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Some 131 Medical Lake residents received disturbing news last week. A notice, hand delivered by city maintenance personnel on Wednesday, July 24, informed them that routine water samples had tested positive for E.coli bacteria. The notice advised residents to use bottled water or boil tap water for one minute until further notice. “It was my worst nightmare,” Scott Duncan, Medical Lake maintenance supervisor, said. Additional samples were drawn and submitted for testing the...
Jerome (Jerry) Davis Gardner passed peacefully into the next life a well-loved and highly regarded man, long before we were ready to let him go. He leaves behind his loving wife of 47 years, Patricia, his daughters Darby McLean (Aaron) and Cara Gardner, grandchildren Sydney, Nash, Lucas and Lila, as well as brothers Jim (Roz) and Jon (Judy) and numerous extended family and wonderful friends. Born in Asheville, N.C., Jerry moved with his family to Los Angeles and grew up a...
Cheney Congregational Church Looking for a church? Drop in any Sunday at 10 a.m. and check us out. Stay for “coffee hour” at 11 a.m. so we can get acquainted. Last Sunday Ray and Donna Pearson treated us to homemade ice cream and sorbet at coffee hour. Our new pastor, Matt Goodale, is continuing his sermon series, “A Surprising Family of Faith,” focusing on how we all encounter God in unique ways, this Sunday, Aug. 4 at 10 a.m. Our faith journeys may look different, but they are all embraced by God, who uses each of our stori...
Virginia (Ginny) Lee Baker, of Cheney, died of a sudden heart attack and was taken to Heaven by Angels, on July 16, 2019. Virginia was born to David and Janice Oleson on Nov. 5, 1963, in Tyndall, S.D. She was the second of seven children. The Oleson family lived in Springfield, Wall, Lead and Bison, S.D. during her formative years. Ginny graduated from Bison High School in 1982. She was active in basketball, track, bowling, cheerleading and much more. Oh, the stories we could...
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The Aug. 6 primary is next Tuesday, and among other items on the ballot, both Medical Lake and Spokane County Fire District 3 voters are being asked to consider a merger of the Medical Lake Fire Department into District 3. If passed, emergency service calls in Medical Lake would thereafter be handled by District 3 personnel from its newly renovated Station 33 in Four Lakes, now fully staffed 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, once the election is certified by county...
Eastern Washington University head women’s golf coach Brenda Howe announced the 2019-20 schedule. The Eagles compete in 10 matches overall, beginning with the Battle at Old Works on Sept. 16-17 and concluding with the Big Sky Conference Championships on April 20-22. “This is a familiar schedule for us. There are a couple new events from last year, but both are on courses we’ve played in the past,” Howe, who is starting her 11th year at the helm, said. “Having a new venue for the conference championship is exciting and I kno...
Thank you to the Cheney Free Press and the terrific Cheney community for supporting the high school band clothing drive! Because of your generosity, publicity and donations the band kids collected about 8,000 pounds of usable clothes and bedding and earned $2,000 for the band programs. Many of the kids earned significant money towards their marching band fees. We partnered with Value Village, so your donations went to local neighborhoods as well as overseas. The staff at Value Village was very impressed with our group’s d...
It’s time to vote, if you haven’t already. Among many important issues on the Aug. 6 ballot is a request from the Spokane County Library District seeking a majority YES vote to sustain and enhance currently available services at Cheney and the other 10 libraries in the county library district. The current county library levy rate is 43 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. The voter request would increase this levy amount by 7 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. For a home value of $235,000 the annual cos...
A few years ago, I had occasion to examine potential threats to our democracy. The national debt, exportation of wealth and our economic dependence on foreign countries headed my list of concerns. My list was unchanged until recently. I believe our national march toward socialism is now more of a threat to our future than the debt. I cannot believe than anyone who has taken even a cursory look at world history would suggest we embrace socialistic ideals. At no time in the life of the known universe has it been successful....
One would think a small-town garlic festival would be the least-likely candidate for the site of unspeakable violence. But that illusion was shattered Sunday, July 28, when three people were killed by a gunman at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California. Two of those murdered were children. At least 12 more were injured. The incident is yet another tally mark on the long list of mass shootings that have plagued the U.S. in recent years. It’s to the point where they don’t rattle the public anymore; news consumers sig...
In the past year the Trump administration has been applying increasingly restrictive policies to block asylum seekers from pursuing their claims in the U.S. The most recent measure, now temporarily barred by a federal judge’s injunction, would have required migrants traveling through another country such as Mexico to show proof that they had applied for, and were denied, asylum in that country. That policy would most likely have barred almost all migrants from Central America, as well as many Africans, Haitians and Cubans t...
One of these days I’m finally going to get to watch the conclusion of the Tour de France again. For the past several years I’ve missed the end of cycling’s preeminent event due to some reason or other. Usually it’s because I have been on mission trips to Guatemala and not been able to access the Internet because of the remoteness of the locations to which I have traveled. This year, I was on vacation in Yosemite and too busy to watch the last five days of the Tour, missing a rally by Team INEO’s Egan Bernall to become th...
