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Articles from the February 21, 2019 edition


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  • Farmington weighs future for land parcel

    Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter|Feb 21, 2019

    The Town of Farmington will consider what to do with a 4.5-acre parcel of land at the southeast edge of town after a local resident made a proposal at the town council meeting Jan. 21. Brett Lisenbee seeks to lease the parcel, which was leased to the late Ron Johnson for hay ground for many years. Lisenbee would use it for ag purposes as well. “Kind of a spotty stand, not a real prized piece of ground as far as ag purposes,” Councilman Mark Hellinger, who is also mayor pro-tem, said. Mayor Dav...

  • Blown closed

    Feb 21, 2019

    Washington State Patrol Trooper Jeff Sevigney posted this picture of State Highway 27 which was closed after being hit by snow and wind Feb. 13 and 14. Sevigney said he drove as far south as Latah, turned around and posted the highway closed just south of Fairfield. State crews had the highway to Tekoa open again Friday....

  • Fate of St. Elmo's Hotel building unknown

    Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter|Feb 21, 2019

    Justin and Lindsay Brown, owners of the St. Elmo’s building in Palouse, appeared before the city council Feb. 12 to discuss plans for the 1888 former hotel on Main Street. The Browns bought the building last year with plans to refurbish it. At the meeting, they told the city council, representatives of the Palouse Chamber of Commerce and an estimated 20 more residents, that the project is too big. Last summer, they hired workers to strip out plaster surfaces on the inside. “The more they str...

  • Many speak out on Selway marijuana re-zone request

    Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter|Feb 21, 2019

    Whitman County Commissioners took comment from a crowd Tuesday after setting a date of March 4 for a public meeting on a proposed zone change to allow a marijuana research facility at the intersection of Flat Road and Country Club Road outside Pullman. Tuesday's regular meeting actually had no comment slated for the agenda, but commission president Art Swannack nonetheless opened it for comments, asking anyone who would like to speak to keep it under two minutes. He called on the front row...

  • Fire destroys Malden house

    Feb 21, 2019

    A fire Feb. 13 destroyed a house in Malden. Rosalia fire crews received the first alarm at 3:04 p.m., and St. John crews assisted at the scene. Crews were hampered by approximately 18 inches of snow in Malden, and ice also became a factor. Rosalia Chief Bill Tensfeld said they were on the scene until about 10:30 that night. The house had one occupant who was not at home at the time. His dog was found deceased in the building. Cause of the fire is unknown. Pullman Fire Investigator Tony Nuttman...

  • Port supports 3 aviation bills

    Kara Davidson, Gazette Reporter|Feb 21, 2019

    Port of Whitman Commissioners decided to support three aviation bills. Bills which have been placed before the legislature. Bill 1455 deals with work force shortage in the Aeronautics industry by increasing training and employment for commercial and airline transport pilots, avionics and aircraft maintenance technicians, and certified flight instructors in the state. Bill 1456 would establish a Community Aviation Revitalization Board loan program that would allow for low interest loans for...

  • C & C Fund correction

    Feb 21, 2019

    The Colfax & Community Fund’s spring basket raffle brings in between $500 and $1,000 a year, and donations from requests send out on the mailing list bring in more than $20,000 each year. Revenue from the sources were incorrectly reversed in last week’s report....

  • Far from fair weather

    Feb 21, 2019

  • Rosalia embarks on plan to upgrade water, sewer

    Feb 21, 2019

    Rosalia has embarked on a plan to upgrade its water and sewer systems with part of the costs coming from a monthly increase of utility bills and part of it coming from state grants. Rosalia has issued a call for bids to install a new water main on Fairview from 4th to 8th streets with an alternative bid to continue to 9th Street and down 9th to Josephine. A second alternative will be to install a new sewer main, with connections and manholes, along 1st Street from Whitman to Summit. A pre-bid meeting was conducted Tuesday in Rosalia town hall...

  • Contractor damages port fiber lines in Spokane County

    Kara Davidson, Gazette Reporter|Feb 21, 2019

    Some of the Port of Whitman’s fiber lines that run up to Spokane on Spotted Road near the Spokane Airport were damaged in January while a construction company was working. While the company was excavating the fiber in order not to hit it, a rock fell on the exposed line and ended up pinching and crushing the line in two areas. On the following day, the group was cutting into the vault with a sawzall and cut into the fiber on accident as well. No additional damage was done by the sawzall, as i...

  • Whitman Hospital cuts rates for imaging, lab services

    Kara Davidson, Gazette Reporter|Feb 21, 2019

    Whitman Hospital and Medical Center has announced reduced rates in the hospital’s Imaging and Laboratory departments. “We would like to highlight our efforts to remain conservative compared to hospitals within Washington and nationwide,” said Laurie Gronning, WHMC’s Public Relations Specialist Overall, WHMC has had a price increase of two percent for 2019 which is lower than other increases over recent years. In 2018, the increase was five percent, with a three percent increase for 2017. D...

  • Unfrozen

    Feb 21, 2019

  • Roger Berarducci

    Snow sale

    Feb 21, 2019

  • Palouse denied park link grant

    Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter|Feb 21, 2019

    The City of Palouse has been turned down on its grant application to the Washington State Transportation Improvement Board to build a pedestrian bridge to cross the Palouse River from Heyton Greene Park to near Ancel Jeffers Lions Club Park. The denial stated that the park is not eligible because it does not connect directly to a street. The footbridge would have started at the park near the swimming pool and crossed to the other side of the North Fork of Palouse River about 50 yards down from...

