Washington Voices

Parents interested in enrolling their child in Spokane Public Schools’ Montessori or APPLE (Alternative Parent Participation Learning Experience) programs will have the opportunity to attend an informative orientation meeting. Students must live within the boundaries of Spokane Public Schools, but are not required to live within the attendance boundaries of Balboa, Jefferson, Garfield or Franklin to be eligible.

For the last several months, there has been a moderate El Niño. El Niño is the warmer-than-normal sea-surface temperature along the equatorial regions in the south-central Pacific Ocean. Most winters in the Inland Northwest during this event are milder and a bit drier. Our region often receives less snowfall as many Pacific storms head southward into California. This has certainly been the case this winter.

The Miss Spokane Pageant will be held at Northern Quest Casino, 100 N. Hayford Road in Airway Heights, Sunday at 1 p.m. Nine young women will compete for the title of Miss Spokane, including: Tiffany Yoder, a graduate of Medical Lake High School, and currently a student at Eastern Washington University; Denise Hinkey, a graduate of Davenport High School, and currently a student at EWU; Kelly Fordham, a graduate of Kamiakin High School in Kennewick, and currently a student at EWU; Susan Harrison, a graduate of Jenkins High School in Chewelah, and currently a student at Gonzaga University; Heather Moore, a graduate of Sunrise Christian Academy, Valley Contract Based Education, and The Glen Dow Academy of Hair Design; Lauren Kuhn, a graduate of Weatherwax High School in Aberdeen, Wash., and currently a student at Gonzaga University; Sondra Willmann, a graduate of Shadle Park High School, and currently a student at Spokane Falls Community College; Emerald Armstrong, a graduate of South Kitsap High School in Port Orchard, Wash., and currently a student at Whitworth University; and Kylee Denevan, a graduate of Shadle Park High School, and currently a student at Whitworth University.

I am writing to inform cell phone users of the problems they can cause while talking on the cell phone while driving. For one thing, there is a law banning the use of talking on your handheld cell phone while driving. What is so important that you need to talk on the phone while driving?

In case some of you are not aware, Elk has a Sheriff’s Community Oriented Policing Effort office at the Inland Grange on the corner of Nelson and Conklin roads. The SCOPE volunteers have a retired patrol car in need of some emergency supplies. To help with that goal, as well as to help keep the Elk SCOPE office up and running, volunteers are planning a Spring Fling Fundraiser – rummage sale, bake sale and raffle March 20 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Inland Grange.

For the week of Feb. 22-26 Monday – Option 1: Braised beef tips with pasta, peas and carrots, rye bread, fresh fruit. Option 2: Deli sandwich on a bun, peas and carrots, rye bread, fresh fruit.

The goal of Somebody Needs You is to match donors with the specific requests of needy Spokane residents. •Family needs refrigerator. Contact Gail at Spokane Neighborhood Action Program, (509) 487-1114.

In the 2004 movie “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story,” legendary dodgeball star Patches O’Houlihan says, “If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.” Fortunately, kids who sign up for Spokane Youth Sports Association’s new dodgeball program won’t have to test the veracity of that statement. In fact, according to program coordinator LeRoy Woodrich, the activity that once was relegated to P.E. class or school recess, has become a kinder, gentler sport.

January was National Soup Month, but it’s not too late to celebrate with a steaming bowl of chicken noodle or a hearty serving of black bean. Researchers say that soup can help you lose weight and boost your immunity. Perhaps that’s why Americans consume more than 10 billion bowls of it each year. But I’ve discovered an additional benefit – making homemade soup is great therapy. In fact, it’s become my surefire stress reliever.

I avoid writing in the checkbook’s ledger and dealing with governmental forms. Why? Given my dyslexic mind, I have an inordinate proclivity for turning order into chaos. You ask, “How have you survived, and prospered, all these years?”

Lent starts this week for many Christians on Ash Wednesday and many Valley churches will be observing the day with worship services and other events. Lent is the six-week period leading up to Easter, which is celebrated on April 4 this year. Most area churches follow the Western calendar, which puts Easter on a different date than on the Eastern calendar followed by Orthodox churches. This year, however, is one of the rare years when churches using the different calendars will celebrate Easter on the same day.

I recently asked a friend in her late 20s if she planned on amassing a home library. She said that owning books isn’t a priority for now, as she’s gotten tired of moving them (having moved frequently over the years); she prefers audio books and the library. While I understand and respect this, for me, a house without walls of bookshelves isn’t home. And what’s the fun of moving or painting, without unloading seemingly endless shelves, packing seemingly unlimited boxes, carting said heavy boxes in and out, unpacking, and then reloading seemingly countless literary treasures back on the shelves?

For 02-13-2010