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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Pia Hallenberg

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News >  Washington Voices

Former shelter pup draws national notice

Sadie has some German shepherd in her, but no one knows exactly what else went into creating this perky and friendly medium-sized dog. At 8 years old, she’s no spring chicken, but when her owner, Kathleen Dale, gets out the tennis ball for some play time at Lilac City Dog Training Club, Sadie takes off. “I’m the perfect owner for her, and she’s the perfect dog for me. We are a match made in heaven,” said Dale, while Sadie took a post-ball-chasing nap on the floor.
News >  Washington Voices

Grant revs up computers

The American Indian Community Center received a $232,000 grant through the Federal Administration for Native Americans, and now 10 brand-new work stations are humming in a small computer lab toward the back of the building on Second Avenue. “We asked for 14 work stations, and we got 10,” said Lux Devereaux, program manager for the center. “We also got funding for a technician and for one administrative position.”
News >  Washington Voices

Infection kills videographer

Spokane videographer Sean Stanelun, 48, died in the early morning hours of Jan. 23 at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, after battling necrotizing fasciitis and several medical complications that followed the initial infection in September. Stanelun was married to Dawn Picken, of Greater Spokane Inc., and the couple have two children, Fiona, 6, and Finley, 4.
News >  Washington Voices

Soccer organizations battle

Soccer is a simple sport. In its most primitive form, all that’s needed to play is a ball and two rocks to mark a goal. Not traditionally an American sport, soccer has gained many supporters and players in this country during the past couple of decades – in Spokane County it’s estimated that about 10,000 kids play recreational and competitive soccer. And that could be one reason why things have gotten complicated lately.
News >  Washington Voices

Car operation benefits mission

The shop is located smack in the middle of all the other car dealerships on East Sprague Avenue, and it really doesn’t look that much different. Used Buicks, Fords and Hondas are lined up next to second-hand Kias, Subarus and Jeeps – a little bit of everything – at prices starting around $500. “At that price you get a car that runs and drives, it is not a perfect car but it will get you from A to B in town,” said Aaron Partlow, shop supervisor at Union Gospel Mission Motors. “It can make all the difference if you are riding the bus now.”
News >  Washington Voices

Complex requires more study

Spokane County Hearing Examiner Mike Dempsey has made a decision in an appeal brought by Glenrose Community Association, challenging the Spokane South Little League’s proposed development of a baseball complex on the southeast corner of 37th Avenue and Glenrose Road. Dempsey’s ruling partly approved and partly denied the appeal, discounting many of the Glenrose Community Association’s claims that a sports complex would significantly increase noise, traffic and stormwater runoff.
News >  Washington Voices

City Council continues support for region’s youth

Supporters and staff at the Chase Youth Commission and the Youth Department drew a huge sigh of relief just before Christmas, when the Spokane City Council approved Mayor Mary Verner’s budget without cutting the Youth Department. “We were a little nervous for a while, but the majority of the council was solidly committed to youth and that is a very good thing,” said Joanne Benham, youth director for the city of Spokane.
News >  Washington Voices

Prom plans begin again

When this year’s Mt. Spokane High School seniors were just freshmen, they started fundraising for their prom. They planned dances and car washes, held bake sales and sold T-shirts to raise enough money to pay for the prom by the time they were ready to graduate. By the end of May, they had put down a $2,150 deposit with the Sapphire Room, an event venue in the Northern Lights Brewery building, near the intersection of Trent and Hamilton, and set the date of May 22 for this year’s prom.
News >  Idaho Voices

Opening up nationals

When Tanya West began skating at 5, she knew she always wanted to skate, but she never guessed she would one day be responsible for choreographing the opening ceremonies when the 2010 U.S. Figure Skating National Championships hit Spokane next week. “This is the big celebration, the opening of the championship, that takes place Friday night,” said West, 24, in between practices at Eagles Ice Arena in north Spokane. “I have two assistants to help me, we’ve been practicing really hard and it’s been a lot of fun.”
News >  Washington Voices

Goals include safe access for walkers, bicyclists

It really had nothing to do with the snow. Dave Robertson, 44, of west Spokane, was walking home from his job at Rings and Things downtown at dusk, on one of the first snowy days in December. Headed west on Second Avenue, he waited at the crosswalk to cross Monroe Street. “The light changes, I start out, the traffic starts out and then, one, two, three, four, bam – I was hit from the right by a car,” Robertson said. The car hit him at knee-level, he buckled and fell, grabbing for the windshield of the car, and the driver stopped.
News >  Washington Voices

Spokane-area skater choreographs start of championships

When Tanya West began skating at 5, she knew she always wanted to skate, but she never guessed she would one day be responsible for choreographing the opening ceremonies when the 2010 U.S. Figure Skating National Championships hit Spokane next week. “This is the big celebration, the opening of the championship, that takes place Friday night,” said West, 24, in between practices at Eagles Ice Arena in north Spokane. “I have two assistants to help me, we’ve been practicing really hard and it’s been a lot of fun.”
News >  Washington Voices

Spokane bus re-routing draws heat

Complaints over two Spokane Transit Authority buses that were re-routed through Browne’s Addition in September continue to come in. Mike Maurer, who lives on Coeur d’Alene Street, was one of the first to complain to STA, and he’s now joined by former City Council member Steve Eugster and his neighbor Karl Fleming, both of whom live on West Pacific Avenue.
News >  Washington Voices

