News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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The doors of the middle school in Grand Coulee will be opened for a special meeting of the minds tonight (Wednesday) from 5-7 p.m., a time arranged for the community to tour it and talk about the building’s future and more. “Grand Coulee Dam Area 2020 Vision” will be a modest affair, offering a tour of the building that was until last fall the Grand Coulee Dam Middle School, and encouraging conversation about its possible uses and the direction of the community. The tag line on the event is “Let’s start envisioning our future – creating ou...
American Legion Post 157 will dedicate 10 new flags in honor of veterans in the Isle of Flags Memorial Day ceremony, beginning at 11 a.m., Monday, May 25. Over 500 flags will fly at Spring Canyon Cemetery when volunteers complete the task this weekend. In a separate promotion, the Legion Post will hold its annual Memorial Day breakfast from 7 to 11 a.m., Saturday, May 23, at the Vet's Center in Electric City. The breakfast is free; however, donations will be accepted. In the Isle of Flags ceremo...
About a dozen local firefighters this Friday night are attacking a wildfire across Banks Lake from the Grand Coulee Dam Airport. The fire is suspected to have started from a lightning strike in the storm that passed through the area about 4 pm. Eight firefighters, who were taken to the site by boat, are on foot at the fire, which is not large at this time. No flame is visible from Grant County Fire District 14's incident command at the airport. White and grey smoke is visible, hugging the...
Kayley Duclos, Sean Garvin and Savannah Marin perform a skit at a comedy night fund raiser Wednesday at Faith Community Church, where the Young Life group is raising money to attend a summer camp in Canada. The event was so successful, said Jeremiah Seekins, that they've scheduled an encore at the high school June 3 at 7 p.m. - Scott Hunter photo...
It’s in the hands of the city clerk. That’s the best Grand Coulee’s city council could come up with last night (Tuesday) in regard to a controversial application for a marijuana retail business license. About 30 people showed up to offer their view of the issue, and with a show of hands all but two were against it, the applicants. Clerk Carol Boyce when asked after the meeting if she was going to issue the license, said, “I haven’t made up my mind yet.” While members of the council repeatedly told the audience how important it was to come to...
Electric City has changed the way it will do its municipal planning. Mayor John Nordine, in responding to a person interested in being on the planning commission, said that he has decided to bring planning in-house with a professional planner working with city staff. The old planning commission was down to a single person, Merle Kennedy. The other members of the planning commission, Monty Fields, Carl Russell and Ray Clover, had resigned in protest because the city council disregarded recommendations on how to deal with the height and size of a...
Motorists will soon have to look out for the “little guys” in Electric City. The city council voted to move ahead to allow all-terrain vehicles and golf carts to move about the city streets, legally. It was too bad for motorized scooters, they will have to wait their turn. The council decided to delay making a decision on the motorized scooters until it sees how the others are working out. The golf carts and ATVs will have to be road worthy with all the requirements that a normal vehicle has. The golf carts will need front lights, tail and bra...
Grand Coulee will have a new mayor, and a number of former council members from at least two cities have filed to return to municipal government, according to election filings posted by county auditors Friday. Grand Coulee Mayor Chris Christopherson decided not to run again for his office, but Mayor Pro Tem Paul Townsend filed for the four-year mayor’s term. Filings for Grand Coulee City Council seats saw Tom Poplawski, position 2; Erin Nielsen, position 4 and David Tylor, position 5, all filing. The position currently held by Townsend is o...
Parlette named “Friend of Children” State Sen. Linda Evans Parlette was awarded the “Friend of Children” award, based in part on her role in securing funding to build the new Lake Roosevelt School. The North Central Educational Service District bestowed the honor on Parlette last Thursday in Wenatchee. Parlette called seeing the new school open last September “one of the highlights of my years as a legislator.” She was nominated for the award by Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Dennis Carlson and by Stehekin head teacher Ron Scut...
A 40-year-old Nespelem man died early Sunday when he was struck by a car in Omak. Edward E. Hanway was struck on State Route 97 at the north end of Omak about 1:30 a.m., the Washington State Patrol reported. He was taken to Mid-Valley Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He was hit by a 2006 Chrysler 300, driven by a 28-year-old Okanogan woman, Brianna Marie Kelley, who was not injured. The car was towed. No charges were filed and WSP listed the cause of the accident as “pedestrian in roadway....
A crowd dances directly in front of the stage at sunset Friday night at the Sunbanks Music Festival in Electric City, getting into the blues band Big Monti. The event slated 21 bands over its three days. - Scott Hunter photo...
There’s some big bucks to be made Saturday, May 23. All you have to do is ride a few bulls. It’s the Third Annual Cleatis Lacy Memorial Bull Ride at the Ridge Rider rodeo grounds in Delano. Action begins at 3 p.m. This year, rodeo officials have added $3,000 to the prize money making the bull riding event attractive to some pretty good professional cowboys. The event is named after Grand Coulee’s own Cleatis Lacy, a rodeo cowboy of the first degree. When he wasn’t competing, Lacy was one of the most popular volunteers, never turning down an...
Our best guess is that last night’s non-decision by the less-than-courageous (being kind) Grand Coulee City Council was a dishonest move predesigned before the meeting to allow elected leaders not to make a decision. If that’s true, it’s disgusting. If it’s not true, it’s still at least disheartening. The city council foisted its responsibility as elected representatives of the people onto an unelected city clerk. She was told it’s now her responsibility to decide whether to issue a business license to a would-be marijuana retailer. A...
