Kevin Blocker

Voters in the Deer Park School District will be asked to consider a $1.042 million bond measure for school improvements on Feb. 3. The two-year maintenance and operations levy request was authorized last week by the school board. The measure would cost property owners in the district about $3.56 per $1,000 of assessed valuation in 1999 and about $3.46 per $1,000 in 2000.

A Spokane man led officers from three counties on a wild chase late Friday that ended with his arrest north of Newport, Wash., authorities said. Thomas W. Brown, 33, is facing charges for eluding police, driving under the influence and possession of drugs with intent to deliver. The chase started at 11 p.m. in Rathdrum, Idaho, when an officer tried unsuccessfully to make a traffic stop.

All he wanted to do was calm her down. It was Thanksgiving Day. Paul and Gail McCarthy, and their two sons, had just made a hasty exit from her stepparents' home in Elk. Gail had been yelling and swearing at her sisters. "I was talking to her in a soft voice," Paul McCarthy said Saturday. "But she wouldn't listen ... or look at me. She's saying that she hates them all (her family)."

'There's some cooking going on back here'. Donna Glover, left, and Carolyn Duke break a turkey wishbone while Ella Dye works on the cranberry sauce during final preparations for a noon meal at the Full Gospel Mission. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

A Spokane woman died Thursday after falling from a Chevy Blazer traveling about 60 miles per hour. Her husband was driving and their two sons were on board. Gail Marie McCarthy, 47, was pronounced dead at the scene at the 7800 block of East Elk/Chattaroy Road. She died of severe head injuries, Spokane Sheriff spokesman Dave Reagan said. "She leaped from the vehicle, which was going between 55 and 60 miles-per-hour, but at this point were not calling it a suicide," Reagan said.

Arlington Elementary students shop for Thanksgiving dinner at Excell Foods with the help of teacher Jane Schelly. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

A lot of teachers use time off to rest and re-group. Paddy Inman uses it to protest. His extra-curricular activities could land him in jail. The Mead Middle School teacher of 28 years was among 600 protestors arrested by Department of Defense Police at Fort Benning, Ga., on Nov. 16.

Carrie Croson, an English teacher at North Central High School, was recognized by the American Association of School Administrator's Salli Mae First Class Teacher Award Program. Croson was selected by school officials last spring as a beginning teacher who demonstrated a level of excellence in the classroom. Nancy Lopez of Hutton Elementary and Travis Wood of Adams Elementary were also selected as award winners.

This Cleaver is no Beaver. Spokane police arrested 29-year-old Terry Lee Cleaver after they found him lying in the front seat of a Buick with a 16-year-old female runaway, a .357 Magnum and dozens of $2 bills scattered in the car, according to police spokesman Dick Cottam. Police responded to the 3500 block of East Queen just before 2 a.m. on Nov. 11 on a report of shots fired.

A penny for their thoughts, a nickel a vote to pay for a recount. Thirty citizens living in the Riverside School District recently gave school board candidate Patricia Blair the money to pay for a recount of this month's election. But she isn't sure if she wants to go through the process. Blair at first was told by Spokane County Election officials that she had won the race against current board chair Janet Hansen. But shortly after, officials realized that the candidates names were flip-flopped on unofficial election returns.

The Mead School Board is proceeding with plans to expand practice fields at Mead High School. The fields are located north of the school. "We hope to have that started in the spring," said John Dormaier, head of Mead construction services. Expansion and renovation of the current fields is expected to cost $1.5 million. The project is expected to be complete by August of next year, Dormaier said.

A convicted sex offender who authorities say is likely to re-offend is living near the Spokane-Lincoln county line. James Anthony Peterschick, 38, has been convicted of assault, sexual intercourse without consent and communication with a minor for immoral purposes.

Kerry Berndt, a student at the Inland Massage Institute, gets the benefit of her teacher's experience as owner Patty McNulte massages her head, neck and shoulders. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

Mike Wolfe, Deer Park's newly elected mayor, didn't ride a tidal wave of enthusiasm into office. His victory could be described as an overexuberant trickle. Doug Box, Wolfe's challenger, dropped out of the campaign two weeks before the race, citing personal and health reasons.

There wasn't anything remotely spectacular about Joanne Greer's victory over Phil Bray in the Deer Park School Board race. Neither candidate dropped out of the race before the election and county elections officials reported the winner correctly.

Three north Spokane schools have opened their technology labs to people in the community who don't have access to computers. The Microsoft Corporation donated 15 computers each to Garfield Elementary, Salk Middle School and Shadle Park High School for students and the public, said Lisa Marcoux, Garfield's lab supervisor. Garfield's lab will be open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.; Salk's lab is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Shadle Park's lab is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

From the North Side Voice, November 20, 1997, page N3: CORRECTION The Deer Park and Riverside School Districts do not have combined busing. A story in last week's edition was incorrect.

Spencer Hall figured he would go to college, get a degree and then go to work for Bill Gates and his Microsoft Corporation. But three years out of high school, Hall may have more in common with the Bellevue-based billionaire than those who work for him. Hall, who is 21, has been running his own computer business since graduating rather than getting trained to help somebody else run their business.

Patricia Blair probably feels like Bob Dole in those Visa commercials. Like the former presidential candidate, she just can't win. Blair was told by Spokane County elections officials Wednesday morning that she had beaten incumbent Janet Hansen for her seat on the Riverside School Board. She hadn't. County elections supervisor Tom Wilbur called Blair around noon and told her that Hansen was the real winner.

Sixth-grade entrepreneurs, from left, Jennifer Nagy, Brin Vanderholm and Danielle Ferguson sell snacks to Brandon Biggs during a break at Riverside Middle School. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

Spokane police are investigating a report of shots fired at homes early Saturday morning. Shots were fired from a vehicle in the 2800 block of East Nebraska at 3 a.m. Saturday. No one was hit, but at one house, police found that a bullet had passed through the front door, and the slug lodged in a stereo speaker, police spokesman Dick Cottam said. Two residents reported they heard a shot and heard the vehicle speed away. It returned to fire a second shot before speeding away again, Cottam said.

It may be a match made on the hill. Ski officials at Mount Spokane Ski Resort are soliciting the help of students at Mount Spokane High to help them develop a snow theme park. Resort general manager Kirk Duncan said he is working with the high school to build a program that would allow students to earn class credit for work at the resort.

Heather Wilkes, 18, poses with Bird, a mare she raised and trained. The Spokane Falls Community College freshman and Lakeside High graduate is headed to the national 4-H horse judging competition in Louisville, Ky., after earning one of the top scores in the state competition. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

Astronaut Mae C. Jemison tells Alex Kern, 11, to "Live long and prosper," after the Bemiss Elementary student gave her the sign from Star Trek during her visit to the school Thursday. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review