Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 936
Whitman County commissioners Monday put off an official decision on the fate of the county-owned CETC building on Main Street Colfax until they can establish a minimum bid amount for the building. The CETC, damaged by a snow load in the winter of 2009, needs about $125,000 worth of work to get up to code, according to Bob Reynolds, county facilities manager. “The design of the building really doesn’t come up to today’s standards and codes,” said Reynolds. Commissioners Monday morning received no input from the public during a hearing on the...
Spokane County’s decision to deny the budget put forth for operations at Martin Hall has put the fate of the multi-county juvenile detention center back in doubt. Whitman County Commissioner Pat O’Neill reported Monday that Spokane County Commissioner Al French told the nine-county board of directors at its meeting last Thursday, Oct. 25, his county’s commission would not approve the proposed $1.8 million operating budget for 2013. O’Neill said Spokane County’s budget denial was intended to nullify the interlocal agreement that governs M... Full story
Closure of Colfax Airport Road to through traffic was extended through May 31 by Whitman County Monday. The county closed the road two weeks ago for installation of new culverts for Rebel Flat Creek which flows beneath the road near the west end of the airport. The road was originally slated to re-open to through traffic this weekend, but a slate of incidents prompted Public Works Director Mark Storey to call for the closure through spring. Too subtle? Despite prominent signs marking the closure of Colfax Airport Road, many drivers have tried... Full story
Little more than a month remains in construction of the $170 million Palouse Wind farm on Naff Ridge in northern Whitman County. Ben Fairbanks, director of west region business development for First Wind, said Tuesday only six of the project’s 58 turbines still needed blades. Fairbanks expected the “backbone collector” line - the power line that delivers electricity from each string of turbines to the substation - will be energized by the end of the month. The three circuits of towers that have not yet been turned on will be commissioned short...
Malden celebrated the opening of a brand new road through town with a ribbon cutting ceremony last Wednesday, Oct. 17. With funding from the state Transporation Improvement Board, the main two-lane road that stretches 1.1 miles from each end of city limits was completely rebuilt. “The whole thing was shot,” said Mayor Ted Maxwell. From left, engineers John Duval and Randy Noble celebrate the opening of Malden’s new main drag with Mayor Ted Maxwell and County Commissioner Greg Partch. Engineer Steve Marsh is at right. A ceremony with a road-... Full story
The last link in an overhaul of Whitman County’s emergency communications network will likely be complete next spring instead of the anticipated completion date this fall. Fran Martin, director of the county’s emergency management department, said Tuesday morning that crews building a tower on Tekoa Mountain have encountered weather delays. Under a joint operating agreement, Spokane County is building the tower, while Whitman County will maintain it once it is erected. Martin said the foundation for the tower is complete and the equipment shelt...
District 2 Whitman County Commissioner Pat O’Neill believes his election battle with challenger Dean Kinzer comes down to one decision. “It’s down to one issue: Hawkins,” said O’Neill, a Democrat from Johnson. “Good or bad, this is what this election’s about.” “I put my job on the line for it.” Kinzer, a Republican farmer from Ewartsville, said he filed for the job because of O’Neill’s January decision to increase from $9.1 million to $15 million the county’s commitment to build infrastructure for a 714,000-square-foot shopp...
Republican James Watkins, candidate for Washington State Auditor, stopped in Colfax Tuesday to meet with supporters. Watkins is running to replace retiring Auditor Brian Sonntag. The business consultant from Redmond spoke with the Gazette in the Top Notch Cafe. Watkins said he is running for the auditor post to make government more accountable to its citizens. He spoke harshly of the ability of his opponent, Troy Kelley, a Democrat who has served in the legislature since 2006, to meet those demands. “I don’t think he has the character to be...
Whitman County Administrator Gary Petrovich stepped down from his role as lead negotiator in the county’s development agreement with Hawkins Companies last week. That leaves a void commissioners are unsure how to fill. “We don’t know exactly what it is, but we know we need that contact person,” said Commissioner Greg Partch. “We need to have a lead. I was the lead up until Pat made a motion to make Gary the lead when the process started going sideways,” said Partch. “It needs to be somebody within the county. Because that’s where it focuse... Full story
Whitman County’s development agreement with Boise-based Hawkins Companies and the revenues the deal is aimed at boosting topped the agenda of a commissioner candidate forum Tuesday night. The forum featured candidates for the two commissioner seats that will be on ballots mailed out by the county elections office Friday. Incumbent District 2 Commissioner Pat O’Neill of Johnson defended his Jan. 3 decision to increase the county’s commitment to build infrastructure at Hawkins proposed 714,000-square-foot stateline strip mall from the $9 milli...
The wind turbine could no longer fit in between Tyler Bober’s fingers. So the Oakesdale Elementary student stretched his arms like an alligator mouth to capture the size of the nearing tower. Bober was one of roughly two dozen first through fourth grade students who toured the Palouse Wind farm on Naff Ridge last Thursday, Oct. 4. There, they learned one of the wind farm’s turbines could supply more than enough electricity to power every household in Oakesdale; that each tower has a ladder with 250 rungs inside, and that the workers do not live...
Colfax Airport Road will be closed to thru traffic for three weeks starting Monday to let construction crews replace two 15-foot culverts as part of Whitman County’s rebuild of the road. Traffic through the weekend will still be limited to a construction zone speed limit of 35 miles per hour. Public Works Director Mark Storey said the county is closing the road to allow workers from M.A. DeAtley of Clarkston, contractor on the rebuild, to replace a twin-culvert bridge that spans Rebel Flat Creek just east of the Duncan Springs Road i...
