Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 59
What did you want to be when you grew up? Kevin Jacobsen, Cul de Sac, Idaho I really don’t remember what I wanted to be. What are you now? Construction. Carpenter. Stephanie Bryan, LaCrosse I wanted to be a veterinarian. It didn’t work out. I blame the teachers (said with a laugh). I ended up getting a bachelor’s in psychology. Hopefully one of these days I’ll get my masters. J.R. Staves, Endicott A fireman. And what happened? I decided [working] produce was better. Safer. Patrick Thompson, Colfax Not really sure. Just a well-rounded individ... Full story
Welcome to My Concussion W. BRUCE CAMERON When I look up at the sky, the one thing I don’t expect to see is my feet. That’s exactly the view I got, though, when a patch of wet, slippery floor caused my legs to go out from underneath me and my head to smack the ground as if I were river dancing upside down. It was like that scene in “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” where Ethel Merman slips on a banana peel, only I think it was funnier when she did it. I hit my head so hard I saw “Dancing With the Stars” — though I suppose the fact that my ki... Full story
Crews for Clarkston contractor M.A. DeAtley have started work under their contract for rebuilding over three miles of Almota Road. They hope to finish the project this year. Mark Storey, Whitman County public works director, said Tuesday the crew had already begun ripping up the shoulders of the road and is putting more equipment on the ground to get the project done early. Once finished with the shoulders, they will begin tearing up the road surface. Storey said that should begin early next week. “They’re hitting this with a lot of met... Full story
Jack Ensley submitted this photograph of the on-going harvest in the county, saying that no harvest photographs should show combines on level ground. Combines operating on hillsides are most common on the Palouse. This photograph shows the inclines that local farmers must negotiate to bring in the crop....
Sean A. Lee, 25, Lewiston, was formally charged with first degree robbery in superior court Aug. 12. Lee, who was arrested Aug. 7 by deputies who found him tied up on Main Street in LaCrosse, is charged with robbing Larry Garrett of LaCrosse. The deputy’s arrest report alleged Lee took Garrett’s wallet and threw it in his Blazer in an attempt to leave LaCrosse. The suspect was pulled out of the Blazer by Garretts cousins and tied up. Filing of a formal charge Aug. 12 means pre-trial conditions for release, including a court order to stay out... Full story
Smoke & mirrors The current health care debate hits my “hot button” when I hear it will be paid for, in part, through “Medicare savings.” As a retired hospital administrator, I’ve “been there and done that.” How quickly we forget the Budget Deficit Reconciliation Act of 1997 was funded through a five year “cut” in payments to Medicare service providers. Like today’s smoke and mirrors, the Deficit Reduction Plan was sold to the public as “painless.” The administration would simply and quietly cut payments to health care providers while avoidin...
California’s lush Napa Valley is packed with thriving vineyards and wineries. In contrast, the surrounding hills are parched and dry – a reminder of what the valley was like before irrigation. Adjacent to Napa, California’s Central Valley is nourished by the world’s largest irrigation system with more than 6 million acres of irrigated farmland. At its heart is Shasta Dam, which pumps life-giving water to crops that feed millions of people and produces electricity for millions of homes and businesses. It is hard to imagine Napa or the Central...
WELL, WE FINALLY won one. We the taxpayers, that is. House leaders have backed off from their plan to spend $550 million on eight new Air Force jet passenger planes for use by themselves and other government officials, which was twice as many planes as the president and the Department of Defense asked for. They had added the money to the Defense budget just before leaving for the August recess. They hadn’t reckoned, however, with the angry uprising of their constituents who, many jobless, bankrupt or about to be homeless, flocked to town hail m... Full story
#!*! People who walk their big dogs on Southview, let them poop in the street and on the sidewalk and not pick it up. Send your Pet Peeves and Okeydokes to the Gazette P.O. Box 770 211 N. Main St Colfax, Wa 99111... Full story
With the debate over breaching the Snake River dams to save the salmon runs reaching its final stages, Idaho and Washington may open up salmon fishing on the Snake? The runs are showing signs of improvement. This year early indicators are that the runs will be very strong. Historically, salmon runs on the Snake River were in the millions. Then, commercial fishing started. In the late 19th Century, fishing and cannery operations on the Columbia River devastated the runs, so much so that the operations had to resort to canning second-rate...
It went from a downtown free-for-all to a laid-back afternoon in the park, but attendees and organizers seemed to enjoy the atmosphere of Rosalia’s revised motorcycle rally, the fifth edition of the event. “Well, it’s different than it was the last couple of years, but it’s a lot friendlier and more laid-back vibe,” said Tim Carson, a Victory motorcycle rider from Spokane, as he looked over a line-up of chrome and steel Saturday. Because of a lawsuit filed against the city by the original creator of the event Josh Bryan, the rally venue was...
Summer Readers Andrew Hickman, at left, and Trace Hennigar won the “Mr. Incredible” toy offered from a prize drawing at the Whitman County Library in Colfax. Many generous sponsors donate money and prizes for the program throughout the Whitman County Library system. All youths who read 10 book or ten hours are awarded a prize bag with additional prize drawings being offered at several library branches. Youth Services Manager Sheri Miller noted the young readers, besides getting the perks from reading, are fortunate to receive the support fro...
