Washington Voices

The man with the big shovel says Spokane Valley is ready for winter. “We’ve got all the plows and equipment and all the chemicals we need,” city Public Works Director Neil Kersten said. “We think we’re ready to go.”

There is an ugly truth about “The Beautiful Game”: sometimes the better team loses. It’s a truth the University girls soccer team faced Tuesday night at Lampson Stadium in Kennewick.

This is a set of gorgeous triplets. They are active, outgoing, playful and loving boys and are always wrestling, running, eating or sleeping. What more could you want? If you need a constant source of amusement and companionship, think about coming down and adopting all or part of this family. There are many more wonderful, adoptable pets at SCRAPS, 2521 N. Flora, (509) 477-2532. www.spokanecounty.org/animal.

It is customary for Jews to create a Jewish cemetery in the communities where they live. Mount Nebo, a small cemetery easy to overlook as you drive by, lies next to the much larger Greenwood Memorial Park along North Government Way on the west side of Spokane; it is the burial site for about 400 Jews. The approximately 4-acre cemetery can accommodate 1,400 bodies, “but it will probably take us more than 100 years to get to that number,” said Dick Rubens, chair of the cemetery committee at Spokane’s Temple Beth Shalom, which owns Mount Nebo.

Spokane Valley Partners Food Bank director Barbara Bennett received a shipment of food Monday for her weekly food distribution, but she’s already casting a nervous eye toward Thanksgiving. More people than ever are expected to sign up for a box of Thanksgiving food and Bennett is concerned that there won’t be enough food or turkeys to go around. She’s pinning her hopes on several food drives that are in progress or are scheduled between now and the holiday.

Glenn Cragun of Deer Park is not your typical 17-year-old. She graduated from an online high school two years ahead of schedule with a 3.94 GPA, and when it comes to groceries, she definitely has it “in the bag.” Cragun represented her employer, Yoke’s Foods, on Oct. 9 at the annual Washington State Grocers bagging competition in Tacoma. To get there, she had to first win the Yoke’s employees competition held in Deer Park, then, the Spokane regional. She was one of only a handful of contestants representing Eastern Washington and the youngest contestant at the statewide competition. To many people’s surprise, she won.

Mike Jackson got pretty excited when he noticed a new park being constructed in his South Hill neighborhood. Well, at least he thought it was a new park. It turns out it’s actually a stormwater project. “It just looks so neat,” Jackson said. “There’s a little pond and trails and wetlands.”