Voices

Nearly 100 eagle-eyed kids from across the region quickly spotted Scoop Reporter hiding among advertisements in last week’s Voices and called the newspaper. The first seven who spoke with contest master Marsha Ovnicek will win free ice cream, an official Reporter’s Notebook and are this week’s Honorary Cub Reporters. Congratulations to:

For 08-28-2008

For the week of Sept. 1-5 Monday – Labor Day; all sites closed.

CHENEY – The Cheney Public Works department will begin traffic count studies along Simpson Parkway and other busy streets to see if repainting the lines on the roads will be a feasible option to slow down speeders. In addition, the Cheney Police Department will begin a traffic emphasis program to emphasize that the speed limit is 25 mphour.

Somebody Needs You matches donors with the requests of needy Spokane residents. •Mom with child needs dishes, towels, clothing, dressers, microwave, toaster, bath mats, queen bed frame, pots and pans and coffee table. Contact Raquel at Empowering Inc., 768-5886.

St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 316 E. 24th Ave., will present its annual Hymn Sing Sunday at 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Local musicians Ann Fennessy, Debbie Hansen, Carol Miyamoto, Dan Keberle, Andy Plamondon, Tom Molter, Melinda Keberle and Paul Raymond will perform hymns.

Ruthe Harshman says she’s rarely at a loss for words. But last May when she received a call saying her charm bracelets that had been missing for 20 years had turned up in Iowa, she couldn’t summon any words to describe her happiness.

For 08-28-2008

There’s plenty to like about Inland Empire League soccer. Sandpoint’s girls and boys seemingly are in the mix for state titles every year, and Coeur d’Alene’s girls and boys have had plenty of state success the past two years.

It was quite a weather roller coaster this past week across the Inland Northwest. On average, the warmest part of the summer occurs during the last week of July into the first week of August. That period for 2008 did little to represent the dog days of summer.

Independent Rex Rammell and Democrat Larry LaRocco drew sharp differences between their stands on energy policy in the first debate of the 2008 Idaho U.S. Senate race this week, in a matchup held in Coeur d’Alene and broadcast on the Internet. Responding to a question from a viewer in Nampa, Idaho, Rammell said he wouldn’t support tax credits for Idahoans who choose alternate energy, like solar, to power their homes. “I would say if the market can’t bear it by itself, then the government shouldn’t force it,” Rammell said. “I think if alternate energies can survive on their own, if the market demands ’em, then I’m all for it.” But subsidizing, he said, is “basically a waste of our tax dollars.”

Spokane Valley fire investigator Clifton Mehaffey solved a weeklong spate of grass fires Aug. 14 while driving home. Mehaffey saw another fire in the vicinity of 14812 E. Second Ave. about 6 p.m. Bystanders pointed out the home of two boys, ages 7 and 10, they had seen playing with matches.