Jonathan Martin

A week of cold weather leisure will cost north Spokane school children the early days of summer. As a result of school closures during the November ice storm, Mead, Nine Mile Falls and Riverside school districts will extend the school year further into June than planned.

Eleven-year-old Crystal Eastman reads a book for Gonzaga University sophomore Elizabeth Watson as part of a mentoring program. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Behind the plywood front door of Mount Spokane High School, things are cooking. Workers stretch miles of cable across rooms as long as a city block. Thick rolls of blue-grey carpet await nailing. Plaster board sprouts.

A routine traffic stop in north Spokane on Sunday uncovered a variety of weapons and drugs. When officers pulled over Paul Brown at Indiana and Lidgerwood, the 44-year-old Hayden Lake man reached for a sheathed knife, police said.

It's been just three months, but Ellen Gillespie's class has a killer travel itinerary. Fiestas and fireworks in Mexico. Baseball and seaweed in Japan. In-line skating in Germany. It's an eighth-grader's dream, but that's the point of Gillespie's class. Four languages and a cultural carnival of dancing, food, music and history, tightly shoehorned into a semester so that even a 13-year-old can't get bored. "It's a really cool class," said Shawn Craig, 13.

So you remembered to remove the turkey's giblets and neck. But did you remember to break the beak off, lather it in peanut butter and Parmesan cheese, and serve with french fries and scrambled eggs? Here's some tips for your turkey Christmas dinner preparations, courtesy of Teresa Buddington's kindergarten class at Brentwood Elementary. Brandon Lynch: Get the turkey from the farm. Cut off the feathers and throw away. Cook 10 minutes at "70." Serve with turkey sauce on plates. Put peanut butter on it and jelly.

1. Leta Commellini's famed recipes are still used 10 years after her death. Family photo 2. Commelini's current operators, from left, Rod Dickinson, Gina Seghetti and Debbie Dickinson. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 3. Albert Commellini 4. Albert and Leta Commellini ran the Italian Importing Co. at the corner of Pacific and Browne. Photos courtesy of Commellini family 5. More than 5,000 chickens a week were slaughtered at the A.C. Ranch. Albert Commellini closed the rance in 1967 to concentrate on the restaurant.

Mike and Marla Emde and their 6-month-old baby, Martina, stand in the kitchen of Sprouts Fresh Deli. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

A Holy Family Hospital campaign to help people open day-care centers in their homes could become a national model. The hospital, working with neighborhood groups, state Sen. Lisa Brown and day-care providers, is trying to set up a child-care training center, Holy Family administrator Linda Crabtree said.

Jamaica Vandolah was recently honored by the YWCA. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

FOR THE RECORD (November 30, 1996): Correction: Laurine Jue is a communications specialist for the Spokane School District. A story in Thursday's paper incorrectly identified her job.

Kootenai Electric Cooperative lineman Doug Cardenial pulls a downed line back in place over the weekend in the Nettleton Gulch area near Coeur d'Alene. Some residents there regained power, only to lose it a short time later. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

A home for drug babies. From her Deer Park home, Susan Jones can see the empty lot where she wants to build a group home for babies born with drug addictions. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review <

With winter approaching, a coalition of Spokane churches is preparing to open a homeless shelter. The Interfaith Alliance Hospitality Network of Spokane will host up to 14 people a week, offering meals, showers, counseling and job searches.

With winter putting in its dentures, a coalition of Spokane churches is preparing to open a homeless shelter. The Interfaith Alliance Hospitality Network of Spokane will host up to five homeless families each week, offering meals, showers, counseling and help with job searches.

With winter approaching, a coalition of churches is preparing to open a homeless shelter. The Interfaith Alliance Hospitality Network of Spokane will host up to five families a week, offering meals, showers, counseling and job searches.

Riverside school officials are considering how to prop up a twice-defeated bond issue for another shot. Rejected soundly on both Sept. 17 and Nov. 5, the $2.8 million bond could reappear on the ballot as soon as February. The bond would have paid for a middle school renovation, a gym, athletic fields, new wiring and a bucket of small nuts-and-bolts improvements.

Barb Norton works with her first grade class as they paint how a city should appear. The first graders at Riverside Elementary are joined by the stuffed cougar, Clarence, in the background. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Nine Mile Falls School District is readying plans for a new $7 million middle school in preparation for a February bond issue vote. An unexpected population boom has forced school administrators to hold classes in libraries, counseling centers and on stages. Some classes have more than 30 students, and new course offering are frozen because of a lack of classrooms.

To a thief, the Garry Middle School bike rack is as tempting as a $20 bill on a sidewalk. No windows over look the rack, and students at the school in northeast Spokane often leave their bikes unlocked.

FROM FOR THE RECORD (Friday, November 8, 1996): Correction Christmas was incorrectly referred to as a secular holiday in story about school councils in the Nov. 7 edition of the North Side Voice. 1.Bemiss Elementary Principal Dale McDonald talks with site council member J.J. Moody. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Bemiss Elementary principal Dale McDonald walks out of the school with J.J. Moody, a parent involved with the site council. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Police chief Terry Mangan will rule on the appeal of of Neva-Wood COPS volunteer Deb Wittwer's suspension this week at a meeting with Nevada-Lidgerwood residents. Mangan plans to speak at a Neva-Wood COPS meeting Nov. 14 at Franklin Park Mall, where officers will be elected. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. Wittwer, who had run the Neva-Wood COPS shop out of her home for three years, was suspended eight weeks ago.

North Side neighborhood groups are leaping at City Hall's offer to be officially recognized. Nevada-Lidgerwood and Emerson-Garfield are among the first to have official neighborhood councils, and several other neighborhoods are applying for the status.

Shadle Park senior Jason Hendrickson does some grinding work on an archway that will be part of this year's Spokane Winter Lights. Hendrickson has worked two years on the project. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review