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As another round of acrid wildfire smoke settled across the region recently, the conditions have affected many outside activities. However, for The Fairways Golf Course on the West Plains, the smoke is just one culprit. "I think it's affected us in the past," Kris Kallem, head PGA pro and general manager said. "Three out of the last four years we've had this issue; there's not a lot we can do about it." Kallem said, however, that in his estimation the smoke is not as much of...
For the second time in two weeks, Cheney residents were faced with the imposition of irrigation restrictions to deal with low water levels in the city’s five reservoirs. Unlike past mandatory restrictions, the prohibiting of irrigation from July 25-28 and Aug. 8-10 was brought about by extremely hot weather only, rather than hot weather combined with mechanical malfunctions at city wells. A third irrigation restriction was imposed early in July when levels dropped to 12.8 feet on July 10 as temperatures hit the high 80s f...
A recent rapid draw down in reservoir levels has led city of Cheney officials to impose watering restrictions on several large users as well as call for additional conservation measures from residents. Public Works Director Todd Ableman said levels in the city’s five reservoirs were at 20.8 feet Friday morning, July 6, but there was no recovery overnight and during the day on Saturday. “During demand time we can lose between one and two feet and recover during the day,” Ableman said in an email. “When we don’t recover,...
Construction work on all four of the Cheney School District's facilities included in 2017's $52 million bond is underway. In a presentation to the school board last Wednesday, June 27, OAC project manager Rusty Pritchard said work on the three elementary school expansions was "going gangbusters." Prior to the meeting at Cheney High School, the board toured work at nearby Betz Elementary School, where walls and most of the framing is up on the $2.448 million expansion....
Cheney’s Planning Commission approved an annual update to the city’s six-year capital improvements plan at its regular meeting in June. The plan identifies project the city views as essential to maintaining established levels of service (LOS) over the next six years, and names revenue sources to be pursued in bringing those projects to fruition. Senior planner Brett Lucas told the commission the improvements plan is a smaller portion of two other plans the city utilizes when it comes to handling growth: the capital fac...
Even though the spring weather has been mostly cool, Cheney Public Works officials aren’t taking any chances when it comes to the city’s water supply. Cheney has implemented its annual water conservation schedule it recommends residents and businesses follow in order to reduce any potential strain on its 4.438 million gallon storage system. As in previous years, the schedule is advisory. “It’s not mandatory,” Public Works Director Todd Ableman said. “It’s just be conscious of your water needs.” The schedule calls for odd-e...
Ninth District state Rep. Mary Dye, (R-Pomeroy) recently joined U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, (R-Sunnyside) and key stakeholders in expressing opposition to judicial orders allowing more water to be spilled over regional dams. The meeting came as the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an appeal to counter the decree, issued by U.S. District judge Michael Simon in Portland last spring. Simon mandated the release of increased amounts of water over the Columbia and Snake River dams from April to mid-June. In an April 6 news...
As we deal with our population growth, we must address sufficient supplies of drinkable fresh water for residential, commercial, agriculture, fisheries and industrial needs. Not only will our numbers continue to climb, but so will competing pressures for fresh water. While demographers can project population growth fairly accurately and planners are good at assessing future needs, nature controls the supply of rainfall and mountain snowpack; and, when it occurs. Too often prec...
Most of the 2.5 million annual Alamo visitors focus on the epic 1836 battle in which a small band of brave Texans was eventually overrun by the Mexican army. Folk heroes like Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and William Travis were among the Texans killed while fighting for independence from Mexico. However, the Alamo is more than a small Spanish-style church depicted on tourism brochures which barely withstood a 13-day pummeling from Mexican cannons. It is a large complex built...
The weather still may carry threats of winter, but city of Cheney officials are beginning to look past the bluster to the heat of the upcoming projects season — one that will include a large mixture of public and private work. The Public Works Department will be engaged in the lion’s share of work, beginning with the $1.8 million redrilling of the city’s well 3 later in the summer. The well, drilled in 1960 and located on Erie Street, originally was a high-producer but fell off several years ago due to what officials think...
I drove over to Wenatchee last week for a meeting. As is normal for me when I travel alone, I enjoyed the countryside and day-dreamed most of the way. As I drove pass the irrigation canals, forests of electric transmission lines and crossed the bridge at Vantage, it dawned on me that we have transformed this planet into a habitat for humans. Not long ago, Central Washington was an expanse of arid sage brush. Now it is crisscrossed with paved roads, and the sage brush scrubland has been replaced with lush cropland. As a boy I...
Even Tom Trulove's short resume is long, although in Pullman mayor and fellow academician Glenn Johnson's view, that's pretty good. "I sometimes read (resumes from professors) 14-18 pages long," Johnson said. "If he can get it down to three pages, that's short for an academic." For the former Cheney mayor who retired at the end of 2017, Trulove's resume is the brief summation of a long and distinguished career of service. It's a career that has taken him from university halls...
