Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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The new year is underway for the Whitman County Public Works department, with a slate of work to be dominated by the $5 million Almota Road Phase Four reconstruction project. Phase Four follows one and two, which have already reconstructed 5.3 miles of the 12-mile road south of Colfax to Highway 194 at the top of the Almota grade. Phase Four, to be done before Phase Three because of the order funding came through, will go from milepost 7.96 at Union Flat to mile 11.97 at state Highway 194. The...
Derrick Fincher, 48, the Spokane Valley resident who was sentenced last September in U.S. District Court in Spokane to more than 11 years in prison for swindling more than $2 million from three investors, is the person who purchased the former St. Ignatius Hospital building 16 months ago. Fincher purchased the hospital building and grounds from Anthony Girges of Bellflower, Calif. After he negotiated a purchase agreement for St. Ignatius, Fincher reached an agreement with the Colfax Chamber of Commerce to continue the “haunted hospital” tou...
A group of cattlemen landowners along the Snake River appeared in front of county commissioners Dec. 31 to ask for their signatures on a letter of support for their cause to acquire a piece of ground and make an exchange with the Army Corps of Engineers to get back on land long used to feed cattle in the canyons of the river. The land, once private, was sold to the Corps in the 1960s and '70s in order to build Lower Granite Dam. Since then, cattle were allowed to graze in various spots of the...
Beverly and Guy Spencer, mother and son who are owners of the Runner Bean Ranch outside Palouse, are building a large 'cool-bot', a cold storage unit to store food for local pantries. The Spencers already provide fresh produce for most of the food pantries in Whitman County. Their vision for 2019 is to build a large storage space to keep produce for the local food pantries fresher, longer and to be able to have even more produce delivered to the pantries. "The cool-bot will help us keep produce...
A new owner and a new plan is underway for the site of a roof cave-in at the former Cohn Motor Company's red brick building in Tekoa. Eric Bretz last fall took over as owner from Keith Andersson, after Andersson signed a quit claim to the building on the corner of Main and Crosby Street. Bretz told the Tekoa City Council Dec. 17 of his plan to repair and refurbish the building for future use. The first order of business will be to make the building safe. Tekoa Building Inspector Steve Haxton...
Voters casting ballots in the February and April special elections for the new year will be required to put a stamp on their ballots. The county will return to a stamp mode because funding for the postage paid ballots has expired. Auditor Eunice Coker in her final report noted the state went to a "no stamp required" mode for last year's primary and general elections. Funding for the postage costs came from $1.2 million which came out of reserve funds in the budgets of the secretary of state and the governor. Each entity put up $600,000. Coker...
Chris Nelson, new Whitman County treasurer, presented a contract with Spectrum as a holdover from her former position as IT director, saying she was “going to slightly re-wear the hat of my prior existence.” The Whitman County Public Health Department’s Pullman office off Bishop Boulevard has spent the last several years using a wireless internet connection. During the summers, foliage on the trees around the building disrupts the wireless connection. Nelson called the connection “Flaky at best...
COAST Transportation drivers in 2018 logged an 11 percent increase in miles compared to 2017. They totaled 550,000 miles compared to 469,555 miles driven in 2017. "It's been a crazy busy year, but that just shows what a huge need we have in this area," said Paige Collins, executive director of the Council on Aging and Human Services. COAST drivers marked the increase despite having an 11 percent decrease in funds. They also had a 14 percent increase in the number of individuals served. The 2017...
Christmas and New Years are over, and now neighbors are taking down their Christmas decorations. But in every neighborhood there is always someone who doesn’t participate. Maybe they were late getting their decorations up if they put them up at all. Maybe they don’t feel they have the time or energy to go through the work of taking down the decorations each year and so they leave them up all year. Maybe they don’t understand what all the hoopla is to get the decorations down in a hurry. Some...
Colfax boys added two wins on the home court over the weekend to move their record to 9-2 for the season. The Bulldogs will be back at home Friday to host Reardan and then will travel to Tekoa Saturday to play the Tekoa/Rosalia Timberwolves. Tekoa/Rosalia bumped their record to 10-2 Tuesday with a non-league win over St. John. On the Colfax court Friday, Colfax and Liberty dueled in the first half and the Lancers actually took an edge in the third quarter before the Bulldogs hit the switch in...
Colfax girls picked up wins over two of the top-tier teams on the home court over the weekend. The Bulldogs out-paced Liberty 44-40 in the Friday night league round, and they edged Northwest Christian 57-53 in a battle in the Saturday round. Both foes arrived at Colfax with 9-1 record. The win over Liberty put Colfax in a tie for the lead in the NE-south action. Colfax will finish the first lap of the NE-south this weekend with a Reardan slated to visit here Friday night and the Bulldogs booked...
