News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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For years, through politics, teacher strikes and court cases, we have heard that state lawmakers were underfunding schools. Then, with great fanfare, state leaders came together in 2017 and passed an historic bill that raised property taxes, reduced inequity and provided adequate funding for schools. The law made two important changes in school funding. First, by raising taxes, it greatly increased state funding for all schools. Second, it increased fairness and reduced inequity between property-rich districts and property-poor ones by...
Twenty Years Ago The Town of Coulee Dam may be ready to sell its town shop to a private developer if a suitable site can be found to build a new shop. Coulee Community Hospital is finding it tough to get the state’s attention focused on its $300,000 hillside slippage problem at a time when western Washington rains have loosened the footing of multi-million dollar neighborhoods. Scott and Paul Townsend of TNT Welding built frames for signs to be installed on the Columbia River Bridge. The signs depict the history of the Grand Coulee Dam c...
We would like to thank all the volunteers who have helped with all our projects over the past 32 years; you are the ones that made the projects a success. Thank you. Due to the lack of someone to manage the fish pens, the board of directors has decided to disband POWER. February 28 was the last day to apply for an ALEA (Aquatic Land Enhancement Account) grant to fund the fish pens. The fish pens will be removed from Banks Lake this spring, along with the log boom and the docks. WDFW (Washington State Dept. of Fish & Wildlife) will remove the...
Term limits, change, whatever you want! Now is the time. Every day, I hear people want term limits. If you read last week’s Star, you see many, many open volunteer vacancies in local organizations, cities, boards, etc. Now is the time for you, or your friends, or your family to step up and volunteer for one of these positions; now is the time to help enforce time limits by voting. Only you can make a change. If no one is willing to step into one of these volunteer roles, then please don’t ask for something you are not willing to help with. It...
The fight goes on… the debate is vitiated by empty minds and thoughtless reason(s). Elmer City argues that Coulee has taken advantage by over-charges/invoicing by violating the 1975 agreement. On the other hand, Coulee Dam has lost some of the design and operational paradigms. Both agencies have lost their compasses. “IF” Coulee Dam has taken invoicing advantages, so too is that Elmer City’s ignorance of the quarterly reviews! Both agencies have made errors. As to Coulee Dam, by its own volition in 2014, they self-audited the “agreement,” the p...
I recently sat down with Senior Terry Yazzie and we talked about a variety of topics. The outcome of our talk was this: This is a young man I wish I could have gotten to know better. He has a great sense of humor, but is so grounded and sees the value in what others around him are trying to do and say to him. So here is a small snapshot of our conversation. “Hard, but fine.” That is how Terry described his senior year to this point. He added, “The work is hard; it’s not a lot of work, it’s just...
Twenty Years Ago Hospital Park is a park no more – Grand Coulee’s city council approved the sale of the park Tuesday night to Grant County. Grand Coulee Dam is the first dam chosen in a worldwide study of the environmental effects caused by established older dams. Four months after work began on the expansion of the Safeway store in Grand Coulee, it is complete. As a very conspicuous balloon on top of the store attested to, they held a grand opening last Wednesday to celebrate. Selected as the Employee of the Year at the Colville Con...
This last week I spent three days being trained in a class called Positive Indian Parenting. To be transparent, I had some reservations going into the class, not knowing what to expect and how I could take the teachings from this class and actually apply them to what I do every day. But the big elephant in the room, or in my mind, was, “Is this even appropriate for me to take this class, being a non-native, and attempt to teach anyone at all?” My preconceived ideas were blown out of the water. My thinking was wrong. This was more than a nat...
As a kid growing up in Palouse, I loved the snow. Snow meant sledding, and we had a couple of great runs, one in town and the other on the outskirts. The one in town was from the top of North Hill that wound its way through the residential section and ended up on Main Street. It was probably a quarter mile long, and in places steep. Our parents or some of the kids would post themselves at intersections to make sure that traffic wouldn’t interfere with sledding. There was always someone who would furnish hot chocolate and a treat during the e...
With all the snow occupying our landscape, it’s hard to image spring at all. Be assured that it will arrive; in fact, March 20 will bring vernal, or spring, equinox. It’s that point in time that we have equal daytime and nighttime hours. Yes, even with the passing of equinox, it’s highly likely we’ll still have snow on the landscape. A couple of other things March will bring us – Sunday, March 10, we go through the antiquated ceremonial turning of our clocks forward one hour. Here’s hoping Wash...
Twenty Years Ago Work has begun on the expansion of Banks Lake Golf and Country Club. The Grand Coulee Dam is one of few dams which hasn’t been mentioned for removal, but according to economic consultant Bob Lonn, the disappearance of other dams in an effort to save fish populations will be damaging to the local economy. The continued slow crumbling of the hillside below Coulee Community Hospital and parallel to Fortuyn Road has forced the hand of the Grand Coulee Council to declare a city emergency. Going to state wrestling for the Raiders i...
Twenty Years Ago Last Wednesday evening a small section of the hillside just below Coulee Community Hospital fell. What it exposed was the danger the hospital is trying to avoid in moving its electric transformers away from the edge. Two fire departments attacked a house fire in Coulee Dam Thursday morning, but despite their best efforts the home of Doris Matt was burned severely. Cougar sightings continued last week, but none have been captured. All the cougars have been seen just beyond the end of Central Drive in Coulee Dam. First baby of...
