2024 May Stream

The Water Front

public service

ByAshley Humbird Stream contributor

In the heart of Airway Heights, there lies a restaurant that not only serves delectable dishes but also embodies a love story, a passion for the community, and the determination to reach new heights. Wolffy’s Hamburgers, owned by the dynamic duo Jessica and Justin Davis, is a testament to the power of love, ambition, and the commitment to making a difference.

The journey to opening and owning a Wolffy’s began when Justin, a Spokane native, began working in the family restaurant that was then located at Francis and Monroe.

His childhood was filled with fond memories of growing up in the close-knit family community, learning all about the family businesses.

“I worked in all the locations.” Justin explains about his past with Wolffy’s and his parent’s original vision of the first location. “They opened the Francis and Monroe location in 1988. They had this idea that they wanted to have a diner business with 50’s style, with jukeboxes, and all that.”

The family opened multiple locations throughout the years across Spokane and the Spokane Valley area, but by 2004 had sold the restaurant with plans for his parents to retire.

Two years into their retirement, Justin’s parents decided to open a single location on the corner of Sharp and Hamilton in Spokane. “I was off doing my own thing at that point, so they asked me to come and manage the location for them.” Justin shares about taking on a more significant role in the restaurant. “I ran that location for years and that

Florence, Oregon, moved to Spokane to attend college at Eastern Washington University. After a series of life events and staying in the Spokane area, she met Justin in late 2016 at a local gym.

After striking up a platonic friendship over the course of several months, their ambitions led them to embark on a remarkable venture - opening their own Wolffy’s location in Airway Heights. “Jessica had been managing or working in restaurants and with people her entire career, and had always wanted the opportunity to open up her own restaurant.” Said Justin. Together they scouted out the best locations and landed in Airway Heights. The restaurant opened in 2017, and when Justin’s parents experienced health complications, not only were the two of them running the Airway Heights location, but also the Hamilton

Jessica share that in those first few months of working both locations, they were really close friends and would help each other out with their respective kiddos, who were from previous relationships.

Fast forward to spring of 2019 when Jessica and Justin were engaged and planning a wedding. They celebrated with family and friends on June 27th 2019 with a small wedding party and ceremony.

However, life always has a way of throwing curveballs and both Jessica and Justin decided to meet them head on and embark on a career path change.

Justin made the choice after knowing people in law enforcement throughout the years and having conversations with them to join the law enforcement academy. “I thought about it for year, but at this time I’m 35 years old and

thoughts, “He said to me, ‘You’re a prime candidate because you have life experiences. You’ve gone through divorce. You have kids. You can relate to the people that you’re going to be helping.’”

Justin applied and was accepted into the academy and after completing the required course he began patrolling as a Lincoln County Sheriff’s officer in September 2023.

During this time Jessica took on the role of managing Wolffy’s without the daily support of Justin. She continued to flourish, but her desire to continue to help the community began tugging on her. She participated in a few ride-alongs with the local fire department and quickly developed a sense of longing to participate, not as a viewer, but as a first responder.

Jessica had to make hard decisions and weigh all the options before she could decide to make a change. “As a mom, there’s a sense of sometimes having to sacrifice your own hopes and dreams for the betterment of your children,” Jessica shares some of her thoughts. “It was not an easy decision to come to. There were a lot of tears. We talked with the kids. I knew that with the dates that the Academy was going to fall on, that I was going to miss all of wrestling season, and baseball, and track. I’m the mom that shows up to everything. I have never missed a single sporting event. Our oldest is 13 and he looked at me and goes “Mom, it’s one season. You haven’t missed anything in the past. It’s ok. It’s just one season and then you’ll be there again. We know you care.”

Jessica made the decision to apply and was accepted into the West Plains Fire Academy earlier this year. She began classes in February and is on track to graduate in June of this year. “I’m the only woman. I’m the smallest. And I’m

Medical Lake council approves use of shipping containers for storage

By John McCallum Stream contributor

In a 4-3 vote, the Medical Lake City Council cleared the way for local mini self-storage facilities and the Medical Lake School District to continue using shipping containers as storage units.

Council members Keli Shaffer, Lance Speirs and Don Kennedy voted to approve the changes at the May 7 meeting, while members Bob Maxwell, Ted Olson and Chad Pritchard voted against. With Councilman Tony

Calling All Local Graduates

The Stream is featuring West Plains high school graduates in the June issue. This invitation extends to all graduating seniors who live in the community, regardless of where they attend high school.

In order to participate, simply submit a photo with the following information to danica@ westplainsstream.com: Graduate’s name, high school, parents’ names and plans after graduation

Information must be received by Thursday, May 30th. Contact 509-242-7752 or danica@westplainsstream.com with any questions.

Harbolt not present with an excused absence, the tiebreaking vote fell to Mayor Terri Cooper, who voted to approve.

Cooper said she appreciated and respected the work of the city’s Planning Commission, who twice reviewed the proposal, conducted public hearings and workshops and twice denied approving it — basing their decisions a lot on community aesthetics. But Cooper said the council also did a lot of work in a similar fashion, and felt with the latest addition of specific language limiting public viewing of these containers, their location in the city and how they can be used, believed amending the code to allow their use was the proper move.

“When you’re talking about a business, and there’s screening required, and the amendment is all of these would be screened, I think that’s a compromise I’m willing to make,” Cooper said.

The decision at council’s May 7 meeting approves amending the city’s municipal code section 17.42.030 to allow the use of these units, including specific siting requirements. Council instructed staff to prepare a draft ordinance codifying these standards and present it at a future meeting, possibly by May 21.

The decision has been a long time coming, beginning in October 2022 when Monark Self Storage owner Larry Stoker was contacted and told containers he recently located to his property north of State Route 902 were not allowed. City codes only allow shipping containers on a temporary basis at construction sites.

Presented with options, Stoker submitted a proposal to amend the city codes to allow the use of these containers in the C-2 (commercial) zone, subsequently modified by staff to the C-1 zone. Land use decisions go before the city’s Planning Commission first, and the commission held two workshops on the topic before a public hearing on March 23, 2023, at which staff presented their research including a State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) Mitigated Determination of Non-Significance (MDNS).

According to the Department of Ecology, a MDNS requires more public process and scrutiny because adverse impacts of the proposal can be more significant.

“The lead agency issues a mitigated DNS in lieu of preparing an EIS (environmental impact

statement) when there is assurance that specific enforceable mitigation will successfully reduce impacts to a nonsignificant level,” Ecology writes.

In her report to the commission, Medical Lake staff planner Elisa Rodriquez presented a proposed amendment to the municipal code regarding the use of shipping containers that included the language “Shipping containers are permitted to be placed within the [C-1] zones as accessory buildings or storage units, provided that the containers are no more than 40 feet in length, maintained and in good shape (i.e., painted, not rusted out), and are located in the rear/back of property or enclosed in a fence and visually obscured from public sight ROW (right of way) on Hwy 902. Containers may be placed as authorized by a city building permit.”

The report also contained an analysis and findings regarding how the proposed amendment addressed elements of the city’s Comprehensive Plan — Medical Lake’s main planning document. Of the 11 criteria, several were not applicable while others were deemed as “met.”

Three criteria deemed “not met” all related to Comprehensive Plan goals stressing land uses in the city should enhance the community’s overall appearance. Based on this, Rodriquez concluded Stoker’s request could not be approved and the Planning Commission agreed.

The City Council subsequently held three workshops and two public hearings before considering the proposed amendment at the Oct. 5, 2023 meeting. Public testimony strongly encouraged allowing the use of containers throughout the city, with council eventually limiting this to mini self-storage facilities and the school district.

Council modified the amendment by adding 15 requirements for the use of containers, including limiting their size to 200 square feet, painted to match the facility colors, requiring fence or hedge screening a minimum of 6 feet high and restricting their location to no closer to the street than the primary facility building. The modified proposal, was sent back to the Planning Commission for further consideration.

In testimony to the commission and to City Council, Stoker said shipping containers as storage units are much less expensive than constructed units. Construction prices have skyrocketed since 2020, with

Stoker citing increases in materials of 300% and gas for transport of 250%.

Stoker also told the council at its May 7 meeting it would cost him over $300,000 to remove the containers already on his property. He added the containers are located well in the back of the lot, and that he has done much to try to beautify the facility through landscaping and upkeep.

“You cannot see them from 902,” Stoker said. “In fact, I’m opposed to putting them on 902. Don’t accuse us of trying to make this place look junky.”

He also alleged a conflict of interest among two members of the Planning Commission, noting they were Monark customers, but still voted. He also said the commission’s rehearing on Dec. 14 was quick and didn’t fully consider the proposed changes.

A review of the YouTube video of the meeting shows the commission spent just over 16 minutes on the subject, much of which was taken up by Rodriquez presentation and matters of process. Commissioner Judy Mayulianos recused herself from the discussion and vote, saying she had “very strong feelings” and nothing would change her mind on the subject.

