Voices

The West Central Community Center will hold a free baseball skills development program, beginning July 1, from 9:45 to 11:30 a.m. at Cannon Park. The program will run through Aug. 20 and is for ages 8 to 12. The development program is in need of more sponsors. If you would like to be a sponsor or for more information, call Rick Harris at 323-7501.

Bayview Daze is here again, featuring six bands leading off the festivities in a gigantic battle of the bands. The most fantastic of a series of fireworks displays will happen this year. Bayview has, through the community fundraising efforts, increased the fireworks budget for this year by 50 percent. The real treat, though, is that if you are going to fireworks in Sandpoint or Coeur d'Alene or even Post Falls, you don't have to miss Bayview.

Do you have a closet full of clothes, but nothing to wear? Well you're not alone, it can happen to anyone. It's even happened to me – yes, even to me, once a high priestess of wardrobe management. Lo, how the mighty do fall.

In the early 1970s, Katherine Gellhorn (now a legend among the music and art community) invited opera lovers to her home to listen to opera recordings from her collection. From this small beginning, Opera Buffs of Spokane was born, first meeting in the auditorium of the previous former Spokane Library. Katherine planned many trips to Seattle to enjoy the Seattle Opera Company as well as trips to New York and Santa Fe to see live opera. She died in 1997, and John Bouchard, an active opera buff, took over the responsibility of planning trips by bus to Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., to see "big time" live opera.

Eileen Murphy and a group of volunteers were surprised to find two old window openings that had been sealed off when they removed metal siding from her historic West Central neighborhood home earlier this month. In a project known as an "unveiling," Murphy and members of the Spokane Preservation Advocates organization stripped the prominent neoclassical home back to its original wooden siding in a June 14 work project.

Not surprised by The Oaks students I'm not a bit surprised Peter Barber was acknowledged for his volunteering endeavors at the front desk at Holy Family Hospital (June 5 Voices). Peter was a student of mine when I taught Latin to third-grade students at The Oaks. Neither am I surprised that Scott Parmely is the valedictorian at The Oaks Academy. They are exceptional young men.

The Browne's Addition Neighborhood Council will kick off its annual free summer concert series in Coeur d'Alene Park next Thursday with an appearance by Groove Patrol. Concerts will be every Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. through Aug. 28.

Eastern Washington University's School of Social Work and Alcohol and Drug Studies Program will host students from WonKwang Digital University's Department of Substance-Dependence Rehabilitation in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday through July 25. This is the second consecutive summer South Korean students will visit the Cheney campus to learn drug and alcohol treatment methods.

Liberty Lake Police kept busy the week of June 16-22, making 13 arrests and giving out a cluster of traffic citations. Several arrests were made for driving with a suspended license, plus an arrest for driving under the influence. Matthew M. May, 26, of Sheboygan, Wis., was arrested on a felony warrant on June 18. Two Spokane Valley men, Donald R. Koellen, 40, and Michael L. Onda, 37, were arrested on felony charges of property theft and conspiracy. The two were arrested together on June 20 in the 24500 block of East Valleyway Avenue.

Now that the days are long and the kids are out of school, it's time for summer reading programs and community outdoor concerts. As usual, the Kootenai-Shoshone Library District's summer program, "Catch the Reading Bug," includes a reading program and other special adventures designed to keep kids busy all summer long.

Today BILL REID (PIANO/JAZZ) – 5:30 p.m., Three Glasses Wine Bar, 202 1/2 First St., Sandpoint, 265- 0230.

This week Rewired Women's Ministry – Saturday, 9:30-11:30 a.m. in the RLM1 auditorium at Real Life Ministries, 1866 Cecil Road. Contact Emily at 777-7325, ext. 111.

Don't tinker with police service, a group of Spokane Valley residents told the City Council on Tuesday. A proposed study of the city's law enforcement contract with the Spokane County Sheriff's Office would be a waste of money in hard economic times, residents said.