Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 58
Whitman County has been the nation’s top producer of wheat since 1978. Washington state is the fourth largest producer of wheat, following North Dakota, Kansas and Montana. According to the National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS), in 2018, Whitman County produced an average of 93.3 bushels per acre of winter wheat and 56.9 bushels per acre of spring wheat. Combined, almost 42 million bushels of wheat were harvested in the county. In 2017, Whitman County averaged 85 bushels per acre of w...
Port of Whitman County commissioners received an update at their Dec. 20 meeting following a request for services which were issued in November for the fiber to the home projects. The port has received grants and loans from the Washington State Department of Commerce for $1 million to be combined with a $2 million match from the port to extend fiber to houses in Garfield, Oakesdale, Palouse, Rosalia and Tekoa. The port also issued requests for proposals for a design contractor for the project....
The new year for Whitman County Parks started with new board members and three large projects set for 2019. In early December, Angela Taylor, a Pullman engineer, replaced Parks board member Tom Stirling, who resigned after four years. Kathy Meyer also finished in December after serving a six-year term. Sharon Tharp of Palouse has completed a six-year term, vacating a seat that is expected to be taken by Brian Bell of the Whitman Conservation District. When the park board approves a new member,...
A policy change occurred at the commissioners meeting Monday, Dec. 31, due in part to the new County Treasurer, Christina Nelson. Earlier in December Nelson, who has been the IT director for the county, requested the commissioners to donate some of her remaining sick leave hours to the sick leave bank for general use. “I didn’t want to see those hours [accrued] moved off the books,” said Nelson, especially when others might have a need for those hours. Elected positions do not accrue vacat...
Port of Whitman County has new fiber mapping software, VETRO FiberMap, which was demonstrated at the Dec. 20 port meeting by Kara Riebold, the chief operating officer at the port. A viewer version of the program is available to companies that Riebold shares the viewer password with. VETRO will help Riebold keep track of the fiber systems as the port continues to get orders and the fiber networks grow and are built. Before VETRO, Riebold used Excel spreadsheets. If any splicing was done, she had...
Whitman County commissioners Dec. 17 approved an amendment to the county’s six-year transportation improvement plan to add $151,000 from the Federal Highway Infrastructure program, part of a planned allocation that sent $18.1 million to counties around the state. The $151,000 will be added to what is estimated to be a $5.5 million Almota Road reconstruction project which is expected to be done this summer. A 13.5 percent match from the county’s road department fund is required for the pro...
8 years ago The Commoner, Dec. 22, 1893 Justice of the Peace Truax Tuesday sent Daniel McDonald to the county jail for 40 days for selling a pint of whisky to two Indians. 100 years ago The Colfax Commoner, Dec. 20, 1918 The influenza epidemic which has been raging throughout the county for the last two months is slowly subsiding, is the statement that was made by Dr. John Benson before the members of the city council at their meeting at the city hall Monday night. *** J.K. Mullaly and Jack Smith were on the public road between Colfax and...
The Town of Oakesdale will undertake surveying and engineering in 2019 for road reconstruction projects to be paid for by a grant from the state Transportation Improvement Board. The annual grants were announced in November. The $329,497 grant for Oakesdale will pay for resurfacing of the asphalt between the old fire station and the new one across First Street. Also, a stretch of Steptoe Avenue will be re-built near the county shop on the west side of town. The T.I.B. this year funded 135 street and sidewalk improvement grants to local...
Nathan Weller, co-coordinator and Pullman City Council member, has announced that the Pullman Warming Center will have a Volunteer Orientation Jan. 7 at 7 p.m. before the warming center’s reopening in the basement of the new Pullman City Hall building, the former Encounter Ministries, at 190 SE Crestview. The shelter will open from 8 p.m. until 6 a.m. on nights with temperatures below 30 degrees Fahrenheit. The warming shelter is a temporary emergency shelter for homeless persons to have a safe...
At Whitman Hospital and Medical Center Pruitt, Michael Joseph, born Dec. 30 at seven pounds, to Jordon Huckaby and Michael Pruitt, Colfax. Paternal grandparents are Heather Soppe, Eldon, Mo., and Mike Beardsley, Oakesdale, Wash. Maternal grandparents are Christine and Kenneth Huckaby, Colfax.... Full story
Two tours of the former St. Ignatius Hospital building Colfax have been scheduled for this month, according to Val Gregory, unified executive director for Colfax Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Association. The tours of the building have been a large revenue source for the Chamber. Gregory noted the Chamber has conducted tours of the building for the past five years, and proceeds from the tours have generated over $100,000. The tours came to a stop last year when the building was posted for a "courthouse steps" foreclosure sale after a...
Augie Allenbach booked a win Friday in the 220 class at the Pomeroy Christmas tournament and followed it up with a number-two finish at the big Freeman Classic tournament on the next day to lead the Bulldogs in two days of action on the mats. At Pomeroy, Allenbach won the title after taking a decision over Kelson Saad of Potlatch in a 20-13 grinder in the title match. Colby Sisk at 113 placed second, and Gabe Ahmann at 152 and Caden Noha at 160 each placed third. The Bulldog team placed third...
