JOEL MARTIN

Screen test

Royal High School News team keeps students in the loop

ROYAL CITY — Royal High School students can’t say they don’t know what’s going on in their school. “Hello, and welcome to this … edition of Royal High School News,” says a young anchorperson, holding a printed script and flanked by a classmate and a coffee mug that says “RHS News.” The edition changes according to whatever is being recognized on that particular day: National Education Week on Dec. 2, National Zipper Day on April 29. The teenage journalists go on to introduce themselves and the happenings of the day at Royal High School before launching into an interview with a teacher or an athlete...

Home prices up, sales down for November

MOSES LAKE — Home sales were down across Washington compared to November 2021, according to a statement from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, with rural East Side counties showing some of the heaviest declines. At the same time, median prices rose slightly, also with the exception of some rural counties. “Determined buyers are purchasing homes, with pent-up demand driving the market,” said Dean Rebhuhn, owner of Village Homes and Properties in Woodinville, in the statement. “Sellers who price to the market are attracting showings and receiving good offers.” ...

Area libraries to be redesigned

WENATCHEE — Libraries in the region will be getting a facelift, according to a statement from North Central Washington Libraries. The NCW Libraries Reimagining Spaces Project represents a $10 million, multi-year redesign of all the libraries in the NCWL system, NCWL spokesperson Amanda Brack told the Herald. Twenty-seven of those libraries, including all the branches in Grant County, will be redesigned by Library Forward, out of San Francisco, in conjunction with Wenatchee-based Forte Architects. Work is already underway at the remaining three libraries, in Wenatchee, Winthrop and Brewster, also funded by the Reimagining Spaces Project...

Celebrating agriculture

Ag Parade shines brightly through bitter cold

MOSES LAKE — It was chillier than a penguin’s toes Friday evening, but that didn’t deter the crowds at the annual Ag Appreciation Parade in Moses Lake. “I have never been so cold,” said Denise Kinder, president of the Downtown Moses Lake Association, as she organized parade floats in the Surf ‘n Slide Water Park parking lot. The temperature was somewhere in the teens and there was still snow on the ground from earlier in the week. Kinder wasn’t sure off the top of her head how many entrants there were, but she estimated 50 or 60, about in line with last year...

‘Pretty drastic’

Food banks gear up for increased need

COLUMBIA BASIN — With the year winding down and the holidays looming, more and more people are counting on local food banks to make ends meet, especially in a struggling economy. “We had a 19% increase from Thanksgiving week last year,” said Peny Archer, executive director of Community Services of Moses Lake, which operates the Moses Lake Food Bank. “Our numbers are definitely climbing. It’s pretty drastic. I mean, any for-profit (organization) that had that 19% increase would be really excited.” Unfortunately, that kind of growth isn’t a good thing when you’re helping the needy. In the United States, more than 10% of households are food-insecure, according to a USDA study completed last year. The numbers are higher in rural areas: 11% of households have low or no food security, and 87% of the counties with the highest food insecurity rates are rural – in places like Grant and Adams counties.

Merry and bright

All-out holiday decorating takes a lot of work, planning and holiday spirit

MOSES LAKE — Now that the Halloween and Thanksgiving holidays are over, it’s time to prepare for the big one. For a lot of us, Christmas decorating means setting up the tree, dusting off the Nativity scene and maybe hanging some twinkling lights around the front window. But some folks like to take decorating to a whole different level, with lights upon lights upon lights and inflatable figures of every variety that can turn a neighborhood into a winter wonderland. For those who go full Griswold, there’s a lot of work that goes into it. “It's taken probably two and a half to three weeks this year to get everything up,” said Alan Coulter, whose holiday displays are considered legendary in Moses Lake. “When we moved here in the Montlake neighborhood about 20 years ago, we only had a couple of inflatables. This year, we have 75 inflatables, we’ve got 30 walk-through illuminated arches, three-quarters of a mile of extension cords laying out there and close to 15,000 lights. So yeah, it's grown.” ...

