Articles from the September 7, 2017 edition


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  • Fire, water head up priorities

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Sep 11, 2017

    The seasons are changing. Summer becomes fall. Baseball winds down, football ramps up. It's also time for a season most people seldom paid attention to until its impacts are felt later. Yes, it's budget season, and it begins with Cheney department heads scrambling to collect yearly numbers, gather input from staff and council members and assemble it into a form painting a picture of what the city needs, wants and most importantly, can afford. City Administrator Mark Schuller...

  • Ronald Jerome Peterson

    Updated Sep 8, 2017

    Ron passed away peacefully at his home in Cheney, Wash. on Sept. 4, 2017. He was born June 24, 1944 in North Dakota, spending his youth working on farm machines. As an adult, he proudly served in the Army while stationed in Germany. After working many years in the automotive industry, he drove school buses for the Cheney School District and performed small engine repair. Ron enjoyed camping, fishing, working in the yard and was a proud member of the American Legion for many... Full story

  • LOOKING BACK WITH THE CHENEY HISTORICAL MUSEUM

    Updated Sep 8, 2017

    Fifty years ago in 1967, Dr. Emerson C. Shuck became President of EWSC, following the resignation of Dr. Patterson. Learn more about our area’s history at www.cheneymuseum.org....

  • West Plains Briefs

    Updated Sep 8, 2017

    Feed Medical Lake goes back to school Sept. 11 It’s “Back-to-School” night at Feed Medical Lake on Monday, Sept. 11. Pizza, enchilada casserole, fresh fruits and veggies and dessert will be served. Creation Station is open for kids to make pinwheels from school pencils and erasers. There will also be door prizes. Groceries distributed at 4:15 p.m. will supper at 5 p.m. and it’s all free. Call Joanna Williams at (509) 714-1150 for more information. Local Cheney community coat drive begins It is that time of year again,...

  • Churches

    Updated Sep 8, 2017

    Cheney Congregational Church Cheney Congregational Church will use Sept. 21, the International Day of Peace, to launch a series of events centered on the theme of peace. Dr. Lisa Brown will kick off the first special event. The Thursday, Sept. 21, event will be held at the Congregational Church, 423 N. Sixth St., over the noon hour. A free lunch will be provided to attendees and will be served at promptly 12:05 p.m. Brown will speak and participants will be able to attend the event and return to work by 1 p.m. There will be a...

  • What's Happening On The West Plains

    Updated Sep 8, 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 • Sept. 9, Preview Screening: The Vietnam War, community library, 2 – 3:30 p.m. • Sept. 12, September Produce Swaps, community library 1 – 5 p.m. • Sept. 12, Flightless Bird Running Club, Barrelhouse Pub and Pizza, 6 p.m. • Sept. 14, Kiwanis Meeting with guest speaker Jerry Stewart, director of Cheney Food Bank, Sessions Vill... Full story

  • SNAP to meet in Medical Lake, Sept. 14

    Updated Sep 8, 2017

    Representatives from SNAP, Spokane County’s community action agency, will be in Medical Lake on Thursday, Sept. 14 to talk about programs and answer questions from residents. The presentation, hosted by Feed Medical Lake, will be part of a free dessert/coffee hour from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 223 N. Hallett St. In a community where 1-in-5 residents lives at or below the federal poverty level, SNAP offers over 30 programs designed to help establish stability and self-reliance. In 2016, SNAP serve...

  • Looking Back

    Updated Sep 8, 2017

    1 Years Ago Sept. 6, 2007 Airway Heights informed its citizens what their plans for water reuse were and what the next steps would be. An unexpected sudden interest in a long-planned rezone proposal for an undeveloped parcel near Fox Hollow in Medical Lake forced Planning Commission members to postpone a public hearing, when nearly 200 citizens turnout overflowed City Hall's upstairs council chambers. The Cheney Blackhawks opened up their season with a 26-7 win over Wapato. 2...

