Jonathan Martin

Riverside School District has a deal for voters: approve a pair of bond issues totaling $2.8 million and get almost $6 million worth of school expansion and repair in return. The deal comes via a state fund available to modernize aging schools. If Riverside voters approve a property tax hike in September, the district middle school will get a facelift paid for mostly by the state. The Riverside School Board is expected to rubber stamp the proposed bond issues, drafted by a committee of administrators and taxpayers.

1. Virginia Hansen at the former Hillyard high school building, which is now the Martindale Apartments. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Inset: Fred Wanless in 1953 yearbook.

A rash of white supremacist graffiti shook the West Central neighborhood earlier this week. Police are investigating graffiti spray-painted on vehicles, houses, a school and a church near the intersection of Summit Boulevard and Sinto Avenue. There are no suspects.

Traffic engineers have studied a North-South freeway for longer than Tricia Berger has been alive. But the 15-year-old Rogers High freshman and 74 of her peers threw themselves into the divisive and ancient debate last week with the gusto of youthful idealism. When assigned a research project eight weeks ago, Berger was opposed to the freeway. She thought a freeway corridor would kick up air pollution and kick out helpless families. But, as she said, "If people research instead of guessing, they'll find it's all right."

Four months after he saved a class of Moses Lake ninth-graders from a gunwielding student, Jon Lane is still playing the role of protector. Lane will join 14-year-old Natalie Hintz as grand marshal of the 87th annual Ephrata Sage-N-Fun parade today. Parade officials chose the two in an attempt to put a brave, positive face on one of the worst public school tragedies in Washington state history.

1. Sarah Adams 2. Kimberly Aked 3. Ben Allen 4. Kimberly Allen 5. Merrill Alley 6. Maris Baltins 7. John Barneson 8. Molly Bloom 9. Jared Bock 10. Aaron Caprye 11. Joy Crosby 12. R. O'Connell-Elston 13. Amy Fong 14. Jim Gilles 15. Sarah Guske 16. Nick Hebb 17. JoEne Heimbigner 18. Jenny Hutchens 19. Amy Janosik 20. Jason Kettel 21. Karen King 22. Irene Klarmeyer 23. Jennifer Kuhlmann 24. Jeff LeBret 25. Heather Leeming 26. Betsy Myers 27. Alisha Neighbors 28. Andrea Palpant 29. Sarah Pederson 30. Peter Raber 31. Meighan Rasley 32. Naomi Rush 33. Amy Sawatzky 34. Steve Smith 35. Nick Stucky 36. Munir Tanas 37. S. Underwood 38. Gloria Wood

Kim Aked shines Florence Henley's quiet days. Aked, a Shadle Park High senior, spends about an hour a week chatting with the elderly Henley, bed-bound at Manor Care nursing home. No credit. No pay. Just two friends, separated by many decades, talking school, friends, work and boys. The conversation is one-sided because Aked has a hard time understanding Henley, who lost her teeth.

Minda Dentler gets ready for a performance in the Mead Talent Show May 8. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Southbound traffic on Country Homes Boulevard is being rerouted for a month, which suits Perry Davis just fine. The 75-year-old Country Homes resident is so frustrated with speeders on the commuter thoroughfare that he yells at drivers as they zip past. The antic angered a driver Monday, who threatened to hit Davis.

Shadle Park High School senior David Anthony gets a charge out of conservative politics. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

The scam is as devious as it is simple. Teenagers posing as desperate out-of-towners promise high school students hundreds of quick dollars in exchange for cashing cashier's checks.

It wasn't Richard Smith's day. A Spokane County sheriff's deputy totaled Smith's Toyota Cressida when the officer lost control of his car during a chase Monday through the Spokane Valley. Then, Washington State Patrol officers investigating the accident smelled alcohol on Smith's breath and arrested the Spokane man, 37, for drunken driving.

Forced into a new life 1. Jill Schliebe, 29, holds a photo of her four boys who were killed when their north Spokane home burned last year. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review 2. The Schliebe children, clockwise from top: Loren, Derek, Justin and Steven.

