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 Lady Broncos fastpitch softball team had a busy first week of competition with a jamboree at home on March 13, followed by a 12-5 nonleague loss to Northeast A League’s Freeman two days later. During the jamboree, LRS played two innings against Northeast 2B League Colfax and Northwest Christian (NWC), as well as Freeman. Head Coach Todd O’Brien said it was the first time the Lady Broncos participated in a jamboree. He was pleased with how the LRS...
The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos baseball team captured the first two wins of the 2018 season after sweeping Northwest Christian in a nonleague doubleheader on March 16. The Broncos defeated the Crusaders 9-0 in the first game and 11-1 in the second. The doubleheader was originally scheduled to take place in Colbert, but NWC’s field conditions resulted in the game being moved to Ritzville. Prior to facing the Crusaders, the Broncos played in a jamboree in Connell on March 1...
During the March 6 Ritzville City Council meeting, the Police Chief Dave McCormick informed the Council the Police Department will be joining the Central Basin Investigation Team (CBIT) through an interlocal agreement. According to CBIT’s website, the team was formed to investigate officer involved shootings, major accidents and use-of-force incidents that resulted in an injury. In 2009, the CBIT’s board, which is comprised of police chiefs and sheriffs, decided the team would also be available to assist in homicide inv...
The Adams County Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC) approved the updates to the county’s Solid Waste and Moderate Risk Waste Management Plan (SWMRWMP) with a vote of 8-1 at their March 7 meeting. The SWMRWMP is a document recommending strategies to manage solid waste and moderate risk waste generated in Adams County. According to the document, the plan serves the need to establish a coordinated, regional approach to solid waste management within the county and enables decision makers to manage resources most e...
The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos baseball team opened their regular season on March 10 with a 13-2 Northeast 2B League loss against Kettle Falls at Bob Heider Memorial Field. Kettle Falls jumped to an early lead after they scored two runs in the first inning. The Broncos prevented a shutout in the bottom of the inning after Easton Nelson’s single brought Bryce Hansen to home plate. LRS’ defense kept Kettle Falls from scoring until the fourth inning when the Bulldogs put up... Full story
The Adams County Public Works Department will be adding two new trucks to the vehicles in the road maintenance fleet. During their Feb. 20 meeting, the Adams County Board of Commissioners approved the department’s recommendation purchase two new 2019 Class 8 Model 114SD Freightliner dump trucks from Freightliner Northwest, out of Spokane, for a total of $351,301.22. Adams County Public Works Director Todd O’Brien presented quotes for seven different models prior to the commissioners’ approval. He said the quote for Freig...
The Lind Town Council went through several items at their Feb. 27 meeting, including two that were a result from of two action items they approved at the previous meeting. The first action item was to send a cease and desist document to town employees prohibiting the use of the maintenance shop and equipment for personal projects. At the Feb. 13 meeting, the Council voted to allow employees to use the shop for making personal repairs to their vehicles and store them in the facility for no longer than 48 hours. Mayor Paula...
Those interested in tracing their family’s lineage have the opportunity to learn the basics of genealogy once a month at the Washtucna Community Library. The library branch held its first Introduction to Genealogy Class on Feb. 22. The branch will continue to hold genealogy classes on the fourth Thursday of every month from 4-6 p.m. The class is available to anyone who has an interest in genealogy, whether they are beginning to index their lineage, or they want to add to t...
During her senior season, Lind-Ritzville/Sprague athlete Peyton Curtis accomplished a major feat in high school basketball - scoring over 1,000 career points. Curtis ended her high school career with over 1,300 points, as a well as a three-time Northeast B League selection. While Curtis’ point total did not beat the school record, Lady Broncos’ Head Coach Steve Wellsandt said she is only a handful of LRS athletes to accomplish the feat. “We’re pretty sure it’s less than 10 k...
During the Feb. 20 meeting, the Ritzville City Council approved several action items, one being a contract with Spirit Pruners for trimming eight Silver Maple trees at the City Park for $7,240. Deputy Clerk Michelle Asmussen said most of the contract will be paid with the $5,000 Tree City USA Tree Planting and Maintenance grant, which the city received from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources in 2017. The City of Ritzville will pay the remaining $2,240. In... Full story
The City of Ritzville took the first step in addressing a deficiency issue with one of its lagoon cells. In March, the Washington State Department of Ecology Dam Safety Office (DSO) sent an inspection report to the city indicating the drainage channel along the northwest side of the lagoon cells has insufficient hydraulic capacity to pass the 500-year storm event. The DSO analysis team developed storm calculations for the 500-year event with the required design flow of 181 cubic feet per second (cfs), which the city must... Full story
During their Feb. 13 meeting, the Lind Town Council voted 4-1 to draft an ordinance prohibiting the location of growing, processing and retail marijuana businesses within the Town of Lind boundaries. Council Member Kathy Vedder was the dissenting vote on the action. Council Member Rose Elkington explained it would not be possible for a marijuana business to be within the Town limits because of the regulation prohibiting a cannabis businesses from being located within 1,000 feet of a school, playground and other protective pla...
The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Lady Broncos basketball team’s 2017-18 season came to an end after they went 1-1 in the semifinals of the District Tournament. The Lady Broncos won their consolation game against Asotin, 52-33, on Feb. 13 to stay in the tournament. The win advanced LRS to the semifinals on Feb. 15 where they lost to Liberty, 61-36. Head Coach Steve Wellsandt said LRS started at a slower pace against Asotin but led 11-4 lead after the first quarter. The Lady B...
Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos wrestlers Tristan Regan and Aarron Phelps wrapped up their season at the Mat Classic XXX on Feb. 16 at the Tacoma Dome. Tristan Regan went 0-2 in the 113-pound weight bracket. Regan wrestled Oroville’s Cody Field in the first round and began the match with a quick takedown before Field escaped and scored a takedown of his own, followed by two near falls. Regan began the second period with a reversal before Field escaped and scored another t...
The Ritzville City Council went approved the Dam Safety Office (DSO) engineering contract from Varela and Associates for $16,800 at their Feb. 6 meeting. Council voted 6-1 to approve the contract with Council Member Mark Weigand being the dissenting vote. Weigand said he felt Varela’s cost for their proposal was too high for design work. Varela and Associates proposed to complete the design work for the project consisting of deepening the channel on the northwest side of the city’s wastewater lagoon cells. During the Dec... Full story
During the Feb. 6 meeting, the Ritzville City Council voted to approve the allocation of the city’s 110 funds for 2018. A total of $141,733 was requested from local organizations and businesses to help fund a variety of projects, events and tourism efforts to bring more visitors to the community. Out of the amount requested, council allocated $120,070. The council awarded the Ritzville Festivals Association $5,000 to help cover the costs of maintaining the Ritzville Community Float. This includes float construction, i... Full story
With the regular season behind them, the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Lady Broncos basketball team moved into the District Tournament at West Valley High School. The Lady Broncos opened tournament play on Feb. 6 with a 59-30 win against Springdale. Two nights later, LRS suffered a 52-16 loss against St. George’s in the quarterfinals. On Feb. 10, the Lady Broncos bounced back from defeat with a 46-24 win against Wilbur-Creston, eliminating the Lady Wildcats from the tournament. With... Full story
Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Bronco wrestlers Aarron Phelps and Tristan Regan needed only one win at the Regional Tournament to secure their spots in their weight divisions at the Mat Classic XXX on Feb. 16-17. Both Phelps and Regan earned those wins in the consolation semifinal bouts of their brackets, qualifying for the Mat Classic, and ultimately finishing fourth in their respective weight divisions. This will be Phelps’ first opportunity to wrestle at the State Championships. Re...
During the Jan. 17 Ritzville City Council meeting, Council Member Scott Yaeger provided the council with a spreadsheet relating to the cost of materials to purchase for crack sealing city streets in 2018. At the Oct. 3, 2017, meeting, the Ritzville City Council set aside $15,000 in the city’s 2018 budget for the Public Works Department to purchase materials and rent equipment to crack seal a portion of local streets. In the spreadsheet, Yaeger said streets were grouped into three classifications: primary routes, secondary r...
The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Lady Broncos basketball team wrapped up their regular season last week by going 1-2 in Northeast 2B South League play. The Lady Broncos opened the week with a 59-22 win against Reardan on Jan. 30. LRS then lost their final two regular season games on the road. The first was a 50-45 loss to Liberty in overtime on Feb. 2, then a 53-23 loss at the hands of Colfax the next night. Against Reardan, the Lady Broncos opened with a strong offense and...
Although social media is popular among high school-aged students, spending too much time on a website can affect a person’s health in a negative way. For the last two years, Lind-Ritzville High School Athletic Director and Health Teacher Greg Whitmore has taught a short unit focused on social media addiction and distracted driving. Whitmore said social media and distracted driving are good lessons to cover in health class because it important for students to learn how both topics can impact their physical and mental h...
Four athletes from the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos wrestling team earned spots at the 1B/2B Region 3 Tournament on Feb. 10 in Reardan. Two additional athletes will serve as alternates. At the Sub-Regional Tournament on Feb. 3, Tristan Regan earned his second trip to the Regional Tournament after finishing second place in the 113-pound bracket. Regan had a bye to the finals where he faced Colfax’s Nolan Burrill, who he had wrestled during the regular season. Regan w...
The Lind Town Council appointed Myra Horton to the council during the Jan. 23 meeting. After a 15-minute executive session, council appointed Myra Horton to the vacant No. 4 Ward position. Horton took over the seat from Paula Bell, who resigned from her position after she was elected mayor. Prior to the executive session, Bell read Horton’s letter of interest for the council position. From 1989-2003, Horton was the Town’s clerk-treasurer, and is currently on the board for the Adams County Cemetery District No. 3 and pre...
A trade agreement between 11 countries could have a negative effect on United States’ wheat exports to Japan in the future. On Jan. 23 in Tokyo, Japan, the 11 in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) announced they had reached a deal on the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The announcement came nearly one year after President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the partnership. The trade agreenebt, which is expected to be signed in March, would allow Canada and Australia t...
The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Lady Broncos basketball team added two more Northeast 2B South League wins on the path to the postseason. On Jan. 26, the Lady Broncos recorded a 62-47 league win against Tekoa-Rosalia. The next day they returned to Gilson Gym to defeat Asotin, 54-26. The victories against the Lady Timberwolves and Lady Panthers, bring LRS’ winning streak to four games. The Lady Broncos, who are 7-6 in league play and 9-7 overall, sit in third place in the NE 2B S... Full story