Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 501 - 525 of 2119
The city of Palouse may take on the redevelopment of its Brownfields environmental cleanup site. Mayor Michael Echanove made a pitch at the May 14 city council meeting. The city advertised for requests for proposals in 2018 and expanded the scope in 2019 for the approximately 100x200-foot long riverfront site, which was a former welding shop, gas station and fuel storage facility, torn down in 2012. Another building on the site was dismantled. The city received no proposals in its initial...
John Jaeger, who resigned last October after 11 years in office as Tekoa's mayor, filed to run for city council. He will vie for position no. 3, held by Bethany Fletcher, who also filed for election to the nonpartisan office. Fletcher was appointed last fall to fill the seat of Jason Fletcher, who resigned. Jaeger was elected to his third term as Tekoa mayor in 2016 and was never opposed. He previously served on the town council for one year. After Jaeger's resignation as mayor, Councilman Troy...
Whitman County commissioners took in an update Monday from Mark Storey, Public Works director, on a stalled resolution involving a fence damaged during the snows of February and early March. On both sides of Belsby Road, at the northwest edge of the county, approximately 8,200 feet of fence was hit by snow thrown from plows along county right-of-way ground. On that stretch, north of Rock Lake, front-end loaders were used on drifts to scoop and dump snow to the side of the road. Right-of-way...
He takes the eighth-graders every year, whether they will play or not. “So they know how to act when it’s their turn,” said Brad Nilson, Colton softball coach, whose 2019 team opens at state in Yakima Friday at 1 p.m. against Wishkah Valley. The Colton bus was set to leave Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. to arrive in Yakima to eat lunch, check into the hotel and hold a practice before Nilson goes to the coaches’ meeting that night. The team is led by five seniors: Emily Schultheis, Jordyn Moehrle,...
The Colton High School baseball team beat Quilcene 9-0 May 18 to advance to play Odessa in a state 1B semifinal, a team they beat 15-10 May 7 in the district playoffs. This time, with a berth in the championship game on the line in Chehalis, Colton lost 12-2, ending the Wildcats’ season. Odessa advances to the championship to play Almira/Coulee/Hartline which beat Colton 6-5 in a state seeding game last week. In the other semifinal, ACH took out Sunnyside Christian 4-0. Earlier in the day, in th...
Garfield’s annual May Day celebration returns Saturday, beginning with breakfast from the Boy Scouts and Awana youth group at the Garfield/Palouse Middle School cafeteria, followed by a “Color Explosion” fun run put on by Garfield Parks & Recreation, from 8 to 10 a.m. At 10:15, the lineup begins for the parade, with a start time of 11 a.m. The kiddie parade starts at 10:45 a.m. Winners for top three costumes will be announced right afterwards. The Garfield city park will be set-up for activ...
The verdict is in from the land-use examiner on the conditional use permit request for the Dusty grain storage pads project. Land-use hearing examiner Andy Kottkamp delivered his decision May 8 in a 12-page document approving the application by the McCoy Land Company/PNW (Pacific Northwest Farmers Co-operative). The project includes four grain piles, truck scales, utilities and small office space, with an access road off State Route 127, just south of Dusty. The height of the piles would be 65...
A new veterinary clinic is set to open in Colfax in June. Moscow-based Affordable Veterinary Care will offer a satellite branch with hours announced as Mondays, Thursdays and the second Saturday of each month. The clinic will be run by Dr. Erin McGillic, a Colfax resident, assisted by Alicia Liam and Cindee Carlson, another Colfax resident. AVC Colfax will offer general healthcare for dogs and cats, including examinations, vaccinations, parasite control (fleas, ticks, worms), ear, eye and...
Colfax Junior-Senior High School principal Carrie Lipe has resigned. The school board approved the resignation Monday night, to take affect after this school year is completed. Lipe’s contract ends in mid-June. The job opening will be posted this week. “It’s a positive transition, made with a lot of consideration,” said Lipe. “I want to be more available time-wise, energy-wise. These decisions can only be made at a summer juncture. My husband and I both have parents living in Moscow-Pu...
The Colfax school board took in its second-to-last meeting of the shortened 2018-19 school year Monday night, beginning with a work session on new curriculum for elementary science and high school culinary arts. Jennings Elementary Principal Travis Howell spoke in the segment, along with Altaira Bogle, family and consumer sciences teacher at the junior-senior high school, and Brenda Kneeshaw, the district’s curriculum specialist. The regular board meeting began with comments from S...
Playing at Spokane Friday, May 11, Colton beat Selkirk 15-0 and Inchelium 12-4 to advance to a state seeding game. They will meet Almira/Coulee/Hartline at 6 p.m. Friday at Franklin Park in Spokane to decide the no. 1 and no. 2 seed for the state tournament in Yakima over Memorial Day weekend. Josie Schultheis pitched against Selkirk, throwing five innings for a two-hit shutout. She had four strikeouts, one walk, allowing two hits. At the plate for Colton, Rylee Vining went 4-for-4 while Jordyn...
They met for the state 1B championship last year, Almira/Coulee/Hartline winning it 8-4. A year later, last Saturday in Colbert, it was Colton-A/C/H again, the same two pitchers, for a game to decide seedings for the state quarterfinals. On May 11, in the late afternoon sun, Almira/ Coulee/Hartline pitcher Dalton Kentner took the mound to open against Colton's top three in the lineup, its three fifth-year starters. One, two, three, they went down to strikeouts, no contact with the ball. Parker...