The fire that killed Rob and Jill Schliebe's four children was more than a personal tragedy. It hit the community, too. "I think there is recognition that this could possibly have happened to any of us," said Dick Avery, pastor of the Schliebes' Shadle Park Presbyterian Church. The Schliebes had no medical or fire insurance and lost almost everything in the Oct. 28 blaze. The community response was stunning. More than 1,500 people donated money. Rob Schliebe said about $200,000 poured in. Hundreds of people gave enough furniture and household goods to fill three storage units. The Schliebes gave the leftover furniture to families in St. Maries, Idaho, displaced by recent fires and floods. Deaconess Medical Center wrote off almost all of the Schliebes' bills. In the wake of the fire, Avery said he noticed parents hugging their children more. "In the last several months, I've seen God changing lives more frequently than any other time in my ministry," he said.

After pining for more than a year over a scenic plot on the Spokane River, the Spokane Parks Department discovered money to buy the land had been available all along. The Spokane Park Board has offered Hrair Garabedian $250,000 for 2.3 acres of riverfront property next to the Downriver Golf Course. Garabedian's agent, Jim Holly, did not expect any difficulties in closing the deal. The Parks Department coveted the Downriver site, in the middle of Riverside State Park, since it went on the market in February 1995. The department said at the time that it didn't have the $215,000 asking price.

Lost a stereo lately? The Spokane Police Department is holding a pair of car stereos confiscated from suspected car prowlers, but it can't find the owners. Until it does, the suspects - a 36-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy - probably won't be prosecuted, police said. "I just want to hold them responsible for what they have done, and I don't think I'm going to be able to," said detective Terry Boardman.

Keith Bjorklund, 10, struggles to keep his bare foot in ice water during a foot freeze competition during Brentwood Elementary's May Madness celebration. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

Anita Endrezze has published five books and had stories and poems in dozens of compilations. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

Forced to restructure programs for the many lowincome students at Bemiss Elementary, school administrators created a community education center now considered one of the best in the country. Principal Dale McDonald and his staff turned the federal "Title I" program, designed to improve education in poor areas, into a learning hub for the Hillyard neighborhood. "We are trying to use this building as a total place of learning," said McDonald.

The Pickle Barrel smelled more like charcoal than vinegar, but co-owner Ted Bare was ready to do business. "You want a latte? It's no trouble at all," said Bare, standing in an inch of water on the Pickle Barrel's charred floor. The NorthTown restaurant closed Monday, after a stereo system under the kitchen counter sparked a fire. Bare did not have a damage estimate, but said the stereo and shelves holding paperwork were destroyed.

Jackie Edwards holds up the sock that got her to the finish line. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

A 12-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy allegedly swiped crayons and calculators from Linwood Elementary last weekend during a vandalism rampage that tore apart a sixth-grade class. Spokane County sheriff deputies arrested the two youths as they fled the classroom. They were booked in juvenile detention for second-degree burglary.

Prom for Mead senior Adam Morris will bring back memories of plane rides, limos and a sunset dinner at the Space Needle - but probably not hundreds of air vents he made to finance the spendy extravaganza. Morris and fellow Mead senior Mandi Larson did their prom in no-expense-spared fashion last weekend, taking their dates on a cross-state flight for a limo ride to Seattle's show piece restaurant.

Shannon McNaughton was scouting the Midway Elementary cafeteria for a husband, because that's what Saudi Arabian girls do. But the 12-year-old in a black robe, head wrap and Adidas' saw no prospects among her prepubescent peers. "I would want to marry somebody who is cute and rich," said McNaughton. "There's no one here today." The play acting was part of Midway Elementary's World Fair day, an immersion into a dozen distant cultures. If Saudi law places a gag on giggling for 12-year-olds, McNaughton and her peers followed it. All sixth grade girls needed their father's permission to come to school, as per the Saudi tradition.