When asked by Commissioner Carl Munson why those feelings might be a conflict, Mayulianos said “I’ve stated in a couple of meetings that I don’t trust him (Stoker)…at all. My mind is shut.”

“Well, I know where I stand,” Munson said. “I guess I could say that if something is said that I didn’t hear before, or I didn’t think of that might change my mind, but I don’t think so.”

The commission voted 4-0 to deny the ordinance, with no commission discussion taking place on the proposed changes from council.

Council discussed the ordinance at length at their May 7 meeting, taking additional public testimony including from Stoker. Most public testimony was in favor of allowing containers, with one resident, Diane Nichols, submitting written comment against.

In approving to advance the changes to an ordinance amending the municipal code, council adopted Councilwoman Shaffer’s motion that approving the 15 new requirements, despite going against the commission and staff’s decision to deny, would satisfy the Comprehensive Plan’s goals of placing a high importance on community attractiveness.

DAVIS’

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the oldest. There’s some of these kids that I could be their mom! They were born the year I graduated high school even!” Jessica jokes about her fellow academy students.

After graduating from the academy, she will become a volunteer first responder. Her goal is to gain experience and knowledge through time spent as a volunteer to better set herself up for when career positions become available.

Q: You have both drastically changed your career path, did you have a moment/ or feeling when you realized you wanted something different?

Jessica: I have always worked very closely with the local service departments with toy drives, Christmas fundraisers and spaghetti feeds for fire victims. Being able to go into this career has opened up an avenue for me to do something I’ve always wanted to do, but be able to serve in a much bigger capacity in my community.

Justin: You don’t go into law enforcement for the pay. The pay is not great. You go into it because of a calling. You feel like this is the right thing to do. Acts of service plays a large role in your lives.

Q: How have you incorporated Wolffy’s into that?

Jessica: We have always participated in Toys for Tots bins, and it started expanding after the Bartholomew fire a few years ago. There were four people in the community that lost their homes and so I got in contact with the fire department and asked, “What can we do?” We (Wolffy’s) put together an event that turned out to be so much bigger than we expected. We hosted a spaghetti feed night. We had employees volunteer to come work it and a lot of people came and participated. I think that was the moment that opened my eyes that we could give back so much to this community.

Justin: One of the guys came to us and said “I don’t need the money. I need help. I have ten acres that were destroyed by this fire. I have downed trees everywhere. I need help with that. Is that something you could do?” I

looked into it and by the end of the day Jessica had contacted the Air Force base. We ended up getting it approved to have service members while on duty come out and bring chainsaws, shovels, and trucks. In one day, we cleared up enough to make over 10 slash piles.

Q: Looking to the future, do you have any upcoming community events planned for Wolffy’s?

Jessica: At this moment we don’t have anything planned for summer. But we will participate in the Christmas Shop with a Cop with the police department and will do an additional toy drive as well.

Q: Since you have both been busy studying and attending your respective academies, do you have any fun plans for the summer?

Jessica: Step one is getting through the academy, step two is vacation! We’re very much in need of a vacation after the last two years.

Justin: We are going to Florida! The running joke is that when we retire and we’re finally done, I want no more snow! I’m over snow! After our vacation, we’re spending time with the kids!

Q: Is there something that you would like to say to the Airway Heights community?

Jessica: To my employees, there’s not a world where I would be able to be doing what I am right now without the people that I employ. They have made it possible for me to step out and take on this new role. And to the community, thank you for your support. When people found out that I was making this jump after Justin, I did not realize how many people were standing in the background cheering me on. I can’t thank the community enough for continuing to come in and support the restaurant.

Justin: It’s the community and our employees. They have allowed us to do something that has always been important to us. That sense of service and duty to others that we’ve tried to implement in the restaurant, and now being able to provide another different type of community outreach, is almost even more beneficial to the public and great!

New dock, concerts, climate and contracts on ML council agendas

By John McCallum Stream contributor

Medical Lake City Council business at its April 16 and May 7 meetings dealt mostly with discussing and approving a variety of contracts from creating a climate hazardous mitigation plan to hiring a grant writer and professional governmental relations firm. Council also awarded an upcoming project in the central business district, and approved a vendor to produce the city’s summer concert series.

Coney Island to get multi-use dock

At its April 16 meeting, the council voted unanimously to award a contract for installing a multi-use dock at Coney Island Park downtown. Treeline Contracting was the only bidder on the project, which includes shoreline restoration measures as well, coming in at $98,787.50.

“Just shy of what our budget was,” Parks and Recreation Director Glen Horton

told council.

Horton added a second bid was received by the city, but was denied because it was submitted late and only included installation of the dock.

The project is funded by the city’s portion of American Rescue Plan Act money, some of which Mayor Terri Cooper said was initially set aside for parks improvements. Horton added the contractor changed the proposed layout of the dock, which includes 20-foot long, 25-foot wide performance dock connected by a floating walkway to a 20-foot wide, 10-foot long fishing dock.

“It’s a fixed-pier dock,” City Administrator Sonny Weathers said of the performance dock. “It’s not a floating dock.”

Council got a view of a preliminary layout for the dock during a workshop at its May 7 meeting, with no final decision being reached. Council also approved a master agreement for services contract at the May 7 meeting formalizing Treeline’s bid.

Linger @ the Lake series approved

Also at the April 16 meeting, council unanimously approved a contract with Hero Event Support for a summer concert series beginning in June at Waterfront Park. Hero, a Spokane-area company, will provide all staging, audio, lighting and talent management services at four concerts

this summer: June 14, July 4, Aug. 8 and Aug. 29.

The contract pays Hero $8,500 per event, with a total price not to exceed $40,000. The company recently provided similar services at Cheney Mayfest, May 10-11.

During discussion, the City Council recognized the Aug. 8 date will conflict with the annual Bluewaters, Bluegrass Festival — also held in Waterfront Park. The decision was made to approve the contract as is, with the listed dates, and amend the dates later with Hero.

Climate hazardous mitigation plan creation

Council unanimously approved a $59,729.85 contract at its April 16 meeting with Oklahoma City-based company Chloeta for creation of a climate hazardous mitigation plan. The Native Americanowned company will assist in preparing a plan that will include a communications strategy for informing the public should a climate disaster — like last summer’s Gray Road Fire — strike.

At its March 19 meeting, the council approved receipt of a $100,000 Department of Commerce 2023 – 2025 Climate Planning Grant to pay for developing the plan for mitigation of potential climate hazards. Through meetings and research, the city and Chloeta will develop a plan

understanding potential climate hazards, the city’s vulnerability to these, plans and policies providing solutions and creation of mitigation strategies.

At its May 7 meeting, council approved a service agreement formalizing Chloeta’s bid.

Government affairs, grant writer discussed

Council held a pair of workshops at its May 7 meeting to discuss the possibility of hiring a government affairs professional service firm to deal with legislative matters affecting the city.

Weathers said city officials and the mayor have conducted lobbying efforts with state and federal elected officials to advance Medical Lake interests, and while this has worked well, having a firm who knows and keeps up on legislative trends, issues and other aspects full-time would greatly benefit the city in the future.

“It’s really nice to have friends like that working on behalf of the city,” he added.

Weathers said they are proposing issuing a request for proposal for firms providing such services, hoping those would come back with bids in the $30,000 – $40,000 range. While not in the city’s 2024 budget, city interest revenues typically budgeted in the $10,000 range but usually coming in around $50,000 – $60,000 would be able to cover the costs of a governmental services firm.

Cooper said they always have good visits with legislators in Olympia, but once they leave, the focus of those legislators often shifts to other issues. Having a governmental firm representing Medical Lake would help keep the city’s needs in the discussion.

“It makes a difference,” Cooper said. “There are a lot of things pertinent now that we weren’t aware of before.”

Council also conducted a workshop on the possibility of hiring a grant writer for the city. Weathers said the city has been successful at acquiring over $6 million in grants since 2022, but might have a chance to get more with a full-time writer on contract.

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Medical Lake has a proposal for grant writing services currently from Positive Impact Grant Writing, LLC of Spokane for $5,000 to research and identify possible grant opportunities, prepare the materials and submit them to the appropriate agencies. Weathers said the city has a number of capital improvement projects that could be pursued with the services of a grant writer.

Council agreed to move both the governmental services firm and grant writer proposals forward for preparation of request for proposals and consideration at a future meeting.

AH council approves fire station bid award, climate grant and Craig Road improvements

By John McCallum

Stream contributor

Airway Heights will soon see a new fire station being constructed along with a new fire engine for the department. Council also approved a memorandum of understanding with a local manufactured home park to supply water to the facility, creation of a climate section for its Comprehensive Plan and steps to begin work on improving pedestrian access along Craig Road.

