2025 July Stream by westplainsstream

Airway Heights Fire Department moves into new Fire Station

By Nina Culver Stream contributor

The Airway Heights Fire Department is operating out of a new station after years of making do in a facility that was too small and missing many important features, including a decontamination room.

The doors of the new station at 1149 S. Garfield were opened to the public on July 4 for an open house to show off the facility to the public. People came and toured the station while families snacked on hot dogs and kids climbed inside the fire engines.

The station is housed in a portion of a building that will eventually include the police department, municipal court and City Hall

offices. The remainder of the building is mostly an empty shell with a concrete floor, awaiting funding to renovate.

The Airway Heights Fire Department, which operates with a mix of paid employees and volunteers, has only one station to cover a 7.5 square mile area. The old station, located at 1208 S. Lundstrom Street, was a cramped affair. The truck bay was so small and the fire trucks parked so close together that the trucks had paint and body damage from open doors banging into them.

“It had been remodeled probably 10 times,” Fire Chief Mitch Metzger said of the 1960's fire station. “The overall size of the fire station wasn’t big enough for our equipment.”

Firefighters need to clean and decontaminate their bunker gear and equipment after a fire and the old station did not have space for that. “It just laid on the floor of the bays and we’d hose them off and do the best we could,” Metzger said.

There was also no space for training. The office of the department’s training officer was a tiny closet with a hole cut in the wall for a window. The sleeping quarters, really just a room full of bunk beds, were upstairs, necessitating a long walk to the engine bay for calls in the middle of the night. The kitchen was very small.

“Studio apartments had bigger kitchens than our fire station did,” Metzger said.

The new station fixes all those shortcomings. It has special decontamination rooms, including showers, complete with ventilation to the outside. There’s a large training room that will be shared with the police department once their portion of the building is complete. The kitchen is large and spacious, with two stoves and three refrigerators. There are also eight small individual bedrooms where on-shift firefights can sleep, located down a hallway just a few steps from the engine bay.

The department’s EMS supplies are now housed in their own room instead of stacked on shelves hung above the fire engines in the truck bay. Another new feature is a laundry room with two washers and one dryer, with one of the washers reserved only for dirty gear. There’s a large day room for firefighters off the kitchen that is spacious enough for eight comfortable chairs. The old day room was so small that four recliners could only fit if they touched each other, Metzger said. Though the station is so new that most of the art hasn’t yet been hung on the walls, there is one element of the old station there. A large square table sits in the firefighter work area that was carefully carried over from the old station. It’s where firefighters ate their meals and did

Photo by Nina Culver

Airway Heights Fire Departments Engine 1 parked outside the new Airway Heights Fire Station at 1149 S Garfield Rd which officially opened on July 4th.

Photo by Nina Culver

Airway Heights Fire Chief Mitch Metzger celebrating the additional space in the new home for the Fire Department. Their new location is quadruple the space which includes space to provide training, expanded sleeping quarters, and a separate space for firefighters to clean up and have meals together without being in the garage bays.

their training, the one spot they could gather. It couldn’t be left behind, Metzger said.

“This is where everything happened for 20 years,” he said.

It's been apparent for years that the department needed a new station, Metzger said. The city started discussing passing a bond to pay for a new station in 2023. A few months later, Metzger spotted the building on Garfield, which had been built in 2019 but never occupied.

“It was just a shell, basically,” he said. “Once we passed the bond, we were able to purchase the building.”

Purchasing and renovating the building was cheaper and faster than building a new fire station from scratch, Metzger said. Construction started on the station improvements last summer. “We did have to upgrade the structure,” he said.

The city has the funds to design the improvements to the rest of the building, but there is no funding to pay for the additional renovations yet, Metzger said. The city will be looking for grants and other funding opportunities, he said.

The city’s old fire station is for sale and money that comes from that will be used to help renovate the rest of the building, Metzger said. The building does have enough offices for the city’s planning and building department and their old building has already been sold.

The new station also has amenities that will benefit the city and the public in the future. The station has an exam room where they can help people who walk in off the street with a health issue. There is also a large weight and exercise room that will be shared with the police department. “We designed with the future in mind,” Metzger said. “We put a lot of thought into how can we share this space.”

