Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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Emergency Medical Services treat approximately 25-30 million patients per year in the United States. Response times in urban areas are generally seven minutes, but in rural areas the average time is double with one in 10 people waiting close to half an hour for help. Longer response times are mainly due to the fact that EMS in rural areas cover more area and the lack of volunteers. "I think with recruiting on the EMS side it is the same challenge as the firefighters," said Milt Groom of Colfax....
Pullman Planning Commission conducted a hearing Nov. 20 on a potential zone change for Port of Whitman property south of the Pullman-Albion Road and west of Highway 27. Prior to this meeting, Pete Dickinson, Pullman planning director, recommend rejecting the request to rezone the property, lots 15-18 and 22-25, from light industrial to multi-family residential. The lots are being sought for purchase from Aspen Heights, a housing developer based out of Austin, Texas. Aspen is offering the port...
Colfax holiday season will launch with Winterfest next Thursday, Dec. 5, with a visit from Santa Claus, the Festival of Trees at the library, a lighted parade, fireworks and store specials. Santa will hear children’s gift requests at the library from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Complimentary photos will be available from photographer Aly Sterman or parents can take their own photos. At 6 p.m., Santa will roll down Main Street as part of the lighted parade which will culminate with a fireworks display launched from the east hill. The Festival of Trees f...
With a renewed grant and six-fold increase of employees in the last five years, the Palouse Conservation District has grown and looks to sustain its current level. Based in Pullman, one of four conservation districts in Whitman County, the non-regulatory agencies work with landowners to help comply with Washington State Department of Ecology rules. Each county in Washington has at least one conservation district, most with one to two. Whitman County, which founded the first conservation...
Port of Whitman Commissioners Monday learned the port's application for a Community Economic Revitalization Board grant has been approved in the first round of evaluations. The application will advance to a second tier application, and if approved would be used for road upgrades at the Port of Wilma. The project would also be funded by both the port and county. The CERB board provides funding to local governments and federally-recognized tribes for public infrastructure which supports private business growth and expansion. Only specific...
The City of Palouse is at work on its 2020 budget, with Mayor Michael Echanove submitting a proposal Nov. 12 which includes raises above the three-percent-for-all-staff planned for three years ago. He asked for eight percent for Dwayne Griffin, Public Works superintendent; 10 percent for Mike Wolf, Public Works assistant, and six percent for Kyle Dixon, city administrator, and Ann Thompson, city clerk. The city council's personnel committee met on the subject earlier. In front of the full...
The City of Tekoa approved one of two bids Nov. 18 to demolish and remove the red-brick former Cohn Motors building on Crosby Street. A snow load three years ago caused the roof of the building to cave in. Ladd Construction of Liberty Lake submitted a bid of $88,827 and E.C. Hay and Sons of Tekoa $15,000. Councilman Roy Schulz made a motion to accept the E.C. Hay and Sons bid, to begin as soon as possible. Bethany Fletcher seconded and it passed unanimously. By law, the town must accept the lowest qualified bid. “He's a local guy, he's i...
Whitman Hospital has been named a 2019 Guardian of Excellence Award winner by Press Ganey. The award recognizes top-performing health care organizations that have achieved the 95th percentile or above of performance in patient experience, employee engagement, physician engagement or clinical quality. The Press Ganey award is a nationally-recognized symbol of achievement in health care. Presented annually, the award honors clients who consistently sustained performance in the top five percent of...
Port of Whitman commissioners approved their 2020 budget after three different versions were presented. The motion passed for budget version three with a 2-1 vote. The first budget reviewed was a proposed budget that the port had previously made public. The first version came out to a budget of $9,818,543. The second version that was presented had revisions based upon the feedback of the commissioners from the port's previous meeting. The second version budget is $9,988,293. “The second version actually has a decrease in a line item c...
Garfield-Palouse High School Robotics team will sell U-cut Christmas trees at Nelson's Farm, 202 Ryde Road, Farmington. Spruce trees are available from 4 to 20 feet tall. Minimum donation is $30 for any tree. Christmas trees will be available Saturday, Nov. 30, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Saturday, Dec. 7, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Sunday Dec. 8, from noon to 3 p.m.; Saturday, Dec. 14, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 15, from noon to 3 p.m. Courtesy cocoa and cider provided, photos welcome. The event is staffed by VIKotics team members....
The Colfax school board Monday approved a two-year maintenance and operations levy which will go before district voters in February. The levy for 2021 and 2022 would collect $900,000 per year. The board approved the number Monday night after a volunteer committee decided on it in two meetings this fall with input from Superintendent Jerry Pugh and Business Manager Reece Jenkin. The estimated levy rate would be $1.97 per thousand dollars of assessed property valuation in 2021 and $1.91 per thousa...
Colfax mayor-elect Jim Retzer reported to the city council Nov. 18 that the city's request to return some type of alert system on the Palouse Highway grade into Colfax faces a tough test to get funding. City concern about the absence of an alert system has been heightened because three runaway accidents have been logged this year on the highway grade approach. One of the chief concerns is the potential of a runaway car or truck coming down the grade that could hit a pedestrian or a north-south vehicle at the Main Street intersection. Retzer,...
