Articles from the October 27, 2016 edition


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  • EMS, property tax revenues up

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Oct 27, 2016

    Cheney’s City Council officially got their budget season underway at their Oct. 27 meeting by following up a public hearing on the city’s 2017 general property and emergency medical services (EMS) levies with the passage of ordinances authorizing the county to collect those revenues when the new year rolls around. The city is projecting a property and EMS levy amount of $2,054,400 in 2017, an increase of $122,000 over 2016’s budgeted amount of $1,931,600. Of that 2017 figure, $275,500 is for EMS, an increase of $12,000 from...

  • West Plains Police News

    Updated Oct 27, 2016

    CHENEY Oct. 17 Taking motor vehicle without owners permission was reported on the 300 block of Vine Street. The vehicle was recovered on Oct. 21 in Spokane. A 15-year-old male was arrested for third-degree theft on the 2700 block of First Street. Jatinder P. Lidhar, 27, was arrested for second-degree driving while license suspended (DWLS) on the zero hundred block of Cheney-Spokane Road. Dylan J. Douthitt, 24, was arrested for third-degree theft on the 2700 block of First Street. Oct. 18 A 16-year-old male was arrested on a f...

  • Care Cars service seeks volunteer drivers

    Updated Oct 27, 2016

    Care Cars is looking for volunteer drivers in Spokane County. Care Cars, which is set up through Frontier Behavior Health, is a volunteer transportation service for seniors and disabled individuals who cannot use other transportation options to reach essential medical appointments. Anyone interested in being a volunteer driver must be 18 years old, have a valid Washington driver’s license, a reliable vehicle and insurance. Volunteers are screened for compatibility and will receive training in communication, community r...

  • SCSO offers women's self-defense course

    Updated Oct 27, 2016

    The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office is offering an introductory women’s self-defense course, Nov. 5 from 8 a.m. – noon at its training center located at 6011 North Chase Road, Newman Lake. The course teaches basic women’s self-defense tactics including deterrents, avoidance and detection of personal attack. Students will also learn basic defense maneuvers. Deputy Darin Powers, who is a lead control/defensive tactics master instructor for the Sheriff’s Office, will teach the course. Those interested in attending the course sh...

  • Pick Pakootas to improve Congress

    Updated Oct 27, 2016

    I am proud to be a supporter for the campaign of Joe Pakootas for U.S. Representative for the 5th Congressional District. I have volunteered to help campaign for him in 2014 and 2016, by phone work, sign waving, encouraging everyone to vote for Joe and funding support. I support Joe in the Cheney area and during his campaign debates, I was especially impressed when he referred to himself as a person of color and told how he was treated differently when he travels off the reservation. To me, he looks more American than I do....

  • Trump's 'locker room talk' is not heard in this locker room

    Updated Oct 27, 2016

    Regarding “locker room talk” I can’t help but comment and share my own experiences. I’ve been using a gym of some kind now for 50-plus years and have heard hundreds of locker room conversations. Not once in 50 years have I ever heard any kind of demeaning of women. Mostly the conversations are about vacation trips, family matters, sports, medical issues and work related matters. I’m very proud of the quality of men that I’ve been privileged to get acquainted with in “locker rooms” either in high school, college or gyms...

  • Trump endorsement a deal breaker

    Updated Oct 27, 2016

    Unfortunately, 5th District Represenative Cathy McMorris Rodger’s political ambition has left behind any moral principles. My party and McMorris Rodgers have crossed the line supporting Donald Trump and have abandoned not only standards of decency but true conservatism. I’m not sure who to vote for but it won’t be Trump or Rodgers. Tanner Morgan Walla Walla...

  • Holy's interests contrary to Cheney's

    Updated Oct 27, 2016

    Jeff Holy (6th District representative, R-Cheney) must go. Reading his biography in the Spokesman Review convinced me he is not a proper representative for this legislature. He has a positive stance on charter schools, which is contrary to the business of Cheney, Wash. Education is the business because the two largest employers in town are Eastern Washington University and the Cheney Public Schools. The major contributor to the business of our country has been and still is education for all, which the Cheney School District...

