Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 69
Whitman County commissioners took in comment Monday for a required hearing on the six-month moratorium they placed on new marijuana operations in the county March 4. A hearing was required within 60 days. A total of 30 went up to speak, all of those in favor of the moratorium – with many calling for it to be made permanent. Art Swannack, commission chair, told the crowd the county planning commission continues to examine this. After the moratorium was placed, county commissioners asked the plann...
Zak Kennedy, lobbyist for counties at the state legislature, did not have many good things to report to Whitman County Commissioners Monday morning about the fate of county interesst in the legislative session which closed at midnight Sunday. “Almost the worst case scenario all the way across,” he reported to commissioners via phone at the end of a workshop session. Kennedy is one of the lobbyists who call commissioners to report on what is happening at the state level and how it will aff...
Whitman County Commissioners Monday morning discussed potential future action for the former Hawkins development site at the state line next to Moscow. The approximately 200 acre property was sold to Sand Road Bucklers 2 in September for $900,000. Commissioner Dean Kinzer Monday reported Roy Druffel, who is listed as one of the principals for the company, recently talked with him about the future development of the site. Druffel did not return a Gazette call to clarify the nature of the development before press time. Most of the discussion at...
A crowd gathered Thursday night, April 25, in the county public service building for a hearing on the delayed proposal by PNW/McCoy Land Company to put four grain pads just outside Dusty. Andy Kottkamp, a lawyer from Wenatchee and Whitman County's appointed hearing examiner, presided at the two-hour hearing. At the start, he explained that he was there to gather evidence and apply it to the laws already set for the county. "To apply those findings to the law, and then make a decision," Kottkamp...
The six-member Jazz Wires combo played their own compositions for a 90-minute program Sunday afternoon at Peace Lutheran Church. The event was booked as the last concert for the group which will be breaking up with the end of the semester at Washington State University. Raul Blanco, director of the combo, has served as pianist at the church for the past two years and brought the group here for its second performance at the church. Blanco noted the turnout Sunday at the church rated as the larges...
Whitman County has been named for two grants from the Washington State County Road Administration (CRAB) board. The first is $470,000-$480,000 for two miles of asphalt overlay of the Johnson Cut-Off Road and Johnson Road, and a small piece of Becker Road at Johnson. The second is the first $420,000 of a $3.5 million project to expand three miles of Pullman Airport Road to make it a three-lane road with a turn lane. It will extend from Orville Boyd Road at the east end of the Airport to Highway 270 near the Idaho State Line. “In essence, t...
An early-morning truck wreck April 24 on Highway 26 near the Filan Road intersection west of Colfax blocked traffic on Highway 26. The accident was reported at 1:51 a.m. Traffic on the the highway was detoured around the accident scene via Union Flat, McNeilly and Endicott roads....
Colfax boys booked 118.5 points on the home track to top 12 other teams in the NE meet Tuesday. The Bulldogs posted a 27-point edge over number-two Asotin. The Bulldogs were topped by Carson Cloaninger who cleared a 12-6 for a personal best in taking the pole vault. Cameron Hiatt set a Colfax school record with a 43-1 in the triple jump to place second behind Asotin's Thomas Martin. Senior Bryan Rubin placed second in both hurdle events and the Colfax 4x100 relay team took a win with Gabe...
Down a game to Southeast 1B league-leading Pomeroy, Colton swept the Pirates at home April 27 to take the lead. Colton won 5-2 and 6-3 as four Wildcat pitchers combined to allow just four hits on the day. Reece Chadwick and Jon Bean started the two games with seventh-inning relief from Luke Vining and Parker Druffel. In the opener, Druffel came out with the bases loaded and struck out the next three batters. At bat for Colton, in the second game, Bean delivered a two-out, two-RBI double in the...
Kristoff Pankey of Davenport booked another NE golf win Tuesday with a 72, one over par, on the StoneRidge course at Blanchard, Idaho. Colfax seniors Augie Allenbach and Bennett Gray tied for second with 77 scores, six over par. Cassidi Shindler hit a 107 on the girls side of the meet to place third. Gray topped a field of approximately 60 boys to win the April 24 invitational at the Wine Valley golf course at Walla Walla. Gray hit a 74 to finish two over par on the course which is rated among the top 100 public courses in the country. He was...
Colfax softball team swept Reardan Tuesday at McDonald Park to nail down the top finish in the NE- South league. The Bulldogs wrapped up the league campaign at 9-1 with their lone loss to Liberty. The North and South sides of the NE will match up in inverse order for the first round of the playoffs and the grid at the start of the week has Davenport making a trip to Colfax May 14 for the first round. Liberty, which had a 6-2 mark at the start of the week, took two big wins over the Timberwolves at Rosalia Tuesday to finish out 8-2 for the numbe...
