Sorted by date Results 1798 - 1822 of 3207
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,...
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...
The passing of Mario Cuomo recently, brought back some personal memories of the former governor from the great state of New York. In the latter part of the 1980’s, my own father passed away in Ottawa, Canada and it fell to me and my elder brother to sort out all his personal and professional papers which were extensive to say the least. Surprisingly, we discovered personal letters which the former governor had written over the years to my father. They were strictly professional in matters pertaining to issues which the g...
My wife and I would like to thank Cheney School Superintendent Debra Clemens, the school board (especially former president Rick Mount), Mike Stark and Kurt Holland for naming the Cheney Middle School track for us. It is a great honor for both of us. We hope to see many of our former Cheney Track Club members at the Cheney School Board meeting Jan. 28, 2015 for the formal dedication. I would also like to thank all the people that have visited, sent cards, and prayers to me after hearing of my battle with cancer. At the last...
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...
In the StageWest CT, Inc. letter to the editor published in the Cheney Free Press Dec. 18 we mentioned the dinner catered by Mike Harmon and Willow Springs Restaurant. We should have said Mike Hartman and Willow Springs Restaurant. Please accept our apologies for getting the wrong name. We at StageWest truly value the service that Mike Hartman and Willow Springs give to StageWest with the catering of our Dinner Theatres. Again our apologies in getting the name wrong. Nancy Kuonen Director of Advertising and Publicity...
As 2014 draws to a close, I want to thank all the volunteers who helped at Feed Medical Lake. Thank you also to the patrons who have dined with us. Feed Medical Lake serves a free meal on the 2nd Monday of each month from 5 – 6 p.m. at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 223 S. Hallett St. Diners can also take home free groceries. May your holiday be blessed and may you have a prosperous 2015. Again, thank you. Joanna Williams Director, Feed Medical Lake...
In 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama was lambasted for supposedly endorsing policies of wealth redistribution. The right feared that under an Obama presidency, Washington would use federal power to take money from some Americans and give it to others. Yet, only a few years later, the most explicit examples of such redistribution are happening in the states, and often at the urging of Republicans. The most illustrative example began in 2012, when Kansas’ Republican Gov. Sam Brownback signed a landmark bill that delivered b...
Thank you Cheney for your generosity to our community’s children. With your help, Christmas Gifts for Cheney Kids was able to provide gifts for 158 local children in 68 families, through Cheney Outreach Center. In addition to gifts and cash donated by local individuals and businesses, several organizations contributed. Special thanks to Alpha Lambda chapter of Beta Sigma Phi, Kiwanis, Zumiez, RSVP Knitting Group, Marie Powers and the quilt makers, and to the Mayor’s Office and Cheney Free Press for all the publicity. Tha...
An increasing amount of money is thrown into politics each year, each election. It’s come to the point where people should be questioning where politicians’ alliance lies. Is it with the people who elected them to represent them and their interests, or the corporations and organizations who fund their campaigns? According to an Associated Press article, “Democrats are best at tapping rich for political cash” among the top 100 individual donors to political groups, more than half gave primarily to Democrats or their allies....
Tis the season to think about our blessings. With all that is going on in the world, let us remember to be thankful for and pray for our policemen. They have a difficult job in so many ways that we cannot even begin to comprehend. Thank you. Let us be thankful for and pray for the firemen who put their lives on the line, as do the policemen and our military troops. Thank you. Let us be thankful for our medics, the veterans who have served, our working public servants, volunteers and churches, those in the medical field and...
Gov. Jay Inslee’s carbon tax proposal isn’t “filled with holes,” as the opinion piece in the Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014, charges, but the piece itself is. Its most egregious flaw is the oft-repeated contention by “deniers” that, “... the science behind (climate change), and how man plays into it is hardly settled.” Yes it is! The science is unequivocal in pointing to human caused greenhouse gas emissions as the primary driver of global warming. The overwhelming majority of scientists and virtually every scientific organization, d...
Recently I ventured into what we officially call the “Fourth Bedroom,” in our house. Years ago it served as a bedroom for one or more of our kids. It’s been a home-office, perhaps twice over. Later it was the place where boxes of items from my parent’s house had their temporary resting place, not long after Mom and Dad found their permanent ones. Now the closet is the place where dusty shoeboxes, tattered manila envelops and old-fashioned photo albums contain special family...
As 2015 approaches fast, Tis the season for New Year’s resolutions and predictions. This editorial is about none of those. Rather, we’d like to present a short list of things we’d like to see or begin to see take place in the coming year. For starters, we’d like to see Cheney School District’s Fisher Building sold. Sold to somebody with the money to remodel it, who has a positive vision for it and the community. Someone who respects the role the 80-plus year old structure has played in the development of Cheney. Two such...
