Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
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ODESSA - It's going to be a banner year for District 7 NE 1B football teams, if preseason rankings by ScorebookLive.com hold up. In the Class 1B (eight-man) football rankings released last week, three of the teams hail from the NE 1B League. The Odessa Tigers earned the No. 1 ranking, followed by Almira-Coulee/Hartline Warriors in the No. 2 spot. ScorebookLive also ranked the Wilbur-Creston Wildcats in the No. 9 spot. The top-ranked Tigers were undefeated in the abbreviated...
DAVENPORT – -Masks will still be a part of sports this year, but face covering rules won’t be as restrictive to start the 2021-22 school year. The state Department of Health released new guidelines that mandate masks in some athletic settings, but not in others. The guidelines come on the heels of the state once again requiring masks in K-12 schools this year, regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status. Athletes won’t have to mask up during competition or practice for any outdoor sport. Masks aren’t required for low or mode...
The Odessa Lions Club happily announced completion of the repaired drinking fountain located outside the Old Town Hall....
EDWALL – Does it take a wheat grower to know how to represent wheat growers? It certainly doesn't hurt, which is good news for the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) as they welcome Mariah Wollweber, a fifth-generation Washington wheat grower, as their new director of communications and partnerships. Wollweber grew up on her family's farm in Edwall, Wash., where she began helping her grandfather bale hay at age 8 and stepped up to driving a harvest truck at 13. S...
ODESSA – Norman Ott has retired from his eponymous business, Ott Insurance, after 42 years at the helm. His retirement does not mean that there will be an empty storefront on First Avenue however. His business partner for the past several years, Cindy Haase, will now operate Haase Insurance from the same west First Avenue location. That was the plan back when the two of them entered into a business partnership that ultimately operated insurances offices in both Harrington a...
On Monday, the governor announced COVID vaccine mandates for most state employees and health care workers or they could lose their jobs. While employees will be able to apply for religious or medical exemptions, I believe this is heavy-handed and unnecessary. Many of you know I contracted COVID, but I have since been vaccinated, given experience I had and the seriousness of this virus. I would add, the most important part of my job as your state representative is being able...
Liberals in Congress are actively campaigning to force price controls on drug manufacturers. The House has already passed bills that would limit the amount of money pharmaceutical companies can charge for drugs. The fate of this proposed legislation is uncertain in the U.S. Senate. At the same time, the Biden Administration and others on the political left are attacking the companies that have made the COVID-19 vaccines. They seek a waiver to the 1994 TRIPS Act, which was...
DAVENPORT – School leaders and the board aren’t happy with recent mandates brought down by the state, state superintendent Chris Reykdal and Gov. Jay Inslee. After making some tweaks, the board agreed to sign on to a letter penned by Davenport superintendent Jim Kowalkowski, middle/high school principal Chad Prewitt and elementary principal Noelle Carstens to Inslee with three specific requests at the board’s Aug. 16 meeting. The first request asked Inslee to pivot from Reykdal’s recommendation that all school employe...
Joe Kuhn and Taj Wilkerson of Teamsters 690, representing the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office's commissioned and non-commissioned officers, appeared to negotiate contracts with the county in-person for the fifth negotiation meeting between the two sides at the county commissioner's Aug. 16 meeting. Talks remain amicable, and commissioner Rob Coffman commented that the two sides "are getting close" to reaching an agreement after the meeting. Here, Deputy Luke Mallon, county...
SPRAGUE – Paul Belmont Brown, 61 and Lenora Ellen Brown, 65, pleaded not-guilty to a second-degree theft charge in Lincoln County Superior Court before being booked and released Aug. 10. The duo is accused and charged with stealing a bird net from Star West Development in the city in early June. Brown and Brown were originally arrested on charges of theft, trespassing and vandalism outside U.S. Bank on First Street in Sprague June 4, according to police records. Star West Development contacted the Lincoln County S...
DAVENPORT – The most exciting part of council’s Aug. 11 meeting may have been Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office deputy Jon Evans jokingly threatening to ticket councilmember Cory Hollis for tuning in to the meeting via Zoom while driving a harvester. Otherwise, council quickly passed two action items relating to budgets and grants before adjourning after 25 minutes. The first resolution was to repeal the previously approved Resolution 2021-09 and replace that with a new authorization for mayor Brad Sweet to enter a grant agree...
DAVENPORT – With the recent opening of Lincoln Hospital's new medical clinic, area residents are once again reminded of how fortunate they are to have top notch medical care and providers in our own backyards. Medical providers and facilities have been a mainstay of Davenport since pioneer days, and behind every good facility are those who put in many years to serve others. People like Lincoln Hospital's "Honest Abe," who has been filling shifts at the hospital since it opened...