Keeping Warm

Take steps now to winterize your house inside and out

COLUMBIA BASIN — As perceptive observers may have noticed, the weather has recently changed. Here in the Basin, we’ve had our brief annual visit from fall and winter is now pounding at our door like a battering ram. Which means it’s time to seal up, wrap up and warm up the house. “One of the things obviously, when you're coming into the winter, is that people at home should definitely be checking all their air filters,” said Logan Hickle, a spokesman for the Better Business Bureau. “They should be checking their windows and their doors, making sure all the correct sealants are in place, if anything's cracking, getting that replaced, because that can one help keep you warm and to save on energy bills.” “When you're worried about winterization, the biggest issues are the pipes, and then things like insulation,” said McLain Fanning, general manager of Ace Hardware in Royal City. “Of course, it's nice to have a good space heater. But that's not worth all that much if you have all these cracks in your home, if there's any spaces where you can see daylight through like a door frame or a window, or sometimes people will put a hole in their garage to run an air compressor hose into their shop or something. If there's any place where air can freely travel, basically that makes it so you're heating the world instead of just your home.”

‘Enriching lives’

Entrust Community Services helps people with disabilities be included

MOSES LAKE — Entrust Community Services’ slogan is “Enriching lives thorough opportunity,” and that’s what they’ve been doing, without a lot of fanfare or publicity. “We do four things,” said Entrust CEO Tom Gaulke. “We work with high school students with disabilities to try to help them get jobs before they graduate school. So they graduate into something not nothing. We work with folks with disabilities of all kinds in our employment program. And our employment program serves folks with a wide range of disabilities ... We do housing for folks who are living on the streets or are at risk of losing their homes. We help them find places to live ... And then the last thing we do is community inclusion, which is working with our families who have those adult children who maybe work is not something they want to pursue. And we work to connect them up to their community. So we engage in in clubs and classes and social activities within the community to give the parents a break, but then also to develop skills in those folks so they can gain some more independence and move throughout the community.”

Royal City considers 2023 budget

ROYAL CITY — The Royal City City Council tentatively approved the city’s budget for 2023 at its meeting Tuesday evening. The first part of the meeting was the last public hearing on the budget, city Finance Director Shilo Christensen said, although no members of the public turned up to comment on it. “We're required to have so many public hearings before we adopt it,” Christensen said. “So this is our final public hearing. We can continue to talk about as much as we want, we just have to adopt it before the end of the year. So my assumption is, the first or second council meeting in December it will be adopted.”

‘It was the kiddos’

MLCA teacher came to her dream job in roundabout way

Julie Carvo said she didn’t plan from the outset to become a teacher. It just sort of crept up on her. Carvo, who’s been teaching fourth grade at Moses Lake Christian Academy for 10 years, started out home-schooling her own kids. While she was doing that, her husband suggested she put that experience to another use. “He said, ‘Honey, I know you love what you're doing, but would you like to go get the paperwork that says you're qualified to do what you're doing?’” Carvo recalled. “So I said, ‘Sure, no problem.’ So that's when I went to school to get the paperwork that said I'm qualified to do what I'm already doing.” At first, Carvo was helping out students at Moses Lake High School who were in danger of missing graduation because of a behavioral or medical problem.

‘This is what I love to do’

Royal teacher wants to help kids overcome adversity

Middle school is a tough time for most kids. Some thrive in those years, some just survive, but they all change one way or another. Jesus Santiago came out of it knowing what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. “When I was in junior high, I was having a difficult time. I was having bad influences in my life. And then there was a teacher who guided me to do better, to be better, and to overcome those obstacles to academic goals.”

OSPI looks at additional educational supports

Reykdall discusses transitional kindergarten and free school supplies and books

OLYMPIA — Washington’s youngest learners need an extra boost, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal said Thursday in a press conference. “Roughly 20 to 25% of Washington students enter kindergarten needing additional supports in literacy. That's a big number. We obviously get 70%, 80% of those students to important standards by the end, and we graduate 85-plus (percent) or more of our students. So we make great progress. But the work involved in the challenges for young people when they come not quite prepared for kindergarten is significant. And we can do something about that.” One thing Reykdal said Washington is doing about that is partnering with singer/actress Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program. Children who sign up for the Imagination Library can have one age-appropriate book mailed to them every month from birth to age 5, according to the Imagination Library Washington website. The Washington Legislature has entered into an agreement with Imagination Library to provide matching funds to local organizations to expand the program statewide, Reeykdal said, using surplus money from emergency relief funds...

