Sorted by date Results 76 - 95 of 95
Ferdynand Joseph Piekarz a.k.a. Fred and Rocky, passed away July 2, 2009 at his home in Medical Lake, Wash. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland on Aug. 8, 1943 and came to the U.S. aboard the SS Queen Elizabeth at the age of 5 with his parents, Ferdynand and Rosina Piekarz. The family eventually settled in Chicago where he lived for 50 years. Rocky worked at the American Can Co. in Chicago for 31 yrs. Upon his retirement at the age of 50, he enrolled in the Chicago Institute of Culinary Arts (CHIC) and became a chef. He worked...
By PAUL DELANEY Staff Reporter Talk about a kid in a candy store, Medical Lake drag racer Glen Hultberg is just that. Only thing this “kid†is 51. For the first time in his career that pages back well over 30 years, Hultberg can, if he wants, drive home and sleep in his own bed following a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) race. Because, for a change he won’t face a tow of seven, 10 or upwards of 15 hours to park his trailer and dragster in the driveway of the family home along the shores of Granite Lake. “Seven min... Full story
By PAUL DELANEY Staff Reporter Just as their counterpart on the girls' team found, the Medical Lake boys' tennis team learned that Clarkston still reigns supreme in Great Northern League tennis circles. That lesson was made known last Tuesday when the Cardinals dropped a 7-0 decision to the defending GNL and district champion Bantams, who scored a lop-sided win last Tuesday on the road. Medical Lake evened its record for the week, and in the Great Northern League, with a 7-0 romp at Deer Park. Two-set victories were the norm...
By JOHN McCALLUM Editor To say the Cheney boys tennis team had a good week last week might be something of an understatement. The Blackhawks lost just one match in knocking off both Deer Park and Riverside to run their Great Northern League mark to 3-0. The Hawks had no trouble last Tuesday downing the Stags, 7-0, and kept up their momentum with a 6-1 win against the Rams, Thursday. David Denenny coupled consistent groundstrokes with a new serve to knock off Jason Henning in straight sets, 6-3, 6-0, at No. 1 singles while...
Members of the Medical Lake Cub Scout Pack 307 watch as a round of derby racers from the Wolf Den head toward the finish line at last Saturday's community-wide Pinewood Derby at Medical Lake Middle School. The annual race included 14 community entries in addition to Scout derby racers. Organizers also accepted dollar donations during the event for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which raises money for blood cancer research. Photo by Cara Lorello...
By JOHN McCALLUM Editor Cheney's football playoff chances took a serious blow last Friday night, thanks to a second-half rally by a resurgent Deer Park team. The Blackhawks looked dominant in staking themselves to an early 19-0 lead over the Stags, but couldn't find a way to finish them off as the home team rallied for a 20-19 win. Cheney's offense didn't seem to miss a beat in the first half, mounting three touchdown drives in the first 17 minutes of the game. The Hawks took an early 6-0 lead on a drive that culminated in se...
By PAUL DELANEY Staff Reporter The defense came to play but the offense got lost somewhere along the way between this week, and last. And that combination proved to be the downfall of the Medical Lake Cardinals in their 30-7 Homecoming game loss to Great Northern League co-leader Deer Park last Friday. An offense that rolled up nearly 300 yards against Riverside the week before was held to less than 100 against the Stags – 45 of that coming in the final 1:10 when Chris P...
By PAUL DELANEY Staff Reporter While I hope there’s still plenty of time left to experience other memorable vacation experiences - Alaska, Australia, Italy, a return to Ireland are some that quickly come to mind - one got crossed off the list over the last week. This past Sunday I returned home after having spent five days on Idaho’s Selway River. Only three days were spent actually on the river. There were two longer days of coming and going to the launch site at Paradise Guard Station, well into the Selway-Bi...
