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 police officer pitched to the school board the idea of writing grants to get a “resource officer” into Lake Roosevelt Schools. Matt Gilbert, an officer with the Grand Coulee Police Department, spoke to the Grand Coulee Dam School District directors Nov. 13 after having met with Superintendent Rod Broadnax earlier. Gilbert said he’d actually written a grant application earlier that could have paid for new locks the board had just learned, in previous presentation that night, would cost the district about $28,000. “We were denied it based upon...
A deer settled down for a morning nap on the median of Coulee Dam's Douglas Avenue watches a man with a noisy leaf blower cleaning up leaves from the city's trees last week. Leaf pickup has been going on most of the month in the city. - Scott Hunter photo...
A local chef approached the school board last week about the possibility of using a school classroom to teach cooking classes to the public for a fee if it wouldn’t go against a district policy. Patty Oliver, owner of PK’s Culinary, told Grand Coulee Dam School District directors she would start with one-day cooking workshops on “endless topics,” including, for example, cooking pastas, sauces, sushi, appetizers and more. “I’m just looking for a space to do it,” she said, and teacher Susan Duclos’ room at the school is the best she’s found in...
Average gasoline prices in Washington have fallen 7.2 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $4.36 Monday, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 2,666 stations in Washington. Prices in Washington are 41.3 cents per gallon lower than a month ago and stand 22.5 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has fallen 6.9 cents in the last week and stands at $4.28 per gallon. According to GasBuddy price reports, the cheapest station in Washington was priced at $3.43 Sunday, while the most expensive was $5.62, a d...
Mist rising off Lake Roosevelt is backlit by the sun rising behind Grand Coulee Dam Tuesday morning. - Scott Hunter photo...
Construction work at the Grand Coulee Dam Fire Station is closing in on the final few months of construction activities. As of Oct. 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said Monday, the bulk of the electrical, plumbing, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and the fire protection systems had been installed. The exterior concrete masonry veneer and the polished concrete floors also had been completed. Focus areas for November will be the remaining interior work, terrazzo floors, exterior...
A local lending business is looking for a larger space to operate and is eyeing Coulee Dam’s “Community Building” as a future possibility. Jordan Ruiz, the newly appointed executive director of the Northwest Native Development Fund approached the city last week about the building that houses, a closed movie theater, an operating bowling alley, the Rio Grande restaurant, and the city’s fire department. She said NNDF wouldn’t need any of the occupied spaces but would like to explore altering the space the theater used to operate in to accommoda...
Northwest Native Development Fund (NNDF) announced Monday that Jordan Ruiz is the non-profit lender's new executive director. "I am honored to have been chosen as the Executive Director of NNDF," Ruiz said in statement issued Monday. "I will work tirelessly to uphold the integrity of this organization. I will lead NNDF with empathy and compassion. The amazing staff at NNDF will continue to work toward and never lose sight of our mission." NNDF's mission is to foster economic and financial...
Oakleigh Dice makes her best 4-year-old smile with "Elsa" Sunday at a party for her at Siam Palace before her next-day departure for Disneyworld in Florida. The Make-A-Wish foundation made that happen at her request, and she wanted to be able to dance with Elsa, the Disney character from the animated movie Frozen. Just in case that would not be possible in Florida, Elsa came to the Siam on Sunday. - Scott Hunter photo...
Students at Lake Roosevelt Schools deliver certificates of appreciation to veterans Thursday at the school's Veteran's Day assembly in their honor. The program included a version of The Star-Spangled Banner by the Raider Rock Band, narration on the meaning and reason for Veteran's Day, the individual recognition shown here for every veteran attending, and a slide show of local veterans with photos from their service time. - Scott Hunter photo...
In local elections Tuesday, Electric City voters demonstrated a preference for change, favoring two newcomers over one current and one former city council member, and giving another current councilman a fairly close race, with two of the three Grand Coulee Police officers who ran for council poised to take office. Incumbent Councilmember Brian Buche appears to have survived a challenge from Thomas Levi Johnson for council position 3 by a vote of 117 to 89 or 57-43%. But Matt Gilbert clearly won the race for position 4 seat that former council...
An 18-year-old Grand Coulee man was sentenced to 60 months in prison after having pleaded guilty to “Assault Resulting in Substantial Bodily Injury to a Spouse, Intimate Partner, or Dating Partner in Indian Country,” the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington Vanessa R. Waldref announced last week. Xander Lee Ostenberg also pleaded guilty to two counts of “Assault by Beating, Striking or Wounding.” U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice sentenced Ostenberg to the federal prison term to be followed by a three-year term of court supervi...
Grant PUD crews work to restore power to much of Grand Coulee Monday after a pole fire outside Coulee Medical Center caused an outage early in the morning. Most of the business district along Midway Avenue was without power. The hospital kept its emergency room and walk-in clinic open but rescheduled all morning appointments. The hospital announced it had power available again at 1:30 p.m. Grant PUD announced on X (formerly Twitter) that power had been knocked out for 328 customers in "the...
