Jeanette White

When Pat Franck went to work at Spokane's new blood bank 50 years ago, she kept a gun-cleaning rod handy. The former barmaid didn't clean guns, but instead snaked the rod through tubes that carried donor blood.

(photo of Dexter Amend)

All four of Spokane's private hospitals are banding together in a plan critics say could gut competition and set the stage for a monopoly and price fixing. Organizers say the network will save patients money while protecting hospitals and doctors against outsiders who want to lure away their customers.

Dennis Moe sits with Melissa, 16, as Marlene Moe holds Kelly, 14. The Fairchild shootings have turned their family life upside down. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

A Wenatchee man pleaded guilty Monday to threatening to shoot antiabortion workers under a law typically used to protect abortion clinics and staff. The court hearing in Spokane marks the first time the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act was used in a case involving a facility that doesn't provide abortions. Daniel A. Mathison, 24, told a federal judge he was drunk when he made several calls in January to First Way Center, a pregnancy counseling service in East Wenatchee.

As a top Girl Scout executive, Peggy Pruett hears her share of camp songs. But the New York woman cringed when Girl Scout volunteers broke out in song to protest a speaker at last week's torrid gathering of the Girl Scout Inland Empire Council.

People who are seriously injured in Spokane now are often treated at the hospital of their choice. Not for long. The city's two largest hospitals received the blessing of state health officials Wednesday to treat seriously injured patients at either Sacred Heart or Deaconess medical center - depending on which week it is.

Two Girl Scouts stole the show at a Thursday meeting dominated by angry mothers when the teenagers blasted Scout officials for canceling a long-awaited summer camp. They'd just learned Roundup 1996, expected to attract 3,000 girls to Farragut State Park in North Idaho, was canned partly because of an ongoing dispute among Scout leaders. "What crime did the Cadets and Scouts do, other than selling cookies for $3.50 a box?" asked Alicia DeArth, a senior Scout from Mead. Jessica Larson, a Girl Scout from Bonners Ferry, said she dreads calling her friends to tell them camp is off.

Leaders of the Girl Scout Inland Empire Council face a tough job tonight: Calm dozens of angry volunteers demanding to know why they went $100,000 over budget last year and how they plan to make it up. And once those questions are answered, the mothers and grandmothers from this 18-county council will want to know more. Is the council, which covers Eastern Washington and North Idaho, at risk of being disbanded? Why do Girl Scout staff members suddenly feel the need to join a union? Perhaps most disheartening of all, the regional turmoil has prodded national Girl Scout officials to back out on sponsoring a summer camp in North Idaho for girls from around the world. A top Girl Scout official from New York City headquarters will be here to help sort through the problems. Troop leaders and volunteers who have worked with Girl Scouts for decades say the growing dissent is an embarrassment to the non-profit organization, which includes more than 4,400 girls and 1,500 volunteers. "The management style of this council is deplorable," said Molly Pearson, who has been involved in Girl Scouts for 29 years. Darla DeCristoforo, a South Hill troop leader, said Girl Scout board members are too secretive and aren't taking volunteers' concerns seriously. "There's just a myriad of messes we don't have answers for," said DeCristoforo. But President Judy Frigon said any problems have grown far out of proportion. "We have a communication problem - I will admit that," said Frigon. "And we need to take care of it." Frigon, who is serving her sixth year as president, said she never has seen so many volunteers so interested in the organization. "Wow! Somebody's waking up and finally paying attention." Tonight's special meeting will focus on finances and why volunteers haven't been able to get annual reports which should have been available last fall, Frigon said. Recent figures from Girl Scout accountants reveal a deficit of more than $100,000 - the largest in at least a decade. A computer crash is blamed for the long delay in making that information public. "There are some unexpected things that happened," said Frigon, who plans to discuss details at tonight's meeting. Among the unexpected happenings was a drop in cookie sales - a big moneymaker for Girl Scouts. Sales went from $396,412 in 1993 to $370,573 last year, records show. Scout officials also will try to dispel a rumor that Peggy Pruitt is in town from Girl Scouts USA because the region may lose its council, Frigon said. The turmoil was a factor, however, in a recent decision by national Girl Scout officials to pull their support for Roundup, a 1996 summer camp planned in North Idaho, said Frigon. "If the girls are going to travel here from all over the world, we'd want to make sure we gave them the very, very best experience. At this time, we feel we're really diluting ourselves and unable to do the best we can." That news only made a bad situation worse, said Chris Parker, a Girl Scout manager in Coeur d'Alene. "It's not a very good example for the girls," many of whom already were saving money for the camp, said Parker. The discord was compounded this spring when two staff members were fired abruptly by Executive Director Judy Edlund, said volunteers. Brusan Wells, an 11-year employee, said she was given 30 minutes to clean out her desk a few days after warning Edlund that employees had lost confidence in her management abilities. That incident, coupled with the firing of a registrar, prompted nervous staff members to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, said an employee who didn't want her name published for fear Edlund would fire her, too. "We feel she's going to clean house - make us reapply for jobs and then not hire us," she said. Volunteer Jackie Brown-Fairbanks said Girl Scout officials have denied requests to meet with board members about morale and communication problems, despite a "letter of no confidence" signed by 170 volunteers. But they have plenty of questions about finances, in the meantime. "One of the Girl Scout laws is use your resources wisely," said Parker. "They didn't do that."

