Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 60
Lance Bishop, county information technology, gave a final county telephone update to county commissioners at their Monday workshop. Bishop said while the main phone issue is fixed, there are still small issues that are popping up. The county phone lines and numbers had been restored to regular service as of Thursday, Nov. 14, to conclude a month without service. The county office lines went down Oct. 15 when Century Link was asked to disconnect many unused county telephone lines and somehow blew out the whole system. “There are little hiccups,...
Pullman Hospital District’s levy request to fund a $29 million bond measure lost another 1.8 tenths of a percent in the latest count of ballots. The auditor’s elections office late Monday issued a tally for 10,548 votes after tabulating another 547 at the start of the week. An estimated 40 ballots remain to be counted with the next report set for Monday. Some of those will be reviewed by the canvass board and could be disqualified. Tally for the Pullman measure, which has been just under the required 60 percent approval rate in successive bal...
Cross country race fans view the televised race on a giant screen next to the finish line Friday on the Colfax Golf Course. The race brought college runners from 37 different schools in the NCAA West Region to compete for entry to the national finals. A moderator from Sacramento, Calif., narrated the race as runners went around the two-kilometer course....
Whitman County mayors and other officials met for a mayors' roundtable Nov. 14 at the community center in Palouse. Special guest was Dennis Vermillion, president and CEO of Avista. The assembled sat for a catered dinner, then listened to presentations from Palouse Wind/Novatus Energy, Community Action Center, Port of Whitman and others. Pat Caramente, Bruce Kerr and Katie Pellez from Novatus were introduced by host Paul Kimmell, regional business manager of Avista. Caramente told of how Novatus...
Tightly gathered around a table in the dining room of the Perkins House with others sitting just outside the circle, residents shared stories, pictures and passed down memories about Cashup Davis and the Palouse region. Leading the meeting was Jeff Burnside, award-winning investigative reporter, and Gordon Davis, great-grandson of Cashup. "The best we can do is interview people who remember conversations from their grandparents or great-grandparents about Cashup," Burnside said. Burnside and...
The Women’s Leadership Guild will give $16,000 in grants raised by yearly contributions made from members of the organization. “Those contributions are split 50/50 to fund the grant pool and the highest needs for Pullman Regional Hospital,” said Stephanie Pierce, assistant director of development for the Pullman Regional Hospital Foundation. These grants will be $2,000 each, going to eight different nonprofit organizations that align with the Women's Leadership Guild goal of empowering women and children through health and wellness. The recip...
The County Commissioners approved the motion of increasing dues for the Palouse Basin Aquifer Committee at their Nov. 18 meeting. The administrative dues would be increased from $5,000 to $6,750 starting next fiscal year. PBAC maintains a network of water level monitoring instruments throughout the Palouse Basin and funds a variety of research projects aimed at gaining increased understanding of the behavior of the basin aquifer systems. Commissioner Art Swannack said that there hasn't been a dues increase since approximately 2005. He said...
Dean Cornelison, assistant county engineer, reported to county commissioners Monday that a concrete foundation has been poured for the new office at the county transfer station. All that remains is for the structure to be delivered and set in place by Pacific Steel Structures of Greenacres. “Sounds like we may get that new office by Christmas,” Cornelison said. In the second week of October, a county bridge work crew started work on the building project, laying foundation and a septic vault. They also extended a water line for the 14 X 54-foot...
A guardrail project on Pullman - Wawawai Road and Wawawai Road is nearly done with an expected completion this week. “Could be wrapped up tomorrow,” said Dean Cornelison, assistant county engineer, on Monday. “A little ahead of schedule.” Contractor M2 Construction of Ellensburg started Nov. 4 on 8,000 feet of new guardrail work on the two roads. “I've been running that gauntlet every day,” said Commissioner Dean Kinzer, who lives and farms in the area. The project was approved in May as part of a package funded for $650,000 from the Federal...
Written to spark interest and celebrate the Northwest’s literary heritage, a new essay collection, “Salmon Eaters to Sagebrushers: Washington’s Lost Literary Legacy,” has just been published by Washington State University Press. Author Peter Donahue hopes readers will share his delight in these early novels, memoirs and poems about the Northwest. Based on his long-running Retrospective Review column in the Washington State Historical Society journal 'Columbia: The Magazine of Northwest History,' Donahue’s new book includes literary criticism, h...
