Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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County commissioners and Port of Whitman commissioners have booked a joint meeting for next Monday, Feb. 6. The Port and county commissioners meet together from time-to-time to discuss matters of joint interest. Maribeth Becker, clerk of the county board, said one item on the agenda is discussing legislation related to fiber optics. “There’s some legislation that they want to talk to them about,” said Becker. “It’s legislation that’s in the works right now.” The Port reported last week that it and the Washington Public Ports Association i... Full story
-Lydia Smith photo Bankers at the 2016 Casino Night, left to right, are Sue Henning, Marlene Landers and Linda Hayes. The St. John Heritage Museum is planning a casino night in St. John Feb. 11. The casino night, the second annual, is planned at the St. John Community Building and will include blackjack, poker, roulette, bingo and a beginner poker table. “It’s just like a casino, you buy chips and play,” said Lydia Smith, one of the organizers. Last year’s casino night raised $3,800. “It sus...
Main Street tax incentives have been pledged, and Colfax received more than $21,000 in pledges from three businesses this year. That, combined with a $2,500 grant from Umpqua Bank, will help the Colfax Downtown Association establish its storefront project grant fund. “It’s going to spruce up downtown,” said Valoree Gregory, Colfax unified executive director. “It’s an investment.” The storefront project grant will be used to help businesses and building owners in the Main Street corridor with funding for storefront improvements from the busines...
Sandy Trump of Steve's Glass shovels the sidewalk in front of the Colfax business Tuesday. Business owners like Trump joined county and city crews in combating the most recent onslaught of snow in this winter’s barrage. Snow drifts in the Colton/Uniontown area recently were as high as 10 feet tall. Public Works crews last week pushed back snow to make room for more this week and next. Public Works Director Mary Storey reported to county commissioners Monday that a significant amount of time w...
Tami Schwartz, right, and Debi Anderson, left, pose with their awards from the Festival of Trees in Colfax. They entered a ladder tree to promote the Route 26 Market. A new market is set to hit the Colfax scene in April, and the organizers of it are hoping to make a splash here. “It's a vintage market,” said Debi Anderson, one of the founders of Route 26 Market. “There's other ones like it put on around the country.” Another founder is Tami Schwartz of LaCrosse. They have been selling vintage it...
St. John Park and Recreation District is heading back to the drawing board after a request for proposals failed to receive any bids to replace the district's struggling pool boiler. The district had issued a call for bids in December to have its boiler replaced well ahead of the summer season, but no bids were received by the Jan. 15 deadline. “We haven't received any bids yet,” said Roger Beck, park district supervisor. “The board will have to meet and decide what to do.” Though no date for the next board meeting has been set yet, Beck sa... Full story
Pullman residents packed the council chambers at Pullman City Hall Thursday night to speak to the city's Board of Adjustment as the board reviewed Pullman School District's application for a conditional use permit for its fourth elementary school. Nearly all of those present were in favor of the construction of the school, but concern arose amongst the citizens about the school having only one access road. Those speaking to this concern asked the board to not approve the application if a secondary access road was not included in the plans....
The Port of Whitman County Commissioners were asked to consider a proposal by the Washington Public Ports Association (WPPA) to impose limits for on-call public works projects. The proposal limits port districts statewide to $40,000 for on-call projects. Anything higher than that would have to go through the public bidding process. “Cities, school districts and towns already have these powers, and the state auditor made a recommendation that ports do this for up to $40,000,” said Port Properties and Development Manager Debbie Snell. Snell sai... Full story
The Port of Whitman County, along with the Washington Public Ports Association (WPPA), is working with Ninth District Representative Mary Dye, R-Pomeroy, on a bill to the legislature to refine telecommunications authority for ports statewide. Joe Poiré, executive director at the Port of Whitman County, said the association and ports are looking to update the authority to be more in line with technology today. “The legislation is 17 years old,” he said. “And we want to refine that authority.” Passed June 8, 2000, the law gives port district...
Front: Louise Owens, Jerine Gray, Carol Larsen and Cinda Tribble of the Endicott Community Club, and Nancy and Tony Anderson of Parks and Rec. Back: Anne Lowe, Sue Bafus, Laura Jones and Myrna Morasch of the Endicott Community Club. The need for a new boiler at the Endicott pool is one step closer to being fulfilled thanks to a donation from the Endicott Community Club. The club donated $7,000 to the pool Jan. 21. The donation came as a surprise to pool manager Nancy Anderson, who said she had... Full story
Whitman County Commissioners voted Jan. 17 to open the application period for proposals for funds from the county’s Economic Development Public Facilities (.09) Fund. The commissioners opened the fund at $100,000 for 2017. “It’s the same amount as we’ve done for years,” said Maribeth Becker, clerk of the board. The .09 funds are intended to be used for public economic development projects. Last year, the Blue Ribbon Advisory Task Committee (BRATC) awarded funds to the Tekoa theater project and the Colfax High School track renovatio...
