Voices

SPIRIT LAKE – The project – four years in the making – was finished just in time for Spirit Lake’s Centennial, a party 100 years in the making. Members of Spirit Lake’s Centennial Committee have created a self-guided walking tour focusing on the two blocks of downtown’s Maine Street listed on the National Historic Register.

AIRWAY HEIGHTS – Horses stamped impatiently at the Spokane Polo Fields on a recent summer evening. Wind whistled through the stables and a fretful rain spat at the grooms as they prepared the horses for polo practice. The grassy field, so large that 10 football fields can fit within it, sat empty beneath the graying sky. But by Sept. 7, the grounds will be transformed as the fourth annual Tents, Hats and Champagne Cobra Roofing Polo Classic gets under way. The event is the major fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Spokane.

Rob Cartwright remembers hearing the tires squeal. Seconds later he was on the ground with a car on top of him. He and his wife, Jamie, were riding his ’71 Harley-Davidson FX on Market Street to meet some friends. They’d just passed the skate park when a 17-year-old driver, talking on her cell phone, made a left turn and literally ran them over.

The planned demolition of some of Spokane Valley’s oldest buildings for a new Rite Aid store at Sprague Avenue and Pines Road is an unavoidable tragedy for Jayne Singleton. She’s the director of the Spokane Valley Heritage Museum, located in the same block as the buildings to be razed.

This is a case of right place, right time in all its glory. Johnny Swager, who will be a third-grader this fall at Liberty Lake Elementary, wanted to take art classes so he signed up at the Art Chalet in Liberty Lake where he painted his little heart out. His mother, Coy Swager, took some of his work and had them printed onto greeting cards which she gave away. “It snowballed from there,” she said.

Breathe deep and you can almost taste it in the air this time of year driving across the Rathdrum Prairie. It’s sticky and sweet, like a starlight mint melting on the tongue.

Matthew Nelson of Spokane was recently awarded the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest award given in the Boy Scouts. For his project he built a trailhead kiosk at Camp Sekani.

POST FALLS – Cancer patients on the Rathdrum Prairie will soon have fewer complication to deal with when it comes to their treatment. By next September, they won’t have to drive into Coeur d’Alene for radiation, chemotherapy or other doctor visits because Kootenai Health’s Post Falls cancer treatment center will be open just east of Idaho Street on Mullan Avenue.