Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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A 115-car grain train heads north to Marshall Saturday after a load over a 10-hour span at McCoy. The grain train is provided by Burlington Northern Santa Fe and picked up by Washington & Idaho Railway crew at Marshall for the trip to McCoy. Speed on the train over the 30-mile trip to Marshall and the main line is 30 mph.... Full story
If President Donald Trump is a budding authoritarian, as his critics allege, one of the safeguards is Judge Neil Gorsuch. For all that Trump has flouted norms and gotten off to an at-times amateurish start in the White House, his pick of Gorsuch was extremely normal and highly professional. The Gorsuch nomination is exactly what everyone should want from a President Trump, especially those who most fear and loathe him. Yet Trump's fiercest opponents began denouncing Gorsuch immediately. This is the dilemma for Democrats: Either Trump is a... Full story
With his executive order to build that southern-border barrier, President Donald Trump simply was keeping his campaign promise, placating his millions of anti-Latino bigot followers and not really causing any sudden problems -- except maybe forever antagonizing Mexico. But his other hateful order -- which kept another campaign pledge to his anti-Muslim bigot followers, many of them the same as the anti-Hispanic ones -- caused total chaos. Not only was the order based on hate, it was carried out in haste. Rarely have such incompetents misused...
More than 100 years ago, jaywalking was an epidemic in big cities. So many pedestrians were being killed by new fangled automobiles that Los Angeles seriously considered banning autos from the streets. A California automobile club was horrified by the prospects of these vehicles being barred. It started to look into ways of stopping the practice of pedestrians walking into the path of on-coming cars. Nothing seemed to help. Then, a man who was put in charge of solving the problem came up with a simple solution. He started a campaign to...
Little Guy Wrestlers practice on the Colfax mats Monday. The club for 5 to 14-year-olds from Colfax and the surrounding towns practices three times a week with meets set to begin in March. 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. HIGH TEMP FOR 2017? February’s run of warm spring days hit an unofficial high mark in downtown Colfax M...
Asotin's girls finished with a strong fourth quarter to peg a three-point win, 55-52, over Tekoa/Rosalia in a Saturday elimination round at the NE tournament at West Valley. Both teams went into the Saturday with 1-1 records in the first week of tourney play. The Timberwolves faced the Panthers after being hammered 75-26 by Liberty in the Thursday quarter-final round of the tournament. In Saturday's elimination, the Timberwolves had a three-point lead after the first quarter, and that shrunk just a point, 18-17, at the break. They still had... Full story
Garrett Phillips of Colfax on the way to a pin over Chad Doyen of Republic in the 113-pound class. Phillips was one of three local wrestlers to place second in the regional meet Saturday at Northwest Christian. For more wrestling pictures, see Weekly Pages: Feb. 16. Four Colfax wrestlers and Travis Knauff of Garfield/Palouse qualified to enter the state Mat Classic at Tacoma Friday and Saturday after booking top-four finishes last Saturday in the big regional qualifying meet at Northwest... Full story
Colfax boys went into Wednesday’s NE semi-final round matched up against Northwest Christian, the NE's top finisher with an undefeated 16-0 league record. The Bulldogs qualified for the semi-final after another tough battle with the Springdale Chargers in the NE's quarter-final game Thursday, Feb. 9, at West Valley. Northwest Christian defeated Colfax 57-42 at Colbert in January when the two clubs marked their lone matchup in the league campaign. The Crusaders are led by Ryan Ricks who hit a high mark in the league campaign with a 50-point game... Full story
Colfax girls advanced to the Wednesday's semi-final round of the NE tournament at West Valley Feb. 9 with a 56-20 crunch over Wilbur/Creston in the second round of the district playoff. The win put Colfax up against the St. George's team which topped them 46-36 when the two teams collided here in the lone matchup during the league season. St. George's advanced to the Wednesday semi-round with a 59-26 win over Reardan in the second round Feb. 9. Paired up in the other semi-final game Wednesday were Davenport, a 41-35 winner over...
-- Don Marshall photo Oakesdale’s Kieran Anderson and Mason Bates of Gar/Pal fight for a rebound Monday in Colfax. The Colton boys continued the Kinzer, Chadwick, Schultheis era into the weekend with a 70-64 win over Prescott in a loser's bracket round of the District Nine 1B tournament. The win puts the Wildcats (14-9) past the stage which they lost the last two years, thus ending their seasons in 2015 and 2016. At this stage three years ago, Colton was in the midst of a run of seven e...
Oakesdale’s Lindsey Lindgren goes up for basket against Pomeroy’s Sydney Watko in a Nighthawks loss. The Colton girls aim to defend their District Nine 1B championship Friday night in Colfax against Pomeroy. The Wildcats began the tournament with a bye and advanced with a 61-40 win over Touchet Feb. 10 while Pomeroy beat Waitsburg 55-24 and Oakesdale 68-49 for a slot in the title game. Oakesdale, who beat Colton (19-2) in the regular season and split with Pomeroy (16-5), will meet Touchet in... Full story
Colfax High School senior class earned $403 from Umpqua Bank in a new popcorn fundraiser at the basketball games Feb. 6. Senior class advisor Christopher Clausen and students handed out bags of popcorn with the arrangement that the Colfax branch would donate $1 for every bag handed out. The money will be used for year-end activities such as a senior trip, flowers for graduation and other costs....
The resolution for a partial-roof collapse of a Main Street Tekoa building remains to be seen after the cave-in Jan. 26 due to snow. Owner Keith Anderson of Tekoa reports he is in discussions with an engineer about how to potentially repair the damage. Zach Lanham, Tekoa building inspector, said resolution of the problem is being left up to Anderson. “We're going to have to wait for things to warm up a bit,” said Anderson. Lanham estimated that 1,200 square feet of roof came down onto the second floor, along with part of the brick wall on bot...
