Articles from the March 24, 2016 edition


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  • Fifth-graders score high numbers in Math is Cool competition

    Updated Mar 24, 2016

    Elementary schools from Cheney and Medical Lake competed in the fifth-grade Math is Cool competition, March 18, at Eastern Washington University. The competition began with a 15-minute round of mental math where each student was asked eight questions. The next round consisted of a 40-question individual test, followed by two team tests - one multiple choice and one fill in the blanks - and relays. After dinner teams competed in three rounds of College Bowl with 10 questions...

  • CHS greenhouse under new management

    AL STOVER, Staff Reporter|Updated Mar 24, 2016

    For many years, the greenhouse behind Cheney High School has served primarily as a lab for experiments. Heather McLagan, one of the advisers for the high school's Future Farmers of America chapter, along with Alan Skoog, took over managing the greenhouse last year and have since then turned it into a classroom and a center that mass produces plants. "We've changed the way the greenhouse is run, it's not just for labs and experiments," McLagan said. McLagan previously ran the...

  • Westwood students particpate in local MESA competition

    AL STOVER, Staff Reporter|Updated Mar 24, 2016

    Four Westwood Middle School students - Bethany Fisher, Andres Margraf, Juliane De Los Santos and William Prater - recently participated in the eighth-grade Spokane MESA (Math, Engineering, Science and Achievement) competition at Gonzaga University, March 10. According to its website, Spokane MESA strives to improve the diversity and retention of students traditionally underrepresented in sciences, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. The organization works during...

  • Making contact

    John McCallum|Updated Mar 24, 2016

    Cheney's Tom Davis (right) demonstrates his tapping technique to Dr. Peter Hansen (left) during a March 19 presentation on telegraphy at the Cheney Library. Davis received his telegraphy training at the Cheney Depot, and worked for a year, 1957, for the Northern Pacific Railroad at stations from Cheney to Paradise, Mont. The presentation was sponsored by the Cheney Depot Society as part of their Save Our Station (SOS) campaign....

  • Fisher Building rezone requested

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Mar 24, 2016

    As part of its comprehensive plan review process, city planner Brett Lucas asked Cheney’s Planning Commission to consider answers to three questions for future discussions on land use. Those questions are how much land should the city allocate for single-family vs. multifamily residential construction, should some industrial-zoned land in west Cheney be considered for other purposes, and should the land where the Fisher Building — Cheney School District’s now vacant former administration building — be rezoned. The latter...

  • West Plains BRIEFS

    Updated Mar 24, 2016

    West Plain Easter Egg hunts, Saturday March 26 Area youth will have plenty to choose from when it comes to finding Easter eggs this Saturday. The Cheney Kiwanis are holding their egg hunt at 11 a.m., sharp, at Salnave Park, with 4 – 5 age groups for toddlers through age 10. There will be gift baskets in each group for those who find the golden egg. Medical Lake Kiwanis are holding their 35th annual egg hunt at Waterfront Park, beginning promptly at 11 a.m. There will be plenty of goodies and prizes in four age groups t...

  • What's Happening On The West Plains

    Updated Mar 24, 2016

    All events are free unless posted otherwise. To get your event or meeting in the weekly What’s Happening section send an email with date, time, location and event to [email protected]. Cheney • March 25, Baby Play and Learn Storytime (ages 0 – 18 months), community library, 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. • March 25, Free AARP Tax-Aide, community library, noon – 5 p.m. • March 26, Cheney Kiwanis Easter Egg Hunt, toddler through age 10, Salnave Park, promptly at 11 a.m. • March 28, Dance Class, Wren Pierson Community Cente... Full story

  • Marie E. Larson

    Updated Mar 24, 2016

    Our beloved Mother, Ga'ma, Grammie, Marie E. Larson, left us on March 18, 2016 at the age of 89. She joins her mother, Hazel Marie Camp and her husband of 48 years, Lamoyne (Larry) Larson in heaven. Marie was born Feb. 8, 1927 in the first "modern" house in Cheney, built by pioneer and Civil War veteran, G.W. Cook, her great-great-grandfather. She was a proud descendant of the earliest settlers in Washington state. Marie graduated from Cheney High School in 1945 and looked for... Full story

