Articles from the April 4, 2019 edition


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  • Council Oks Grocery Outlet easement

    John McCallum, Managing Editor|Updated Apr 4, 2019

    Cheney’s City Council opened the door at their March 26 meeting for a new grocery store in the city. By a unanimous vote, the council approved a partial easement release on property in north Cheney along 1st Street owned by Main & Main Capital Group that has been tagged as the site of a Grocery Outlet store — the fifth such store in Spokane County. The 11-foot wide strip of land is part of an existing 25-foot wide easement already on the property that was formerly state Department of Transportation land but which the cit...

  • Thank you for your service

    Updated Apr 4, 2019

    West Plains Angels vice president Roger Hanner (right) presents a $500 check to Cheney VFW Post 11326 Commander Dan Hillman (left) and Post Commander of the Past Roger Hagenbuch (center) in honor and respect for their service to the community. The West Plains Angels is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization founded by Tony and Amy Blount that raised over $2,800 through a December 2018 fundraiser. The organization has also provided financial assistance to the Cheney Community...

  • West Plains Briefs

    Updated Apr 4, 2019

    Feed Medical Lake April 8 Feed Medical Lake is serving sweet and sour pork, sticky rice, vegetable blend, Jell-o parfait and fortune cookies (if available) on April 8. Grocery distribution starts at 4:15 p.m., with supper at 5 p.m. The “Soup, Etc.” meal this month is April 22 at 11:30 a.m. It’s all free, and happens at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 223 S. Hallett St. For more information, all Joanna Williams at (509) 714-1150....

  • LOOKING BACK WITH THE CHENEY HISTORICAL MUSEUM

    Updated Apr 4, 2019

    Looking back with the Cheney Historical Museum Did you know that 2nd Street was once a boulevard with trees down its center? One hundred years ago in 1919, those trees were removed from College Avenue to Union Street to improve traffic flow for the increasing number of automobiles. Learn more about our area’s history at www.cheneymuseum.org....

  • Churches

    Updated Apr 4, 2019

    Cheney Congregational Church Everyone is invited to join our Sunday morning worship service and communion at 10 a.m. On Sunday, April 7, pastor David Krueger-Duncan’s sermon will be “The Wedding at Cana” where Jesus performed his first miracle. Coffee and refreshments will be served in the fellowship hall following the service. Choir rehearsal is Sundays at 9 a.m. in the sanctuary. Consider lending your voice. On Thursday, April 11, “The Lunch Bunch” will meet at noon in the fellowship hall. Bring a dish to share and enjoy th...

  • John Mill: A Washington Territory Pioneer

    ROBERT BAUER, Contributor|Updated Apr 4, 2019

    When John and Emma Mill moved into the new house not all six of their children moved into the house with them. Their daughters Ella, Mary and son Perry moved in with them. It is thought that Roy and Boone had their own places to live, or they lived in the original homestead house. Their son Robert Early Mill is thought to continue living in the original homestead house. The Mill Family loved to have the neighbors over, dance and have fun. The band John had play was usually the Wolfe Brothers Band. The band members names were...

  • Looking Back

    Updated Apr 4, 2019

    1 Years Ago April 2, 2009 The Cheney School District suspended its regular meeting for a public hearing on the possible closure of Reid Elementary, a 50-year-old school. Cheney sixth graders competed in the 14th annual bowling tournament. The UPS Store opened its first outlet on the West Plains in Airway Heights. 20 Years Ago April 1, 1999 Cheney searched for solutions after finding that after years as a gas station and city shop, city-owned land at the corner of 1st and K streets had been contaminated with petroleum,...

  • Cheney museum to ask 'why we collect'

    John McCallum, Managing Editor|Updated Apr 4, 2019

    What do you collect? That’s what the folks at Cheney’s Historical Museum would like to know. Just as importantly, why do you collect these items, and would you be willing to share that story and collection with the rest of the community? “What We Collect” is the title of this summer’s museum exhibit, and Cheney Historical Museum director Joan Mamanakis is hoping to gather a good sampling of treasures from community members by the end of April. The idea for the exhibit c...

