Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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On Tuesday, March 3, the Eagles/Wildcats Booster Club received a sports equipment grant from Good Sports providing eight pairs of baseball cleats and 12 pairs of batting gloves to the organization. Amy Swannack, booster club president, said she stumbled upon Good Sports when she was looking for grants to help the students. "The original grant is for three draws over three years for equipment," Swannack said. "Normally, if we had a request from a coach that was in need of something above and beyo...
On Feb. 28, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and Bonneville Power Administration released the Columbia River System draft Environmental Impact Study. Now that the EIS has been made available, it is open for a 45-day public review and comment period. The open comment period will close April 13. On Monday at the Whitman County Commissioner Board meeting, Commissioner Dean Kinzer encouraged those in attendance, if they feel compelled, to submit comments on the study. The draf...
On Monday, March 2, during the Whitman County Commissioner Board meeting, commissioners passed the motion to award $10,000 per year for the next two-years in public facilities .09 funds to the Palouse Knowledge Corridor for help and funding a full-time economic development position. The motion was passed on a 2-0 vote. Commissioner Michael Largent was absent from the meeting. The Palouse Knowledge Corridor is an economic development collaboration in southeastern Washington and north-central Idaho. This collaboration was developed as a way of...
On Feb. 27, Bunyard Automotive closed its two year run in Colfax after setting up July 2018 in the former location of Lube Plus. Jacob Bunyard, owner and founder of Bunyard Automotive, said the change came from wanting to spend more time with his family. "The job comes with a big price and that price is not spending as much time with family," Bunyard said. "I'm always at the office and didn't have much time to see my family." He said he was given another opportunity working in the North Slope of...
On Feb. 18, the county commissioners held an afternoon workshop to discuss possible financing scenarios for upgrades and replacements coming to the courthouse and jail. The main purpose of the meeting was to see how much cash from the general fund would be used to fund the upgrades and replacements at the courthouse and jail, upon approval of the commissioners. Gary Petrovich, county administrative director, presented, as of the week prior, the general fund held approximately $8.6 million, the restrict reserve fund held $1.6 million and the...
County Commissioner Dean Kinzer reported to the commissioners Monday morning on a 2020 Census session he attended this past week. He said this session covered details related to the upcoming census and the importance of the numbers collected. “It is constitutional and required every 10 years,” Kinzer said. “About $675 billion are distributed to schools, hospitals, roads, public works and other vital programs such as WIC and SNAP based on Census numbers.” Kinzer added this is why this is so important everybody gets counted as this could mean th...
Whitman County Commissioner Michael Largent presented to the rest of the board at its Monday morning workshop that the Colfax Arts Council is interested in putting a mural on the side of the Public Service Building on Main Street next to Jim's Service Center. "We are working through getting permission with different building owners in the downtown area," said Debbie Snell, Colfax Arts Council. "We have three to four different walls planned out right now to get started with adequate planning."...
At the Monday morning commissioners workshop, Mark Storey, Whitman County public works director, brought before the commissioners the idea of purchasing an automated flagger for this summer's road construction season. An automated flagger is a temporary traffic control device that has high visibility signage and can be operated either through radio control or cable from a remote location. “We are looking at purchasing one or two of these automated flagger stations,” Storey said. “They are $32,000 - $34,000.” There are two different models...
At Thursday's Port of Whitman County meeting, future building plans were discussed at the Port of Whitman Business Air Center. The reason behind new buildings at POWBAC came from an anonymous local company that was interested in space at POWBAC. There currently is no space available in any existing port buildings or as a sublease from existing tenants. The port staff presented to the commissioner two possible approaches to future building development at POWBAC. Presented were a short term and a long term plan. The short term plan is primarily...
Torry Shepherd, owner of Torry’s Country Store in St. John, knew before even moving to St. John that the CHS Primeland Country store would need some help if it was to survive. In September 2012, Shepherd and his wife Amy moved their family to St. John, where Torry was a nutrition consultant for CHS Nutrition, selling Payback Feeds, and Amy was an adjunct professor at Washington State University. What he didn’t know then was the store would undergo a name change and he would be the owner of the store and fuel pumps eight years later. Since She...
Derek "Deke" McClintock, Colfax, son of Don and Elaine McClintock, found himself front and center of the February/March issue of Vertical Magazine flying the H145 helicopter for San Diego Gas & Electric. Vertical is based in Ontario, Canada, and features in-depth coverage of the civil helicopter industry. "Our son Derek laughs saying he just happened to be in the right place at the right time," said Elaine McClintock, Colfax. "He is now working for HeliStream flying H145 and Blackhawks."...
On Feb. 8, Tough as Nails held its first community workshop entitled "Share the Love" at the Rosalia Middle School gym. The goal of the event was to assemble 60 activity kits for hospital donations. The activity kits will be donated to Sacred Heart Children's Hospital including the child psychiatric ward in Spokane. Tough As Nails is also working on reaching out to other hospitals to extend the reach of the non-profit. There were more than 30 people in attendance who packed the 60 kits in just...
