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CHENEY – Long-time Cheney All-State Insurance agent Kevin Ottosen is hanging up his policy-writing pen, selling his business to another long-time Cheney individual Jeff Heuschkel. Heuschkel said the sale, discussions of which began in September 2019, should be finalized by April 1, allowing Ottosen to culminate 23 years serving Cheney-area residents. What the lifelong Spokane-area resident plans to do with is time is another story. "I don't know," Ottosen said, citing the c...
OLYMPIA - With no fanfare or disclosure, Gov. Jay Inslee quietly amended a month-old coronavirus-related proclamation, so that it now strips residents and news organizations of the right to attend public meetings and review public records in person. The move came just a day after Tim Eyman, a gubernatorial candidate challenging Inslee for his seat, attended the Bellingham City Council meeting to object to an effort to restrict the right of residents to keep and bear arms in...
CHENEY -- Eastern Washington University officials have indicated there will be some layoffs in response to changes on campus resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The layoffs will take place in the housing and dining services due to a reduced number of students being on campus. The university went to all online instruction earlier this month as a measure to combat the spread of the disease sweeping world, and that instruction will remain online the rest of the 2019-2020 academic school year. Officials are still assessing the... Full story
MAZAMA — Eastern Washington residents wanting to use highways through scenic mountain passes to get to the Puget Sound area or Pacific Ocean are going to have to wait. On Thursday, state Transportation Secretary Roger Millar ordered plowing halted in Washington passes. Effected passes include: Washington Pass accessed via North Cascades Highway (state Highway 20). The pass connects the Methow Valley to the Sedro-Woolley area Cayuse Pass on state Highway 410. Cayuse Pass connects Naches to the Enumclaw. Chinook Pass, which con... Full story
KIRKLAND -- Life Care Center, north of Seattle, has been the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak on the U.S. west coast. The company, with headquarters in Cleveland, Tenn., operates or manages more than 200 skilled nursing, rehabilitation, Alzheimer's and senior-living campuses in 28 states. Chelsey (Walter) Earnest, the daughter of Bruce and Debbie Walter of Odessa, is a registered nurse who lives and works in Puyallup for Life Care Centers of America. When a call for help... Full story
Emmett Schuster was being shown around Odessa by outgoing hospital administrator Mo Sheldon last Friday afternoon and dropped by The Odessa Record for a chat. Schuster is a native of Weslaco in south Texas but has spent most of his adult life living in various countries and various cities in the U.S. He was a career military man who served Desert Storm in the Middle East, in Germany and elsewhere. He entered the field of healthcare administration upon his retirement from the... Full story
CHENEY – Citing unprecedented times, the Cheney School District board of directors unanimously approved a resolution at their March 25 meeting suspending “provisions of and/or entire board polices” and administrative procedures and allowing Superintendent Rob Roettger to implement mandates and directives from the state and federal government as needed to respond to the spread of COVID-19. The board further authorized Roettger, to the extension such authorization existed or did not exist “directly or by implica...
OLYMPIA – State officials said a proclamation announced by Gov. Jay Inslee Monday night requiring everyone to stay home in order to attempt to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus and the disease it carries COVID-19 is legal and will be enforced. At a press conference after Inslee’s statewide address at 5:30 p.m., Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste said the order is enforceable under the Revised Code of Washington (43.06.220 Section 5) as a gross misdemeanor onl...
COLFAX -- A teenage girl is being reported as Whitman County's third positive coronavirus patient today, Thursday, March 26. The Public Health Department is investigating whom the girl may have come in contact with; her name has not been released. More information will follow when it becomes available, officials said....
MEDICAL LAKE – Superintendent of Schools Tim Ames wryly remembered the phone call he got on Saturday, March 14 as being when the “fun” began. But Ames was not first in line to learn that an unnamed school district employee had been suspected of carrying the COVID-19 virus. That “honor” was bestowed on Career and Technical Education coordinator Ann Everett who oversees robotics, where the infected teacher serves as an advisor. “She said I think you really need to talk to our...
At these hard times, I am concerned how people are being educated on health issues we are facing in today’s society. Through my experience of this COVID-19 pandemic I have witnessed people doing things that have clearly been stated by health professionals that won’t help with the virus. I also know people who are in their 20s that believe they won’t be affected by the virus so they continue to live recklessly. I think it is important for people to be properly educated on health issues by using reliable sources such as the C...
Based on current events regarding the COVID-19 virus, I have noticed that many people are struggling to get clear information on what is happening and how we as a community can be proactive. One issue that concerns me is that various news stations, social media networks and other forms of communication are spreading different interpretations and opinions of what is going on. The confusion this can cause is most likely why some people are panicking, and others are staying calm. When people are told statistical values for how...
