News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Local doctor Sam Hsieh continues to encourage thinking outside the box using what he calls divine creativity, and he wants to know about people who embody the "eternal struggle between conformity and creativity." Back in May, Hsieh, a surgeon at Coulee Medical Center, shared with The Star the story of a special symbol he designed back in college. Hsieh shared how the symbol, representing divine creativity, evolved into a project in which he printed the symbol on hats, giving them to CMC staff...
Speed limits through Electric City may change, following a recent review by a state highway official working with the mayor. The Electric City Council last week discussed potential speed limit changes along SR-155 on the edges of the city, as well as through the city where it's called Coulee Boulevard. Mayor Diane Kohout explained at the Oct. 13 council meeting that she has been working with Scott Cervine from the Washington State Department of Transportation's North Central Region Traffic...
The outcome of the Ice Age Park levy vote in Electric City may determine if the park is built at all. The Ice Age Park levy on the ballot for Electric City voters will, if passed, tell the city council to go forward with building the park, and will pay for the maintenance of the park for a year, after which park maintenance would simply be included in the city's budget in future years. The one-year levy asks for 14.2 cents per $100,000 in property value, or $14.22 for a $100,000 property, $28.25...
COVID-19 has its hands in everything this year, including the Halloween candy bowl, but there are ways to enjoy the holiday while still protecting your health and the health of others. The state Department of Health is recommending tips for a safe and fun Halloween: Trick or treating Stick with members of your household and keep at least six feet of distance from others. Wear a cloth mask, and remember: a plastic costume mask is not a suitable substitute. Wash your hands before and after trick-or-treating. Bring plenty of hand sanitizer....
The effort to consolidate local towns together into one has been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. A consolidation committee had been planning to get the issue put on the ballot for this year to combine Grand Coulee and Electric City, and potentially try to combine with Coulee Dam and Elmer City further down the line. Ben Hughes, who heads the committee, said that he has received “little to no responses” from SCJ Alliance, a planning consultancy that had helped get a discussion started by facilitating an evening community meeting. The eff...
Grand Coulee Police 10/8 - A woman on Jackson Avenue reported finding drug needles under the hood of her newly purchased car. An officer collected the needles and brought them to the police station to be destroyed. 10/12 - A dog owner on 1st Street was cited for his dog, a pit bull, biting a neighbor’s chihuahua. Another person saw it happen. - Police responded to a report of a woman yelling at cars along Spokane Way. The woman was trying to hitch a ride to the casino. An officer gave her a courtesy ride there. 10/13 - A Burdin Boulevard w...
Grand Coulee business owners have until Nov. 20 to apply for grants of up to $3,000 in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, Economic Security (CARES) Act funds the city received. The city set aside $18,000 for the grants from the $41,799 total in CARES funds the city is eligible for. Applications can be picked up at Grand Coulee City Hall by first calling 509-633-1150, or emailed to applicants who can call first or email city hall at clerkgc@gccitywa.org to receive an application. The grants will be disbursed on a first come, first serve basis....
The long-anticipated Bureau of Reclamation fire station is expected to be completed in 2021. Construction began on the fire station on SR-155 across from Pole Park back in April of 2017, with a $13.6 million contract originally awarded to Innovative Construction and Design in 2016. The termination of that contract was confirmed by the bureau in March of 2019, and construction resumed in April of 2019 by Northcon Construction, which took over the contract. The bureau would not comment on why they changed construction companies. “There are many f...
Lake Roosevelt Schools will begin the process of re-opening in-person education next week, some eight months after the COVID-19 pandemic closed all schools in Washington state. Beginning Monday, students in the Grand Coulee Dam School District will begin going to physical school again, starting in phases organized by grade levels. The school board Monday night approved for students from kindergarten through second grade to begin school. Superintendent Paul Turner explained new guidelines from local health districts about a phased approach to... Full story
High school student athletes may get to shake off some rust and get back into the rhythm of their sports soon. On Monday, the Grand Coulee Dam School District board approved a plan presented by Athletic Director Tim Rasmussen, who will ask Okanogan County Public Health to approve it. The plan, which won’t include games against other schools, describes a practice schedule beginning with spring sports practices from Oct. 19 through Nov. 7, then fall sports practices from Nov. 9 through Nov. 28, and finally winter sports practices from Nov. 30 t...
Some good news for distance learners came this week related to devices and internet service for students. Superintendent Paul Turner told The Star Monday that an additional 275 Chromebooks should be in this week, enough for every student in the Grand Coulee Dam School District to have a device to use. Turner also said that the school qualified for funding from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction to pay for internet for up to 100 families through June of 2021. That is about how many families need internet in the district, Turner...
A levy seeking to bring in roughly $600,000 over two years to the Grand Coulee Dam School District will be on the ballot for the Nov. 3 election. Superintendent Paul Turner said the new levy is important to the district because of an “uncertainty of funding” coming from the state this coming spring. The state is required to fund basic education, but the definition of basic education doesn’t include transportation, Turner explained, saying that is one area that could get hit. Turner said that the COVID-19 pandemic created budget problems for t...
Jeffrey Butcher, right, and artist Jacob Lucas in front of Lucas' rendition of otters and fish sculpted from a sycamore tree. Butcher found the two trees in the front yard of his house at 415 Columbia in Coulee Dam too overbearing for the lot, so he hired Lucas to carve them into art with his chainsaw technique. Lucas, who also created the sculpture in the city's Mason City Memorial Park, as well as numerous carvings in Bridgeport, started the project last Tuesday, finishing up Sunday. The...
