Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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Plans appear to be set in Palouse for the demolition of the St. Elmo's building, the 1888 former hotel on Main Street, for which its private owner has deemed further remodeling unfeasible. The City of Palouse has also sought ways to preserve it. "It's been a year-and-a-half search to find any resolution to save it," said Kyle Dixon, city administrator. Problems include unreinforced masonry and other matters which suggest it could not pass a safety inspection for residential, without extensive...
County and port commissioners discussed port and county-related issues at a joint workshop session Monday. Port Commissioner Tom Kammerzell reminded all that at the end of the month a draft of the Environmental Impact Study will be released by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Bonneville Power Administration and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on the Columbia River System and the effects of dam removal. “The EIS will be coming out Feb. 28 on our river system,” Kammerzell said. “That will open a 45-day comment period going until...
Voters have until Tuesday to return the ballots for school funding requests made by nine districts in the county. Many districts are asking voters to approve levies for educational programs and operations which will replace levies that will expire at the end of this year. Funding for some capital improvements have also been funded by the state. First count of ballots will be made after the polls close at 8 p.m. election day, Feb. 11. Colfax Colfax is one of many districts in the county asking voters to approve a replacement levy for...
The Whitman County Public Works Department has begun a process to create a full inventory of thousands of metal culverts which cross under roads in the county. The existing list goes back to the late 80s, with inconsistent records before. As of now, district supervisors for county roads check culverts informally, while the new effort will lead to assigning a number to each galvanized steel pipe, from zero to nine, nine being top condition. Depending on rating, the pipes will then be checked...
Palouse Conservation District held its annual meeting Jan. 30 at the Gladish Community Center in Pullman. The purpose of the annual meeting is to recap the 2019 year and to gain feedback on how to improve for 2020. Preregistration came from 115 people with 103 in attendance, including staff. Of all the events throughout the year, this is the conservation district's largest public event. Unlike previous annual meetings, a different format was in place this year to allow more people to get...
Whitman County commissioners approved a zone change request Monday for a two-acre lot just southwest of LaCrosse, now owned by W.H.E.A.T. (We Honor Every American Troop). The property, originally zoned as agricultural, has an existing warehouse and office building being used to send care packages to troops overseas. A zone change was required to limited light industrial. W.H.E.A.T. bought the property from Herron Trucking Company last October....
The Palouse Falls chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute plans a March 7 spring hike along the upper rim of Staircase Rapids, north of Washtucna. The hike will be approximately 3.5 miles. The group's spring hike last year was scratched because of the run of late winter weather. Registration forms can be found on www.iafi.org. The crew is also planning for a fall bus tour to explore the Lewis Lake area. Planned stops will include Lake Sacajamea Bar, Walula Gap and the Coyote Canyon Mammoth Dig. The dates for the chapter's events were reported...
Whitman County Coroner Annie Pillers Jan. 28 issued a cause report on the unattended death of Adam Michael Smith, 35, Palouse. She determined Mr. Smith died Jan. 16, 2020, at his residence in Palouse of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Manner of death was determined to be suicide....
The theme for this year's Palouse Empire Fair will be "Wagon Teams to Western Dreams," Fair Manager Janel Goebel announced at Monday night's fair board meeting. Goebel noted they received a lot of nominations for the unique 2020 year, but decided to put them aside because the novelty of the 2020 year will have worn off by the time the fair opens in September. She also noted a 2020 theme would limit the scope of decorations mostly to interpretations related to vision....
On Jan. 8, 2020, Astria Regional Medical Center in Yakima announced that it would be closing its doors due to continual financial struggles. With the recent announcement of ARMC closing, Laurie Gronning, public relations specialist at Whitman Hospital and Medical Center, said it got her and CEO Hank Hanigan thinking that it might be a good time to remind the community of how lucky we are. "I don't know it's kind of an unsettling time," Hanigan said. "On the more national scale, it's at least...
Colfax girls fought off a last quarter rally by the Broncos to take a big win at Ritzville Tuesday night. The Bulldogs stacked a 29-18 lead in the first half and then held on while the lead was gradually erased and the hosts came within range in the final seconds. Down by just two points with 11 seconds left on the clock, the Broncos had possession of the ball to tie it up. Instead, Skylre Sakamoto-Howell, who had a big night for Colfax, came up with the ball and burned out the balance of the clock time. The speedy Colfax senior guard led the...
Colfax wrestlers will roll to Liberty today for the district elimination, the first step to the state matt classic at the Tacoma Dome. The top four finishers at Liberty today will compete in the regional round next Saturday at Reardan, and the top four finishers at Reardan will earn a state ticket. Colfax will start with six wrestlers. Five of the entrants earned top seeds at the league meet last Saturday at Ritzville, and if they can prove up on their slot they should be able to extend their season to the following week at Reardan. Colfax...
