News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 351 - 375 of 6444
The Paschal Sherman Indian School (PSIS) has been named a “School of Distinction” by Cognia, a global nonprofit school improvement organization. Out of more than 1,100 eligible institutions reviewed by Cognia, only 25 schools and eight systems were honored, the Colville Tribes said in a press release Tuesday. The honor is bestowed upon institutions that demonstrate evidence of a growth in learning by students, a healthy culture for learning, engaging and high-quality instructional environments, and effective leadership for learning. PSIS ser...
Hundreds turned out for the Fish Fest at Spring Canyon last Saturday for what Emilee Franklin hopes will become an annual event. Franklin, and education specialist at Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, said the event drew over 500 people into the park. Five of them actually caught fish, but 175 caught free fishing poles at the event that was put on to help kids learn to fish. "I think for the first year of the park ever doing anything like this in the community, it was a pretty big...
Commissioners of Grant County Port District 7 have been in negotiations with the Colville Tribes for a possible sale of Banks Lake Golf Course. Commissioners met in a special meeting Sept. 6 to consider the sale and its details in a closed session, then reconvened to vote on giving President Jim Keene authority to continue to negotiate. The purpose of the special meeting stated on the agenda was to discuss a “Purchase and Sales agreement — Real Property.” The only action to be taken: “Motion to accept, reject, or ‘accept-with-changes’ the CCT P...
The city of Coulee Dam has agreed to pay over $70,000 to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failure to file paperwork on time regarding its new wastewater treatment plant. A “Consent Agreement” and “Final Order” detail the town’s alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and its operating permit. They include not submitting a notice to both EPA and the Colville Tribes on time that the new plant was up and running or that the old plant had been taken offline. EPA said the city was years late in giving written notice that it had develop...
It's not just a dam run anymore. Run the Dam has morphed into more than a 5K, 10K, or half-marathon race on Saturday, Sept. 16. Now a festival, RTD will offer vendors and food from 4-10 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m.-10 p.m. on Saturday. It also features a Kids Korner with at least 15 activities. A beer garden will host six music acts Friday (1 - 11 p.m.) and Saturday (10 a.m. – 11 p.m.) And a motorcycle poker run will culminate at the beer garden in North Dam Park after riders make five stops t... Full story
Merle Roberts, of Grand Coulee, earned a blue ribbon in photography last week at the state fair in Puyallup. Roberts named his photo, in dramatic dark gray shades of a local tree growing right out of rock, "Its A Tough Life." It took Best of Scenic for black and white photography. He entered it in the International Photography Exhibit at the fair, which he said meant he would go up against entries from New York and California, or even Hong Kong. "Yeah, you have to butt heads with the biggest...
When it burned down on Oct. 12, 2021, Almira's school was so completely destroyed that only about 33 bricks of the old red-brick school could be salvaged. Those are now encased in concrete outside the brand-new school the community opened Aug. 31 for an open house and celebration by the community. They filled the new multi-purpose room to overflowing, necessitating moving the staff from the side of the new foldout bleachers to up onto the new stage, where the music and drama teachers plan to...
From left, Nespelem School District Superintendent Effie Dean, Nespelem Directors Nancy Armstrong-Montes and Jarae Cate, Grand Coulee Dam Director Shannon Nicholson, GCD Superintendent Rod Broadnax, GCD Directors Rich Black and Alex Tufts, Nespelem Directors Anna Vargas and Jolene Marchand, and GCD Director Ken Stanger, pause for a photo during their joint meeting of the two school boards of directors August 30 at Siam Palace. Once a promised practice, the two board haven't met together since...
Coulee Dam is considering rezoning two properties for a use for which most people think they’re already zoned. Two buildings across Lincoln Avenue from city hall, built as dormitories in the 1930s, have been used as residences, a bed-and-breakfast, an assisted living facility, and as a place to stay for visiting medical professionals working at Coulee Medical Center. The current proposal would alter the city’s comprehensive plan to reflect such uses. A public hearing on the proposal will be scheduled, perhaps as soon as Sept. 27 if pro...
Marlene Oddie of Grand Coulee, and former local resident Nancy Cargo, now from Port Angeles, Washington, are semi-finalists at one of the biggest juried quilt shows in the country. The two have been chosen to display the quilt, 24 Karat Rondure, along with 210 others in the 2023 AQS QuiltWeek in Des Moines, Iowa to be held Sept. 27-30. Regardless of how their quilt places in the final judging, all semi-finalist quilts will be displayed at the show, which is expected to draw more than 10,000...
If you've ever wanted to fish but don't really know how, now's your chance to fix that. The Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area is offering "Fish Fest" this Saturday at Spring Canyon, and they'll be giving away free fishing poles to the first 300 kids 14 and under. If you're ready to get "SCHOOL-ed in how to fish," as the National Park Service folks teased on Facebook, show up early during the 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. event to "to learn how to cast, reel, and tie knots." At the free family friendly f...
Students racked up a policy victory at Lake Roosevelt Jr/Sr High School Monday when the school district board of directors voted to implement most of their recommended changes to the dress code, one evening before school began. A group of Associated Student Body officers and representatives had presented their ideas to the board Aug. 14 using a sneaky tactic: they looked and acted exactly like typical high school students, then admitted that only one of the eight of them was meeting the current...
Grand Coulee’s city council voted just days before they had no operator to sign a one-year contract for operation of its sewer plant via an independent contractor, on an emergency basis. At the time on Aug. 23, the current employee had given notice earlier this month to retire on Aug. 25 after months of being the lone operator. The contractor, SJ Environmental, had already been in talks with both Grand Coulee and Electric City about running the plant and doing other related work. The plant processes 184,000 gallons of waste a day in the s...
