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Colville, Washington |
Saturday, March 20, 2010 |
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The annual Iditarod On A Snow-Machine adventure for Kettle Falls resident and photographer Bob Jones apparently ended this year in the village of McGrath--but not so fast. Jones, 70, making the trek again alone, didn’t choose to end his journey along the 1,000-mile Iditarod trail without some recrimination. In the end, circumstance, no flights out of McGrath to Anchorage until Tuesday (he got to McGrath on Friday), and the potential bad taste left from quitting the trail short of Nome meant Jones was back on the trail Tuesday morning. “Well, Chris, some weird stuff happened here in McGrath,” Jones wrote at 12:41 a.m. Tuesday from the remote Iditarod outpost of McGrath. “I had decided to scratch here. I sent the reasons in my last e-mail (read in this week’s S-E sports). But there is only one flight to Anchorage a day out of here and it’s a small airplane. So I couldn’t get a seat until Tuesday. I guess you could say in the end, I cancelled cancelling my trip.” There is no place Jones would rather be than in Alaska—on the trail of mushers in The Last Great Race. His journey’s journal (and photos) continues this week in S-E Sports. Read why Jones decided to call it quits well short of the trail’s end at Nome…and then why he decided to scratch the scratch. In accompanying Jones photo, an Iditarod dog team crosses the ice on the Post River Glacier. |
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Council opinion varies on relocation
BY SOPHIA ALDOUS
S-E Staff Reporter
Plans to relocate the Colville Municipal Airport may be grounded as the Colville City Council continues to debate if such a project is even needed.
Council member Nancy Foll stuck by her conviction that the city has yet to show that an airport relocation project is an established need for the city and community at large.
“One of the concerns from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) is how the city will provide its share of the funding for a new airport,” said Foll at last Tuesday’s council meeting. She cited information from the FAA that it would not pay 95 percent of airport construction as originally thought.
With a potential airport relocation costing as much as $25 million, council members are reviewing goals and objectives in their consideration of the project, particularly its financial feasibility.
Both Foll and council member Lou Janke agreed that the city had not yet developed a clear statement of need for a new airport and that it did not appear to be an essential service.
“We have not determined a need for an airport,” Foll stated. “And until we do, there is no way I can, or will, vote for eminent domain. Until we get some solid answers to these questions, I don’t think we should move forward.”
Council member Doug Kyle brought up the idea of an advisory vote on the airport issue. Kyle explained that such a vote would ask if the community approved with continuing the airport relocation process that has been established, and if voters would agree to continue with site selection.
Council member Pearl Nance objected to the idea, saying that the project was still in its earliest stages. She said she wasn’t sure what the city would accomplish with such a vote. Janke agreed, stating that he was not against an advisory vote, but that the cost could be considerably high to the city, at a time when its coffers are already strained.
Council member wants county input
“What the city can and can’t afford concerning this project is the first thing we need to figure out,” Janke said. “That could determine whether we even continue with the process or not. I also think we need to hear from the county commissioners on this issue; they should have some role in this.”
Cecil McNinch of the Colville 2000 and Beyond Committee and Concerned Citizens Against the Aladdin Site, voiced his support of an advisory vote. He said the city could wait until there were more issues on the ballot so it would not be as costly.
The council also approved the motion of Jeff Harshman’s appointment to the Colville Airport Board. A Colville resident and aircraft and hangar owner, Harshman told the council and crowd in attendance at the meeting that he would like to step forward and help the community with the airport issue in regards to disseminating accurate information on aviation matters.
“Aircraft and hangar owners have remained relatively quiet during this process because we are waiting to see what direction the city council is going to go,” said Harshman. “I am in favor of a new airport, but in the best possible location that is favorable and safe for pilots and the community.”
Harshman offered to fly any of the council or community members in his own airplane over proposed sites for the airport relocation at his expense.
“My intention is just to provide input about aviation concerns and questions,” Harshman said, adding that he is looking forward to serving the community.
Following the discussion, it was decided that Janke and Kyle will work with an airport board representative to develop a draft list of wants and needs concerning the airport relocation project and have it prepared by the April 13 council meeting. |
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