Washington Voices

The horns will trumpet the arrival of Central Valley High School’s marching band in Washington, D.C., this week for a celebration that only happens every four years. President Barack Obama starts his second term in office Sunday followed Monday by a public inauguration and a parade of festivities featuring musicians from every state.

From the grand fjords of Norway to the largest rainforest in the world, students of Central Valley High School’s world geography class all had a piece of the planet to research. Students picked a country and spent the semester studying the culture, region, religion and reasons for tourism. The culminating project: a World’s Fair featuring about 30 countries.

Former Spokane Valley Fire Department Capt. Jon Sprague tried to convince the department’s Civil Service Commission on Monday that he was improperly fired in October. Sprague was terminated after first being reprimanded and then suspended for two 24-hour shifts without pay for repeatedly sending religious emails from his department email account despite orders to stop. Sprague has argued that sending the emails, which are tied to his Spokane County Christian Firefighter Fellowship group, are a right of free speech.

The reader results are in regarding my Christmas card column. By a large majority, those who responded expressed dismay at my dismissal of annual holiday greetings. One reader enjoys using the cards as part of her Christmas decorations. Another uses them to share the Gospel message. And most who wrote eschew social media sites like Facebook. Interestingly, all of the responses I received came via email. (Disclaimer, I haven’t checked my mailbox at The Spokesman-Review since November, so there may be a letter or – gulp! – a card, awaiting my attention.)

When Clare Timberlake, a 20-year-old Gonzaga University junior, returned from Christmas break there was quite a surprise waiting for her inside the campus-area rental she shares with three other students. When she opened the door it smelled like someone had died, and when she turned on the lights she found the house had been burglarized and trashed.