Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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--Richard Old photo This image of the first native wildflower of spring in the Palouse Country show a flower which blooms in the late fall or early winter and survives under the snow to appear in spring. This photos of Gorman's Lomatium (Lomatium gormanii) were taken Nov. 29 in the Pullman area by Richard Old, Albion area resident. Old, who advises Washington State University and the University of Idaho on weed control, said the Nov. 29 finding was unusual, but he occasionally has been able to...
Anna Marie Hansen Anna Marie (Jennen) Hansen, 80, Latah, died Dec. 11, 2016, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Born March 25, 1936, in Veblen, S.D., she married Marvin Hansen after graduating from high school, and they lived in Wyoming and Montana before settling in a small farm in Latah. Mr. Hansen died Sept. 18, 2005. Surviving are their children Martin, Keith, Wanda and Harley; nine grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild. A funeral service was Sunday, Dec. 18, at Latah C... Full story
Santa and the Albion volunteer fire department braved the cold and made a lot of kids happy. When asked if Santa was cold, he winked and replied "Do you forget where I live?" Above: Jaysa Robinson, daughter of Sonja and Jason Robinson, Albion, visits with Santa. Carlee Brickey, daughter of Kim and Jim Brickey, Albion, gives Santa her wish list in exchange for a candy cane.... Full story
The Washington State Auditor's Office reported Dec. 15 that it was unable to audit the Whitman County Water Conservancy Board because the group failed to provide financial statements to the auditor's office. The letter stated that the board did not submit annual financial reports during a two-year period dating Jan. 1, 2014, through Dec. 31, 2015. It noted that failure to submit the reports is a violation of state law. “Without reporting and responding to our inquiry, the Board is unable to demonstrate accountability for its operations, and we... Full story
Alison Cliburn submitted this first place entry in the Tekoa Trestle Art Contest. Tekoa Trail and Trestle Association (TTTA) last week announced the winners of its annual Christmas Tekoa Trestle and Trail Art and Poetry contest. They received 27 entries from children in the Tekoa area. Each student depicted the Tekoa Trestle, with most students including poetry, often telling of the history of the railroad which is now the John Wayne Pioneer Trail. Many wrote of a personal connection to the... Full story
Thursday, Dec. 22 Colfax – Bill of Rights Pop-Up Exhibit open for viewing at The Center. This informative exhibit is brought to the library by Humanities Washington. Tekoa – 4 p.m. – Women’s Social Hour is a fun, free time to work on a project, share ideas or just sit down to visit. Friday, Dec. 23 Colfax – 10 to 11:30 a.m. – Play and Learn. Fun free-form play for kids ages 0 to 5 and time for adults to relax. Malden, Palouse and Uniontown – Storytime – All preschool children and their parents are welcome to join us for STREAM (Science, Technol...
Garfield, Colfax set Trivia contests Whitman County Library’s trivia contests are coming to the Garfield Library Thursday, Dec. 28, at 1 p.m. with Family Trivia and to the Colfax Golf Club on Thursday, Jan. 5, at 6 p.m. as part of Spaghetti Dinner Special trivia night. Contests over the past few months have been extremely popular. Participants often come in groups or are placed in groups upon arrival. They answer a wide variety of questions as a way to improve their knowledge, support local businesses and interact. Whitman County Library p... Full story
With winter hitting in full force in Whitman County, snow activities commencing and freezing temperatures forecasted, there can hardly be anything more perfect and comforting than a piping hot mug of hot chocolate. While store bought hot chocolate can be great, taking the hot chocolate to the next level will bring an extra layer of comfort and tastiness. A collection of favorite hot chocolate recipes from the Internet and social media follow. Creamy Hot Cocoa From allrecipes.com By: Jeanie Bean 1/3 cup unsweetended cocoa powder 3/4 cup white...
Overman Howell, owner of the Howell Implement store in St. John, watches as a train clears the railroad tracks with a rotary snow plow in St. John. Circa 1937. Photo contributed by Becky Dickerson and courtesy of the Whitman County Library Rural Heritage collection. Howell Implement began business in 1928 and eventually became St. John Hardware & Implement. 125 years ago The Commoner Dec. 18, 1891 When a reporter stepped into the sheriff’s office yesterday morning to see what news the office m... Full story
Lacrosse Pictures of the LaCrosse Santa are now available at Jasper Trucking for pickup. Santa apologizes for the delay. The weather was uncooperative.... Full story
The fourth annual high school team gingerbread bake-off, in combination with a community gingerbread house competition, continued at Eclair’s Coffee in Tekoa. This year two FFA teams and one FCLA team from Tekoa High School brought candy and a gingerbread framework to decorate houses while the public watched. The entries were judged on construction, artistic creativity and taste. The winning team designates the charity to receive a $50 donation. The community contest has more than 35 entries f... Full story
Hospital Foundation board members received a check from the estate of Jack Ferris, native of LaCrosse, recently. Jack had no spouse or children and left his estate to his close childhood friend, Lester Guske, who made a donation from the estate to Whitman Community Hospital Foundation in honor of the benefits of good health care which Jack received, with the donation going to the endowment fund. Pictured are Mark Johnson, foundation board vice president; Lester and Janell Guske; Linda Marler,...
