News

TONASKET – Webelos, Bears and Wolf Cubs – oh my! Add in a few Tiger Cubs and the ingredients are right for the 2008 Tonasket Cub Scout’s Blue and Gold Banquet Feb. 6.

Family, friends and leaders turned out to watch 17 Cub Scouts put on performances, receive awards and celebrate the experience’s they’ve had in scouting.

The Blue and Gold Banquet celebrates the anniversary of Cub Scouting, begun in the United States in 1930.

Several of the boys received their first-ever badge, the Bobcat Badge.

Cub Scouts honored that night were: Tiger Cubs Mitchell Fitzthum, Christopher Goddard and Evan Grant; Wolf Cubs Austin Engbaum, Austin Glenn, Michael Gonzalez, Isaac Mills, Riley Morris, Mason Rawley, Joseph Schell, Samuel Strandberg and Dominique Wilcox; Bear Cubs Josh Cravy, Hunter Swanson and Benjamin Mills; and Webelos Blake Ash, Christian Carpenter and David Moreno.

Kelvin Davis and Jean Cravy shared emcee duties for most of the evening. The Wolf Cubs presented the flag. Emmit and Wayne Verbeck attended on behalf of the Tonasket Kiwanis Club.

FT. LAWTON – Chief Warrant Officer Walter A. Hart, III will retire from the U.S. Army Reserve in a formal ceremony Feb. 9, 2008, at Fort Lawton in Seattle after 39 years, four months and two days’ service.

Hart was deployed to Iraq in 2005 where he served as the installation food advisor while assigned to the 301st Army Support Group to Logistics Support Area (LSA) Anaconda, Balad, Iraq. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for Meritorious Service in a combat zone. His area of responsibility covered four dining facilities and two satellite dining facilities, serving 40,000 meals per day and accommodating the surge of soldiers which exceeded 303,000 meals per day, setting a record.

TONASKET – Even though Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow in Pennsylvania and snow came down outside, the mood within the high school commons was cheery as the diners ate sausage, potatoes, veggies and a selection of desserts.

It took 15 hogs and almost 400 people, but the Tonasket Kiwanis Club hopes to have raised several thousand dollars for students in the Tonasket school district during their Ground Hog Day Dinner Feb. 2.

TONASKET – The North Valley Hospital Board and hospital administrator Warner Bartleson have had several meetings with the Tonasket Eagles and the city in preparation for the Jan. 22 City Council meeting when the vacation of Second Street will be revisited.

OROVILLE – At their Jan. 14 meeting the Oroville School Board approved a special two-year $771,000 maintenance and operations levy to be placed before the voters on March 11.

OROVILLE – Oroville approved regulations protecting “critical areas” while the city hammers out a new ordinance required by the state.

The city council unanimously approved the “interim” regulations at their first meeting of the new year. The “Oroville Critical Areas Ordinance” is currently in draft form. This draft will be used by the city until the final ordinance is approved following public input. The ordinance is required under the state’s Growth Management Act.

Editor’s Note: This week we take a look back at just a few of the stories that made the front page of the Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune during the first the first half 2007. The rest of the year will be reviewed in next week’s edition.

January

Three vying for May Festival Queen – Jessica Santana, Alysia Cumbo and Rachel Marringer have thrown their hats in the ring for a chance this year’s May Festival Queen’s crown.

Oroville grows by over 150 acres in less than a year – The City of Oroville grew by more than 65 acres after the council unanimously accepted a petition for annexation at their first meeting of the year-bringing the small city’s total growth to over 150 acres in less than a year’s time.

It’s official: Gail Milliken can stay in the U.S. – About to get married and planning her honeymoon, little did Milliken know the journey she was about to take was not to some warm tropical isle, but rather a two and a half year odyssey to remain in her adopted country.

OROVILLE – The Oroville City Council heard yet another request to annex property located north of the current city limits at their final meeting for 2007.

Several property owners, owning 344 acres in 93 parcels, have submitted a letter of intent to annex into the city, said Oroville City Planner Chris Branch. The request was made by property owners representing 20 percent of the annexation boundary’s total valuation. Property owners representing a minimum of 10 percent of the valuation are required, according to the planner to request annexation from the city.

TONASKET – The final city council meeting of 2007 ended with a sendoff for Councilman Patrick Plumb and a celebration of Tonasket’s official incorporation into Okanogan County in December 1927.

Harry Hayter, a member of the Coulee Corridor council and publisher of the Coulee Corridor Publication, addressed the Council.

At their last meeting, the council decided to pull the $500 they gave to the publication.

OROVILLE – The Oroville Chamber of Commerce elected a full slate of officers for the upcoming year at their Thursday, Dec. 13 meeting and chose Rich Solberg to head the business organization in 2008.