Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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Whitman County commissioners renewed their contract with the Southeast Washington Economic Development Alliance, SEWEDA, to lead the county’s economic development efforts. Whitman County will receive $52,000 over the next two years to recruit and develop local businesses. The contract extension funnels that funding to SEWEDA. SEWEDA is funded with economic funds from Whitman, Asotin, Columbia and Garfield counties. Last year, the county contracted its economic development efforts directly with SEWEDA. Prior to that, the county had contracted w...
Whitman County’s Board of Adjustment gave permission to Cooperative Agricultural Producers to build a new unit train loading facility near McCoy, five miles southeast of Rosalia along Highway 271. The board unanimously approved the company’s proposal for a railroad spur that would encircle two grain tanks that could hold 430,000 bushels of grain at a site nearly one-half mile north of McCoy siding. Jackie Tee, Co-Ag general manager, said a firm decision on whether the firm will go ahead with the project has yet to be made. “This just puts...
Tom Kammerzell announced Friday his intention to run for the District 3 seat on the Port of Whitman’s commission. Kammerzell, 51, a rancher and custodian with the Colfax School District, said his focus is on attracting businesses that would provide employment for Whitman County residents. “I think the port needs to take a more active, aggressive role in seeking businesses for our small towns,” said Kammerzell. Kammerzell credited current port leadership for its efforts to grow the county’s industrial base, particularly in the high-tech sector....
Whitman County Auditor Eunice Coker pressed the send button Tuesday afternoon to ship out the county’s 2010 financial statement to state auditors, making the May 31 deadline for the first time since 2003. “It’s a big red letter day for Whitman County,” said Commissioner Greg Partch. “We’ve done an amazing thing here.” Partch said Tuesday was the end of his own personal Groundhog Day, referencing the Bill Murray movie in which Murray’s character wakes up to find the same day repeating itself. For Partch, hearing each year since 2003 that the s...
For their decades of devoted service to Rosalia, long-time residents Bill and Alice Hoffman have the honor of presiding over this year’s Battle Days celebration as grand marshals. “We just love it here,” Alice told the Gazette last Friday. “It’s our favorite place in the world.” Bill has spent 74 of his 78 years in Rosalia, with Alice by his side for the past 54. Together, the couple raised three children who went down the graduation aisle at Rosalia. “The other four I had to be gone, because I was in the military,” he said while helping A...
Dan Boone of Pullman announced Monday he will seek a third term as the District 2 commissioner for the Port of Whitman County. Boone, who farms his family’s ground south of Pullman, said he wants to continue ongoing efforts he has been a part of as a director of the county’s industrial development agency. “I think we’ve got a lot of things going right now,” he said. Many businesses are expanding from their locations at port sites on the river and in Pullman, he said, as local products join grain in outside markets. In addition, he said, the...
Four months into 2011, Whitman County’s operating budget has dropped another $209,000 into the red. Gary Petrovich, the county’s administrative coordinator, told county officials Monday the bleak outlook on the 2011 budget is getting bleaker. “There are some potentially difficult things we’ll need to do in the future,” said Petrovich. The 2011 current expense budget was passed with $660,000 in spending over anticipated revenue. Half that budget hole was to be plugged from the county’s cash reserves, with the remaining $330,000 to come from s...
A ladybug sits on a blade of rust-speckled wheat on Bill Myers’ farm near Diamond. -photo by Bill Myers A cool, wet spring this year has created the perfect breeding ground for stripe rust, and WSU rust expert Xianming Chen is urging farmers to spray fungicide early to combat infestation. “Winter wheat fields should be checked immediately if they have not been sprayed,” Chen wrote in a rust update Friday. "If active rust infection (producing rust powder) is observed quite commonly throughout the field, spray should be done as soon as possible....
Boston-based First Wind was given permission to build a wind farm in north central Whitman County Monday afternoon. Hearings Examiner Andrew Kottkamp, a Wenatchee land use attorney, granted the firm a conditional use permit and denied the environmental appeals of 18 neighbors. The conditional use permit means First Wind can begin acquiring the number of state, local and federal permits required to build up to 65 of the 492-foot tall turbines on Naff Ridge, Granite Butte and Steam Shovel Hill northwest of Oakesdale. “It’s very exciting new...
Leaders of the four counties in southeast Washington are considering the future of their economic development efforts after Duane Wollmuth left his post as director of the Southeast Washington Economic Development Association, or SEWEDA. Whitman County Commissioner Pat O’Neill reported to his fellow commissioners Monday Wollmuth had left to take a job in the wine industry around Walla Walla. Wollmuth had served as SEWEDA director since the fall of 2009. Prior to that he owned and operated the Three Rivers Winery in Walla Walla. SEWEDA is f...
Volunteers box produce at Albion fire station. For the first time in recent memory, residents of Albion can walk down the street to purchase lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers. Under the direction of coordinator Lenore Turman, the fire house has begun bringing in produce through the Bountiful Baskets food cooperative. At 10 a.m. every Saturday morning, a truck from Charley’s Produce in Spokane hauls down fruits and vegetables that have been pre-ordered on the internet. Orders are placed on the Bountiful Baskets web site by Tuesday and picked up a...
Whitman County officials decided not to accept a proposal to have Washington State University re-draw district and precinct boundaries to match 2010 census information. WSU had put out an $18,000 proposal to adjust those boundaries. The county and Pullman had considered splitting that cost. Pullman City Council, though, voted at its meeting last week to draw new lines themselves. City Supervisor John Sherman said the council decided the boundaries of its three wards were close enough to warrant saving the additional cost. County officials met M...
