News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Fish help needed Anyone able to help in releasing rainbow trout at the net pens in Electric City would be welcomed by the Promoters of Fish and Wildlife at 9 a.m. Saturday. After releasing the fish, the POWER group will clean the net and get it ready for a new batch coming April 23. County to auction real estate Okanogan County will hold a surplus real estate sale by auction at 9 a.m., May 10, at the Okanogan County commissioner’s hearing room. Six parcels will be up for auction, officials stated. This is a public auction, and all sales will b...
The power outage in Coulee Dam will likely last until 5 or 6 p.m. tonight, one source told The Star. Lynne Brougher, with the Bureau of Reclamation, said USBR personnel are helping Coulee Dam crew and their contractor restore the service after a Coulee Dam's contractor, Christiansen Electric, cut a main power line during excavation. It's not clear whether the relatively new, buried line had been properly marked. Businesses in Coulee Dam remain closed, although service to Coulee Dam Credit Union'...
A Spanish teacher at Lake Roosevelt High School is in Okanogan County Jail this week, facing charges of forgery and identity theft, after being arrested last Thursday by Coulee Dam police. Guillermo Guzman has also had a hold placed on him by Border Patrol agents and he will face deportation hearings in Tacoma when he is finished in Okanogan County, according to a jail spokesman. Guzman was picked up by Coulee Dam police officers along with a Border Patrol agent after a man with a similar name...
The Bureau of Reclamation is having trouble attracting and retaining new skilled employees, Power Manager Mark Jenson told a number of local leaders Monday afternoon. Jenson said that often a combination of local factors creates a problem for workers recruited or transferring to work here on the Grand Coulee Dam project. Jenson stated that project employment, now 466 workers, will move to 582 by September of 2014. That’s a payroll jump from the present $32.6 million to $42 million in 2015. That expected boost of 116 employees is “not a tem...
The largest producer of hotel/motel taxes in the area proposed changes to the way the funds are used at a meeting of some 20 community people Monday. Pat Welton, managing partner of Sunbanks Lake Resort, stated that the three local municipalities that collect the tax are currently “hoarding” the money and releasing it bit by bit. The fourth local community, Elmer City, doesn’t have any campgrounds or motels within its borders. Sunbanks, located inside Electric City’s boundaries, accounts for about $60,000 a year of the funds collected from th...
The Bureau of Reclamation reported this week that it had received an exception to the federal government hiring freeze so it could fully staff its Grand Coulee Dam tours. The Bureau had earlier stated that it might have to trim the number of days and hours that it provided tours due to the hiring freeze. Public Affairs Officer Lynne Brougher said the job offerings will be posted this week and it was her intention to have the tours fully operable by Memorial Day weekend. After the hiring process is complete, tour guides will have to be trained,...
A solution to the Coulee Dam wastewater treatment plant controversy that could satisfy a large number of the stakeholders could come next Wednesday night when the council meets. Councilmember Karl Hjorten said Tuesday that he plans to make a motion next Wednesday to move forward on the project doing only what is necessary to take care of the sludge, chemical levels and rotor problems. This would cut the costs of the project down to around $2 million to $2.5 million, Hjorten stated. Currently the...
The Colville Tribes pitched the Elmer City council last Thursday to provide the town’s official police force. Appearing at the town council were Public Safety Director Bill Elliot and Tribal Police Chief Corey Orr. Elliot told the council that the Tribal Police Department would like to put in for a state-funded police grant, but to be successful it must represent a town or city. He said that the Tribal Police would not charge the town anything to be its law enforcement department, but would use the grant to supply reserve officers to cover Elme...
Groundbreaking ceremonies for the new K-12 school facility will be at 9 a.m., Tuesday, April 23, school district Superintendent Dennis Carlson announced. All contracts and processes have been concluded and the general contractor, Walker Construction, is about ready to start. Carlson said the north parking lot at Lake Roosevelt High School will have to be vacated so contractors can place their equipment on site. Carlson said school board members, the contractor and architect will be there that day, along with others, to participate in the...
We would like thank everyone who has helped us out since we lost our home in the fire. It was such a lonely and devastating thing to watch nearly everything we owned go up in flames. As many of you may know, my husband and I both grew up in Brewster, and then moved to the larger town of Spokane. We missed the feeling of a small community, so when Safeway had an opening here, we moved without a thought. It only took moments following our loss to remember exactly why we wanted to be in an area like this. Even before the house was done...
I had heard rumors early in the school year that the Hoe Down was going to be eliminated this year, but I was hoping that this would not be the case. However, it appears that the decision has been made, and there will be no Hoe Down this spring. As a 30-year veteran, now retired, elementary teacher, I would like to share my thoughts on this decision. The Hoe Down has been a LONG-standing tradition of the grade school, whether it was Center School or Wright Elementary. Square Dancing has been an acceptable and important part of the 3rd grade...
So, the administrators and staff of Center Elementary school have decided to do away with the annual Colorama “Hoe Down” that has been taking place in our community for at least 25 years that I know of. This decision provides yet another example of how our local schools continue to erode in the Arts department and demonstrates a narrow-minded approach to the development of a well-rounded student that will function in the 21st Century with global intelligence and the ability to “think outside the box.” First, the elementary school decided to eli...
