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If the number of those testifying and amount of applause is any indication, most of those attending the Feb. 25 Cheney School Board meeting enthusiastically agree that the board should rerun the just under $44.9 million high school construction bond that failed to receive the needed supermajority required for passage in the Feb. 10 special election. But while most of the estimated 200 people in attendance at Salnave Elementary School's commons area supported rerunning the...
Airway Heights is taking more steps to thin out property south of Highway 2 that encroaches on Fairchild Air Force Base. As a part of its Fairchild Protection and Community Empowerment Project to help thin out density in the Accident Potential Zone II (APZ), which lies in the approach to Fairchild’s runway, the city has proposed purchasing two mobile home parks located on Lawson and Campbell streets. In 2012, the city began its efforts to reduce the residential density in the APZ to two units per acre and provide a...
When I first met Bonita Brady, who calls herself Bonnie, I caught a glimpse of a few of my own traits. Then I realized nobody ever catches up with Bonnie. Brady told me she was born in Chicago. Her father was an electrician. I soon understood that being born in a certain place didn’t mean she would stay there very long. “I’ve been on both coasts,” she said. As Brady grew up she decided to try college and found a hard set of rules. If you’re going to college you will take algebra. Brady said, “No.” College said, “Yes.” Well,...
Residents and patrons may have noticed a new face at the Medical Lake library in the last couple of months. Theresa Stephenson became the library's supervisor back in January. Stephenson, originally from Los Angeles, Calif., graduated from the University of Montana with a bachelors degree in science and earned a masters degree at Louisiana State University. It was during her time at LSU that she realized she wanted to be a librarian. "It sounded like a natural career path for...
OLYMPIA — Washington State high school juniors and seniors with an interest in law enforcement as a career will have an opportunity to spend a week this summer learning about the roles and job opportunities within law enforcement. Applications are being accepted for the 38th Annual Washington State — Kiwanis Youth Law Enforcement Camp to be held at the Washington State Patrol Academy in Shelton from July 19-25. Applications can be downloaded from the State Patrol’s Home Page, wsp.wa.gov, under “Outreach.” The applicati...
CHENEY Feb. 23 A juvenile was reported missing on the 500 block of Washington Street. The juvenile later returned home. A juvenile was reported missing on the 100 block of Greenbriar Lane. The juvenile later returned home. Feb. 24 Fourth-degree assault was reported at Cheney Middle School. Incident was handled internally by the school. Feb. 25 Third-degree malicious mischief was reported on the 3200 block of Meadow Glen Lane. There was damage to a front door done by a pellet gun. Feb. 26 Third-degree malicious mischief was...
I am writing to encourage the residents of Cheney School District to get behind our kids and vote “Yes” to rerun the bond for the remodel of Cheney High School. We only had 30 percent of our voters turn out for this election. Our kids need you to mail in your ballot. It’s like not turning in your homework when you only have to mark one little circle. It is not hard! Having a child in the high school, I have to say sitting on the floor in the hall to eat your lunch because there is no room in the cafeteria, is not only germy...
I recently listened to a speech by the Spokane director of the Washington Policy Center. His opening claimed the center is an organization dedicated to improving our state, he then, in my estimation, proceeded to explain an agenda detrimental to our state. The booklet he presented to us confirms my suspicions. Examples are: 1. Any tax increase should only be passed by a supermajority. Such an action ensures tyranny by the minority. Is this a democracy? 2. Medicaid expansion should NOT be increased. Judeo-Christian and Greek...
Cheney has incredible teachers and schools. The high school may be in need of additional classrooms but I find most of the other items on the bond to be excessive. Bill Johns’ alternatives to the school bond are informative and well researched. I agree with Chris Stewart’s letter that the financial impact on voters with two bonds to pay off is not affordable for many people. Students have eaten lunch sitting in the hallways for as long as I have volunteered there the past 20 years. It is their choice and comfort. The gym sit...
I attended the school board meeting on Feb. 25 and got to listen to the staff of the school district belittle those who dared question the bond issue for nearly two hours. Various teachers and students demanded and insisted they “deserve” or “have a right” to my tax dollars in various ways. Not a single one said, “please” or “thank you” for the tens of millions of dollars we already give them. My tax dollars are not a “right” and as a voter I am entitled to know they are being spent carefully and all due diligence is being...
Any time we talk about levies and bonds, it is important to remember they are simply taxes, specifically taxes on homes and property. We need to be very careful that we don’t endanger our neighbors’ ability to keep their homes, for the sake of something unnecessary. Regarding the proposed Cheney High School bond, it is easy to toss around numbers and forget the tax hike is a significant amount for many families. The $.75 per $1,000 valuation is about $100-$200 per family. What if a family can’t afford this? Would it reall...
As a parent, community member and educator I ask Cheney’s citizens to consider the important role quality facilities can play in the education of our youth, and also about the message sent to the children and educators in our community when people choose not to vote. I have lived and worked in Cheney for nearly 12 years. Cheney School District hires outstanding people, and I know they will do their best work given any circumstance. However, the amazing new facilities we have built for our Cheney and Westwood middle school s...
