Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 1151 - 1175 of 2119
Garfield's 90-day notice to hire a Level II Operator for its wastewater treatment plant ends July 13. Soon after, the state Department of Ecology is expected to evaluate the situation. “I imagine there will be some flexibility in there,” said DOE spokesperson Brooke Beeler. “That week or the following, we'll do some follow-up with them.” Ellie Key is the DOE permit panager for the Garfield plant. She and Diana Washington, water quality section supervisor, eastern region, appeared before the Gar...
The fourth year of the revitalized Old Mill Days will kick off in Oakesdale Friday night. Added events to the formerly one-day celebration now make it two, with 6 p.m. bingo and pulled pork sandwiches Friday at the McCoy Valley Museum, followed by the opening of the beer and wine garden at the town shop from 7 to 10 p.m. The expanded schedule also includes a triathlon for adults, a softball game, egg toss, music and more. Acts playing Saturday evening include Blue Highway and the Intentions. Sat...
Three of the late John Druffel’s daughters in the 1975 Johnson parade; Linda (driving), Paula and Anita. At top is their younger brother Dan as the cuckoo in a clock, and their late mother Frances. The blended family of John and Alma Druffel pose as the Smurfs in 1985. Note the lack of people in the background. Well before this picture was taken in 2008, the Johnson parade was a perennial attraction. Photos courtesy of John Druffel It has thousands of spectators and more than a hundred participa...
Whitman County Commissioners Monday approved the seeking of engineer's opinion of whether or not to reduce speed limits on a section of the Old Moscow Road. The two-mile stretch in question runs from milepost 3.24 to 5.24 at the intersection of Brown Road, a mile-and-a-half from the Idaho state line. A resident contacted County Public Works Director Mark Storey to ask about cutting the 50-mph speed limit. Storey will issue an engineer's report to the commissioners within a month. “The residents...
He turned his head, and threw it straight. Just before two-time MVP Steph Curry flung his mouthguard late in Game 6 of the NBA Finals last week, he turned his head, pushed off his back foot and threw. He hit a man in a blue shirt, at the sideline, amidst a swath of black about 10 feet away. Curry, ejected after swearing repeatedly at the ref and being pulled away by teammates, then went to apologize to the fan, walking away smiling. Afterward, Curry said he aimed for the scorer's table, and...
Chip-sealing season is underway in Whitman County. The first of 12 projects started Monday on Garfield-Farmington Road, where a country crew will seal-coat six miles of road north from Highway 27 to near Ryde Road. They are expected to be finished this week. Next will be a three-mile stretch of Johnson Road at the Pullman city limits to Gimlin Road. Another span of Johnson Road will also be treated, running south for four miles to the Colton city limits. Chip-sealing is the application of...
The Palouse solar panel project took another step last week when the city council authorized Mayor Michael Echanove to apply for financing of up to $140,000. At the council meeting June 14, Clerk/Treasurer Mike Bagott reported he has researched options and noted the state treasurer's LOCAL (Local Option Capital Asset Lending) program offers the best terms. The loan would be paired with a $277,000 grant secured by Apollo Solutions of Spokane from the Washington Department of Enterprise Services....
The West Whitman Street project in Palouse may still be completed this summer. Palouse city engineer Munir Daud appeared at a city council meeting June 14, to report on the project, which would include replacing a 550-foot section of street and railroad tracks, along with new drainage, sidewalks, curbs, gutters and lighting. The project now awaits final engineering designs from the Washington State Department of Transportation and its engineer, H.D.R. Engineering of Spokane. “Hopefully we go o...
The lights are coming back to Colton on Friday nights in the fall. Colton superintendent Nate Smith and the school board decided to put up new lights after two seasons of afternoon football games due to faulty lights. The project comes after lights were cut from plans for the school remodeling, which was completed last summer. The remodel included electrical conduit laid under the new parking lot for if and when new lights were put in. The estimated $155,902 project will be done by Musco Sports...
The 88th annual Slippery Gulch Days is underway in Tekoa with culminating events Friday and Saturday. The celebration will feature a fun run, class reunions, 3-on-3 basketball tournament, dancing to live bands, fishing derby, parade, softball game, musical show in the Empire Theatre, ever-expanding egg toss, kids games in the park and fireworks Saturday night. The theme is “Back to the '60s” with the grand parade at 11 a.m. Saturday. The Slippery Gulch egg toss immediately follows in which pai...
Cory Sowell of Texas lines up a shot last Saturday at a stop along the “Course of Fire” at Blue Ridge Ranch. A new event in a new sport took place June 4 near Benge. Blue Ridge Ranch, a stretch of land in the Cow Creek-Cherana Basin, held its first Northwest Precision Rifle League Shoot. The day-long contest featured competitors shooting at targets from distances of 350 yards to 1,200. “It's a huge sport that few people know about,” said Jason Cronk of Blue Ridge Ranch. “It's not a spectator...
The sight of heavy equipment advancing on the Colfax track complex should come to pass in July, if all goes according to plan. Over the past two weeks, in a series of phone calls and meetings, School District Superintendent Jerry Pugh has zeroed in on an estimate by Beynon Sports Surfaces to install a new track, with local subcontractors Palouse River Rock of Colfax and Motley-Motley of Pullman. The price would come without a formal bid process because Beynon is part of the King County...
On his first day on the job, he had to locate the Colfax schools' pig scale and take it to a property to weigh a student's pig. He had no pickup and the scale could not be found. It turned out Roxanna Scholz, an FFA student's mother, had the scale and she offered Brian Long her diesel pickup – after just meeting him – and he drove it to the Robinsons' place north of Colfax to weigh the animal. Now, 13 years later, Brian Long is leaving the district and its FFA program of 90 students for a new...
