Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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COLFAX –– The November general election is projected to be so big that Whitman County is adding ballot drop boxes. General election ballots were mailed Oct. 9 to Whitman County voters and Auditor Sandy Jamison is anticipating 20,000 ballots to be returned. The county is set to install three new drop boxes this week for the influx. "Please vote early," she said. Once residents received ballots, they can be filled out and returned immediately, she said. For those who choose to hang on to their ballots, they must be deposited in drop boxes or pos...
Who are you? What is your identity or what do you want your identity to be? When your great-grandchildren hear stories about you, see the old pictures and write your biography, what chapters do you want included? That can be hard. Some chapters we want and are never written, others we don’t want and end up being a part of anyway. Some chapters are long, some are short. They all accumulate into the book of one’s life, for better or worse. If we are lucky, we can write some chapter that mat...
ENDICOTT – Endicott and Garfield have received a portion of $10.8 million from the state Department of Commerce for infrastructure projects. Commerce awarded 21 rural communities with community development block grants to help fund high-priority projects. The grants from Commerce fund about half the total sewer system improvement projects for both towns. Endicott was awarded $521,032 for sewer system improvements to address a Department of Ecology administrative order and $30,000 to cover the c...
COLFAX—Oct. 1 marks the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Normally, this would means events to raise awareness and money for a special fund for breast health services. With those events canceled, the public can still donate and help local women in early detection of the second most common cancer in women. According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, one in eight women in the United States are diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. While survival rates for breast cancer...
COLFAX-It was the year the compact disc video was unveiled, Aretha Franklin became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and "Walk Like an Egyptian" was the number one song of the year. It was 1987, the year Margaret Thatcher won her third term as British Prime Minister and the year Kristie Kirkpatrick started as the branch manager at the Rosalia library. "When past librarians, Elaine Zinke, Lana Feldman and Bernice Frick joined me for a four-generation photo,...
“Save the Ta-Tas.” I really do not like that saying. I’m not a big fan of pink décor being strung everywhere, either. Not just because I feel so much pink in an affront to the eyes. In past year, the trumpeting of “Breast Cancer Awareness” feels like the trumpets are slightly out of tune. It has felt like, to me, everyone just wanted an excuse to raise awareness about breasts and were sexualizing and making light of a serious issue. Late one night in October of 2006, I stopped at my grandparen...
COLFAX–The Whitman County Public Health Department has updates its recommendation for in-person classes. The department announced today it now supports hybrid or in-person learning for all schools and grades within Whitman County expect Pullman and Tekoa. Previously, Public Health had recommend all middle and high school classes be hybrid for county schools. All schools are required to follow State DOH and OSPI guidance, including but not limited to, the use of face coverings and social distancing requirements, stated public health. As with t...
If you don’t have a plan in case of emergencies, now is the time to do so. Like, right now. Why wait? Because it can’t happen to you? Because fire will never reach your doorstep? Because no one in your family will ever have a heart attack? Because freak accidents don’t happen to you like power tool batteries blowing up in the back of your car, starting a fire? Well, those things do happen. When people think of preparedness kits, they get too focused on the big things—the earthquakes, flood, fire...
LaCROSSE-Representatives from LaCrosse Community Pride, Port of Whitman County, Whitman County Library, Whitman County Commissioners and The McGregor Company gathered Friday morning for the ground breaking on the project to turn the basalt rock houses into a Heritage Museum and Ice Age Floods Visitor Center. The fifteen people stood in a spread out circle as Alex McGregor gave an opening address. "The Center will provide us the opportunity to display an extensive collection of historical...
PINE CITY—A Washington State Patrol vehicle that was claimed by the fires near Pine City is being credited with saving the life of an evacuee. The 2020 Ford Explorer ended up in the ditch to be claimed by the fire while the trooper driving it was making sure people were evacuating. According to WSP Sgt. Courtney Shawley, Trooper Rob Taylor lives in the area and was evacuating his family. He was stopping to check on neighbors to assure they were evacuating in the process. The fire was moving r...
COLFAX—Joann Rizzi knows exactly what time she made the call. Just before making the call, she had been outside her home on West Street. She heard a popping sound and saw sparks shooting from a power pole, then there was a weird smell life fireworks, she said. Then she saw the fire and called 911 at 10:38 a.m. By the time she hung up with 911, the fire was 15 feet from a garage. Rizzi was watching her grandchildren and called to tell her daughter Richelle Cline she and the children were m...
Donation are overwhelming facilities, so great has been the outpouring of support from people within and out of Whitman County for the victims of last week’s firestorm. So many items have been given, so many tangible blessings, cups are overflowing. Now that the adrenaline has worn off and the imminent physical danger is past, the community, friends and family, need to be as willing to support the emotional and mental needs of those who have been traumatized. It’s not surprising, nor is it any...
Sitting at the dinner table Monday night, the topic of evacuation came up. One town had been evacuated, one was being evacuated, another was being told to prepare for the order to evacuate. A wall of smoke took up the sky every time we looked out the living room window. There was really no reason to worry—that is, unless the wind shifted south. If our neighboring town was told to evacuate, then the fire had altered course and we may have to face the question of what to take. Although we d...
