News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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The Grand Coulee Dam School District’s new “Study and Survey” is on its way to the state superintendent’s office. The document was prepared by Design West, the district’s architectural firm, and is an overview of the district and its building needs. There’s nothing new in the Study & Survey: It declares a need for more classroom space and a lack of financial resources to accomplish this. The Study & Survey is done every five years and is funded by the state. This year’s document was funded at the $6,500 level. “It will probably occupy space on...
Grant County Mosquito District 2 will meet in its new building Thursday night at 7 p.m. for the first time. The 40-foot by 80-foot, 3,200-square-foot building houses the district's chemical storage, its two pickups, a laboratory, a restroom with shower, and a small meeting room where the five commissioners will meet for their monthly meetings. Secretary of the five-member board of commissioners, Carl Russell, said the building cost $178,000, and was paid for with public tax funds. Commissioners...
The Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area’s Sky Rangers plan three events this week. Wednesday, at Spring Canyon, from 3-5 p.m., you can learn about the upcoming Aug. 21 solar eclipse. On Friday, Aug. 11, at Crescent Bay, rangers will be on hand with a variety of telescopes pointed to the sky. They will have new and larger telescopes so you can see Saturn, the moon and other deep-sky objects. Janice Elvidge, who leads the ranger group, reminds everyone that Friday’s program will be happening during the Perseid meteor shower time. On Sat...
An audit report made public last week is highly critical of the city of Grand Coulee’s books and states that prior “findings” still had not been corrected. State auditors issued a number of findings, the harshest assessment that auditors note, as they published a report July 27 for the two-year period from Jan. 1, 2014, through Dec. 31, 2015. “Our two prior audits reported that the City of Grand Coulee did not have adequate controls over financial operations,” the auditor stated. “Our current audit found the City has not addressed many of the... Full story
Issues raised by retired custodian Ray Wells before the Grand Coulee Dam School District board were largely part of his job description and were misdirected, former school superintendent Dennis Carlson stated. Wells had appeared before the school board in June to complain that issues he raised while he was still employed by the district were largely ignored. Wells had shown the school board members a stack of complaints he said were given to elementary Principal Lisa Lakin and stated that no one ever got back to him on the issues he raised.... Full story
A woman advocating allowing her to help stray dogs at her home is going to try again to gain favor with Grand Coulee planners for a dog rescue operation. Dorothy Harris will appear before the city’s planning commission at 5:30 p.m., Aug. 8, at city hall to ask planners to advance her cause for a dog rescue operation at her home on Young Street. Planning commission Chairman Tammara Byers has stated several times that the planning commission will not recommend that Harris can move forward with her plan. Byers has stated publicly that the p... Full story
Coulee Dam police arrested two men in their 20s for burglary and vehicle prowling after nearby resident reported seeing one of them taking items from the town shop last week. One of the men, Paul Willford, 25, was noticed wandering inside the town shop area by a nearby resident Monday evening, July 24, about 6 p.m. She called her husband to check it out. Charles Landeros went to the shop and found Willford with a number of items in his hand, police report. When confronted, Willford dropped the items and ran right out of his sandals to a car... Full story
Grant County Port District 7 is seeking bids to make improvements to its runway, taxi area and apron at Grand Coulee Dam Airport. There was no estimate on what the project would cost and Port District President James Keene said that if the port received an affordable bid the work could be done this fall. Airport Manager Bob Babler had told district commissioners of the widening cracks in the runway for the past couple of years and, working with the Federal Aviation Administration, it was decided to go out for bid this year. Cost of the project... Full story
A Pleasant Valley couple and a Nespelem man were arrested and landed in Grant County jail after an arrest on a warrant Friday. Police learned that Cassandra Graves, 27, wanted on a Department of Corrections felony arrest warrant, was in a vehicle at West Grand Avenue in Electric City. When police arrived at 123 West Grand Avenue at 9:20 p.m., Graves rushed into the residence and tried to slam the door as Sgt. Gary Moore was in pursuit. Cassandra Graves was detained on the warrant, along with her husband, Kyle Graves, 26, who is being charged... Full story
A dog was declared “potentially dangerous” by the Grand Coulee City Council last week. The midsize beagle/Labrador mix belongs to Preston Guin, who resides on Young Street. The dog bit a woman June 21 while she was walking down Main Street. Guin received notice from the city late the week before. The “potentially dangerous” declaration by the council July 18 triggers a number of steps that have to be taken. Namely, an enclosed pen with a sign “dangerous dog” on it is required, along with liability insurance in order to meet the city’s ordi... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District passed its budget for the 2017-18 school year at its meeting Monday night. There wasn’t a lot of fanfare, as members of the board struggled with the host of cuts facing the district this next year. Even then, the budget was somewhat shaky as Debbie Cook, North Central Educational Service District’s person handling finances for the district, said late legislative action created a lot of “ifs” about revenues from the state. The budget, $11,036,901, was almost in balance. The district plans on savings from cu... Full story
A Grand Coulee man, Melvin Toulou Jr., 43, was found competent for trial after a Grant County Superior Court hearing last week. In the July 18 proceeding, Toulou’s attorney told the court that Toulou was not mentally competent to assist in his own defense. After an evaluation by officials at Eastern State Hospital, the courts decreed that Toulou was competent to stand trial, and a new trial date was set for Sept. 20, according to county Assistant Prosecutor Alan White. Toulou was facing a number of charges which included possession of m... Full story