Martin Hall, the juvenile detention facility in Medical Lake to which Whitman County sends its underage offenders, will stay open for at least another year. Commissioner Pat O’Neill reported Oct. 1 the board of directors of the nine-county consortium that oversees Martin Hall’s operations voted Sept. 27, to keep it open for one more year. The directors considered closing the facility because the number of youths being housed there has not been enough to cover operating costs. O’Neill, who sits on the Martin Hall board as Whitman Count...
A public hearing on the future of the Community Education and Training Center building in Colfax will take place before Whitman County commissioners Oct. 29. Commissioners Monday received an appraisal of the building’s value in an executive session Monday before deciding to set the hearing. “Let’s get this process started and see what we come up with,” said Commissioner Pat O’Neill. The county took possession of the building, the former Colfax Elks Club, from the Port of Whitman County. Its roof collapsed under a heavy snow load in January 2009...
Since 1887, the Lutheran community of Endicott has been married, baptized, confirmed and worshiped with Trinity Lutheran Church. The church is celebrating its 125th anniversary this Sunday with a special service inside the purple nave and a potluck birthday party. According to a history of the church compiled by Marilyn Bafus, Sharon Storment and former Pastor Stan Jacobson, the congregation was organized in 1887 by Pastor H. Rieke. “For the Lord is good; his loving kindness endureth forever, and his faithfulness until all generations,” Pas... Full story
Whitman County lawyers will met in Seattle with Hawkins Companies representatives in the next couple of weeks to finalize a proposed second amendment to the two sides’ development agreement. Gary Petrovich, county administrator, said Monday he and Jeff DeVoe, Hawkins project manager, have been talking to work out differences over an amended deal Hawkins proposed last spring. Commissioners Pat O’Neill and Greg Partch approved the amendment for a $15 million county commitment in January without allowing public input on the decision. The Org... Full story
High winds Tuesday afternoon provided Avista with 30 megawatts of electricity off the Palouse Wind farm on Naff Ridge. Ben Fairbanks, western region business development manager for Palouse Wind’s parent company First Wind, said 20 turbines were operating Tuesday and generating electricity. “Everything seems to be going pretty good,” said Fairbanks. That electricity is test power, and is sold separate from the long-term contract Palouse Wind has signed with Avista. In all, the wind farm has 37 towers built with blades installed on the Naff...
Rich Cowan used to patrol opposing sides as a referee in Whitman League basketball games while attending Washington State University. Now, the founder of Spokane-based NxNW film production company and former Pullman firefighter, he wants to bridge opposing views in the U.S. House of Representatives. Cowan is challenging four-term incumbent Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers for the Fifth District’s seat in the house. He met with supporters Monday afternoon in the Norma McGregor room at the Colfax library. “Our issues, really are bipartisan issues. It...
Winds kick up dust in Tuesday night storm For the sixth time on record, Whitman County received not a drop of rain in September. Dave Jones with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Colfax reported Monday he had not recorded any rain last month. Jones reported .02 inches of rain fell in his gauge in August. That left fields dry for farmers who are beginning to plant winter wheat crops. Another complication blew through Whitman County Tuesday night, as high winds swept across the hills and filled the sky with dust picked up from dry fie...
Martin Hall, the juvenile detention facility in Medical Lake to which Whitman County sends its underage offenders, will likely stay open. Commissioner Pat O’Neill said Monday he intends to vote to keep the center open at the meeting of the nine county board of directors today, Thursday. “This is the right thing to do. I know in my heart that if we closed Martin Hall, it would never open again,” said O’Neill The nine counties that house their juvenile offenders at Martin Hall were considering closing the facility because the number of youths...
Around 1,200 feet of hillside above the Port of Wilma is all that remains of the Port of Whitman County’s $14 million project to run a fiber optic network link through Whitman County. Joe Poire, port executive director, reported to port commissioners at their regular meeting last Thursday, Sept. 20, that a line of fiber optic cable needs to be buried in ground overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers just north of the Port of Wilma to finish installation of the cable. Crews from contractor Henkels and McCoy laid fiber optic cable last m...
Guy Williams will chair his last meeting of Whitman County’s planning commission next month, if the panel can field a quorum, that is. Williams is leaving the local zoning board after more than 15 years as a member. The volunteer commission sets land use policy for the county. In recent years, the planning commission has dealt with a number of controversial issues, including zoning laws for wind farms, housing in the agricultural zone and development rules for the Pullman-Moscow Corridor. His departure shrinks the ranks of the already u...
Spending is holding true to plan for Whitman County’s 2012 budget while county leaders try to erase a $806,200 projected deficit for next year. David Ledbetter, county financial administrator, told county officials during Monday’s commissioner meeting that the $13.5 million spending plan for the county is well over anticipated revenues. “That’s where we stand right now,” said Ledbetter. The initial load of spending requests is about $1 million over the 2012 spending plan. Through August, the county has spent $8.4 million. Ledbetter predicted...
Fire crews from Garfield, Palouse, Colfax, Steptoe and Albion responded Saturday to a barn fire just south of Elberton. The barn was located on the Draper-Brown Road approach into Elberton. The vintage barn was engulfed in flames when the first fire crew, from Garfield, arrived at the scene, Chief Chris McCully said. The fire had ignited stubble which threatened the Ron Brodenson residence and protecting the residence became the number-one priority. Broderson said he and his son were working outside when they smelled smoke. “We just figured t...
With the click of a mouse, electricity will begin coming off Naff Ridge this week, as the first string of turbines begin spinning at the Palouse Wind farm. Ben Fairbanks, western development manager for Palouse Wind’s parent company First Wind, said the substation and transmission line have been energized to begin receiving power off an 11-turbine circuit that is expected to begin producing power this week. “Those towers are ready to go,” said Fairbanks. The first line of turbines begins with the towers just east of Highway 195 south of the w...