Inside this issue of The Star and inside Lake Roosevelt Schools this week are two things designed to help you remember what Veterans Day is all about. And if that were not enough, how about adding a good breakfast. At Lake Roosevelt Schools this Thursday, the public is invited to a special assembly in honor of veterans at 9 a.m. in the gym. The assembly both honors the veterans and impresses on students the importance of understanding their commitment to the country. At the annual assembly students personally honor attending veterans, and a...
Local artist Keith Powell sent us this image of a watercolor he painted as a study for a larger one he plans to do, inspired by the recent reintroduction of bison to the Colville Reservation. "I'm so happy that we are witnessing the reintroduction of bison," he said. "So cool." The view in the painting is from Jonah and Tera Whitelaw's house near McGinnis Lake with Castle Rock in the background. Powell noted that the last wild buffalo in Washington state was killed in the Grand Coulee in 1825,...
In observance of the Veterans Day holiday, Okanogan Behavioral HealthCare administration offices and Highland Center will be closed on Friday and will reopen on Monday, Nov. 13 with regular business hours. Crisis response services remain available 24 hours a day throughout the holiday by calling toll-free 1+(800) 852-2923, and are also available via TTY at (509) 826-2113, or by texting HOME to 741741. Shove House will remain operational throughout the holiday....
Blake Martin thinks the Electric City Council has a relationship problem with its citizens. If he were to win the election for a seat at that table, he could help change that, he says. "I don't feel like community concerns are being heard and responded to as they should be," he said. "I feel as there is a current disconnect there between our elected city officials and the general public." Although Martin said he is a fan of the community meetings the city has been having, they still fall short...
Spokane, Washington – Vanessa R. Waldref, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced that Xander Lee Ostenberg, 18, of Grand Coulee, Washington was sentenced after having pleaded guilty to Assault Resulting in Substantial Bodily Injury to a Spouse, Intimate Partner, or Dating Partner in Indian Country. Ostenberg also pleaded guilty to two counts of Assault by Beating, Striking or Wounding. U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice sentenced Ostenberg to 60 months in prison, to be followed by a 3-year term of court s...
Birdie Hensley is running for Electric City Council to find out what’s going on, and to fix some earlier mistakes. “I just think if you’re in the community, you should be involved,” she said. “And if you’re not on city council, you don’t find anything out about the city.” She’s been on council before, when the council made new rules on development requirements for curbs and sidewalks. That was during a time when the city annexed land with an eye on possible expansion to the south. Now she sees that push had some unintended consequences, mak...
Sierra steadies the baby and opens her small trick-or-treat bag as little Charlie's eyes look in wonder during a stop in Coulee Dam Halloween night. Her sister Paisley, a chicken for the night, watches and waits for her handful, too...
Coulee Dam Police Chief Paul Bowden briefed the city council last week on a couple possibilities for expanding the kinds of services his agency can provide. They include connected cameras that read license plates, and also trained police dogs that can search for drugs. Bowden would like to consider the purchase of four cameras, two for Coulee Dam , two for Electric City, which his department serves, to mount and record license plates as they come through town. He said he was considering applying for an available grant to pay for the cameras,...
If you live in Grant County and power your home with Grant PUD electricity, you pay below the utility’s cost to produce it, and discussions are underway now on how to gradually increase rates to get back on track toward “target goal posts” after a four-year hiatus. Grant PUD commissioners told an audience in their packed boardroom Oct. 24 that their ongoing “discussion over how to set electric rates and arrive at a rate increase for 2024 will take into account all the county’s economic sectors and ensure ‘core customers’ are protected,” a...
Mist rises from Lake Roosevelt early Monday morning as the sun warms up the cold lake after overnight temperatures in the mid-20s. Temperatures are expected to rise a little this week, but expect a little rain, too. - Scott Hunter photo...
Inside this issue of The Star and inside Lake Roosevelt Schools this week are two things designed to help you remember what Veterans Day is all about. And if that were not enough, how about adding a good breakfast. At Lake Roosevelt Schools this Thursday, the public is invited to a special assembly in honor of veterans at 9 a.m. in the gym. The assembly both honors the veterans and impresses on students the importance of understanding their commitment to the country. At the annual assembly...
Lake Roosevelt Schools took an unplanned day off Monday after the district learned on Friday it would not have a school nurse. Superintendent Rod Broadnax said he learned as he was out of town Friday that the nurse who had been supplied to the schools for two days a week by the local hospital district would no longer be available. Registered nurses are in short supply in Washington state, and Coulee Medical Center spends large sums to bring in temporary nurses, as do many, if not most, hospitals. Broadnax said Monday night in a letter to...