Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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Ernie Riley probably should have had a bad feeling. Last week he started reading Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe’s 18th Century tale of a shipwrecked man stranded on an island. But when he and wife Michele brought home their new boat, they could not wait to put it in the water when they were presented with free time Friday night. So they packed up the former 18-foot Coast Guard patrol boat, recently purchased from a fellow in Lewiston, and headed down to Wawawai to try it out on Lower Granite Lake. They arrived just about sunset. “We pro... Full story
Whitman County Commissioner Greg Partch Monday was re-buffed by fellow commissioners in his request to return to a weekly meeting schedule. “We are a full-time board,” Partch told commissioners Michael Largent and Pat O’Neill in a workshop session Monday. “To only meet only two weeks is just too long to deal with anything.” Commissioners earlier this year opted to switch from meeting every week to every other week to reduce the workload of Maribeth Becker, commissioners’ clerk. At the start of the year, commissioners decided not to fill a rece...
Whitman County elections officials were slated to send off final results of the Aug. 18 primary for certification Wednesday. The county canvas board Tuesday rejected 101 ballots, 66 of which were postmarked past the Aug. 18 deadline. Of the remaining 35 rejects, 24 could not have signatures verified, eight lacked signatures, one could not be identified and one envelope was returned without a ballot. One ballot was rejected as an overvote because all the ovals except for the one beside Democrat Glenn Stockwell’s name were filled in. The c... Full story
The Palouse River and Coulee City Rail Authority is finalizing an application for a $60 million federal stimulus grant to replace tracks and ties on 243 miles of the eastern Washington shortline rail system. Joe Poire, executive director of the Port of Whitman, said the grant funds would be spent on track rehabilitation. The port represents Whitman County on the four-county Rail Authority. The rail authority would upgrade most of the track from Class 1 rail, which can only handle traffic up to 10 miles per hour, to Class 2 rail, which would...
A trio of candidates for Rosalia Town Council asked the current council to eliminate pay for positions one, three and five at Tuesday night’s council meeting. Members of the Rosalia council receive $100 compensation for each meeting. “We are aware of the current financial problems and feel this would help,” said candidate Karen Rockness. “It would save the city approximately $7,200 per year.” Council members at Tuesday’s meeting said they would consider the proposal, but took no further action. Rockness is up against Erin Braun for the positio...
Whitman County commissioners Monday morning took the final step in a long journey to secure state money to develop a shopping center on the Pullman-Moscow Highway at the Idaho State line. After a public hearing that generated no comment, commissioners created a revitalization area. The area defines the boundaries where state funds will be spent on infrastructure to help Boise-based Hawkins Companies build a strip mall. Designation of the area was required for a formal application to the state’s Department of Revenue for $5 million in f...
The Port of Whitman County flunked a state report card on the county’s economic development efforts in the 2007-2009 biennium. Port officials say it means little in light of the upheaval in the state agency’s economic development office. Joe Poire, port executive director, told port commissioners at their regular meeting last Thursday that the port failed to meet benchmarks set by the port and the state Department of Commerce to measure the county’s economic development efforts in 2009. The port administers economic development efforts throu...
Ritzville Democrat Glenn Stockwell, who was 324 votes short of qualifying for the general election Tuesday, said he’s convinced he will finish in third and will not seek a recount of the primary election votes in the 9th district. Susan Fagan of Pullman and Pat Hailey of Mesa, leaders of the five-candidate field on election night, had built their margins with subsequent counts of mailed ballots in the six-county 9th district. Both are Republicans, a format possible under the state’s new primary format. “I really appreciate all the people that... Full story
LaCrosse native Terry Nealey will face Laura Grant of Walla Walla in the November election for state representative for the 16th Legislative District in a battle of the offspring of former state legislators. “We put up a real strong showing in the primary, and I think we stand a real good chance of winning this fall,” Nealey told the Gazette Tuesday. The two both had parents who served as legislators. Nealey’s run in the 16th District race should add some off-year election interest to the political scene in Whitman County. Nealey, a long-...
A state grant may mean Rosalia Marshal Robert Fitzgerald will once again have a motorcycle for police use. After getting advice from Palouse Police Chief Jerry Neumann, Fitzgerald applied for stimulus money allotted the state Department of Community, Trade, and Economic Development for distribution to local law enforcement. Palouse earlier this month purchased a police motorcycle primarily with funds from the same grant program. Fitzgerald told the Rosalia town council Tuesday night that he had been awarded $9,990 from the program. He said he...
Rodney Ochs, Ardella Poffenroth, Harry Poffenroth, Earl Rupp and Red Engelman, from left, stand inside the original Dusty Co-op store in this 1948 picture. It is the unofficial city hall of Dusty - The place for information on happenings around the community, the place to find out if an old name is still in the area, and a near-the-finish pit stop for college students traveling across the state. “We get to laughing about being Dusty central,” said Janet Hedlund, office manager of the Dusty Farm Co-op. “If people see smoke, they call the Co-op...
Millions of bushels of wheat are now sitting in mountainous piles at Snake River ports, as low prices have held down sales of this year’s strong crop. Yield reports from across the county are higher than average, with some farmers reporting to grain brokers yields as high as 130 bushels per acre. Limited space at Almota bins redirected many harvest trucks to the Central Ferry elevators. “We had trucks lined up double going into the elevators, and they were backed up all the way to the highway,” said Jim Johnson, foreman of Columbia Grain Inter...
The next chapter in the saga of Whitman County’s proposed commercial wind ordinance will take place in Superior Court. Roger Whitten of Oakesdale and Carolyn Kiesz of Thornton asked the court Friday to reverse County Planner Alan Thomson’s determination of non-significance for the proposed ordinance or require an environmental impact statement for the ordinance under the State Environmental Protection Act. After Thomson’s determination, Whitten, Kiesz and Brian Bannan of Uniontown responded with comment letters, but Thompson stuck with his i...
