Looking Back

10 Years Ago

Feb. 25, 2010

Cheney’s City Council approved a Planned Unit Development for the Terra Vista project, allowing developer Steve Emtman to build townhouses on 3.36 acres east of the railroad tracks by shrinking minimum lot sizes from 5,000 to 2,000 square feet.

Eastern Washington University launched a marketing campaign asking prospective students to “Start something big.”

An EWU student was shot in the hand in an early morning drive-by shooting near the El Rodeo restaurant on 2nd Street in downtown Cheney.

20 Years Ago

Feb. 24, 2000

A 19-year-old female Spokane Falls Community College student may have been the victim of a surreptitious drugging by lollipop at a large, dance club-type party held Feb. 12 at the Fisher Building.

Medical Lake and Four Lakes groups stood a good chance of receiving over $122,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding distributed by Spokane County.

State titles in the 3A classification by David Courchaine (145 pounds) and Blake Falor (275 pounds) led Cheney to a fourth-place team finish at Mat Classic XII at the Tacoma Dome.

30 Years ago

March 1, 1990

Eastern Washington University’s board of trustees held a workshop on Feb. 23 to gather information on whether or not the Eagles should continue to compete at the NCAA Division 1 level, drop to NAIA, drop football or eliminate intercollegiate athletics altogether.

EWU and Idaho prepared to square off at Reese Court to decide the mens’ basketball Big Sky Conference title, with the Eagles entering the contest at 17-9 overall compared to the Vandals 22-5 record.

Medical Lake’s boys basketball team lost to Colfax for the fourth time this season, 63-46, but still managed to grab the district’s No. 2 seed to the state tournament.

40 Years Ago

March 6, 1980

Dr. Oscar E. Johnson, 81, who served three terms as Cheney’s mayor in the 1930s and 1940s, passed away Feb. 27 at Cheney Care Center.

The Medical Lake Town Council passed a resolution to change its municipal classification from a fourth-class town to a non-chartered code city.

Roller mania was taking hold of Cheney, thanks to the opening of World of Skates at Eastern Washington University’s Pence Union Building.

At Safeway in Cheney, Banquet frozen dinners were 59 cents, chuck roast $1.18 a pound, navel oranges four for $1 and top sirloin boneless beef steak $3.49 a pound.