Fire station funds created, bids awarded, new engine enroute

Council approved ordinances creating a pair of funds at its April 15 meeting to handle bond sales proceeds used in the acquisition, renovation, construction, improvement and equipping of new public safety facilities. The $8 million in bonds were approved by almost 76% of voters in an Aug. 1, 2023 ballot measure.

Ordinance C-1027 created a new Capital Projects Fund entitled “Public Safety Building Purchase and Remodel Fund 2023” while Ordinance C-1028 created a Debt Service Fund entitled “Public Safety Building Debt Service Fund, 2023.” Finance Director Stanley Schubert said the separate accounts are required to monitor and manager the public safety building funding accurately and transparently.

“Once those proceeds (from bond sales) are received, they would go directly into it,” City Manager Albert Tripp added.

At its May 6 regular session, council approved transfer of $429,980.81 from its Fire Equipment Reserve fund to the General Expense fund to pay the balance on its new fire engine. The engine’s total cost is $649,995, and it has been in production for the past oneand-a-years.

Fire Chief Brad Metzger said they visited South Dakota production facility for some field tests on the engine, and after small performance issues are

addressed, indicated the vehicle should be enroute to Airway Heights the end of the week of May 13 – 17. Metzger noted the city’s plans to purchase a new engine began in 2019.

“Yeah, it’s been five years,” Council President Larry Bowman said. “That’s crazy.”

Finally, council approved a notice to proceed with construction of the new fire station. Metzger said they opened seven bids on April 30, and have chosen low bidder Meridian Construction for the project. The total overall cost for the project is over $5.83 million.

Craig Road properties vacated

Council approved an ordinance at its April 15 meeting vacating two cityowned parcels on the east side of Craig Road for use as right-of-way in the city’s shared-use path project proposed for the west side of the road. The project includes pedestrian crossings and Spokane Transit Authority bus stops.

The quit claim deeds are for parcels on the north and south sides of West Bergen Drive at its intersection with Craig Road.

At the April 22 study session, Principal Planner Heather Trautman told council 90% of the design work on the estimated $1.19 million project had been completed by the city and consultant Ardurra. The project, to be built from the roundabout at U.S. Highway 2 north to 6th Avenue will feature a 10-foot wide bike/ pedestrian path, stormwater facilities and new driveway approaches at RLP Enterprises and the Spokane Tribe Casino.

Funding will be provided by a $950,000 Bike and Pedestrian Grant from the Washington State Department

of Transportation and $240,000 in city money.

Climate plan underway, water study proposed

Council approved awarding Department of Commerce grant funding to Sustainability Solutions Group, USA (SSG) to create a Climate Action Element for the city’s Comprehensive Plan. The new chapter is required by state law, and must contain two elements dealing with sustainability strategies and reduction of greenhouse gases.

The state Legislature has provided funding to help municipalities develop these elements, and Airway Heights was successful in securing a $400,000 grant for this purpose over the next two and a half years. Trautman said SSG is actually a Canadian company with a U.S. subsidiary, and will partner with Seattle firm Makers and Eastern Washington firm Sage Step on the project.

“They have extensive experience working in both of these (climate) areas across Northern Canada as well as some experience in the United States,” she added.

The work is broken into two funding cycles, with the first $100,000, including public input, beginning soon while the second phase from 2025 – 2026 involves completion of the work.

Council also approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with West Prairie Village Mobile Home Park, LLC to explore the possibility of extending city water service to the park. Park representative Christa Connolly approached council in late February about the possibility of supplying the park — located on Craig

Road just northwest of the city — with water as its two wells have decreased in production dramatically over the past two years.

Council agreed to look into options to assist the park. Public Works Director Kevin Anderson said at the May 6 meeting the MOU was needed so staff could apply for a $50,000 Consolidation Feasibility Study grant to look at extension issues.

The MOU spells out the city will administer the grant and that it is not obligated to extending service.

“The key points there is that if there are any costs that we incur that the grant won’t cover that West Prairie would cover us,” Anderson added.

Parks and Recreation pursues grant for Sunset pathway

At the April 15 meeting, council approved a resolution authorizing the city’s Parks & Recreation Department to apply for a state Wildlife & Recreation Program Local Parks Grant from the Recreation Conservation Office (RCO) to be used to help fund renovate of the pathway at Sunset Park. RCO is making $15.5 million available for projects through the Local Parks Grant program.

Parks & Recreation Director JC Kennedy said the funding would be used to replace portions of the current Sunset Park pathway as well as relocating other areas due to “tree root heaving.” The project would also install permanent electrical power panels at areas in the park in order to reduce the need to use portable generators for events.

Project design work by SPVV Architects puts the project estimated cost at $465,000.

Lodging Tax Advisory Committee restarted

Council also approved four appointments to the city’s Lodging Tax Advisory Committee, a committee that has been dormant since January 2021. By law, the committee must have at least five members, two who are from businesses required to collect the lodging tax, two from entities authorized to be funded by the tax and one from the city’s governing body.

Deputy Mayor Veronica Messing serves as the council’s representative to the committee. Appointments approved at the April 15 meeting are JC Kennedy, Airway Heights Parks and Recreation Department; Jacob Powers, Airway Heights Kiwanis Club; Steve Vreeken, General Manager, Stafford Inn & Suites and Mayu “Mike” Patel, owner, Days Inn & Suites.

Photo courtesy of JC Kennedy / City of Airway Heights

Airway Heights Council President Larry Bowman poses with the city’s 2024

Arbor Day Poster Contest winner Evelyn Hall. Hall is a fourth-grader at Sunset Elementary School.

The West Plains Aquifer — understanding what’s under our feet

By John McCallum Stream correspondent

We often take for granted that which we cannot always see.

Take water, for instance. It’s the stuff of life, as the saying goes, and not just individual life but the life of whole communities.

We don’t know how important that stuff is until it’s taken away, a fact many Airway Heights and rural West Plains residents learned in 2017, when the water they were using was discovered to be contaminated by decades of use by Fairchild Air Force Base — and more recently Spokane International Airport — of manmade chemicals that can lead to cancer and other diseases.

The result of the contamination included closing of private and municipal wells, distribution of bottled water until new sources

could be found, and possible links to the deaths of several residents.

It also created a greater urgency to understand the properties of the water beneath our feet, and how the system that conveyed that water — the West Plains Aquifer — really works.

Giant floods of hot lava

The West Plains Aquifer’s origins begin several hundred miles to the southeast near the borders of Washington and Oregon states. According to the United States Geological Service, between 16.7 million – 5.5 million years ago, a series of generally north-northwest aligned linear fissures in the earth began disgorging cubic miles of lava from a subsurface volcanic “hot spot.”

As the North American Plate moved westward, that hot spot moved east and is now believed to be under Yellowstone in northeast Wyoming — but not before

vomiting up over 210,000 square kilometers — 81,081 square miles — of lava covering present day eastern Washington and Oregon, some of western Idaho, part of northern Nevada and as far west as the Willamette Valley, eventually reaching the Pacific Ocean.

About 93% of the lava floods erupted between 16.7 million – 15.6 million years ago. As they cooled, they formed stratified, columnar formations known as basalt, with sediment layers of different materials from sand to clay deposited between the different flows over time.

Eventually, seven of these flows created formations collectively called the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG): Steens Basalt, Imnaha Basalt, Grande Ronde Basalt, Picture Gorge Basalt, Prineville Basalt, Wanapum Basalt and Saddle Mountain Basalt. The formations also contain a number of member flows, such as the Wapshilla Ridge Member in the Grande Ronde and the Sentinel Bluffs Member in the Wanapum.

“The formations, members and many flows of the CRBG can be identified by looking at and measuring the rocks’ chemical composition, physical characteristics, magnetic polarity and by observing the position of lava flows in relation to each other,” according to the USGS’s Cascade Volcano Observatory.

The largest of these formations is the Grande Ronde (16.2 million years ago) and the Wanapum (16 million years ago) at 35,747 and 2,920 cubic miles respectively. Both formations extended north through the West Plains and past the current location of the Spokane River, flowing around pre-Miocene, erosion resistant bedrock hills known as “steptoes” located on a line east and west of Four Lakes.

According to research by Eastern Washington University Geoscience Department students to be presented at a Geological Society of America conference in Spokane this May, these buttes were likely created hundreds of millions of years ago, and are a result of “Cretaceous fold and thrust deformation as well as Eocene uplift.” The result is that, while groundwater contained

within the CRBG basalts typically follows the basalt formation flows to the center of the Columbia Basin, according to a 2019 report by researchers at EWU, Washington State University and Spokane County Water Resources, water in the Grande Ronde and Wanapum formations on the West Plains flows to the north/northeast towards the Spokane River.

“With these hills, we’re in a unique position,” Geoscience Department professor Dr. Chad Pritchard said.

Giant floods of cold water

Over time, natural processes created several north/northeast oriented ravines — paleochannels — in the West Plains basalt, with water filtering into the underground rock layers to create an aquifer. This process was also helped during the last Ice Age with the formation of Glacial Lake Columbia, which covered part of the West Plains north of Airway Heights.

