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Articles from the December 23, 2020 edition


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  • State loosens school Covid guidelines

    Jacob Wagner|Dec 23, 2020

    In-person school is being encouraged by the state, but Lake Roosevelt is limited on space to keep a safe distance between students and staff. The guidelines for when to open schools to in-person learning were loosened up by Gov. Jay Inslee last week, citing data showing schools as being relatively safe during the COVID pandemic when they’re careful to follow safety protocols. The Washington State Department of Health and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction worked with the governor on the decision. Guidelines from the state pr...

  • Survey: Playground equipment top priority for park improvements

    Jacob Wagner|Dec 23, 2020

    Locals have a lot of ideas for their North Dam Park, a Star survey reveals, including lights, updated playground equipment, a dog park, outdoor movies, and more. Last week, The Star reported on a meeting between Coulee Area Park and Recreation District commissioners in which they discussed areas for improvement at the park, and the need to look into grants to help pay for those improvements. The Star then shared a survey online asking readers their opinions on the commissioners' ideas, and to...

  • Vaccines coming to GCD area

    Scott Hunter|Dec 23, 2020

    With the approval of federal health care authorities for two vaccines, some local frontline workers were inoculated against the virus that causes COVID-19 this week, and more will be early next week, along with local long-term care patients. Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department Chief Ryan Fish took the needle in his arm Friday in Moses Lake. He said Tuesday he has felt no effects from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine delivered through Grant County Health District to Samaritan Hospital, where Fish...

  • Reservation closure extended

    Jacob Wagner|Dec 23, 2020

    The Colville Tribes extended the closure of the Colville Reservation to non-essential visitors until midnight on May 31, 2021, and started a curfew in the Keller District. Chairman for the Colville Tribes Rodney Cawston said in a Dec. 22 press release that the Keller District is “experiencing a severe outbreak of COVID-19 infections.” As of Dec. 21, there are 15 active cases of COVID-19 in Keller and more people in quarantine while they await test results or to see if symptoms develop. “It is absolutely necessary to impose this curfew to prese...

  • COVID-19 local stats update

    Dec 23, 2020

    As of Dec. 22, Grant County had reported 6,466 total COVID-19 cases including 73 deaths, eight deaths since Dec. 15. There have been 23 cases in the Grand Coulee Dam area and 39 in the Coulee City area. As of Dec. 21, the county has had 947 cases in prior 14 days for an incidence rate of 969, down from 1,054 Dec. 15. The incidence goal is 25 or fewer cases per 100,000 population. Most local counties are seeing rates in the multiple hundreds, as is the state as a whole. With 15 new cases in the Coulee City area in the last two weeks, that...

  • Ice Age Park project melts

    Jacob Wagner|Dec 23, 2020

    The long, controversial story of the imagined Ice Age Park in Electric City has come to an end, but the potential for a park is still there. The city council voted at their Dec. 8 meeting to stop the Ice Age Park project and so to return $28,234.31 of spent grant money to the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office. That grant included $257,650 from the state, and an exact match from the city. The city returned their $257,650 match back into their hotel/motel fund which now has $519,275 in it. The $32,190.69 the city spent on the...

  • Santa on tour

    Dec 23, 2020

    Santa Claus has been getting courtesy rides from local firefighters this week, doing goodwill tours through Coulee Dam Monday night, Grand Coulee Tuesday and tonight (Wednesday) in Electric City. The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce is posting schedules that start at 6 p.m. on its Facebook page. - Scott Hunter photo...

  • Merry Christmas and happy reading, kids

    Scott Hunter|Dec 23, 2020

    Beginning next week, you’ll see a new feature in The Star aimed at helping local kids practice reading and writing without realizing it. We’ve sourced a very well-done fun page designed to get kids from second through sixth grades reading, writing and thinking. The “Kid Scoop” page pops with fun little puzzles, jokes, riddles and learning tasks, all planned by a curriculum designer who knows how to present a mini lesson plan in a few square inches with kid-friendly graphics complete with relevant educational standards noted for teacher...

  • Clarification on Ridge Riders' lights

    George Kohout, President Ridge Riders|Dec 23, 2020

    I need to make a clarification to the December 16 article concerning North Dam Park, stating that Ridge Riders procured a new lighting system through PUD. Ridge Riders did not go through PUD to get a new light system at the rodeo grounds but purchased all equipment needed to install the system. Volunteers did most all the work to put the system in, and PUD, through community service parameters, used a bucket truck to assist in getting the lights on the pole. George Kohout, President Ridge Riders...

  • A wedding based on what counts

    Roger S. Lucas|Dec 23, 2020

    No shopping for expensive wedding clothes here The cost of our marriage was $15. And that was for the license. No bridal gown, other gowns, tuxes, limos, flowers, receptions, wedding planners or a host of other folks with their hand out when the wedding bells ring. I had quit my job with Potlatch Forest Inc., in Potlatch, Idaho, and left for southern Idaho. I had met my wife Dorothy while she was at the University of Idaho for a glee club gathering. She was with the Buhl High School group. Shortly after that, I made the 600-mile trip to see...