Beginning this fall you will be able to pay your Grand County PUD bill at Grand Coulee city hall. The special arrangement was approved last Tuesday night by Grand Coulee council, and was scheduled to begin when PUD clerk Claudia Tillman takes maternity leave. City Clerk Carol Boyce said last week that a number of phone and training issues still have to be completed before the city can receive payments. The payment location at Grand Coulee city hall applies to anyone receiving a bill from the PUD, and is not limited to Grand Coulee residents.... Full story
Geology will be taught at Lake Roosevelt High School beginning this fall. “It’s a natural fit,” Superintendent Paul Turner stated, “given the area we live in and the rich geology surroundings of the Grand Coulee area.” The new science course will be taught by Mark Vinciguerra, who will begin his second year at Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High School. Vinciguerra said last week that students in the geology class will not work from a traditional textbook, but from an accumulation of materials, largely from the National Park Service. He said t... Full story
Visitors coming into the area from the south on SR-155 could easily get confused as to what the legal speed limit is, says a man who wants to change that and open intercity road travel to off-road vehicles. In the course of about five miles the speed limit changes five times, in some cases within a mile. Electric City resident Ron Pulsipher wants to do something about it and is scheduled to try his luck with the city council at its next meeting, Aug. 8. You are driving toward town at the 60 mph limit and as you approach the turnoff to the golf... Full story
So you wish it were the weekend so you could take that hike you've been planning. Well, Shelley Baker is looking forward to the weekend so she won't have to take any more hikes for a couple of days. Shelley does the postal walking route in Coulee Dam, and is up to 50,000 miles walked in the town. Anyone beat that? Shelley has been walking 14 miles every working day for about 14 years. The U.S. Postal Service has 598 deliverable addresses in the town of Coulee Dam. Shelley delivers to them all,... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District board Wednesday night gave a “no name” street to the town of Coulee Dam. The street, which lies near Civic and Pine next to the tennis courts, connects Civic to the highway and is part of the town’s upcoming street project funded recently by the Transportation Improvement Board. The school owns half the street, a right of way, and has no need to continue to have it in its possession. “We are not in the street business,” Superintendent Paul Turner said last week. The Wednesday meeting took place because t... Full story
It truly was a safe and sane 4th of July as far as local fires go, but current conditions call for high caution, firefighters warn. Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department Chief Richard Paris reported this week that there was only one fire in the area during the July 4 celebration, and that was in a small grassy area between North Dam and the softball fields. “The area firefighters are very appreciative of the local citizens and visitors,” Paris stated Monday. “Most people followed Coulee Dam’s ban and Grand Coulee’s new ordinance and did not f... Full story
The Electric City council Tuesday night agreed to move forward with its plan to develop two new parks. But the council is going to step back and approve parts of the park development in phases. The council approved $8,292 for McNett Park and $7,262 for the Grand Avenue Park, which will take the city through the design and review stage. Robert Droll, the landscape architect selected to see the park project through, appeared and walked council members through the project. He started by telling the... Full story
A Delano woman who recently moved back to the area from Idaho is offering support for Dorothy Harris’ efforts to establish an animal rescue operation in Grand Coulee. Doreen Holter has been following Harris’ efforts with the city on an animal rescue plan and stated Friday, “It’s sorely needed.” She said she has been trying to figure out what to do about a number of feral cats, many of which have their eyes “caked” over, from her own area in Delano. “We have 20-30 cats, many with kittens, running wild here, and something needs to be done abou... Full story
The mumps outbreak in Grant County is over. So says Health Officer Dr. Alexander Brzezny, who stated last Wednesday that the county has gone through two incubation periods (50 days) without a single new case of mumps reported. The county’s last case of mumps was reported May 9. Brzezny stated that the county will still be active in monitoring the situation. There is the potential for sporadic cases since other counties are still reporting cases of mumps. County health officials were quick to thank Columbia Basin Job Corps leadership in a... Full story
There's still time to purchase tickets for the Ridge Rider "Playhouse" drawing on the final day of the Junior Rodeo, at the Delano rodeo grounds, July 14-16. The playhouse, designed like a miniature jail, is parked in front of Loepp Furniture and was constructed by DWK Fowler Construction. Ridge Rider officials stated the drawing will be held for the playhouse Sunday afternoon, on the final day of the three-day rodeo event. Tickets for the drawing are still available and are being sold at Loepp... Full story
Dorothy Harris is the type of person who doesn’t give up easily. She has been trying to convince the city of Grand Coulee that a dog rescue shelter would benefit the city and provide a service that the city desperately needs. She has appeared twice at the city council, only to be turned aside. Now she plans a run at the city’s planning commission on Aug. 9. Harris was told by a neighbor that “you can’t fight city hall.” She doesn’t see it that way, but more as providing a service that the city sorely needs. She and her sister-in-l... Full story
A Grand Coulee man driving a stolen vehicle at speeds up to 100 mph was finally stopped near Steamboat Rock State Park, police reported. Christopher Peoples, 23, was seen driving near Pole Park Saturday, June 24, about 7 p.m., and refused to pull over, police said. They tried to stop him as he turned onto Federal Avenue and then on a number of side streets before racing out of town on SR-155, police reported. Police had gotten a call on the stolen vehicle from its owner, who said she was pursuing her black Nissan Murano and gave police the... Full story
George Davis Jr. will soon be hanging up his wrenches, so to speak. He submitted his resignation, effective Aug. 31, to the school board last month and will take a break as head mechanic at the school district's bus garage. He will be leaving the school bus operation a lot different than he found it, some 33 years ago. When he took over the mechanic role in 1984, the district had 11 buses, nine with red tags on them. A red tag means that a bus failed to pass its annual test. That was in early Se... Full story