News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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One mayor is still determined to find a way to consolidate some of the services of two local municipalities. Electric City and Grand Coulee had each indicated last year a willingness to fund a study on the consolidation of those two cities, but did not commit any funds during the budgeting process in the fall. But Coulee Dam Mayor Greg Wilder indicated last week that he still hopes that services such as police, fire and ambulance could someday be consolidated with those of Grand Coulee. “I plan to get together with Grand Coulee Mayor Paul T...
Police and ambulance workers respond to an accident that occurred at 10 a.m. Saturday on Columbia Avenue during a heavy snow. The 32-year-old driver of the Suzuki wagon applied brakes at the bottom of the hill as Highway 155 enters Coulee Dam and slid into a parked car on the right side of the street. The Suzuki's air bags deployed and the car ended up on the other side of Columbia. She was cited for driving too fast for conditions. - Scott Hunter photo...
Electric City took a giant step forward toward building a proposed multi-million dollar walking trail last week when the city council set aside $400,000 of the city’s hotel/motel tax funds to help pay for the project. City Clerk Jackie Perman noted that the $400,000 includes some future contributions to the fund. Currently, Electric City has $344,000 in its lodging fund. The city receives between $60,000 and $70,000 a year from motels and campgrounds that collect the tax, authorized by state law to promote tourism. The resolution passed with a...
Nespelem area voters should have ballots in hand soon for deciding on a school levy that would turn some $34,000 of their tax dollars into an additional $318,000 in state funds. Nespelem School District Superintendent Rich Stewart said the rate of tax on private property would come to about $2.49 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation. The owner of a $100,000 house would pay $249 a year to support the local school, which serves about 120 students. The levy would replace the current levy, which nets the district $32,000 at $2.14 per thousand...
The Colville Tribes are planning a restaurant, lounge and gaming area over the Coulee Dam Casino. Special Projects Manager Carl Jackson said the restaurant is scheduled for an April opening. Currently, contractors are taking out interior office walls where Colville Tribal Federal Corporation offices had been located. Their offices have moved to the new tribal headquarters complex near Nespelem. The final configuration of the floor space is still being worked out, Jackson explained, but it will feature an upscale restaurant and a gaming area...
You can get whatever you want at B Street Bud. The new marijuana store's list of products is like an extensive menu in a large restaurant. The newest retail operation in Grand Coulee, on Burdin Boulevard, is highly regulated and will return some 37 percent of its sales in taxes to the state, says its owner, Jean Comstock. Comstock purchases her marijuana from six licensed growers. Her edible products come from two other vendors, also licensed and controlled by the state. The range of products...
Council retreats to Ephrata this Saturday Electric City council, mayor and city staff will go to Ephrata this Saturday for a city retreat to review procedures and shape plans for the future. The meeting is at 124 Enterprise Avenue and begins at 9 a.m. The public is welcome to attend. Classing up vacuum sales? It was a classic case of two men overdressing for their job. A woman on W. Grand Avenue in Electric City answered the door to find two men dressed in tuxedos trying to sell vacuum cleaners. Police checked the area but couldn’t find the t...
The wrong date for Electric City’s Ephrata retreat for city officials was reported last week. It will be Saturday, Jan. 23 at 9 a.m. The yearly boat launch permits for Lake Roosevelt are not available for sale at the recreation area office in Coulee Dam, as mistakenly reported last week. The permits can be ordered by mail to the address there, however, with a $45 check, to 1008 Crest Drive, Coulee Dam WA 99116. Senior discounts still apply to weekly permits, but not to the annual permits....
No! That was the result of a formal vote on recycling at the Elmer City council meeting last Thursday night. Councilmembers had earlier, when polled, indicated that they were not interested in a recycling effort. The Regional Board of Mayors met earlier that week and decided to try once again to see if recycling had any future here in the coulee. Traditionally, it only takes one of the four municipalities to say “no” to submarine any effort put forth by the RBOM. Elmer City, as it did when its councilmembers were polled, didn’t want to spend...
A 28-year-old Moses Lake man is jailed after selling two stolen guns to undercover detectives on Monday. Brandon J. Cirame made arrangements to sell three revolvers, a shotgun and a rifle, the Grant County Sheriff's Office reported Tuesday. Two of those guns had been reported as stolen. Unfortunately for Cirame, the buyers he met with were undercover detectives from the Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team. The meeting happened in the parking lot of the Moses Lake Walmart. Cirame, a convicted...
Grand Coulee’s mayor is right when he says in a front-page article this week (“New twist could bring towns’ functions together”) that his city has “a lot to offer” other municipalities in considering how the four in the Grand Coulee Dam area might benefit by combining efforts. That’s basically because working together is usually a better way to solve problems among people of good will: problems such as how to pay for police services, firefighting and ambulance service; water, sewer and street maintenance, and the education of our children. Tha...
Thank you for the excellent bicyclist photo on page 4 of The Star 1-13-2016 edition. However, I’m curious as to the intent of the photo title, “Maybe not YOUR first choice.” A more appropriate and effective title would be “A winter ride in the Coulee — a GREAT choice,” perhaps inspiring people to get outside for a bike ride or some other activity. The Coulee area has many fine natural qualities to explore and enjoy during the winter season as well as other times of the year. Walt Hunner The Bicyclist Electric City Editor’s response: As...
In reading a recent letter to the editor concerning the appraised value of the street trees in Coulee Dam, a number of questions came to mind. Does the letter reflect the view of the entire Coulee Dam Town Council? What is the number of the town ordinance that the letter refers to? If the ordinance declares that the town trees be maintained and encouraged, does that mean that the town is in violation of its own ordinance due to the years of neglect in whole or in part? What does the appraised value of a street tree have to do with the town’s bu...
