News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Workers on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation fire station being built along SR-155 is anticipated to be completed in April of 2020, according to Public Affairs Specialist Lynne Brougher. "The weather is not a factor in completing the project," she said. "The construction crew will continue to work on the facility until it is finished." Northcon Construction resumed work on the $13.6 million project after a previous company's contract was terminated following numerous delays. - Jacob Wagner...
A BMW sits in the middle of the intersection of Fir and Sixth Streets in Coulee Dam at 8:30 Saturday morning after suddently catching fire. No one was hurt. Units from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Coulee Dam Fire Department responded. A police officer at the scene said the car belonged to someone just going to work. — Scott Hunter photo...
In North Central Washington, the Columbia River is the cornerstone of life. But even more important is the infrastructure that makes up the Columbia Basin Project. Grand Coulee dam provides electricity, flood control, and recreation and the ditches and canals deliver water to fields — all critical to the economic vitality of our communities. In the 1930s, President Roosevelt had the vision. The Columbia Basin Project would bring families to settle the land, make it productive, and supply the country with food. At the same time our country n...
Fireworks won’t be banned from Electric City, the result of a discussion last week considering such an action by the city council. Citizen and firefighter Ken Dexter told the city council Aug. 13 that he was speaking for himself and Electric City Fire Chief Mark Payne when he made a few points against a possible ordinance outright banning fireworks within city limits. “The main reason we are against this fireworks ordinance is we don’t want to drive people outside the city,” Dexter said. “My main concern is we don’t want to drive people out...
The Coulee Dam Police Department last week took part in National Night Out, a sort of meet and greet event that takes place each August nationwide at thousands of police departments who interact with their communities in a casual way. Coulee Dam Police Chief Paul Bowden said that in 15 years in law enforcement, he had not yet taken part in National Night Out and decided it was time to do so. He plans to do so again next year. "It's just for people to come out and meet us, know where we're...
Two fires were started early Tuesday by suspected arson in the Osborne Bay area near the gravel pit on the east side of SR-155 on July 30. Electric City Fire Chief Mark Payne said there were two fires started about a quarter mile apart in the area. Outbuildings and recreational vehicles in the area were threatened, he said. A man camping there told police he smelled smoke half an hour after a vehicle, possibly a Jeep, had driven through his camp early in the morning, according to Officer Adam Florenzen of the Grand Coulee Police Department....
Grant Coulee turned down the idea of turning over a stretch of B Street to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation near where USBR’s new fire station is being built. The idea came up in May at the city’s council meeting with possible benefits including not having to maintain the road and putting the dollar savings towards other streets. B Street is currently closed from where it intersects Division Street to SR-155 because of construction on the USBR fire station being built along SR-155. The street is also used as an alternative route through and aro...
Lake Roosevelt Schools' SHARP Kids program, which includes academic as well as hands-on activities, will continue for another five years after receiving a grant that will fund the program with approximately $270,000 a year via the 21st Century grant. "Through the efforts of a substantial number of people in our school and community, and outside of our community (including grant writer Joyce Garrett out of Wenatchee), we were awarded the 21st Century Community Learning Center grant," said Nancy...
The gate for access to Marina Way on the east side of Grand Coulee Dam and Lake Roosevelt will close at 7:30 p.m. each day through Sept. 1, instead of access being open from dawn until dusk. “The decision for closing access to Marina Way in the evening is not a result of funding, but rather a desire to more efficiently use the Security Response Force staff at Grand Coulee Dam,” Public Affairs Specialist for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Lynne Brougher told The Star in an email. Brougher said that security personnel are looking into opt...
An electrical fire started outside and worked its way to the room of an older home on West Grand Avenue in Electric City June 28, where no one was injured. Electric City’s fire department was assisted by U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Grand Coulee fire fighters in putting out the fire that started at 3:33 p.m. No one was injured in the fire, which was suspected to have started near the outside meter, then worked its way to the house, Electric City Fire Chief Mark Payne said. There was a lot of smoke damage throughout the house, plus water d...
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...
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...
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...