Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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Not quite a year-and-a-half since Whitman County government turned on its New World accounting software system, leaders are questioning if they should switch from the costly system. Chris Nelson, director of the county’s information technology department, presented a three-year service contract to commissioners for approval Monday. Commissioners balked at the contract, though, after Commissioner Michael Largent asked if the county should try and get a short-term deal in order to pursue a new, potentially less expensive, accounting software. ...
Congratulations, Palouse Empire. You are the most caffeinated area on the county fair circuit. Barbara Brouner of Chelan, owner of the Coffee Caravan, reported her stand at this year’s Palouse Empire Fair set the high mark in one-day sales for the almost 20 years she has been in business. She said more than $5,000 worth of coffee and juices sold during Saturday morning and through the afternoon sun. “We were definitely busy,” said Brouner, reporting what her employees told her. “They said the place was lined up as far as you could see.” T...
Whitman County commissioners unanimously approved changes to county zoning laws that would allow development of natural gas power plants by private companies. Commissioners Pat O’Neill and Michael Largent voted Monday morning to change code language that allowed only the development of such plants by public entities to include private developments. Commissioner Greg Partch left Monday’s meeting early before the vote. County Planner Alan Thomson said smaller-scale gas power plants may be needed in Whitman County to augment electricity pro...
Construction on the Colfax Airport Road is likely to begin in the next week and a half, but impacts to WSU football traffic may be minimal. Whitman County officials held a pre-construction meeting with DeAtley Construction Tuesday morning to hear the contractor’s plans for rebuilding the 3.09-mile road. Public Works Director Mark Storey reported afterward that the Clarkston-based firm expects to begin work as soon as the end of next week. He said DeAtley plans to close the road for about three weeks during construction, likely at the end of O...
As part of his career-ending tour of Washington state’s 39 counties, Secretary of State Sam Reed visited with officials and well-wishers in the Whitman County courthouse in Colfax Monday. The only elected official to graduate from Washington State University, Reed said he has a strong affinity for Whitman County. “Whitman County’s always meant a lot to me,” said Reed, who noted he was an active member in the county’s GOP as an undergraduate. Auditor Eunice Coker praised Reed’s office for helping advance Whitman County’s elections process. Part...
A new law which would prohibit garbage collected in Whitman County from being hauled for initial disposal outside of the county borders will be voted on by county commissioners next week. The “flow control” ordinance has been proposed by the county’s solid waste department, headed by Public Works Director Mark Storey. A public hearing on the ordinance was conducted by commissioners Monday morning. Empire Disposal submitted a letter asking commissioners reject the ordinance. “We feel that it is not necessary to adopt the ordinance at this ti...
Whitman County could face as much as $5 million in additional interest payments if it misses out on a state loan to help build infrastructure at the long-proposed Hawkins shopping center on this side of the state line. The extra interest expense would derive from interest costs in the event the county had to put up its part of the deal through a bond issue. The county is waiting for the legislature to approve an $11 million loan from the state’s Public Works Trust Fund. The county has committed to build $15 million worth of streets and water a...
The benefits of a booming tech economy are leaking out of Whitman County. A new report by University of Idaho economist shows Whitman County as the “engine” of the regional economy for Whitman, Asotin, Latah and Nez Perce counties. Dr. Steve Peterson briefed county officials on his economic study on the regional economy, and the impacts made by the Port of Whitman County, at the port commission’s regular meeting Sept. 5. Employment in the manufacturing sector, primarily driven by Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in Pullman, has jumped 152 p...
Officials have asked for $833,597 more money than the county will likely have to spend next year, as the starter pistol fired for Whitman County’s 2013 spending plan. Financial administrator David Ledbetter presented county commissioners Tuesday morning with the initial 2013 spending requests from each department in the county’s current expense budget. Total spending requests for 2013 is $13,543,742. Revenue projections for next year are $12,710,145. Both numbers are down from the $14,193,916 budget of 2012. “We’re already working with departm...
The Ilia Dunes on the lower Snake River was re-opened Sunday by the United States Army’s Corps of Engineers. A week-long clean-up after a wild party Aug. 25-26 netted more than 3,000 pounds of trash from the shore, the water and the three miles of ditch along the road between the dunes and Lower Granite Dam. The litter was hauled to the Asotin County landfill. Corps officials estimated 3,000 people hit the dunes that weekend, an unusually large crowd compared to the typical weekend count of 100 to 300 visitors. Bruce Henrickson, spokesman f...
A new era will begin at Martin Stadium Saturday, and no, it’s not just the first home show under Head Coach Mike Leach. For the first time ever, attendees at Washington State University’s home games will be able to imbibe beer and wine inside the stadium, not just in the parking lot. “We’re a little bit worried, sure,” said Sgt. Brad Hudson, head of the Colfax detachment of the Washington State Patrol. “You open it up that much more and you take more of a chance.” The university’s Board of Regents approved an amendment to state law that clears...
With a yield of 157 bushels per acre, Oregon State University’s developing wheat variety number 08047p94 topped the charts in Whitman County samples grown by Washington State University researchers of this year’s winter wheat crop. That yield was recorded from a university test plot near Lamont and helped the variety top yields in average production from the school’s five spots in lower-rainfall zones. WSU tests a number of wheat varieties in different rainfall zones, and releases those results as the crops are harvested. The goal, said Dr. S...
Five people had submitted their names to be commissioners of the proposed Tekoa Hospital District as of Tuesday. A ballot measure to create a new rural hospital district around Tekoa will be on the November general election ballot. Whitman County Elections Supervisor Debbie Hooper said Tekoans Dennis Bird, Michael Bogenreif, Karen Blomgren, Richard Chittendon and Diane Harp had filed for the five director seats that would govern Hospital District 4 if its creation is approved by voters. A special filing period opened Monday and closed at 5...
