Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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Thunder players, including Colfax grad Silas Rohner, center, warm up for practice Saturday. Pro-like football will hit the Colfax gridiron as the Palouse Thunder minor league team will make the Colfax field their home this spring for the five games. Made up of players from area high schools and former WSU and UI grid warriors, the Thunder kicks off its run through the six-team Washington Football League this Saturday at Wenatchee. “It’s for the love of the game. These guys are out there because they want to be out there,” said Coach Jerry...
After winning the fifth-place state trophy at Spokane last week, Colfax basketball players and coaches wrapped up the hoop season with an awards banquet Tuesday night. Seniors completing their varsity hoop careers were Alex Teade, Kellen Morgan and Andy Scholz. Coach Reece Jenkin noted at first glance the 1-2 run for fifth place at Spokane could be viewed as a disappointment, but overall the Bulldogs booked a highly successful season. Special award winners at the Colfax basketball banquet Tuesday night, from the left, were JJ Robinson,...
The Palouse Arts Council is on the verge of making another offer on buying the Palouse Grange hall, citing problems working with the state Grange, official owner of the building. The council has maintained the aging community building for the past eight years and wants to legally own it in order to apply for public funding for needed repairs to the structure. The Arts Council believes the price quoted by the state Grange is exorbitant, but the state grange property manager said their price is greatly reduced for the value of the building site....
A visiting actress entertained grade school students at nine schools in the county last week on an educational tour. The Living Voices program, here on a grant awarded to Whitman County library, offered students a choice of four program; Young People During the Holocaust, the Journey to America, Becoming American in the early 1900s and Fighting for Women’s Right to Vote. A video on immigrating to the U.S. plays in the Garfield school gym. Actress Brit Boyd with Living Voices out of Seattle presented the programs. Boyd narrated the life of an Ir...
THURSDAY Libyan tanks fired on rebel positions around the oil port of Ras Lanuf and warplanes hit another oil hub further east as Muammar Gaddafi carried counter-attacks deeper into the insurgent heartland. With personal wealth listed around $74 billion, Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim topped Forbes magazine’s list of the world’s richest people for the second straight year. More than 20,000 Filipinos lined a football field at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila to mark the start of Lent by forming the world’s largest ever human cross. FRIDAY A m...
A free one-hour introductory class for Microsoft Excel 2010 will be offered Monday, March 21, at 6 p.m. in the Colfax library and Tuesday, March 29, at 6 p.m. in the Malden Library. Participants in Colfax will use the computer labs in the Colfax meeting room. Malden’s session will be nine-station lab provided by Wired or Wireless. Instructor Angela Garza will cover the basics for navigating in this program. For more information about this class, contact the Colfax Library at 397-4366 or the Malden Branch at 569-3771....
After a three-month shut down, the navigation system on the Snake and Columbia rivers is set to re-open next Wednesday, March 23. The opening is behind schedule due to some final repairs needed on Lower Monumental Dam on the lower Snake River near Kahlotus. Crews need to align the seals on the new gate on the Lower Monumental lock to ensure it is water-tight. The dam had been set to re-open March 15. The dams have been closed since Dec. 10 for major repairs to three dams on the river system. In addition to the new gate at Lower Monumental, crew...
Two people were transported to Whitman Hospital after these two vehicles collided on Highway 26 about 10 miles west of Colfax Friday evening. Michael J. Blanc, 20, Burbank, driver of the 1999 Mercury Marquis pictured above, and Daniel Foust, 19, Pasco, a passenger in Blanc’s car were taken in a Colfax ambulance with possible head and neck injuries. According to the Washington State Patrol report, Blanc was driving westbound when his car crossed the centerline and struck the left front of the 1996 GMC Suburban driven by Mark T. Olson, 22 of H...
A study of the environmental impacts from First Wind’s expanded wind farm proposal are incomplete, according to comments submitted to Whitman County’s planning office. Eleven people submitted comments on the firm’s plan to add 10 turbines on Steam Shovel Hill west of Oakesdale to its Palouse Wind project. The Steam Shovel addition and the original Naff Ridge application could put as many as 65 turbines on 9,000 acres of ground. Deadline for submitting comments on the amended plan was Monday. Deadline for comments on the initial plan was Dec....
Oakesdale Senior Michael Conklin, who won awards two weeks ago with his tenor saxophone at the UI Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, was one of three area high school players named “Young Giants of Jazz” who performed Saturday with the Spokane Jazz Orchestra in their Smoldering Swing concert at Bing Crosby Theater in Spokane. The son of Michael and Sue Conklin, he performed at the Toccata Blues in Colfax last summer. His mother is on the staff at Whitman Medical Clinic in Colfax....
Yan Yefremov, 25, the Spokane area man who faces sentencing after pleading guilty to six different charges involving theft of cars at Pullman, has been ordered on lockdown status at the Whitman County jail. The jail order was issued after a hearing last week on a charge that he had assaulted another inmate at the jail last Monday. A copy of a notice filed with the case noted this was the second time Yefremov had assaulted another inmate in the jail. The jail noted the March 7 violation was compounded because Yefremov had conspired with another...
Only three of seven applications for Whitman County’s .09 economic development funding were advanced to the interview round by the Blue Ribbon Advisory Task Committee, or BRATC, which met Tuesday night in the courthouse. Laws attached to the .09 program lay out strict guidelines about what entities can receive the funds and how that funding can be used. BRATC chair Mitch Chandler of Pullman pointed out funding can only be granted public agencies, can only be used to improve public property but cannot be used to fund normal governmental o...
Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife initiated the first ever elk Hot Spot hunt in the Almota area Saturday to reduce crop damage caused by elk. Game Warden Bob Weaver Tuesday said the elk population in Little Almota Canyon has increased this year with as many as 100 elk living in the area. “There’s been elk down through the canyon for years, but not in the numbers that we’re looking at now,” said Weaver. The eight permitted hunters for the special hunt have thus far confirmed three kills. He called the hunt because the elk have be...
Letting dogs run free on the slopes of Kamiak Butte is becoming an issue. County park rangers last month discovered a blog with multiple photos of dogs running loose on the butte. The blog was on a northwest hikers Web site which encourages hikers to post details about local hikes. The pictures on nwhikers.net depicted dogs running free along the Kamiak ridge, with users leaving supportive comments. Dogs run free in a photo from the nwhikers.net web site. The blog has listed Kamiak Butte as a leashless dog park. Even in the winter, the area is...
Two months before the Colfax school district faces a deadline on teacher layoffs, the school board Monday received a letter from the teachers union which objects to the district’s proposed approach to layoffs. The teachers urged the board to stick with the present practice of making staff cuts on the basis of seniority. Cary Cammack, president of the Colfax Education Association, delivered the letter to the school board. It was signed by 39 of the district’s 42 teachers. The letter said the teachers reject what it calls the district’s “regr...
Emergency volunteers from Farmington, Garfield and Steptoe eased Eugene Bridge of Garfield out of his car after it landed in Dry Creek along the Dry Creek Road. Bridge, 85, was driving eastbound toward Garfield Monday at 5:13 p.m. when the car veered across the road and went into the creek channel. He told the first motorists to arrive at the scene that he passed out from a diabetic episode before driving into the creek east of the Cronk Road intersection. His 1997 Chevrolet Lumina came to a halt on its wheels in the creek bed. Water in the...
ORDINANCE NO. 552 AN ORDINANCE OF THE TOWN OF ROSALIA, WASHINGTON, annexing certain unincorporated portions of the Northwest Quarter of Section 14, Township 20 North, Range 43 East, W.M. WHEREAS, the owners of the below-described real estate notified the Town of their desire to have the property annexed to the Town; and WHEREAS, the Town Council agreed to consider the property owners’ petition requesting he annexation, and scheduled a public hearing on the petition submitted by the property owners; and WHEREAS, notice of the hearing was g...
Local wheat farmers watched as yet another disaster befell a perennial customer. Japan, the top world buyer of Washington state wheat, was devastated last week by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake. Toll of the massive quake and tsunami waves, including its impact on nuclear plants, remained unknown four days later. Randy Suess of Colfax, vice chair of U.S. Wheat Associates—the industry’s international marketer—said the Japan disaster adds yet more uncertainty to the uneasy global wheat export market. Japan annually buys almost one million metri...
Music students from 10 schools convened at Colfax Monday to present the Honor Festival concert sponsored by the Southeast Washington Music Educators. The students practiced for the performance during the day and the program was presented in the CHS auditorium Monday night. Patrick Winters, director of bands and department chair at Eastern Washington University, conducted the band which played three numbers. Kristina Ploeger, EWU assistant professer who is director of vocal jazz and the concert choir, directed the honor choir. Band directors...
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MARRIAGE LICENSES Bing Li, 26, Bremen, Germany, and Xiaojiao Jiang, 26, Pullman, March 10 Bradley Downs, 25, Pullman, and Katie Young, 25, Pullman, March 10 COLFAX BUILDING PERMITS Carl Thompson, new bathroom, 704 N. First, March 9 Rudy Fisher, gas furnace, $2,530, 324 S. Main, March 9 Eric Heise, remodel basement, $15,000, 612 Southview, March 15 Joe Solis, repair foundation, $5,000, 1015 N. Park, March 15 REAL ESTATE SALES Steptoe Specialty Crop Processing, LLC, Pullman, to Hinrichs & Co., processing plant at Steptoe, $200,000, Aug 5....
Carpets of silky primroses and pansies, with their brilliant reds and velvety blues, line the counters of the spacious conservatory. They have an herb garden growing on the roof of the gift shop. Solar panels power the energy needs of the business. Welcome to Living in the Garden, a seasonal garden supplier located just outside Pullman. Owned by Scottie and Suzanne St. Pierre, the “green” business sells yard plants and has a hand in many community-oriented events on the Palouse. A gift shop, conservatory, display gardens and a private greenhous...
Simon Nguyen of Pullman checks out wares at the March Madness antique sale in Palouse Saturday. The town’s four antique stores supplied antiques for sale at the former Small Towne Quilts store. Heidi Kite, owner of Open Eye Consignment Shop, said the furniture in the sale sold out by noon. Kite said two thirds of the merchandise had been sold by 2 p.m. Participants in the event received coupons for other businesses on the Palouse. “I think we’re going to hold another one soon,” Kite said....
Positive aspects I am a Rosalian — Yes me, the Clerk/Treasurer with the English accent. I am Irish and proud of that, but I am also proud that I have an American passport because my Dad was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. My Dad was in the American Army for 22 years and was awarded a Silver Star for his service in Vietnam fighting for the American dream. I am proud of who I am and where I came from. I am proud of the town I live in and, for the most part, of the people with whom I share this Town. Unfortunately, there are some people who claim to l...
I was recently stuck on an elevator — an event made no less dramatic by the fact that the doors were open. OK, maybe a little less dramatic. I was by myself on the elevator, having just been to the dentist to have my teeth and my wallet scraped clean. It was descending smoothly, when all of a sudden it stopped dead with a loud, slamming jolt similar to what it felt like when I saw the bill for the dentist. There was a grinding noise, and then the doors eased open between floors, though there was about 2 feet of space at the top where I could cr...