The new station is an important part of the department being able to respond to the rising number of calls. The number of calls the department receives annually has increased by 172% over the last decade, driven by the expanding population.

Metzger is grateful that his department has a station that was designed for the next several decades. “This was a big step for us,” he said.

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GUARDIAN PLAN GUARD

AH council approves transportation plan, park water supply changes

By John McCallum Stream contributor

A six-year list of proposed transportation work, project change orders grant funding were some of the items the Airway Heights City Council took up in meetings from mid-June to early July.

Planning future projects

At its July 7 meeting, council unanimously approved the city’s 6-Year Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) 2025-2031. If all 16 projects were realized, the estimated cost of the plan would exceed $63.84 million.

Assistant Public Works Director Steve Flude said the plan identifies needed transportation projects. It is one of the documents the city must submit when it applies for state or federal funding.

“Our hope is that we’ll eventually get money for all of those projects and build them,” Flude said.

Flude said the new list is smaller than previous ones as department staff identified projects needing additional scoping or more consideration. Those projects were removed from the new TIP, but remain on the Capital Improvement Projects list in the Comprehensive Plan.

“They (TIP projects) are pretty well dispersed throughout the city,” Flude said.

Projects ranged in size from the $21 million U.S. Highway 2 Boulevard Safety/Multimodal Phase 3, projected for 2027, to the $200,000 annual sidewalks program for work on sidewalks and bicycle paths on various sections of city streets. Most projects are in the $2 million – $4.6 million range, with some listed for possible construction in 2026-2027 already receiving grant or other funding, such as the nearly $3.89 million roundabout on U.S. 2 at Garfield Road and the almost $3.63 million roundabout on U.S. 2 at Craig Road, both slated for 2026.

Council approves reclaimed water connections

At its June 16 regular meeting, the City Council unanimously approved two change orders connecting three northside Airway Heights parks to the city’s reclaimed water system.

The connections are part of the reclaimed water line installation project awarded to DW Excavating and funded by a state Department of Ecology grant received in March, 2024. DW Excavating was the low bidder on the project at just short of $1.288 million.

The project places reclaimed water pipe along 6th Avenue from Ketchum Drive to King Street as well as reclaimed water lines on South Ketchum Drive for 800 lineal feet (LF) south of West 6th Avenue to Aspen Grove Park. Reclaimed water pipe is also placed on Campbell Street for 800 LF north of West 6th to Cleveland Park, and on Lawson Street for 500 LF north of West 6th to Traditions Park.

Laying the new piping was originally one contract, but because of scheduling requirements for the 6th Avenue Road project, Ecology agreed to split the line work into two separate projects, the first laying the pipe along 6th and the second connecting the parks.

The total cost of the change order connecting the three parks is $695,994. It includes $560,994 for project materials and labor, $84,000 for construction administration by the city’s project consultant Century West — which was approved by council via a second change order — and $51,000 for construction contingencies.

Previous change orders raised the project cost to $1,346,5009.15. The proposed change order would increase that to $1,907,503.40.

Council approves climate planning element, grant

Also at the June 16 meeting, council unanimously approved the proposed scope and budget for the Greenhouse Gas & Vehicle Miles Sub Element of the city’s Comprehensive Plan update along with approval for applying to the state Department of Commerce for receiving additional grant funding to complete the work.

The Planning Department has wrapped up the first phase in upgrading the city’s Comprehensive Plan to include adding climate resiliency elements. The next phase involves setting greenhouse gas and

vehicle emission reductions targets and strategies.

Some strategies discussed by department staff and the Planning Commission include incorporating pedestrian-friendly elements into required subdivision plans and multifamily housing, environmentally-friendly elements included in rejuvenation plans for U.S. Highway 2 and ensure Spokane Transit Authority access within onequarter mile of multifamily and large-scale residential centers.

The city has contracted with Seattle-based Sustainable Solutions Group to help with the climate elements work. The state planning grant funding was done over two biennial budget cycles, with the city receiving $230,000 in the 2023-2025 cycle.

The city is now applying for $170,000 over the 2025-2027 cycle to complete the work.

