Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 601 - 625 of 2119
Whitman County Board of Commissioners approved the 2019 budget Monday, culminating a months-long process for a total budget of $62,303,720, representing a $1,765,280 decrease from 2018. The largest fund is the road department at $19,243,000 and the smallest $200 for the WSU Extension Publication fund. “The departments have been really good in not padding their budget and just presenting what it should be,” said Gary Petrovich, county administrative director. “Comparatively speaking, there’s not...
Washington Governor Jay Inslee put forth his $54.3 billion budget proposal Dec. 13, including $750,000 for a state task force to study possible breaching of the Lower Snake River dams – and other options in the name of efforts to protect salmon and orcas. Eastern Washington congressional representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R) and Dan Newhouse (R) released a statement two hours later. The task force would consider costs and benefits of various options, including how to replace power g...
The top three remain in place for the Southeast 1B league girls as Colton holds first after beating Pomeroy in their opening meeting of the season Dec. 15. The Pirates dropped to 3-1 in league, 6-1 overall while Colton is 3-0, 6-0. Right behind the top two is Oakesdale 3-1, 5-1, after losing at Pomeroy 50-23 Dec. 14. Trailing the Nighthawks are Garfield/Palouse at 1-3 in league (5-3) and St. John/Endicott/LaCrosse (1-2, 3-2). Colton will play again Friday at home against Grangeville (6 p.m.)...
They switched from Nike to Under Armour for uniforms, added more facial hair and a tattoo. Their point guard is listed at three inches taller than last year and they started 0-3. The Garfield-Palouse boys since have won four consecutive games to even their 2018-19 season record at 4-4, tied with Oakesdale for first place in the Southeast 1B league. The reason for the winless start? Perhaps its best explained by pregame music at the Palouse gym. "It's tricky," as Run-DMC rapped. "Tricky, tricky,...
Palouse city council approved advertising for the position of police officer at the council’s Dec. 11 meeting. The department, which also covers Garfield in an agreement between the two towns, now has two full-time officers with a reserve officer, following the departure of Officer Joe Handley to the Colfax Police Department in October. Reserve Officer Terry Snead is set to leave at the end of February. Advertising an open position does not commit the department to hiring a third officer. P...
When a new house is built in Whitman County, who sets the address for it? Previously, for unincorporated areas, this was done by Whitcom. It will now be handled by the county planning department, under Public Works. Members of the Public Works department spoke to county commissioners Dec. 3 about the change, which comes after the departure of a Whitcom employee who handled addresses. A group from the planning department went to Asotin County Nov. 27 to talk to Mark Janowski, former Whitcom...
Tekoa volunteers Fred Wagner and Ivan Mercer put up the first section of Christmas lights on the Tekoa Trestle Tuesday. Turned away because of weather after stringing up 200 feet of lights and a wreath, the two men were set to start again Wednesday, weather permitting. Their work is an effort by Friends of the Tekoa Trestle (FTTT), and permitted by Washington State Parks, which owns the decommissioned trestle. This is the fifth year of what has become a Tekoa tradition. "We have full legality,...
The Oakesdale girls are 4-0 to start the 2018-19 season, with three starters back from last year’s third-place finish in the Southeast 1B league. The Nighthawks have won all four games handily: a 66-29 home win over Asotin Tuesday night, 61-49 at Lind/Ritzville/Sprague, 50-31 over Touchet and 51-32 against St. John/Endicott/LaCrosse. “Things are going good so far,” said second-year coach Dan Brown, who also coached the Tekoa-Oakesdale girls for four years earlier in the decade. For Oakes...
The St. John/Endicott/LaCrosse boys are off to a 1-2 start, opening their season Dec. 4 with a 43-36 win over Waitsburg. Losses followed to Pomeroy and Oakesdale to begin league play. Second-year coach Mario Adams guides the Eagles, who graduated two starters from last year; forward Griffin Parrish and guard Dustin Fox, along with guard/forward Levi Bailey, a sometimes starter in 2017-18. Back again is a young roster, including sophomore point guard Ty Harder, who started last year, Kameron...
Volunteers led by the Tekoa Fire Department near completion on a new school 4H/FFA ag barn funded by local donations, the school district and a small grant. The 30x70 painted metal pole building, framed by 6x6 wood boards, is on the site of the original quonset hut ag barn that was torn down in September after the Palouse Empire Fair. The goal is to complete the new barn in time for hogs to arrive later this month in preparation for next May's annual Junior Livestock Show of Spokane. The new...
The Palouse city council conducted its final 2019 budget hearing Nov. 27 on its way to final approval, due by state law Dec. 31. After no public comments were offered in last week’s hearing, Mayor Michael Echanove closed it and later the council discussed the budget. Some items still being considered are $3,000 proposed by councilman Chris Cook for painting the interior and exterior of the city pool, as part of a longer-term proposal of improvements to the facility. Another item is a $5,000 tran...
Last year started with seven losses. The year before started with four. The 2018-19 season for the Colton boys began with a 14-point comeback win against Logos. A core of three seniors return from a team which finished third in the Southeast 1B league last year, their season ending in a fight in Walla Walla with favored Garfield/Palouse for the last spot to advance. Gar/Pal won, but not before a series of nervous moments against the Wildcats. This year, Colton All-league, three-year starter,...
