Sorted by date Results 1936 - 1960 of 3200
This is about thinking outside the box. For years, newcomers and some old-timers have complained about the number of trains and the noise they make going through Cheney. I think they have forgotten why Cheney is here. We wouldn’t have our town if it were not for the trains. We are grateful for the railroad superintendent in the 1880s, donating land on the hill for the first teacher’s college in Washington. Students began arriving from faraway places, all by train. They then hiked up the avenue to register for classes. The...
I would like to bring to attention the lack of recycling bins in the Spokane/Cheney area. Items that could be reused are taking up unnecessary space in our landfills. Not only would adding recycling bins help the environment, it would also help the community by adding jobs and saving money. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in green jobs and services accounted for over 3.1 million jobs in 2010. As environmental awareness increases, the need for green practices and employees does as well. Recycling...
Cheney Kiwanis appreciates the large turnout of kids at the 2014 egg hunt at Salnave Park. Kiwanis also thanks the following organizations for the assistance in presenting the hunt: Cheney Care Center residents who placed wrapped candies into over 5,000 plastic eggs. Omega Delta Phi fraternity and Kappa Delta Chi sorority (both at EWU) for providing many gift baskets, placing candies into about 2,500 plastic eggs, hiding eggs and doing clean up. Cheney High School Key Club for hiding eggs and doing clean up. Cheney Fire...
I’ve been a train fan for as long as I can recall. Not sure when the bug was planted, but it could have been one Christmas when I got my first Lionel model railroad as a 5-year-old. Or maybe it was when my mother and I hopped a westbound passenger train for what I remember as my first train ride. It was a trip from Spokane all the way to Cheney, all of what, about 20 miles? Funny the things that make impressions on a kid and remain in the memory banks decades later? So as t...
By DICK RESCH Contributor The United Nations recently released a 2,000-plus-page report on climate change with a straightforward conclusion — global temperatures are rising, and human activity is the primary cause. The report’s 259 authors warn that catastrophic heat waves, droughts, and floods will grow more common unless governments take steps to limit greenhouse gas emissions. But there are serious political limits to what governments can do — especially with the global economy flagging. Fortunately, some private firms are...
Last Saturday I decided it was time to venture out of the apartment and head to Eagles Pub to have a beer in celebration of the Milwaukee Brewers beating the Pittsburgh Pirates. Eagles’ is a regular spot I head to whenever I’m downtown, but on this night I decided to revive an old tradition. The pub is a destination for karaoke every Friday and Saturday, and on this particular night I dusted off the vocal cords to sing AC/DC’s “Big Balls.” Some of the other patrons in the bar were cheering, though that’s probably because the...
Amidst the thrashing of filling out those last-minute 1040 forms and plenty of other concerns, the Internal Revenue Service tax filing deadline came and went a week ago Tuesday, April 15. A 4-million word tax code can certainly affect how a smoothly running life travels down the road. But this week has a pair of notable, but, perhaps, little known bookend dates unofficially linked to taxes, too. Monday, April 21 was national Tax Freedom Day while Friday, April 25 represents the day we in Washington state have satisfied...
Either I’ve invented a new form of sleepwalking, let’s call it “sleep traveling,” or I’m not taking enough pictures. We get a lot of emails here at the Cheney Free Press. A lot of it’s good, requests for advertisements, press releases, informational opinion pieces, story leads and so on. A lot of it is crap. It would be great to filter it, this Spam (I actually like Spam, the mystery meat), but alas, we can’t as it could block other messages we do wish to receive. So we endure. And in enduring, as I said above, I do believe...
It’s been said it can take years to build up trust, only to have it destroyed overnight by one small act. In a column on PACE’s character trait for April, trustworthiness, Better Business Bureau communications specialist Matthew Sewell links the ability to establish trust with the way we use technology and all forms of media today. Sewell hypothesizes the more time we spend with media, the less time we dedicate to connecting with our peers face to face. “By extension, it could be deduced that we are less likely to trust anoth...
The third National Climate Assessment report, due to be released this month, confirms both the role of human activities in causing climate change and the broad range of adverse health consequences that climate change brings. The federal government’s multi-agency U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), established by Presidential initiative in 1989, produced the report. The effects of climate change on human health are of particular concern to the physician and scientist members of the American Thoracic Society. Our p...
The editorial board piece in the March 20 Cheney Free Press said that we should proceed with caution and open minds when it comes to climate change. That’s good advice if we’re debating how to deal with climate change, but not if we’re still debating cause and effect. As detailed in the IPCC’s 5th Assessment Report, human activities are warming the planet, and the impacts will be dramatic and dramatically unpleasant. Don’t be fooled by the well-orchestrated, well-funded campaign to cast doubt on the facts. For example,...
As a parent, and now grandparent, my heart aches, my eyes roll and I had to shake my head over two recent news stories. They both involved families doing family things. Each had different outcomes. One ended in tragedy while the other, luckily, happily, if not drowning in waves of controversy. The tales are those of the Kolves family from not far away in the Columbia Basin, and the Kaufmans from California. The Kolves were thrust into the headlines March 30, when what was...