The Colton girls dropped more doubt over the top of the Southeast 1B basketball standings last weekend with a 52-45 win over Oakesdale – the team that just beat undefeated league leaders Pomeroy the week before. Pomeroy's hold on the league fell, then Oakesdale's claim was marred by Colton, the team which has won league for the past 12 years in a row. The Wildcats had lost once already this year to Oakesdale and twice to Pomeroy by decisive margins (including 48-29 Jan. 11 at Oakesdale). C...
Rosalia senior hoopster Riley McLain topped the 1,000-point career mark Saturday in the league game against Reardan. He finished with 15 points in the Timberwolves 55-65 loss to Reardan at Rosalia. McLain rolled up 563 points during his freshman and sophomore years at Columbia of Hunters and finished off the 1,000 during his last two years of playing with the Timberwolves. His dad is superintendent at Rosalia, and his mom is the athletic director at the school. Garrett Naught hit 23 points...
After battling to a 26-26 tie in the first half Friday night at Asotin the Tekoa/Rosalia Timberwolves stacked a 10-point lead in the third frame and fought off a late rally by the Panthers for a 58-54 win. Garrett Naught and Riley McLain each hit 17 for the T-Wolves, and Anthony Gehring finished with 11. TR returned to the Rosalia gym for the Saturday round and were out-aced by Reardan 65-55. Garrett Naught hit 23 points against the Indians who were led by 35 points from Zane Perleberg. Tekoa/Rosalia girls were dropped 46-28 in the league...
Colfax boys, who took an amazing comeback win over the LRS Broncos when the two teams locked up at Colfax, sustained a five-point loss Tuesday at Ritzville. The Broncos charged late and took the win 57-52. The battle went to the final buzzer in a rally vs. rally format with the Broncos holding the last card. Colfax had the lead as of the last 28 seconds, but it didn’t stick. The Bulldogs remained afloat on three-point shots with Gavin Hammer hitting a trey for a 44-43 edge. The Broncos hit five fast points to lead 49-44 at the three-minute m...
With two league games left, if the St. John/Endicott/LaCrosse boys basketball team beats Touchet Saturday, they will advance to a neutral-site playoff game against Pomeroy, to decide the fourth and final spot in the district tournament. Game time Saturday in St. John is 6:30 p.m. SJEL first plays at Oakesdale Friday and Pomeroy plays at Palouse. The fourth-place playoff picture could change with an upset in either game, though it is not expected. Last week, St. John/Endicott/LaCrosse lost at...
All roads lead to the Palouse gym Saturday night in Whitman County. The last time the Oakesdale and Garfield/Palouse boys basketball teams played may have sent Dawson Dugger to Mr. Landle's room at Gar/Pal High School, to study why a spherical object on a descending trajectory would fall outside of a circular hole, after it first appeared to fall inside that hole. That was how it ended last time; at the buzzer in Oakesdale, Dugger's 20-foot shot to win, the ball ricocheting off the rim,...
PARVIN ROAD-195 CRASH ZONE A total of five different accidents were investigated Monday morning when drivers encountered ice on Highway 195 near the Parvin Road intersection, south of Colfax. All the accidents were logged at 6:12 a.m. None of the drivers or passengers stated they had been injured. Seven vehicles were involved with one vehicle hit after it had been stopped after a previous collision. Commuters coming into Colfax Monday for the start of the workweek relayed initial reports of the hazard zone when they arrived at work. Troopers...
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. COLFAX MARKS ADU TWO NIGHT Discussion of a possible change of town code to allow Auxiliary Dwelling Units in R-1 zones resumed again Monday night at the Colfax City Council session. Included in the handout for the session was a copy of the state proposal to allow auxiliary units in R-1 zones. The state is considering the change to generate more...
I can't think of any previous Super Bowl where I had to Google who was booked for the halftime show. The honor went to Shakira and Jennifer Lopez this year. I'll start off by saying kudos for having two Spanish-speaking singers headlining the show Sunday in Miami, Fla., singing bilingually nonetheless. The performance was definitely Latina and Miami-inspired. Shakira and Lopez did not hold back, they gave that performance their all. Shakira and Lopez are the first two Latinas to headline the Super Bowl halftime show. Not only were two females...
Let's discuss the fantasy that so many desperate Democrats are having. In their minds, they're asking, "Is it too late for Adam Schiff to run for president?" Actually, since his dynamite performance as lead House of Representatives counsel advocating in the Senate for the conviction of Donald Trump and his extrication from the White House, it's not really a secret dream for some in the party who are wholly unimpressed with their mix of wannabes. Schiff has been rattling around the Capitol as a member of the House of Representatives since 2001,...
It's easy to forget what the Senate impeachment trial is supposed to be about. It's not a fight over whether the Senate will call a couple of witnesses that the House couldn't, or didn't bother to, obtain on its own. The underlying question is whether the United States Senate will impose the most severe sanction it has ever inflicted on any chief executive, voting to remove a president for the first time in the history of the country and doing it about 10 months from his reelection bid. This is a truly radical step that, if it ever came about,...