Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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What’s your favorite secret spot in Whitman County? Jerry Moss, Colfax “The top of the hill on Clear Creek Road. You get to the top and you can see the Idaho mountains and do a 180 and see all the Palouse.” Allen Martin, Colfax “LaCrosse. I lived there for 77 years.” Do you have a favorite part of town. “Actually down on the river, just west of the cemetery.” Fern Nafziger, Colfax “Probably Boyer Park.” What do you like about it? “Just the warmth, the sunshine, the river.” Bob Lemon, Colfax “I would say the better part of the county, actually...
Oakesdale and Lamont were officially awarded $79,604 in county funding for projects designed to spur their economies Monday by county commissioners. Commissioners affirmed the decision made April 20 by the Blue Ribbon Advisory Task Committee to grant towns funding from the county’s pool of .09 economic development funding. The funds are given to the county out of the state’s portion of sales tax revenues to be spent on projects that bolster local communities. Lamont will receive $52,000 to build a library and community building. Oakesdale rec...
Palouse Empire Fair has received $40,373 from the state’s fair fund for the 2010 Mockonema show, fair manager Bob Reynolds reported to the fair board at its April 26 meeting. The figure represents an increase of about $2,000 over last year’s funding. Funds from the state are dedicated to buying ribbons and making premium award payments. Premiums are paid according to a points system based on ribbon awards. Receipt of this year’s funding was delayed because the state Department of Agriculture, which oversees funding for fairs and festi...
Officials from the four counties in Washington’s southeast corner will gather in Colfax next Wednesday night to update the region’s long range transportation plan. The plan is intended to develop strategies to improve transportation and freight movement through Whitman, Asotin, Columbia and Garfield counties. Interested stakeholders and members of the public are encouraged to attend. The meeting will be in the Public Service Building in Colfax next Wednesday at 4 p.m. Officials have already developed a preliminary regional transportation pla...
The future of an aging 1970s tennis court in Oakesdale was discussed at a town council meeting May 3. City council members asked who owned the property and whether the city would even want to take on restoration of the court. Councilmen wondered aloud if the Oakesdale School District owns the lot and what the district might want to do with it. Suggestions such as restoring it to a tennis court or a skating park were tossed on the table. The council decided to contact the school district to hear their thoughts. “It’s got a sinkhole in it. The... Full story
Washington State University’s women varsity eight team returns to the dock at Wawawai Saturday after defeating the Oregon State University team in the last event of Saturday’s regatta on the river. The WSU teams dominated the Beavers over a windy course. Rowers waited out a 20-minute wind delay at the start of the meet, and race officials called off the competition for the smaller four-rower boats after just one race when winds kicked up after the crews launched....
From Where I Sit: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Healthcare Reform CEO Whitman Hospital & Medical Center “Where you stand depends on where you sit.” This old saying is certainly true when it comes to healthcare reform. During the debate people without health insurance, and those who sympathized with them, wanted dramatic change. Others with good coverage were nervous about the future. Insurance companies saw a huge threat to their business model and small business owners feared more regulation and taxes. The two predominant political par...
Things to Avoid If You Are Over 40 When I was 12 years old, my father sat me down to warn me of the dangers of alcohol. “Son,” he said gravely, “never make a martini with too much vermouth.” Later in life, schools often provided me with lists of illegal substances and their negative side effects, though I noticed educators usually skipped the most obvious one, which is that drugs make people really boring to listen to. They acted as if making it through childhood without taking on bad habits and addictions meant you were home free, when ex...
Too much wind power? Could Washington and Oregon’s growing fleet of wind turbines become too much of a good thing? Perhaps. At present, there are more than 2,200 megawatts of wind energy flowing through the Pacific Northwest at any given time. That is enough electricity to light Seattle and Portland for one hour. State and federal energy policy encourages the development of more wind projects and developers have received billions of dollars in incentives. Wind power is touted as the cleanest and greenest renewable energy resource. ...
Voters’ mistrust clouds fate for state income tax proposal “I’M NOT VOTING for that income tax initiative, even if they do keep calling it a tax on the wealthy in the headlines, and I’m certainly not wealthy,” said one of my kin. Why? I asked, knowing the answer or at least suspecting it. “I don’t trust them,” she said, them, of course, being politicians. “They say now that it’s only on individuals making $200,000 a year or couples making $400,000 and there would be a cut in property taxes, but how long would that last? Does anybody really...
Two county commissioners have been meeting illegally. At least this is what the third commissioner says. He appears to be right. County commissioners Greg Partch and Pat O’Neill apparently meet to make decisions and then announce them as a fait accompli at public meetings. Such get togethers are illegal. Elected public officials serving on boards cannot conduct business in an unannounced meeting when a quorum is present. In Whitman County, with its three commissioners, a quorum or majority is two. The commissioners work within feet of each o...
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. Rimbeys buy Hickman Building Steve and Kari Rimbey have purchased the former Hickman building in downtown Colfax and plan to eventually open a coffee shop with baked goods and other items for sale. The Rimbeys are now in the process of remodeling an apartment in the upper part of the building for their daughter and son-in-law, Heather and Brento... Full story
THURSDAY Shrimpers in Louisiana and Alabama filed class-action lawsuits against oil giant BP and owners of the drilling platform that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, as claims for economic losses anticipated from the disaster began to mount. More than $442 million worth of shrimp were pulled from the region’s waters in 2008, 70 percent of the U.S. total. Belgium’s lower house of parliament banned burqa-type Islamic dress in public. The law states no one can appear in public with their face fully or partially covered. France passed a similar mea... Full story
While the debate over potential industrial wind farms boils in Whitman County, neighbors to the south are facing a massive addition to their existing wind power infrastructure. Columbia County last Thursday conducted a hearing on a conditional use permit application from Puget Sound Energy. Puget, which already has 87 turbines spinning in its Hopkins Ridge project, is asking officials in Columbia and Garfield counties permission to install an additional 351 wind turbines. Like Whitman County, Columbia County has proponents and opponents of...
