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 class of 21 future emergency medical technicians are currently working on their certification, and when they finish their training at least 12 of them will be available to serve in the Grand Coulee Dam area. Saturday, the whole group met together for the first time at the fire station in Grand Coulee. Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department Chief Rick Paris said the trainees are from a wide range of places, including Moses Lake, Electric City, Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam, Wilbur, Inchelium, and...
The members of the Grand Coulee Dam Senior Center honored their "Volunteer of the Year" Tuesday night. Felix Marcolin, 78, was described as a "person who makes himself available 24/7'" to help other people. Seniors President Birdie Hensley stated that Marcolin does everything at the senior center, and more, and he was an easy selection. Marcolin was named "Volunteer of the year" in 2006 by The Star newspaper. The center held a contest to single out one volunteer for the top choice. It is the fir... Full story
The Ridge Riders kick off their annual schedule of events Saturday, March 14, with the annual banquet and auction. The event is planned for the American Legion Hall in Electric City with doors opening at 4:45 p.m. George Kohout, president of the Ridge Riders, stated that a few tickets remain for the event. The next event for the Ridge Riders is the Riding Clinic, again headed by Janet Doughty, scheduled for the arena April 4-7. That event will be followed April 9-10, with a barrel racing clinic, also at the arena. One of the highlights of the... Full story
Imagine Banks Lake without water, and a dairy and pig farm operation in its place with Steamboat Rock as a backdrop. That would take you back to the early 1900s, when George Baldwin farmed the canyon floor with a vegetable farm and orchard, adding to his animal operations. The old Baldwin farm comes up from time to time when oldtimers recall earlier days, and it came up again recently at a Grand Coulee City Council meeting. Some time ago, pictures dating back to the old farm found their way to... Full story
Five students in Moses Lake schools have whooping cough, and Grant County Health officials have the task of checking out 149 people who have had close contact with the infected five. The five cases have been confirmed through laboratory tests. The students are from Peninsula Elementary and Chief Moses Middle School, the health department reported “We are responding to a cluster of whooping cough cases among students in Moses Lake. Because of a large number of exposed and ill individuals in a very well-defined area, we are considering this a l... Full story
Virgil "Smoker" Marchand said he is ready to start his 7-foot-tall sculpture of Lake Roosevelt schools mascot that will be placed at the front of the new school. "I am just waiting for the go ahead, and then I can order the material," Marchand said. He was selected to do an art piece as part of the public art associated with the new school complex. "I have already designed 'Raider' and am anxious to get started on it," he said this week. Marchand plans to create Raider at his shop in Omak and... Full story
All three Electric City planning commissioners present resigned at their monthly meeting Tuesday afternoon, their first meeting following a city council meeting at which their recommendations were rejected or ignored. Only Merle Kennedy, who didn’t attend Tuesday’s meeting, remains as a member of the board of commissioners. Contacted about an hour after the meeting ended, Kennedy said he hasn’t decided what he will do. “I was disappointed in the council’s action, but want to give it some time before I make any decision,” Kennedy stated. The... Full story
There’s a shortage of volunteers at Banks Lake Golf Course. Port District 7 officials, who run the 18-hole course, are discussing the need to hire some more help at the golf course. Last golf season the port literally ran the course with volunteers, a small number of golfers who did the watering, mowing and maintenance. Port Commissioner Gary Haag told fellow commissioners last week that many volunteers are getting “burned out” from spending too much time at the course. He recommended that the port hire at least a part-time and hopefully a ful... Full story
The State Auditor’s Office has found that the city of Grand Coulee does not have adequate control of its financial operations, according to its latest audit report. A “finding” report stated that the city placed “public resources at risk of loss or misappropriation.” The audit report, released Monday, had said in a prior report that the city did not have adequate controls over financial operations, and the current audit found the city has not addressed many of the conditions, and found additional concerns as well. The audit was for the perio... Full story
Engineers told about 25 local residents in Coulee Dam last Wednesday that the benefits of building a new plant versus upgrading the present wastewater treatment plant is about a push. A completed study of many of the details of the proposed plant will come later, but engineer Kurt Holland of Varella & Associates, a Spokane firm, said that the study thus far shows that the present site will be the most cost effective site for the plant. The report showed that a new plant would come in at about $5.270 million, while a remodel would be about $4.7... Full story
Some requests for ambulance and fire improvements were OK’d last week by Coulee Dam’s town council, but some weren’t. Normally, the second reading of an ordnance is a formality for council passage. Not on Wednesday night at Coulee Dam, when an ordinance to provide funds for fire department and ambulance improvement ran into trouble. Council members wanted specific price information on a number of items seeking funds in a budget amendment ordinance totaling $78,840. The request had grown a little over $7,000 between the first and second readi... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District will provide an opportunity for public comment on the sale of Center School and its property, 5:30 p.m., Monday, March 23. The meeting will be held in the Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High School library, on the second floor of the new school complex. The district’s board of directors declared the school building and surrounding property (about 8.5 acres) surplus at their meeting Feb. 23. The public will have opportunity to comment on the sale or retention of the property. The district purchased the b... Full story
