News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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If a house becomes a place where drug-related nuisances frequently arise, can a town do anything about it? That question was raised at this month’s Grand Coulee City Council meeting, where Councilmember Mike Horne suggested at the May 15 meeting that the city look into adopting into its code something along the same lines as the city of Medical Lake has, where if a house is a crime hub and police are called there regularly, and multiple charges are filed, the property and home can be seized for a year. Horne reasoned that adopting such a c...
Eleven new flags will be dedicated on Memorial Day, May 28, at the special Isle of Flags ceremony at Spring Canyon Cemetery. The ceremonies starts at 11 a.m. Monday with master of ceremonies Richard Black (Navy captain retired) getting the program started. The 11 new flags will honor Eugene D. Downing, Stuart Duane Frye, Phillip G. Haegen, Dale L. Hotchkiss, Richard Johnson, Lionel "Leo" Levac, Robert Earl Milliken, Ken Morley, Gary L. Rose, Dennis M. Shear, and Fred Wiyrick. The memorial...
The body of a 17-year-old Lynnwood, Washington boy was recovered Saturday evening, May 26, from the waters of Banks Lake after he went missing late Friday evening near Steamboat Rock State Park, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office reported Sunday morning. Friends had reported David V. Fesko missing around 8:30 p.m. Friday after watching him try to swim to shore after falling off a personal flotation device. Fesko went under water and didn’t resurface. Deputies, state park rangers and boaters searched the waters and shoreline until nightfall sus... Full story
An Idaho man died Saturday afternoon on SR-21 between Wilbur and the Keller Ferry when his motorcycle crossed the centerline on a sharp curve and struck a guardrail, the Washington State Patrol reported. Larry Everett Merriman, 75, was headed north on a 2002 Yamaha XVS11AP near milepost 99 and entering a sharp, left-to-right curve when he crossed the southbound lane, striking the guardrail just after noon May 26. Merriman was wearing an approved helmet, and neither drugs nor alcohol were a factor in the crash, the State Patrol reported. His... Full story
Near ELECTRIC CITY—Grant County deputies on Wednesday morning recovered the body of a man from the waters of Banks Lake south of Electric City, the sheriff's office said in an advisory. Deputies were called around 7:30 a.m. after a boater discovered the body, later identified as 72-year-old Garlan W. Crosswhite of Olalla, Washington in Kitsap County. Mr. Crosswhite’s boat was found beached along the east shoreline about two miles away. Mr. Crosswhite’s body is in the care of Coroner Craig Morrison whose staff will determine cause and manne... Full story
If you noticed smoke coming from up Lake Roosevelt on May 23, it was from a prescription burn near Whitestone Lookout. The Colville Tribes are burning piles of slash from logging about 78 acres in the area....
To call it a "school assembly" might give you the wrong impression. It was a rap concert at the end, but the bulk of it before the bass throbbed was all about honesty, mistakes, permanent hurt, forgiveness, letting go, and choices. James Pakootas was on a destructive path not too long ago, until he realized he was making the wrong choices. He told students at Lake Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School, plus a few from the elementary grades, that he had chosen the wrong way to deal with the hurt...
The mayor of Elmer City resigned unexpectedly in a letter the city received on May 15. Former Mayor Gail Morin later told The Star that she had been considering resigning for a while. “It is mostly health issues that I didn’t have last Spring when I filed,” she said in an email. “The next three years will need someone with more energy than me. Elmer City will be fine. Someone will step up.” Councilmember Jesse Tillman, the mayor pro tempore, will take Morin’s place in the meantime until the next Elmer City council meeting on June 14 at 7 p.m...
A heated discussion took place concerning loose dogs at the Elmer City council meeting May 10. After the council was finished with the main agenda, which including disposing of an old trailer, the topic of loose dogs came up in a discussion. Several members of the council, as well as city employees, noted that dogs running loose, intimidating children, and getting into people’s yards, is an issue in the town. “I would just shoot them if they came in my yard,” said Councilmember Don Bonertz, “which is too bad; it’s not the dogs’ fault, it’s...
When Amanda Burton moved into a house on River Drive in Coulee Dam, she noticed it's a very busy road with no crosswalk where drivers often speed through, very near Lake Roosevelt Schools. Her kids are a couple years away from walking to school, but about 15 kids cross to and from the school every day, she told the Rotary Club last week. River Drive is also SR-155, which slows to a 35 mph speed zone at the city limits as drivers approach from the north. "A lot of people don't slow down when... Full story
"It's our responsibility as citizens to participate," Alan Cain said before being sworn into the Grand Coulee City Council on May 15. Cain, who has up until recently served as the chair of the Civil Services Commission, will have to step down from that position now that he serves on the council. Cain had also in the past chaired the planning commission in Grand Coulee. Cain has experience working with other governments as well, having been a cartographer for the city of Springfield, Missouri,...
Tribal police will be focusing on ticketing seat belt violations from May 21 until June 3 in a joint effort with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The effort is part of the 2018 Click It or Ticket campaign. “We will be out focusing on seat belt violations and issuing citations to anyone caught traveling without a buckled seat belt or transporting unrestrained children,” a press release from Colville Tribal Public Safety states. “In 2016, 83 percent of traffic fatalities on the Colville Reservation involved an individual who w...
