Fire report for July 11, 2023

MOSES LAKE — Basin fire crews were kept busy over the weekend, with a couple of sizable brush fires that fortunately involved no injuries or structure damage, according to Grant County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kyle Foreman.

Party for pets

Party for the Paws raises more than $20,000 for Adams County Pet Rescue

OTHELLO — Lisa Newton and her good buddy, her cat Crumpet, probably wouldn’t have known each other without Adams County Pet Rescue. Giving other cats and dogs – and the occasional lizard and bird – the same chance as Crumpet was one reason Newton drove over from Seattle to attend the ACPR’s “Party for the Paws” fundraising dinner Saturday night. The dinner raised more than $20,000 for ACPR, according to the group’s social media, and the crowd almost overflowed the venue at Phoenix Family Farms near Othello. The proceeds will be used for shelter operations, said ACPR director Kyya Grant. Newton is a veterinarian who volunteers with ACPR about three times each year. She knew what she wanted when it came to a pet, and she gave Grant a description. “I told Kyya that I wanted an overwhipped whipped cream long-haired calico,” Newton said. “I was over here (on) May 1 two years ago. We were in Ephrata, and as we were finishing the last cat (at a spay/neuter clinic), Kyya sent me pictures of this really mad 17-ounce kitten.”

Ephrata's Grant Elementary upgrades to go to bid

EPHRATA – The Ephrata School District will ask for bids for a complete remodel of Grant Elementary School, an ESD press release said. Plans to renovate the Ephrata High Performing Arts Center and PAC gymnasium have been placed on hold due to budgetary constraints though. “The world has changed in many ways since Ephrata initially approved the 2019 bond,” said Tim Payne, Ephrata School District Superintendent. “We could not have anticipated the pandemic-related cost increases we’ve experienced at projects currently underway at Columbia Ridge Elementary and Ephrata Middle School.” ...

'Unfinished business'

14U River Dogs win state tournament in Moses Lake

MOSES LAKE – After powering through the first three rounds of the 14U Babe Ruth North Washington State Tournament with high-scoring wins, the 14U Columbia Basin River Dogs gutted out a 4-1 win over the Stilly Venom in the finals to advance to next week’s regional round. “That’s these boy’s goals,” River Dog Head Coach Jaret Fulbright said. “They told me they had unfinished business, and that they wanted to go back to regionals and get it done this time.” ...

Brookdale Hearthstone builds 20-foot sundae

MOSES LAKE — The residents and staff at Brookdale Hearthstone got to take part in a sweet, if somewhat obscure, tradition Friday, celebrating National Strawberry Sundae Day on a big scale. “We decided what better way to celebrate than to have a 20-foot strawberry sundae,” said Kar Vanerstrom, sales manager at Brookdale Hearthstone. “So that’s what we’re building.” ...

River Dogs open weekend with two wins over Pullman

EPHRATA – The 18U Columbia Basin River Dogs opened a weekend of games with two wins over the Pullman Patriots on Friday, turning in high-scoring wins of 8-0 and 11-5 on their home field in Ephrata. “It’s great to come out and get two wins (Friday),” River Dogs co-Head Coach Brock Lybbert said. “We knew that, leading into games against Farmers (Saturday), that this was an opportunity where we could mix in a few guys that haven’t had a lot of opportunities. It was great to get them those opportunities, and some of them took advantage.” ...

Central Washington Sixers to hit the field in 2024

MOSES LAKE – The Six Athletic Training Facility will be fielding youth baseball teams in the summer of 2024, with teams ranging from 9U through 16U donning the uniforms of the Central Washington Sixers...

Soap Lake fire causes evacuation notice

SOAP LAKE — A level 3 evacuation notice was issued for the 3000-4000 block of Road 20 Northeast near Soap Lake Wednesday evening, according to a statement from Grant County Fire District 13. A level 3 evacuation means “Leave now,” the statement added...

Rehaume chosen as Othello PD chief

OTHELLO — Dave Rehaume, a 34-year veteran of the Othello Police Department who was named interim chief in May, was hired and sworn in as chief during the Othello City Council meeting Monday. The council's vote to hire Rehaume was unanimous...