John E. Davis, 48, Pullman, was arrested on a charge of second degree assault Friday after he allegedly threatened the manager of Palouse Treasures in Pullman. According to the arrest report, the manager said she discovered the suspect going through the dumpster at Palouse Treasures. She said she told him of the store policy of not allowing people to rummage through the dumpster when the store was closed, and Davis turned and pulled out a knife and walked in her direction and said “so now you’re open.” The manager said she went into the store...
Palouse fire department plans to purchase 20 cutting edge firefighter coats, called turnouts, with most of the cost paid from a $38,200 federal grant from Homeland Securtiy. The coats are expected to arrive in two to three months, according to Palouse Fire Chief Mike Bagott. The coats will be more than 60 percent lighter than the coats now used by the department. They can also withstand temperatures around 1,000 to 1,250 degrees in comparison to the 700 degrees tolerated by the current department gear. They will also more flexible. “Those t...
Pictured above, a mangled motorcycle lies on the road as emergency responders tend to the scene. A Monday morning motorcycle accident claimed the life of Paul E. Ganoung, 47, Spokane, just south of where Highway 195 crosses the John Wayne Trail south of Rosalia. Mr. Ganoung died at the scene after he was ejected from the 2002 Harley Davidson motorcycle he was riding and went over the guardrail at about 7:40 a.m. Strong winds and high speed were believed to be causes of the accident. Trooper Doug Power investigated. Deputy Robert Goldsby, the... Full story
Photo by Bill Carroll Pictured above, a 2000 Jeep Cherokee driven by Jake R. Knox, 19, West Richland, rolled off Highway 26 about five miles west of Colfax Monday. According to the Washington State Patrol report, Knox sustained head and finger injuries. He was taken to Whitman Hospital for treatment. Knox was driving eastbound when the Cherokee went into the ditch on the right side. He attempted to re-enter and the Cherokee came back onto the highway, rolled and came to a halt on its wheels....
Reserve Whitman County Deputy Phil Herman of Colfax sustained minor injuries when he lost control of a patrol car and crashed on the Parvin Road about 1:05 a.m. Saturday morning. He was taken by ambulance to Whitman Hospital. According to Undersheriff Ron Rockness, Herman was driving north on 195 and observed an oncoming vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed. He turned around and attempted to catch up to the speeding vehicle which turned onto the Parvin Road. Herman lost control of the squad car on a curve about a mile east of the Highway...
A Whitman County deputy who lost his life while tracking down horse rustlers 118 years ago in Stevens County will be among 11 fallen officers honored May 10 in a ceremony at the Spokane County Public Safety Building in Spokane. Nine of the other honorees lost their lives over the past year. Deputy William B. Spencer, 40, died April 3, 1892, at Fort Spokane. He had been shot four days before in a gunfight with a suspected horse thief near Fruitland upstream from the fort on the Columbia River. The record of Spencer’s death was discovered by g...
Kirby Dailey of Colfax will host another public meeting May 10 in what he said is an effort to get the Colfax public and the Colfax school district administration effectively talking. Residents will be given a chance to ask questions directly to the administration or the five district school board members. Dailey said many citizens have told him they feel they aren’t involved in the decision-making process. Colfax Supt. Michael Morgan said if Colfax voters don’t feel the administration is approachable, that is a perception worth correcting. “Ce...
While trying to improve courthouse communications, Whitman County commissioners may have side-stepped state laws designed to guarantee open dialogue between public officials. “Here we are saying we need better communication and we’re being accused of doing things behind closed doors, around the open public meetings act,” said Commissioner Greg Partch. “We’re just saying, ‘Hey, people, we need to talk better.’” Monday, commissioners made a move designed to speed implementation of the county’s long-shelved and long-awaited accounting softwa...
There are a dozen Japanese filmmakers in Tania Buck’s front yard, barking out instructions over crackling walkie talkies. Japanese movie crew members dart around preparing a 1940s truck, which sits with the massive early 1900s Buck barn in the background. Then, in one swift motion, the entire yard stills. Someone yells the Japanese equivalent of “action.” The star actor climbs from the truck, slams the door, and strides away, a team of cameramen filming his every move. This was the scene at the Buck’s farmhouse a few miles south of Onecho...
A rainbow stole a moment to show its colors during a break in the weekend storms. While storm clouds retreated, the sun bathed the south side of Thorn Hill. Weather over the weekend and Monday was not always as pleasant, with high winds mixed with rain and snow....
Fallen shingles and tipped over trash cans littered Whitman County Monday, casualties of a wind storm that tore across the Palouse at velocities exceeding 60 miles per hour. “Yesterday was something else,” John Livingston, meteorologist-in-charge with the National Weather Service in Spokane, said Tuesday. Wind blew back metal panels on the roof of the old Dow Chemical building in St. John. The weather service issued a warning Sunday for Monday’s high winds. Winds that hit as high as 65 miles per hour knocked over trees and disconnected power... Full story
