News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Okanogan County commissioners declared a state of emergency Monday, due to threat of flooding and debris problems on county roads. Commissioners passed the resolution after county roads suffered damage from heavy precipitation recently. They acknowledged the continued threat of heavy rain has created a danger to public health and the safety of those using county roads. The Charlton Complex and other wildfires stripped vegetation from hills in the county, resulting in flash floods with mud and debris being swept over roadways. Commissioners...
Fire destroyed a home at 323 Roosevelt Drive in Grand Coulee late Saturday evening. A family of four were away at the time of the fire; however, two dogs died in the blaze. The Jesus Llamas family rented the mobile home that was owned by the Loretta Bingham family. Firefighters from Grand Coulee and Electric City volunteer fire departments and the Bureau of Reclamation responded. Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Chief Rick Paris stated that fire and smoke was coming from the mobile home when...
Grant County Health District reported this week that officials there are investigating what might be a single case of tuberculosis. The person in question was treated in several health care facilities in Grant County during the course of the illness. Officials at the county said it is the lone case now being investigated. Health officials have found some 200 persons, residing in Grant, Lincoln and Adams counties, who have been in contact with the person. All have been contacted by Grant County health officials and are being monitored for possib...
Two community Easter egg hunts are planned for the area this year. The Lions Club will hold its 80th community Easter egg hunt on Saturday, April 15, at the former middle school field in Grand Coulee. It is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. and is for kids up to 10 years of age. And the town of Elmer City will hold its Easter egg hunt at the park near Town Hall on Sunday, April 16. That event begins at 1 p.m. It is the second straight egg hunt in Elmer City, beginning a new series, Mayor Gail Morin stated. Elmer City last year had a turnout of...
There will soon be new management at the Care and Share Food Bank. Fern Blaylock is retiring from that position after taking care of people's food and other needs for decades. Fern, 81, plans to retain her other job, as a volunteer at Lake Roosevelt Schools, where she gives more than a few hugs a day. With a glint in her eye, and probably regret in her heart, Blaylock took this writer on a tour of the various rooms at the Church of the Nazarene, where the food bank is located. In each room, she...
Parade forms went out this week to those wanting to en ter the Colorama Parade, May 13. You can enter by filling out parade forms found online at grandcouleedam.o y a cr/parade. Peggy Nevsimal, executive director of the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce, said the parade will have eight categories: Community entry; Organization/club entry; Business entry; School band; Classic car; Hot rod; Equestrian and Junior entry. This year’s Colorama event will be the community’s 61st. Colorama this year will include a three-day carnival, three-day...
It might sound a little fishy — that’s because it is. Here’s your opportunity to win an Achilles four-person inflatable boat and Yamaha outboard motor. All you have to do is place first in the 5th Annual Triple Fish Challenge tournament, April 22 and 23. The place: Banks Lake, boating from Coulee Playland. Entry fee is $20 for those up to 14 years old, $60 for those 15 years and older. You can submit your entry form online until midnight April 20, or in person from 5-7 p.m. on Friday, April 21, and registration will continue during boat inspect...
A Grand Coulee man was sentenced in Grant County Superior Court Monday to 29 months imprisonment for possession of stolen property. According to the Grant County Prosecutor’s Office, Melvin Toulou, Jr., 43, still faces three additional Grant County felony charges. The three additional charges are 1) a charge of possession of stolen property in the 2nd degree, and possession of a firearm 2nd degree, often referred to as possession of a firearm by a felon; 2) possession of stolen property 2nd degree, and trafficking of stolen property in the 1...
Electric City will soon fill its vacancy on the city council. Three residents of the city filed letters of interest to fill the vacancy after Brad Parrish resigned a couple of months ago. City Clerk Russell Powers said that the three — Jeremy Miller, Ken Anderson and Lisa Lyngar — will be considered by the council when it meets April 11. “I don’t know if the council will move on the appointment,” he said Monday. “It may want to take some time before they name a replacement.” The council plans a retreat April 15, in Ephrata, and might want to di...
The school boards from the Grand Coulee Dam District and Nespelem District met recently and focused their discussions on the calendars for the next two school years. As a new approach to setting the school calendar, Grand Coulee Dam District Superintendent Paul Turner opted to present a two-year calendar plan to the respective boards. Turner reviewed it with his own board in February and board Chair Joette Barry requested a review with Nespelem before passage. The two boards reviewed the calendars and decided to try to match the fall school...
A meeting of Electric City’s parks and recreation committee last Thursday focused on two new city parks, and they will recommend the city council to move forward on developing them, spending nearly a half million dollars over the next four years. The group, voting unanimously, recommended that the park plan go out for a 60-day public review. Other recommendations include that the council hire and contract with a landscape engineering firm to design and create plans for both the McNett Avenue Park and the Grand Avenue Park. Both parks will be re...
Fifteen local firefighters completed a 12-hour advanced wildland firefighter course after taking instruction Thursday evening and all day Saturday. The class was taught by three Washington State Department of Natural Resource firefighters, and sponsored by the local fire departments and districts, and is one of several courses offered. The course, called S-131 Firefighter Type 1, or Advance Firefighter, covers a range of topics including safety standards and hazardous identification. The course also includes the risk management process used on...
