News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Tracks in the snow tell the tale of which of two dozen or more holes in the ice of Crescent Lake have been most popular with fishermen in recent days, as two of them tend their poles Saturday. Consistently cold weather has made decent ice for the sport on local lakes this winter. - Scott Hunter photo...
David Leon Friesen, age 70, passed away on Sunday, February 6, 2022 in Grand Coulee, Washington. He was born Friday, June 22, 1951 to George E. & Esther Sawatsky-Friesen in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Following high school, he worked in the mines in Kellogg, Idaho, then David served his country with honor in Vietnam with the US Navy from 1970 to 1974, earning the "National Defense Service Medal", "Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal", "Vietnam Service Medal With One Bronze Star" and a "Meritorious U... Full story
Electric City is anticipating building a pathway this year connecting the Coulee Playland area to Banks Lake Park by North Dam and to implement an 800-yard speed limit decrease in the same area. Construction of the pathway, anticipated to be done this summer, will likely reduce the current 45 miles per hour speed limit zone to 35 for about 800 yards. The pathway would narrow the roadway to an extent, and the path alongside it would require the speed limit change. Last year The Star conducted a poll asking how people felt about the speed limit...
Voters turned down two local school levy proposals by a hefty margin yesterday. Grand Coulee Dam School District’s Proposition 1 appeared to fail by about 58 to 42 percent, with 570 voters selecting No on their ballots, 418 selecting Yes across the four counties the district serves. Proposition 2 was also voted down 538-413, about 57% no to 43% yes. “We got hammered bad,” Superintendent Paul Turner said, noting only the Pateros district appeared close to have a close vote at about 50-50 last night. All others were failing in Okanogan Count...
Sunrise Disposal, which empties your garbage cans each week in Electric City, Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam, and Elmer City, is raising the rates it charges those towns by 15%. The rate increase, announced in a Jan. 20 letter to the Regional Board of Mayors, comes in response to the Delano Regional Transfer Station’s 33% rate increase, which is being implemented in response to a rate increase at the county landfill near Ephrata. Sunrise’s and Delano’s increases take effect on April 1. The individual cities will decide, in the meantime, how much...
Four more deaths and 1,515 more COVID-19 cases have been reported in the past week in Grant County, with 54 more cases being reported in local towns. Coulee Medical Center reports that out of 98 total tests performed at the Grand Coulee hospital Feb.1-7, 24 came back positive for covid. According to Grant County Health District’s Feb. 3 update, four more deaths have been added to the county’s COVID-19 death tally for a total of 237 since the start of the pandemic. The deaths include two men and two women, three with underlying health con... Full story
Mental health victims and juveniles can be restrained by law enforcement when responding to requests for assistance from crisis responders. That is the thrust of House Bill 1735, which passed the state House with a 90-5 vote and is now under consideration in the Senate. The bill is intended to end confusion caused by the adoption of last year’s House Bill 1310 which prevented crisis responders from receiving police assistance in detaining or transporting people. “We’re talking about hands-on…whether law enforcement can physically interac...
Raider and Lady Raider basketball fans helped raise $1,469 for Wellness Place in Wenatchee in the fight against cancer. Pink shirts were sold at Saturday’s games as part of the charity drive. “I am truly grateful for the teams and parents who want to donate to Wellness Place,” Executive Director Julie Lindholm of Wellness Place said in an email to Camille Pleasants who helped organize the charity drive. “We have quite a few cancer patients from your area that contact us for our free services. The most requested service is gas cards to get to...
EPHRATA, Wash – Grant PUD commissioners Tuesday unanimously chose Rich Wallen as the utility's new general manager and chief executive officer. Wallen has served as interim general manager since Jan. 1, after former general manager Kevin Nordt stepped down to focus on his health and take on a new role ensuring the utility a reliable energy supply. Commissioners pointed to Wallen's knowledge, experience gained at Grant PUD and benefit of mentoring by Nordt for their decision. "This process with t...
Local photographer Emily Rehn captured life among the frozen recently, as a deer seems to pose in front of the freezing fog and rime-coated brush along the cliffs of Steamboat Rock. - Emily Rehn photo...
Business owners may be finding that they need to renew their business licenses with the Washington State Department of Revenue’s Business License Services department rather than with their city. Licenses purchased for one town are still honored in the other three local Coulee community cities, with Electric City, Grand Coulee, Coulee D am, and Elmer City all having codes that state as much. In Electric City, for example, the code refers to businesses serving one or more of the four towns as “reciprocal businesses,” and states that those busines...
Homeless people would have quick access to shelters and other facilities under a $815 million, multi-agency plan supported by Gov. Jay Inslee. Flanked by Democratic officials from King County, Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma, Inslee on Feb. 3 pressed the state Legislature to pass Senate Bill 5662. The law would create an intergovernmental coordination office to reduce the number of homeless camps by helping people get into permanent housing. “We have to move more quickly and compassionately to serve the thousands of people who are now living u...
Living in Central Washington means you’re pretty much as far as you can get from the southern border while remaining in the land of the free, so it’s easy to think President Biden’s open-border policies don’t affect us. Unfortunately, that couldn’t be further from the truth. President Biden’s open-border policies have allowed fentanyl to flow across the southern border and into our communities. In FY21, there was a 134% increase in the amount of fentanyl found by Customs and Border Protection. The 11,201 pounds of fentanyl that were seized by o...
