Stories in this Regional News Roundup are excerpted from weekly newspapers from around the region. This is part two, with part one having appeared in Saturday’s Tribune.
———
COLFAX — During the Port of Whitman County’s meeting on Friday, Dec. 19, it was updated to the public that the plans to expand Hunga Dunga Brewing operations to the Port’s Pullman Industrial Park have been canceled.
The Port of Whitman received a $2 million low-interest loan from the Washington State Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB) last year to construct a new Hunga Dunga Brewing Company building at the industrial park in Pullman.
The loan would have been used to expand the business’s production capacity in Pullman by designing and constructing a 12,000-square-foot facility, including utility extensions and commercial kitchen space.
Hunga Dunga Brewing had planned on investing $500,000 into the project and expected to create 43 jobs.
According to port spokesperson Rebekah Huber, the state’s new requirements on financing, prevailing wages and apprenticeships that went into effect during the summer have made the project infeasible for the brewing company.
Hunga Dunga Brewing is founded and based out of Moscow.
— Whitman County Gazette (Colfax), Thursday
Grangeville City Council: Future Johnston Road work planned; city approves support
GRANGEVILLE — With work recently completed on its approximate $2 million Johnston Road pavement rehabilitation project, the Grangeville Highway District is already looking ahead to future funding for more work on this north-south byway.
To that end, district commissioner Mike McDonald came before the Grangeville City Council at its Dec. 16 meeting, seeking a letter of support for seeking federal funding to asphalt the two-lane roadway, tentatively planned to be conducted in 2027.
“We need to take care of our infrastructure, and this is just one more step,” McDonald said.
Earlier in January, the district was awarded a $1.966 million Strategic Initiatives Program state grant for Johnston Road that provided for a bituminous surface treatment (BST) — also known as a seal coat or chip seal — and improvements to drainage and shoulders. McDonald expressed overall satisfaction on the work, which did provide additional shoulder room for safety, and a road base to better accommodate traffic. Improvement will be needed in the near future, and rather than another BST the district is looking toward asphalt.
“We really don’t want to create a bypass, enough though that’s what it is,” McDonald said, noting that Google Maps directs motorists as such. The district has resisted public calls to increase the speed limit, and it discourages semitrucks from using Johnston Road, but “They’re on there, even though they’re not supposed to; it’s posted.”
Councilor Amy Farris confirmed that: “You don’t see much truck traffic going on it during the day, but 9:30 to 10 at night you see semi after semi after semi.”
Mayor Wes Lester said this was originally a gravel road that turned into a bypass, and said increasing speed limits would be dangerous with the limited shoulder room.
“And the ditches are now 4 to 5 feet deep, where before they were a foot to 2 feet,” he said. If you go in the ditch now, you’re on your top.”
Councilor Beryl Grant referenced the summer traffic increase at the flying Y at the U.S. Highway 95 / Main Street intersection during the road construction. She favored a letter of support for the district as, “You can’t handle the traffic going through the Johnston cutoff anyway.”
“It’s really frustrating. We were really hoping when we were doing this project out there they (the Idaho Transportation Department) would see it and we’d get more attention,” McDonald said. “And they’ll use it. If they do anything with the flying Y in the near future, you know that’s exactly the road they’ll use to bypass the traffic.”
Council consensus was to provide a letter of support for the district’s grant application, which is due at the end of 2024.
In other council business:
Reporting on Snowhaven Ski Hill, city administrator Tonya Kennedy updated on the hire of an assistant manager who will work with recently hired hill manager Jared Everson. Employees had a mandatory training session on Dec. 14, and volunteer Scott Wasem has the groomer fixed and moved to the hill. Due to insufficient snow, hill opening date was set for Dec. 28.
“If we have enough snow, we have enough people to work the 27th,” Kennedy said, “so that could be a soft opening day. That would probably be the earliest.”
Police chief Joe Newman reported on a recent firearms night shoot training the department hosted, which drew law enforcement from the Idaho County Sheriff’s Office, Orofino Police Department and Idaho Fish and Game.
“One of the things that doesn’t get trained on a lot is how to shoot at night,” he said. “A lot of agencies and officers are going to weapon-mounted lights, which is really good for identifying targets, but really bad for searching. The whole point of the training is to differentiate: This is when to use your flashlight, this is when to use the light on your gun.”
The training qualifies toward requirements for maintaining POST (Police Officer Standards and Training) certification.
He continued, “We don’t do that very often, and nowhere in the region does that happen very often. We were glad our agency got to put it on, and that we had officers from other agencies who attended, as well.”
— David Rauzi, Idaho County Free Press (Grangeville), Wednesday
