Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
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In last week's debut of the Police Profile Series we met Ritzville Police Chief Dave McCormick, who started law enforcement work at the age of 21. While starting a career in law enforcement early in one's life is common, Ritzville police officer Tom Gracie entered the field a little later in life. Gracie joined the Coulee Dam Police Department at the age of 40 in 2005. He then joined the Ritzville Police Department in 2010 and has been here for the past nine years. "I was...
SPANGLE - The Liberty Lancers wrestling team took top district honors Thursday night, Feb. 7, with 297 points in the Northeast 1B/2B-South tournament. The Lancers had six individual champions at the tournament in their home gymnasium on senior night. Liberty's Owen Prince won the 120-pound class, Ashton Strobel 132, Cole Prince 160, Jesse Turner 170, Josiah Cwik 220 and Charlie Harrington 285. Davenport was a distant second with 246 points, followed by Reardan in third with...
SNOQUALMIE PASS — In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the Washington State Patrol Fire Training Academy off Interstate 90 has been designated as a quarantine site for travelers arriving from China. The patrol is only offering media access at 10 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 6. “Respecting the privacy rights of those in medical need must be one of our top priorities,” a press release said. “With that in mind, this will be the only planned media access to the facility.” After tom...
The Jan. 21 Ritzville City Council meeting started off on a familiar note, as the debate about designating the city as a quiet zone took center stage. The topic of the quiet zone resurfaced after a group of residents wrote a letter to Mayor Gary Cook earlier this month that they asked to be read into the council minutes. In the letter--which was signed by E. Hank Buchmann, Rebecca S. Buchmann and Tracy M. Tremaine--the group asks that the quiet zone issue "be moved to the...
WASHTUCNA — A local resident was killed and another injured in a head-on crash Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 5. Sally J. Graves, 76, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash near Milepost 57 on state Highway 261, the Washington State Patrol said in an updated report. Garth A. Blauert, 57, was the driver of the second vehicle. According to the patrol, Graves was northbound on the highway in a 2003 Mitsubishi Outlander at about 3:02 p.m. when her vehicle crossed the center line and struck Blauert's tractor-trailer head-on in t...
ODESSA -- Senior Odessa Tiger basketball standout Ryan Moffet was named WIAA male Athlete of the Week on Wednesday, Jan. 30. Moffet scored 98 total points in recent wins over Columbia (Hunters), Almira/Coulee-Hartline and Republic. Statistics show 33 of those points were on 11 shots beyond the arc. He also shot 11-of-19 from the free-throw line. In addition, Moffet had 12 assists, 8 steals, 5 rebounds and 1 block in those games....
There was a time many, many years ago when Saturday nights in the fall was set aside for college football as in Jr. College (JC) football. I know, today there are all kinds of games played late on a Saturday night usually on the west coast or in Hawaii. But for anyone that wanted to see someone play that they knew from the apartment complex or an Intro to accounting class JC football was a great game to watch. There were some very good teams that played and normally the...
The LRS Lady Broncos have taken two big steps toward wrapping up the No. 2 seed in the district tournament by winning two more league games. The Lady Broncos beat Asotin 53-13 on Saturday and Reardan 54-28 on Tuesday. The two wins make LRS 8-2 in league play, behind only Liberty. Liberty is 8-0 and handed LRS its only two league losses of the season. The loss by Reardan puts the school at 5-4 and drops the Indians from the No. 3 seed as Colfax picked up a win against Upper Col...
The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos have momentum heading into the final two games of the regular season, winning both of their league games in the past week. The Broncos got the job done on the road against Asotin on Jan. 25 and then at home against Reardan on Jan. 28, improving their record to 7-3 in league play and 12-5 overall on the season. Against Asotin, the Broncos used a huge third quarter to erase a four-point halftime deficit. LRS came out of the locker room...
Mary Danielle "Dani" Miller was born on April 26, 1972 in Los Angeles, CA to Carol Haubach. They lived on their own for a few years, until Carol met Jeff and together they became The Selcho Family. She was married to Mark Miller in July 2001. She was an amazing mom, sister, daughter, aunt, wife and friend. Dani had a few jobs throughout her early life, then settled into a position in the Adams County Clerk's office in 2005, eventually becoming Chief Deputy Clerk. During her...
