Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
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Lacey Miller fell in love with softball in third grade. She played throughout her schooling in the Lind-Ritzville Schools co-op. Now, she's ready to take it to the next level after earning a softball scholarship at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. Playing at the next level means a lot to Miller. "That's huge to me." Miller said. "I think in my sophomore year I had an idea that I might be able to go to the next level. Then, my coaches were really encouraging me, and I just...
The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Lady Broncos volleyball team faced another tough stretch last week, playing four games in eight days. The Lady Broncos went 3-1 during that period, winning all three league matches while dropping a non-league match. LRS head coach Cari Galbreath knew ahead of time that her team’s Oct. 8 non-league match against Tri-Cities Prep would be a tough one. “They are a really great program and great competition for us,” Galbreath said before the match. She was right. TCP’s Emily Dickson had 18 kills and the...
Ask Lind-Ritzville High School family and consumer science teacher Donna Koch to describe her job and she will respond with one sentence. "It's all about preparing kids for life," Koch said. She says she's often asked what family and consumer science is. "It used to be called home ec," Koch said. "When I tell people I teach family and consumer science, people are like, 'what are you talking about?' But if I reference home ec, people understand." But whatever the name might be,...
The cross country season continues to roll on. While head coach Morgan Hunt's team is made up of mostly new runners, last year's lone girls team runner Linnea Schafer is back and is leading the way for the LRS squad. Sept. 28 was the only all-league meet of the season for District 7, outside of postseason competition, as both the North and South divisions sent their athletes to the meet at Jenkins High School in Chewelah. While the LRS girls finished the meet in fifth place ou...
The town of Lind has been selected by the State of Washington Department of Commerce to receive $750,000 of federal funds to make multiple water-related improvements. The funds come from the federal government’s Community Development Block Grant program. Steve Nelson of Century West Engineering had filled out the application on behalf of the town and gave details of the award to the Lind Town Council at the council meeting on Sept. 24. The funding will go to improving water lines on Seventh Street, Sprague Avenue and L...
The Lind Town Council will hold a special meeting to consider raising utility prices. The special workshop meeting will be Tuesday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m. No final decision to raise prices will be made at the meeting. The meeting will be for town councillors to discuss their options and decide whether they want to move forward with a public hearing to discuss raising the prices, or to drop the issue and keep prices as they are. The meeting, while not a public hearing, is open to the public and will be held at the Lind Town...
The Big Bend Bowling Alley in Ritzville will close in a few months if a new owner can't be found, owner Todd Young told The Journal last week. "I don't think I can keep the doors open past November or December," Young said. Young, who still owns a carpet store in North Carolina, moved to Ritzville from North Carolina in 2017 and bought the alley in December of that year. Since then, business has dropped while his attention has been forced elsewhere. "My father back in North...
Hundreds of people from Adams, Lincoln and surrounding counties drove out to the Menno Mennonite Church on Oct. 5 for the 42nd Annual Mennonite Country Auction. Between booth sales and the auction, the event raised about $113,000. The top selling item was a 1953 GMC pickup truck that sold for $6,000. The very first item that sold was more of a donation than a sale. A loaf of bread to be used at communion in the next morning's church service sold for $1,000. The auction was...
A busy past two weeks for the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Lady Broncos volleyball team meant a longer rest period before getting back to action this week. LRS entered the week coming off a straight set loss to Liberty on Oct. 1, 25-12, 25-21, 25-21. Maisie Burnham had 16 kills and 11 digs to lead the undefeated Lancers over the visiting Lady Broncos. Despite the loss, LRS head coach Cari Galbreath had some positive takeaways from the match against the league-leading Lancers. “First set, we were still warming up or something,” Gal...
The Lind/Ritzville/Sprague/Washtucna Career Showcase made its debut last week at the Gilson Gym in Ritzville and organizers say it was more successful than they had even hoped. Almost 400 area students visited with 35 local exhibitors. The showcase was presented by the Adams County Development Council. While the ACDC has put on two of these showcases before in Othello, this is its first time bringing the idea to eastern Adams County. ACDC Business Development & Marketing...
A new Washtucna teacher hopes her experience with homlessness will help her in dealing with students who are facing that, and other difficulties. Lisa Landstrom, who already has seven years of teaching experience, decided she needed a change in her life and left her teaching job in the Spokane area to come teach in Washtucna. She will teach fourth and fifth grades. Landstrom grew up on the Oregon Coast in Astoria, where she graduated from Lewis and Clark Christian Academy, a small private Christian high school. “I got a r...
Lynn Sackman, Lind-Ritzville Schools’ director of transportation, has been selected to represent Washington as a delegate to the 2020 National Congress on School Transportation, LRS Superintendent Don Vanderholm announced this week. Vanderholm shared with The Journal a letter he received from Patti Enbody, the Washington state director of student transportation, informing him of Sackmann’s selection. “NCST is convened every five years to adopt updates to the National School Transportation Specifications and Procedures (NSTS...
The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Lady Broncos girls volleyball squad has had a busy eight days. Between Tuesday Sept. 24 and Tuesday Oct. 1, the Lady Broncos have played four matches. LRS swept Upper Columbia University at home on Sept. 24. They then got swept themselves at Colfax. The Lady Broncos bounced back with a 3-1 home-victory over Reardan, before getting swept again at Liberty on Oct. 1. The score of the Sept. 24 match against Upper Columbia was mentioned in last week’s issue of The Journal, but no other information was a...
