Articles from the March 21, 2013 edition


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  • It's time for March Money Madness

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Mar 21, 2013

    So, how are your brackets doing? Don’t give me that look. You know what I’m talking about. Everyone knows, except any recently landed Vulcans, what is meant by the phrase “How’s your bracket doing?” It means it’s that time of year again when office productivity goes kablooey, sports bars roll in the dough and suddenly everybody is a Gonzaga Bulldog fan from way back. It’s NCAA basketball tournament time baby. March Madness! Where the Christmas/New Year’s holiday season has its office parties, March has its office pools. A...

  • Lady Hawks open with three wins

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Mar 21, 2013

    By JOHN McCALLUM Editor If Cheney softball head coach Gary Blake was the man with lots of questions about his team last week, this week he’s the man with the ear-to-ear smile. The Lady Hawks opened 2013 with a three-game road winning streak, banging out a total of 39 hits and committing seven errors in 21 total innings by downing Prosser and sweeping Clarkston. While maybe not answering all of his questions, the wins certainly gave Blake some comfort. “Especially after los...

  • Eastern's strong finish fades in overtime loss to UNC

    PAUL DELANEY, Staff Reporter|Updated Mar 21, 2013

    First they delivered just the right recipe for a rally. But then maybe the Eastern Washington University women’s basketball team might have put just a bit too much of some of that ingredient into their overtime effort. The result was a 70-64 loss in the semifinals of last Friday’s Big Sky Conference basketball tournament to No. 2 seed Northern Colorado at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula. While No. 3 Eastern fell short of the goal for a Big Sky championship – later won by Montana 56...

  • Looking Back

    Updated Mar 21, 2013

    1 Years Ago March 27, 2003 New traffic striping on SR 904 and First Street in Cheney is being named as a factor in a reduction of traffic accidents along the route according to police reports. By a 5-2 vote, the Cheney City Council authorized another $200,000 in expenditures related to installation of a new fiber optics phone cable. According to a report presented to the Medical Lake Planning Commission traffic in the city was expected to grow significantly from nearly 31,000 cars a day projected in 2000 to almost 48,000 by...

  • Barton John Freitag, Sr.

    Updated Mar 21, 2013

    Barton John Freitag, Sr. Beloved Husband, Dad, Pops, Papa, Grandpa, and Opa went to be with his Lord on March 7, 2013 with his family beside him at the Cheney Care Center. Barton was born Sept. 26, 1931 in Sydney, Montana to Alfred and Marie (Yuhl) Freitag. He graduated from Mead High School in 1949. Barton was in the Navy Reserve from September 1949 to September 1954. He retired after 35 years from Eastern State Hospital. He started work in the wards, then worked as a... Full story

  • Students experience famine to raise money

    Luella Dow, Contributor|Updated Mar 21, 2013

    Twenty students at Christian Heritage School at Edwall recently completed another 30-hour famine from midnight Thursday until 8:30 a.m. Saturday; a project they have participated in for years under the direction of principal Marty Klein. The project is organized by World Vision, a Christian organization dedicated to children, their families and communities. World Vision gives out statistics that in some areas of the world every 13 seconds a child dies of hunger. For donations...

  • Cheney's LaValley earns Spokane rodeo queen title

    JAMES EIK, Staff Reporter|Updated Mar 21, 2013

    By JAMES EIK Staff Reporter Macy LaValley is an Eastern Washington University student by day, but in 2013, she is also Miss Spokane Interstate Rodeo. With the title, she will be visiting several surrounding counties for their events, along with many around Spokane itself. This past weekend, she was in the St. Patrick’s Day parade, although things are just getting started. LaValley said after May, nearly every weekend will be spent at a different event, whether it’s the Spo...

  • Opt out of creepy fed ed data-mining racket

    Michelle Malkin, Columnist|Updated Mar 21, 2013

    In a previous column, I reported on the federal government’s massive new student-tracking database, which was created as part of the nationalized Common Core standards scheme. The bad news: GOP “leadership” continues to ignore or, worse, enable this Nanny State racket (hello, Jeb Bush). The good news: An independent grassroots revolt outside the Beltway bubble is swelling. Families are taking their children’s academic and privacy matters out of the snoopercrats’ grip and into their own hands. You can now download a Common Co...