County Commissioners Monday approved road vacation of segments of Jim Davis Road and north of St. John Gene Nelson Road Dan Hall, county right-of-way agent, reported that farmer Larry Miller worked with landowner Ross Jordan to come to an agreement to allow Miller to traverse the soon to-be vacated Davis Road when needed to move farm equipment. Jim Davis Road and Gene Nelson Road are local access, mostly seasonal roads that run between Sunset Road and Thorn Creek Road. Miller, who farms ground near Pine City, spoke at a public hearing on the...
In last week's Gazette article “LaCrosse Nonprofit supports troops overseas” unintentionally omitted Army's flag from service flags that will be in a Veteran Memorial. All five branches of the military will be represented along with the American flag....
Bunyard Automotive in Colfax and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Inc. of Pullman were among five businesses which received special citations for outstanding work to improve lives in Washington communities. The awards were presented as part of the National Association of Secretaries of State "Corporations for Communities" award program. Secretary of State Kim Wyman awarded the NASS medallions. Bunyard, an 18-month-old business, was cited for dedicating time each week to repairing vehicles at little to no cost in order to provide families in...
8 years ago The Commoner Nov. 23, 1894 Burglars tried to blow up the safe of the Bank of Rosalia during Wednesday night, but the safe stood the test and the money of the bank was not reached. When Manager J. P. Wells arrived at the bank yesterday morning, he found that the vault had been entered through the floor, and that safe-crackers had tried three charges of nitro-glycerine on the burglar-proof safe without effect. The only thing missed from the vault was a tin box containing some private papers and notes, belonging to one of the bank's...
Whitman County commissioners Monday approved rock crushing projects at Repp Quarry and Union Center for 50,000 tons from each site, including basic road maintenance gravel, rock chips for summer chip-sealing and sand. The rock will be taken out between now and March 31. Repp Quarry is outside St. John and Union Center is west of Pullman....
Washington State Board of Health Nov. 18 expanded its emergency rule on vapor products to include a new section banning the sale of vapor products containing vitamin E acetate. The Department of Health recommended the update based on new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention findings connecting vitamin E acetate and vaping associated lung injury. “We are deeply concerned by a new study finding vitamin E acetate at the primary site of injury in patients’ lungs,” said Secretary of Health John Wiesman. “While we still need more researc...
Winter brings snowmen, snow angels and snowplows. With an average annual snowfall of 28.3 inches in Whitman County, snowplows play an important role in winter safety for those all over the county. “We are going to run three employees less, maybe more than that this season,” said Kirk Hoffman, Washington State Department of Transportation maintenance superintendent. “That's not going to push the panic button; it just depends on the winter. We might see some delayed responses, just because we don't have as many people out there, especially as we...
A big and experienced football team from Toledo put the clamps on Colfax Saturday at Schmuck park to come out with a 32-12 win in the first round of the state title eliminations. The win sent Toledo into this week's quarter-final round and ended the Colfax season at 7-3. Colfax Coach Mike Morgan credited the Bulldogs with battling all the way. The Bulldogs lashed out with two passing attacks to get scores with the last drive of the season going up on the board when the outcome seemed to be decid...
Colfax volleyball team team was jolted by Brewster Thursday in the opening round of the state B tournament at Yakima's SunDome, but the Bulldogs came back to win their last three matches to finish seventh in the state show. The finish was the best they could claim as a first-match victim. They made the run with two sweeps and one four-set win. Coach Brandy Brown noted the Bulldogs, who didn't get to the state final last year, arrived at Yakima with just two players who had state experience at th...
A total of 441 runners competed Friday in the NCAA Division One Western Regional cross country meet at the Colfax Golf Course. The races brought a large crowd of family members and fans who watched the runners loop around the staked out two-kilometer course. Volunteers, WSU staffers and trustees from the Airway Heights Correction center were among those who prepared the course. The first race brought 246 women competitors and 195 men for the second race. A line of large white tents were located...
The second half began Friday, Nov. 15, and, following a Tekoa/Rosalia turnover on downs, Lyle/Wishram – playing on their home field in a 1B playoff football game – handed the ball to no. 20, Brandon Montoya, who took it low and quick for 51 yards and a touchdown, 38-0. On Tekoa/Rosalia’s next possession, L/W recovered a fumble on T/R’s 42 yard-line. “Cougars, Cougars!” came the call-and-response from the other sideline. A long throw for L/W followed, before a Montoya run and a Montoya-to-another for a reverse and 44-0. The Cougars advance to...