Royal City soldier takes recruiting to the screen

ROYAL CITY — Royal City native Pedro Popoca is helping to recruit the next generation of soldiers. Popoca, a second lieutenant in the Army National Guard now living in Seattle, appeared recently in videos for the Army’s “Decide to Lead” promotion campaign to increase officer training participation. “It was actually one of my friends that's also an officer in the program with me (that got me into it),” Popoca said. “She was pictured in another video and she was telling me that they were looking for more people to be part of that campaign video. I ended up interviewing for this campaign and they liked me, so they put me into the video.” Popoca has roles in two videos, both of which can be found on YouTube. In “So Early,” he is shown helping a cadet climb a structure in an obstacle course, then being helped up in turn. In “Together,” he is seen carrying a map and leading cadets into a forest clearing for night training...

Acing it

New Royal City store lets area residents shop locally

When it comes to business, small towns often face kind of a vicious cycle. Many chains won’t locate in a community below a certain population, which means people have to drive to a larger city to shop. And the more shopping they do out of town, the fewer things they buy in their hometown. That’s been a problem in Royal City, where there are only so many things you can buy without driving to Othello (24 miles away) or Moses Lake (31 miles) or the Tri-Cities (75 miles). The new Ace Hardware store, which opened in September, could go a long way toward easing that problem. “We saw the need for it here in the community,” said Josh Fanning, one of the owners. “And we just believe that we can be a source for all of South Grant County to find lumber, feed and hardware goods.”

Native voices

Area library challenge brings Indigenous voices to the fore

WENATCHEE — The North Central Washington Libraries will mark Native American Heritage Month with a virtual reading challenge focusing on books at all age levels by Native American authors. “As part of our online reading app Beanstack, we do different reading challenges each month,” said Teen Services Director Jessica Lynch. “And this month, the challenge is aligned with Native American Heritage Month.” November was first designated Native American History Month in 1990, with a proclamation by President George Bush, according to the government website nativeamericanhistorymonth.gov. Similar presidential proclamations have been issued every year since 1994.

New Americans

25 people take oath of citizenship in Wenatchee

WENATCHEE — It was an emotional, ebullient moment when 25 immigrants to the United States took their oaths of citizenship Tuesday in Wenatchee. “Citizenship is a unique bond that unites people around the civic ideals and a belief in the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution,” said Patrick Molitoris, U.S. Customs and Immigration Services officer in his opening remarks. “So today, we will we celebrate citizenship and the bond we will soon share as fellow Americans.” The Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center was the venue for the ceremony, and it was filled with not just prospective citizens but their families and friends as well. Members of the local community came to welcome the new citizens as well including the mayors of Wenatchee and East Wenatchee, police officers, teachers and volunteers...

MLCA auction supports Christian education

MOSES LAKE — The event center at Moses Lake Christian Academy was packed to the gills with 200 attendees plus volunteers Saturday night, as the school held its annual fundraiser banquet and auction. “We actually sold exactly 200 seats, said Janeil Koethke, the auction committee chairman. “That's as many as we can fit in, so we had to cut it off. We had some volunteers who didn't have a seat.” The auction raised a little less than $130,000, Koethke said, a dramatic increase over last year’s auction, which she estimated brought in around $80,000.

‘It’s a people business’

Moses Lake real estate professional focuses on people, hometown

MOSES LAKE — For Ben Sellen, it’s not primarily about the houses or the land. “It's a people business,” he said. “It's not about selling somebody a house, it's helping your client with the problem that they have. They need to sell it? Okay, what are we looking at? What exactly do they need? They need to buy something? Let's figure out what they need to buy.” Sellen, an agent with Seattle-based eXp Realty, grew up in Moses Lake and handles properties in the Moses Lake area. His family has deep roots in construction, he said, which contributed to his love of real estate...

Royal City drug takeback removes unneeded drugs from circulation

ROYAL CITY — The prescription drug take-back program in Royal City brought in 46 pounds of unused prescription medicines this month, even if the take-back events themselves aren’t overwhelming, the Royal City City Council heard at its meeting Tuesday. “At our first event, we collected about 20 pounds (of prescription medicines), which we thought was a huge success for our first event,” Royal Community Prevention Coalition Coordinator Brisa Sanchez told the council. “And then the second event, we only collected about 15, so just a small amount. This event we collected a little bit less.” The events are held twice a year, and the first was in October 2021, Sanchez told the Herald in an interview Wednesday...