Colton and Garfield/Palouse both opened the season with a stretch of wins as games got underway last weekend across Whitman County. Colton took down two 2B schools, St. George’s and Colfax, while Gar/Pal won at Potlatch and at home against Lakeside and Tekoa/Rosalia. Colton will play again Saturday at Touchet. The Vikings meet Prescott at home in Palouse Friday. Game time is 6 p.m. Colton 64, St. George’s 53 Colton began the 2018-19 season at home Nov. 30 against St. George’s of Spokane and s...
The town-appointed committee for the former Garfield Methodist Church will host its second event Sunday at the 1906 building on West Union Street. The church was de-consecrated in May and sold to the town. Garfield invites the public to a Christmas concert and open house Sunday, Dec. 9, at 2 p.m. Performing will be a range of acts, including vocal group the Joe Street Jokers, Potlatch Community Band brass ensemble, John Elwood, Matt Zook and Garfield school groups. The former church is now...
In 1918, Palouse resident Irma Leusing invited six women to meet at her home, asking them to bring their sewing. They met again, and another time. "They just got together to be together," said current Xenodican Club member Diana Cochran. In two years, they joined the Washington State General Federation of Women's Clubs. The federation required that each group had a stated purpose. The Palouse ladies chose to start a library, taking on the name Xenodican Club, after the Greek word for...
The Gilchrist fishing pond spot south of Colfax has been reinforced by a Whitman Conservation District project after decades of erosion. The pond, created by the Gilchrist family which owns the land, was built in 1947 by the late Demoine Gilchrist and is stocked with fish each year. Union Flat Creek runs along the south side. In 2016, a four-foot hole in the pond bank gave way and the water level dropped by three feet. The Gilchrists then called the conservation district in Colfax. "Landowners...
By unanimous vote Nov. 19, the Tekoa City Council appointed Troy Wilson as its new mayor, to serve the remainder of John Jaeger’s term, who resigned in October. Wilson, mayor pro-tem for Jaeger and an eight-year city councilman, will serve at least until January 2020, before which he may run for a full term in November of next year. “I feel like I can do a good job, as I’ve thought about it a few times that I might throw my hat in,” said Wilson. “I wasn’t planning on it in the near future, but...
The core returns for another basketball season for the Colton girls. The 2018 state 1B champions, and 2016 state champions on which many of the core played as freshmen, are now seniors. Jordyn Moerhle, Dakota Patchen, Emily Schultheis and Abby Kelly led last year’s team that went 26-1 and beat Pomeroy for the state championship. Joining them are two returning starters at guard; sophomores Josie Schultheis and Rylee Vining. The team graduated post player Georgia Meyer. Coach Clark Vining is in h...
All five Oakesdale starters are back to finish something. As juniors, with one sophomore, they went 17-3 in the regular season and tied for first-place in the Southeast 1B league basketball standings with Pomeroy. A week later, their season was over, the Nighthawks upset by Touchet in the district tournament at Walla Walla under the igloo dome. “Last year ended prematurely,” said fifth-year coach Carl Crider. “We didn’t play particularly well at playoff time. We’ll try not to let that duplicate...
While Whitman County commissioners aim to finalize a 2019 budget, Public Works foremen and supervisors crowded commissioners' chambers Monday as Jeff Stehr, District 1 superintendent, made a case that a change is needed to retain employees. Stehr laid out a presentation, handouts included, saying that the county is in trouble as another winter approaches and more employees leave for higher-paying jobs. "They have extremely valid points," said Dean Kinzer, county commissioners' chairman, said...
They first were co-workers in Seattle, fixing and installing garage doors from Belltown to Redmond, Issaquah and Kirkland. Now they team up on the Palouse as Palouse Garage Door, which opened in Colfax in September. Sam Vietz and Joe Girard are assisted by their wives, Nicole and Misty, who manage the office, based out of the Vietz home in Colfax with storage space in Pullman at Ken Paulson's Plumbing. The company works on residential and commercial overhead garage doors, sliders and gates....
The City of Palouse is moving ahead on the April 2019 deadline to present a plan for changes to its wastewater treatment system to the state Department of Ecology. Last fall, after learning that plans to build two wastewater lagoons for storage and winter discharge into the Palouse River could later be subject to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) limits, the city settled on a plan to avoid the river altogether. Mayor Michael Echanove and the city council have since directed consultants Varela and...
The Colfax school board gathered Nov. 13 for its regular meeting and met a new staff member, took in various updates and got set to start on a second book suggested by the superintendent. The meeting began with a work session, board members and Superintendent Jerry Pugh listening to a report on Smarter Balance testing and Measurement of Economic Progress from Travis Howell, Jennings Elementary principal. The regular meeting started and Colfax Education Association president Christopher Claussen...
The Iron Horse Arena in Tekoa will soon be no longer, at least in its original location just east of the base of the Tekoa trestle. It was on land leased from Union-Pacific by the city of Tekoa. The railroad terminated the lease Nov. 1. “Union Pacific has enjoyed a long relationship with the city of Tekoa. We decided to end the partnership, and, in accordance with the lease provided 35 days notice,” said Hannah Bolte in Media Relations for Union-Pacific, in a statement. “We recognize this is a...
Ownership of Tekoa parks properties is in the process of being transferred after a year-long process between the city and the Tekoa Parks Board. After a mudslide last November resulted in a major cleanup project, in the process of working with their insurance company, the Tekoa Parks board found out they did not own the property. “It was some kind of clerical mix-up years ago,” said Fran Martin, Parks Board president. The Tekoa city council will vote on a quit claim for the pool and pro...
