Contractors pull trucks:

WHITMAN COUNTY – Another week of rock work was on the schedule for Almota Road south of Colfax last week, nearing the opening of the road to passenger cars by the Fourth of July.

“Then the contractor pulled all of his trucks for a week,” said Dean Cornelison, assistant county engineer. “To go work on another project.”

The road is still closed to most traffic, with rocks as large as 12 inches scattered on the surface.

“It’s traversible in a four-by-four pickup,” Cornelison said, as he sat between Mark Storey, Public Works director, and Michael Largent, county commissioner, on a video screen dur...