Weather-wise 2019 was a year to be remembered for some record breaking cold and also record breaking snow in eastern Adams County. The following summary uses data obtained from both the Ritzville and Lind Experiment Station NWS cooperative weather reporting sites as well as information gathered elsewhere. The cooperative site information was obtained from the Western Regional Climate Center (WRCC) located north of Reno, Nevada, and is available online at wrcc.dri.edu. WRCC records for Ritzville date to 1916 and to 1931 for...
The train’s horns going through Ritzville have been an issue with our citizens for years. We at the city have seen a renewed interest in addressing this issue. In the past, support or objection by the community has been split on reducing train noise. Considerations include economic development, property values and safety. You will have an opportunity to voice your opinion about this issue on Thursday, Feb. 6 beginning at 5 p.m. at city hall. This will be a public meeting so the city can receive input on moving forward on p...
Government leaders, doctors, and medical researchers worldwide are working feverishly to stop the spread of the coronavirus and keep it from becoming a global pandemic. Wuhan, one of China’s major transportation hubs whose population approaches 11 million, is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak that is spreading like wildfire. Wuhan was put on lockdown. The fear is widespread prompting China’s government leaders to build a 1,000 bed hospital within a week. Professor Shen...
Well, this is really the first time I’ve had to write one of these, so let’s see how it goes. This week will be my last with The Journal. I have recently accepted a position with a news organization in southwestern Washington, which will allow me to be closer to family in an area that has been a second home for me throughout my childhood. News about The Journal’s next editor will be forthcoming in the near future. But I want to spend time now on thanking our readers and eastern Adams County for welcoming me, a stran...
East Adams Rural Healthcare nurse practitioner Julie Trofibio provided her perspective on the Wuhan coronavirus that originated in China and has spread across the globe, including in Washington state, at the Adams County Public Hospital District No. 2 board meeting on Jan. 22. The coronavirus was identified in Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei province in China and the country’s seventh-largest city with a population of more than 11 million people. In December, cases displaying the symptoms of a “pneumonia of unknown cau...
Washington state lawmakers will consider a gradual transition from the state’s current gasoline tax to a system that would charge drivers fees based on how many miles they travel. This comes amid rising concerns over the amount of revenue available to fund transportation and the maintenance of roads and highways due to increasing fuel-efficiency among vehicles, as well as concerns that owners of older and less fuel-efficient vehicles are carrying a larger tax burden. The House Transportation Committee heard a report T...
The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) was signed into law this week and the U.S. and China announced a preliminary trade agreement earlier this month, in a development that has brought a sigh of relief to agriculture groups in the region. The USMCA replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as the trilateral trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. With the USMCA now having been approved by both the U.S. and Mexico, only Canada’s ratification of the agreement is now needed before it c...
The Ritzville Church of the Nazarene will be hosting a presentation by a Nazarene missionary family from Argentina next Wednesday, Feb. 5. Carlos and Robin Radi, along with their three daughters, have served as missionaries in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Argentina, where they are currently serving. The church has invited the public to attend the presentation, which begins at 6 p.m. Prior to that, a meal will be served at the Fellowship Hall at 5:30 p.m. The church is located on the corner of W. 4th. Avenue and...
The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague athletics program will remain participants in the 2B classification for the next several years, after the WIAA approved new classifications during a meeting on Jan. 26. According to the WIAA website, Kahlotus tentatively appears to be headed back to play Class 1B sports, instead of playing cooperatively with Lind-Ritzville, Sprague and Washtucna. The new classifications reflect consideration of the percentage of high school students receiving free or reduced lunches, officials said, noting...
The trial of Ritzville man Michael Anthony Kuest, 27, is underway as jury selection began on Tuesday. The trial will proceed immediately after a jury is selected and seated. Kuest is facing charges in connection to an alleged incident on June 3, 2019, in which he is accused of raping a Spokane woman whom he invited to visit him in Ritzville, according to court documents. The Adams County Prosecutor’s Office filed formal charges on June 5, 2019. A series of continuances have caused the trial to be delayed from its o...