News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Public Notice Announcing Public Review Period for Adoption of the Odessa Subarea Special Study Final Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision The U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is adopting the 2012 Odessa Subarea Special Study Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) produced by the Bureau of Reclamation in cooperation with the State of Washington, represented by the Washington State Department of Ecology. The FEIS examined the potential to replace groundwater with Columbia Basin... Full story
Grand Coulee Police 9/29 - A truck pulling a trailer that was loaded in a too-heavy manner tipped over when leaving the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation industrial area on SR-155, resulting in the truck and trailer being in the roadway. Police diverted traffic until the USBR brought in equipment to remove the truck and trailer. 10/2 - Police told someone at the Eagles how to get a restraining order against a man who asks customers for money and help outside the establishment on the public sidewalk. - Responding to a 911 hangup call, police spoke to...
The Biden-Harris administration last week announced a historic agreement to support tribally led efforts to restore salmon populations in the Upper Columbia River Basin. The agreement between the United States, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, and the Spokane Tribe of Indians will fund efforts to test the feasibility of, and ultimately to reintroduce salmon in blocked habitats in the Upper Basin. The pact includes $200 million over 20 years from the Bonneville Power Administration, the federal p...
Federal river managers warned last week that Lake Roosevelt’s future operations could change as a treaty between the United States and Canada goes out of date a year from now. Meetings are planned, starting today, to explain it all to the public online. Absent modernization, the treaty would no longer require Canada and the United States to coordinate for flood risk management as they have for the first 60 years of the treaty. The United States’ ability to “call upon” Canadian storage when needed does not expire and continues so long as Cana...
Grand Coulee Police 9/5 - A citizen told police that an intoxicated man was walking in the road near Pole Park on SR-155. Police saw the man walking just off of the roadway on the other side of the fog line. He didn’t want to talk to police, and police told him to stay off the road. The man continued to walk and was near a restricted area owned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. He insulted security personnel. Police told him to get off bureau property, he continued to walk. He also said that he had called for a ride. Police were relieved w...
George Kohout was born in Mason City (Coulee Dam) in 1945 to Ladd Anton Kohout and Avanell Frances Beck. He passed on to the Lord on Sunday, August 20, 2023. He lived in the Grand Coulee area all his life. His father, Ladd, died when George was very young. Eventually, Avanell married L.J. Flowers, a wonderful Texan father to George and his siblings. Growing up, George loved chasing cows and riding at the Alling ranch, his second family. He graduated as a Grand Coulee Tiger in 1963, went on the... Full story
Grand Coulee Police 8/28 - A semi-truck had somehow “dropped a load” of apples on the road and sidewalk near the gas station in Coulee Dam. An officer removed some of the apples from the sidewalk, didn’t see them as a traffic hazard, and reasoned that local wildlife would eat the apples soon enough. 8/29 - An Alcan Road property owner was cited for a code violation and for public nuisance after an officer observed two motorhomes, accumulating tires, and other garbage on the property. The owner said an occupant was being evicted. 8/30 - An of...
If you've ever wanted to fish but don't really know how, now's your chance to fix that. The Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area is offering "Fish Fest" this Saturday at Spring Canyon, and they'll be giving away free fishing poles to the first 300 kids 14 and under. If you're ready to get "SCHOOL-ed in how to fish," as the National Park Service folks teased on Facebook, show up early during the 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. event to "to learn how to cast, reel, and tie knots." At the free family friendly f...
Grand Coulee’s city council voted just days before they had no operator to sign a one-year contract for operation of its sewer plant via an independent contractor, on an emergency basis. At the time on Aug. 23, the current employee had given notice earlier this month to retire on Aug. 25 after months of being the lone operator. The contractor, SJ Environmental, had already been in talks with both Grand Coulee and Electric City about running the plant and doing other related work. The plant processes 184,000 gallons of waste a day in the s...
Firefighters from at least 10 different agencies fought a "stubborn" fire on a windy Friday weather forecasters had predicted could be a bad one. It was. The fire dubbed the Plum Point Fire erupted the same afternoon fires near Coulee City, Quincy, Medical Lake, and Elk started amid a Red Flag warning by the National Weather Service that fires that starting in the windy, dry conditions could spread rapidly. Initially estimated at 60-80 acres about 1:15, the Plum Point Fire was finally kept down...
It’s not certain exactly how the wastewater treatment plant that serves the roughly 2,000 citizens of Grand Coulee and Electric City will keep operating after nine days from now. That’s when its current operator will retire. Currently, Grand Coulee has no one to replace that employee, and the city has been in talks to outsource operating the plant to an independent company on a contractual basis. That’s if the union representing employees will allow it, or if the contractor can justify that wage scale. All of that is uncertain, even unlik...
Electric City voters will be asked to decide on whether to de-annex a part of the city they agreed to add back in 2009. The city council voted Aug. 8 that the city should place a measure on the General Election ballot in November to shed the city of some lands annexed to the east of SR-155 south of the causeway across Osborne Bay that belong to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation or the Washington Department of Natural Resources. Other lands on the other side of the highway, including the area containing Sunbanks Lake Resort, would remain within...
