News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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A wildfire burning in the "Wilbur Hill" area, near mile post 27.5 on SR-174, is mostly contained, fire fighters say. The fire, which started roughly at 11 a.m. today, July 24, had been moving towards wheat fields above the hill, where firefighters concentrated their efforts. The fire is also approaching the highway, and firefighters are keeping an eye on it, with traffic being stopped and one lane of travel being allowed at a time. Grand Coulee Fire Chief Ryan Fish, serving as incident command...
Update 3 p.m. 7/24/20: Level 3 evacuations have been lifted in the Nespelem-to-agency area today, but Level 2 Evacuation has been issued for the area north of Nespelem from the Catholic Cemetery to the Jackson Ranch off SR-155. People in that area are warned of “significant danger” and asked to “consider voluntarily relocating to a shelter or with family/friends outside of the affected area.” There’s a Red Flag Warning for fire weather today until 8 p.m. for gusty winds and low relative humidity...
The Grand Coulee Dam area has had an additional three cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the past few days. A July 20 update from the Grant County Health District said they received an additional 59 cases between the evening of July 17 and 5 p.m. on July 20, including one in the Grand Coulee area of Grant County. “There is widespread community spread in Grant County,” the district wrote in its daily report online Monday. “It is not limited to one employer, community or household.” They then received another 20 cases by 5 p.m. July 21, including ano...
The upcoming school year will be a hybrid mix of online and in-school learning for most students, if plans in development at Grand Coulee Dam School District come to fruition amidst current uncertainties about timing and COVID-19. That was the topic of discussion at a Zoom school board meeting Monday night, which was well attended by staff, parents, and more. The superintendent and board of directors met in the library at Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High, passing a health screening before entering the building, wearing masks, keeping a...
High school football, volleyball, and soccer will be played in the spring, rather than the fall. The executive board of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association made the decision July 21 in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The school year will break down into four WIAA seasons, with lower-risk sports able to occur earlier in the year, and higher risk sports starting later in the hopes that Washington counties by then will have moved into later phases in the Washington State Safe Start Recovery Plan. Depending on what phas...
More local events that have become traditions have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Run the Dam running event, as well as the Harvest Festival, have both been canceled this past week. Both were originally scheduled for the third week in September. The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce announced on July 17 the cancellation of what would have been the ninth Harvest Festival on their Facebook page. Their board of directors "have explored all possible options to keep this...
Two proposals for drive-through coffee stands are being considered by the town council in Coulee Dam, each by different would-be entrepreneurs who must navigate the murky waters of city and tribal regulations and interests. Dan Moomaw and Casey Garvin each attended a call-in city council meeting July 8 and may again be at tonight’s 6 p.m. call-in meeting (July 22). Moomaw has attended several this year, expressing frustration at not being able to meet in person and lay out plans for discussion. Garvin last week pulled out a 2018 business p...
With local fires sometimes taking place across a lake, should a fire department have a boat ready to take firefighters there? At Electric City’s July 14 council meeting, Public Works Director Jarred Armstrong brought up the idea that the Electric City Volunteer Fire Department should have a boat. While discussing the Fourth of July weekend, Armstrong mentioned a boating accident that took place, as well as fires that burned near SunBanks Resort and as Barker Canyon, incidents requiring responses via boat. Armstrong commended Fire Chief Mark P...
The Grand Coulee Dam School District has sent a survey to parents and students asking for their input on distance learning, which has taken the place of traditional, in-school learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are two separate surveys, one for parents and one for students, available on the homepage of the district website at https://www.gcdsd.org/. The surveys asks parents and students alike about their experiences so far with distance learning, what works and what doesn’t, and how engaged they were with the process. The survey a...
Grand Coulee Police 7/11 - Someone smashed a windshield of a motorhome parked on Dill Avenue. A white SUV was seen driving away, but police were unable to locate the vehicle, and there are no suspects. 7/13 - A man found a pellet pistol near the rodeo grounds and turned it into police. 7/14 - An officer went to a Washington Place residence where two men had been arguing. The homeowner came out of the house and began yelling at the other man and the officer. The other man said there was no need for police, and he and the officer left. - Police w...
Two local counties reported two more deaths this week amid a surge of COVID-19 cases in their counties, in the state and in many parts of the nation. Okanogan County Public Health reported that 71 new cases of COVID-19 emerged in the county on Monday and Tuesday alone, with over half its cases all year breaking out within the last two weeks - 147 of its total of 263. Those include the county's third death, which OCPH learned of yesterday. The victim was an agricultural worker from Mexico in his...
CHELAN COUNTY — A Chelan waterpark has been ordered to close immediately to prevent workers from being exposed to coronavirus (COVID-19). This action comes after a similar order from the state Department of Health last week. Today, the state Department of Labor & Industries delivered an “Order and Notice of Immediate Restraint” directing the waterpark to cease operations until the business is approved to operate under the Governor’s Stay Home Stay Healthy Order. In addition to the order and notice, after completing an inspection earlier...
Small businesses in Electric City can apply for up to $5,000 in coronavirus relief funds from the city, and all Grant County small businesses can apply for up to $10,000. Electric City small business owners have until July 31 to fill out and submit a one page application to receive the funds. City Clerk Peggy Nevsimal said the city set up the grant program in collaboration with the Washington State Department of Commerce, something the city council approved in June. The funds businesses can receive would come from the $30,900 the city is eligib...