The Arcora Foundation SmileMobile, which travels the state offering dental services to children who might not otherwise have access to dental care, will be in Coulee Dam at Lake Roosevelt Schools from May 29 until June 1. A press release from the organization says that the SmileMobile is staffed by a clinic manager, dentist and dental assistant and will provide dental examinations to children, teens and pregnant women. Nearly one in five third-graders suffer from “rampant decay” in seven or more teeth, the organization asserts. Those wan...
Readers will note a change in The Star lately. Longtime reporter Roger Lucas is changing roles in his latest attempt at retirement. The first of what we expect will be many opinion columns by Lucas appears on this page, along with his sense of humor and a certain attitude. The Star has only been the latest in a long line of newspapers to benefit from Lucas’ writing, his general knowledge of newspapering, and his remarkable productivity, discipline and work ethic. Before landing here needing something to do, he’d retired as the manager of a pap...
3I recently lost my dog in the Grand Coulee area, and with the help of your wonderful community, I got him back safely. I wrote a poem about the ordeal and wanted to share it with the all the people who so graciously helped. Thank you. Dave Bremmer A Lost Dog it was a Sunday like many, we went out for a drive the beautiful scenery, caused our spirits to revive we headed to Grand Coulee, it was not in our plans but a worthwhile endeavor, with time on our hands we peered at the dam, it was an extraordinary feat concrete and iron, where...
There’s a rooster in Electric City. And it is a direct violation of the city’s chicken ordinance, which allows a handful of hens, but no roosters. A clear violation of equal treatment under the law. The city council, who started this farce by refusing to allow people to have roosters, got the challenge at a recent meeting when a woman told the council of a dog problem she had and then reported that she heard a rooster crowing. That should have prompted an exodus from the meeting by city council members, fanning throughout the city to find the...
Sometimes you just have a good weekend. When things build upon each other and you know you are supposed to be right here, right now. That is the way last weekend unfolded for me and for others in our area. It started with an assembly at Lake Roosevelt. I was assigned to help the guest speakers and artists set up and get anything they needed. James Pakootas, Miah Bearcub, Lew Era, Darrin Cawston and TS the Solution all showed up, excited and ready to perform for the students of Lake Roosevelt....
A celebration of life service for Wade Stoddard will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 26, 2018, at the Eastpoint Church, 15303 E. Sprague, Spokane Valley, Washington. Wade was a 1984 graduate of Lake Roosevelt High School, Coulee Dam, Washington.... Full story
Ruth Ingrid Winkle, 91, of Spokane, Washington, died Thursday, May 17, 2018, in her home at Moran Vista Senior Living. She was born December 4, 1926, in Nykøbing Sjaelland, Denmark, to Julius Arnold and Jenny Marie Kirstine (Hansen) Nielsen. Her family immigrated to the United States in 1927, and settled in Waterloo, Iowa. In 1939 her family, which included her brother, Willy Nielsen, moved to Los Angeles, California. There, she attend Washington High School, where she met her future husband,... Full story
Holly K Andersen, age 57, passed away on Wednesday, May 16, 2018, at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane Valley, Washington. She was born December 15, 1960, in Hawaii to William and Shirley Andrews of Bonifay, Florida. Holly was married to Dean Andersen and they lived on a farmstead by Creston, Washington. She was a 24-year Navy veteran who served as a Cryptologic Technician (CTR) and honorably served through many Navy campaigns and operations. Her awards include two Navy Commendation Medals, one... Full story
Wade Roberts, a class of 2007 Grand Coulee Dam Lake Roosevelt High School graduate and a 2012 graduate of Whitworth University, Spokane, Washington, received his Ph.D. in Molecular Plant Sciences May 5, 2018, from Washington State University, Pullman, Washington. Wade is heading to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville June 2018 to pursue post-doctoral research. Wade is the son of Merle and Linda Roberts....
Chamber Not to Meet The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce will not meet this Thursday, May 24. Coulee Creators Meet on Tuesdays Coulee Creators meet at 412 Federal Ave. Room 207, Grand Coulee. Contact Marlene Oddie at KISSed Quilts or 509-386-5715 for further details. Hours are normally Tuesdays 1-4 p.m. School Retirees’ Association to Meet Okanogan County School Retirees’ Association will meet at 11 a.m., Friday, May 25 for a general meeting and no-host luncheon at Koala Street Grill, 914 Koala St., Omak. For more information call Jen...
Grand Coulee 5/14 - Police stopped a driver on Alcan Road when an officer saw a truck whose registration had expired in 2012. The driver, who claimed to have just purchased the truck, was cited for the registration problem and having no insurance. - A woman living on Crest Avenue in Electric City reported to police that she thought someone had put sugar in her gas tank. 5/15 - Police saw a woman near the post office in Grand Coulee who tried to get out of sight when she saw the patrol car. She was identified as a woman wanted on a Department...
"We're very lucky to have her," Lake Roosevelt kindergarten teacher Jan Erickson said about Fern Blaylock, who volunteers daily with the kindergarten classes and recently received an award from the North Central Educational Service District. Blaylock does activities with three kinder garten classes, ranging from art activities to reading and writing activities, math, and more. Several years ago, she decided to start riding the school bus at a time when some kids needed instruction in how to...
The Lake Roosevelt Raiders tennis season ended in Omak last week at the district tournament where top tennis players from the Central Washington 1B/2B League faced off against the best players from the A-schools of the Caribou Trail League. The Raider tennis players didn't fare so well, with the two Raider boys and three Raider girls each being eliminated in only two sets. "The competition for our B schools is formidable," said Raider Head Coach Steve Archer. "Even though we did not qualify any...