Articles from the March 30, 2017 edition


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  • Blackhawks baseball defeats Lakeside, ML

    Al Stover|Updated Mar 31, 2017

    Despite the weather and subsequent rescheduling of games, the Cheney High baseball team did get some time on the field on March 25, with nonleague wins against Northeast A League's Lakeside (3-2) and Medical Lake (5-4). Read the full story here.... Full story

  • A place to gather

    AL STOVER|Updated Mar 30, 2017

    Sherridan Connors tests out a race track he built out of foam tubing at the kick off for Community Center Saturdays in Medical Lake on March 25. The program, held at the middle school and in partnership between the city of Medical Lake, the school district and Re*Imagine Medical Lake, had different activities such as volleyball, basketball and board games....

  • Cardinal Players theater club prepare for 'Big Fish: The Musical' adaption

    AL STOVER, Staff Reporter|Updated Mar 30, 2017

    The Medical Lake High School Cardinal Players theater club is getting ready to stage its spring production - an adaption of "Big Fish: The Musical." "Big Fish" is based on Daniel Wallace's 1988 novel, which was later adapted into a film by Tim Burton in 2003, followed by a Broadway musical in 2013. The story focuses on the relationship between Edward Bloom, a traveling salesman and storyteller, and his son Will, who searches for the truth behind his father's tales. Alex...

  • Looking Back

    Updated Mar 30, 2017

    1 Years Ago March 29, 2007 The West Plains community lost one of its most beloved educators when former Cheney School District superintendent Phil Snowdon passed away after a battle with cancer. Reinstatement of a state law making driving with suspended license a criminal offense caused a jump in the number of criminal cases for the Medical Lake municipal courts. Sala Thai owners Pat and Mam Smitamorn made sure that the food quality never changed even when the ownership of...

  • Churches

    Updated Mar 30, 2017

    Emmanuel Lutheran Church All are welcome to worship with us this Sunday, April 2, 2017 at 10:30 a.m. at Emmanuel Lutheran Church. You may also watch our pastors’ sermons at our website or on YouTube at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Cheney. Sunday school classes for grade school through adult begin at 9 a.m. Emmanuel invites you to attend our Wednesday mid-week Lenten services concluding on April 5. A soup supper will be served at 6 p.m. followed by Holden Evening Prayer at 6:30 p.m. All are welcome to visit Emmanuel’s Little Fre...

  • What's Happening On The West Plains

    Updated Mar 30, 2017

    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 31, Light Fitness Hour (adults 50+), Wren Pierson Community Center, 9:30 – 10:30 a.m. • March 31, Baby Play and Learn Storytime (ages 0–18 months), 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. • March 31, Texas Hold’em (adults 50+), Wren Pierson Community Center, 1 – 3 p.m. • March 31 – April 1, Free AARP Tax-Aide, community library, Noon – 5 p.m... Full story

  • Dotson as Frank

    AL STOVER|Updated Mar 30, 2017

    The Cheney High School drama club wrapped up its three-day run of "The Diary of Anne Frank" on March 26. The story focused on Anne Frank, played by Abigael Dotson (pictured) and her experiences during a time whe she and her family went into hiding during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands....

  • What if the workers owned it? Especially in rural areas

    BRIAN DEPEW, Center for Rural Affairs|Updated Mar 30, 2017

    The owners of a mid-sized manufacturing plant in a nearby small town were ready to retire, but no one in the next generation was interested in taking over. The plant was sold to an out-of-state buyer with no local ties. The business was profitable, but the new owners chose to merge operations and close the local plant. The story is familiar in small towns. Is there an alternative? I think so. Worker-owned co-ops and employee stock ownership plans could offer another path forward for these businesses. Rural people have a long...

  • Come see StageWest's 'Miracle on South Division Street'

    Updated Mar 30, 2017

    Please make a point of attending our latest production Miracle on South Division Street by Tom Duzick, and directed by myself, Kay Byron-Pacheco. We had an outstanding first weekend and there are only two weekends, or five shows left. Our stars are Kathryn Schafer from Ritzville, Russia Demetro, and Jamie Javorsky from Spokane Valley and Mark Sheldon from Cheney, and of course the Virgin Mother Mary, who is present throughout, or is she? This story is a comedic view of a mother and her grown children living and believing in...

