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Voters in Cheney were overwhelmingly sending a pair of tax measures to easy victory in early election returns Tuesday night. Proposition 1 to renew a 4 percent electrical energy and natural gas tax to fund continued repair and replacement of residential streets and sidewalks was passing with a 74.74 percent of the vote, 716 to 242. Meanwhile Proposition 2 renewing the 50 cent per $1,000 of assessed taxable property valuation to fund emergency medical services for another six years was doing even better – receiving 79.31 p...
The last two weeks have been extremely active at Fairchild Air Force Base, with the change of command taking place Monday, Aug. 6. Former commander of the 92nd Air Refueling Wing Col. Paul Guemmer departed for Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, while Col. Brian Newberry assumed command. Newberry was the former commander of the 376th Expeditionary Operations Group at the Transit Center in Manas, Kyrgyz Republic. Prior to his departure, Guemmer met with members of the media to...
Not only is Sanne Holland the 2012 2A 3200-meter run champion, but now she holds the meet record. Holland’s 10-minute 48.40-second time is the new state meet record, unbroken since 2007 by Hockinson’s Shannon Porter, who ran it in 10:50. Her performance, along with a fifth-place finish in the 1600, led the Blackhawks to a sixth place finish with 44 points at the 2A state track and field championships May 24-26 at Mt. Tahoma High School. Janessa Day and Kendall Dunn each con... Full story
Without a game at Reese Court in more than a month and seven-straight on the road during that time, it took the Eastern Washington University women’s basketball team a little while to settle in on its home floor. But a strong second-half effort allowed the Eagles to grab a 58-47 victory over Warner Pacific last Saturday, Dec. 29 at Reese Court. Eastern, which has now won four games in a row, improves to 6-5 overall in the 2012-13 campaign. The Eagles will return to Big Sky C...
The new year starts with a toughie. The Eastern Washington University men’s basketball team plays its first game in nearly two weeks when the Eagles take on the Montana Grizzlies tonight (Jan. 3) at 6:05 p.m. Pacific time at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula. Saturday (Jan. 5), the Eagles are in Bozeman to face Montana State, also at 6:05 p.m. Eastern hasn’t played since beating Idaho State 57-54 Dec. 22 to even its Big Sky Conference record at 1-1 and improve EWU’s overall mark to 3-9. Most importantly, the extended break allow...
It’s a difficult exercise making selections for a “best of” list. Even in doing year in review stories, some events and issues, and in this case, teams and/or individuals, are going to either get left off or won’t receive enough of a write up to do justice. Instead of doing an annual, two-part year in review epic, the Cheney Free Press editorial staff instead is naming and re-running what we believe are the top stories of 2012, three from our various areas of coverage. On this page, or in this section, readers will find the t...
Another record-tying effort for touchdown passes couldn’t do it. Neither could a second half offensive explosion that was unmatched this season, and perhaps in the history of EWU football. The 35-point hole Sam Houston State University put the Eastern Washington Eagles in the first half of last Saturday’s NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoff semifinal game at Roos Field proved just too deep. So following their staving off one of the most amazing rallies in FCS his...
Some of the traditions Leroy Lemaster brought to the Medical Lake boys’ tennis program over the years may indeed fade away now that he’s officially – and finally – fully retired. Never to be forgotten, however, will be the impact Lemaster made on the sport in the nearly 50 years since he first put his imprint on it. Over the past 20 years Lemaster has strung together an incredible run of tennis success. But his influence has been more than wins. Lemaster officially wrapped up...
You can hardly blame the Cheney boys’ soccer team if they’re walking around with the limp, unfocused gaze of a battle-weary warrior – the thousand-yard stare. The Blackhawks have seen some of the most intense soccer battles over four years of state final four competition, three years in a row between 2008-2010 and last weekend’s war on the pitch at Sumner High School’s Sunset Chev Stadium. Each time the Blackhawks out-dueled semifinalist foes to reach the state 2A title gam...
Gun thefts spur large, county-wide search: Late September saw the theft of over 20 guns from a Medical Lake residence, spawning a county-wide effort to find the weapons. Some were recovered a month later during a traffic stop, where Cody Wolfley, 20, was arrested and charged with first-degree armed burglary and other charges. The investigation is ongoing. Medical Lake Food Bank moves across town: Following a continued surge in new clients, the food bank moved a few blocks away from its previous location in the Dora Burt Cente...
Wastewater treatment plant starts operation: Construction on the city’s $44 million wastewater treatment plant finally came to a close, with a grand opening ceremony in May to celebrate the operation. The facility could go through 650,000 gallons of wastewater each day, turning it into class A reclaim water. Built to handle large growth within the city, it can handle a projected maximum of 3 million gallons per day. The project was in development since 2007, when designs began. Sheriff Knezovich announces Geiger C...
Cheney’s top stories of 2012 might be better looked as top issues rather than singular events. To begin with, as in many jurisdictions across the country, the economy took center stage. Cheney saw its share of new development last year, a lot of it downtown with the opening of such eateries as Rokko’s, the Mason Jar and Hajjer’s Kitchen along with Red Rooster coffee shop while other businesses like Body Harmony Massage and Spa expanded operations. There were also some failures too such as the Tree of Knowledge books...