Temple to ring in New Year

Since 1965 the Spokane Buddhist Temple has been located in the middle of the South Perry business district. It occupied an old church until that structure burned down in April 1992. The new temple was constructed soon after, and tonight the congregation will open its doors to neighbors and friends of all denominations for New Year’s Eve. ”This particular service, Joya-e, is also called ‘the last night gathering’ and it’s not a big or very formal service,” said Jefferson Workman, who will become a minister’s assistant at the temple in January. “We will have a small dharma talk during the service. This is our time to express our gratitude for all the causes and conditions that have allowed us to continue through the past year.”
News >  Washington Voices

City trees seminar draws crowd

Most people like trees. Trees add structure to a landscape, and provide shade in the summer and places for birds and squirrels to nest. Sure, the leaves dropping in the fall is a little inconvenient, but other than that trees are widely perceived as a benefit to a yard and a neighborhood. On Dec. 16 the Urban Forest Council and the city hosted a free urban forest seminar to a standing room only crowd in the City Council chambers. City staff, landscape architects, gardeners and neighborhood activists gathered for a morning of tree education.
News >  Washington Voices

Mead home holds Christmas village

Some collections begin with a gift. When Dick and Kay Erb received a little white church from one of Kay Erb’s piano students, they had no idea it was the start to a Christmas village that now takes up about a quarter of their living room. The little white church arrived in the early ’70s, and it became the first of what’s now a collection of 34 churches, a few houses, a gondola and two train sets – all of which the Erbs painstakingly put up every year.
News >  Idaho Voices

A ‘Big’ impact

When Adam Johnson was 10, he was building a plane in his mother’s Coeur d’Alene backyard. The plane featured lawn mower wheels, a cockpit made out of a sink and various boards used as wings. It never made it off the ground, but that didn’t matter much. “As a kid I had big dreams, and when I got a Big Brother I could always talk to him about them,” said Johnson, who’s now 25 and the CEO and president of Convertec, a Coeur d’Alene-based independent telecommunications company.
News >  Washington Voices

New job weaves her skills together

When Kathleen Cubley decided it was time for a career change, her plan was simple: Move back to her hometown of Spokane and enroll at Eastern Washington University to get a teaching degree. She’d worked in educational publishing for 20 years, the last 10 for Mountaineers Books in Seattle, in several different positions including as an editor. But the traffic and cost of living in Seattle were driving her nuts.
News >  Washington Voices

New lampposts stay dark for the holidays

As part of the Market Street revitalization project, 92 light poles were installed on new sidewalks. These decorative, black light poles have outlets for holiday lights and holders for seasonal banners. There’s just one problem: There are no light fixtures on them.
News >  Washington Voices

Hillyard outlines its future

It was darn cold outside and fairly chilly inside the Masonic Temple on North Market Street Saturday morning, but that didn’t deter about 30 people from showing up for a neighborhood planning progress report presented by community volunteers. Earlier this year, Bemiss, Hillyard and Whitman neighborhoods created the Greater Hillyard Northeast Planning Alliance and now it was time for alliance members to discuss how far they’d come in identifying goals to improve their area.
News >  Washington Voices

New job weaves her skills together

When Kathleen Cubley decided it was time for a career change, her plan was simple: move back to her hometown of Spokane and enroll at Eastern Washington University to get a teaching degree. She’d worked in educational publishing for 20 years, the last 10 for Mountaineers Books in Seattle, in several different positions including as an editor. But the traffic and cost of living in Seattle were driving her nuts.
News >  Washington Voices

New lampposts stay dark for the holidays

As part of the Market Street revitalization project, 92 light poles were installed on new sidewalks. These decorative, black light poles have outlets for holiday lights and holders for seasonal banners. There’s just one problem: There are no light fixtures on them.
News >  Washington Voices

Mentors make a ‘Big’ impact on children

When Adam Johnson was 10, he was building a plane in his mother’s Coeur d’Alene backyard. The plane featured lawn mower wheels, a cockpit made out of a sink and various boards used as wings. It never made it off the ground, but that didn’t matter much. “As a kid I had big dreams, and when I got a Big Brother I could always talk to him about them,” said Johnson, who’s now 25, and the CEO and president of Convertec, a Coeur d’Alene-based independent telecommunications company.
News >  Washington Voices

Volunteers, donations drive center

The first thing Bob Fisher tells you about The Mission Community Outreach Center is that it has no paid staff. The second thing he tells you is how many people the clothing bank on East Mission Avenue serves. “We saw 180 people last Monday,” said Fisher, late last week while he was working with volunteers getting the store organized. “We keep track of people here, so you can come in every 60 days to get clothing and every 30 days to get infant supplies.”
News >  Washington Voices

Couple’s nonprofit work benefits Kenyan children

When Paul and Connie Zimmerman were tourists in Kenya, they quickly fell in love with the country and its people. Just about as quickly they discovered incredible poverty and a seemingly endless need for education and medical help. Not to mention how difficult it is for many Kenyans to access clean water. Feeling an urge to do something, the couple started the nonprofit Small World Education Foundation, which, among other things, collects and ships school books to Kenya. This summer, they shipped 6 tons of donated books and 30 rebuilt computers. Paul Zimmerman, for 105 days, participated in the construction of a water filter manufacturing facility in Kitale, in western Kenya – a project he worked on with students and faculty at Gonzaga University.