HOUSTON – Darby, Glenna and Charlotte Soliday, who attend or graduated from the Davenport School District, and Jakari and Treyson Singleton of Reardan composed a group of five locals that competed in the National AAU track meet in Houston the first week of August. All five are members of the Spokane Speed track club and qualified for nationals through regional AAU meets in Yakima and Boise in June. Darby Soliday, a 2021 graduate of Davenport High School, competed in the 1...
LAMONT - A local man was named in June as a board member for the Washington Association of Wheat Growers. Dave Swannack replaced Randy Suess as Whitman County president and on the board, the association reported last week. Swannack was one of two new appointees to the board - the other is Leif Claassen of Asotin County. "It's important farmers get involved (in industry organizations) because we are going to lose everything we farm for if we don't get involved," Swannack said....
DAVENPORT – 15 community members consisting mostly of district parents used the public comment section of the school board’s Aug. 16 meeting to voice their concerns and complaints with school mask mandates, a procedure that would allow students to use the bathroom corresponding to the gender they identify with and vaccination requirements that may be looming for K-12 school teachers and staff. The 90-minute public comment period showed large opposition to last week’s announcement from state superintendent Chris Reykdal that...
ODESSA – "This isn't goodbye, this is see you again soon," say the administration and staff of the Odessa Memorial Healthcare Center, as three exemplary long-term employees start their retirement journey. The community is invited to celebrate this new phase of their lives on Wednesday, August 25, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the town park. Barbara Schlimmer (Clinic Director), Beth Schafer (Physical Therapy Director) and Phyllis Sebesta (NAC/Scopes NAC) will be recognized for their y...
It's almost time to return to the gridiron. Football players at Davenport and Reardan High Schools returned to practice Wednesday morning, Aug. 18 in preparation for the 2021 season. Davenport players were on the high school field working through fundamentals, while the Reardan athletes hit the weight room to measure their strength. Both schools will start the season on the road Sept. 3, with Davenport visiting Colfax and Reardan going to Northwest Christian (Colbert). Other...
LAKE ROOSEVELT – Two people were reportedly injured in an accident just outside the boat launch just outside Lincoln late Saturday night, Aug 14. The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office's media report described the crash as a jet ski colliding with a boat. However, the official report was not available by press time. We will update more official details of this crash when they are confirmed, not just rumored....
Band Teacher Ron Harper was a star attraction at Davenport's "School Preview" event Tuesday, Aug. 17. Harper was one of the participants in the "Dunk Tank."...
4 community members, parents and children peacefully protested Gov. Jay Inslee's mask mandate for schools and vaccination requirement for K-12 public, private and chartered staff Wednesday evening, Aug. 18. The group stood on Morgan Street outside U.S. Bank and received honks of support from several cars driving by....
Editor’s Note: This is an update to last week’s article on the six candidates who had filed before press time during a three-day special filing period Aug. 10-12. LINCOLN COUNTY – Nine candidates used a special three-day filing period to file for county positions that hadn’t received any filers during the regular period in May Aug. 10-12. Four candidates filed for local positions. Celeste Lewis of Reardan was the only local candidate to file after press time last week. She filed for re-election on the town council there....
Grant County, WA – Grant County Health District is reporting a multi-county COVID-19 outbreak associated with the three-day Watershed Music Festival, held in George, Wash. on July 30, 2021 – August 1, 2021. Cases have been identified among Washington State residents of King, Grant, Pierce, Skagit, Kittitas, Okanogan, Whatcom, Kitsap, San Juan, Lincoln and Stevens counties. There has also been a case tied to a resident of Oregon State. “As of today, we are aware of over 160 lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases across Washington state...
HARRINGTON – City Council met at city hall on Aug. 11 with the following in attendance: Mayor Nathan Luck; Clerk Jere Lee; Councilmen Justin Slack, Peter Davenport, David Buddrius, Stephen Hardy and Levi Schenk; visitors Joe Armand, Jess and Cynthia Silhan and seven others viewing on YouTube. Council approved the minutes with corrections and the bills. Schenk voiced opposition to the city subscribing to newspapers, saying he thought the library should pay for them. At issue was the Memorial Hall custodian, which has become a...
Zucchini season is here. There are many ways to use this prolific vegetable. Small, tender zucchini sautéed with a bit of onion, or added to a stir-fry, grated in breads, cookies or cakes, and some sneaky cooks puree and add to just about anything. Camouflaged with chocolate, baked into breads and pastries and mixed into sauces and soups, vitamins and fiber are added to diets with out the eater knowing the difference. Chilly nights the past few days found me searching for...
ODESSA – On July 21, 2021, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputies Dain Harden and Jon Evans were dispatched to a vehicle theft in progress at Govan Road North and Obrien Road East. Upon arrival, Harden and Evans found that the vehicle owner Evan Jones had detained the suspect Riley Vail. Once Vail was placed under arrest, the deputies discovered that a truck at the scene was stolen out of Spokane County and that Jones had a 1999 Ford F-250 stolen from this location. The owner of the recovered vehicle was notified and gave con...
