View PDF - The Star of Grand Coulee

Page 8 The Star • June 20, 2012
C
Compiled
oulee
ops
from
police files
Grand Coulee
Police
6/8 - A man on Sunset in Electric
City advised police of automatic
gunfire from the Osborn Bay
area. Police responded and found
a person shooting with a “slide
stock” creating near-automatic
firing speed.
- A Nespelem man was stopped
because he and a passenger were
not wearing seatbelts. The two
were cited for this and the driver
was cited for not having registration
present and not having
insurance.
6/11 - A dog named “Kujo”
backed an Electric City worker up
against his truck and made threatening
motions on West Grand Ave.
Police advised the owners of the
dog that they needed to keep it
penned up or on a leash and that
the next time police were called
about the dog, owners would be
cited.
- A woman reported to police
that she was being harassed by
a couple via text messaging. She
said she had received so many text
messages that her phone wouldn’t
work. Police said to inform those
sending the messages to stop, and
not to answer them, and hold them
for police.
- A woman who lives on Crest
Drive in Electric City called police
to say she had in her possession
two dogs that had been running
loose. When police couldn’t reach
the owners of the dogs, which were
unlicensed, the dogs were taken to
the veterinary clinic.
6/12 - A woman reported that
a glass-top table on her deck had
broken during the night. Police
could not find any explanation for
the broken table.
6/13 - A woman running on
Ludolph Road in Electric City said
a medium-sized dog came out and
snarled and showed its teeth. Police
told owners of the dog to keep
it indoors.
- A Spokane driver was stopped
on West Grand Avenue in Electric
City and cited for failing to stop at
an intersection, having no insurance
and no registration.
- A Moses Lake driver was cited
in Electric City for talking on her
cell phone while driving.
6/14 - Having an open beer
container, and then tossing it in
the back of a pickup when he saw
an officer in a patrol car, earned
an Electric City driver a ticket.
He was also cited for not wearing
his seatbelt.
6/15 - A woman from Electric
City told officers that her billfold
was stolen from her car while she
was in Safeway cashing a check.
- An 18-year-old Grand Coulee
man was cited for not wearing
his seatbelt and for not having
insurance.
- Police checked on an Okanogan
man who had fallen along
the side of the road across from
Pepper Jack’s Restaurant. He
told the officer that he wanted to
take a nap.
6/16 - A Tonasket driver was
stopped after an officer saw children
shoot something out the
back window with what appeared
to be a slingshot. The officer
learned that a 17-year-old and a
15-year-old where shooting “Dots
Candy” out the window. Neither
of the two youths was wearing
a seatbelt. The driver was cited
for the 15-year-old not wearing a
seatbelt and the 17-year-old was
also cited.
- A Seattle man was arrested
for calling 911 falsely, violating
a no-contact court order, plus lying
to an officer. He was taken to
Grant County jail.
6/17 - Police stopped a known
suspended driver in Electric City
and cited him for not having insurance.
The report went to the
prosecutor’s office for possible citing
for driving suspended.
- Police checked on three youths
reportedly standing in front of
Safeway yelling. The officer found
the three in front of the Variety
Store. They said they were trying
to get a poster in a frame on the
building.
- A Safeway official asked police
to get a person out of the store
because he was bothering customers.
Police learned the man was
wanted on two warrants for his
arrest. He was told to wait for his
ride across the street.
Watch for the
Festival of America
supplement in
next week’s Star
There is a man in Seaton's Grove that has
wisdom beyond a lot of us.
I can first remember meeting this Wizard
of Wisdom when I was a small child. I would
go to his shop and look at all the fish. Tank
after tank of colors and swimmers, crabs and
fish. His greenhouse was a warm, misty walk
of blooms that matched the color of his fish.
The outside was just as glorious as the inside,
a garden walk that was capped off with a frog
pond. As I grew up in the area, I wandered into
Seaton's Grove Green House a few times not
knowing about John Francis and his wonderful
gifts.
My next memory of the Greenhouse was
when it was on fire in the middle of the night
in the fall of 1994. It was my first major fire as
a firefighter and it might be my hottest one of
memory. It was a total loss. No more fish, no
more flowers and as I learned recently, almost
no more John.
He almost didn’t make it out of the greenhouse
that night. He had to crawl out on hands
and knees, searching for an unlocked door. He
had dropped his keys while trying to unlock
the front door and couldn’t find them because
of the thick, black smoke. Thankfully for all of
us, he made it out. For a while we thought in
the Coulee that we may have just lost a major
landmark in our community. But with determination
and sweat and tears the business made
Jess,
shut up!
