The County Lines

Tue., Oct. 12, 1999

WASHINGTON

Adams County

Ritzville

The mayor is turning up the heat in Ritzville’s City Hall now that he actually will have some heat. After more than 20 years of service, the city’s heating and air-conditioning unit broke down over the summer. City officials will pay nearly $8,000 for a new system to be installed by Air Care of Moses Lake.

Ferry County

Curlew

Citizens wanting more information on candidates in the Curlew School Board elections are invited to a candidate forum Wednesday. A question-and-answer session will begin at 7 p.m. at the school board meeting.

Grant County

Moses Lake

High school students heading to technical schools or employment in the trades will be better served by the Moses Lake School District next year. The district plans to have a technical skills center up and running by next fall. It will be a satellite of the North Central Washington Skills Center in Wenatchee. High school vocational director Christine Armstrong says she’s “pumped” that the skills center dream is coming true.

Lincoln County

Davenport

Area school officials generally are pleased with enrollment numbers. Davenport School District, which had budgeted for 420 students, is pleased with its 440 full desks. Reardan School District has tallied 601 students, up from 590 last May. But Harrington School District is slightly under budget with 144.5 full-time equivalent students, while Christian Heritage, a private school in Edwall, has 139 pupils.

Pend Oreille County

Newport

Tenth-graders in the county’s three high schools received less than stellar scores on standardized tests taken last spring. Now juniors, students at Newport High School scored 17.5 percent in math, 33.6 percent in reading and 66.4 percent in listening skills. Cusick High School students also were lagging at 19 percent in math, 23.8 percent in reading and 71.4 percent in listening. Selkirk High School students fared a little better at 37 percent in math, 55.6 percent in reading and 70.4 percent in listening.

Spokane County

Spokane

The Riverside Neighborhood Council will vote on whether to become a nonprofit corporation at its next meeting on Oct. 20 at the downtown Spokane Public Library, 906 W. Main, in Room 1-B. The council needs a 75 percent vote of its members to approve the proposal. Council Chairman Gary Pollard said that as a nonprofit entity, the council would be eligible for federal, state and private community development funds.

Stevens County

Colville

The Stevens County Planning Department is looking to hike fees for both short- and long-plat applications by as much as 400 percent. Currently, a short-plat application costs $100 plus a surcharge of $25 per lot. If the department’s proposal is accepted, that same application would cost a flat $500. Long-plat fees would jump from $300, with a surcharge of $10 per lot, to a flat fee of $1,000.

Whitman County

Pullman

Washington schoolchildren, especially “high needs” students at the greatest risk of failure, will benefit from a five-year $9.6 million U.S. Department of Education grant given to the Washington State University College of Education. Announced Monday, the grant is one of only 25 awarded nationally. According to WSU Dean of Education Judy Mitchell, WSU students in teacher preparation will be spending more time at “high needs” schools from Tacoma to Colville thanks to the grant, which also will strengthen partnerships with Grays Harbor Community College in Aberdeen and Northwest Indian College near Bellingham. The grant was assembled and the program will be coordinated by six College of Education faculty members on WSU’s Pullman campus. They are Tariq Akmal, Dawn Shinew, Merill Oaks, Jerry Maring, Ed Helmstetter and Michael Pavel.

IDAHO

Benewah County

St. Maries

The baseball field near Idaho Avenue in St. Maries is being rebuilt by American Legion Baseball. Improvements will include soil to fill and level the field, an automatic sprinkler system and a grass infield. Players will raffle a trip for two to a Seattle Seahawks football game to pay for the project. For more information, contact Mike Howland at (208) 245-4000, Rose Silvas at (208) 245-4613 or Debbie Barden at (208) 245-5034.

Bonner County

Sandpoint

The Bonner County 4-H Leaders Council will meet Monday at 6:30 p.m. at the Priest River Community Congregational Church. The agenda will include committee reports, election of officers, plans for the leaders recognition banquet, policy changes and budget approval for 2000. For more information, call Nancy Wright at the Bonner County extension office at (208) 263-8511.

Boundary County

Bonners Ferry

The Bonners Ferry Seniors Hospitality Center operates from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. The center serves meals on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays at noon, and home-delivered meals also are available. The center also provides transportation for senior citizens to recreational activities and operates subsidized housing for elderly and handicapped people. For more information, contact the center at (208) 267-5553.

Kootenai County

Coeur d’Alene

In observance of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Kootenai Medical Center and the North Idaho Cancer Center will sponsor a free public forum, “Breast Cancer Prevention: the Hype, the Truth and the STAR,” on Oct. 28 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the KMC Health Resource Center. It will feature discussions of prevention, treatment options and genetics. More information is available from KMC Educational Services at (208) 666-2030.

Latah County

Moscow

A second Subway restaurant is opening in Moscow in the Palouse Mall. The business will be where Sam’s Subs was located before it closed in August. Subway, which is scheduled to be open by the third week of November, will employ 15 people.

Shoshone County

Kellogg

The annual Pork and Apple Festival, sponsored by the Kellogg Elks, will be Oct. 23 at the Elks Lodge. The festival, which will begin at 6 p.m., will feature a crafts and bake auction. Cost is $6.50 for adults and $3.25 for children under age 12.

MONTANA

Lincoln County

Troy

Troy student James Bekier has entered the University of Montana School of Law. Bekier was one of 74 people chosen from 362 applicants for the class of 2002. The UM School of Law has drawn national recognition for its integration of legal theory and practice into its curriculum.

Some of the information in “County Lines” comes from readers’ tips and from community newspapers. For items outside Spokane County, send your tips by fax to “County Lines” at (509) 459-5482; by mail to “County Lines,” The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane 99210-2160; or by e-mail to news@spokesman.com. For items in Spokane County, send tips to Voices, The Spokesman-Review, at the same fax number and mail and e-mail addresses.

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