Mike Prager

A small group of volunteers is so concerned about saving Spokane's historic buildings that they recently formed an advocacy group to promote preservation. More than a dozen members turned out last week at the Klein home at Pacific and Madelia to clean the yard and prune some 200 rare rose bushes.

A handful of property owners just outside the northeast boundary of Airway Heights is seeking annexation into the West Plains city. The annexation would add 4.5 acres to Airway Heights just north of Sixth Avenue and to the east of a line extending from Beeman Street. The property is divided into three parcels. One is jointly owned by J.D. and Wilma Henderson and Rosemary Combs. Another is owned by Margaret Wills. The third lot is owned by Jay Landreth.

The state auditor found several problems in the accounting practices of the city of Airway Heights in an audit recently released to the public. "All of them were corrected," said City Administrator Mike Patterson. He described the findings by the auditor as an effort to protect taxpayers from the potential for fraud or loss. Otherwise, the city's financial statements passed the audit without any problems, Patterson said. The audit covered transactions during 1995.

The former Ernst Home Center store at 29th and Southeast Boulevard is reopening this spring as an independent outlet for the same kinds of home improvement products that Ernst sold. The Heights Home Center and Nursery is planning a grand opening next week, said owner Stanley G. Jensen. Ernst closed its store in January as part of a bankruptcy filed by the chain last year. Jensen said he acquired the lease to the building after it was released by the bankruptcy court.

John Yaryan, 93, gets a buss on the cheek from his wife of 73 years, Dorothy, 89. The couple work together transplanting seedlings at Sunset Florist and Greenhouse. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

A group of about 30 Rockwood-area residents is trying to form a new neighborhood council under the city's program to give citizens a voice in government. Marcia Tunik, president of the Rockwood Neighborhood Committee, said issues such as traffic and historic preservation would be the focus of the council. The neighborhood is also coping with damage to trees from last fall's ice storm, she said. "The main thing is to preserve the integrity of the neighborhood," Tunik said.

Mike Gould, left, and Dean Crump help guide a log that had floated away from Crump's beach at Deer Lake Resort because of rising lake waters. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

Two veterinarians who operate a long-standing clinic on Moran Prairie want a zone change to build a better clinic on the same property. Some of the neighbors in the single-family residential zone are fighting the plan. Robert Slack said he and his partner, Vern Brock, of Manito Veterinary Clinic, want to upgrade their practice by moving out of their 1960s-vintage building at 2308 E. 57th. They are proposing construction of a new state-of-the-art clinic next door at a cost of more than $300,000.

1. In the children's section of the East Side Library, Kafiya Arte, 4, and Waise Arte, 5, look for books to check out. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review 2. Stained glass kaleidoscopes adorn the library. 3. Cheyunnteen Stanley-Bryant browses the African-American Collection at the East Side Branch Library. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

City parks officials say the trees at Manito Park's duck pond are too dangerous to leave standing, yet they held a public meeting under one of them Monday. Parks officials said they aren't backing down from a plan to remove the remaining willow trees because they are a threat to public safety. Residents living near Manito Park aren't very chipper about the city's logging of the stately old willows.

The vaulted ceiling inside Spokane's East Side Branch Library shimmers with colored light filtering through five stained-glass rosettes. Artist Victoria Street of Battle Ground, Wash., was commissioned to create the kaleidoscopic panels under a city policy of including art in new buildings. The East Side branch opened 16 months ago. Street received $7,500 for the art, or 1 percent of the construction cost of $750,000.

The Spokane hearing examiner has approved a Seattle developer's request for a 267-home subdivision in southwest Spokane. The development, called Westridge, would be built on 68 acres that were included in last year's Grandview annexation into the city. The area is on the south side of Interstate 90 near the top of Sunset Hill.

Land in the Latah Creek Valley that once grew vegetables for local markets is sprouting a new Tidyman's Northwest Fresh Marketplace store. The grocery store is scheduled to open on May 16.

Rosauers supermarkets spent $2 million a year ago renovating its 34,000-square-foot store in Browne's Addition. Now, the employee-owned company is embarking on another project to redesign the parking lot at Second Avenue and Sunset Boulevard.

The city of Cheney is being criticized by the state auditor for lapses in its internal accounting systems. The city's financial statements were found accurate but the controls over the accounting system should be improved, the auditor said in a report issued last week.

1. Winter's harsh hand. Patty Gaul and her son Evan, 8, examine the heart rot that was destroying a Manito Park willow. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review 2. Disease and ice storm damage have claimed a number of trees in the park.

Small cities south and west of Spokane are getting federal money to build playgrounds, provide social programs and improve utility services. The money comes from Spokane County's 1997 allocations of federal community development funds. About $2.2 million is being passed out countywide.

Cooking up a little warmth. Master salesman Dave Hurley wows his audience with an old family favorite, Westbend Gourmet Cookware, at the Spokane Home and Garden Show at the Spokane Convention Center on Friday. The event continues today from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

A developer wants to build 42 apartments just east of the Indian Canyon Golf Course driving range, near a controversial apartment project the city approved last year. Ronald McCloskey appeared Tuesday before the city hearing examiner and asked for a special-use permit to allow the 42 units in three separate buildings.

The people organizing the Historic Cannon's Addition Neighborhood Council want to expand its boundaries to encompass a wider part of the lower South Hill. Currently, Cannon's Addition is limited to serving the blocks bound by 14th Avenue, Cedar Street, Interstate 90 and the bluff to the west.

The Spokane City Council voted Monday to give up public ownership of the Oak Street right of way where it passes through the Rosauers supermarket parking lot in Browne's Addition. That section of street provides access from Second Avenue to the Sunset Highway.

People living near 30th and Fiske streets are fighting a proposal by the Stanek family that would put a 10-bay auto-repair facility on a nearby residential property. Joe Stanek, representing the Frank W. Stanek Trust, asked the city hearing examiner on Tuesday to approve a rezone to allow for the auto service facility nearly a full block south of 29th Avenue.

Percy Rinker performs on his keyboard for nursing homes and retirement centers. "I've never done anything that I enjoyed more," he says. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

1. Isgrigg 2. Members of The Helping Hearts at Mullan Road Elementary School include, clockwise from top left, Arielle Ring, Sara DeCristoforo, Sara Richardson and Valorie Darling. Not pictured is Sarah Brogden. 3. Repsold 4. Jordan 5. Arsenault 6. Fulton