Newsbriefs

American flags available

The Grand Coulee Dam area American Legion Post has free 3-by-5-foot American flags and a few 4-by-6-foot flags. You can stop by during the Post’s Saturday garage sale in Electric City and get a flag.

County bans

fireworks

The Okanogan County Commissioners signed resolution 51-2016 on June 27, implementing a county-wide ban on fireworks due to hazardous fire conditions.

Deadline on consolidation survey coming

A survey on local feelings on merging the four local towns, or parts of them, will wrap up next Tuesday, July 5.

The survey was mailed to every local address and is also available online at surveymonkey.com/r/

gcdaconsolidation.

The short questionnaire asks about people’s feelings on the subject, not whether it should be done. Answering that question would require more information, but a study to gather facts would cost money. The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce sponsored the survey to find out if people want to see the idea pursued.

Old school area has AC

problems

The school board approved a request by the administration to have an engineering study done on air conditioning problems in the old high school administration wing. The cost of the engineering study will be $5,880, and it will reveal what has to be done to correct the problem.

Fireworks

caused

wildfires

State Fire Marshal Charles M. Duffy said this week that in 2015 there were 240 fires caused by fireworks in Washington state. Wildland and vegetation fires accounted for 193, or 80 percent of all fireworks caused fires, resulting in $12,555 of loss and damages.

Don’t flip

that butt

The Washington State Patrol is watching for cigarettes flipped from windows, and it’s a $1,025 infraction.

As conditions continue to dry out in the region, the danger of fires caused by individuals discarding lit tobacco products from their vehicles increases. One careless action can quickly turn into a major fire.

It is a class-1 civil infraction under state law for a person to discard potentially-dangerous litter in any amount.

Early deadline

The Star office will be closed Monday in observance of the Fourth of July. All ads and news copy for the July 6 issue should be submitted by Friday, July 1, 5 p.m.