The plan is to make it across the country in 44 stops, while along the way garnering even more pledges of support for veterans' causes, and, around here, dodging wildfires. A group of bicyclists stayed overnight in Coulee Dam and Grand Coulee Saturday, leaving early Sunday morning on day five of their trek that started at the naval airbase on Whidbey Island. Their "Navy '83 Ride Across America" will get them to their Naval Academy class of 1983 reunion in Annapolis, Maryland in October. Allan...
Firefighters from at least 10 different agencies fought a "stubborn" fire on a windy Friday weather forecasters had predicted could be a bad one. It was. The fire dubbed the Plum Point Fire erupted the same afternoon fires near Coulee City, Quincy, Medical Lake, and Elk started amid a Red Flag warning by the National Weather Service that fires that starting in the windy, dry conditions could spread rapidly. Initially estimated at 60-80 acres about 1:15, the Plum Point Fire was finally kept down...
A longtime community leader who revived the ailing Colorama Rodeo over a decade ago and focused on strengthening its sponsoring Ridge Riders Saddle Club, has died. George Kohout "was the epitome of Ridge Riders and Colorama Pro Rodeo, a community leader, the truest of cowboys from his hat to the bottom of his boots, and one of the greatest men the rodeo world will know from Grand Coulee" an announcement reads on the Ridge Riders' Colorama Pro Rodeo Facebook. "Our community and the area rodeo...
The Here for Good Foundation, STCU’s charitable foundation, is encouraging donations at innovia.org/stcu-here-for-good-foundation to support communities impacted by recent wildfires in the Inland Northwest. All funds donated are tax deductible and will be administered through local non-profit organizations to support rebuild and recovery efforts in local communities. The credit union seeded this effort with a $50,000 contribution. “The various fires impacting our region are devasting to watch unfold,” said Marty Dickinson, STCU’s Chief Marketi...
Rod Broadnax, the new superintendent at Grand Coulee Dam School District, points to another slider with "hustle" after coming down the inflatable slide on the football field. The inflatables were a contribution by the Colville Tribes to Broadnax's vision of an initial kickoff to the school year after he solicited their help and invited Nespelem School, specifically. The TeePee donated 250 burger and buns, and Harvest Foods supplied soft drinks. "This is who I am," Broadnax said after looking...
Many fingers are again pointed at electric utilities because downed power lines are suspected of starting another horrific wildfire — the one that raced through Lahaina killing hundreds of unsuspecting people. Who would have imagined that one day, the historic Hawaiian capitol on Maui would be a thriving tourist destination and 24 hours later it would be piles of smoldering rubble and ashes that included remains of people? Cellphone video reveals that high winds downed live electric lines, which...
It’s not certain exactly how the wastewater treatment plant that serves the roughly 2,000 citizens of Grand Coulee and Electric City will keep operating after nine days from now. That’s when its current operator will retire. Currently, Grand Coulee has no one to replace that employee, and the city has been in talks to outsource operating the plant to an independent company on a contractual basis. That’s if the union representing employees will allow it, or if the contractor can justify that wage scale. All of that is uncertain, even unlik...
Update: 9:12 p.m. Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Dept Chief Ryan Fish said all Grand Coulee units were leaving Plum Point. Multiple fire departments were working the fire in Lincoln County. The fire began to grow again about 3 p.m. after it had looked like it was about under control until the wind kicked up. At 5 p.m. three Fireboss planes arrived, and worked for more than half an hour, repeatedly dousing the fire with water from Lake Roosevelt. By 6:30 p.m. flames were mostly knocked down but... Full story
Less than an hour after a caller reported a blanket-wrapped, badly smelling object on Omak Mountain Aug. 9, Colville Tribal Police found a woman’s body that still has not been identified. Okanogan County Dispatch transferred a call to Tribal Dispatch about 5:25 p.m. The original caller reported being in the Omak Mountain area and seeing what appeared to be a blanket wrapped around something, covered with dirt and sticks, and which had the odor of a dead animal. Tribal police responded and searched the area. At about 6:12 p.m., tribal law e...
Evan Jones finishes harvesting a field of wheat on George Dormaier and Sons land along Bodeau Road in Lincoln County Monday in shimmering heat as temperatures reach over 100. Wednesday and Thursday should be scorchers too. See our forecast on page 3. A National Weather Service excessive heat warning is in effect until 11 p.m. Thursday, but a fire weather watch was not set to expire until 8 p.m. Friday. - Scott Hunter photo...
Electric City voters will be asked to decide on whether to de-annex a part of the city they agreed to add back in 2009. The city council voted Aug. 8 that the city should place a measure on the General Election ballot in November to shed the city of some lands annexed to the east of SR-155 south of the causeway across Osborne Bay that belong to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation or the Washington Department of Natural Resources. Other lands on the other side of the highway, including the area containing Sunbanks Lake Resort, would remain within...
The Colville Tribes announced the passing of former Chairman Michael Finley Aug. 9 as The Lucy Covington Government Center began flying flags at half-staff in his honor. Among his notable accomplishments, the three-time chairman of the Colville Tribes presided over Colville’s Memorandum of Agreement in 2008 with the Bonneville Power Administration for acquisition and management of habitat for resident and anadromous fish. While chairman, Finley served also as chairman of the Inter-Tribal Monitoring Association for Indian Trust Funds. In 2012 t...
