Washington Voices

Remembering the fallen, looking toward the future: The Spokane Valley Fire Department continued its tradition Tuesday of honoring the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks by dedicating buildings under construction. Members of the department, Spokane Valley Mayor Tom Towey and others gathered for a ceremony at Station 6 on East Sprague Avenue, which is expected to be complete in mid-November. Construction stopped during the ceremony and several workers gathered at the back of the crowd for the remembrance. The department’s honor guard, including bagpipe players, led the ceremony. Members of the Spokane Valley Fire Department honor guard, including, from left, Greg Bennett, fire inspector, Dave Vegele, engineer/paramedic, and Michael Fields, firefighter, participated in Tuesday morning’s flag raising.

Sharon Halligan , of Mead: “I want to sing; I have a tin ear.”

The sewing machines at the Cozy Quilt Shop on North Division Street were working so hard they seemed to generate heat as the members of the local ConKerr Cancer chapter gathered to make pillowcases last Thursday About a dozen women were there, and they expected that day to make between 150 and 200 pillowcases, some featuring frogs, some with cartoon characters and other fun patterns.

Artist Nikai Birchler has a lot to say, and his work is his soap box. Birchler creates poetic images in a multitude of mediums, beginning with a mark or a scribble that then becomes an elaborate doodle that becomes people, places, things, and views on current affairs.

Representatives of Local 876 of the International Association of Firefighters have moved forward with a challenge to the voter registration of Spokane Valley Fire Department commission chairman Monte Nesbitt. Nesbitt announced last month that he will resign from the fire commission at the end of the year after the union raised questions about whether Nesbitt lives within the Fire Department’s boundaries. In announcing his resignation Aug. 13, Nesbitt said that he and his wife, whom he married last year, have been trying to sell her home in Cheney.

Nine years ago when Mary Ann and Ken Corman built their house on Five Mile Prairie, their “garden” was nothing more than a weedy field that cleverly hid a lot of large rocks. After they realized they couldn’t dig them out, they decided the best strategy would be to bury them under 500 cubic yards of topsoil. It took a lot of work to reshape the land and then build their garden into a magical play space for grandchildren and the neighborhood birds. But their efforts won them the August Garden of the Month from the Inland Empire Gardeners, as well as a place on the 2013 Spokane in Bloom tour next June.