Articles from the September 19, 2013 edition


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  • ML approves new firing range contract

    JAMES EIK, Staff Reporter|Updated Sep 20, 2013

    The Medical Lake City Council held a quick meeting Tuesday, Sept. 17, approving a handful of items in 15 minutes. Among the items passed included a contract with the Washington State Department of Corrections for use of the city’s firing range. Specifically, the corrections center in Airway Heights would be using the range for training in 2014. The City Council also approved an update to the maintenance supervisor job description. Current supervisor Dan Dorshorst is retiring at the end of the month. The description h...

  • New digital lenses change the way we see

    Dr SCOTT BORGHOLTHAUS, Contributor|Updated Sep 19, 2013

    Bif: “Boy, do I feel dizzy!” Calli: “You been drinkin’ again?” Bif: “No.” Calli: “Get in an accident?” Bif: “No.” Calli: “ Are ya sick?” Bif: “No, I jus got my new glasses.” Have you heard of the new digital lenses that are available? For the first time in 50-60 years the way lenses are ground to make the prescription is different. The power of a lens is due to three things: one, front lens curvature, two, lens density and three, back lens curvature. Originally the main curvature was ground on the front lens surface. Later...

  • Looking Back

    Updated Sep 19, 2013

    1 Years Ago Sept. 25, 2003 While not completely official just yet, Cheney’s voters were still saying yes to approving funding for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department through an added utilities tax. Yes votes were ahead 847-600 or by a 59-41 percent margin. A longtime tradition of a community Christmas tree in Medical Lake’s Coney Island Park was getting the attention of the City Council as citizens sought to replace a tree that was damaged in 2002, and later removed. Supporters of a new Fairchild Heritage Museu...

  • Churches

    Updated Sep 19, 2013

    Emmanuel Lutheran Church The 18th Sunday after Pentecost will be celebrated at Emmanuel Lutheran Church beginning with all-age Christian education at 9 a.m. followed by worship at 10:30 a.m. Fellowship hour follows the worship service at 11:30 a.m. Mark your calendars for Saturday, Nov. 2, for our annual holiday church bazaar and luncheon at 9 a.m.- 3 p.m. United Church of Christ The annual coat drive is "bringing warmth and smiles to Cheney area families," Sept. 19-Oct. 19. Please leave donated coats in churches, schools or...

  • Cheney's own "Bob the Builder" turns rust into musts

    Luella Dow, Contributor|Updated Sep 19, 2013

    Beauty is not always in a pretty girl or a gorgeous sunset. How about a 1935 Ford ? “I went to college to be a pharmacist and ended up doing cars,” Bob Sbarbaro said. “The particular car I admired was commissioned by a man in Palm Springs, Calif.,” Sbarbaro said. It had an old rusty body. He built the frame and often builds or modifies other parts of cars he can’t buy. This car now has a 1950 motor in it. With a vision of an old car in my mind I asked Sbarbaro how fast it w...

  • It's not the year of the woman

    Susan Estrich, Columnist|Updated Sep 19, 2013

    This year began with women holding commanding leads in races to become the next mayor of America’s two largest cities, New York and Los Angeles. It was “hers to lose,” the chattering class said of Wendy Greuel, former LA city controller and president pro tem of the Los Angeles City Council. It was “hers to lose,” the chattering class said of Christine Quinn, speaker of the New York City Council. And then they both lost. No one is saying that they lost “because” of their gender. But the reality that these two women — both...

  • It's time to reconsider taping executive sessions

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Sep 19, 2013

    At the risk of calling in the proverbial air strike on my head, here goes. In 2008, then Attorney General Rob McKenna joined then State Auditor Brian Sonntag to introduce House Bill 3292 – a measure that would have required the taping of executive sessions by the respective legislative body. In a position paper supporting the legislation – which never got out of committee – the conservative-leaning Washington Policy Center cited examples of executive session missteps by elected bodies from the Lewis County Board of Commi...

  • Don't base education quality on money alone

    Updated Sep 19, 2013

    Last week, the state Legislature submitted a report to the Washington State Supreme Court, detailing its progress to fulfilling the now-infamous McCleary decision, requiring the full funding of primary education in Washington. The decision set in stone a timeline to recoup education budget cuts made at the state level. In June, $1.03 billion was set to be appropriated to public schools over the next two years, $982 million of which includes spending for basic education. A task force stated the state would need to increase...

