Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 251 - 275 of 2119
DEARY, IDAHO-"Hey fella, you're going to the wrong side!" "...How're you doin'??" "You all done with harvest?" "Yeah. Waitin' on garbs," said the man walking past the end zone at Deary High School Sept. 4, before a football game between the Mustangs and Genesee – which now includes four starters from Colton after a co-op agreement made last spring. "You two keeping things under control tonight?" the man said to two EMTs sitting by an ambulance. "... Hopefully that's all you need to do the w...
In 1935, a five-year old boy rode in his uncle's lap in the open cockpit of a biplane over Joliet, Ill. Eighty-five years later, he did it again. Colfax resident Jeremiah Shea, 90, a retired Pan-Am and United Airlines captain, flew on a 1929 steel-tubing, cotton and lacquer-wrapped Fleet Model Two open-cockpit biplane Aug. 12, based at Hangar 180 in Lewiston. It was the same vintage and model of plane from that day in Joliet. "It was like heaven," Shea said. "Flying again in the same old...
COLTON–The cross-state addition of Colton students to the Genesee High School football team began with a 30-24 home win over Timberline Aug. 28. Quarterback Angus Jordan, a Colton sophomore, threw for a 61-yard touchdown with under a minute left to seal the game. He threw four touchdown passes on the night. Genesee trailed 18-6 at halftime. The WIAA (Washington Interscholastic Activities Association) sanctioned the merger in April, after Colton proved not to have enough players for its own e...
COLFAX—Usually held in Selah every year, the “Under the Milky Way” softball tournament moved to Colfax Aug. 29-30, running from 7 p.m. – 3:30 a.m. at McDonald Park. A total of 18 teams, made up of girls 18 & under, participated in the round-robin format, with no winner. “It was a fun little tournament, we made sure we were following all guidelines,” said Pete Koerner, tournament co-director, referring to virus protocols. “It was all for the kids. We want these girls to play.” Using the park...
COLFAX– Whitman County commissioners voted unanimously Monday to extend the marijuana moratorium for another six months, taking it to March 4, 2021. One person spoke during the meeting’s public input time; Hailey Lewis, government affairs specialist for Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in Pullman. “We remain deeply concerned about marijuana’s effects on our schools, communities, businesses and families,” she said. “We believe Whitman County should be known as a hub for innovation and agricul...
COLFAX– After eight years of funding, planning, design and a year’s delay for right-of-way and wetlands work, the $6 million Almota Road Phase Four reconstruction project moved into its final stretch of painting Aug. 28. On Monday, some clean-up painting remained and a few fences still need to be rebuilt. “For all intents and purposes, Almota Four is complete,” said Mark Storey, Public Works director. Flaggers on the newly-expanded road were expected to be done Tuesday. “It is gorgeous,...
PALOUSE—The City of Palouse will go without levies on the November ballot for arterial streets and the swimming pool, after a city hall oversight resulted in not filing by the Aug. 4 deadline. Last year, the pool levy went for $34,000, with an arterial streets levy of $44,000. Each would have been reduced for 2021, because of the early closure of the pool this summer and the city council deciding in July not to accept a bid on its Palouse Cove sidewalk project – both of which meant money wou...
Now that college football season is gone for half of the United States, representing the most significant hit to the sports world during COVID-19, it suggests – since we’re still in this – perhaps sports administrators should use part of this time to look at what has been underlined by the past six months. Sports mean something to a society. Even to non-fans, who benefit from the social element and residual effects of a nation’s shared experience. So a few things to look at, how about, with the...
TEKOA — The Tekoa café at the crest of the hill – in the building of a former implements dealer – will go out of business Friday after 19 years. The Feeding Station, owned and operated by Shawn Smith and her mother Juanita Paden since 2006, will close after much thought the past two years. “Business is down, minimum wage is up, COVID came along, it’s any number of things,” Smith said. “It’s just a lot of work.” Before the virus shutdowns, the café was down to mother and daughter and one em...
PALOUSE—Haunted Palouse will disappear for 2020, after organizers announced July 29 they will not hold the perennial fundraiser over two weekends in October because of concerns over the virus. Leaders considered options for no-contact haunted buildings, a solely outdoor event as well as a possible pay-per-view “Haunted Palouse” movie. “We could not come up with a solution that would ensure a reasonable measure of safety for our staff and visitors,” said co-chair Nicole Flansburg. “Even if...
Horses and trailers, riders and a judge gathered near Colton Aug. 20-21 for a clinic led by a traveling Florida trainer named Daniel Stewart. At the residence of Jerry and Jean Morse on Johnson Road, nine riders began last Thursday, part of 22 participants over both days. "Fine tuning how to be competitive under stress," said organizer Jana Schultheis. The group which put on the event, Paradise Creek Pony Club – begun as Palouse Hills Pony Club in 1967 includes riders from age six up to their 50...
COLFAX—Whitman County Commissioners Monday approved three expenditures of federal CARES Act money, for which the county has a total of $2.7 million for COVID-19 relief. Commissioners committed $575,000 to small-business aid to be administered by Southeast Washington Economic Development Association (SEWEDA), up to $300,000 for Community Action Center and $100,000 for Palouse River Counseling. Another disbursement is expected around the end of September as commissioners hold some of the f...
