News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Twenty Years Ago The Town of Coulee Dam may be ready to sell its town shop to a private developer if a suitable site can be found to build a new shop. Coulee Community Hospital is finding it tough to get the state’s attention focused on its $300,000 hillside slippage problem at a time when western Washington rains have loosened the footing of multi-million dollar neighborhoods. Scott and Paul Townsend of TNT Welding built frames for signs to be installed on the Columbia River Bridge. The signs depict the history of the Grand Coulee Dam c...
Twenty Years Ago Hospital Park is a park no more – Grand Coulee’s city council approved the sale of the park Tuesday night to Grant County. Grand Coulee Dam is the first dam chosen in a worldwide study of the environmental effects caused by established older dams. Four months after work began on the expansion of the Safeway store in Grand Coulee, it is complete. As a very conspicuous balloon on top of the store attested to, they held a grand opening last Wednesday to celebrate. Selected as the Employee of the Year at the Colville Con...
Twenty Years Ago Work has begun on the expansion of Banks Lake Golf and Country Club. The Grand Coulee Dam is one of few dams which hasn’t been mentioned for removal, but according to economic consultant Bob Lonn, the disappearance of other dams in an effort to save fish populations will be damaging to the local economy. The continued slow crumbling of the hillside below Coulee Community Hospital and parallel to Fortuyn Road has forced the hand of the Grand Coulee Council to declare a city emergency. Going to state wrestling for the Raiders i...
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Grand Coulee Dam School District disagree on the impact a bureau project will have on local schools. The USBR is planning a 10-year project to update three generators, named G19-21, in the Third Powerhouse starting in 2023, similar to the ongoing project of updating G22-24 that started in 2010, and is estimated to cost $100 million. The USBR’s Environmental Assessment for the proposed G19-21 update states that the project would have at most 103 workers and “could result in an increased enrollment of five stu...
The Electric City council approved the draft last week of a proposal for a 500-foot-wide “no shooting” buffer zone between the main part of the city and Osborne Bay, where shooting firearms would be prohibited. The proposal needs to be approved by the city, the state Departments of Fish & Wildlife and Natural Resources, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and Grand Coulee Police. The city would pay for signs to line the 7,281-foot-long buffer-zone border, and F&W would pay for the posts and install the signs. The signs would explain the buffer zon...
The Grand Coulee Dam School District is contesting the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s claim in a draft Environmental Assessment concerning the minimal impact it says a project will have on the district. The USBR is planning on a 10-year project to update three generators, G19-21, in the Third Powerhouse starting in 2023, similar to the ongoing project of updating G22-24 that started in 2010, and is estimated to cost $100 million. The USBR’s Environmental Assessment for the proposed G19-21 update, states that the project would have at most 103...
Twenty Years Ago Nick Caramandi hears about all kinds of service projects when people come to his store looking for supplies. This spring he takes on a challenge of his own – building a skating rink at North Dam Park. Recipients of the Business of the Year award for 1998 were Tim and Michéle Arrants of Tims Four-Corner Texaco. Achiever of the Year was Susan Miller. Hired as new police chief for the Colville Tribal Police is John Shelhart. Selected as student of the week at LRHS was Scott Leadingham. Athlete of the week was Beau Brown. Thi...
Allan Graham, age 88, passed away on Tuesday, December 22, 2018, in Spokane, Washington. He was born in Blenheim, Ontario, Canada, on March 30, 1930. He was raised in Windsor, Ontario, and, in 1952, joined the United States Air Force. He was stationed at Stead Air Force Base in Reno, Nevada where he met his wife, Alyce. They were married in Reno in 1957. Allan and Alyce had three children, all born in Reno. After Allan's honorable discharge from the USAF in 1956, he worked for the Bureau of Mine... Full story
A 500-foot-wide, 7,281-foot-long, no-shooting "buffer zone" is being proposed between residences of Electric City and the Osborne Bay area. The buffer zone would be an area people cannot shoot guns out of or into. City Clerk Russ Powers said the city has had several complaints regarding hunters behind houses on Silver Drive, and that just last week he saw people with high-powered rifles in the Osborn Bay area near homes. "That is just too close for my comfort," Powers said. Currently Electric...
Annual predictions begin for lake levels The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued its January water forecast for the 2019 flood control season that determines what the needed levels will be for Lake Roosevelt in the coming months. “Based on current conditions, the April 20 flood control level … is 1249.9 feet above sea level,” noted Lynne Brougher of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which physically controls the level of the reservoir behind Grand Coulee Dam. The predicted level for the end of April is about 40 feet lower than compl...
Willard Pearson, 79, former resident of Coulee Dam, Washington, and Assistant Project Manager of Grand Coulee Dam for 20 years, passed away on December 23, 2018. Willard retired to his home roots of Scottsville, Kentucky, after 37 years with the Bureau of Reclamation. He is survived by his wife, Faye Pearson, and children: Kelley, Matt, Keith and Josh Pearson.... Full story
Federal and tribal officials said last week that the question of whether fishermen should continue to be able to drive on the sand along Geezer Beach behind the Grand Coulee Dam stemmed from tribal concerns. The Bureau of Reclamation has been collecting comments on the issue as they do an environmental assessment on whether to continue allowing people to drive on the beach. USBR Public Affairs Specialist Lynne Brougher said the idea of banning cars from the beach started when the bureau received a request to address the issue from the Colville...
