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Articles from the February 25, 2015 edition


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  • Not-so-frosty February

    Feb 25, 2015

    A hillside barn stands in gray skies east of Palouse last Friday as a warm February nears the end....

  • Wrestlers Askins, Jones place second at state

    Feb 25, 2015

    Reggie Jones attempts to get control of Liberty Bell’s Emmett Fink in the championship match for the 145 class. Trapper Askins takes the top position on Tyson Yamane of Warden in the 126-pound championship match. Askins on the awards stand at the Tacoma Dome. Colfax and Garfield wrestlers booked a solid performance at the state Mat Classic in Tacoma Friday and Saturday. Garfield/Palouse senior Trapper Askins and Colfax junior Reggie Jones each placed second in their weight classes. Brian D...

  • Vikings take title in Clarkston

    Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter|Feb 25, 2015

    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...

  • Colfax nets top slot at Cheney stop

    Feb 25, 2015

    After a slow start, Colfax girls Saturday put the stops on a young Dayton team on the way to a 47-28 win in the championship game of the NE-SE regional at Whitman College. Colfax rationed Dayton to just five points in each of the first three quarters. The win advances Colfax to the state’s 16-team regional round as a number-one team. They will play Oroville Saturday at noon in the Cheney High gym for one of eight tickets to the state finals next week at the Spokane arena. Oroville will travel t...

  • Bulldog misfires mark early end to hoop year

    Feb 25, 2015

    Basketball season for the Colfax boys came to a frustrating end Friday afternoon at Whitman College when they were derailed by the Walla Walla Valley Academy Knights in the last elimination round on the NE-SE playoffs. The Knights, who entered the tournament as the top team from the SE, roared to a 35-24 lead in the first half, weathered a Colfax charge when the Bulldogs began to hit buckets and finished with a 53-47 win to take the number four ticket to this week’s one-game regional e...

  • Colton girls beat Touchet in a scare, 58-54

    Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter|Feb 25, 2015

    She tried to do it by herself it appeared, and almost did. Touchet’s Cierra Jo McKeown led her team against Colton in the Southeast 1B district championship game Friday in Colton and for tense moments, the Wildcats’ state record 66-game winning streak was in jeopardy. After Colton lead 30-21 at halftime, McKeown – who had put up several airballs from three-point distance – kept pushing. Colton’s Savannah Chadwick guarded her much of the time. “I thought (Chadwick) did a really good job,” said...

  • Hill Ray elects Holberg, Groom

    Feb 25, 2015

    President Steve Holberg opened Hill Ray Plaza’s annual meeting Jan. 20 in front of residents and friends. President Holberg began by introducing Gary Young as the new general manager. He explained why the decision was made to fill this position and how Young met the qualifications. Ann Emerson led the opening prayer, and Donna Fisher led the flag salute. After a few moments of silence were observed in honor of deceased members, new residents were acknowledged. Holberg and Milt Groom were elected to fill two vacant board positions. Ladies C...

  • Library offers March computer classes

    Feb 25, 2015

    Whitman County Library is offering basic computer skills assistance at library branches around the county. These sessions are made possible with Technology Made Easy Grant funding provided to the Washington State Library by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Pre-registration is encouraged but not required. Topics will include everything from Microsoft Word and Excel, setting up email and social media accounts, typing a letter, building address books, and using library resources and Rural Heritage. The library can also help with free...

  • Training lag, poor system use cited in GFOA report

    Sally Ousley, Gazette Reporter|Feb 25, 2015

    GFOA representatives Elizabeth Fu, center, and Eva Olsaker, right, give their final financial report to county personnel on Tuesday afternoon. Elinor Huber, assistant clerk, is in the back. Lack of training and poor utilization of the county’s financial system are the major issues listed in the final special financial report that county employees heard Tuesday afternoon. Eva Olsaker and Elizabeth Fu of the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) submitted the final organizational a...

