Run to the Desert gives back to Soap Lake

Poker run and other competitions raise money through friendly competition

SOAP LAKE – A weekend of music, food games – and most importantly, motorcycles – will be in Soap Lake this weekend for the Run to the Desert motorcycle rally, happening from August 26-28. “We are an organization that does motorcycle education and biker’s rights,” said Grant County Chapter Coordinator Susan Carson. “Our chapter likes to include not only that type of information but also help where we can throughout the community.” ABATE, standing for A Brotherhood Against Totalitarian Enforcement, hosts the rally that serves as a fundraiser for the Soap Lake Food Bank. ABATE is an organization that fights for motorcyclist rights. “They don’t get the kind of support like a lot of the big food banks do,” Carson said of how the Soap Lake Food Bank was chosen as the benefactor...

Limited Valley Road work to continue during fair

Funding for Yonezawa traffic circle announced at council meeting

MOSES LAKE — Construction crews will continue their work on W. Valley Road next week despite an original agreement with the city to halt all work during the Grant County Fair. “We can tell (the contractor), ‘No,’ but they’re still responsible under the contract for site safety and traffic control,” Moses Lake City Engineer Richard Law told council members at a regular meeting Tuesday evening. Law said the contractor rebuilding much of W. Valley Road, Wenatchee-based Selland, is ahead of schedule and asked to be able to do limited work — placing manhole covers and dealing with storm sewer catch basins on the south side of the road — because they need to have crews there during fair week anyway to keep the site secure and ensure traffic safety signs and cones stay in place. Work crews began tearing the $2.8 million project to rebuild W. Valley Road from Stratford Road to Paxson Road in June, with the proviso that work halt during fair week. Council Member Dustin Swartz said the request amounts to changing the rules, that the other bidders on the project might have concerns, and that allowing work to go during the fair might make getting to and from the fairgrounds more difficult. “There’s truck and trailer traffic at all hours of the day,” Swartz said. “There’s mixed messaging there.” ...

Lions Park hosts Latino State Championship this weekend

OTHELLO – Over 40 men’s, women’s and coed softball teams will take the field at Lions Park in Othello this weekend for the Latino State Championship. The tournament had previously been held in Sunnyside, Granger, Mabton and Yakima before Tournament Organizer Charles Garcia took the helm and moved it to Othello. “I told some of the guys I’m gonna take this and I’m going to move it to Othello,” Garcia said. “I have this vision that I think I can grow it into. Just born and raised in Othello, I love Othello, I think our best asset in Othello is our city park, and everybody should get to enjoy it.” The Latino State Championship brings together people not only for softball games but for a weekend of entertainment as well. “With that, I brought it to Othello and slowly started to rebuild it and after a few years it started to grow, and I started to add more,” Garcia said. “More entertainment, music in the park and a live band and mariachis on Sunday. Just to go along with the food vendors. So it’s not just a softball tournament, it’s an event – I like to refer to it as an event.” ...

Cloudview Farms to host fundraising fun run

Organizers hope to promote understanding of farming and food

EPHRATA – Cloudview Farms in Ephrata will be hosting a fun run on Sept. 17, serving as a fundraiser for the non-profit farm’s community and educational programs. “What we’ve been looking for is just fun ways to bring people to the farm and for fun events, and then to fundraise as well,” Cloudview Farms Education and Community Coordinator Julie Johnston said. This is the first year that Cloudview Farms will be hosting this event, and the money will go toward programs that help people learn about food literacy, farming and more. “We are a non-profit, education farm,” Johnston said. “We have a couple programs like our Educate and Empower programs, and the money goes into supporting the programs and sometimes providing scholarships for the kids to come to Farm Camp. Then, we also have our Feed our Friends program, and we give to the food banks – the Ephrata and Soap Lake food banks.”

Spokane Aerial Performance Arts comes to Wheat Land

RITZVILLE - The Wheat Land Communities’ Fair hosted a performance by the Spokane Aerial Performance Arts on Friday. “You’re lifting your body with the finest muscles in your body,” said owner Sherrie Martin as she pointed to her wrists. “As opposed to your legs that normally lift you.” The group had several performers who awed the crowd with their skills. With a couple of long and thick yellow silk ribbons, suspended from a stand similar to those that hold swings on playgrounds, performers climbed up the silk to about 20 feet in the air and dangle in different positions. Climbing up the silk and each position was held, through wrapping or tying of the silk...

Bird lovers

Central Basin Audubon Society looking for new members in the Basin

MOSES LAKE — The hills are alive with the sound of chirping - and twitttering, and chittering, and cheeping and hooting. The Columbia Basin is filled with birds, and the Central Basin Audubon Society wants to help folks enjoy them all and is looking for new members to join the birding community. “We have quite a few activities that we do, and we're trying to get more,” said Gayle Talbot of Moses Lake, the organization’s newly-elected president. CBAS is a chapter of Audubon Washington, which in turn is a state field office of the National Audubon Society. The nationwide organization was established in 1950 and named for the 19th-century naturalist John James Audubon, The goal of the society is to protect birds and the environments they thrive in using science, advocacy, education and conservation efforts, according to the organization’s website...

