(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…

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