Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 37
The Ritzville Area Chamber of Commerce general membership meeting is being held at Jake’s Café on Thursday, Jan. 9, at 12 p.m. The annual meeting agenda also includes the election of officers. The guest speaker for the lunchtime meeting is Lind-Ritzville Schools Superintendent Rob Roettger. During the meeting, Roettger will be speaking about the upcoming Ritzville School District Maintenance and Operation (M&O) levy. For more information, contact the RACC office at 659-1936 or by email at chamber@ritzville...
The Ritzville Public Library is closed Thursday, Jan. 9, for a staff development day. The library will reopen on Friday with regular business hours from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. For more information, contact the library at 659-1222....
Reverend Jim and Vivian Moore are special guests at Trinity United Methodist Church on Sunday, Jan. 12, with the service beginning at 10:30 a.m. Jim and Vivian have been involved as music ministers since 1968 and have traveled to churches throughout the Pacific Northwest. Jim is ending his traveling music ministry in order to concentrate on the church camp the couple organizes in Moses Lake. During the Sunday service, the Moores are offering a music message to the congregation, followed by a special retirement reception. The...
The annual Grant-Adams Area Extension 4-H Super Saturday will take place on Saturday, Jan. 11, at Frontier Junior High in Moses Lake. This fun and educational program is offered free to interested youth and adults. Those not enrolled in 4-H are welcome to attend. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. and workshops are held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. A pizza lunch will be provided for $3. There is a silent auction to support the Know Your Government delegates. Choose from several 50-minute workshops with various topics including...
Worthy President Don Kagele invites members of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie 2739 to attend the organization’s meeting on Monday, Jan. 13, at 7 p.m. Kagele said the fraternal order has a number of important issues to discuss and that the membership should be present to participate in the discussion. Dennis Allen, past Washington State Aerie President from Deer Park will serve as a speaker. The local Aerie will also address a couple of fundraising items. The first is the approval of a matching grant from the Grand Aerie...
Continued from last week’s edition of The Journal July Sheriff Doug Barger announced his decision to retire from his tenured post as leader for the county police department, effective Sept. 1. Barger’s elected term as sheriff concluded in 2014, and Barger made the decision to retire in order to spend more time with his family. Lind, Ritzville and Washtucna Parks and Recreation districts all submitted Maintenance and Operation (M&O) levies for the primary election in order to maintain operational pools and facilities in the...
The contract between the Ritzville Area Chamber of Commerce and the City of Ritzville was unanimously renewed Tuesday. The contract commits $35,000 in city tourism monies from the 110 Fund for the staffing and operation of the visitors’ center and the general promotion of Ritzville to travelers and potential visitors. The new one-year agreement is a mirror of the contract from 2013. The 110 funds are a bed tax collected by the local hotel and motel operators. The city then calls for local proposals for the use of the f...
The Adams County Commissioners voted on reorganization of the board for 2014 during a Monday meeting on Dec. 23. By consensus, the board confirmed Jeffrey Stevens to serve as the 2014 chairman and John Marshall to serve as the 2014 vice-chairman. Following the vote, outgoing Chairman Roger Hartwig expressed his appreciation to Stevens and Marshall for their assistance during his term as the 2013 chairman. Immediately following the reorganization of the board, special assignments for 2013 were reviewed with the note that...
Adams County Health Department is receiving new reports daily of lab confirmed influenza positive patients. The reports are similar to other areas of the state and are predominantly influenza A. Many more are ill with influenza like illness symptoms and have not been tested. It is not too late to get a flu shot and residents are advised to stay home if ill. Nationwide there has been an increase in hospital admissions for influenza, including an increase in patients needing intensive care. Five flu-related deaths have been rep...
Adams County Thrivent Chapter has distributed $5,737 locally in 2013 to support nonprofit groups in fundraising and local activities. Various projects supported were painting the Ritzville Clubhouse, coordinating Vacation Bible School in Ritzville and Lind, Ritzville Museum Volunteers golf tournament, Lind Wednesday After School Program, Lind Good Hope Lutheran Octoberfest, Othello Christmas basket fundraiser, Ritzville Lutheran women quilting group, H.E. Gritman Senior Center stew feed fundraiser, and Ritzville Lutheran...
The site of the former high school has about 42,000 square feet of space. The City of Ritzville is considering what to do with the land now that the school has been removed and the massive hole filled in. City Clerk/Treasurer Kris Robbins reported that a formal survey of the site recently determined that there is 42,142 square feet of space available. The city and the Ritzville School District are working on clarifying what ground around the current ag shop belongs to the school district, including a portion of ground that...
The Ritzville Gun Club is hosting the annual Hunter Education class beginning Tuesday, Feb. 3, at 6 p.m. This class covers all the required material to qualify to buy a Washington state hunting license. Topics include: firearm safety, firearm handling, archery, muzzle loading, conservation, wildlife identification, and wildlife laws. This is a Traditional Classroom Course, which will mean six evening classes. The evening classes run from 6-8 p.m. on Feb. 3, Feb. 4, Feb. 6, Feb. 10, Feb. 11 and Feb. 13, followed by a Saturday...
In the next two weeks, Halme Construction is expected to complete the last of the water main replacement projects. Jake Youngren, an engineer with Varela & Associates, said the crews are replacing water main and sewer main lines in the alley between Division and Washington Streets. Tuesday, Youngren said he expects the sewer line installation in the alley to be completed by the end of this week and the water main to be done about the end of next week. Water users impacted by the alley work have been connected to temporary wat...