Council sets July 14 as “Drey” Day

At its July 7 meeting, the City Council unanimously adopted a resolution setting July 14 as the day to honor deceased Airway Height

resident Quindrey “Drey” Trevon Davis Murphy for his contributions to the city and the region.

Murphy graduated from Cheney High School, playing in the Blackhawks Band, and went on to study percussion performance at Eastern Washington University. After graduation he taught middle and high school band at Northwest Christian School, formerly Bartell Music Academy, as well as performed in several area musical groups in a music career that included a variety of genres such as gospel, jazz, soul, rock, and classical.

Murphy passed away suddenly on Oct. 14, 2023 following a leukemia diagnosis. His mother, Erica Davis, approached the city recently about designating July 14, 2025 as “Drey’s Day” to honor his lifetime and lasting influence.

Quail Run park impact fees approved

At its June 23 study session, council unanimously approved a recommendation from the Park Advisory Board to allow the developer of a 46-lot subdivision to pay park impact mitigation fees instead of setting aside land for park

construction. The arrangement is allowed under state law and Airway Heights municipal code.

In an email, Parks and Recreation Director JC Kennedy said the development will be assessed $2,775 per lot. With 46 lots available for use, the total amount payable to the city is $127,650.

According to Washington’s Municipal Research and Services Center, park mitigation impact fees can be used for “new or expanded public capital facilities that will directly address the increased demand for services created by that development.” Facilities include publicly-owned streets, roads, pedestrian and bicycle paths; publicly-owned parks, open spaces and recreation facilities; school facilities and fire protection facilities.

Kennedy said he was not certain who would be paying the Hunters Crossing impact fees. According to preliminary plat documents, the owner/developer of the subdivision is listed as Airway Heights, LLC, with a Liberty Lake post office box. Homes at Hunters Crossing are listed on the D.R. Horton Home Builders website.

Council denies damage claims

At the July 7 meeting, council voted unanimously to deny two separate claims for damages stemming from utility issues that exceeded $2,000 and therefore prompted council review.

Otto Investments submitted a dispute on March 19, 2025 for $8,737.93 for a higher-than-normal water bill originally submitted and denied by the city on Nov. 18, 2024. The March submittal included additional information documenting costs.

Airway Heights Public Works Department confirmed the high bill stemmed from water leaking from a broken water line and that property owners were aware of the issue for at least a month before repairing it. Department staff noted the city is not responsible for fixing or paying for leaks on private property.

The second water bill dispute was from Spokane Kart Racing (SKR), who submitted a dispute on March 20, 2025 for $3,515. SKR stated a curb stop valve had been leaking for the 2023 and 2024 racing season, and that they had replaced the value and rectified the leak.

COVER STORY

Medical Lake Farmers Market Continues to Expand, plans cooking competition for August 2nd

By Nina Culver Stream contributor

The Medical Lake Farmers Market is having its best year yet, signing up more than 40 vendors to sell everything from fresh produce to crafts on the first and third Saturday of each month in June through October.

The market, tucked into the end of Lake Street off Lefevre Street, sprawls along the edge of Coney Island Park on the shore of Medical Lake. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. each market day, where people can find flowers, honey, crafts, jewelry, baked goods, jams, plants and more. Each market day is different, as not every vendor is there each time.

The market launched four years ago, the brainchild of market manager Erin Bishop and Gerri Johnson of Re*Imagine Medical Lake. “We just got to talking one day about how nice it would be to have a little farmers market there,” Bishop said. “The need was obvious to us.”

Their discussions came during the COVID-19 pandemic, when supply lines were in disarray. There’s only one grocery store in Medical Lake and it’s a distance from the neighborhood where the market is held. “Medical Lake really is kind of a food desert,” Bishop said. “We wanted to provide something within walking distance.”

Bishop, who owns The Cannery and sells jams and baked goods at the market, got to work lining up vendors for the market she and Johnson dreamed of. “We started with three of four vendors for our very first market,” she said. “It was pouring rain and cold as all get out.”

The market has done nothing but grow ever since. Bishop curates the vendor list so no one category is over represented by vendors. “We try not to oversaturate it,” she said. “We are excited by the variety. A lot of people say it’s a one stop shop for them.”

One of the main goals of the market is to support local farmers and food producers, Bishop said. It allows them to market their

business to the local community.