  • Citizens committee backs Pullman levy

    Feb 21, 2019

    A public advocacy group has formed in support of Proposition 1, a hospital bond proposal that will appear on the April 23 special election ballot. Pullman residents within the city limits are eligible to vote on Proposition 1 to support ‘The Next Era of Excellence’ at Pullman Regional Hospital. The funds would fund an additional community health pavilion, modernize existing hospital facilities and medical technology, and implement a community-wide electronic medical record. The ballot proposal is for $29 million with the levy rate est...

  • Boyer lot slated for sealing

    Kara Davidson, Gazette Reporter|Feb 21, 2019

    Whitman County has agreed to do chip sealing and crack sealing on the Boyer Park parking lot while they are chip sealing Lower Granite Road over this coming summer. It has been 20 years since the parking lot has been sealed. The county tends to do chip sealing on the roads every six to eight years. The county will charge the Port of Whitman for materials and employees' time to do the sealing, but not for mobilization because the county machinery will already be in the neighborhood. "This probabl...

  • Colfax wrestlers take sixth-place in state all-B tourney at Tacoma Dome

    Feb 21, 2019

    Colfax wrestlers placed sixth Saturday in the State Mat Classic at the Tacoma Dome with 101 points in the all-B division. Tonasket topped the Bs with 348 points, and Reardan, a team Colfax topped in the Pomeroy sub-regional, placed one notch ahead of Colfax with 140 points for fifth place. Senior Augie Allenbach, who advanced to the semi-final round, placed third in the 220 class to lead the Bulldogs. Allenbach booked a 4-1 mark at the tournament to collect 23 team points for the Bulldogs. Sutton Moon, the Kalama wrestler who topped Allenbach w...

  • Kierstyn York

    Gorillas stop Colfax girls to claim last NE ticket

    Feb 21, 2019

    Davenport's Gorillas, a team which had eight veterans back from the group which was topped by Colfax in last year's state 2B title game, pegged a solid 55-36 win over Colfax Saturday at West Valley to claim the NE's third-place entry into the regional round of the state playoff. Davenport started the long tourney as the number-one team from the NE north, but found themselves in the last two elimination rounds after being bumped by a point by St. George's in the semi-finals. Colfax headed down...

  • Jon Denny and Carson Cloaninger

    Lancers upset Bulldogs to claim last NE ticket

    Feb 21, 2019

    The Colfax boys basketball season came to a decisive end Saturday when Liberty's Lancers stopped the Bulldogs in the last chance game for the NE district's third and last ticket to the state regional round. The Lancers, led by big Jon Denny, took the deciding win after bowing to the Bulldogs twice in the NE-south league campaign during the season. Final score was 55-39. Liberty broke out to an early lead in the first two quarters, while the Bulldogs struggled to hit baskets. The Lancers had a...

  • Southeast 1B league/district tournament: Oakesdale takes Vikings in title game

    Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter|Feb 21, 2019

    Oakesdale did it. After a 24-hour delay and canceled school due to snow, on Thursday night, Feb. 14, with snow piles on the streets leading to the Colfax gym, the Nighthawks and Garfield/Palouse played king of the hill. In their third meeting of the year, this time for the championship of the Southeast 1B league/District 9 tournament, Oakesdale won 50-42. Garfield/Palouse had beaten them three consecutive times going back to last year. But not this time – perhaps one the Vikings would trade a...

  • The 2019 Southeast 1B/District Nine champions

    Wildcats seeded no. 1 in state/regionals: Colton outlasts Pomeroy for district title

    Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter|Feb 21, 2019

    Nervous moments made no appearance in two regular season games between the Colton girls and Pomeroy. They arrived, however fleeting, on the night of the district championship game, as the Pirates cut Colton's lead to four points, 40-36 with 1:08 left in the game. Before this, Jordyn Moehrle drove to put Colton up 40-33 and then Dakota Patchen got surrounded for a shot-clock violation. Pomeroy hit a three-pointer and it was a game. Patchen soon drove for a score to put Colton back up by six....

  • Oakesdale, Gar/Pal boys to regionals

    Feb 21, 2019

    The Oakesdale and Garfield/Palouse boys advance to regionals this weekend, both playing at West Valley High School in Spokane. They are now one win away from the state brackets at Spokane Arena. On Saturday at 10 a.m., no. 9-seeded Garfield/Palouse matches up against a no. 16 seed that will cross the Strait of Juan De Fuca on the “road” to state, the Lopez (Island) High School Lobos, which lists ferry times on its season schedule for each away game. From its home in the San Juan Islands, the Lopez team bus will board a ferry for Seattle, the...

  • The state of Liberty

    Gordon Forgey, Publisher|Feb 21, 2019

    Through out the country’s history, states have faced efforts to divide them up. A current movement is to split California into three states. Arizona, Maine and Michigan are just a few that have faced similar efforts in the past. Our own state, Washington, has over the years faced the threat of being split. The movement is fundamentally spurred by the overwhelming imbalance of population and the difference in political ideologies and life styles in those populations. A current effort is most visibly centered around a state representative from S...

  • Pet Peeves & Okeydokes: Feb. 21, 2019

    Feb 21, 2019

    Okeydokes The plow crews! We live on Parvin Road and they do a fantastic job keeping our road clear. For neighbors on Southview who saved their elderly neighbors from the snow....

  • Another National Emergency

    Feb 21, 2019

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