News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Covid update for GOLD Cases of COVID-19 continue to accumulate in the area and so here is the latest data for COVID-19 in Grant, Okanogan, Lincoln, and Douglas (GOLD) counties. Counties need an incident rate of 25 cases or fewer per population of 100,000 in the past 14 days to move forward a phase in the Washington Safe Start Recovery plan, and local counties are far from that goal. As of August 26, Grant County has: 2,182 cases; 13 deaths; seven cases in the Grand Coulee Dam area; 525 cases in the past 14 days; and as of August 25 has an...
The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors will be holding a Special Zoom Meeting on Friday, August 28 at 5:30 p.m. The meeting will address one item “Correction: approval of August Accounts Payable...
Gary Carden began taking the COVID-19 virus very seriously after he contracted the disease, was put on a ventilator - and survived. Relaying his story over the phone on Monday, Carden, 63, said that on June 18, he was sitting in his chair in Nespelem, where he lives and runs The Ketch Pen Tavern. He was feeling "weak and woozy." His sister told him that he didn't look too good, and they decided to call an ambulance, which took him to Coulee Medical Center. After about two hours at the hospital,...
Grant County commissioners issued a "desperate appeal" Tuesday for the public's help in getting the COVID-19 epidemic in the county under control. With the county's rate of new infections currently the worst in the state, commissioners Tuesday passed a proclamation recognizing that community commitment "at a 'grass root' level will be the most effective in succeeding at eliminating the covid-19 virus." "We issue a desperate appeal to the Grant County community at large to implement the...
Documents addressing options for Grand Coulee Dam School District students have been posted on the district website. An Aug. 19 letter from Superintendent Paul Turner to the community, parents, and students touches upon aspects of reopening school, including: a strict protocol to enter the school, understanding educational options, the first day of school being Sept. 8, with student academic participation beginning Sept. 11, and conferences being held Sept. 8-10 will make sure parents and students are familiar with the online platform the...
Census takers will be visiting homes on the Colville Indian Reservation between now and Sept. 30, the Colville Tribes said last week. “The visits are designed to reach every household which has not yet completed their 2020 census form and give every resident an opportunity to participate in the census,” an Aug. 21 press release states. “While the Reservation is closed to non-essential visitors, the census enumerators are deemed essential and are permitted access to the Reservation due to the importance of census participation.” Rodney Cawston,...
An online survey that sought to outline preferences people have for businesses requiring masks or not drew 136 respondents over 13 days and elicited 52 opinions on the matter. The online poll, conducted at grandcoulee.com, The Star's news site, using surveymonkey.com, started on July 31 and received its last response on Aug. 12. The survey asked the question: "How do you feel about being a customer of a business that does not follow public health requirements on face coverings?" Respondents...
Effie Dean, superintendent and principal at Nespelem Elementary School, carries another load of three meals (hot dog, chips and watermelon) to a waiting parent's car Monday night. She and school board member Nancy Armstrong-Montes, left, handled the food table, while teachers and staffers in the background were ready to hand out information packets. The school normally opens the year with an orientation barbecue day but couldn't because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The school board is set to...
Grand Coulee Police 8/17 - A man on Grand Avenue was arrested and taken to jail for assault after his wife said she was tired of him beating her up and showed police relevant injuries. 8/18 - Police were unable to catch up to a truck and trailer reported to be emitting smoke while headed east on SR-174. Lincoln County officers were notified. - Police went to Coulee Playland, where it was reported that a 1-year-old infant had been left alone in a car seat crying for about 10-20 minutes. The infant and its caretaker were gone upon police arrival....
The second time was not a charm for that yellow house at the top of the hill on the highway to Wilbur last week after a combine somehow started a fire in a wheat field, the second in three weeks, that totally destroyed the house and tens of thousands of dollars worth of wheat. The Sorenson Road Fire started at the end of that road, near the Herdrick home, Lincoln County Fire Protection District 8 Chief Dennis Pinar said. Pinar said the same three houses threatened in the Highway 174 Fire July...
Students at Lake Roosevelt Schools will start school Sept. 8, six days later than an earlier plan, after the school board Aug. 12 pressed the administration to delay, fearing not enough time to orient staff, students and parents to the distance-learning plan, using Chromebooks and flash drives. School board members at a special meeting urged Superintendent Paul Turner to allow more time for the training period. Board member Alex tufts said the earlier date “bugs the heck out of me” because he’s gotten input from community members, and he noted...
“If you give it away, they will come” might be one lesson Okanogan County Public Health takes away from its current push to provide Covid-19 testing for free all over the county. The county started its free testing last Thursday, bringing in the National Guard to help in the effort. By Monday afternoon, OCPH Administrator Lauri Jones said, they’d collected testing samples from more than 800 people in three communities: 375 in Winthrop, 80 in Brewster, and 368 in Omak. The health district already received from a Seattle lab the test resul...
Grant County business owners have two more days to apply for up to $10,000 in a second round of COVID-19 relief grant money through Grant County to make up for costs associated with the pandemic, including lost revenue. County commissioners set aside $2.5 million of the county’s $5 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act money to go toward small businesses (20 employees or fewer) and nonprofit organizations. The Grant County Economic Development Council developed the application process for the funds. ...
