Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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A federal audit of the Pullman school district turned up a finding which questioned use of funds for the Special Education Safety Net program. Public schools are reviewed by the federal auditors when they exceed $500,000 in funding from the federal government. In a report taken from the Washington State auditor’s web site, the auditor’s office said the Pullman school district was provided $88,310 in Safety Net money, with $7,977 in state funds and $80,333 in federal funds. The Safety Net program gives funding to educate specific special nee...
DeAtley Crushing of Lewiston was awarded Whitman County contract last week to crush 50,000 tons of road rock from the county’s quarry at Union Center. DeAtley’s bid of $269,750 was less than half the bids submitted by two other firms. Motley & Motley of Pullman bid $753,960 while Seubert Excavators of Cottonwood bid $681,620. The difference came in mobilization costs. DeAtley estimated $18,000 to have its crews crush, while Suebert bid $410,120 and Motley bid $463,460. Public Works Director Mark Storey said the county is being required by the...
Eric Marsh, Tekoa school’s band director of 37 years, will finish his last day of teaching June 10, wrapping up a life-long career. His wife, home and life teacher Connie Marsh, is also set to retire in the next few years. Of his time at the school, Marsh said what he enjoyed the most was getting to know his students. Watching their lives progress from the fifth grade until graduation was always a pleasure, he said. “The advantage of teaching at a small school is you get to start with the students in the fifth grade and stay with them all thr...
Whitman County’s Board of Adjustment gave permission to Cooperative Agricultural Producers to build a new unit train loading facility near McCoy, five miles southeast of Rosalia along Highway 271. The board unanimously approved the company’s proposal for a railroad spur that would encircle two grain tanks that could hold 430,000 bushels of grain at a site nearly one-half mile north of McCoy siding. Jackie Tee, Co-Ag general manager, said a firm decision on whether the firm will go ahead with the project has yet to be made. “This just puts...
Tom Kammerzell announced Friday his intention to run for the District 3 seat on the Port of Whitman’s commission. Kammerzell, 51, a rancher and custodian with the Colfax School District, said his focus is on attracting businesses that would provide employment for Whitman County residents. “I think the port needs to take a more active, aggressive role in seeking businesses for our small towns,” said Kammerzell. Kammerzell credited current port leadership for its efforts to grow the county’s industrial base, particularly in the high-tech sector....
A farmer and a property owner outside Garfield have been fined a combined $26,000 for an illegal burn by the state Department of Ecology. Farmer Monte Roth and landowner Terry Raugust agreed on the settlement penalty for burning three piles of loose bales of hay and straw without a permit in the spring of 2009. According to a Department of Ecology press release, the burn took place over five days in late April and early May on Farmington Road near Garfield. Ecology officials were alerted to the burn after receiving a smoke complaint from a...
Another wave of Whitman County high school seniors will toss their caps high for graduation this year. A total of 323 Whitman County seniors will graduate this year with Pullman accounting for 153. The county totaled 343 graduates last year and 314 in 2009. Graduation days for Pullman, Palouse, Colfax, Colton and Tekoa all fall on Saturday, June 4. St. John/Endicott will have 26 seniors graduating this year, two less than last year and the ceremony will be June 5 at 2 p.m. in the high school gymnasium. “Not only are they good citizens, they a...
Rosalia will “Turn Back Time” this weekend in celebration of its 42nd Battle Days celebration. Battle Days begins Friday night when 21 seniors graduate in the school gymnasium. Cub Scouts fuel Saturday’s action with a breakfast of hotcakes, eggs, ham and sausage in the firehouse beginning at 7 a.m. Breakfasters can run off those extra calories with The Battle Days Fun Run, which takes off from the Texaco Visitor Station at 8 a.m. Rosalia’s youth will assemble in front of the library at 9:30 for the 10 a.m. children’s parade. This year’s parade...
Whitman County Auditor Eunice Coker pressed the send button Tuesday afternoon to ship out the county’s 2010 financial statement to state auditors, making the May 31 deadline for the first time since 2003. “It’s a big red letter day for Whitman County,” said Commissioner Greg Partch. “We’ve done an amazing thing here.” Partch said Tuesday was the end of his own personal Groundhog Day, referencing the Bill Murray movie in which Murray’s character wakes up to find the same day repeating itself. For Partch, hearing each year since 2003 that the s...
For their decades of devoted service to Rosalia, long-time residents Bill and Alice Hoffman have the honor of presiding over this year’s Battle Days celebration as grand marshals. “We just love it here,” Alice told the Gazette last Friday. “It’s our favorite place in the world.” Bill has spent 74 of his 78 years in Rosalia, with Alice by his side for the past 54. Together, the couple raised three children who went down the graduation aisle at Rosalia. “The other four I had to be gone, because I was in the military,” he said while helping A...
When four-year-old Ted Norton of Pullman learned, for the first time, that some children go without food or shelter overseas, it brought up some questions. Does that happen here? And can he help them? The resulting answers led little Norton to donate all the proceeds from his fifth birthday party to Whitman County’s Court Appointed Special Advocates program (CASA). A check for $250 will soon make its way to the CASA office and the money will help out with the many needs facing foster children in the Whitman County court system. “These birthday...
Colton’s softball players celebrated in a big way late Saturday at Yakima after they won the state 1B title for the third straight year. The Wildcats took the title after shutting down the ACH Warriors in dramatic fashion in the top of the last inning. Colton, which has just two seniors on this year’s team, rolled up a 3-0 mark to take the championship. They finished the season at 23-2. One of the losses was to the same ACH club in the regional finals last week....