Ancient ways

Wanapum Archaeology Days shines light on milennia-old culture

PRIEST RAPIDS DAM — Inside the Wanapum Heritage Center at Priest Rapids Dam, there’s a sign that says, “We are Wanapum, we are here, we never signed a treaty, we never gave away our land, we never left, we are going to be here tomorrow.” That timelessness was out for all to see during Archaeology Days Oct. 25-26. “It's just kind of a combination of fun and education,” said Christine Pratt, public affairs officer for the Grant PUD. “Kind of visual and fun and face to face with the people who know about things, the Columbia Basin Plateau peoples. You can hear their story in their own words, from them, live while you're learning how to do their craft. It's pretty amazing.” Nobody seems to be certain exactly when the first Archaeology Days was held, but Pratt said it was in the early 2000s. The event, like so much else, went on hiatus during the pandemic, so this year’s was a welcome return. Tuesday was kids’ day, with nearly 500 students from central Washington schools bused in to learn about Wanapum and other Native tribes’ customs, crafts and history...

Top brass

Quintet brings fun, variety to classical music

MOSES LAKE — When the words “brass music” are mentioned, most people picture a marching band, rows on rows of uniformed players belting out marches and school fight songs. Not five women on a stage pushing the boundaries of classical music. Yet that’s just what was happening at the Wallenstein Theater Thursday evening when Seraph Brass took the stage. The all-female brass quintet made Moses Lake the final stop on its Washington tour, invited by the Central Basin Community Concert Association. Before arriving at the Wallenstein, the group had made a stop at Moses Lake High School. “I had the opportunity today to hear the lovely ladies of Seraph Brass play at the high school in the band room,” said Frances Irwin, president of CBCCA. “If only you could have heard them, the students, you would have known why we're here.” ...

Royal dog park fundraising complete

ROYAL CITY - Kristi Jenks, 10, of Royal City, accepts a check for $3,000 toward the Royal City dog park project from Northwest Farm Credit Services at a special assembly at Royal Intermediate School on Sept. 26. The donation brought the total Kristi had raised to $7,900, Heather said. On Monday, the Jenks family received a phone call from the Grant County Humane Society pledging another $15,000, which put the project over the top. Any money left over will be used for improvements to the park such as extra benches and trees, Heather said.

Scaling down

Moving into assisted living takes some adjustments

MOSES LAKE — It’s a time families dread. Mom, or Dad, or Grandma, is slowing down a little, becoming forgetful, maybe having some health problems, and it’s getting to be more than they and their family can keep up with alone. As hard as it is to think about, it’s time to look into assisted living. So how do you make that transition? “We see two very common types of situations,” said Joe Ketterer, executive director of Brookdale Hearthstone Moses Lake, an assisted living facility. “One is the senior living by themselves. It's an unsafe environment, you don't have the housekeeping, the basic assistance with daily living activities ... So it's the solo senior type of situation. Or what's very common is they're living with an adult child, or adult nephew or something like that, and the burden on the family has gone above what they can handle.”

Meet the Herald Part 2:

The news crew

Back in September, we began introducing the members of our team to our readers, starting with the administrative team. Today, we continue with the editorial department. Lots of people read the news every day. But who are the people who write it? Here’s a look at the names and faces behind the stories.

Potato harvest looking up

COLUMBIA BASIN — The state of the taters is, well, pretty darn good this year. “The potato harvest is definitely a lighter crop than what we’re historically used to,” said Dale Lathim, executive director of Potato Growers of Washington. “It’s actually a little bit better than last year in terms of yield. But it’s a lot better than last year in terms of quality.” One reason for this, Lathim said, was the unusual weather in the Northwest earlier in the year. The unusually cool spring delayed the crop’s maturation, he explained.”

Market change

Home prices drop statewide, but Basin still holding steady – for now

MOSES LAKE — Things are beginning to shift in the world of real estate, but it’s hard to know how much of that shift will come to the Basin. Home prices have dropped 0.8% in Washington since June, according to a study by QuoteWizard, a Seattle-based online insurance comparison platform. “Less than 1% may not sound like a huge amount, but you're talking about tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases,” said Nick VinZant, an analyst with QuoteWizard, a Seattle-based online market research company. “That can be a huge difference.” VinZant has a theory as to the reason for the shift. “I think what is happening is two things that are related to one thing,” he said. “And that is that interest rates are starting to rise. That ultimately means that money isn't cheap anymore; you're going to have to pay more interest, it costs you a lot more. So a $500,000 house, the interest that you're going to pay on that is suddenly a lot more than you would have been paying before.”