But about 17,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age, that changed in a dramatic way. According to the Glacial Lake Missoula website, a finger of ice from the Cordilleran Ice Sheet — a lobe — extended into a narrow portion of land near modern Lake Pend Oreille called “The Purcell Trench.”

The lobe created a 2,500-foot tall ice dam in today’s Clark River Drainage, backing the water up to the east and creating Glacial Lake Missoula — a lake containing as much water as today’s Lake Erie and Lake Ontario combined. Eventually, water pressure shattered the ice dam, releasing a torrential flood that flowed at 386 million cubic feet per second, 30 –50 miles per hour down the Trench, into the Spokane River Valley and out over the West Plains and beyond, eventually reaching the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Columbia River.

On the West Plains, some of the water gushed to the southwest towards the Snake-Columbia rivers confluence, carving out the CheneyPalouse Channeled Scablands. Another river cascaded west along the Spokane and Columbia rivers valleys and eventually emptied into Glacial Lake Columbia.

Between 17,000 and 14,500

COVER STORY

Photo by John McCallum

Eastern Washington University geosciences professor Dr. Chad Pritchard hopes his comprehensive study of the West Plains Aquifer produces a threedimensional model that will help with projecting the flow of water, and possible contaminants.

years ago, this ice dam formed, broke and reformed, leading to several large floods inundating the region. On the West Plains, these floods deepened the existing paleochannels and filled them with sediment materials, with more sediment covering the area once the floods ceased as the ice sheets retreated north.

With the departure of the ice sheets, the West Plains Aquifer lost it’s biggest and most important recharge source — Glacial Lake Columbia.

Drinking Ice Age water

Lack of a reliable recharge source has made the West Plains Aquifer an isolated, fragile system whose pieces scientists know, but whose interactions are still being discovered and understood. Besides the general lateral movement northward, water also flows vertically and laterally between layers via fractures between the basalt columns.

There is also interaction with the numerous lakes, creeks and wetlands in the area, although scientists and researchers are trying to understand how this works.

“Nobody knows how these lakes and other surface water bodies are connected,” EWU’s Pritchard said.

Most of the wells on the West Plains draw water from the Grande Ronde layer — the largest, deepest and most confined of the two basalt flows. Many of these wells go down hundreds of feet, and in some cases well over 1,000 feet.

slushy and the slushy machine broke about 16,000 years ago when Glacial Lake Columbia broke free and stopped recharging the basalt aquifers.”

Adding to the water depletion is an ever growing population on the West Plains that is bringing with it contamination of what water there is. Over the years, that contamination has come from leaking septic systems, construction sites and manufacturing businesses.

In 2017, contamination rose to a new level when polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS, were discovered in private wells around Fairchild Air Force Base and Airway Heights municipal wells. Known as “forever chemicals” because of their slow

perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFOA) and perfluorosulfonates (PFOS) “were key ingredients in a firefighting foam, as well as Teflon, Scotchgard and other consumer chemicals,” according to a presentation by Pritchard.

These chemicals have been linked to a number of health defects, “including high cholesterol, immune system and thyroid disorders and certain types of cancers.” PFOS and PFOA contamination was subsequently found in wells in the Palisades area east and northeast of Airway Heights, north of Interstate 90 all the way to the Spokane River.

Contamination levels ranged from single digits in some wells

Other wells draw from the shallower Wanapum layer, along with pockets of sand-rich portions of sedimentary interbeds in the Latah Formation — a meters thick layer between the two basalt flows. Then there are the paleochannels, which depending upon their fill materials, can either easily pass water through or impede it and appear to be recharged by runoff from the Four Lakes steptoes.

Research indicates there are at least five paleochannels, the largest being the Airway Heights Channel at almost 12 miles long, nearly 2 miles wide and about a half mile deep.

“There’s several smaller ones too,” Pritchard said. “We don’t have enough details, but there’s probably more.”

Depleting and contaminating Ice Age water

Researchers have carbon-14 dated water from a number of West Plains wells. According to the 2019 study, these ages range from 790 to over 10,000 years old, with the ages rising the deeper the well is.

With most of the potable water on the West Plains coming from the deeper Grande Ronde wells, the concern is water is being taken out faster than it is coming in. It’s a term some refer to as “groundwater mining,” and it has significant ramifications for life on the West Plains.

“That is the super scary part of this story,” Pritchard said. “We are slurping up on Pleistocene

Contributed by Washington Department of Ecology

The map above shows the areas of water sampling being conducted by Fairchild Air Force Base and the federal Environmental Protection Agency (Priority Sampling Area).

By John McCallum Stream correspondent

CHENEY

Baseball

Blackhawks, Cardinals take on post season action

Spring sports athletes in Cheney and Medical Lake have been busy with post season competition over the past week, with some preparing for more.

The Blackhawks made a good run at a berth in the 3A state tournament. Cheney opened with a 9-1 upset of top-seeded Ridgeline on May 4 in the District 8 tournament, breaking open a 1-1 tie with eight runs in the final three innings. Quinn Hubbs struck out six and gave up just three hits to the Falcons in the complete game win.

Three days later the Blackhawks

Boys soccer

Softball

found themselves on the short end of the scoring, managing just four hits in a 5-1 second-round loss to Southridge from Tri-Cities. Knocked into the loser-out round and needing to win two games to advance, the Blackhawks blanked fellow Greater Spokane League opponent University 7-0, with Hubbs giving up one hit and again striking out six in the complete game. Hubbs also had three hits and 2 RBI.

Needing a win over third-seeded Mt. Spokane to move on to state, Cheney saw their 5-4 lead evaporate as the Wildcats scored five runs in the bottom of the fifth and held on for a 9-6 win. Clayton Wood had three hits and scored two runs for the Blackhawks, who ended their season at 7-11 in the GSL, 10-14 overall.

The Blackhawks’ postseason ended abruptly with a pair of losses in the first two rounds of the District 8 tournament. Cheney lost 5-0 to eventual state-qualifier Ridgeline on May 2, followed by a heart-breaking 1-0 loss on the road to fourth-seeded Southridge on May 4.

Cheney ended the season in eighth place in the GSL at 2-6, 6-10 overall in head coach Noah Prophet’s first season.

Cheney saw its playoff run come to a quick end with back-to-back losses to Southridge and Kennewick in District 8 play. Seeded seventh, the Blackhawks fell 12-2 on the road to the second-seeded Suns, May 2.

Needing to win to stay alive, Cheney nearly accomplished that task against the sixth-seeded Lions. The Blackhawks rallied to take a 6-4 lead with five runs in the third and one in the fourth before Kennewick regained the lead with three in the bottom of the fifth.

Kennewick stretched that lead to 10-6 with three more in the sixth before Cheney mounted a fierce rally, scoring seven runs in the top of the seventh to go up 13-10. They couldn’t hold it, however, as the Lions scored four in their half of the inning to seal the win and end the Blackhawks season.

Mia Ashcroft led Cheney at the plate, going 3 for 5 with two runs and two RBI. Cheney ended their season at 12-6 in the GSL, 12-10 overall.

Track and field

The Blackhawks turned in solid performances at the District 8 SubDistrict 3A championships May 8 and May 10 at Central Valley High School. The Blackhawks men placed fourth overall with 86 points, trailing North Central, Mead and meet champion Mt. Spokane. The women were third with 93 points, trailing second-place Mt. Spokane by 15 points but well back of Mead’s 198.5 points.

A number of athletes qualified for competition May 17-18 at the District 8 Championships, with a shot at advancing to state competition the following weekend at Mt. Tahoma High School in Tacoma. Top-five finishes for the men were Tucker VanWormer (100, 200), Calvin Hilton (1,600, 3,200), Mason Stinson (300 hurdles), Alma Smith (pole vault), Eugene Hennequin (first in the long jump at 20 feet, 11 inches) and Feesochi Ogbozor (triple jump).

Top-five finishes for the women were Caitlin Shaffer (first in the 100 wheelchair in 36.31 seconds), Karlee Pope (800), Hannah Ward (1,600), Natalie Richards (first in the 100 hurdles with a personal record of 15.72, 300 hurdles), Joy Assonken (shot put, first in the javelin at 1230), Clara Browne (discus, javelin) and April Passey (long jump, triple jump).

MEDICAL LAKE

Baseball

The Cardinals run at a Northeast A League title and one of three berths to state came to a quick end with a 4-1 loss to Colville in the tournament’s second round. Colville got all they needed with two runs in the top of the first inning.

AJ Michaud took the loss, giving up just two earned runs in seven innings. Kyle Kipp went 1 for 3 with ML’s only RBI in the bottom of the fourth to pull the Cardinals to within 3-1.

Medical Lake ended their season

at 7-5 in the NEA, 11-11 overall.