My first meeting with Guillermo Guzman was for my son’s parent-teacher (Spanish) conference. The second time I met with him was this Sunday past - at the Okanogan County jail. Mr. Guzman and I have exchanged emails from time-to-time regarding Joshua’s progress, expectations, and such… but otherwise I did not know him and I am less for that. Things have all changed now… for him, for my child, for your children. Yesterday I read the Star article about the (Mr. Guzman’s) arrest, chatted with a few friends and my son… particularly my son. I was...
Media has a duty to distinguish fact from opinion and to report both sides of a story without bias. Because reputations and lives can be destroyed long before facts are known we rely on the media to equalize the power imbalance between the government and individual by checking every “fact” before reporting it as such. We rely on the media to model the important American principal that all people are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Your article on Mr. Guzman’s arrest does none of the above. You state “Among a list of charges that Police...
I find it in very poor taste and highly unprofessional to include a picture of innocent students with the article about Guillermo Guzman. It has been a very traumatic event for them and this just adds another element of hurt to what they are already experiencing. Cathy Krohn...
As a long time resident in Grand Coulee I loved our Community Hospital and Clinic. Some great staff members made it a desirable place to get excellent attention. The Blood Draw as an annual event was a real positive for a small hospital and helped keep a lot of us on the right track. If I had one complaint about services there, it was the inaccessibility of my preferred doctor. For a long time I thought this was because he was popular, but after having recently moved from the area, I’ve come to the conclusion that the duties are not shared e...
Have none of these council members ever looked for daycare in this area? Impossible! So most children are cared for by unlicensed caregivers in their homes or relatives who don’t always WANT to do it. I would think in the interest of community needs, it would be a small issue to change the codes. While I’m writing, we also have nothing for people working evenings or weekends; there is a desperate need for that. Carol Schoning...
As with most breakup letters, this one may come as a shock, but I wanted you to hear it from me first. Small towns being what they are, I began to get worried that you would hear it from someone else before you heard it from me. So I wanted to set the record straight and tell you that although we’ve had our good times, its time for me to move on. In short, I’m leaving you. As cliché as it sounds — and I’m sure you’ve heard others spout this well-used platitude — it’s not you, it’s me. Fortu...
Evelyn (Haskins) Mattson, a lifetime resident of Washington, passed away Sunday, April 7, 2013. She was born in Leavenworth to Nancy (Stevens) and Jean Haskins. She attended school in Leavenworth and met her husband Buddy Mattson at a community dance there. From 1941, they lived in Grand Coulee. While Buddy worked on various dam-building projects along the Columbia River, Evelyn kept the home fires bright. She became an efficient home-maker. As the family grew to include four active children, sh...
Mary Ann McNeilly (77) 1935 – 2013. All are invited to a celebration of life for Mary Ann McNeilly at 1 p.m., on Sat., May 4, 2013, at Faith Community Church in Electric City, Wash. Surrounded by her loving family, Mary Ann peacefully passed away from her Coulee Dam, home Thursday morning April 11, 2013. At her request, cremation has taken place. Mary Ann’s family requests that in lieu of gifts, donations be made in her memory to Coulee Medical Center, 411 Fortuyn, Grand Coulee, Wash, 99133 or Faith Community Church, 16 Grand Ave. East, Ele...
Richard “Dick” C. Holm, was called home to Jesus on Monday, April 8. Dick was born to Charles and Theresa Holm on October 30, 1957, in Redmond, Oregon. For the past 54 years he has made his home in Elmer City, Washington. After graduating from Lake Roosevelt High School in 1976, he continued to work in the local area. Dick had a passion for helping others, volunteering with the Okanogan County Fire District No. 2, Coulee Dam Irrigation Cooperative, and St. Henry’s Catholic Church. He was a life member of the Knights of Columbus. Some of his h...
James Curtis Waters, 88, born December 2, 1924 in Everett, Washington, passed away Monday, April 1, 2013 in Puyallup, Washington. A retired sea captain, our Dad spent most of his life on the waters of the world. He fought turbulent seas, angry sharks and icebergs; and ferried an endangered princess to safe territory during the dark days of World War II. The beloved leader of his ship’s crew members, loyal friend and ever faithful, he was always a kind, generous, loving husband and father to t...
Graveside services for George “Swede” Walberg will be held Saturday, April 20, 2013, at Spring Canyon Cemetery beginning at 11 a.m. A reception will follow at the Masonic Lodge behind the Coulee Dam Community Church-Presbyterian Swede passed away Dec. 24, 2013....
Graveside services for John Graham will be held Saturday, April 20, at 1 p.m., at Spring Canyon Cemetery. A luncheon will follow at the Eagles Lodge in Grand Coulee. John Graham passed away March 16, 2013....
Graveside services for Jean Campbell will be held Saturday, April 27, 2013, at Spring Canyon Cemetery at 1 p.m. Dress is casual but the family is wearing pink in her honor. Jean passed away November 14, 2012, in Spokane....
