Serving Franklin County, WA

Articles from the August 8, 2023 edition


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  • Kudos for Holden Mine site cleanup

    Don C. Brunell|Updated Aug 15, 2023

    Today, good works are often brushed aside or ignored – especially, if done by one of the world’s largest mining companies. However, Rio Tinto deserves kudos for its half-billion-dollar mine cleanup in Holden., a remote village in the North Cascade mountains just south of Lake Chelan. Rio Tinto did not mine an ounce of copper or other precious metals at Holden. It acquired the site as part of a larger purchase. It gathered interested stakeholders together and ironed sol...

  • Conservation project applications due Oct. 20

    Frankllin Connection|Updated Aug 15, 2023

    SPOKANE VALLEY – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service’s deadline for environmental incentives applications is Oct. 20. The environmental incentives program is a voluntary, technical and financial assistance program designed to help farmers, ranchers, forestland owners and tribes with conservation planning and implementation. Funds can be used for irrigation efficiency, animal waste management, native plant health removing fish passage obstructions, reducing erosion and improving wildl...

  • Development director shares hope, frustration

    Dale Brown, Franklin Connection|Updated Aug 15, 2023

    RITZVILLE – Adams County Development Council Executive Director Kyle Niehenke doesn’t sugarcoat the obstacles to commercial development here. Yet, he remains optimistic. At the weekly Adams County Commission meeting Aug. 1, Niehenke discussed his attendance at a recent commercial conference in Las Vegas, Nev. “I wouldn’t say all the feedback about Ritzville was positive,” he said. “Developers don’t hold back. They share their honest opinions.” He observed that some locals have the mindset that “it’s just too expensive here,...

  • Sucks to be you

    Dale Anderson|Updated Aug 15, 2023

    On Halloween day in 1992 my brother Larry and I went to the UW-Stanford football game in Seattle. I could get complimentary tickets as a coach and let’s just say that Larry was my assistant coach for a day Anyway the plan was to park in Bellevue at a Park and Ride and get on the bus to go to Husky Stadium. After we got off the bus and were walking to the Will Call ticket booth we couldn’t help but notice just how much purple surrounded us. If Barney the dinosaur would have got...

  • Sturgeon season set for Lake Roosevelt

    Franklin Connection|Updated Aug 15, 2023

    SEVEN BAYS – Fishermen will begin hitting Lake Roosevelt this fall in hopes of catching a large fish species that has existed for more than 175 million years. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife will open a white sturgeon season from Sept. 16 through Nov. 30. The species will be fair game along the entire length of Lake Roosevelt, from Grand Coulee Dam to the U.S.-Canada border. The fishery is also open on the Spokane River from the state Highway 25 bridge near Fort Spok...

  • Othello receiving $850,000 for park

    Roger Harnack, Franklin Connection|Updated Aug 15, 2023

    OTHELLO – Kiwanis Park will benefit from two grants approved by the state Recreation and Conservation Office. The agency has awarded $500,000 to add a water park and renovate trails. A second grant of $350,000 was awarded to build a futsal court. The funds will be administered through the city. The first grant will allow the city to build the water park, renovate walking trails and add lights to the park in an effort to make it more family-oriented. The water park, being called a spray park, will include amenities spraying c...

  • One dead, six injured in Mesa crash

    Roger Harnack, Franklin Connection|Updated Aug 15, 2023

    MESA – An Othello man was killed and six others injured in a five-vehicle pileup Aug. 7 about three miles north of town. Jesus Camacho-Augustine, 21, of Othello, was pronounced dead at the scene near Milepost 10 of state Highway 17. Nicholas L. Abbott, 28, Valentin Galvez-Gonzalez, 24, and Estella DeJesus Gonzalez, 31, all of Othello, were injured in the crash, as were Anthony J. Mawer, 25, and Camden J. Love, 23, both of Vancouver, the Washington State Patrol reported. A juvenile was also injured; the state patrol failed t...