Dan Hansen

Maintenance workers at Hangman Valley Golf Course remove fencing from the No. 3 hole bridge Thursday. It was the second time course flooded is less than a year. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

The federal government will set up a Spokane field office next week to help process requests for money to deal with damage from November's ice storm. President Clinton on Tuesday approved federal disaster relief money for Spokane, Pend Oreille and Klickitat counties.

Kate McCaslin attends her first county commissioners meeting Tuesday. She was elected to the office last fall after ousting incumbent Steve Hasson. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

After a year and a half with Phil Harris at the helm, Spokane County commissioners voted Tuesday to make John Roskelley their chairman. The chairman presides over meetings and signs documents approved by the board, but otherwise has no more authority than his two colleagues.

Economic potholes. A new study show that U.S. Highway 395 north of Spokane is bearing the brunt of increased truck traffic as a result of NAFTA. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review <

Spokane County Sheriff John Goldman, left, walks with Gov. Mike Lowry through Spokane Produce on Friday. The business was heavily damaged by this week's flooding. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Count Mickey Mantle, Dan Marino and Jerry Rice among the victims of Wednesday's floods. Those sports heroes, among others, were on trading cards destroyed when Rock Creek washed over its banks and into Ron Roche's video/sports memorabilia store in Rockford.

Former Spokane City Councilman Jack Hebner is among 13 men and two women vying for a District Court judgeship. "I think I'd bring a different sort of perspective" than the typical judge applicant, said Hebner, who served 12 years on the City Council and is a partner in the Fulcrum Institution, which does court-ordered mediation of lawsuits, disputes and other matters.

The worst flooding in 35 years hit the tiny farming community of Rockford on Wednesday, heavily damaging downtown businesses and some homes. At least 11 buildings were damaged in the city 15 miles south of the Spokane Valley when Rock Creek surged over its banks about 3 a.m. Wednesday.

From the Pacific Ocean to the east flank of the Rockies, the monotony of roads coated with ice and packed snow is broken only by the occasional stretch of deep snow. Some mountain passes are closed, and chains are required on others. Drifts cover many country roads, while city streets are axle-deep in white crust.

The Cascade Curtain became an impenetrable wall for holiday travelers Thursday as avalanches and blinding storms closed every route over the mountains in Washington. Commercial flights into and out of Seattle also were delayed by severe weather west of the Cascades. Portland International Airport lost power for three hours during an ice storm reminiscent of the one that knocked Spokane to its knees before Thanksgiving.

Developers won a major victory Monday as two Spokane County commissioners voted to delay a key land-use decision until after the holidays. The delay is a blow to lame-duck Commissioner Steve Hasson, who had hoped to help draw boundaries limiting urban development before he leaves office New Year's Eve. Instead, his replacement will get the honor. "We were outmaneuvered by the building community and we blinked," said a despondent Hasson.

1. Down to the wire. Jogging through the open areas of Five Mile Prairie are Jason and Sue McLellan and their malamute, Kaniksu. The cost of extending urban services to the prairie prevented it from being included in the proposed urban growth areas. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review 2. Law could limit projects like this one at Cascade and Alberta on Five Mile Prairie. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

The typical new house in Spokane County would have fewer rooms and a smaller lot if the Growth Management Act had been law for the past 20 years, home builders warn. But others say it would have better services, and would be less expensive to maintain. Take, for example, a rancher on one-third acre near Millwood in the Spokane Valley. About 4 years old, it is about 1,200 square feet with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a basement. It was listed for about $130,000 last summer. Under GMA, the house would probably have been built before 1992, since there would have been more demand for buildable land, said county planner John Mercer. The lot would be slightly smaller, but the street might have sidewalks and lights, he said. Almost certainly, the house would be connected to a public sewer system. The new owners would pay $17.50 monthly sewer bills, but construction costs would have been lower, and there would be no septic tank and drain field to maintain.

New Spokane County Commissioner Kate McCaslin is sworn in by District Court Judge Mike Padden. McCaslin's mother, Donna Meidling, holds the Bible. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Monthly sewer bills will increase $4 over the next three years so Spokane County can start a bank account to help pay for future improvements at the regional sewage-treatment plant. County commissioners on Tuesday voted to raise sewer rates $2 a month in 1997, and an additional dollar a month in each of the following years. Homeowners currently pay $17.50 per month. The increase affects each of the county's 12,500 sewer customers. City officials are considering a similar increase. Effluent dumped into the Spokane River by the 19-year-old treatment plant doesn't meet state environmental standards. Engineers say the plant needs at least $50 million in improvements. Commissioner Steve Hasson championed the rate increase, which the three commissioners approved unanimously. Without the increase, Hasson said, county residents eventually would face "sticker shock," as they did in the 1980s when garbage rates skyrocketed to pay for landfill closures and cleanups.

It was the hottest issue in local elections, is a favorite topic for talk show hosts and was mentioned in 15 front-page stories this year alone. It could affect the lifestyles, bank accounts and retirement plans of thousands of Spokane County residents. But three years after the county started planning for life under the Growth Management Act, fewer than one in five residents knows the basics of the state law, a scientific survey shows. Nevertheless, follow-up questions show that a majority of Spokane city and county residents support the goals of the act.

The bridge at Riverside State Park "has far outlived its life expectancy." Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

A committee has cleared the way for Spokane County commissioners to make a monumental land-use decision before the end of the year. After three years of work, the county's Growth Management Act steering committee voted Wednesday to send recommendations for "interim urban growth areas" to commissioners.

After three years of trying to repeal a tax used to prevent development of some environmentally sensitive lands, Spokane County Commissioner Steve Hasson stunned an audience Tuesday night by voting to collect the money one more year. What's more, he and Commissioner John Roskelley were joined by Commissioner Phil Harris. A crowd of about 60 tax supporters jeered Harris at times during a two-hour hearing on the conservation futures tax, assuming he was going to vote "no." "I can't believe I did that," a beaming Harris said after the vote. "I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think it was good for everybody. I'm not intimidated by a crowd."

A walk in the park. Craig Volosing walks through an eight-acre tract along Rimrock Drive bought by the county through the Conservation Futures Tax. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

The faded red pickup rumbling down Interstate 5 bears bumper stickers that mark its owner as an out-of-towner. "Ellensburg Rodeo" reads one that is tattered around the edges. The other, fresh and still clean, has just three letters: "GMA" with a slash through them.

Spokane officials on Friday were forced to delay a key decision regarding the Growth Management Act, further tightening the schedule for complying with the law. The committee had planned to take a final vote on the urban growth boundaries they'll recommend to county commissioners. But a county attorney warned that the committee's haste might spark a legal appeal. Besides, the committee, which includes elected officials from Spokane city and county and the county's small towns, was one member shy of a quorum. The delay puts the county on a tight schedule for setting growth boundaries before the end of the year. The decision is already two months past due.

Spokane County commissioners will take public comment today on a 1997 budget that calls for putting $2 million into an account reserved for emergencies, but still spends $266,000 so employees can be members of professional organizations. The county has a general fund budget of $88 million but less than $400,000 in its bank account. Commissioners wanted to set aside $1 million this year, but saw the amount dwindle as one department head after another made emergency requests.