Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 62
By Garth Meyer Gazette Reporter It starts in August with a first meeting two weeks after the previous year’s celebration. Then, in the fall, calls start coming in to Oakesdale school Superintendent Jake Dingman’s office asking when Old Mill Days will be the following summer – people wanting to plan around it, the event now in its seventh year of a revival of an old tradition. It all returns this weekend for 2019 with events to span from Friday at five o’ clock through midnight Saturday. A new ad...
The annual Palouse ice cream social will be Sunday, July 14, from noon to 3 p.m. at Hayton Greene Park. A benefit for the Palouse Community Center, the afternoon social includes a 1 p.m. memorial ceremony for Lester Dean Hayton, a Palouse resident who went missing in action in World War I. The ceremony will be at the park’s archway. A Quilts of Valor presentation to veterans and music from the Auf Gehtz German band from Pullman will be from noon to 2 p.m. Paul Smith will play from 2 to 3 p.m. The Palouse Lions Club hamburger trailer will be a...
Whitman County Commissioner Art Swannack proposed a counter offer in letter form for the Pullman District Court location Wednesday. The letter was sent to the Pullman City Council and Mayor Glenn Johnson to review. The city of Pullman’s offer was sent to commissioners June 21, and proposed the county pay for half the costs of possible roof and HVAC repairs, while remaining in the current Pullman city hall. The current district court was not included in Pullman’s plans to move their city hall to the former Encounter Ministries property whi...
Port of Whitman commissioners approved to execute a loan/grant agreement with the city of Tekoa to assist with the airport fueling station at their meeting Wednesday morning, July 3. In early June, Tekoa Councilman Roy Schultz requested funding from the port during a meeting. He explained the airport fueling provider wanted to sell his business, and the city did not have the funds to keep the fueling station in operation. The drafted agreement between Tekoa and the port said the port would grant Tekoa $9,000 and loan $9,000, that would be paid...
After a two-hour session July 2 the Colfax Civil Service Commission voted 3-0 to reinstate Rick McNannay to the position of police chief. McNannay was ordered to return to duty Aug. 1 and will receive full pay. McNanny has been out of his office since Oct. 10 of last year when he was placed on administrative leave with pay, and he was fired Jan. 17. The board approved McNannay's motion for a summary judgment which was filed before the normal monthly civil service meeting. The commissions' July 2 ruling scratches a July 28 hearing on McNannay's...
The past month's yellow fields on the Palouse reflect in statewide canola numbers released June 30 by USDA's National Agriculture Statistics Service. For both winter and spring canola in 2019, Washington has 75,000 acres planted, with county totals not calculated until the fall. Montana has 120,000 acres growing and Idaho and Oregon were not listed this year. In 2018, Idaho stood at 43,000 acres and Oregon 4,700. The Washington canola number is up 8,000 acres from last year, continuing a trend...
The Colfax Downtown Association and Chamber of Commerce aim to open a business incubator in part of the former Higginson Furniture building the first week of August. The project, named "Colfax Mercantile" and funded by a $30,000 grant from the county's .09 economic development program, will operate as a space for individual businesses to sell items. Owners will work one day per week, selling each other's products at a counter. Each business will share the rent of the Main Street spot and may be...
Washington State Auditor's Office released results from this year's audits for several Whitman County school districts and towns. Dates for the audit reports ranges from May 29 to June 20. Audits were released for the Colfax, Tekoa, Rosalia, Palouse, St. John, LaCrosse and Garfield school districts. The audits were for Sept. 2017 to Aug. 2018. The towns of Colton and Farmington also were audited for Jan. 2017 through Dec. 2018. All schools and towns that were audited received letters from the state auditor's office stating the audit did not...
The Pullman Regional Hospital Board July 3 decided to give their expansion bond proposal another run this fall. The hospital ran the $29-million bond proposal in last April's special election and it failed to get the required voter turnout for validation. The bond vote fell about 500 votes short of the validation number. Voters who cast ballots favored the measure with a 63 percent approval. The bond will be on the Nov. 5 ballot in the Pullman Hospital District. If approved, the bond would raise property taxes for Pullman residents by 99...
Pullman Mayor Glenn Johnson issued a call last week for Pullman residents to contact city hall and list emergent issues that they would like to see the city consider as priorities. He noted the city would like to know what issues are out there and whether residents have any thought of solutions they would like to report. “Those who reside and conduct business in Pullman know best about Pullman issues that can be addressed and resolved by local city government. Likewise, they often have a perspective and solution ideas that the city hasn’t tho...
The Washington State Recreation and Conservation Funding Board announced July 3 it will award almost $4 million to Whitman County for preservation of parks, forests and trails. The grants will go through 2020. The Washington Department of Natural Resources was awarded $1,238,510 to preserve Steptoe Butte. DeAnna Beck, Washington Recreation and Conservation Office outdoor grants manager, said the department plans to buy about 437 acres in the Steptoe Butte surrounding area from private landowners. She said the state plans to designate the purcha...
