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Articles from the August 30, 2017 edition


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  • Apparent burglary foiled in Coulee Dam

    Roger S Lucas|Aug 30, 2017

    Two police officers from Coulee Dam and Grand Coulee interrupted a burglary at 301 Columbia last Thursday in Coulee Dam. Grand Coulee officer Matthew Ponusky heard that a residential alarm had been sounded and went to assist Coulee Dam officer Jordan Ulrich in pursuing the alarm. Ulrich had gone to the back door and contacted a male intruder who slammed the door in his face and went back inside. Meanwhile, Ponusky had gone to the side of the house, where another man who had broken the screen from inside the house was preparing to jump, but...

  • Colville Tribes enters growing hemp industry

    Jacob Wagner|Aug 30, 2017

    The Colville Confederated Tribes is now the first tribe with a permit to grow hemp, and growing some of the only hemp in the United States today. The U.S. hemp industry is estimated to have brought in $688 million in revenue in 2016 and has been steadily growing by about 25 percent a year, with projections at $1.8 billion in 2020, according to Hemp Business Journal. A 60-acre organic hemp crop growing in the Swawilla Basin near Keller Ferry is the first step in researching the possibilities for...

  • Native American Art show Saturday

    Jacob Wagner|Aug 30, 2017

    People interested in art and music can take advantage of a free event at North Dam Park this coming weekend. The Third Annual Plateau Native American Art Show, showcasing beadwork, baskets, paintings, and more from around 20 different artists, will run this Saturday, Sept. 2, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., in North Dam Park in Grand Coulee. The event, sponsored by the Northwest Native Development Fund, will feature live music from two flutists, Peter Ali and Tom Duke, as well as live art painting by...

  • Local school district to emphasize "safe and secure"

    Roger S Lucas|Aug 30, 2017

    School bells chimed today (Wednesday) for the start of the new school year. School personnel gathered Tuesday to hear Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Paul Turner give an outline of activities scheduled for this year, the main one emphasizing "Goal 2" of the district's Strategic Plan, providing a "safe and secure learning environment." Turner emphasized that the district is conducting a "year-long" training period for all employees, focusing on the "whole child." The superintenden...

  • Calling all musicians: you're needed

    Roger S Lucas|Aug 30, 2017

    Dust off your old musical instruments and get back in tune; the community needs you! Lake Roosevelt High School wants parents and community members who have musical talent and no place to apply it to join with students and form a pep band to play at school sporting events. Music director Karen Pace said Monday that it is her hope that local musicians who love music and like to play will step forward and help out. Pace said that community members can come out this Thursday night to the band room at the high school gym and get started, or show...

  • Newsbriefs

    Aug 30, 2017

    Star to close for holiday The Star will be closed for the Labor Day holiday Monday, Sept. 4. Deadlines for announcements and advertisements move to Friday at 5 p.m. Run volunteers to meet Tuesday A special meeting for “Run the Dam” volunteers is planned for 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 5, at the Chamber of Commerce/JR Newhouse offices, 17 Midway Avenue in Grand Coulee. The “Run the Dam” event is scheduled during the Harvest Festival celebration, Saturday, Sept. 16. A good number of volunteers is needed to supply the support necessary for the run...

  • Court hears two dangerous dog appeals

    Roger S Lucas|Aug 30, 2017

    Grand Coulee’s Municipal Court heard two “potentially dangerous dog” cases last Friday at city hall. In the first, Judge Richard Fitterer dismissed an attempted appeal involving a dog owned by Preston Guin, which bit Shirley Heberling June 21 on Main Street. Fitterer stated that the couple attempting to appeal the city council’s decision to declare the dog named “Scoot/Oreo” potentially dangerous had missed the five-day condition for appeal as outlined in the city’s ordinance. The owners will now have to confine the dog, put up a dangerous dog...

  • Sheriff, police to get anti-overdose kits

    Scott Hunter|Aug 30, 2017

    The Grant County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday that its deputies and local police will soon receive training and anti-opioid overdose kits to counteract overdoses in the field. “Not only can we help the victim of an opioid overdose, we can also help another officer or one of our K-9s which becomes exposed to an opioid,” said Sheriff Tom Jones. “We do see many drug crimes involving opioids, and we have responded to several deaths caused by opioid abuse.” Opioids include heroin, morphine, fentanyl, codeine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, meperidin...