The Garfield/Palouse softball team played at home in Garfield April 27 against Reardan for a doubleheader and lost 14-4 and 12-10. In the second game, Gar/Pal led by nine runs, 10-1, when Reardan's Abby Weller took the mound in relief to pitch. She threw five shutout innings to strike out nine Gar/Pal batters as Reardan came all the way back to win by two runs. Weller also pitched in the first game – all five innings – to total 19 strikeouts on the day. At the plate, she delivered five RBI...
Oakesdale girls stacked up 105 points Saturday to top 23 other teams at the big Undeberg meet Saturday at Ritzville. Davenport placed second in the team scores with an 81. Colfax girls finished in fourth place with 59.5 points and other county teams scores included Tekoa/Rosalia with 10 and Garfield/Palouse with 2. Colfax boys placed fifth with 56 points behind the 89-point win posted by Royal City. Tekoa/Rosalia, which had wins by Gavin Merritt in the 1600 and 3200 finished with 28 and Oakesdale finished with 23. Lizzy Perry of Oakesdale won...
Colfax baseball team will start the first of three Saturday playoff dates on the state playoff grid. The Bulldogs go into the playoffs as the number-two team from the NE-South league behind the league winners, Asotin. Both Asotin and Colfax get to host the first NE rounds as the top two finishers on the south side, and the top two on the NE-north will host the other rounds. First round Saturday for day one of the playoffs will match Mary Walker, the sixth-place team on the north side, with the third-place team on the north side in a loser-out g...
The Bill Chipman Palouse Trail will be spot sprayed for noxious weeds May 7 through May 14. Precise times and days of herbicide application will be determined based on weather conditions. Areas will be clearly posted during spray work. Trail goers should be alert to the ongoing activity The Parks Department is required by law to control noxious weeds. The sensitivities of the corridor have been considered in the overall weed management program. Trail users also should continue to be mindful of yielding to vehicular traffic at trail/road...
The Colton High School softball team is now 10-2 on the season, 3-2 in league after a week’s worth of games. On Tuesday night, they beat Garfield/Palouse 12-0 in four innings, followed by a 13-3 win in five innings over 2B Asotin. Abby Kelly and Emily Schultheis both hit home runs for Colton. Last weekend, the Wildcats split a close doubleheader with Pomeroy, who still leads the Southeast 1B league with two wins over Colton. The 1B playoffs begin May 10. Doubleheader vs. Pomeroy The Colton girls...
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. FOOD PANTRY IN STATE BUDGET The state's capital budget which was approved Sunday before the end of the legislative session included $247,000 for Whitman County Council on Aging to purchase the food pantry building and make improvements, including a new roof. Council Executive Director Paige Colli...
Twenty Democrats have declared their candidacy for the presidency of the United States. It is the largest field of candidates for one party in history. All are seeking their party’s nomination. The diversity of the candidates is impressive. Age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic backgrounds and philosophies are vastly different. Another difference is experience. Some have little experience in any field, be it politics, business or government. In a few cases, hubris seems to be the reason for the run rather than qualifications. The c...
Pet Peeves The farmer who chose to move his combine on Highway 26 at 5 p.m. when all the Moms’ traffic was already heavy. Four council seats open, change for Colfax, please someone run! Okeydokes The library’s virtual reality....
Impeach Donald Trump? What a bad idea for the Democrats, in spite of the pressure from the party's left flank, and in spite of various presidential candidates, like Elizabeth Warren, pandering to the ultra-progressives. After all, the ultimate goal of a House of Representatives impeachment is to set up the Senate to remove him from office. In a rough form, it's kind of like an indictment and trial. Actually, in the Senate it's called a "trial," nothing rough about it. One would think that with the Democratic majority in the House, impeachment,...
There was Bernie Sanders at a Fox News Channel town hall, not giving an inch in a forum every Democratic presidential candidate has shunned. His reward was a cataract of good reviews, and monster ratings. Sanders had a solid hour to try to reach people not favorably inclined to his worldview, at the very least demonstrating that he's willing to show up outside his political silo. Why hadn't any of the other Democrats done it before? Because they lacked the verve and ideological self-confidence of Sanders, as well as the independent streak to...
I want to ruffle my feathers and join the squackfest about marijuana production in Whitman County. I want to see as much agricultural diversity and value-added activity as possible. The location for the proposed new business might have been wrong, near existing homes and a dainty dairy. I can't evaluate that. Other than that, let 'er rip. Looking across countries and over time, the least drug use is found where there is a government policy of restricted availability; neither prohibition nor excessive availability. That's because prohibition...