A Relay for Life event will not have a Colfax edition this year. Organizers of the Relay have decided to make a shift to combine the Whitman County and Pullman groups and host the event in Pullman. “It will be for this year, for a while,” said Taylor Persello with the American Cancer Society in Spokane. Persello said the move could be a permanent one, or it could be one that lasts just a couple of years. “Sometimes things run their course, and you need to re-energize,” said Gail Webster, who formerly served on the Whitman County Relay for Lif... Full story
The Port of Whitman County has closed the sale on one of two buildings it has owned at the Port of Wilma. Debbie Snell, Port properties and development manager, reported to the Port board last Thursday that the sale closed Jan. 17 for the building at 1845 Wilma Drive. Buyer Mark Huett plans to locate an aluminum boat building facility in the structure which he purchased for $230,000. The process on the sale began last summer, and it was extended to allow Huett more time to come up with the funds for the purchase. The building was the former sit... Full story
From left to right: Valerie Brewer, school board member; Travis Echanove, St. John art teacher; Mark Purvine, St. John principal; Amanda Webb, St. John Community Club event coordinator; Shantyl McGuire, school board member, and Suzanne Schmick, St. John/Endicott superintendent, at the check presentation to the art department. St. John Community Club last week wrote a check to the St. John school art department after raising $1,100 through a community event. “It was a full house in the c...
At left, Monika Wachowiak, the District 3 leader for the Spokane GOP and Michele Beckmann, a member of the Washington State Republican Party board of directors, pause for a photo in front of the Capitol building where work crews are busy setting up for the inauguration. They also visited the Botanical Gardens, Native American Museum and Museum of Flight. Crowds will pack the streets and be at the West Front of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington D.C. this weekend for the inauguration of... Full story
The Whitman County Food Coalition met Jan. 12 to appoint subcommittee chairs and discuss goals for each subcommittee. The coalition next meets on Feb. 9 at 10 a.m. The newly-establish Whitman County Food Coalition continued its progress at its most recent meeting Jan. 12 and has now appointed chairs to five subcommittees. The coalition established the subcommittees at its November meeting and appointed members to each of the committees. The chairs appointed last Thursday included Paige Collins...
The LaCrosse School Board next week is inviting the public to attend a planning for the future workshop at the school. The meeting is open to all, regardless of whether or not they have a student enrolled at the school. “We want to make sure we're best meeting the needs of our kids,” said Jeff Pietila, LaCrosse principal. Doug Curtis, LaCrosse superintendent, said the purpose of the forum is to draft a vision going forward. “We're trying to do some three to five-year strategic planning,” he said. “It's time for us.” Curtis said the district is...
This map from the Moscow, Pullman and Palouse telephone directory shows roads on Military Hill in Pullman. In the first and second quadrants, dashed lines indicate potential access roads connecting Greyhound Way and Terre View Drive or Canyon View Drive and Terre View. Road access has been brought up as a concern in the construction of Pullman's new elementary school, as there is one access road in and out of the proposed school site. Kamiak Elementary School is indicated with a star, while the...
County Administrator Gary Petrovich, right, presents a preliminary 2016 budget report to the Board of County Commissioners Tuesday morning. The Board of County Commissioners received some good budget news at its regular meeting Tuesday, Jan. 17. County Administrator Gary Petrovich presented a preliminary 2016 budget summary. “These are very preliminary numbers, and a lot of departments are still creating journal entries and accounting for 2016, but I thought it was important to get this d...
Freezing temperatures last week and into the weekend led to several Colfax water meters freezing and, in some cases, breaking. “Often times when those mains freeze, they break,” said Matt Hammer, Colfax Public Works director. Frozen water line breaks last week led to flooding at four Colfax businesses. Palouse River Quilts, Tick Klock Drug, Palouse River Rock and Hen House Chicks were all hit. The water meter froze in front of the former Glaser’s Jewelry location which is being remodeled into the new Carpenter, McGuire & DeWulf law firm. All o...
With the 2017 Washington state legislative session underway, at least one Whitman County community is communicating its priorities to the state body. The Town of Rosalia last week released a resolution passed at a town council session with priorities for the legislature to consider during its session. “As an organization and as a city we’ve gotten more organized and serious about paying attention to the legislature,” Mayor Nanette Konishi said. “So much of our funding has been cut, and we haven’t paid that much in close attention before....
Whitman County is looking to establish policies and procedures regarding intergovernmental loans and has put a moratorium on loans until those guidelines can be established. “We’re trying to get our ducks in a row,” said Mark Clinton, county treasurer. The Board of County Commissioners Tuesday voted unanimously to place the moratorium on loans between the junior taxing districts and the county. “It’s for the protection of the county’s financial position,” said Commissioner Art Swannack. Clinton told the Gazette the county has fielded a num... Full story
The Palouse Conservation District has announced funding available to local landowners and producers for land conservation. Funding is available through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) specifically for the Palouse River watershed. This watershed includes portions of Whitman, Spokane, Adams and Lincoln counties, as well as a portion of Latah County in Idaho. Landowners and producers need to apply for the funds by Feb. 3. Funds will be available with the purpose of establishing voluntary,...
If Judge Robinson’s schedule allows, he may give a presentation on his ‘rodenticide’ in Colfax this coming February or March. District Court Judge Doug Robinson has for several years had problems with mice and other rodents on his nine-acre property on Klemgard Road, just west of the Ewartsville elevators. With the problem facing him, Robinson wanted to look into a rodenticide which would be a solution but also not harm other organisms. He believes he has accomplished that now. “What I have deve... Full story
Kurt and Chris Braunwart have not lived in Colfax since 1984, but the couple has been doing business on the Palouse ever since they first arrived here in 1980. Today, they operate ProGene Plant Research, LLC, in Othello, and their business brings them to the Palouse often. “We have a lot of research trials north and south of Pullman,” said Kurt. “We have lots of customers from Spokane to Lewiston to Walla Walla. We spend a lot of time on the Palouse.” Their family was recently named the 2017 Le...