  • There's a lot more to understanding immigration than rhetoric

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Mar 30, 2017

    Most people have never heard of Hogar Seguro Virgen de la Asunción. It was recently in the news, but relegated to the inside pages, despite what happened there. Not a lot of follow up either, likely because it’s located on the outskirts of Guatemala City and not many people in this country care what happens in that country. The “USA Today” version is that Virgen de la Asunción is a state-run home for minors, and not necessarily homeless or orphaned minors. According to a March 19 story in The New Yorker, simply put, it’s ha...

  • Bills would hinder public records requests

    Updated Mar 30, 2017

    We understand the financial and physical burden public records requests put on employees at local, regional and state agencies. Especially large requests, which are time consuming, as the city of Cheney found out not long ago. But we have doubts and concerns about whether two pieces of legislation moving through Olympia carry the answers to this problem. Both bills have passed the House and are now in Senate committees. House Bill 1594 would provide $25,000 for a study by a consultant picked by the state archivist to...

  • Hallett Elementary School announces award winners

    Updated Mar 30, 2017

    Hallett Elementary School announced its Partners Advancing Character Education (PACE) award winners for February. PACE/Honesty — Walker Hays, Ryan Thackeray, Cody Rupert, Chandler Ellis, Sarah Turnbough, Sarai Wellwood, Grayson Wolfe, Zackary Lee, Lacey Graham, Tiana Schneider, Savanah Evans, Isabel Barry, Dominick Dunham, Skylar Doolittle, Melissa Plute, Hailey Dorcheus, Georgia Campbell and Elizabeth Gies. BUG — Paxton Dubey, Mackenzie Oberhauser, Kellen Tyson, Emma Stark, Jaxx Hammer, Kinley Duclos, Jacob Knapp, Ell...

  • Annual Best of the West gala to honor area businesses and individuals

    Updated Mar 30, 2017

    A limited number of tickets remained for the West Plains chamber of Commerce’s “Best of the West Gala,” scheduled for Friday, April 14 at The Pavilion at Northern Quest Resort and Casino. Each year the event recognizes outstanding leaders, businesses, organizations, educators, military personnel and first responders in the West Plains. As of press time, tickets are sold out. Anyone interested in attending the event can add their name to the waiting list. For details, contact the Chamber at (509) 747-8480. Best of the West...

  • IRS phone scam is just tip of the iceberg

    PAUL DELANEY, Staff Reporter|Updated Mar 30, 2017

    The phone numbers come up on the screen from across the U.S. as New York, Chicago and Seattle. And the message left by a computerized voice might sound like this: "Don't disregard this message, do return the call. Now if you don't return the call and I don't hear from your attorney either, then the only thing I can do is wish you good luck as the situation unfolds on you. Goodbye." That's in a nutshell a brief description of one of the more popular telephone scams around, the...

  • Medical Lake eighth-graders receive finance lesson

    AL STOVER, Staff Reporter|Updated Mar 30, 2017

    When they grow up, the Medical Lake Middle School eighth-grade class will be a little more prepared when it comes to managing their finances The class took part in the Junior Achievement Finance Park, sponsored by Boeing Employees Credit Union, at the Shriners Event Center, March 24. Junior Achievement is a program dedicated to giving children, from eighth to 12th grade, knowledge to help them plan for their future and make smart economic choices. This was the first time Medic...

  • Cheney school board gets bond sale overview

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Mar 30, 2017

    The Cheney school board dealt with one of the easier aspects of the passage of the recent capital facilities bond — getting the money. In a presentation to the board at its March 22 meeting, DA Davidson managing director Jon Gores outlined the upcoming steps in selling $52 million in bonds. The key goals in the sale, which takes place April 26, is achieving the total tax rate of $5.42/$1,000 of assessed property value voters expected when they approved the bond proposition Feb. 14, along with a stepped-down tax rate b...