Larson Playfield to host Summer Sizzle this weekend

Softball tournament set to 'cap' summer season

MOSES LAKE – The Summer Sizzle softball tournament will return to Moses Lake this weekend, giving teams a chance at a final tournament during summer ball. “It’s the off-season, pretty much everybody has done their state tournaments, their national tournaments, so what we try to do is put on a little fun tournament to put a cap on the whole (summer),” Tournament Director Willie Holmes said. Holmes said that most of the teams that participate in off-season tournaments are travel teams, who are taking a look at their rosters for the next season. “Also, it gives coaches on the travel teams a chance to try out new players and get an idea what they’re going to have for the coming season,” Holmes said. “Not everybody has the tendency to play softball and practice year-round now.” To help coaches with this examination process, the Summer Sizzle features alternated rules allowing more players to enter the game...

Getting gnarly...

Moses Lake skate park ramps up with Rotarian assistance

MOSES LAKE — The terrain has gotten a little more interesting for skateboarders in Grant County with the formal opening of a concrete bowl at the Moses Lake Skate Park. “This was a labor of love,” said Steven Ausere, past president of the Rotary Club of Moses Lake. “When I was a kid, I loved it. Skateboarding is what I found meaning in.” ...

Local candidate filing looms

EPHRATA — Filing week begins May 16 for people who want to run for offices on the ballot in the 2022 general election at the county level in Grant and Adams counties. All candidates wanting to run for office must file by 4 p.m. May 20...

Big Bend prepared to host first regional in two decades

MOSES LAKE - After a program-best of 19 wins in the conference this season, Big Bend Community College earned a No. 2 seed in the Northwest Athletic Conference Super Regional - its highest seeding in two decades. Led by first-year head coach and Moses Lake native Chase Tunstall, the Vikings are eager to put on a good show for the hometown crowd...

REC Silicon to reopen Moses Lake plant

Full production expected in 2024

MOSES LAKE — REC Silicon is going to resume production of solar-grade polysilicon at its facility in Moses Lake, company CEO James May said during a conference call late Thursday to review the company’s first-quarter 2022 financial results. “We are going to restart in Moses Lake,” May said...

Stumpjumpers Desert 100 celebrates 50

Event celebrates motocross sense of community

ODESSA — The 50th annual Stumpjumpers Desert 100 was held over the weekend just outside of Odessa. The event drew thousands of people to watch and participate as well as plenty of dust. The event, an annual dirt bike rally featuring six separate races, has had many homes since it began in 1970. Originally in Mattawa from 1970 to 1983, it then moved to Vantage from 1985 to 2002 before coming to its current location...

State income tax rejected by workgroup

OLYMPIA — Washington residents will not be paying state income taxes any time soon if the state legislature listens to the recommendation of a group created to advise the state legislature on future taxation. In a meeting in late March, the bi-partisan Washington Tax Structure Workgroup, which was formed in 2017...

Track and field teams compete to determine best in the Basin

QUINCY - Quincy High School was home to the Best in the Basin track and field meet on March 24. The event saw five teams from the Columbia Basin, Ephrata High School, Quincy High School, Royal High School, Othello High School and Wahluke High School compete for victory. The question remains, who is the best in the Basin?...

Crazy for cranes

Othello festival draws bird enthusiasts for 24th year

OTHELLO - The annual Othello Sandhill Crane Festival saw a large turnout this year after a virtual festival in 2021 and a canceled event in 2020. “The main point (of the festival) is education, of not only the birds but the habitat,” said festival committee co-coordinator Mike Stevenson. The three-day festival brought...

WA Dept. of Health announces pandemic recovery plan

OLYMPIA - The pandemic is easing up and with it, the state is transitioning its focus onto other areas while entering a new phase of recovery, according to Department of Health officials on Wednesday. Dr. Umair A. Shah, DOH Secretary of Health, said that, as the pace of the pandemic slows, the state is beginning to focus on other areas of public health. The WA Forward plan...

East Park improvements discussed at Quincy meeting

QUINCY — Planned and possible upgrades to Quincy’s East Park, and discussions related to design and design costs, dominated the Quincy City Council meeting Tuesday. East Park is home to the city’s skate park and the city swimming pool, the Quincy Aquatic Center. City officials are working on plans to add a pump track to the skate park, and are considering replacement of...

WA legislature passes bill to prevent catalytic converter thefts

Upcoming law set to cut theft epidemic

OLYMPIA - The legislature is attempting to address skyrocketing catalytic converter thefts across the state with a bill passed by both chambers in the past week. “These items can go for over 200,000 miles,” Sen. Jeff Wilson, R-Longview said, “catalytic converters, as we know demonstrated by the crime statistic, are not wearing out; they’re being stolen.” Catalytic converter theft is undoubtedly becoming a bigger issue, said Rep. Cindy Ryu, D-Shoreline. Legislators on both sides of the aisle have worked hard on crafting House Bill 1815 to protect private property...

‘Go for it’

Moses Lake chooses new Distinguished Young Woman

MOSES LAKE - The 40th annual Moses Lake Distinguished Young Women program was held Saturday at Moses Lake High School to say goodbye to the 2022 court and welcome the incoming court for 2023. The new 2023 Moses Lake DYW court consists of...

Adams Co. transportation improvement discussed

RITZVILLE — Improving public transportation in Adams County, and getting the word out about what is available, was the subject of a meeting called by QUADCO Regional Transportation Planning Organization to discuss transportation issues and needs Monday. Madelyn Carlson, chief executive officer for the People for People...