The Journal's teacher profile series has spoken to several teachers who came to east Adams County from a larger area in seek of a smaller community to call home. The opposite can be said for new Lind-Ritzville High School social studies teacher Bryce Court. "My last town didn't have any fast food restaurants," Court said smiling. Court grew up in Winthrop, Washington, which has a population of 394. He experienced larger cities in college before beginning his teaching career...
A league win and a non-league loss may not be a perfect week, but it's definitely better than the reverse. The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Lady Broncos volleyball team fell to Odessa last week on Sept. 17 in non-league play, before beating Tekoa-Rosalia in league play on Sept. 19. Against Odessa, LRS came out strong and took the first set 21-25. However, that would be the last time they made it past 20. Odessa swept the rest of the way, winning 25-19, 25-16, 25-18. "Unforced...
The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague cross country team’s season is in full swing as the LRS Broncos took part in two meets last week. This followed a week that saw the team race in a Spokane area invite meet that included several 4A schools. In their first race after the cross country Jamboree, the Broncos traveled to Spokane to take place in the Highlander Invite on Sept. 14. This invitational included schools of all sizes, including several 4A schools. LRS head coach Morgan Hunt said the competition was a good experience for her s...
Area burn bans are set to be lifted as of Sept. 26, leaders of area fire districts announced recently. Joel Bell, the chief of the Ritzville Fire Department, says burning can start on Sept. 26. Residents must call the sheriff’s office at 509-659-1122 before burning, and then again after. Burn piles must be 4x4x3 ft or smaller. Vegetation may be burned, garbage may not. Permits are not needed for residential burns inside of Ritzville city limits. In Lind, Kevin Starring of Adams County Fire District No. 2 said burning can also...
Growing up, Joel Boutelle didn’t want to be a teacher; he wanted to be a marine biologist. After 38 years as a teacher though, Boutelle will tell you things worked out pretty well. Boutelle, who is starting his first year as a teacher at Washtucna, spent 36 years teaching in Arizona before spending last year at Moses Lake. In Arizona, he taught in schools with over 2,000 students and always had at least 30 students in his class room. In Washtucna, his smallest class size is four. Family brought Boutelle to Washington from A...
Dr. Stephany Smith was the guest speaker at the 2019 My Farm, Your Table event in Ritzville on Saturday Sept. 14. Smith is a professor at Washington State University and a statewide consumer food safety specialist. Smith's talk, followed by a meal prepared by Chef Dawn Nelson, capped off an afternoon aimed at educating the public about what goes into food production at area farms. Four booths were set up outside Amarican Legion Hall downtown Ritzville. Topics of the booths...
The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Lady Broncos volleyball team had a strong opening week of play, defeating Reardan on the road on Tuesday and Columbia Burbank at home on Thursday. Tuesday's match was all LRS as the Lady Broncos won in straight sets (25-13, 25-12, 25-13). Taylor Galbreath led the way with eight assists and six digs for the Lady Broncos. She also had five aces. Eliza Galbreath had six kills and Dakota Killian had three blocks. Thursday's match against Columbia Burbank...
A Vietnam-era army helicopter will be serving a new purpose next year in time for the wildfire season. The 49-year-old Huey helicopter was given to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources for free. The DNR will spend $1.1 million to refit the helicopter, which was originally built in 1970. Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz told KING-TV in Seattle that the cost is considerably lower than buying a new helicopter. She said adding another helicopter will make a big difference come fire season. “They’re able to...
With the first day of school behind them, teachers everywhere, new and returning alike, are settling in to the new school year. One such teacher is Washtucna high school and middle school English teacher Lacii Rundquist, who is starting her first year as a teacher. Rundquist was born in Benton City and moved to Washtucna while she was in high school. Her journey to her teaching job is perhaps a bit unusual. She hopes to be able to use her background to help students who may...
The 50th edition of the Ritzville Rodeo took place September 30-31 and competitors came from across the Northwest and beyond to compete. In the bareback competition, Cooper Wicks of Enumclaw took the top prize with a score of 75. Austin Krogh of Newport took the saddle bronco riding event, scoring a 77. Tye Jordan of Canby, Oragon, won the tie down roping with a time of 8.220, while Amanda Hodges of Homedale, Idaho, won the breakaway roping with time of 2.920. Closing out the...
Paul Swanson Jr., a former Ritzville High School football player who went on to play for Arkansas State University, returned to Ritzville last week as part of Winning Mindset workshop program. Swanson will make seven more visits to the area this school year. LRS Athletic Director Greg Whitmore invited all middle school and high school athletes and their parents to come hear Swanson speak in his first session. Swanson spoke for about 90 minutes. He described himself as a...
Lind-Ritzville High School students are back at school in a newly rebuilt building. The building, however, is not the only thing that is new. It also comes with a lot of new technology. Andy Jones, the district's IT man, was at the school board meeting on Aug. 26 to update the board on the features that the school will have. One of the larger updates involves internet access. "The network is probably the most unique thing," Jones said. "In a traditional network, you have a...