  • Pakootas would show more concern for 5th District if elected

    Updated Oct 27, 2016

    Cathy McMorris Rodgers, our representative in the U.S. House of Representatives 5th District for over a decade, boasts of three major accomplishments — hydropower, which almost nobody is against, and two bills which benefited the disabled or families of the disabled. That is wonderful, and is likely a result of her having a child who has Down Syndrome. Despite this condition, she voted more than 50 times against the Affordable Care Act otherwise known as Obamacare that has already helped millions obtain health care. It is t...

  • Clinton, Trump should take a page from Gerald Ford's playbook

    DON C. BRUNELL, Contributor|Updated Oct 27, 2016

    It’s D-Day for American voters. With Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump carrying unusually low approval ratings and having a deep antipathy for one another, no matter which one ultimately is elected, the nation will be bitterly polarized. Hopefully, each has a plan to bring us back together after Nov. 8. America thrives on a peaceful transfer of power. It is one of the important traditions which has been handed down since John Adams succeeded George Washington on March 4, 1...

  • Priorities for leaders to focus on after election is over

    Updated Oct 27, 2016

    In the 1973 Western classic “High Plains Drifter,” Clint Eastwood’s man-with-no-name character is asked by another what they are supposed to do after the citizens of the town of Lagos kill three cowboys they backstabbed after hiring them to protect the town. “What about after?” Mordecai asks. “What about after we do it? What do we do then?” “Then you live with it,” Eastwood replies. With the 2016 election rapidly, and mercifully, coming to a close, those of us who vote will be faced with that same realization — wha...

  • Education briefs

    Updated Oct 27, 2016

    Snowdon’s Schlotter earns state honors Catheleen Schlotter, Snowdon Elementary School assistant principal and intervention and re-engagement specialist, was named the “Washington State School Social Worker of the Year” at a recent conference in Seattle. Schlotter previously served the district as a counselor. Medical Lake High earns bronze medal Medical Lake High School recently earned a bronze medal in the U.S. News Best High School national rankings. Schools are ranked based on their performance on state-required tests...

  • Deer sighting

    AL STOVER|Updated Oct 27, 2016

    A deer was spotted on a lawn across the street from Hallett Elementary School in Medical Lake, Friday Oct. 21....

  • U.S. drivers waste more than $2.1 billion annually on premium gasoline

    NEWS SERVICE REPORTS|Updated Oct 27, 2016

    According to new research from the American Automobile Association, U.S. drivers wasted more than $2.1 billion dollars last year by using premium-grade gasoline in vehicles designed to run on regular fuel. With 16.5 million U.S. drivers having used premium fuel despite the vehicle manufacturer’s recommendation in the last 12 months, AAA conducted a comprehensive fuel evaluation to determine what, if any, benefit the practice offers to consumers. After using industry-standard test protocols designed to evaluate vehicle p...

  • Former raceway property to have new development

    Updated Oct 27, 2016

    One of a number of parcels of the former Spokane Raceway Park that are adjacent to Hayford Road is sprouting something other than sage brush and cheat grass. Local car dealer and entrepreneur, George Lawrence, is having construction crews turn dirt and rock on 13 acres just north of the Northern Quest Resort and Casino into a motorsports mecca for car enthusiasts. Lawrence, who is the owner, and television face for Consumer Auto Liquidators just down Hayford on U.S. Highway...

  • Eastern receives grant to research STEM teacher prep in Washington

    Updated Oct 27, 2016

    Eastern Washington University is part of a statewide $3 million collaboration grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to help improve the next generation of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) teacher-preparation programs in Washington. Multiple state partners will work together to anticipate and identify the needs and challenges future teachers will face and provide effective support for those teachers. “The unique collaborative nature of this project will allow us to share our expertise so we c...

  • Twister

    AL STOVER|Updated Oct 27, 2016

    Senior RJ Viloria attempts to keep his balance in a game of Twister during last Medical Lake High School's homecoming assembly, last Friday....

