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 Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department this week stressed the importance of fire safety on the Fourth of July and reiterated that fireworks won’t be allowed at North Dam this year, but a federal agency doesn’t consider the ban temporary. “Fireworks will not be legal to use anywhere in the city limits of Grand Coulee in July 2019 per ordinance 1036,” a press release states. “When the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Bureau of Land Management declared fireworks banned on their property, including the North Dam Area, because of extreme d...
The next time you tee up your ball at Banks Lake Golf Course, take a second and say a word of thanks to the three Port District commissioners who made it possible. The three, Jim Keene, Gary Haag and Leonard Sanders, deserve some kind of award for how they see the Port District’s obligation to serve the public. Commission President Jim Keene said it nicely when he stated: “The golf course is an important part of our community.” The commissioners have run the course for the past several years, the last two profitably. The Port District poure...
Citing a dry landscape, federal officials this week put a halt to what has become something of a tradition in recent years at North Dam, where local families have set off fireworks on Independence Day. The Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Reclamation issued a fire restrictions order on public lands where BLM fights wildfires, which includes North Dam, according to a June 19 press release from BLM. A release from Reclamation Monday afternoon clarified that that includes the top of North Dam. “Dry, fire-prone vegetative conditions i...
A fire about 4.7 miles North of Elmer City burned approximately 1,979 acres Sunday, calling out 100 firefighters and nine aircraft and prompting the evacuation of 250 residents. The fire around the Rebecca Lake area, the cause of which is still under investigation, started at about 3:47 p.m., according to a press release Monday from the Colville Tribes Department of Natural Resources. A fire map shows the point of origin close to SR-155 and indicates it was stopped at Buffalo Lake Road. "The...
The Bureau of Reclamation held an employee appreciation event June 19 that included a picnic, some games, and guest speaker Bill Sims, an author who spoke about safety and wrote a book called "Green Beans and Ice Cream" on the topic. Employees from the switchyard won the "Coulee Cup" in the barbecue competition. "It's a chance for people throughout the project to come together," Public Affairs Specialist Lynne Brougher said, mentioning employees who work inside and outside of the dam and adding...
A buffer zone between the residential neighborhoods of Electric City and Osborne Bay, where the discharge of firearms will not be allowed, was made official at the June 11 Electric City city council meeting. The 500-foot-wide, 7,281-foot-long buffer zone, required the cooperation of various entities to establish: the Bureau of Reclamation, the state’s departments of Natural Resources and Fish and Wildlife, Sunbanks Lake Resort, and the city of Electric City. The zone is being established to create a safety zone for residents who don’t live far...
A fire burned a patch of land near the canal near North Dam on Saturday night. A fireworks show put on by the Northwest Pyrotechnics Association went awry when a fire erupted and burned between two and three acres. The permitted event had fire personnel standing by for such an occurrence, with four trucks on standby. A press release from Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department Chief Rick Paris said that the fire started at 10:30 p.m. and that Grand Coulee and Electric City Volunteer Fire Departments were called in to assist Bureau of...
So what's going on with the effort to consolidate local towns into one? A group of local business owners and residents who have that goal met Thursday at the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce to discuss the logistics of the ambitious task. The Coulee Area Consolidation Committee consists of people from Electric City, Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam and some outlying areas, and those present discussed wanting to bring in someone from Elmer City for the committee as well. The group discussed...
Despite overwhelming public opinion against the idea, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has chosen to ban vehicles from parking on Geezer Beach, located behind the Third Powerhouse of the Grand Coulee Dam. A press release Monday from the bureau announced the decision, emphasizing "safety" as their reason for banning vehicles from the beach popularly fished by elderly anglers who have heretofore appreciated the easy access to the beach. "The Bureau of Reclamation will continue to allow fishing,...
One of the least threatening places you can go is a beach in late afternoon where a couple of old anglers are quietly staring at the water, waiting for a line to move. If anybody understands the unwritten rule, the need for common courtesy, the paramount importance of everyone doing his or her part to maintain the norm, it’s people who like to sit quietly and fish. That could have something to do with why no instances of unsafe or uncivil behavior come to mind, over the last several decades, at the place that has come to be known as Geezer B...
Paul James Schepler, 68, born Thursday, July 6, 1950, in Sterling, Colorado to the home of Walter and Edna Florence Dick-Schepler, has passed away in Coulee Dam, Washington. Growing up on his family's dairy farm in Oral, South Dakota, Paul graduated from Hot Spring High School, then attended the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. During his professional career, Paul worked in concrete and masonry with Schepler Construction in South Dakota, the Bureau of Land Management in Anchorage, AK... Full story
Grand Coulee could turn over a stretch of the infamous B Street to the Bureau of Reclamation. The city council discussed the topic at their May 21 meeting. Public Works Director Dennis Francis brought the topic up, noting that the bureau didn’t want contractors doing repair work on B Street while they were working on the fire station the Bureau is building along SR-155 where it connects to Industrial Road, a small stretch that connects to B Street. Francis said that Ian Turner, the project manager for the bureau’s fire station, came up wit...
Considering the fact that the lowering of the speed limit from 40 to 30 mph on a short strip of three-lane from Grand Coulee to the Grand Coulee Project offices had nothing to do with construction safety concerns, the Bureau of Reclamation’s suggestion that it should own a portion of B Street should be considered, with conditions. The real reason the bureau lowered that speed limit on the portion of State Route 155 that it owns was to make legal what it has been doing since it took delivery of a couple dozen all-electric utility vehicles t...
