Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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County commissioners Monday discussed setbacks in funding for Whitcom. “It’s projected for 2019 Whitcom is going to receive $677,000. This is 56 percent of what Whitcom received in 2016. It is a substantial decrease,” Commissioner Dean Kinzer said. In 2016 Whitcom received $1.2 million. At the beginning of 2018 it was noted that there would be budget cuts to Washington state 911 coordination agencies. The decrease in funds came from the state 911 running two systems at once unexpectedly. “The state had two parallel programs and they were suppos...
With the current moratorium in place, giving more time for the Whitman County Planning Commission to consider potential zoning regulations, it doesn’t mean time is stopped for others to come and discuss with the county commissioners how they feel about allowing new marijuana businesses in the county. Last Monday, Sept. 9, a group called Citizens for a Healthy Palouse, came before the commissioners with a petition to completely ban any new marijuana businesses in Whitman County. This petition had more than 400 signatures. The four main r...
On Sept. 5 a crack was found in the concrete sill of the navigation lock at the Bonneville Dam located on the Columbia River. The time it takes to repair the sill will have the locks closed until 10 a.m. on Sept. 30, according to the report from the Portland District office of the Army Corps of Engineers. With the closure, barges headed downstream will get stalled behind Bonneville. “The main issue will be for coastal exporters who had booked wheat for September arrival, ” said Dan Hart, general manager at Almota Elevator Co. Hart said tho...
Whitman County commissioners approved a notice of intent Monday and set a hearing for Oct. 21 on the proposed vacation of parts of two roads northeast of St. John. The local access dirt roads are Jim Davis Road and Gene Nelson Road, for which adjacent landowners petitioned county commissioners to vacate. After the county vacates a road, it has no further claim to it and ceases maintenance. The proposed vacation includes two-thirds of the 2.65-mile Davis Road and most of the 3.67-mile Nelson...
Pullman Chamber of Commerce will put on a music, food and beer festival, “Pullman’s FieldFest” Saturday, Sept. 28, at the corner of Tucannon Court and Clearwater Drive, just behind Pullman Regional Hospital. Music will feature Kendell Marvel, Alec Macgillivray, Jeff Crosby & the Refugees, Pixie & the Partygrass Boys and Dan Maher. Kendell Marvel is a songwriter with credits including Gary Allan’s “Right Where I Need to Be” and Chris Stapleton’s Grammy-winning single, “Either Way.” Brothers Osborne, Jamey Johnson, Jake Owen, Blake Shelton, Ge...
The 2018 county audit exit conference was Monday at the commissioners work session. The purpose of an exit conference is to communicate audit results to management and obtain management’s comments on proposed findings and recommendations before the draft audit reports are issued. Audit Manager for Team Pullman, Alisha Shaw, and supervisor for the audit, Molly Mors, from the state auditor’s staff, presented the exit conference. This audit is of the financial statements and federal grant compliances for 2018. “Any errors that we identified in th...
Washington State Department of Health officials Tuesday confirmed two new cases of severe pulmonary disease linked to vaping. These cases were identified by the Spokane Regional Health District and are both currently living in Spokane County. “The symptoms of these patients match what the Center for Disease Control and Prevention have asked all state and local health jurisdictions to be on the lookout for in regards to the nationwide investigation into this matter,” said Washington State Health Officer Kathy Lofy. “This is now a state-wide outb...
Colfax Fire Volunteer Jim Krouse, who was honored for 50 years of service at Sunday’s fire department open house, noted his first attempts to join the department stalled out because he was unable to get away from his job during the day to respond to calls. Krouse recalled he was out walking his dog when he came upon a scene where firefighters were rolling up a hose after fighting a commercial building fire where Rosauers is now located. He helped roll up the hose, and the following Tuesday he was accepted into the fire department. That was i...
After six years the Whitman County Hazard Mitigation Plan will be getting a facelift. This project will be funded by a planning grant from FEMA. “The FEMA grant will be approximately $48,750,” said Bill Tensfeld, director of the emergency management department. A total of 75 percent of the cost will be covered by the FEMA grant. The additional 25 percent will be non-monetary contributions such as staff time, facilities, printing cost, etc. Tensfeld said the new Hazard Mitigation Plan will be consistent with the 2013 version. “We will have...
Colfax Food Pantry had a record "cereal drive" at Rosauers last week. The previous record for the number of boxes purchased by customers for the food pantry was 560. This time volunteers, Monica Meyerhofer, Gail McNeilly and Monica Hardie, left to right, estimated that Rosauer's customers purchased more than 1,000 boxes of cereal for families in need. The cereal boxes go directly to families who access the Colfax Food Pantry. The Food Pantry is grateful for the record support...
