CONSCIOUS CULTURE FESTIVAL See Page A4
SERVING WASHINGTON’S
LEGEND OF CAT BALLOU
Western musical at the CCC of Tonasket, June 28 and 29 at 7:00 p.m.
OKANOGAN VALLEY
SINCE 1905
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Oroville holds Critical Areas Workshop BY GARY A. DEVON MANAGING EDITOR
OROVILLE – A workshop was held prior to the regular Oroville Council meeting to discuss the various aspects of the city’s Critical Areas ordinance. Part of the Comprehensive Plan Amendments, the city has been operating under an interim ordinance for several years, renewing with public hearings every six months. Over the past two months Oroville has held public hearings to try and gain final approval for the Critical Areas aspects of the comprehensive plan, a requirement
of the state Growth Management Act. However, there has been little to no public participation regarding the ordinance so a workshop was requested by Chris Branch, director of Community Development. Branch gave an overview and addressed the Wetlands, Fish and Wildlife Habitat Conservation areas and Frequently Flooded Areas aspects of the Critical Areas changes. “It kind of sounds like the negotiable item is going to be ascertaining habitat values,” said Councilman Ed Naillon, regarding the ordinance. “We’ve had these rules in place with
TSD admins lauded at WSLA
more stringent buffers since 2007, we really haven’t had much development in these areas,” said Branch, who adds that the state has defined much of what is considered to be wildlife habitat. He added that about 90 percent of the wetlands that fall within the urban growth area of Oroville are associated with rivers and streams – the Okanogan and Similkameen rivers and Tonasket and Nine Mile creeks in particular. Branch said there is concern for things like eagles and especially for anadromous (ocean-going) fish species, like salmon and steelhead. “That’s were the focus really is, but
we also have whitetail deer habitat that extends down to Veranda Beech where a lobe of that habitat reaches down to the lake. The rest of the habitat is above Eders,” he said. About the anadromous fish species, Branch said that there are concerns about lower Tonasket Creek because the Colville Confederated Tribes have found salmon in there. There is a 50 foot setback along the riparian area already in place along the creeks, he said. “They’ve added a piece that we hadn’t added before and that’s the ‘Frequently Flooded Area,’” said Branch. “But we
haven’t really added it because it is basically a collection of stories related to past flooding.” He said that while there is a dike on each side of the creek, until you can pull that dike back a reasonable distance to allow for flooding along the creek, it doesn’t make much of a difference in controlling where the flooding takes place. “When you’re building a city, and that’s what we’re doing, you’ve got to keep these things in mind. It is going to take a coordinated effort, we can’t just move
SEE WORKSHOP | PG A3
Bids exceed estimate
RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY
ATV club asks Oroville to open up its roads
State delays payment again
BY GARY A. DEVON MANAGING EDITOR
BY BRENT BAKER BBAKER@GAZETTE-TRIBUNE.COM
TONASKET - The Tonasket School District’s efforts to understand and develop strategies to improve the education of children coming from impoverished backgrounds received high praise after its administrators’ presentation at last week’s Washington State Leadership Academy in Spokane. The administrators had run through their presentation at the Monday, June 17, school board meeting and reported on the results of the conference on Monday, June 24. The district last year received a two-year regional improvement grant through the ESD. “We wrote the grant to say, ‘these are the things we are doing,” said special education director Liz Stucker, who coordinated the team’s efforts. “You had to be far enough down the road that their help would boost your progress.
It’s not just the touristS that want the rain to go away. Cherry growers throughout the state are suffering from an overabundance of rain, which can lead to splitting of the fruit. Growers have enlisted a squadron of helicopters in the north county to try and dry the fruit from above, while the fans of sprayers are put to duty drying from below. Greg Moser, general manager of Gold Digger Apples said that there’s already been damage from the persistent rain. “There’s good fruit, but there’s also damage in some of the early varieties which have splits. We may not be picking some of the early blocks at all,” Moser said. The GM added it’s a statewide problem with the rain, however prices are pretty good right now. “I hope prices hold or strengthen a little bit,” he said.
“The Tonasket WSLA team was superlative. Other superintendents and principals learned from them how to be better administrators. ” Jeanine Butler, Washington State Leadership Academy coach, in a letter to the Tonasket School Board.
If you were on ground zero and had nothing in place, then they wouldn’t accept you. If you just had a few gaps, then you were approved and they could help you pull all the pieces together. We did so well because we had so many pieces in place.” Still, she said during the meeting, the accolades that came Tonasket’s way were somewhat of a surprise. “I was thinking it was our first year,” she said. “We’d struggled with some things and done some good things. I just figured in Year 1 we’d be bottom of the ladder. But districts two years into the process were in awe of what we’ve done. It really speaks well of our leadership team and the work they’ve done.”
SEE ADMINS | PG A3
Gary DeVon/staff photos
OROVILLE – The preliminary results of the bid to construct a new water reservoir north of Oroville has come in higher than what the city’s engineers, Varella and Associates, had estimated. “The bids for the north end water reservoir have come in a lot higher than the engineer’s estimate of $425 to $450 thousand,” said City Clerk Kathy Jones. “ “The low bid was $562,000 and with a funding for $519, which includes a reserve and $82,000 for the engineers, it won’t cover what we wanted to do.” The city is planning on building a water reservoir to serve the north end water system (north of the city limits). The move was to ensure water in the system, especially now the new U.S. Border Patrol Station has become part of the system and has fire suppression sprinklers that could result in a rapid drawdown of water. The federal government is paying for the construction of the reservoir. “The bids go from a high of $704,500 to a low of $557,300. The engineer really underestimated the costs of the reservoir,” Jones said. “They’re off by over 20 percent. It makes it tough on the city. We had a contingency fund in the original estimates, but there is no contingency at this level.” The city rejected the bids and
SEE OROVILLE | PG A2
Dean Brazle is Chesaw 4th of July Grand Marshal ‘Ranch’ bronc riding added this year BY GARY A. DEVON MANAGING EDITOR
CHESAW – Dean Brazle, he’s a ‘Real live nephew of his Uncle Sam, Born on the Fourth of July” and he’s also Grand Marshal for this year’s 71st Annual Chesaw Fourth of July Rodeo. The members of the Chesaw Rodeo Club said they take great pleasure in naming Brazle as this year’s Grand Marshal. This Yankee Doodle Dandy, as the George Cohan song goes, will
OKANOGAN VALLEY GAZETTE-TRIBUNE Volume 109 No. 26
celebrate his 87th Birthday on Thursday, July 4 as he serves as Grand Marshal. Brazle grew up in the Loomis area and when he was in seventh grade the family packed up and moved to the ranch on Knob Hill near Chesaw. He graduated from Molson School in 1944 and in March, before his graduation, he joined the Navy. He served his “boot camp” time at Farragut Naval Training Base on Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho. During his 27 months of service to the nation, Brazle spent 19 months on Tinian Island in the 18th Naval Seabees. This his where they constructed and
maintained airstrips for the refueling of bombers that were being used against Japan. Brazle told the rodeo club that one of the highlights of his life was being chosen to participate in an Honor Flight with Inland Northwest Honor Flights to view all the war memorials in Washington, DC. After returning to the Okanogan, he worked for 27 years for the Zosel Lumber Company. He met and married Gay Miller and they later bought back the original family farm on Knob Hill, where Brazle still resides. He and his wife loved the outdoors –
SEE CHESAW | PG A2
Submitted photo
Dean Brazle is the Grand Marshal for the 71st Annual Chesaw Fourth of July Rodeo.
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