Governance, like life, is full of trade-offs. One of them is efficiency versus efficacy, and you strive for one at the risk of losing the other. Such was the case at last week’s Electric City Council meeting, where the mayor and a council member slapped a mutually congratulatory high five for keeping the meeting under an hour long. The problem is that perhaps it would have been a better, more productive meeting if they hadn’t. As one who has spent innumerable hours at such meetings, I sympathize with the need to keep them moving. People can...
Kudos to Jean Comstock and Jim Pachosa, the Grand Coulee business couple that have asked the city council to grant them a business license for a marijuana retail store near Coulee Medical Center, and to Grand Coulee Police Department Chief John Tufts, who, when asked recently about enforcement problems, said that the department isn’t pursuing recreational cannabis (marijuana) users. It has taken years for this clarification to come; however, it is obviously not a crime for adults, including tenants of the Grand Coulee Manor apartment b...
In regards to the Four Corners, I sure hope that they don’t put in one of them roundabouts that they were talking about. I wish that the person that ever came up with that idea had been still born. Most of the population have never driven extra long loads, like poles, or pulled a trailer, but if you have you know that they are a pain where a pill can’t reach. Besides, if you make a study of them you will find that there are a lot of fender benders with them. Also, there is a lot more expense to make them than just making a a four-way stop out...
If you don’t know by now, we moved last year to the country, to a beautiful setting looking down the Columbia and up the San Poil. We enjoyed the winter with many a deer, birds of many kinds and the occasional coyote. The spring brought the colors. Wildflowers, luscious green grasses and blooming trees sprang to life everywhere. We truly enjoy the peaceful daily atmosphere. Then we heard the rattle. Before we get too far along, I must admit my one fear. Snakes. The slithering devils of all makes and sizes still give me the occasional n...
No American should fear that their government has made a false choice between prioritizing either national security or civil rights. Our nation needs a continuing, robust debate on the proper balance the federal government should strike in defending American lives and freedoms. As that debate continues, Americans deserve more transparency and accountability—the federal government must address legitimate civil rights concerns and reform intelligence agencies’ approach to surveillance in a manner that maintains security of the homeland. Last yea...
The chamber of commerce and Ridge Riders Saddle Club each made a pitch for more hotel/motel tax money at the Electric City council meeting last Tuesday night. Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Peggy Nevsimal had earlier asked for another $10,000, just to match what the chamber was given by the city for 2014 operations. She asked for the $10,000 again Tuesday and pointed out that it was urgent that the city act on the request so marketing issues for the remainder of 2015 could be addressed. The chamber was coming off...
The town of Coulee Dam is spearheading an effort to create and establish a monument to honor 81 persons who died during the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam. Friday, Karen Struve, president of the Northeast Washington Genealogical Society, and Susan Dechant, vice president and researcher for the society, visited the area to discuss the monument project with Coulee Dam Mayor Greg Wilder and myself. The group viewed two possible sites for the location of the monument: Cole Park, near the...
Sara Ann (Sally) Johnson passed away Thursday, May 7, 2015. She was born on August 16, 1917, in Dayton, Wash., to Nancy Della Harless and Walter Chessman. She was the youngest of five siblings and spent most of her life in Eastern Washington. She dearly loved her stepfather, Claude Fisk, and often told stories about him. Sally graduated from Rosalia High School. She married Wesley C. Johnson on September 6, 1937, as he entered the Army and went to Germany to serve in World War II. They later rai...
Chamber at the Siam Palace The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce will meet Thursday, May 21, at noon at the Siam Palace in Grand Coulee. Jim Brakebill of the American Legion Post will speak about the student weekend lunch program. Care and Share Food Bank The food bank at the Church of the Nazarene normal operating hours are every Friday from 2 to 4 p.m. It is located at the Church of Nazarene, hwy 174, Grand Coulee. The bank still can use clean plastic grocery bags. Local AA Meetings Confused in the Coulee AA meetings are held on...
Sixth-graders helped the Rotary Club Saturday in a successful fund raiser designed to benefit them. The club's spaghetti dinner at Coulee Dam Town Hall brought in over $3,000 and will likely net over $2,000 after expenses. From left, Chelsea Dudley, Melissa Merriman and Skylar Armstrong clear empty plates from tables at the event, which aimed to bring in $1,600 to meet uncovered expenses for a $7,500 trip to a Leavenworth challenge course together with Nespelem sixth-graders. - Scott Hunter...
Lake Roosevelt’s senior throwers Katelynn Schilling and Octavio Alejandre qualified last week to move on from sub-districts at Tonasket Wednesday to the District 5-6 meet in Ephrata on Friday. “Our senior throwers excelled in this meet and will be moving on to District competition.” Head Coach Lori Adkins on Schilling and Alejandre’s performance. Alejandre threw a career personal record in the shot put while taking first place in the sub-district meet. Alejandre came up two places short in the discus to advance, placing seventh with the thr...
Raider baseball competed for a state berth until the very last moment possible Saturday, finishing sixth in the district tournament. The Raiders had defeated Kittitas on the May 11 to stay alive in the tournament. In the first game Saturday, the Raiders faced the Warden Cougars. Lake Roosevelt and Warden played a tight game. The final score favored Warden 5-4. LR was not yet done as they still had one more shot at the state tournament. District 5-6 was allotted five spots to state this year....