JOEL MARTIN

You’re all doers’

Job Corp graduates prepare to make their mark in the world

MOSES LAKE — It was a small ceremony as commencements go, but the emotions were huge at the Columbia Basin Job Corps Center graduation. “This is home,” said Susan Mann, the center’s liaison officer. “Most of the students are here for about a year, 24-seven. They become very, very well-bonded. That's actually the part of Job Corps that I've always loved, is that student bonding."

Home coverage

Getting the right amount of homeowners insurance

MOSES LAKE — For a lot of people, their home is the most valuable thing they’ll ever own. And when you have something valuable, naturally, you want to protect it. But how much homeowners insurance do you need? There’s a common misconception that homeowners insurance is based on the market value of the home. That’s not how it works, say the experts. Rather, it’s based on what it would cost to rebuild or replace what’s damaged...

Royal City gets bookish

ROYAL CITY – Future library patrons cheer as the sign marking the location of the planned Royal City Library was unveiled April 11. The new library, when complete, will be more than three times as large as the existing facility, which stands across the street from the new site.

George City Council considers security agreement

GEORGE — The George City Council discussed, but did not decide on, a novel offer from the Port of Quincy at its monthly meeting Tuesday evening. The proposal is an interlocal agreement between the city and the Port, said Mayor Gerene Nelson in a separate interview Thursday. Under the agreement, the Port would supply six hours a day of security service to the city, to stave off graffiti, petty theft and the like. The Port has started to offer security services to businesses within the port district, but this would be the first such agreement with a municipality. “Nobody else has done that,” Nelson said. “So we're the guinea pigs, and that's part of my hesitancy. I need to make sure everything is carefully done.” ...

Youth art sought for national competition

COLUMBIA BASIN — Young artists are invited to try for a chance to be shown at the Capitol, according to a statement from U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-WA...

Dryland gardening

Event looks at landscaping in the age of climate change

MOSES LAKE — A whole new dimension of gardening will be on display in Moses Lake next week. “We’re looking at the gardening effects of climate change, for the public to learn about how climate change is going to affect gardening,” said Mark Amara, with the Washington State University Extension Grant-Adams Master Gardeners. The Columbia Basin Conservation District and the Master Gardener program will host the sixth annual Columbia Basin Eco-Gardening Symposium on April 22, which is also Earth Day. The event, held at the Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center, goes from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will include speakers, vendors, exhibitors and even a few door prizes.

Regal save: New committee steps up to save Royal City Summerfest

ROYAL CITY — Yes, there will be a Summerfest. Back in December, the Royal City Summerfest committee put out a request on social media for new committee members because all of the existing members, who had shouldered the burden for years, were stepping down for a variety of reasons. By March, it was beginning to look as though the event would be history. Now, with a new committee chaired by Jonathan Cox of Royal City, the town’s biggest community event will take place on schedule, July 7-8...

Summerfest, library discussed at Royal meeting

ROYAL CITY — Summerfest, the library and a U.S. Department of Agriculture loan were among the topics of Tuesday’s Royal City City Council meeting. Grant County Commissioner Cindy Carter addressed the council regarding arrangements for the car show that’s a traditional part of Summerfest. In the past cars have parked on the pavement, but Carter requested the council’s permission to put the cars on the grass toward the south end of Lions Park on Friday...

Hoppy hunting

George Easter egg hunt brings out energetic crowd

GEORGE — The official count was 133 children at the George Easter egg hunt Saturday morning, but it looked like twice that many, possibly because they were so excited they couldn’t stay in one place. The weather had been nasty the day before, but Saturday the sun was shining and the wind was negligible. The Georgettes, the local women’s service organization that organized the event, had a stand set up with coffee and doughnuts for the adults. The lawn outside the George Community Hall was scattered with about 1,000 eggs, according to Georgette Jeannie Kiehn, one of the organizers...

Ephrata Chamber to host first business expo

EPHRATA — The Ephrata Chamber of Commerce will host its first annual Business Expo Wednesday. The new event has received unexpected, but welcome support, chamber officials said. “Our goal was 25 businesses,” said Chamber Director Rita Witte. “We actually got 47.” ...

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.