Eagles Erin Bailey, Erin Schuster, Michal Schuster and Coach Doug Schuster with their championship trophy. St. John/Endicott’s Schuster sisters helped complete the school’s trophy collection last week, bringing home the school’s first ever state golf championship. Coach Doug Schuster marveled at the showing of his golf squad. “It was a pretty proud moment,” said Coach Schuster who is also the father of the Schuster sisters. Senior Erin Schuster earned a share second place, shooting 175 over the two-day tourney to tie with Riverside Christian’s...
Powered by distance runner Morgan Willson’s 3200 meter title, the Colfax girls track team booked a fifth place finish in the state 2B championships at EWU in Cheney Friday and Saturday. Running second for the past two years to Mikel Elliot of White Pass, Willson, now a junior, put away her first title early in Friday’s 3200 meter race. Starting in lane eight, Willson bolted across the field to the inside after the start and kept them behind her the rest of the way. Willson’s winning time was 11:09.09, more than 20 seconds ahead of Kim Barry...
Colton’s Wildcats ran a string of three wins to bag their third straight title in the eight-team state 1B finals at Gateway Park in Yakima Friday and Saturday. The Wildcats finished with a dramatic 10-8 win over Almira-Coulee-Hartline late Saturday in the championship game. Coach Brad Nilson noted the 3-0 title campaign proved booking a threepeat can be tough with other contenders ramping up for a derailment. The win over ACH netted a little revenge after ACH bumped Colton to get the number-one seed in last week’s qualifier at Medical Lake. Tha...
St. John/Endicott Eagles hoist their first state baseball trophy after displacing Almira-Coulee-Hartline in the championship game Saturday night at Parker Field. The Eagles, who bagged three elim wins to advance to Yakima, took the lead in the second inning and kept it in the 1B battle which ended a big two days of baseball and softball title action in Yakima. St. John/Endicott Eagles put together the hits and solid defense to derail the Almira-Coulee/Hartline Warriors Saturday night at Parker Field in Yakima. The 1B baseball title round was a...
THURSDAY FBI officials say the “Mullet Bandit” struck another Ohio bank, knocking over a Key Bank in Grove City. The robber, with his trademark 1980s haircut, was dressed as usual, wearing a Seattle Mariners baseball cap and large dark sunglasses. A Wisconsin judge voided a controversial Republican-backed law restricting the collective bargaining rights of public sector unions in the state, ruling legislators violated the state’s open meetings law in rushing the legislation through amid massive public protests at the state capitol. IRS reven...
Vintage hot rod iron and live music will again take over downtown Palouse this weekend. More than 100 car entries are expected for the seventh annual Palouse Hot Rod show Saturday June 4. The show will feature hot rods, jalopies and choppers beginning at 11 a.m. Cars are restricted to 1973 or older. Event organizer Marc VanHarn said last year’s show brought in more than 120 cars. While he anticipates the same numbers this year, he has heard talk of a 30-plus group that may be coming from southern Idaho. Live music starts at noon with the t...
Memorial Day free time brought hopeful anglers out to the shores of Pampa Pond west of LaCrosse. Many young fishers pulled in their allotted limit of five trout apiece, though rains kept some from hitting the pond....
The long legacy of McKinney men working maintenance at the Palouse school district has come to a close after 50 years of service. Rick McKinney retired as maintenance supervisor from the district in February after 24 years. He came on the job in 1986, 11 years after his father, Leonard McKinney, retired having served 26 years in the position. “I worked sometimes for dad. You painted this, you mowed that, you got ready for football season,” McKinney said. McKinney, who lives two blocks from the school with his wife Jill, said he has seen a myr...
A record number of Americans have died in tornadoes this year than in any other year. A funnel cloud was reported this weekend near Johnson. Have you ever been in a tornado? "Kind of. I was working at Eastern and they had the state track meet. We all had to evacuate. It did touch down in, like, Turnbull, but not at the stadium." "No, not really. Actually, last September we were back in Florida. We were in Tampa, and late one night we heard there was a tornado warning. But it wasn't where we were staying. It was a little bit further north." "I...
Dear Puppy W. BRUCE CAMERON Dear Puppy, I am leaving you this note as I depart this morning for a meeting, hoping that you’ll read it instead of barking frantically, as the neighbors report you always do. There are a number of what I will charitably call “misconceptions” on your part that I think I can clear up for you, leading to a more pleasurable pet experience for both of us. You have been alive for 9 months now — in human age, that makes you more than 5 years old. Now, when I was 5 years old, I already had a paper route, was reading...
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. DRIVING BAN LIFTED A lifetime prohibition from driving was lifted for Daniel A. Noble, 32, Moscow, Friday in superior court. Noble was arrested in December of 2009 after the car he was driving hit two students in the WSU campus. Noble was found not guilty by reason of insanity May 21 of last year after under going extended examinations and a cou...
Wawawai Road will be closed to through traffic as railroad crews replace a pair of crossings June 13 to June 17. Phil Meyer, maintenance operations manager for Whitman County’s public works department, said the road will be closed at the top of Wawawai Canyon and at the top of Steptoe Canyon. The railway will replace a pair of wooden crossings with concrete. Traffic will not be able to access either Wawawai County Park or Nisqually John Landing during the closure. Residents and landowners along the road will be able to get through as r...
Colfax Misspelled Four years ago I gave the flag that draped my husband’s casket to the American Legion to fly at the cemetery on Memorial Day, and for four years his last name has been misspelled. Every year I have complained about the misspelling and every year they assured me they would change it. Well guess what, it is still misspelled. There is no “U” in Sanders. I guess the only way I’m going to get it right is to make a sign myself. I’m tired of fighting with whoever is in charge. Virginia Sanders,...