The Year in Review

 

Last updated 1/20/2013 at 3:01pm



July

The Odessa High School chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America sent 16 students to the national FBLA conference in San Antonio, Texas last summer. The chapter, as a whole, won first place for its Partnership with Business presentation. The group worked on a program with the 2nd Harvest Food Bank to provide backpacks filled with weekend take-home food for needy youngsters in area communities.

At a town council meeting, the new Chief of Police, Helen Coubra, was sworn in by Mayor Doug Plinski. Coubra came, most recently, from the Wahkiakum County Sheriff's office, where she served as Deputy Sheriff. Coubra then swore in deputy Bryce Peterson.

The management firm that has operated Inland Empire Oilseeds (IEO) for the past year, known as 1138, LLC, acquired 75 percent of the company from the original investment group that got the plant up and running. That group (consisting of the Odessa Union Warehouse Cooperative, Reardan Grain Growers, Reardan Seed, Greenstar, Michael Dunlap and Avista) retains ownership of the remaining 25 percent.

Frank and Marcus Horak purchased the VFW Post #7395 building, located at the southeast corner of First Avenue and Division Street in downtown Odessa. Horaks moved their Odessa Auto Parts (NAPA) store to the new location.

Dave Edens was announced as the town's new building inspector at a meeting of the Odessa Town Council. Edens is a retired cabinet-maker and builder with a wealth of experience in the building trades.

A break in the Odessa Drug burglary case led to the arrest of two suspects and the search for at least one more.

August

The area's wheat harvest was in full swing. Frost damage from the previous winter had more of an effect on yields than anything else and yields were anywhere from 21 bushels/acre up to 65 bushels/acre on dryland fields.

Overall, the primary election had low turnout, but the race for Lincoln County Commissioner was a dead heat among Mark Stedman, Kim Ramm and Alan Stromberger. The race was one of the closest in the state.

Police Chief Helen Coubra reported at the Odessa Town Council meeting that a joint action of the Odessa Police Department and the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office resulted in two felony theft arrests and serving of a search warrant related to those thefts which resulted in the recovery of stolen property. A substance believed to be "black tar heroin" and drug paraphernalia were also found.

September

The Apache Pass wildfire grew from about 200 acres to about 18,000 acres in about 2 days because of wind. Extremely dry conditions in the scablands and plenty of dry grass for fuel contributed to the blaze. All available firefighters from the Odessa area responded the the blaze, which at its closest point to Odessa was burning about 12 miles north of town. The fire burned a lot of range land and fence posts north of Odessa, so the herds didn't have enough grazing land and some areas were without fences and the cattle were free to roam at will.

Despite the possibility of smoke from the Apache Pass fire threatening to keep visitors away the Deutches Fest, there were no such problems and the weather turned out to be beautiful, with the Fest making more money this year than last year.

A backup in the sewer system on the west end of town caused flooding in the basements of three houses. There was damage to possessions and structures, which could be partially cleaned, but not completely. This was the third time the system failed in the area and Mayor Doug Plinski said the cause this time was a buildup of “non-flushables” in the system.

 

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