Checking it out

A home inspector can catch problems before they turn expensive

MOSES LAKE — Buying a home can be a risky proposition. There are many things that could go wrong with the home or the land, so many things that prospective buyers could miss that could cost them a lot of money down the road. That’s where a professional home inspector comes in. “I've looked at houses and fallen in love with the house,” said Henry Counter, owner of Pillar to Post Home Inspectors in Ephrata. “And then after you move in, you find everything that's wrong with it.” “Home inspections are a critical part of the home buying and selling process,” the National Association of Realtors wrote on its website. “Failure to obtain a home inspection could potentially cost you a great deal of money and hassles in the long run.”

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.”

Tax help available at senior centers

MOSES LAKE — Taxes can be confusing at the best of times. The Moses Lake and Ephrata senior centers are teaming up with AARP to take some of the confusion out of them at no charge. The AARP Foundation Tax-Aide program is supplying volunteers to assist seniors with filling out and filing their tax forms, according to Tax Aide’s Moses Lake coordinator Jeanette Entz. The volunteers undergo training in January and at the end of the training take the same test tax preparers take, Entz said...

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...

Royal schools adopt new math curriculum

Teachers excited about new methods that focus on helping students learn visually.

ROYAL CITY — Royal schools will be seeing some changes in math after the Royal School Board voted unanimously at its meeting Monday to adopt new K-3 and 4-6 math curricula. The curriculum for elementary students is called Eureka Math2 and makes extensive use of hands-on and digital aids. Second-grade teacher Rachel Dubes showed the board one such aid, an abacus-like device called a Rekenrek, and described how it had spurred her students into multiplication...

Royal City robotics team has chance to compete in California

ROYAL CITY — If they can raise the money, nine budding Royal City engineers will be headed to California next month. The Royal Middle School robotics team, dubbed the Power Rangers, excelled both at the regional competition in Richland and the state competition in Spokane, bringing home the Champion Finalist Award said their robotics teacher and coach, Theresa Piper. Their next stop, they hope, will be the Western Edge Invitational, held May 12-14 in Long Beach, California...

Reading room

Royal City library moves closer to larger space

ROYAL CITY — Royal City’s library is about to have some breathing room. “We are hurting for space,” said librarian Jess Rosez. “Sometimes we have our programs indoors and they get a little bit tight. So we're really excited for the expansion.” The current library, located at 136 Camelia St., is only 1,200 square feet, said Susan Piercy, president of Royal City Friends of the Library.

Record hunt

Youth Outdoors Unlimited raises largest amount of funds for young hunters and anglers to date

MOSES LAKE — The room was brimming with both people and emotion at the Youth Outdoors Unlimited fundraiser banquet the evening of March 4. “We made a little over $129,000, which is an all-time record,” said YOU founder and director Cindy Carpenter. “We are so blessed to have such generous support from our hometown.” ...

Exploring the Seep Lakes can pay off for anglers

MARDON RESORT — Between Moses Lake and Othello, there’s a great big reservoir that boasts excellent bass, walleye and other fishing. Potholes Reservoir is kind of a well-known mecca for anglers. Head a little south and the landscape is dotted with myriad little spots of blue, somewhere around 70 of them – nobody really seems sure. These are the Seep Lakes, and they’re one of the Basin’s best-kept fishing secrets...

Perfect fit

Achievement Award winner has found her niche

MOSES LAKE — Sometimes, the profession and the person just match up neatly. LeRae Redal has a story like that. The owner of Moses Lake Real Estate Group, who received the Achievement Award at the Moses Lake-Othello Realtors Association in January, sort of fell into real estate 25 years ago and has been thriving there ever since. “I had a store downtown, (called) The Perfect Ac’Scent,” Redal said. “I decided that it was time to sell that and move on, and I got an offer on it. Then I was taking care of my dad's RV park – he was sick and going for treatment.”

Early days

It’s not time to plant yet, but there’s still plenty of garden preparation to do

MOSES LAKE — Spring is finally here, or so we all hope, although last week’s weather may have shattered many people’s faith in the season. And spring means the garden is calling. But don’t be too eager to answer that call, experts say. “Things are still really dormant, you know, and so people need to be a little patient,” said Lisa Villegas, owner of Seed Cupboard Nursery in Royal City. “One thing that you need to remember is it's still way too early in our area for most types of plants to be out. We're in Zone 6B here in Moses Lake, and our last frost date is approximately May 2. I don't ever put my plants out, my seedlings and annual flowers, until around Mother's Day,” said Valerie Parrott, president of the Moses Lake Garden Club and owner of Seed Cupboard’s satellite nursery in Moses Lake.