By PAUL DELANEY Staff Reporter Mid-game rallies were a two-way street for the Medical Lake Cardinals as they split a Monday afternoon Great Northern League baseball doubleheader with the Deer Park Stags. In game one, the Cards had huge fourth and fifth innings, scoring nine runs to pound the Stags 12-3, but in the night cap, a five-run fifth inning helped Deer Park rally for a 6-5 win. The Cardinals improved their GNL record to 3-1 with the split and 3-2 overall. Deer Park, meanwhile fell to 1-5 in the GNL and 1-6 overall.... Full story
Aileen Dear Contributing Writer Newly-arrived, red-winged blackbirds congregate, swooping through the trees and singing just outside of the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge office and water birds float on the cold ripples of Windmill Pond. The still, white landscape will soon give way to blooming buttercups and rolling grasslands. Next Sunday the Friends of Turnbull will sponsor its annual auction at Northern Quest Casino to benefit the refuge's environmental education programs. “The excitement on the children's faces w... Full story
Get Lit!, the Northwest's best festival for readers and writers, is celebrating its 10th year by welcoming award-winning authors Naomi Wolf and Diana Abu-Jaber to events at the Bing Crosby Theater. The core of the 2008 festival, produced by Eastern Washington University Press, is scheduled for April 16-19, in Spokane and Cheney. Additional headliners will be announced at a later date. Renowned author, feminist and social critic Naomi Wolf will feature her latest book, “The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young P... Full story
By LUELLA DOW Contributor “Hoot” sits forlornly on my window ledge waiting for the rain to cease. He longs to fly to the barn where he can intimidate those pesky pigeons. “Hoot” began life as a river rock. One day Karen Aschenbrener selected him from among other rocks as she was walking along a beach. She has the knack of “communing” with rocks; sees the good inside them, the possibilities that others can't find. Her ability is like that of a sculptor, who chips away until... Full story
By PAUL DELANEY Staff Reporter It's been a most perplexing football season for Medical Lake head football coach Rick Olsen. And that fact might not have been more evident than last Friday's 51-0 loss at Deer Park, a game that going in he felt would be one his undermanned and youthful team could win. Instead, the Cardinals were held to just 56 yards of total offense, shutout for the third time in their last four games. Medical Lake remained winless in the Great Northern League...
Saturday, Oct. 20, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., staff and volunteers at Turnbull Wildlife Refuge are providing the opportunity to meet a live wolf. Refuge director Nancy Curry, along with members of the Spokane Parks and Recreation Department has partnered with the “Wolf People” to bring you this exciting program at Turnbull Wildlife Refuge. This will be a chance to see and meet a live wolf. First, Curry will explain how she got interested in wolves and discuss her life and work with them. It will be followed by a Pow...
Saturday, Oct. 20, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., staff and volunteers at Turnbull Wildlife Refuge are providing the opportunity to meet a live wolf. Refuge director Nancy Curry, along with members of Spokane Parks and Recreation Department, has partnered with the “Wolf People” to bring this exciting program at Turnbull. This will be a chance to see and meet a live wolf. First, Curry will explain how she got interested in wolves and discuss her work with them. This will be followed by a power-point presentation on wolves as...
Doug Nixon and Patrick Rast advance to the general election in the race of Cheney's City Council Position No. 2. Nixon received 577 votes, with the incumbent Rast the next vote getter with 305 votes, with 1,103 votes cast overall. In the race for the open council Position No. 6, Annette Mather walked away with the majority, receiving 641 votes. Tim Gainer also advanced to the general election receiving 185, edging out James Wallingford, who received 162 of the 1,128 votes cast in the primary. The incumbent, Les Harris has... Full story
It's a familiar mantra: “Shop local. Support Cheney businesses. Don't take your money to Spokane.” It's certainly something you hear around the Free Press offices a lot, and at any gathering where there are two or more Chamber of Commerce members present. And the reasoning makes sense: Helping our local merchants bolsters the Cheney economy, which means more area jobs are kept and goods and services will be available for lower prices. And it's a system that works just fine for most things. You can outfit your entire fam...
A soldier from Spangle died in Iraq on June 2 from wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device. Sgt. Dariek Dehn, a 32-year-old 1993 graduate of Liberty High School, was in Sharkat, Iraq. According to the Department of Defense, he had been assigned to the Cavalry Scout assigned to the 6th squadron, 9th Calvary Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team “Grey Wolf,” 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. Dehn, the son of David and Marilyn Dehn of Spokane, had earned the Army Achievement Medal in 2005. The Associated Pre...
By CARA LORELLO Staff Reporter Like the engine that could, Derrick Turner knew in his mind when he claimed Secret, a Hampshire-Suffolk cross lamb, as a project for his FFA class that this ewe wasn't destined for the stockyard. To the Medical Lake High School sophomore, 17, Secret was the ideal pet despite being a little rough around the edges at first, and a not-so-spectacular scent. That's where she got her name—after a popular brand of women's deodorant. “I thought she really needed some,” Turner said of his now-c...
By MIKE HUFFMAN Staff Reporter One head, it would appear, is better than two. Now that Spokane Regional Health District board members have agreed to keep the same command structure for the department, a search can begin for a new health officer. That will begin after board members agree on a job description and salary range, which will be up for discussion at the their next meeting on May 24. Whoever gets the job, though, will have to have some administrative experience to go with his or her medical background. That's because...
