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Articles from the April 21, 2011 edition


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  • Word on the street 4/21/11

    Apr 21, 2011

    Give us your best cheesy smile. Dana Carroll, Colfax Dalton Doramus, Colfax Brent Meyer, Endicott Charly Zimmerman, Colfax Daniel Moyes, Clarkston Gary Bonson, Colfax. “I don’t have a smile since my fiancee left me....

  • Editorial - Time to move to the center

    Apr 21, 2011

    The United States must bring its spending in line with its revenues. At this point, America borrows about 40 percent of what it spends. That cannot go on for long. National deficits keep growing, financed by foreign investments. Already, even before Congress really tackles the problem, Standard & Poors, the independent credit rating agency, predicted it would have to lower the Treasury Department’s credit rating. The chances of this happening is reportedly 1-in-3 in the next two years. The prediction in itself is bad news and could have an i...

  • Eagles, Vikings win SE round at cold Colfax meet

    Apr 21, 2011

    Cassie Thompson of the Vikings, left, takes off for a second leg of the 4 X 100 relay at the Colfax meet while Teresa Casey takes the baton from Annie Bailey for the SJEL team. The Vikings won the event. The girls from the SJEL combo stacked 86 points for a big win in a four team SE meet on another cold day last Wednesday on Schmuck Park track at Colfax. The Eagles finished 26 points ahead of Garfield/Palouse/Colton. Winners for the red/blue club were Jade Porubeck in the 400, Millie Schorn in the 800, Sami Bailey in the 1600, Heather Siegel...

  • St. John applicator fined for herbicide drift

    Apr 21, 2011

    Jason Flodin, an employee of Primeland Cooperative in St. John, was fined $450 by the state Department of Agriculture for an incident last May, the agency announced in a news release Tuesday. Flodin’s fine was one of several that amounted to $17,500 that were levied against ag companies in Washington state during the first quarter of 2011. His fine was the smallest. Last May, herbicide Flodin was applying to wheat stubble drifted onto a neighboring field and damaged up to 20 acres of lentils. Flodin’s license was suspended seven day... Full story

  • Whitman hospital CEO resigns after 18 months

    Jeslyn Lemke|Apr 21, 2011

    Gazette Reporter After 18 months on the job, Whitman Hospital CEO David Womack is resigning to take an administrative position with a medical chain in California. “I have a lot of mixed emotions. Julie and I were very happy here,” Womack said. Womack was offered a job in Bakersfield, Calif., the same city where their daughter and her family resides. Womack’s last day at Whitman will be May 6. The hospital board was set to accept his letter of resignation at a board meeting Wednesday. The board hopes to have an interim director in place by th... Full story

  • Deary man’s attempt to re-run Palouse River called off by snow

    Jeslyn Lemke, Gazette Reporter|Apr 21, 2011

    Kinziger holds up the waterproof map he used to guide himself down the twists and turns of the North Palouse River. After a day and a half of paddling in 20 mph winds on the North Fork of the Palouse River, canoeist Mike Kinziger of Deary called it quits outside Colfax when Monday’s snow squall hit. Kinziger was attempting a solo, 130-mile canoe trip from Laird Park, upstream from Harvard, Idaho, to Palouse Falls. “I was shivering. I couldn’t see. My glasses were dripping with tears from my eyes,” said Kinziger. He had planned to paddle... Full story

  • St. John Stock Show to crank up Tuesday

    Apr 21, 2011

    St. John’s annual Community Fair and Stock Show kicks off Whitman County’s festival season next week. The St. John soiree will start Tuesday when youngsters begin to turn in their handiwork. Entries for youth arts and crafts must be turned in by Tuesday. Those entries will be judged Wednesday. Adult arts and craft, photography and flower entries can be entered in next Thursday, April 28, with judging in the afternoon. Cupcake artists can compete for cash prizes by turning in their masterpieces by noon April 28 in the Community Building. Pri...

  • Joy ride ends in wreck on S. Main Street

    Apr 21, 2011

    A WSU student, who was air-lifted by helicopter to Spokane with possible serious injuries from this rollover accident in Colfax early Tuesday, is now suspected of damaging the WSU campus and golf course and other areas the previous night. Patrick Lipsker, 22, Spokane, lost control of his 1998 Jeep Cherokee as he entered Colfax at about 5 a.m. He was taken by ambulance to Whitman Hospital and then air-lifted to Spokane. WSU officials believe Lipsker departed Pullman for Colfax after damaging the Paradise Ridge Golf course and other campus...

