Light bulb giveaway Thursday to encourage unity
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 10 years, 2 months AGO
Grant County Sheriff Tom Jones (right) with former sheriffs (from left) Felix Ramon and John Young, announced a blue light bulb giveaway as part of the ‘Citizens Uniting with Blue’ project.
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | July 27, 2016 1:45 PM
MOSES LAKE — Personnel from the Grant County Sheriff’s Office and other partnering agencies will be giving away blue light bulbs Thursday to encourage Grant County residents, law enforcement and EMS to express unity with each other.
The “Citizens Uniting with Blue” campaign (CUB) will distribute 4,000 blue light bulbs to residents free of charge, while supplies last, beginning at 5 p.m. Thursday at a number of locations around the county. The sheriff’s office is partnering with Paul Lauzier Foundation on the project.
Jones announced the project at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. He was joined by retired Grant County Sheriffs John Young and Felix Ramon.
There will be four distribution locations in Moses Lake. They include the Penn Plaza at the entrance to Walmart, 1005 North Stratford Rd.; the parking lot at Kayser’s Chapel, 831 South Pioneer Way; Doolittle Dream Park on Patton Boulevard and Lep-Re-Kon Harvest Foods, 2709 W. Broadway Ave.
Other locations include Jack’s 4 Corners station, 630 East Ave. in Grand Coulee and the Coulee City town hall, 501 West Main St. Others are Moore Furniture, 328 Southwest Basin Street, Ephrata; the Grant County Fire District No. 7 station in Soap Lake, the Quincy Community Center, 115 F St.; Royal City’s city park, Camelia Street; the Grant County Fire District No. 4 station, 114 North Oak St. in Warden and Lep-Re-Kon Harvest Foods, 102 Brian Ave., Mattawa.
Residents will be asked to display the light, outdoors or indoors.
The project grew out of a statement released by Grant County Sheriff Tom Jones in the wake of the fatal shooting of five police officers in Dallas July 7. Jones asked Grant County residents to light a candle or use a blue porch light to show support for the officers and their families. He got a lot of calls from residents who couldn’t find a blue light bulb, he said.
Jones was already working on a project to encourage all Grant County residents to display a blue light to show support for law enforcement. He noted the law enforcement custom of wearing a black band on the badge for a few days when an officer is killed in the line of duty. Grant County sheriff’s deputies wore that black band from July 7-26, almost three weeks, Jones said.
“Grant County is a very diverse and close-knit county. I am pleased to say that our local law enforcement agencies are greatly supported by the communities that we serve.
“I am a firm believer that continuing to unite the citizens and law enforcement is crucial. And I believe that now is the time to further unite Grant County and city residents with law enforcement.”
Jones said he’s stressing unity. “This campaign is not about picking sides, but rather partnering with the citizens we serve.”
Jones said he’s heard of agencies in other states working on similar projects, but this is the biggest project he’s heard of in Washington.
ARTICLES BY CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Warden man injured in tractor-trailer collision with train
BRUCE — A Warden man was transported to an out-of-area hospital after the tractor-trailer he was driving was hit by a train near Bruce at about noon Tuesday. "The extent of the driver's injuries is not known at this time," wrote Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner in a media release. "Preliminary information indicates the semi-truck was traveling above the speed limit and failed to obey posted requiring traffic to yield at the railroad crossing. The train was traveling at a slow speed," Wagner said. "He was moving. He wasn't stuck on the tracks," he said in an earlier interview.
Othello man arrested for Moses Lake attempted burglary
MOSES LAKE — An Othello man jumped into Moses Lake in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid Moses Lake Police Department officers last Friday. An MLPD media release issued Wednesday said Fernando Lira, 36, was booked into the Grant County Jail on suspicion of second-degree burglary in connection with the incident. Lira allegedly attempted to burglarize a business in the 600 block of East Broadway Friday morning. The business owner discovered him and chased him off the property, the release said.
Higher revenues, expenses projected in preliminary Moses Lake city budget
MOSES LAKE — While Moses Lake city officials have reduced expenses and revenues are projected to increase by about 7.9% in the city's preliminary budget, proposed expenditures are projected to go up by about 9.5%. Assistant City Manager James Richmond emphasized the preliminary budget presented earlier this month is not cast in stone. "The projected figures are not finalized. They are requests from departments based on projected 2027 operational costs. Largely, the figures are based on guidance from the city council during the financial sustainability plan analysis," Richmond wrote in answer to questions from the Columbia Basin Herald.