Dan Hansen

Fairmount Memorial Park worker Jesse Lockard puts up American flags in preparation for Memorial Day. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

Drew Brand of H.C. Construction sets markers for road surfacing on 16th Avenue, where a sewer line just went in. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

FOR THE RECORD (Friday, May 24, 1996): Correction: The proposed route for the Centennial Trail would cross the Spokane River, then skirt an undeveloped portion of Riverside Memorial Park cemetery, out of sight of burial areas. A story and map indicated otherwise Thursday. Also, the city Plan Commission scheduled a public hearing on the matter in September. The story gave the wrong date.

Spokane city officials and business leaders breathed a temporary sigh of relief Tuesday when county commissioners tabled a vote on whether to oppose a north-south freeway through Spokane. Opposition from the commissioners could kill the project, which was proposed 50 years ago and has been revived several times since. Boosters say that without an unwavering show of support, Spokane may not get the money to start the freeway. "Certainly, all the players need to be on the same page or it simply gives the Legislature ... an excuse for not helping solve the problem" of traffic congestion, said Ed Sharman, Spokane spokesman for the American Automobile Association.

Richard Clear says Norm Rice has not responded to an invitation to appear on his show. File/The Spokesman-Review

Stamp of approval U.S. Postmaster Kenneth Symbol was awarded Outstanding Federal Employee of the Year for Spokane County on Friday. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

Spokesman-Review reporter Dan Hansen outmaneuvers a yapping dog on Thursday - just another obstacle on a cyclists way to work. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

Spokesman-Review reporter Eric Sorensen is one of 12 journalists nationwide to be named a Michigan Journalism Fellow. They will spend the 1996-97 academic year studying at the University of Michigan. The program is paid for by news organizations, foundations and individuals. Sorensen plans to research the impact of technology on families, communities and workers.

Lewis and Clark princess Chelsie Cobb and University princess Suzanne Boyce dance to Hawaiian music during an unveiling of the Lilac Festival float on Monday. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

Charlotte Reves, 43, is embraced by her son, James Deuel, 24, who tracked her down after being given up for adoption on Mother's Day 1972. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Steve Sauser has the shoulder all to himself as he braves Interstate 90 traffic on his way from work. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

The trip to Pasco or Wenatchee would be quicker if the state follows the advice of people who responded to a survey about speed limits. But getting to ski slopes in Canada would take just as long as it does now.

Special section worth the wait.

Waiting for salmon 1. Arkie Andrew and his son, Tyson, 12, are among those on Hayes Island fasting and praying for the return of salmon to Kettle Falls. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review 2. Tepees have sprung up on the drawn-down Columbia. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

A 20-year state transportation plan calls for spending $57 billion on roads, trains, buses, airports and ferries to keep up with Washington population growth. More than half the state money would go toward city bus systems, passenger trains and other public transportation. The plan doesn't include any money for local roads, which are the responsibility of city and county governments.

The death toll at an Okanogan County aqua-farm likely will hit 5,000 fish, due to massive water spills over Grand Coulee Dam. Ed Shallenberger, vice president of Columbia River Fish Farm, predicted last week he'd lose 3,000 of the steelhead he raises to sell to restaurants. But divers had pulled 4,771 dead fish from the farm's net pens by the end of the day Thursday. Fewer carcasses are found each day, Shallenberger said, and few of the 170,000 surviving fish show signs of gas bubble trauma.

British Columbia industries have cut pollution so much that Columbia River walleye and other fish no longer pose a health threat to people who eat them, Canadian biologists say. "This is a good-news story," said Carl Johnson of B.C. Environment, the provincial agency that tracks pollution. Just across the border in Washington, the state Department of Health isn't taking the Canadians' word for it. The state agency still advises fishermen to limit the number of fish they eat from Lake Roosevelt, the reservoir that stretches from Grand Coulee Dam to the Canadian border.

A ranger who helped ease tension between angry Alaskans and the National Park Service will try to do the same in northeastern Washington. Vaughn Baker will become superintendent at Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, parks officials announced Wednesday. He replaces Gerry Tays, who was reassigned last month amid long-standing squabbles with property rights advocates, Indian tribes and officials from the counties that border the Columbia River reservoir.

Traffic on U.S. Highway 2 in Airway Heights will be rerouted for 3-1/2 hours Saturday morning, as police and firefighters stage a massive emergency drill. More than 100 people from at least 20 agencies will participate, said Ron Bassen, battalion chief for the Spokane Fire Department.

Dave and Carole Sykes figure Spokane's trolley buses give the city an edge over Seattle. "It's the neatest thing since plum sauce," Dave Sykes of Federal Way, Wash., said Tuesday, as rain pelted the window beside his seat on the trolley. "We rode it yesterday just to ride it." A growing number of Spokane residents apparently agree.

Workers remove dead and dying fish at Columbia Fish Farms. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

People driving between Ritzville and Pasco won't take the newly improved U.S. Highway 395 if a group of highway advocates has its way. Instead, they'll travel the Thomas Foley Highway.

A plan to raise Upriver Dam would cause "significant" harm to the recreational uses and beauty of the Spokane River, a federal report concludes. The city of Spokane already has invested more than $200,000 preparing for the project, which once looked like a sure thing but now appears in jeopardy. There is no way the city could make up for the loss of four-tenths of a mile of mild white water, staff for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission wrote in a 76-page draft environmental impact statement.

They were cute, sure. But a green light at the corner of Fifth and Maple was no place for a pair of house sparrows to build their home, city workers decided.