About 15 Spokane police officers have been diagnosed with mononucleosis recently, spawning fears the illness is invading the department. Police want the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate, believing it's the second outbreak since the late 1980s, when dozens of officers became sick.

Assisted suicide Jean Toews, who is suffering from progressive multiple sclerosis, says that when her quality of life diminishes to a certain point, she wants the option of assisted suicide. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

State inspectors have ordered a Spokane nursing home to stop accepting new residents after fining it for the sixth time in three years. If conditions don't improve drastically, Valleycrest Nursing & Rehabilitation Center may lose its federal Medicare funding, virtually shutting down the 190-bed nursing home, officials said. Deficiencies ranged from improper care of bedsores and catheters to lack of respect for residents' privacy.

At a glance, it's a typical teen hangout: mismatched furniture bought cheap at estate sales, a bumper pool table, posters plastering the walls. Look a little closer. Books on a shelf have titles such as "Boys Like Us" and "The Original Coming Out Stories." A row of baskets contains brightly colored condoms.

A former coroner's secretary filed a lawsuit Friday against Spokane County, claiming she was unjustly fired because she's a Democrat. Coroner Dexter Amend, a Republican, also was named as a defendant in the suit filed on behalf of Causna Albin. Amend, according to the complaint, wanted to create an "allRepublican office" and violated Albin's civil rights by firing her.

An anti-snoring device lets both Pete and Peggy Fraser sleep better. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

1. Michael Rembolt will use a wheelchair for Bloomsday after injuring his foot in a fall. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Lynda Schultz, recovering from breast cancer, runs a hour a day, four days a week. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review 3. Kenny Hicks received a new liver about six months ago. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review (Color photo in the Idaho edition)

Spokane hospital leaders want to band together to keep outsiders from taking away their patients, but the bill wiping out state health reform might stop them. Rural hospitals and doctors hoping to gain strength and cut costs by joining ranks also may be blocked by new legislation. "It'll impact seriously the Eastern Washington area, and Spokane's major project," said Rep. Dennis Dellwo, D-Spokane, referring to the hospitals' joint venture.

A distraught woman goes to her pastor for advice after learning her husband sexually abused her teenage daughter. The minister tells her if she takes care of her husband's sexual needs, the incest wouldn't happen.

A 9-year-old Spokane girl who donated bone marrow to a brother with leukemia received the 1995 Chase Youth Award for Courage Tuesday night. Monica Elizondo was the youngest award winner at the annual ceremony spotlighting children and teenagers for outstanding achievements. "She had something he could not live without - healthy bone marrow," said Steve Mumm, who introduced winners of nine awards at the Opera House.

The drop in teenage abortion in Spokane County can in part be credited to groups that teach abstinence and protest or provide alternatives to abortion, representatives of those groups said Thursday. "It's everyone together," said Jim Anderson of Lifeline Ministries, a group that routinely protests at the Spokane Planned Parenthood clinic.

How patients are treated for heart attacks in Spokane may depend on where they're treated. Only Sacred Heart and Deaconess medical centers are equipped for primary angioplasties, and doctors there do them frequently, said cardiologist Douglas Wysham.

Bruce never dreamed he'd live in a dingy, roach-infested downtown apartment, let alone be evicted from one. But the money he scrapes up working at odd jobs and collecting aluminum cans doesn't go for rent. It fills two needles with heroin - one for Bruce, one for his wife.

A TV news report stopped Spokane heart doctor Donald Canaday in his tracks as he exercised at home last Friday. A new study had linked a hypertension drug - one he prescribes for hundreds of patients - to an increased risk of heart attack.