  • Churches

    Updated Mar 24, 2016

    Cheney United Church of Christ Cheney UCC members invite you to join us for our Easter Celebrations. Sunrise services will be at 8 a.m. at the Fairview Cemetery, 1530 Salnave Road just west of Cheney. Following that service at approximately 8:30 a.m. will be Easter breakfast at the church fellowship hall. Easter services will be at 10 a.m. in the church sanctuary. The teaching will be “Affirmation” led by pastor David Krueger-Duncan. Special music will be provided by soprano, Keio Cunningham. Come celebrate the res... Full story

  • Looking Back

    Updated Mar 24, 2016

    1 Years Ago March 30, 2006 Cheney Superintendent of Schools Mike Dunn will be staying on the job after finding out he did not get a similar job with the Mead School District. Bob Behrens joined the Cheney Light Department as its new manager, relieving Planning Director Tom Richardson of some of his dual responsibilities. Cheney boys' basketball coach Dave Baird stepped down from the position he had held since 2002 and accumulated an overall won-lost record of 33-59. 20 Years...

  • McMorris Rodgers truths

    Updated Mar 24, 2016

    It’s time for the truth concerning Cathy McMorris Rodgers. She is part of the most dysfunctional Congress ever. She is paid $174,000 a year by us to work for the 5th District of Washington state. This is what she has done: voted over 60 times to stop all of us from getting affordable health care, voted to cut millions of dollars from food programs for children and the disabled, voted against our veterans health, voted for cuts to Medicare, voted for raising the eligibility age for Medicare to 67, privatizing our Social S...

  • Support Sanders March 26

    Updated Mar 24, 2016

    Are you concerned about the number of fires we experienced last summer? Does the number of dangerous, mile-long trains, especially oil trains that come through Cheney blowing their horns and blocking intersections, bother you? Have you noticed that our summers are hotter and drier? Are you concerned about climate change? Then you should vote for Bernie Sanders in the upcoming Democratic Caucus. He is the only candidate for president, either Republican or Democrat that has consistently considered climate change as a major issu...

  • Lt. Gov. Brad Owen served 'Our Washington' well

    DON C. BRUNELL, Contributor|Updated Mar 24, 2016

    For the last 20 years, Lt. Gov. Brad Owen (D) has served Washington well. Now, he is retiring and leaving the state senate as he found it — a dignified place to debate and enact public policy. Owen, a former convenience store owner in Shelton, will not seek re-election. It will be the first time in 40 years that his name will not be on the November ballot. He was elected to the state house in 1976 and then to the senate in 1983. Owen is currently the longest serving l...

  • Taxed Enough

    Updated Mar 24, 2016

    Thank you, Cheney Free Press, for highlighting the taxation issue out-of-town residents are having with their city of Cheney utility bills. Like many others, I was surprised to see new taxes of $25 added to my February statement. The ladies at the city were very pleasant, but couldn’t offer much help. To put it into more perspective, in the three years we’ve lived outside of Cheney we have replaced windows, added insulation, changed pellet stoves, added wood heat, replaced an old refrigerator and replaced sliders and ext...

  • It's time for a better understanding of the Vietnam War

    Updated Mar 24, 2016

    There’s an effort in place that’s long overdue and will be ongoing over basically the next decade. The 2008 National Defense Authorization Act authorized the Secretary of Defense to conduct a program to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. The observance extends until Veteran’s Day 2025. Spokane’s Daughters of the American Revolution, Jonas Babcock Chapter, are at the forefront of the effort to recognize both living and deceased Vietnam veterans locally. And to date, on a statewide basis, there were dozens...

  • Knowledge is Power

    AL STOVER|Updated Mar 24, 2016

    The Medical Lake High School Knowledge Bowl team took second place in the Washington State XXXIV Knowledge Bowl championships, March 19, at Arlington High School. Medical Lake advanced to state after they took fourth in regional competition, March 4....

