News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Steve Erwin, the Crocodile Hunter; Gordon Eastman; Jacques Cousteau; Nora Jenn: these are the names of great wildlife videographers. Jenn, who lives in Coulee Dam and used to work for the National Park Service as well as the Bureau of Reclamation, films some interesting videos of animal life in our area and posts them on YouTube for all to enjoy. One video shows a coyote howling on the ice of Banks Lake, while another shows a close-up of a young bald eagle eating a fish. Eagles trying to catch...
Several school and other agency personnel are in Emmitsburg, Maryland, this week at the FEMA Emergency Management Institute taking training on school safety. In the forefront is Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Paul Turner. Others in Maryland are elementary Principal Lisa Lakin; Randy Bowman, school maintenance; Stephanie Duclos, bus operations; and Tammy Norris, secretary. Other agency personnel include Randy August, Colville Tribes; Rick Paris, volunteer fire chief from Grand...
Public Service Employees union president Aaron Derr asked the school board Monday night, “Where’s the plan?” He reminded school board members that when he and about 40 PSE members complained about the level of support on discipline matters last November, they were told that they would receive a plan of improvement from the board within 60 days. “We have not seen or heard” of such a plan, Derr said with a prepared statement. He said that it appeared to union membership that the district was being more reactive than proactive in matters o...
Last week, the Trump administration released its proposal to modernize our nation’s infrastructure, a blueprint that gives hope for federal support and a positive path forward on projects across the country that are stalled due to bureaucratic red tape. America must address its aging infrastructure and streamline the process for projects that are needed to meet growing demand for water, especially in the West. President Trump’s infrastructure blueprint included a U.S. Department of Interior proposal to expedite the Bureau of Reclamation (BO...
The Grand Coulee Dam spilled water over the top last week due to anticipation of spring runoff, combine with minor maintenance being performed on a generator. "Inflows into Lake Roosevelt are up slightly," said Lynne Brougher, Public Affairs Officer for the Bureau of Reclamation. "We needed to continue to move water downstream to prepare Lake Roosevelt for the spring runoff." Brougher also said that generator 24 was undergoing some minor, unexpected maintenance, and that spillage over the dam...
A number of school employees, and personnel from other agencies, plan on spending a week-long training session at the FEMA Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, Maryland, beginning the first week in March, Superintendent Paul Turner advised the Grand Coulee Dam School District board Monday night. The plan, Turner said Tuesday, “is to get the same training for all the emergency responders that we depend on in this area so everyone is on the same page.” Going from the school district in addition to Turner are Lisa Lakin, elementary princi...
Immediately after joining the board, a new commissioner with decades of experience in the skateboard industry said he’d like to arrange a competition for the local skatepark for this summer. The Coulee Area Park and Recreation District board had just appointed Ben Hughes and Kevin Portch to fill vacant positions on the board at the Feb. 5 meeting. CAPRD, which extends through a wide swath of the four-county area, manages North Dam Park, which is owned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Hughes proposed adding features to the skatepark and planni...
1 Years Ago Pleasants tops 1,000 points: Matt Pleasants has amassed some 1,021 points in his high school career, an average of 12 points per game in 85 outings. 20 Years Ago Flavors of old Mexico will grace the coulee: Eisael Hernandez opens his new restaurant, La Presa, in Grand Coulee. 30 Years Ago State senate energizes support for laser light show at Grand Coulee Dam: The likelihood of one day seeing laser lights dance across Grand Coulee Dam received a boost this week when the state senate approved a resolution asking the United States...
If you were to rate the reception you get at the Grand Coulee Dam Visitor Center on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the greatest, you might rate Ivan Snavely's welcome an 11. Snavely runs the tour program and the Visitor Center for the Bureau of Reclamation. "It's the best job I've ever had," Snavely said last week. His smile, and interest in meeting and serving people, is contagious. Snavely has been on the job here for eight years, and recalls when he filled out the applications for a variety...
Most of the federal government shutdown at midnight on Friday, before reopening on Monday night, raising the question of how our local-area federal agencies were affected, and how they would be affected in the event of another shutdown. Lynne Brougher, public affairs officer of the Grand Coulee Power Office for the Bureau of Reclamation, said that the Grand Coulee Dam is not affected by a shutdown. “Because the majority of our funding for Grand Coulee Dam is not congressionally appropriated, a government shutdown does not impact Grand Coulee Da...
1 Years Ago The Colville Tribe’s two lumber mills are receiving about 100 truckloads of logs a day and loggers are keeping up with their goal of cleaning out a 9,000-acre section of the forest fire burn. The Raiders are still firmly atop the Caribou Trail League standings. LR has defeated every team in the league once and Tonasket twice, while remaining undefeated in CTL action. Shane Proctor took top honors in the World’s Toughest Rodeo event in Raleigh, N.C., last Saturday and currently is third in the standings in the race for prize mon...
Traffic eases along Midway Avenue in Grand Coulee Thursday as a heavy snow falls. The Bureau of Reclamation recorded 4.8 inches of snow that day, and multiple traffic incidents occurred on slippery roads, including a fatality that closed SR-17 south of Coulee City. - Jacob Wagner photo...
Coulee Dam Police 12/27 - A Tulip Street resident reported that someone had taken an appliance envelope containing a mechanical part off their porch. The report also stated that a Bible study guide was additionally taken from inside the screen door. - A driver whose vehicle crossed the centerline near the Bureau of Reclamation industrial area on SR-155 was given a warning by an officer. - A local officer and officers from the Grand Coulee Police Department responded to a report that someone heard a woman yelling for help. They traced the...
