News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Seven years ago, Coulee Medical Center was in trouble. Financial challenges going back to 2012 combined with an administration publicly described by staff as "incompetent and hostile" had led to layoffs, unpaid bills, and high-profile provider resignations at the public hospital. In summer of 2017, the CEO hired to turn things around had resigned - after just one year on the job. To alarmed community members at the time, the hospital itself appeared to be in critical condition. It was then that...
The senior center lost approximately $70,000 this year to a contractor with a documented history of scamming clients in Washington, and it looks like the money is gone for good. The board president of the local 501(c)3 nonprofit organization reportedly wrote the check based on an unrealistic, unclear and over-valued contract with no specified end-date - an expense that, according to the senior center's own bylaws, should have gone before both the full board and the general membership for approva...
Grant County Health District (GCHD) staff have been responding to an increase in chickenpox (varicella) cases in Grant County over the past several months. GCHD has investigated reports of chickenpox in multiple parts of the county and is currently managing a chickenpox outbreak at a childcare center in Warden, affecting several children not yet eligible for the chickenpox vaccine, the agency said in a release last week. GCHD urges all eligible residents to get up to date on the chickenpox vaccine if they have not had chickenpox yet. “By g...
The Grand Coulee volunteer firefighters would like to remind everyone to be careful during the upcoming July 4th holiday and to be careful all summer during outside activities. Local firefighters are not alone in their concern. Agencies responsible for fighting fires statewide are issuing pleas for safety and advising people take in public displays instead of lighting off their own fireworks. "In 2023, fire incidents from fireworks resulted in more than $12 million of property damage in...
Oohs and aahs and lots of applause were audible at the end of last year's fireworks show put on by Rocketman Pyros, L.L.C. So the chamber of commerce brought them back again. The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce's main sponsor of the fireworks, STCU, merged in 2021 with the Coulee Dam Federal Credit Union and has been a reliable community partner ever since, helping the community to put on many events. It's hard to imagine a better, more iconic venue for the patriotic show than the top...
A pillar of rock in front of Lake Roosevelt Schools memorializes the evolution of the community, now displaying plaques to recognize two more schools that went before. A dedication ceremony in front of Lake Roosevelt Schools June 22 unveiled plaques to memorialize the contributions and achievements of Mason City and Nespelem High Schools, which would later be consolidated into Coulee Dam High School. The first plaque on the basalt column, added in 2017, remembers the Grand Coulee Tigers, whose...
Grand Coulee officially has a new mayor. The council quickly voted Tuesday to install Ruth Dalton who, as the city's mayor pro tempore, had already assumed the duties of the office since Mike Eylar resigned in May. She was also the only candidate to apply. "I have lived and loved this community for the last 38 years and now I bring a special community interest to the table," Dalton wrote in the letter of interest she submitted earlier this month. She referenced a "varied career with experience...
Amelia Marchand was appointed last week as the new Tribal member on the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. President Joe Biden appointed Marchand to a term ending June 2028. "On behalf of our members and staff, I am pleased to welcome Amelia Marchand to the ACHP," Chair Sara C. Bronin said. "Her years of experience in the cultural and natural resources fields, and her expertise in Indigenous Knowledge and climate change, will make her a strong advisor as we move forward in implementing...
Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department members met at North Dam Park Sunday to honor two men retired from their ranks - John Tufts and Jerry Sands. Tufts joined in April of 1988, retired from the department in December 2021 and this year retired as police chief in Grand Coulee. Sands joined in April of 2002 and retired in December 2023. Combined, they rendered over 54 years of service to the community, a poster on the departments Facebook noted. "We had a good gathering at Windy North Dam Park...
A young person likely exposed to rodents in Grant County died from a virus often acquired while cleaning in conditions where rodent waste is present. Grant County Health District said a person in their 20s had a known exposure to rodents, likely inside a vehicle, before falling ill. The last confirmed case of Hantavirus in Grant County occurred in 2019. This is the sixth case of Hantavirus in Grant County in the past 20 years and the first reported case in Washington in 2024. “We are deeply saddened by the passing of one of our community m...
Nancy Brown, right, talks with garden owner Anita Eylar and Dennis Carlson during a tour of Eylar's garden, part of a six-garden tour Saturday organized by Friends of the Grand Coulee Area Library as a fundraiser and social event. It ended at North Dam Park with a lunch from Auntie Dannee's. - Nancy Zimmerman -Boord photo....
A new fawn found in the middle of Grant Avenue in Coulee Dam when city crew members arrived at work June 13 waits without motion for its mother's return. Because of where it lay, crew members moved it to a safer spot. Wildlife experts urge people finding new fawns to leave them alone. Mothers can return a day or more later, but may abandon a fawn with a human scent. This one's mother came back for it the same afternoon. - Scott Hunter photo...
GRAND COULEE, Wash. – 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 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 s...