‘Wicked Spokane’

New book explores the dark underbelly of the Lilac City

EASTERN WASHINGTON — Around the turn of the 20th century, most of the Columbia Basin was little more than miles and miles of sagebrush, coulees and coyotes. There were a few little hamlets dotting the landscape, but nothing you could really call a city. Spokane, on the other hand, was the commercial hub between the Cascades and the Rockies, and it sprang up fast, fueled by mining, railroads and the fertile farmlands surrounding it. Between 1900 and 1910 the city’s population nearly tripled to well over 100,000 residents, according to the U.S. Census records. This brought money, prestige, arts, culture, all the good things that come with urban life. It also brought some, well, unsavory people.

Slices Brick Oven House owners cut ribbon

Ashton, left, and Alivia Boyer cut the ribbon on Slices Brick Oven House, 2707 W. Broadway Ave. in Moses Lake, accompanied by family and members of the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce. Their parents, John and Becky Boyer, assumed ownership of the restaurant in April, Becky Boyer said. Ashton and Alivia’s brother Trevor is the manager. The restaurant features wings, sandwiches, calzones and sandwiches as well as pizza.

Rockin’ the yard

Moses Lake homeowner shows there are more options than grass

MOSES LAKE — There’s more than one way to cover a yard. “I'm not a grass person,” said Teresa Fields of Moses Lake. “I mean, I love grass for the dogs, but, yeah, low maintenance and water conservation is my number one thing. So neighbors have rocks, I take them and I use them. We live here in the Basin, and that's just rocks.” Fields is in the process of turning the front lawn of the house she and her husband Ed own into a big rock garden. She’s already gotten rid of the grass and is staging stones in its place. Some of the rock involved is flat paving stones and gravel, but most of it is just medium-sized roundish rocks that other folks want to get rid of. “I just went near a neighbor's house and they're like, please take them, I'll pay. I said no, I'll take it,” she said. “But little did he know I scored a birdbath in one of the rocks, which is about $2,500.” ...

A decade of heroes

Buddy Walk spotlights people with Down syndrome and their families

MOSES LAKE — The Centennial Amphitheater at McCosh Park was brimming with joy Saturday as the Down Syndrome Society of Grant County held its 10th annual Buddy Walk. “Watching the kids, it’s just so exciting and fun to see them out here enjoying themselves,” said Denise Ketola, one of the event’s organizers and the mother of a 19-year-old with Down syndrome. The event celebrated its first decade this year, and the commemorative T-shirts reflected that, with confetti incorporated into the design. The crowd also sang “Happy Birthday” to the Buddy Walk...

Boys & Girls Club auction to sport a Hollywood theme Saturday

MOSES LAKE — The red carpet will be unrolled, the lights will be bright and the stars will be out in all their glittery glory Saturday night. The local stars, that is. The 27th annual Boys and Girls Club dinner and auction will start at 5:30 at the Big Bend Community College ATEC building. The theme is “A Night at the Oscars,” and attendees are invited to come decked out in their best Tinseltown finery...

Two hurt in Dodson Road crash

ROYAL CITY — Two people suffered serious injuries in a collision near Royal City early Monday afternoon. According to Kyle Foreman, public information officer for the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, a tire service truck was westbound on Road 12 SW when its driver failed to stop at the intersection with Dodson Road and collided with an unloaded potato truck. The two occupants of the tire service truck were taken to Samaritan Hospital with unspecified but serious injuries, Foreman said. The condition of the driver of the potato truck was unknown. The road was cleared and traffic had resumed as normal by 1:30 p.m., according to a GCSO statement.