The construction of additional campsites at Steamboat Rock has resumed after a nearly four-year delay. The construction of 30 full-hookup RV sites at what will be called Cove Loop at Steamboat Rock State Park is on track to be finished in February of 2021, with the sites likely to be ready for campers in late spring or early summer next year, according to Dennis Felton, area manager for state parks in the Coulee Corridor, including Steamboat Rock, Sun Lakes-Dry Falls, and Potholes. A...
So called flushable wipes may flush down the toilet, but they don’t decompose. At the Regional Board of Mayors meeting on Monday, Electric City Mayor Diane Kohout said that the city’s public works director Jarred Armstrong has noted a problem with flushable wipes causing problems with the septic systems due to them not decomposing. Armstrong wasn’t at the meeting to elaborate. “Toilet paper is designed to disintegrate in our pipes and sewage systems, but wipes are not,” an article on the website of the non-profit company Green America r...
The Regional Board of Mayors on Monday discussed the possibility of dump rates going up significantly. The landfill in Ephrata, to where the garbage from the Delano Regional Transfer Station currently ships, hasn’t raised its rates in 12 years. Those rates could go from $28.31 per ton to $46.76 per ton, or $49.93 after tax, Electric City Mayor Diane Kohout said. That would result in about $72,000 more in annual fees, which, unless other ways to absorb the additional costs are found, may need to be covered by raising rates at Delano to s...
The Okanogan County Auditor’s office will offer a live video feed for observing the ballot inspection boards for the November general election. The link will be available on the elections tab of the auditor’s page on the county’s website at https://www.okanogancounty.org/auditor/elections/elections.html starting Wednesday, Oct. 21. Ballots will be mailed by Oct. 16. Okanogan County voters who have not received your ballot by Oct. 23 should contact the county auditor’s office at (509) 422-7240....
OLYMPIA – Registered voters in Washington state will soon receive their ballots for the General Election, Tuesday, Nov. 3. Ballots must be sent to registered voters no later than Friday, Oct. 16. Voters have until 8 p.m. Nov. 3 to place their marked ballots in one of over 500 drop boxes statewide. Drop-box locations can be found at VoteWA.gov, Washington’s online voter portal. People who choose to return their ballots by U.S. mail can use the provided postage-paid envelope. The U.S. Postal Service recommends that ballots should be returned by... Full story
Grand Coulee Police 10/4 - A man told police that while turning into the Safeway parking lot, a silver colored truck leaving the lot in the wrong exit lane struck his vehicle. The two men talked about money compensation for the damage rather than using insurance, and the driver of the truck didn’t agree to the amount the man wanted and left without providing any info. Safeway said they would review security footage but that the collision seemed to occur out of view of their cameras. 10/6 - Police were unable to locate a suspicious person r...
OLYMPIA – Oct. 13, 2020 – Washington State Parks today announced its 2020-21 winter schedule, with more than 100 parks remaining open for camping or day-use activities. The winter schedule is available online. More than 100 parks will remain open during the winter, while about 22 parks are closed until dates in March, April or May. State parks offer ample opportunities for those who enjoy camping in the winter months. Campgrounds that remain open are less crowded, and more campsites are available on a first-come, first-served basis. In add...
So far, 180 businesses in Grant County have received grants amounting up to $10,000 for economic relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. Grant County’s Economic Development Council doled out the awards in three phases. Phase one awards totaled $438,000; phase two awards totaled $910,000, and phase three awards totaled $339,000 for a total of $1,687,000. The money comes from $2.5 million set aside from the county’s $5 million total they received in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, Economic Security (CARES) Act funds the county received. Local bus...
Despite a large amount of opposition from the public, the swim dock at Spring Canyon will be removed under a new management plan at the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area. The National Park Service released a Finding of No Significant Impact for the Environmental Assessment of the Visitor Use Site Management Plan for the park, which includes Spring Canyon among eight other sites. An Oct. 2 statement from the NPS says that "as funding is available," the NPS will implement proposed actions...
Coulee Dam is offering grants to local businesses funded with money from the CARES Act, and applications must be turned in by Oct. 30. The application, first distributed Monday, says businesses are eligible if they: • are a small businesses located in and doing business in Coulee Dam, • have 20 or fewer full-time employees, • had been in business for a minimum of one year as of March 1, 2020 • have a valid UBI number, and • have a Coulee Dam Business License. The business must have been directly impacted by Governor Inslee’s Stay-Home,...
Voting by mail in Washington is safe and secure, Kim Wyman, the secretary of state and the state's top election official has said repeatedly over the last several months. But President Trump's insistence that it's not, as well as changes happening in the U.S. Postal Service lengthening delivery times have concerned the public. That's had Wyman, a Republican seeking her third term in office, also touting the state's system of ballot drop-off boxes. "Our experience in Washington," she wrote in... Full story
Citizens can register to vote by mail or online up until Oct. 26, or in person up until election night on Nov. 3. A Sept 17 news release from the office of Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman explains how to register to vote. Eligible citizens can register to vote online at VoteWA.gov, using either a Washington state driver’s license or I.D. VoteWA.gov is Washington’s online voter portal that also offers ballot drop box and election office locations, a personalized voter guide, and more. People also have the option of downloading and pri...