Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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THURSDAY Former Republican Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann sought to withdraw her Swiss citizenship. Bachmann became eligible for dual U.S.-Swiss citizenship in 1978 when she married her husband, who is Swiss. Bachmann activated that citizenship in March. Venezuelan crossword-writer Neptali Segovia was accused of hiding a coded message to assassinate President Hugo Chavez’s brother in a puzzle. Answers to clues included “Adan”, “asesinen” (meaning “kill”) and “rafaga” (which can mean either a burst of gunfire, or a gust of wind). Ou...
Kids weigh options for years before making namesake food call If you could choose one day’s school lunch menu with your name on it, what would it be? Every spring seniors at Oakesdale school make the call, in a tradition going back before water came in bottles. “Long before I was even born,” said Oakesdale Student Body President Jeffrey DeGon. “It’s been going for 25 or 30 years,” said Darlene Gardner, head of food service. “The seniors get their last meal.” Each year, depending on the amount o...
Crossing hours for Lower Granite Dam will be extended this summer over previous years. Starting Friday, May 25, dam crossings will be allowed from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday thru Sunday and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday thru Thursday. The dam will also be open for crossings on Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day holidays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Crossing hours at Little Goose Dam will not be extended....
Starting time of the Steptoe school board meeting next Monday, May 21, has been advanced an hour to 6 p.m. The meeting will take place in the Steptoe School board room. School board meetings are open to the public....
A crane arrived Wednesday, as part of the installation project for a new chiller on the top of the county jail. Doug Sewell, project manager of McKinistry of Spokane, applied May 10 for a city building permit to replace the chiller unit. Estimated value of the project was $139,000. The chiller will be placed at approximately the same location on top of the jail. One upgrade for the project will be installation of an acoustical enclosure around the unit to cut down on noise, a problem with the present unit which has generated complaints from...
A drawing for ballot position will be Friday, May 18, at 5 p.m. at the close of filing for the fall elections. Results of the draw will determine the order of placement on the ballot for the primary election which will determine a “top two” for the general election. Filing for office is underway this week. Filing fee for candidates is one percent of the annual salary. The county’s salary commission last week approved a seven percent...
Home sales in Whitman County picked up quickly during the first three months of 2012 compared to the prior year. A report issued last week by the Washington Center for Real Estate Research showed 520 homes sold in Whitman County during the year’s first quarter. The report showed home sales picked up 49 percent from the first quarter of 2011. The quarter also showed a 16 percent increase over the number of homes sold during the last three months of 2011. Glenn Crellin, director of the center, pointed out the number was still well under high s...
A crew of volunteers kept busy Friday for the Colfax Chamber of Commerce Shred Day at the Rosauers parking lot. The project netted more than $1,300 for the Colfax Chamber. Individuals and businesses brought old records and other papers for disposal. The chamber charged $5 for individuals and $25 for businesses for the shred service provided by Recall Secure Destruction, Inc., of Spokane. Some of the revenue for the project came from donations. International sponsored the four-hour visit by the shred truck....
Local cattlemen are looking at their water to find out how their operations impact their land. More than a dozen and a half gathered on the bank of the Palouse River beneath a railroad bridge in Colfax Monday morning to learn proper techniques for sampling their water for fecal coliform content. Tom Kammerzell, who organized the event for the Whitman County Cattlemen’s Association, said he began a regular regimen of testing a creek that runs through his property two and a half years ago after ecology officials “blamed” high fecal colif...
Unveiled last week as a measure to save $500 million in annual operations, the Postal Service plan impacts all but three post offices in Whitman County. The reduced hours plan will effect 13,000 of 32,000 of the postal service’s post offices. Post offices in Colton, Garfield, Oakesdale, Rosalia and St. John will go from eight open hours to six. In addition to the Malden reduction, post offices in Albion, Endicott, Farmington, Hooper and Uniontown will go from eight hours to four. Colfax, Palouse and Pullman post offices will keep their h...
The Colfax school board approved an enrollment projection of 571 full-time equivalent (FTE) students for next year at their meeting Monday night. The number represents a decline of 42 from last year. The current month enrollment figure is 587.43 FTE. The projection may still change. Its formal approval now allows Reece Jenkin, district business manager, to put together a preliminary budget for the 2012-13 school year. “Our numbers are down again,” said Colfax Supt. Michael Morgan at Monday night’s board meeting. The latest monthly figure puts...
The annual May Day celebration will be Saturday in Garfield. Taking place in and near downtown, the day includes a parade, fun run, crafts, a petting zoo, cakewalk, silent auction, raffle and even a bouncy castle. The parade will begin at 11 a.m. with the kiddie parade first. Entries are open for all, according to Chris Cochran, May Day committee member. The parade will be followed by kids games such as a sack race and egg toss at Dick Kriebel’s grass lot two blocks off Main Street. Events of t...
Citing personal reasons, Kirk Suess of Steptoe announced Tuesday he had decided not to run for Whitman County Commissioner in District 1. Suess was the first candidate to declare a campaign for the seat when he made a formal announcement of his challenge to incumbent Greg Partch of Garfield last December. Suess this week threw his support behind Lamont farmer Art Swannack, who was the first candidate to officially file for office with the county elections department when the season opened Monday. Candidate filing runs through tomorrow, Friday,...
Plan will reduce hours of operation in all but three Whitman County post offices. An announcement from the United States Postal Service May 9 proves good news for the efforts to avoid closing the Malden post office which was among rural offices listed for closure last year. The USPS announced a new strategy to keep the nation’s smallest Post Offices open by limiting retail window hours to match customer use. For Malden, its hours will be reduced from eight hours a day Monday through Friday to f...
With an old sledgehammer head for a doorstop, the McCoy Valley Museum in Oakesdale will be open more this summer after an infusion of new board members in its 24th year. Museum president Dennis Palmer said the sledgehammer head will be in place every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Memorial Day to Labor Day. The museum began in 1987 as a one-time collection for the 100th anniversary of the town. At the time, the museum had about 25 members. Since then many have moved, died or dropped out. It was...
