In brief: Outdoor market will be open Tuesday afternoons

SPOKANE VALLEY – Community members are invited to browse the new Ponderosa Outdoor Market each Tuesday from 3 to 7 p.m. and at The Bean Shack Espresso, 4102 S. Bowdish Road.

There will be homemade crafts from local vendors, along with locally grown produce and plants and other treats in the Trellis Marketplace and the parking lot.

For more information, or to be a vendor call Jennifer at (509) 990-1678 or email jennifer@mgpwa.com.

Law enforcement football teams to compete

SPOKANE VALLEY – The Spokane County Sheriff’s Department Regulators will take on the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Deptartment Enforcers on July 30 in the 2011 Charity Bowl.

Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. at the West Valley High School football field, 8301 E. Buckeye Ave. Members of the Regulators are local law enforcement officers in Washington and Idaho. Proceeds from the football game will benefit the Wounded Warrior Project.

Tickets are $5 per person and children 12 and younger are free. Tickets may be purchased at Empire Cycle, 7807 E. Sprague Ave., or Colorworks, 45 E. Weile Ave.; and in Coeur d’Alene at Nosworthy’s, 4045 N. Government Way, or Peak Fitness, 940 W. Ironwood Drive.

Free golf at area courses for age 17 and younger

SPOKANE COUNTY – Youths 17 and younger will have an opportunity to play a free round of golf at Spokane County golf courses with the purchase of one adult or senior round of golf. Multiplay punch pass redemptions and season pass redemptions are eligible.

Golf courses include Liberty Lake, today, call (509) 255-6233; Hangman Valley, Monday through July 21, call (509) 448-1212; and MeadowWood, July 25 through July 28, call (509) 255-9539.

Donations will help fill backpacks for students

SPOKANE COUNTY – Cenex Zip Trip and the Salvation Army of Spokane will team up to collect backpacks and school supplies for kids in need heading back to school.

Through the month of July, community members will have an opportunity to help local kids by donating $1 at any local Cenex Zip Trip to help fill backpacks with required school supplies in the Backpacks for Kids drive. Cenex Zip Trip is giving a coupon good for a free 12-ounce coffee or free 22-ounce fountain drink to those who donate.

Salvation Army is anticipating a need for 2,500 to 3,000 backpacks for the upcoming school year.

For more information, call Ian Johnstone at Cenex Zip Trip at (509) 535-7701.

Van Zee earns bronze medal at Special Olympics games

SPOKANE – Mike Van Zee, of Spokane, was among the nine Special Olympics Washington athletes, of Team Washington to compete in the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, Greece.

Van Zee returned home with a bronze medal in the power-lifting/male bench press competition. He and his teammates took part in the world’s largest sporting event for athletes with intellectual disabilities, drawing athletes from more than 180 countries around the world, 3,000 coaches and officials, 25,000 volunteers, 40,000 family members as well as thousands of spectators.