Duo presents plan for straw mill project near Starbuck

Starbuck may be the center for a wheat straw processing plant. But it remains to be seen if Whitman County farmers will benefit from it.

Mark Lewis and Dave Powers of Columbia Pulp Mill wanted to talk to farmers about their proposal to build a straw processing plant near Starbuck, but not one farmer attended the Tuesday morning presentation with the exception of county and port commissioners. The few people who did attend explained farmers were out in the fields on a nice spring day.

Although the crowd was sparse, Lewis explained the proposal for close to two hours and then fielded questions....