News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Observers sense American discontent with a rapidly changing world. A recently cited indicator is a suddenly popular song called “Rich Men North of Richmond.” Citizens seeking public office need to be wealthy or sell their allegiance to wealthy benefactors. Government has become confusing, with our national government and our state governments making an array of conflicting laws and an endless stream of court decisions and reversals that deliver uncertainty. Opinion polls indicate substantial pessimism regarding our rancid political env...
For a lot of years, I have enjoyed how my family has grown. It started and flourished for a time with my four kids, two boys and two girls. It is always true that as parents we have notions on what our kids might become. Toss that idea; kids are going to make their own choices, and sometimes stumble along the way. If you are honest and clear your mind, you likely will remember a few times you stubbed your toes along the way. As parents, we have the unique ability to make adjustments and start over again. Sometimes it takes a lot of adjusting....
As usual, there was too much cross-talk and chaos on stage. And there was way too much partisan cheering and hooting by the audience. But the first Republican presidential primary debate on Fox News was an entertaining spectacle. Instead of watching Tucker Carlson interview Donald Trump on Twitter/X, it was a good way to check out the personalities and political positions of the GOP’s lineup of second and third stringers who have the impossible dream of beating out Trump for the party’s 2024 nomination. No one jumped off the screen and loo...
The Community of Spring Canyon Cemetery was dedicated on March 30 ,1959, has 2,200-plus residents, 4.5 acres of grass, a park manager, council. The cemetery is privately owned by the Grand Coulee Dam Area Lions, but gets no state of federal money to operate. Like many other communities, Spring Canyon Cemetery board members are few and are aging and unable to do several of the tasks that are needed to keep up the cemetery in tip top shape. Yes, we have a grounds keeper like the other cities in the area, but the residents need help keeping their...
While I took a small container of Montana sapphires to Thailand to see if there was a market for them, I also took a special sapphire with me. A sapphire fit for a king. It started with a knock on my door in Bothell. It was Will Chausee, a friend and the owner of the sapphire mine in Montana. He was excited and wanted to show me a special sapphire he found at his mine. He had shaped it and polished it. It had an image of a pagoda in the center of it. It’s fit for a king, Chausee noted. Chausee had been in touch with the Thai ambassador to t...
1 years ago Front page photo shows a crane lowering the cap into place on the elementary school portion of the new K through 12 school building project on Monday. Brazen thieves made off with Banks Lake Pub’s 500-gallon propane tank sometime during the night on August 19. Staff arrived in the morning and when they tried to get the kitchen ready for business, no propane. Electric City has received its $985,715 landfill closure check from Grand Coulee. The fund check covers the 30-year cost for the closure of the Delano Landfill. Electric C...
1 years ago Front page photo shows a crane lowering the cap into place on the elementary school portion of the new K through 12 school building project on Monday. Brazen thieves made off with Banks Lake Pub’s 500-gallon propane tank sometime during the night on August 19. Staff arrived in the morning and when they tried to get the kitchen ready for business, no propane. Electric City has received its $985,715 landfill closure check from Grand Coulee. The fund check covers the 30-year cost for the closure of the Delano Landfill. Electric C...
You may or may not know, but I started my culinary career on Maui. I went to culinary school and the Maui Culinary Academy, worked in restaurants and as a private chef across the entire island. I spent nearly five years on the beautiful island, and it will always be my home away from home. If my family weren’t here in the Coulee, I would probably still live on Maui. I love Maui. My heart is broken by the destruction that Maui has faced. Currently, Maui is struggling. Beginning last Tuesday, a series of wildfires attacked and wiped out homes, b...
Four towns and/or cities, but the largest community in the area needs some help! The Community of Spring Canyon Cemetery was dedicated on March 30 ,1959, has 2,200-plus residents, 4.5 acres of grass, a park manager, council. The cemetery is privately owned by the Grand Coulee Dam Area Lions, but gets no state of federal money to operate. Like many other communities, Spring Canyon Cemetery board members are few and are aging and unable to do several of the tasks that are needed to keep up the cemetery in tip top shape. Yes, we have a grounds... Full story
Happy Humphrey was a professional wrestler. He stood out because he weighed over 600 pounds. Happy came to Boise near the twilight of his career, and the place where he wrestled had to be reinforced due to his weight. The wrestling promoter had tried to convince me that I should cover pro wrestling. I told the promoter that I would cover Happy’s match if he would let me interview him before the match. Happy wore britches and a huge shirt, and he resembled a rodeo clown. He was huge. I challenged him and said I didn’t think he weighed over 600...
1 years ago Local bowlers recently brought home the cash during the 2013 Washington state women’s bowling tournament in Anacortes. Mae Stensgar and Candy Weed-Butts took first in doubles, their team Riverview Lanes II, which also included Sherry Potts and Jennifer Miller took seventh. Candy also took 26th in singles and 3rd in all events. Coulee Dam’s wastewater treatment project is apparently dead at least for now. The town’s plan to build a $4.92 million plant was derailed by objections from town residents and the council’s decision to go f...
I love this Coulee…the scenery, the climate, the people. It will be my home until I leave this earth. I started running in the Coulee nearly 25 years ago. The Coulee has a way of reaching into your soul to bring peace and calm. Run The Dam (formerly The Over The Dam Run) became my baby in 2016. I wanted to share the unique course and beauty of the Coulee with the whole world. Run The Dam, now a nonprofit organization, has a mission to provide healthy outdoor activity in the Coulee. The annual event, always the third weekend of September, now b...