  • Track crews in final stages of project

    PAUL DELANEY, Staff Reporter|Updated Mar 24, 2016

    Crews from RailWorks are back on the job putting the finishing touches on their work to upgrade nearly seven-miles of track from Cheney to the Geiger Spur. The $7 million project that began in September, 2015 included replacement of rails that carry trains from both the Eastern Washington Gateway Railroad and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and will serve the new Highline Grain Terminal in Four Lakes. "Currently what's going on is we're cleaning up on the project," Josh...

  • May 1 is new opening date at Holiday Inn Express

    PAUL DELANEY, Staff Reporter|Updated Mar 24, 2016

    The calendar and weather have combined to delay the planned opening of the newly remodeled Cheney Holiday Inn Express In a December Cheney Free Press story, Debbie Anderson, who along with husband, Brian, own the local hotel, were confident the project would have been completed by mid-March for an addition that included new rooms and a conference center. The first hiccup came when furniture ordered from China was delayed by the holiday that goes with the Chinese New Year that...

  • Eastern's Morley to receive Represenative Timm Ormsby award

    STAFF AND News Reports|Updated Mar 24, 2016

    Eastern Washington University announced that professor Laurie Morley, Ph.D, is one of five Washington public university faculty to receive the 2016 Representative Timm Ormsby Award for Faculty Citizenship. Sponsored by the Washington Council of Faculty Representatives, this award seeks to encourage, recognize and honor exemplary civic engagement by faculty from each of Washington’s six public universities. The award was created in 2013 and named for Rep. Timm Ormsby in recognition of his tireless effort to promote civic l...

  • Pine heating

    John McCallum|Updated Mar 24, 2016

    Steam rises from four piles of wood chips created when a small stand of trees was harvested and chopped up to make way for the Salnave Glen apartment complex at State Route 904 and Presley Drive....

  • News Briefs

    STAFF AND NEWS SOURCES|Updated Mar 24, 2016

    Civility is topic of library series The Spokane County Library District and Humanities Washington invited residents to explore questions on civil discourse and more with a four-part election-year lecture series. Featured guest speakers will explore the topics of political incivility, racism, Islam and political cartooning. Cornell Clayton, the director of the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service at Washington State University, begins the series with “Political Incivility and Polarization in A...

  • Medical Lake pulls the trigger on road grader purchase

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Mar 24, 2016

    The Medical Lake City Council made the city’s purchase of a used road grader official by approving a budget amendment at their March 15 meeting. The $157,614 amendment pays for the grader, a 2008 Caterpillar 140M Motor Grader purchased from dealer Western States, via four accounts. The money essentially comes out of the water/sewer and the streets fund, with each paying half, $78.807. While water/sewer is a combined account, City Administrator Doug Ross said the city breaks out expenses for each function separately for t...

  • Milt Priggee returns to the Inland NW

    PAUL DELANEY, Staff Reporter|Updated Mar 24, 2016

    To those who have lived in the area for any length of time, and who might have been readers of Spokane newspapers in the late 1980s and through the 1990s, you may notice the Cheney Free Press recently reintroduced the work of Milt Priggee to the editorial pages. Priggee was both loved and hated in his time in Spokane, so much so that his bosses created bumper stickers readers could display to show on which side they stood. They carried the messages, "I, (the shape of a heart),...

  • Washington Democrats gather Saturday to pick delegates for Clinton, Sanders

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Mar 24, 2016

    To caucus, or not to caucus, might not necessarily be the question. For many, how to caucus is more accurate. In that regards, the Spokane County Democrats are several steps ahead of the rest of their blue brethren in the state with the creation of the "Guide to the 2016 Precinct Caucuses in Spokane County," a combination how-to and process overview to be used this Saturday at locations throughout the county. "We don't know of anyone else doing it," Spokane County Democratic...

  • Airway Heights makes land purchase for housing project

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Mar 24, 2016

    The Airway Heights City Council voted unanimously at its March 21 meeting to purchase two parcels, approximately 20 acres, of land to be used for a new housing site as part of the Fairchild Air Force Base Preservation and Community Empowerment project. The project was started several years ago in order to remove encroachment issues surrounding the base, while at the same time provide safe, affordable alternative housing for residents currently living in mobile homes within the base’s accident potential zone 2 — APZ 2. The...

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