  • Speaking up for children of this country

    Updated Apr 4, 2019

    My heart goes out to the children who are caught up in our adult problems: migrant children separated from families and abused at the southern border; Palestinian children in Israeli jails and in the March of Return, Nigerian girls kidnapped from their schools; Yemeni and Syrian children starving and dying from blockades and airstrikes and American children at Sandyhook and Parkland schools, to name a few recent massacres in our country. Of course, with the present administration, more American children may go without food...

  • Our tax system makes no sense, needs an overhaul

    FRANK WATSON, Contributor|Updated Apr 4, 2019

    Yippeee! I finished my taxes. I was concerned after the media horror stories of taxpayers who expected considerable refunds only to discover they owed thousands to the IRS. I didn’t know what to expect. I was happy to discover my small refund was approximately the same as I have received for the last 10 years or so. I guess those horror stories were rare exceptions broadcast for shock effect. After I electronically submitted my return, I did some quick calculations and was a bit surprised that I paid just under 10 percent o...

  • Gov. Jay Inslee should be using his own resources in national campaign

    Updated Apr 4, 2019

    Recently I learned that the Washington State Patrol has added additional officers, and resources to Gov. Inslee’s protection detail because of his presidential campaign. This begs the question of why we the citizens of Washington should subsidize the cost of our governor running for another office. The people of Washington elected him to serve as our governor and to conduct the business of our state. Even if no state resources are being used for his campaign, he cannot devote his entire attention to the needs of our state, as...

  • Trustworthiness is hard to get, but easy to lose

    CASSIE COSTELLO, Contributor|Updated Apr 4, 2019

    Trustworthy is the PACE character trait for April. As a former school counselor and now teacher, I’ve learned a lot about trustworthiness working with students and families. To be trustworthy means to be someone that others can trust and count on to be reliable. Trustworthiness is essential for healthy relationships including your relationships at school, work, at home and in the community. Being able to place trust in a person means that you have faith that they will follow through on a responsibility or keep something safe....

  • Ignorance: the scourge of democracy

    Lee Hughes, Staff Reporter|Updated Apr 4, 2019

    Our democracy has become dysfunctional, and it’s all part of the sideshow of distraction. Meanwhile, special interests — read moneyed interests — have taken over the legislative decision-making processes that are intended for all, not just for the wealthy few. I was privileged to serve as a legislative intern during the financially desperate 2010 Washington state legislative session. Revenue forecasts at the time were in the red in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisi...

  • 'They talk about transparency, but we haven't seen it.'

    SHANNEN TALBOT, Staff Reporter|Updated Apr 4, 2019

    The contamination of much of the West Plains’ water supply via firefighting foam may have been revealed two years ago, but to many local residents the problems it brought have only grown worse with time. Air Force officials have sampled 369 private drinking wells on the West Plains, and 89 have tested above a 2016 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) health advisory of 70 parts per trillion, though Fairchild Air Force Base (FAFB) leaders have not released exact locations o...

  • House Democrats propose budget that includes new taxes

    EMMA EPPERLY, WNPA Olympia News Bureau|Updated Apr 4, 2019

    The House of Representatives’ budget proposal includes a capital gains and real estate excise tax along with business and occupation tax changes to raise revenue. The operating, capital, and transportation budget proposals were released on Monday, March 26, and detail the 2019-21 biennium. The total budget is $52.8 billion for the 2019-21 biennium. The approximate revenue raised from the proposed new taxes is $1.4 billion for the 2019-21 biennium. The budget stays in line with many of the priorities in Gov. Jay Inslee’s propo...

  • Interstate 90 first ramp meter goes live on U.S. 195

    Updated Apr 4, 2019

    With the debut of Spokane’s first ramp metering system on April 9, weekday commuters will travel more smoothly as they merge onto eastbound Interstate 90 from northbound U.S. 195. Traffic engineers from the Washington State Department of Transportation will be turning on the U.S. 195 ramp meter for public use at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 9. Currently, as drivers merge onto I-90 a free flow of vehicles can back up traffic not only on I-90, but also on U.S. 195. Ramp metering will regulate vehicle volumes that enter the intersta...

  • Fire and EMS monthly statistics

    Updated Apr 4, 2019

    March 2019...