“We just really want to infuse the local economy with support for those,” she said.

The vendors are a mix of new arrivals this season and several who have been there since the beginning. “It’s a makers market,” she said. “Everything is handmade, handcrafted or locally produced.”

Several, but not all, of the vendors accept WIC and SNAP and those that do have a small sign indicating this hanging at their booth.

The market used to be down the road a short distance, but Bishop said they moved it this year to where Lake Street ends so the market could have the lake as a backdrop. One resident has already talked about paddling in a kayak from his home

across the lake to shop at the market, Bishop said.

Heather Delanoy, owner of Wild Sage Farms, is in her third season at the market. She also sells her fresh produce and potted plants at the Kendall Yards and Liberty Lake farmers markets, as well as selling Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) boxes to subscribers weekly. On a recent market day she was selling fresh eggs, herbs and produce in addition to fruit and vegetable plant starts, including strawberries, tomatoes and peppers, that people could take home and plant themselves.

“I love it,” Delanoy said of the Medical Lake Farmers Market. “It is just growing.”

She also spends her growing season selling her produce to 24 local restaurants and wholesale customers. “It’s just my goal to feed my community,” she said. “It just makes me happy.”

Blue Truck Treats, which sells cookies and candy, is a new addition to the market. Owners

Christina Burke-Adame and Dale Haas brought their wares to this year’s Founders Day celebration in Medical Lake in June and liked the experience so much they signed up for the farmers market.

“We’ve already had people who saw us at Founders Day come back and buy more,” Burke-Adame said. They are only in Medical Lake on the first Saturday of every month because they’ve already committed to several special events and several other farmers markets, including the ones in Millwood, Hillyard and Emerson-Garfield. “That’s pretty much all we sell at,” she said. “The farmers markets are our bread and butter.”

On a recent Saturday the couple was selling mainly some of their dozens of flavors of Chewies candies, including raspberry, pina colada and watermelon, plus several of their caramel varieties. The caramels come in flavors like bananas foster, apple, espresso and peppermint.

The couple joined the market mid-season and were pleased with

Photo by Nina Culver

Heather Delanoy the owner of Wild Sage Farms is in her third season at the Medical Lake Farmers Market with her fresh produce and potted plants. While based in the West Plains, she also sells at the Kendall Yards and Liberty Lake Farmers Markets.

the number of customers on their first day. “We already did much better than we anticipated,” she said. “This is fun. Really nice people.”

Just a couple booths down was My Dad’s Jam. “Only three ingredients: fruit, sugar and pectin,” boasted a sign. “Just like dad used to make.” May Dad’s Jam is a low key, family operation. Dad, also known as Kevin Oldenburg, grows all the fruit. His wife, Margo Buckles, and daughter, Nina Oldenburg, make the jam.

“I love growing,” said Kevin Oldenburg. “I grow the fruit and I grow too much of it.”

The Medical Lake Farmers Market is the only place to find My Dad’s Jam. The business wasn’t born out of a desire to make money, however. “We’re not doing it for a living,” he said. “We’re doing it to get rid of fruit. If we didn’t do this, we’d have jam for 100 years. I don’t even like jam.”

The family sells a wide variety of jams, including gooseberry, grape, peach and plum. Nina Oldenburg is the family marketer, wandering the market talking to customers and directing them toward the family booth. “She tells people to come buy jam,” Buckles said.

Buckles said she loves the community aspect of the market. “We’ve seen our neighbors here,” she said.

The market always does something special in August to celebrate National Farmers Market Week and this year will kick off what will hopefully become an annual cooking competition on the first Saturday in August called Rooted. “We’ve been calling it a farmers market to table cooking challenge,” Bishop said.

Six local chefs have been recruited to make dishes made from ingredients sourced at the farmers market. Since there’s no commercial kitchen at the market, the food will be made off-site and then brought to the market for judging by both a panel of judges and visitors to the market.

“People will be able to sample it,” Bishop said.

The chefs will also do demonstrations as well as speak on stage about the dishes they made. When not on stage, the chefs will be available at booths in the market so people can visit with them. The cooking competition portion of

COVER STORY

the market will be held between noon and 3 p.m., with winners of the judge’s award and the people’s choice award announced after 2 p.m.