Grant Co. candidates face off in Mattawa

MATTAWA — The democratic process was on display Thursday evening, as candidates for countywide office faced off at Wahluke High School Thursday evening. The candidates forum, sponsored by the South Grant County Chamber of Commerce, Wahluke School District and the Wahluke Community Coalition and moderated by Columbia Basin Herald Managing Editor Rob Miller, included candidates for the office of Grant County clerk, sheriff and commissioner, as well as for Grant County Superior Court judge. Candidates were given a few minutes to introduce themselves, and then asked a set of pre-selected questions. Joe Harris and Joey Kriete, candidates for Grant County Sheriff, both discussed their long careers in law enforcement. Kriete has been with the Sheriff’s Office for 30 years, he said, both on patrol and running the Corrections Division. Harris has been in law enforcement for 20 years, he said, at the city, county and state levels, including serving as Mattawa chief of police. Both candidates agreed that response times needed to be improved. The trouble is, they said, Grant County is a very large area to patrol and respond to...

Material change

Lumber costs down somewhat, but still high

GRANT COUNTY — It’s the stuff that homes are made of. But lumber, like so many other things, has gotten harder to lay hands on the last few years, and costlier when you can. Unlike other commodities, however, the price of lumber has actually dipped a little in recent months. “They (lumber prices) are still up compared to historically, but they have gone down a little bit,” said Drew Scott, co-owner and manager of CAD Homes in Moses Lake, which currently has several housing developments under construction in the Basin. They have indeed gone down some. Five years ago, in September 2017, lumber futures were trading at $388 per thousand board-feet, according to the website TradingEconomics.com.

Cleaning up history

Remote cemetery shows where an immigrant community once thrived

HARTLINE — On a lonely gravel road somewhere between Hartline and Almira, there’s a small graveyard that is the only tangible evidence of a once-thriving community. “The whole Welsh settlement was about a 15-mile strip north of Hartline, Wilbur, Govan and Almira, just kind of a strip right through there,” said Judy Evans Lindhag, whose family homesteaded next to the cemetery. “In the old time, they called it the ‘Welsh township,’ but it was never a town.” Lindhag was one of about a dozen people who gathered at the Welsh Cemetery Saturday morning to clean up headstones and clear away brush. The work day was planned by Mary Lynne Evans, president of the Puget Sound Welsh Association in Seattle...

High note

Bluegrass festival to fill George with old-fashioned music

GEORGE — The air around George will be filled with a different sound this week, emanating from fiddles, banjos, mandolins and dobros. It will be high, it will be lonesome, and it will be played from the heart. “It's simple in a lot of respects, and in some respects bluegrass is way more complicated than pop music,” said Stan Hall, who plays guitar with the bluegrass band Heartbreak Pass. The George Bluegrass Festival is entering its 15th year, and it looks to be a good one, said organizer Debby Kooy. There are six bands from around the Northwest, as well as workshops, “learn ‘n share” sessions and good old down-home fun. “It's not huge, and it probably never will be numbered among the really big festivals,” Kooy said. “But it's a good little small-town festival. At the peak, which will be on the weekend, we usually have about 150 people. It's not huge, but it's for everybody.”

Staying put

Housing worries rise, but there’s help

MOSES LAKE — It’s the nagging fear every homeowner has when economic times become hard: What if I can’t keep my home? That’s something quite a lot of people are worried about, said Nik VinZant, an analyst with QuoteWizard in Seattle. According to a survey done by QuoteWizard, 17% of people in Washington state are worried about losing their homes in the near future. “Basically, what we did is we looked into US Census Bureau data,” VinZant said. “This is part of the household pulse survey that goes out every couple of weeks and has been going out ever since the beginning of the pandemic. We were actually able to figure out, how many people are behind on their mortgage, how many people are behind on their rent? And then, of those people who are behind on either rent or their mortgage, how many of them feel that they should be either evicted or face foreclosure within the next two months?” That’s not to say that those people are objectively in imminent danger. The same survey showed that only 2% of Washingtonians are actually behind in mortgage payments. But sometimes, perception looms large and can help bring about the very thing people are worried about, Vinzant said...

RCPD gains officer, opts to buy patrol car

ROYAL CITY — Royal City got a new police officer Tuesday evening and will be getting another patrol vehicle as well. Officer Hanna Soelter was sworn in at the Royal City City Council meeting Tuesday by Mayor Kent Anderson. Soelter spent three weeks starting in late July in training with the Moses Lake Police Department, then spent another three weeks with the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, Royal City Police Chief Rey Rodriguez said at the meeting. She’s spent the last two weeks riding with Rodriguez, he said, and will do so for about three more before going on patrol on her own. “She's doing very well,” Rodriguez said. “I'm just kind of riding along and guiding her. She's very up-to-date with her revised codes, her laws (and) procedures. So (she’s) just getting the experience out there.” ...

