Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
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The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague girls basketball team added two more wins against quality opponents last week as the Broncos took down defending state champion Tri-Cities Prep 48-44 at home Friday and Colfax 54-31 on the road Saturday. The Lady Broncos have now won five in row and have not lost in 2020. Head coach Steve Wellsandt said early this year that the three-game stretch consisting of games at Reardan, home against Tri-Cities Prep and at Colfax would be a challenge for his squad. The Lady Broncos won all three games and...
The Lind and Ritzville school districts have two property tax levies they are asking for in a special election on Feb. 11. Ballots will be mailed on Jan. 24. Voters will be asked to approve or reject a replacement Educational Programs and Operation Levy and a new two-year Capital Levy. Both levies are for 2021 and 2022. The first levy replaces an expiring levy passed in 2018 for 2019 and 2020. The school districts are requesting an increase from what the expiring levy funded. In Ritzville, the school district is asking for...
The time for high school seniors to start finalizing their college plans is here. One task involved in this busy season is searching and applying for scholarships. Columbia Basin Foundation announced that its 2020 scholarship application is now open. The CBF will be awarding over 45 scholarships in 2020. This year, students can apply for every scholarship the program offers by filling out a single application. The scholarships are open to students in the CBF’s service area, which includes Ritzville and other areas in A...
PASCO - Orvalla Hafer, the late co-founder of Hafer Farms, will be inducted into the Mid-Columbia Hall of Fame on Jan. 16 in Pasco. Ramond and Orvalla Hafer settled in Adams County and established Hafer Farms in Othello. Hafer, who passed away in Spokane in 2017, spent a lot of her life volunteering and teaching farming to the next generation. Haffer will be honored with the Pioneer Award at the induction dinner. According to the Ag Hall of Fame announcement release, “Orvalla was a tireless volunteer over the years as a 4...
The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague girls basketball team rang in 2020 with a home win over Asotin Friday night, 64-21, and a 59-46 road win against Reardan on Saturday. Friday’s win over Asotin was a one-sided affair from the start. The Lady Broncos took the lead for good just 10 seconds into the first quarter when Dakota Killian scored from the post. Not liking what she saw on the court, Asotin head coach Krisi Pratt called a timeout just three minutes into the game. It didn’t seem to pay off as Asotin turned the ball over on its...
Married Ritzville couple Kris Lennon and Shari Parkinson, known to friends and family as 'AKA The Girls,' have always wanted to go on adventures together. They moved here from Hawaii 12 years ago and planned on seeing some national parks and exploring the Northwest. Now, they have decided 2020 is the perfect year to kick the adventures to the next level. They are going to start with a 2,193-mile hike. "Go big or go home," Lennon said. It all started five years ago when Lennon...
RITZVILLE - Washington State Senator Mark Schoesler and state representatives Mary Dye and Joe Schmick addressed a group of local elected officials, business leaders and other invitees at a legislative preview event presented by the Adams County Development Council on Monday. The legislators discussed what they will be focusing on during the upcoming legislative session. All three lawmakers spoke before taking questions from those in attendance. Taxes, spending and other items focusing on the economy were major talking...
The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague girls basketball split a pair of non-league games with a loss at Connell on Friday and a win at Almira-Coulee-Hartline on Monday. LRS head coach Steve Wellsandt knew his player would have their work cut out for them when they traveled to play Connell–an undefeated 1A school– on Saturday. Despite losing 60-55, and despite playing with starting post Dakota Killian, Wellsandt liked the fight he saw out of his girls. "I really felt the girls com...
The Lind Town Council has approved the town’s budget for 2020. Mayor Paula Bell presented the budget to the council and the public at a public hearing on Dec. 10. Later that night, in the regular meeting, the council approved it. The biggest changes involved which funds each town employee is paid out of. Small raises of some employees were approved. The salary of the mayor and town councils were not changed. The vote also formalized the previously agreed upon raise of $3 of garbage, water and sewage prices for the town. M...
The Lind and Ritzville school boards had their first readings of five policies at the recent board meeting Dec. 17. But these aren’t new policies. These are updates to five existing policies recommended by the Washington State School Directors Association. “Periodically, WSSDA updates policies and pushes them out to member districts for review and possible adoption,” LRS superintendent Don Vanderholm said in an email. The five most recent updates to be be considered by the school boards are 2022 (Electronic Resources), 2140...
The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague girls basketball team split a pair of games over the weekend, first beating Tekoa-Rosalia 73-23 on the road Friday before losing to Davenport 46-39 at home Saturday. LRS head coach Steve Wellsandt knew last week's loss to Liberty was tough for his team. He stressed moving on with the season. After the weekend, he's not sure the team was completely over it. "That Liberty game took a little out of us," Wellsandt said after the loss to Davenport. "I don...
RITZVILLE - The Lind and Ritzville school boards have made some reorganizational moves ahead of the new year. The moves were discussed and approved at the district’s final meeting of the year on Dec. 19. In Ritzville, all five board members will remain in place for 2020. Marci Miller has been elected by her peers as the new chair of the board. Miller replaces Layne Iltz, who then got voted as vice-chair. The rest of the Ritzville School Board consists of Scott Carruth, Reid Phillips and Greg Galbreath. The Lind School B...
RITZVILLE - The Ritzville Food Pantry is in its busy season and is working hard to make sure Ritzville families in need have what they need this Christmas to have a full holiday meal. It also got some help with the elementary school food drive. Dec.18 was the food bank’s Christmas box distribution day. “We do it every year as one big special event,” said Carol Ewing of the Ritzville Food Bank at the Lind-Ritzville School Board meeting on Dec. 18. “We had 167 [box requests] this year.” The Ritzville Grade School and Lind Elem...