Fire fighters scrambled to attack five fires that started Sunday afternoon as a slow-moving lightning storm torched brush and grass in Douglas and Grant counties and prompted a "county-wide" call from local fire chiefs. In Douglas County, a fire at Road 28 Rex was first reported at 4:26 p.m., followed seven minutes later by reports of fires at Pendell Road, two in Grant County in and near Pleasant Valley on the north side of Banks Lake, and another at Barker Canyon at 4:35. Douglas County Fire...
1 years ago The regional board of mayors is finding out that it’s operating agreement is a poor way to run a railroad facing emergency repairs at the Delano transfer site. A month ago the mayors put a hold on the single bid they received to do the work hoping to get more bids. This time around park commissioners Monday night barely passed a motion to allow the Chamber of Commerce to hold another beer garden event at the North Dam Park next month. Commissioners expressed frustration with learning of the planed event in the newspaper before g...
It all ended well, with a young rock climber apparently still healthy after hanging for hours in a harness off a cliff at Northrup Canyon Saturday night, unable to go up or down. The canyon, an offshoot of the Upper Grand Coulee faces Steamboat Rock of highway 155 cutting into the coulee wall. The terrain features "steep cliffs, massive boulders, thick brush and a small crevice that would be difficult to bring equipment through," noted Grand Coulee Police Officer Kline, who was first on the...
The only reason North Dam Park is still green and lovely is spelled: The Coulee Area Park and Recreation District, an entity run by volunteers, at least some approaching burnout. CAPRD is an actual government organization, created in 2003 by a vote of the people within its boundaries, which stretch from Disautel Pass to Steamboat Rock, a design intended to give it enough reach to empower everyone to contribute minimal amounts to a collective benefit and initial target: siting and building a new...
After 26 years in Las Vegas law enforcement and another five in the in security and investigations at a resort there, Mike Eylar feels "It's good to be home," he said. Now retired, he'd like to see if he can make a contribution, so he's running for the mayoral seat being left open by Mayor Paul Townsend's decision not to run again. Eylar is one of three candidates for the job hoping to make it through the primary election ending Aug. 1 to make it to the general in November. He faces Kim...
Marjoe Ann Richards, 84, gained her heavenly independence on July 4, 2023, in Tahlequah, OK. She was born September 22, 1938, in Hollywood, CA the daughter of Richard Lee Webb and Helen Louise (Barber) Webb. Marjoe graduated from Boulder High School in Boulder, CO in 1956. She attended the University of Colorado on a full scholarship to the School of Music for playing the harp and was also blessed with the gift of perfect pitch. Marjoe's childhood was spent in Oceanside, CA until she moved to... Full story
It began with a roadside fire July 5, along SR-155 south of Electric City where a small blaze burned grasses both sides of the highway near jeopardizing homes. In the following days, various agencies in the region would call for immediate evacuations of areas where a wildfire had started quickly. Thunderstorms with multiple lightning strikes didn't help amid conditions the National Weather Service had predicted would include low relative humidity with stiffer winds, calling for a "Fire Weather...
The Bureau of Reclamation is prohibiting fireworks on North Dam for the Independence Day holiday. Reclamation is taking precautionary measures to decrease the potential for wildland fire and is reminding the public that use of fireworks is prohibited on Reclamation lands and waterbodies. Reclamation will allow the permitted fireworks display at Grand Coulee Dam to occur for the Fourth of July festivities. There is a low risk of fireworks reaching the surrounding lands from the top of the dam, so the show can proceed. The fireworks show begins...
Their house didn't burn, but firefighters couldn't save the garage/shop at Bill and Heather Williams' home in Electric City Monday when fire cut short their plans to work on an old pickup. Searching for the bright side as firefighters sprayed down the charred wood and hot metal siding, Heather Williams said at least they wouldn't have to decide what to keep from a collection of belongings they'd moved into the garage to sort. Electric City Volunteer Fire Department Chief Mark Payne said Bill...
With the face of Grand Coulee Dam as a backdrop Tuesday, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's top official wrapped up a tour of facilities in celebration of the agency's 120-year history and the 81 years since the first filling of Lake Roosevelt. Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton listed Reclamation stats the crowd could be proud of, perhaps part of the purpose of the visit and tour. It's not always popular being the "nation's largest wholesale water supplier" in an era when folks in the...
Grand Coulee Police 6/3 - Police received a report of a man taking $400 and a debit card off a woman’s bed before leaving an apartment. However, police were unable to contact the woman or the man. - A woman reported being harassed while at the ATM machine at The Star building on Midway Avenue. She reported a woman pulled up behind her vehicle, yelled at her, and she thought she was going to be hit. Police escorted her home as she feared for her safety and police told her how to get an anti-harassment order. Police then spoke to the woman d...
The Bureau of Reclamation is planning to host an event next Tuesday at Grand Coulee Dam to celebrate the Bureau's 120 years of service in the Pacific Northwest that will include the national head of the agency. Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton will be the keynote speaker at the event. Grand Coulee Dam is the main feature of the Columbia Basin Project and Reclamation's largest multipurpose project. The event will be held in the park below the Visitor Center at the dam, Tuesday,... Full story
A kayaker paddles near the boat launch at Steamboat Rock State Park Saturday toward a new log boom installed this spring to keep boats and beach users away from the eroding bank. The park now has a fence going up the hill and warnings to stay out of the area. The boom was installed at a cost of $734,000 as part of a bank stabilization project, which will be completed as funds are allocated. The Bureau of Reclamation is funding the work. It received $380,000 to plan, survey, and complete...