Dusty Sharon McKeirnan, LaCrosse; Carol Sullivan and Carey Marshall, Washtucna, and Linda Hennigar, Dusty, attended the “Traditions of Christmas” musical spectacular at the Kroc Center in Coeur d’Alene Friday night. They stayed overnight, and the following day, some of them also enjoyed the annual Christmas Tree Elegance display at River Park Square and the Davenport Hotel in Spokane. Brian and Angela Broeckel and Graham, Dusty, and Sami, Walla Walla, celebrated an early Christmas with Angela’s parents, Guenter and Brigitte Scherwi... Full story
A public meeting in Garfield about a sewer rate increase drew some controversy Wednesday, Dec. 14. The $16.14 per month increase to $119 was approved by the town council in November. The meeting, to inform residents of the reasons, drew about 10 residents. “It's because we've been struggling for three years at the sewer plant,” said Mayor Ray McCown, citing warnings from the state Department of Ecology. “We had to raise it to meet expenses.” Part of that is an increase in pay for the new Lev...
The Colfax Knights of Columbus distributed 68 new winter coats in the past two weeks to youngsters in school districts at LaCrosse, St. John/Endicott, Rosalia, Oakesdale, Tekoa, Steptoe, Colton/Uniontown and Colfax. The work is part of the Colfax group's first year participating in the Supreme (National) Knights of Columbus “Coats for Kids” program. Colfax, along with their counterparts in Pullman, bought a total of 140 new winter coats through the national organization and distributed them free to kids in need of a winter coat. Recipients wer... Full story
At the county commissioners' meeting Monday, it came to the Division Updates part of the agenda for the Public Works Department. “Snow; we got that part,” said Chairman Michael Largent before Phil Meyer, supervisor for Public Works, began. “District Two is the worst,” Meyer said. “The rest is nuisance drifting, and we're getting through it.” District Two stretches from Pullman to the top of the Lewiston Grade – an area of higher elevation in the county. For example, Colton's base elevation is 2,562 feet while Colfax is 1,962. That stretch...
The Board of County Commissioners Monday formally accepted and passed the third and final budget amendment for 2016. The amendment added in more than $200,000 to the revenue side of the budget. “This is basically technical corrections to various departmental budgets,” said Gary Petrovich, county administrator. “A lot of the reasons for these things was that revenue and expenditures didn't match up.” Petrovich reported that district court ended up with a surplus of $53,950 in revenue. Commissioner Art Swannack told the Gazette two weeks ago tha...
Sun rays bouncing across the snow-covered hills of the Palouse county provide a unique landscape during winter. The photo was taken Sunday at the intersection of the Onecho and Airport roads in the final minutes before sunset.... Full story
MARRIAGE LICENSES Jay Michael Lewis, 46, and Michelle Denise Henley, 19, both Moscow, Dec. 14. REAL ESTATE Bill and Carla Michaelsen, Pullman, to Justin and Claire Miller, Moorhead, Minn., house on NW Robert, Pullman, $287,000, Nov. 4. Joseph Dawson and David Dawson to Madeline Perkins, Malden, house on NE Broadway, Malden, $45,000, Nov. 7. Mary Nuxoll and James Nuxoll for estate of Wesley Nuxoll, to Jerry and Loree Pugh, Colfax, house on S. Crestview, Colfax, $280,000, Nov. 7. Jon Carlson, Pullman, to Adam and Erin Phillips, Blackburg, Va.,...
This year’s good news is Washington apple production is the second best ever. The better news is shipments to Asian markets are returning to normal. Let me explain. In 2014, our state had its best apple crop in history, but prospects to deliver cases of apples across the ocean were dampened by a labor dispute at West Coast seaports. That dispute led to a prolonged slowdown (and eventual shutdown) in loading ships carrying thousands of agriculture and manufactured products. According to a report issued jointly by the National Association of M...
Just imagine that some generous benefactor gave you $5 million with the caveat that it had to be used to benefit the world we live in. How would you spend it? My first reaction would be world wide health care. There are research projects for aids, cancer and other crippling diseases that are hamstrung by lack of funds. Organizations such as Doctors Without Borders do wonderful work. I have run across some of these people in my travels and can assure you that they are dedicated to providing health care in parts of the world that don’t have w...
In the course of a couple of tweets, Donald Trump may have ended the image of the GOP as the party of corporate America. After striking a Carrier deal to preserve about 800 jobs, the president-elect slapped the Indiana company Rexnord on Twitter for "rather viciously firing" its workers and then went after Boeing for ripping off the public on a $3 billion Air Force One deal. Just like that, and in less than 280 characters, Trump had established more distance from big business than the GOP had in a generation. In his frenetic way, he is forcing...
Most people think of the mainstream media as the scum of the earth -- and most of us are -- but we do at least try to check out information before we go with a story. What a waste of time! Nobody trusts us anyway. Apparently, people prefer reports that don't bother with trivialities like facts. They choose to believe "fake news," so called because the stuff is not real. It's the figment of someone's imagination -- someone who is a looney-tune or has a profit motive or political agenda. In the warp-speed world of the internet, thousands upon... Full story
Eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Sun asking for the truth about Santa Claus because her friends were telling her he did not exist. The famous response written by Francis Pharcellus Church was printed as an editorial Sept. 21, 1897. VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or chi...
Wood chips catch fire in trailer Colfax fire crews Dec. 14 responded at 11:58 a.m. to a report of a chip truck fire along Highway 26 across from Les Schwab Tires. Volunteers used the city’s ladder truck to extend to the side of the trailer and allow firefighters to direct water down on the burning load. The truck driver noticed smoke coming out of the trailer as he descended Buck Canyon grade on Highway 195 and turned onto Highway 26 and parked along the highway. The truck tractor was d... Full story