I was a long-time subscriber and firm believer in local print media. As depressing as these days are, nothing is more depressing than discovering the owner of the Cheney Free Press having no problem with renaming COVID-19 in racist terms. Does the Free Press staff actually use these words? Little wonder then facts a la carte Frank Watson was or is allowed to bloviate his nonsense. Wholly objectionable. No, there are no two sides to this when racism and fascism are concerned. Tom Marion Cheney...
Chris Armitage is running as a Democrat for Representative in the 5th Congressional District against Cathy McMorris Rodgers. He is well-educated with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a master’s degree in Homeland Security. Chris has been trained in the military, and has spent seven years in the Air Force, stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base, so he knows the 5th District very well. In addition, he has also been deployed to the Middle East, so has first-hand experience living and working in that region. Chris has...
Stop buying all the toilet paper. Seriously, knock it off. It’s not necessary. Across the state—in large and rural communities alike—grocery stores’ entire toilet paper aisles are empty. Not a single four-roll package remains for people who need it. So who has it? People who likely already had enough. Contrary to popular belief, we do not have a toilet paper shortage. According to the Washington Department of Health, there’s nothing causing additional use of toilet paper and producers say there has been no cut in toilet pa...
Losing control can lead to a lot of things like fear, panic, suspicion, emotions of that nature. That’s one of the aspects of the spread of the coronavirus and the disease it carries, COVID-19. Despite our best efforts, there are things we can’t control about the disease. The things we can control, indeed are being asked to control, so disrupt the normalcy of our lives that they leave us feeling helpless and angry. But we can exert some control on this disease if we understand and accept that will mean sacrifice, at lea...
CHENEY – A city proposal to increase the water system development charge paid by developers ran into a bit of opposition at the March 10 meeting of the City Council. Developer Ryan Geschke took issue with the city’s plans — proposed after consultant’s study — to raise the amount developers pay as a one-time charge on a development as a condition of providing utility service. Geschke claimed the city was potentially following a “no-growth policy” by adopting rates that would put it above the city of Spokane when it came to ins...
MEDICAL LAKE – “Domino’s Pizza,” came the reply on the other end of the phone, followed by a laugh. But please pardon Medical Lake City Administrator Doug Ross for this injection of levity in a before business hours call who he knew was from some nosy reporter. Regular customers of City Hall will get nothing but respect and service as usual from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., even amidst the current craziness of COVID-19 — except not personally interacting with people. “I think all m...
A Cheney School District volunteer hands a student a breakfast and lunch sack as part of the district’s efforts to provide nutrition to students who would normally receive free and reduced meals but can’t during the current K-12 statewide shutdown due to the spread of COVID-19. The district began the distribution program soon after Gov. Jay Inslee ordered the shutdown on March 13, serving students in Cheney, Airway Heights and the Windsor/Marshall area. From March 18-22, the...
MEDICAL LAKE — It’s one thing to be one of 200-plus school districts in the state to be relative observers in the daily COVID-19 reality show. But when it hits home like it did in Medical Lake where a teacher tested positive for the virus, it presents a completely different response. Medical Lake Superintendent of Schools, Tim Ames got word on Saturday, March 14 that a staff member at Hallett Elementary — and an advisor with the Circuit Breakers robotics club — had indeed...
CHENEY March 16 An abandoned auto was reported on the 800 block of Oakland Street. Police impounded a red 1997 Buick Park Avenue. A violation of a court order was reported on the 2600 block of 1st Street. Fourth-degree assault/domestic violence was reported on the 2400 block of University Lane. A 15-year-old male, a 13-year-old male and a 12-year-old male were arrested for third-degree theft/shoplifting candy on the 100 block of West 1st Street. A debit card was found at an undisclosed location in Cheney. March 17 A...
CHENEY – Cheney High School winter sports teams posted 11 selections to All-Great Northern League teams. Wrestling led the way with nine selections, including five first-team picks, with head coach Jason Connor being named the league’s wrestling Coach of the Year. First-team picks were senior William Seeberger (113 pounds) and juniors Jackson Showalter (152), Blake Seubert (160), Anthony Aguilera (170) and James Whiteley (195). Second-team picks were sophomore Joe Showalter (120) and juniors Hunter Despino (138), Dylan Str...
CHENEY – What if? Those two words continue to echo throughout college basketball locker rooms following the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Basketball Tournament way back on March 12. In the span of a few hours “what if” reverberated through Eastern Washington’s basketball family when minutes from tipoff Eagle players and coaches got word that the Big Sky Conference Tournament opener vs. Sacramento State — and the event itself — had been cancelled as a precaution against further...
Cheney Congregational Church During this strange and anxious time, Cheney Congregational Church will suspend its Sunday morning worship and other church related events until March 29 at a minimum, in order to care for those in our community who are vulnerable to COVID-19 (coronavirus). More updates will be forthcoming by March 29 to determine if the suspension of Sunday morning worship will need to extend beyond this initial two weeks. We hope that you all will stay prudent, stay safe and stay healthy. We worship a God who...
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