Proponents of a future 50- to 80-bed senior living facility in Grand Coulee learned last week that their request for $5 million in federal funds for construction costs will not make it into the 2025 Congressional budget. But local partners continue to finesse the $17 million project, with an eye toward the state's legislative session opening next January and to future requests to the federal government for additional funds. "We know the funding strategy is a multi-year, multi-source strategy,"...
Cell phones and how to handle them are a point of major discussion among school superintendents in Okanogan County, Rod Broadnax, superintendent at Grand Coulee Dam School District, told the school board June 10. “That has been a big, big topic,” he said. The local school board already banned cell phone use during school two years ago, but enforcement has been slipping later in the year. English teacher Steve Files presented his research on some options to address the situation. Files said he’s been following the issue for years. “At least i...
Coulee Dam tripled its budget for street projects Monday, accepting contracts with the state Transportation Improvement Board for funds to chip seal most streets in town this summer and upgrading sidewalk ramps for compliance with federal rules on access for wheelchair users next year. The city council amended the 2024 Street Fund budget from $531,526 to $1,595,526. The chip seal work, in which crushed gravel is layered smoothly on a prepared street, then oiled and rolled, will happen this summer, City Clerk Stefani Bowden said. The work on...
Coulee Medical Center’s request for $3 million made it into next year’s Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration appropriations bill, released by the U.S. House Appropriations Committee last week. The housing project, called “Relief for Rural Health Workforce,” had won the support of Rep. Dan Newhouse of the 4th Congressional District. “Providing critical care in this large service area takes a unique toll on the health care providers and medical professionals that often have multi-hour commutes, necessitating a designate...
Despite threatening skies that occasionally burst into rain, lightning and wind gusts to topple a shade canopy, around 150 kids and their family members came out for Koulee Kids Fest, the car show, or both last weekend. For Kids Fest, families visit participating local storefront businesses, where kids do free activities and get their event "passports" stamped, to be entered in a drawing. Based on numbers from the chamber of commerce, most families chose to focus on businesses in central Grand...
After a process going back more than two years, the Banks Lake Golf Course will soon be owned and operated by descendents of the area's original people: the Colville Confederated Tribes. Grant County Port District #7 Commissioners quickly voted to approve moving forward with the $1.2 million purchase and sale agreement after Commission Chair Jim Keene gave a presentation on the negotiations and terms at a June 11 Port Commission meeting. It was the only item on the agenda. "I'll just say that...
A member of the Grand Coulee Dam school board has resigned in the wake of a contentious stand the board took last week to not allow four graduates to "walk" at graduation. Deidre Ellsworth explained her decision to step down in a letter to "students offended by my action after the board meeting," which she asked The Star to publish. It's on page 2. The affected students allegedly had arranged to buy alcohol on the senior trip to Disneyland. The board backed the decision of the administration to...
The opening for Grand Coulee mayor netted one candidate, Ruth Dalton, who serves on the city council and has been the stand-in mayor for the last month, since the previous mayor resigned. Letters of interest were due Monday, and the council had planned to interview applicants at their June public meeting, which is scheduled for Tuesday, June 25 at 6 p.m. However, with the sole applicant already being a member of the council, the council may appoint Dalton as mayor at the June meeting without a formal interview, as allowed under state law, City...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program has awarded the Colville Tribes a $16.5 million dollar grant to build a new food processing facility which will combine traditional and modern techniques. The new facility will include several buildings with a total area of approximately 28,000 square feet. Construction will occur on the site of the old food processing plant on Omak Mission Road. The processing facility will be dedicated to traditional first foods of the Colville Tribes. It will utilize state-of-the-art t...
The Colville Tribal Museum opened for the season last week, and they've already had visitors from multiple states stop in to learn local history and culture from the Tribes' History/Archeology Department. This year, staff have installed new exhibits you have probably not seen before - even if you are local. These exhibits include twined basket work by Omak mixed-media artist and tribal member Joe Feddersen, an old dendroglyph on a San Poil ponderosa pine, and a section dedicated to the crisis...
Four seniors at Lake Roosevelt Jr/Sr High School lost an appeal to the school board Tuesday night, after asking the board to let them walk across the stage at graduation with their peers. The seniors had reportedly bought alcohol on the senior trip to Disneyland the prior weekend, which they had promised not to do. The board had heard the appeals of four students in a meeting last Thursday and decided not to counter the administration's decision. The appeals of their classmates played out in...
June 7 is the official first First Friday of 2024. This year, the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber’s serial summertime pop-up market will be back at North Dam Park instead of Main Street. The evening market will run from 4 to 9 p.m. on June 7, August 2, and September 6. Vendors will include local businesses, art, leather and jewelry vendors, food trucks, plus a free craft table hosted by the local library, and other activities for kids. For entertainment, Kolton Carson, a Lake Roosevelt 10th grader, will be playing acoustic guitar and singing f...
