Marny Lombard

On the first day of Bible camp, Amaryllis Bolster faces a squirmy audience. Telling the story of Jesus - and keeping the attention of a dozen or so 3- to 5-year-olds - takes patience and faith. Faith that the wiggles will wane by the end of the week. But on Monday, the children are restless. Plastic "boxes" to build a stable for Jesus are just too tempting; little hands pat them as drums. The noise in the small room at Good Shepherd Lutheran is considerable.

The first time instructor Doug Puckett taught his mini-course on the Great Depression, he was the youngest person in the room. Naturally so, since Puckett is 47 and his classes are part of the Seniors Program at the Community Colleges of Spokane. "Let me tell you, it was pretty intimidating," he said. Puckett has found, though, that just because people lived through events, doesn't mean they had the time and energy to digest their importance or their causes. On Tuesday at Sak's Restaurant in the Valley, Puckett taught the first class in his five-session course on the Depression.

By the time snow flies, Antoine Plante will be back on the river. That's the intent of two artists who have contracted with Spokane County to create a sculpture in Plante's Ferry Park. Sculptor David Govedare and artist/historian Keith Powell are designing a realistic and historically accurate Antoine, who will stand on a rock overlooking the crossing.

Someone beat the Central Valley School Board to it. As a ceremonial start of the renovation of Bowdish Junior High, board members gathered Friday morning with plans to remove the letters spelling out the school name from over the building's main entrance. However, someone else had removed the wooden letters the night before and apparently burned them.

Next week, a llama will visit the Argonne Library, and a little puppet named Thomas will make his first trip to the Valley and Otis Orchards libraries. The guest apparances are part of the Spokane County Library's "Everybody Reads" summer program. Each week, guests or activities are planned at all three Valley branches. The programs are free and meant for children of all ages.

The eighth annual Valleyfest is in the works for Sept. 20, complete with the Spokane Symphony, the All-Valley Band, which plays only "Louie-Louie" and a musical by the Valley Theater Arts for Children. As usual, Valleyfest will be at Terrace View Park. Organizer Peggy Doering wants to hear from anyone interested in joining the parade or having an arts and crafts booth, as well as volunteers for the fun run and other events.

Even the goldfish are moving to make way for construction crews at Bowdish Junior High. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

Cheryl Olson walks her neighbor's dog on the Old Morrow land. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

Spokane County's Parks and Recreation Department is offering a new summer youth program. Kids Play is a low-cost, drop-in program for children 6 years and older, to be run at Liberty Lake Park. Hours are from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Cost is simply the $2 admission fee to get into the park. Kids Play will run for six week, from July 7 through Aug. 15. Families can buy a $75 season pass for Liberty Lake that would cover the program all summer.

Adams principal Glenn Bailey won't be back next year. File photo

These students of Tim Hill follow one of the launches. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

Olivia McCarthy admits she's a packrat. So, on this last week of school the principal at Keystone Elementary has quite a job. She is filling boxes, sorting files, trying to decide what's a gem, what's chaff. After eight years at Keystone, McCarthy is moving down the street to McDonald Elementary. Among the gems she's particularly interested in are materials she'll be able to use as a new principal.

1. Alex, Bryce and Calder Hutchins, portrayed in an embellished photo, were born in Spokane on March 31. Photo courtesy of Vaughn Hutchins 2. With Calder asleep in the crib, Alex is fed by mom and Bryce is fed by dad. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review 3. Bryce is burped by dad. When the boys were born, father Vaughn could slip his wedding band on the wrist of each boy. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

Rick Gorka is headed to Yale. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

The second Liberty Lake school. The groundbreaking for the third was this week.

Rhett Bawden and Katie MacKay are headed for jobs and SCC after graduation. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

If higher education is the key to the American Dream, scholarships are, for many, the key to college. Central Valley High School senior Melody Crick applied to 10 colleges and for 30 to 40 scholarships. "I applied for anything I thought I remotely qualified for," Crick said.

Thirty years ago, when the Vietnam War was bursting onto our national psyche, Bob Lingow was teaching history in Room 215 of West Valley High School. Today, he's still there. Still teaching. Only now, he teaches the Vietnam War. One day this week, he passed out reading material to a classroom of juniors taking U.S. history. The sheets held the lyrics to songs such as Country Joe and the Fish's "Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'to-Die Rag" and Merle Haggard's "Proud to be an Okie."

Leanne Dunning is upbeat about Relay for Life. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

East Valley High School band director Cal Anderson has an extra chore to finish in the next few weeks - pack up everything in his cramped music classroom, office and storage space. His deadline is June 16, the day a demolition crew is scheduled to go to work. The music and drama area at East Valley High School will undergo a $600,000 renovation this summer, gaining enough room for another classroom, as well as a 100-seat theater.

Chris Meenach teaches in Kim Metcalf's fourth-grade class. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

East Valley senior Sean Barker has created concerts for several years. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

It's vintage summer fun: a carnival with a cardboard box maze, face-painting, a parachute, water balloons. There was a tug-of-war, with the little kids against the big kids, and the little kids won, landing at least one teenager under a splashing hose. But this week's low-budget carnival was actually a big-hearted demonstration of how far the Barker Community Learning Center High School Program has come in its first year. To understand, come inside. In a cool classroom, one young carnival-goer is receiving comfort after throwing up his lunch on the hot pavement outside. A dark-haired little girl, a shy newcomer to the ECEAP program, is receiving extra hugs from one of the alternative school students, Steffany Kaybrick, 17.

Central Valley School District officials turned cartwheels on Monday. At least, figuratively they did. The celebration stemmed from the fact that the low bid for the new Liberty Lake Elementary School came in a good $400,000 under budget. Hoffman Contractors, a Spokane Valley firm, bid $5,940,200 for the 24-classroom project. The district had budgeted $6,375,000 for construction. "We received what we feel is a very good bid," said CV Superintendent Wally Stanley.