Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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As the 2018 harvest rolls on, growers are reporting encouraging crop numbers. Pacific Northwest Farmers Co-op Grain Division Manager David Weitz at Colfax said the area's harvest this year is 20-30 percent better than average with 75 percent of grain harvested so far. "It's been a fantastic harvest," Weitz said. "We have good quality wheat and huge yields." Weitz attributed the local harvest's success to a combination of high rainfall in the fall and winter, followed by largely cool...
Rob Rembert of Pullman widened the gap over Dan LeBeau by 129 votes for the number-two finish in the race for district court judge after 2,593 more ballots were counted late Friday by the elections office. John Hart, the leader of the three-way race, also increased his margin by picking up 1,101 votes in the second count. The tally for the three-way race now stands at Hart 3,493, Rembert 2,392 and LeBeau 2,207. The top two will advance to the general election. The Friday count put the overall count at 9,116 votes for a turnout of more than 40...
The 30th National Lentil Festival will be Friday and Saturday, Aug. 17-18, throughout Pullman. The Tase T. Lentil mini golf tournament will begin at 9 a.m. Friday at the Airway Hills Golf Center, with tee times running throughout the day. Teams of two to six players will compete in a “best-ball” competition, in which each team member gets one attempt at each hole and only the best score for each hole is scored. The weekend’s festivities really get underway at 5 p.m. when visitors can enjoy free samples from the world’s largest bowl of lentil...
The Whitman County Department of Public Health advises residents to take caution as air quality monitors graded conditions in the “red” Tuesday morning for the first time this year. Devices in Rosalia and Pullman deemed the air “unhealthy,” due to spreading smoke from fires in the Coeur d’Alene National Forest near Lake Pend Oreille, and the Wenatchee, Okanogan and Colville National Forests. Multiple fires also burn across the Canadian border in British Columbia and Alberta. A red designati...
Buri's Medical Equipment in Colfax has sold its assets to Washington-based Bellevue Healthcare. Buri's has served the area for more than 21 years, but owner Angela Buri says it's time to spend more time with her family. "I want to focus on taking care of my three busy teenagers," she said. "Family comes first." According to Buri, customers with active rentals through Buri's Medical Equipment will retain access to their equipment through Bellevue Healthcare, as long as they still meet the...
Chuck DeMeeleer resigned his Colton city council position number one at the town’s July 2 meeting. He was replaced by Scott Miller, who was appointed to the position at the same meeting. DeMeerleer has moved to Johnson....
Results for federal and statewide races here only include the county totals. County top vote getters may differ from federal and statewide vote getters. FEDERAL OFFICES U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell 4,319, 51.4% Susan Hutchinson 1,896, 22.6% Keith Swank 249, 3% U.S. Representative, Congressional District #5 Cathy McMorris Rodgers 4,189, 46.5% Lisa Brown 4,425, 49.2% Jered Bonneau 150, 1.7% David Saulibio 176, 2% Kari Ilonummi 61, 0.7% LEGISLATIVE OFFICES State Representative, District #9, Position #1 Mary Dye 4,666, 52.9% Jennifer Goulet 4,155,...
Following the retirement of the Rosalia School District principal, secretary and part-time superintendent in June, three administrators have joined the district. Matthew McLain is stepping in to replace Darrel Kuhn as Rosalia principal, bringing with him 20 years of education experience. Most recently the preschool-12th grade principal at Columbia School District in Hunters, for four years, McLain also served as an English teacher and an alternative program principal in Chewelah for the better part of a decade. McLain said he feels at home in...
Inland Cellular reported Tuesday that the company was working toward a goal of at least partial voice service restoration that evening after a power outage caused disruption in service since Friday, Aug. 10. On Monday, Aug. 13, due to smoke from wildfires, flights carrying replacement equipment to fix the problem were delayed. The Inland Cellular data network remained fully functional. The disruption was due to a commercial power outage which caused surges and spikes that knocked out battery backups and generators, damaging needed hardware for...
An effort is underway by WSU Transportation Services to start a van pool for campus workers living in the Palouse, Garfield and Potlatch areas. An eight-passenger van has been designated to pick up and drop off riders in Palouse for a departure time of 7 a.m. and a return from Pullman after 5 p.m. Cindy Alred of Palouse is organizing the effort through WSU Transportation Services. So far she has three confirmed full-time riders and one part-time. She needs three more full-time riders to make...