Ballots for Washington’s primary elections must be mailed out by county election offices by Friday, and local voters will have options from which to choose no matter which county or district they live in. In the Grant County Commissioner District #1 race, the candidates are: Danny Stone, of Hartline; Mark S. Wanke, of Ephrata; and Earl Romig, of Moses Lake. All candidates are listed as Republicans. In the Grant County Commissioner District #2 race, the candidates are Rob Jones and Tom Taylor, both Republicans from Moses Lake. In Okanogan C...
The Colville Tribes responded Monday to inquiries regarding continuing layoffs at the tribes, as well as the use of federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act money towards a new rehabilitation center being built in Keller. In April, the CBC announced in a letter that the Colville Tribes as well as the Colville Tribal Federal Corporation had temporarily laid off nearly 600 employees as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Some employees were posting further layoff notices on social media last week. Regarding the...
The Colville Business Council, the governing body of the Colville Tribes, swore in four newly elected candidates and three incumbents July 9 in a quiet ceremony that has previously been a much larger occasion. Seven of the CBC’s 14 positions came up for election this year for two-year terms. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Tribal Tribune reported, a minimum number of people attended the swearing in at the Lucy F. Covington Government Center on the Colville Tribal Agency near Nespelem. Attendees maintained six-foot distances from each o...
A fire that broke out Saturday afternoon in dry, windy conditions threatened Mansfield, some of whose residents were on a Level 2 evacuation alert. The Road 11 Fire, which started just before 1 p.m. west of SR-172 as it turns south toward Withrow, burned 9,633 acres but was expected to be completely contained by today, Southeast Washington Interagency Incident Management Team Incident Commander Bob Gear said Tuesday in a press release. Several structures, including one home, were damaged. The fire’s cause is under investigation. Initially, t...
Grand Coulee Police 7/7 - Three cars were reported racing in the alley of Williams Avenue in Electric City, attempting to get air by hitting speed bumps while driving fast. The cars were gone upon police arrival. Suspects were thought by the reporting party to live on Kelso Avenue. - A man with dementia walking around Burdin Boulevard was found by police to be doing OK and was going to his nearby home with family. 7/8 - A door was reported open on a Roosevelt Avenue home. The homeowner was contacted and later reported $1,400 in cash, $100 in...
Grand Coulee Police 7/7 - Three cars were reported racing in the alley of Williams Avenue in Electric City, attempting to get air by hitting speed bumps while driving fast. The cars were gone upon police arrival. Suspects were thought by the reporting party to live on Kelso Avenue. - A man with dementia walking around Burdin Boulevard was found by police to be doing OK and was going to his nearby home with family. 7/8 - A door was reported open on a Roosevelt Avenue home. The homeowner was contacted and later reported $1,400 in cash, $100 in...
If you have not received your ballot by Friday, July 24, please contact the Auditors Office at (509) 422-7240. Remember your ballots must be signed. The Auditors Office, 149 3rd Ave N, Okanogan, is open Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on Election Day only from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., for the following services: Voter Registration Drop off voted ballots Obtain replacement ballots Disability Access Voting Units Drop boxes will be open July 16-August 4. Drop boxes will be open until 8 p.m. on August 4. Drop box locations open for the November 6...
When Mark Head noticed the other boat headed straight for him in the middle of Banks Lake, it was too late. Head, 51, from Cashmere, and the four others aboard his pontoon boat, including small children, had been just floating, doing some cleaning up without the engine running about 5:25 p.m. Thursday when he saw the wake boat coming. Head hurried to try to start the engine and move, but couldn't before the other boat hit, stopping instantly on top of the middle section of the pontoon boat,...
A new multimillion-dollar hotel in Grand Coulee is being planned with optimism towards the area growing. Blackfly, LLC, owned by Bill Stevens, a farmer from Soap Lake, and Caleb McNamara, a contractor from Moses Lake, bought property along Midway Avenue that includes Pepper Jack's Bar and Grille, another nearby building, and surrounding lots. The property consists of three parcels of land along Midway Avenue purchased from Norman and Carlene Worsham for $285,000 and a fourth purchased from...
The cause of the wildfire that burned in Coulee Dam June 30 is still under investigation. That fire burned around 21 acres on the northern outskirts of town near 12th Street and Central Drive and up towards the sandhill, according to Debbie Caudell, lead dispatch at Mt. Tolman Fire Center. The fire was first reported to Mt. Tolman at about 7 p.m. and resources were called back in at about midnight. Those resources included four type-6 engines, two dozers, a hand crew, and more. Workers returned the next day to mop up the scene of the fire,...
Okanogan County Fair canceled The Okanogan County Board of Commissioners announced “with a heavy heart” Monday the cancelation of this fall’s county fair. The commissioners and the Fair Advisory Committee jointly explored all possible options to keep this yearly county tradition moving forward, they said, but could not find a way to do so safely under the governors “safe start” reopening restrictions. Despite the cancellation, the Fair Advisory Committee has established several sub- committees to explore how to hold a livestock auction a...
Fireworks caused one fire on Independence Day and another Monday afternoon. On the Fourth of July, a fire across from the Northrup Point boat launch burned about a tenth of an acre, Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department Chief Ryan Fish told The Star in an email. That fire was put out by the Bureau of Land Management, which had had about 20 firefighters stationed near North Dam and ready to answer regional fire calls. The Bureau of Reclamation contracted with BLM last year to handle wildfires...