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Articles from the October 4, 2012 edition


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  • Blades now on 37 towers: Turbine project advances to Steam Shovel Hill

    Joe Smillie, Gazette Reporter|Oct 4, 2012

    High winds Tuesday afternoon provided Avista with 30 megawatts of electricity off the Palouse Wind farm on Naff Ridge. Ben Fairbanks, western region business development manager for Palouse Wind’s parent company First Wind, said 20 turbines were operating Tuesday and generating electricity. “Everything seems to be going pretty good,” said Fairbanks. That electricity is test power, and is sold separate from the long-term contract Palouse Wind has signed with Avista. In all, the wind farm has 37 towers built with blades installed on the Naff...

  • LaCrosse Community Pride selects Holliday to open store

    Oct 4, 2012

    LaCrosse Community Pride board of directors announced Tuesday that Wendy Holliday, a long time Whitman County resident, and her family have been chosen to open a grocery business in the historic LaCrosse general store building. Wendy Holliday grew up on her family’s ranch near Benge and has worked for agricultural businesses in Whitman County for more than 20 years. Her parents, Mike and Bonnie Holliday, have been long-time community supporters, recently completing for another year their annual tradition of providing brushes, curry combs and ot...

  • Don Brunell

    Oct 4, 2012

    When the so-called Affordable Care Act was signed into law, President Obama promised that health care would be affordable and repeatedly assured Americans that if they liked their health plan and their doctor, they could keep them. Neither promise has come true. Millions of people are losing their preferred coverage, tens of thousands of doctors plan to retire rather than deal with the ACA, and costs are skyrocketing. Last March, the Congressional Budget Office doubled the original cost estimate of “Obamacare” to $1.76 trillion over the nex...

  • Adele Ferguson

    Oct 4, 2012

    Okay, since we are a little over a month from the election, and that’s all anybody talks or writes about, let’s test you on memorable quotes: 1 “It’s time to put aside partisanship, stop telling lies and start telling the truth.” 2. “You know, do me a favor. Could you say senator instead of ma’am? I worked so hard to get that title so I’d appreciate it.” 3. “I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs...

  • Bruce Cameron

    Oct 4, 2012

    The Great Hoodwinki When I was 13 years old, I was a professional escape artist known as “The Great Hoodwinki,” except that no one actually knew me as that and I wasn’t professional. I thought that people would admire the clever play on words, since “Hoodwink” means “to fool” and “the Great Hoodwinki” would remind the same people of “the Great Houdini,” though who these “people” were supposed to be I had never really defined. Probably the local news anchor, a woman I had such a crush on that when her show came on the television, I couldn’t be...

  • Gordon Forgey

    Oct 4, 2012

    The presidential election is coming fast. Although “election day” is not what it used to be, what with all the early voting and vote-by-mail options, election day is Tuesday, November 6. Despite the ticking clock, there is still time to register to vote. A presidential election with all the other federal, state and local races is no election to miss. Two deadlines are here now. Mail-in registrations must be postmarked by this Saturday, October 6. Forms are available online or at the elections office in Colfax or Pullman City Hall. Ele...

  • Trivia test / Strange but true

    Fifi Rodriguez|Oct 4, 2012

    TRIVIA TEST 1. MOVIES: Who played the male lead in the movie musical “Grease”? 2. GEOGRAPHY: Luzon is the main island of which nation? 3. HISTORY: When was the Sherman Antitrust Act approved? 4. TELEVISION: Which 1980s comedy show featured a character named “Reverend Jim”? 5. FAMOUS QUOTATIONS: What 20th-century American writer and monk said, “Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul”? 6. MUSIC: What was the nationality of composer Franz Liszt? 7. U.S. STATES: Which state’s nickname is “The North S...

  • Bulletin Column

    Oct 4, 2012

    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. **************** FLAG VOTE REMAINS ON TABLE Colfax City Council Monday night voted to leave a previously tabled vote on a Main Street flags motion on the table for the next meeting, Oct. 15. The 6-1 vote was taken after Mayor Todd Vanek, who was not present at Monday’s session, left word with the council that he would like to see the vote t...

  • SE 8’s football

    Oct 4, 2012

    LaCrosse/Washtucna Tigercats and Liberty Christian again stacked up dominant wins to stay on top of the SE Eights football race in the fifth week of the season. Both are now 2-0 in the league race. The Tigercats Friday night powered past Colton 62-20 in the homecoming game at LaCrosse, and the Patriots crunched Garfield/Palouse 62-6 on their home field. The Patriots are now 5-0 on the season. Other league action saw Sunnyside Christian bounce back with a 42-28 win over Pomeroy, and Touchet shut out SJE 70-0 to join a lineup in the mid-league...

