News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Grand Coulee’s city council changed its mind last week about protecting its next police chief by passing an ordinance removing the chief from Civil Service. Two weeks earlier, the council had voted 4-1 to keep the chief of police position under the protection of the Civil Service Commission, which is designed to shield public employees from political backlash. This time the vote was 3-2 to remove the chief from Civil Service protection. Councilmember Erin Nielsen asked why the ordinance was on the agenda, since the council had already voted f...
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Motorists stop on SR 155 about 5 miles south of Electric City where boulders blocked the highway to Coulee City late Tuesday. Traffic bound for Grand Coulee was reportedly forced to turn around and take alternative routes, which were laden with a fresh, heavy snow. - Nora Jenn photo...
The Grand Coulee/Electric City police contract for 2015 is in limbo. Electric City Mayor Jerry Sands said this week, “we haven’t seen any contract, yet.” Ever since voters turned down a real estate levy request by Electric City by a two to one margin (232-116), a police contract has been in question. The special levy would have raised $65,000 for Electric City. “Apparently residents don’t want police protection,” Sands said. The two law enforcement council committees had met several months ago and pounded out an agreement for $115,000 fo...
Elmer City wants to provide overdue pay raises for two town workers but leaders have to figure out how to pay for it, after a proposal to raise utility rates was blocked last week. Mayor Gail Morin said that the two workers, Town Clerk Renée Tillman and public works Director Jimmer Tillman, both receive far less than workers in cities and towns nearby and haven’t had their salaries keep pace with the cost of living. The clerk now receives $18.50 per hour and the town’s 2015 budget would increase this to $19.50. Works Director Tillman rece...
The Grand Coulee Dam School District board made two decisions on athletic policy Monday night, one over the objections of one of its members. School board Director Ted Piccolo had issues with changing district policy so that student athletes can be failing one class and still participate in sports. The policy requires athletes to carry a 2.0 grade point average (C average) to participate in sports. The change the board approved allows an athlete to carry one failed grade. “I don’t think it’s too much to ask that a student passes all their...
The deadline for nominations for the annual Volunteer of the Year award is until Monday, Dec. 1. Letters of nomination should be as specific as possible about why the candidate should be honored, including contact information for the nominator and for anyone who could speak about the nomination. Send nominations either through the U.S. Post Office or by email: - by email to star@grandcoulee.com or - by mail to Volunteer, PO Box 150, Grand Coulee, WA, 99133. - Or deliver your letter in person to The Star, 3 Midway Ave., Grand...
Star closed for holiday The Star newspaper office will be closed Thursday and Friday, Nov. 27 & 28 for the Thanksgiving holiday. The office will open for business again on Monday, Dec. 1, at 9 a.m. Local will march in Macy’s Parade Lynda Nutt, who worked for the Bureau of Reclamation’s Visitor Center, will be in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City as part of the “Red Hot MaMas.” She says the group will be on directly after the 121st commercial, behind the Paddington Bear balloon. The group was also in the 2005 Macy’s Pa...
Electric City plans to add at least 15 new street lights next year. The initial cost is about $2,000, and it will boost the city’s electric bill a bit higher. The decision to move forward on the street light program was made last Tuesday night and spelled out in the 2015 city budget. The city initially will pay for the trenching for the lines, and the rest of the expense will be handled by Grant County PUD. The PUD recovers its expense by the monthly fee it charges for electricity. The city now pays about $975 a month for energy costs for i...
An effort to develop an Electric City park moved one step closer Nov. 11 when the council matched the property owner’s asking price. The council voted to offer the Banks Lake Bible Church $25,000 for a double lot near the old Baptist Church school, which measures 80 by 160. Councilmembers Lonna Bussert and Brad Parrish explained to the council that the property had been appraised at $45,000 if used for a residence and $35,000 if used for other purposes. The church group was asking $25,000, and even offered to carry a contract if the city w...
The Grand Coulee Dam School District board Monday night approved a five-year grounds contract with Oasis Lawn Care for an annual cost of $37,600. The contract includes mowing, trimming and edging, lawn aeration, pruning, fall leaf removal, weed eating the hillside above the athletic fields, chemical and fertilizer applications and summer irrigation. Oasis provides its own equipment, and where it can, its proposal stated, tries to hire Lake Roosevelt graduates, and students returning for summer work from college. Superintendent Dennis Carlson...
Shoppers place their penny bids in cups during last Saturday's Penny Auction, a fund raiser for the Lake Roosevelt High School Class of 2016. The class gathers, through purchases and donations, items for bidding and organizes the event, including lunch to support the prom and their senior class trip. They cleared about $3,500. - Scott Hunter photo...
Last week, the Grand Coulee City Council reversed its earlier decision that had kept the chief of police job under the protection of the city’s civil service commission. That reversal should be reconsidered. No matter how much faith council members may have in the current mayor, who pushed for the change, such far-reaching policy changes should not be based on the dominant personalities of the moment. That can be a difficult point to defend when every-one currently involved seems to have the best interests of the community at heart. But c...
My name is Clinton J. Andrews. I was a member of the 3/502 HHC BN Postal Clerk, Infantry 11C Mortar Crew member in the Air Assault unit of Fort Campbell, Kentucky 1984-1985. While I was getting desert fatigues and boots, because I wanted back to Germany this time, I wanted to go to Berlin. I would have to extend my enlistment for six months, to go to Egypt to patrol the border of the Sinai Peninsula; I am one of the seven who stayed behind. My unit went to Egypt for six months deployment. On December 12, 1985, they were at Gander,...