  • Harvest fest will feature human foosball

    Roger S Lucas|Aug 30, 2017

    Now you can play foosball with a human twist. It’s a repeat of a fun adventure held over for a repeat performance from last year’s Harvest Festival. This year the festival will be held at Banks Lake Park (near North Dam) on Sept. 15-17. The Foosball event will be on Saturday and run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., or until all of the contesting teams have concluded the double-elimination tournament. So gather five friends or business associates, along with yourself, and get your registration in soon. You can register online at http:...

  • BIA to provide $3.9 million for CCT reforestation

    Jacob Wagner|Aug 30, 2017

    The Bureau of Indian Affairs will provide the Colville Confederated Tribes with $3.9 million to reforest areas devastated by the catastrophic 2015 wildfire season, according to a CCT Aug. 29 press release. The BIA is providing the $3,899,148 in response to letters from both the CCT and Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA). The North Star Fire in 2015 burned a state record 218,138 acres, and in combination with the 165,918-acre Tunk Block Fire burned about 600 square miles of forage and forest on and off the reservation. “Our Forestry Management and N...

  • Jobs, art and music will help

    Scott Hunter|Aug 30, 2017

    Two developments among the Colville Confederated Tribes are encouraging because they should mean the creation of many local jobs. The first is still in the entrepreneurial realm of risk, but could pay off. The tribal effort to develop a crop other than trees to grow on its land, and to do it with what could become a growth industry product, has great possibilities. Hemp can yield many useful products but was outlawed in this country in the 1930s along with its psychotropic cousin, marijuana. By taking advantage of more enlightened changes in...

  • Remember to choose volunteer of year

    Scott Hunter|Aug 30, 2017

    If you have not yet made your choice for the 2016 volunteer of the year, you have through this Friday to choose between Donna White, Cheryl Hoffman and Archie Dennis. Drop us a note at The Star or go to our online poll, marked here in this article online....

  • Taxing robots to slow down worker displacement

    Don C. Brunell|Aug 30, 2017

    Last February, the European Parliament rejected a tax on robots, but took the first steps to regulate their development and deployment. The legislation also aims to establish liability for the actions of robots including self-driving vehicles. Europe’s governing body, while rejecting the tax to be dedicated to worker training, overwhelmingly passed a resolution to study regulating robots. In an interview with Quartz.com, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said he believes that the government should tax companies’ use of robots. That would tem...

  • Safeguard veterans' Second Amendment rights

    Dan Newhouse Representative 4th Dist|Aug 30, 2017

    The Second Amendment is an individual right guaranteed to Americans in our Constitution. Especially after the fight for independence against the British, the Founders understood the importance of an armed citizenry. In Federalist Paper 46, James Madison pointed out that in Europe, “[T]he governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.” Not so in America, where our founding documents protect citizens’ freedom to keep and bear arms. Madison continued in Federalist 46 to argue in favor of Americans’ ability to defend themselves and their fre...

  • Many Years Ago

    Aug 30, 2017

    Date unknown - Does anyone know who these gentlemen are? Let us know by calling the Star 509.633.1350 or online at grandcoulee.com...

  • A few things to dwell upon

    Jesse Utz|Aug 30, 2017

    The solar eclipse was fun. Well, as much fun as a large rock moving in front of a ball of fire can be. Some of the pictures out there were amazing, and of course some were faked, but Mr. Johnson, the science teacher from Lake Roosevelt, took some special pictures. He did all the research and calculations to capture the international space station in front of the solar eclipse. It is pretty cool. All Trekkies and Star Warriors, give me a high five. The water on Banks Lake is receding and the shore birds are venturing out. A lot of blue heron hav...

  • Jami Diane Powell Akers

    Aug 30, 2017

    Jami Diane Powell Akers passed into the arms of her eternal heavenly father on Wednesday, July 5, 2017. She was born May 15, 1969, at Deaconess Hospital in Wenatchee, Washington. Jami was a very happy child, and loved soccer, swimming, and playing Rummy with her infamous Grannie Retta, Grandma Jean and her mother's two sisters, Shannon and Heather. She was also a very proud enrolled Choctaw from the ancestral lineage of Mattie Matilda May Tubby McCarter. She attended her entire K-12 school...