During the last legislative session the state passed House Bill 1129, which requires vehicle owners who register online or at a county auditor’s office to pay $5 for registration renewal and $12 for transferring a certificate of title. Money from these fees will pay for ferry replacement throughout the state. The bill applies to vehicle registrations that are due on or after Jan. 1, 2015, and certificate of title transactions processed on or after the same day. Owners who register through private license agents will not p...
In a historic bipartisan 68-32 vote, last June the U.S. Senate passed an immigration reform bill that included a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants, an innovative temporary worker program, and increased visa numbers for skilled foreign workers, as well as a nationwide employment eligibility verification system and stricter border control. This was a result of bipartisan cooperation among lawmakers, business groups, labor unions, agricultural interests and immigration advocates. Although many predict that...
This spring seems will be a big one for superhero movies. Next month, we have the theatrical releases of "The Amazing Spider-man 2," and "X-Men: Days of Future Past," which will be the fifth film to feature Marvel Comics' band of merry mutants. Tomorrow will be the premiere of "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," which chronicles the life and adventures of Steve Rogers two years after the events of "The Avengers." As someone whose interests include comic book and...
The digital age has put a difficult debate on the table for parents. Smartphones and tablets have become the next big frontier for child entertainment, learning and engagement. Today’s younger generation is being raised to be connected at all times — from their GPS navigation to text communication with friends. According to a 2013 survey conducted by GfK for Common Sense Media, three out of four kids have access to mobile devices at home. Since 2011, children’s use of mobile devices has gone from 38 to 72 percent. It’s...
We live in a nation rich with energy resources. Just look to our own backyard — the hydroelectric dams on the Snake and Columbia River systems fuel the Pacific Northwest with some of the cleanest and most affordable electricity around. But today, we see a world ripe with complex relationships entangled by the Obama administration’s own resistance to develop American-made energy. With recent events in Ukraine, it is clear that now, more than ever, America must look to become the world’s energy leader. Oil and gas trade make...
I’ve been enjoying the new version of the popular 1980s series “Cosmos.” It’s wonderful to watch a science show that presents discovery and provides historical context at the same time, keeping things in perspective. Science’s advances and discoveries impact us each day, each hour and each second of our lives. They cannot be ignored. It’s also nice to watch a science show that actually attempts to explain science. Not what science has revealed, but the process it went through to reveal it. That was one of the things I appreci...
There are going to be several changes happening throughout the West Plains in the next several years and one of them revolves around the matter of solid waste. The city of Spokane has transferred control of the regional solid waste system and transfer stations to Spokane County, who will take the reins starting in November. The county wants to get into the business of solid waste because as the regional government, they feel qualified to run it, and they sent out requests for proposals (RFP) for businesses to oversee the...
Growing up in Kettle Falls, I enjoyed a skyline of Colville National Forest evergreens, which could be seen from just about anywhere in town. I was raised to appreciate their beauty and still do — but today, I see the forest’s potential to be a loud, roaring engine — an economic engine. In Ferry, Stevens, and Pend Oreille counties, the Colville National Forest provides jobs, energy, and recreational opportunities for our communities in Northeastern Washington. Over the years I have walked the forest and met with the Fores...
Our nation spent nearly $7 billion responding to extreme weather in 2013. Events that endanger livelihoods nationally, and especially in rural and small town America. These destructive storms, devastating droughts, dangerous flooding and paralyzing winter weather highlight the need for action. We must confront threats that climate shifts pose to rural communities, and the nation. The new year provides an opportunity to take commonsense steps to address carbon pollution, a major contributing factor to these threats....
In the last few days, I have witnessed a new kind of strength that not many of my favorite superheroes could perform. I was originally scheduled to spend part of my Saturday with my younger sister Crystal — or Boo as we call her. She earned the nickname when she was 2, after she received a pair of boots that she refused to take off. The original plan was to see her in the morning, practice some driving and then have a quick lunch before I made the trip back to Cheney. I did get to see my sister this weekend, but not in the w...
Cheney is a tight-knit, friendly town, home to many families and college students. Our secluded town, however, lacks one large component of a thriving community: A recycling system for residents and students living in Cheney apartment complexes. Each day the community throws away tons of garbage that ends up in landfills. A good majority of that trash is recyclable material. Currently, most apartment complexes are equipped with dumpsters, but not with recycling bins. It is up to the property owners of these complexes to help...
For the first time in nearly 14 years there will be a new pilot flying the plane in the Medical Lake School District, when school starts in the fall. Current superintendent Pam Veltri informed staff in a March 5 email that she would resign in order to take a new job, July 1, as an assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction with the Mead School District. She will submit her official letter of resignation at the March 25 school board meeting. Veltri will leave Medical Lake after 18 years on the job, first as an...
Cheney and Medical Lake school districts have been promoting character education at all grade levels since the start of the current school year, using a list of monthly traits developed by the Spokane Valley organization PACE — Partners Advancing Character Education. The trait for the month of the March is diligence, which PACE describes as “persistence, dedication and hard work.” It is important we teach children that through diligence, they can develop a work ethic that will not only take them far into the future, but a...
