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CHENEY – The state Legislature began its 60-day short session on Monday, Jan. 13, and legislators will be hearing from a lot of people on a lot of issues over the next two months. You can count representatives from the city of Cheney among those vocalizing concerns. Specifically, a list of seven priorities for the city passed by the City Council in December — at the top of which is continuing advocacy for funding for a water re-use system and conservation programs. The city has at times imposed irrigation restriction mea...
CASHMERE — Like a tsunami, the Medical Lake boy’s basketball team continues to roll relentlessly over competitors, even if they take extra quarters to do it. That was the case when the Cardinals traveled west to take on the Cashmere Bulldogs — who they may very well see again in the post-season — in a 55-50 overtime win. “It was just a fun high school basketball game to be a part of,” head coach Jordan Starr said. “It was great basketball.” He classified the game as one in...
OTIS ORCHARDS – The Blackhawks boys and girls varsity basketball teams each dropped a game last week — with the weather taking the rest. Heavy snow on Friday postponed a visit from the Pullman Greyhounds to tonight, Jan. 16, at least if the prognostication for an easing of snow dumps passing through the area comes to fruition. Those snowfalls and subsequent slick roadways also postponed a visit by the Clarkston Bantams on Tuesday, with those games being rescheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 5 — making for a busy end to the seaso...
GRIDLEY, CALIF. – The high school alma mater of Eastern Washington University freshman lineman George Becker released a statement over the weekend saying the former Bulldog died by "apparent suicide." Becker, 18, was away at winter break in California when his death was announced on Jan. 8. "The death of any young person is a loss which, in one way or another, diminishes each of us," Gridley High School officials said in a letter to GHS families. "The tragic circumstances o...
MEDICAL LAKE — Cardinal head wrestling coach Matt Leenhouts, coming off a hard-fought, close loss against Cheney at the Scabland Scuffle the day before, bragged that he worked his team harder than anyone else. “We’ve got Colville tomorrow,” he said as his wrestlers made their way out of the Cheney gymnasium. “It’s going to show tomorrow.” And show it did, in the Cardinal’s 42-33 defeat of Colville, their first dual win against the Indians in over decade — since 2009 to be...
CHENEY —Blackhawk wrestlers hosted this years Scabland Scuffle dual in the annual West Plains grapple, just barely beating the Cardinals in a close 41-33 struggle under the spotlight on Wednesday, Jan. 8. It was a hotly contested effort by wrestlers from both teams, with scoring going down to the final match. “That’s a pretty fun day of wrestling,” Cheney head coach Jason Connor said after the meet, adding of the Cardinals, “they came to compete. They came out and punched u...
As Initiative 976, the car tabs measure approved by voters in November, is held up in the State Supreme Court, Republicans proposed laws that would guarantee the $30 car tabs Washington voters approved. “It is just a clean $30 car tab,” said Sen Phil Fortunado, R-Auburn. “That’s what people voted for, that’s what we’re doing.” Unlike I-976, which is facing a court fight over its constitutionality, Fortunado said his sponsored bill, Senate Bill 6350, is simple in nature and will likely not be challenged in court. “It re...
Last night (Jan. 9) I watched the opening of “Just Mercy” with several Black American friends. After the movie, a woman in the bathroom stall next to me was weeping. A very well-educated man I have tremendous respect for said he had to be convinced to go. For these two people, the still present discrimination they face as Black Americans today is so real, it’s difficult for them to watch it unfold on a screen. Years ago, when I was trying to learn more about Native American issues, Al Frank, a Nez Perce friend of mine said “J...
In response to Nancy Street’s letter on Jan. 9, I’d like to give a positive look at our lives in the United States. Yes, we sit in our comfortable houses watching TV, read the sports pages, tailgate with our friends, go to the gym, shop and use our smartphones. But, let’s look at our lives positively. We go to the gym to work on bettering ourselves, even when we overindulge. We drive our SUV’s full of kids to soccer practices and baseball games where we volunteer coach, cheering on our kids, building them up and teachin...
The Washington State Legislature once again is attempting to make government records more obscure, this time by trying to shield public employee birthdates from disclosure with the introduction of HB 1888. Rep. Zack Hudgins, of the 11th Legislative District and Javier Valdez from the 46th Legislative district, both Democrats, are the sponsors. While proponents say they are most concerned with privacy rights and identity theft, this bill is really about a fight between public employee unions and the Freedom Foundation, a...
Under our Constitution, anyone accused of a crime has right to see all the evidence against them, to face their accusers, and to call witnesses in their defense. I have been falsely accused of being a “domestic terrorist” by a private investigator who never spoke to the principals involved in the incidents she described and relied instead on anonymous sources. Based solely on this investigator’s dossier, the Speaker of the House of Washington State said I “engaged in an act of domestic terrorism.” This is a lie. The Speak...
SPOKANE COUNTY — The occupants of a home in West Terrace avoided what could have been a more catastrophic fire after placing a precautionary call to emergency services early Friday morning, Jan. 10. The occupants on the 7700 block of Blackberry Street just southeast of the Interstate 90, Medical Lake interchange, dialed 911 after suspecting a fire in their bathroom fan, according to Spokane County Fire District 3 Division Chief Dustin Flock. A fire attack crew was d...