Whitman County's annual Fall Cleanup will be Oct. 4-12, with prices reduced to drop-off residential waste at the Waste Transfer Station south of Colfax. Minimum charge is $15. The price per ton will be reduced from $110 to $35 Year-round free disposal services will continue for old appliances and scrap metal, used oil and engine fluids, household cleaners and yard fertilizers, yard trimmings, and recyclables (glass, plastic, aluminum, newspaper, tin and cardboard). The landfill will be open that week Monday – Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p...
A Whitman County Public Works crew filled hundreds of holes on a half-mile of the old concrete highway through Steptoe the week of Sept. 9, as well as a short stretch in Rosalia. Crews rented a special machine and filled the one- inch to six-inch holes with asphalt mastic, a crack-seal material with rocks in it. “It's still an old concrete highway, but we like the way it came out,” said Brandon Kruger, operations manager for county roads. “This might be a maintenance technique we use in the f...
As the Gazette was going to press Wednesday morning, the trial of Sgt. Dan Hargraves started its seventh day with Hargraves testifying in his own defense before a jury of nine women and three men. Defense attorney Roger Sandberg began a line of questions as Hargraves related his account of the events which led to the charge being filed against him and his eventual resignation from the Pullman Police Department. Hargraves was charged with sexual misconduct with a WSU freshman the night of March 30-31, 2018, after he took her into custody. The...
The city of Palouse planning commission has started to compile results of a town survey, collected in May and June bringing in 156 responses. The questionnaires were filled out online through Survey Monkey. Helpers were made available for computers at the Palouse library, and paper copies were handed out at city hall. Members of the planning commission spoke about the survey at a community senior lunch and sent out reminders to the 525 households which receive water bills in Palouse. The...
Palouse Regional Transportation Planning Organization will conduct its first driver safety summit Friday, Sept. 20, at the Courtyard Marriott in Pullman. This focus will be on driver safety in our region. The summit will be just one day of sharing and educating others on driver safety. The summit will have presenters from local and state agencies, law enforcement and first responders, local businesses, insurance providers and drivers education teachers. Along with these presenters will be experts from Washington Traffic Safety Commission and...
Palouse Chamber of Commerce announced the 18th annual Haunted Palouse, a four-night Halloween haunting, will be Friday and Saturday, Oct. 18 and 19, and Friday and Saturday, Oct. 25 and Oct. 26. Haunted Palouse is rated in The Daily Evergreen as among “200 things every Cougar absolutely, positively, without a doubt must do before graduation.” For those, 12 and up, who are brave enough, the two haunted buildings will wind the unsuspecting through the Newspaper and Printing Museum and the Old City Fire Station and Jail for an authentic night...
Colfax for a second week came out with a fast start with 21 unanswered points and refused to let Freeman get back in the Saturday home opener on the Schmuck Park field. The 29-15 win put the Bulldogs at 2-0 on the new season with a trip to Davenport on the agenda for this Friday. "I was really pleased with the way we started for the second week in a row," Coach Mike Morgan said Freeman, which seemed to pick up traction in the second half, didn't rattle the scoreboard until the fourth quarter....
Kolby Slate of Colfax and Anais Mills of Garfield Palouse posted wins Tuesday in the league cross county run on the Colfax golf course. Slate clocked 17:31 for the 3.1-mile run to finish five seconds ahead of Adam Bruno of Valley Christian. Asotin, which put five finishers in the top 10, took the team win with 30 points. Other team scores in the boys race were Colfax 47, Valley Christian 49, Garfield/Palouse 111 and Pomeroy 149. Garfield/Palouse senior Anais Mills dominated the girls race and...
Tekoa/Rosalia Timberwolves charged for 36 points in the second half Friday at Pomeroy to roll out a 56-30 win over the Pirates in SE league play. The TR team trailed the hosts 20-30 at halftime. Coach Jay Scholz credited his defense with digging in to stop the Pirates in the second half. Linebackers Skyler Skeen and Kenneth Lenoir played a big part in the second-half shutout. Running back Riley McLain keyed the ground game for Tekoa/Rosalia, and junior quarterback Anthony Gehring threw for 240 yards to key the charge in the second half. This...
Boys from the two towns across the river from the Dalles, Ore., came to LaCrosse Sept. 13 for a 54-16 football win over the Eagles. Playing at LaCrosse for a home game, St. John/ Endicott/LaCrosse lost to the team that ended Garfield/Palouse’s season last year in the first round of the playoffs. A year later, in the regular season against SJEL – as a new member of the Southeast 1B for football – Lyle/Wishram’s No. 20 again proved decisive. “A really good running back, with some decent blocking,...
