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 town of Coulee Dam is spearheading an effort to create and establish a monument to honor 81 persons who died during the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam. Friday, Karen Struve, president of the Northeast Washington Genealogical Society, and Susan Dechant, vice president and researcher for the society, visited the area to discuss the monument project with Coulee Dam Mayor Greg Wilder and myself. The group viewed two possible sites for the location of the monument: Cole Park, near the... Full story
Grand Coulee Police 5/12 - A local bank reported to police that an employee had been terminated for taking money and the official provided surveillance footage to police. - Police found four subjects in the area of the Tanner gates near North Dam Park after hours and all left the area. 5/13 - A man who found a card holder that belonged to an assault victim turned it in to police. The holder contained several government keys. - An apartment owner on Main Street told police that a resident had been asked to leave but had returned to the... Full story
A fire early Monday morning destroyed a storage shed that was used as a wash house for several nearby trailers on Stagecoach Lane in Lincoln County. The shed was about 20 feet by 15 feet and only the sidewalls were standing when the blaze was extinguished. Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Chief Richard Paris said 24 people, including ambulance personnel, showed up for the 2:45 a.m. call. Paris said firefighters from Grand Coulee, the Bureau of Reclamation, Coulee Dam and Okanogan County Fire District 2 showed up to assist in fighting the blaze.... Full story
An Electric City man has been indicted in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Washington, on four counts of theft of government property while an employee of the Bureau of Reclamation. Charged was James M. Barry, who has not been detained and has agreed to a deferred prosecution plan. Barry declined to comment. Barry is charged with taking valuable metal parts from the government’s inventory and selling them to a Spokane recycling firm. Taken, according to the indictment, were an unknown number of ring seal gate upper hub b... Full story
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) introduced H.R. 2097, the Bureau of Reclamation Surface Water Storage Streamlining Act of 2015 to streamline the Bureau of Reclamation’s environmental planning and study process for new surface water storage projects. The bill would apply the same streamlined water project development process used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under the Water Resources Reform Development Act of 2014 to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in order to facilitate the construction of new dams and reservoirs. “Wa...
Bob Melton passed away on Sunday, Apr. 19, 2015, in Spokane. He was born October 28, 1939, to Otis and Dorothy Melton. He graduated from school in Page, Ariz., in 1958, and joined the Army after graduation. In 1960 Bob married Patricia Warren in Redding, Calif. They had two daughters Chrissy and Teena. Bob joined the Iron Workers and helped build several dams, including Oroville Dam and Bulard’s Bar Dam, in California, Libby Dam in Libby, Mont., and in 1971 moved to Grand Coulee to work on the Third Powerhouse of Grand Coulee Dam. In 1975 B... Full story
Grand Coulee Police 4/21 - A woman on Burdin Boulevard told police that she had two stray dogs on her porch. The dogs were gone when police arrived. — Police assisted Lincoln County Sheriff’s officers in making an arrest at the Bureau of Reclamation on an outstanding warrant. 4/22 - A woman who was watching another woman’s daughter told police that they hadn’t heard from her and were worried. Later dispatch noted that the woman had been located and she was OK. - Police were advised that some suspicious activity was going on at an apartme... Full story
Grand Coulee Police 4/13 - A man on Banks Avenue told police that a light bar had been taken from his residence and said that it matched one seen on his separated wife’s boyfriend’s car. The woman told police that she had taken the bar before separation and before a no-contact order had been issued. Police explained it was a civil matter. 4/15 - The American Legion asked for more patrols of the area because they had evidence that maybe someone has been trying to take a piece of equipment. - A woman on Roosevelt Drive advised police that her... Full story
A Spokane man was rescued Saturday through the efforts of a number of agencies after injuring his leg while climbing high on the rocks behind Osborne Bay. Nicholas Vange, 21, who had been camping in the area, along with another man, Nicholas Largent, also of Spokane, had been hiking high in the rocky ledges on the coulee hillside above Banks Lake when he ran into trouble. The Grant County Sheriff’s Office said it received a call at 11:15 a.m. but was unable to immediately respond. Grand Coulee police officer Chris McClanahan was on the scene u... Full story
Richard McGuire was elected to the Electric City Council Tuesday night. He will fill the number-two position on the council, held previously by John Nordine who recently took over as mayor. McGuire was nominated by Brad Parrish and garnered two of the three votes of council members present. Aaron Derr and Parrish voted for McGuire and Lonna Bussert voted no. Marie Chuinard was absent from the meeting. McGuire is a 36-year resident of Electric City and is a retired federal employee and a veteran of the Vietnam War. He was employed by the Bureau... Full story
A "summit" held to garner ideas about the future of the former Grand Coulee Dam Middle School was deemed a straight-up success by organizers, who met recently to discuss the March 12 event that brought together 19 agencies and businesses with an interest in the facility. The building, which was originally Grand Coulee High School, is mostly empty following the opening last fall of the new Lake Roosevelt Schools complex in Coulee Dam. What to do with the big building has been a concern on the min... Full story
The Bureau of Reclamation’s Pacific Northwest Region announced that Doug Anderson has been selected as the new deputy power manager for engineering and project management at Grand Coulee Dam. He replaces Scott Ross. In his new position, Anderson will oversee the Engineering Division, Project Management Division and the Environmental Resource Department, which includes lands management, archeology, history, geology and environmental compliance. He will begin his new role April 19. Currently, Anderson works at the dam as the supervisory m... Full story
