Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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Sierra Baker, Kara McMurray, Andrew Chambers and Carver Blackman stand at the temple steps in Jerusalem. The temple steps, which served as the southern entry to the temple, date back to the first century and are one of the only sites still intact from Christ’s time. Awesome, amazing, magnificent, surprising, incredible and life-changing are just a few of the words found in my journal from the past two weeks to describe my experiences as I traveled through the Holy Land. Words can hardly be put t...
The authors of The Federalist Papers neglected to explain the fearsome powers that inhere in the "Dear Colleague" letter under our system of government. It is the instrument by which middling bureaucrats impose their will on the nation, as the assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education and the principal deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Department of Justice just did in the matter of transgender bathroom policy in our schools and colleges. The transgender edict is a perfect distillation of the...
The good news this Memorial Day weekend is more than 38 million Americans are expected to travel, making the unofficial kickoff to summer this year the second busiest on record. AAA reports nearly 34 million people across the nation will be driving, which is up by 2.1 percent from last year. Air travel is expected to increase as well with 2.6 million Americans taking to the skies. AAA finds stable or lower costs for airfares, rental cars and hotels. Compared with 2015, gas prices average up to 50 cents a gallon lower. So what’s the bad news? T...
I'm certain I'm not the first to raise this question about the North Carolina anti-transgender law. We've all heard that the state now requires those who use public toilets, locker rooms and other male-female separated facilities to relieve themselves only in spaces designated for their gender on the day they were born: My question is, how will that be determined? Will there be potty police stationed at each entrance to check birth certificates? What if you're like most of us and don't carry your birth certificate with you? Then what? Are you...
The national holiday honoring those who served in the nation’s military is this Monday. It makes for a three-day weekend. This is the time veterans and active military are spotlighted. Nearly every city has some special ceremony to commemorate and honor veterans. It is also when politicians give tributes and announce undying support for them. Veterans are an easy mark. Everyone declares support for them. Most often that support dwindles and does not always translate into tangible help. The government connection to many veterans is the much m...
Cheyanne Stokes runs away from Dayton’s Kellie Moore to escape a rundown Saturday in the first game at Franklin Park. Dayton shortstop is Hanni Becker. Colfax softball players put down the runs exactly where they needed them Tuesday at Merkel Field in Spokane to latch onto the last ticket to the state tournament which will be back at the Gateway Complex in Yakima. The Bulldogs Tuesday, May 24, booked a one-run win over NE league foe Northwest Christian in a loser-out game to bag the state t...
The Toledo Indians, a team Colfax stopped in the semi-final round of the state playoffs last year, stopped Colfax one game short of the state finals Saturday, May 21, with a 2-0 shutout in the last round of the regionals at Eastmont. The Indians advanced to the four-team state final this week at Centralia. Colfax came to the end of the season after taking out Okanogan 6-3 in the first round of the playoff at Eastmont. Colfax stacked an early lead against Okanogan and kept it behind the sharp pitching of junior Danny Robinson. “We played T...
Colton outlasted Touchet 3-1 to make it to a state seeding game in Medical Lake last Saturday but they never played it. After a lightning and rain delay for the previous game, WIAA officials called off the pending afternoon contest and arranged a coin flip to decide the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds for the eight-team state bracket. Wildcats’ coach Brad Nilson lost the coin toss. Colton, in turn, enters the state tournament in Yakima with a No. 2 seed, to play Rainier Christian at 1 p.m. Friday. Also ma...
Oakesdale Nighthawks stacked up 110 points Friday and Saturday at Central Valley to take a big win in the NE-SE regional track qualifier which had a total of 16 team entered. The Oakesdale team rolled up a 17-point gap over number-two Cusick. Oakesdale was again led by Anne Hockett to win the 200, 400 and both hurdle races. They also harvested a bundle of team points with Emma Perry and Amber Jones finishing one-two in the 800 race. Oakesdale also qualified with second-place finishes in the 4 X 200 and the 4 X 400 relay events. St....
Twenty Colfax Bulldogs made the top five cut Friday and Saturday in the NE-SE regional meet at Central Valley. The qualifiers will begin competition in the preliminary rounds of some events on Thursday, May 26, at Roos Field in Cheney with more prelims following Friday. Colfax senior Scout Cai again made her run of first-place finishes in the pole vault, high jump and the two sprint events to top a Colfax girls team entry at Central Valley. They took the regional meet team honor with 118.5 points. Coach Jason Cooper notes Scout Cai has the top...
For the fifth time in nine years, Pat Doumit will give his baseball team a directive at a hotel in late May. “The activity is, be responsible around the hotel,” the Colton coach said of the ritual of waiting for a 4 p.m. first pitch in the 1B state championship game. It’s a day that also consists of lunch and watching part of the 2B championship before the Wildcats’ pre-game routine begins. At Wheeler Field in Centralia, Colton will face Evergreen Lutheran for the title, two years after winning...
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. LIBEY ADVANCES TO BENCH Long-time Colfax attorney Gary Libey remained the lone candidate for the Whitman County Superior Court bench at the close of filings Friday and will move to the bench after the retirement of David Frazier in January. Libey has been serving as court commissioner for the past six years. Libey, 64, who announced his...
