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 town council in Coulee Dam Wednesday night approved spending $3,020 to “move dirt” in an area just above the city hall, a residential neighborhood, and a motel so police can use it for a shooting range. Officer Josh Watkins introduced himself to the council as the firearms instructor for Coulee Dam’s two-officer police department and explained the need for such a space. Watkins said the biggest benefit would be the ability to get free training. Police have training requirements to keep up with, but scheduling time at the U.S. Bureau of Re...
The Bureau of Reclamation announced last Wednesday that the Grand Coulee Dam “One River, Many Voices” laser light show and the John W. Keys III Pump-Generating Plant public tours would come back on May 28, in time for the Memorial Day weekend. Tours were not allowed in 2020 or 2021 due to restrictions under the health emergency due to COVID-19, and the bureau warned that those could be re-imposed if necessary. The light show will run nightly at 10 p.m. Pacific Time through July 31. Beginning Aug. 1, the show will start at 9:30 p.m., and beg...
Electric City is making the correct move in considering whether it should plan for expansion to its south. Like the rest of the country, the local area is running short of housing, and that’s a major obstacle to progress for a better community. Local employers have trouble recruiting employees to the area when they can’t find a place to live. Our largest employers in the Grand Coulee Dam area — the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Coulee Medical Center — run into the problem repeatedly. The hospital keeps eight rentals of its own just to have a...
You can see the world from a different perspective by flying a drone. Greg Behrens, a retired geologist from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, demonstrated his drone for The Star in April at his home east of Grand Coulee in the Spring Canyon area. Behrens got his drone in July of 2021 and his commercial license in October, but he didn't really need it; he just enjoyed the intellectual challenge of passing the test for certification and learning all there was to learn about it. "You have to...
The hulking shell of a construction project will be revived at some as-yet-unknown date, but a tangle of legal problems has been resolved to allow the Bureau of Reclamation's fire station project to move forward. The agency announced an agreement with the insurance company April 28. The bureau said in a press release that Berkley Insurance Company has selected J.S. Held LLC to coordinate the project with National Native American Construction, Inc. "The mobilization date is unknown but is...
Tours at Grand Coulee Dam should start at the end of May, following the end of masking and distancing requirements that made tours impossible last year. The Grand Coulee Dam Visitor Center is currently open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Bureau of Reclamation plans to resume the “One River, Many Voices” laser light show and the return of the tours of the John W. Keys III Pump-Generating Plant public on May 28, the Saturday before Memorial Day, the traditional opening of the season. Masks are no longer required inside the Grand Coulee Vis...
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation workers on Grand Coulee Dam perform maintenance on the drum gates while the level of Lake Roosevelt is low Tuesday, an activity often scheduled in the spring when Reclamation operates the lake lower to make room for runoff. - Scott Hunter photo...
If you’re still venturing out onto the ice of Banks Lake, be careful, as it may not be as sturdy as it looks, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation warns as they begin pumping fresh water into the lake. The USBR begins operating outlet works at Banks Lake/Dry Falls Dam on March 3 in preparation for the 2022 irrigation season, a Feb. 23 press release states. Reclamation started operating Potholes Reservoir/O’Sullivan Dam outlet works on Monday. To prepare Banks Lake for the March 3 operation startup, Reclamation began pumping water from the John W....
A man who was unconscious in his burning car gets to continue to live with his family thanks to local heroism. Three Jess Ford employees saved the Ephrata man's life in December. Joshua Bessette, 46, of Ephrata, was on his way to work at the Grand Coulee Dam on Dec. 3 at about 7 a.m. He was driving north on SR-155 at about milepost eight between Coulee City and Grand Coulee near the Million Dollar Mile, when, according to a report from Washington State Patrol Trooper John Bryant, he left the...
Fences were built last week to close a popular beach at Steamboat Rock State Park a year after the decision was made to close it. In January of 2021, The Star reported that a stretch of beach, located near the main boat launch in the park, was being closed due to erosion and to protect resources, according to employees from the park as well as the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Originally, a fence was going to be built from a point on the beach near the boat launch, up to an access road, around a...
Les Fossum 6/14/1932-11/18/2021 MaryAlice Fossum 6/21/1931-5/31/2014 Les and MaryAlice Fossum are back together after seven years of being apart. They were married July 10, 1958, at the Chapel of the Pines in Burien, Washington, and were together for 56 years prior to MaryAlice's passing in 2014. Les was born in Cheney, Washington, on June 14, 1932 to Lester and Grace (Swanson) Harr. Following the death of his father, his mother married George A.O. Fossum who adopted Les and his sister Joyce....
Helen Johnson, a long time resident of Electric City, died at home surrounded by family in Wenatchee on Jan. 22 2022. She was born in Sebeka, Minnesota, on Mar. 18, 1922. She was the third of five children born to Peter and Clara Ostlund and grew up on their farm near Sebeka. She had fond memories of growing up in a poor home with a supportive and loving family. She graduated from Sebeka High School in 1940 and attended a business school in Minneapolis for a year before taking a job at the Sebeka Post Office. Helen married Bert Johnson on May...
Leonard (Len) Ralph Dumph, age 74, died suddenly on Monday, January 10, 2022, in Mesquite, Nevada. He was born November 8, 1947, in Gilman, Colorado, to Ivan Lon and Joy Mary Marfitano Dumph. He was the youngest of four children growing up in Red Cliff, Colorado, a small community in the mountains by Vail. When he was to enter the sixth grade the family moved to Grand Junction where he graduated from high school. On July 14, 1979, he married Sandra Kay Higginbotham in Hartline, Washington. He...