The Oakesdale girls had four days off from practice over Christmas and then regrouped to win the Reardan tournament Dec. 28-29. Opening with a 55-38 win over the hosts, Logan Reed led with 25 points while Lizzy Perry added 14 and freshman guard Bree Rawls 13. Rawls has started the last three games. The next day, Oakesdale met Inchelium in the final of the four-team tournament, winning 53-42 as Reed scored 21 points and Perry 16. Oakesdale (9-1, 3-1) will play next at home Friday against Genesee...
Liberty girls will bring a 9-1 record to Colfax Friday after posting a 63-50 win over Mountain Home Saturday in the last day round of the Eagle Holiday Classic at West Valley. Maisie Burnham hit 30 points against the Idaho club. Colfax girls stacked a 48-30 win over Okanogan Friday and then bowed to Prosser 36-47 Saturday to finish 1-1 in the Eagle Classic holiday tournament. Colfax now stands at 4-6 going into Friday’s league game against Liberty. Liberty bumped their record to 8-1 with a 46-25 win over Lake Roosevelt in the Thursday round. T...
Basketball action will return to the Colfax gym with two home games over Friday and Saturday in the local gym which last saw hoop action Dec. 20 before the holiday break. Bulldog teams will return to the home boards after three road trips. The Bulldogs will host Liberty on Friday night for their third league matchup in the NE-South, and then will host Northwest Christian from the north side Saturday night. Liberty boys began their campaign this year after graduating six seniors off last year’s team. Their record dropped to 6-4 when they were d...
The Oakesdale boys went to the Reardan tournament Dec. 27-28 and lost in the first round to the hosts. Reardan led by four points at halftime, then by one at the end of the third quarter before Oakesdale took a two-point lead with three minutes left in the game. Struggling to score after that, they soon had to foul and the Gorillas made free throws, winning 49-41. Evan Henning led Oakesdale with 12 points while Jacob Himes scored nine. Oakesdale 56, St. John/Endicott/LaCrosse 14 After the...
These reports are from the previous four issues of the Daily Bulletin in Colfax. They are reprinted here for the benefit of Gazette readers who reside outside of Colfax. Some accounts have been updated. LEWISTON-SPOKANE SPEED CHASE A high-speed chase which started in Lewiston ended southwest of Cheney early Friday, Dec. 28, after going through Colfax and continuing north on Highway 195 and into Spokane. According to the Washington State Patrol, the suspect crashed the vehicle he was driving on Highway 904 south of Cheney near the Tyler...
Road construction projects in Colfax and on Highway 195 marked a big year with overall costs of the two projects finishing in the $7 million range. The Colfax project on the North Flat was done by Motley and Motley of Pullman. It included a rebuild of Cedar Street from 7th to 11th streets and all of Oak Street plus 8th Street. Approximate price tag for the project was $1,645,000. The Colfax job included installation of new sewer mains and water lines. The new sewer lines are expected to resolve...
It was the summer of judges in Whitman County in 2018, with prominent, visible campaigns from three candidates running to succeed the retiring Doug Robinson as District Court judge. From parades across the county, to signs in even amounts at roadsides and turnouts in Pullman and beyond -- red and white for Dan Lebeau; green, white and black for Jon Hart and blue and white for Rob Rembert -- it was the first political campaign for each. It came to a first vote Aug. 7, with Hart taking the primary, Rembert in second and LeBeau narrowly...
After 13 months preparing and presenting what became an $18.9 million bond measure for the Colfax School District, it passed Feb. 13 with 73 percent of the vote. The high margin was noted by many supporters, including a building committee which worked to gather information from the public, disseminate it and decide what to include in the measure. "To receive such public approval on such an important issue for us, we're just thrilled," Superintendent Jerry Pugh told the Gazette. The work to come...
Port of Whitman County commissioners signed a 25-year lease last January with the Army Corps of Engineers for Boyer Park and Marina. The lease was required before the port could receive a $198,000 grant from Washington State Recreation & Conservation Office to plan and design new docks, pilings and utility systems at the marina. The Port added $77,000 of its funds to boost the design sum to $275,000. In April the port sent out a request seeking an engineering consultant to redesign the Marina...
After 11 years as Tekoa mayor, John Jaeger resigned Oct. 30, leaving the city council 90 days to appoint a successor. Mayor pro-tem Troy Wilson took over and was himself appointed mayor Nov. 19. Jaeger was elected to his third term in 2016, never being run against. He took office in 2007, with the resignation of Richard Weatherly. Jaeger had been on the city council for one year. A dispute over ownership of the city pool, between the parks board and the city, preceded his decision. “I thought it was just time,” he told the Gazette, of his res...
A never-before event took place in Whitman County last year. "Weedstock 2018" got underway on the afternoon of April 20 on land owned by the Gilchrist family near Klemgard Park between Colfax and Pullman. The event, organized by Dax Taylor of Pullman and the group he founded, 420 Union, attracted crowds for two days of bands, comedy acts, speakers and marijuana. According to county code 5.08 Outdoor Amusements and Assemblies, a permit was required if an event featured paid admission and more...