  • Despite coronavirus, wreaths were placed across America

    Don C. Brunell|Dec 23, 2020

    Christmas is an especially difficult time for anyone grieving for lost loved ones. Try adding a crippling killer virus into that mix. That is the tragic reality of 2020. Even though the traditional ceremonies attended by thousands went virtual this year, more than 1.7 million holiday wreaths were placed against grave markers of fallen service men and women. Normally, the fallen are remembered on Memorial Day, but thanks to a Maine family and over hundreds of thousand donors and volunteers, on Dec. 19 those wreaths were laid on the tombstones...

  • It is time to show our resilience

    Lee Hamilton|Dec 23, 2020

    If you pay attention to global affairs, you know that increasing numbers of people believe US leadership in the world is coming to an end and the West more broadly is being eclipsed. I think these predictions are exaggerated, but they are not without some basis. Our challenges have grown. It is time for us to re-establish ourselves by showing our capacity for change and adaptation. The biggest external challenge we face, of course, is the rise of China and the competition it offers to the democratic model. It is not just that its wealth,...

  • Legals for December 23, 2020

    Dec 23, 2020

    Colville Indian Housing Authority Request for Quotations The Colville Indian Housing Authority is requesting quotations from Indian owned and non-Indian owned firms to furnish labor and materials for one project. All work and materials will be detailed in the scope of work for the project. Demo fire damaged Malott Unit’s 4154, 4155, and 4156. For additional information or to request copies of the complete RFQ and scope of work please contact Melissa Williams at 509.634.2548 or melissa.williams.hsg@colvilletribes.com. All written proposals m...

  • Lois Jean Pierce

    Dec 23, 2020

    Lois Jean Pierce passed away on Tuesday, November 17, 2020, in Davenport, Washington. She was born on September 10, 1936, in Merced, California. She was active at home and in her community with a fiery independence. She participated in such things as the Ridge Rider Drill Team, volleyball teams and in exercise groups. The Planet Earth Players was one of her favorites, playing in all kinds of roles and performing tasks for the theater. She worked hard at home and at various jobs with pride in a j...

  • Ron Kerby

    Dec 23, 2020

    Ron Kerby went to Heaven on December 18,2020. He was 82 years young. He now rests in our Lord for eternity. Ronald Eugene Kerby was born in Orofino, Idaho May 4th 1938. He was the oldest of three boys born to Clair and Elinor Kerby. The family moved from Orofino to Grand Coulee where his dad Clair worked for the school district as a bus driver and taught school for ten years. His mom, Elinor worked as a clerk in a small boutique. Growing up, Ron and his brothers Jerry and Dean were active in...

  • 'Rapid' Robert 'Bob' Pachosa

    Dec 23, 2020

    Robert Louis Pachosa, age 78, passed away in his residence, surrounded by family, on Sunday December 13, 2020 in Spokane, WA. Born on March 21, 1942 in Mason City (Coulee Dam), WA. Bob spent his entire childhood in Grand Coulee, graduating from Grand Coulee High School In 1960. Bob's Grand Coulee Tigers boys basketball team won the State B Basketball Tournament in 1960 and Bob, with most points scored in the tournament, was named to the all state class B basketball team soon after. This led to...

  • Coulee Cops

    Dec 23, 2020

    Grand Coulee Police 12/15 - A woman was banned from two Coulee Boulevard addresses. The woman allegedly threw a battery at two men she rents her apartment from, and had dismantled a smoke detector believing it was a camera. Police noted a dismantled smoke detector in her driveway when they came to speak to her about being banned from those properties. Coulee Dam Police 12/15 - An officer was told that a man had been found guilty in tribal court but walked out before he could be taken to jail, leaving in a PT Cruiser. That man was known to...

  • Kayak(s) to plunge too at New Year's Day swim event

    Dec 23, 2020

    Local kayaker Ron Hardin was the lone paddler Jan. 1 this year attending the polar plunge event at Spring Canyon; he’s hoping for more this coming New Year’s Day to join him. Hardin plans to once again join those who, without the benefit of a kayak or warm clothing, will brave the frigid conditions in a “polar plunge” on New Year’s Day at Spring Canyon. The fourth annual informal Coulee Polar Plunge is planned for noon that Friday with a splash likely to wake you up for the weekend....

  • Food bank closed

    Dec 23, 2020

    Grand Coulee Dam Care and Share Food Bank will be closed Friday, Dec. 25, Christmas Day and Friday, January 1, New Year's Day. It will reopen to regular hours on Friday, January 8, 2-4 p.m....

  • Demos to meet

    Dec 23, 2020

    Local Democratic Party leadership will meet in early January to elect officers for the 12th Legislative District who will serve for the 2021-2022 biennium. The virtual meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. Officers elected will include chair, vice-chair, state committee members, secretary, and treasurer. Any Democrat who lives within the 12th Legislative District may run for office. Nominations must be submitted electronically by midnight on Tuesday, Jan. 5. Only newly elected Democratic Party Precinct Committee Officers will...