‘Two Goofy Dogs’

Ephrata author’s children’s book celebrates rescued pets

EPHRATA — Denver Morford is just wild about Harry. And Charlie. Morford, the former owner of Barry Chevrolet in Ephrata, recently published “Two Goofy Dogs,” a children’s book about his experiences with two pooches named Charlie and Harry. Morford had always liked golden retrievers and found them to be well-behaved and trainable. “They were grownups,” he said. “They were mature animals that didn't require a leash. I taught them hand signals so that … I could run my business and they wouldn't be in the way.” Then in 2016 his wife Sarah Morford - who also serves as the public information officer for the Ephrata School District - brought home Charlie, an English cream golden retriever, and everything changed...

Bulking offense

Royal soccer works to maintain strong defense, build O-game

ROYAL CITY — The Royal High School girls soccer team isn’t a bunch of beginners. “We actually have a decent group of seniors,” said Head Coach Jens Jensen. “There's eight, I believe, we may have added a ninth, but we’ve got a decent group of seniors.” Most of his girls haven’t played club soccer, meaning in youth leagues outside of school, he added. The roster is indeed skewed toward upperclassmen; of 19 players, only three are freshmen and one a sophomore. That experience looks likely to pay off, said senior defender Haley Piercy. “I think our forwards are really strong,” she said. “And then we also have experienced defenders.”...

GCSO candidates speak at Realtors association

MOSES LAKE — Grant County Sheriff candidates Joey Kriete and Joe Harris addressed a meeting of the Moses Lake-Othello Association of Realtors on Thursday, covering a range of topics including drugs and theft, as well as administrative and structural ideas for improving the function of the Grant County Sheriff’s Office. Realtor Tara Zerbo introduced the two candidates to an audience of 25 people over lunch at the Porterhouse in Moses Lake. Each candidate spoke for about 15 minutes, then the two fielded questions from the audience. Both discussed their history in law enforcement and agreed that more deputies are needed to cover Grant County as it continues to grow...

Going fast in Moses Lake

Maple Grove homes selling faster than construction

MOSES LAKE — There’s a lot happening in a little area by Highway 17 and Grape Drive, just a little north of the new roundabout. Houses are going up fast, and being snapped up even faster.

‘Where I live’

Museum show features cross-section of Central Washington

MOSES LAKE — Jan Cook Mack covers a lot of ground with her art. “She has such a wide range of talent,” said Angela Hunt, a staffer at the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center. “She can paint people, landscapes, through rocks, anything and make it look good.” Mack’s current exhibit at the museum, entitled “This is Where I Live,” features a wide cross-section of her work. There are enormous sweeping landscapes, portraits of people she knows and still lifes of fruit. Mack, who lives in Wenatchee, grew up in the U.S. and Taiwan, according to the mini-biography posted at the museum. She established herself as an artist in New York City and moved to Eastern Washington in 1986. The show opened on Aug. 19 and runs through Sept. 23. A reception was held Friday, but it was unclear at press time whether Mack would be present for it. As the title suggests, much of Mack’s work on display showcases the unique beauty of her adopted home, the Central Washington coulees and palisades.

CBHA Run for a Cause promotes child health awareness

OTHELLO — The streets of Othello – and some of their occupants – were dappled with color on Saturday morning for the fifth annual Run for a Cause. “It’s a great thing,” said volunteer Jeraldine Estrada, who was helping out for the first time. “It gets the whole community together.” The fifth annual Run for a Cause brought out more than 900 people, according to one volunteer. All of the participants gathered at the Columbia Basin Health Association building for the privilege of being painted. The goal of the event, according to its website, is to raise awareness of childhood health issues and promote healthy activities for children. Funds raised from the event are used to help maintain local parks and assist families in need...

Cactuses thrive in the Basin’s dry summers

MOSES LAKE — At first glance, a cactus doesn’t seem like the sort of plant most people want to grow. It’s spiky and bare-looking and it stabs you if you touch it. On the other (un-perforated) hand, cactuses are durable as all-get-out and they’re lovely when they flower.