Full house

Columbia Basin Home and Garden Show draws crowds

MOSES LAKE — It was only about an hour into the first day of the Columbia Basin Home and Garden Show Friday morning, and already the place was packed. “I’m very happy with the way it’s started,” said Joe Eaton, behind tables laden with hot sauces and jerky. “You know, I've been vending for 28 years. And when someone says it's a first-time event, I always get a little nervous.” The show occupied the Commercial Building at the Grant County Fairgrounds, and it wasn’t just customers who filled the venue. The show’s organizers, the team at Seed Cupboard Nursery, had originally planned for 50 vendors, but ended up having closer to 70. Originally, the organizers had asked a different organization to put the show together, Seed Cupboard owner Lisa Villegas said, but couldn’t get anyone interested, so they ended up organizing it themselves.

Growing excitement

Seed Cupboard Nursery opens for the season

ROYAL CITY — It takes a little work to get to Seed Cupboard Nursery, a mile or so west of Royal City. Every year though, lots of people think it’s worth the drive. We draw from around the entire community,” said Seed Cupboard owner Lisa Villegas. “From down in Desert Aire, Mattawa, they drive from Ellensburg, a small group from Wenatchee, Quincy, Ephrata, a lot of people from Moses and Othello. So we're kind of in the center. We're not in just one of those locations, so we're fortunate to have really loyal customers that come from all of those locations and support us.” Seed Cupboard, which opened for the year on Wednesday, is in its eleventh year of business, Villegas said. It started in a small red barn and one greenhouse, as Villegas’ retirement project, but that small scale didn’t last for long, she said.

Central Washington on display

Moses Lake Museum exhibit shows the best of our region

MOSES LAKE — Central Washington, in all its beauty, is on display at the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center. The exhibition titled simply “Life in Central Washington” features the work of Yakima Valley Arts Association members. The show opened on Feb. 3 and runs until March 17. “All the pieces in the show are pretty much inspired by our landscape,” said Dollie Boyd, director of the museum. “The work that we do here, the agriculture, the plants, the flora, the fauna.”

Versatile sound

Badger Mountain Dry Band creates bluegrass out of varied material

GEORGE — Almost anything can be turned into bluegrass, as the Badger Mountain Dry Band demonstrated at the George Community Hall on Saturday. “We play lots of different kinds and styles of music,” said Jim Honeyman, lead vocalist and mandolin player for BMDB. “Basically whatever we want, adapted into bluegrass style and played with bluegrass instruments.” Saturday’s set list covered a pretty broad range of music, all converted, as Honeyman said, run through the filter of mandolin, fiddle, guitar and high vocals (sung from the heart and through the nose, as banjo player Nick McLean said) that defines bluegrass.

Moses Lake woman jailed following damage to courthouse

EPHRATA — A Moses Lake woman is in jail after inflicting damage on the Grant County Courthouse in the wee hours of Friday morning.

Thinking small

Kit home legislation could ease housing crunch, aid those facing homelessness

OLYMPIA — Everybody knows there’s a housing shortage, especially for very low-income people and solutions are hard to come by. State Sen. Jeff Wilson, D-Longview, thinks he may have the start of one, however. “A hundred years ago, people bought houses from the Sears catalog – they came in a boxcar, you found a local crew to build them or you did it yourself,” Wilson wrote in a press release announcing the introduction of Senate Bill 5657. “We see prewar kit bungalows standing proudly today in every community of the state. As prices of starter homes skyrocket, we ought to take another look at kit homes as a solution for today.”

Arting early

Young, local artists on display at museum

MOSES LAKE — More than 250 budding artists got to see their work on display and show it off to the community Saturday at the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center. “Oh, everyone has been so excited,” said Colleen Seto, the preschool instructor at the museum. “The preschool teachers showed up; the children have been able to show off their art, their friends’ art.” ...

Summerfest at risk

ROYAL CITY — Last July, the streets of Royal City were filled with fun as the town’s annual Summerfest brought out parades, concerts, games and food. This year, it may not happen. “Nobody wants to volunteer anymore,” said Carly Smith, the chair of the Summerfest committee. “It can’t be run by four people, and four people only,” Those four people – Smith, Tiffany Workinger, Sharon Chesterman and Sherrie Rodriguez – have been the entire committee for the last three years, Workinger said, and all have stepped down this year due to other obligations.

