at meetings Monday and Tuesday. The parks, one at McNett Avenue and the other at Grand Avenue, are high on the city's agenda to bring change to Electric City. Robert Droll, landscape architect from Lacey, Washington, was in the area Monday to meet with a citizens' group, and Tuesday to show his park drawings to the city council. City Clerk Russell Powers said the city would submit a grant request early next...
Mold and other needy repairs was again the topic when mayors met for their monthly meeting Monday.in the Electric City council chambers. The Regional Board of Mayors have tried several times to get action to remove mold and make other repairs at the Delano Regional Transfer Station operated jointly by the four municipalities. The “black mold” is inside the walls in at least two offices and elsewhere, and is there because of moisture problems where rooms were not dried properly, according to JRCC, a restoration service firm. Twice the four may...
The Delano Regional Transfer Station has become a dump site for used antifreeze, the Regional Board of Mayors decided Monday. The offer was made by the Grant County Department of Public Works early in September and agreed to when the mayors had their monthly meeting this week. Now the transfer station can offer year-round dumping privileges to residents within its service area. The county will pay the transfer station for the antifreeze deposit program, with funds coming out of the Ephrata Landfill tipping fees. Two additional sites in the...
The town of Elmer City currently has no plan to upgrade its sewage pump station, which it will need to by spring if it is to continue sending sewage to Coulee Dam. The issue came up at the town’s last council meeting when two members of Coulee Dam’s council and two of its engineers informed Elmer City that they needed to update their pumping station by March of next year when Coulee Dam’s new wastewater treatment plant goes online. If the new sewer plant went online now, “it would fail,” Elmer City Mayor Gail Morin stated last week. “It may n...
A Grand Coulee woman who has tried to salvage a “dog rescue” operation, but was prevented from doing so by the city, hopes to relocate outside Grand Coulee so she can continue her work with animals. In a notice to the city Dorothy Harris indicated that she is now in conformance with the number of dogs she has (three) and currently is no longer operating her “rescue” operation. “I actually don’t have any rescues for the first time in over 30 years,” Harris informed the city. Harris has been in a struggle with both the planning commission an...
A Grand Coulee man who appealed a “potentially dangerous dog” charge in municipal court Friday was denied. Andrew Kramer, whose dog “Howdy” had bit a Portland woman in front of Banks Lake Pub July 22, appeared before Judge Richard Fitterer in August to appeal a decision by Grand Coulee’s city council declaring his dog to be “potentially dangerous.” He indicated in the August court meeting that he wanted to secure counsel to help him appeal the decision. Kramer appeared Friday before Fitterer, without his attorney, and his appeal was readily d...
A Hill Avenue man who was pulled over by police twice the same day for driving with a suspended license found himself in Grant County jail. James E. Goodlake, 24, is the same man Spokane police arrested there last July for possession of a car stolen from an Electric City couple. Goodlake was stopped by Officer Tom Johnson about 9 a.m., Sept. 10, for operating a motor vehicle while his license was suspended. Then at about 3 p.m., he was stopped for the same offense, this time by Officer Joe Higgs. The second time, things got messy for the Grand...
"It's my world." That's how Archie Dennis, who has been named "Volunteer of the Year" for 2016, described his life in search and rescue. Dennis was top vote getter in The Star newspaper's volunteer of the year program for 2016. Dennis is no stranger in the area. He was born here, attended schools here, and only recently retired after being employed by the Colville Tribes and the Bureau of Reclamation. His life has been one of helping others. He is known for his diving rescue work, but that's...
Electric City Council authorized city officials Sept. 12 to bid on two lots up for auction along SR-155 in the center of the city. The lots at one time housed a filling station. The Oct. 27 auction is being held by Grant County, which has a lien against the property for back taxes and penalties amounting to $1,142.99. The two lots are currently valued at $23,845, according to county records. The current owner is Gary L. French. The council met in executive session to discuss bidding on the property and providing guidance on the level of bid....
Electric City council approved its 2018-19 police contract with Grand Coulee at its meeting last Tuesday night. The contract amount is for $140,000, which is $15,000 more than the contract amount of the current year. The council approved the new contract with a 5-0 vote, and without the usual council committee debates that have been necessary in past years. In fact, Electric City hadn’t even named members to a police committee. The contract went to the Grand Coulee council last night for passage. The contract package was prepared by Grand C...