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The Cheney boys golf team saw two of its golfers, Thomas Baycroft and Nate Koohns, make an appearance at state thanks to a first-place win in District 7 2A play last week. Baycroft took the top spot with a score of 161, and was followed by players from Clarkston and Pullman. Koohns followed in fifth place with a score of 178. The 2A state golf tournament took place May 21-22 at Liberty Lake Golf Course. As of press time on Tuesday, May 21, Baycroft had secured the 32nd spot,...
This time of year is always a bit nostalgic for me. It’s the long, slow slide from spring into summer when the sun is just starting to soak into the grass, and the smell of spring in the air that makes you want to drive the long way home and keep the windows down. I guess it reminds me of innocence, and of the magic the season seemed to have in my youth. When I was a child, this time of year meant it was almost time for my sibling and I to get tossed outside for the all-important “fresh air” my mother insisted we have. And n...
Last weekend, an ordinary conference room in Cheney's Holiday Inn Express was transformed into a cotton candy colored paradise thanks to the 3 Craft Chicks crafting retreat May 17-19. The "Under the Sea" themed retreat was hosted by Airway Heights business 3 Craft Chicks, owned by Michele Craft. Attendees decked out in bedazzled shell shirts and scaled aprons festooned with tulle lined tables elbow to elbow surrounded by a creative's dream: reams of brightly colored scrapbook...
Thanks to a government grant, some West Plains firefighters should be able to breathe a little easier. Spokane County Fire District 10 received 78 new self-contained breathing apparatuses via a Federal Emergency Management Act grant worth more than $600,000. The grant provides the new air packs along with 156 bottles to replace the district’s outdated packs. The district was able to meet the required 5 percent match to accept the grant, taking just over $31,000 out of the district’s 2019 budget. The new packs meet the 201...
Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Traffic Unit investigators attempting to piece together a hit and run collision that left a pedestrian dead believe they’ve found the suspect vehicle after searching for nearly five days. Spokesperson Cpl. Mark Gregory said investigators seized what they believe to be the vehicle involved in the crash on the evening of Tuesday, May 21, and are working to positively identify the driver. This follows several days of work in which investigators sought contact with the drivers of specific veh...
The Airway Heights City Council was so busy at their Monday, May 20, meeting that several agenda items were pushed back to a later meeting date as council members heard a presentation from the Spokane Conservation District. District Director Vicki Carter gave the council a brief history of the organization and said the conservation district was created in Spokane in 1941, along with many others formed nationwide in the aftermath of the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. She drew a significant distinction between a conservation district...
After finishing fourth in the Great Northern League, the Cheney High School boys tennis team headed to Washington State University for districts May 10-11, winning some and losing some against West Valley and Pullman. “The team gave great efforts at districts,” head coach Jesse Erickson said in an email. “I thought everyone played really well and showed just how much they improved over the course of the season.” In singles play, Jared Adams played what Erickson called “some of his best tennis of the season” in a marathon 1-...
Medical Lake girls golfer Sierra Brock qualified for state on May 7 at the Deer Park Golf Course, according to head coach Jerry Ornelas. At sub-districts on May 7, several Cardinal girls made their marks, with Brock shooting a 98 , Lily Montney a 113, Marissa Ornelas a 124 and Destiny Earle a 171. The cutoff score of 120 sent Brock and Montney to districts May 13-14 at MeadowWood Golf Course, where Brock scored 107 and Montney scored 132. The scores from sub-districts and...
The Cheney High School boys soccer season came to an end on May 11 when the Grandview Greyhounds eliminated the Blackhawks 4-1 in a district crossover match. An easy win in the Great Northern League championship match against Clarkston at Eastern Washington University’s Roos Field on May 7 sent the Blackhawks to a home playoff game, where they stumbled against an aggressive Greyhound offense. Cheney (14-3, 11-0) couldn’t seem to find the back of the net in the first half, with Grandview (1-0, 0-0) scoring in the 14th and 35t...
An inescapable news topic in recent weeks has been Georgia’s new legislation governing abortion, signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp last week and sparking outrage and debate across the country. The much-buzzed-about “heartbeat bill,” HB 481, is one of the strictest in the country and bans abortions after six weeks. The ban is the fifth in the country to ban abortion after that date, but takes it one step further by granting a fetus full legal personhood. And regardless of your stance on abortion, the precedent set by this...
Several West Plains fire agencies partnered with the Fairchild Air Force Base Fire Department on Thursday, May 16, for an aircraft collision training scenario in preparation for Air Force events scheduled later this year. Firefighters with the Airway Heights Fire Department, Spokane County Fire District 10 and Spokane County Fire District 3 used metal helicopters to simulate accidents and practice their response to a fictional scenario, Airway Heights Fire Chief Mitch Metzger...
Cheney High School announced on Thursday, May 9, that it has entered the running for a $100,000 instrument grant from award-winning musician Barry Manilow. Manilow and his foundation, the Manilow Music Project, are conducting a nationwide contest to award one high school band $100,000 in musical instruments and uniforms in response to budget cuts in public schools, according to a press release. Schools were asked to upload videos explaining who they are and why they need the instruments. According to the release, while se...