One of the Ritzville City Council’s final acts of 2013 was to approve the appointment of Jim Bostic as the new fire chief for the Ritzville Volunteer Fire Department. The new chief’s service begin on Jan. 1, 2014. He replaces Andy Lefevre. Tuesday Bostic attended the first council meeting of the New Year to present a report on behalf of the fire department. Mayor Linda Kadlec has added the fire department to the list of city departments that regularly provide the city council with updates during its meeting. Bostic tha...
EMT Phil Bowman and a trio of Ritzville firefighters carefully remove Shawn Fowler from his wrecked car on Monday morning. Fowler was struck by another vehicle at the intersection of Main Avenue and Palouse Street, in front of Ritzville City Hall. The fire department had to cut off the driver’s side door in order to extricate Fowler from the vehicle. Fowler and his passenger were taken to East Adams Rural Hospital where they were treated and released. Washington State P...
Despite the frigid temperatures, crews from S&K Services have been hard at work for the past two weeks removing the existing roofing materials at the historic Ritzville Foursquare Church on East Second Avenue in Ritzville. The replacement is occurring now since the previous shingles have suffered damage or have blown off completely during storms. The church congregation has been collecting funds for the roof replacement for years. -Journal photo by Katelin...
January The LaCrosse-Washtucna/Kahlotus Tigercats continued their winning basketball season during the Dayton Tournament on Dec. 27-28. The Tigercats faced Dayton and Elgin during the tournament, and added two wins to the season’s flawless record of 9-0. The LRS wrestling team traveled to Springdale for a tournament on Jan. 12 to compete against a variety of teams with six athletes. Keanu Niezwaag, 145, won two matches by pin before continuing on to the finals and defeating the number one ranked athlete in the state with a t...
The banquet to honor the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos was a bit surreal. There they were again: players, coaches and families, to celebrate a perfect season and a WIAA 2B State Football Championship. Head coach Greg Whitmore even acknowledge the strange sensation of back-to-back state championships. He joked that there wasn’t much that needed to be changed in his speech from the 2012 awards banquet. 13-0 again, Whitmore mused. League champions again, he said. State champions again! Whitmore added, followed by a collective o...
Rosalia proved to be a tough competitor Friday night in LaCrosse when they handed the LWK Lady Tigercats their fourth league loss this season. The Lady Tigercats fell to the Lady Spartans with a final score of 46-23. The Lady Spartans took a commanding lead over the LWK team in the first quarter outscoring the Lady Tigercats 4-12 when the first buzzer sounded. Rosalia continued with double digit scoring during the first three quarters while the Lady Tigercats remained in the s...
Fatigue and fouls proved detrimental to the Tigercats in LaCrosse on Friday night when they faced defeat against Rosalia, 60-56. The Tigercats controlled the tempo throughout the first half, but a strong third quarter by Rosalia posed problems for the Tigercats to be able to seal the win. The Tigercats got out to an early lead in the first quarter, outscoring Rosalia 15-9 and maintained a one-point advantage going into halftime. The Tigercats’ second half performance was l...
Randi York outstretches an Odessa-Harrington player as she battles for control of a loose ball during the nonleague game on Saturday. The Lady Broncos won by a 27-point margin, 62-35. They were led by the scoring of Jenna Bennett with 18 and Tessa Jantz with 16. Friday the Lady Broncos hit the road and defeated league opponent Liberty by 20 points, 65-45. Bennett was the top scorer again with 17. Tommi Swannack and Dalyn Killian each had 12. Jantz delivered 11 more points....
Bridger Smith keeps his eye on the target as he floats to the basket during the Broncos’ 72-36 trouncing of the Odessa-Harrington in nonleague play on Saturday. Ryan Whitmore led the team with 21 points. Dylan Hartz delivered 12. On the road Friday at Liberty, the Broncos picked up an important league win, 52-42, behind a 17-point effort by Hartz. Tyler Frederick added 13 points and Connor O’Neill had eight. The Broncos are 7-1 overall and 3-1 in league play. -Journal pho...
As most of the students were winding down and looking forward to winter break, there were two students who were working hard to compete in the Zillah Robot Challenge. On Dec. 18, Devin Schafer, Jack Anderson, and Instructor Lance Marquardt took the robot they programmed to compete with other robots from many other Washington public and private schools. Teams had to position their robots in mazes and watch their robot navigate its way out by use of sensors. It was a difficult challenge for the boys, but they did well. Two...
I’m sure that a few of you have heard of the Sports Illustrated jinx. For those of you that haven’t let’s just say there have been a fair amount of high profile athletes and/or teams that have graced the cover of the sports magazine only to see the teams or athletes fail when everyone was sure they were a shoo in for victory. Olympic athletes that were considered far and away better than the competition fallen during speed skating competition or things of that nature. You r...
Amidst all the confusion, broken promises, false starts, delays, changes and mounting costs, 2014 is the year the president and Congress must rethink the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. Millions of people have lost their individual coverage and the administration has predicted that tens of millions more will lose their employer-sponsored coverage when the postponed employer mandate is triggered in 2015. Millions more are experiencing sticker shock because of higher premiums and deductibles. Now, as we enter 2014, the...