  • Medical Lake Middle School working its way out of Focus status

    AL STOVER|Updated Oct 27, 2016

    Medical Lake Middle School is in its third — and hopefully final — year of being designated as a “Focus” school. The Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction classified the middle school as “Focus” status in 2014 because test scores in special education reading and math fell below 13.82 percent, which is the threshold subgroup performance average for three-year schools. Since 2014, principal Sylvia Campbell and her staff have used the “Focus” designation as an opportunity to help not only special ed...

  • Cheney marching band has another successful year

    GRACE POHL, Staff Intern|Updated Oct 27, 2016

    While in attendance at a Cheney High School football game, it is hard to miss the halftime show: The Cheney High School marching band. The band has started off their year with great success. Earlier this fall, the band placed second out of 14 bands at the Pacific Northwest Marching Band Competition at Joe Albi Stadium, beating Greater Spokane League's Mt. Spokane for the first time ever. "They won't admit it, but this is a good group of kids," band director Rich Sonnemaker sai...

  • News Briefs

    STAFF AND NEWS SOURCES|Updated Oct 27, 2016

    Local authors read for Friends of the Library membership event The Friends of the Spokane County Library District invite the public to come hear local authors, enjoy refreshments from local vendors and find out more about the Friends of the Library. This free event titled “After Hours at the Library” will be held at North Spokane Library, 44 E. Hawthorne Road on Friday, Nov. 4, from 7 – 9 p.m. Local authors scheduled to read during the event include Tim Greenup, Cindy Hval, Stephanie Oakes, Sharma Shields and Nance Van Winck...

  • Airway Heights TBD funds mostly used for matches

    AL STOVER, Staff Reporter|Updated Oct 27, 2016

    During the Oct. 17 Airway Heights Transportation Benefit District (TBD) meeting, Councilman Doyle Inman posed a question to Public Works Director Kevin Anderson. "Where is the money going?" Inman asked of the funds the district has been collecting since it was established. Anderson explained that most of TBD dollars are being used for matching funds for state and federal grants to help pay for street and road improvement projects. Most grants have a 10-20 percent match....

  • Yellow is the new green

    John McCallum|Updated Oct 27, 2016

    Photo by John McCallum Fall is bringing its myriad of colors to the West Plains, as looking up at some changing leaves on maple trees in Cheney's Sutton Park indicates....

  • Providing stress relief on four legs

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Oct 27, 2016

    Eastern Washington University Police Department's newest officer doesn't carry a gun or drive a patrol car. If she did, that would be a story of epic proportions. What Officer Hilani does is provide stress relief, mostly by letting people stroke her hair, but only if you ask her partner first. Hilani is a 2-year-old Golden Retriever-Labrador mix facility dog that came to EWU after a long involved process for her and for her partner, Officer Tiffinni Archie. Hilani is also one...

  • AH council gives input on upcoming projects

    AL STOVER, Staff Reporter|Updated Oct 27, 2016

    During an Oct. 24 workshop, the Airway Heights City Council had the opportunity to give their input on concepts for the U.S. Highway 2 Revitalization project and 20-year land use plan update. In 2015, the city adopted the Highway 2 Visioning Report and contracted with Studio Cascade to develop a 15 percent plan for the highway corridor. The firm will break the corridor into sections with specific concepts applied to each. One of the major components of Studio Cascade’s scope of work was the community’s input. Ryan Hug...

  • ML begins budgeting process

    AL STOVER, Staff Reporter|Updated Oct 27, 2016

    The Medical Lake City Council took its first step in its 2017 budgeting process. At its Oct. 18 meeting, council held the first readings of ordinances that propose a 1 percent increase to property tax and emergency medical services rates for 2017. During a public hearing, City Administrator Doug Ross explained that the increase in property taxes would allow the city to collect an estimated $5,373.97. That would bring the total property taxes collected by Medical Lake in 2017 for its current expense account to $542,771.29....

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