Last week I gave you a (try and make you smile) column about making a rough draft of what you are thankful for. Well, after the week I had, the true Thanksgiving list is here and ready for your approval. So here we go. Cardboard boxes can be hard to come by. I have heard from people all over the world that have a difficult time finding the hard paper storage units without paying for them. This is not the case in Coulee Country. An overwhelming outpouring of boxes came our way. Dave, at the school, supplied us with a stack of boxes a day. Ed...
As I complete my final weeks in Congress, it is only natural to reflect on the past 20 years. It has truly been my honor and privilege to serve you and represent those who call Central Washington home in Congress. Whether it’s helping seniors with their Social Security benefits, ensuring that veterans are awarded the medals they earned but never received, or cutting through bureaucratic red tape to support local families and small businesses – the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives is something that I will always be grate...
1 years ago Raider basketball practices starts next week for both the boys and girls teams. Head coach Brad Wilson expects 35 or more to show up for the first practice with four starters, all seniors, back this season including Omar Fercha, Jarrad Erickson, Nick Barnaby, and Neil Johnson.Veterans Justin Beagle, Gus Smith and Brandon Heintz will also return.Steve Breeze is the JV coach and Josh Harrison will coach the C Squad. Billy Nicholson is the girls varsity team coach and Loriann Mountjoy...
Donny and Nichole Turcotte of Omak are proud to announce the birth of their son Ozzy Hawk Turcotte on Monday, Nov. 17, 2014, at Coulee Medical Center in Grand Coulee. He weighed 7 lbs., 7 oz., and was 20-1/4 inches in length at birth. Siblings include J’Kobi and Zoe Turcotte. Maternal grandparents are Dale and Beverly Molte of Malott Wash. Paternal grandparents are Cindi Reyes of Omak and Bob Turcotte of Rolette, N.D....
Tjode and Dustin Miley of Grand Coulee are proud to announce the birth of their son Stettson Cole Miley on Monday, Nov. 17, 2014, at Coulee Medical Center in Grand Coulee. He weighed 8 lbs., 4 oz., and was 20 inches in length at birth. Maternal grandparents are Joseph and Patti Cole. Paternal grandparents are Bill and Teresa Miley. Great-grandparents are Rose Gallagher and Josephine Cole....
Katy Silva and Randy Carson of Electric City are proud to announce the birth of their daughter Willow Dawn Carson on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014, at Coulee Medical Center in Grand Coulee. She weighed 5 lbs., 7 oz., and was 17-1/2 inches in length at birth. Siblings include Talon, Kosumi and Malila. Maternal grandmother is Deorah Fugett. Paternal grandparents are Clara and Ronald Carson....
No Chamber Meeting The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce will not meet this week due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Meetings will resume next Thursday at noon at Pepper Jack’s Bar & Grille. Wenatchee Valley Erratics Chapter to Meet Wenatchee Valley Erratics Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute will meet at 7:00 P.M., Tuesday, December 9 at the Wenatchee Valley Museum, 127 South Mission, Wenatchee. Central Washington University Geology lecturer and TV host Nick Zentner will discuss “Smart People Studying Washington Earthquakes.” Since...
People fill the Grand Coulee Dam Senior Center Nov. 19 for the Senior Thanksgiving Meal, which was served to about 175 people in the Senior Meal Program's two locations in Grand Coulee and Coulee City, including delivery to those who couldn't get to the site. The Coulee Dam Federal Credit Union donated to the program, covering the cost of 150 meals. And Dean Stucker donated five turkeys, as he has done for years. At left, Charlie Moses engages the table in conversation. - Gwen Hilson...
The following is the first quarter honor roll at Nespelem School. 1st Grade - Talise Adolph, Sadie LaClaire, Denise Simpson, Norma Lowery, Qwentana Quiltanenock. Adryanna St. Pierre, Nikolas Seymour 2nd Grade - Zyven Boyd, Hope Harris, Skyler Covington, Taylor Thomas, Jhaylon Tonasket 3rd Grade - A - mMixat Vargas-Thomas, Janie Epperson; B - Virgil Bearcub, Cylia St. Pierre 4th Grade- A - Enid Bearcub, Maurice Circle, Yvonne St. Pierre; B - Camryn Carden, Anoki Somday, Brandon Lowery, Tito Michel 6Th Grade B – Isaiah Adolph, Kyona Edmo E...
Officials at Lake Roosevelt Elementary are trying to figure out why one of the first-grade classrooms picks up a sewer smell off and on. It happens in Kim Campbell’s first-grade room, and on occasion drives her and her 18 students across the hall into another classroom. Plumbers and other tradesmen are working to find the problem, crawling around checking pipe joints. Theories abound. None have proved positive. The smell doesn’t occur every day, nor at the same time each day that it happens. Usually, it doesn’t last over 20 minutes to half...
Lake Roosevelt’s football program took a hit this week with the head coach and two assistant coaches resigning. Resigning was Head Coach Steve Files, and Assistant Coaches Paul Braun and Joe Tynan. Files stated in his resignation letter to Athletic Director Richard Black, “the decision was not an easy one and involved many hours of thoughtful consideration. In the end, I strongly feel that at this time new leadership is in the best interest of the program” The Raiders had a league win-loss record of 1-7 during the past football season. In ad...