After firefighters took care of hot spots inside Sunday night, some pull at siding material on the eaves outside as they work at venting smoke from a house at 705 Birch in Coulee Dam. A firefighter said it was described as a chimney fire. Much of the smoke in the photo actually may be steam in the frigid temperatures in the teens about 11:30 p.m. A young couple standing outside said they had help for the night. Firefighters were seen from the Bureau of Reclamation, Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam and...
Grand Coulee Police 12/24 - Police responded to Burdin Boulevard where a truck was reported being where two men were yelling at each other. Police found the truck, watched it drive a little then stop. They spoke to the driver, who had been drinking, sad that his girlfriend had broken up with him, the report states. He was arrested for driving under the influence, with breath samples showing an alcohol content as high as 0.225, well above the 0.08 limit. A friend of his had been standing nearby where the truck was, and explained that he left...
Pumped storage hydropower projects that are in planning for the Coulee, as well as for Halverson Canyon north of Creston, may be aided by recent federal legislation. The road to bringing Columbia Basin Hydropower’s $1.4 billion Banks Lake Pumped Storage Project to fruition may have just gotten a little smoother. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was passed by Congress in November 2021. The act authorizes almost a billion dollars for hydropower projects over five years “committing the federal government to supporting hydropower as part...
Bertha Ruth Isherwood passed away peacefully on Monday, December 20, at Yakima Memorial Hospital at the age of 99. She was born March 4, 1922, in a sod house in eastern Colorado to parents George and Susan Schreiber. Ruth grew up on a farm. She was a lifelong member of the Methodist Church. Ruth graduated from Woodrow High School in 1940 and enlisted and served two and a half years in the Women's Army Corps during World War II. She was stationed in several places in the United States and in New...
Major work on hydroelectric generating units has been completed on "one of the most coveted clean energy assets in the world" at the Grand Coulee Dam. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, along with the Bonneville Power Administration, announced Monday that "the major overhaul of hydroelectric power generating units 22, 23 and 24" inside the third power plant, now known as the Nathaniel "Nat" Washington Power Plant, at the Grand Coulee Dam, had been completed. USBR Public Affairs Specialist Erika A....
Grand Coulee 12/1 - Police killed an injured deer on SR-174 near milepost 20. A nearby citizen was allowed to “harvest” the animal. - Police responded to Silver Drive on a report of animal cruelty. Police spoke to a man who showed playful, healthy puppies to police. He said he disciplines the dogs but doesn’t beat or abuse them. Police didn’t see any signs of abuse. - A screen had been pried loose from an apartment door on Hill Avenue to gain access. The resident reported missing about $300 and a gold necklace. She named a possible suspect who...
Richard Lee Amenell passed away Monday, November 8, 2021, after a battle with Parkinson's. He was born January 26, 1935, to Verner and Violet Amenell of Mediapolis, Iowa. Dick grew up on a farm with his parents and three sisters. He learned a lot on the farm, was active in high school playing basketball and baseball, and was even a school bus driver at age 16. He went to Iowa State for two years and then joined the United States Air Force becoming a navigator on a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft...
Grand Coulee Police 11/9 - A Lincoln Avenue man reported finding his cat in his neighbor’s trap. The neighbor was confrontational when the reporting party confronted him about it. The neighbor told police that neighborhood cats spray where he parks his boat and RV. Police told the neighbor that what he was doing wasn’t illegal, but he should use caution as his neighbors do have pets. - A man was reported as staring inside the Lakeside Fitness gym windows, in one instance displaying a knife. The man was banned from the gym. 11/10 - Police loo...
Long lines were a good thing, with grinning kids and some contestants scrambling for more candy last Thursday at the PTA's Trunk or Treat event at Lake Roosevelt Schools. Crews on six emergency services vehicles and people with 10 individually themed trunks handed out candy to eager children chauffeured by parents. People could vote on their favorite numbered trunk by giving a monetary donation to the PTA. The trunk that earned the most votes (money) at the end of the night was awarded the...
Some workers in Washington state, faced with the ultimatum to get the jab or lose their jobs, have chosen to quit or retire instead of receiving a COVID-19 vaccination. With employees in various fields, including school, health care, and state government required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine as a requirement for their employment by Oct. 18, many workers in the state have opted to retire early or simply quit their jobs. Locally, council members for the city of Grand Coulee, as well as the mayor, expressed support for city employees to make...
Following the death of a city employee, Coulee Dam is considering requiring all employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Councilmember Dale Rey raised the question during a council meeting last Wednesday. Rey remarked on the recent death of one employee and a positive coronavirus test of another, although he said he was speculating on the cause of death. “Our town employees not only interact with each other and with us, but they also interact with and communicate with and are around members of the community,” Rey said, so requiring vaccinat...
Grand Coulee Police 10/12 - A man and woman on Alcan Road and Yakima Street were arrested and taken to jail for burglary. The man was known to stay at a residence there, but the owner said he was not allowed in a storage shed where both had stored items without permission. The two had allegedly picked a lock to enter the shed and retrieve their own items. They were found there and arrested. Drug paraphernalia was also found. The man was adamant that the shed was unlocked, and that he didn’t break in. 10/14 - A man was cited for driving under t...