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Cheney volleyball remains the top dog in the Great Northern League after a mixed week of matches. The volleyball team split its two matches last week, winning and losing one. Despite that, Cheney remains on top of the GNL standings, at 5-1 in league play and 6-2 overall. Against Pullman last Tuesday night, Cheney fell behind early and, although the team made a spirited attempt to come back, was unable to overcome in the end. Pullman took all three sets in the match. “That was a tough road trip,” head coach Brianne Lowe sai...
The government shutdown is all that news outlets have been able to cover since the start of the month, but when considering that shutdowns have happened 17 times since 1976. This current “shutdown,” according to the Congressional Budget Office only affects 17 percent of the federal government. If there isn’t a business out there that can choose to shut down 17 percent of its operations for a month - cutting back on printer toner, holding off on that software upgrade, turn off lights and ask employees to reduce their milea...
Steve Lawrence is the incumbent in the only challenged race for a position on the Airway Heights City Council. Lawrence is running once again for Position 2 on the City Council to provide a voice for residents on the southern side of Airway Heights. “There’s no representation and apparently no one is rising up this time,” he said. He also said the City Council has been a productive one over the last four years, and the current makeup has made great achievements this year. The opinions are diverse and the representation is va...
Brenda Redell is seeking to retain her seat on the Medical Lake City Council in the upcoming election. She said the current makeup of the council is a big part of why she’s running for another term. The council is on the right track, she said, and has a good understanding of what the city’s residents are seeking from representatives. “I feel like we need to continue in that direction,” she said. “We’re past that learning curve.” Redell mentioned that the SR 902 project completion is something that will help spur growth i...
The Medical Lake City Council held a quick meeting Tuesday, Oct. 1, approving a moratorium on the acceptance of land use permits relating to marijuana. Nearly a year after voters approved an initiative to allow recreational sale and use of marijuana, rules finally arrived for cities to create an ordinance. City Administrator Doug Ross said there was really only one location within the city where storefronts could go. The moratorium will be addressed again once the city has crafted its ordinance for marijuana retail. Also appr...
Shirley Maike is the incumbent in Medical Lake’s race for Position 2 on the City Council. For her, the current city council, mayor and administration at City Hall have done a good job of maintaining the city’s finances. She’s running to keep that in place. “The city is in a good position both fiscally and from a public safety standpoint,” she said. Maike cited maintaining the city’s infrastructure as something on her list for the next term, as well as finding resources to be able to have that level of upkeep continue. ...
Leadership of Medical Lake comes down to two people in the Tuesday, Nov. 5 election for the city’s Mayor position. The two candidates were asked a series of seven questions each, focusing on some of the hot topics surrounding Medical Lake. John Higgins Higgins, the incumbent in this year’s race, is a lifelong resident of Medical Lake and said he has always been concerned with the issues facing the city, ensuring it provides a good place for families. “It’s a good place to raise a family,” he said. The city does have its chall...
The Cheney High School girls’ swimming team continued an already good start to the season last week, defeating Clarkston 85-60 at home. Head coach Jennifer Hochwalt said the meet went pretty good overall, and was yet another solid stepping stone for the young team. Many girls are still getting their rhythm down and building a strong foundation for future meets. “We have a few more girls who hadn’t been to a meet yet, so it was exciting to see them get some experience,” she said. “The new girls are really starting to improv...
Cheney volleyball continued an already dominant season last week, defeating both West Valley and Clarkston to improve to 5-1 on the season. The team is even getting some recognition at the state level, placing fifth in week four of the Seattle Times’ 2A rankings across Washington. Against West Valley, the team won 3-0 in three sets with senior Ashley Seiler’s 23 kills, aided by 28 assists from senior Kinsey Pease. “I think we did a really good job of controlling the pace of each of the sets,” head coach Brianne Lowe said. T...
In the Tuesday, Nov. 5 election, Airway Heights voters will have the opportunity to choose their mayor for the next four years. Only one candidate filed to run for the next term: Patrick Rushing Running unopposed, the incumbent Mayor Rushing can point out how the city of Airway Heights has grown over the last four years. With a track record to show new businesses and community involvement, Rushing had one goal in mind when he ran for office four years ago. “I wanted to be the most effective mayor in the history of the city,...
In its first meeting since March, the Medical Lake Planning Commission heard a proposal to rezone nine acres within the city from Multifamily Residential to Single Family Residential. Planner Glenn Scholten said if kept at the multifamily zoning, the project would have 109 units as opposed to 54 single-family units. “We do have enough water,” he said. “Water is always an issue.” The developer argues changing the zoning to support single-family homes will cut down on water usage. Currently, the city budgets 1,000 gallons of po...
Homeowners along the southern end of Silver Lake have submitted a request to spray milfoil using herbicides. The applicants have requested to use “2,4-D,” a relatively fast-acting selective herbicide that kills the entire plant, according to the Department of Ecology’s website. The group, Associated Silver Lake Owners, seeks to apply the herbicide to 150 acres of the lake. Homeowners on the northern end of the lake are concerned about the impacts it could have on their water wells, which are connected to Silver Lake itsel...