A contract may be within a week of being set for the new Colfax School District track. As summer nears, following the rejection of the lone bid it received for the resurfacing and other work, the district now seeks a contract agreement with Beynon Sports Surfaces, naming Palouse River Rock of Colfax and Motley and Motley as subcontractors. Beynon, an international company, is on the roster of the King County Directors' Association (KCDA) – like a small works roster for statewide members of t...
Gazette intern reporter Port of Whitman commissioners May 19 selected the Beckett Group out of Gig Harbor to study the Washington State Grain Train program. Beckett, along with Palouse Partners, Rail Associates and the Tangent Group, submitted the proposals Thursday, May 5, and Friday, May 6. Submissions were reviewed by a committee consisting of representatives of the Port of Whitman, Port of Walla Walla, Port of Moses Lake, WSDOT and the Freight Rail Office. After each submission was reviewed, they were evaluated and scored independently by...
A series of meetings relating to the long-range regional transportation plan have been scheduled by the Palouse Regional Transportation Planning Organization. The first in the series of meetings is booked in Oakesdale Wednesday, June 8, from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the Town of Oakesdale City Hall. Two more public meetings are slated for Colfax and Pullman, both these being booked for Friday, June 10. The meeting in Colfax will be from 12:30-2:30 p.m. at The Center, and the meeting in Pullman is scheduled to be in the city council chamber at Pullman...
District secretary Shawn Stine and business manager Reece Jenkin look on Monday night during the Colfax school board meeting as members of the high school FBLA club (Future Business Leaders of America) give a presentation on texting and driving. Their work is part of a Washington State Traffic Commission grant application to help fund FBLA activities....
The Town of Rosalia has hired a code enforcement officer to help the town with its ordinances and enforcement, Mayor Nanette Konishi told the Gazette. Alicia Blackridge was hired in December for the position and has since been working to refine and update the town's code books. “She's been through our code books and making sure we're updated,” said Konishi. “She'll be here to enforce some of the things we are concerned about.” Konishi cited things such as parking, weeds, trash and abandoned vehicles as items of concern. Blackridge said she had...
Colton graduating senior Luke Moore has been named a member of the FFA state officer team for next year. Chosen as sentinel, Moore is one of five 2016 graduates who will travel around the state and beyond to represent Washington FFA. Moore was chosen at the state convention in Pullman May 14. One of 24 candidates, Moore competed at Pullman in a group activity setting and personal interview, then gave a three-minute speech to about 1,000 people from the stage at Beasley Coliseum. An accomplished FFA beef showman, he is the son of two ag...
Biniyam Afrassa, 19, Seattle, was sentenced to 180 days in jail May 17 on a conviction of fourth-degree assault. A jury found Afrassa guilty of the lesser assault charge after deciding against finding him guilty of a felony charge of burglary. Afrassa was sentenced to 364 days in jail with 184 days suspended. He was also placed on two years of probation, and as a condition of probation he was ordered to never contact the victim or other tenants at the apartment. Afrassa was arrested Feb. 20 after Pullman Police responded to a report of a man...
Gazette intern reporter Texas businesswoman Kim Nguyen has spent the last couple of weeks in Colfax, overseeing the progress of the buildings she purchased earlier this year. The buildings include the Old Rose Theatre, which housed Peak Fitness for 21 years, as well as the Washington State Grain Inspection Office, Main Street Books, Colfax Security, Colfax Computer Services and Edward Jones Investments and the Masonic Building. Nguyen and her husband of Rockport, Texas, bought the buildings with the intention to help Colfax, although she had...
Greg Harazin of Greg's Electric and Rick Anderson hang art banners on Main Street Sunday, May 22, for the Colfax Arts Council. Ten banners were placed on streetlight standards and will be the subject of a public vote in June. Nine artists created the banners and will be honored at the Perkins House Ice Cream Social in June....
Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders tallied wins in Whitman County’s count for the state’s presidential primary. Trump, the lone remaining Republican candidate, took 69 percent of the vote as of the first ballot count, while previous opponents Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Ben Carson, all of whom have suspended their campaigns, garnered 28 percent collectively and write-in candidates accounted for three percent of the vote. Statewide, Trump took 76 percent of the vote. Cruz and Kasich both suspended their campaigns after ballots for the state pri...
Little Goose and Lower Monumental dams will both be closed for the holiday weekend. Lower Granite Lock and Dam near Pomeroy will remain open for crossings on Memorial Day. Public vehicle crossings will now be allowed on Lower Granite from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays....
In the story on the John Wayne Trail meeting at Ritzville, which was in the May 19 edition of the Gazette, the statement, “If the trail had a dozen people going through per day, we wouldn’t need to know who they were” was incorrectly attributed to Jean Flanigan of Bonnie Lake. Flanigan, who actually resides closer to Pine City, was among a series of audience members who made comments during the meeting and the statement was made by another speaker during that part of the meeting. The Gazette apologizes for the incorrect attri...
Colfax Cemetery memorial site pays tribute to past soldiers. Flowers are already beginning to adorn gravesites in preparation of Memorial Day. Gazette intern reporter The Colfax Cemetery is preparing for its annual Memorial Day Celebration. The cemetery has received several updates to the property, including renovations to the office building, new automated watering system, equipment upgrades and more. “We have sprayed for weeds, and we are going to work very, very diligently this summer to c...
