Voices

As the city of Spokane Valley considers controversial new zoning rules that would change how close buildings are built to the street, citizens have only to look east to Liberty Lake to see how such rules are put into practice. When Liberty Lake incorporated, the zoning inherited from Spokane County included a lot of rural and suburban designations. The new city adopted the existing zoning temporarily, but quickly changed it. The city’s comprehensive plan was adopted in 2003 and a new zoning map was created in 2005. The changes created several new zones.

For many folks, texting, instant messaging, and Web sites like MySpace provide the majority of their social interaction. The ancient art of crafting a letter seems like a quaint idea from a bygone era. But without pen and paper, Fabrice and Heather Pucheu would have never met. In 1994, Heather’s French teacher at Riverside High School enrolled the second-year class in a pen-pal program. “I was matched with a young man named Fabrice Pucheu who lived in a small town near Bordeaux, France,” Heather said. “It was completely random.”

Sixteen high school marching bands took to the field Saturday at the 2008 Pacific Northwest marching Band Championships at Joe Albi Stadium. Cheney High School took the top prize in the “A” division, followed by Hanford and Kennewick. In the “AA” division, Pasco High School took home top honors with Mt. Spokane in second place and West Valley High School from Yakima in third.

Steve Osmonson is winning his own private war, and to mark the victory he’s dedicating himself to world peace. Or at least to maintaining a homemade Hatch Road sign dedicated to the cause on Spokane’s South Hill.

AIRWAY HEIGHTS – People from all walks of life huddled in the Airway Heights council chambers Oct. 7 to let fly a multitude of ideas for what the Spokane Motorsports Park should eventually look like. A sports complex, the current drag-racing track and a law-enforcement training center are some of the basic options being considered by Airway Heights and Spokane County.

Don Beaty instantly recognized the house as one his mother worked at as a young cook in the early 1920s. The Nuzum House, on the South Hill’s storied Sumner Avenue, was featured in a September Spokesman-Review article about a historic homes tour to benefit the Moore-Turner Heritage Gardens.