Sometimes those closest to a problem are best suited to find the solution. This may be the case in an Electric City/Grand Coulee wastewater bill conflict. An apparent plug in the line last October showed that Electric City had twice the amount of sewage flow as normal, some 105,500 gallons compared to the normal flow of 63,000 gallons. This caused Electric City's bill for the month to be some $5,000 above normal. The two cities have been bouncing the problem between their city councils for...
So you have always wanted to be an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician). Now is your chance. An EMT recruitment call was put out by the Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department. Those interested should call 633-2200, or contact a current firefighter or EMT. The class will begin early in April. The local area needs EMTs to staff the ambulance, which makes about 400 calls per year. Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department Chief Richard Paris said the department answered 402 ambulance calls in 2016 and already this year there have been 104 EMT calls....
The city of Grand Coulee is about to take a big step forward into the technology age. Grand Coulee is moving forward on a plan to accept credit cards for the payment of utility bills. There’s a catch … the city will only accept credit card payments online. City Clerk Carol Boyce presented the idea at the council meeting last Tuesday night, and the council gave its OK to move forward. Currently, the city accepts checks, cash and money orders. The city will be working with the firm GovPayNet, which will handle all of the transactions and cut the...
A framework for a new school strategic plan was adopted by the Grand Coulee Dam School District Monday night. The framework was decided by a group made up of school people and community members at a special meeting a couple of weeks ago. Superintendent Paul Turner explained to the school Monday board that the plan was “just the framework” and that the board would be working to put “in specifics and a timetable” for completion. The plan was approved midway through a lengthy meeting that included two executive sessions, one lasting for about a...
A Grand Coulee man awaits sentencing in Grant County Superior Court after being found guilty in a jury trial last week. Melvin Toulou Jr. 43, was convicted Thursday of one count of possession of stolen property in the second degree, a class C felony. The charges stem from a car prowl that was discovered on the morning of Aug. 13, 2016. On that day, victims Gretchen and Brandon Whitelaw, who live on Division Street in Grand Coulee, reported to Grand Coulee police that someone broke into their...
The Grand Coulee Dam and Nespelem school districts’ boards of directors will hold a joint meeting tonight (Wednesday) at 6 p.m. at La Presa Restaurant in Grand Coulee to discuss items of mutual interest. The meeting is open to the public. Coulee Dam Superintendent Paul Turner will brief the two boards on what he learned while he was at the recent NAFIS (impact aid) conference in Washington D.C. Turner said he was concerned that President Donald Trump’s budget proposal to Congress shows a 13-percent decline in school funding. Turner said it wasn...
A meeting is schedule for Thursday this week to move Electric City’s Pathway and Revitalization plan forward. The local committee steering the plan will meet from 3-5 p.m. March 23, at Electric City’s city hall, in the council chambers. The group — made up of Councilmember Aaron Derr, and local residents Cynthia Greely, Lynda Anderson, Clark Perman and Jeff Piturachsatit — will review the final plan from WSU, for the broad-viewed, long-range plan to improve the city and its efforts to be more visitor friendly. The meeting is open to the pub...
There's a fever sweeping over the coulee area that comes about the same time each year, not the kind that the clinic can deal with. It's golf time at Banks Lake Golf Course! The official opening is April 1; however, when the sun is out and the grass is starting to green, golf balls will be on the fly. Already some eager beavers are hitting the 18-hole course, well ahead of the opening date. This week, Port District 7 commissioners were on hand to paint the interior of the golf office, but a bigg...
You've heard it said that "the check is in the mail." Well, this one is in the hand! That check for $250,000 arrived last week for Elmer City's "Complete Streets" project. City Clerk Gary Benton and public works director "Jimmer" Tillman didn't waste any time in moving forward with the grant funds. The town has three years to use the funds. Tillman said Friday the project will likely be done in 2018. The grant is from the state Department of Transportation's TIB (Transportation Improvement Board...
An Electric City man has received one of two scholarships offered by the state to study structural firefighting. Joshua Reeding, who recently moved to the area from Victorville, California, won an 11-week training scholarship recently, and will be going to the North Bend Fire Center for instruction. The training runs from April 7 through June 25. "It is a great honor for Joshua and for our volunteer fire department," fire Chief Mark Payne told the Electric City Council last week. Reeding was a v...
Curriculum, students, and staff received the most comments from a recent Lake Roosevelt School survey that was made available to patrons in the area. The survey was taken to provide some guidance to a team of school district personnel and local residents who work together in developing information for a Strategic Plan that will shape school activity for the next few years. The study team developing information for the school board met last Monday and Tuesday in the high school library. Superintendent Paul Turner, who is in Washington D.C. at...
A former Mosquito District 2 clerk pled guilty to one count of first-degree theft in Grant County Superior Court Monday. A second count of first-degree theft, relating to an alleged misappropriation of funds of just over $129,000, was dismissed under the plea agreement. Under the agreement, Karyn Byam, 41, of Electric City, is to pay $800 in court costs, with restitution to be determined at a special hearing within 180 days. There was no confinement time under the agreement. Byam pled guilty to the first-degree theft charge which had to do...
Colorama will have a new carnival this year, Rainier Amusements, out of Portland, Oregon, the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce announced this week. The new carnival is one of the featured attractions for this year’s Colorama Festival, May 12-14. “We are pleased that we have been able to contract with such a highly respected amusement organization,” chamber Executive Director Peggy Nevsimal stated. The final details of the contract with Rainier Amusements were signed late last week. The Portland amusement group stated in its news relea...