  • Eagles stack league wins

    Oct 4, 2012

    St. John/Endicott, Colton and Tekoa/ Oakesdale each booked two more match wins in the SE league race over Thursday and Tuesday rounds. the week. SJE Eagles battled back for a big win over Garfield/Palouse in the league round Thursday at St. John and then came back to win in four at Pomeroy Tuesday. Thursday on their home court, the Eagles were jolted by the GP Vikings who posted a 25-8 win in the first game. The hosts came back, for a 25-22 win in the second game with Rachel Gfeller running a string at the line and a five-game battle ensued....

  • Undefeated Colfax seeks league win at Reardan

    Oct 4, 2012

    Colfax football players will travel north Friday night to Reardan for their second round game in the NE 2B league. The Bulldogs will take a 3-0 record to Reardan after a big 45-12 win over Liberty on their home field last week. The Liberty win followed a Colfax non-league win over Asotin, a non-league win over Coeur d’Alene in a battle and a smoke cancellation of a big non-league test at Moscow. Friday’s home opener was a game with two chapters. The Bulldogs rolled out all 45 of their points in the first half, and then put reserve troops in...

  • Nighthawks perched atop league standings

    Oct 4, 2012

    The Nighthawks of Tekoa, Oakesdale and Rosalia have settled into a perch by themselves atop the SE-2B league standings. Friday night’s 34-0 home win over Dayton at Oakesdale gave the ‘hawks a 3-0 league record, 5-0 overall. TOR is the league’s last unbeaten team after Waitsburg/Prescott’s 16-13 win over DeSales and Tri-Cities Prep’s 20-6 win over Asotin. “That’s our philosophy. Just go out there like every game is a championship,” said Coach Kaleb Madison. On Friday, the Nighthawks used their swarming defense to put down the Dayton Bulldogs...

  • Colfax V-ball netters stack four NE wins

    Oct 4, 2012

    After stacking three Bi-County match wins in five days, the Colfax volleyball team will travel north for their annual test against some of the state’s best teams in the Spokane crossover tourney. The Bulldogs will be among 64 teams in the scramble for the title which will be played on a best-of-three game format. Colfax Saturday will start with pool play at Ferris with matches against Tahoma at 8 a.m., Wilbur-Creston at 10 a.m. and Ferris at noon. The crossover will then breakout according to pool results with the top qualifiers at Ferris, n...

  • Area towns pump 2.6 million gallons, up 3.1%

    Oct 4, 2012

    Municipal pumpers pulled more water out of area aquifers last year, but pumping remains well below levels of 20 years ago. Steve Robischon, director of the Palouse Basin Aquifer Committee, reported at the Palouse Basin Water Summit last week that 2.6 million gallons of water werepumped out of the shallow Wanapum and deeper Grand Ronde aquifers in 2011. That’s enough to fill an area the size of four football fields as tall as the Lewiston Grade, Robischon told the crowd at the University Inn-Best Western in Moscow. That total pumped by the m...

  • Photography, art studio will open at Palouse

    Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter|Oct 4, 2012

    Shop will offer photo classes, sell mixed media art A combination of 140 years of farming and 122 combat missions have led to a new business in Palouse. Michael Walters, a retired Naval Air crewmen from Nampa, Idaho, and partner Sarah Collins, from Palouse will open a mixed media crafts and gift shop along with a photography studio on Main Street in November. It will be called Spring Wheat Rose and Rolling Hills Studio. “It’s a lifelong dream for both of us,” said Walters, who went back into...

  • The world

    Oct 4, 2012

    THURSDAY A Tennessee judge ruled two Memphis women who were denied votes by trying to use library cards that include photographs to meet the state’s new voter identification law were not harmed and could seek an injunction against the law. A Buddhist statue stolen by Nazis is from outer space. The 24-centimeter tall statue was stolen from Tibet by the fascist German government during World War II. Researchers at the University of Stuttgart determined it was cut from a meteorite that fell between Russia and Mongolia between 10,000 and 20,000 yea...

  • Tigercats, Patriots take top slots in SE eights

    Oct 4, 2012

    LaCrosse/Washtucna Tigercats and Liberty Christian again stacked up dominant wins to stay on top of the SE Eights football race in the fifth week of the season. Both are now 2-0 in the league race. The Tigercats Friday night powered past Colton 62-20 in the homecoming game at LaCrosse, and the Patriots crunched Garfield/Palouse 62-6 on their home field. The Patriots are now 5-0 on the season. Other league action saw Sunnyside Christian bounce back with a 42-28 win over Pomeroy, and Touchet shut out SJE 70-0 to join a lineup in the mid-league...

