Sorted by date Results 1787 - 1811 of 3207
The train derailment in Cheney just weeks ago is an alarming realization that train derailments do happen — whether minor like this one or catastrophic like the one in Lac Magnetic, Quebec that killed 47 people. With an average of 52 Burlington Northern Santa Fe and 12 Union Pacific trains per day running through Cheney, it is a matter of time before the big one hits. Now there is concern about the possibility of other ports on the coast opening to accommodate more oil shipments. Between the two opposing oil transportation s...
If you haven’t yet voted, please join me in supporting our kids by voting for the Cheney School District bond and levy. Nothing is more important to our future than a good learning opportunity and environment for our kids. Thank you. Tom Trulove Mayor, city of Cheney...
Every now and then, we are asked to make an investment in the future for our children. Now is that time to help with the overcrowding situation at Cheney High School. Please join us in voting “Yes” for the Cheney Public School bond and levy on the Feb. 10 ballot. We have two children who have attended the high school and taken part in numerous extracurricular activities. They have been a part of the growing classes of students. This growth has resulted in using eight portable classrooms placed in the front parking lot for...
Four weeks reading the internationally-oriented, Taipei-based China Post while visiting family in Taiwan rekindled musings on the fundamental question of whether U.S. Middle East military action creates more terrorists than it eliminates, particularly considering the empowered terrorist recruitment inevitable when innocent civilians and children are killed. Dismissing this question, the Bush administration attacked Iraq and attempted nation building despite no initial internal revolt, a big failure as evidenced by the recent...
Hi. How you doing? Are you still angry? Blood pressure still up? I hope not. It’s not good for you, not a healthy thing to retain anger, hold grudges. I’ll not rehash the way last Sunday’s Super Bowl ended for our boys in the Emerald City, the Seattle Seahawks. Not only would it be akin to rubbing salt in wounds with sandpaper, but I think there’s a certain amount of sadism too. Besides, we’ve got years of that to look forward to on our multitude of sports channels. Like Seahawks fans everywhere, I too was sent into a st...
Come this Sept. 5 in Eugene, Ore. a player who’s been not just an integral part of the Eastern Washington University football team for the last three years, but more-or-less its face, could possibly be opposite his teammates and friends on the turf of Autzen Stadium. “Big Play V.A.,” otherwise known as quarterback Vernon Adams, could very well take his incredible athletic skills south and don the uniforms of many colors worn by the Oregon Ducks. The thought of Adams departing evokes all kinds of conjecture, questions and l...
What happened to the promise of keeping our tax rate at/or below $5 per $1,000 of assessment as we were told when we voted for the $79,000,000 bond just five years ago? With this new (Cheney High School) $44,885,830 bond the rate is projected to go to $5.79. In addition, within five years there will be a need for another elementary (about $18,000,000) since there are already portables in use at Windsor and Sunset. In 10 years the plan calls for another $42,900,000 for the rest of the High School. There is another way to take...
Last week I had the opportunity to do phoning as a volunteer for the Committee for Support of Good Schools. I called to encourage people to vote and to vote yes twice on the Cheney School District bond and levy measures. I was pleased and encouraged by the positive responses I received during the phoning. People were very supportive of the measures and of Cheney schools, with several telling me stories of their children and grandchildren having positive educational experiences in Cheney. I can add my own stories to theirs,...
As retired schoolteachers who have both taught and coached in the Cheney School District and had our sons attend school from kindergarten through high school graduation, we encourage the community to support our school district in the upcoming vote for the bond and levy measures. Local support of our school district is important for the continuance and improvement of our numerous school programs at all levels. Our Cheney School District has always had an outstanding reputation for being progressive and supporting our student...
I am writing in support of the Medical Lake School District levy. I was an educator and coach for 44 years, 24 at Medical Lake High School. During that time, four of my six children graduated from Medical Lake High School and they were foruntate to attend Medical Lake Schools. I believe the Medical Lake School District is a great place to educate children, as well as a great place to raise them. Many, many of our graduates have accomplished unbelievable goals as a result of their basic education here. The community always...
As a parent of three Cheney School District students as well as employee of the Cheney School District, I am encouraged by the everyday opportunities made available to both students and employees of our school district. My own children continue to grow and learn through the extra time and effort put forth by many school district employees. If our students are to experience the same level of educational opportunities, we need to pass the upcoming Educational Programs and Operations (Maintenance and Operations) Levy and the...
Half a nurse. That’s how much the state of Washington pays the Cheney School District in order to have a health care professional ready to address a sick or injured child at any one of the district’s eight schools. But in a district the size of Cheney, it takes three nurses to adequately meet student health needs. It also takes more than the state pays to provide teachers for class size reductions, all-day kindergarten, school counselors, student transportation and other needed functions essential to a good, well-rounded edu...
Tuesday Feb. 10, voters in the Cheney School District will be asked to approve a 21-year construction bond for renovations to the overcrowded Cheney High School. There is no doubt the renovations, a mixture of expansion and modifications, are not only much needed but long overdue in modernizing, alleviating overcrowding and enhancing safety at the 50-year-old building. The Cheney Free Press supports making these renovations. In order to pass the $44.88 million bond, 60 percent of 40 percent of voters who voted in the last...
