The Year in Review

April

The Cattle Producers of Washington (CPoW) and the Livestock Producers Cooperative Association (LPCA) held their annual meeting in the Odessa Community Center. The two organizations worked diligently to make the livestock processing facility at the Odessa Industrial Park a reality, and the meeting celebrated their progress. Darren Summers, plant manager, said the plant had faced many challenges during its startup phase, including a three-week period in which no livestock was processed due to replacement of the floors and drains in several processing rooms. Garco Construction made the repairs at no cost under its warranty agreement.

The Ralston Grange, located 10 miles south of Ritzville, sponsored another fundraiser to help in the renovation of the Ritz Theatre. All proceeds were to go to the fund set up by the Ritzville Downtown Development Association for renovation of the theater. Various area businesses and individuals donated materials and time to refurbishing the building, installing a new stage in front of the movie screen, re-upholstering seats, updating the wiring and painting the interior. The remaining largest expense prior to reopening the theater was the purchase of the digital projector needed for showing first-run films.

The Desert 100 provided another successful event for the Stumpjumpers Motorcycle Club, the Odessa Chamber of Commerce and the Odessa community. This was the 44th annual running of the race, which moved to Odessa in 2003. A week or two before the race, volunteers from the club come to Odessa to map out the course and put up markers to guide riders through the twists and turns, hills and valleys and switchbacks that make up the course through the sage brush and bunch grass. The top three finishers in the Desert 100 this year were Ricky Russell, a Washington native, Bobby Prochnau of Kamloops, B.C. and Jon Seehorn of Rockford, Wash. Odessa’s Keith Strebeck, competing in the Minis race for nine and 10-year-olds, finished in fourth place (after placing 11th last year).

Several groups of Odessa residents hiked the newly defined and marked Odessa Craters Trail north of town. The high school chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) worked with Chris Shafer of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to remove encroaching sage brush and larger rocks from the existing trail on BLM land. The trail includes one very steep hill for which FBLA advisor Terri King said her students and BLM’s Shafer have plans to create switchbacks to make it easier for hikers to handle. At the trail head, FBLA students offered hikers bottled water and granola bars, as well as a map of the trail showing the crater locations. Once hikers had finished making the trail loop, each was given a sticker saying, “I hiked the Odessa Craters Trail.”

Odessa’s Spring Fling and Harrington’s Spring Festival were held the last weekend in April. In Odessa there were yard sales throughout town, the Spring Fling Quilt Show in the high school gym, a downtown Quilt Walk, a Volkswalk and a state–sanctioned horseshoes tournament. The Harrington Spring Festival offered community-wide yard sales, food, crafts, business and organization vendors in the Harrington Memorial Hall, food and live music (Cindy Luiten Smith) downtown, golg at the Harrington Golf and Country Club, the Stitchin’ Chicks Quilt Show at the Harrington Opera House, with lobby and auditorium artisans in the Art Room, rummage sale in the Historic Opera House, Open Classic Car Show at the Studebaker Garage, old-time horse plowing south oftown.

May

May 2 was the day of the Odessa Heathcare Foundation’s Annual Wine Tasting & Auction. Two cheesecakes, two smoked turkeys and three quilts were among items up for bid during the Live Auction. A special collection of Hospital Guild/Auxiliary cookbooks was also available. Following disbanding of the Hospital Auxiliary, the Foundation agreed to take over the scholarships for students going into health-related careers and the Auxiliary’s entire inventory of current cookbooks. Sales will be used to help fund the scholarships along with the proceeds from this live auction item.

Ryan Coleman of Odessa was promoted in rank to sergeant by Lincoln County Sheriff Wade Magers, following an extensive testing process which began with a civil service examination, interviews, and internal evaluations. Coleman grew up in the Odessa area and is married with a young daughter. He graduated with a B.A. from Eastern Washington University and has worked for the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office for almost nine years.

The ninth annual Friends of the Pool (FOP) Walk-a-Thon raised over $2,500. A total of 59 walkers collected pledges. Most were school-aged children, but participants ranged in age from one year old to adults who took advantage of the fresh air and exercise. The pledge walkers walked or ran a total of 925 laps around the track at Finney field for a total of 231.25 miles or an average of more than 3.5 miles per person. Odessa fifth-grader Tim DeWulf ran the most laps, 35, or 8.75 miles. All who signed up to take part in the walk-a-thon received a T-shirt and a prize at the start. In all, $600 in prizes were distributed randomly during the event. At the end of the walk-a-thon, a necklace was given to each participate with a foot symbolizing each lap they completed.

Odessa Memorial Healthcare Center announced the addition of Danny “DJ” Jones, Physician Assistant-Certified, to the provider team at OMHC. He started at the clinic May 5. “DJ” and his wife, Angie, plan to build a home in Odessa and have already started the process. They currently reside in Medical Lake, where they will stay until their home is complete.

The Odessa FFA Chapter and agriculture students attended the Spokane Jr. Livestock Show, geared up for the Washington State FFA Convention, and prepared for their annual banquet. Odessa and Harrington sent 16 FFA members to exhibit their animals in the Market Quality and Fitting and Showing classes at The Spokane Jr. Livestock Show. From Odessa were Steven Braun, two market hogs; Katelyn Worley, two market hogs; Caleb Singer, heifer; Max Greenwalt, prospect steer; Alexis Burdick, two market lambs; and Makayla Baird, two market lambs. From Harrington were Isabelle Phillips, one market hog; Lanessa Simon, one market hog; Joey Buell, one market hog; Dylan Shockley, one market hog; Derek Montgomery, one market mog; Jacob Montgomery, one Market Hog; James Mann, one market hog; Samantha Nighswonger, one market goat; Brilee Sewall, one market goat; Debra Armstrong, one market lamb; and William Mann, one carcass hog and one market steer.

It’s official. The kitchen in the Odessa Community Center is now a USDA-certified commercial kitchen thanks to a year-long community effort spearheaded by Lindsy Starkel overseeing the project funded in part by the Odessa Chamber of Commerce, grant monies and individual donations.

Odessa Chamber members were informed that the community commercial kitchen has been completed. Chamber president Marcus Horak said there were some minor fixes still to be completed on various pieces of equipment in the kitchen, but that the kitchen was now available to groups wanting to prepare food for Deutschesfest, operate a food-based business or put on a large banquet.

Chamber administrative assistant Jennifer Martin contacted several carnivals but none had returned her calls. Martin found an outdoor mechanical bull attraction that can accommodate riders from the ages of five on up, with the operator controlling the activity level of the bull. The cost was $2,500 for the entire weekend. Discussion then centered on whether the Chamber should pay for it, find business sponsorships or charge admission. The operator does not charge the riders once his up-front fee is paid but had no objection to the Chamber setting up an admission booth and collecting from each rider. Rides by donation was also a possibilty put forth.

The Odessa Community Float debuted on May 15, with Miss Odessa Jenna Shafer and her sisters Megan and Kaytlyn standing in for Princesses Katelyn Worley and Daviane Minaker. The next appearance of the float was at the Lilac Parade in Spokane on May 17.

Principal Ken Schutz secured a “Mobius Grant” for the 2013-2014 school year, where members of the Mobius Science Center of Spokane facilitated activities such as creating earthquakes, designing and testing paper rockets and dissecting animal eyes. Mobius Science Center staff members returned for a second Family Science Night in Odessa. New activities and presentations were included in the evening events held from 5 to 8 p.m. in the school’s multipurpose room. Families of students in kindergarten through high school were invited, and a supper was served. As part of a separate grant, the school provided fun and informative fitness, health and nutrition activities and resources.