COLFAX -- Whitman County Information Technology Director Lance Bishop announced Monday that the county will get out of hosting all of its Zoom meetings. Instead, he will set up individual administrators in each department to host their own meetings. The change is being made to avoid time limitations and mix-ups in which a Zoom meeting is scheduled, with the expectation that the I.T. Department will host it, but the department has not been told about it. The time issue is that, although anyone...
OAKESDALE – On Crow Road, Friday, Aug. 14, a 40,000 pound combine and 7,000-pound header came around a corner and entered a low bridge. Partway across, the wood cracked and split and the combine's front wheels dropped toward the creek below. "We broke a bridge, beyond repair," said Mark Storey, Public Works director. On Saturday morning, a county bridge crew and commercial tow-truck freed the combine from the 1950/60s era span, known as the Trestle Creek Bridge. The crew then dismantled the b...
COLFAX—The Colfax School board voted unanimously Monday night to start school on time in full K-12 distance-learning mode, following the recommendation of the Whitman County Health Department. With the board’s decision, the local re-opening plan was posted to the district website and sent to the State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Board of Education. In the livestreamed meeting Aug. 17, each Colfax board member and Superintendent Jerry Pugh appeared in squares on...
As of 6 p.m. Monday, the vote count for county commissioners' district two primary was 1,092 for the challenger and 959 for the incumbent, with under 250 votes left to count. The challenger is Tom Handy, an independent, owner of Paradise Creek Brewery in Pullman and longtime boardmember for organizations such as the Pullman Chamber of Commerce and the Whitman County Business Development Association. He came to Pullman in 1984 with his wife, as both went to WSU to seek added degrees. They have...
WHITMAN COUNTY-Reports from harvest fields and grain elevators in Whitman County are bringing good news for winter wheat. The USDA forecasts a Washington state average of 74 bushels per acre. Whitman County represents the higher side of the median, particularly this year, it appears. "From what I understand, and what we're experiencing, it's probably a good 20-25% increase in the winter wheat crop," said Gary Bailey on Tuesday, from a tractor pulling a bankout wagon south of Ewan. "It came up...
COLFAX - After Whitman County went from the “moderate” to “high-risk” category over the weekend in the Washington State Department of Health and Governor Inslee’s guidelines to re-open schools, Whitman County commissioners talked about the state of things Monday regarding the virus. “It’s gonna be up to those who don’t subscribe to conspiracy theories that are gonna solve this for our communities,” said Michael Largent, chairman of the board of commissioners. “We don’t have to be here. We j...
COLFAX – The Port of Whitman County announced Aug. 6 a collaboration to bring a fiber internet network to new areas of Whitman County. Construction will take place in Rosalia, Tekoa, Oakesdale, Garfield and Palouse, to begin this fall in certain areas, laying lines in the ground. Ziply Fiber of Kirkland, Wash., will build the infrastructure while the Port pays a $1,280,700 indefeasible right-of-use fee (IRU), which grants the Port the right to use the system for 20 years, to sell its c...
COLFAX – The Colfax city council last week chose to join a mutual aid/joint police agreement with a list of area agencies for the aftermath in the event of a deadly-force major incident. The group will make it so the department involved does not investigate itself. “It’s essentially formalizing something we always did,” said Bruce Blood, Colfax police chief. “We want to be impartial, and this makes it much easier to gather resources.” Under the agreeement – for Garfield, Asotin and Whitman c...
COLFAX — The Colfax school board met July 27 in the boardroom and on Google Meet, approving a budget for the 2020-21 school year and taking in a report from Superintendent Jerry Pugh on plans for re-opening to students in September. The budget consists of $8,472,614 in the general fund, $3,339,775 for capital projects, $1,159,675 for debt service, $265,130 for Associated Student Body fund and $150,000 in the transportation vehicle fund. “Our concern is, depending on what the state does and the...
COLFAX - She started as a carrier and a clerk. A month short of 31 years later, Teri Calhoun has retired from the U.S. Postal Service as postmaster in Colfax. "I loved to carry the mail," said Calhoun, who worked locally for the past eight years, finishing July 31. "I was just cold." It was truly the reason she got into administration, her Post Office career spent in Toppenish, Moscow, Lewiston, Troy and Colfax. "You make people happy," she said. "Generally, they are glad to see you....
PULLMAN – Last week on Estes Road and Beeson Cut-Off Road, commuter routes from Viola to Pullman, County Public Works crews field-tested a new road surface product. The not-yet-available item comes from Enviro-Tech of Greeley, Colo., with a distributor in Post Falls. A Public Works crew last Tuesday and Wednesday, July 28-29, watered a half-mile stretch of the two roads, and once saturated, tore up the surface with a road grader and added the not-yet-named treatment material, mixing it into t...
COLFAX – Construction on Almota Road has advanced to the paving stage. Mark Storey, Whitman County Public Works director, told county commissioners Monday that paving may start as early as next week. He also noted a first re-imbursement on the project from the federal highway department had come in for $900,000. “The project is basically a gravel road at this time,” said Dean Cornelison, assistant county engineer. Crews from Poe Asphalt of Pullman – subcontractor of M.A. DeAtley – will cond...
COLFAX--Kari Largent, born and raised in Colfax, a farm girl from 17 miles south of town, was named Distinguished Young Woman of Washington Saturday. The daughter of Gary and Lisa Largent, she won a $3,500 cash scholarship with her title, along with a $500 overall scholarship award and $200 awards each in talent, self-expression and interview. "State DYW was an amazing, although unconventional, experience," Largent said. "I had the opportunity to meet other young women my age and develop new...