  • Construction digging causes natural gas outage in north Cheney

    John McCallum, Managing Editor|Updated Apr 4, 2019

    A number of commercial and residential natural gas customers were left without service on March 27 when a line was broken in Cheney. Avista Utilities communications manager David Vowels said a contractor digging at a construction site in the 300 block of North 2nd Street last Wednesday hit a three-inch natural gas line around 4:25 p.m. The damage subsequently left approximately 62 customers, many residential, without service for several hours while Avista crews secured the leak and repaired the line. “The majority who e...

  • Airway Heights council welcomes fire deputy chief

    SHANNEN TALBOT, Staff Reporter|Updated Apr 4, 2019

    The mood in the Airway Heights City Council chamber was celebratory at the council’s April 1 meeting, and not because of April Fool’s Day. The sole agenda item for the evening was the swearing in of the fire department’s new deputy chief of training Julius “Chooch” Vanis III, replacing former training chief Alex Turner who accepted a position with Spokane County Fire District 3 earlier this year. Airway Heights Fire Chief Mitch Metzger took the lead at the swearing-...

  • Medical Lake's Hallett Elementary School students receive awards

    Updated Apr 4, 2019

    Hallett Elementary School announced its Partners Advancing Character Education (PACE), and other awards for the month of February. PACE: Honesty Awards Kindergarten Elijah Gromlich Mason Chapman Joseph Zuber Allegra Petrin First Grade Kendall Dunlop Selena Wasickanin Monroe Smylie Avery Lust Second Grade Evelyn Hurst Gage McGowan Harper Bahr Aidan Hanson Third Grade Skylar Hobbs Kye Hall Mason Debolt Jacob Knapp Fourth Grade Justin Harrison Ashtyn Butterfield Madison Griffis Fifth Grade James McHenry Vincent Gassner Anna...

  • Westwood movie night benefits homelessness

    Updated Apr 4, 2019

    The Westwood Middle School chapter of Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) held a movie night on Feb. 21 to support the Salvation Army in their battle against homelessness in Spokane. This was a part of their Community Service Project for the FBLA state competition. The showing of the movie “Monster’s Inc.” helped raise over $100 and three large boxes of donations including items like gloves, socks, hats and toiletries. On the March 15 of March, the president of the chapter delivered the donations to the Salvation Army....

  • Medical Lake School Board gets federal aid overview

    Lee Hughes, Staff Reporter|Updated Apr 4, 2019

    The Medical Lake School board received updates on a variety of topics at its regularly scheduled meeting March 26 at Medical Lake Middle School. Director of Finance Chad Moss presented an annual report of the district’s asset prevention program. “We know that there’s issues in the buildings,” Moss said. “We’ve got stuff on our plan that we obviously want to look at.” The district is required to submit an annual Site Condition Rating Summary report to the Office of the Superi...

  • Cheney High March Students of the Month

    Leann Burton, Cheney High School|Updated Apr 4, 2019

    Cheney High School’s March Students of the Month are pictured above as follows. Front row left to right: Ella Hilliard, Ainsley Johnson, Brianna Nielson, Gianna Terrille, Ethan Hall and Clayton Murray. Back row left to right: Jessica Swain, Hope Zaragoza, Mollybelle Winkler and Blake Seubert. Not pictured: Karen Adrian, Dillyn Reeder, Lauren Hinrichs and Elizabeth Ingham....

  • Cheney School Board considers policy tweaks

    SHANNEN TALBOT, Staff Reporter|Updated Apr 4, 2019

    The Cheney School Board was left with a lot to consider at its March 27 meeting, hearing first readings of half a dozen school policy revisions. Kicking off the meeting, the board recognized National Board Certified Teachers (NBCT) Rebecca Hansen, Rhonda Heal, Heather McLagan, and Rebecca Ward and NBCT certification renewals by Tammy Hauer, Sarita Hopkins and Alison Tobler. The board also met Cheney High School’s unified basketball team. The first readings were primarily to codify simple changes or additions to existing s...

  • From the Pacific to the Inland Northwest

    Lee Hughes, Staff Reporter|Updated Apr 4, 2019

    This is a story of sea captains, a car ferry in an unexpected place, and true love. Driving north from Wilbur over the rolling wheat fields along the northern edge of the Columbia Plateau, one will suddenly find the highway taking a steep plug over the ragged basalt cliffs of the Columbia River gorge to wind like a coiled snake around sharp, serpentine curves toward the river basin below. Continue along the highway at the bottom and drivers will meet an unexpected sight in...

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