Mim Shamblin feels she has been blessed in her career. She runs the fabric department at Cheney’s Ben Franklin store, and has been since 1979. Owner Bill Nation says “she came with the store” when he bought it in 1981. Shamblin says she loves the “sewing ladies” who come in to purchase fabric, and return to show her the finished product. Shamblin is proud of the work she has done over the years, and she’s not sure yet what she’ll do after the store closes. “No regrets,” she s...
by Luella dow Contributor Becca Storr worked in a plasma center at Davenport, Iowa for a year before she came west to Washington. The company had a policy that an employee could be transferred to anywhere they chose. Becca chose Eastern Washington because she had a second cousin she thought she’d visit. Becca Storr had an instant job in Spokane’s plasma center. But not knowing any of the other employees and quite alone, she longed to go home again. Her mother, who lives in Illinois, said, “Give it six months and if you still...
If I lived in a small peasant village thousands of years ago where it was customary to dance naked in the fields on New Year’s Eve to ensure a good growing season, I would be the first to drop his fur britches and start cavorting through the stubble corn. Which is to say I like ritual. I like the statues of the saints in church. I like Christmas trees and the Rosary. I like an omelet every Sunday morning. I’d have been a good 12th-century monk. Every New Year’s Eve, my wife and I attend a party in a local saloon. There...
Prescription Drug Assistance Foundation (PDAF) Here’s a gift you won’t have to take back in January: the medicines you or a relative need to have a healthy new year. Too many people in Washington state, however, can’t afford the medicines they need, or take unhealthy risks like skipping medicines or cutting them in half. Rather than fighting for that parking spot at the mall, why not take a few minutes to see if you can access one of hundreds of assistance programs available for those who need prescription medicines. Presc...
It is now long long past time to repeal the Second Amendment. It serves evil, not good, violence, not peace, hatred, not love. The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is a relic of a time when the citizens accepted their general powerlessness and seemed to live without imagination, just fear. Still, it will likely take independent-minded gun owners to lead the overdue effort to rid our society of this curse. We need gun owners with conscience to finally, at long last, face morality, face the truth, face the irrefutable...
After 20 years of taxpayer subsidies and unrealized benefits, Congress should allow tax credits for wind energy to expire Dec. 31. The credits, created in 1992, were supposed to jump-start a nascent wind industry, but have only propped up an uneconomical, inefficient sector at great cost by diverting taxes to subsidize jobs that wouldn’t exist otherwise. Congress can save $12 billion next year alone by defeating efforts to extend the tax credits. This doesn’t even consider the annual 440,000 shredding deaths from spi...
A few lines on the February ballot represent nearly a quarter of the Cheney School District’s budget. If voters approve a three-year levy Feb. 14, the levy rate would rise around 23 cents, but officials are assuring voters that the total tax rate for Cheney schools would remain below $5 per $1,000 in assessed property value. The district is asking voters to approve a three-year levy to replace the expiring one. The taxpayer dollars help fund extracurricular programs, specialized education programs, teacher training, a...
It might be one of the most complex projects Eastern Washington University has ever dreamed up. It’s called the Gateway Project, and while people who have heard of it might think of it as the plan to expand seating at Roos Field, to university officials and others involved, it’s much more. The project is a vision linking institutional workings of the university with retail and commercial businesses aiming to increase the fun and excitement for Eagle fans on game day, enh...
The latest draft of Spokane County’s Joint Land Use Study received mixed reactions when presented to the public at a series of open houses this past March. At the time JLUS was entering the last stage of its drafting process, the document is set for discussion in Medical Lake and Airway Heights in the coming months. Formed around three Military Influence Areas (MIA), areas of Spokane County, Medical Lake and Airway Heights are affected on the West Plains. MIA Two follows a five-mile radius around Fairchild Air Force Base w...
Mike McKeehan was a Cheneyite through and through. He moved here with his family at the age of 13. Last week he died here at the age of 67 after 14 years as a City Council member, 30 years as a teacher in Cheney schools, impacting countless lives in the process. Family and friends described McKeehan as a kind man who was quietly generous. He didn’t make a big deal about his service to the community. “He was always giving of everything, and never seemed to think twice about it,” said Patrick McKeehan, one of four children Mike...
The Cheney School Board decided at last week’s meeting that current associate superintendent Deb Clemens would be the school district’s next superintendent. Pending successful contract negotiations, Clemens will take over for retiring Superintendent Larry Keller in July. After 14 years of work in the school district and being selected as a finalist for the top job when Keller was hired in 2008, Clemens was overcome with emotion after the four attending board members (James Whiteley was absent) voted unanimously to offer her...
It was not only the right thing to do to honor the memory of a man who gave back to the community, but the perfect means to memorialize Mike McKeehan. That was the general sentiment of comments Cheney Mayor Tom Trulove made Dec. 26 at the dedication of Mike McKeehan Way. The new connector route – originally built as an extension of Simpson Parkway – joins Sixth and Washington Streets and now carries the name of the long-time Cheney teacher and tireless community leaded and...
Hundreds of people in support and opposition for the proposed Spokane Tribe Economic Project gathered at Sunset Elementary in Airway Heights Monday, March 26 to voice their opinion to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Around 60 members of the public from all walks of life commented on the development. Topics brought up throughout the night included the dwindling income from the Spokane Tribe’s other casinos, possible encroachment on Fairchild Air Force Base, job creation and some social difficulties within the Spokane Tribe. A 45...