The city of Palouse will be without a gas station for two months this summer as Busch Distributors is set to revamp the Palouse location on the south end of Main Street. The cardreader station on Main Street – with no attendants – will be demolished after the Fourth of July and replaced with a new tank, new gas pumps, a new island and two new types of fuel for sale. “We need to update the facility so we can offer fuel there for the long term,” said Eric Busch, General Manager of Busch Distrib...
Entry for the 12th annual Hot Rod gathering in Palouse has been cut by eight years. Dropping the category from pre-1973 models to pre-1965 for the second year, Saturday's show reaches its original goal. The field initially was extended to allow for more cars and pay for bands. “Now, we don't have to,” said Marc Van Harn, founder and lead organizer of the event which has reached maximum capacity the past four years. Between 135 and 150 vehicles are expected to pack two blocks of Palouse's Mai...
The Champions: Coach Pat Doumit, assistant Justin Erwin, Cameron Bean, Peter Schultheis, Carter Dahmen, Brady Chadwick, Grant Kinzer, Reece Chadwick, assistant Taylor Spence, Nick Schultheis, Luke Vining, Matt Wolf, Tom Wolf, Brady Stout and Parker Druffel. Colton junior Daylinn Smith bats in the state semifinals against Almira/Coulee/Hartline. Colton beat Pomeroy 14-6 to take its seventh state 1B softball championship in eight years. Is it Gainesville, is it Green Bay, is it Boston, is it...
Colton outlasted Touchet 3-1 to make it to a state seeding game in Medical Lake last Saturday but they never played it. After a lightning and rain delay for the previous game, WIAA officials called off the pending afternoon contest and arranged a coin flip to decide the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds for the eight-team state bracket. Wildcats’ coach Brad Nilson lost the coin toss. Colton, in turn, enters the state tournament in Yakima with a No. 2 seed, to play Rainier Christian at 1 p.m. Friday. Also ma...
For the fifth time in nine years, Pat Doumit will give his baseball team a directive at a hotel in late May. “The activity is, be responsible around the hotel,” the Colton coach said of the ritual of waiting for a 4 p.m. first pitch in the 1B state championship game. It’s a day that also consists of lunch and watching part of the 2B championship before the Wildcats’ pre-game routine begins. At Wheeler Field in Centralia, Colton will face Evergreen Lutheran for the title, two years after winning...
A contract may be within a week of being set for the new Colfax School District track. As summer nears, following the rejection of the lone bid it received for the resurfacing and other work, the district now seeks a contract agreement with Beynon Sports Surfaces, naming Palouse River Rock of Colfax and Motley and Motley as subcontractors. Beynon, an international company, is on the roster of the King County Directors' Association (KCDA) – like a small works roster for statewide members of t...
A matter of public records requests has arisen again in Palouse after the resignation of City Clerk/ Treasurer Mike Bagott after 16 months on the job. An end date has not been set. “Tentatively, probably around the end of July,” Bagott said. “I want to do my best to not leave the city in a bad spot.” At issue is the high number of public records requests, coming by e-mail, a practice which has evolved since the Public Disclosure Act of 1972 – renamed the Public Records Act in 2006. In response...
The second of two public meetings last week on the John Wayne Trail drew several State Parks representatives to Ritzville, including Don Hoch, Director of the State Parks system. In remarks afterward, he talked about the John Wayne Iron Horse Trail process underway and what he sees coming for the conclusion July 21 in Clarkston. “I think it’s great, it’s going good,” he said. “We want to be transparent. We all recognize where the big issues are.” Matters at hand include how to maintain th...
Kendyl Druffel throws out a runner against Curlew. At top, pitcher Emma Schultheis throws in a 10-0 shutout. At left, junior second baseman The Colton infield converges; MaryAnn Jacobs, Emma Schultheis, Jordan Moehrle, Kendyl Druffel and Rachel Meyer. It was a test of discipline. Don’t swing at high and/or wide pitches and you may draw enough walks to score 10 runs off two hits. Colton did just that last Saturday at Medical Lake in the Southeast 1B District 7/9 tournament against Curlew. O...
A 7-2 seeding game loss to Republic nonetheless sends Colton to the state quarterfinals Saturday for a showdown against Liberty Christian. The two teams will meet in Walla Walla in Washington's 1B final-eight round for the third time in three years. Colton swept their league foe in the regular season. Playing at University High in Spokane last weekend, the Wildcats trailed 7-0 to Republic before scoring two runs, off of a wild pitch and an RBI-groundout from Matt Wolf. Luke Vining led Colton...
Garrison Keillor warms up the crowd singing a few verses of a hymn before the two-hour broadcast. A parade of English majors, Elvin Bishop, a veterinary urologist, mordant salutes to Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan and a mandolin player who used to live in Colton highlighted the Spokane performance of “A Prairie Home Companion,” billed as part of Garrison Keillor’s last year hosting the public radio show he started in 1974. The Saturday afternoon live broadcast began after Keillor stepped out from a...
A small field of solar panels are set to power a water pump in Palouse by this fall after a $277,000 grant was awarded by the state. The money comes from the Washington Department of Enterprise Services. “Energy efficiency,” said Palouse mayor Michael Echanove. “That’s kind of the big picture on this.” The solar farm – to be made of up 2.5x5-foot non-tracking panels – is expected to save the town $8,000 per year in electricity costs. Apollo Solutions of Spokane is the contractor on the projec...