Susan Lynch, eighth grade teacher at Endicott Middle School, was named Teacher of the Week Tuesday by the Washington State Employees Credit Union. Lynch is in her 21st year of teaching English, social studies, home economics and leadership classes to Endicott students. “I was in quite a state of disbelief. I thought it was a scam,” Lynch said Tuesday while helping set up the school’s dinner theater production of Annie. Suspecting an eighth grade prank, Lynch answered the call: “This is Sue Lynch. What do you want.” “I wasn’t very nice about it...
Protestor Chris Richmond sits outside the commissioners’ chambers after being told he could not speak at their meeting. An announced rally in support of medical marijuana Monday turned into an informal meeting between two people and County Commissioner Greg Partch. Michael Assenberg of Colfax had slated a rally in response to a Quad Cities Drug Task Force raid on what he describes as a medical marijuana supply in his South Colfax home. He planned to lodge a complaint against the task force and Sheriff Brett Myers before county commissioners. Dr...
St. John and Endicott schools hired a new principal just in time to start looking for a new superintendent. Last week, the cooperative school boards selected Mike Olsen, now an assistant elementary principal at Selah, to fill the position being vacated by Principal Rob Roettger. This week, the school boards were set to meet to discuss the departure of Superintendent Rick Winters. “We’ve got a real solid bunch of board members here who handle things the right way,” said Winters. “I’m sure they’ll do a great job with this.” Winters has taken a j...
Whitman County’s Board of Adjustment will consider next Thursday, May 26, a permit application from Cooperative Agricultural Producers to build a new grain storage and loading facility with a railroad spur near McCoy. David DeGon of Fairfield, president of Co-Ag’s board of directors, said the grain cooperative is proposing to build a single-destination loading facility for 110-car grain trains. DeGon pointed out the plans are preliminary. They have undertaken the permit process to get that part of the project finished in the event they dec...
Whitman County will begin as soon as next month on an energy-efficiency renovation of the buildings on the courthouse campus. Facilities Manager Bob Reynolds told county commissioners Monday they will begin the first phase of an energy upgrade system designed by Seattle-based McKinstry. Commissioners in February authorized a $40,935 contract with McKinstry to study the courthouse’s energy use and find potential cost savings. Reynolds said the first step from that study is to replace the heating and cooling systems atop the jail and public s...
The Federal deadline to qualify spring wheat plantings for full insurance came and went Sunday, with officials reporting several farmers missing the date. “We really haven’t had a lot of farmers come in yet,” said Kathy Wolfe, director of the Whitman County office of the federal Farm Service Agency. “But we have got a few guys in that have already reported they may have prevented plantings.” The USDA’s Washington office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service, or NASS, reported Monday farmers in the state had planted 87 percent of...
Endicott students bang away on their shiny new drums. The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation donated 30 snare drums to the school. What’s worse than 18 kids with snare drums? Endicott-St. John Middle School band teacher Billy Ray says 18 kids with seven drums. Ray’s fifth period percussion ensemble tore open the boxes of 30 new snare drums which the school received courtesy of the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation. “It’s just like Christmas,” exclaimed Tyler Anderson just before he and his classmates opened 20 boxes of drums. The snare kits included...
Whitman County will not hold a presidential primary in 2012, after Gov. Chris Gregoire last Friday signed a bill to do away with that election. The change, proposed as a cost-savings measure by Secretary of State Sam Reed, means once again all of the state’s electoral delegates will be selected by precinct caucuses and state party conventions. Whitman County Auditor Eunice Coker supported the move, citing its cost-savings and saying it held little relevance in whom the state selected for its presidential nominees. “For an independent, bla...
Whitman County’s housing market saw an increase in home sales during the first quarter of 2011, but the sales were for lower prices. The Washington Center for Real Estate Research at WSU released its quarterly report of the state housing market this week. “Well, the market is picking up and it’s falling behind. It depends on what data you want to look at,” said Glenn Crellin, director of the center. The report showed home sales picked up 23 percent from the first quarter of 2010. Sales total was 370 compared to 300. The median price, the poi...
Whitman County’s elected officials will go a third year without a pay raise. The county’s citizen commission charged with setting elected officials’ salaries decided Tuesday night to keep their 2012 salaries at the same levels as 2011, which is the same as 2010 and 2009. Noting sagging wages across the nation, salary commissioners said they could not agree to raise those salaries. “I think the feeling in the neighborhood right now is things are just so tight,” said Dennis Hatley of Pullman, a new member of the commission. Chair Paul Eichenber...
Almost five years after fire wiped out rail service from Colfax to Pullman, a number of local officials have begun discussions to turn the rail bed into a recreational trail. In a joint meeting last Wednesday at Pullman City Hall, officials with the county and both cities authorized Pullman Supervisor John Sherman to write a letter to request the state to “bank” the railroad right-of-way if and when the railroad is abandoned. The rail connection was destroyed when the South Palouse River fire of August 2006 consumed a trestle just east of Col...
Whitman County emergency communicators switched on to new radio signals Monday. Steve Krigbaum, Whitman County’s emergency communications coordinator, said the first run of the new signals was successful. “Our test pages went out to fire departments last night and nobody called to say they didn’t get their page,” Krigbaum said Tuesday. To meet mandates from the Federal Communications Commission, emergency radio traffic switched from a wideband signal to a narrow band. Krigbaum said the switch is a big deal, though it may not grab anybody...
Appellants Roger Whitten and Marcia Wagner, left background, listen as First Wind Attorney Erin Anderson, in foreground, speaks at the SEPA appeal hearing Monday. Whitman County will know by May 24 if First Wind will be able to proceed with its plans to build a 65-turbine wind farm Naff Ridge, Granite Butte and Steam Shovel Hill west and north of Oakesdale. Proponents and opponents discussed the project throughout six hours of testimony in the CETC building Monday before hearings examiner Andrew Kottkamp, a Wenatchee attorney. Twenty-two...