The Bureau of Reclamation is looking to modernize three more generators in the Third Power Plant of the Grand Coulee Dam in a project that should get underway in about four years. The upgrade of generators G19-G21, if approved, would take about 10 years to complete, beginning in 2023 at the earliest, and would add tens of millions of dollars to the regional economy, a draft environmental assessment states. A similar project, modernizing G22-G24, started in 2010 and still continues. It has cost...
The Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area will remain accessible to the public, but with no visitor services, during the current shutdown of the federal government. That’s according to a statement issued by the National Park Service unit on Saturday, after Congress and the president failed to compromise on a bill to keep the government fully open. “During the shutdown of the federal government due to the lapse of appropriations, national parks will remain as accessible as possible while still following all applicable laws and pro...
The city of Coulee Dam will oppose changes to the operation of a beach upriver from the Third Powerhouse behind Grand Coulee Dam being considered by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The city council unanimously voted last week to send a letter to that effect. The bureau is considering restricting people from driving vehicles onto the beach during low drawdowns of Lake Roosevelt, or possibly closing the area to fishing entirely. It is seeking comments to include in its decision-making process. The spot is popular with older anglers, from whom...
Hank Wiebe and his friends are raising hell against the United States Bureau of Reclamation’s recent announcement that they are considering no longer allowing people to drive onto “Geezer Beach” behind the Third Powerhouse at the Grand Coulee Dam, or possibly not allowing fishing there at all. The Grand Coulee man has been placing petitions at local businesses to gather signatures to voice opposition against the idea. “People are fired up, saying, ‘Keep after them,’”Wiebe said. Wiebe said that he and his friends go fishing at the beach regular...
It will take nearly $4.4 million to run the city of Grand Coulee next year, according to a budget prepared for the city council, which took a look at it last week. That’s just about a break-even amount that includes nearly $1 million for fixing streets. The city expects to take in just under $4.5 million, including more than $637,000 in taxes and $955,000 for goods and services, including water and sewer. The Grand Coulee City Council was presented the preliminary budget at their Dec. 4 c...
The Bureau of Reclamation is seeking comments on the draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for the proposed modernization project for generating units 19–21 (G19–G21) in the Third Power Plant at Grand Coulee Dam. The proposed modernization project will provide continued, reliable hydropower production for 40 years or more and will ensure that Reclamation meets its contractual obligations for power generation, the bureau said in a press release. In the draft EA, analysis is underway on a proposed action and a no-action alternative for any pot...
The Bureau of Reclamation may change rules related to fishing and recreation on "Geezer Beach," a popular spot along the shore behind the Third Powerhouse of the Grand Coulee Dam. People will often drive their vehicles onto the actual beach to go fishing there during the spring drawdown, something that the bureau may no longer allow, with another alternative being not allowing fishing or recreation there at all. "Driving and parking on the drawdown can present a public safety risk to drivers...
When the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced proposed possible changes to the way it manages a local fishing beach, it used in an official document the popular name given it by the folks who use it, a name first made popular in the writings of a Star columnist. Reg Morgan wrote about all kinds of things in decades of writing Morgan’s Musings, frequently about local hunting and fishing, which he loved. During the course of those writings, Reg applied the moniker “Geezer Beach” to the shoreline on Lake Roosevelt behind the Third Power...
Foundation rumor unfounded A rumor of a crack in the foundation of the new fire station under construction was put to rest by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Tuesday. Lynne Brougher, public affairs officer for the bureau, told The Star in an email on Tuesday that the foundation is just fine. “An inspection of the Fire Station was completed this morning and the only cracking that was observed is within normal parameters for concrete,” Brougher said. “The building has control and expansion joints per engineered designs to control cracking. It al...
Firefighters in Coulee Dam want to clean up areas of the town that could contribute to a much worse fire season than the last one under the wrong circumstances. Judah Pope told the city council Wednesday the Coulee Dam Volunteer Fire Department had its eye on several areas of town that, if ignited, could cause serious problems. Pope listed several areas, including Fiddle Creek on the west side of town, where understory brush is thick and close to homes that could easily catch fire if the area were to ignite. But Fiddle Creek is the only area...
Ambrose Joseph "Joe" Reichlin passed away on Tuesday, November 13, 2018, in Wilbur, Washington. Born in Cottonwood, Idaho on October 6, 1943, to Franz and Agnes Reichlin, Joe spent his childhood on the family farm outside Keuterville, Idaho, the eighth of 10 children. He joined the Marine Corps in 1961 and served in the U.S. and Far East. After his discharge, Joe moved to Colville, Washington, to farm with his uncle. It was there that he married his first wife, and his children were born. Joe... Full story
A welder works on the iron trusses lifted within the week onto the top of the fire station being built for the Bureau of Reclamation off SR-155. If workers are able to get the roof on before snow flies, progress will continue in the winter. - Jacob Wagner photo...
Bill Phillip Niendam, 91, passed away Sunday, October 28, 2018, at Grand Coulee, Washington. Bill was born January 10, 1927, at Paris, Arkansas, to Bill and Edris Niendam. Bill was a Shriner and a 32nd-degree Mason. He was a longtime resident of Elmer City and retired from the Bureau of Reclamation. He is survived by his wife, Agnes “Dusty” Niendam; son, Mark (Marcy) Niendam; stepchildren: Bill (Marcy) Williams Jr., Connie Klimes and Cindy (Chuck) Giese. Bill is also survived by grandchildren Damon (Kim) Broers, Dr. Tara ( Dr. Tyler Lesh) Nie... Full story