Jonathan Martin

You can tell the breed of trees by their bark, the guy in sunglasses told the second-graders, pointing to the towering tamarack. See, here's the distinctive patterns of... "Turtle alert!" came the yelp from down the hill, and the Browne Elementary students bolted. This tree lesson was done; there were turtles in the pond! A day at the Riddle Farm in Greenbluff for 1,500 Spokane School District 81 students last week was intended to provide context for classroom lessons in biology and science.

Damian Goudreau cleans and seals the floor in the tech atrium at the new Mount Spokane High School. Photo by Liz Kishimoto/The Spokesman-Review

An attempted car jacking unnerved a North Spokane woman last week, after an unknown man tried to force his way into her car. Police searched the area after the attempt but found no suspects.

1. During a fund-raiser for the Mead debate team, Susanne Tuson, her daughter Lindsey Beresford, 5, and Maureen Sharp embrace the white-knuckled spirit of bingo. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review 2. Afton Burnham and Sarah Staton hang out in the Mead High School debate team's trophy room. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

Shadle Park senior Michelle Whittington and her boyfriend, David Sosville. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Towheaded kindergartner J.R. Snodgrass already has the celebrity schtick down. Since getting a joke published in Rosie O'Donnell's "Kids are Punny" collection, J.R. has signed autographs (for the school secretary) and developed unusual behavior (sleeping with the book).

Wayne Schermerhorn, pastor at the Church of Christ of the Wildwoods in Deer Park, wants the neighboring property, owned by William Schamp, cleaned up. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

A 13-year-old learned last week that a child's toy is not child's play. Police arrested the Northeast Spokane boy for first-degree assault when he cocked a black gun and pointed it at a neighbor, according to police.

Hot feets, hot treats. A secret recipe for barbecue - and inviting runners to share - is the spice of watching Bloomsday for Larry Brown, right, and Charles Williams. Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review <

The Deer Park Community Theatre returns to north Spokane County this week with a production of "Bull in a China Shop." The play features a cast seasoned by the troupe's first production, "Hatchet Hollar," last fall. Jerry Uppinghouse directs, Dan Pederson and Melodye McBride return from their performances in "Hatchet Hollar." The play runs this weekend at Deer Park Junior High.

Scott Inners, 16, Mark Edwards, 18, and Chuck Druesdow, 18, shoot pool after school at Fizzie Mulligan's, a bar just down the street from Mead High. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

A 54 year-old North Spokane man remained in custody late Tuesday after making a series of weekend false calls to the county's emergency crime center. The man was arrested Monday morning on a charge of second degree malicious mischief.

In his 17 years, David Hind has never been online and hasn't traveled out of the country. A day at Mead High School is enough material for the young poet. Spaghetti on the cafeteria walls inspired one poem. He sees the heave and cry of teen emotions as high drama.

Browne Elementary is one school that is slated for possible replacement. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

Plans to expand the city's maintenance facility in the Logan neighborhood are stirring up a new, collective kind of activism in Spokane. A newly-formed association of neighborhood councils will bring the power of five neighborhoods to influence plans for the maintenance facility. The Neighborhood Assembly, which officially convened for the first time last month, is studying the city's plans. When it completes a review, the Assembly hopes to reccommend alterations that would make a maintenance facility neighborhood-friendly, wherever it's placed.

Ozzie had his faults, but he didn't deserve to die. So says the director of the Spokane Humane Society, which accidentally euthanized the 6-year-old Rottweiler earlier this month. The death was the result of an error by an unidentified worker who failed to fill out vital paperwork.

The West Side Ballers are living down their reputations. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

A hulking shoplifter was arrested at the Logan neighborhood Safeway last weekend after store employees and customers held the 6-foot-5-inch, 215-pound man for police. Store security guards saw a man stash a pack of cigarettes and food in a backpack. He paid for a bottle of soda and a quart of milk. When confronted by three store employees, he hit one in the face.

Eighty-year-old St. Patrick's, the grandmother of North Side parochial schools, is getting a makeover. Her outside is getting a coat of paint; her insides are getting shored up. She's getting a new string of shrubs. The face lift will be done Friday and Saturday by a team of Gonzaga University students young enough to be her great-grandchildren. More than 200 are expected to pull shifts with paint can and hammer. They are part of Gonzaga's April's Angels program, which chooses one needy community facility a year for a two-day rehab onslaught.

Gregoire

1. At the North Spokane Growing Tree, Clarity Ellison, 11, Ashely Hand, 4, and Jessica Hand, 7, have fun with a teeter totter. A new training center, or incubator, for Spokane's in-home day care industry will open in August, helping to create places like the Growing Tree. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review 2. Neighborhood organizer Al French talks with Joanne Armsbury as day care officials look over the site of a North Side home day care incubation center. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Even the infants get lessons here. Teachers bend tiny limbs to the delicate lilt of Mozart, a lesson in motor development that looks like baby mamba. Jan Swanson's North Wall Child Development Center is Spokane's only nationally licensed day care and, with its well-educated staff and carefully formulated curriculum, its the Nordstrom of the child care industry.

1. Feeling exploited. Terry Boyden was first in line to remind Gov. Gary Locke of the plight of part-time teachers. Willene Goodwin holds a sign at left Friday at Spokane Community College. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review 2. Gov. Gary Locke talks to part-time teachers Friday.

While his peers at Central Valley High are winding up a week of vacation, Brannon Zahand is wading through quantum physics. Zahand, and 132 other Valley students in Running Start, had their spring vacation three weeks ago, when Spokane-area community colleges broke. The 18-year-old computer whiz spent that break improving Central Valley's on-line network. This last week, he's had his nose to the books while his high school friends cavort.