  • Civic Trust rep asks port to revisit rail exit policy

    Sally Ousley, Gazette Reporter|Feb 25, 2015

    Richard Wesson, representing the Pullman Civic Trust organization, last Thursday asked Port of Whitman Commissioners to revisit their decision to support abandonment of the Colfax-Pullman railroad property in the event the state decides to pull up the tracks on the now-idle line. “Look at your mission statement and at least back off. Don’t have any decision at all,” Wesson urged. “This is good for farmers down the road,” he added. The board Feb. 5 approved a move to support the abandonment option if the state’s PCC rail authority moves to pu...

  • Abandoned railroad land could vest to the U.S.

    Feb 25, 2015

    The request to abandon the now idle railroad property between Colfax and Pullman could reach a snag under federal law, according to a report from Kathryn Goodwin, manager of the Pioneer Title Co. office in Pullman. Owners of property along the rail line are requesting the railroad right-of-way be abandoned in the event the state’s P.C.C. rail authority decides to pull up the tracks. The group’s statement pointed out abandonment would result in deeding the railroad property to adjoining landowners that would maintain the property and pay tax...

  • Candy girl

    Feb 25, 2015

    Three-year-old Claire Roche delivers half-time goodies to the Colfax cheerleaders during Saturday’s championship game at the Whitman College gym. Claire, who was accompanied to the scene by her mom, Jaime, is a niece of Colfax guard Olivia Mellor....

  • Three port officials will make D.C. trip

    Feb 25, 2015

    Three Port of Whitman County officials are joining port officials from Washington, Oregon and Idaho for a week-long trip to Washington, D.C. Port commission Chairman Tom Kammerzell, Executive Director Joe Poire and port staff member Kara Riebold will represent the port in the nation’s capital March 1-5. The trip is organized by the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association. Port officials will meet with Congressional members during the four-day session to express concerns and issues that they have. Each day begins at 8 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m. o...

  • John Lee warrant now in hand

    Feb 25, 2015

    The governor’s extradition warrant, which had not arrived in time for the Feb. 17 extradition hearing of John Lee, is now in hand at the prosecutor’s office. Prosecutor Denis Tracy said he believes the warrant arrived here about eight days after he was informed by a member of Gov. Inslee’s staff that the warrant had been sent. Lee, 29, is wanted in Latah County where he faces three murder charges and one attempted murder charge in Moscow. He was arrested Jan. 10 near Steptoe after a high speed police chase from Pullman. Absence of the gover...

  • Uniontown Sausage Feed will mark 62nd edition

    Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter|Feb 25, 2015

    In 62 years, changes have been few, but two recent ones are adding to the tradition. This week, in preparation for Sunday’s annual Uniontown Sausage Feed, Director Ken Oenning will haul 1,800 pounds of pork in boxes in the back of his pickup to the Community Center. On Thursday morning, he’ll work with a group of 30 volunteers to grind and pack the meat and encase it into sausage. The Uniontown Sausage Feed has been part of Oenning’s whole life. He remembers going to it as a child. This year...

  • Missing Palouse minutes book from 1915-20 surfaces

    Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter|Feb 25, 2015

    Palouse Clerk-Treasurer Mike Bagott looks through a long-missing volume of the town’s city council minutes from 1915-1920. A woman in Wichita, Kansas, called city hall earlier this month to say she had it. It was the city’s one missing volume. A Palouse City Council meeting minutes compilation for 1915-1920 had been missing for as long as anyone could remember. It was the one hole in the city records that go back to 1888. Then, two weeks ago, the phone rang at city hall. It was a woman in Wic...

  • Rainbow at Palouse Falls

    Feb 25, 2015

    Mist blowing from Palouse Falls Friday afternoon creates a rainbow against a stern rock face canvas,...

  • Obituaries

    Feb 25, 2015

    Joseph Ronald Robichaud, 49, died last Monday morning, Feb. 16, 2015, at his home in Spokane County north of Rosalia. Born Nov. 20, 1966, in Spokane to Richard R. and Sandra L. Morrill Robichaud, he attended schools in Spokane County and graduated from Liberty High School in 1985. Following high school he worked for Itron, a computer manufacturer in Spokane Valley for 10 years. He was a shift leader for the company. Joe had also worked for an area crop duster. Married and later divorced, he had been in failing health for several years....