Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 875 - 899 of 936
Complaints from neighbors of a proposed housing development delayed the Pullman Planning Commission’s decision to re-zone the Port of Whitman’s new development and an industrial park after a public hearing last Wednesday, Sept. 23. The port is partnering with the Steve Mader family to build an industrial park and a new housing development on ground that will be eventually annexed into Pullman. The developments would cover more than 515 acres on the northern edge of Pullman. The land is bound by Highway 27 on the east, the Pullman-Albion Roa...
Whitman County District Court Judge Douglas Robinson ruled Columbia Phytotechnology owes the Port of Whitman $1,154 for unpaid rent on a building the company leased in the port’s Pullman Industrial Park. “O.k., now what’s the chance of us getting it,” Port Commissioner John Love asked Joe Poire, port’ executive director, at a port meeting Tuesday. Port officials have not been able to contact the company, and had to publish a summons to appear in order for court action to advance. A representative of the company did not appear at the court hea...
Come rain or come shine Colfax has put on its finest face for the fourth edition of the Autumn Harvest Hullabaloo this weekend. “We’ve taken care of just about everything, but even we can’t do anything about the weather,” said Elaine McClintock, chair of the Hullabaloo committee. “So my advice is to just bundle up and have fun anyway.” The National Weather Service is predicting a high likelihood of showers this weekend. Soggy or sunny, this year’s Hullabaloo kicks off at 3 p.m. Friday, as artisans roll out their craft booths at the First Baptis...
Whitman County government lacks an open dialogue between county offices, according to a recent report from Washington State University’s Division of Government Studies and Services. That lack of communication exhibits itself in a lack of “factual or empathetic understanding” between departments. “A general lack of trust is apparent within the County system, especially across departments,” the report stated. WSU’s researchers found that, while employees take a great deal of pride in their own jobs, they do not understand or appreciate...
Hopes that the Palouse River & Coulee City Rail Authority could receive a $60 million stimulus grant were dashed last week. The authority sought the funds to replace track that would allow trains to travel more than twice their speed. Joe Poire, executive director of the Port of Whitman, told port commissioners Tuesday that the governor and state Department of Transportation declined to write letters of support for the project. The port represents Whitman County on the four-county rail authority which was formed to oversee maintenance on the...
After hearing complaints, compliments and calls to “Git r’ Done” throughout two hours of public testimony last Wednesday, Sept. 16, Whitman County’s planning commission decided to delay a vote on the proposed industrial wind tower ordinance until Oct. 7. The commission has been working on the ordinance since October of 2007. The ordinance requires wind turbines be placed at least five times their overall height from buildings and 1.5 times their height from adjoining property lines. Wednesday’s hearing drew criticism of the proposed draft fro...
Whitman County pays private quarry owners less than any county in the state. Public Works Director Mark Storey said that needs to change if the county wants to continue to have a reliable supply of road rock. “We are right now the cheapest rate in Eastern Washington,” Storey told county commissioners in a workshop Monday. “If we don’t raise our rates, we may not have some quarries in very critical areas.” Currently, the county pays 20 cents per ton of rock taken from privately-owned quarries. More than half of the 30 quarries used by the count...
Fran Maxwell, WSU Whitman County Master Food Preserver, alerted the Gazette last week that a recipe for pumpkin jar bread in the Friends of the Library’s “More Recipes from Our Friends” cookbook presents the potential for botulism poisoning. Maxwell said the pH level, the amount of moisture and the airless environment of canned breads is in the right range for the growth of the C. botulism toxin to form a potent toxin. “It’s a wonderful recipe. I’m probably going to make it,” said Maxwell. “I just won’t can it.” Library director Kristie Ki...
Residents told county commissioners Monday the county’s proposed residential wind ordinance does not protect neighbors. Their outcry delayed a final vote on the ordinance, which passed the planning commission last month. Commissioners are slated to decide the fate of the ordinance Oct. 5. The ordinance allows wind generators to be placed on lots of at least one-half acre with nothing more than a building permit. Towers must be set back 1.2 times their height from neighboring structures and public roadways. Residents at Monday’s public hea...
A small turnout followed by injuries forced Garfield/Palouse school officials last week to drop the school’s football program from an 11-man team to an 8-man team. The Vikes opened the year with 20 players, but injuries and illness knocked out six team members, leaving GP with a short roster, primarily made up of freshmen and sophomores. “With that many young kids having to play, it really just became a matter of safety,” said Coach Scott Thompson. Parents met with school officials last Wednesday to discuss the drop. “As happens in any season,...
Gov. Chris Gregoire Tuesday announced Whitman County had been awarded funding that was dedicated to the county by state law. The county was one of seven entities that were all but guaranteed funding from an earmark in a bill that authorized funding for communities to spur private construction projects. Whitman County will use the funds to pay off bonds for road and water system construction at a stripmall proposed to be built by Boise-based Hawkins Companies. “Well, we’ve heard that before and missed out, but it’s nice to hear,” said County...
Seven teachers at St. John have voted to drop their affiliation with the Washington Education Association and the National Education Association. The seven teachers were the only WEA members among the 16 faculty members at St. John. Teacher Marianne Gfeller said the teachers felt the WEA had turned its focus more toward partisan lobbying efforts and away from helping teachers bargain during contracts and supporting education efforts. “Our politics just did not mesh with the politics of the WEA, and we couldn’t see throwing any more money to...