Clarkston-based DeAtley construction was awarded the contract to rebuild Whitman County’s Colfax Airport Road after bids were opened by county commissioners Monday morning. DeAtley was the lowest of five bidders to rebuild the 3.09-mile road, quoting a price of $2,599,431, which was $897,478 less than the engineer’s estimate of $3,496,899. “That’s much cheaper than I would have guessed,” said Public Works Director Mark Storey. The rebuild project will widen the road, create shoulders, eliminate some of the road’s tight curves and better angl...
- photo courtesy U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Thousands descended on the Ilia Sand Dunes on the south bank of the Snake River below Lower Granite Dam Saturday in a bash that left the beach covered with trash and sparked a wildfire in the hills above. A wild weekend party at the Ilia Dunes on the Snake River across from Almota left hundreds of rangeland acres charred and resulted in the closure of the sandy beach for clean-up of piles of trash. Officials with the United States Army Corps of Engineers estimated some 3,300 people were at the Ilia...
Changes to Whitman County zoning laws that would allow development of natural gas power plants will be the topic of a public hearing before county commissioners Sept. 10. Planner Alan Thomson said he has spoken with energy production companies about the possibility of building gas power plants in Whitman County to augment electricity produced by the Palouse Wind farm currently under construction on Naff Ridge between Oakesdale and Rosalia. “There are no plans, as of yet,” said Thomson. “This is just something that is not expressly allow...
All election results held firm as Whitman County’s canvass board finalized results of the Aug. 7 primary election Tuesday morning. Closest decision was the Colfax cemetery maintenance levy request, which passed with 60.5 percent of the vote. The 597 yes votes were five more than the $150,000 measure needed to exceed the 60 percent mark required for approval. Farmington’s $15,000 current expense levy passed by two votes; its’ 42 yes votes gave it a 62.7 percent approval. Art Swannack of Lamont and Bill Tensfeld of Rosalia officially advance to t...
L. West Road south of Palouse will be closed for two weeks early next month as Whitman County crews repair a pair of wooden bridges. Public Works Director Mark Storey reported Monday the road will be posted as closed from Sept. 4 through Sept. 13 to allow crews to replace rotting wooden pieces of Robinson and Turnbow Flat bridges on the dirt portion of L. West Road. The L. West Road runs between Highway 27 and Lawson Road on the east side of the highway. It intersects with Highway 27 about one and one half miles south of where the Clear Creek R...
Whitman County’s revenues for 2012 are coming in slower than expected. So, however, is spending. County Administrator Gary Petrovich reported actual revenues are trailing projections set forth in the June budget amendment. Petrovich revised the county’s total revenue for the 2012 current expense budget from $14.2 million to $12.7 million. “I’m estimating that our actual revenues for the total of 2012 will come in about $12.7 million,” Petrovich told officials in a meeting in the commissioners’ chambers Monday morning. Financial Administrat...
Despite the results of their respective races in this month’s primary, Whitman County commissioners Pat O’Neill and Greg Partch see no impact from the results on the Hawkins shopping mall proposal. “I made the vote January 3. And right now, that’s all there is,” said O’Neill. Much of the focus on the campaign centered around the county’s agreement to fund $15 million worth of infrastructure for the shopping center site which totals 714,000-square feet. Partch, who lost his bid for a fourth term by finishing third in the primary race, decline...
Measure to create rural hospital district on November ballot A special three-day filing will be held Aug. 27 through Aug. 29 for anyone interested in applying to be a commissioner of the proposed Hospital District No. 4 in the Tekoa area. A ballot measure to create a new rural hospital district around Tekoa will be on November’s ballot. Whitman County elections supervisor Debbie Hooper said Tuesday that candidates will be able to file for a special election that will select five members for the commission that would govern the hospital district...
Nine turbine blades arrived at Naff Ridge Monday as the $170 million Palouse Wind farm continues to take shape. Workers at the construction headquarters on Baird Road south of Rosalia said the nine blades were set to go into nacelles of the project’s three turbines that sit near Highway 195 on the wind farm’s extreme west side. Strong winds, however, prevented them from lifting the blades up to the nacelles. “Too windy to build a wind farm,” said Cole Shook with First Wind. The 49-meter blades were trucked to Naff Ridge from Pasco where t...
The end is near for construction of the Port of Whitman’s $14 million fiber optic network link through Whitman County. Joe Poire, port executive director, reported to port commissioners at their regular meeting last Thursday, Aug. 2, that the Department of Transportation had issued its final permit, clearing the way for the strand fiber optic cable to be laid along Highway 27 from Oakesdale to Tekoa. “So the light is on at the end of the tunnel,” said Port Commissioner Tom Kammerzell. The SR 27 stretch is the last highway portion of the proje...
The Port of Whitman County is getting out of the water business. Port commissioners approved a contract at their regular meeting last Thursday, Aug. 2, that would transfer the port’s water and sewer systems to the Asotin County Public Utilities District. The district will use them to provide services to the tenants at the Wilma Industrial Park. The move means rates will likely go down for most port tenants, said Debbie Snell, port properties and development manager. Most tenants at Wilma are served with four-inch metered hook-ups. The port char...
Whitman County commissioners Monday approved the installation of a new air conditioner that will cool data storage servers in the county’s information technology building. Pullman Heating and Air was the lowest of three local bidders on the project, quoting a price of $10,126 to install the new cooler. IT Director Chris Nelson said her employees have had to check the status of the servers over the recent hot weekends to ensure the chiller is keeping them cool enough to operate. Last year, a malfunction in the AC unit knocked out the c...