  • WHMC offers lunch after mammograms

    Oct 4, 2012

    Whitman Hospital & Medical Center will observe National Breast Cancer Awareness month by urging women to have a mammogram during October and stay for lunch at the Harvest Home Cafe at the hospital. The awareness month is a time to promote regular mammograms and increase early detection of breast cancer. Approximately one in eight women in the United States will get breast cancer. Other than skin cancer, it is the most common kind of cancer in women. Mammograms can help find breast cancer early when there is the best chance for treatment. The...

  • Election forums set for Oct. 16-17

    Oct 4, 2012

    To assist local voters, a general election forum will be Tuesday, Oct. 16, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Colfax Branch of Whitman County Library. It will be sponsored by the Library, the Pullman League of Women Voters and the Whitman County Gazette. Another forum will be the next night at Pullman City Hall at the same times. Candidates scheduled to participate and answer questions are Art Swannack of Lamont and Bill Tensfeld of Rosalia for commissioner position one and Pat O’Neill of Johnson and Dean Kinzer of Ewartsville for commissioner position t...

  • Cowan campaign makes Colfax stop

    Joe Smillie, Gazette Reporter|Oct 4, 2012

    Rich Cowan used to patrol opposing sides as a referee in Whitman League basketball games while attending Washington State University. Now, the founder of Spokane-based NxNW film production company and former Pullman firefighter, he wants to bridge opposing views in the U.S. House of Representatives. Cowan is challenging four-term incumbent Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers for the Fifth District’s seat in the house. He met with supporters Monday afternoon in the Norma McGregor room at the Colfax library. “Our issues, really are bipartisan issues. It...

  • Cenex recognizes Hollis Jamison

    Oct 4, 2012

    Former Whitman County Commissioner Hollis Jamison of Garfield was awarded a $50 Tanks of Thanks fuel card from CHS, parent company of Cenex, for his work helping feed local residents. Jamison said he drives from Garfield to Spokane twice a month to pick up food that feeds more than 135 families and seniors. He delivers between 3,000 and 4,000 pounds from Second Harvest in Spokane to Palouse, Garfield, Farmington and Elberton. Jamison, Master of LaDow Grange, said when Hurricane Katrina hit the New Orleans area a few years ago, he wanted to do...

  • Sally Ousley joins Gazette news staff

    Oct 4, 2012

    Sally Ousley joined the reporting staff of the Whitman County Gazette this week. Born and raised in Colfax, she is a member of the 1974 Colfax High School class. She attended Fort Wright College in Spokane and earned a bachelor’s degree in human services in 1978. After working in Colfax and part-time at WSU, Ousley married and moved to Minnesota. She began her newspaper career there, working for two Minnesota weekly newspapers. She moved to Tillamook, Ore., and worked for a weekly newspaper for three years. Ousley moved again to Longview, a...

  • Contractor begins work on Colton street project

    Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter|Oct 4, 2012

    Road intended to divert traffic from school and open up business opportunities Crey Construction of Lewiston broke ground Monday, Sept. 24, for the Colton Rimrock Road project. With funding from a state Transportation Improvement Board grant, a new Colton street will connect Highway 195 to Rimrock Road, allowing heavy farm trucks and other traffic to get to the highway without driving right by the school. Because the bids came back below the $680,000 funding from the state TIB grant,...

  • Dry September leaves worries for fall planting

    Joe Smillie, Gazette Reporter|Oct 4, 2012

    Winds kick up dust in Tuesday night storm For the sixth time on record, Whitman County received not a drop of rain in September. Dave Jones with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Colfax reported Monday he had not recorded any rain last month. Jones reported .02 inches of rain fell in his gauge in August. That left fields dry for farmers who are beginning to plant winter wheat crops. Another complication blew through Whitman County Tuesday night, as high winds swept across the hills and filled the sky with dust picked up from dry fie...

  • Time for all that Hullabaloo

    Oct 4, 2012

    Seventh annual festival hits Colfax this weekend Music, art and food will welcome visitors this weekend to the seventh annual Colfax Autumn Harvest Hullabaloo Arts and Crafts Fair. “It’s a great event to bring the community together,” Colfax Chamber of Commerce President Kathy Mayer said. “It lets people see our great community.” She added Hullabaloo planning and organization has been done by a group of 10 to 15 chamber members, and the roster of volunteers who help produce the festival probably numbers 100 or more. Mayer noted the work of all...