Voices

CHENEY – The Cheney City Council held a public hearing Tuesday night to discuss the city vacating 1,700 feet of Alki Street between the Cheney-Spangle Road and the Cheney-Plaza Road that borders the Terra Vista development. Steve Emtman of Defender Developments said he wants to pave and realign the road to include two 12-foot-wide travel lanes and a 12-foot turn lane.

The 47th annual Leadership Prayer Breakfast will be Friday from 7 to 8:45 a.m. at the Doubletree Hotel Spokane City Center. This year's keynote speaker will be Os Hillman, the founder and executive director of Marketplace Leaders Ministries.

A Bayview developer who demolished much of a cafe without a permit has been ordered by Kootenai County building officials to tear down the whole building. Vista Bay Cafe was built into the steep shoreline and extended over the water on Lake Pend Oreille. Current county codes, which require a 25-foot setback, won't allow for a new building at the site, according to Building and Planning Director Scott Clark.

The bug season may get really interesting this year. We've had a cold spring, and it is likely that we will get more weather hot flashes before it really warms up. When it does, the plant-chomping and sucking bugs are going to be out in full force. There are allies, though, that are already in the garden that can help out, if you give some help now. Beneficial predator insects are already hunting through your plants for an easy meal or a host for their egg-laying. All you need to do is provide a little shelter, blooming flowers and shady corners for egg-laying.

Post Falls Steve Astlund, 2537 E. Black Forest Ave., storage, valued at $8,640.

CHENEY – Here's the roundup of Cheney Police Department activity for the week of May 16-22: •Stephanie C. Melland, 20, was arrested for suspicion of theft, stemming from an incident May 9 at Mitchell's IGA.

More street work is about to get under way on the North Side after the council on Tuesday approved two contracts for West Broadway Avenue and for street repaving along North Belt Street and adjacent residential streets. Schimmels Construction of Spokane was the top bidder at $284,000 to install street enhancements along West Broadway Avenue east and west from its intersection with Ash Street as part of an effort to encourage redevelopment in the West Central Neighborhood business area.

Public meetings, clubs and support groups in the Post Falls/Rathdrum area in the upcoming weeks: Meetings

Free GED Preparation and Testing – For low-income dropout youth ages 17-21 in Spokane County; call Career Path Services, 326-7520. GED Preparation – Ages 19 and up at many sites in Spokane; call the Community Colleges Institute for Extended Learning Adult Basic Education, 533-4600.

Members of the Manito/Cannon Hill Neighborhood Council have taken a stand on the need to preserve trees and enhance sidewalk amenities when Lincoln Street is rebuilt next year. In a letter earlier this month to Mayor Mary Verner, the chairman of the neighborhood council outlined the position of residents living along the arterial route.

For 05-29-2008

Spokane County has hired a nationally recognized land-use consultant to study how land-use laws can be used to ensure that Fairchild Air Force Base is not harmed by too much development or the wrong kind of development on civilian-owned land surrounding it. Matrix Design Group of Sacramento, Calif., will be used to identify significant land-use issues affecting Fairchild, such as construction within the flight path for the base.

Ongoing "Annie" - Presented by the Spokane Children's Theatre. Friday, 7 p.m.; Sunday and June 8, 1 p.m.; Saturday and June 7, 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Spokane Community College, Lair Auditorium, 1810 N. Greene St. $10/adults, $8/age 18 and younger. 325-SEAT.

Murray adds new chapter to her life Frances Murray, 82, is a role model for maintaining an inquisitive mind throughout one's senior years.

With two legislators from the Post Falls area attacking Coeur d'Alene's proposed education corridor, I wondered at Huckleberries Online last week whether other River City leaders were so shortsighted. After all, someone must be pulling Rep. Bob Nonini's chain if he, as chairman of the House Education Committee, is actively lobbying for the DeArmond Mill site to be transformed into yet more condos for the well-heeled rather than expanded higher education chances for the region's high school graduates, laid-off mill workers and single mothers, among others. Ditto for his House District 5 colleague Frank Henderson, who as an advocate of economic development should know the importance of higher education to attract new businesses. Yet, Henderson, when asked by the Coeur d'Alene Press, said he preferred an advisory vote to gauge community support for the purchase. Such a vote, of course, would give minority detractors more time to scuttle the project. As I pondered whether other Post Falls officials were actively seeking to undercut the worthy Coeur d'Alene project, Mayor Clay Larkin called to say he had only one qualm about the ed corridor – the environmental cleanup cost. Otherwise, he supported it. Clay was satisfied when I told him that part of NIC's agreement with developer Marshall Chesrown calls for the 17 acres to be turned over to NIC environmentally clean. Seems Nonini and Henderson aren't on the same page as the progressive mayor from Post Falls. No surprise here. Foot-tapping for $$$