COLFAX—Fire crews responded Monday at 10:40 a.m. to fire on the west hill. Exact cause is undetermined, yet it is reported to have started as a brush fire. The fire started between Cromwell and West streets and spread southwest across the hillside as far as Crestview. Three structures were lost; two houses and a shop/garage. The homes are located on Cromwell Street and Crestview Drive, belonging to the Garcia family and Pugh family, respectively. The garage belonged to another family. Much of th...
PULLMAN – A rural mobile medical clinic that visited county towns earlier this year is now parked in Pullman as part of an increased effort in COVID testing by Washington State University. The William A. Crosetto Mobile Health Care Unit visited rural towns at the beginning of the year providing comprehensive primary care and preventive health services. It is now parked by WSU President Todd Schultz’s house to test the influx of students who are believed to be responsible for the massive sur...
ROSALIA — Rosalia Fire District No. 7 responded to multiple smoldering fires at McCoy Grain Terminal on Saturday afternoon. The fires caused “significant damage” to the structure, with fires from one end to the other which shut down operation of the facility, Fire Chief Bill Tensfeld said. Access was a big problem, as the smoldering fires appeared in the intake and load-out side and the dust collector, he said. “Dust is so explosive,” Tensfeld said. Despite the damage, McCoy Elevator and Rail...
GARFIELD-Every fire district in the county and Potlatch responded to a field fire Saturday, battling high winds as the fire spread from lentils to standing grain, stubble and railroad tracks, destroying a trestle. Fire crews were one scene about seven hours, fighting a fire that ignites off a combine near Sunrise Road and spread one and a half miles to Highway 27. The call went out at 3:30 p.m. Sunrise Road is located south of Garfield, west of the highway. According to Whitman County Fire...
COLFAX–A new one-day total record has been set with 49 new positive COVID-19 cases announced Aug. 25. This brings the total to date to 261. All are stable and self-isolating. Despite the case count, Public Health Director Troy Henderson is not changing any recommendations to the county schools, signifying the geography of the outbreaks. “This highlights the need that everyone in Whitman County wears a mask, social distance and wash their hands,” said Henderson. According to Henderson, many...
ST. JOHN – Twelve units responded Tuesday afternoon to a tractor fire that spread to the stubble and windrow straw the tractor had been baling. St. John Fire District responded with three trucks while District 11 supplied nine; three from Colfax, three from Steptoe, two from Diamond and one from Albion. The tractor and baler it was pulling were both a complete loss according to Steptoe Fire Chief Greg Hall. The fire also consumed 60 to 70 acres of stubble and straw. The straw was in windrows f...
GARFIELD—Every fire district in the county and Potlatch responded to a field fire Saturday, battling high winds as the fire spread from lentils to standing grain, stubble and railroad tracks, destroying a trestle. Fire crews were one scene about seven hours, fighting a fire that ignites off a combine near Sunrise Road and spread one and a half miles to Highway 27. The call went out at 3:30 p.m. Sunrise Road is located south of Garfield, west of the highway. According to Whitman County Fire D...
ROSALIA—The Rosalia Museum has some new displays after a homeowner’s improvement project unearthed items believed to connect to the Steptoe Tohotonimme Battle in 1858. While digging a hole for a drain pipe, a Rosalia family discovered a rust-covered bayonet and horseshoe about one foot below the surface. Rosalia Historical Commission member Diane Nebel heard about the discovered and met with the family who wanted to donate the items to the local library. The home is positioned at the foot of...
Wawawai Road-A 25 acre fire that had been contained is now spread across about 1,400 acres after overnight winds picked up Aug. 17. Although the fire was zero percent contained Monday morning, it was 30% contained with fire line around 90%. The original fire started off a motor home that caught fire on Wawawai Road, across the Snake River from Chief Timothy Park, about 4 p.m. Aug. 16. Whitman County Fire District 14 responded as did Asotin County and Clarkston. The Chief Timothy Fire had been...
COLFAX-Bruning Funeral Home was awarded the Funeral Home of the Year award Aug. 14. "Oh wow," said Craig Corbeill, funeral home director and owner upon receiving the news. The award was presented by seven members of the Death Con committee. Death Con is an annual event bringing together the Washington State Funeral Directors Association and the Washington State Cemetery, Cremation, Funeral Association. While the event was canceled, committee members still made the trek to deliver the award...
COLFAX–Anna Roberts was third runner up at the Miss Washington for American pageant Aug. 8 in Olympia. She was also presented the Making a Difference award and People's Choice award which was voted on by the public. "I was shocked to have won this since I was the most rural-based contestant," Roberts said. Due to COVID, the pageant location was changed. The opening dance was performed on a hotel lawn and the interview, swimsuit, evening gown and on-stage question portions in the hotel ballroom w...
I love food--good food. I think it’s safe to say that all humans like to eat. (Unless you have some other issues, but we’re not going there.) As humans, we are biologically prone to certain foods like sweets and salty things. Food companies have expounded on this to the point of being unhealthy, but we’re not going there either. There are some really good eats out there, and we all have things we are particularly fond of and it can cause us distress to not eat those things. While I can eat a...
