Voices

Little kids look up to Damon Albrecht, a seventh-grader, as he sits in a second-grade class. Two second-grade students next to him turn back to their writing as Albrecht gives periodic input. The second-grade students are in Dawn Brand’s Continuous Curriculum School class. Albrecht is among a group of student volunteers from teacher Estella Cordes’ language arts class that helps Brand’s students for 30 minutes twice a week as writing mentors.

When Tyler Rice steps onto the soccer field, he still looks for number 15 – the player he could always count on to take the pass and give his all. That number 15 was Tanner Homminga, an energetic East Valley Middle School student who had a passion for soccer, basketball and life – a life cut way short when he died in April, leaving behind many friends and family who desperately miss him.

There aren’t very many high school softball programs that can graduate more than 70 percent of its starting lineup and not face an empty cupboard the following season. University is an exception.

Adam Fenenbock played quarterback for three years during Junior Tackle. It wasn’t his choice.

CHENEY – Freshmen starting their first year at Eastern Washington University gathered in front of Showalter Hall on Monday to take part in a long-standing tradition. The students, wearing their new EWU gear, were welcomed with loud music while they took pictures of each other.

To be murdered in Spokane is no great distinction. Homicide in the Lilac City has been rather regular throughout the town’s history. But a hatchet murder in Spokane, ah, now that is rare. And a bloody hatcheting with total victims that one-upped Lizzie Borden has only happened a single time in Spokane history. If you drive on Sprague Avenue between Spokane and the Spokane Valley, you pass by the site of this gruesome event, described as the “Massacre at the Dillons” on the cover of the Official Detective Magazine June 1944. The Spokesman-Review called the deed a hatchet slaying on the Jan. 21, 1944, front page.

In the 2004 movie “Napoleon Dynamite,” the title character drew a sketch of a liger. “It’s pretty much my favorite animal. It’s a lion and a tiger mixed … bred for its skills in magic,” he said. Spokane had its own liger, named Kimber, who died on Sept. 1, at Cat Tales. But this liger looked nothing like Napoleon Dynamite’s drawing. She was far more beautiful and majestic. However, many of Kimber’s admirers would agree there was something magical about her.

CHENEY – Three years ago, Lori Musgrave organized the first Cheneyfest, a two-day fundraiser for Duncan the dog, the black Russian terrier that was flown to Australia to be reunited with his owner. Now Cheneyfest has doubled in length – it will be four days of activities and fun for all ages. “There’s a huge need for families, especially out here in the West Plains, for big multiday events,” says Musgrave. “So I just saw it evolving. I talked to people, and one of the things people on the street said was they wanted to have things they could do with their kids.”