  • Following historical guidelines

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Mar 30, 2017

    Several members of Cheney's Historic Preservation Commission got the chance to check on the progress of renovation work at the Fisher Building. The building, which served the Cheney School District as its first high school and finished as the administration building before being sold to the Eastmark Corporation of Seattle last November, is being transformed into apartments for Eastern Washington University students. The renovation work is taking place under the guidelines of...

  • Planning stages

    PAUL DELANEY|Updated Mar 30, 2017

    Signage along Westbow Road at Exit 272 along Interstate 90 is the first step in the process to build the new West Plains Transit Center Park and Ride. The facility will provide quick and safe access to I-90 both eastbound and westbound. When built, the center is expected to improve connectivity between cities in the West Plains area and provide transit access to residential areas to the south of I-90. Further information on the project can be found by visiting...

  • Miracle hams

    Updated Mar 30, 2017

    The cast of StageWest's "Miracle on South Division Street" has a little fun. Pictured left to right: Mark Sheldon as Jimmy, Jamie Javorsky as Beverly, Kathryn Schafer as Clara, and Russia Demitro as Ruth....

  • Libraries celebrate the fifth annual 'Food for Fines'

    GRACE POHL, Staff Intern|Updated Mar 30, 2017

    The Spokane County Library District will be holding its fifth annual “Food for Fines” event on April 9–15 during National Library Week. Donations go to the Second Harvest Food Bank and other food banks in the area serving within Spokane County while also reducing library members overdue fees. The West Plains libraries – Airway Heights, Cheney and Medical Lake – will be a part of the cause having bins at each location. “The generosity of our library members never fails to inspire us,” Jane Baker, communication and development...

  • News Briefs

    STAFF AND NEWS SOURCES|Updated Mar 30, 2017

    FROM STAFF AND NEWS SOURCES Cheney Dollar Tree robber convicted A former Airway Heights Correction Center prison guard who robbed Cheney’s Dollar Tree store not once but twice was convicted of all charges in Spokane Superior Court Tuesday, March 28. Jeffrey J. Pool, 23, was found guilty of two counts of first-degree robbery, four counts of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon and four counts of kidnapping in the robbery of the store July 9, 2016. At the time of his arrest, Cheney police were confident that he was the i...

  • ML council gets update on street conditions

    AL STOVER, Staff Reporter|Updated Mar 30, 2017

    Streets and fishing were the two main discussion items at the March 21 Medical Lake City Council meeting. Mayor John Higgins informed council that staff could end up spending a lot of money fixing roads that were damaged by water runoff and that there could be a “couple of budget amendments by the end of the year.” City Administrator Doug Ross added the street repairs would reduce the general fund’s ending cash balance. “Let’s say that we were going to have $800,000 (in the general fund) before,” Ross said. “We would take out...

  • 'Squarepatchers' join Fairchild Air Force Base

    AL STOVER, Staff Reporter|Updated Mar 30, 2017

    Fairchild Air Force Base added several new aircraft and personnel under its umbrella of refueling wings in the form of the 384th Air Refueling Squadron. The squadron, also known as the "Squarepatchers," was officially welcomed to Fairchild during a March 23 relocation and assumption of command ceremony. Lt. Col. Sean R. McClune, the director of operations for the 92nd Operations Support Squadron, officially took command of the 384th during the ceremony. Commissioned in 2001,...

  • Sidewalk comments from hearing improperly attributed

    Updated Mar 30, 2017

    Due to a reporter’s error, a statement made in the March 16 story on the Parkside Commons public hearing was incorrect. The statement about sidewalks around the apartment complex being a “benefit (to) pedestrian safety on those sides of the street” was incorrectly attributed to area resident Mary George. It was an unidentified resident who testified at the public hearing that made the statement....

  • No commission recommendation

    Updated Mar 30, 2017

    By JOHN McCALLUM Editor After almost two-and-a-half hours of public testimony over two separate days, 19 comment letters and several staff reports, the Cheney Planning Commission deadlocked on a vote at the March 23 special meeting regarding a rezone request for a student-housing apartment complex near Eastern Washington University. The decision, which stems somewhat from a vacant seventh seat on the commission, now moves to the City Council for final deliberation without a recommendation from the commission. Before the vote...

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