Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 801 - 825 of 2119
Whitman County Building Inspector Dan Gladwill presented fourth-quarter and year-end 2017 building reports Monday to county commissioners. For the year, total valuations were $8,479,557 on 169 building permits issued with 340 total inspections and 77 total final inspections. Total permit and plan review fees were $107,599. The 2016 totals were $72,316 in total fees, $6,065,677 in total valuations and 169 permits issued. Of the 2017 year-end valuation ($8,479,557 million), Gladwill noted that 15...
As business in Olympia goes on and Whitman County officials are at work here, others advocate for the county’s interest across the state: lobbyists, or legislative liaisons. Because when state law comes down, it is counties that most often administer them at the local level. “It’s too numerous to count the bills that affect Whitman County,” said Michael Largent, county commissioner. “We’re not advocating for county government, we’re advocating (funding) for the services the county provides. Most...
Gathered Monday at the county Public Works Department offices, Mark Storey, Public Works director, at left, confers with Jeff Stehr, District One road supervisor and Brandon Kruger, right, operations manager, about a prototype of a sign to go up at some county bridges, warning of new single-unit weight requirements. A question of what to put on a series of road signs has come up at the Whitman County Public Works department. The process to make a sign advising single-unit truck drivers of new...
Senior forward Katie Arrasmith of Gar/Pal, a fourth-year starter, works against St. John/Endicott/LaCrosse Jan. 13. Last year they fought it out in a memorable District Nine championship game in Colfax before Colton won to advance to the state sub-tournament. Pomeroy lost the next day to Oakesdale and their season ended. Nearing a year later, with four remaining games in the 2017-18 regular season, Pomeroy and the Wildcats clashed at Colton Jan. 19, the hosts winning 49-48. Abby Kelly made two...
– Don Marshall photo Oakesdale junior guard Evan Henning scores against Garfield/Palouse in a 64-46 win Jan. 19. The two teams are now in a dead heat, tied for second place with two Southeast 1B league losses – one of them to each other. With four games remaining in the regular season, a three-way race for the crown is shaping up for the Southeast 1B league boys. Unbeaten Pomeroy holds control at 10-0 in league play followed by Oakesdale and Garfield/Palouse, both with two league losses aft...
A new business is moving in to the former Tekoa city shop. The activity began Wednesday night, Jan. 6, when proprietor Josh Sperber installed shelves for what will be Panhandle Truck and Equipment Repair. The Plummer-based business, formed a year and a half ago, is now a mobile service with Sperber, who lives in Tekoa, going out to farmer’s and logger’s shops to work on hydraulics, brakes, transmission, differentials, welding and Department of Transportation annual inspections. In the Tekoa shop...
The Washington state legislature agreed on a resolution Jan. 18 to the controversial Hirst ruling, affecting rural wells. Senate Bill 6091 passed 35-14 in the Senate and 66-30 in the House. The votes ended a stand-off which began last year after a state Supreme Court decision on the drilling of new wells – making whether or not the well would draw water from streams and harm fish, up to a landowner to prove it did not. The Hirst decision came out of a lawsuit brought by environmental watchdog g...
Third-grader Garin Monson confers with Principal Travis Howell Monday night at the Jennings Elementary library as teacher Amy Soncarty looks on. In the background, school board members compete to build bridges out of paper and books. Principal Travis Howell and Jennings Elementary students put on a school board appreciation night Monday in the library, followed by the board’s regular meeting. With the five members seated at a long table, neatly stacked items in front of each, a pair of s...
St. John/Endicott/LaCrosse freshman point guard Ty Harder takes to the basket Jan.13. A little CA has been added to the SJEL boys basketball team under first-year coach Mario Adams, who moved to the Palouse from the Bay Area, Calif., three years ago. Born and raised in Eastbay, Oakland, he graduated from De La Salle High School in Concord, Calif., Before coming to the Palouse to work for Schweitzer Engineering as an electrical engineer. After a year coaching varsity boys at Lake Roosevelt High...
– Janet Leifer photo The St. John/Endicott/LaCrosse bench erupts after Riley Lamb's last-second shot fell in Jan. 13 to beat Garfield/Palouse 43-42. Avenging an earlier loss to the Vikings, the win puts S.J.E.L.'s record at 5-8 overall, 2-4 in the Southeast 1B league. Four seconds showed on the clock at St. John High School last Saturday evening. Eagles freshman Roxy Dickerson walked to the free-throw line after a whistle blew for a pushing foul. The St. John/Endicott /LaCrosse girls trailed G...
The Palouse city council has approved a $10,000 expenditure for a cultural survey in the interest of building a water tower at Greenwood Cemetery. The vote Jan. 9 allows for the city to pay for the work on city-owned land at the highest point on the south hill. The survey will determine if any historical artifacts or remnants are beneath the surface of where the tower would go. It is part of an application Palouse filed in September for a USDA Rural Development grant. Kramer’s Funeral Home of P...
Oakesdale Town Council has agreed to split the cost of removing a former rail trestle which was taken out last fall by Whitman County Public Works in order to clear an obstruction causing ice jams on McCoy Creek. A follow-up project to clear the channel of grass and other obstructions could happen later this year. County Commissioner Art Swannack visited an Oakesdale town council meeting Dec. 18 to ask that the town pay $4,350 – half of the cost of removing the trestle. The work was paid for o...
A new term is underway for Colton Town Council representatives without Jim Dahmen on the panel for the first time since 1991. Appointed that year and re-elected ever since – running unopposed – Dahmen retired his seat last fall in favor of Laci Hubbard-Mattix, a new resident and WSU instructor in the School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs. “I was in there long enough,” Dahmen said. “There was a young person interested. I thought, it doesn’t hurt to have a change.” A 1960 graduate of C...
