Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
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CHENEY -- The National Weather Service has issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook extending through the weekend. "A much colder storm system may bring significant lowland snow accumulations Friday into Saturday for many areas of the inland northwest," the outlook released Tuesday morning said. An accompanying forecast predicts 3-5 inches of snow Friday. "Snow could be heavy at times," the forecast said, noting there is a 90% chance of snow Friday and 80% Saturday. The outlook covers most of Eastern Washington north of Connell,...
Girls The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague girls basketball team welcomed 2020 with a league win at home over Asotin Friday night, 64-21. The Lady Broncos took the lead for good 10 seconds into the first quarter when Dakota Killian scored from the post. LRS never looked back. The Lady Broncos, who led 32-5 at halftime, used the second half to get some players playing time and to rest their starters. Killian finished with 25 points. Eliza Galbreath and Julia Klein each added 10. The Lady Broncos now head to Reardan for a Saturday...
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The congressman representing Adams County says the airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, will help protect America and its allies. President Donald Trump ordered the early morning drone strike yesterday, Jan. 2, in the wake of attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. The president said the attack also came as Soleimani was planning another attack on U.S. diplomats and military person. ...
RITZVILLE – Area businesses will be paying their lowest-tier employees at least 12.5% more beginning Wednesday, Jan. 1. That's when the state minimum wage climbs $1.50 per hour to $13.50. The new minimum wage applies to all workers age 16 and older. State Department and Labor and Industries officials estimate the wage increase will be paid to 189,994 employees. Tips do not count toward the minimum wage, under state law. This year's 12.5% increase is the final wage hike schedul...
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...
North Okanogan Holiday Invitational Two Lind-Ritzville/Sprague grapplers brought home gold medals Dec. 21 from the annual North Okanogan Holiday Invitational wrestling tournament. LRS champions include Johnny Ryan, 1st at 113; and Doug Morris, 1st at 195. Royal won the tournament with 152 points, followed by Oroville with 122, Kittitas with 93.5, Davenport with 71 and Tonasket with 70. Okanogan was fifth with 67, Almira/Coulee-Hartline sixth with 48, Omak seventh with 44 and...
The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague boys basketball team easily walked over 1A Connell 66-26 in a non-league contest on Saturday, Dec. 28. The game actually started out close. With under two minutes left in the first quarter, LRS was only leading by two, 10-8. However, a steal and layup by Drew Kelly and a three pointer by Josh McClure helped the Broncos close out the quarter up 15-8. The Broncos never looked back. LRS put the game away in the second quarter outscoring Connell 16-3....
As I come to the end of my term as president of the Ritzville Area Chamber of Commerce, I would like to thank the Chamber Board, our members and community members who helped with all the events that the Chamber put on/helped with not only this past year, but all three years. You will never know how truly wonderful you are and how much your volunteering means to me. It is time for the Chamber to gear up for 2020 starting with our general meeting Jan. 20, 2020 at the Bronco Inn at 6 p.m. Some of the things the board is working...
It’s a new year and a new decade! The older we get, the more places and things we want to see but it may seem like we have less time, energy, and money to do these things. The Washington State Library has loaned us a virtual reality (VR) kit through this March that will make checking things off your bucket list a little easier –and best of all it’s free and available right here at the library! If you just want a taste of VR, we have a program with a few short vignettes. You’ll meet a dinosaur face to face, see a larger...
I’ve noticed that the news media is doing its best to remind us what happened in the last decade, as in 2010-2019. We are reminded of all the good and bad things that took place in the last ten years. There will be special issues of magazines with photos and stories that will make you reminisce or cringe or cry or laugh. There is a lot of crying and laughing in every reminder of a decade. There are people that get hired to research this information because we forget about s...