An abstract artist from the Portland area who has been commissioned to create art pieces for the new school complex had a tour of the building and area last week. Lucinda Parker, who was selected by a local art committee after being among those recommended by the Washington Art Commission, was fascinated by the colors of both the coulee rocks and waters in the area. Local committee members said Parker will return to the area, perhaps as early as late March, to continue to get a feel of the area. At that time she will likely have sketches to... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District board took steps Monday night to improve conduct on school buses and in the classrooms. After a debate about priorities, the board voted to add four temporary positions to provide better discipline in selected elementary classrooms, and adopted a tougher set of rules for students riding on school buses. The temporary positions will last through this school year. Superintendent Dennis Carlson said class disruptions and behavior on buses involved just a few kids, but they had become problems for the district.... Full story
John Nordine, mayor pro-tem in Electric City, said last week that he would be willing to fill out the unexpired term of Mayor Jerry Sands, who is resigning. Sands will serve until the last day of February. Sands became mayor in 2009, and resigned, saying he would like to spend more time with his family. Nordine was elected by the council as mayor pro-tem and Sands’ resignation caught him by surprise. After thinking it over for a few days, Nordine said he was ready to fill out Sands final 34 months on his elected term. Sands first became m... Full story
Electric City has a new crosswalk program that promotes safety, and, if successful, will be expanded to another crosswalk in the city. This week those using the crosswalk to the city's post office will be able to pick up an orange flag to help motorists see them when they cross the highway. They can deposit the flag on the opposite side to be used when they return. Mayor Jerry Sands has been working on the idea as a result of complaints made by Electric City resident Steve Salstrom, and others,... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District board declared Center School and its 8.5 acre property surplus Monday night. The board authorized Superintendent Dennis Carlson to move forward and schedule a public hearing so the public could have input on the possible sale of the property. The school district recently purchased the property for $155,000, lending itself the money from its capital fund. Any sale of the property would return the money to the fund. The property was purchased from the Continental Land Company, which years ago made the site ava... Full story
A summit on what to do with the old middle school buidling in Grand Coulee will be held at the site on March 12, from 11- 2 pm. The event is organized by a committee of the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce, which is inviting various agencies to attend and share their ideas of how the 90,000-square-foot school might be used to better the local area. The “Community Revitalization Summit” will seek to address all of the issues concerning the facility. Those attending will get a tour of the building, and a working lunch is planned whi... Full story
Electric City Mayor Jerry Sands has submitted his resignation, effective at the end of February. In a letter to the editor that appears in this week’s Star newspaper, Sands notes that he and his wife Connie would like to spend more time with family. Sands has steered the city through a major annexation, the construction of the arsenic treatment plant, cleaned the city up through enforcement of the city’s ordinances, and tried to lift the city’s spirit by flags welcoming visitors and getting a holiday lighting program going, all during his a... Full story
Electric City’s council voted to remove any restrictions on the size of accessory buildings at its meeting last Tuesday night. The city’s planning commission had sent up a litany of proposed changes to the building code, the accessory building question one of the items, along with minor changes in fencing and businesses in homes. The council only addressed the size of accessory buildings after hearing a number of people from the audience ask for the proposed size of 1,728 square feet be scrapped. Councilmember Aaron Derr moved to remove the... Full story
Lucinda Parker, a Portland artist who has been selected to create art for the new school, will be here next Sunday, Monday and part of Tuesday. Parker, an abstract painter, was selected from among several artists who were recommended by the Washington State Art Commission to a local committee in charge of the project. The art project will total up to $75,000, under a state requirement that art be placed in new public buildings. While here, Parker will meet with school officials, drive the area, visit museums, and generally get a feel of the... Full story
Electric City stepped up to the plate last Tuesday night and pledged up to $15,000 to move the idea of consolidating local cities along, and now the ball is in Grand Coulee’s court. The city council action was a boost for the chamber of commerce, whose efforts to get the subject of consolidation a fair hearing in the months ahead picked up a little steam. Grand Coulee’s council a month ago showed a level of interest by voting a letter of support, but no funding. They would need to vote to spend up to $15,000 also if the full $30,000 budget is n... Full story
After Thursday’s ballot tabulations, the favorable vote for Grand Coulee Dam School District’s special levy remained at more than 65 percent. The final count in the mail-in-ballot election that ended Tuesday, Feb. 10, shows 734 yes votes and 381 no votes. “A levy election is in many ways a referendum on the quality of the programs being offered in our community schools and a statement of the commitment of our community to support — through the election process — continuation of our efforts to improve our schools and programs,” Superintend... Full story
Electric City has voted to put all of its hotel/motel tax money in one account and asked its attorney to draw up an ordinance indicating this. The city council, in response to the chamber of commerce’s objections to the city holding a large reserve fund, voted to fold its reserve account of about $280,000 into its regular hotel/motel account. The city has had a policy of holding back half of each year’s tax collection, socking it away for a future use. And the council had been considering putting most of it into an account that could only be ta...
Council members in Elmer City got a glance of what the sidewalk project that will be funded by a Transportation Improvement Board grant will look like at its meeting last Thursday night. Th town was awarded the $225,375 grant by the Washington State Department of Transportation’s TIB. The grant will provide sidewalks on Front Street and Williams Street, along with safety improvements, a bus stop and signalized crossing across Highway 155. The project will also connect residents to the post office, town hall, park and local business l... Full story