Mike Prager

A volunteer group is planning to build 40 or more backyard gardens this spring for low-income people in Spokane. Some of those gardens will go onto plots on the North Side, said Lori Steiner, head of the non-profit group known as Spokane Community Gardens.

Adding to the list of problems from this year's heavy storm runoff is a near overflow of the sewage system in the town of Spangle. Heavy rains and snowmelt are seeping into the sanitary sewers in this town of about 240 residents, causing the town's secondary evaporation lagoon to nearly overflow.

The fight over Morgan Murphy Estates on the hilltops overlooking the western end of the Spokane Valley and Glenrose Prairie continues to inch through a legal maze. Spokane County commissioners are expected to consider the proposed 41-home development within the next several weeks now that a county hearing examiner ruled the development complies with land use laws.

Mark Roloff, right, picks out some produce for a customer at the Total Health Center at Fifth and Thor. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

The Spokane Parks and Recreation Department has announced several events on the South Side during the next two months, including a photo exhibit, plant sale and a children's day. A photojournalism exhibit by Spokesman-Review photographer Christopher Anderson began last week and runs through April 17 at the Corbin Art Center. The free exhibit is called "25-year Retrospective Photography Exhibition," and features Anderson's work. It is open from Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Japanese Garden at Manito Park opens on April 5. The Associated Garden Clubs will hold its annual plant sale on April 26-27 at Manito Park from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. Paintings by Rachel Pettit will be displayed at the Corbin Art Center during the month of May. The times of the exhibit were not announced. A free children's day will be held May 3 at the Japanese Garden at Manito Park from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

1. Registered Nurse Mary Livingston takes R.J. Morse's blood pressure following lunch at Holy Family Adult Day Centers. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Right, Mary Anderson makes sure the wheelchair brakes are on before beginning an exercise session. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 3. Below, determination shows on Anna Goldsmith's face as she works with a therapist on an exercise to keep her hands strong and limber. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 4. Top, Marti Stangle waits at left after helping seniors in adult day health care into a van for the trip home. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 5. Left, Diane Malleck takes requests at the piano from R.J. Morse during a break. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

High waters in Medical Lake were starting to recede after snowmelt and runoff covered roadways and crept into the crawl spaces of some homes last week. "It seems like it's subsiding," said Police Chief Christopher Elg. "Most of the people we've spoken to say they've never seen the water as high as it's been."

Children and families can hunt for fossils, learn more about social etiquette or go fishing in a series of spring classes being offered by the Spokane Parks and Recreation Department. A spring kite festival is being moved this year to the South Side Sports Complex at 46th and Regal on April 13.

The fight over Morgan Murphy Estates on the hilltops overlooking Glenrose Prairie and the western end of the Spokane Valley continues to inch through a legal maze. Spokane County Commissioners are expected to consider the proposed 41-home development sometime in the next several weeks now that a county hearing examiner ruled the development complies with land-use laws. If it wins final approval - and there is a chance it could - the mountain that flanks Sprague Avenue near Park Road could one day sprout homes with big-time views.

The longest winter. A school bus plows through high water at Silver Lake, which has reached its highest level in recent years. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

Spokane County has filed a lawsuit against the developers of a Moran Prairie subdivision, claiming their stormwater diversion system doesn't meet county standards. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Ron Arkills alleges in a complaint filed last week that the developers of J.J. Land Third Addition failed to satisfy an agreement with the county for an adequate stormwater system.

Business Foto Factory, a locally owned business specializing in one-hour film processing, has opened a new outlet in the Lincoln Heights area. The retail space in the Safeway store plaza at 29th and Southeast Boulevard was previously occupied by Washington One Hour Photo, another local filmp-rocessing business.

Expansion plans by the Waterford on the South Hill hinge on a solution to handling stormwater at the site. The Waterford wants to build a 136-unit skilled-nursing center on the west side of Pittsburg Street across from its existing facility at 29th and Pittsburg.

FROM SOUTH SIDE VOICE page C3 (Thursday, March 20, 1997): Correction The name of greenhouse gardener Richard Herrmann was misspelled in last Thursday's South Side Voice. 1. Plant life abounds in Richard Herman's South Hill greenhouse, where hundreds of seeds take root in the winter. Herman donates many of his plants to charity. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Richard Herman will give away most of the geraniums he started from seed in January. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 3. Eighty degrees and high humidity help Richard Herman's greenhouse plants on their way to maturity. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Chris Godwin, Chris Johnson and Tristan Firestone venture onto "Lake Firestone" in the West Plains area on Tuesday. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

The Spokane County hearing examiner has approved a zone change allowing a retirement center on the Palouse Highway southeast of Shopko. The decision issued on Tuesday by Hearing Examiner Mike Dempsey allows construction of the 418-unit Clare House on 16.6 acres of land.

Transportation Spokane County's road engineers are planning to widen 57th Avenue, the main east-west route along the southern fringe of the city. County engineers said they recently received word that the project is eligible for $2 million in federal money to improve arterial streets. The county will add another $500,000.

City plan commissioners last week endorsed the idea of allowing neighborhood businesses on the same sites as apartments and offices. But the Spokane Plan Commission said it isn't yet ready to give a green light to the Grapetree development on 29th Avenue.

Construction is expected to begin in April on a new home for Northwest Farm Credit Services at the top of the Sunset Hill. The Spokane County hearing examiner last month approved a zone change allowing a new three-story office building at Sunset Boulevard and Assembly.

Activists in southeast Spokane are forming the Moran Prairie Neighborhood Association to fight higher-density developments in their fast-growing area. Nearly 100 residents showed up at the Moran Prairie Grange Hall last week for a meeting on a proposed apartment complex and shopping area.

The South Hill Senior Center is embarking on the next phase of a feasibility study that could lead to construction of a permanent home for it. Currently the senior center is housed in leased commercial space at 2727 S. Mount Vernon, but its members are making plans to find a site and build a $1 million center.

A developer, who in 1992 lost a request to put businesses along the Palouse Highway just north of 57th Avenue, is now seeking approval for three apartment buildings on the site. The Spokane County hearing examiner last week heard testimony on a plat change sought by developer Lanzce Douglass. In 1991, the former hearing examiner committee approved a rezone allowing for 10 acres of multifamily housing and five acres of business as part of a 29-acre development.

A public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. today at the Spokane City Hall on a major housing development in southwest Spokane. A Seattle development company is seeking approval of a plan to build 267 homes in the Grandview area across Interstate 90 from the Finch Arboretum. The 68-acre plat and planned unit development is part of the Grandview Annexation approved last summer by the City Council.

1. Buck Humphrey tosses some limbs from ice-storm-damaged trees into a front-loader at Manito Park. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review 2. Buck Humphery and his fellow parks crew members have had to clean up the southern part of Manito Park twice: after November's ice storm and later, when tree trimmers had finished damage control on affected trees. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 3. Some stateley trees at Manito Park had to be trimmed because of damage from November's ice storm. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review