Royal City considers security cameras

ROYAL CITY — The Royal City City Council considered the purchase of surveillance cameras at Tuesday’s meeting. Royal City Police Chief Rey Rodriguez presented council members with three options for PODS, or portable observation devices from Security Lines US, a California-based supplier of electronic surveillance equipment. “This first set I want to put right here as close as we can to Camelia and Ahlers,” he said. “To keep an eye on the park and that intersection (where) you get a lot of collisions.”

Refuge at Mae Valley

New Hayden development selling fast on west shore of Moses Lake

MOSES LAKE — There was a time not so long ago when Mae Valley west of Moses Lake was fairly wide open, with not much more than a golf course and Blue Heron Park, then called the Moses Lake State Park and a few streets of small houses. The west shore of Moses Lake has boomed in the last couple of decades though, and now there’s one more development springing up. The Refuge at Mae Valley is the latest development in Moses Lake by Redmond, Oregon-based Hayden Homes, which has built numerous others over the years, including the Crossroads and Hayden Estates neighborhoods north of Nelson Road on either side of Highway 17, and more recently, Maple Grove near Highway 17 and Grape Drive. Hayden Homes has been building in the Basin since 1993, according to the company’s website, with an emphasis on affordable family housing.

Thinking ahead

Chess players face off in Ephrata

EPHRATA — Chess isn’t something most people think of as a spectator sport, but in Ephrata on Saturday, it was the center of attention as about 100 children, encouraged by parents and teachers, gathered at Parkway Elementary School to show their checkmate chops. “Chess is a real thinker's game,” said Roger Pugh of the Waypoint Foundation in Ephrata, which sponsors the annual tournament. “You’ve got to think ahead. You’ve got to think before you move, and if not, you're gonna pay some consequences. And we hope they can use that same lesson in life.” ...

Vanguard Now

Students highlight passion project during presentation

MOSES LAKE - From left, Peter Martin, Gauge Brown and Warren Skaug present the story of their online school news program “Vanguard Now” at Vanguard Academy’s Passion Project presentation event. About 900 parents, friends and family members came to the school to see students show off projects including baked goods, art and a homemade recumbent bike. About 300 projects were presented, according to Vanguard Principal Kelly Cutter.

Drive to succeed

Moses Lake-Othello Realtor of the Year making waves in the business

MOSES LAKE — The signs in Tara Zerbo’s office say it all: “I’m not bossy, I’m motivational” and “Wake up, kick (backside), repeat.” Zerbo, 37, was named Realtor of the Year by the Moses Lake-Othello Association of Realtors on Jan. 21. She also stepped down at that time as the president of the association, a role she handled with the same drive and energy her signs attest to. “Tara Zerbo is a first class person, takes her career extremely seriously and is a great role model,” said Jason Hall, managing broker at BHGRE Gary Mann Realty. “She was successful before entering the real estate industry so it's not surprising how well she is doing.”

Ruff times

Grant County Animal Outreach deals with overcrowding, dated facility, challenging jobs at Moses Lake shelter.

MOSES LAKE — Grant County Animal Outreach has run out of room. “The facility was built in World War II,” said Kar Vanerstrom, GCAO’s vice president. “And there haven't been any updates on it, so it's kind of in dire straits.” ...

Facing the past

Racial restrictions still on the books in some Basin neighborhoods

MOSES LAKE — When you buy a home, there are often neighborhood covenants that come with the property. Sometimes you have to have your house set a certain distance back from the street, or you can’t put up a shed as a second residence, or you can’t run certain kinds of business out of the house. And on paper, at least, sometimes you have to be white to live there. “Starting in the mid-20th century in eastern Washington, and earlier in some other places, developers began adding racial restrictions,” said Dr. Larry Cebula, a professor of history at EWU and managing director of the project. “These typically read ‘only members of the white or Caucasian race will live here.’ There’s usually a kind of codicil saying ‘excepting servants thereof.’ So if you had a servant who was a person of color, they could live there. Most of the racial covenants we find in eastern Washington reads like that. Sometimes there’s a list of who can’t live there: ‘No Negros may live here,’ ‘no members of the Asiatic race,’ – something like that. The language varies, but it’s usually only whites.” ...