There will also be a kids kitchen from 10 a.m. to noon that day, where kids can taste test fresh produce and try their hand at making bruschetta. “They’ll get to make it and sample it and take it home,” Bishop said.

In addition to being a fun competition, Bishop said she hopes the event will show people the variety of dishes that can be made with local ingredients, some of which people might not be familiar with. “We’re trying to get people to see what you can do with some of these less popular produce items,” she said. “We’re so excited. I think it’s going to be something we can take forward year to year.”

There are also several special events scheduled during the rest of the market season. July 19 is military appreciation day, with representatives from Fairchild Air Force Base on site and discounts for veterans and active duty service members. August 16 is First Responders Appreciation Day, with similar discounts.

“We just want to show our support and appreciation for those who serve,” Bishop said.

September 6 is School Employee Appreciation Day and Sept. 20 is a special kid’s market, where kids ages 10 to 18 can apply to be a vendor.

“The majority of farmers are over 50 or 60,” said Bishop of the kid’s market day. “We’re trying to inspire younger farmers.”

The market is also trying to attract new customers. This year the market received a grant that allows it to give $25 in “Market Bucks” to up to 200 residents in the 99022 zip code that can be redeemed at the market for food and fresh produce. People can come to the market with a driver’s license showing their 99022 address, plus a piece of mail showing the same address, in order to receive their Market Bucks.

The Market Bucks have been popular and there are still some available, Bishop said. “That’s been very well received,” she said.

Overall Bishop is pleased with the growth of the market and the way it has been supported by residents. “We try to encourage community,” she said. “It’s been an incredible blessing to see how this idea turned into something so special.”

Cheney School District Offers Free Summer Meals through end of July

By Nina Culver Stream contributor

Dozens of children file into the gym at Sunset Elementary School in Airway Heights four days a week to get a free breakfast and/or lunch from the Cheney School District’s summer meal program. The meals can be a key lifeline for lower income students during the summer.

“It’s very important for our students,” said Sunset head chef Rita Whittaker. “A lot of them, their parents are working. For some of these, this is the one or two meals they get a day.”

Breakfast is served Monday through Thursday from 8 to 9 a.m. at Sunset Elementary, Cheney High School and Snowden Elementary School. Lunch is available from 11:30 to 12:30 at the same locations.

On a recent day, Tikka Masala and rice

pilaf were on the menu at Sunset. It was new to most of the students, several of whom asked if it was spicy. “It shouldn’t be spicy,” Whittaker said. “Give the Tikka Masala just a little bite. Just try it.”

Those who tried the curry-like dish of chicken in a tomato-based sauce said they liked it and that it wasn’t too spicy. One boy asked for seconds, which was granted. Another said, “Mmmm, that is good.”

Many of the students also piled their trays high with the fresh fruits and vegetables being served before being checked off by Whittaker. While the district doesn’t keep track of any identifying information of those who come for meals, their meals have to be checked.

“When they come through they have to have three items and one has to be a fruit or a vegetable,” she said. “Without it we can’t count the meal.”

Getting the kids to eat fresh fruit isn’t usually a problem, particularly with the wide variety available. The choices that day included salad, grapes, strawberries, cantaloup, apples, rainbow colored broccoli and cauliflower. “It allows them to choose their own adventure,” Whittaker said of the variety of options. “They’re big fruit eaters.”

Summer is a time to try out new recipes to see if the kids like them and if they should be added to the menu during the school year, said Cheney School District’s

executive chef and director of nutrition services LJ Klinkenberg. “We’re serving 300 lunches a day instead of 5,000,” he said. “We’re too busy to do that during the school year.”

The Tikka Masala was a new recipe. Klinkenberg said students have been requesting more international dishes and he’s excited to put them on the menu. He believes it’s important for students to be exposed to new culinary options. “I want to feed bellies, but I want them to eat good, clean food,” he said.

The district is also testing out new breakfast items, partly to keep up with ever changing federal regulations about the amount of salt and sugar that is allowed in school food. “The rules are always changing, which makes it difficult,” he said. “We’re cooking mainly scratch food. All these rules make simple cooking more difficult.”

said Klinkenberg. It was added because the school usually used, Salnave Elementary, is under construction this year. “We had the option for another site,” he said. “With all the kids in that neighborhood, we thought we’d see how it goes.”

