Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 51 - 65 of 65
The first of three lagoons lies in the spring sun outside the south-county town of Uniontown. A six-inch layer of human feces lies at the bottom and will be dredged up when construction on the lagoons is in full swing this summer. Construction workers will begin clearing away vegetation and a thin film of topsoil in a dry lagoon outside Uniontown April 1, the first step in a $2.3 million state project to plug up the city’s leaking lagoons. Over the next six months, workers funded on a state loan will first drain the 10-acre patch of leaking was...
Four dead pets in Farmington have led one owner to suspect they were poisoned. Kristina Mikalson of Farmington has lost a 7-year-old Australian shepherd and an 8-year-old cat within the past 10 months. She alleged the dog, Angie, became violently sick the same day last spring as two other dogs that live across the street at separate homes. Those two dogs died the same day. Her dog remained in ill health and died eight months later. Whitman County Reserve Deputy Scotty Anderson said he couldn’t determine if the animals had been poisoned. ... Full story
Colfax High School teacher Ross Swan was thrown a party in his classroom March 23 for his 25 years as a teacher at Colfax High School. Old and new students came by to eat cake with him and celebrate....
Left on the outside for the final state budget decisions, local GOP legislators this week criticized the Democratic majority’s plan to raise taxes to balance the state’s 2010-2011 fiscal year budget. As of press time Wednesday, majority Democrats were wrangling over separate tax proposals in the House and the Senate. Senate leaders were proposing an additional sales tax. “Basically it’s a dueling match between (Senate majority leader) Lisa Brown and (House speaker) Frank Chopp,” said Rep. Susan Fagan, R-Pullman, as she was preparing for a bre... Full story
The county-owned building on he corner of Main and Upton street is slated to soon house the county elections office. Only two more elections will be counted amid the orange-faced cupboards and tan fridge of the Public Service Building kitchen. Whitman County’s elections department has finalized a floor plan for a new office in the county-owned building at the corner of Main and Upton Streets. The vacant building last housed Greg’s Electric and prior to that housed Harrison Electric. “I’m gonna miss this old kitchen,” said Debbie Hooper, c...
THURSDAY Detroit school officials announce the city will close 44 of its 172 public schools at the end of the school year in efforts to offset a $219 million budget deficit. Twenty-nine schools were shuttered before the current school year. Haitian parents were reunited with 33 children taken into the Dominican Republic by U.S. Baptist missionaries after the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake. A 21-year-old German man turned himself into police after admitting his role in a March 6 raid on a poker tournament in Berlin. Four men, armed with...
9th District Representative legislator Susan Fagan said she has yet to see a study on consolidation proving it saves funds. "No matter how many times they study that, they haven’t proven that…," Fagan said. "No one has proven to me that broad school consolidation is going to make our kids’ education better." 9th District state Senator Mark Schoesler said he was still disappointed with the current state of the levy equalization bill. "We shouldn’t be raising them. Instead, we should be focusing on funding what we have. Focus on unfunded mandate...
I-728 Eliminated in both House and Senate budgets (roughly $100 per student, down from roughly $400, was passed out this school year). I-728 is a state program that provides funds to teachers with an aim at keeping school classrooms smaller. Consolidation of school districts Senate has a $250,000 proposal to study the efficiency of grouping districts together. The state is considering combining smaller school districts with an eye on saving funds. Whitman County is particularly vulnerable to this suggestion because most schools here fall...
The activist group of citizens formed after the failure of the Colfax levy has now launched a city-wide campaign asking Colfax’s 2,500 voters for a thumbs-up on the upcoming school levy. A phone tree reaching all 2,500 voters, hundreds of fliers, a radio interview and some newspaper ads are all behind the group’s main message for the next crucial month; vote yes on the levy. “We do want to call every one on the voter list,” said Kirby Dailey. Dailey organized the Future of Colfax Education after the levy failure. That group has since joined for...
Port of Whitman officials are hammering out the details on how to spend a $9.8 million grant it received earlier this month from a federal broadband stimulus package. “Shovel-ready” mandates in the grant package mean funded projects must be completed within three years of the grant award. Debbie Snell, properties and development manager for the port, told commissioners at their meeting last week the project may have to change because of the accelerated time frame. The port’s plan was to bury fiber optic cable along the right-of-way of the s...
Yosh and Nan Konishi stand in the Pine Creek Village store, which they put in a renovated portion of their Rosalia shop. Gazette Reporte Quilts, crocheted shoes and sketched portraits of Inuits line the colorful walls inside this building, set amidst the corrugated steel-sided buildings in Rosalia’s former railroad district. The building is Pinewood Cottage, a custom carpentry business operated by Yosh and Nan Konishi. With loads of help from local volunteers, the Konishis have transformed the front section of their woodworking warehouse i...
Model railroad enthusiasts of all ages checked over the trade tables at the Palouse Empire Rail Society’s 14th annual Show and Swap meet Sunday. The event this year was moved from the Beasley Coliseum concourse to the Schweitzer Events Center. Approximately 685 railroad fans, including 185 youngsters who were allowed free admission, took part. Trading railroad items and tales continued while a slide show of historic rail scenes were projected on the big screen in the center’s main room. One of the star attractions was the Union Pacific “Bi... Full story
Whitman County landowners will soon be able to pay their 2010 property taxes. Difficulties switching over to the county’s new tax software program have pushed preparation of tax statements back. Treasurer Bob Lothspeich told the Gazette Tuesday statements will likely be in mailboxes by the first full week of April. Statements are normally mailed out on Valentine’s Day. First-half tax payments are still due to Lothspeich’s office by April 30. “I apologize for the delay of the property tax statement getting into your hands,” Lothspeich wrote in...
The Colfax school board mulled over how to shave more than $200,000 from the school’s already stretched budget at its March 22 meeting. The target of $200,000 comes in step with a second-round $950,000 levy the board will present to voters in April. The board passed out a proposal which suggested cutting hours of certified staff (teachers and administrators), shifting more program charges on to students, and trimming back of lights and electrical appliances in both district buildings. Instead of draining dozens of school programs, s...
NOTICE OF CLOSING REGISTRATION BOOKS NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the registration books for the registration of voters within the Town of Garfield, Colfax, School District No. 300, Garfield Cemetery District No. 2 and Colfax Cemetery District No. 6 in Whitman County, Washington, will be closed for the SPECIAL ELECTION to be held Tuesday, April 27, 2010, against original registrations and transfers of registration from one precinct to another precinct within said County, on the evening of March27, 2010. The books will reopen on the morning of... Full story
