Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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High water flow on the North Fork of the Palouse River took a toll on the north side bank of the river across the river road from the entrance road for the Redtail Ridge development upstream from Colfax. The erosion removed tons of soil and rock from the river bank which is now just a few feet from the side of the road. The erosion was at a point where the river drops in elevation and then changes course for a short run parallel to the road. A project to install rock “barbs” and riprap will be undertaken along 470 feet of the bank. City Adm...
County commissioners have put off signing of an employment contract for Public Health officer with Dr. Tim Moody because of a snag in health insurance coverage. Moody, who left his in-house position at the county health department July 11, will be retained by the county to pursue another position as the student health officer for Claremont Colleges in California. County commissioners discussed the issue at Monday’s commissioner meeting and Tuesday’s health board meeting. The issue still remained if Moody could be covered under county hea...
Palouse artist Thad Froio poses next to the wooden mammoth he and fellow artists constructed in the spring time. Froio was upset to learn it had been burned to the ground the night of July 10 in an apparent act of arson. The Palouse Police department has no further leads on who burned the wooden mammoth downtown July 10. Chief Jerry Neumann said all his potential leads have gone cold and the case of who torched the 12-foot-tall wooden behemoth is still open. Construction of the new Palouse Community Center is set to begin July 25 at the site...
Whitman County Commissioner Pat O’Neill announced Tuesday he will conduct a community meeting next week in Pullman to discuss issues of county governance. O’Neill said he wants to focus the meeting on wind power and the county’s financial management. The meeting will be next Tuesday, July 26, at the South Fork Public House in Pullman’s Wheatland Center. The meeting will open with a social period at 5 p.m., followed by a presentation by the commissioner at 5:30. O’Neill, who represents commissioner district two, will then open the floor to...
No perfect solution to energy needs Imagine coming home from work, tossing your keys on the hall table and flipping on the light switch. Nothing happens. You sigh, remembering that this is the night your neighborhood is scheduled for a rolling brownout. Even with electricity at 25 cents a kilowatt hour, there’s not enough power on the grid to supply the homes, hospitals, factories and office buildings in your state. New laws limit the amount of electricity you can use, and homes are equipped with utility sensors that allow regulators to remotel...
Sport fishing on sections of the Columbia River closed July 18 because of high catch rates for summer chinook and sockeye salmon. The summer chinook fishery closed just after midnight Sunday downstream from Bonneville Dam under an agreement reached by fishery managers from Washington and Oregon. Sockeye fishing will close at the same time downstream from the Highway 395 bridge at Pasco. Through July 14, anglers fishing below Bonneville Dam had caught and kept 5,282 summer chinook salmon- twice as many as last year- and released 2,553 others....
Political leaders of the United States are embroiled in a debate over raising the national debt ceiling. Not raising the ceiling would be catastrophic. Without the increase in its borrowing limit, the country could not pay its commitments and government could not keep functioning. The fallout would affect every American and every economy in the world. Yet, the debate continues and the deadline for solving the problem fast approaches. Part of the delay is that the decision to raise the debt ceiling is tied to efforts to cut the growing Federal...
Registration deadline for the annual Tase T. Lentil 5K run in Pullman is Friday, Aug. 5. The race will be run in conjunction with the National Lentil Festival Saturday, Aug. 20. Entry forms are available at the Pullman Chamber of Commerce or online at www.lentilfest.com. Cost is $15 with a T-shirt, $8 without. Late registration will be accepted until Friday, Aug. 19, but late fees will apply. Pre-race packets will be available at the Lentil Festival Friday night street fair Aug. 19....
Matt Mellor, currently attending the University of Washington School of Dentistry, capped a four-year Southern Virginia University football career by becoming the program’s all-time tackles leader with 269 total tackles. Mellor, who also set the record for unassisted tackles with 163, was named to the NAIA All-Independent First Team and was one of six Knighs to receive all state academic honors which are presented by the Sports Information Directors of Virginia. Mellor majored in business management and leadership at Southern Virginia which i...
Matt Shears of the Moscow Mavericks slides into third base while Hogan Heytvelt of Colfax waits to make the tag Friday in the second game at Bowman field in Pullman. Heytvelt is a Pomeroy recruit for the Colfax team. Colfax 12-under little league team will embark for Orofino this weekend after posting a 2-2 record in the Pullman tourney Saturday. Headed again this year by Wayne Gregory, the Colfax club will be among 11 teams in the Orofino show. Their first game will be against the Lewis-Clark Sabers at noon Friday. The Colfax 12-underr team ma...
Pullman Patriots collected the last Spokane ticket to the American Legion regional playoff with Colfax senior JJ Robinson throwing a six-hitter for a 9-3 win over the Northstars Sunday in the final elimination game. The win, and a decision to forfeit a third game to determine seeding, nailed the number-four ticket for the Patriots who were slated to play the Twin City Titans of Kennewick Wednesday at 2 p.m. at the start of the four team regional at McDonald Park. In taking the last game forfeit at Spokane, the Pats opted into the number-four...
Whitman Cougars Tuesday night split with Cheney in their last home game at McDonald Park. The Cougars took the opener 11-3, and then sustained a 0-8 shutout from the guests. The win was the third league win for the Cougars and the fifth win overall in the long campaign. They were booked to wrap up the season with one game at Freeman Wednesday. Zac Druffel pitched the 11-3 win. He allowed Cheney six hits and struck out three batters. Cheney took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but the Cougars took control with a seven-run explosion in the third...