  • Resource gaps in small towns aided by USDA

    JORDAN RASMUSSEN, Contributor Center for Rural Affairs|Updated Sep 8, 2017

    Over the years, U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development’s funding has served as a lifeline for rural communities, providing critical funding for water and wastewater infrastructure, public and community buildings and essential community service facilities. Without these grants and loans, many small communities would have to put off infrastructure or facility projects. When necessary projects are delayed, the quality of life in a small town is impacted, along with its economic prospects. Rural Development seeks out c...

  • American exceptionalism is only for the few who can afford it

    KARY LOVE, Contributor|Updated Sep 8, 2017

    The government of the United States proposes to “save” 5,000 government bureaucrats and their secretaries (no wives or kids) in the event of nuclear, biological or chemical war so it can carry out its “COG,” Continuity of Government plan. This is a great example of “government intelligence” — survive the apocalypse so the IRS can continue to collect taxes from the dead citizens to pay off the cost of the bunkers the bureaucrats (and top elected officials) “survive” in. You, the taxpayer, will most likely be dead. In fact the...

  • People coming together is silver lining to Hurricane Harvey

    DON C. BRUNELL, Contributor|Updated Sep 8, 2017

    All of the things that went wrong in New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina in 2005, appear to have been corrected with Houston’s recent Hurricane Harvey. Chalk it up to a series of important lessons learned. By now everyone knows that Harvey came ashore from the Gulf of Mexico, dumped a record 51 inches of rain on 22 million people from Corpus Christi to Port Arthur, TX, and sent thousands to shelters. The hurricane hit Houston, America’s fourth largest city and an urban are...

  • Becker brought cool to outcasts and made mythic loserdom OK

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Sep 8, 2017

    Walter Becker passed away last Sunday, Sept. 3. Most people reading that probably think “That’s sad, but who’s Walter Becker?” Those of us in the know, well, we know. Our response would be “Have you heard of the rock band, Steely Dan?” That would likely bring an “Oh, yes, I love” such and such a song, usually something off their 1977 platinum selling — over five million copies — classic “Aja,” or maybe their biggest hit, 1974’s “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.” Someone a bit more into music might add in tunes like “Reelin...

  • Jackson steps down at WPCC

    PAUL DELANEY, Staff Reporter|Updated Sep 8, 2017

    West Plains Chamber of Commerce officials have announced that executive director Joe Jackson has stepped down from that position. "Officially, Joe Jackson resigned his position on July 31 and the chamber is being run by the executive board at this time," board chairman Doug Kelly said. That news was first made public at the organization's Aug. 16 breakfast meeting, held annually at Roos Field. As to the reason behind Jackson's departure Kelly deferred, saying it was a...

  • Break-ins can be painful even with insurance

    PAUL DELANEY, Staff Reporter|Updated Sep 8, 2017

    When someone discovers that they have become the victim of an automobile break-in, it is likely too late to find out, or simply understand what their insurance policy does - and does not - cover. The same goes for you homeowners coverage, kind of like discovering some serious ailment after one puts off, and puts off, that yearly doctor check-up. There are assumptions that policy holders make that fully illustrate the old axiom that to "assume" really does make an "ass out of...

  • Bike parade delivers vets to final resting place

    PAUL DELANEY, Staff Reporter|Updated Sep 8, 2017

    As a light but hot West Plains breeze rustled gently flapping flags, a distant low roar punctuated the afternoon on Aug. 30. Soon, down Espanola Road, appeared the headlights of the motorcycles which were part of an honor guard escorting a simple SUV bringing the remains of military veterans to their final resting place. The ceremony that concluded at the Washington State Veterans Cemetery, featured about 70 bikes rumbled through the gates. Soon after, the riders solemnly...

  • News briefs

    STAFF AND NEWS SOURCES|Updated Sep 8, 2017

    Cheney Youth Court members sought for coming year Cheney’s Youth Court is looking for members to fill positions. The court is a teen peer-review court that hears civil infractions committed by youth within the court’s jurisdiction. Youth Court benefits both the offender and the community through a collaborative justice process. Court begins Thursday, Sept. 21, at 6 p.m. at Cheney Municipal Court, 611 Second St. in City Hall, and will be held every third Thursday throughout the school year. All positions on Youth Court are... Full story

  • DNR bans all outdoor burning in state

    Updated Sep 8, 2017

    OLYMPIA – With multiple fires burning on the landscape and communities suffering from dense layers of smoke, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) expanded its burn ban on Sept. 5 to cover the entire state. "Wildfire and smoke is affecting every community around the state as we see the hot, dry summer take its toll on our forests," Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz said in a news release. "Without any relief from this weather in the foreseeable f...