Library facilities closed Jan. 20 All Spokane County Library District facilities will be closed on Monday, Jan. 20, to observe Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Regular library hours resume Tuesday, Jan. 21. Spokane County Library District’s online services remain available 24/7 at www.scld.org....
Fifty years ago on Jan. 21, 1970, the Catholic congregation held its first mass in the St. Rose of Lima church at 460 North 5th St. Learn more about our area’s history at www.cheneymuseum.org....
Donald “Dusty” Rhoades, 81, passed away early Jan. 13, 2020, and is now reunited with his beloved wife Galen in Heaven. He was born June 9, 1938 in Tonasket, Wash., the second of 12 children born to his loving mother Josephine (Estell) Dickinson. He graduated from Spangle High School in 1957, where he met his best friend, Jim, and they spent the next decades getting into mischief and cracking jokes together. Both were members of the Naval Air Reserve in high school, and joi...
Cheney Congregational Church Pastor Matt Goodale is starting the New Year by looking at Jesus’ parables and what they teach about the Kingdom of God. The Jan. 19 sermon will cover the Beatitudes. There is a children’s area in the sanctuary and we have a children’s Sunday school during the sermon. Join us for fellowship, conversation and refreshment following the service. Please visit our website, www.cheneycongregational.org, for previous sermons and more information about our church. Choir practice will be 9 a.m. on Sunda...
1 Years Ago Jan. 14, 2010 The Cheney City Council welcomed two new members to its ranks. After being sworn in, Councilman Fred Pollard took his seat, while Tom Truelove once again filled the mayor’s chair, his third non-consecutive term on the council. The Cheney Planning Commission approved the 33-acre Terra Vista planned unit development that included lot sizes 3,000 square feet smaller than the code at the time allowed, allowing developer Steve Emtman and consulting engineer Todd Whipple to sell 60 townhouse units r...
OLYMPIA — Residents and visitors will get a break if lawmakers approve a proposal to do away with Discover Pass fees for using state parks. Senate Minority Leader Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville and Sen. Randi Becker, R-Eatonville, have co-sponsored SB 6174, which would no longer require park visitors to pay $10 for a one-time parking permit, or buy the $30 annual parking Discover Pass. Sen. Schoesler is critical of the tax proposals voted in last year’s legislative session. He said the results of the tax advisory votes on las...
MEDICAL LAKE — Opponents of the Spokane Gun Club’s proposed shooting range north of the city are getting their day in court on Friday. A suit filed in Spokane Superior Court by members of the Whitehead family, many of whom live adjacent to the gun range, proposed to be built between West McFarlane and Thorpe roads and just west of Brooks Road, contend that Spokane County misapplied a county code requiring approval of at least 50 percent of property owners lift the no-...
Contributed photo by Leeann Barton Cheney High School has released its list of Students of the Month for December 2019. Pictured above from left to right front row are Courtney Smith, Tiah Bigsmoke and Gabrielle Wold. Back row left to right are Rhyan Kucirka, Jeremy Voight and Jakob Bernsdorf. Not pictured are Geramiah Hilburn, Honey Amor, Natalie Dees, Kearstin Pudwill, Kiyah Young-Wilson, Elizabeth Counts and Aaron Brown....
The Medical Lake Dollars for Scholars is asking for donations of gift baskets, gift certificates or cash to support its upcoming bi-annual fundraising event, according to a fundraising press release. Last year Dollars for Scholars, a 501(c)(3) non-profit scholarship foundation, raised over $13,000 by auctioning off a variety of donated merchandise. This year’s goal is to meet or exceed that amount. The organization awarded 26 students over $26,000 in scholarships, and since its inception in 2011 has awarded more than $...
CHENEY – School board members passed revisions to a policy regarding student fees, fines and charges at an otherwise light agenda for its first meeting in 2020 last Wednesday, Jan. 8. Assistant Superintendent Tom Arlt directed board members to some minor word changes made since the policy’s first read at the Dec. 18 meeting. Arlt said the language in the first reading came directly from the Washington State School Directors Association. “Their language has been more liberal than required by law,” Arlt said, adding this co...
CHENEY – It’s was a busy year for the charitable organization, the West Plains Angels, in 2019, and while president Tony Blount is planning on even more fund raising events in 2020, he’s also thinking of cutting down on the frequency these occur near the end. The 501(c) (3) organization started by Blount and his wife Amy in March 2018 held two fund raisers within a week of each other in December – the annual Christmas banquet with silent and live auctions and the Christmas Tre...
AIRWAY HEIGHTS – For many standing in the audience gathered around a three-tiered cake at the Spokane Tribe Casino, this day didn’t seem possible. The casino kicked off a month-long celebration of its two-year anniversary with a ceremony Jan. 8 honoring tribal and community members who worked to get the first phase of the Tribe’s economic development project off the ground. The first phase of that, the $40 million casino, opened on Jan. 8, 2018, after 10 years of plann...
MEDICAL LAKE — The City Council got to work at its first meeting of the new decade with some newly elected members, and approving a slew of contracts and a tax credit resolution for future consideration. The biggest issue on the council’s agenda was the approval of a non-binding resolution of intent related to a tax credit earmarked specifically for affordable and supportive housing assistance. The credit is the outcome of a 2019 legislative bill created to address the issue o...