Soccer

The third-seeded Cardinals came up two goals short of a trip to the state 1A tournament. Medical Lake opened with a 5-0 win over sixthseeded Newport on May 2, but experienced a setback three days later with a 3-2 road loss to secondseeded Riverside.

Needing two wins to advance, the Cardinals got the first with a 3-2 shootout win over fourth-seeded Lakeside on May 9 in a game played at Whitworth University. Back in the title game against Northwest Christian on May 11, the Cardinals took a 4-4 game into overtime where the Crusaders’ Lincoln Crockett notched the “golden goal” winner to send NWC to state and end Medical Lake’s season at 9-3 in the NEA, 13-8 overall.

Softball

The Cardinals were 4-9 in the NEA, 9-11 overall and owners of the fifth seed in league play as playoffs were slated to begin after press time. Medical Lake was schedule to open on the road at fourth-seed Lakeside, May 14.

Track and field

The Cardinals were slated to compete May 17-18 at the 1A District 7 championships at Riverside High School. At press time, Medical Lake male athletes ranked in the District 7 top-10 in their events were Hayden Luzier (200, 400, 800), Aiden Murillo (400, 800), Nakai Ornelas (1,600, 3,200), Silas Dutton (discus), Chuks Okemgbo (high jump), Garrett Montney and Dakotah Phillips (pole vault) and Yeta Holloway, Julian Contreras and Kaeden Kelson (long jump).

Cardinal women ranked in the top-10 were Autumn Trout (first in the 100, 200, 400, discus, javelin), Charde’ Luat (100), Adasha Gardner (300 hurdles, 400), Hazel Grubaugh (400), Mya Gardner (800, long jump, triple jump), Allison Appel (800, shot put), Kaylee Dennler (1,600, 3,200), Makalia McKenny (100 hurdles, 300 hurdles, long jump) and Chiche Okemgbo (first in the shot put, discus and triple jump, third in javelin).

AQUIFER

Continued from page 9

to over 500 parts per trillion (ppt) in others. One part per trillion is equivalent to a single drop of water in a container the size of 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

As to what level of PFAS is considered “safe,” that varies according to the type of chemical. Bri Brinkman, Department of Ecology technical adviser to the EWU’s water study, said originally in 2017, officials combined levels of PFOA and PFOS into one that indicated anything above 70 parts per trillion was considered hazardous — a level currently used by FAFB.

“They rescinded that last year because it was felt it was not protective of human health,” Brinkman said.

Federal agencies are still working on producing safety levels for the different types of PFAS. In 2021, the Washington State Board

of Health developed “State Action Levels (SALs)” for five PFAS with 10 ppt recommended for PFOAs and 15 ppt for PFOS.

A SAL is a level that is set to protect human health and is based on the best available science at the time.

Studying chemicals and groundwater

In spring 2023, Pritchard and EWU’s Geosciences Department was awarded a $450,000 state Department of Ecology grant to study the West Plains contamination and how groundwater moves through the region. The two-year study, administered by the city of Medical Lake, looks to eventually produce a three-dimensional model of the West Plains Aquifer that can be used to determine how water flows through the system and potentially reveal other PFAS sources.

“It gives us a deeper understanding of what is layered,” Brinkman said. “It will help

identify the flow paths and how PFAS’s move.”

Pritchard said the study will “identify the orientation of rock types that control groundwater flow.” Thirty locations will be sampled four times over the coming year for such conditions as temperature, acidity and the presence of contaminants such as PFAS.

“The study is measuring for 60 types (of PFAS),” Pritchard said. “There are over 2,000 types, made for different purposes and reasons.”

Besides residential and municipal wells, other locations to be sampled include Medical and Willow lakes, Deep Creek, Indian Canyon Creek, the Spokane River, several wetlands, the rain gauge at the NOAA facility on Rambo Road and the Medical Lake wastewater reclamation facility.

“The goal is to mimic reality to some respect,” Pritchard added. “This will be the most extensive

study of the West Plains Aquifer to date.”

These samples will be conducted spring through fall 2024. From August – early September, another 150 wells across the area will be sampled. Pritchard and Brinkman also hope private well owners who have had their wells sampled near Fairchild and some of the 308 sampled by the Environmental Protection Agency in the Palisades area will share their data for the study.

Once collected and analyzed, the data will be sent this fall to an environmental statistician at Rutgers University where it will be formatted, calibrated and turned into the 3D model, which will hopefully be available online in time for a final report on the project in June, 2025.

“Hopefully this will show us where the water is moving to and how fast it’s moving,” Pritchard said.

Photo by John McCallum

Looking east along Thorpe Road south of Airway Heights and across the Airway Heights paleochannel. The Spokane International Airport control tower in the background sits on second of five West Plains paleochannels — the Spokane Airport Paleochannel.

COMMUNITY

COMMUNITY

EVENTS

May 25 |Cheney Farmers Market 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Second & Fourth Saturday. Veterans Memorial Park, 612 4th Street. Opening day for the 2024 farmers market! For more, call 509-598-9631

May 25-27 | Cheney Civil War Reenactment – 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 25 & 26, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. May 27. Hear the crash and boom of the artillery. Feel the weight of the rifles and packs that the soldiers carried. Meet the fine ladies in their gorgeous dresses. Watch as battles are reenacted, and honor the 700,000 men who died during the war. Open to the public. $10 per adult, $5 per child (6-17) & seniors (55+) Free for 5 and under, veterans, and active duty (with ID). Location: From Cheney: Turn LEFT onto PINE stteet. Cross two sets of RR tracks. For more info www.spokanecivilwar.com.

June 8 |Airway Heights Summer Market 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Second Saturday.12703 W 14th Ave For more, call 509-995-8037

June 14 |Summer Moonlight Movies Dusk, Sunset Park. Migration will be playing on this Friday night. Bring your lawn chairs, blankets, and snacks and enjoy a movie under the moonlight. All movies are free and begin at dusk.

June 14 |Kick-off BBQ in the

Park- 5 – 10 p.m. Waterfront Park. There will be live music, a cornhole tournament, and fireworks. BBQ is $5 adult/$3 kids.

June 15 |Founders Day Parade and More- 10 a.m. Lake Street and Lefevre Street. The day will start with a parade and be followed up with music, kid fun, vendor market and more! For more, https:// medicallake.org/founders-day/

RECURRING

Airway Heights Summer Market 9

a.m. to 1 p.m., Second Saturday.12703 W 14th Ave For more, call 509-9958037

Cheney Farmers Market | 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Second & Fourth Saturday. Veterans Memorial Park, 612 4th Street.

Medical Lake Farmers Market | 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., First & Third Saturday. Located on Lake Street between Lefevre and Jefferson Streets.

Game Nights | 7:30 p.m., every Tuesday, B & B Theatres., 10893 W. Northern Quest Dr, Join every Tuesday for FREE game nights. Game Nights alternate between trivia and bingo each week. Free to play, no reservation or ticket required.

Seasoned Saints Potluck | 12 p. m. to 1:30 p. m., second Wednesday, Medical Lake Community Church,

211 N Washington St, Medical Lake. For age 55 and over. Bring a dish to share and enjoy food and fellowship. Free. For more, call 509-299-3286

Stitch & Sew Group| 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Tuesday weekly, The Arcadia Building, 12929 E. Sprague Ave. Monthly real estate investing support group. All are welcome. For more, call 509.768.4357.

Tyler Grange #610 Meeting | 7 to 8 p.m., third Tuesday of the month, Tyler Grange 23712 S. “B” St., Tyler. Monthly grange meeting, public is welcomed. For more, call Theresa, 509-714-5575.

Espanola Grange #698 Meeting | 9 a.m., second Sunday of the month, 23607 W. Manila Rd, Medical Lake. Monthly grange meeting, public is welcomed. For more, call Walt, 509299-5269.

LEGO Free Play | 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Saturdays, Various Libraries. Imagin and build with LEGO! Keep your engineering and problem-solving skills sharp using the library’s abundance of LEGO bricks. Families welcome. For more, scld.org

A Matter of Balance: Preventing Falls | 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Monday and Wednesday, Cheney Library. A Series of sessions for older adults who are concerned about fall. Learn strategies needed for setting activity goals. Free to public. For more, scld.org.

Cheney Library Book Club | 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., fourth Tuesday of the

month. This book club is led by volunteers and meets monthly. New members are welcome to join at any time. For the current month’s title, call the library at 509-893-8280. Free to public.

Wonder Wednesdays | 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., every Wednesday of the month, Medical Lake Library. Drop by the library to try something new. Come explore and wonder with us. Grades K-5. Free. For more, scld.org.

Family Play & Learn Storytime | 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., Various Libraries. Children ages 2-5 enjoy playing while learning during 30 mins of reading followed by 30 mins of activities. Free. For more, scld. org.

MUSIC & THE ARTS

May 18 | Howie King LIVE at Sirinya’s Thai Lounge – 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Sirinya’s Thai Lounge. Come and enjoy delicious thai food while enjoying a night of comedy.