Dogged pursuit

Royal City girl seeks funds for park

ROYAL CITY — Never try to tell Kristi Jenks that something can’t be done. Jenks, 10, began the effort to create a dog park in Royal City last year, and she’s still pushing steadily. “I was watching TV, maybe two years ago,” she said. “And it was where these people help kids accomplish things that they've already started, and one of them was for a dog park for training service dogs. That night I took Silver for a walk. And I was telling my mom, and I said we need to get a dog park in Royal City.” Last year she took her idea to the Royal City Council, and they thought a dog park was a great idea. The city even had a patch of land designated for a park that it wasn’t using, at the north end of Beech Avenue. “There's an empty field… and they don't know what to do with it,” said Kristi’s mom, Heather Jenks. “And they said they need more park space but don't have any money to help. So if she can make it happen, they would love that.”

Royal City looks at street improvements

ROYAL CITY — Some streets in Royal City could be getting a makeover, according to information presented at the Royal City Council meeting Tuesday. City Finance Director Shilo Christensen told council members the city is applying to the state Transportation Improvement Board for funds under the Small City Preservation Program to perform chip sealing on streets on the west end of town, as well as on Ahlers and several other streets in the north end. The city is already making improvements in the area anyway, Christensen said, and the chip sealing will be necessary after that work is finished. “We're going to be tearing up the roads putting in new water lines,” Christensen said, showing a map highlighting parts of Balsam, Calla and Grape streets, as well as Hemlock and Hawthorne avenues and Calla Loop. “What our engineers are trying to do is, they're applying to the Transportation Improvement Board to receive funds. So at the same time we're laying pipe, we can redo the roads a lot better.” The streets on the north side of town slated for possible improvement include portions of Ahlers Road, Wildflower and King streets, Poarch and Hargraves avenues and Widmer Drive. This area is not getting the water line upgrade, but the streets are being crack sealed in anticipation of receiving monies for the chip sealing...

Soap Lake gets reader sign, supports students and swears in new council member

SOAP LAKE — The Soap Lake Police Department will communicate a little better with drivers, Chief Ryan Cox said at Wednesday’s city council meeting. SLPD has acquired a reader sign that officers can log into remotely, Cox said, to warn drivers of problems on the road. “Say a collision up north (on) 17 is happening,” Cox said. “So they shut the highway down, which happens quite often. We can alert people that are coming northbound through the city without them going all the way up to Sun Lakes and having to turn all the way back down. So it'll be pretty fun to have.” Cox also told the council that the department was preparing to partner with the town’s schools to purchase school supplies. The money will come from the department’s benevolent fund, he said, and the biggest need appeared to be glue sticks for the elementary school...

Cop shop, funnel cakes, barges and baseball in Studio Basin podcast

In our most recent episode of the Studio Basin podcast, Columbia Basin Herald Managing Editor Rob Miller chatted with reporters Charles Featherstone and Ian Bivona about possible Moses Lake Police expansion, the Grant County Fair and Charles’s adventures rollin’ on the river. The MLPD has outgrown its current building, Featherstone said, and is looking for bigger digs. The department currently shares a building with the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department. MLPD has its eye on five acres on Central Drive, next to the Lauzier ball fields, that could accommodate a 25,000- to 28,000-square-foot building. This would allow MLPD enough room to house a dedicated mental health worker, as well as an agent from the ATF, although some council members weren’t certain about the price tag of a new building versus renovating the current facility. The Grant County Fair started this week and runs through the weekend. Miller talked about the musical lineup at this year’s fair. The country band Lonestar is the big headliner this year, and there are also a number of classic rock cover bands and country singer Kameron Marlowe. Finally, Bivona talked about the Seattle Mariners, the Seahawks and – especially of interest locally – the Babe Ruth World Series, hosted in Ephrata by the Columbia Basin Riverdogs. High school sports are about to start up for the fall, Bivona added.

Bronco Inn named Travelers’ Choice hotel

RITZVILLE — The Bronco Inn, a Best Western hotel in Ritzville, was recently selected for a Travelers’ Choice Award by the online travel company Tripadvisor. The Travelers’ Choice Certificate of Excellence is given annually to hotels, restaurants and other travel-related businesses that rank in the top 10% in consistently good reviews on Tripadvisor’s website, according to Bronco Inn General Manager Nichole Thiel...