  • Government news

    Updated Sep 19, 2013

    Sept. 20- 26 City of Cheney • Sept. 24, City Council meeting, 6 p.m., Council Chambers City of Medical Lake • No news City of Airway Heights • Sept. 23, City Council study session, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers Cheney School District • Sept. 20, PBIS site team meeting, 7:50 a.m. main conference room (CMS) • Sept. 20, AVID Collaboration, 7:50 a.m., room 417 (Westwood MS) • Sept. 24, Westwood Middle School staff meeting 7:30 a.m., Library • Sept. 25, School Board meeting, 6 p.m., Betz Viking room • Sept. 25, Site Council, 7:30 a...

  • Cheney School District is ready for kindergarten classes

    Updated Sep 19, 2013

    The Cheney School District is kicking off its “READY! for Kindergarten class series in October. READY! for Kindergarten is a free parent education program focusing on the development of skills children need to be ready to succeed in school when they enter kindergarten. Classes for parents are designed for parents or primary caregivers of children birth to age 5, or when a parent is expecting. Parents who wish to take part in the READY! for Kindergarten program are invited to attend three classes during the school year. In t...

  • AH residents ask CSD to consider new local school

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Sep 19, 2013

    For the second meeting in a row, the Cheney School Board received pleas from audience members to consider building a new school in Airway Heights, or at the very least north of Interstate 90. Area resident Kippie Shaddix, who spoke on such a need at the Aug. 21 meeting, claimed at the Sept. 11 meeting that “no thought or consideration” to a new school in Airway Heights was given when the district was pursuing construction of three new schools to meet growth demands in the district. District officials have cited this gro...

  • Medical Lake enrollment numbers hold firm

    Updated Sep 19, 2013

    by drew peterson Staff Intern Superintendent Dr. Pam Veltri reported at Tuesday night’s school board meeting that the Medical Lake School District current enrollment numbers are steady for the 2013-14 school year including a pretty big increase in high school students. “When you look at last year when we ended at the high school, our average was 529, but we ended at 512,” Veltri said. “And we are already up at 543 currently.” Veltri explained that while an additional teacher was hired prior to the start of the high school yea...

  • Highlander Invitational

    Updated Sep 19, 2013

    Cheney and Medical Lake runners took on some big schools in the annual Highlander Invitational last Saturday at Shadle Park High School in Spokane. See the results and the rest of the local action updates in Sports....

  • Park a ride

    Updated Sep 19, 2013

    Cheney High School was the site this Sunday of a large assortment of classic cars, trucks and hot rods as the Just Park it Tour rolled into town. The show featured 150 vehicles on display, along with a hot dog lunch, chips and sodas....

  • Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge to hold prescribed burns this fall

    Updated Sep 19, 2013

    This fall the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge will be conducting prescribed burns. Depending on weather conditions, burning should occur sometime between Sept. 12 and Nov. 30. Prescribed burning activities should have little to no impact on access to the refuge public use area. These fall burns will accomplish refuge management objectives for reducing hazardous accumulations of fuel, decreasing the number of unhealthy and dense stands of forest regeneration, and improving habitat...

  • Airway Heights council get info on forclosure initiative

    JAMES EIK, Staff Reporter|Updated Sep 19, 2013

    The Monday, Sept. 16 Airway Heights City Council meeting saw some comments on an upcoming initiative placed before the state Legislature. During the public comment portion of the meeting, the City Council heard from two members of the audience, including Spokane County Treasurer Rob Chase, regarding I-601. The initiative would allow electronic payments for foreclosure notices while at the same time removing delinquent penalties, dropping interest increases to 1 percent for every month that goes by. The City Council must...

  • September Yard of the Month

    John McCallum|Updated Sep 19, 2013

    Cheney Councilman John Taves’ home on Sunrise Drive is the Gardeners of Cheney and Kiwanis Club winner of the Yard of the Month. Taves said he’s been working on his green thumb for about six years, uses Clean Green fertilizer produced as a byproduct of Cheney’s wastewater treatment plant and regularly donates his produce to local charities. Standing with Taves (right) is Gardners of Cheney representative Betty Ray and Kiwanis Club president Pat Isbell....

