Moscow,
Pullman working on flood cleanup
City staff
seeking solutions to help businesses, homeowners
By Anthony
Kuipers, Moscow Pullman Daily News April the 13th of 2019
The waters
have receded, but city staff, residents and businesses in Moscow and Pullman
will be dealing with the aftermath of Tuesday’s flood for the foreseeable
future.
In Moscow,
Latah Sanitation is sending extra 95-gallon roll carts to qualifying Moscow
residents affected by the flood as they clean up debris.
Jessica
Greene, the administration director for Latah Sanitation Inc., said people can
request a maximum four roll carts by calling LSI during the next week or two.
Staff will then determine whether the person’s needs qualifies him or her for
the carts.
Pickup is
scheduled for Monday, Wednesday and Friday of next week, but that may change
based on demand.
Pullman
and Moscow public works departments are continuing to aid in cleanup and damage
assessment following Tuesday’s record rainfall.
Mayors of
both towns signed declarations of emergency aimed to make it easier for those
departments to make repairs, if necessary.
In
Pullman, the declaration allows the public works department to bypass the
normal bidding process so it can get started on repair projects sooner.
Pullman
City Administrator Adam Lincoln said the city normally has to get bids from
three contractors for public works projects, but city officials can forego that
process under the declaration.
Lincoln
said they are still working on contracts for flood-related repairs.
Lincoln
said Tuesday evening’s flood damaged sidewalks on North Grand Avenue and State
Street where the water washed out the rock base, thus eroding structural integrity.
He said
crews are cleaning streams, removing debris and cutting down trees that may
worsen future flooding.
Pullman is
in contact with affected businesses to see how it can help, and officials have
been talking with student volunteers from Washington State University about
assisting the cleanup.
The city
applied for a state of emergency declaration from Gov. Jay Inslee, and state
representatives will visit Pullman again next week to determine how much state
government money the city can qualify for.
Lincoln
said the amount of damage may not be enough to qualify Pullman for “full-blown”
state of emergency assistance, but affected businesses could get low interest
loans from the Small Business Administration to help cover damage costs.
Lincoln said the owner of Rolly’s Ice Cream on North Grand Avenue told him one
private company she contacted gave her a quote of $10,000 to repair her
business.
Moscow
City Supervisor Gary Riedner said Moscow’s declaration of emergency allows it
to apply for financial assistance from state and federal officials. He said
after the historic 1996 flood that hit the Palouse, Moscow applied for disaster
relief funding and FEMA arrived to assist in the cleanup.
He said
Moscow Public Works on Friday offered to help residents pump standing water out
of their homes. According to Moscow’s Facebook page, parks staff having been
clearing debris and making repairs to Kiwanis Park and Hordemann Pond.
:::
FOOTBALL
A brotherhood of Cougars
Grieving WSU freshman Rocky
Katoange vows to play for his late cousin’s memory
By Dale Grummert, Lewiston
Trib Apr 12, 2019
It wasn’t always easy for
Rocky Katoanga to maintain a close relationship with an older cousin whom he
much admired, the former Washington State defensive lineman Tomasi Kongaika.
They lived thousands of miles apart, and at some point Kongaika began lying low
on social media.
But Katoanga found a good
way to reconnect. He became a Cougar.
“As soon as I committed, he
was the first one to say, ‘Congratulations. Go Cougs. I’m proud of you,’ ”
Katoanga said Thursday after the 10th session of WSU spring football drills.
“And everybody was like, ‘Wow. What the heck? Where have you been?’ And then
when we talked, it was all jokes and laughs, with my dad and him. It was just
reconnecting like a brotherhood.”
Katoanga is now more
grateful than ever for that re-established bond. Less than three weeks ago, on
March 23, just two days after his first practice as a Cougar freshman
linebacker, he received the stunning news that Kongaika had died in Alaska of
heart failure. He was 38.
