News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Enough is enough. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has apparently adopted a reckless and callous attitude toward community assets not made of concrete or steel, assets that make living easier in this semi-arid desert, assets that often take much longer to build than a dam. Trees are a treasure in this region, but becoming more rare thanks to decisions to cut them down at every opportunity. To be fair to the USBR, it’s not the only agency that finds trees easier to deal with as potential firewood. Trees are messy, in the way, their roots are o... Full story
A 100-year-old cottonwood tree on Banks Lake whose branches attracted as many as 10 eagles at a time is no more, cut down by the Bureau of Reclamation a couple of weeks ago. While Bureau employees said the tree was rotten, the stump, at least five feet across, shows no sign of rot. Several other nearby trees also cut down had rotted in the center. “We would watch the eagles fly from the tree to scoop up fish in the lake by the hour,” said Lela Haydock, who lives nearby and had enjoyed the sha... Full story
A public disclosure request for information from police documents made a few weeks ago by police officer Sean Cook has been discontinued at his own request, The Star learned this week. A request the Grand Coulee officer made recently had the police administration and officers pouring through some 13,000 reports looking for any evidence of force used by officers and a variety of other things. Cook asked that the search of documents be at least temporarily discontinued. The request came a day after the newspaper reported on the search that had... Full story
The Colville Tribes will receive the Sierra Club’s “Watershed Hero Award” in special ceremonies Saturday, Feb. 23, in Spokane. The award is for the Tribes’ cleanup efforts in the upper Columbia River of hazardous wastes deposited by slag from Teck Metals, LTD, a mining company in British Columbia. Slag deposits contain mercury, cadmium, zinc, copper, arsenic and lead. Teck, in 2012, admitted that its Trail, B.C., smelter had disposed of 9.7 million tons of contaminants into the Columbia River system. Officials of Teck acknowledged that it had... Full story
Mayor Quincy Snow assured those attending a town council meeting last Wednesday night that the town would follow through on a “value engineering” study of its $4.92 million wastewater treatment plant project. He made the announcement after a long presentation by David Dunn, an engineer from the state Department of Ecology, who came to the meeting to explain the value engineering process. At the end of the presentation, Snow asked if the town should have gone through this process earlier. “It is late in the process for major changes to be made,... Full story
Proctor still in lead Grand Coulee original Shane Proctor maintained his lead in the PBR Built Ford Tough Series by just 53.96 points, despite going just one for three last weekend. Proctor has 3,414.120 points and has earned $116,960.80 so far this season. Silvano Alves is chasing him with 3,360.160 points and earnings of $128,357.02. Recycling goal exceeded Demolition material from A.E. Wright Elementary was 81 percent recycled, School Superintendent Dennis Carlson said. The goal had been 75 percent. Friends of Rachel Club meet Monday...
Orrin Gross leaps onto Coach Steve Hood after taking the state championship at 145 pounds in class 2B high school wrestling at the state meet in the Tacoma Dome Saturday. Mike Gross, Orrin’s father, enjoys the moment at right. Hood took seven Lake Roosevelt High School Raiders to state, of which four medaled. The story is on page 5. — Brittany Cozza photo... Full story
The boards from the Nespelem and Grand Coulee Dam school districts districts met jointly last week, in another of what have become quarterly meetings. Concerns were shared about the two districts’ school calendars for next school year. Efforts have been made in the past to get the two calendars as closely aligned as possible. In this instance, Nespelem Director Jolene Marchand stated, Coulee Dam passed its calendar without Nespelem getting to look at it. At its last meeting, Grand Coulee Dam School District passed a calendar that scheduled s... Full story
A food service truck stolen from the Grand Coulee Dam School District has been recovered. Two district employees traveled to the Seattle area last Wednesday and brought the 1994 Ford truck back to the bus garage for repairs. The truck went missing sometime during the weekend of Feb. 9-11, and was found abandoned on Interstate 5 near Seattle by the Washington State Patrol. District employees found the truck in an impound lot and stated that the steering column had been peeled so the vehicle could be started. When the door was opened, the front... Full story
Tribal members have been asking questions regarding the Tribes’ Ceremonial Locker such as how it’s used, when it began and who can benefit from it, the Colville Fish and Wildlife department state last week. The department seeks to manage the big game population for the benefit of the membership for subsistence and cultural needs. “One of the things that the tribe recognizes is the need to give the animals a rest in the winter months, to survive and reproduce in the spring,” said Randy Friedlander, interim Fish and Wildlife director. The “Ce... Full story
The town of Coulee Dam began increasing our sewer rate about a year ago. In December, 2011 we were paying a reasonable $37 a month — one month later, our rates were increased by 33 percent! Thinking that there must have been a good reason, we grumbled a bit and accepted it. Then, later that same year, the town sent us a notice that they were going to bump it up another $11… and here we are, now paying $59 a month! Now, that’s an increase of over 60 percent in fewer than 14 months! Having had enough, petitions began circulating and soon virtu... Full story
Sin...redemption--being right or wrong. Are you so righteously ‘right’ that you allow yourself to stoop down, in servitude to evil … instead of being true to yourself … true to your reservation, and, most importantly, true to your own Colville tribal peoples: The Colville Confederated Tribes. Never before in all my 49 years of Colville tribal political participation through simply voting in annual tribal elections have I seen such outright evil, retaliatory bitterness, such mean and ugliness as is currently being delivered by what we now kno... Full story