Home sales drop, but show signs of bouncing back

MOSES LAKE — Home sales dropped pretty hard last month. According to data from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, home sales in Washington dropped from 8,017 in December 2021 to 4,524 in December 2022, a 43.57% decrease. Grant County followed the trend with a drop of 44.57% from 2021. For the year as a whole, 1,103 homes were sold in Grant County in 2022 compared to 1,311 in 2021, a dip of 15.87%. Adams County sales dropped from 163 in 2021 to 139 in 2022, a 14.72% decrease. “There was nothing for anyone to buy,” said Tera Zerbo, a Realtor with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Gary Mann Realty. “Nobody was putting their stuff on the market, so it made it really hard for you to move. Because you had your house you could sell, but where were you going to go? So there's no movement … Inventory was just non-existent. And the thing is last year, the interest rates were great, and people wanted to move and take advantage of all of that. And the appreciation in homes was fantastic. It's just we just didn't have any inventory.”

Farm efficiency

Tech advances help farmers manage crops

MOSES LAKE – As technology advances for fancy cars, trucks and devices in our pockets, so do advances in equipment used to grow our food. With employees stretched thin, advances in agricultural tech can help keep ag pros going. “One of the biggest situations is labor,” said Tim Prickett, co-owner of Rashco Farm Supply in Moses Lake, Washington. “(The response to) the increases in cost of labor is to mechanize, improve their processes. So that's kind of what we try to do is to find equipment that is going to reduce their inputs and increase their outputs.” ...

The dream lives on

Moses Lake gathers to honor Martin Luther King Jr.

MOSES LAKE — Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream is still alive. That was the point that more than one speaker made at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration last Monday in Moses Lake. The event began with a march down Third Avenue to the Moses Lake Civic Center, and continued with songs, prayers and a reading of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech. That speech spoke of a day “when all of God's children, Black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing.” “That speech, if you read through it, we're currently in that day. As I was looking out at the crowd, it was a very diverse crowd. And I saw that as he was speaking it, he was seeing into the future. And so I was thinking, I was standing in the future, looking back at what he was seeing, and it was just a surreal type of thing,” said Isaac Jones, who delivered the gathering’s keynote speech...

Odd jobs

Moses Lake's Home Electrical tackles the strange stuff

MOSES LAKE — James Anderson likes odd jobs. And sometimes they get pretty odd. Anderson is the owner of Home Electrical Services, based in Moses Lake. The name may sound pretty ordinary, but HES’ repertoire is anything but. Anderson prides himself on taking on jobs other places don’t want to do. “We recently did a churro line in Connell,” Anderson said. “And we had to set it all up and hook it up for him. It was a two-year project. It took two years to get it done. We just finished it.” ...

Something off?

What to do when a real estate professional lets you down

COLUMBIA BASIN — In a perfect world, every real estate transaction would be completely above board, and all parties would walk away happy. Unfortunately, it’s not a perfect world. Serious disputes between real estate professionals and clients aren’t common, but they do happen. So what is a person who feels wronged to do? Well, the best solution is not to get into a bad situation. Do your homework first, suggested Logan Hickle, spokesman for the Better Business Bureau...

Back in the game

Big Bend Cooperative Preschool re-opens in new digs

MOSES LAKE — The Big Bend Cooperative Preschool is back. The preschool, which had operated on the Big Bend Community College campus since the 1960s, was forced to shut down like so many other things in the summer of 2020. Now it’s found a new home at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Moses Lake. “We were part of the college,” said preschool Board Member Jennifer Hickok. “And then we leased a spot at the college and the college, right before COVID, canceled our lease. And so we had to find a new place to be. Of course, it was during COVID, where are you going to go? It was really hard to keep open. The previous board actually made the decision to close because there was nothing we could do.” ...

Local talent

Moses Lake Museum showcases member’s works

MOSES LAKE — Oil portraits. Photos. Welded sculptures. Intricately painted feathers. Virtually anything a local artist can create is on display at the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center. “I keep telling everyone, there's something for everyone in this show, literally,” said Museum Director Dollie Boyd. “Because there's so many different styles and types of mediums. There's photography, there's this kind of upcycled work. There's paintings and illustrations. So it's a really cool mix. And I think everybody will find something they like.” This is the second year the museum has thrown open its gallery to its members and invited them to show off their creations. About 32 artists entered 90 artworks this year, which pretty well maxed out the available space, Boyd said.