May 18 | Anthem Road at Spokane Live– 8:00 p.m., Spokane Tribe Resort and Casino. NO COVER EVENT! Enjoy a night of good music and good people with no cover for entry.

May 25 | Sonic Groove at Spokane Live – 8:0 p.m., Spokane Tribe Resort and Casino. Join new local cover band Sonic Groove for a night

of fun music at Spokane Live. Sonic Groove is a four piece classic rock cover band.

June 1 | Soul Proprietor at Spokane Live – 8:0 p.m., Spokane Tribe Resort and Casino. Come enjoy a night of good music and good people! NO COVER EVENT! Enjoy this highenergy 10 -piece “Urban Soul” band playing the best of Funk, Blues, Motown, R&B and Classic Rock.

June 8 | Smash Mouth – 8:00 p.m., Spokane Tribe Resort and Casino LIVE! Tickets on sale and for more information, spokanetribecasino. com/

June 8 | Third Eye Blind – 8:00 p.m., Northern Quest Resort and Casino. Tickets on sale and for more information, northernquest.com

HEALTH & RECREATION

May 18 | Historic Downtown Cheney Walking Tour – 10 to 11:30 a.m. .Cheney Library. Durning a four-block stroll from the library, we are weaving the story of Cheney’s early boom days, the fire, the historic brick buildings that from our ever-changing downtown. The walk will end at the Mason Jar for refreshments and conversation. Adults, Free.

CIVIC & BUSINESS

RECURRING

Noon at The HUB, 12703 W 14th Ave

Cheney Kiwanis Club Meeting | Thursdays 7:00 am at Sessions Village Clubhouse

Medical Lake Kiwanis CLub Meeting | Second Wednesday each month,, Noon at The Pizza Factory 123 S Broad Street

If you have an upcoming meeting or event that you want added to the calendar, email the details to calendar@westplainsstream. com so we can include it in the next edition.

Airway Heights City Council | 5:30 p.m. weekly on Mondays, Court House, 13120 W 13th Ave. Public is welcome.

Cheney School Board | 6pm. on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, Cheney Highschool, 460 N 6th St.

Cheney City Council | 6 p.m., second and fourth Tuesday of each month, City Hall 609 2nd St. Public is invited.

Medical Lake School Board | 6:00 p.m., fourth Tuesday of the month. Location varies, for more visit mlsd. org

Medical Lake City Council | 6:30 p.m., first and third Tuesday of the month. Medical Lake City Hall, 124 Lefevre St.

Airway Heights Kiwanis Club Meeting | Fourth Wednesday,

Brought

Wonder

Wednesdays

at Medical Lake Library

For kids in grades K–5

Drop by try something new—an art technique, a coding experience, a building and engineering challenge, or something we haven’t thought of yet.

Explore & wonder with us!

MEDICAL LAKE LIBRARY

321 E Herb St Wednesdays in May, 3:30–4:30pm

The Pointe

Potatoes from the Spokane Hutterite Brethren

Ashley Humbird Stream Contributor

In the unincorporated community of Deep Creek, located a short two miles from Fairchild Air Force Base, the Spokane Hutterite Brethren resides.

On April 21st, local Facebook pages, Reddit forums, Instagram feeds, and news stations were flooded with stories of the ‘potato hill’ off of Wood Road and West Sprague. The messages were shared and viewed countless times across Eastern Washington and drew thousands of people to pick and select their own spuds.

Photos of potato hill didn’t do it justice, the hill was easily over four feet high in the center and upwards of 10 to 20 feet across in areas. The sheer scope of the quantity of potatoes was staggering and it seemed like everyone wanted to be able to say they attended the great potato hill of 2024.

Deanette Fisette, a fellow neighbor who lives in the Deep Creek area stopped by to select potatoes for her family members and neighbors. “My friend texted me a picture and said “It’s just down the road. Are you going to go?!” I was working, but after I was off I saw that it was just down the road and it is so cool!”

Fisette was excited that the Hutterites shared their surplus of potatoes with the community, “Anytime that people give things away for the better good, it says a positive statement about where we live and the neighborhood.” She plans on making a family favorite recipe called Pasties,

About and for West Plains area seniors

pronounced “pass-tee”, a traditional Michigan miners hand pie. She takes hamburger, carrots, onions, diced potatoes and salt and pepper and puts the mixture raw on half of a round pie crust. She then folds over half of the dough to make a type of calzone shape. Before baking in a pre-heated 350-degree oven, slice three slits in the top of the dough to allow steam to escape. Bake for about 45 minutes until done.

Local West Plains residents and the surrounding Spokane area were not the only communities to benefit from this charitable act.

Tarrah Stride drove about 100 miles one way from Ponderay, Idaho to select spuds to her liking from the potato hill. “I saw it on the news and social media and thought no I wasn’t going to drive down,” Stride explains about the decision to make the 200-mile round trip

If you would like to sponsor this section call 509-242-7752

excursion. “I thought, “I’m going to go down and get just a few” but then I decided to grab enough for my family and a few friends. I think it’s really great that instead of all these potatoes going to waste, they are opening it up and giving it to the community in this economy. It’s a beautiful way to give back.”

Stride will be canning quite a few of the potatoes she takes back home and will use the small ones as seed potatoes in her garden, adding another generation of this generous act. Her favorite way to serve potatoes for meal time is to keep them simple; diced potatoes tossed in a little olive oil and seasoned with rosemary and baked until fork tender.

The wide-reaching impact this one act of free potatoes had on the region is staggering. On one morning at 8:30, there were already over forty cars lined up

in an makeshift parking lot.

There was a sense of camaraderie as containers ranging from pickup beds, garbage bags, clothes baskets, five-gallon buckets and anything else that would contain spuds were filled to the brims. People were laughing and talking with phrases like “I didn’t think there would be this many” and “have you ever seen so many potatoes” were passed back and forth.

One gentleman who drove from Colville shared that he was gathering potatoes for the local food bank and for his son, whose family is food insecure.

According to reporting from Feeding America, for 2022 Stevens County had a 14.8% food insecurity rate with over 46,000 individuals being food insecure. Being able to provide potatoes

POTATOES, Page 16

Photos by Ashley Humbird

Multiple semi trailers of potatoes were dumped by the Hutterite colony back on April 21st creating a large hill of potatoes that were available to anyone from the community who wanted to come get some free potatoes. See

POTATOES

Continued from page 14 and a filling carbohydrate to families helps stretch their state food assistance even further.

For community members that do not receive supplemental food assistance, being able to stock up on potatoes will help offset the rising cost of groceries. Potatoes are one of the unique vegetables that can be enjoyed in numerous ways for the three different meals of a day. With summer break from school nearing, families will have to provide additional food for children that would normally either one or two meals while attending school.

For the Hutterites, being able to share this produce is more than just offloading excess potatoes that are no longer needed due to inflation and buyers not being able to purchase the projected season harvest. The potatoes were primarily Russets with Yukon Golds and a few other varieties mixed in.

“We are very glad we could help people out and give them to the community.” One of the members from the Hutterite colony, Isaish, was helping to deliver and unload the full semi-trucks. “I’m shocked! I thought they would go bad, this is amazing!”

The Hutterites live a life with deep religious commitment, tracing their origins back to the 16th century Radical Reformation in Europe. The group was born from the teaching of Jakob Hutter, and at the time was called Anabaptist Christians, and embraced a communal lifestyle. They communicate in Hutterisch, a German dialect, and dress in simple and modest attire.

The Spokane Hutterite colony is just one of over 550 colonies that are located throughout the plains of North America; from as far north as northern Alberta, Canada to a colony near the South Dakota and Nebraska state border. There are over 50,000 Hutterite members in North America.

Today, Hutterites are known for their farming and business operations. The Spokane colony produces much of the region’s corn and potatoes each year and provides locally bred and raised Angus cattle among other farming ventures.

This simple act of giving that speaks to their belief of caring for one another both within their family colony and with the surrounding community.

Please share recipes and pictures of the meals that have been prepared using the potatoes to our Facebook page at West Plains Stream.

Photo by Ashley Humbird

Celebrating small businesses: Share your favorite to enter the library’s prize drawing

By Crystal Miller, librarian Spokane County Library District

May is National Small Business Month, a celebration that promotes the entrepreneurial spirit found in our communities and recognizes the small business owners who play a crucial role in strengthening local economies. Spokane County Library District (SCLD) is celebrating small businesses with programs and a prize drawing. To enter the drawing, simply visit Cheney Library (610 First St) and/or Medical Lake Library (321 E Herb St) and fill out the quick form, telling us which small business in the community you love and why. Each library will hold a drawing from the submitted forms, and the winners receive a gift card to their chosen local business. The prize is sponsored by the Friends of Library. You can also participate in two

Smokey Bear Reading Challenge: Honoring 80 Years of Wildfire Prevention

By Gwendolyn Haley, Librarian Spokane County Library District

Eighty years ago, Smokey Bear emerged as the leading voice for wildfire prevention, marking a milestone that transcends mere celebration—it underscores the enduring importance of our forests and wildfire prevention.

