Jonathan Martin

Sounding relaxed and comfortable, Quentin Evars phoned from Spokane International Airport Wednesday evening to say he was flying to Sandpoint to pick up boss Neal Treetman. "His last words to me were, 'I'll see you in 20 minutes,"' said Treetman, a Yakima businessman who was scouting Sandpoint property for his development company. Evars never made it.

Bob Lipe misses running the Sure Save grocery store he recently sold. The community activist is sorry the city didn't go along with his plan to build a teen center. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

Students in Garry Middle School's Living Skills class are carrying sacks of flour 24 hours a day for five days in an effort to simulate the responsibilities of caring for a child. Many of the students put doll heads or made faces on the sacks of flour to make their babies appear more real. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

After 16 years at the helm of Mead High School, principal Steve Hogue will resign in June to raise cattle and play with bugs. Hogue's doctoral thesis at the University of Idaho was on insects and he has continued to study the little critters as an educator. The two go hand in hand, he says. "You have to be a little buggy to be a principal," said Hogue, 55.

Whirring and humming to itself, teacher Jan Steele's computer was trying to pull an elephant-sized ball of electronically scrambled words and pictures off the Internet and through a phone line as wide as a needle. Making it worse was the turtle speed of the computer - a 286 that was state-of-the-art five years ago, but is now a relic. After waiting almost 15 minutes, students in Steele's second-grade class at Lake Spokane Elementary marveled at on-line biographies of Italian artists Mogliani and da Vinci not available in any of the school's encyclopedias - then had to move along to the next lesson.

Volunteer search and rescue crews huddled on Mount Spokane as snow threatened and word came late Wednesday that the pilot's body was found. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

The St. Lucia festival is like a Salem Lutheran Church heirloom. For the past 40 years, members of the West Central church have sung and eaten their way through the holiday celebration in honor of a Swedish martyr for the poor.

Three people suspected in a string of mail thefts in northwest Spokane are in custody in Western Washington. A 43-year-old man, a 33-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman were arrested Dec. 6 in Issaquah, a suburb east of Seattle, when a King County police officer saw them taking mail out of mail boxes. Police refused to release the names.

At his truck stand along Ash, Rick Owen pays an average of $10 for a pair of Levi's in good condition. For older jeans with holes, expect about $4. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Cyndi Smith responds to a curious look from Calice Applet, one of her 40 llamas. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

The homemade yellow sign on the rear window of Jeff Clancy's Toyota reads "Bellevue or Bust - or no turkey for me." To get to the family feast at his parents' house in Western Washington by 3:30 p.m., Clancy, rolled out of his apartment in Missoula at 7 a.m.

Already known as a quiet farming town, Deer Park is taking a step toward cosmopolitan status by adding an arts commission. The Deer Park City Council voted unanimously last week to create an arts commission and to provide $1,200 in funding. The commission will be governed by five commissioners, appointed by Deer Park Mayor Bob Dano. Applications are available at City Hall. The commission proposal was submitted by an informal group of local art enthusiasts who hope to add some refined culture to the list of activities available to school-age kids in Deer Park.

1. New Spokane residents Osvaldo Torres and his wife Yudit Hernandez at their North Side apartment. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Yudit Hernandez, 21, and her husband, Osvaldo Torres, 31, wanted to go to work immediately after arriving in Spokane. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review (This photo appeared in the In Home section only.)

Gonzaga freshman Jaime Hawk helps Chirayel Thierry with some paperwork prior to their agreement to enter a mentoring partnership. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Heather McCully has a cigarette on a public sidewalk near North Central during a class break. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

Elise Mordick and Megan Dudley are the kind of best friends who show up at school dressed alike without planning it. Standing in nearly matching earth-tone cords and burgundy T-shirts on the sidewalk outside the Spokane Opera House on Monday, the two North Central High School seniors decided the self-portraits they were assigned would be a collaboration that reflected their friendship. "Everyone says we are joined at the hip," said Mordick. "We can talk for one another, think for one another."

Two teens were beaten and robbed in Northeast Spokane Saturday afternoon by a gang of youths, at least one of whom was armed with a handgun. A 14-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl were walking north on 4900 block of Pittsburg at 3:45 Saturday when youths in two cars driving south on Pittsburg yelled at them. The two cars turned around and 10 to 15 youths piled out of the two cars. Apparently without provocation, the youths began hitting and pushing the two victims. The boy's baseball hat was stolen.

Lewis and Clark High School student body president Amy Budge said she "just lost track of time" during the lunch hour last week, talking with friends by her locker, when she heard the one-minute warning bell for fifth period. She grabbed her books and ran through crowded hallways to her English class in the school's basement. She hit the door a few seconds late. Instead of being allowed to slink into class under the disapproving glare of her teacher, Budge found the door locked.

Twenty three years ago, Mead School District built the high school of the future. The design was based on a hot educational concept that called for schools without walls. The school district is now looking for money to remodel the school because the design has proven a disaster. "People say if there's the biggest mess they have ever seen, it's trying to live in that space," said Mead Superintendent Bill Mester.

1. Kathe Renner explores ways to help a student in the truancy center while police officer Sean Nemec backs her up with his presence. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Kathe Renner uses her computer and a phone to check the story of a couple of students in the truancy center. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Brandon Stevens bought the Spokane image: a rental home in Nevada-Lidgerwood inexpensive enough for a beginning architect's salary, a five-minute drive or bike ride to work, solid public schools for his daughter, and a crime rate much lower than his native New Orleans. He moved to what he thought was the last of the All-American towns eight months ago. Now, in response to a pair of beatings on Spokane's North Side and several violent crimes in recent months, as well as a better paying job in the Midwest, Stevens is leaving. He is getting ready to leave what he calls just "another place with a problem with crime."

Tom Mcfarlane gets a little help with his international history class at Whitworth. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

For the record (Friday, November 17, 1995): In a North Voice story Thursday about calendar sales at Salk Middle School, the cost given for the mail-order calendars did not include a $2 handling fee. The total cost of a mail-order calendar is $7. In the same story, the work experience of Jan Foland was misstated. Foland taught at Shaw Middle School two years ago. Salk Middle School students Briana Main, Marie Winters and Dan Rodgers show the calendar that includes the drawing of the Schliebe children who died in a recent house fire. Photo by Molly O'Hara/The Spokesman-Review

Artist Don Nepean displays one of his latest paintings. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review