Jesse Utz
Unsecured loads
getting charged
Transfer Station manager
Randy Gumm advised local residents
to make certain that loads
brought to the Delano site are
covered or secured.
The transfer station is now
making additional charges for
loads that are not either covered
or secured so that they won’t fall
off enroute to the dumping site.
Gumm told the Regional
Board of Mayors last week that
he has had to make four different
charges of $5 for unsecured
loads. The added fee could be as
much as $15, depending on the
load size.
Electric City Mayor Jerry
Wisdom in a grove
a full recovery.
Today I know the wonderful man that sits
behind a small counter, piled with flowers and
greenery around him, making a bow with ease,
while asking if I know “any new gossip.” His
displays and bouquets are some of the most
beautiful and thought out you will ever see.
It’s almost as if he makes each one for the
individual it represents. John doesn’t have a
master gardener certification. (He does have a
degree in adult education.) He has been planting
a garden since he was in second grade and
hasn’t missed a season since.
We once had to use a flower shop on the
coast and we paid twice as much and the flowers
looked like they were put together by blind
monkeys. My family truly appreciates the talent
John has put to good use, as do many of the
Sands noted that one person going
to the transfer station with an
unsecured load had dropped off a
large black bag of material along
the highway.
The charges are required by
Grant County.
Check Us
Out
online
grandcoulee.com
people of our community and beyond.
But this is not his only gift. Flowers, kitties,
and vegetables are just a small part of the great
person. His greatest gift is his willingness to
share — sharing his thoughts and ideas, all
the while listening to yours. His advice may
be edgy and hard to listen to, but it is spot
on. John doesn’t get out of his little corner of
Seaton’s Grove much; he says he has only left
twice in the last year.
But if you friend him on Facebook, you will
get daily treasures straight from his level
headed mind. Although that doesn’t do him
justice. You must go see and sit with John and
you will learn not only the latest gossip, but
you might learn about life. You tell him your
stories, and he will share his, and you leave
feeling really good that you just spent time
with a great, wise man.
The last few years, the business end of
things have been a struggle for John. He has on
many occasions thought of retiring and moving
on. So here is my challenge, Coulee Country.
Go to Seaton's Grove and seek out a plant, a
flower, seeds or a vase. Or maybe just sit and
enjoy the company and wisdom of the guy at
the flower shop. Be warned, he might try and
give you a cat as you leave.
Thanks, John, for your service to our community
and to your heartfelt words to me. Your
dad would be proud.
Music. Food. Fun. Something for everyone!
Basin Summer Sounds
2 complete days of FREE music in downtown
EPHRATA, Washington
July 20 & 21, 2012
Music on the cool, green lawns of the historic Grant County Courthouse
Friday Guest - 9pm
VICCI MARTINEZ
July 20
Saturday Guest - 9pm
BOWLING FOR SOUP
July 21
Saturday • CAR & CYCLE SHOW • rim2rim rotary 3on3 BASKETBALL
Check the website for entire festival lineup
www.basinsummersounds.com
Over $13,000 Given Away
IT’S OUR BIRTHDAY!
Between June 18th & August 25th, earn entries into our
17th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION CA$H GIVE AWAY! Beginning
August 9th and running thru August 25th, we will
hold $170 progressive drawings between 6pm & 9pm. If
there is NO winner, the prize
amount will be added to
the next drawing, so
things could add up
fast! THEN - on
August 25th we will
add $1,700.00 to
the accumulated
prize amount and
one LUCKY CASINO
PLAYER will get a
BIG “17th
ANNIVERSARY”
SURPRISE!
See the “PAC” for all the details!
CELEBRATING OUR
17th
ANNIVERSARY
Coulee Area Youth Baseball Association would like to
express a huge thank you to our sponsors for all our little
league baseball teams. Without your community support
we would have no spring baseball, but more importantly
we appreciate your investment into the kids’ lives.
• Coulee Hardware • Gerard Builders • NCNB
• Coulee House • Foisy & Kennedy • Bird’s • Loepps
• CMC • CDFCU • Colville Tribal Credit • Jess Ford
• H&H • DAV •Jay Worden • Button It
• Bobby O’s •DWK Fowler
Please support local
businesses who
care about our
community!
Thank You!
CAYBA
FREE Souvenir T-shirts & Cake on August 25th
COULEE DAM CASINO 515 Birch Street, Coulee Dam, WA 800-556-7492