Choir helping school in Tanzania

A touring choir is pulling into Cheney on Sunday in an effort to raise money to build a dining hall for high school students in Tanzania.

The Wild Mountain Thyme Vocal Ensemble of Bonners Ferry will be singing songs centered around the theme of peace: pop and choral music as well as songs from the 1960s.

“It’s a concert about peace in ourselves, the community and our world,” said choir director Vicki Blake.

The concert will be held at Emmanuel Lutheran Church at 2 p.m.

Blake said her group, which has toured around the Northwest, is looking to raise several thousand dollars for the students in Tanzania.

“It benefits these young people who don’t have the facilities they need,” Blake said.

Season busy for tree removal service

A tree removal service working around the West Plains for 35 years is now moving full steam ahead as the busy fall season progresses.

Working Monday through Thursday, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Ray McElfish Tree Specialist Inc. has “never found a job we wouldn’t tackle,” said president Ray McElfish. Just last week, his team removed a 106-year-old ponderosa pine, with 300- to 400-pound branches that had to be removed by hand and lowered down the tree using pulleys.

“It was tricky, climbing in and out, with a lot of tedious handwork and roping everything down,” McElfish said.

It cost $4,000, but they didn’t leave any damage to the keystone wall the homeowners had built around the tree.