Articles from the April 29, 2010 edition

Council OKs two grants for Betz Park fields, wetlands trail behind treatment plant By BECKY THOMAS Staff Reporter Water losses in Cheney were down in 2009, according to an annual report. Ten percent of all water in the city was lost, down from 19 percent in 2008 and 26 percent in 2007. Public works director Todd Ableman presented the report to City Council at their April 29 meeting, and he attributed the minimized water losses to several factors. Increased water loss detection and repair helped the city minimize losses, Ablem...

CHENEY April 16 A report was filed April 21 of indecent liberties at Cheney High School occurring April 16. The report was unfounded. April 19 Eric R. Morrison, 20, was arrested for shoplifting in the 100 block of West First Street. A city barricade was reported stolen from the 100 block of Nolan Brown Place. Theft of a bicycle trailer was reported in the 1700 block of Third Street. Possible child pornography was reported in the 200 block of Sixth Street. Officers handed the case over to U.S. Immigration and Customs...

Game at Clarkston features overtime, Graves’ goal wins it By PAUL DELANEY Staff Reporter Memorable soccer games are generally reserved for those dramatic efforts in post-season play. But Medical Lake played one last week that will likely go down in the memories of players for years to come, and not just because they won a 2-1 Great Northern League contest at Clarkston by a shootout. It should not come as a surprise that the Cards and Bantams would engage in not only going into overtime, but into a shootout that seemed like...

Apparently spring flowers bring out post-season ideas By JOHN McCALLUM Editor “Playoffs?! You kidding me? Playoffs?! Don’t talk to me about playoffs!” Former NFL head coach Jim Mora’s high-pitched incredulous rant, after his Indianapolis Colts lost 40- 21 to the 49ers in 2001, is so good it was used in a beer commercial. But, I want to talk about playoffs. Over the past week post-season ideas have been lead stories on many newspaper and web site front pages. Some haven’t surfaced at all yet. First, the NCAA announ...

By RYAN LANCASTER Staff Reporter A May 10 trial date has been set for Medical Lake resident Joseph Richard Deanda, 48, who faces two felony counts of possession of controlled substances with intent to deliver. On July 2, 2009, Spokane County Sheriff's Office drug detectives raided two seperate residences in Medical Lake, both belonging to Deanda. The first warrant was executed at 104 W. Sixth, where Deanda was arrested after a quarter-pound of marijuana and nearly a half-pound of cocaine was discovered along with a small...

By JOHN McCALLUM Editor Right now wins for the Cheney boys’ soccer team aren’t pretty, but they’re still wins. The Blackhawks kept hold of fi rst place in the Great Northern League by edging a very determined West Valley team 2-0 on Tuesday, and used the foot of CJ Skilingstad and the skills of goalkeeper Andrew Wilson to down Deer Park 3-2 in a shootout on Thursday. While Cheney has gone to overtime four times this season, including their fi rst meeting with the Stags, they haven’t had to settle a game via the shoo...

StageWest Theatre says thank you to all involved with play StageWest Community Theatre of the West Plains wants to first thank all the individuals who came to our last show, making it such a huge success. The Diary of Anne Frank is a play by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett Based upon “Anne Frank: The Diary of a young Girl” during the Holocaust of the Second World War. It was newly adapted by Wendy Kesselman. We had patrons show up not only from Cheney, Medical Lake and Airway Heights, but also Spokane, Newport, Bon...

By JOHN McCALLUM Editor For Cheney boys’ track head coach Todd Hering, last week was a “strange week.” The Blackhawks were a little flat in their second Great Northern League dual meet last Thursday at Medical Lake, likely a symptom of some tired legs. Still, Cheney had enough to hold off the Cardinals for a 91-49 win, capturing first place in 13 of 17 events and at least two in the top five in 14. The Blackhawks were led on the track with a 1-2-3 finish in the 800-meter dash. Hering said Nash Springberry continued to...

By JOHN McCALLUM Editor As you read this, lawyers for the state of Washington and the organization Protect Marriage Washington will have concluded their arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on the constitutionality of publicly revealing names of individuals who sign ballot petitions. For those with short memories, the case revolves around Referendum 71, last November's ballot measure to repeal domestic partnership laws enacted by the Legislature. Washingtonians defeated the measure 53.15 to 47.85 percent, upholding the...

