Jonathan Martin

Renee Bauer and her friend Susan Smith. Family photo

At church, home, work, the grocery store, the gas station and just about everywhere else she goes, Sally Merriwether hears the same question: "Do you think my kid could get into school?" In the past, Merriwether, principal of Assumption Catholic School, has been glad to hear the question. Enrollment had been lagging and the school, run by Assumption Catholic Church, was always happy to have another sheep in the fold. But a growing waiting list at Assumption and other Catholic schools on the North Side means principals like Merriwether answer with a polite "no" and a request for a phone number.

1. Bill Baumgartner, right, gets help from Rogers teacher Doug McGill as they review note-taking techniques. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review 2. Jacob Harshman hands binders out to his classmates during a GOLD class for Rogers High School freshmen. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

A 19-year-old Spokane man was arrested this week after allegedly threatening a North Side woman with a knife and hitting the woman and her seven-year-old daughter. Benjamin N. Garris was booked Saturday on second- and thirddegree assault charges after police received a complaint of a domestic violence incident on North Magnolia. The woman, 36, alleged that Garris, an aquaintance, showed up at her house Saturday morning and hit her daughter across the back.

Catherine Offutt, right, and her pinochle partner, Nadine Gile, explain the game of pinochle. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

North Central chemistry teacher Jim Slavicek was crowned king of chemistry during a Dow Chemical sponsored performance at the school. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

The new Suncrest sheriff's substation offers neighborhood patrols, school safety information and midwife services. Midwifery? The Suncrest substation - the first in Stevens County to be modeled after Spokane's successful COPS program - got an unusual call last week from a woman on the verge of giving birth.

Mead High School is considering a switch to a schedule in which students would have just three classes a day.

While buses line up in a yellow wall outside Hillyard's Arlington Elementary School, third-graders Ryan and Robbie Benson hop a cab at taxpayer expense. Because of student safety concerns, Spokane School District 81 cannot stop a bus in front of the Bensons' home along busy Market Street north of Francis Avenue.

A Hayden man was in critical condition at the Kootenai Medical Center Saturday night after undergoing emergency surgery for a shotgun wound in the back. Michael David Gunderson, 33, was visiting a friend in the mountains near Wolf Lodge, Idaho, on Saturday when he was shot in the lower back, according to sheriff's deputy Jerry Wiedenhoff.

Two years ago, Pam Madson and Nancy Fisher had little more than a prayer of getting a new house. Last week, with a prayer, the two single mothers were handed the fresh-cut keys to their new homes. Madson and Fisher had their prayers answered through the efforts of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a dozen big-hearted construction companies and Habitat for Humanity.

There is a school bus stop in front of the Green Bluff residence that would have been home to a habitual sex offender. The possible dark horrors that sprang from that scenario prompted Green Bluff residents to mobilize in protest. In a day, 500 community members signed a petition. As a result, the sex offender is still locked up in a state penitentiary and the Green Bluff man who was to sponsor Robin Gail Albrecht, a three-time sex offender, has decided to sell his house and move elsewhere.

Bill Copeland talks about his vision of Spokane. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

Pete Kintner woke up at 11:15 Friday night to the familiar sound of his neighbor's dog barking. Other West Central Spokane neighbors had complained to authorities about the dog, Socks, an 18-month-old Pomeranian. Kintner said the dog had kept him up "more times than he could count." He responded, police said, by beating the dog to death with a baseball bat.

1. Baumberger 2. Newsum 3. Lake

Dr. Ed Lamb works on the smile of 6-year-old Manda Ivey in the SmileMobile at the Northeast Community Center. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Forces are at work to undermine efforts to recruit and effectively use parents as school volunteers - students. That is one explanation given for the relative derth of parent volunteers in middle and high schools in Spokane. "Kids get to that age where they are scared to see their parent in the same room," said Marilyn McClelland, the Spokane School District's coordinator for volunteers.

With a video camera, floodlights and a dog named Ozzie, a group of neighbors in the Hillyard neighborhood helped police force residents of three suspected drug houses into leaving. After two years of round-the-clock work the dozen neighbors living near the intersection of Regal Street and Nebraska Avenue say they are proud. "This is what happens when you go as a neighborhood," said David Brinkley, the Block Watch captain. "It doesn't work when you do it yourself."

Annie Robinson has a need for speed. "Get in, hang on, sit down and shut up," said Robinson, 12. Robinson's high-velocity philosophy worked last week when she placed 10th in the 58th annual All-American Soapbox Derby's stock division.

A confrontation between Los Angeles Police Department detective Mark Fuhrman and a SpokesmanReview photographer last winter at Spokane International Airport was a "set-up," according to LAPD chief Willie Williams. At a press conference held to address allegations of racism and sexism directed against Fuhrman in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, Williams said the LAPD has concluded an investigation of the incident in the Spokane airport. "I'm not sure if the results have been made public, but it was my understanding that the results of that investigation have indicated that basically it was a set-up by that press group of Mr. Fuhrman," said Williams in response to a question at the press conference.

Two juveniles were caught in the act Saturday when they tried to burglarize a North side home while police officers were inside. The two youths, ages 16 and 17, had already made off with one load of goods when they returned to the home on the 2000 block of East Francis for more, police said. By the time they returned at approximately 5 a.m., police officers had responded to a neighbor's report of suspicious activity.

As the days in August dwindle away, area school districts are going through well-established routines to prepare for the first day of school. Teachers hang miles of colored paper, janitors give the floors a final coat of wax and administrators prepare for the first-day deluge of parents registering their children. To beat the rush, school districts are opening their doors to allow parents to register transfer students, kindergartners and first-graders before the first day of school.

Betty Bennett, a volunteer at Hillyard's COPS Northeast station, repairs stuffed toys for traumatized children. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

Don't get Michelle Rodeen mad. On Saturday afternoon, a man who held up the North Side gas station where she works found out what happens. "If I had known (a bat) was (behind the counter), I'd probably have knocked his head off," said Rodeen, 5-foot-7, 125 pounds. Rodeen was tending the Allen Cenex station at 2321 W. Northwest Blvd. when a short white man brandishing a knife demanded the cash drawer.