Newsbriefs

Volunteers

answer

fire and

ambulance calls

Grand Coulee’s volunteer fire department had three fire calls in June and 34 ambulance calls, Chief Richard Paris reported to the council last Tuesday night. Six of the calls for ambulance service were from Coulee Dam. The fire calls included one vehicle fire and one structure fire.

Help for

housing

for veterans

Veterans needing housing assistance can attend a meeting Aug. 9, beginning at 6:30 p.m., at the Zion Lutheran Church, 348 Mead In Grand Coulee. John Tamngin, a Housing & Urban Development - Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing coordinator will help homeless veterans and their families find and sustain permanent housing.

Report:

Mill to reopen

The Tribal Tribune reported Monday that an Omak lumber mill that once employed about 130 people is being considered for reopening. The paper reported the Colville Business Council on Thursday had allocated $2 million for a stake in the reopened venture.

The Colville Indian Precision Pine mill, first chartered by the Colville Tribes in 1985, closed in 2010, the Tribune reported.

Child killed, five adults

hurt in

Ephrata

collision

An 8-year-old girl was killed and five persons injured due to a violent two-vehicle collision in Ephrata on Wednesday evening, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office reported.

Around 5:45 p.m., Ephrata Police were called for a possible vehicle prowl in progress on Nob Hill Drive Northeast in Ephrata. Before police could arrive, the suspect vehicle, a 1998 Dodge Durango with three persons inside, fled the scene at high speed. The Durango traveled south on D Street Northeast and failed to stop at the stop sign at Division Avenue East. The Durango collided in the intersection with a 1980 Chevrolet LUV pickup traveling west on Division.

Audrey Grubb, 8. of Ephrata, was a passenger in the pickup. She suffered multiple injuries and died at Columbia Basin Hospital in Ephrata.

The driver of the pickup sustained serious injuries and was admitted to Samaritan Healthcare in Moses Lake. Another passenger was critically injured and was flown to Providence-Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane.

The driver of the Durango, Neil McLeod, 36, of Ephrata, was arrested by police and taken to Samaritan Healthcare. He is now facing charges of DUI-drugs,

vehicular homicide and vehicular assault.