Newsbriefs

Playhouse is winnable

You could win the kid’s playhouse parked in front of Loepps Furniture. All you have to do is purchase a ticket inside the store for a drawing to be held sometime during the Junior Rodeo scheduled for the Ridge Rider rodeo grounds, July 18,19. Tickets are $1 each. The playhouse was built and donated by DWK Fowler Construction.

School enrollment noted

Enrollment for Grand Coulee Dam District schools was 696 for the month of May. That compares to 663 for the same month the previous year. May’s total this year is 36 above the budget estimate.

County GOPs applaud tax stance

At their May meeting, the Okanogan County Republican Central Committee voted to commend their legislators (Senators Linda Evans Parlette and Brian Dansel; and Representatives Joel Kretz, Shelly Short, Cary Condotta, and Brad Hawkins) for standing firm against proposals for excessive new state taxes. Noting the improving state revenue forecast, the motion applauded the local legislators for “working hard to craft an operating budget within existing revenues,” Chair Kit Arbuckle said in a press release.

Sheriff spells out texting stats

Douglas County Sheriff Harvey Gjesdal told Bridgeport high school seniors Friday that statistics show that 23 percent of all collisions involve the use of cellular phones.

That means nationally, he stated, that 1.3 million crashes could have been avoided.

It takes an average of five seconds to complete a text message, he said. And in that length of time a vehicle could travel the length of a football field.

Drivers are 23 times more likely to get involved in a collision if they are using their cell phones while driving.

Changing rodeo plans

A previously scheduled ranch rodeo won’t happen this month, but a barrel racing contest will, Ridge Riders President George Kohout told chamber of commerce members Thursday.

Kohout said the sanctioned barrel race would take place both Friday and Saturday June 26-27. “And it sounds like we’ll have quite a few barrel racers,” he said.

The ranch rodeo was cancelled “due to the availability of stock and the increased price,” he said.