  • Library board tours new site at LaCrosse

    Joe Smillie, Gazette Reporter|Apr 21, 2011

    Whitman County Library’s Board of Trustees visited the library’s future space in the LaCrosse Market building Tuesday night. Board members were given a tour by members of the LaCrosse Community Pride group, which is spearheading efforts to turn the former grocery store into a multi-use grocery, library and community center. “When I first heard about the project, I really thought it could go, And man you guys have taken it and really gone,” Library Board Member John Kehne of Colfax told the Community Pride members. “ The new LaCrosse library b...

  • To serve and protect

    Apr 21, 2011

    Washington State Patrol Sgt. Brad Hudson, head of the Colfax detachment, wields a lug wrench as he changes the tire of a stranded motorist on Highway 26 during the afternoon of last Friday, April 15....

  • Seventeen ‘neighbors’ appeal turbine EIS plan

    Gazette Reporter|Apr 21, 2011

    Naff Ridge—proposed site of wind farm developmentBy Joe Smillie A second appeal of Whitman County’s environmental approval of First Wind’s plans for a 65-turbine wind farm in northern Whitman County will be heard next month. Seventeen neighbors of First Wind’s Palouse Wind project turned in the appeal of the enviornmental study last Thursday, April 14. Residents signing onto the appeal were Marcia Wagner, Bruce and Kathleen Hailey, Dave and Katie Hockett, Carl and Renee Crider, Steve and Cotton Crider, Gary and Marcia Brown, J.R. and Heidi D...

  • MOMENTS IN TIME - The History Channel, 4/21/11

    Apr 21, 2011

    * On May 7, 1896, Dr. H.H. Holmes, one of America’s first well-known serial killers, is hanged to death in Philadelphia. Although not as well known as Jack the Ripper, authorities discovered the remains of more than 200 victims on Holmes’ property. * On May 6, 1937, the airship Hindenburg, the largest dirigible ever built and the pride of Nazi Germany, bursts into flames upon touching its mooring mast in Lakehurst, N.J., killing 36 passengers and crewmembers. The lighter-than-air craft was lifted by highly flammable hydrogen gas. * On May 5,... Full story

  • Records 4/21/11

    Apr 21, 2011

    COLFAX BUILDING PERMITS Wes Harness, storage shed, 707 S. Lake Street, $3000, April 5 Laura De Young, gas furnace, 1912 Cedar St. $2,831, April 6 Ray Sterling, gas furnace, 803 Southview, $3,571, April 11 AAG Insurance, A/C unit, $5,937, 402 S. Main, April 12 Bob Guenthner, wall sign, 213 N. Main, April 14 Jeff Dail, gas furnace, $3,561, 408 S. Mill St., April 15 MARRIAGES John Damery, 27, and Tessa Colon, 27, both Colfax, April 5 Lance Udy, 23, and Robin Olson, 22, both Pullman, April 6 Gabriel Laurence, 25, and Naomi Sakuma, 25, both... Full story

  • Teachers, school eye next round of mediation

    Jeslyn Lemke, Gazette Reporter|Apr 21, 2011

    While the teachers’ contract for the Colfax school district will remain the same until the end of this school year, the teachers Colfax Education Association (CEA) is still in a mediation mode with the school district. The CEA is considering another mediation date with the school district’s representative in mid- May. Union president Cary Cammack told the Gazette the union is waiting to see the district’s ideas for the 2011-12 teachers’ contract on paper. “We’re just asking for language that will go with those ideas,” Cammack said. At stake in... Full story

  • Tekoa will file for grants to study airport expansion

    Jeslyn Lemke, Gazette Reporter|Apr 21, 2011

    The town of Tekoa is researching what it would take to expand the town airport, hoping to attract air traffic bound for the Coeur d’Alene casino. By the end of April, Tekoa officials will turn in an application for a $25,000 planning grant from the state Department of Transportation Aviation office. If they are awarded the grant, it will kick-start a conversation between the involved parties on the feasibility of expanding the airport, according to Mayor John Jaeger. “We would sit down with the players and see how it would fit into the ove...

  • Spring concert 4/21/11

    Apr 21, 2011

    Colfax fifth graders get ready for their first spring concert performance on the CHS stage Monday night. Katerina Wiley, Airelle Grimaud, Isaiah Buri and Kyle Appel are ready for the downbeat at left. Ashely Richman and Hailey Corbeill compare notes with Wiley at right. The fifth graders were the first of five music groups to play under the direction of bands director Mike Morgan....

  • BUCK WINS MR. BULLDOG

    Apr 21, 2011

    Damon Buck was the winner of the Mr. Bulldog competition Friday at Colfax High School. Buck performed a parody of a pre-game warm-up when he sang a Mermaid number instead of normal pre-game warm-up music and was packed off the stage by Tuffy Hickman. Other top finishers in the field of eight entries were Kyle Largent, first runner-up and Andy Scholz, second runner-up....