Fed wire surplus bought at auction for McD lights Colfax McDonald Park lighting project has advanced with the purchase of wire which will be used to link up the new light standards for baseball and softball fields at the park. City Treasurer Mark Clinton, who reports on park board sessions for the city, said Supt. Michael Morgan purchased rolls of wire for the project at a federal auction. Clinton gave the update report at Monday night’s city council session. Clinton said Morgan attended a federal surplus action at Ft. Lewis and purchased t...
A few historical notes for high school guitar players How many of the guitar players in high school pep bands and jazz bands know about the legacy left to them by Les Paul. In about two weeks, high school musicians will show up at band rooms all over the state, pick off their instruments and begin to tune up for their part of the year’s sports action. In many schools, band teachers will also begin to focus their musicians for adjudication and jazz competitions around the state during the school year. Most of the groups will have one or more ele... Full story
Athletes and parents at Colfax Tuesday night received a formal introduction to the state’s new Zackery Lystedt Law which deals with the dangers of concussion. The law came out of the last legislative session and includes a big change in how coaches deal with players who sustain a concussion during the course of an athletic event, according to Colfax Athletic Director Mike Morgan. Morgan informed the crowd at the annual fall sports meeting between parents and school coaches. Parents and athletes at all levels of competition will be advised of t...
Motorcycle cowboy Mark Boni kicks up dirt in the rodeo arena Saturday. Boni was a crowd favorite because of the massive amounts of dirt he sent flying from the rear wheel of his late model Harley Davidson soft tail. David Phillips of Coeur d’Alene, a regular on the rodeo circuit for the Northwest Classic Motorcycle Club, took top honors Saturday at the Rosalia rally. The Rosalia competition wrapped up a two-weekend run of the club’s rodeos in Whitman county. Phillips missed the competition round last week when the event made its debut stop as... Full story
Colfax Coach Mike Morgan and his crew of assistants expected to greet 40 football recruits Wednesday on the first day of turnout around the state. The turnout will include a large group of seniors who provided a lot of core power from last year’s Bulldog team. Number-one topic for the Bulldog pre-season will be two vacant running back slots. Joe Cammack and Ethan Smith, the Mr. Outside and Mr. Inside of the Bulldogs’ running game last year, graduated . Smith and Cammack also stayed on the field for defense and their work in the linebacker slo...
Libby Akin, 12, and Emily Keeney, 12, walk their three lambs (or are the three lambs walking them?) outside Palouse recently. Two of them are market lambs to be sold at the Palouse Empire Fair coming in September.... Full story
Royal Roofing and Siding of Pasco was the low bidder Monday to replace the roof on the county-owned building at the corner of Main and Island streets in Colfax, but the company may not get the job. Royal bid $50,300 for the re-roof, which is less than half of the next lowest bid. Bob Reynolds, Whitman County facilities manager, said the company did not participate in last week’s pre-bid walk through, which was a requirement in the bid package. Reynolds suspects the fact that the company did not check out the project to see the extent of work r...
Getting a free van ride to Pullman could be on the horizon for rural Whitman County residents. A local group which helps transport the elderly asked county commissioners Monday to help form a formal transit district that would theoretically make Whitman County more competitive for transportation funding. The district could end up being a taxing district if that option is written into a six-year plan. Commissioners told the Council on Aging and Human Services that the county is extremely strapped with budget shortages and employee hours, but...
THURSDAY French authorities announce Atlantic salmon have returned to the Seine River through Paris for the first time in nearly a century. U.S. bankruptcy filings rose 38 percent in April-June from a year ago as consumers and business were hit by rising unemployment and a lack of credit. Overall, 381,073 bankruptcies were filed in the second quarter, up 15 percent from the first three months of the year and up 38 percent from a year ago. Former Cuban President Fidel Castro marked his 83rd birthday with a gloomy warning about the global...
Whitman County commissioners Monday denied a request from the Whitman County Library for additional funding for a project to digitize and display historic images of the county. Library Director Kristie Kirkpatrick requested $2,000 because a sponsor that had pledged to help pay for the cost of the project dropped out. The requested county funds would have come out of the county’s Historic Preservation fund. Commissioners later said they wanted to build up their historic preservation grants fund balance for another round of grants in the f...
Fixing up the boiler, buying brand-new bleachers, and even a new roof are now possible for four school districts in Whitman County who were awarded state grants for building repairs. Oakesdale, Palouse, Colton, and St. John all applied for the state’s small repair grant program and were awarded funds from among 120 districts. The top 47 projects were picked as the most urgent. A total of $3 million will go to the schools for construction projects, with a cap of $100,000 per district. “This is just really, really good news for us,” said Palou...
Christopher Allen Davidson, the Oregon fugitive who was arrested Aug. 10 after a 12-hour search in N. Colfax, waived extradition and was taken back to Oregon. Davidson, 25, was arrested on a warrant issued July 30 by the Oregon Board of Parole after his supervision, assigned after prison release, was suspended. Colfax Chief Bill Hickman said Thursday Davidson was a suspect in an attempted breakin of a house in the Brown’s addition section of Colfax where the fugitive was arrested after wading across the Palouse River that afternoon. Hickman s...
A sharp drop in the first supply of swine flu vaccines has left local officials wary of having to designate who can get the vaccine and who can’t. Only several specific groups of people will be allowed to receive a dosage of the vaccine, 45 million of which are set to come out in mid-October. The government had previously promised 120 million. “This is going to be a public relations nightmare for us,” predicted Dr. Timothy Moody, county health officer. Pregnant women, health care and emergency medical personnel, children and young adults up to...