As we launch into 2020 and the ensuing decade, Boeing faces very strong head winds which are major concerns for those of us living in the Pacific Northwest. Things are vastly different now. In my first column of 2019, I wrote that Boeing was poised to have its best year ever. It had strong tail winds propelling it. It would build upon a very successful 2018. Its 737 Max was selling like hot cakes to hungry airlines and plans were in the works to expand production at the...
As we wrap up a year and, indeed, a decade, it’s a good idea to take a little inventory. As to things done, there’s a lot of good news. We have more primary-care providers, enough so that prompt appointments, even same-day appointments, are now not an issue. We are, with the assistance of specialized experts, making major inroads into the backlog of billings, and into assuring timely and accurate billings to patients. We have a fine physical facility. We have a first-class dentist with appointments available and dental ful...
Lee Arthur Kanzler (60) passed away December 18, 2019 in Walla Walla Washington. He was born on February 22, 1959 in Ritzville Washington to Kenneth and Bernice Kanzler. He graduated from Lind High School in 1977. After graduation, he went on to get a degree in Horticulture at Spokane Community College and shortly after he returned to Lind, Washington where he went to work for the Adams County Road Department. In 1988 he enlisted in the US Navy. During his time in the Navy, Le...
Nancy Lee Franke Sackmann passed away peacefully with her family and her dog Sally by her side at her home in Ritzville, WA on 12/22/2019 at 94 years of age. She was born on 07/13/1925 in Snohomish County, Washington to Frederick Arnold Franke, MD and Laura Bernice Maxwell Franke. Nancy Lee grew up with her horses and family in Silver Lake, Washington and graduated from Everett High School in Everett, Washington in 1944. She attended the University of Washington where in...
A meeting related to the Adams-Whitman County Palouse to Cascades Trail will be held in Ritzville next Wednesday, Jan. 8, from 6-8 p.m. in the Washington Association of Wheat Growers building. Formerly called the John Wayne Pioneer Trail, the 212-mile route spans eastern Washington and is planned to connect to existing northern Idaho trails, providing opportunity for users to travel from the Cascades to Lookout Pass – and even further, along the former Milwaukee Road rail right-of-way. According to a press release, plans e...
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...
John Kragt was unanimously chosen by his fellow commissioners to be the next chairman of the Adams County Public Hospital District No. 2 board at its regular meeting on Dec. 19. The nomination for Kragt to lead the five-member hospital board in 2020 was made by outgoing chairman Eric Walker, who was the chairman from 2017-19. Commissioner Stacey Plummer was unanimously selected again to be the board’s vice chair, while Walker was unanimously elected to be the board’s secretary, the position that Kragt previously held in 201...
The East Adams Library District announced its modified hours for the winter season. Starting on Thursday, Jan. 2, the Ritzville Public Library will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The library will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays, and will be closed on Sundays. For more information, contact the library or visit ritzvillelibrary.com....
The H.E. Gritman Senior Center will be holding its monthly pancake breakfast next Friday, Jan. 10, from 7:30-10:30 a.m. Along with pancakes, biscuits & gravy and ham will also be served at the breakfast. Anyone is welcome to attend the breakfast. Membership to the senior center is not required....
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...
As the new year began this week, the 2020 budget for the city of Ritzville has also taken effect as well. It calls for a busy year ahead for the city, tackling a wide variety of projects and issues. As The Journal has reported in previous issues, the highlight of this year’s recently approved budget--and the topic of much debate--is the setting aside of funds for the city to hire an additional officer at the Ritzville Police Department. If all goes as planned, according to RPD Chief Dave McCormick, the process of hiring a f...
Two people were killed and five more were injured in a wrong-way crash about eight miles south of Lind on State Route 395 on the evening of Dec. 29. According to the Washington State Patrol one of the vehicles, a 2015 Toyota Prius, was driving southbound in the northbound lane of State Route 395, and struck a 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan head-on in the northbound lane head-on near milepost 71 around 6 p.m. One of those killed in the incident was Jessica L. Cody, 36, a resident of Ritzville. Cody was a passenger in the Dodge...