County library has family passes to Mobius, Northwest MAC Spokane County Library District has a new way for library customers to visit local cultural and educational centers — family museum passes, available at all libraries. In partnership with the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture (MAC) and Mobius Children’s Museum and Mobius Science Center, the Family Museum Pass Program is a single-day admission for a family of two adults and up to four children. The family museum pass for Mobius will get you into either location, or...
In his annual State of the State address given to the Legislature on Jan. 9, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee proposed a measure to set a price on carbon emissions in the state. Inslee said more than 75 percent of the tax would be reinvested in a range of emission-reducing and job-creating programs such as helping more people pay for energy-saving insulation in their homes, incentivizing further use of electric vehicles and buses, building more solar panels, supporting development of other clean energy technology, as well as...
Fifteen years ago, Chris Grover wrote down as one of his goals the desire to be the mayor of the city he has called home since the early 1980s - Cheney. While his timetable for fulfilling that goal was originally about four years away, the recent retirement of two-term Mayor Tom Trulove sped things up a bit. Grover was elected to replace Trulove this past November, a foregone conclusion since he faced no challengers - something that surprised him. "I wanted somebody to run,...
For the third time in four years, Cheney restricts irrigation uses By JOHN McCALLUM Editor The top story of 2017 literally begins under everybody's feet. Water was on the minds, if not always coming out of the faucets - inside and outside - of West Plains residents. In Cheney, water issues once again took the form of restrictions enacted to meet a supply emergency in mid July, just as it did in July 2015 and in August 2014. In 2014, lightning knocked out pumps at Wells 6 and...
1 Years Ago Nov. 22, 2007 Century West Engineering corporation and Spokane Geo-Engineers officials presented a new design and landscape plans for a proposed water reclamation plant to be located in the city of Airway Heights. A new ordinance from Medical Lakesought to conserve the city's water supply by limiting summer irrigation. A first violation would be a written warning. The second offense is a civil infraction with a fine of up to $250. The third offense counted as a...
Cheney residents could see an increase in their utility rates in 2018, should the city's Public Works Department budget proposal receive council approval. The increase is one of two proposed to deal with infrastructure needs, with the other being from the Light Department. At a budget public hearing held at the City Council's Oct. 24 meeting, Public Works Director Todd Ableman said the proposal bumps the residential water usage base rate from its current $8.26 to $10. The...
Gainer wants to bring a different direction to city Cheney City Council Position 1 candidate Tim Gainer is a long-time resident of the community, having graduated from Cheney High School in 1981. Gainer attended Eastern Washington University, and has worked as an engineer at Davis Communications, Inc. since 1982. In his 35 years of business experience, he has worked with entities such as EWU, the city of Cheney, CenturyTel, Avista and Inland Power and Light and has served as...
Cheney’s Planning Commission unanimously approved a modification to an existing preliminary plat application for construction of phases 5 and 6 in the Golden Hills subdivision at its Oct. 9 meeting — but not before several familiar subjects raised their heads again. One change proposed by phase 5 owner Jamm Development, LLC of Spokane and phase 6 owner JD Cheney, LLC decreases the number of lots from 68 to 66, thereby offering larger lots for residential construction. Current codes limit maximum R-1 lot size to 9,000 squ...
Ice Age Floods hikes offered The Ice Age Floods Institute, Cheney-Spokane Chapter is sponsoring a pair of hikes Oct. 7 and 8 to look at the geology of the upper Grand Coulee. Saturday, Oct. 7, is a hike to the Castle Lake Basin, located near the east end of the massive Great Cataract Group. The hike is about 3.5 miles round trip, and features a plunge pool lake and the potholed bench above Deep Lake reached by an overland walk and descent across the Castle Lake cataract via two, sturdy iron ladders built during the Columbia...
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...
By PAUL DELANEY Staff Reporter The 30-year anniversary for The Fairways Golf Course will certainly be memorable. It will go down as the time the West Plains’ links had to put up a fight for its life. In a season that opened with a celebration with birthday cake and rolling back greens fees three decades, the course enters its final four months scratching and clawing for its survival. But there’s no quit evident when you talk to general manager and head professional Kris Kallem who is busy trying to make up for lost time, ina...
So far this year, a trio of unexpected deaths has shocked Washington business and agriculture. Melanie Dressel, Ron Reimann and Jeff Brotman leave behind large shoes to fill. They came from vastly different backgrounds and political perspectives, yet it was their diversity, ingenuity and drive which makes our state and nation great. Last February, Melanie Dressel, president and CEO of Tacoma-based Columbia Bank, suddenly died of heart disease. She was 64. She was born and...
Welcome to the new normal. It’s one of those phrases that’s beginning to annoy me, partly because it gets used a lot lately. It’s right up there with “What is it about (insert object here) that we don’t understand?” Or, “How’s that working for you?” The “new normal” is, unfortunately in many cases, becoming a valid description of changing conditions associated with our environment. Our current smoky skies and deteriorating air quality might be a new normal for this time of year as climate changes extend and intensify the wil...