It was an unusual start to a school board meeting as Cheney district officials, employees and families gathered in the Cheney Middle School cafeteria on May 8 for the district’s Employee Recognition Night. Several teachers were nominated for awards by their students, and a few of those students took turns reading their nominations. Superintendent Rob Roettger presented “You raise me up” awards to Salnave Elementary counselor Gwynn Moe, nominated by Lily Escalera-Alton, Westwood Middle School eighth-grade teacher Lucas Jense...
Airway Heights residents were alarmed over the weekend when the city’s Public Works Department announced that one of two interties with Spokane was to be shut down for relocation and asked all residents to begin conserving water immediately. That alarm quickly turned to relief when city staff amended their statement on Monday, May 13, saying water operations could resume as normal because the intertie connection relocation would be completed in phases, with some to take place at a later date. The original announcement, which...
Representatives from several levels of the United States Air Force had little to say last week in response to an Airway Heights letter demanding nearly $47 million in damages because of the 2017 contamination of its water supply. Fairchild personnel originally referred queries seeking a response to the letter to the Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC) in San Antonio, Texas, which has played a large part in water testing and other contamination-related activities on the West Plains. AFCEC spokesperson Mark Kinkade said he...
The city of Airway Heights sent a letter to the United States Air Force and the United States Department of Defense Thursday, May 2, demanding they pay nearly $47 million in damages as the result of the 2017 contamination of the city’s water supply by Fairchild Air Force Base. According to the letter, the city and the Air Force are in agreement that Air Force activities contributed to PFOA and PFAS contamination via firefighting foam, which the city believes makes the Air Force liable for damages for “trespass, nuisance and...
Everyone loves an underdog story, and in its last home match of the season on April 30, the Cheney boys tennis team delivered, defeating West Valley in a stunning 4-3 win. Doubles play started out slow, with Cheney’s Jameson Powell and Mitchell Johnson losing 1-6, 1-6 to West Valley’s Ryson Cebriak and Logan Atkins. The number two doubles team comprised of Austin Passey and Sam Laughton didn’t fare any better, losing 1-6, 0-6 to the Eagles’ John Liberg and Alemayhu Raskell The Blackhawks lost the third doubles match by defa...
A May 2 Northeast A League match at The Fairways Golf Course was a beautiful day, and the sunshine must have given Medical Lake a bit of an extra push as the school saw a member of both the boys and girls golf teams make it into the top 10. The girls team had a third-place finish, coming in with 110 points to Colville’s 155 and Lakeside’s 171.The boys team finished fourth, scoring 188 compared to Deer Park’s 281, Freeman’s 267 and Lakeside’s 265. The team score is based on the five best scores for the boys team and four best...
Medical Lake came out on top in the first round of the Northeast 1A district tournament and will be advancing to take on Lakeside in the district championship on May 8 at Spokane Falls Community College. In a May 2 match against Colville (8-5, 8-4), Medical Lake (8-8, 7-5) earned an early lead with Michael Schwiekhardt scoring a goal in the 10th minute. Cardinal Carter Pivonka scored again in the 25th minute, but two Colville goals — one in the first half, one in the second — set up the teams for a shootout. Medical Lake clu...
Seventy-two people have been victims of domestic violence homicides in Spokane County since 1997, the fourth-highest of any county in the state according to Washington State Domestic Violence Coalition research. Twenty-two of those have happened since 2015. It’s those statistics the West Plains Support Network is trying to combat, tackling family violence at its May 1 meeting. The meeting included a panel discussion by local non-profit leaders and family violence prevention advocates from organizations all across the West P...
Airway Heights resident Sadie Reddy is the human embodiment of soda carbonation. The 23-year-old bounces when she sits, routinely throws her arms joyfully around the nearest person and brings an aura of happy chaos when she enters a room. Bubbly, effusive and infectious, you'd never guess she was once a victim of abuse. Reddy left an abusive relationship less than a year ago, and found the Women's Healing and Empowerment Network (WHEN) in the West Plains. Through it, she...
West Plains leaders and community members gathered on Thursday, May 1, to celebrate a historic Airway Heights achievement — the long-awaited completion of the city’s massive recreation center. Following a ceremonial ribbon-cutting that included speeches from city officials and local political representatives, the center’s new staff kept busy signing up nearby residents for memberships. Airway Heights Mayor Kevin Richey thanked the building’s architects and contrac...
Five employees working at the Airway Heights Corrections Center on the West Plains were honored for exemplary performance at the state Department of Corrections annual agency awards on Friday, April 26. A total of 162 employees out of 1,050 across the state were nominated by their colleagues and received awards, according to a Department of Corrections (DOC) press release. Those honored from Airway Heights included sex offender treatment specialist Andrea Apaa, who received the “Equitable and Inclusive Workplace” award for he...
A luxury electric sports car manufacturer has signed a letter of intent to build a 1.3-million –square-foot facility on the West Plains, and county and company officials say that space is just the beginning. Fresh off of introducing its product at New York’s International Auto Show in April, California-based Mullen Technologies Inc. announced last week its plan to work with the West Plains-Airport Area Development Authority (PDA) to manufacture its new Qiantu K50 super-EV electric sportscar, bringing 55 jobs to the area imm...
Diving through the mobile home parks on the south side of Airway Heights is a study in opposites. Neat, brightly painted homes share a fence with residences that seem abandoned, with windows boarded up and yards littered with trash, broken furniture and all manner of odds and ends rotting from exposure to the rain. It’s a sight Airway Heights code enforcement officer Kristina Blake sees every day, and one she says has improved dramatically since she began her duties nearly a...
