Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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Animal blessing at Rosalia park In honor of St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), who had a connection to God’s creatures and the world in which they live, Rosalia United Methodist Church will sponsor a Blessing of the Animals Sunday, Oct. 2, at 1 p.m. in the town park with a brief service, followed by snacks. All are invited. "We anticipate a cheerfully chaotic event and ask that all pets be appropriately leashed or caged," the Rev. Joan Sulser, pastor of Rosalia UMC, said. The Blessing of the Animals will celebrate the love and the caregiving t...
Tim Fry and his wife, Kristine, pose with their children Henry, 9, and Ruby, 7, at the start of their two-month ProjectWA vacation this summer. The family has been traveling to historic sites throughout the state, documenting their trip online and with the Washington Insider App. Photos sent by Tim Fry. Tim Fry poses in a St. Ignatius hospital gown at the building last week. He toured the building with Colfax Unified Executive Director Valoree Gregory. The Fry family stopped at Steptoe Butte at...
It did not take long for Colfax's latest Halloween-related event to sell out, despite Halloween being more than four months away. “It was very, very quick. It was going crazy,” said event planner Caleb Cox, director of sales and marketing at Best Western Wheatland Inn. “The phone was ringing off the hook all day.” “Murder Mystery on the Palouse,” a real-life game of Clue to take place at the historic Perkins House mansion in Colfax Oct. 28 and 29, was posted online as a Facebook event Wednesday, July 6, and had sold out just two days later,...
With the pour of a four-ounce spiced ale to the sound of an old Wallflowers song, the Palouse Community Center moved another step closer to being paid off. A sold-out Cabin Fever Brewfest last Saturday was the latest marker in the quest to pay the building’s mortgage, started in the summer of 2011 with a $150,000 balance. It’s now at $60,000. “We’re about three years ahead of our 10-year mortgage goal,” said John Glass, treasurer for the Palouse Community Center. With strong fundraisi...
The Colfax Chamber of Commerce has started its Shop Local Campaign and will soon be introducing March Madness as a part of the campaign. The March Madness event will coincide with college basketball's March Madness tournament, and it will be similar in nature to the Passport to Colfax event in November and December. According to Colfax's Unified Executive Director Valoree Gregory, people who shop in Colfax during the event will receive a scratch ticket at the time of purchase. If the scratch ticket reveals three basketballs, the ticket can be...
Fair foundation launches project; receives donation The community building at the fairgrounds is receiving a remodel. The 20-foot addition to the side of the building is adding a kitchen, office space and an outdoor serving area. Ron and Barb Wachter of Pullman, long-time fair supporters, three weeks ago donated $250,000 to the project. A remodeling project which is expected to mark big gains for off-season revenue for the Palouse Empire Fair was launched last summer. The project led to the...
The 14th Haunted Palouse has concluded with a total attendance of 3,901, including a one night tally of 1,469 Saturday, Oct. 24. That’s the second highest single night count in the 14-year history of the event. The smallest count night this year was Halloween, Oct. 31, during which rain caused the closure of Shady Lane. Organizers dropped admission price from $15 to $10 because of the partial shutdown. Total revenues are not yet tallied, but volunteer Janet Barstow said net proceeds are expected in the $48,000 to $49,000 range. Volunteers i...
8 years ago The Commoner Oct. 31, 1890 The sensational shooting of Farmer Click by James Blanton on the streets of Colfax, December 18 last, will be remembered by all the citizens of this city. A somewhat interesting denouement to this tragedy is the marriage of M. M. Click, the brother of the deceased, to Mattie Click, his widow, which was contracted this week. 100 years ago The Colfax Commoner Oct. 29, 1915 J. O. Mattoon, city superintendent of the Colfax schools is the highest salaried public school superintendent in Whitman county. He...
A boy and a New Holland bailer, a prayer for the dying from a bench you're unsure you want to sit on, a white room in strips; the 14th annual Haunted Palouse started with the first of two weekends Friday and Saturday night, Oct. 23 and 24, in Palouse. Friday night brought in 842 guests while Saturday totaled 1,469. The second weekend begins Friday at 7 p.m. Cost is $15, ages 12 and older. Pictured at left is a party as they venture further into a hallway as eyes watch from above; above, the...
It's the 14th year of Haunted Palouse and the 10th for an ancillary benefit – Palouse Fire Department training inside the transforming museum as it takes shape each October. On Oct. 12, a dozen members of the Palouse Fire Department gathered at the Roy M. Chatters Printing Museum to train inside the unfamiliar wood-framed corridors. Training Officer Marv Pillers led the exercises, which included covering firefighters' masks with plastic to simulate smoke-impaired vision. From there, the tasks v...
‘Oh my, what big teeth you have!’ The 4H Palouse Area Robotics team with students from Colfax, Colton, Garfield/Palouse, Moscow and Pullman high schools have been using some of their pre-season to create animated props, including a toothy dog-boy, for Haunted Palouse. This is the second year they have participated in Haunted Palouse, said Aaron Johnson, mechanical mentor. A dark highway cuts through a town along a mist-covered river. It’s best not to stop there in October. From the safety of a...
Clear choice A clear choice: return Michael Echanove to the Palouse Washington mayor’s office with your vote. Ballots will be mailed Oct. 16 and must be postmarked by November 3, 2015. I had the pleasure of working with Michael as a member of the Palouse City Council 1994 though 1995. I left City Council after two terms, 1988-1995, confident of Michael’s leadership skills, cordiality and proactive stance on matters pertaining to the City of Palouse. During Michael Echanove’s first three terms as Mayor, I was happy to endorse his reele...