  • Uniform ad scam: football jersey ads

    Apr 21, 2011

    Tony Carter, Colfax High School teacher, Tuesday advised the Gazette that a Texas company may be scamming local businesses by selling advertising space for football jerseys. Carter said he has received several phone calls from local business owners who said they were contacted by a Texas-based company, End Zone Athletics. They reportedly solicited advertising dollars to place businesses’ names on Bulldog football jerseys. Carter said Colfax has no agreement with End Zone. The Bulldogs do not place advertising messages on uniforms. He advised l... Full story

  • Golf 4/21/11

    Apr 21, 2011

    face chip-off St. John/Endicott’s Schuster sisters were set for a chip-off Wednesday to settle a tie in a three-school league match Tuesday that earned them each a share of the medal. Erin and Michal Schuster shot 44s at the par 37 Columbia Point Golf Course in Pasco. Erin Bailey carded a 60 and Felicity Mapes 63 to push the Eagles to a 211 score which bested the 225 posted by Tri-Cities Prep. The SJE boys at Columbia Point finished at 209 that trailed TCP’s 177, Pomeroy’s 190 and Liberty Christian’s 194. John Quinton shot 48 to best SJE, fo...

  • Endicott music classroom to recieve free new drums

    Joe Smillie, Gazette Reporter|Apr 21, 2011

    The music room at the Endicott/St. John Middle School will soon be filled with 30 new snare drums courtesy of the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation. Band Director Billy Ray received word Monday that the school had been awarded the drums through a grant process. “It’s amazing. It’s gonna be like Christmas, but a lot louder,” Ray told the Gazette Tuesday. The drums will be used for the school’s percussion ensemble. Ray said 22 students were in the ensemble this year, but the school had only 11 drums. And not many of those are snares. “So you kno...

  • Return of April 26 school ballots on bonds tops 50 percent

    Jeslyn Lemke, Gazette Reporter|Apr 21, 2011

    The county elections office as of Tuesday morning had received 320 ballots back from Oakesdale school district and 352 from the Colton/Uniontown school district for the April 26 election. Total, 1312 ballots were mailed out to the two school districts. Late registration closed April 18 to district residents who have never before registered to vote in this state. Both bond measures are asking voters to vote on construction projects to update their school buildings. Both schools will receive additional funding through the state...

  • Appellants argue First Wind should pick up appeal tab

    Joe Smillie, Gazette Reporter|Apr 21, 2011

    Should First Wind pay for appeals to its north county wind farm proposal? That question was posed in an appeal of the Environmental Impact Statement for the company’s 9,000-acre Palouse Wind project west of Oakesdale. Appellants of the statement had to pay $500 to have it heard during the appeals hearing and conditional use permit hearing next month. Two appeals were filed against the statement before the deadline last Thursday, April 14. One was filed by Roger Whitten of Oakesdale April 12. The other was filed last Thursday by 17 neighbors o... Full story

  • More passing lanes wanted on SR 195

    Joe Smillie, Gazette Reporter|Apr 21, 2011

    Left, Nancy Flechsig and Nancy Mack fill out surveys at the DOT’s listening post in Pullman April 12. Both said they wanted improved passing lanes on Highway 195. Citizens of Whitman County let the state Department of Transportation know they want more passing lanes on Highway 195. By doing so, they may make it easier for those passing lanes to be built. DOT officials held a series of listening sessions in Whitman County last week to gauge public opinions about how best to improve safety on the highway. Most of the respondents at the stops i...

  • The world 4/21/11

    Apr 21, 2011

    THURSDAY Brain scans of healthy people showed signs that the brain was shrinking in Alzheimer’s-affected areas nearly a decade before the disease was diagnosed. A U.S. jury convicted Barry Bonds of one count of obstructing justice but deadlocked on other charges that baseball’s home run king lied to a grand jury about whether he knowingly used steroids. ABC television announced it was canceling its long-running daytime soap operas “All My Children” and “One Life to Live.” The two shows have been on the air for a combined 67 years. FRIDAY After...

  • Palouse day care in danger of closing

    Jeslyn Lemke, Gazette Reporter|Apr 21, 2011

    Two dozen Palouse parents are working to find solutions to keep the only day care in town running. The Palouse school district came close to voting to shut down the Little Sprouts Childcare and Early Learning Center at a special board meeting April 12. More than 30 parents attended the meeting, many of whom had only learned the week before the day care was in danger of closing. As a result of the special meeting, the school board approved a motion to create a task force that has until May 19 to find a day care model that would help the day... Full story

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