Looking Back

10 Years Ag

March 11, 2010

Cheney’s City Council considered a third step to the city’s nuisance code, one that would insert fines between the warning and orders of abatement steps.

Hundreds of supporters and Washington Federal of State Employees union members gathered in Medical Lake to voice opposition to cuts or closures at Pine Lodge Corrections Center and at Lakeland Village. State lawmakers were considering the moves as part of a fix to a $2.8 billion budget deficit.

Work on a $26.6 million remodel of Eastern Washington University’s Patterson Hall finally got under way after a delay brought about by funding concerns and phasing of the project.

A 78-68 win over visiting Portland State along with an Idaho State win over Sacramento State, handed the Eastern Washington University women’s’ basketball team the Big Sky Conference regular season championship.

20 Years Ago

March 9, 2000

Faced with big cuts to its parks, police and fire departments to fill a $400,000 budget hole as a result of passage of Initiative 695, Cheney’s City Council and staff began considering asking voters to pass a four-year maintenance and operations levy to restore the funding.

Voters prepared to go to the polls to consider passage of three-year maintenance and operations levies from both Cheney and Medical Lake school districts. Cheney was also seeking approval of a $13.9 million capital projects bond to remodel Betz, Salnave, Sunset and Windsor elementary schools.

A 17-0 second-half run handed the visiting University of Montana a 77-75 win over Eastern Washington University in men’s basketball action at Reese Court, allowing the Grizzlies and Eagles to share the Big Sky Conference regular-season championship.

Forty-two Medical Lake Mat Mauler wrestlers earned medals in the club’s second tournament of the season at Riverside High School.

30 Years Ago

March 8, 1990

Plans to add more commercial space to Cheney’s northern boundary began taking shape with the expansion of the Cheney Plaza Center. Those plans featured expansion of the Excell Foods store, new quarters for Ben Franklin and an additional space for a hardware store.

Medical Lake’s school board began discussions on asking taxpayers to approve a one-year special levy to cover “big ticket items” not covered in the district’s regular budget, including roof work at the middle school

After an opening-round loss to Lynden, the Medical Lake boys basketball squad won two of their next three games to bring home an eighth-place trophy from the state A tournament in Tacoma. The Cardinals lost 72-62 in the fifth-eighth place trophy game to Nooksack Valley.

40 Years Ago

March 8, 1980

In a 3-2 vote, the Spokane County Boundary Review Board denied the city of Airway Heights request to annex 1,000-plus acres of land between it and Fairchild Air Force Base. The base expressed concerns about the annexation because much of the land was located directly off the base runway in an “accident potential zone” of APZ.

Nadine Gilmour, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Gilmour, will represent Cheney in the upcoming Miss Washington U.S.A. pageant, March 15-18 in Seattle. Gilmour is a 1979 Cheney High School graduate attending Western Washington University.

Medical Lake senior John Parker won the downhill skiing competition at Mt. Batchelor near Bend, Ore. on March 1. Parker’s average speed on the winning run was calculated at 56 miles per hour.

At Cheney Safeway, a 44-ounce bottle of Heinz Ketchup was going for $1.29; head lettuce was 39 cents each while fresh red snapper went for $1.98 a pound and New York steak $4.98 a pound.