Building began last weekend for Haunted Palouse, which is celebrating its 14th year. Through the past 13 years, more than $400,000 has been generated for local non-profit groups. This year the beneficiaries will be Palouse Lions, GPAC, Viking Crew, Gar-Pal FFA, Palouse Skate Park, Palouse Area Robotics Team, Palouse Museum, Palouse Chamber and Palouse Community Center. Other local clubs also benefit from selling food and hot drinks during the event, which will be Oct. 23, 24, 30 and 31. Haunted Palouse requires many hours of volunteer work,...
Palouse skate park committee head Aaron Flansburg appears in the Palouse Days parade with son Max Sept. 19. Flansburg and the park construction crew dressed as clowns and rode skateboards. Saturday, Sept. 26, was the inaugural. The first dip into the bowl of the Tony Kettel Skate Gardens in Palouse came after three years and more than $45,000 in fundraising. Lead organizer Aaron Flansburg was not the first to skate the bowl — it was two workers staying in town for the park’s construction. “It...
ST. IGNATIUS SPOOK TOUR? Among other projects mentioned Tuesday during the tour of St. Ignatius Hospital and grounds was the possible use of the ground floor of the hospital for a Halloween spook house. St. Ignatius, which has stood vacant for years, has occasionally attracted juveniles who are intrigued by the high ceilings and hallways of the building. Among local residents who accompanied Anthony Girges, owner of St. Ignatius, and Sammy Girges, was Val Gregory, whose joint executive assignment includes the Colfax Downtown Association. City A...
G.A. Perry, right, and Monte Nearing, foreground, sit at coffee Monday morning in Palouse. The group has raised $7,000 since last January. A longtime Palouse coffee group has raised more than $7,000 in the past year and a half for various town causes. The informal serving moved to the Roy M. Chatters Printing Museum in January of last year, after the Palouse Tavern closed. Museum Director Janet Barstow, and volunteers Fred Spencer, Monte Nearing and Police Chief Jerry Neumann arranged for coffee...
This is an artist’s sketch of the proposed skate park in Palouse. Plans for part of the proposed Palouse Skate Park to feature an area that can be used as an amphitheater have drawn some resistance after a final design was widely seen before a fundraiser last week. During the promotion for the March 11 silent auction event – which raised an estimated $8,000 for the skate park – local residents Nick and Nancy Whitesell saw a flyer online which showed the amphitheater feature of the design. “The...
A design unveiling and silent auction for a skate park in Palouse will be next Wednesday, March 11, at the Palouse Community Center from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The open house, drop-by event will have live background music, a no-host bar with beer from Paradise Creek Brewery, wine from Merry Cellars and light appetizers. Included will be the auction, along with a “shopping list” for giving a specified monetary gift. Children are welcome. “There will be activities available to keep even the small...
Garfield-Palouse’s Wyatt Griner holds on for a rebound against Pomeroy’s Cole Mayfield Friday night in Clarkston. The Vikings won the championship, 56-36. They did it on the strength of Woltering and Jamison. A stable of star Garfield-Palouse guards have haunted the Southeast 1B league for three years but last Friday night in Clarkston -- in the 2015 district championship game -- it was the inside work of Hunter Woltering and Mitch Jamison that stood out. In a 56-36 win over Pomeroy, Gar...
The 13th Haunted Palouse raised a total of $45,452 over the four-day event in October. Proceeds benefit the Palouse Community Center, Palouse Lions Club, Garfield-Palouse Athletic Club, Viking Crew, Gar-Pal FFA, Viola Community Club, Palouse Area Robotics Team, Palouse Museum and Palouse Chamber of Commerce. Over 13 years the Halloween event has generated a total of $415,004, according to Janet Barstow in a city report....
“You better stick close to me,” said a man in a flannel shirt in the dark entrance to Roy M. Chatters Printing Museum in Palouse. Then he was distracted by a spider in a high corner of the tight foyer. It sucked him up through a hole in the ceiling. At that point, visitors to the 13th annual Haunted Palouse were on their own. Up on Shady Lane, farm trailers rolled into the darkness above the river. “I like the smell of exhaust,” someone said entering the trees. “That’s bad,” said another. “I k...
On the opening night of the 13th edition of Haunted Palouse, Oct. 24, a young trick-or-treater screams inside the corridors of the old Palouse fire station. Organizers report that opening weekend was very successful. Haunted Palouse runs again on Friday and Saturday nights....
Thursday, October 23 Colfax and Tekoa — Storytime — Bring in the little ones for fun stories, songs and more every Thursday. Visit the online calendar for times. Friday, October 24 LaCrosse and St. John — SHIBA Open House — Free and impartial information tailored to meet the needs of current and future Medicare recipients. Visit the online calendar for times. Colfax — 7 to 9 p.m. — Mixed Media Canvas — Create a unique canvas with Nichole Kopp. $10 supply fee. Adults ages 21 and up only. Call to register at (509) 397-4366. Palouse — 7 p.m. — Ha...
8 years ago The Commoner Oct. 25, 1889 Particulars of the horse and wagon theft committed at Palouse City on Tuesday of last week develop some interesting facts. The young man who swore out the warrant for the arrest of the alleged "stranger" whom he had "given a lift" to town turns out to have been an accomplice of the "stranger" and that the horse and wagon belonged in Walla Walla from whence it had been stolen by the two a few days before. Reaching Palouse City with the stolen property the elder of the two men took advantage of the other's...
For a while, Steve McGehee was living in Mexico. Now, he is back in Palouse. His return has marked new assaults on the Palouse City Council and, in particular, Mayor Michael Echanove. For years McGehee has been a thorn in the side of the city. He is his own version of Haunted Palouse. The crux of his complaints has been to question the mayor’s credibility with charges of corruption and mismanagement. Not having a local newspaper as a forum anymore, he has taken to driving around town in a truck with signs attacking the mayor. McGehee sees h...