PRO RECAP: M’s and Storm send players to all-star games, Kraken open free agency

SEATTLE – Both the Seattle Mariners and Storm had players named to their league’s respective all-star games, while the Kraken opened free agency by bringing some new faces to the ice. Check out this week’s professional sports recap for an update on the three teams...

Suds N' Sun '23

Soap Lake celebrates during annual celebration

SOAP LAKE - Soap Lake’s annual Suds N’ Sun celebration kicked off Sunday, a sunny and hot summer day to celebrate the 4th of July in a more centralized location this year. “I had a lot of people come up to me and tell me they loved having it all together,” said local businesswoman and city council member Karen Woodhouse...

Lunch crowd

Senior Picnic fills venue nearly to capacity

MOSES LAKE — The Commercial Building at the Grant County Fairgrounds has a maximum capacity of 770 people, and the crowd at the Senior Picnic Wednesday came mighty close to meeting that. “We had 612 meals served to seniors,” said Debbie Doran-Martinez, executive director of the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce. “We had 34 vendors, and most vendors, there were two people there. I don't have an exact headcount. There's a few that had three and four, but most of them had two.” Add to that 24 volunteers from the community and 34 from the Columbia Basin Job Corps Center, and that’s a whole lot of people.

Tough Dogs

River Dogs have strong showing early in Wood Bat Classic

MEDICAL LAKE – The 18U Columbia Basin River Dogs opened up the Spokane Wood Bat Classic with three wins on Friday and Saturday, including some impressive offensive showings across those wins. After a 3-1 win against Whatcom Post 7 to open up the tournament, the River Dogs got the bats rolling in a 15-8 win over Absolute Human Performance Academy. “It felt really good to go out and get two (wins) today,” River Dog co-Head Coach Brock Lybbert said. “Last week we had some challenging competition at WSU, so we needed to bounce back a little bit.” ...

Cherry harvest looking good for 2023

WENATCHEE — The cherry harvest is coming in full this year, according to the Washington State Tree Fruit Association. The weather conditions that have played havoc with some other Washington crops, like hay, have been a real boon for cherry growers, according to Tim Kovis, WSTFA's director of communications...

Wildfire update for June 30, 2023

MOSES LAKE — The National Weather Service has issued a fire weather watch for Adams, Chelan, Douglas, Grant and Okanogan counties, according to an announcement from the NWS. The warning is in effect from Saturday morning through Saturday evening...

Dual purpose

Couple runs two home improvement businesses together

OTHELLO — What do garage doors and blinds have in common? They both open, they both close, and Kip and Ilene Burns can sell you both. The Burnses and their partner John Overton own both B and B Doors and Blinds For Any Budget. The two businesses are mobile, operating out of a trailer and a van, respectively. They actually came about as a sort of retirement project for the Burnses, who moved to the MarDon area from Kelso. “Four years ago, my wife and I were building our custom home,” Kip Burns said. “And our builder – who's a good friend of ours, CAD Homes – did a fabulous job on our house, but they were having trouble getting doors. And we're entrepreneurs. We actually just retired two weeks ago from our corporate jobs, but we started (B and B Doors) three years ago, because there was a demand.”

Quincy student board representatives recognized

QUINCY — Quincy School Board student representatives Nallely Uribe and Brianna Herrera were recognized for their tenure on the board at their official last meeting June 27...

Water rules tightening in Moses Lake

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake city Council voted to make some changes to the city’s water conservation ordinance at its Tuesday meeting...

Adams Co. to move forward with Hatton Road project

RITZVILLE – The Adams County Board of Commissioners awarded a bid for the Hatton Road Safety Project during Wednesday’s regular meeting to Central Washington Asphalt. The project is set to renovate a stretch of West Hatton Road several miles southwest of Othello...

Quincy School Board extends superintendent contract

QUINCY — The contract of Quincy School District Superintendent Nik Bergman has been extended through 2026. Quincy School Board members approved a new contract for Bergman with no discussion, as part of the consent agenda, at the regular meeting Tuesday. “The school district hereby employs Nik Bergman as the superintendent of schools commencing on July 1, 2023 and ending on June 30, 2026,” according to the contract...