Pullman Barracudas booked a big launch on the new novice swim league season with a big win Tuesday night at Endicott. The Pullman club rolled up 610.5 points in the three-way meet. Host St. John-Endicott-LaCrosse-Washtucna total 486.5 points and Pomeroy stokers finish with 192. 100- Freesyle Girls 12 & Under: 1. Bree Myers-P 1:04, 2. Kaylynn Misner-S 1:21, 3. Kate Hergert-S 1:22, 4. Sophie Anderson-S 1:22.4, 5. Jasmine Thapa-P 1:25. 14 & under: 1. Codi Thomas-P 1:10, 2. Sarah Lynn-P 1:18, 3. Kay...
All roads lead to Rock Springs, Wyo., July 14-20 for the 71st annual National High School Finals Rodeo, to include competitors from the United States, Mexico, Australia and Canada. Among them are four names from Whitman County who finished in the top four in Washington state to qualify. Lance Mills, a 2019 graduate of St. John/Endicott High School, won the state championship in tie-down roping and took second in trap-shooting, a high school rodeo event. He will compete in both at nationals....
The Whitman County Cougars pushed further into the American Legion season (ages 13-16) with a series of wins and losses in the past week to put their record at 20-10-1, (12-2 league). On Monday, July 8, they beat the Moscow Junior Blue Devils 6-5. Gavin Shrope led Whitman County with two RBIs. Further hits came from Brendan Doumit, Marcus Hilliard, Nick Robison, Elliott Lee and Colin Dreewes. Joe Bendel pitched three and one-third innings to get the win with no earned runs. Cougars drop...
Palouse Patriots plugged a 17-3 win over the Lewis-Clark Twins at Harris Field in Lewiston for the biggest win of the summer’s AAA Legion campaign. The Pats rolled for 13 runs in the last two innings of the win. The big win, which countered a loss to the Twins earlier in the season, left the Patriots at 15-13 for the season. Four players who each had three hits in the game were Payton Kallaher, Recce Chadwick, Cam Vis and Nate Akesson. Akesson rapped a two-run triple off the right field wall to highlight a seventh inning when the Pats scored n...
Colfax swim team will host the first of four home meets today with Pomeroy and the GPOP (Garfield/Palouse/Oakesdale/Plummer) teams visiting. Five teams are back in the league again this year with Pullman, Pomeroy, GPOP (Garfield/Palouse/Oakesdale/Plummer) and SELW (St. John/Endicott/LaCrosse/Washtucna). Colfax started the season Tuesday against the GPOP team at the Plummer pool. Two other home meets will be July 18 with SELW visiting and July 23 with Pullman and Pomeroy. Colfax will again host the big league meet Aug 3. Meets are scheduled to...
Riley Hayes lines up his sights in the .22 rifle portion of the Endicott Gun Club's Fourth of July Sportsman's Challenge. Eleven people came out to participate in the event which shot deer rifle at 500 yards, .22 at 45 yards, pistol and shotgun. Some chose not to shoot all four events and thus did not qualify for prizes. Eric Johnson won the event with 56 points of the 80 possible, with Jim Pelissier second at 53 points and Michael Zollars third with 51....
FIVE JUVENILES LINKED TO CRIME SPREE Five Colfax juveniles, ages 12 to 15, have been identified in an investigation that included alleged break-in of the Rotary fireworks stand at Rosauer’s and the city pool. Also, early Thursday morning, Colfax police received reports of vehicles prowls and later identified the teens who had been involved. Colfax Officer Perry Tate said as many as 15 vehicles were entered in what was apparently a search for cigarettes. He noted the lone item taken from the fireworks stand was a $39 packet which was d...
Ross Perot died this week. He was 89. Perot is best known for his independent run for president in 1992. He garnered 19 percent of the popular vote. He, it has been claimed, cost incumbent George H.W. Bush his reelection and put Bill Clinton in office. Perot ran again in 1996 after forming the Reform Party, but his second campaign was not as successful as his first. Perot, a billionaire, was quirky and sharp-tongued. He railed against the nation’s growing budget deficits and the country’s trade imbalance. His first run was a phenomenal shi...
President Donald Trump's itinerary at the G-20 summit in Japan included a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose government is accused of using dirty tricks to interfere in the U.S. election to sway things Trump's way. As Trump was leaving the White House, reporters asked if he would bring the subject up and warn Putin and his people not to meddle in the 2020 campaign. Then it happened: "What I say to him," Trump shot back, "is none of your business." With all due respect, Mr. President -- which I'll admit is very, very little --...
My television viewing is normally limited to the news, Mariner’s baseball and Gonzaga basketball. Shut in by bad weather a few weeks ago, I found myself temporarily out of library books, so I was daydreaming while a drama series played on my TV. I’m not really sure what series it was, but an embedded story caught my attention. It seems that one of the characters rescued a dog and had no place to keep it. Her landlord did not allow pets and she couldn’t take it to work. A co-worker came to her rescue with a vest proclaiming the new pet a servi...