Crews for Clarkston contractor M.A. DeAtley have started work under their contract for rebuilding over three miles of Almota Road. They hope to finish the project this year. Mark Storey, Whitman County public works director, said Tuesday the crew had already begun ripping up the shoulders of the road and is putting more equipment on the ground to get the project done early. Once finished with the shoulders, they will begin tearing up the road surface. Storey said that should begin early next week. “They’re hitting this with a lot of met... Full story
It went from a downtown free-for-all to a laid-back afternoon in the park, but attendees and organizers seemed to enjoy the atmosphere of Rosalia’s revised motorcycle rally, the fifth edition of the event. “Well, it’s different than it was the last couple of years, but it’s a lot friendlier and more laid-back vibe,” said Tim Carson, a Victory motorcycle rider from Spokane, as he looked over a line-up of chrome and steel Saturday. Because of a lawsuit filed against the city by the original creator of the event Josh Bryan, the rally venue was...
Royal Roofing and Siding of Pasco was the low bidder Monday to replace the roof on the county-owned building at the corner of Main and Island streets in Colfax, but the company may not get the job. Royal bid $50,300 for the re-roof, which is less than half of the next lowest bid. Bob Reynolds, Whitman County facilities manager, said the company did not participate in last week’s pre-bid walk through, which was a requirement in the bid package. Reynolds suspects the fact that the company did not check out the project to see the extent of work r...
Whitman County commissioners Monday denied a request from the Whitman County Library for additional funding for a project to digitize and display historic images of the county. Library Director Kristie Kirkpatrick requested $2,000 because a sponsor that had pledged to help pay for the cost of the project dropped out. The requested county funds would have come out of the county’s Historic Preservation fund. Commissioners later said they wanted to build up their historic preservation grants fund balance for another round of grants in the f...
A crew from the state Department of Ecology sampled the flood control channel in Colfax Tuesday to target the source of high levels of fecal coliform found in the South Palouse River. The sampling team of Jim Ross, Elaine Snouwaert and Matt Hammer emerge from the shadows of the Cooper Street Bridge, where Spring Flat Creek meets the S. Palouse River. Tuesday, the crew of Matt Hammer, Colfax wastewater treatment plant manager, Elaine Snouwaert, Ecology water quality manager, and Jim Ross, Ecology natural resource scientist, measured the flow... Full story
Republicans Susan Fagan of Pullman and Pat Hailey of Mesa grabbed the lead in Tuesday’s “top two” primary election for 9th district state representative. Ritzville Democrat Glenn Stockwell ran a close third in the first count, just 75 votes behind Hailey. That close finish means the primary result will still be on the table until all the late arriving ballots are tallied. Fagan garnered 28.8 percent of the vote in the six-county ninth district with 5,357 votes. Hailey was second with 4,769, good for 25.64 percent, but just barely ahead of St...
County commissioners Monday signed an order allowing Auditor Eunice Coker to fill a soon-to-be vacant position in the county recording department. The commission two weeks ago sidelined the same order, denying Coker the authority to fill the position. “I’m in a happy place right now,” Coker told the Gazette Monday. Commissioner Greg Partch told the Gazette two weeks ago that Coker’s request was denied because of budget constraints. He said Tuesday that Coker has worked with the finance department to find funding for the salary. “Eunice...
Whitman County commissioners Monday extended a freeze on raises for county employees until the end of the year. The freeze was instituted in January, but slated at the time to expire after six months. “Because of the economic downturn in the entire country, including Whitman County, we had to make some adjustments early in the year, and we felt classification freezes was a good way to cut costs,” said Commissioner Pat O’Neill. Commissioners made the decision to try and make up a projected deficit in the county’s year-end bottom line. “It’s o... Full story
Delayed by a heavy rain Friday, the Scholz farm near Mockonema swung back into action Monday afternoon. The Scholz combine gets back in action after the fields had dried enough for harvest to resume. Combines fired back up in portions of the Palouse Monday afternoon, after operations were delayed by Friday’s mid-harvest deluge. “Well, we got a little break there,” said Ernie Scholz, who farms with his son, Kevin, between Mockonema and Diamond. “But this is not the time of year you really want any breaks.” The Scholz operation resumed cutting a...
Less than a week remains before ballots are due to winnow down the field of five candidates for the 9th District’s position one seat in the state House of Representatives to two. The five in the race possess similar credentials – all having backgrounds in agriculture and business – and similar points of view on topics such as funding education, land use policy and the need to create a more vibrant business climate. Candidates Susan Fagan, R-Pullman, Pat Hailey, R-Mesa, Glen Stockwell, D-Ritzville, Art Swannack, R-Lamont and Darin Watkins, R-Pal...
Whitman County taxing districts stand to reap millions of dollars in tax revenue with little or no increased costs if large scale wind farms are sited here. So said an Ellensburg wind advocate to county officials last Thursday. “Everyone is recognizing this is a private economic stimulus for the county,” said Debbie Strand, spokesperson for WindWorks! Northwest. “Wind farms provide a large amount of economic activity and tax revenue for local taxing districts.” “And the turbines don’t go to school. They don’t commit crimes. They don’t demand...
Bidders from eight firms inspect county building. Eight contractors took to the top of the county-owned building which last housed Greg’s Electric at Main and Island streets in Colfax Monday to inspect the roof. The inspection followed a call for bids on replacing the roof. Bob Reynolds, Whitman County facilities manager, said the roof has leaked for years, and the repairs are necessary for a future remodeling of the building to house the county’s elections office. The county will open bids for the new roof next Monday. Estimated cost of the...