The school district is reimbursed for the meals they serve by the federal government, usually the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Klinkenberg said there were no issues getting approved for funding for the summer meal program this year.

The summer meals are available for all children up to age 18 and will be served through July 31. Adults who accompany their young children to a meal site cannot eat and the food must be eaten on site.

Whittaker said she recently served a new vanilla yogurt and strawberry shortcake for breakfast, which were a big hit. She looks at plates to see what has been eaten in addition to getting feedback from students. “Kids are very honest and fair,” she said. “They will tell us if they do not like something.”

Sunset Elementary serves about 60 kids for each meal and there are generally closer to 100 at Cheney High School. Snowden Elementary, a new site, is generally slower,

The summer meal program doesn’t extend into August because that time is spent cleaning the kitchens, receiving supplies, prepping for the school year and completing training, he said. “It was based on the timing of our kitchens,” he said.

While the program only runs through July, Klinkenberg and his staff are determined to keep children full while they can. “If any kid is hungry, we’ll find a way to get them fed,” he said.

Whittaker said children do not have to attend a school in the district in order to eat at one of the meal sites. “I just want our families to know that this resource is available,” she said.

Angels in the Air: 36th Rescue Squadron Airmen Answer the Call in Cliffside Rescue

By Senior Airman Clare Werner 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

On a windy Saturday afternoon, June 21, a call for help pierced through the air. A teenage boy had fallen down a steep cliff near Riverview Bible Camp in Cusick, Washington. The terrain was brutal, strewn with rocks and imposing pine trees, and every second counted.

A 36th Rescue Squadron crew was prepared to respond, and without any hesitation they navigated a UH1N Huey through the dense forest toward the scene. Beneath them, a treacherous landscape and shifting winds presented a formidable challenge.

At approximately 3 p.m., their plan was swiftly put into motion. Staff Sgt. Taten Swanson, a flight paramedic with the 36th RQS, was lowered from the helicopter into the sea of green, his expertise and courageous dedication accompanying him on his journey.

“The crew on the ground stabilized the patient very well and communicated with me so that I could transport the essential gear with minimal risk,” Swanson explained. “When I got on the ground, the patient was conscious and alert, [and] I felt comfortable enough that we could get him out of there safely.”

In the chaotic yet coordinated scene, an array of flashing lights illuminated the figures of dozens of rescuers working together from many agencies: local fire departments, the Pend Oreille County Sheriff’s Office, Search and Rescue, U.S. Border Patrol and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“It was really amazing to see the vast number of people there, we probably saw 30 to 45 rescuers on the ground,” said Capt. Anthony Goodwin, 36th RQS UH-1N Huey pilot. “It was great to be integrated

Members of local fire departments, the Pend Oreille County Sheriff’s Office, Search and Rescue, U.S. Border Patrol and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the 36th RQS gather in front of a UH-1N Huey for a photo in Cusick, Washington, June 25, 2025. Several days after the successful rescue, the agencies met to debrief the situation and focused on strengthening the relationships for future missions together.

with a larger team since that is something I haven’t seen a lot within my Air Force career.”

While the ground team coordinated their efforts, the crew above faced the pressure of threading the needle through the tight airspace full of swaying trees. A single wrong move or a moment’s hesitation could’ve plunged them into disaster.

“As soon as we arrived at the scene, I was examining the wind speeds and the terrain to decide which direction was best to enter the scene,” explained Staff Sgt. Alfredo Barrios, 36th RQS flight engineer. “Essentially, I am trying to establish the best infiltration and exfiltration for the situation and give the whole crew as much information as possible to get the mission accomplished.”

This mission relied on trust, training, and teamwork. Every Airman’s role was critical, resulting in a seamless rescue which was a testament to the crew’s countless hours of dedicated training.

The team’s swift and seamless collaboration was the key to success. The patient was hoisted from the perilous terrain, transferred to ground medical crews, and rushed to a nearby hospital. Thanks to their skillful efforts, he was able to return home to his family and begin his recovery.