  • Street intersections in Cheney could use some work

    Updated Mar 21, 2013

    During the months of September-June, Cheney experiences an especially dramatic influx in population due to the presence of the Eastern Washington University campus. Within this time period, on any given weekday the streets surrounding the campus are lined with cars. The reason these scenarios are problematic, is because of intersections like the one in which Fifth Street meets C Street, that don’t feature four-way stop signs. When nearing the intersection from C Street in a motor vehicle, it is nearly impossible to assess w...

  • Too much TV is bad for children, active parenting helps

    Updated Mar 21, 2013

    Children’s minds are constantly growing. They want to be stimulated, and they want it so badly that they seek out media deemed “inappropriate” for their age group. Dumbing down cartoons for fear that children won’t understand stifles the potential for stimulation, insults the target audience, and truly turns the TV into “the idiot box”. It’s ageism against children, who demand quality programming as much as adults. So what are we going to do? Petition the networks? Write our own shows? Throw out our TVs? Actually, the...

  • Crossing Washington Street to get to EWU isn't safe for pedestrians

    Updated Mar 21, 2013

    I am currently on my third year here at EWU and I love pretty much everything about the school, but the large amount of foot traffic crossing the main roads when classes are starting, and ending become very hectic. Although I am one of the people walking from class to class in the morning, I also have a school job that requires me to drive through campus frequently in the afternoon. I have found myself waiting 20 minutes on Washington Street to get from the police barn, past the football field, because of students crossing...

  • State should honor pension agreement before making changes

    Updated Mar 21, 2013

    Funding education isn’t the only headache Legislators are taking extra-strength Tylenol for these days. Funding of the state employee’s retirement pension system is also eliciting consumption of a few tablets. Senate Bill 5851 would create another retirement plan the state could offer its workers, but one not based on defined benefits as the other three plans, two of which are active, are but on defined contributions. Like the current plans, employees and employers would be required to make contributions, the difference bei...

  • Hallett Elementary announces student awards for February

    Updated Mar 21, 2013

    Hallett Elementary recently named its award-winning students for the month of February. The following students earned the HAWK Award: Bailey Cederblom, BettyJean Davis, Cheyannae Hughes, Brooklyn Adams, Madelynn Patterson, Olivia Niblock, Karelyn Cordova, Bacardi Adams, Kylee Grafmiller, Marin McKee, Adeline Hardison, Lillian Quensenberry, Gracie Gross, Griffen Davis, Alyssa Dozier, Jared Schimpf, Lily Harmon, Tabitha Hildreth, Raylin Pedersen, Jayda Noble and Chloe Hanson. The following students earned the CAN DO Award: Brit...

  • New diploma option for struggling students

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Mar 21, 2013

    A collaborative agreement between Cheney Public Schools and Community Colleges of Spokane will now provide an avenue for students ages 16-21 struggling in high school or dropping out to earn a diploma while also making inroads towards attending college. The school board approved the agreement at its first meeting of the month last Wednesday to initiate the Gateway to College Initiative Program with both community colleges and the Institute for Extended Learning. Under the agreement, which runs Sept. 23, 2013 to Dec. 31,...

  • Medical Lake Middle School February students of the month

    Julie Robison, Medical Lake Middle School|Updated Mar 21, 2013

    Students receiving student of the month honors for February are (from left to right): Jaxyn Farmen, Hunter Zepp, Kelly Hodgen, Sam Poiani, Dylan Vercoe, and Elizabeth Hansen....

  • Learning reusable skills through recycling

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Mar 21, 2013

    Steven Bouck, one of Joni Kent’s Pathways students helping pilot a round, wheeled recycling bin down a hallway at Cheney Middle School looked back with a smile and offered a piece of advice. “Here’s your headline, ‘Cheney Middle School does recycling for the world,’” the young boy said. Maybe not the world – yet. But Kent’s program for special needs students certainly does hard work taking care of the school’s reuse efforts, something begun last year with just paper and ex...