To commemorate Smokey’s 80th birthday, Spokane County Library District (SCLD) is teaming up with the USDA Forest Service to introduce the Smokey Bear Reading Challenge on the Beanstack reading tracker. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill reading challenge—it’s an invitation to explore literature shedding light on wildfire prevention and

other communities in Spokane County: Deer Park and Millwood (Argonne Library). Libraries are accepting forms through May 22, during open hours. Prize drawings will be held May 23–25.

Sign up for workshops and tours that highlight local, small businesses and organizations. The “Historic Downtown Cheney Walking Tour” is a four-block stroll starting at Cheney Library on Saturday, May 18, at 10am. Hear the story of Cheney’s early boom days, the fires, and the historic brick buildings that form our everchanging downtown. We end our walk at The Mason Jar for refreshments and conversation. This walk is for adults and led by Joan Mamanakis, Director of the Southwest Spokane County Historical Society. Registration is required and you can sign up at www.scld.org/cheney-tour.

Try out “Hatha Yoga” with The Wellness Vault on Monday, May 20, at 6pm at Cheney Library. The class goes through guided postures to warm up the body, while also holding poses and doing breathwork. The focus will be on strength and

environmental stewardship.

To participate, sign up on Beanstack anytime in May through October 2024 at https:// scld.beanstack.org/reader365 and commit to reading three books on wildfire prevention or environmental conservation.

Whether you read from our curated booklists or select your own titles, each page you turn brings you closer to earning four activity badges. Once you’ve completed the challenge, head into the library to claim some exclusive Smokey Bear swag to show your dedication to a safer, greener future. There are three SCLD libraries in the West Plains that you can visit to find books and get Smokey Bear swag: Airway Heights Library (1213 S Lundstrom St), Cheney Library (610 First St), and Medical Lake Library (321 E Herb St).

Amid these festivities, we hope you embrace the heart of Smokey’s message: personal responsibility.

flexibility as well as relaxation and mindfulness. This class is good for Yogis of all levels to help improve stability and focus. Register at www.scld.org/hathayoga.

If you’re a small business owner or entrepreneur, you can gain skills and knowledge at the library to help your business grow and thrive.

During “Leverage Your Social Media for Consistent Conversions,” discover how social media marketing has created opportunities for businesses to reach more people with less cost than traditional channels. Learn how to go “viral” and what that means for a small business, how to avoid being overwhelmed and making mistakes that erode your credibility and lose you clients, how to keep up to speed with ever-changing marketing technologies, and how to create a brand that is loved, respected, and easily monetized.

This online business workshop takes place on Thursday, June 20, at 12pm and requires registration. You can sign up at www.scld. org/score-business.

You can do this by taking Smokey’s Pledge, a solemn vow to play our part in preventing wildfires. “Only You Can Prevent Wildfires” serves as a poignant reminder of the collective duty we share to safeguard our forests and natural landscapes—particularly important here in Spokane County, where the devastating impacts of wildfires hit close to home.

As we celebrate Smokey Bear, I urge you to reflect on the legacy of vigilance and stewardship that he embodies. Together, let’s press forward in the battle against wildfires, ensuring the preservation of our precious wilderness for generations to come.

As we honor Smokey Bear’s 80 years of tireless service and dedication with this reading challenge, we are also seeking a future where our forests remain vibrant, resilient, and free from the threat of wildfires.

West Plains Safety Alliance Awards

By Nina Culver Stream contributor

The West Plains Safety Alliance, a collaboration between more than 25 companies, agencies, municipalities and Tribal governments, recently honored four West Plains Champions of Children for their work in the community.

The non-profit organizations that each received a check for $500 are Kingdom Wrestling, Communities in Schools of Spokane County, Martin Hall Juvenile Detention Center and Youth Against Dating and Domestic Abuse.

Alise Mnati, grant administrator for the Airway Heights Police Department and the City of Airway Heights, helps organize the Safety Alliance and brings partners together to manage grants that benefit the community. The Safety Alliance has helped get grant funding to pay for school family nights, community food drives, internet safety classes for students and a walk for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons of WA.

The Safety Alliance was founded by the Airway Heights Police Department in 2020, when Mnati first started writing grants part-time. She was hired as a full-time grant administrator a little over a year ago. In addition to writing the grants, she makes sure the grants are distributed properly. “Once we get a grant, I have to help manage it,” she said.

Mnati said it became clear when she first started doing grant writing for the city that they would be more successful at getting grants if there were community partners. “We are a very small community,” she said. “We’re too tiny to compete against big cities.”

The city and other organizations involved take turns being the grantee depending on who is giving the grant and what it is for. “We look

at the budget and determine as a group where it goes,” she said.

So far the effort has been successful. Mnati said she estimates organizations in the communities of Airway Heights, Cheney and Medical Lake have received more than $3.5 million in grant funding since last year.

Not every alliance member will receive money from each grant. The grants are written for a specific purpose and/ or project in mind. But Mnati said that doesn’t stop the other agencies from being involved.

“Every time I write a grant, they write letters of support, even if they’re not getting the funding,” she said. “Not every agency fits a grant scope.”

The four organizations honored with the Champions of Children award are examples of organizations that have fully supported grant requests for others but have not yet received a grant for themselves, Mnati said. She said the cash awards

were given in part to show support for their community efforts.

Kingdom Wrestling is a community youth wrestling program hosted by Heights Church in Airway Heights and the award will help fund that program. Martin Hall needed new instruments for its music program, Mnati said, and Youth Against Dating and Domestic Abuse plans to use its award to fund a scholarship prize given in an upcoming essay contest. Communities in Schools of Spokane County has a site coordinator at participating schools in Spokane County that help provide necessities such as food, clothing and school supplies to students in need. Their award money will be used to help students in the Cheney School District.

The Safety Alliance also honored Joey Alwine, the manager of the Airway Heights Wal-Mart store, for his community support. Alwine,

who was recently transferred to a store in north Spokane, has been a longtime supporter of the Safety Alliance and the community, Mnati said.

“We wanted to make sure we recognized him,” she said. “He went above and beyond. We’re going to miss him a lot.”

Every year Alwine would donate $5,000 to the police department's Shop with First Responders event. He also approached Mnati about making a donation to wildfire recovery efforts last summer and she pointed him toward Re*Imagine Medical Lake, which has been handling much of the donations being distributed to community members. At first Alwine was considering a $20,000 donation from his store, but after he learned about all the needs of those who had lost their homes, he went bigger, arranging for a $150,000 donation.

“He went to the (Wal-Mart) Foundation,” Mnati said. “He went to corporate and advocated for that.”

Mnati said she enjoys finding grants that will help fund projects in the community. She said it takes work to find the right fit between need and funding source. “You can’t just write for every grant,” she said. “It’s matchmaking. It’s fun. When you get one it feels really good.”

An effort is also made not to compete against other organizations offering the same or similar services. “We’re going to go after money to support services we already have and expand capacity,” she said.

Mnati said she’s currently working on a project to get funding for a domestic violence victim support caseworker specific to the West Plains, since some people find it difficult to find transportation to Spokane.

While that’s a big ask, the Alliance has also done things as simple as providing buses to transport local students to a youth summit being held in Spokane. “Sometimes it’s the little things and sometimes it’s the big things,” she said.

Contributed Photo West Plains Safety Alliance recognizes community members at their annual meeting . Shown above is City of Airway Heights Grant Administrator Alise Mnati, Police Chief Brad RIchmond and Walmart Store manager Joey Alwine.

Airway Heights public safety levy measure to appear on August ballot

By John McCallum Stream correspondent

The city of Airway Heights is asking voters to help fund law enforcement needs by approving a ballot measure to increase property taxes slated for the August primary election.

Ordinance C-1030, passed unanimously by the City Council at an April 29 special session, places a “levy lid lift” on the August ballot. If approved, the city’s regular property tax assessment would be lifted by $1 per $1,000 of assessed property value, bringing the city’s share of property taxes to a maximum $2.39 per $1,000 of assessed value for collection in 2025.

The levy lid lift would remain in place for the next five years through 2030, when that year’s levy amount “will be used as the basis to calculate subsequent levy limits,” per the text of the ordinance. According to the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) chapter 84.36, qualifying seniors, veterans and others would be exempt.

“So, this is more of a permanent levy lid lift?” Councilman Davin Perry asked at the April 29 meeting in regards to the new 2030 limit.

City Manager Albert Tripp confirmed the rate, if approved in August, would be the city’s permanent limit to base future levies going forward.

“The thinking behind that is the services we’re talking about providing in terms of public safety and otherwise, those needs won’t stop after a six-year period,” Tripp said. “They will continue on a goforward basis.”

