Looking Back

10 Years Ago

March 12, 2009

Stunning stock market declines led to an 80 percent drop in Eastern Washington University’s endowment fund. In response, the college sent out an SOS — Save Our Scholarships, a grassroots campaign to help the university reach its scholarship goal.

The Cheney School District disputed recent reports that claimed the dropout rate in Washington was a shocking 33 percent. Recent figures from the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction indicated that Cheney’s dropout rate was about 4.5 percent.

Medical Lake, along with every other Spokane County municipality, submitted a preliminary damage report showing costs they incurred during recent snowstorms in an attempt to get federal disaster aid money from the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency.

20 Years Ago

March 11, 1999

Cheney residents waited with bated breath to see when a local cow named Habitat Hannah’s baby would arrive. Many locals had participated in a raffle predicting the date and time of the birth of Hannah’s calf, with the winner to get $500 and the raffle eventually raising more than $1,600. (For the record, the calf was born at 8:45 a.m. on Saturday, March. 6.)

Parking logistics for the fraternities and sororities in Cheney’s Greek Overlay remained up in the air as the city Planning Commission voted to extend the public hearing addressing such matters to its next meeting.

Resident of Medical Lake’s Lake Street were faced with a summer full of construction as city officials planned to tear up the road and install a new water main.

30 Years Ago

March 23, 1989

The Medical Lake Cardinal baseball team came out on top of the Columbia Burbank Early Bird tournament, despite the damp weather wreaking havoc on the players’ practice schedules.

Parents concerned over a recent uproar surrounding apples treated with the chemical Alar were able to rest easy knowing that students in the area were not consuming them when Cheney and Medical Lake officials announced that the apples used in state schools were safe.

Twenty-five fourth-graders from Medical Lake Elementary used a $200 grant from the Washington Wildlife Department to construct a refuge area for birds on district property behind the school, complete with handmade bird houses.

40 Years Ago

March 8, 1979

A Cheney Free Press article titled, “Youths turn on to Disco dances,” discussed the popularity of disco at high school and junior high dances. The article noted that disco was “considered quite ‘adult,’ which perhaps attributes to the success” of these dances among Cheney teenagers.

Susan Bolich, an Eastern Washington University graduate, was picked in a random drawing to receive a free Caribbean cruise ticket from the EWU Alumni Association.

A rustic, wooden sign pointing the way to The Country Garden nursery was stole near the corner of State Route 904 and Cheney-Spangle Road. The nursery proprietor offered a $25 reward for the sign’s safe return, saying he had spent “many many hours” making it.

50 Years Ago

March 13, 1969

The Cheney Fire Department was called out to respond to a house fire that resulted in extensive damage and a “total loss” of a sofa and chair. It also responded to a false alarm at Pierce Hall, which had happened several times.

The Cheney School Board discussed final procedures for interviewing and selecting a high school principal.

The Cheney City Council postponed hiring a city engineer after several applicants requested the council review the specifications for the job and let them have another interview.