Lind-Ritzville/Sprague girls basketball coach Steve Wellsandt said before the season that he wanted to see his team face off against Liberty, the team he said was the team to beat in the conference. He got his wish Tuesday night but not the result he was looking for. The Lady Broncos fell to the Lancers 51-38 at home. Before that, the Lady Broncos defeated Upper Columbia Academy in the league opener at home on Dec. 19. The Lady Broncos are now 1-1 in conference play and 3-2...
On Dec. 6, 12 honor students from Lind-Ritzville High School and 16 from Lind-Ritzville Middle School boarded a bus to Kennewick to make Christmas a little brighter for area communities, including Lind and Ritzville. Students took part in the 10th Annual 598 Bikes for Tikes, organized by the Tri-Cities' Local Union 598, a union of plumbers and steamfitters. The local students helped with build day, a day where hundreds of volunteers--mostly from the Tri-Cities area--meet at...
Lind-Ritzville/Sprague girls basketball head coach Steve Wellsandt was anxious to see his 2019-20 team in action. After seeing his team play three games in five days, he is looking at a team that is 2-1 and playing strong. The Broncos opened the season with a loss on the road to Columbia Burbank 46-35 on Friday before returning home to beat Riverside 62-46 in their home opener on Saturday. On Tuesday, LRS defeated Oakesdale on the road 49-47. Wellsandt wasn't very happy with...
With winter break fast approaching, Lind-Ritzville Schools’ music department is hosting its annual winter concerts. Dec 9 was the Ritzville K-4 concert. Dec. 11 was Lind’s concert featuring students in grades K-8. Finally on Dec. 19, the Ritzville fifth grade band and the Lind-Ritzville High School band will perform at Gilson Gym in Ritzville at 6 p.m. Jennifer York, who teaches band in both Lind and Ritzville for students fifth grade and above, says the concert on Dec. 19 will be a lot of fun because it will give the aud...
Four juveniles led Adams County Sheriff deputies on an 18-mile chase at speeds greater than 100 mph last week. All four have been arrested and booked into the Martin Hall Juvenile Facility in Airway Heights. Deputies performed a traffic stop in Ritzville on a vehicle driving in the dark with no lights on the night of Nov. 26. According to the sheriff's office, the driver of the car fled heading south on the northbound lanes of Highway 395. The car was later found to be stolen...
When graduation comes this June, teachers everywhere will be saying goodbye to a class of students. For many teachers, this means saying goodbye to children they have worked with over the course of the year. But for Lind-Ritzville Schools' band teacher Jennifer York, this means saying goodbye to a senior class full of students she has taught for 13 years. York teaches band to students in grades 5-12 in both Lind and Ritzville. Before the merger of the schools, she taught...
Lind-Ritzville/Sprague girls basketball head coach Steve Wellsandt was anxious to see his 2019-20 team in action. He wasn’t pleased after watching the Broncos fall on the road to Columbia Burbank 46-35 on Friday. He was, however, much happier after seeing his players regroup for a 62-46 win at home against Riverside on Saturday. Both games were non-league contests. Wellsandt preaches teamwork, and he felt his squad didn’t play together in the loss against CB. “We’re not going to win unless we play together,” Wellsandt...
Four juveniles led Adams County Sheriff deputies on an 18-mile chase at speeds greater than 100 mph last week. All four have been arrested and booked into the Martin Hall Juvenile Facility in Airway Heights. Deputies performed a traffic stop in Ritzville on a vehicle driving in the dark with no lights on the night of Nov. 26. According to the sheriff's office, the driver of the car fled heading south on the northbound lanes of Highway 395. The car was later found to be stolen...
Five years ago, Spokane chiropractor Dr. April Roybal opened a practice in Ritzville. This week, she's opened a second practice 45 miles away in Davenport. Roybal has opened Lincoln Chiropractic in the Devonport Clinic. However, she is not leaving Ritzville. Roybal will be in Ritzville on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and in Davenport on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Roybal decided to open shop in Ritzville when she worked in a Spokane clinic with massage therapist Diane Swift,...
In January, Lind residents will be paying a little more for their utilities. After a second public hearing, the town council voted unanimously to raise the garbage fee by 50 cents to $20 a month. By a prior town ordinance, water and sewage fees were both going to automatically increase by $1.07 and $1.21 to $63.07 and $70.71 respectively. However, along with the change in garbage fees, the council decided to round the costs of water and sewage to the nearest dollar. All of the changes mean the total utility costs will be...
When FFA is mentioned, farming and animal care may come to mind. But four students from the Lind-Ritzville area showed that you should also think of web design, video editing and journalism. The Lind-Ritzville FFA Agricultural Communications Team impressed at the 92nd National FFA Convention & Expo in Indianapolis last month, returning home with a gold emblem. The team–consisting of seniors Ellie Gering, Alibama Rushing, Brinley Moore and freshman Cameron Wood–finished sev...
Teaching wasn't always in the cards for Lind Elementary fourth grade teacher Jody Terris. In fact, after graduating from Riverside High School north of Spokane, Terris attended Eastern Washington University to major in hotel management. "It wasn't for me," Terris said. "I don't really know why I did that." Terris came to the Lind-Ritzville area when her husband, Kevin, accepted the principal job at Lind-Ritzville High School. Two weeks later, she was offered a job teaching...