With the county’s certification of the Feb. 10 special election last Wednesday, Feb. 25, the Cheney School District’s nearly $44.8 million construction bond for expanding and remodeling the high school has come up short of the needed 60 percent majority for passage. The bond received 3,712 yes votes, 58.43 percent, which according to school district officials and bond supporters is about 100 votes shy of passage. With an eye to possibly re-running the bond in April, the district’s school board accepted extended public input...
ML book club meeting The Medical Lake Book Club welcomes local author Reade Brown to their March 9 meeting. The meeting starts with refreshments and a social at 12:30 p.m. Brown will discuss his book “Fifty Years of Fur, Feathers, and Fins”, which is a wonderful and entertaining story of Mr. Brown’s experiences as a young biologist who spent 33 years working for the State of Washington’s Department of Game, starting in 1948. Everyone is welcome. The club meets in the Medical Lake Library’s meeting room at 321 E. Herb St....
Medical Lake Middle School honored six students who were selected for the February Partners Advancing Character Education (PACE) Student of the Month award. They received certificates and T-shirts and were treated to a special lunch Feb. 27 provided by Owl Pharmacy and the school. February's PACE trait of the month was honesty. Name: Madelyn Kubes Grade: Sixth Favorite Subject: Social Studies What honesty means to them: Not lying and telling the truth. Name: Kamanakai Paikuli...
Several Cheney residents were named to the University of Washington’s dean’s list for fall quarter. Kayla Marie Fox, Hayden B. Gerstenkorn, Jessica Rose Ormsby, Max A. Schreiber, Danielle Marie Von Lehe and Cassidy Kaylane Weatherbee. Peter John Mills, of Spangle, also made the dean’s list. To qualify for the dean’s list, a student must have completed at least 12 graded credits and have a grade point average of 3.5....
The Cheney High School FBLA Club (Future Business Leaders of America) completed competition in the 2015 North East Regional Winter Conference at the Eastpoint Church in Spokane Valley, Feb. 8. The Cheney club had 60 of its 78 attending members place in the top five 102 different times in the competition’s 55 different events. Students who place top five are eligible to compete for the state conference in Spokane on April 15-17. Of the 85 events that they placed in, Cheney had 18 first-place finishes and 24 second-place f...
Several members of Medical Lake High School's Future Farmers of America's (FFA) sales team take notes as a representative from Fogle Pump and Supply in Airway Heights explains the inner workings of water pump systems. The sales team is one of several groups of the FFA club that are getting ready for various competitions this month. The sales team is preparing for a March 18 district sales competition, at Medical Lake High School, where they have to sell a systematic sprinkler...
In an effort to educate military personnel, veterans and their families on financial options, Fairchild Air Force Base held a town hall meeting Feb. 24 during "Military Saves Week." Holly Petraeus, assistant director of service member affairs for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was the guest speaker for the event. Petraeus explained that the CFPB was formed in the wake of the 2008 recession as a way to protect consumers from being taken advantage of by...
Following conclusion of a public meeting on re-running the school district’s high school construction bond, the Cheney School Board made quick work of an otherwise light agenda. The board received a student enrollment and financial update from the school district’s executive director of finance, Kassidy Probert that indicated student enrollment is still running ahead of budgeted numbers. Total enrollment through February was 4,177 full-time equivalent (FTE) students, down from 4,188 in January but still 43 students ahead of...
The Cheney-Spokane Chapter of the Ice Age Flood Institute is planning a pair of events for March. The first is a free lecture by scientist Michael McCollum, “The Incredible Shrinking Glacial Lake: A nonfiction account of the rise and downfall of Glacial Lake Columbia” on Thursday, March 12, from 7 – 9 p.m. at Eastern Washington University’s Science Building room 137. McCollum will present a story 20,000 years in the making and recording a 3,000 year onslaught by catastrophic floods whose sediments finally overtook the lak...
Fisher Building meeting at Betz Due to inaccurate information, last week’s West Plains Brief announcing a public hearing at the March 11 Cheney School Board meeting to discuss the possible sale of the district’s Fisher Building contained an incorrect location. The meeting is taking place at 6:05 p.m. at Betz Elementary School, not Salnave Elementary. Westwood honor roll for Term 2 The Westwood Middle School honor roll that appeared in the Feb. 26 issue was incorrectly identified. It is for “Term 2,” not fall quarter...
The Airway Heights City Council breezed through another short agenda at its March 2 meeting. The council accepted the completion of the Sunset Park Restroom/Sidewalk Project. Parks, Recreation and Community Director J.C. Kennedy explained that WM Winkler Company completed construction on the project and it has met staff's standards. Councilman Dave Malet asked about the timeline for when staff will install the splash pad. Kennedy said they are preparing for the landscaping wor...
Seaport Steel began construction on its approximately 60,000 square foot facility on South Hayden Road. The expansion will include the installation of a new 1,900-foot rail spur next to the facility....
The story of the beginnings of Eastern Washington University’s CARES Program is maybe not all that different from a memorable television commercial. Remember, the one with the lines, “You got your chocolate in my peanut butter,” followed by “You got your peanut butter in my chocolate,” an ad for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups? Seems that back in 2006 the Spokane Fire Department and EWU’s School of Social Work each had a mission that needed to get accomplished. Part of the inspir...
