Mike Prager

A large blue tarp strung from the stately old trees on a curving stretch of West Riverside Avenue was hard to miss Tuesday morning. Homeless advocates pitched camp in the median to protest the Spokane City Council's approval on Monday of an ordinance outlawing transient shelters on public property.

Garland Enberg, of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 51 in north Spokane, led a team of fellow VFW members on a mission Tuesday. He and the others dressed in their VFW jackets and military-style caps and volunteered their time for flag ceremonies at three memorial services for deceased veterans in Spokane. They brought their own indoor flags on poles for the event. One of the services was a memorial at the state-run Spokane Veterans Home, 222 E. Fifth Ave., at which a dozen veterans and the wives of two veterans were honored for their contributions to freedom. The memorial was attended by family members and staff of the long-term care facility. Chaplain Richard Kelley said the veterans "put their lives on the line for you and me." Robert Hall remembered his Army veteran father, Don Hall, as someone who "lived his life to the fullest" and complimented the nursing home staff for its "exceptional" care. Hall died June 16. VFW members performed a prescribed ritual. One-by-one, they offered a sprig of evergreen, a white flower and a laurel leaf to signify love, purity and honor of service. They then handed tri-folded American flags to several family members who attended. Enberg said he wants all Spokane veterans and their families to know that the service is available to them to pay patriotic respects to their own veteran loved ones when they die. He said he fears that too many deceased veterans do not receive the recognition that is due to them, and the VFW has taken on the role of making sure that military honors go to all veterans. Members are available for the flag service at funerals or memorial services. When a veteran dies, he said, a color guard would be available on short notice. "We've set them up on a half-day's notice," he said. Enberg said he served in the Navy from 1942 to 1945 and is a past commander of the VFW John R. Monaghan Post No. 51 at 300 W. Mission. Kathy Magonigle, administrator of the Spokane Veterans Home, said veterans groups such as the VFW have been a big help at the nursing facility. They put on special events for holidays and parties and offer donations to the home. She said Enberg organized a library for residents out of donated materials. It is on the second floor of the facility, which opened in 2001. Earlier this year, the veterans home held its first memorial service for its deceased residents. Magonigle said the Veterans Home plans to hold the service every three months to honor those who die during that time, and plant a memorial rose bush in the garden outdoors for each honored group. "It means a lot to all of us," Magonigle said of the VFW flag service. Veterans and spouses who were remembered during Tuesday's service at the home were Alice "Sue" Aamodt, Myrna Biegert, Betty Bounds, Roy "Mickey" Brown, Gilbert Burns, Bill Denison, Virgil Garrett, Thomas "Frank" Goodson, Hall, Mae "Ann" O'Rourke, Pete Troncale, Don Welling, Luke Williams and Paul Winkleman.

Spokane wastewater employees reported operating problems at the city's sewage treatment plant in the weeks preceding a catastrophic tank failure that killed one worker and left two others with serious injuries. Six weeks after the accident, officials are in the middle of a series of investigations into the cause. But recent interviews with city employees familiar with the May 10 events offer an emerging picture of what happened that day.

Spokane city budget cuts starting this summer could cost the Police Department 30 to 40 positions, Police Chief Roger Bragdon said this week. The fire department could lose 20 to 30 budgeted positions.

Teenage skateboarders Corey Rohrman and David Pachman can't see the harm in doing their skateboard jumps and turns with the wind blowing through their hair. They do not wear safety helmets.

An American elm tree given to the city of Spokane in 1989 by President George H.W. Bush might as well be hiding in a shoebox somewhere. The unmarked tree bends wildly against a crowded canopy in Finch Arboretum, showing no hint of its historical pedigree.

Spokane Mayor Jim West said he isn't giving up on a plan to improve the appearance of entryways to the Lilac City, despite City Council rejection earlier this week of funding for the plan. City staffers proposed taking $250,000 from a parking fund and using the money to pay for landscape enhancements at five locations around the city, including the off-ramp at Interstate 90 and Division Street, a location widely viewed as a gateway to the city.

Emotionally shaken employees at Spokane's Wastewater Treatment Plant on Wednesday remembered Mike Cmos Jr. as fun-loving and helpful, the kind of guy who would help you paint your house. His body was recovered Wednesday morning near the bottom of a sludge tank that failed in a catastrophic accident on Monday.

Rescue workers continued the grim search Tuesday for a man missing in the collapse Monday of a sewage tank roof at the Spokane Wastewater Treatment Plant. Fire Chief Bobby Williams identified the missing man as Mike Cmos Jr., a plant maintenance mechanic with 24 years on the job. Officials fear he may have fallen into the 40-foot-tall digester tank when the roof separated from the walls of the tank.

A stone monument to George Washington that has stood in Manito Park for 70 years is being irreparably defaced a piece at a time.