Motley & Motley of Pullman submitted the lowest bid Monday for the S. Mill reconstruction project in Colfax. The firm submitted a bid of $624,949, which was more than $101,000 under the number two bid. Other bidders were Crea Construction of Lewiston, $726,659 and Poe Asphalt of Pullman, $884,252. Munir Daud, engineer for the project, estimated the cost at $883,935. City Administrator Carl Thompson told the city council Monday night the bids will have to undergo a review by the Transportation Improvement Board which is funding the project. The...
William A Sargent, 39, Athena, Ore., was unhurt in a one-car accident on Highway 127 which was reportedly caused by hydroplaning during a rainstorm 10 minutes after midnight Wednesday, July 13. The Washington State Patrol report said Sargent was driving a 2003 Honda Accord southbound about five miles south of Dusty when it went out of control and struck an embankment. —Hon S. Leung, 21, Mount Vernon, was unhurt July 13 after the 2001 BMW 330 he was driving struck a cow on Highway 26 in the LaCrosse area. Leung was driving eastbound at 9:44 p...
Kimberly Miller, 43, Kennewick, one of the suspects in a rural shop theft case here last January, was sentenced to three months in jail Friday after she pleaded guilty to an amended charge of second degree theft. Miller was rated with an offender score of two because of two prior drug convictions in Benton County. Miller was also ordered to pay $1,800 in fines and fees, including $500 in restitution to Roger Guiney of Garfield, victim of the Jan. 18 theft. The court allowed Miller to reimburse the court for attorney fees with 50 hours of...
David Swearington, 31, Moscow, was released on his own recognizance July 13 after he was arrested the previous day at a boxcar which was along the Snake River. State Game Officer Bob Weaver arrested Swearington July 12 when he discovered the suspect coming out of the boxcar. Weaver’s report said he was patrolling on Wawawai Road along the Snake River when he observed a black vehicle parked along the road. He couldn’t locate anyone fishing and then heard noises coming from a boxcar which was parked on a siding along the river. He enc...
Once one of the top summertime destinations for Whitman County residents, bars now keep river rats out of Central Ferry park on the Snake River. Northwest Land Management cancelled its contract to run the park for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last year, and a new operator has not yet been found....
A Sept. 19 trial date was set for Chris Ivory, former WSU running back, after he pleaded not guilty in superior court July 14 to a charge of second degree assault. Ivory, now the lead rushing back for the New Orleans Saints in the NFL, appeared in court by telephone. His defense attorney is John Snyder of Pullman. Ivory is charged with hitting a man over the head with a bottle on July 25, 2009, on Howard Street in Pullman. He was kicked off the WSU team for violating team rules; formal charges in the case were not filed until May 24, 2010. The...
Whitman County farmers are eligible for federal disaster payments and low-interest emergency loans because of excessive rains and flooding in Idaho. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack declared Monday 12 Idaho counties as primary disaster areas. Farmers in counties contiguous to primary disaster areas, like Whitman County, are eligible to request and direct payments under the USDA’s Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payment program, or SURE. Loans are available to farmers in stricken counties or in adjacent counties. Producers must show documentation o...
Whitman County commissioners Monday unanimously eliminated a plan to increase the county’s rainy day fund this year by 1.5 percent. Created in 2009, the reserve fund, initially set aside 7.5 percent of the 2008 current expense budget, which amounted to $1,119,029. The restricted account was scheduled to ramp up by 1.5 percent each year until 2014. That would have put it at nine percent of the 2009 budget. Because of the county’s budget deficit, the increase has been delayed each of the last two years. The reserve was created to counter une...
Sarah Logan plucks out a tune on her harp as part of a seven-harp concert played by students from Plummer and Tekoa in the Colfax Methodist Church last Thursday, July 14....
After years of fund-raising, the first day of construction for the planned Palouse Community Center will be July 25. “It’s going to be a fabulous Christmas present for Palouse,” said Janet Barstow, a member of the center’s board, pointing out the project should wrap up just before Christmas 2011. Walter Construction of Spokane was selected as contractor for the project, with a winning bid of $483,600. A ground-breaking ceremony will be Aug. 4 at 5:30 p.m. at the building site in downtown Palouse. Final paperwork has been signed for a $150,00...
School districts around Whitman County are one more month into a four-month delay on seeing their monthly financial statements from the county treasurer’s office. The county switched to New World software in early April, but a problem with the software system has delayed the treasurer’s office in providing each school district with its monthly finance information. That delay slowed down each district’s ability to write up its 2011- 2012 budget and school business managers have been unable to provide school boards with end-of-month figur...
Bryce Bartlett slides into second base for Colfax in the tournament game with the Moscow Mavericks Friday night at Bowman Field in Pullman. Bartlett was recruited from Potlatch to play with Colfax in the three-day Pullman campaign. Colfax posted a 2-2 mark in the tournament which was won by a Missoula team....
A sexual harassment suit was filed last Wednesday, July 13, against County Assessor Joe Reynolds and Whitman County by Brenda Arthur, a property appraiser in the assessor’s office since 2000. Filed in Whitman County Superior Court by Spokane Attorney James McPhee, the civil suit alleges five causes of action including harassment, retaliation, negligent supervision, tort of outrage and emotional distress. Arthur’s suit alleges Reynolds made physical advances and made sexually suggestive remarks to her and other workers in his office. The civ...
