Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
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RITZVILLE – Tempers flared over water bills during the March 7 City Council meeting. During the public input portion of the meeting resident Liz Brodie took to the microphone, saying she had conducted “forensic accounting” for the past two years on certain city water invoices, including her own billings as well as invoices sent to other residents. “What I found was seriously disturbing,” she said. She then shared her prior work history reviewing project management controls for entities in New Jersey, Seattle, Las Vegas and...
RITZVILLE - Madison Bartlett was 8 years old when her family moved to Adams County. For the past eight years, she has worked in her family's business during weekends and the summer. That experience, she said, has given her insight into the lifestyles and culture here. As the new Miss Lind-Ritzville, Bartlett spoke about her background during the March 7 City Council meeting. Bartlett serves as Associated Student Body president at Washtucna High School, secretary of the local...
RITZVILLE – Adams County Public Works Director Todd O’Brien laid out this year’s three capital improvement priorities during the Adams County Commission meeting March 7. Replacing the roof on the county jail is the first priority, he said, noting construction of a new evidence/storage facility in Othello is second. At a commissioners’ meeting last October, O’Brien discussed costs for platting land at the Sheriff’s Office substation to prepare for the new evidence building. At that time, he received a cost estimate $289,840 fo...
RITZVILLE – Adams County Commissioners listened to reports from Sheriff Dale WSagner and Public Works Director Todd O'Brien during a meeting Tuesday, Feb. 28. O'Brien discussed options for repairing or replacing the Adams County Jail roof. As a first step, he suggested hiring Garland Co., a performance contractor with a territory manager in the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene area. O'Brien said the firm has successfully completed roofing projects at the public services building in O...
RITZVILLE — With pageant participation down in recent years, the Miss Lind-Ritzville program is replacing Distinguished Young Women here. In recent years, royalty representing Ritzville were part of the national Distinguished Young Women program. But this year, organizers didn’t want to be tied to associated restrictions. “For example, under DYW we weren’t allowed to give participants a tiara or a sash or flowers,” Miss Lind-Ritzville program director Sara Dirks said. “Last year, with continuing restrictions and shifting pr...
RITZVILLE — Police Chief Dave McCormick reported two unusual crimes during the Feb. 21 City Council meeting. “Shortly after 10 o’clock on the morning of Feb. 14, Sgt. Cameron checked the storage units behind the Boxwood café,” he said. “The locking mechanism on one of the units had been cut with either a grinder or a bolt cutter.” Although the unit with the severed lock was vacant, 19 units were burglarized through that one entrance. “Burglars took a shovel and hoe from one of the units and broke through most of the inner s...
RITZVILLE - The Ritzville Chamber of Commerce has three new board members who were elected officers for 2023 During a meeting Jan. 30, Kellen Hays was elected president, Kaiden Bell vice president and Reya Huitron secretary. Treasurer Becky Main and board member Charles Jingling will also continue to serve through January 2024. Born in Ritzville, but raised in Washtucna, Hays graduated from Washtucna High School in 2006, attended Montana Tech University on a football scholarsh...
RITZVILLE — Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner told county commissioners at their Feb. 21 regular meeting the county jail, which has been empty since August of last year, is in “a dire situation.” Jail upgrades have been needed throughout the tenures of at least three sheriffs, he said. In 2014, Sheriff John Hunt and then-deputy Wagner commissioned a study of the jail. Some issues identified in that study have been addressed. But lately, the situation has worsened. One contributing factor has been the government’s coronavirus m...
RITZVILLE – In the 1970s, John Christopher Doherty left his home in Houston, Texas, to manage a Stuckey's gift shop and restaurant on East Tokio Road. "My parents managed a Stuckey's restaurant (now Templin's)," recalled Peggy Cross, Doherty's daughter. "My dad stepped in to manage Stuckey's restaurants that were struggling." By the 1960s, the Stuckey's franchise had grown from a single roadside stand in Eastman, Ga., to a substantial business empire with 368 outlets in 30 s...
RITZVILLE - City officials are hoping to reopen the golf course clubhouse in March, following cleanup and repairs caused by flooding late last month. During the Feb. 7 City Council meeting, Public Works Director Dave Breazeale provided a report on the Jan. 28-29 incident and subsequent repair work. "The coffeepot feed line blew up and flooded the basement and upstairs at the golf course clubhouse," Breazeale said, noting 12 rooms were flooded, including bathrooms. An initial...
Editor's Note: This is the final installment of a three-part series featuring Dennis Sackmann RITZVILLE - It didn't take long for word to spread. Dennis Sackmann, a.k.a. "MacGyver," had been laid off by the new manager at the grange supply store. He was available. "By that afternoon, I had received two or three phone calls offering me employment elsewhere," he said. One offer came from Mitch Hille, who ran the local Chevrolet dealership. Hille needed a service manager. Sackman...
Editor’s note — This is the second of a three-part series. WASHTUCNA – Dennis Sackmann grew up on a wheat farm. “We farmed 1,800 acres and half that land was annually in wheat,” Sackmann recalled. “We farmed under the name ‘Sackmann and Son.’” But in the early 1980s, wheat prices were falling and farming was becoming more difficult. In 1983, the family went to the bank for an annual operating loan. A new banker had moved to town and after reviewing the farm records, “Sackmann and Son” was turned down for the loan. So Sack...