  • Fancher Double fire near ML contained

    PAUL DELANEY, Staff Reporter|Updated Sep 8, 2017

    A combine harvesting wheat appears to be the culprit in the 210-acre Fancher Double fire that started Sunday, Sept. 3 near Medical Lake. Crews from the Department of Natural Resources, Bureau of Land Management, Spokane County Fire Districts No. 3 and 10 along with the Medical Lake Fire Department had the blaze contained later in the day according to DNR spokesman, Guy Gifford. “It burned in wheat stubble and some timberland,” Gifford wrote in an email. “A large portion of the...

  • Veronica Messing named to the Airway Heights City Council

    Grace Pohl, Staff Intern|Updated Sep 8, 2017

    At the Sept. 5 Airway Heights City Council meeting, Veronica Messing was appointed as the new councilmember to fill Tanya Dashiell’s position. The seat has been vacant since the beginning of summer after Dashiell left for a job within the city of Airway Heights. There were three applicants that were interviewed at the meeting. Each applicant was interviewed separately from the others and was asked the exact same seven questions from the council. The questions were: 1. Why do you want to be a part of the council? 2. What is t...

  • Palisades burns

    Grace Pohl|Updated Sep 8, 2017

    On Friday, Sept. 1, a fire broke out near Indian Canyon Golf Course and the Palisades Park in Spokane. Firefighters came from all over, including Airway Heights, to help completely contain the blaze by the end of the day....

  • School board holds Betz work session

    Updated Sep 8, 2017

    At their regular monthly meeting Aug. 16, the Cheney School District board of directors voted to hold a work session on Thursday, Sept. 7, at 5:30 p.m. at the district’s conference center, 12414 S. Andrus Road, located on the former Nike site on Needham Hill. The work session will feature discussion of the proposed Betz Elementary School schematic design and essential foundations. The public is welcome to attend....

  • Systems are in place locally to provide Hurricane Harvey relief

    Updated Sep 8, 2017

    The Greater Spokane Emergency Management department officials are advising area residents wishing to help out with the Hurricane Harvey disaster relief effort in Texas and Louisiana that sending help from this region could pose problems for transportation into the disaster area as well as distribution once it arrives. In a Sept. 5 news release, department officials are informing citizens that there are systems in place for local donations of clothing and food for the disaster areas. Residents wishing to donate food, are...

  • Fairchild wins second consecutive Omaha Trophy

    Grace Pohl, Staff Intern|Updated Sep 8, 2017

    There was a celebration at Fairchild Air Force Base before the Labor Day weekend after the presentation of the Omaha Trophy on Sept. 1, which marked winning the award for the second year in a row. This is the first time that a base has won the award back-to-back in 40 years. The award dates back to 1971, where it was originally created by the Strategic Command Consultation (SCC) Committee, which was an advisory group made up of business leaders in the Omaha, Neb., area. At tha...

  • Fairchild Air Force Base releases more well testing data

    Grace Pohl, Staff Intern|Updated Sep 8, 2017

    The most recent results from Fairchild Air Force Base regarding of testing water wells for perfluorocarbon contamination were announced last week along with a map providing citizens of the testing from the Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC). Even though the other sampling is still in progress, 27 wells have not had any detectable perfluorocarbon levels while 12 wells were below the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) lifetime health advisory and one was found to have...

  • Cheney to see more residential construction

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Sep 7, 2017

    Cheney's planning department has issued mitigated determination of non-significance rulings on a pair of development applications - including one for a new apartment complex. Fern 2 Vine, LLC has submitted an application for a 42-unit apartment complex to be located on approximately one acre of land along First Street just southwest of Spokane Transit Authority's K Street Station. The complex is also bordered by L and Second streets, and is proposed to consist of 21 studio and...

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