Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 25
Third home built in Airway Heights for deserving families By JAMES EIK Staff Reporter Thanks to YouthBuild Spokane and First Story, the Bunting family has a new home in Airway Heights. The home, on the 12400 block of First Avenue, is the culmination of six months of construction work from Hayden Homes and YouthBuild, a program associated with AmeriCorps in Spokane. “It's a real honor to work with First Story,” AmeriCorps programs manager Mandy Edwards said. “They're so professional. It's a real chance for our students to see...
By BECKY THOMAS Staff Reporter Timing is everything. Bruce Tyson was looking for a location to base his new coffee shop when he saw an ad from local business Dessert Pals looking for a business to share its 1831 First St. space. “It just worked out,” he said. “I met Scott and Marissa (Myers, Dessert Pals owners) and we get along great.” They went together like, say, coffee and dessert. Tyson, a Cheney native, has worked as a carpenter for the past 17 years, but he says he's always wanted to open his own coffee shop. While h...
By BECKY THOMAS Staff Reporter Nancy Rueppel's great grandfather lived on for her in the buildings he built that still remained around Cheney. There's the old barn right outside of town that used to be his ranch land. And until recently she had a physical reminder of him every time she drove downtown Cheney. James Elmer Burbank had the long warehouse building built around 1890 to store and ship grain from his ranch. Today, the building located at the end of G Street downtown is owned by CO-AG, and it's being partially torn...
COLLEGE FOOTBALL Eastern Washington University fall camp Thursday, Aug. 23 - Scrimmage, approx. 12:20 p.m., Roos Field. Friday, Aug. 24 – Off. Saturday, Aug. 25 – 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26 – 5:45 p.m. Monday, Aug. 27 – 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 28 – 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29 - 4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30 – at Idaho, 6:05 p.m. HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL Saturday, Sept. 1 Cheney vs. East Valley-Yakima, Eastern Washington University, 4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 31, Medical Lake at St. Maries, 7 p.m. HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER Friday, Aug. 31, Cheney host...
By JOHN McCALLUM Editor The American Morgan Horse Association recently announced that Cheney equestrian Sydney Hyman has been awarded the AMHA Hunter Seat on the Flat Silver Medal award for her outstanding performance at the Far West Regional Horse Show June 20-23 in Redmond, Wash. In receiving the award Hyman, 14, qualifies to compete for the Gold Medal at the 2012 Grand National and World Championship Morgan Horse Show held Oct. 6-13 in Oklahoma City, Okla. Contacted Tuesday, Aug. 21, AMHA communications specialist...
By PAUL DELANEY Staff Reporter Eastern Washington University's head volleyball coach, Miles Kydd, is putting much more stock in what he thinks his players will accomplish versus preseason prognosticators. When told his team had recently been picked to finish third in a poll of fellow Big Sky Conference coaches, the fifth-year Eagles' coach said it was news to him. “I deleted it to be honest with you,” Kydd said of the email sharing the news. “I didn't read it.” “That's a preseason poll and obviously somebody thinks we have s...
By JOHN McCALLUM Editor Cheney will be a busy sports town Labor Day weekend as a pair of high school classics descend on local athletic facilities. Cheney High School will play host to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) Volleyball Invitational, formerly the Emerald City Volleyball Invitational, Friday, Aug. 31 while Eastern Washington University's Roos Field will be the site of the annual Kickoff Classic Saturday, Sept. 1. “The Association has enjoyed giving student-athletes the opportunity to p...
Eastern Washington University has suspended freshman football player Dalis (pronounced Dallas) Bruce indefinitely from the athletic program following his arrest for sexual assault Sunday, Aug. 19 on the EWU campus. KHQ Television revealed further details on the incident that occurred in the early morning hours of Aug. 19. The report said Bruce is being accused of raping an unconscious 17-year-old girl following a night of drinking. Bruce, from Anaheim, Calif., was taken into custody and charged with second-degree rape. He...
By JOHN McCALLUM Editor There may be one sports season to go before basketball begins but that hasn't kept the Cheney High School girls' team from getting in some preparation over the summer. The Lady Hawks need to replace seven varsity members lost to graduation, and head coach Jennifer Harmer and company took steps in that direction with a busy schedule in June. Cheney played in both Gonzaga Shootout tournaments, going 4-1 in their final weekend, along with a summer league schedule and a pair of basketball camps at the... Full story
Eastern looking to find replacement for Mike Jarrett By PAUL DELANEY Staff Reporter In 2011 special teams for the Eastern Washington University football team were fortunate to find a freshman punter in Central Valley High School and Washington State University transfer Jake Miller who quickly blossomed. Miller not only filled the hole left by the graduation of Cameron Zuber but did so in impressive fashion. Miller, who nearly set a school record with a 44.2 yard average per punt in the 2011 season, was named to the College... Full story
Eastern's veteran play-by-play guy stays the course, gets back to old job of calling basketball By PAUL DELANEY Staff Reporter It's not easy to find Larry Weir at a loss for words. And that's a good thing considering he makes a living with his voice and vocabulary. The secret, however, is to ask what the 51-year-old Weir would be doing if he were not calling play-by-play broadcasts for Eastern Washington University football, basketball, and a pocket full of other area sports. “I've kind of given it a thought but I have no i...
