Grant County detective honored by Girl Scouts
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 7 months AGO
Grant County Sheriff’s Detective Katrina Ball, left, received the Woman of Distinction Award from Girl Scout Jenna Zemke, right, at the Girl Scouts of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho Sweets Before Supper event in Spokane March 7.
COURTESY PHOTO/GIRL SCOUTS OF EASTERN WASHINGTON AND NORTHERN IDAHO
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. | March 20, 2026 3:30 AM
MOSES LAKE — Grant County Sheriff’s Detective Katrina Ball was recognized March 7 as a Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho. It was an unexpected honor, she said.
“I didn’t really know much about what the Girl Scouts was, and being invited to that event allowed me to learn so much about the Girl Scouts and what it means to be a Woman of Distinction,” Ball said.
Ball was one of eight women honored at the ceremony, and the only one from Moses Lake, Her nomination came from Girl Scout Jenna Zemke of Moses Lake, who wrote ion glowing terms of Ball’s career.
“She is ... a woman of character starting her military career in 2006 serving in the Army National Guard, bravely completing two deployments one to Iraq and one to Afghanistan,” Zemke wrote in her nomination. “Wanting to give back her community as well, this confident leader joined the Grant County Jail as a corrections deputy in 2012 and quickly rose in the ranks becoming the first female patrol deputy in 2015. Serving both her country and county with distinction, Katrina showed herself as an exemplary citizen-soldier quickly being recognized by her supervisors for her excellent law enforcement skills. A woman of courage, confidence and character, she was selected to be the first women to be a detective in 2021. Katrina continues in this role today in Grant County and focuses on child abuse cases and Internet Crimes Against Children.”
Ball, a native of Moses Lake and a 2007 graduate of Moses Lake High School, is still the only female detective at the GCSO, but she said that doesn’t make a lot of difference.
“I work with all men in my unit, but every single one of them has my back, and vice-versa,” she said. “I have heard of negative experiences for women (in law enforcement). I’m fortunate that I’ve never had that. I’ve felt supported in my agency and supported by my peers throughout. When you work hard and you work with good people, that’s what they appreciate.”
Ball spearheaded the GCSO’s efforts in the area of internet crimes against children, or ICAC, she said, and that’s still her passion, even though she has to confront some horrifying crimes.
“Getting those predators off the street has been a huge accomplishment for me,” Ball said. “I’ve done five or six arrests since we started working (ICAC) pretty hard in 2024. They’re very complex and very time-consuming. They’re mentally draining, but they are so rewarding. You work so hard to write all the warrants and go through the mental horror of going all through the files, and then being able to make the arrests in the end is … very rewarding at the end.
Ball has a 4-year-old son at home, she said, which adds an extra dimension to her work with crimes against children.
“It’s negatively affected me some days,” she said. “But once all is said and done, I’m so glad that I did it and I got somebody like that put away for a long time.”
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Endless battle
Noxious Weed Control Board works to keep invasive plants under control
MOSES LAKE — Some of the nastiest plants in Grant County were the topic of a class led by Jay Johnson, a consultant with the Grant County Noxious Weed Control Board, Tuesday. The Noxious Weed Control Board, as its name would suggest, is tasked with keeping weeds under control in Grant County. That’s not a small job; the board’s website lists 129 species of noxious weeds that are found around Grant County. A noxious weed is defined as an invasive, non-native plant that threatens agricultural crops, local ecosystems or fish and wildlife habitat, according to the Noxious Weed Control Board. Washington state law requires that these weeds be identified and their spread kept to a minimum, if not completely eradicated. “We’re one of those agencies a lot of people don’t really understand,” Johnson said. “We’re a county office and … our funding is tax-based assessment. When you get your tax bill and you look down at all the expenses that you pay for, there we are.”
BASIN EVENTS: Oct. 16-24
COLUMBIA BASIN — Whether you feel like shopping, crafting, learning or seeing a show, there’s something happening for you this week in the Basin. Oct. 16 ‘My Family (Mi Familia)’ screening Spanning three generations, “My Family (Mi Familia)” is a heartfelt drama that follows the Sánchez family as they build their lives in East Los Angeles. Through love, hardship, triumph, and sacrifice, the film explores the immigrant experience, the strength of family bonds, and the traditions that connect one generation to the next. Lowrider show and taco truck before the screening. Sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts, EDUBS C/S and the Moses Lake Creative District. $12 per person. Doors open at 6 p.m., film begins at 7 p.m. at the Moses Lake Civic Center Auditorium, 401 S. Balsam St. Tickets and info: www.cba-arts.org.
Moses Lake author encourages women to look beyond church culture norms
MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake author’s book, “A Christian Woman Striving to Live Her Faith in a Man-Controlled World,” takes aim at the role to which many churches relegate the female half of their congregations. “It’s to encourage women in the faith,” Linda Curran said. “A lot of churches say, ‘Teach Sunday school, do this, do that, but don’t (evangelize.)’" In her book, Curran recounts a time when she moved to a new community and joined a church there. She was surprised to learn that, as a new female member, she had been automatically assigned church cleaning duties. When she questioned it, she wrote, she was met with condescension and her objections were brushed aside. In other churches, she said, women who were capable of teaching were relegated to “women’s ministry.”