The recent eruption of the Tonga volcano was captured by various geostationary satellites showing us the size and scale of that eruption. The eruption plume was about 162 miles in diameter before upper winds disrupted it. The Tonga volcano, officially called the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai volcano, is mostly under water. It is about 12.5 miles wide and is 6,000 feet high. The volcano is 40 miles north of capital of Tonga (175˚23’W, 20˚33’S). This volcano’s recent past activity was in 2009 and...
I have had a lot of odd jobs, spread out over the years. I don’t think I was in my teens yet when I took my first official job. I set pins in the Palouse bowling alley. I got 5 cents a line, not something I could get rich doing. A line of bowling took about 30 minutes, so you can see it wasn’t a great deal.This was before they got the racks you put the pins in. There were black circles painted and you were supposed to put the pins right on the painted circles. First you had to clear the down pins and then jump up on the retaining wall so the...
Last year, Gov. Jay Inslee attempted an end run around the legislature by banning natural gas in new homes and commercial buildings via the state’s building codes. It was a bad idea. Now, some fellow Democrats who control the Legislature are working on legislation trying to do the same — also a bad idea. Inslee’s proposed regulations forbid the use of fossil fuels for heating and hot water in new structures. Prohibiting natural gas is expensive for home and building owners, many of whom installed energy-efficient natural gas heat pumps and t...
She was born to Shirley Lewis on February 4, 1954, in Spokane, WA and walked through the gates of Heaven to her beloved Jerry on February 5, 2022 at her home in Oroville, WA surrounded by her loved ones. Raised by her mother Shirley and Bernard Picard, Sr. in Nespelem, WA with her brothers; Del, Earl, and step-brothers Ben Jr. and Donald. She loved her childhood on the (Picard) ranch and told many stories about growing up there. And although she moved away as an adult, she kept many friends and... Full story
Les Fossum 6/14/1932-11/18/2021 MaryAlice Fossum 6/21/1931-5/31/2014 Les and MaryAlice Fossum are back together after seven years of being apart. They were married July 10, 1958, at the Chapel of the Pines in Burien, Washington, and were together for 56 years prior to MaryAlice's passing in 2014. Les was born in Cheney, Washington, on June 14, 1932 to Lester and Grace (Swanson) Harr. Following the death of his father, his mother married George A.O. Fossum who adopted Les and his sister Joyce.... Full story
Grand Coulee Police 2/2 - Police spoke to a man staying in a trailer on property on Kelso Avenue and said he was allowed to be there after police received a report of possible trespassing. Police knew that the man had stayed in the trailer in the past. The man called the homeowner who confirmed to police that he was allowed to be there. - Police responded to E Street for a noise complaint and spoke to a man and woman in a car parked in a driveway where they were listening to music loudly. They agreed to turn the music down. Police returned...
The winter meeting of the Grand Coulee High School Alumni Association will take place at 1 p.m., Wednesday, February 16, at the Senior Center on Main Street in Grand Coulee. The upcoming 2024 all-class reunion will be discussed, as well as clarification of new scholarship guidelines voted in at the fall meeting. Deadline for applying for this year’s scholarship is April 30, 2022....
Town of Nespelem NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN; The Town of Nespelem will hold a Public Hearing at Town Hall, 330 9th, Nespelem, WA 99155, Wednesday, February 16, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. The purpose of the public hearing is to review final project performance on Asset Management Plan funded by the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Town Hall is handicap accessible. Arrangements to reasonably accommodate special needs, including handicap accessibility or interpreter, will be made upon receiving 24-hour advance notice. Contact... Full story
The Lady Raiders began the North Central Washington district tournament with a win last night and will play the next round on Friday. During the regular season, the Lady Raiders defeated Okanogan on the road on Feb. 1 48-43, then prevailed over the Lady Bears in Brewster 62-50 on Feb. 4. The next day in Coulee Dam, LR hosted Manson in the final game of the regular season, with LR winning 79-24. Lake Roosevelt led 23-2 at the end of the first quarter, 41-12 at the end of the second, scored 27...
Raider wrestlers competed at district meets in Tonasket and Spangle on Saturday to qualify for regionals. For the boys, the top three wrestlers in each weight class qualify for the regional tournament in Warden. Wrestling in Tonasket on Feb. 5, 10 Raider boys qualified for regionals. Roger Cate placed first in the 106-pound weight class by pinning Miguel Depaz from Tonasket one minute and 48 seconds into the match. Colton Jackson placed second at 120, losing the top spot to Aaron Polito of Tonasket 6-3. Francis Louie placed second at 132,...
Three Raider and four Lady Raider basketball players have made the Central Washington 2B “All League” selection, and Raider Head Coach Jeremy Crollard was named coach of the year. For the girls, Audrey Hansen was named “co-player of the year” along with Okanogan’s Daniele Sparks. Lady Raider Zalissa Finley was named to the first team, and Aaliyah Marchand and Halle Albert were named to the second team. For the boys, Alonzo Adams was named to the second team, and Chase Marchand and Brandon Pino received honorable mentions. Raider Head Coach Jer...
The Raider boys finished their regular season ranked third in the league with an 8-4 win-loss record in the Central Washington 2B league, 12-5 overall, and are moving onto the district tournament tonight (Feb. 9). In the league, they trail behind Okanogan (11-1, 18-2) and Brewster (9-3, 15-5). The Raiders lost to Okanogan on the road on Feb. 1 with a final score of 61-57. Alonzo Adams led the Raiders, scoring 28 points. Chase Marchand added 13 points, with Brandon Pino scoring another 12. On...