The Cheney girls’ swim team is gaining some good experience on the road, and will participate in their first home meet this week at the Eastern Washington University pool. The team has performed in two contests thus far, the Ephrata Jamboree and a match against Ellensburg. The Ephrata meet didn’t affect Cheney’s rankings, and offered a chance for some of the novice swimmers to get some hands-on experience in a real competition setting. Cheney did take second in the 200 yard medley relay, with a time of 2:05.99, just a littl...
Cheney High School volleyball continues to lead the Great Northern League standings, sitting at 2-0 in league play and 3-1 overall. The team split its matches last week, winning a close one against East Valley and losing against Mt. Spokane. “We knew it was going to be a really tough match,” head coach Brianne Lowe said about the Mt. Spokane match. “They’re a big school and they have a lot of talent, so we knew we had to come in and be aggressive.” The first set of the match...
Members of the Airway Heights City Council will be going door to door in the upcoming weeks to share information about Proposition 1, which residents will vote on in the upcoming Nov. 5 election. The city is seeking to form a transportation benefit district to collect money so roads in Airway Heights can be repaired. The benefit district’s committee held a short meeting following the Airway Heights City Council’s study session Monday, Sept. 23. Mayor Patrick Rushing said he presented information about the election item to...
Unclaimed veterans remains received a final display of honor as they were buried at the Washington State Veterans Cemetery in Medical Lake last Thursday, Sept. 19. A total of 50 veterans’ remains were laid to rest at the cemetery’s columbarium wall, with eight being placed prior to the Thursday ceremony. Of the 70 to 80 in attendance that afternoon, many were members of the Patriot Guard Riders, Combat Veterans Association, state government representatives and members of the...
In a marathon study session Monday night, the Airway Heights City Council heard items that will come forward during October’s upcoming legislative sessions. A number of non-action items were brought up for discussion, including the deferral of admissions tax payment from Village Centre Cinema. Representatives from the city and council met with the theater management in July to discuss the accumulated taxes owed, which total around $66,000. “They indicated a hardship to pay existing and current taxes,” City Manager Alber...
The Medical Lake City Council held a quick meeting Tuesday, Sept. 17, approving a handful of items in 15 minutes. Among the items passed included a contract with the Washington State Department of Corrections for use of the city’s firing range. Specifically, the corrections center in Airway Heights would be using the range for training in 2014. The City Council also approved an update to the maintenance supervisor job description. Current supervisor Dan Dorshorst is retiring at the end of the month. The description h...
The Cheney High School volleyball team is off to a strong start after its first week of regular seasaon play, doing well right out of the gate. Last week, the team came up with two wins and sits atop the GNL standings 1-0 (2-0 all games). The team hasn’t yet lost a set in its regular schedule. The strong play started against North Central last week, “We started out a little slow, but did a really good job of controlling the match,” head coach Brianne Lowe said. Senior Ashley Seiler led the Blackhawks in kills with 13, and s...
The Monday, Sept. 16 Airway Heights City Council meeting saw some comments on an upcoming initiative placed before the state Legislature. During the public comment portion of the meeting, the City Council heard from two members of the audience, including Spokane County Treasurer Rob Chase, regarding I-601. The initiative would allow electronic payments for foreclosure notices while at the same time removing delinquent penalties, dropping interest increases to 1 percent for every month that goes by. The City Council must...
Last Tuesday, Sept. 10, the Medical Lake City Council held its annual budget workshop meeting, discussing next year’s financial outlook. City Administrator Doug Ross said there aren’t many unexpected budget changes for 2014, given the city’s tax base. Most of Medical Lake’s revenues come from property taxes, preventing any big income swings in either direction. “Revenues are flat; they’ve always been flat and they always will be flat,” he said. “We’re not a large retail or commercial base.” While Medical Lake may not have a b...
At the City Council meeting this past Monday, Airway Heights authorized the sale and issuance of up to $3.6 million in water and sewer revenue bonds. City Manager Albert Tripp said the bonds are separate from any part of utilities, and won’t affect the monthly rate for residents. Currently, the city is working with $3,054,000, which would be converted from interim financing into long-term financing with Cashmere Valley Bank. “Those dollars were previously used for capital improvement as part of our economic stimulus pro...
The economy is still struggling, gas prices are high, Congress is debating potential actions in the Middle East, JJ Abrams has placed his love of Star Wars above Star Trek and the Mariners are still in the cellar of the American League West. I tell you, the more things change, the more they stay the same. So, forget all about that doom and gloom and let’s turn for a brief second to something that never changes: tea. Yes, this is a column about tea. And, cue the action-packed text! I’ve always been a tea lover. When I was you...
Last Friday, Sept. 6, government representatives and business leaders met at the annual Council of Governments meeting at the Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds, bringing forward some of the larger issues affecting the Inland Northwest. First off was Fairchild Air Force Base’s 92nd Wing Commander Brian Newberry, who focused on its connections with the county. Those connections have helped especially in the last year as budget sequestration made cuts to the base. “Sequester isn’t going away anytime soon,” he said, noting that th...
Following a public hearing Tuesday, Sept. 10, the board of Spokane County Commissioners voted unanimously to support Proposition 1 in the upcoming general election, which would collect property taxes to eliminate encroachment on Fairchild Air Force Base. An estimated $18 million would be collected over nine years across the county to pay for the purchase of a mobile home park south of Highway 2 and in the Accident Potential Zone leading to Fairchild’s runaway. That money would also be allocated to finding a proper r...