Coulee Dam’s city council voted Wednesday to sewer service rates that will charge low-income customers a little less and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation a lot more. Low income senior citizens and disabled residents who qualify for a discount will find slightly better rates, with discount levels bumped from 25 to 30 percent and from 30 to 35 percent. Mayor Greg Wilder said the increased discount would make very little difference, about a couple hundred dollars, to the town’s budget, but could make a meaningful difference to those who qua...
The mayor of Coulee Dam intends to ask the city council to pass new water and sewer rates tonight (Wednesday) in the last council meeting over which he will preside, with some significant changes. Mayor Greg Wilder explained to the council at their last regular meeting Dec. 13 that he was working on an ordinance for their consideration at tonight’s meeting, called especially for that purpose. Wilder explained that he had been examining usage rates on the east and west sides of town and would recommend rates based on the “Orange Book,” a docum...
Pope appointed fire chief Charlie Pope was appointed chief of the Coulee Dam Volunteer Fire Department Wednesday night. Mayor Greg Wilder said Brian Warnecke had resigned. Wilder, whose term will end with December, said Warnecke had only committed to serving in the position while Wilder was mayor. Warnecke was appointed in September 2016. Sidewalks report cites more than 1,000 breaks A report from a concrete company documented over 1,000 “compromised” places in Coulee Dam’s sidewalks, Councilmember Gayle Swagerty said Wednesday at the counc...
Leaders of the little government district that has kept North Dam Park from collapsing into disrepair for several years is feeling uncertain about the future. After approving a budget Monday night in which they show spending at about $33,000 next year, commissioners at the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District, all volunteers, discussed the uncertainty of the district’s continued funding. Originally formed with the intent of building a swimming pool in 2003, the district has never collected a tax to help fund its efforts, having been t...
The Coulee Area Park and Recreation District (CAPRD) has five commissioners. As of our December meeting, two commissioners’ terms have expired. The remaining three are on board until the end of 2019. Two of us are “gentle retirees” and likely won’t be looking at re-election. Certainly, there are some vibrant, younger folks out there looking for an interesting and rewarding challenge to donate their time to! Well, CAPRD has the challenge and rewards. We are actively recruiting now, so raise your hand and say, “right here — me!” What does CAP...
Howard Puyear passed away recently. He was born in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley. He attended Stevensville High School and graduated with an engineering degree from Montana State University. He worked for the Bureau of Reclamation for over thirty years. He held a variety of positions in construction, engineering, and management. He spent nearly his entire career working on projects in either Montana or Washington state. In addition to his federal service with the Bureau, Howard also served two years in the Army during the Korean War. He is s... Full story
Life on our eastern side of Washington’s so-called “Cascade divide” certainly offers many natural advantages: less rain, more time spent outdoors in the sunshine, and an ideal climate for apples, wine grapes and many other crops, just to name a few. Communities in Central Washington, and across the West at large, depend heavily on capturing water through surface-water infrastructure projects that support our way of life. Water projects such as dams and reservoirs are enormous undertakings that take years of planning and investment, but when com...
Grand Coulee Police 11/21 - A man who resides on F Street told police that someone had gotten into his unlocked vehicle and taken his laptop. - A woman on Kelso Avenue told police that a stray dog had been in her yard for a few days. The officer found a chow-wow type dog that was shivering. The dog did not have a license tab and was taken to the veterinary clinic. - A disconnected radiator hose stalled a vehicle on Roosevelt Drive. The driver told police that he was waiting for the radiator to cool and that everything was OK. 11/22 - Two unlock...
Local emergency responders rushed to the scene of a one-car rollover Monday morning after a federal security officer found a man crawling from his overturned car along the highway to Bridgeport. James Hernandez, 21, of Spokane had been heading east on SR-174 when his 1997 Mercury Grand Marquis swerved to the right before Hernandez overcorrected, then drove off the highway to the left, a Washington State Patrol report concludes. A highway sign was broken and lying on the ground, and the Grand...
Ramona Hicks started “turning over the rocks” in June, as she took the lead position at Coulee Medical Center after the resignation of the last CEO. And lately, Hicks has been meeting with as many community groups as possible to tell the story of the hospital’s current status and finances, and to ask what the community really wants and expects from the hospital. Hicks, the interim chief executive officer, spoke at the Rotary Club last Wednesday. Although business has been brisk, so is the rate at which expenses pile up, and the hospital is suff...
Phillip G. Haegen, 90, passed away suddenly on Wednesday, October 25, 2017, at his assisted living home in Spokane, Washington. He was born on December 31, 1926, to Nellie and Noble Haegen in Trenton, Nebraska. After his graduation from Trenton High School, he joined the Army and served his country in 1945 and 1946. In January 1947, he married his high school sweetheart, and love of his life, Lena Mae Barnes. They were married 70 years and had three daughters. Phil went to work as a civil... Full story
A solid piece of local history got cleaned up and clarified last weekend so people can enjoy and use it more in the present as volunteers from across the state continued work on the Candy Point Trail in Coulee Dam. The trail has historical significance, having been built by the Civilian Conservation Corps back in 1937. Contacted by Coulee Dam's Parks and Natural Resources Board, last year the Washington Trails Association cleared brush along the 2.25-mile trail. It extends from behind Coulee... Full story