Three Bulldog wrestlers place first in the Saturday tournament at Springdale. Kolby Sisk at 113 pounds, Nolan Burrill at 120 and Augie Allenbach at 220 each placed first. Springdale scorers did not tally team points, but the three wins and other strong finishes put Colfax among the top finishers. Kolby Slate placed second in the 138 class, and Jacob Brown placed third in the 182 class after winning the consolation final. Sisk pinned Drew Jackson of Wilbur/Creston in the title bout at 113. Nolan Burrill took the 120 class with pins in the...
Tekoa/Rosalia boys rolled out three more wins to stretch their record to 10-2. The T-Wolves will travel to Ritzville Friday to play the Broncos and then return to Tekoa to host Colfax in an all-county battle in the NE south. Colfax finished the week at 9-2 and will host Reardan Friday before making the trip to Tekoa for the matchup of NE neighbors. The Timberwolves fought Asotin Friday to notch a 65-62 win over the Panthers in a league matchup with Craig Mueller hitting 20 and Garrett Naught...
The showdown of the season so far comes to Palouse Friday night for Garfield/Palouse vs. Oakesdale, both unbeaten in Southeast 1B league boys basketball. The two expected, senior-heavy contenders for the 2018-19 season crown have both beat Colton – which is now tied for third with Prescott – clearing the way for a game to decide who is at the top of the league just past the midway point of the season. Oakesdale stands at 8-4 overall, 5-0 in league and Garfield/Palouse is 7-5, 5-0. They will pla...
After its first two-game losing streak in 10 years, the Colton girls returned to the win column this week, remaining in first place in the Southeast 1B league with a record of 5-0, 10-2 overall. Pomeroy holds second at 11-1, 5-1, their only loss to Colton. Oakesdale is in third with a 3-2 league record followed by St. John/Endicott/LaCrosse and Garfield/Palouse, both 2-3 in league. Colton will play at Prescott Friday followed by a home game against Garfield/Palouse Saturday. Oakesdale plays...
These reports are from the previous four issues of the Daily Bulletin in Colfax. They are reprinted here for the benefit of Gazette readers who reside outside of Colfax. Some accounts have been updated. CALLS FOR CHIEF STATUS CHANGE Colfax city councilman Jim Kackman Monday night called for a resolution of the employment status of Police Chief Rick McNannay. The chief was placed on administrative leave approximately two months ago by Mayor Todd Vanek. Kackman last night said "a decision has to...
President Donald J. Trump addressed the nation on Tuesday. All networks gave him free airtime for the prime time speech. Democrats immediately demanded equal air time for a response. Reportedly, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer said based on previous pronouncements by the President this address was bound to be “full of malice and misinformation.” Thus, they wanted to respond to it as soon as it was over. Democrats had already decided that they are against what the President was about to say hours before he said any...
Yes - there is indeed a national emergency. If unchecked, it could destroy our great democracy. It is called Donald J. Trump. --Dick Warwick, Oakesdale...
Pet Peeves Fire the commissioners ... they can’t even fill potholes on Steptoe Street, Steptoe, Wash....
Let's hand it to President Donald Trump. There he was, the commander in chief, closing out the old year by bravely showing up in a war zone in spite of the bone spurs in his feet. Yes, the haters are dubious about those spurs, but whether real or the figment of a paid-off podiatrist's imagination, they did keep him far from combat until he and his retinue stealthily traveled to Iraq over the holidays. Since Mar-a-Lago had been declared off limits because of the bad government shutdown optics, he, Melania and his court jesters had to go...
Donald Trump may watch the stock market more closely than any day trader. For a president who underlined the increasing importance of working-class whites to the GOP coalition and who trampled so much bipartisan economic orthodoxy during the campaign, to be so overtly obsessed with the stock market is a strange disconnect. In fact, no president in memory has so publicly staked himself to the market. Trump has, in contrast, paid relatively little public attention to wage growth, which is the measure that more closely tracks with his particular...
Last year, a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) global study of aerospace manufacturing attractiveness found the United States is top rated and within our country, Washington is the best. The study reaffirmed that “Washington’s economy and industry size are heavily tied to Boeing’s commercial aircraft business.” Boeing Commercial Airplane Co. is based in Renton. PwC pointed out that our state also is home to 1,400 aerospace-related businesses and has the highest concentration of aerospace jobs in...
The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 per-hour since 2009. Even though 96% of gainfully employed Americans earn more than the minimum, there is a push to increase it to a “living wage.” Minimum wage is a bad idea for several reasons: It ignores the concept of entry level jobs, it forces mechanization and/or elimination of low skilled jobs, and it interferes with the free market. I got my first job off the farm before I was in the eighth grade. I bagged groceries at Bob’s Market for $.75 an-hour. A few months later, my application at the s...