By Eve Rutherford Board member, Washington Dental Service Foundation As a dentist and mother of young children, I get lots of questions from parents about how to take care of baby teeth. This tells me that parents are increasingly aware that oral health is an important part of their child's overall health. In the past baby teeth were often ignored because they fall out and are replaced by more permanent teeth. But, baby teeth need to be protected. They are important to a young child who is just learning to eat and speak, and...
It's been 12 years since I first sat behind a desk at the Cheney Free Press. I've covered a lot of issues, events and people since and thinking back, some things stick out. One of those was a conversation I had once with former Cheney boys basketball head coach Dave Baird. The Blackhawks boys and girls teams had traveled to play Mount Spokane and as the boys were in the stands watching the girls' game some of them were reading copies of the latest Free Press issue they had brought along. Several Wildcat players joined them...
By BECKY THOMAS Staff Reporter Fall activities have already begun for hundreds of Cheney High School students. Leaders of the football, volleyball and swim teams as well as the marching band told the Cheney school board about plans for their programs this year at the board's regular meeting Aug. 15. Football coach Jason Williams told the board about his coaching philosophy, fashioned after Pete Carroll's approach “Winforever,” which requires each athlete to sign a pledge to buy into the philosophy. Williams said it foc...
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math components will receive funding By JAMES EIK Staff Reporter Thanks to a $1.35 million grant, the Medical Lake School District will see vast investment in its science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields throughout all levels of the district. The grant comes from the Department of Defense, according to Medical Lake High School teacher Ann Everett, and is accessible to all students in the district. She wrote the grant application, choosing to focus on the district's STEM...
By JAMES EIK Staff Reporter Feats of strength will be put to the test Saturday, Aug. 25 at Spokane International Airport, as teams attempt to pull a Boeing 727 in a fundraiser for the Special Olympics. Special Olympics developmnet manager Jennifer Suniga said around 140 people have alredy registered for the event. Each group of up to 20 people will pull the plane 12 feet. The aircraft weights 138,400 pounds. Excitement is building around the event, and will likely see more registrations trickling in by Saturday morning. “Ther...
Cheney Community Market aims to boost small-scale crafters, artisans and farmers By BECKY THOMAS Staff Reporter Many local businesses aren't visible on First Street. They don't have physical storefronts or regular hours. Many local businesses are made up of one person turning their skill into products that bring in income for their family. A new organization in Cheney is aiming to help those people boost their business and gain visibility in the community. The Cheney Community Market, a new weekly market offering art,... Full story
Photo by John McCallum Cheney High School defensive back Eric Igbinoba strips the football from a runner during drills Tuesday afternoon. The Blackhawks open play with a non-league game Saturday, Sept. 1 against East Valley-Yakima.... Full story
By Dr. E. KIRSTEN PETERS, The Rock Doc Contributor The next time you have a saltshaker handy, you might want to remove a few grains. If you have a simple magnifying glass, you'll see the salt is really tiny cubes. Salt is a mineral and each grain is a well-formed crystal that breaks into cubic shapes. Salt in your saltshaker looks like a simple solid, just another bit of sturdy matter that doesn't flow or deform. But salt that's under pressure is different. Salt far enough underground behaves like Silly Putty, oozing and... Full story
Cheney has lost one of its finest this past week with the passing of Gary Cox at the age of 67. Gary was born in 1945 in Alhambra, Calif. to the late Lloyd Cox and Mildred (Cox) Kalbin of Cheney. He served his country with pride in the U.S. Navy aboard “his ship” the USS Hornet during Vietnam and welcomed his first son Michael in 1965. Gary and Patricia (Dye) Cox married in 1969, having two daughters Brenda (Cox) Gladden and Valerie (Cox) Grover. Gary left GTE of San Jose and Los Gatos Police Department in 1978 and moved the... Full story
One hundred twenty-five years ago, in 1887, the main newspaper in town was the Cheney Sentinel. On Aug. 25 owner J. Spencer announced the sale of the paper to George W. Stewart and A.H. Calef. Learn more about our area's history at www.cheneymuseum.org....
1 Years Ago Aug. 29, 2002 With a four-person block of Cheney City Council members backing it, a proposal to raise utility taxes 13 percent – between $100-125 – was certain to pass. The increase was designed to cover the city's expected $480,700 deficit. Voters casting ballots on Sept. 17 would determine the future of transit service on the West Plains. The proposed tax would add $17 million to fund existing Spokane Transit Authority services, as well as new service. The Eastern Washington University Trustees voted to appr...
First EWU football scrimmage lets both defense, offense show off By PAUL DELANEY Staff Reporter It might sometimes be tough to find much of a difference between day-to-day fall practice sessions and scrimmages leading up to the start of the football season. But for senior defensive lineman Evan Cook, Eastern Washington University's first scrimmage last Saturday at Roos Field was not just knocking heads with friends and teammates. “We have such a big play offense with great running backs, great quarterback, great receivers o...
Flowers in downtown Cheney bring some color to the streets Cheney's downtown is in bloom. The kiosks on Main Street welcome travelers with a panoply of flowers in the hanging baskets and barrel planters that surround sturdy iron benches inviting sojourners and residents alike to stop and sit a spell. To add to the welcoming sentiments, 10 blocks of striking new welcome banners are displayed from poles leaving no doubt that Cheney is a hospitable town and a good place to stop. The hanging baskets and kiosk planters are...