Quite a few years ago my friend, Will Chaussee, asked me to take some time during my trip to Thailand to see if there might be any Thai interest in purchasing sapphires from his mine in Montana. Will had a cedar lumber company in Bothell and sold out his interest in it to spend full time mining sapphires. The mine was halfway between Hamilton and Philipsburg, Montana on mountain road 38. We were invited several years in a row to vacation at the mine. There was good fishing in a creek running nearby, and, of course, the promise of sapphires....
1 years ago The regional board of mayors is finding out that it’s operating agreement is a poor way to run a railroad facing emergency repairs at the Delano transfer site. A month ago the mayors put a hold on the single bid they received to do the work hoping to get more bids. This time around park commissioners Monday night barely passed a motion to allow the Chamber of Commerce to hold another beer garden event at the North Dam Park next month. Commissioners expressed frustration with learning of the planed event in the newspaper before g...
The ground has shifted beneath community journalism, and the new landscape has a different feel. These days, good cameras in almost everyone’s pocket and the emergence of social media turns the possibilities around from what existed even a decade ago, and that is both good and bad. Last week, The Star reported on the funding found for Elmer City’s new fire engine storage facility. Part of the information for that story came from a couple sources that would have been impossible a few years ago. A group of volunteers called Okanogan County Wat...
As many struggle to make ends meet because of inflation and our state having the most expensive gas in the nation, the last thing they want is to pay a big new tax. Yet, that is exactly what Washington workers now face. A payroll tax, which went into effect on July 1, is being taken out of most employees' paychecks. This tax is currently equal to $58 annually for every $10,000 in pay. It supports a government-run long-term care program called WA Cares, created by majority Democrats in the...
Last week I came across a number of old letters written to me from my three older brothers who served in various theaters of war during World War II. They were written in the 1940s, some nearly 80 years ago. The question I am facing is, do I toss them or hang on to them? So, I settled in for a trip down memory lane and decided to re-read them. My three brothers were Richard, who was drafted and served in the army; David, who was drafted and served in the air force; and Robert, who volunteered in the navy when he was 17. I have several letters f...
1 years ago Challenger Greg Wilder garnered 67% of the primary vote ending Tuesday night to place himself solidly in the general election race against Coulee Dam mayor Quincy Snow. The school board we’ll meet tonight in an informal setting with members getting a look at how the districts energy grant was spent and then given a walkthrough of the new K through 12 school site. The San Poil, the new Keller ferry will be christened in a special ceremony August 14th at the south shore terminal. The $12-million, 20 car ferry was built in pieces b...
For the past decade, the media has been obsessed with the idea of a growing divide between rural and urban areas, often portraying it as a deep chaasm separating the nation’s citizens. A recent example of this coverage took it a step further. Not only are we portrayed as divided, but there are now suggestions that we should make it official through a divorce. Case in point: the Greater Idaho Movement, an effort by its supporters in eastern (rural) Oregon to secede from Oregon and join Idaho. The grounds for the divorce? The rural-urban politica...
No better example exists of congressional Republican degeneration than comparison of Liz Cheney with Harriet Hageman, who trounced Cheney in the 2022 Wyoming Republican Primary by more than 30 points. Cheney occupied the third-highest position in House Republican leadership before being ostracized by Republicans for becoming the rare congressional Republican to stand up to former President Donald Trump. Cheney should be the No. 1 Hero of anyone who wants to save our badly threatened democracy, whatever one’s political stripes. In contrast, H...
Ten years ago The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board passed it’s budget Monday night after a public hearing on the matter. No one showed up to question the $9.5 million budget. The Colville tribes has announced plans to construct a casino on property purchased four years ago along SR97 South of the Rodeo Trail Road near Omak. Tribal officials had announced that the cost will be a $24 million project for the 58 square foot facility. The building that had housed the headquarters of the Colville tribes for decades burned down early Monday n...
Everyone knows Scott. In fact, he might be the best known man in our coulee towns. He owns The Star newspaper, and you might say he is The Star newspaper. You would have to have Gwen Hilson to take a bow. She has worked there for over 35 years and knows as much about individuals in town as anyone. Most people know Scott from covering serious and joyous events over a lot of years. He gets called out from sleep when anything serious happens, camera in hand. You want to know about things, just wait until Wednesday and you can read about it in The...
We are all different. If we were not, it would be impossible to recognize people we know, including our close friends and relatives. Sometimes we don’t like people who are different, whose beliefs differ from ours, or whose behavior we find objectionable. But we can tolerate people we don’t especially like, and we need to encourage tolerance. Nine countries have nuclear weapons, and additional countries are striving to acquire nuclear arsenals. We humans have the technical skills to destroy ourselves. Whether we have the political skills to...
I recently returned to Palouse to say goodbye to my final classmate. Bob Olson and I were born in 1930, at the beginning of the Great Depression. We entered the first grade together in 1936, midway through some very hard times. In fact, 15 of our graduation class of 24 in 1948 entered the first grade together. Bob had requested that there not be a funeral service, so his younger brother Arvid chose a graveside event for those who would come. So Bob had been a friend for 87 years. That’s a long friendship. We were casual friends for many of t...
Heat-related deaths are one of the deadliest weather-related health outcomes in the United States. WHAT IS HEAT- RELATED ILLNESS? Heat-related illness, also called hyperthermia, is a condition resulting from exposure to extreme heat where the body becomes unable to prop- erly cool, resulting in a rapid rise in body temperature. The evaporation of sweat is the normal way to remove body heat, but, when the humidity is high, sweat does not evaporate as quickly. This, in turn, prevents the body from releasing heat quickly. Prompt treatment of...