Reviewing data from the past four Januarys shows we didn’t have any changes from the normal. We had good, measurable snowfall this year (2013, 7.3 inches) and last (2012, 9.9 inches). Here’s how it broke down for 2013 and showing all-time records in parenthesis. High temperature 46.0°F(record is 61°F), low 12.7°F (record -17°F), mean 26.5°F (record 36.1°F), total precipitation 0.60 inches (2.25 inches) and snowfall 7.3 inches (21.6 inches). January was nothing to write home about. Given the... Full story
Ten Years Ago The bald eagle became the focus of hundreds of tourists last weekend as they flocked to the Grand Coulee Dam area to look at the national bird during the “Balde” Eagle Festival. “We doubled what we had last year,” said Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce Pres. Tim Alling. The festival was “very much a success in that manner.” Several indicators of tourism show that people returned to the area last year after a very bad 2001 tourism season, but they are spending less than in 2000. Figures from the state Dept. of Revenue ind... Full story
Flora Elizabeth, “Lally” Dunlap, née Brim (83), passed away peacefully in the company of her loving family the afternoon of Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013. She died after suffering strokes and seizures in the same Elmer City, Washington home she helped her father construct in 1947. Born August 23, 1929, in Kirkland, Wash., to Charles Richard and Flora Harriet Brim, she graduated from Mason City High School in 1947. Lally attended Washington State University for two years. On May 29, 1949, she marr... Full story
Jesse G. Storey, Grand Coulee, passed away peacefully Friday, Feb. 15, 2013, at Valley Care Center in Okanogan. Jesse was the second son of Harold V. and Mary Seresun Storey, born August 9, 1929, in Seattle, Wash. He grew up in Seattle and moved to Grand Coulee to live with his uncle and aunt during his high school years. He graduated from Grand Coulee High School in 1949. He was a school bus driver and did maintenance for the Grand Coulee Dam School District for much of his career. He was a volunteer fireman until he retired and was also an... Full story
Francis “Franco” Lee Swan, age 59, a lifelong resident of Inchelium, Wash., passed away on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013, in Inchelium at his home. Franco was born on July 20, 1953, in Inchelium the son of Corbett and Mildred (Meusy) Swan Sr. He began school at St. Mary’s Mission School in Omak and after two years transferred to Inchelium where he completed his education. Franco graduated from Inchelium High School in 1971. He then entered the U.S. Marines and served for three years before returning to... Full story
Michael Wade Rounds I (68) met his Savior Jesus Christ face to face at 10:59 p.m., on Wednesday, February 6, 2013 when he left this world from Spokane’s Deaconess Hospital. Michael’s beloved wife Rachel and their family were by his side to witness Michael’s Home-going. The only son of Edwin Bud & Josephine Louise (Landergreen) Rounds, Michael was born September 24, 1944, in Seattle, Washington. Twenty-two years to the day that he entered this world, Michael received his best-ever birthday gift,... Full story
A memorial celebration of life for Laurel G. “Gerry” Beck will take place at Zion Lutheran Church in Grand Coulee at 11 a.m., on Saturday, February 23, 2013. Gerry passed away the third weekend of January, 2013.... Full story
Chamber to Meet at Pepper Jack’s The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce will hold its regular meeting Thursday, Feb. 21, at noon at Pepper Jack’s Bar & Grille in Grand Coulee. Lions to Meet GCD Lions will meet on Tuesday, Feb. 19, at 7 p.m. at the Siam Palace in Grand Coulee. Grant County Fire Dist. 14 to Meet Grant County Fire District 14 will hold its regular monthly meeting on Monday, Feb. 25, at 7 p.m., at the Electric City Fire Department. American Legion to Meet The American Legion will hold its regular meeting Tuesday, March 12,... Full story
Brad Thoma jogs through the parking lot of the Visitor Center at Grand Coulee Dam Tuesday with partly sunny skies in the 40 degrees. The forecast calls for a 30-60 percent chance of snow Thursday and Friday with highs in the 40s and lows in the 20s. — Scott Hunter photo... Full story
The Raider wrestlers took home their highest placing trophy ever Saturday, placing second in the state in the B classification. Liberty Bell took home the championship, scoring 112 team points to the Raiders’ 79. LR edged out Pomeroy for second by 13 points, 79-66. The Raiders had left the Tacoma Dome on Friday night in fourth place. “We talked it over at the hotel about how to remedy the situation and put ourselves back into position to challenge for second,” Head Coach Steve Hood said. “That i... Full story
The Lady Raiders came away with third place at last week’s District 5-6 basketball tournament at Wenatchee High School. Lake Roosevelt will move on to the regional tournament this Friday at Mt. Spokane High School when they will take on Northwest Christian starting at 6 p.m. “It will be another tough game,” Head Coach Wallace Pleasants said. If the Lady Raiders win, then they will move on to the state 2B tournament in the Spokane Arena for the second time in three years. Coming in to the Distric... Full story
Growing up in Los Angeles, Academy Award night was a citywide celebration. By the time my brother and I would tumble inside, ready for our afternoon snack, the glamorous stars were already pulling up in their shiny limousines to strut down the red carpet. My mom would prepare special dishes and drinks, and family and friends would crowd around the TV together. Mostly we would gossip about the stars’ choice of wardrobe, but we would also root for our favorite movies and argue the merits of e... Full story
Grand Coulee Police 2/12 - An official with the Head Start program at Center School told police that someone had taken the lock off a storage shed where games and toys are stored. Nothing was taken, the report stated. It was thought that the entry was at the same time as a number of metal items was taken from a fenced-in area near the kitchen. - USBR Plant Protection asked police to check on a vehicle on Bureau of Reclamation property near the fish pens in Electric City. Police checked on the vehicle but couldn’t connect with the owner. - A 1... Full story