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This past Sunday, sounds of the baroque period filled Riverfront Park for the last time, marking the end of an era. The Royal Fireworks Concert has been a staple of my Julys for a number of years now, and it’s an event I thoroughly enjoy. Unfortunately, unless some major funding comes through, this year was the concert’s last, marking the end of a 35-year tradition in Spokane. Every year, I look forward to the fireworks, of course. But the music is surprisingly good, and given the history of the ensemble, it’s a great night...
Two weeks ago, the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee voted to strip the scandal-ridden Internal Revenue Service of nearly one-quarter of its 2014 budget as punishment for its targeting of political groups and its costly boondoggles. Shockingly, Senate Democrats voted to increase the IRS’ budget. Last week, numerous Republicans in both houses of Congress threatened to cut off all funding for the federal government as of Oct. 1 in response to President Obama’s unconstitutional stance that he can pick and cho...
The always seemingly endless war to save Fairchild Air Force Base – and the enormous economic impact it has in the region – has been waged with battles on many fronts and by many kinds of citizen soldiers over the years. Soon, a new army, the taxpayers of Spokane County, will be asked to join the effort by their approval of a ballot measure Nov. 5 that would help fund the purchase of homes within the Accident Potential Zones. These APZs are designated areas at each end of Fairchild’s runway that are considered most likel...
The Spokane County Library District gave the Cheney City Council a rundown of its five-year survey results, noting service increases across the board at the Cheney Library. At the Tuesday, July 23 meeting, the library noted the various conversations it had with community members, which took place throughout the county at each branch last year. Input gathered from those community meetings was reviewed by trustees and staff to identify service priorities and develop measurable goals and objectives for the future. Over the past...
No candidates filed for several open offices during the regular filing period. In the interest of filing these offices through the election process, the Spokane County Elections Office will open a special three-day filing period beginning Wednesday, Aug. 7, for the districts listed below: • Town of Spangle – (Council Position No. 1) • Fire District No. 2 – (Commissioner Position No. 1 and 3) • Fire District No. 11 – (Commissioner Position No. 1) • Fire District No. 12 – (Commissioner Position No. 1 and 3) • Hangman Hills Wate...
July is harvest time for some crops in the Northwest. Round bales of hay sit on the field next to the Bi-Mart Arena just outside Cheney. Bales hold their shape either from plastic netting or twine....
An early morning fire Monday, July 29 burned through the New West apartments in Airway Heights. Two adults and three children were displaced by the fire, with one adult sustaining minor injuries. Two pets perished in the blaze, which damaged four apartments in the complex....
The Medical Lake School District will be working with a $19.15 million budget in the 2013-14 school year. At the July 23 board meeting, the budget was passed unanimously. Included is $18.75 million in general fund revenues, which increased by $1.25 million over the previous year, largely due to state funding increases. In addition to the increased state funding, the district received $260,000 more than it expected in Impact Aid revenue last year. The district noted that sequestration cuts were still in effect, and could play...
The season opener is just over a month away, and the Eastern Washington University football team will start preseason practices Wednesday, Aug. 7 at the EWU Sports and Recreation Center practice fields in Cheney. Players will report Aug. 5 and 6, then the team will practice together on Wednesday, Aug. 7 at 3 p.m. Eastern will practice in pads for the first time Saturday, Aug. 10 at 9 a.m., followed by the first of six days of two-a-day practices Aug. 12. Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin, entering his sixth season at the helm...
Special teams were extremely special – and deep – in 2012 for the Eastern Washington University football team, and three of those key players return for the 2013 season. Senior Kevin Miller, Eastern’s kickoff specialist two of the past three seasons, is back, as well as two-year starting punter and current school record holder Jake Miller. Kickoff returner Shaquille Hill had a sensational debut season for the Eagles, and was a member of the College Sports Journal Fresh...
The grass has been ripped up and replaced by red turf: the field changed from Woodward to Roos. But no matter the changes, Eastern Washington University will always be home to Erik Meyer. And home is where the 2005 Walter Payton Award winner returned when he hit a crossroads in his playing career, or rather when the crossroads hit him. After throwing for 10,261 yards and 84 touchdowns in his four-year EWU career, Meyer led a nomadic lifestyle as he struggled to find a home in...
