Jonathan Martin

Balboa Elementary School first- and second-grade students look at the gingerbread village they made during a lesson on urban planning. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

A North Side man came dangerously close to being shot by police when he flashed a gun at officers last week. Police drew their guns on Ronald D. Blevins, 34, after he refused to obey officers' commands and pulled a handgun out of his jeans. According to police, officers at the scene were close to shooting Blevins before he tossed aside the gun.

The closest Mead High School history teacher Cash Stone gets to Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King is in his lessons. But at least one Mead resident thought the popular teacher and wrestling coach belonged in the same category of great historical figures and suggested the district's new high school be named after Stone. Choosing a name is just one of many decisions that must be made as the school district prepares to open a second high school in September 1997.

Nancy Durkee is planning a trip later this month to finally meet her sister after a 61-year separation. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

Children line up for the bus at Chattaroy Elementary School, in Riverside School Distric, where a proposed levy includes money for buses. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

Police arrested a North Spokane man accused of ramming a car with his pickup truck, then punching a passenger in the car. Kelly N. Harju, 23, was arrested Thursday night for second-degree assault at his West Garland home after running away when a bystander called police. According to police, Harju cut off another driver, rear-ended her car when she stopped and then punched a passenger in the victim's car, police said.

Veronica Toner is one of a number of students at Riverside High School battling cancer. The freshman was released from the Deaconess Medical Center's youth cancer ward in December and is catching up with her studies. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

The laughter of Japanese schoolchildren awaiting their lunch in snowy Kyoto, Japan, echoed through the darkened school gym. The sound was beamed halfway around the world, via the Internet, into a small laptop computer and through speakers set up to let 100 parents and students at Garfield Elementary listen. The connection was little more than a phone call using a $3,500 receiver, but the technology that allowed it was on display last week at Garfield's technology night.

Mike Maker and Julie Kindle are co-owners of The Thing. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Defense attorney Dan Kolbet had just finished being a shark lawyer, ripping holes in the prosecution's case, and needed some moral support. "You did great," said Barbara Kolbet, giving her son a hug after watching him perform. "Just don't be a lawyer." Kolbet, a North Central High School junior, and his peers in the school's "Street Law" class play-acted, improvised and talked their way through a day in court last week. Class members played judges, lawyers, defendants and witnesses under the watchful eyes of a jury of Garry Middle School students.

Deer Park wants just a little bit of snow for its 12th annual Deer Park Winter Festival. Too much snow, and people will stay away. Too little, and the popular snowshoe softball game gets axed.

Sheriff's deputies arrested a 45-year-old former garbage man after he threatened a former co-worker with a homemade spear and a 10-inch knife at a North Market gas station last week. William Feldmiller of Mead remained in custody in Spokane County jail Tuesday on a $4,060 bond for a variety of charges, including criminal intimidation and an outstanding warrant for driving while intoxicated.

Nic Som, foreground, and Luke Nervig, get their screwdrivers and soldering iron out after the robot they built suffered a minor malfunction. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

This time every year, when school standardized test scores are reported, school principals dust off their Paul Harvey impersonations and tell the media they have "the rest of the story." They say test scores should not be taken at face value and that several factors - from the breakfast kids ate the day of the test to the amount of pretest preparation they were given - tremendously affect how students score on the tests.

A Nine Mile Falls teacher facing a civil rights lawsuit told state investigators she has given students religious counseling at school at least twice. When Joanne Bovey's principal, Larry Guenther, heard about the most recent counseling incident, in 1994, he reacted as he had before - he did not reprimand her.

1. Karen Lloyd of Nine Mile Falls shoults "Bingo" and shows her card during Speed Bingo at Guild School Bingo. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review 2. John Neighbors calls out the numbers at speed bingo at Guild School Bingo Hall. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

From left, Andrea Fiedler, 13, and Amanda Reeve, 12, rock out with dance instructor Chris Anderson in a dance class for children with cerebral palsy or multiple sclerosis. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

Sunday was a peaceful conclusion to the most violent year in Spokane's history. According to police, there were fewer than usual arrests on New Year's Eve in North Spokane, a quiet lull in a year that saw more murders than any other year in city history. Police Sgt. Earl Ennis, who investigates crimes in the northeast sector of the city, said the stack of cases to investigate on his desk was about half the normal load for a New Year's weekend. "I was really shocked at the few number of reports that came through," said Ennis, who was assigned 15 cases, rather than the normal 30 or 35. Sgt. Larry Evans, who investigates crimes in northwest Spokane, said it was also more peaceful than normal in his sector of the city.

An 84-year-old Spokane man, suffering a fatal heart attack, lost control of his car on the North Division bridge Sunday while his wife watched from the passenger seat. Guy Butler was pronounced dead at Deaconess Medical Center shortly after the accident. His wife, Helen, was not injured.

CORRECTION (Page N2, North Side Voice, January 4, 1996): In a story last week about Call the Play, a new board game created by Doug Jordan, the name of the game was misstated. Doug Jordan, inventor of The Play, watches a football game with his wife Judy and neighbor Dan Woods. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

Linwood Elementary teacher Helen Harding, left, helps her students with an exercise in probability. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

They laid out the ground rules on the neutral territory of Didier's restaurant last month - one point per item, gum not allowed. Each day the principals of Midway and Brentwood elementary schools met at high noon to give updates; fudging the numbers down to give opponents a false sense of security was definitely against the rules. "We agreed not to sandbag," said Dave Stenersen, Brentwood Elementary principal.

Spokane County Sheriff's Sgt. Gerald Fojtik got a chance to exercise his wrestling moves this weekend when a man got violent as Fojtik attempted to arrest him for trying to pass a forged prescription. At 1 p.m. Sunday, Daniel Nathan Endholm, a 32-year-old North Spokane man, tried to get a prescription drug from the pharmicist at the Payless drug store at Wandermere Mall, police said. The pharmacist became suspicious, called police and went through the motions of filling a prescription to keep Enholm waiting.

It was not just your average Joe who was ripped off last week. This Joseph was husband of the Virgin Mary. While Colbert homeowner Cindy Linton watched in horror from her living room, at least two people stole a glowing, four-foot plastic statue of Joseph and tried unsuccessfully to take statues of Baby Jesus and a wise man. "I can't believe people would be that low to steal Joseph," said Linton. "Santa Claus is one thing. But the father (of Jesus)?"