Jonathan Martin

George Nethercutt, second from right, is shown in a photo that ran in the Glover Citizen, the Glover Junior High paper.

Three people, including two West Central residents, are in custody after trying to pass off to an undercover police officer a rumpled ball of paper towel as crack cocaine. Michael Gonia, 30, Sean Maclean, 29, and Jocelyn Painter, 22, were booked into the Spokane County jail for "delivery of a substance in lieu of a controlled substance." The deal went down on the 200 block of East Mission about 10 p.m. last Thursday. The three offered police the white ball as a rock of crack.

Turmoil in the woodsy Riverside School District is brewing hotter than a cup of Joe at Chattaroy's Ram restaurant. All 275 employees of the school district north of Spokane are working under expired contracts. Negotiations are stymied, and union officials and administrators snipe at each other like schoolchildren at recess.

Wayne Sieveke, right, along with John Repsold, Bill Goodrick and Rick Kienholtz, in back from left, hope to turn the old fire station at Indiana and Standard into a youth center and chapel. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

Unpublished correction: In the published text the name of Jack Dein was spelled Jack Dien.

Fire officials are investigating an apparent fire bombing incident Monday that gutted a Yugo. The fire was likely started by a flammable liquid sprayed in the car's interior, said investigator Mike Zambryski.

Salk Middle School students can coast no longer. Under the school's strict new academic accountability program, the minute a student shuts down his or her brain in a classroom, they get a dose of tough love. Instead of anonymously sliding down to an "F," students are now confronted - and, if necessary, cajoled and counseled - by parents, teachers, advisors and the principal.

Advertisements of grand opportunities drew James Berridge away from his Ohio farm, all the way west of north Spokane County. He planted his family on 160 acres of prairie and hills, a big enough homestead even for his brood of 16. He quickly earned a reputation as an adept farmer, an honest gentleman and a war hero, wounded in the stomach, thigh, forehead and arm during the Civil War.

The competitive drive of Brentwood Elementary students has a lot of sole. Students at the Mead school this week donated more than 1,000 pairs of shoes to Rwanda's poor. They already helped round up almost a ton of food during Christmas. The promise of free milkshakes - and smiling Rwandans - drove classes to gather more than 500 pairs of shoes on Friday alone.

With a $30,000 investment, the City of Spokane is hoping to get back three self-reliant community centers. The city council last week approved spending the money to hire a grant-writer, a professional fisherman of sorts who will troll philanthropic waters for public and private dollars.

The Nine Mile Falls School District is wasting no time in building a new middle school. Funding for the school was approved last week, when voters endorsed a $7 million bond issue.

1. From left, Shane Nelson, LeShawn Trammell, Kyle Record and Sam Clopton get instructions from stand-in coach Jeff Goodwin before the second half of a game. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review 2. Louise Stamper, the team sponsor and surrogate mother, watches from the sidelines as gang members play ball. At upper right is West Central neighborhood police officer Ken Lesperance. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review 3. Sam Clopton of the West Side Ballers runs hard and fast in some heated competition on the basketball court. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review 4. Kelly Cranford, left, talks basketball with Jake Stamper, 4, during a game. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review 5. Ronnie Trammell displays a gang tattoo on his neck. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Sara Lesher's horse helped keep her out of the fast life while she was growing up in a Seattle suburb. "I had to get up and feed the horse," said Lesher. "I didn't have time to do anything else."

Cops are keeping an eye out for someone buying steak sauce by the gallon. It's a good bet that the burglars who hit the Chattaroy Restaurant last Wednesday will need condiments to go with their beefy booty.

Plans to expand a maintenance yard in the Logan neighborhood into the city's operations headquarters are on hold, awaiting a nod from the City Council.

Drug testing is the hottest thing on North Side junior high and high school campuses since the return of 1970s polyester flamenco shirts. More than 300 students at three schools are being tested for participation in another '70s infatuation: recreation drugs. The students are part of a fledgling state program called Washington Drug Free Youth (W-DFY). Membership is voluntary and its benefits are substantial. Clean students get discount cards good for fast food meals, laser tag games, bowling, movie passes, even Canadian ski vacations.

When aide Jeanne Munch had to spend three months in a wheelchair, it gave her a whole new understanding of what Terry Booth, 10, goes through. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

They began hoping to work with the system. Now, they're so frustrated they're collecting money to sue. Approval of a controversial 40-home subdivision on the Little Spokane River has turned a group of doctors, college professors and veterinarians into malcontents.

(A corrected graphic of the 1996 Northside test scores was published on page N8 of the February 6, 1997 edition of the North Side Voice)

The Spokane School District is considering demolishing one of it's oldest buildings, Browne Elementary, and constructing a $4.5 million replacement. The proposal is part of a long wish list unveiled by the school board last week. The board is considering asking voters to approve a $67 million for new buildings and massive computer improvements. Specifics of a proposed replacement at Browne are unclear. The district plans to hire an architect to draw several options, including building a new school on the site next to the current Browne, according to Assistant Superintendent Ned Hammond.

The old woman's face was worn and tattered as an antique rug. "You put your hand here on this left cheek," she croaked. "That's what slavery did."

Jitske Hart is a former literature teacher and now is in the freelance writing and editing business. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

Talk about turning on the light in a kid's head. You can see the bright bulbs in Janet Knight's ninth-grade science class at North Central High School. Her students completed a semester-long project on electricity by wiring miniature homes for lighting, fans, even a hot tub by industrious freshman Nick Robinson.

Students may be bringing more than textbooks to school.