More and more, people are frustrated, disillusioned and angry with their government. A recent Pew Research Center study shows that trust in the government is waning as more people harbor angry feelings against our nation's legislators. The study showed 43 percent of respondents thought the government had a negative effect on their daily lives. Fifty six percent felt frustration toward the federal government, while 21 percent felt anger. Only 22 percent of people said they trust the government. Why are people so upset? Let's...

By JOHN McCALLUM Editor The Cheney girls’ track team received nine top 10 performances, including seven top-five finishes to post a fifth-place overall finish in the Rasmussen Invitational at Coeur d’Alene High School last Saturday. The Blackhawks scored 43.5 points, the second highest of the seven Washington schools competing against 14 teams from Idaho. “And that was without who we could’ve loaded up with because of prom,” head coach Tom Stralser said. Shelby Maurer was the Cheney girls’ only first-place finishe...

By JOHN McCALLUM Editor Despite missing a couple players and its head coach due to illness, and others playing at less than 100 percent, the Cheney baseball team still found ways to get into the win column last week. The Blackhawks scratched out two runs in their fi nal two at bats, and used good team pitching to down Lakeland High School of Idaho’s 4A Inland Empire League 2-1. With their complement back on Friday, but not up to snuff yet, Cheney again got solid pitching, and eventually timely hitting, to pull off a Grea...

The University of Washington has named Michael B. Snowden, a 2005 Cheney High School graduate, to their spring quarter dean's list for 2010. Snowden will graduate in June with two degrees – Economics and Foreign Language/Norwegian. He is the son of Cheney residents Ron and Kami Snowden. To qualify for the dean's list, a student must have completed at least 12 graded credits and have a grade point average of at least 3.50 (out of 4)....

Medical Lake Elementary school has issued awards recipients for the month of March. Cub awards were awarded to Gracelynn Stimson, Cleora Howard, Sarah Firestone, Christian Ragland, Chloe Clouse, Wyatt McCallum, Thomas Collins, Serenity Ehresman, Mele Paikuli, Cade Palmen, Chase Wolfe, Dale Hagel and Nolan Davis. Can Do awards went to Steven Peterson-Belcher, Emma Connelly, Destani Porter, Gabriel Smith, Allyson Maddock, Jonny Hudson, Brandon Giles, Stephen Dury, Isaiah Covey, Ramie Sullivan, Melodi Emerson and Amber White....

By BECKY THOMAS Staff Reporter Spring is here and the gates at Fish Lake County Park are open, but county officials are still trying to find money to support basic maintenance at Fish Lake and other parks. The Spokane County Parks Department announced cuts to maintenance last month, the most severe going to parks, like Fish Lake, that are located long distances away from the parks maintenance shop in Spokane Valley. Now the parks department is working with county commissioners to find a way to provide minimum services to thes...

Eastern Washington University recently announced that Dick Winchell, Ph.D, has been invited by Mukogawa Women's University (MWU) to be the 2010 Fosseen-Kusaka Distinguished Exchange Scholar. Winchell, professor of Urban and Regional Planning in Eastern's College of Business and Public Administration, will travel to Nishinomiya, Japan in late May for a 10-day international exchange. The MWU Department of Environmental Sciences will host Winchell, where he will deliver academic lectures on sustainable cities, building on his...

Seniors at Cheney High School and Medical Lake High School were among hundreds of area teens honored during the 18th annual Spokane Scholars Banquet, held at the Spokane Convention Center on April 19. At this year's banquet 138 students representing 25 area high schools were honored in one of six content areas: English, social studies, mathematics, science, world languages and fine arts. Students were nominated by their high school principals, counselors, and teachers based on the student's scholarly accomplishments: overall...

Cheney High's Future Business Leaders of America score well at state in third year By BECKY THOMAS Staff Reporter After just three years in existence, the Cheney High School Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) club is already reaching the highest levels of competition. Three CHS seniors—Clint Bonnett, Jacob Falconer and Zach Madison—qualified for the national championships at the recent state competition, April 7-9 in Yakima. They were at the top of a group of 24 students who qualified in 27 events at state. Though FBLA...