Soap Lake gets reader sign, supports students and swears in new council member
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years AGO
Soap Lake Police Chief Ryan Cox, left, shakes hands with Soap Lake School District Superintendent Kim Casey while Officer Robert Geates looks on. Cox and Gates delivered about $1,600 worth of school supplies to the district Thursday.
COURTESY PHOTO/SLPD
From left: Soap Lake City Council members Allen DuPuy, Bill Bratton, Karen Woodhouse, Kat Sanderson, Leslie Taylor and Kayleen Bryson listen to Mayor Michelle Agliano read a letter from Kayla Isaacson of the Soap Lake Prevention Coalition at Wednesday’s council meeting.
Soap Lake Mayor Michelle Agliano swears in Allen DuPuy as the town’s newest city council member Wednesday.
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | August 18, 2022 12:59 PM
SOAP LAKE — The Soap Lake Police Department will communicate a little better with drivers, Chief Ryan Cox said at Wednesday’s city council meeting.
SLPD has acquired a reader sign that officers can log into remotely, Cox said, to warn drivers of problems on the road.
“Say a collision up north (on) 17 is happening,” Cox said. “So they shut the highway down, which happens quite often. We can alert people that are coming northbound through the city without them going all the way up to Sun Lakes and having to turn all the way back down. So it'll be pretty fun to have.”
Cox also told the council that the department was preparing to partner with the town’s schools to purchase school supplies. The money will come from the department’s benevolent fund, he said, and the biggest need appeared to be glue sticks for the elementary school.
“Just basic school supplies that they go through that a lot of times are coming out of the teachers' pockets,” he said.
In a subsequent statement on Thursday, SLPD said they had spent about $1,600 purchasing school supplies for Soap Lake students. Cox and Officer Robert Geates took two patrol cars filled with supplies to SLSD. The supplies will be used by the district to ensure children whose families cannot afford supplies can still succeed, the statement said.
Anyone interested in donating to the SLPD Benevolant Fund may call 509-246-1122 or email Cox at [email protected].
In other business, Mayor Michelle Agliano swore in the council’s newest member, Allen DuPuy, a business owner and 18-year resident of the city. The mayor also read to the council a letter from Kayla Isaacson, a community coalition specialist with the Soap Lake Prevention Coalition. The letter said that the coalition was in need of working space. The original intent had been to house the coalition at the Soap Lake City Hall, but that building is currently under renovation.
“The Coalition currently does not have a home and is looking for temporary space,” Isaacson wrote. “We are looking into the partner county buildings in Ephrata currently as a quick solution to get me closer to the community as I am currently working from the county building in Moses Lake. One of the contact stipulations for the coalition is that the coordinator be housed within the community being served. We do have concerns for the community losing the funding if we are unable to secure a space within the community.”
Joel Martin can be reached via email at [email protected].
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Quincy National Night Out scales down
QUINCY — Quincy’s National Night Out was more compact this year, which worked out well, said QPD Sgt. Joe Westby, who’s in charge of event planning for the Quincy Police Department. “National Night Out is a big event, and the fact that we’re able to shrink it up is like a breath of fresh air,” Westby said. “If you're always doing the same thing, it's kind of nice to switch things up and see how it works.” National Night Out took place Thursday on the block of C Street next to the police station, a shift from previous years when it was held at Lauzier Park. The smaller space meant fewer emergency vehicles for children to explore, but it also meant less walking for attendees. Grant County Fire District 5 brought a fire truck, and the Grant County Sheriff’s Office had a patrol boat. Renew, the Grant County behavioral health agency, had a booth and so did Quincy Partnership for Youth. Veterans Operation Creation sang the national anthem, and the Quincy Animal Shelter brought kittens that piled over each other making friends with passersby. As before, the QPD served grilled hot dogs.
Quincy Police retirements leave big shoes to fill
QUINCY — There are some big shoes to fill at the Quincy Police Department. “We’re losing 48 years of experience between them,” Quincy Police Chief Ryan Green said at the retirement party for Capt. Jorge Trujillo and Det. Damon Powell Thursday. Trujillo, who grew up in Sunnyside, has been with QPD for 19 years, he said, coming on as a patrol officer fresh out of the military. From there he served as a field training officer, a detective and finally captain. “I consider him my left-hand man,” Green said. “He runs the operations side of the house … He knows the agency very well, and he knows the community.” Trujillo has some projects around the house to tackle now that he’s retired, he said.
Big fun on a small scale
Wheat Land Communities’ Fair opens Thursday
RITZVILLE — The Wheat Land Communities’ Fair isn’t as big or as flashy as some of the county fairs around central Washington, but the folks who keep it going like it just the way it is. “It’s somewhere you can go and get an old-time traditional feeling, and you’re comfortable letting your kids roam the grounds and experience all that it has to offer,” said Board Member Lori Williams. “It’s more of a feeling than (one) specific thing,” The fair starts Thursday in Ritzville and runs through Sunday. Starting Friday, the 56th Ritzville Rodeo will take place alongside the fair at the rodeo grounds. This year the entertainment budget was expanded, Williams said, to be able to offer more fun that’s covered by the cost of admission. For the kids, there’s face painting, balloon art, Lego crafts, races, contests and games. Children can also ride on a little train towed around the fairgrounds behind a tractor.