Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
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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 outdo...
SPRAGUE – Dr. Youself El-Kaddar’s new book, “Doorways,” has been several decades in the making. Ever since he was a boy, El-Kaddar had explored his and his family’s passion for writing. Now, the retired chemistry professor and Sprague resident has published a five-story book and is working on a fictional novel. El-Kaddar, now 71, spent his childhood and early adult life in Libya, where he and his parents are native to. He said his mother and father had a passion for education...
SPRAGUE — The mayoral primary race has one candidate holding a solid position to advance to the Nov. 2 general election, while the second spot is hotly contested between three candidates. M. Shawn Coombs has 48 votes upon early returns and is in first place. Sunnie Fortin is barely in second place with 19 votes, but Sprague business owner Dorothy Giddings is right behind with 17 votes. Timothy Wilkens isn’t far behind Giddings with 14 votes, while fifth candidate Trace De Garmo has just five votes. Write-in candidates hav...
DAVENPORT – Lincoln County Sheriff Wade Magers faces criminal charges for reportedly preventing DUI charges for his son. Magers is scheduled for an arraignment in Lincoln County District Court on July 7 for obstructing a law enforcement officer, making false or misleading statements to a public servant, and rendering criminal assistance in the third degree, according to district court records. The sheriff is accused of committing the crimes between Feb. 11-12 to prevent DUI c...
DAVENPORT – "BOOM!" What sounded like a bomb going off to Sami Guhlke hit the sky's soundwaves as the Reardan resident walked with her dog to pick up eggs from her family farm's chicken coop three miles south of town after the sun set March 25. 45 seconds later... "BOOM!" A second clap...then 45 seconds after that, a third... "BOOM!" "At first I thought something went wrong at Fairchild (Air Force Base)," Guhlke said. As it turned out, Guhlke wasn't the only person, locally or...
REARDAN— Football was back in muddy, jamboree form Monday, Feb. 22, as the Reardan Indians hosted the Davenport Gorillas and Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos for varsity and junior varsity scrimmages. Each varsity offense played each school’s varsity defense once, with the same scenario for junior varsity. Each series ran between 8-14 plays, as officials let teams finish drives, all of which intentionally started at the opponent’s 40-yard-line. Davenport solid Both the varsi...
REARDAN—Football was back in jamboree form Monday, Feb. 22, as the Reardan Indians hosted the Davenport Gorillas and Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos for varsity and junior varsity jamboree-style scrimmages. Each varsity offense played each school’s varsity defense once, with the same scenario for junior varsity. Each series ran between 8-14 plays, as officials let teams finish drives, nearly all of which intentionally started at the opponent’s 40-yard-line. Davenport cruises on offense, looks solid on defense Both the varsi...
DAVENPORT — The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos came to town and used strong serve attacks and solid defense to sweep Davenport (0-1) in three sets, 25-13, 25-20, 25-10. It was the first match for either team since Fall 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, players had to wear masks and sit six feet apart from each other on the bench. The two teams didn't shake hands before or after the game, but acknowledged each other through a friendly wave and "hello" across the net before t...
RITZVILLE – Greg Whitmore, Lind-Ritzville Athletic Director and WIAA Executive Board member, hosted a teleconference Jan. 6 to answer questions about what new state guidelines mean for athletics in the state and for athletes at local school districts. This is Whitmore’s seventh year on the WIAA board. Earlier in the day, the WIAA Executive Board voted to amend its season schedule, moving traditional fall sports to WIAA Season 1 while choosing to review Seasons 2 and 3 at its Jan. 19 meeting. WIAA Season 1 will span seven wee...
REARDAN--71 school superintendents, principals and athletic directors across Eastern Washington, including 20 from Lincoln County, have signed onto a letter to Gov. Jay Inslee, the Washington State Department of Health and the Washington State Legislature requesting the return of extra and co-curricular activities for all students, including sports. The letter was written as part an effort headed by Reardan superintendent Eric Sobotta and Davenport superintendent Jim...
RENTON-The pandemic has struck another blow to local athletics. The WIAA voted to delay the start of winter sports to Feb. 1, 2021 and shorten each sports season to seven weeks apiece at its Nov. 17 meeting. Practices for winter sports season, the most prominent of which are basketball and wrestling, were originally scheduled to begin Dec. 28, with competitions coming shortly after. However, a surge of positive COVID-19 cases across the state caused the WIAA to create another...
RENTON—More tweaks have come to the benchmarks for playing high school sports, as the WIAA updated its return-to-play guidelines Oct. 6 following new guidance given by Gov. Jay Inslee. Sports have been grouped into three categories based on the “risk level” they provide in regard to possible transmission of COVID-19: low-risk, moderate-risk and high-risk. Various sports can return based on their risk level compared to COVID-19 transmission within their community. Local COVID-19 activity will also be measured in three categori...