Soap Lake standoff ends without incident

SOAP LAKE — A felony suspect is in custody after a standoff with police in Soap Lake Friday afternoon. The suspect, who had a felony warrant, fled on foot from a Soap Lake Police officer and ran into a residence in the 300 block of Road 20 Northwest, said Kyle Foreman, public information officer for the Grant County Sheriff’s Office. He stayed in the house for at least two hours, Foreman said, while the SLPD called for assistance from the sheriff’s office. Because the residence was close to Soap Lake schools, the schools were put on modified lockdown during the standoff. “He didn’t want to come out for a long time, and then we were able to coax him out of the house,” Foreman said. The suspect was taken into custody without incident, Foreman said. Neither the suspect’s name nor what his warrant was for was available Friday. Joel Martin can be reached at [email protected]

Sitting pretty

More than half of Washington homeowners equity-rich

COLUMBIA BASIN — Lots of homeowners are in good shape this year. A recent study by analysis firm ATTOM Data Solutions indicates that nearly half of mortgaged residential properties in the U.S. were considered equity-rich, meaning that the amount owed on them was no more than half the estimated value, the report said. “The way you make money on your home is your equity,” explained Jessie “Weno” Dominguez, CEO of Imagine Realty Group in Othello. “And the way you look at equity is as your savings account. So if I purchased a home, let's say, four years ago, right before the craziness, for $200,000, I put 5% down, I owed $190,000. I've been paying it for five years and owe now $170,000. I kept the house up, maintained it, kept it pretty nice. As home values rise, the prices continue to go up. That same home is now worth, let's say, $425,000, and I owe $170,000. So I'm equity-rich.” The study indicated that in the third quarter of 2022, 48.5% of mortgaged homes were classed as equity-rich, compared to 48.1% in second quarter and 39.5% in the third quarter of 2021. In fact, the the third quarter of 2022 marked the 10th consecutive quarter in which the proportion of equity-rich homes increased, according to the ATTOM report.

Royal City approves golf course funding

ROYAL CITY — The Royal City Golf Course could be getting a boost this year. The Royal City City Council voted Tuesday to approve an amendment to the usual annual agreement between the city and the Royal Golf Association regarding funding for the Royal City Golf Course. The amendment would allow the Royal Golf Association to request up to $30,000 in additional city funding for equipment replacements. “They have equipment there that's been aging for years,” Finance Director Shilo Christensen told the Herald Thursday. “And they just don't have a way to fund capital expenditures for equipment purchases. The last few years, they've been saying they're having a hard time with their current equipment. So this year, they're saying, well, maybe the city as part of the management team can help fund that. Because if they can't maintain the golf course, then we have no golf course.”

Booking history

Carnegie library in Ritzville looks to serve community

RITZVILLE - It’s a long way from Dunfermline, Scotland to Ritzville, Washington. Four thousand, three hundred eighty miles as the crow flies, in fact. (A very, very determined and untiring crow.) So why is the name of a child laborer from Dunfermline engraved proudly above a building in Ritzville? Because Andrew Carnegie loved books and wanted other people to enjoy them. “Being an immigrant and being poor when he first got here, he was really into helping the working class work their way up,” said Millie Hopkins, circulation manager for the East Adams Library District, which operates the Ritzville Carnegie Library...

Highway oasis

Java Bloom serves weary travelers and antique lovers

WASHTUCNA – For a lot of SR 26, there’s not a lot to see. One wheat field follows another as the interminable miles blur together. Then you dip into a small coulee and there before you, at the edge of Washtucna, is Java Bloom. “We wanted to do something at the corner here to help travelers since we're out in the middle of nowhere,” said Patricia Hulett, who owns Java Bloom with her husband Bill. “To give people a place to stop and refresh.” ...

‘This is such a wonderful season’

Gothard Sisters give Christmas a Celtic flavor

MOSES LAKE — The Wallenstien Theater took on a Celtic glow Tuesday evening, as the Gothard Sisters, Greta, Willow and Solana, brought their Christmas concert to Moses Lake. “This is such a wonderful season. I always love December when it comes around,” said Solana, the youngest of the trio...