Lake Roosevelt is being held at a level about 47 feet below the full mark while maintenance is completed on the drum gates that hold the water back when the lake is full. The Bureau of Reclamation reports the lake will likely remain below 1,255 feet above sea level until May 10. The water forecast for the Columbia River drainage above Grand Coulee Dam, from April to August this year, is estimated at 82.5 percent of normal, so the maximum level allowed for flood control right now would actually... Full story
The Bureau of Reclamation’s Pacific Northwest Region announced that Tim Koczur has been selected as the new deputy power manager at Grand Coulee Dam. Koczur will serve as a member of the management team, providing leadership and direction for the Grand Coulee Power Office, the bureau said in a press release. He assumed his new duties April 5. Koczur has worked for the Bureau of Reclamation for eight years. Since 2011, he has served as the facility manager for seven dams and six power plants along the North Platte River in Wyoming. Prior to m... Full story
Sometime in the next couple weeks Grand Coulee will have a new police sergeant. Oral examinations for the sergeant position are scheduled for this Saturday at city hall for three prospective candidates for the job, all current Grand Coulee police officers. Taking part in the administration of oral tests Saturday are officers from the Okanogan and Grant county sheriffs’ departments and an officer from the Okanogan Police Department. The names of the three Grand Coulee officers taking the oral exams will not be released, according to the Civil S... Full story
The Bureau of Reclamation has awarded a $7.2 million contract to Gardner Zemke Company of Albuquerque, New Mexico, to replace the switchgear for six pump-generators at the John W. Keys III Pump-Generating Plant, a part of the “Grand Coulee Power Complex,” the Bureau of Reclamation said in a press release. Replacing the switchgear begins a 20-year modernization project at the plant. The project, is funded through Bonneville Power Administration, South Columbia Basin Irrigation District, Quincy Columbia Basin Irrigation District, East Col... Full story
A fire early Monday morning destroyed the office and storage area of the DWK Fowler Construction Company in Delano. The fire broke out about 6:15, and when firefighters responded they found smoke coming out of the eaves of the building. Firefighters had trouble accessing the fire through the roof because of metal roofing, building owner Wayne Fowler said. Firefighters were eventually able to extinguish the blaze with help from the Fowler crew and a backhoe that tore the end of the building out... Full story
North Dam “Clean and Fix Day” this weekend Citizen volunteer hours this weekend can go a long way toward helping keep North Dam Park a viable community asset. Park commissioners are arranging a day to clean up North Dam Park this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and community helpers can have their hours recorded to help with qualifying the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District for grant funds. Commission chair Bob Valen said the plan is to generally pick up the entire grounds and to reinstall some disc golf equipment. Volunteer hours wil... Full story
1 years ago The Bureau of Reclamation’s law enforcement contract with the city of Grand Coulee increased by nearly $100,000 for union modifications on time-and-material rates, boosting the government contracts to a total of $1.5 million dollars. The GCD Chamber of Commerce held its 2005 installation and awards luncheon at Pepper Jack’s with 40 people at the first daytime version of the annual event. Dennis King, of The Frame King in Coulee Dam, is the Achiever of the Year and newly named to the board of directors. Sunbanks Resort is the are... Full story
Supporting the bigger picture Electric City’s council agreed to support the work of the Grant County Economic Development Council and voted $500 in support of the group’s work. The agreement is through Dec. 31. A lot of sludge Electric City has hauled about eight tons of sludge from its arsenic treatment plant to the Grant County Landfill in Ephrata so far this year. Public works director Ken Dexter said about 24 additional tons of sludge are ready to be hauled to the landfill. The sludge comes from cleaning out a large arsenic treatment tan... Full story
The future of Electric City may one day be more pedestrian-friendly, if an idea the city is pursuing ever comes to fruition. The Electric City Council is in favor of a pathway in the city proposed by one of its members. But don't look for anything to happen any day soon. Councilmember Brad Parrish, who is proposing the pathway, explained to the council that any pathway in the city would involve the cooperation of a number of agencies. "It will be difficult," but not impossible, he told fellow... Full story
California is in the midst of a fierce water war, a conflict that holds lessons for us in Washington state. In many ways, we are alike. Both of our states’ populations are growing and we have some of the world’s most prolific agriculture regions, which require lots of water. Washington is served by a vast network of storage reservoirs that make up the Columbia River drainage. It stretches from the northern Canadian Rockies to as far south as Wyoming. On the other hand, California, with its 38 million people, has series of reservoirs in the Sie... Full story
Grand Coulee Police 2/22 - An officer stopped a motorcycle operator for failing to stop at an intersection on Spokane Way. He was cited for that and for not having an interlock device installed. - An officer saw a man wanted on two warrants and stopped him near Pole Park. He was cited for driving while his license was suspended, failing to register his vehicle within 30 days and not having insurance. The vehicle was towed and the man was to be booked into Grant County Jail on the warrants. - Dispatch advised police of a report of a man being ha... Full story
I was disappointed to read an inaccurate account of what happened at last week’s Electric City Council meeting in Roger Lucas’ “Electric City pathway proposed” article in the February 11th Star Newspaper. For clarification, the proposed pathway that Mr. Parrish was quoted as presenting at the city council meeting was barely mentioned. Mr. Parrish brought it up, gave a few general comments about the project, stated that there needs to be a committee formed to work on the idea and also mentioned that he had a meeting scheduled with the Bureau... Full story
Grand Coulee Police 2/9 - Choice Auto Group advised police that someone had rolled a tire down the hill into the back of its building, causing an estimated $300 damage. Police could not find the person responsible. - Police found the gate at the 230 Yard open. The officer closed it and about an hour later found the gate at the 500 Yard open. The officer closed this gate also. 2/10 - A caller told police that someone on Division Street was playing music too loud. Police found a man working on his vehicle with the music going. He turned it down.... Full story