The word on the street in Colfax is true, a wood-fired pizza restaurant will be going in on Main Street in the location of Terry Veitz' former barber shop and Eclectica. The “Gear N' Cog Bistro,” as it will be called, is an extension of the wood-fired pizza sold last summer at First Thursday events in Colfax by Amanda Rawlings and her parents Candy and Roger, all of Palouse. Amanda will manage the new shop after vacating the Gear N' Cog, an artist consignment store in Palouse. Plans to open tha...
Oakesdale junior Wesley Castanon goes up against Pomeroy's Hogan Heytvelt for a rebound Jan. 6 in a 51-44 loss. The unbeaten Pomeroy boys arrived at Oakesdale Saturday evening, Jan. 6 and suited up to try to extend their streak against the Nighthawks (9-3, 4-2). With Pirates’ junior guard Jace Gwinn on the bench in streetclothes and a knee brace – the fourth-would-be returning starter from last year’s team that finished fifth in state – Pomeroy warmed up with last year’s Southeast 1B Player of...
Oakesdale's Logan Reed takes the ball up the floor against Sydney Watko of Pomeroy Jan. 6. A big game looms Friday at home for the Oakesdale girls. Colton will arrive with an 11-1overall record, 6-0 in league for a matchup which Oakesdale may need to win to climb into the top two in league after a loss to Garfield-Palouse Dec. 8 and Pomeroy last Saturday, Jan. 6. In that game, the Nighthawks led 22-19 at halftime, then scored no points in the third quarter, losing 41-36. “The third quarter, t...
Gazette Meyer Whitman County commissioners decided to keep their same committee assignments for 2018, often the case from year to year for work which takes them to meetings around eastern Washington and to Olympia on state legislature matters. Each commissioner serves on about 30 committees apiece, selected by factors such as location, interest and inheritance. For example, of location, Commissioner Art Swannack of Lamont serves on the Martin Hall Juvenile Facilities Consortium, which meets in...
Colfax school Monday at its first meeting of the new year approved an attorney fee schedule for the February bond proposal, a few standard curriculum policy updates and heard about plans for the next month. The meeting opened with comments from Superintendent Jerry Pugh. “The positive thing is we came back from break and haven’t had a snow day yet,” he said. “If you remember last year...” He then mentioned the high school art exhibit at the Colfax Library and how Pugh has been talking to people...
The 2018 forecast for Whitman County’s Public Works department includes road projects, bridge work, and continuing enhancements and maintenance at the county landfill site. On county roads, phase four of the extensive Almota Road reconstruction may or may not happen this year – late summer or fall – as steps remain unrealized, including a final design, approval by the state and federal government and right-of-way purchases. The right-of-way matter involves the county needing to buy certa...
County boys and girls high school basketball teams return to Southeast 1B league play this weekend after a dose of outside experience playing in tournaments over Christmas break. The Garfield/Palouse boys, which won the four-team Colton tournament Dec. 21, returns to the court Friday for a big game at home against unbeaten Pomeroy. Game time is 7:30 p.m. The Colton girls and boys teams played at West Valley High School in Spokane Dec. 27-28 in the 48-team East Valley Holiday Tournament. The...
Rock slides hit Wawawai Road. Whitman County’s Roads and Bridge Maintenance Division Operations Manager Brandon Kruger gave a report to county commissioners Monday about a weekend of weather events. “We had three to five inches of snow, followed by two inches of rain and frozen ground to boot,” he said. He reported the Tekoa/Oakesdale area had the worst of the water Friday, Dec. 29, with roads closed to through traffic at spots on Seabury Road, Lone Pine Road, Fanning Road, Warner Road and G...
The projection for the new year at Whitman County Parks includes reinforcing trails, replacing fence posts, painting and other work. “What I am seeing is a lot of large maintenance projects this year,” said Dave Mahan, County Parks superintendent. Trail items include rebuilding sections of the Kamiak Butte backside trail; parts that have sloughed off. Using re-bar and lumber, Mahan and parks board members will assess the use of wood cribbing on steep hillsides and, if needed, make a plan to bri...
A section of Steptoe Butte land bought by two couples in October, 2016, to preserve as native prairie is the subject of interest by Washington State Parks and the Department of Natural Resources for a potential purchase. Owners Kent and the late Elaine Bassett of Bellevue bought the 437-plus acre parcel at auction with partners Ray and Joan Folwell of Pullman. Since then they have hired a contractor to monitor invasive species, collected payments from the communication tower leases on the land...
Garfield/Palouse unwrapped a 7-1 record Dec. 21, going into Christmas break with a win in the four-team Colton tournament. The Vikings beat Wahkiakum 60-45 to take the plaque. Caden Sanders led with 15 points while Blake and Austin Jones each scored 14. Ely Hawkins delivered 11 points and 10 rebounds while Tanner Anderson put up 10 points and 10 rebounds. The Vikings will return to the court Jan. 5 at home against unbeaten Pomeroy, leaders of the Southeast 1B league. Colton 54, Entiat 44 For...
The house won the Colton tournament as the Wildcat girls took down the Wahkiukum Mules 60-46 Dec. 21 in a game that proved close in the first half. Leading by six to start the third quarter, Colton expanded their lead over their guests from Cathlamet, Wash. Dakota Patchen led the Wildcats (8-0) with 22 points while Rylee Vining scored 12. Jordyn Moehrle and Josie Schultheis added 10 points. Georgia Meyer delivered 11 rebounds and four assists. Colton will play next against the East Valley High S...