Local media were notified (Feb. 21) that “By a 8-6 vote, the Colville Business Council (CBC) today approved the expulsion of CBC Andrea George.” CBC expulsions are authorized by the CBC Ethics Code and the Colville Tribal Constitution. Is the Ethics Code implemented ethically under the Law and Order Code? For instance, can a council member be expelled for promoting the passage of the Ethics Code itself? A few years ago, a tribal trial judge had already drunk the kool aid of consent-complicity by ruling to violate the Colville Tribal Law and...
I feel compelled to express my concerns to our four Nespelem District Representatives. I would like to remind our district representatives you are seated on council by a vote of the eligible Nespelem District voters; therefore, ANY decisions you make at the council table should be what the majority of our people want, not by your own personal opinions or feelings. I grew up at the old longhouse, which was very strict, “unwritten laws.” I appreciate our sacred teachings from our cherished elders of the longhouse. Our elders held our tra...
The Silicon Valley engineers who design our tech gadgets won’t let their kids anywhere near those devices, according to a shocking New York Times profile. These workers are convinced too much time in front of smartphones and iPads is rotting kids’ brains. Technology “is wreaking havoc on our children,” warned one former Facebook employee. These parents need to relax. It’s true that allowing kids to browse social media until the wee hours of the morning isn’t a good idea. But it’s also true that smartphones, iPads, and other gadgets are p...
Sometimes life throws us situations that make us feel like we are being burned alive from the inside out. A situation happens and it seems that our life has just been set ablaze, never to return to the way it was. But maybe that is just my point. If we truly are walking through the fire, then maybe we should be changed on the other side. When a wildfire rages through the area, as we have all seen and experienced, it can be scary in the beginning. A fire raging out of control, uncontained, threat...
Electric City’s proposed “buffer zone” between homes and Osborne Bay might have been an enhancement of safety for those homes back when they actually bordered the city limits, but now it would, in fact, decrease their safety. The fact is that hunting and discharging firearms in the proposed buffer zone is already illegal under city code. The buffer zone would, however, restore an earlier hunting privilege allowed on state-owned lands that were annexed into the city several years ago. Since discharging firearms within city limits is illeg...
Regarding Councilwoman George: Our council members have violated many codes. Ethics charges should be filed against those members that are the driving force, and Councilman Kheel should be released of his duties until this mess is cleared. Feel free to publish this comment. Thank you for writing the article. Kathy Ensminger...
I have been bombarded with a litany of Facebook posts, copies of letters to the editor from the Tribal Tribune and the Star newspaper, and telephone calls/texts regarding a handful of supporters of a self-proclaimed “victim” currently serving on the Colville Business Council. I have heard many concerns regarding the misinformation, untruths, and failed logic presented by these supporters, and also concerns about the authoritative tone which these untruths have been presented and the effect that may have on the average person reading these “fa...
Since 1938, we have been blessed with electricity delivered to our homes and businesses for all of our needs. Currently, we are experiencing the benefits of all of the efforts by hundreds of people that have built our Public Utility District, and I, as one, want to express my appreciation to them. Just 90 years ago we had to heat our homes with wood and use lanterns and candles for light! Today we heat our homes with renewable, cheap, electrical power from our two dams that the people of Grant County own on the Columbia River. Also, we have...
This news thing that I have been doing started for me back in 1958. I had a number of successful journalism classes behind me, and my professor, Helen Wilson, had talked Idaho Free Press managing editor Jack Scudder into interviewing me for an open position on the Nampa, Idaho five-day daily. I arrived at the appointed time and found Scudder to have a soft and pleasant voice, a kind of man that you might be encouraged to buy a bridge or small island from, if it was offered. We got along well, and he asked all about me, and I gave him honest...
Those in power are trying to steal my vote by kicking Councilwoman Andrea George off the Colville Business Council. When oppressive schemes like this are not checked, the People’s rights are at risk. The CBC’s Executive Committee used new so-called “emergency” powers on Feb. 7 to place Ms. George on paid administrative leave. The basis? They declared that she “poses an immediate risk to the health, safety, welfare of Colville Tribal members, and/or threatens to disrupt operations of the Tribal government,” according to the CBC’s news release. R...
I am outraged by the announcement of the Colville reservation roundup of 1,000 wild horses! This is a nefarious decision and constitutes a depraved betrayal of these magnificent presences. The horses are natural healers and restorers of life, but it is people who thwart their role in this capacity. I consider this decision a real sin of the most serious order, and such a hypocritical and morally slovenly judgement. It neither coincides with conscience nor factual science. I pray this wrong decision will be canceled and provision made for these...
The United States Constitution secures to the American people certain inalienable rights: · The Right to Bear Arms (2nd Amendment) · The Right to be Free from Unreasonable Searches and Seizures (4th Amendment) · The Right to not be Deprived of Life, Liberty and Property without Due Process of Law (5th Amendment) · The Right to a Speedy and Public Trial by an Impartial Jury, to be Informed of the Nature and Cause of the Accusation, to Confront Witnesses and to be Represented by Counsel (6th Amendment) to name but a few. These privileges con...
I will always remember the day the Reyes twins were born. Karrie and Levi went to visit these two in the hospital at then-Coulee Community Hospital. I took Nickel to her softball game and was on the mound pitching when I saw Rick Paris walking across the field toward me. He waved me over and told me my house was on fire. But that is another story, this one is about Cassidy and Chazz Reyes. I recently sat down with the two of them and we spoke about their final year at Lake Roosevelt. Both of them, not quite at the same time, answered the first...