Dan Hansen

Last month, county officials evicted an encampment of carnies at the fairgrounds. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

In 1992, Spokane County spent $7,400 buying 15 tents to keep vendors dry during the Interstate Fair. One remains. What happened to the rest? "There are various theories," said Fran Boxer, assistant county administrator and the woman in charge of the fairgrounds.

The Spokane Regional Health Board agreed Thursday to mail a sex survey to 5,000 homes. The $10,000 survey, to be answered by teens and adults, is designed to determine how much people know about peer pressure and other reasons teens have sex.

A $2.4 million communications system will help travelers find their luggage, their flights and their relatives at Spokane International Airport. The Spokane Airport Board on Wednesday decided to spend the money on computerized signs to better track departures and arrivals of commercial flights and luggage. It will be a vast improvement from the reader boards provided by individual airlines, said airport spokesman Todd Woodard. "Every time you call, the flight's on time. We've all come out here and found that that was not the case," Woodard said.

Two dogs in Otis Orchards face an uncertain future after allegedly killing a poodle. According to testimony at a recent "dangerous dog" hearing, Peter Cupid, the poodle, was running in his owner's yard when he was attacked.

Two large dogs accused of killing a smaller one are dangerous, Spokane County commissioners decided Tuesday. The ruling means Mead resident Robert Marci must meet a long list of costly requirements if he wants to keep his mixed-breed dogs, Ashley and Husker.

Faced with busier roads, heavier trucks and two consecutive harsh winters, Spokane County's top engineer wants his bosses to ask taxpayers for more road money. After meeting with Bill Johns and road department engineers for two hours Wednesday, county commissioners didn't approve a public vote on a tax of $15 for every car, or 2.3 cents for every gallon of gas. Or both. But they didn't rule out those options, either. Instead, they promised to discuss it during an upcoming meeting with the Spokane City Council.

A developer hoping for more land on which to build is challenging Spokane County's plan for controlling urban sprawl. "We don't have a problem with limitations. What we have a problem with is the strangulation of the local economy and local developers," said Michael Murphy, an attorney for developer Harley Douglass. Douglass, who did not return a telephone message Monday afternoon, is appealing the county's urban growth boundaries. He filed paperwork late last week with the regional hearings board, a state panel that settles disputes involving the Growth Management Act.

Bill Hinkle doesn't like much about the state's Growth Management Act. But the Kittitas County commissioner especially despises the three-member board that makes sure the act is obeyed in Eastern Washington.

FROM FOR THE RECORD (Saturday, April 12, 1997): Correction Clarifying who's who: The Washington Environmental Council joined a Spokane environmentalist in challenging Spokane County's "critical areas" ordinance before the Eastern Washington regional hearings board. A story in Friday's newspaper listed only the individual.

Precious didn't stand a chance. According to the terrier's owners, they were walking Precious on the playground at Garden Springs Elementary School when a German shepherd stepped out from behind a tree, sniffed their dog and picked it up and shook it. Her neck broken, Precious died on the spot. The next day, on Feb. 18, animal control officer Sheri Kent deemed the shepherd, Sequoia, dangerous.

A North Side developer says he'll put 10 mobile homes on a lot overlooking the Little Spokane River unless the county lets him build apartments there instead. "We've got approval for a mobile home park and we're going to build it," a frustrated Jim Markley said Tuesday after county commissioners rejected his plans for a 21-unit apartment on three wooded acres.

Pick up the phone and dial 911 and the same fire truck will arrive at the door. But, as of this week, the truck will come from the Spokane Valley Fire Department, not Spokane County Fire Protection District No. 1.

Washington residents have until May 2 to request money to help recover from severe winter weather. The new deadline is for people whose property was damaged between Dec. 26 and Feb. 10, officials for the Federal Emergency Management Agency said. The agency originally had requested those claims by March 31. Eastern Washington was hit with heavy snow and flooding in that period. Other parts of the state also were battered.

CORRECTION: 7-17-97; Pg. 3 The Box Tops concert at Liberty Lake's Pavillion Park on Aug. 2 is an evening concert, starting at 7 p.m. An opening act starts at 6 p.m. A recent edition of the Valley Voice reported incorrect starting times.

After Tuesday's decision by Spokane County commissioners, the creek that flows through Qualchan Golf Course is now, officially, Latah Creek. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Valley resident Sherman Spencer says he favors a proposed ban of powered watercraft on parts of the Spokane River. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

More flooding at Newman Lake is inevitable this spring, according to the Spokane County engineer. "We've about run out of ways to deal with it (runoff), so my prediction is: There will be more flooding," Bill Johns told county commissioners Tuesday. County officials have called a meeting for 5:30 tonight at the Tri-Community Grange near Moab Junction to discuss Johns' dire predictions with Newman Lake residents.

As a bicyclist rides past, debris sits along Centennial Trail near the site of the new Valley Mall. Some of the trash has blown across the trail and now sits on the riverbank. Photo by Liz Kishimoto/The Spokesman-Review

Forty-six years after a north Spokane freeway was proposed, an overwhelming majority of county residents still hope it will be built, according to a recent survey. Asked whether a freeway linking Interstate 90 with the North Side should be built, 83 percent of 400 people said yes. Their reasons ranged from easing congestion and pollution to providing a safer, faster route through town.

Dan Groves of STA pulls the new low rider bus to the curb and extends it to allow passengers to walk straight on board without any steps. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Politicians are entering the debate over the name of a creek in southern Spokane County. On Tuesday, county commissioners will vote on a resolution requiring use of the name "Latah," rather than "Hangman," in county documents referring to the Spokane River tributary that starts in Idaho.

Four-wheel drive, air conditioning, an extended cab and cruise control. Add a gun rack and mud flaps, and it'd be a truck-lover's dream. But this 1997 Ford Ranger, and 19 other vehicles worth a total of $387,000, aren't headed for private carports. They would have been added to Spokane County's motor pool if county commissioners hadn't stalled deals with Wendle Ford, Camp Chevrolet and Becker Buick/GMC on Tuesday.

Developers who missed it the first time will have another chance to bid on a prime piece of commercial real estate owned by Spokane County taxpayers. The county is selling the former site of a Gull service station at the northwest corner of Argonne Road and Trent Avenue.