Another solid week crisscrossing the West has vaulted Cheney’s Ryan Gray to the top of the Pro Rodeo Cowboy’s Association bareback standings as the month of July comes to an end. He’s won $79,651 to date in 2013 and has moved steadily up the PRCA standings in July. He started the month off with a little more than $36,000 in the bank and in sixth place. “Yeah I had a good week,” Gray wrote in an email from the road. He was second at Ogden, Utah July 19 and won $1,900. H...
Another national title could be in Eastern Washington University’s future but any banner or sign would hang on the walls of the Pence Union Building. At least that’s the hope of Nick Barr and Jared Walker as they compete at the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship Aug. 1-3 on the Chatuge Reservoir near Young Harris, Ga. The two EWU students are part of the university’s Sportsman’s Club and qualified to represent the school as one of 68 teams from 49 scho...
J&M Fabrication runs like much of the work Justin Miller and his employees perform: a few individual parts welded together to create something much greater. What is now a six-man operation performing work across the nation, all began on the farm of Miller in the early 2000s. Miller, a Cheney High School graduate, had been working at a Spokane fabrication shop while taking agriculture business classes as a student Spokane Community College. After successfully completing his...
1 Years Ago August 7, 2003 Washington State Highway 904, which travels from Four Lakes to Tyler and through Cheney, was officially renamed the Col. Michael P. Anderson Memorial Highway. Anderson died in the explosion of the Space Shuttle Columbia, Feb. 1, 2003 and was a 1977 Cheney High School graduate. Two open City Council seats in Cheney attracted just three candidates as Patrick Rast was the only person to file for Position 2. Arlene Mowatt and dentist Robert Stockton would meet for Position 5 in the only contested...
Richard Reeby Thomson (Age 59), Passed away July 23 at the Thomson family cabin after a great day with his family at Priest Lake, Idaho. Richard "Rich" Thomson, was born Feb. 21, 1954, in Spokane, the son of Mildred Claire Reeby Thomson and Duncan MacLaren Thomson, both deceased. He is survived by his sisters, Elizabeth J. "Betty" Thomson (Thomas Heberlein) of Lodi, Wis., and Margaret A. "Peg" Thomson (Barry Roth) of McLean, Va; nephews, Earl "Skip" Hilton 3rd (Maria) of...
United Methodist Church Worship is at 10 a.m. each Sunday morning at the United Methodist Church. Please join us. The Rev. Terry Hall will lead the service. Prior to the worship hour there will be Vacation Bible School planning at 9 a.m. Sunday evening there is a second worship service, conversational in style. This service is at 6 p.m. and is open to all. Mark your calendars now for Vacation Bible School Aug. 18 through 22. This is a multi-age event for the whole family beginning with a meal followed by songs, study, games,...
Jeff Keller, marketing coordinator at Cheney Federal Credit Union, has his own quiet office. He is sort of the lone ranger among the 11 women at the Credit Union he calls his big sisters. Aside from being the marketing coordinator, Keller is responsible for managing the website, creating and distributing print materials, social media and several other assignments. “It’s a lot of fun,”he said. When Keller still occupied a corner upstairs amid the coming and going of customers,...
Hudson Fillion (background) and Derek Humphries (right) chase after the puck with an unidentified skater in last Friday’s session of the Hockey Ministries International hockey school at EWU’s University Recreation Center. It was the first hockey school staged in the URC and organizers plan to do it again next summer....
The Cheney City Council’s approval of a new agreement at their July 23 meeting with Intrinium Networks to manage information technology appears to be a win-win deal. The city wins with the agreement that will pay the Spokane Valley firm just shy of $100,000 per year to manage all things IT. Cheney residents and taxpayers win with a solid track record of service. After the project went out for bid, city staff recommended the upgrade of the city’s computer firewall, the dev...
The annual Blue Waters Bluegrass Festival is just one week away, and talented musical acts are slated to perform throughout the three-day show, Aug. 9-11 at Medical Lake’s Waterfront Park. Music director and acting president Kevin Brown said this year’s festival offers a wide array of bluegrass music ranging from traditional to the upbeat and high-energy groups, while maintaining the traditional music seen last year. “Last year, we took a different direction,” he said. T...
Cheney School District board of directors will hold a public meeting Wednesday, Aug. 7 to consider a proposal to sell the district’s former high school building to a local developer. Steve Emtman, operating under Save the Fisher LLC, together with legal teams representing both parties, has drawn up a tentative Purchase and Sale Agreement for the Fisher Building, which served not only as the district’s high school since construction in 1929 but also the home of its administrati...
