Pia Hallenberg

Neighborhood cleanup Saturday

Grant Elementary School wins greenhouse

The strong wind Monday evening made it a little difficult to clean out last year’s ashes from the barbecues at Northwoods Park, but that didn’t deter neighbors from going it at with brushes and brooms. Chris Whittaker, who lives just down the street from the park, organized a neighborhood group to clean up and take care of the county park. About two dozen people showed up Monday evening to help out.

Some people are born wanderers. They travel through life, living a few years here, another couple of years there, pulling chapter after chapter of an incredible life story behind them hitched together like a string of railroad cars. Such a person is Suwanee Lennon.

Curious neighbors want to know:

Dora Gamero is a tiny woman, but don’t be fooled by her slight frame: those little shoulders have carried a lot. She grew up in El Salvador and in 1993, when she was 12, she immigrated with the rest of her family to join a sister already living in California. It was a new start on a good life. At 23, she married and soon had two children and a devoted husband. The family moved to Spokane because everything seemed more affordable here than in California.

Morgan Mielke is well known around the Garland Business District. The 13-year-old girl has won the Judy Garland sing-alike contest twice, during the annual street fair, and her mom Tracy Mielke is a tireless volunteer for the neighborhood. On Saturday, Morgan will step on a bigger stage when she competes in the finals of the “Got Talent Spokane?” show at the Bing. Morgan has been singing since she could talk, and she’s already picked her song for Saturday.

The Spokane Parks and Recreation Department has finished constructing and refurbishing nine youth baseball fields across town. As part of the 2007 Parks Improvement Bond, $3 million was designated to convert nine general use softball and baseball fields to youth baseball fields.

They lined up wearing cowboy hats and baseball caps. They came on bikes and in strollers, some using walkers and a few leaning on canes, and a bit of spring snow didn’t deter them. About 300 people of all ages and many colors marched peacefully from the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena to the Lilac Bowl in Riverfront Park under the watchful eyes of countless law enforcement officers Sunday afternoon.