Recapping 2021 at the Cheney Free Press

CHENEY - 2021 marked a year where the community of Cheney and the planet were still attempting to get back to normal. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be a yearly recap without talking about COVID-19. We started this year for all intents and purposes in the middle of a pandemic and it trickled into many aspects of our daily lives, from the food you could find at the grocery store to the way kids were forced to attend classes. The COVID-19 virus took front and center of the state this year and its presence effected the community in many ways, some we’ve already seen and more that will come up in the future.

COVID-19 disrupted the school district in many ways including the results of the 2021 school board elections. Longtime incumbent school board members Marcie Estrellado and Suzanne G. Dolle lost their for their stances on COVID-19 related policies in the school district. Zachary Zorrozua and Mark L. Scott were both put off by the school districts response to the pandemic and the fellow community members agreed with them enough to vote them into office.

It’s no secret that a vocal portion of the community is frustrated with how the city has handled COVID-19 politics dealing with social distancing, vaccine, and mask mandates. This past city council meeting featured another debate over the OSHA COVID-19 testing ETS and how it would be implemented here in Cheney. Many city employees and other concerned members of the community protested and scolded the city council during the public portion of the meetings.

Several of the last school board meetings have also been attended by community members voicing their extreme displeasure for pediatric COVID-19 vaccine clinics and the continuation of mask mandates.

However, the city began to get back to a new sense of normal despite the COVID-19 news briefs and bi-partisan politics that entrenched our lives since the start of 2020. Even though many local businesses are still suffering from a labor shortage like the rest of country, the community started to get back to a sense of normal.

While some businesses closed down, like Cheney Small Engine - others like the Farmhouse Café opened their doors to grateful diners and college kids looking to earn some extra money. Kids went back to school on April 19, and even though they were still in masks, everyone got to go see their friends, favorite teachers, and bus drivers once again.

Even when the kids were attending class through a webcam, there were people behind the scenes that were doing important things. Adam Smith is Cheney’s Career and Technical Education Director and was instrumental in expanding the running start program to give all kinds of different kids more avenues to pursue their careers in Cheney.

Then you have Jerald Klinkenberg, the Food Director for Cheney Public Schools who is doing his part to end childhood obesity in his community. Klinkenberg has started an entire scratch food program that the children have fallen in love with. While the pandemic has increased the challenges around scratch cooking, Klinkenberg has been working diligently to ensure that the kids keep eating good food while the supply chains slowly come back online and allow him to bring back the full menu.

While the entire region experienced some intense heat waves during the summer, summer programs and sports were starting back up and everyone was able to grab an umbrella and a lawn chair and go watch a baseball game or hangout at a state park. Maybe you got to see one of the numerous moose or elk sightings in the Turnbull or a beautiful white swan stretch its wings.

The holiday season in Cheney saw the community rally and gather enough Christmas energy to completely forget the pandemic haze that’s still settled in our country’s pathos. Between small business week, the Holiday Hoopla, numerous high school sports seasons, and the fire department’s candy cane drive – there was plenty of things to do to welcome in the new year with holiday cheer.

While were still adapting to a kind of new normal and figuring out how to live with COVID-19 in our lives, it’s important to remember the little things the bring the community together – supporting your local athletes at high school sports games, meeting your friends for coffee at West Plains Roasters or taking your grandma shopping at The Owl Pharmacy and Ree Creation. If Jack and Sandy Mabbott’s marriage can endure 60 years, then there is certainly hope for the rest of us.

Here’s to 2022. Let’s keep finding reasons to be a community because at the end of the day it’s all we really have. Cheers.

 

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