Feed Cheney is a nonprofit organization working to relieve hunger in our community and it needs your help. After four and a half years of providing groceries and a nutritious hot meal (complete with musical entertainment) on the last Monday of the month, they’re gearing up for their first annual fundraiser on Super Bowl Sunday. Eastern Washington University’s Student Community Outreach, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, Church of the Nazarene, Emmanuel Lutheran Church and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church are leadi...
I personally visited the grain train wreck in Cheney Friday morning, Jan. 16, and agree with John Taves, Cheney City Councilman, that the blockage of Cheney-Spokane Road would delay emergency vehicles, and shows the risks facing the public from train accidents, quoted from “Train derailment blocks Cheney-Spokane Road near State Route 904,” Spokesman Review, Jan. 16. Washington state shouldn’t gamble with train safety, this isn’t a hand we can afford to lose. Thursday morning’s incident is a sobering realization that trai...
The annual West Plains Chamber of Commerce State of the West Plains breakfast Jan. 8 was notable for many reasons. One in particular was the absence of a representative from the city of Medical Lake. In an email, City Administrator Doug Ross said current Mayor John Higgins was scheduled to speak at the breakfast of 190 area businesses and civic leaders but was called out of town due to a family matter. Ross’s schedule prevented him from filling in, as he has in the past, leaving no one to let those gathered know of the 2...
It was supposed to have been a productive, to-do list shredding and checking off day last Saturday. 1. Go catch week two of my grandson Logan’s ice skating lessons and see if he could cut down on the number of falls he had in week one. Checks on both accounts. 2. I wanted to check out what kind of deals — and more importantly what trade-in policies — my friendly hockey shop might offer to put my grandson in hockey skates. Check. 3. Grab some of that wonderfully cheap gas t...
Cheney residents, it is that time again to vote “yes” for our school district’s maintenance and operations levy and bond proposals. I had the honor of serving in the Cheney Public Schools from 2008 to 2014 as an instructional coach. During those six years, I had the opportunity to work with most of the schools and departments in our district. My entire family benefited from Cheney schools. My husband Earl taught at the high school for many years and both of my children attended all 12 years in Cheney. I have worn many hats...
I’m a student in the sixth grade at Medical Lake Middle School. I think you should all say yes for the Medical Lake School District levy. This levy supports many activities one of them is cross country which I did in the fall. Also, in the fifth grade I enjoyed most of the after school programs. Here are a few of those programs, volleyball, basketball, soccer, track and field, softball, Math is Cool, Spanish, robotics, drama and geography bee studying. In seventh grade I would like to do most of the sports. In addition, t...
On Feb. 10, our schools face an important election that will determine the course of public education in our community for years to come. By voting yes for the levy proposal on the ballot, you will guarantee our schools stay strong. This proposal is a three-year renewal of the educational programs and operations levy that will maintain many important programs and staffing for our classrooms. It is a replacement levy and will not increase taxes. The Medical Lake School District Educational Programs and Operations Levy...
If you’d like to send your child to a different school next year, now’s the time to start the process of researching your options. As Washington prepares to commemorate National School Choice Week later this month at 115 events across the state, and nearly 11,000 events nationwide, many parents will begin evaluating the educational opportunities that are available for their children. Believe it or not, seats in schools are already beginning to fill up for the 2015-2016 school year. Interest in school choice — the proce...
On Wednesday, Jan. 7, two Islamic gunmen walked into the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical weekly newspaper and killed 12 people and wounded 11 evidently because the newspaper published satirical cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. The newspaper is known for publishing articles that mock Catholicism, Islam, Judaism and Israel, as well as politics, culture and various other groups as well as local and world news. It has a no backing down stance and has attracted controversy over the years. In 2012, the newspaper...
I’m responding to the Opinion page of the Dec. 25 paper. I moved out here to Medical Lake in September 2013, to enjoy living in a small town. Medical Lake is nicknamed by some as “the Mayberry of Spokane County” and I have found it to be such — warm, friendly, down to earth people — just what I wanted. The library is fantastic in that it combines the technology of a larger system with a small town coziness, especially the reading area with a fireplace. The staff here are amazingly dedicated to serving this community...
The men and women of the law enforcement profession are under attack these days, both literally and very much figuratively. The heat has been turned up most recently on the national stage with a number of headline-worthy incidents. Most notably was the killing of robbery suspect Michael Brown in August 2014 by former Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson. And most recently, members of the New York Police Department were charged in the death of Eric Garner, who officers were attempting to arrest for selling illegal cigar...
One of my favorite phrases is “Don’t Panic,” which is found in Douglas Adams’ “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” In an interview with Sci Fi Weekly, author Arthur C. Clarke said Adams’ use of the phrase as the “best advice to humanity.” I’ve muttered this phrase to myself several times in the last year, not because I was traversing through the stars with a motley crew of characters, but while I was learning to drive. I used the phrase less as my driving skills improved. In some situations, I would say, “Don’t panic” then add...