The Grand Coulee Dam was built during the Great Depression and is now entering the future via interactive, 360-degree virtual reality tours becoming available this weekend. Seattle-based virtual reality company Pixvana partnered with Big Power Project, a content production studio in Seattle, to create the five-minute experience that becomes available at the Grand Coulee Dam Visitors Center this weekend, May 25. Up to four users at one time will wear Oculus Go headsets that will allow them to exp... Full story
What is your obligation or commitment to your community? Another Colorama weekend is done and this was a particularly challenging one for those of us at the Chamber of Commerce. In 1994, 38 years into the 63-year history of Colorama, the carnival moved from Coulee Dam onto “carnival flats” in North Dam Park, and the vendor and food fair moved into the picnic area in the same park. Permits to use this land are secured each year from the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), and, in recent years, from the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District (CA... Full story
Locals overwhelmingly oppose a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation proposal to ban cars from driving on “Geezer Beach,” a beach named after the elderly who frequent the spot because of its easy accessibility. The issue is a hot topic among locals passionate about the popular fishing spot behind the Third Powerhouse of the Grand Coulee Dam. The bureau released its “Draft Environmental Assessment” in April, outlining options of leaving the situation alone, blocking vehicles from the shore, or simply banning recreation in the area altogether. “The pu...
Commissioners from the Coulee Area Park & Recreation District met at North Dam Park April 30 to walk around the park and discuss aspects of it, future plans, and talking points for an upcoming meeting with the Bureau of Reclamation, which owns the land, and for which CAPRD manages the park. Chairman Kevin Portch and Commissioners Bob Valen, Josh Vega, and Ben Hughes attended the meeting. Absent was Commissioner Carla Marconi. The group toured the concession stand at the upper ballfield and...
Mary Ellen Combs was born in Avon, South Dakota, December 22, 1934, to Emanuel and Lydia Hinzman. She passed away April 15, 2019, on her late husband Everett's birthday. Mary Ellen graduated from Avon High School in Avon, South Dakota. She then attended Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Her mom, Lydia, sold the family farm and moved to Sioux Falls while Mary Ellen went to college. After graduation, Mary went to work for the VA Hospital in Sioux Falls. There she met Everett Combs,... Full story
Construction has resumed on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation fire station off SR-155, with completion anticipated for March of 2020. The $13.6 million contract was originally awarded to Innovative Construction & Design Ltd. in 2016, with construction beginning in April of 2017. The termination of that contract was confirmed by the bureau in March of this year, and construction has resumed in April by Northcon Construction. "Basically what is going on is ICD originally had the contract, and...
USBR tour guide Theresa Wilder watches as kids at the Earth Day celebration in Nespelem Friday interact with an exhibit on renewable energy, brought by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The event "was a huge success," said Joaquin Bustamante who manages Colville Tribal Recycling. "We gave away over $15,000 in giveaway items. Food items. That's the most we've ever given out. That was a huge thing. Between what we put on and the message that everyone was giving out there, it was positive towards...
What would happen to North Dam Park if a local group didn’t take care of it? Commissioners for the Coulee Area Park & Recreation District discussed renewal of their contract with the United States Bureau of Reclamation at their April 1 meeting. The bureau owns the land at North Dam Park, but contracts with the district to take care of it. That 10-year contract is coming up for renewal. “Let’s talk about the downside,” said Commissioner Kevin Portch. “If we don’t take this up, then it falls back to where it was 10 years ago before CAPRD, and...
Twenty Years Ago The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a Y2K forum Tuesday night to address local concerns about the millennium bug that could infect computers January 1, 2000. Wright Elementary students Brieanna Clark, Courtney Kennedy, Andrea Schumaker, Leah Philmon, Amanda VanGeystel and Emily Rehn raised over $110 for their school in their crusade for new playground equipment. Thirty Years Ago Grand Coulee’s pilot well near Crescent Lake hit an aquifer 61 feet below the ground Feb. 7, giving rise to hopes that engineers p...
Grand Coulee Police 3/24 - A woman showed an officer a video of a neighbor shooting a bb gun at something, reportedly birds. The officer told the neighbor not to shoot within the city limits, and the neighbor said he would comply. - A woman reported that her daughter had left for a trip to Canada with a friend two days prior and hadn’t returned. Soon after reporting her daughter missing, the daughter’s grandmother called and said she was on her way home. - The Grant County Sheriff’s Office requested assistance with a domestic issue on Cardi...
A valve deep in the Third Powerhouse at Grand Coulee Dam was opened last week, partially flooding an elevator shaft and an elevator control room, authorities said. Police Chief John Tufts, of the Grand Coulee Police Department, was called to the Third Powerhouse at about 4 p.m. March 19, his written report states. Tufts was told that sometime between noon and 3 p.m. someone had opened a water valve on the “919 level,” that is, 919 feet above sea level, and that the valve was left open for about three hours, partially flooding the inside of an...
A $13.6 million fire station being built for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation along SR-155 has faced numerous delays, and a bigger delay now with the termination of the contract between the bureau and the construction company. The contract for the project was awarded to Post Falls, Idaho-based Innovative Construction & Design Ltd. in 2016, with construction beginning in April of 2017. The building was originally scheduled to be complete in April 2018, according to a bureau press release issued in...