Ron Kile, holding microphone, explains his direct seed drill to farmers. Direct seed systems can help farmers hold down input costs by limiting the amount of fertilizer and fuel needed to plant a crop. Unfortunately, they also come with a six-figure price tag which can be a burden for farmers who already face high costs for farming equipment. Tuesday morning, the Palouse-Rock Lake Conservation District and the Pacific Northwest Direct Seed Association showed scores of farmers different types of direct seed drills can do and informed them of...
TEA Party protesters serve up signs at Codger Park in Colfax. A little over a dozen people gathered Saturday for a “TEA Party” to protest what they consider a lack of fiscal restraint from the federal government. The gathering at the Colfax Codger park on Main Street was in support of a national TEA Party march on Washington, D.C. the same day. Local organizer Denise Culbertson said more than two million people were reported to have taken part in the protest at the nation’s capital. The TEA party tag derived from an acronym for Taxed Enough Alr...
Though the fate of the county-owned CETC building in Colfax has not been officially decided, County Commissioner Pat O’Neill said Monday it was a “foregone conclusion” that the building will be razed. “I don’t want to see one cent spent on snow removal on that building this year,” O’Neill told his fellow commissioners in a workshop session Monday. The building sustained serious damage to its roof from a heavy snow load last winter. “Pat, that’s crazy,” said Commissioner Greg Partch. He pointed out the county could face a lawsuit if the buil...
With pumpkins, carnies, elaborate quilts, bucking bulls, kaleidoscopic flowers and animals of all shapes and sizes, the Palouse Empire Fair once again wowed the crowds at its 60th edition at Mockonema. “It’s amazing to see how creative all these people can be,” said Gail Bilow of Endicott, as she was looking over a birdhouse made of flakes of black walnut by Frank Hughes. More than 24,000 people enjoyed the sights, sounds and smells of the fair, said fair manager Bob Reynolds. The estimated attendance is an uptick from last year’s 23,000....
1’s of students absent The flu outbreak that has affected thousands of Washington State University students since fall semester began is now hitting Whitman County schools. Whitman County Public Health officials said the flu hit Colton and St. John last week, and has since spread from there. “I expect we’re going to see more cases crop up all around,” said Fran Martin, director of the county health department. Health officials fell short of calling the outbreak the H1N1 virus, or swine flu. They speculated, though, that the WSU outbrea...
Whitman County will conduct public meetings in the near future on the county’s new wind power ordinances. A public hearing on the large-scale wind power ordinance will be next Wednesday, Sept. 16, at 7 p.m. in the Public Service Building in Colfax. County Planner Alan Thomson said the planning commission will go ahead with the hearing, despite pending appeals of his ruling that the ordinance has no impact under the state’s environmental law. A court ruling in favor of the opponents would put the process in reverse, Thomson acknowledged. For...
Visitors to the Port of Whitman’s booth at this week’s Palouse Empire Fair will be able to see promotional videos extolling local business opportunities. The short films were created by Digital Barn Productions of Lewiston and promote the port and some of Whitman County’s smaller communities. One video will focus on marketing the port’s available properties to potential industrial clients. The second video will highlight business opportunities in 11 of the county’s 16 towns. The 11 towns were selected because they have sufficient infrastru...
August’s top two primary produced a general election final between two candidates from the same political party, and local party officials are figuring out how to deal with it. Republicans Susan Fagan of Pullman and Pat Hailey of Mesa advanced to the finals in the race for 9th District State Representative, leaving the GOP with too many candidates and the Democrats without. “I’m becoming less and less enamored with the top two system,” said Steve Naught, chair of the Whitman County Republican party. Following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Washin...
President Barack Obama broadcast a speech to schools around the nation Tuesday morning, but because of a controversy over the content of his message, not all local students got to hear it. Some parents, concerned that the president would use the opportunity to instill his political agenda in school children, threatened to keep their children out of local schools Tuesday if the speech was broadcast live. “We had some parents who called and said they wouldn’t send their kids to school if we showed the speech,” said Jake Dingman, superintendent of...
WSU health officials reported Tuesday having been contacted by more than 2,500 students who had influenza-like symptoms since the start of the fall semester. Two cases of the swine flu were confirmed in Whitman County residents by the State Public Health Laboratory last Thursday. The samples were from a 19-year-old male and a 24-year -old female, both from Pullman. Local health officials said those test results show the wave of illness that swept the Washington State University campus is likely the H1N1 virus, the swine flu. Whitman County...
Hundreds flooded Hooper Sunday afternoon to hear Baxter Black’s wild tales of the cowboy life and the easy-loping cowboy songs of Wylie and the Wild West, “I don’t like country music,” said Bill Maher, a cowboy from Deer Park. “But this… I love Wylie.” Under a sunny sky, the poet and the crooner provided nearly four hours of top shelf entertainment to a crowd filled with cowboy hats and pearl snapped shirts. Folks poured in from all across the west to catch the “Together at Hooper” show. Some came from as far away as Montana, others all the wa...
Proposed new rules governing the placement of wind generating power stations on residential property are now in the hands of county commissioners. Whitman County’s planning commission finalized and unanimously passed the proposed ordinance after a public hearing Aug. 26 that generated little comment from the audience and no citizen opposition. The planning commission has been working on the ordinance for the past year and a half. Though the residential wind ordinance passed without controversy, the commercial wind ordinance has been appealed i...
To avoid having the roof fall in on occupants, the county-owned Community Education and Training Center will be shut down for the winter. Repairs to the foundation of the CETC building may also be too costly for the county to keep the building standing. A survey of the foundation of the former Elks Lodge found the back section, roughly ten feet of the building near the South Palouse River channel, was built on river silt that allows the building to continually settle. The survey is about two-thirds complete. The CETC sustained significant...