Editor's note: This is the first of a three-part series in The Journal. WASHTUCNA – Raised on a 1,800-acre farm with his older brother and sister, Dennis D. Sackmann grew up collecting eggs, feeding pigs and herding cattle on horseback. He also developed an aptitude for mechanical innovation and problemsolving. Later nicknamed "MacGyver" by his family (after the popular television series that aired from 1985-92), the now 65-year-old became a real-life exemplar of the TV c...
RITZVILLE – At the Jan. 17 City Council meeting, Councilman Scott Yaeger announced that the state Department of Transportation is planning a pedestrian walkway underneath Interstate 90 and alongside state Highway 261. The project will use funding from recently-passed "Complete Streets" legislation, he said.. In 2022, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 5974, the so-called "Move Ahead Washington" package changing Revised Code of Washington 47.24.060 to WSDOT to "incorporate t...
RITZVILLE – Public Works employees will have a new tool for repairing and replacing city sewer lines. At its Jan. 3 meeting, the City Council approved Public Works Director Dave Breazeale's request for a new camera to detect breaks, clogs and other problems in the city's underground sewer network. In addition to the camera, the city will purchase an instrument probe known as a locator. That device automatically transmits information about its surroundings from an i...
RITZVILLE — Adams County Commissioner Dan Blankenship provided an update Jan. 10 on state legislative priorities and their potential impact on the county. During the commissioners’ meeting, he discussed the governor’s budget and its focus on affordable housing, as well as certain state congressional bills addressing jails. Proposed legislation would set higher minimum wages for jail workers and limits on inmate solitary confinement. Anticipated legislation would also make changes to certain voting processes. If passed, the c...
RITZVILLE – When Lee Egnew retired here in 2011, he contemplated projects to help him endure long winter months. Building model houses and repairing antique radios proved a satisfying solution. "I made a couple of model houses when I was in high school," the 73-year-old said. "I gave one to my sister, then my brother and I took the other one to the backyard and set it on fire. It looked like a real house burning down. "I forgot about the hobby until four or five years ago. Thi...
RITZVILLE – Adams County commissioners heard from several department heads about plans for the upcoming year during meetings Jan. 4 and 5. Public Works Director Todd O’Brien noted some county buildings need repair and/or upgrades. He said a contractor is working to fix the HVAC system at the county jail and the roof needs to be replaced. The Elections Office on Main Avenue is also due for upgrades, he said. The county will get quotes to replace the front window panes and grant funding will be used to reconfigure doors and...
RITZVILLE – When Ted Schlund and his wife, Joanne, moved into their home at the corner of Division Street and Third Avenue six years ago, they started landscaping. One of their many improvements was the addition of a brightly-decorated pickup truck on display in their frontyard. As the seasons change, they modify the truck's decorations. "We wanted to bring enjoyment and a smile to the faces of people who live around us," Schlund said, noting the truck hasn't always been s...
RITZVILLE - An airman and attorney who represents Cheney and Medical Lake has joined the legal team for the city of Ritzville. Michael R. Addams was selected for the post, current Ritzville City Attorney John Kragt told the council Dec. 20. The city signed a contract with Addams on Dec. 14. Addams will work as a prosecuting attorney in Adams County District Court, city officials said. He will likely handle about one criminal docket per month. In addition to his duties as...
RITZVILLE – In a recent letter to the mayor and City Council, seven residents expressed concerns over conditions at the city-owned animal pound. The letter cited Title 5 of the Revised Code of Washington about "Prevention of Cruelty to Animals." The letter was signed by Melody Bartlett, Melinda Benzel, Peggy Crossler, Leslie Greenwalt, Stacy Jones, Mikki Kison and Briana Larse. In the opinion of the residents, the pound did not meet regulatory standards. The letter a...
RITZVILLE – In 2017, after serving 23 years in the U.S. Army, Jeff Kissler retired. For a few years he remained in Georgia where he worked for a private IT security contractor, volunteered at a homeless shelter, and ministered at a church. But Ritzville beckoned. “I got tired of living so far away from my parents in Ritzville, so I moved back in May 2019,” he said. On his return, one of his friends, Grant Weber, invited him to work at an organic farm for veterans in Spokane. Kissler also took farming jobs with Bill Telecky an...
RITZVILLE - The MTV production team has chosen a South Washington Street home to film scenes for an upcoming reality show. One of Music Television's main participants was in Moses Lake. Because the production crew planned to fly into Spokane, they were reluctant to drive two hours to shoot a few scenes. So, the crew chose Ritzville as a more convenient filming location. In mid-November, producer Marcus Jones traversed the streets of Ritzville to scope out locations for the sho...
CORRECTION: The front page story “Veteran shares Army stories” published in the Dec. 14 edition of the Ritzville Adams County Journal incorrectly identified a local man as being arrested for war by the Yugoslav government in 2001. The person arrested was Slobodan Milosevic, former president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. - Editor's note: This is the second of a three-part series in The Journal. RITZVILLE - One night in Mosul, Iraq, Jeff Kissler's team received bad int...
RITZVILLE – The City Council was expected to finalize its 2023 budget during a meeting Tuesdday night, Dec. 20. The Journal went to press prior to the start of the meeting. But during the council’s Dec. 6 meeting, Clerk/Treasurer Julie Flyckt laid out preliminary budget numbers and minor changes based on finance committee discussions. The city’s final budget total was tentatively set at $10,001,434. “Our current expense fund always gets hit pretty hard,” Mayor Linda Kadlec said. “With minimum wage and large insurance i...