News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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According to the Yakima Herald Republic’s special series, “The Vanished:” A report from the National Institute of Justice found that more than four out of five Native American women have experienced violence in their lives. In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control reported that homicide is the third leading cause of death among Native American women between the ages of 10 and 24. The Department of Justice has reported Native American women are 10 times more likely to be murdered than other Americans. The murder and abduction of indig...
I am putting together the history of the Colorama/Western Festival/Festival of Lights since the beginning. I have a rodeo picture as far back as 1952. The rodeo had been held in Pleasant Valley, down by the now-Credit Union, and maybe a couple other places before moving to the present location in Delano. During the Western Festival, most of the events were held in the Coulee Dam area, and in later years expanded to Grand Coulee. I need any history you might have in your garage or closet, etc. I would most like pictures of the early queens,...
The Major League Baseball season is upon us. The game is looking less like the “National Pastime” each year. I remember when every little town or city had its own baseball team. There was no talk then of major changes to the game’s rules. The truth is that the sport has lost a lot of its fan base. Rule changes proposed and made won’t bring them back. Sports fans have changed, and I fear they have left baseball behind. Fans now like tougher sport action, the kind that leaves a targeted quarterback or receiver on the field and hauled off on a st...
Spring break will be half over by the time you read this. The kids are running loose in neighborhoods everywhere, and staff from every school is resting up for the final leg of this school year. Usually during the break, Karrie and I are chaperoning kids somewhere in the state. But this year we stayed home and were blessed by our hometown and others. I had a plan for Monday: Be at Les Schwab when it opens to get the tires changed. That was my plan and my timing. It did not turn out the way I...
Twenty Years Ago The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a Y2K forum Tuesday night to address local concerns about the millennium bug that could infect computers January 1, 2000. Wright Elementary students Brieanna Clark, Courtney Kennedy, Andrea Schumaker, Leah Philmon, Amanda VanGeystel and Emily Rehn raised over $110 for their school in their crusade for new playground equipment. Thirty Years Ago Grand Coulee’s pilot well near Crescent Lake hit an aquifer 61 feet below the ground Feb. 7, giving rise to hopes that engineers p...
Medicare faces numerous threats in 2019. It’s time for lawmakers and healthcare advocates to attack these challenges head-on. One threat stems from the Trump administration, which has suggested weakening the so-called protected classes provision in Medicare “Part D.” Medicare’s Part D drug benefit has enabled seniors to purchase subsidized prescription coverage from private insurers. Part D regulations require every plan to cover all medications in six protected classes of therapies, including anticonvulsants, antidepressants, antineo...
After nearly two years, 2,800 subpoenas, 500 search warrants, and 500 witness interviews, we now know that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation “did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.” The Department of Justice made clear that the special counsel’s report includes no new indictments or sealed indictments. After this thorough investigation, President Trump has been cleared of a charge that has divided the nat...
Every second of every day we make choices. Do I get up at 5 a.m. or hit snooze? Do I eat Lucky Charms for breakfast or oatmeal? Do I wear a blue shirt or a red shirt today? Every choice we make determines a direction. Some are less serious than others, but there are decisions that have much bigger consequences. Bigger still, some have life consequences that can set you down rough roads in life. The choices we make not only determine things in our lives, but others are affected as well....
Twenty Years Ago The Electric City Town Council last night turned down a request from Rose and Andy Bise to operate a car detailing business out of their soon-to-be home. Grand Coulee Dam Area Junior Miss Brita Montes heads to Pullman Jan. 17 where she will participate in the state Junior Miss competition. The GCD Area Chamber of Commerce will conduct its annual installation banquet on Jan. 15. Five eighth graders came to the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce meeting last Thursday to present their design ideas for flood-proof housing....
Before it’s too late, a word of thanks needs to be said for those who plow snow. This was a tough winter, but local roads remained remarkably open after initial attacks were completed, allowing drivers to travel intact. That’s no small thing, and we should be thankful in the coulee for roads well plowed by folks who most of the time got up early to get ready for our morning commutes. Scott Hunter editor and publisher...
This is such good news. In the past I shopped at the Variety Store regularly. I was usually able to find what I needed, whether it be underwear, socks, belts, T-shirts, kids’ toys, candles, postcards, spices, snacks, pet toys, rugs, kitchen gadgets, etc. So this is wonderful, and I look forward to the opening. Thank you, Launi Ritter! Valerie Keck...
This is about two politicians, both in their 90s, one who passed away last week and the other still going strong. Former U.S. Senator Birch Bayh, 91, passed away last Thursday. He served Indiana and the nation well during his time in the Senate, and is perhaps best known for shepherding Title IX to its success; anyway, that’s what he has said was his greatest achievement. I first met Sen. Bayh at the annual Democratic dinner in Seattle. Senators Henry Jackson and Warren Magnuson had sent me tickets to the dinner, and a host of Democrats from a...
Today I stood with my face pointed to the sun. Warmth of the rays covered my face and a smile crept upon my lips. A vague memory flickered in my skull. A memory that seems to have happened a long, long time ago. Yes, this is the sun and this is what spring feels like. It is finally here. I almost say those words with my tongue in my cheek, just in case a snow flurry comes down and blankets us again just to spite me. The roads are clear, I see grass in my yard again, and robins are everywhere. I...
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...