A load limit of 19,560 pounds gross was placed Feb. 9 on the city road along the N. Fork of the Palouse River to Glenwood. Colfax Public Works Director Matt Hammer said the load limit is in place to prevent damage to the road during the spring thaw. The limit on the N. Fork road, which was added to the city as part of the annexation of Redtail Ridge, conforms with postings on county gravel roads which are now underway. Length of the posting will depend on the weather. Hammer noted city crews planned to conduct a first sweep of Main Street...
The fifth Palouse Cabin Fever Brewfest brought in 590 people, another sell-out. Big Barn Brewing of Mead won this year's title for “Best Cure for Cabin Fever.” The fifth annual Palouse Cabin Fever Brewfest went off at the Palouse Community Center Feb. 11 with only 10 no-shows of a sold-out 590 tickets. “It couldn't have been any better,” said volunteer Ben Barstow. “We have a good time doing it, and the people have a good time coming to it.” The benefit for the community center brought in... Full story
Rosalia Mayor Nanette Konishi has continued to be active in the 2017 legislative session, so far making three trips to Olympia since the session began Jan. 9. “We're on our way there right now,” Konishi told the Gazette Monday, Feb. 13. In the past, the town has been present in Olympia for action days, but this year has been present for not only action days but was also asked to testify in favor of House Bill 1702 regarding legislation to update port district authority for fiber installation and leasing and is also lobbying for support for Hou... Full story
LaCrosse school plans its annual science night for Thursday, Feb. 23, from 5:30-8 p.m. at the high school. Science teacher Matt Wysock has planned the event, which will include hands-on demonstrations and activities from students in kindergarten through 12th grades. A Mobius Science Center from Spokane will also put on a show on the physics of superheroes at 7 p.m. Mobius has a museum there and travels for presentations and shows. “One year they shot a ping pong ball through an aluminum can,” said Wysock. The demonstrations by the students wil...
The Town of Oakesdale has opened a public comment period for input on a permit application for work at Pearl Street, McCoy Street and First Street. The comment period is open through Feb. 24. The work will include reconstruction of sections of the streets near Oakesdale schools, reducing the grade of the Second Street hill and widening the loading and unloading area for buses. Other proposed changes include relocating and lowering water and sewer mains, sidewalks, constructing retaining walls... Full story
The Town of Lamont is seeking an engineering firm for assistance on town projects. The town sent out its request last week. “We haven't done this for a very long time,” said Ginny Rajala, Lamont's clerk/treasurer. The town last year was visited by a Transportation Improvement Board (T.I.B) consultant who recommended chip sealing projects on roads and pointed out some water issues in the town, Rajala said. With projects likely coming up, the town council has decided it is time to hire professional help. “As a council, we thought it'd be good...
Colfax Unified Executive Director Valoree Gregory, left, is presented a $2,500 check donation by Umpqua employee Emma Klaveano. The bank recently awarded Colfax Downtown Association the grant to help with establishing a storefront grant program for downtown businesses. The Colfax Downtown Association was recently awarded a $2,500 grant from Umpqua Bank to help in establishing its downtown storefront improvement grant fund. The grant was awarded after Colfax Unified Executive Director Valoree...
Circa 1915 on Main Street in LaCrosse at the Chatauqua celebration which brought many people to town and packed the street with automobiles. LaCrosse was incorporated approximately two years after this photo was taken. Photo from the private collection of Anne Pierce Aslin and courtesy of the Whitman County Rural Heritage collection. This weekend, LaCrosse will officially be 100 years old. The community became an incorporated town of Whitman County on Feb. 19, 1917. An article in The Colfax...
St. John/Endicott Cooperative Schools have been meeting with the LaCrosse School District for the last several months to discuss a potential sports cooperative between the districts, and public meetings are scheduled in St. John and Endicott next week to discuss the SJE Cooperative boards’ proposal. LaCrosse district has cited declining participation numbers in its partnership with Washtucna and Kahlotus, as well as the potential of Washtucna and Kahlotus moving their sports programs to a cooperative with Ritzville. “It’s a project that the sch... Full story
All but one of the Feb. 14 special levy proposals received approval after 820 ballots were counted Tuesday night. Colton, Rosalia and Lamont schools all had large funding measurers on the special levy ballot. The results showed the Rosalia town levy proposal as the only one below the 60 percent passing threshold. That levy request for $69,000 at an estimated $3.35 per $1,000 in 2018 for street lights, seal coating, shoulder work and capital improvements received 73 yes (54 percent) and 63 no (46 percent) votes on election night. Except for a... Full story
Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport board has opened the bidding process to start the next phase of the runway realignment project. The project was shut down after several months of moving dirt and completing contour work. Airport Administrator Tony Bean last November told the Gazette everything was on track with the project prior to the planned winter shutdown. He also said at that time he expected the new bid package to be awarded around March. M.A. DeAtley Construction out of Clarkston completed the first phase, and Ryan Bergstrom, consultant...
Endicott Town Council has been discussing unused buildings at its recent sessions with the discussion focusing on the possibility of condemning abandoned buildings and houses in the town. Mayor David Bilow told the Gazette some residents have come forth with concerns regarding buildings. “There’s a group of vocal residents who are rightfully wanting these cleaned up,” he said. The mayor said he is not sure which direction the town, which is on a tight budget, should go at this time. “If it does become successful to condemn the buildin...
