The hunt is on

Easter eggs will sprout all over the Basin this weekend

COLUMBIA BASIN — Small plastic eggs will be stashed – and snatched up by little hands at an astounding rate – all over the Basin this weekend. Nearly every community in the area has its own Easter egg hunt either Friday or Saturday, as is traditional the weekend before Easter. The first one will be at Columbia Basin Hospital in Ephrata, at 10:30 a.m. Friday. This hunt is for kids 6 and under.

Seeing the sights

Quincy Valley Historical Society hosts bus tours

QUINCY — The Quincy Valley Historical Society is going on tour. “We’ve wanted to do this for a number of years,” said Harriet Weber, director of operations for the organization. “It stemmed from way back in the Quincy Centennial in 2007. I was on that committee and we did bus tours that year, aside just from the Farmer-Consumer Day bus tours; we did them throughout the season, and we wanted to revive that. So we worked out a legal arrangement with the City of Quincy so that we could use their little mini bus.”

Legals for April, 6 2023

Mavs weather a delay, down Eastmont 5-2

MOSES LAKE – Following an hour-long weather delay, the Moses Lake Mavericks used a strong first inning to get past Eastmont on Tuesday evening, winning 5-2 over the Wildcats. The win was the ninth-straight for Moses Lake, who now holds a 9-1 record on the year.

Moses Lake BMX gaining momentum

Local bicycle racing group looks to grow the sport in the Basin

MOSES LAKE – Moses Lake BMX is located at 610 Yakima Avenue behind the new Larson Rec Center. There, riders of all ages can come and learn more about BMX bike riding. Track Operator Jeff Niehenke said the goal of the organization is to provide sanctioned BMX racing for the youth and adults. The group also strives to foster family sports and build community. The BMX track itself was built around 2004 and since then saw a change in leadership when Niehenke took over about two and a half years ago. In the past year, the group got up to 49 members and in the past three years has doubled in size, he said. “We’re getting more and more riders every year,” he said...

Legals for April, 5 2023

Plan details recommendations for adding more Mattawa housing

MATTAWA — An overflow crowd filled Mattawa City Hall March 30 for a discussion about updating the city’s housing policies and regulations. Mattawa City Council members are scheduled to vote May 18 on a “Housing Action Plan,” which is the first step in that process. About 40 people attended the meeting, which featured a review of the proposed plan. Rachelle Bradley of SCJ Alliance, the city’s planner, said the plan is still a proposal and encouraged residents to comment.

Group14 breaks ground on Wheeler Road factory

Battery company expects to start production in 2024

MOSES LAKE — Group14 Technologies, which aims to produce silicon anodes for rechargeable batteries, has bought nearly 44 acres in Moses Lake and has started construction on its new production facility, which it expects to complete in 2024. “When we’re up and going, this will be the largest facility of its kind in the world,” said Group14 Chief Operating Officer Eric Robinson, who is also heading up the company’s operations in Moses Lake. “We’re going to build the first two modules out on Wheeler Road, and each of these modules will be capable of producing 2,000 tons of our SCC55 (silicon-carbon composite) material each year.” If all works out, Robinson said construction should be complete and production will start next year.

Legals for April, 4 2023

QVMC design coming in early May

QUINCY — Details of the design for the new Quincy Valley Medical Center are starting to take shape. Architects and construction experts are still working to nail down costs, said Joe Kunkel, the consultant working with QVMC on the project...

Family flowers

Sisters keep Quincy business in the family while making it their own

QUINCY — Looking over the options, Ashley Ko knew immediately there was one that wouldn’t do. Ko, co-owner of the Flower Basket in Quincy, had an arrangement for a client in mind as she checked the flowers being delivered. “Mmmmm, they’re not going to like the yellow,” she said. Ko and her sister Kristin Mead know their customers and their business - their mom Sue Stetner opened the Flower Basket at its current location, 109 F St. SE, about 20 years ago. Sue Stetner had been working in the flower shop for about 20 years prior to purchasing it, Mead said. The sisters bought it from their mom after she talked about selling it, and they weren’t sure they wanted it to be sold outside the family. “This is our sixth year that we have been doing it together,” Ko said...

Legals for April, 3 2023

Strong second half gives Jacks fifth-straight win

QUINCY – Even with blustery conditions on the field, the Jackrabbits rallied in the second half for a 3-1 win over Cascade (Leavenworth) on Thursday night in Quincy. The Jackrabbits were down 1-0 after the first half, but goals by freshman Erick Zepeda, senior Isaac Lopez and junior Alexander Murillo powered Quincy to its fifth-straight win. “I think it’s just going to be that type of season where the second half is our part of the game,” Quincy Head Coach Francisco Tafoya said. “The wind was probably a factor in the first half where we just couldn’t break into their side of the field, a lot of it was played on ours.”

Mavs blow out Eisenhower

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Mavericks beat out the competition 20-1 and 8-0 in a pair windy home games against the Eisenhower Cadets on Friday, putting the Mavs at 8-1 overall and placing them at the top of the Columbia Basin Big-Nine. The Mavs had just previously played against Eisenhower on Tuesday and were able to find similar success beating them 10-7. Eisenhower was able to make a comeback in the week prior, so the Mavs focused on making sure that wouldn’t happen again, according to Head Coach Donnie Lindgren.

Rain Delay leads to loss for Vikings Baseball

Vikings look forward to their next home game after falling to Blue Mountain

MOSES LAKE — On Wednesday, the Big Bend Community College Vikings were all set to play the Blue Mountain Timberwolves, but play was delayed due to rain and when the postponed games finally resumed on Thursday, the Vikings fell to the Timberwolves in both contests. According to Vikings Head Coach Chase Tunstall, the Timberwolves were able to put up five runs as opposed to the Vikings, who were only able to respond with two by the end of the game. Tunstall said the Vikings were held to about five or six hits in the first game and ended up striking out more than anticipated as well as committing a number of errors on defense that allowed for runs to cross the plate.

A call answered

Moses Lake pastor retires after 50 years in ministry

MOSES LAKE — There’s been a lot of change in American churches in the last 50 years. The Sexual Revolution, the Jesus Movement, megachurches, the end of the Cold War, the Internet, the pandemic – all these things have left their mark. And through it all, Pastor Floyd Wilks has been right there, in his pulpit, ministering...

April 2023 community calendar

A community calendar for the Columbia Basin.

Smart move

A good mover can take some of the misery out of relocating

MOSES LAKE — Moving is one of those things everybody dreads. Loading all your earthly belongings piece by piece into a truck, hauling the whole shebang to the new location and then doing it all again in reverse has to rank right up there with an afternoon in the dentist's chair. With or without anesthesia. Fortunately, there are businesses out there that will take care of part or all of the process for you. Moving services aren’t necessarily cheap, but they can take a whole lot of stress – not to mention back strain – out of the equation. “Typically, what happens is that customers will … give us a call and say, ‘Hey, I'm looking to move a certain date. Can you come by and give an estimate?’” said Dylan Morris, owner of Door to Door Moving LLC in Moses Lake. “Then Redgy (Smith, Door to Door’s manager) and I will come by and we’ll have an inventory sheet and an estimate sheet. We'll identify if we need to pack up the house or if we're just taking the bigger items. Ninety-five percent of our jobs are typically just moving the heavier furniture: dressers pianos, safes, stuff like that.”

Legals for March, 31 2023

Jackrabbits move to 3-3 with win over Omak

QUINCY – The Quincy Jackrabbits evened their record at 3-3 with a 9-4 win over Omak on Wednesday, their third-straight win after beginning the season 0-3. The Jackrabbits have outscored their opponents 47-5 in their past three games...