The 16th annual Bowling Benefit Tournament for the Whitman County Humane Society and NW Cancer Foundation of Hope will be held Saturday, March 7, starting at 11 a.m at Zeppoz in Pullman. Starting in 2004, Ron and Heather Morgan decided they wanted to do something to help the local humane society because of their dog, Lucy. “My wife and I wanted to run a community event because we felt it was the right thing to do and we love animals,” Morgan said. According to Benefit Bowling website, the Morgans added the Light a Candle Foundation through Gri...
The Palouse People series will present the Lost Apple Project on Thursday, Feb. 20, 7-8 p.m. at the Pullman Depot Heritage Center on 330 N. Grand Ave., in the Freight Room. The Palouse People series occurs approximately every two months. Topics that have been covered before range from the 1918 Spanish Flu Epidemic and its impact on Colfax and Pullman to Washington State University's effort to record stories of WSU students who are members of the military. "The Palouse People series is an...
On Thursday, Brenda Stav, port finance director, updated the port commissioners on a collaborative project the port has been working on for the past few months in relation to ports on the Lower Snake River to join in signing resolutions on the dams. Stav said the intention for these resolutions were to have them delivered at the same time the Washington Public Ports Association submits a letter to the governor regarding the dams. On Aug. 15, the Port of Whitman adopted resolution 19-09 in support of the Lower Snake River Dams. “They (WPPA) k...
The Palouse Conservation District third Annual Alternative Cropping Symposium will be Thursday, Feb. 27, in the Gladish Community Center’s View Room in Pullman. Giving producers the opportunity to learn from other farmers on the Palouse, this event will focus on promoting healthy soils and profitable farming. Other topics that will be covered include cover cropping, intercropping, integrating livestock, etc. “This event is producer driven so we want to offer an opportunity for farmers and livestock producers to participate as much as they are...
At Monday’s county commissioner workshop, Commissioner Dean Kinzer announced the upcoming “Dream it. Do it...Here Conference” slated at the University of Idaho, March 18. This will be the fourth annual Dream it. Do it...Here Conference specifically for 10th and 11th graders in the region encompassing Whitman, Asotin, Garfield, Latah, Lewis, Idaho, Clearwater and Nez Perce counties. “This is a local alliance dedicated to recruiting area youth in manufacturing and other valued industries,” Kinzer said. “Dream it. Do it. is a youth recruitment...
On May 24, 2018, the Port of Whitman County made a motion to support Washington State Department of Transportation with its Consolidated Rail Infrastructure Safety Improvements (CRISI) and Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant application for rehabilitation work on the PCC Rail System. The port committed to a $15,000 match and a letter of support from the port for the WSDOT application. Last Thursday, Feb. 6, Debbie Snell, port properties and development manager, reported to the port commissioners WSDOT was just now...
County and port commissioners discussed port and county-related issues at a joint workshop session Monday. Port Commissioner Tom Kammerzell reminded all that at the end of the month a draft of the Environmental Impact Study will be released by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Bonneville Power Administration and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on the Columbia River System and the effects of dam removal. “The EIS will be coming out Feb. 28 on our river system,” Kammerzell said. “That will open a 45-day comment period going until...
Palouse Conservation District held its annual meeting Jan. 30 at the Gladish Community Center in Pullman. The purpose of the annual meeting is to recap the 2019 year and to gain feedback on how to improve for 2020. Preregistration came from 115 people with 103 in attendance, including staff. Of all the events throughout the year, this is the conservation district's largest public event. Unlike previous annual meetings, a different format was in place this year to allow more people to get...
On Jan. 8, 2020, Astria Regional Medical Center in Yakima announced that it would be closing its doors due to continual financial struggles. With the recent announcement of ARMC closing, Laurie Gronning, public relations specialist at Whitman Hospital and Medical Center, said it got her and CEO Hank Hanigan thinking that it might be a good time to remind the community of how lucky we are. "I don't know it's kind of an unsettling time," Hanigan said. "On the more national scale, it's at least...
County Treasurer Chris Nelson Monday presented the treasurer's list of tax refunds and a report of uncollectable taxes for the previous year to the board of county commissioners. According to state law, the county treasurer reports tax numbers to county commissioners once per year. “The RCW has several requirements for the treasurer's report to the board. One of them deals with property tax refunds that were issued in the prior year,” Nelson said. “Last year we issued a total of $36,446.19 in refunds.” Nelson added that many of these refunds...
County Sheriff Brett Myers brought before the county commissioners, during their Monday workshop, the status of medical providers for inmates at the jail. “We are in the middle of medical contract providers for inmates,” Myers said. “Probably about July of last year I got notified that there were some changes going on up at the hospital and the hospital bought out the medical group and we have been in the process of trying to track down an actual doctor.” According to the county website, inmates at the jail are afforded the opportunity to see...
Brandy Dean, county facilities management director, and Gary Petrovich, county administrative director, Monday presented to the county commissioners the cost and possible upgrades and replacements at the courthouse and jail. The project presented could include upgrades and replacements to roofing, HVAC, elevator, windows and doors, plumbing, electricity, jail facade, generators, etc. For example, elevator changes could include access to the elevator from the ground level of the courthouse all the way to the roof. For generator upgrades, it was...