As you know, the town council directed that the Public Works Department to remove a healthy ornamental cherry tree within the town’s right-of-way. Subsequently, the mayor immediately directed that the town administration (including Public Works) take NO action, pending a review of our attorney(s) and the CDMC requirements thereto. I am suggesting that the council rescind its prior action. The town council cannot deliberately cause us to violate our own applicable code provisions. If you want to ignore/violate our code, first change the o...
Experience + your current situation x encouragement = decisions being made. That sounds simple enough, and I am sure there are a lot of other factors involved, but really this is the basis for our decisions. Plus all you math geeks (Jeremiah and Jeff) love to get math involved in everyday life. Commercials bombard us, politicians preach at us and influences direct us as we navigate our ship on the strong currents of life. Sometimes we run our boat ashore and cause damage until we get it fixed and move on. Life experience can be as simple as...
Winter's icy grip on a spillway bridge pier at Grand Coulee Dam during construction. –- Nov. 12, 1940...
Eugenia "Jeannie" G Condon, 97, of Coulee Dam, Washington, was born July 3, 1918, to Robert and Roxie Grosjean in Kamiah, Idaho. She passed away at the Regency Care Center in Omak, Washington, on Wednesday, January 13, 2016. Following her 1936 high school graduation in Nespelem, Washington, she spent several years in San Diego, California, obtaining her nursing license, before returning to Washington to marry Calvin Jack Condon in 1940. Their daughter, Anita Corrine, joined the family in 1946....
Keith W. Masterson was born Aug. 24, 1918, and passed away Monday, January 18, 2016. Mr. Masterson will lie in state at the Strate Funeral Home, Wilbur, Wash., on Thursday, January 21, 2016, from 5 – 7 p.m. A graveside service will be held on Friday, January 22, 2016, at 11 a.m., at the Wilbur Cemetery, Wilbur, followed by a memorial service, at 1 p.m., at the Zion Lutheran Church, Grand Coulee, Washington. Memorials may be made to the Almira or Wilbur Cemetery Endowment. A complete obituary will be printed in next week’s Sta...
In his 61 years, Michael Stuart Greene proved that the sum of a life is so much greater than one. He leaves a legacy of communities aided by his work as a fire chief and visionary creator of emergency medical services systems, people aided by his work as a paramedic, his family, and a universe of lifelong friends. In the words of his son, he was "the unofficial mayor of wherever he lived." His greatest joys were his wife Barbara, his sons Collin and Gavin, and his new daughter-in-law, Collin's...
Town Clerk-Treasurer Stefani Bowden administers the oath of office to new Town Councilmember Keith St. Jeor at town hall January 13, prior to a scheduled council meeting. Although the meeting was subsequently canceled for lack of a quorum, Mayor Greg Wilder said he was appointing St. Jeor to a committee working on a new wastewater treatment plant. - Scott Hunter photo...
Shonita Ratcliff and Shawn Ankney, of Electric City, are proud to announce the birth of their son, Knox Alexander Lakekin Ankney, on Tuesday, January 12, 2016, at Coulee Medical Center in Grand Coulee. He weighed 5 lbs., 10 oz., and was 18 inches in length at birth. Siblings include Dariane Seyler and Mavrick Ankney. Maternal grandparents are Gerald and Vicki Ratcliff, of Grand Coulee. Paternal grandparents are Tony Ankney, of Elmer City, and Pete Palmer, of Nespelem. Great-grandparents include (maternal) Rose Happ of Rogue River, Oregon and...
Meagan Drywater and Waylon Elwell, of Nespelem, are proud to announce the birth of their daughter, Kendall Marde Louise Elwell, born Tuesday, January 12, 2016, at Coulee Medical Center in Grand Coulee. She weighed 8 lbs., 15 oz., and was 19 inches in length at birth. Maternal grandparents are Val and Tina Drywater. Paternal grandparents are Andrew Jr. Elwell and Agaitha Monaghan....
Wed., Jan. 20 – Dinner Chicken Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Green Beans, Fruit Cup, Cookies Thurs., Jan. 21 – Dinner Stuffed Sausages with Mashed Potatoes and Cheese, Green Veggies, Fruit Cup, Ice Cream Fri., Jan. 22 – Breakfast Corned Beef Hash, Eggs, Muffins, Fruit Bowl, Orange Juice Mon., Jan. 25 – Breakfast Scrambled Mess (Meat, Eggs, Onions), Hashbrowns, Fruit Bowl, Orange Juice Tues., Jan. 26 – Dinner Ham Mac and Cheese, Mixed Veggies, Beet/Pineapple Salad, Cheesecake Wed., Jan 27 – Dinner BBQ Chicken, Ranch Potatoes, B...
Chamber to Meet The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce will meet at noon this Thursday, Jan. 21, at the Eagles Lodge on B Street in Grand Coulee. JoAnn Ehlers from Coulee Medical Center, will be speaking about the new SafeChx system at the hospital. Grant County Fire District 14 to Meet Grant County Fire District 14 will hold its regular monthly meeting at 7 p.m., Monday, January 25, 2016, at the Electric City Fire Station. Care and Share Food Bank Is Open Fridays The food bank at the Church of the Nazarene has normal operating hours...
The Raiders are on a three-game win streak after sweeping their opponents last week. The wins put the Raiders firmly in second place in the Central Washington 2B North with a one-game lead over the Liberty Bell Mountain Lions. LR canceled a game at Pateros Saturday due to weather conditions. On their home court Jan. 12, the Raiders held off the Bulldogs to win for the first time in four years over Okanogan. The Bulldogs could not find a rhythm and the Raiders exploited this for points. In the second half, the Bulldogs did put together a...