  • FACE benefit this Saturday to adults with disabilities

    Updated Sep 19, 2013

    A “Hoedown and Grub” dinner/dance will be held Saturday, Sept. 21, at the Wren Pierson Community Center, beginning at 6 p.m. Music will be provided by Cheney’s own “The Honeybuckets” and dinner by The Mason Jar. Tickets can be purchased at The Mason Jar or Owl Pharmacy for $20 adults, $15 children 6-12, free for children five and under. This is a benefit for FACE (Friends Across Cheney Equally), a new non-profit organized to create a community center for adults with disabilities in Cheney. For more information email rac...

  • Cheney's Coats 4 Kids drive gets underway

    Updated Sep 19, 2013

    The annual Coats 4 Kids Cheney community Coat Drive is now underway. Coats can be donated at any local Cheney School District schools or at many local churches and businesses from now to Oct. 19. Collected coats will be cleaned in cooperation with Coats 4 Kids at Big Wash in Cheney. Coats will be distributed as follows: Friday, Oct. 25 – Sunset Elementary School, Airway Heights, 3-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26 – Salnave Elementary School, Cheney; Westwood Middle School, Windsor area, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. An additional distrib... Full story

  • Workshop sets up 2014 ML budget

    JAMES EIK, Staff Reporter|Updated Sep 19, 2013

    Last Tuesday, Sept. 10, the Medical Lake City Council held its annual budget workshop meeting, discussing next year’s financial outlook. City Administrator Doug Ross said there aren’t many unexpected budget changes for 2014, given the city’s tax base. Most of Medical Lake’s revenues come from property taxes, preventing any big income swings in either direction. “Revenues are flat; they’ve always been flat and they always will be flat,” he said. “We’re not a large retail or commercial base.” While Medical Lake may not have a b...

  • Awaiting students return

    John McCallum|Updated Sep 19, 2013

    Eastern Washington University’s Patterson Hall is beginning to look more like an education building as renovation work nears completion. The university hopes to re-dedicate its main classroom building sometime later this fall in anticipation of returning it to duty January 2014....

  • Cheney commissioners get 'high' level review of high density codes

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Sep 19, 2013

    Golden Hills platting wasn’t the only item on the Cheney Planning Commission’s Sept. 9 agenda. Commission members continued their whirlwind review of the city’s zoning codes, or as planner Brett Lucas put it, the “30,000 foot overview.” Most of the changes in the nine code chapters reviewed by the commission were administrative having to do with language, numbering, etc. Two chapters, Multi-Family Residential (R-3) and High Density Multi-Family Residential (R-3H) were combined into one – High Density (R-3 and R-3H) Zones...

  • $3.6 million in water, sewer revenue bonds approved

    JAMES EIK, Staff Reporter|Updated Sep 19, 2013

    At the City Council meeting this past Monday, Airway Heights authorized the sale and issuance of up to $3.6 million in water and sewer revenue bonds. City Manager Albert Tripp said the bonds are separate from any part of utilities, and won’t affect the monthly rate for residents. Currently, the city is working with $3,054,000, which would be converted from interim financing into long-term financing with Cashmere Valley Bank. “Those dollars were previously used for capital improvement as part of our economic stimulus pro...

  • Stocking shelves

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Sep 19, 2013

    When Eastern Washington University staff members got together in summer 2008 to come up with the idea for a community food drive, the intent was to help local food banks simply get through the summer months – a time when donations typically dry up. Six years later, the university’s annual food drive is doing much more than that. Cheney Food Bank director John Matthews told a group of over two dozen university staff members assembled in Showalter Hall’s rotunda to mark the e...

  • End of the line

    Updated Sep 19, 2013

    Emergency crews huddle around a wrecked vehicle driven by Christopher S. Lloyd, 40, that was involved in a high-speed chase late Saturday night that began in Spokane Valley and ended in Cheney along SR 904 next to the Conoco station. Lloyd evaded spike strips set up by Cheney Police, and then flipped his vehicle, resulting in minor injuries to his female passenger. Lloyd was arrested on charges of eluding police and unlawful imprisonment....

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