Citizens of Electric City can have more say in the goings on of the city. The city of Electric City would like local residents to be a part of their planning process in the form of a commission. The city council has discussed in recent meetings forming a planning commission, a new version of a planning “agency” that existed in the past. The commission would consist of the city planner and five local residents and would address situations revolving around rezoning, subdivision, planned unit developments, special use reviews, and site and arc...
Some details on short-term rentals in Grand Coulee will still have to be decided before they are allowed. The Star reported previously that the Grand Coulee City Council approved an ordinance allowing for short-term rentals in residential zones in the city but neglected to report that it will still take some time before people can actually offer the short-term rentals. “The ordinance we passed was the first step in preparation for the updated Comprehensive Plan,” City Clerk Lorna Pearce explained in an email, with the updated comprehensive pla...
Grand Coulee Dam's Third Powerhouse was renamed last week, a press release from the office of Rep. Dan Newhouse, who represents the state's 4th District in Congress, announced. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said the renaming is in honor of a father-son duo who were "instrumental in the conception, construction and implementation of operations at the dam." The announcement was made during a virtual roundtable event hosted by Newhouse (R-WA) and comes on the heels of Secretary Bernhardt's...
COVID-19 hasn't slowed people from going to Steamboat Rock State Park, which includes the Steamboat Rock area, Northrup Canyon, and Northrup Point boat launch. Statistics from Washington State Parks show a 23% increase in the total number of visitors to the state park in June, compared to last year. In the month of June, Steamboat Rock State Park received 86,566 visitors in 2020, compared to 70,434 in June of 2019, 69,658 in 2018, and 72,590 in 2017. You have to go back to June of 2016, when...
Smoke that could be smelled in the air locally on Sunday night was likely from the Taylor Pond Fire, burning 12 miles east of Yakima, about 150 miles away, and having burned about 35,000 acres of grassland as of Tuesday. There is a helicopter, 16 engines, and 186 personnel working on the fire, which is only at 26% containment according to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center. Grand Coulee’s fire department was also called out briefly Sunday night to put out a new hot spot on a fire that had burned wheat fields and a house in Lincoln C...
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all people. It is a stressful time. Our lives are different. Common reactions to pandemics are fear and worries about what will happen. Social distancing has been instituted to prevent viral spread. Humans are social creatures, and being isolated impacts our health. Everyone responds to stress differently. Some common reactions are: fear about your health, fear about the health of others, changes in sleep patterns, changes in appetite, poor concentration,...
Grand Coulee Police 8/2 - Damage reported at the Ridge Riders Rodeo Grounds included broken stable walls and a broken stop sign. 8/11 - A man was banned from the Trail West Motel after harassing tenants there. - A woman on Second Street reported that while doing yard work she had been threatened by another woman who accused her of selling drugs and who said she would beat her up. - A man driving a grey vehicle allegedly intentionally hit a man on a bike in the alleyway behind Jack’s Spring Canyon gas station. A witness estimated the v...
All students in the Grand Coulee Dam School District will start the year with online-only classes, according to a plan laid out Monday night to school board directors by Superintendent Paul Turner. In a Zoom board meeting with the directors and 26 other people Monday evening, Turner said the Okanogan County Health officer wouldn’t grant a waiver for the district to allow it to open with kids in physical classrooms. Okanogan County Public Health Officer John McCarthy isn’t alone in that stance. He and his counterparts in Grant, Chelan, Dou...
Grand Coulee Dam’s Third Powerhouse will be renamed, the secretary of Interior announced, according to the following press release from the office of Rep. Dan Newhouse, who represents the state’s 4th District in Congress. Press release: WASHINGTON, D.C. – On August 12, U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary David Bernhardt announced the Third Power Plant at Grand Coulee Dam would be renamed as the "Nathaniel 'Nat' Washington Power Plant," in honor of the father-son duo who were instr...
The next Grand Coulee city council meeting will be held Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020 at 6 p.m. via ZOOM. Information to join will be available on Monday, Aug. 17th by calling city hall at 509-633-1150....
Update: The road was opened up about 6 p.m. Wednesday night. An unoccupied house on the west side of SR-174 at the top of the "Wilbur hill" burned down, and many acres of wheat were lost. Lincoln County Sheriff Wade Magers had praise for firefighters: "Emergency responders from multiple fire agencies, WSP, Coulee Dam, LCSO, DNR, Bureau and NPS responded to a combine/field fire north of Wilbur located near 174 and Menke road. Unfortunately significant standing wheat and a unoccupied residence and...
Update 8/13/20 Firefighters say the Lower Coyote Creek Fire is now about 65 % contained and they will begin mop-up operations today, following a successful night of eliminating hotspots and cutting down unburned snags and material in the fire area, which has now been mapped at 2,580 acres. The Northeast Interagency Incident Management Team 1 has had 11 hand crews, 20 engines, four dozers, a pump cat and one skidgine on the fire, all watching out for hazards like dangerous snags, mine shafts and...