Colfax High School football practice was scheduled to begin Wednesday with a double session starting at 6:45 a.m. The team will practice until noon with a break between sessions. First practice with pads will be Saturday morning with a family barbecue to follow in the park, according to a team letter issued by Coach Mike Morgan. First grid action will be an Aug. 24 jamboree at Ritzville. A mandatory parent meeting for all sports was conducted Monday night. First football games under the new NE league’s north/south alignment, which means four n...
Rosalia Boy Scout Troop 588 completed a 55-mile hike and float trip in July. They hiked 31 miles on the Kettle Crest Trail, northwest of Kettle Falls, followed by 24 miles of kayaking/canoeing on Lake Roosevelt. The troop started planning the adventure back in September and will earn the BSA 50-Miler award. Boy Scouts who completed the trek were Sam Pritchett, Jonah Shrode, Anthony Gehring, Zach Saens, Ben Pritchett, Austin Goyke, Riley Gehring and Isaac Fuchs with adults Clay Gehring, Bruce...
A pre-season lull in the high school sports action provides a little space to revive topics which went rolling past without time or space when they were on the table. One of those topics was the retirement of Danica Patrick who raced in the Indianapolis 500 for the last time. The news scribes again cranked up about Patrick’s career at Indianapolis, and later in Nascar. More than one of the writers took her to task for never really getting the job done. Patrick has been criticized for making millions off self promotion and endorsements as a woma...
Southeastern Washington Football Officials Association is recruiting and training men and women to officiate at the junior high and high school games. The next training meetings will be Tuesday, Aug 21, and Tuesday, Aug. 28, at 6:30 p.m. in the Pullman High School Health Science room. Residents from all areas of the county are encouraged to participate, according to Karl Johanson of Pullman, assigning secretary for the association For more information call Johanson at 509-334-5510. karlmjohanson@gmail.com...
Fall chinook fishing season will be allowed in the Snake River Aug. 18 through Oct. 31. Daily limit will be six for adult hatchery chinook and jack chinook 12 inches or longer. Washington licensed anglers must cease fishing for salmon and steelhead once their adult daily limit for either has been retained. Species affected: Fall chinook salmon and steelhead. The Snake River from the mouth, Burbank to Pasco railroad bridge, to the Oregon State line, approximately seven miles upstream from the mouth of the Grande Ronde River, will be open. The...
There is a letter in the Gazette Aug. 9 issue, entitled "Thumbs down," criticizing the lack of information about candidates in this year's election. I am sure the Gazette and other newspapers would not object to publishing political ads, either. I would say that our area newspapers have done pretty well in covering the candidates, but those who would like much more information in depth can log onto http://lwvpullman.org/forums.html. I was able to attend the voter forum put on by the Pullman League of Women Voters in Colfax. I was unable to...
Recently I sent a letter to Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Part of the letter says: ‘I just needed to tell you how encouraged I was when I met some young people from your campaign at the anti-racism rally at the County Courthouse on Aug. 2 and while we were talking they told me that racism has no place in American politics and is in fact un-American.’ On Aug. 4 I bumped into Cathy at the Hillyard Parade and she told me that our land should be the land of opportunity for everyone. I was encouraged again by that and reminded of the Chr...
In America, when people invent things, they expect their trade secrets to be protected by federal law when their government patents are approved. However, that isn’t always the case. Patent infringements are life and death for inventors especially when their ideas are incorporated into products made by larger and better financed competitors who avoid paying licensing fees. Too often the originators sue, run out of money fighting off competitors, and simply fade away. Until recently, our c...
A few weeks ago, I was in a serious discussion with a young friend who claimed that the Washington State tax system is unfair to the poor. I asked how he came to that conclusion, and he said the rich in Washington pay a lower percent of their income in taxes than the poor. I pondered that for a second and asked where he came to that conclusion. You guessed it. He said, “Well, everybody knows that.” I told him that I didn’t know that and would need to think on it. He got mad and stomped out. I knew that his claim had to have some basis, so af...