(STAFF REPORTS/Chewelah Independent)

Due to infrastructure upgrades near Kettle Falls, about 762 customers near the NE Washington town will lose power on Oct. 22 for about six hours.

Avista will have a planned outage starting on October 21 at 11:59 p.m. until about 6 a.m. on Oct. 22. Customers will be notified in the affected area. Avista crews are working on the substation that serves the town of Kettle Falls and the area around it. This is an upgrade to the system that will reduce the need for future planned outages and increase safety.

If anyone has questions or concerns, please contact Avista at (800) 227-9187 x9064. Avista said they can assist customers in need with resources.

(BRANDON NOBLES/For The Independent)

Lord Selkirk

Who is the Selkirk mountains named after?

When I first moved to Northeast Washington, one of the first things I noticed was the large mountain range in the distance, home to the numerous valleys that makes up the region.
The range stretches from Canada to near Spokane, and is known as a Selkirks. There is even a school district in Pend Oreille County named after them. However, many fail to note the
distinguished person the mountains were named after, Lord Thomas Douglas, or also known as the 5th Earl of Selkirk. A member of the British aristocracy and with never setting foot in this
region, his legacy would have long-lasting impacts on the area.

Lord Selkirk was a philanthropist who invested and created the Red River colony in what is today the province of Manitoba, Canada. In a deal with the Hudson Bay Company, this essentially created a near monopoly in the fur trade for central Canada that was almost tyrannical to the Metis people (descendants of Natives and typically French and Scottish fur workers) and other French Canadian trappers who lived in the area while working for the Northwest Company under John Jacob Astor (of whom Astor street in Colville is named after).

Along with these policies, a series of violent skirmishes and flooding in the Red River Colony led to a mass migration of Metis and French Canadians into the United States near the border, many of whom came into none other Northeast Washington.

Though this action was indirect, Selkirk himself has another local connection in the person of his wife. To secure his ambitious place as part owner of the Hudson Bay Company, he had married well to none other than Lady Jean Colville. Jean was the sister of Sir Andrew Colville, a prominent official in the Hudson Bay Company, and of whom Fort Colville was named after. Subsequently, the city of Colville itself would be named after Andrew as the original fort location was flooded over with the creation of the Grand Coulee Dam and Lake Roosevelt.

(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

Sheriff’s candidate Brad Manke has chosen Loren Erdman as his undersheriff if elected in November. (Courtesy photo)

Erdman is a 23-year veteran of the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office…

Stevens County Sheriff candidate Brad Manke announced last week that he’s selected Loren Erdman as his undersheriff if elected in November.

“It was an easy choice as our careers have kind of mirrored each other,” Manke said of Erdman. “He was hired a couple years before me.”

Erdman is a 23-year veteran of the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office and currently serves as a chief deputy in the office alongside Manke.

Erdman started his career in the Stevens County Jail and was hired as a patrol deputy one year later. During his career, he has been a detective with drug and homicide investigation experience, a patrol sergeant and a detective sergeant. More

Here are upcoming events for the Chewelah area from Oct. 18-Oct. 27…

More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

Light Up The Park is back for its fifth year!

Halloween is just around the corner, and Chewelah is getting the gears going on becoming Halloweentown once again.

Some call the end of October Chewelah’s Hallmark moment as there are several events that remind you of a small town postcard with all the fall colors and Americana scenes.

Light Up The Park will once again brighten up the Chewelah City Park after dark on Oct. 27 as the event aims at getting 2,018 pumpkins lined up for the community to see. This completely free event will have a multitude of things going on. More

(STAFF REPORTS/Chewelah Independent)

LUTP hosting decorating contest…

Along with the annual JJSHS Senior-All Nighter haunted house, many other structures in Chewelah might get a little spookier for October. Light Up The Park is hosting a Light Up The Park Fall Decorating Contest between October 20-27.

The contest is hoping to enhance the entire town for the Light Up The Park event on Oct. 27. The theme is fall and people are encouraged to decorate the street side of their homes, condos and apartments in town.

Register by picking up a Light Up The Park and Fall Home Decorating Contest form which was inserted in The Chewelah Independent this week. Mail the form to PO Box 5, Chewelah, Washington 99109 or complete and email the form to theindependent@centurylink.net. More

(STAFF REPORTS/Chewelah Independent)

The Independent gets 3rd in General Excellence…

Long-time sports reporter Geno Ludwig and managing editor Brandon Hansen received a number of awards for their work at The Independent over the last year as part of the 2018 Better Newspaper Contest presented by the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association (WNPA).

Hansen was given seven awards including third place in Photographer of the Year and second place in the Crime and Court Story category for his article about the Hostetler animal cruelty case in southern Stevens County. He also received third place awards in the following categories: Election Story, Lifestyle Feature Story, Sports News Story, Sports Feature and Special Sections.
Ludwig received a second place award in the Sports Feature category for his retrospective look at the Chewelah football championship 40 years ago in an article entitled “Our Boys: In 1977, Chewelah football was the best in the land.”

The Independent staff was awarded third place for General Excellence in Circulation Group 2. General Excellence looks at randomly selected editions of the newspaper over the last year and judges them based on overall quality of content, layout and page designs. The Independent moved up this year from Group 1 to Group 2 due to increased weekly circulation in the 2,500-5,000 range. More

(PRESS RELEASE/TEDD)

For the past five years, Tri County Economic Development District (TEDD) has provided a Business Development Center & Computer Lab to the community at no charge, thanks to a grant from the USDA and with support from Key Bank. The business center includes the use of computers and webinar equipment, as well as the availability of high-speed internet. Over the course of the grant, the business center has served hundreds of entrepreneurs and business people in the tri-county area. At the end of October, this grant will be completed and is not renewable, so the business center in its current form will close.

TEDD has been assessing the needs of the business community and will be updating and reorganizing the space to continue to provide development services relevant to today’s entrepreneur, such as a co-working space. “We are excited about the idea of a co-working space here at TEDD; they provide a productive and collaborative environment, and are generally ideal for start-up businesses and entrepreneurs looking for a better alternative to working from home” commented TEDD Interim Director Barry Lamont. TEDD will also be including a classroom/learning space that can facilitate video presentations, and make them available to a wider audience.

Tri County Economic Development District was formed in 1969 and works with local businesses, communities and other organizations in Ferry, Pend Oreille and Stevens counties to help develop a stable and diverse economy. For more information, please visit www.tricountyedd.com or call 509-684-4571.

(STAFF REPORTS/Chewelah Independent)

Modern fire arm deer season begins tomorrow, Oct. 13…

With the very popular modern firearm deer season taking place from Oct. 13-26 and Nov. 10-19, the U.S. Forest Service is asking hikers to wear high visibility colors so they can be easily spotted. They’re asking people to always be aware of their surroundings, never hike alone and stay on established trails.

Despite this, statistics show that getting shot accidentally by a hunter isn’t very likely during hunting season.

The  International Hunter Education Association said that in an average year, fewer that 1,000 people in the US and Canada are accidentally shot by hunters, and of these, fewer than 75 are fatalities. The Association added that many of these fatalities are self-inflicted by hunters who trip, fall or have other accidents that cause them to shoot themselves with their own weapons. More