Serving Whitman County since 1877

Good Old Days

125 years ago

The Commoner

Dec. 5, 1890

The courthouse is not only assuming a finished appearance outside, but it is getting finished inside. All the plastering is done, and men are at work putting in the floors, and fitting windows and putting on the wainscoting, casing, etc. The steel ceiling for the courtroom has arrived and workmen will soon be engaged upon it. The steam heater has been put in and works satisfactorily.

The auditor has dispatched the order for the vault furniture to the contractors, Fenton Manufacturing company, of Jamestown, New York, and it is expected to arrive here in about two weeks. The order for the desks, chairs, tables and other furniture for the building has been sent to Anderson & Co., of Chicago, and they will probably be here by January 1.

If the work is pushed rapidly ahead it is possible that the courthouse will be ready for occupancy two weeks before the time set for its completion, March 1.

100 years ago

The Colfax Commoner

Dec. 3, 1915

Fire losses aggregating about $5000 were sustained early Saturday morning at Colfax, in a blaze which started in the kitchen of Davis Kelly's restaurant and spreading in the three story brick building owned by William D. Ellis of Spokane.

The fire was discovered about 3:30 o'clock and despite prompt action by the Colfax fire department, completely destroyed the two-story frame structure owned by W. E. Weisburg of Colfax. Mr. Weisburg carried no insurance on the building destroyed.

75 years ago

Colfax Gazette Commoner

Dec. 6, 1940

Action on a request of the Union Pacific railroad company for the vacation of an alley between Harrison street and the company's right-of-way in front of its passenger depot was held in abeyance by the city council Monday evening.

Behind the deferment is the city's hope to obtain from the railroad company an overcrossing on its property to open up Mill street between Harrison and Morton streets, making Mill street a through thoroughfare. The crossing would be but several hundred feet east of the alley and a still shorter distance west of the water tank.

Railroad ground where the overhead crossing is desired is sunken, but is being filled up by the railroad company, which has already moved in approximately 3000 yards of earth from the hillside back of the new state highway plant. It is rumored that the railroad company would lease the ground vacated by the city to the McSweeney Tractor company which, it is understood, proposes building a warehouse on the site.

50 years ago

Colfax Gazette

Dec. 2, 1965

Renewed solicitation for hospital contributions in the Colfax area is being planned by a “blue ribbon” committee of service club presidents and other civic leaders, Co-chairmen Raymond Schmick and Robert Zorb said this week.

An additional $50,000 is needed to top the $633,000 goal established recently after hospital trustees decided to go for a 53-bed plan that will include 12 private rooms. Treasurer S. H. Butler told the Gazette Tuesday that the hospital fund now stands at $583,000, and that the plans outlined several weeks ago in the Gazette call for slightly more than $633,000.

The Colfax civic leaders will probably appoint a number of two-man teams, well acquainted with the hospital proposal and the community's needs, to call both on those who have given and those who are still studying the hospital program.

25 years ago

Colfax Gazette

Dec. 6, 1990

The new clinic next to Whitman Community Hospital will be open in two weeks, according to Dr. Rick Holmes of St. John.

“We will try to see patients on Dec. 17,” Holmes said. An open house is planned after Christmas, he added.

The doctors will offer obstetrics and pediatrics, minor surgery, gynecology and adult medicine. The clinic will also feature a new x-ray machine.

A room is available just for pediatrics and prenatal classes and other such services may be offered in the basement area, Holmes added.

Holmes of St. John and Dr. Kim Mellor of Colfax began building the obstetrics and pediatrics clinic at the beginning of the summer.

He and Mellor spent a year looking for a site, Holmes said.

“We looked downtown but there was no way to build it and have parking. We looked at everything.”

Then the hospital suggested the current site between Almota Road and the hospital parking lot.

The hospital board declared the area surplus in June, and construction began shortly afterward.

“It was the hospital's idea. We hadn't even thought of it.” They are pleased to be up there, he added.

Holmes said since they do all the obstetrics in the area, “it is nice to be next to the hospital.”

“It is better for the hospital and better for us. It puts less stresses on the nurses,” Holmes commented. “Especially if the woman comes in for an exam and goes into labor, which has happened.”

10 years ago

Whitman County Gazette

Dec. 8, 2005

The county's preliminary 2006 budget has the county current expense on the plus side for a change.

The change will amount to the $26,849 in revenue over expenditures for current expense, Administration Services Director Sharron Cunningham estimated.

This year's budget started with a projected $243,000 shortfall.

“We've done better than a balanced budget,” she said for 2006.

Total budget for 2006 is listed at about $36.9 million, a $3.5 million increase over this year's budget. However, the county commission will hear a proposal for a 2005 budget amendment Dec. 19 to bring this year's budget, currently at about $33.4 million, to just over $39 million.

Large single-source changes for next year include a nearly $1 million increase in the county road budget, a $683,000 increase for equipment rental and revolving revenue/expenditures, a $250,000 increase in the sheriff's budget and a $205,000 increase in capital projects general budget.

Cunningham said staffing cuts and layoffs made this year, increased interest income from investments and the voter approved sales tax increase from 7.6 to 7.7 percent next year will keep the budget in the black.

Treasurer Bob Lothspeich said the extra tenth of a penny on the dollar on the sales tax, which voters approved in September, could bring in an additional $400,000 with sales tax revenue from road projects, the coming of Wal-Mart to Pullman and the possible continuation of a major power line project from Avista Utilities.

The sales tax increase is earmarked for adult jails and juvenile detention facilities, but will help pad other parts of the budget. Adult jail and detention facilities come out of the sheriff's budget, which did see an 11 percent increase over its $2.3 million budget this year, the largest hike in the current expense.

 

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