The proposed levy is another part of a public safety services discussion started by the council over two years ago. The conversations centered on the

rapid rate of population growth in Airway Heights and the need to provide the ability for public service entities such as police and fire departments to keep pace.

The city undertook a number of steps to determine what the needs were of each department. The council commissioned a public safety assessments study as part of those steps.

“The assessment included a robust public outreach effort that revealed the community’s desire for more (police) officers, firefighters and support staff,” Tripp said.

The first step towards improving public safety needs took place in August, 2023 when 75.69% of voters approved Proposition 2, which authorized the city to issue up to $8 million in general obligation bonds maturing over 21 years and “levy annual excess property taxes” to repay the bonds. The bonds enabled the city to acquire property and begin construction soon on a new fire station along with other public safety needs, including hiring additional firefighters.

That only addressed part of the problem.

“Another element related to law enforcement the city was not able to make progress in that regards,” Tripp said.

Airway Heights has more than doubled in population over the last 24 years. According to Worldpopulationreview.com, the city grew steadily from about 4,500 in 2000 to 7,700 in 2011, flattening out over the next six years to 8,100 in 2017.

From 2017 to 2020, the population grew by over 25% to 10,800. After a short dip in 2021, it has risen steadily since then to 10,894 in 2024.

In a presentation by Airway Heights Police Chief Brad Richmond at the council’s March 25 study session, while the department has grown over the past five years, it has not kept pace with the calls for service the increasing population has generated. In 2019, there were 9,223, a number that grew to 14,008 one year later and 21,519 in 2023.

As of March, officers had

responded to 4,364 calls for service, while the department’s three detectives — the same number as in 2019 — were handling 37 major crimes investigations, 54% of which involved rape, child molestation or child torture requiring “an average of 120 man-hours to complete each investigation and send to the prosecutor.”

Richmond also noted the department is now down seven officers, with one recently leaving for employment with the Eastern Washington University Police Department. If approved, the levy will allow the department to hire one investigator this year and four patrol officers in 2025 – 2026.

Richmond said the lack of personnel and ever increasing complexity of law enforcement has put the Airway Heights department in a reactive mode, something that can “stifle creativity, innovation, and proactive approaches” to keeping the community safe while also reducing the effectiveness of the services.

“With this ordinance and with this levy lid lift, initially we are adding four additional police officers and other services to Airway Heights, which is going to be a huge plus and gigantic relief on Chief Richmond and the guys over there,” Councilman and Council President Larry Bowman said in voting for the ordinance on April 29.

Council also approved three residents to serve on a committee writing the measure’s “For” statement for the August ballot. Jurisdictions with measures in the local voters’ pamphlet are responsible for appointing members of “For” and “Against” committees, which are composed of no more than three members.

Four Airway Heights residents submitted applications to be on the For Committee. Council approved three by chronological order of their application: Mark Szacik, Tamara Jean Stevenson and Jacob Powers. The fourth, Mable Dunbar, was the last to apply and not selected, however, Tripp said she could work in consultation with the three appointed members on the statement.

No one applied to be on the Against Committee.

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Commissioner outlines PFAS remediation plan

By Nina Culver Stream Contributor

Spokane County Commissioner Al French, who represents the West Plains, has been presenting a plan that he purports will solve the issue of PFAS contamination of wells, but those who have heard his plan are skeptical.

In short, French’s plan calls for taking eight million gallons of water a day from the Spokane River and piping it to every home on the West Plains. According to a PowerPoint presentation prepared by French, the Spokane Valley Water Reclamation Center produces 8 million gallons of treated wastewater per day that is dumped into the Spokane River. He proposes then removing that 8 million gallons per day at a yet to be built well site in the Seven Mile area and then piping it to the West Plains.

Though testing is still underway, many wells in the area of Fairchild Air Force Base and the Spokane International Airport have tested positive for chemicals used in aircraft firefighting foam for decades.

John Hancock, president of the West Plains Water Coalition, said French was at a meeting in April between the Friends of Palisades and the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office focused on crime in the neighborhood when neighbors began asking French about the PFAS issue. French then scheduled a follow-up meeting to discuss PFAS contamination on April 23, but only the Friends of Palisades and Water Coalition members were invited, Hancock said.

Hancock said the plan to distribute municipal water on the West Plains isn’t a new idea. The City of Airway Heights actually proposed pumping a million gallons of water a day from the Spokane River two years ago, but the Department of Ecology has yet to officially respond to the plan, he said.

To say that he and the nearly 40 others at the meeting were skeptical about French’s plan would be putting it mildly, Hancock said.

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“The biggest laugh of the evening from the audience was when he said he’d have it done by next summer,” he said. “All these alphabet agencies would have to be in on Al’s plan. There are a lot of problems with the plan that he hasn’t explained.”

Hancock said he finds it notable that French has been on the Spokane International Airport board of directors for years, during the time when the airport actively hid the results from PFAS testing in 2017 that showed high contamination in some areas of airport property. French is currently running for reelection to his commissioner seat. “To me, it’s about candidate Al covering up for commissioner Al,” Hancock said.

French did not appear to be speaking as a County commissioner during his presentation, Hancock said. “It was clear that it was candidate Al speaking, not commissioner Al,” he said.

Mary Kuney, chair of the board of county commissioners, said she has not seen French’s presentation and it is not something that has been discussed or approved by the

Wyatt Phillips, a sophomore at Medical Lake High School, works with a crew to put out the weekly Cardinal Corner News video to his fellow students. He’s currently taking classes in digital design and mutimedia production and is using those skills to both educate and entertain students in his school. The videos are posted to YouTube each Friday and then shown in each classroom by teachers.

“There’s a lot of creativity in coming up with stories,” he said. “I’ve always enjoyed filming and cameras and editing.”

In addition to editing the Cardinal Corner News, Phillips is also involved in the Future Business Leaders of American and is on the golf team each spring.

ON THAT NOTE

county commissioners as a group. French did not respond to several requests for comment.

Chad Pritchard, an environmental and geotechnical geologist and professor at Eastern Washington University, has been studying PFAS contamination on the West Plains for years, including how the underground water in the area flows.

Pritchard attended the meeting where French presented his plan and said he sees several problems with it. First is the feasibility of withdrawing eight million gallons of water daily from the Spokane River, which will impact river flows, particularly in the summer. Second is whether or not it is possible to get the water rights to that much water, he said.

“It’s a tricky situation trying to get those water rights,” he said. “They discharge to the Spokane River and Al French is saying that they have rights to the water because they’re putting it in.”

Pritchard said the geology of the West Plains will make it nearly

Melanie Potter, who has lived in Medical Lake since 1999, has been a member of the Medical Lake Kiwanis Club for six years. She’s currently in her second one-year term as president. She and her “very small but mighty group” of about 14 members offer a full slate of community events each year. The club hosts a senior Valentine’s Day diner, pumpkin carving at Lakeland Village and turkey bingo every fall. They also help Re*Imagine Medical Lake put on the annual Founders Day celebration and just hosted their 42nd annual Easter egg hunt in Waterfront Park. Potter, a longtime agent with Windermere Real Estate, has two grown children.

impossible to pipe water to every home. “That I don’t believe would ever happen,” he said. “There’s too much basalt and it would be too expensive.”

The Washington State Department of Ecology recently tested hundreds of private wells located outside the testing area set up by Fairchild. Fifty-six percent of the wells, 172 of the 307 tested, had levels of PFAS above drinking water limits. Another 44 wells (14 percent) had PFAS contamination below the drinking water limits. Another 91 wells had no contamination.

Ecology has contracted with Culligan of Spokane to provide free drinking water to homes with PFAS contamination.

The levels of PFAS that are acceptable in drinking water has also changed. On April 10, the Environmental Protection Agency set new limits for six types of PFAS chemicals. Allowable levels for PFOA and PFOS are four parts per trillion and the allowable levels of PFHxS, PFNA and HFPO-DA are 10 parts per trillion. Those limits are much lower than the previous limits

and come after continuing research points to the chemicals causing some types of cancer, thyroid issues, blood pressure problems and other health effects.

Hancock said he’s grateful for the response by Ecology, including providing free drinking water. “These results for homeowners in the airport PFAS plume are a huge step forward in understanding the extent of contamination in the northeast portion of the West Plains,” he said. “For many people, it’s been unimaginable that groundwater pollution could travel so far.”

Homeowners who would like to submit their well test results can do so by emailing WestPlainsPFAS@ ecy.wa.gov. Those who have contaminated water will receive free water and/or a point-ofuse filtration system capable of removing PFAS contamination.

Ecology will host a public meeting along with representatives from the EPA on May 21 to discuss the water sampling results. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the HUB, located at 12703 E. 14th Ave. in Airway Heights.

Melanie Potter

Student of the Month Citizen of the Month

Wyatt Phillips