At Monday's port meeting, Debbie Snell, Port of Whitman properties and development manager, updated the port staff and commissioners on the status of the Port of Whitman County Business Air Center realignment and drainage project. Back in May, the port began a project that would include paving existing airport access roads and installing a new drainage infrastructure at the airport. Other parts of the project include grading and cleaning existing ditches to help prevent flooding. When the project was first in works, Snell noted the main...
Following Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday will be Giving Tuesday, a global day that harnesses philanthropy to celebrate generosity nationwide. The Dec. 3 date this year will kick off the season of giving in the county. Paige Collins, executive director of the Council on Aging, urges residents to contact the council and learn ways they can volunteer in the community. Collins noted more than 800 families in Whitman County use the 11 food banks supported by the council in the county. Coast Transportation provides fare-free rides to...
Adam Jones of Pullman Marketing and Aziz Makhani, advisor for the Small Business Development Center, will talk at the next session of Cup O’ Joe on the Palouse Dec. 4 at Columbia Bank in Pullman from 10 to 11 a.m. They will introduce "dashboard" tools that enable business owners to “see” their numbers at a glance. Jones and Makhani will discuss the importance of owners to recognize, monitor and track performance indicators regardless of the platforms they use for financial records and marketing. Cup O’ Joe is an interactive business support...
A Colfax fire crew responded at 10:06 p.m. Nov. 20 to a report of a gas spill at Cougar Food Mart, 805 N. Main. The gas was coming out of a vehicle at the station and was believed to be leaking out of a faulty fuel pump. The car was parked at the station. Food Mart employees used mats to clean up the spill....
Colfax football banquet Tuesday began with a lineup of all team members and presentation of varsity certificates to all players. Coach Mike Morgan explained under state WIAA rules, teams which advance to the state finals can present varsity letters to all team members, including junior varsity players. Assistant coaches handing out the certificates were Todd Kinley for the freshmen, Phil Morgan for the sophomores, Jason Cooper for the juniors and Mark Brown for the seniors. Colfax this year comp...
Colfax Coach Reece Jenkin can move to the head of the line for a license to use the term “rebuild” for the upcoming hoop season. A check of the Bulldogs’ roster from last year shows five seniors. All five of those players had a key role last year, and Jenkin will need to put together a new lineup for the winter campaign. Last year’s hoop season came to a sudden halt in the final rounds of the district playoff at West Valley. Liberty, a team Colfax defeated twice early in the season, defeated the Bulldogs in the last consolation game and nai...
First basketball action will be Dec. 3 when Bulldog boys and girls varsity teams travel to Colton. They will be at Pomeroy Dec. 6, and the first home games will be Dec. 7 with the Lakeside Eagles. Next home action for the hoop teams will be Dec. 17 with Tekoa/Rosalia slated for a league match-up. First practice session date for the winter sports teams was Nov. 18. The coaching lineup for Colfax teams remains the same with Dennis Gransberry coaching wrestling, Corey Baerlocher coaching girls basketball and Reece Jenkin coaching boys basketball....
West side 2B teams dominated in the state football quarter-finals and shut down all contenders from the east side of the state. Chewelah, the lone NE team to advance to the quarter-finals, was stopped 35-13 by Adna. Chewelah went into the quarter-finals with a 36-7 win over Tonasket. Davenport and Asotin were also stopped along with Colfax in the first round. Toldeo, the team which stopped Colfax 32-12, was stopped 55-0 by Napavine. Napavine will play Kalama. Adna will play Onalaska in the semi-finals....
Five Colfax football players were named for first-team honors on the NE-South all opponent league. Three were named to both offense and defense on the first teams. They included Caden Brown, both offensive and defensive lines; Jacob Brown, running back and linebacker; Matt Hockett, receiver and defensive back; Nick Klaveano was named first team receiver, and Layne Gingerich was named first team quarterback. Second team honors went to Anthony Becker, offensive line; Brandon Lustig and Braeden...
The Oakesdale boys return to the basketball floor next Tuesday night, Dec. 3, against Asotin. The season opener follows the 2018-19 run which concluded at Spokane Arena on the fourth day of the 1B state tournament, for a sixth-place finish. Gone are the four seniors that powered it – Kieron Anderson, Wesley Castanon, Evan Henning and Jacob Himes. Back is now-senior (point) guard Matt Hockett – bigger and stronger coming off an all-league football season playing for Colfax – his brother Kit,...
Format for football season next year will return to a single NE league lineup. The north and south divisions of the league will be dropped because of the number of teams which have dropped out and made one lineup of league schools small enough to fit into a season’s football schedule, Coach Mike Morgan reported at Tuesday’s football banquet. For this season, the NE-North had just four teams with Springdale and Wilbur/Creston dropping out of NE action. The NE-South was made up of five teams with Colfax, Liberty, Reardan, Lind/Ritzville/Sprague a...