  • Grand Grain

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Mar 21, 2013

    Against the Grain owners Debbie Anderson (left) an Aly Avey (right) share a laugh with Cheney Mayor Tom Trulove as Councilman John Taves looks on during the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony last Friday for the new home decor, antiques and gifts store downtown. Against the Grain is located at 409 First St....

  • Cheney commission reviews high density zoning changes

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Mar 21, 2013

    Cheney Community Development Director Brian Jennings told members of the Planning Commission at its March 11 meeting that high-density development in the city usually follows a certain pattern – one large, long uniform building on a lot or multiple buildings loaded up with units. The city hopes to change that through revisions of its zoning code that provides more options for developers while making sure new apartment complexes are compatible with their surrounding neighborhood and capable of accommodating residents’ nee...

  • Irish for a day

    PAUL DELANEY|Updated Mar 21, 2013

    Fairchild Air Force Base commander Col. Brian Newberry chats with participants prior to last Saturday’s 35th annual St. Patrick’s Day parade in Spokane. Newberry was the grand marshall....

  • Airway Heights Council hears traffic plans

    JAMES EIK, Staff Reporter|Updated Mar 21, 2013

    The future of regional transportation was brought forward to the Airway Heights City Council at its Monday, March 18 meeting. Kevin Wallace from the Spokane Regional Transportation Council detailed plans for the proposed Horizon 2040 document, which seeks to upgrade existing transportation methods in the region. It also looks at the development future in the Spokane region, and plans a 20-year blueprint. Wallace said the plan factors in multi-modal transportation, including bicycles, pedestrians, air and freight...

  • Pilot program reduces violent infractions in prison

    JAMES EIK, Staff Reporter|Updated Mar 21, 2013

    Offenders enrolled in the Thinking for a Change program at the Airway Heights Corrections Center have demonstrated just how big of an impact modified thinking can have in a prison unit. The program teaches offenders to change their thinking patterns and develop positive social and problem-solving skills. During the time the pilot program was implemented in the unit, violent infractions dropped by 75 percent compared to the neighboring unit. The non-pilot unit had 40 violent in...

  • Cheney classic car collector looks back at devastating December fire

    PAUL DELANEY, Staff Reporter|Updated Mar 21, 2013

    If John Solomon had it to do all over again he’d likely do a couple of things differently. The Cheney classic car collector would have paid more attention to his cat Tiger’s odd behavior and he would have not left his air compressor running after he left his shop. Those are things he pointed to surveying the damage – no make that the devastation – that came from a fire in his garage-shop facility Dec. 30 of last year. The blaze not only consumed the 3,200 square-foot structu...

  • Medical Lake burn provides valuable training

    JAMES EIK, Staff Reporter|Updated Mar 21, 2013

    Firefighters on the West Plains received some in-depth training Saturday, March 16 next to St. John’s Lutheran Church in Medical Lake, participating in a house burn on the 200 block of South Hallett Street The church, which owned property next to the main building, donated a vacant house for training purposes. Medical Lake’s Fire Department went through the house, which was in major disrepair, removing any potential hazardous material. Fire Chief Jason Mayfield said the house...

  • ML council OKs SRTC agreement

    JAMES EIK, Staff Reporter|Updated Mar 21, 2013

    The Medical Lake City Council approved a revised interlocal agreement with the Spokane Regional Transportation Council at its Tuesday, March 19 meeting. City Administrator Doug Ross said the agreement didn’t really have much influence in Medical Lake, as it deals with distributing federal grant funds. In the city limits, only the arterials would be considered for some work. “They divvy out federal grant funds, for the most part,” he said. “We aren’t traditionally eligible for federal grant funds because we’ve repaired al...

  • Police nab five in robbery attempt

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Mar 21, 2013

    Cheney police officers arrested five individuals in conjunction with an armed robbery that took place early Saturday morning. About 2:20 a.m. the department received a call from the 700 block of Chestnut Street that two males, one armed with a small caliber handgun, had gotten into a black, four-door vehicle and left the scene. The robbery victims pursued the vehicle, keeping police informed on where they were. Eastern Washington University Police encountered the suspect vehicle in the area of Erie and Cedar streets, turned...

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