After four years of planning, design and approval, Whitman County’s Almota Four road reconstruction project may be in jeopardy. Set for this summer for 3.5 miles between Union Flat Creek and the State Route 194 intersection east of Onecho Bible Church, the project remains in limbo with unfinished property agreements with landowners along the route which would widen part of the road from 28 to 34 feet. Agreements were made in concept during meetings with owners last fall, and offer letters to s...
The new two-year Washington state budget passed by the legislature April 29 features two likely projects for Steptoe Butte. The first is a $5.2 million complete rebuilding of the road to the top of the butte, which is a Washington State park. “It really needs it,” said Virginia Painter, State Parks’ communications director. The funding is part of $31 million designated for State Parks’ capital projects. The second item comes from the Department of Natural Resources, with $1,239,000 marked...
The local kid is turning it over to a local kid. Al Kirkpatrick, Colfax dentist for the past two-months-short-of 40 years, will retire at the end of June, handing the practice to Matt Mellor, another Colfax native. Kirkpatrick is the son of the late Harold and Gladys Kirkpatrick. Harold was a founder of the Kirkpatrick, Utgaard & Perry accounting firm in Colfax, which played a small role in how Al came to be a dentist. "In the winter, my dad would come home for dinner, then go back to the...
The St. John/Endicott/ LaCrosse baseball team finished 2-17 on the year, playing their final two games Tuesday night at home (Endicott) against Reardan. The Eagles lost 23-3 and 19-6. In the first game, SJEL got RBI-hits from Doug Stach and Conr Hergert, along with a single each from Teagan Langston and Glory Dickerson. In game two, on the mound for the Eagles, Stach pitched 4 2/3 innings with nine strikeouts. At bat, St. John/Endicott/LaCrosse totaled eight hits, including two each from Dylan...
Trailing in the bottom of the sixth inning to Odessa at Colbert in the district semifinals, Colton scored nine runs Tuesday to take the lead, winning 15-10. They now advance to meet Almira/Coulee/ Hartline Saturday at 4:30 p.m. for the District Nine title game (also at Northwest Christian in Colbert). Against Odessa, in the sixth, Colton senior Reece Chadwick hit a two-out, two-strike, bases loaded triple to tie the score, before a wild pitch later gave Colton the lead. A two-RBI double from...
Whitman County commissioners took in comment Monday for a required hearing on the six-month moratorium they placed on new marijuana operations in the county March 4. A hearing was required within 60 days. A total of 30 went up to speak, all of those in favor of the moratorium – with many calling for it to be made permanent. Art Swannack, commission chair, told the crowd the county planning commission continues to examine this. After the moratorium was placed, county commissioners asked the plann...
A crowd gathered Thursday night, April 25, in the county public service building for a hearing on the delayed proposal by PNW/McCoy Land Company to put four grain pads just outside Dusty. Andy Kottkamp, a lawyer from Wenatchee and Whitman County's appointed hearing examiner, presided at the two-hour hearing. At the start, he explained that he was there to gather evidence and apply it to the laws already set for the county. "To apply those findings to the law, and then make a decision," Kottkamp...
Down a game to Southeast 1B league-leading Pomeroy, Colton swept the Pirates at home April 27 to take the lead. Colton won 5-2 and 6-3 as four Wildcat pitchers combined to allow just four hits on the day. Reece Chadwick and Jon Bean started the two games with seventh-inning relief from Luke Vining and Parker Druffel. In the opener, Druffel came out with the bases loaded and struck out the next three batters. At bat for Colton, in the second game, Bean delivered a two-out, two-RBI double in the...
The Colton High School softball team is now 10-2 on the season, 3-2 in league after a week’s worth of games. On Tuesday night, they beat Garfield/Palouse 12-0 in four innings, followed by a 13-3 win in five innings over 2B Asotin. Abby Kelly and Emily Schultheis both hit home runs for Colton. Last weekend, the Wildcats split a close doubleheader with Pomeroy, who still leads the Southeast 1B league with two wins over Colton. The 1B playoffs begin May 10. Doubleheader vs. Pomeroy The Colton girls...
A preliminary review shows Whitman County spent $850,000 for snow removal in three months, from January through March. Mark Storey, Public Works director, totaled costs for materials, labor and equipment. “We spent almost nothing in January,” Storey told county commissioners Monday. The county averages a yearly expenditure of $300,000-$400,000 for snow and ice removal. “The big caution now is, we still have November and December in front of us,” said Storey. The January to March total does no...
With the news of projected layoffs coming from the Spokane School District, is there a chance that could happen in Colfax? The Spokane district approved teacher pay raises in the 13 percent range last August, soon after Colfax teachers signed a new contract in the 10 percent range, with classified staff receiving a five percent raise across the board. “Kudos to our teachers' union here, we came up with a less pay raise, it wasn't at the level you see in Spokane,” said Jerry Pugh, Colfax sup...
The annual Colton-Uniontown Fair returns Friday to Colton School for a day of fitting and showing animals, home arts and still-life crafts by kindergarteners to seniors in high school. The event, held in the ag building and parking lot of the school, begins at 8 a.m. with the opening ceremony, after concessions of coffee, hot chocolate and doughnuts. Also at 8 a.m., the FFA plant sale begins in the greenhouse along with dog showmanship in the grass outside the softball field. Small animal fittin...
The Garfield/Palouse baseball team played their home opener Tuesday, April 23, for a doubleheader win over St. John/Endicott/ LaCrosse. After weeks of home games cancelled or moved to playable fields elsewhere, Gar/Pal (6-3) took the field in Garfield for 11-3 and 8-3 wins. In game one, Vikings freshman Kane Weiker got his first varsity start and first win, going six innings. “Six strong innings, consistent strikes,” said coach Mike Jones. In game two, Gar/Pal took the game in the fifth inn...
