Voices

They don't have a nickname, like the Four Musketeers or the Fantastic Four. While Nicole Barber, Amber Quann, Courtney Hatch and Liz Boyden don't need a nickname, the Ferris High School seniors already enjoy a bond like those famous foursomes. "I've been playing with this group of girls since my freshman year, and Amber since fourth grade YMCA basketball," said Hatch, a guard. "It's crazy to see how everyone's grown, and it's been cool to play with each other for so long."

After five years of infertility treatment, Vicki Sax's yearning for children was both painful and unyielding. "It was ridiculous," said her husband, Ken, recalling the trouble the couple had gone through during those fruitless years. They had always known they would adopt children, even if they had children of their own. Ken's father was an orphan and lived a successful life. "We had always wanted to give a child that same kind of opportunity." he said.

You need a program to follow the Post Falls High wrestling team – or at least the family within the family, so to speak. The Booth family and wrestling have been synonymous, going back nearly three decades. Dads, uncles, brothers and cousins comprise the family tree that includes several branches of Booths and a limb or two of Bergers, Osts and Wrights. Combined, there have been 17 wrestlers at Post Falls and six female managers. And there are more of both coming with hopes of the tree reaching into a third generation.

In the summer the red fire hydrant is visible among the flowers in Jim Price's garden on the western edge of the Rockwood neighborhood. Today, it's nearly buried in the snow. But once, it was a landmark at Playfair Race Course, heralded (sort of) in song and visible in track photos of horses crossing the finish line. If not for Price's fondness for the fireplug, it would have been sold for scrap when Playfair ceased operation in 2000.

From Lidgerwood Elementary School, this is Classroom Jeopardy. If real-life "Jeopardy!" contestants have as much fun as the students in Joe Biegler's fifth-grade class had last week, it's probably worth the trip to California even if they don't win the money.

For David Garinger, Valentine's Day is unforgettable. That's because on Feb. 14, 1947, he kissed his future wife, for the first time. This is the way he described it: "I had my arm around Zelma, sitting close. I smelled her sweetness. Her dark shining hair and sparkling blue eyes worked their magic on me. Our lips met … it seemed so right." Sixty-one years later, it still seems right. From their South Side living room the couple recalled their courtship. Zelma was just 16 when they met at Los Angeles Pacific College. Garinger was smitten with the young beauty, but Zelma said, "I didn't want to go out with him. He was too old!" He was 23 at the time. In fact she told her father, "Some old Marine wants to date me."