“I was over in the dorms,
and I got a call from my brother, telling me Tomasi’s just passed away,” he
said. “I was like, ‘What?’ It took my breath away for a minute. Then my aunts
and uncles in Alaska, they called me up and said the same thing. I just
couldn’t believe it. It kind of took a toll on me. It was one of those things
you never expect, especially from a guy like him. He’s one of those guys you
expect to live forever.”
Born in Tonga and raised in
Alaska, Kongaika helped renew WSU’s Polynesian connection two decades ago,
enrolling as a walk-on and landing a scholarship after his first spring camp.
As a 285-pound sophomore in 2000, unflaggingly humble but highly visible with a
long black mane, he made such rapid strides that he earned honorable mention
All-Pac-12. Injuries hampered him the following season, but he was part of a
deep, talented D-line rotation for the Cougs’ 2002 Rose Bowl team, and he later
played six years in a pro indoor league.
His younger cousin grew up
in Southern California but was highly aware of Kongaika’s career. At 6-2 and
240 pounds, he plays a different role for the Cougar defense, and he’ll need
some time to learn the ropes. He signed with the school in December 2017, then
delayed enrollment for a year because of an injury.
Now that he’s on the field,
the long black hair flowing from his helmet can’t help but evoke Kongaika.
“He was definitely one of
the guys my brother and I looked up to,” Katoanga said. “On the field, he was
basically this big aggressive giant, but to his teammates he was a very humble
guy. Here at Washington State, I’m not just representing myself and my family,
I’m also representing his name. I’m basically trying to pick up where he left
off.”
He wanted to attend his
cousin’s funeral in Alaska, but family members said the timing — the start of
his first set of Cougar practices — just wasn’t right.
“I got a call from my dad,
and also from my family in Alaska, saying, ‘You know Masi would want you to be
at practice. I know it’s a big loss for you, but I know Masi would be proud to
see you on that field, strapping on the crimson and gray for him.’”
ROSTER NOTES — Gage Gubrud,
the graduate transfer quarterback who suffered a lower-leg injury during winter
conditioning, participated in rudimentary passing-game drills with receivers
Thursday, with no pass rush. Anthony Gordon looked especially sharp at that
position, still apparently running neck-and-neck with Trey Tinsley. Also given
a set of reps during team period was John Bledsoe.
Liam Ryan, the 2018
starting guard being auditioned at left tackle, is nursing an evidently minor
lower-leg injury, leaving the top LT spot to second-year freshman Cade
Beresford. Another member of his class getting reps at that spot is Jarrett
Kingston.
:::
Oregon Ducks baseball hangs
21 runs on Washington State
Posted Apr 12, 9:58 PM Oregonian
It took just three innings
for the Oregon Ducks to jump out to an eight-run lead against the Washington
State Cougars in their Pac-12 baseball series opener Friday night in Pullman.
But that was just the
beginning of the Ducks’ offensive onslaught. Oregon added 11 runs in the sixth
and went on to rout the Cougars 21-3.
Leading 10-1 after the
fourth inning, the Ducks sent 16 batters to the plate in their big sixth
inning, and they headed to the seventh with a 21-1 lead. WSU scored a run
apiece in the eighth and ninth.
Aaron Zavala went 4 for 4
with an RBI. Jonny DeLuca went 3 for 5 with two doubles, a triple and three
RBIs. Sam Novitske went 3 for 6 and drove in four runs. Spencer Steer went 3
for 4 with two RBIs.
Oregon (20-12, 6-4 Pac-12)
got contributions up and down the lineup, and it added up to a 19-hit, blowout
victory for the visitors. The Ducks have now won four games in a row, and eight
of their past 10.
UO starter Robert Ahlstrom
(5-4) allowed one run on five hits in five innings to pick up the victory,
striking out three and walking four.
WSU (7-24, 0-10) remained
winless in conference play.
Next up: Game 2 of the
series Saturday in Pullman.
#