  • Margery E Hullett Yowell

    Aug 30, 2017

    Margery E Hullett Yowell went home to be with her heavenly Father on Saturday, August 12, 2017. She was 17 days short of her 99th birthday. Marge was born August 29, 1918, in Noonan, North Dakota. The "Noonan" name is significant, as she was the last of four children born to James E Noonan and Bessie Noonan. Her grandfather was the first mayor and the town was named after him! Marge finished high school and went on to Teachers College in Minot, North Dakota, in 1936. After a brief teaching...

  • Bridge Creek Fire 42 percent contained

    Jacob Wagner|Aug 30, 2017

    The lightning-caused Bridge Creek Fire, burning 13 miles northeast of Keller, is responsible for the smoke in the air lately. So far the fire, which started on Aug. 9, has burned 3,518 acres and is at 42 percent containment, according to an Aug. 29 press release from the Colville Tribes. Heat conditions, difficult terrain, and poor access to the fire have proved physically and mentally challenging for the crew, according to the press release, and crew members are encouraged to stay hydrated, and to be very aware of their surroundings, told to...

  • Four arrested in Coulee Dam

    Roger S. Lucas|Aug 30, 2017

    Coulee Dam police arrested four suspects and are charging them with burglary after an incident at 1019 Camas Street Aug. 21. Arrested were Martina Delacruz, 48; Rodney Ezell, 29; Daniel A. Lewis, 26 and Marissa S. Curry, 31. They were all taken to Okanogan County jail. Police didn’t have addresses for those arrested. Trina McCurty advised police that there was someone trying to break into the house she was in charge of. One of the four told police that they were there to see the owner of the property. Police knew the owner of the property w...

  • Meetings and Notices

    Aug 30, 2017

    Chamber to Meet The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce will be meeting at noon this Thursday at La Presa Mexican Restaurant. Haila Hubbard, owner of Rise and Grind coffee stand (in Coulee Medical Center’s lobby) will be the guest speaker. Lions Club to Meet The GCD Lions Club will be meeting at 6 p.m., at the Melody Restaurant, the first and third Tuesday of each month until further notice. Veteran Resource & Job Fair Veteran Resource & Job Fair, Stand Down, Saturday, Sept 16, Grant County Fairgrounds (3953 Airway Drive, Moses Lake), 4-H...

  • Scouting it out

    Aug 30, 2017

    Boy scout Paul Stout blows on the sale of a ship made from a water bottle for spectator Dakota Hunt during Back to School Night last Thursday at Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High/ Elementary School. - Jacob Wagner photo...

  • School board briefs

    Aug 30, 2017

    School board briefs The Grand Coulee Dam School District board of directors OK’d a number of last-minute hires at its meeting Monday night. Two stood out. Levi Seylor was hired just this week to become the district’s lead mechanic, replacing longtime mechanic George Davis, who retires Aug. 31, after a long service record with the district. Superintendent Paul Turner said Davis has agreed to stay on to work with Seylor until he becomes familiar with the bus fleet. And the last classroom teaching assignment was filled when Katrina Reeder sig...

  • School district asked about old trophies

    Roger S. Lucas|Aug 30, 2017

    What should be done with old trophies? That question regarding old Mason City High School trophies was brought to the Grand Coulee Dam School District board by Electric City resident Birdie Hensley Monday night. She explained in a letter that many of the older trophies are stored in the basement of Coulee Dam Town Hall and in other places around the community. Hensley proposed that the tabs on the trophies be taken and mounted on a board so that they could be preserved. The old trophies would go where all old trophies end up — in a discard pile...

  • Car wash and lunch will benefit course

    Roger S. Lucas|Aug 30, 2017

    A benefit car wash to raise money to help Banks Lake Golf Course re-do the course’s sand traps is planned for Sept. 9. The car wash will be at Jess Ford in Grand Coulee and will begin at 9 a.m. and run until 4 p.m. Jess Ford will provide a lunch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Cost of the car wash is $25. Banks Lake Golf Course held its own money-raiser tournament to re-do its sand traps but the effort didn’t cover the entire cost. The Jess Ford benefit car wash is to help the golf course realize enough funds to complete the job....

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