Coming off a last year’s run to the NCAA Division I Championship Game in Frisco, Texas, the Eastern Washington University football team will start this year’s practices the first week of August at the Sports and Recreation Center practice fields in Cheney, according to a press release. The Eagles have adopted the mantra “Advance the Standard” after winning their sixth Big Sky Conference championship since 2010 and finishing with a 12-3 record. Eastern advanced to the NCAA Division I Championship Game where it lost 38-24 to No...
With the recent NCAA release of basketball attendance figures for the 2018-19 season, the Big Sky Conference saw many positive outcomes including large increases in the average attendance for the Big Sky Championships, according to press release. For the men, the conference tournament average grew from 1,128 in 2018 to 2,641 to rank 25th among all NCAA Division I conferences. The men’s championship game between Montana and Eastern Washington attracted 3,737 fans — an increase of 896 from 2018 – while the semifinals pulle...
History was recently made in West Plains sports when the West Plains 11 – 12 Little League All Stars went to the state championships and won — twice. Although they had made the playoffs many times in the past, they’d always been quickly eliminated — often by double digits — in the first two games of the series. And in the league’s 15-year history they had won only a single tournament game. “Most of the time we go to the state tournament we lose two and we come home,” Josh A...
Terri Worl of the Medical Lake Food Bank, left, accepts a $2,500 check from 24-Hour Tennis-a-Thon volunteers Sarah Ransom and Jackson Kissack. The money is part of that collected during this year’s event. Medical Lake held its 22nd annual Tennis-a-thon earlier this month and organizers estimated at least 70 children and 40 adults participated, despite a little rain. Some attendees were at the event for nearly 24 hours straight. Funds raised went to support the Medical Lake C...
Christopher Huntzinger ran a seafoam green cushion cover through an industrial sewing machine on Wednesday, July 17, tattooed hands confidently guiding stitches through the tough outdoor fabric. The image was one you might see in any artist’s studio or furniture shop, but with a few key differences — like the locked doors and gun-toting officers patrolling the halls. Because Huntzinger isn’t just a craftsman plying his trade. He, along with the 20-some other men in the room,...
The speed limit on Interstate 90 has been reduced from 70 to 60 mph in the vicinity of the Medical Lake interchange, between mileposts 272 and 273, according to a Washington State Department of Transportation news release. The reduction, which went into effect July 31, is related to construction of a new structure over the freeway at the interchange. Bridge foundation shafts are currently being prepared, and will be followed by installation of columns, pier caps, setting girders, and then completing the bridge deck. This...
The Washington Eastern Railroad (WER) crew has been busy repairing track defects along the Central Washington Branch of the Palouse River and Coulee City Rail System (PCC) in recent weeks. “The work will take the track out of exempted status,” WER Operations Manager Gary Durr said. Exempted status is a Federal Railroad Association (FRA) designation that restricts WER train speeds to 10 mph and gives the railroad unlimited time to correct track defects, Durr said. Being non...
Spokane County Fire District 10 welcomed a new fire chief this week, with its Board of Commissioners announcing the appointment of former Cheney firefighter Ken Johnson to the position. Johnson served with the Cheney Fire Department as a lieutenant and battalion chief for 17 years and served as interim fire chief for one year. He will take over from former District 10 Fire Chief Nick Scharff, who announced his retirement earlier this year after 42 years of service. Johnson will be responsible for the daily operations of the d...
Spokane County Fire District 3 is asking voters to restore its previously approved levy of $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value in the Aug. 6 election. Called Proposition 2 on the ballot, the restoration is needed due to a state law commonly referred to as a “levy lid,” in which taxing districts like District 3 can only collect an additional 1 percent of the total taxes it collected the previous year. The limit has the effect of mathematically reducing the levy rate. It’s almost like an automatic tax decrease for taxpa...
For Cheney High School graduates Jacob Mager and Robby Stevens, a routine visit to catch up after high school turned into a business opportunity that would help them both down the path of entrepreneurial success. Two men in seemingly unrelated fields working in two distinctly separate parts of the country have come together, bound by their hometown roots, to complete a project that showcases the best of both their skills — and may be the catalyst for even bigger and better t...
Three unknowns are vying for the Airway Heights City Council Position 7 seat, currently held by Dave Malet, ahead of the August primary election. Mail-in ballots must be postmarked by Aug. 6 and 24 dropbox locations are listed on the county elections website. Final results will be made official on Aug. 20, setting the field for November’s general election. The Cheney Free Press asked all candidates to answer the same questions on issues facing the city in 150 words or less. Editor’s Note: Some portions of responses have bee...
Set up at the intersection of Cameron Road and State Route 904 just west of Cheney on Wednesday, July 24, the incident command post consisted of a truck tailgate, a whiteboard and a lot of squawking hand-held radios. The smoke-covered highway was closed, traffic being diverted elsewhere by Washington State Department of Transportation personnel. Vehicles occasionally passed by, kicking up dust on Cameron Road, some towing livestock trailers as they evacuated the area ahead of...