SPOKANE – A banking company with 24 locations in Eastern Washington and North Idaho may be expanding even further. STCU is seeing approval to acquire four new Umpqua Bank locations, including the banks in Medical Lake and Ritzville. “(We) were looking for opportunities, and this presented itself,” STCU strategic communications manager Dan Hansen said. The other Umpqua branches STCU is seeking to acquire are located in Othello and Coulee City. The Ritzville and Othello locat...
RITZVILLE – Physical education is important for students. It provides a chance to not only develop physical fitness, but has been shown to be beneficial for mental and emotional needs as well. However, when social gatherings are discouraged and even prohibited based on county guidelines, getting those students the physical activity they need looks a little different. “There’s difficulties with a lot of different classes, certainly P.E. being one of them,” Ritzvil...
DAVENPORT – Gun owners anticipating the fall hunting season or hoping to get in some target practice are having more difficulty than normal acquiring the ammunition necessary to operate their firearms. National media reported in early August that gun sales in 2020 had already surpassed sales in 2019, but the available ammo stock wasn’t keeping pace. Area firearms dealers say there are several possible reasons for an ammo shortage. Mainly, the COVID-19 fallout caused a spi...
AIRWAY HEIGHTS—The two families that lost homes in the Bartholomew and Christensen fires Aug. 27 and Sept. 7, respectively will soon be getting some assistance from the community. Wolffy’s Burgers is hosting a spaghetti feed Saturday, Sept. 19, with 100% of proceeds benefitting those fire victims. “When the fires hit here in town … we had thrown around the idea of doing something for the community,” owner Jessica Davis said. “We ran with the idea and put it into play.” Orig...
AIRWAY HEIGHTS—The two families that lost homes in the Bartholomew and Christensen fires Aug. 27 and Sept. 7, respectively will soon be getting some assistance from the community. Wolffy’s Burgers is hosting a spaghetti feed Saturday, Sept. 19, with 100% of proceeds benefitting those fire victims. “When the fires hit here in town … we had thrown around the idea of doing something for the community,” owner Jessica Davis said. “We ran with the idea and put it into play.” Orig...
OLYMPIA—The Department of Natural Resources closed all recreational land it manages in Eastern Washington effective immediately in response to widespread fires Tuesday, the department said in a press release. The closure will remain in place through Friday, Sept. 11 “at least,” the press release said. “DNR staff will evaluate the possibility of extending it as the week progresses,” it continued. Affected forest and trust lands managed by the DNR include Ahtanum, Little Pend Orielle, Loomis, Loup Loup, Naneum Ridge, Teanaway...
REARDAN – A basketball coach for the Reardan School District will not be returning in the coming year, following an investigation that he made inappropriate race-based comments to a student. Coach Damon Dewey was investigated by the school district after a player’s parents made a complaint about Dewey on Feb. 15. In response, athletic director Eric Nikkola conducted an investigation that found Dewey “more likely than not” violated the civil rights of a mixed-race player on the girl’s basketball team. The player’s name was no...
MEDICAL LAKE - Authorities responded to a fire burning grass, brush and light timber north of state Highway 902, east of Bartholomew Road, at 12:32 p.m. today. The 100-plus-acre fire is burning northeast of the city and on Fairchild Air Force Base. Several homes and other buildings on the northeast side of the fire and off Bartholomew Road are threatened, but none are believed to have burned, a state Department of Natural Resources spokesman said. Level 3 evacuation notices...
MEDICAL LAKE — Local students will be starting the school year mostly online learning model, School District Superintendent Tim Ames announced today, Aug. 7. The decision followed state and regional health recommendations for “high-risk” counties where more than 75 new coronavirus cases have been reported in a 14-day period. “Our school board and administrative team have the obligation to follow the strong recommendations from the health experts,” Ames said in a video posted to the district’s website. “Though it is not the...
OGDEN, Utah — A conference football season in which Big Sky powers Montana, Montana State and Weber State were slated to visit Eastern Washington University's newly-turfed Roos Field will have to wait until 2021. On Aug. 7, Big Sky athletic directors moved an eight-game conference schedule to next spring, according to a release from EWU athletics. The Big Sky President's Council then approved the decision this morning, Aug. 7. Nonconference games are still "under review," p...
RENTON – Last week, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association created a fourth sports season to accommodate concerns over close contact high school fall sports like football and wrestling. This week, it moved all fall sports to early spring and approved four sports to have “alternate seasons” for the fall. In a press release July 29, the association announced it had approved alternate seasons for cross country, slowpitch softball, golf and tennis in the fall....