“I can’t thank my crew enough for being able to rely on their experience and technical skills to make this rescue happen,” said Maj. Cameron King, 36th RQS UH-1N Huey pilot and aircraft commander. “This couldn’t have happened without the team effort and the training that we get, I’m very thankful that [the patient] is back home with his family right now.”

This marks the 36th RQS’s 716th save since its formation in 1971. In a moment when every second mattered, the 36th RQS delivered, living up to their motto, “That Others May Live.”

Courtesy Photo

Members of local fire departments, the Pend Oreille County Sheriff’s Office, Search and Rescue, U.S. Border Patrol and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the 36th RQS gather for a photo after the patient was airlifted to a local hospital near Riverview Bible Camp in Cusick, Washington, June 21, 2025. Due to the rapid response of the coordinated rescue team, the patient was airlifted to an area with ambulances and then taken to a nearby hospital. These efforts allowed him to return home and begin a safe recovery.

Brought

• Use your imagination to Create Your Own Sock Animal

• Play games during Ping Pong Palooza

• Sign up for Summer Reading with Beanstack & get a free, new book

All programs are free at SCLD libraries.

Discover more summer programs at scld.org/engage

SPOKANE COUNTY LIBRARY DISTRICT

Airway Heights to provide Medical Lake court services

By John McCallum Stream contributor

The Pointe

About and for West Plains area seniors

and pay for are domestic violence advocates, incarceration, prisoner transport and warrants and records.

For providing its services in 2026, Medical Lake will pay a fee to Airway Heights of not to exceed $1,542 per each criminal citation filed. For each traffic or non-traffic violation, Medical Lake will pay a $25 fee and $15 for each parking violation filed.

The cities of Medical Lake and Airway Heights will soon be joined together — at least at the municipal court level.

At its July 7 meeting, the Airway Heights City Council voted unanimously to approve a fouryear interlocal agreement providing court services to the city of Medical Lake. Medical Lake has contracted with the city of Cheney municipal court for services for several years, a contract that is scheduled to expire at the end of 2025.

Medical Lake Mayor and former Cheney Municipal Court Administrator Terri Cooper told the council she and Airway Heights City Manager Albert Tripp have been working for a while about “regionalizing” the court two courts. She added the Medical Lake City Council has already approved the interlocal agreement.

“We’re looking forward to this,” Cooper said. It’s been a vision of mine for 15 years.”

Both courts are courts of “limited jurisdiction,” handling cases such as traffic and non-traffic infractions along with criminal and gross misdemeanors. Other services include some civil cases and probation related functions.

Under the terms of the 18-page agreement, which begins Jan. 1, 2026, some of the services Airway Heights court will provide include necessary staffing, including prosecuting attorney, public defender services and presiding judge along with being responsible for collecting all fines and fees for Medical Lake cases. Among the services Medical Lake will provide

Additionally, Medical Lake will pay Airway Heights $200 an hour, billed in tenth-of-an-hour increments, to transition all current cases and files to Airway Heights.

For 2027 and each subsequent year, all filing fees will be invoiced to Medical Lake based upon Airway Heights estimated costs for those cases. Airway Heights will notify Medical Lake by email “on or before” Sept. 30 of each year what those costs will be.

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

Medical Lake will receive 100% of all “local court revenues” for its cases, with the exception of any revenues excluded by statute or court ruling. Local court revenues include all “fines, forfeited bail, penalties, court cost recoupment and parking ticket payments derived from Medical Lake Municipal Court cases after payment of any and all assessments required by state law thereon.”

“We felt like we landed in a great, mutual agreement,” Cooper said of the discussions with Airway Heights.

The interlocal agreement terms begin Jan. 1, 2026 and expire Dec. 31, 2029 unless other arrangements are made or terminated earlier per a specific section of the agreement.

Also at the July 7 meeting, Airway Heights City Council voted unanimously to accept a $300,466.70

grant from the Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts for the city municipal court’s Therapeutic Court. The court had originally applied for $355,370 for fiscal year July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026.

“We do believe we can work with this amount,” Airway Heights Municipal Court Judge Angelle Gerl said.

Airway Heights Therapeutic Court began in April, 2022, and has been largely supported by grant funding since. The court received a $316,724 state court grant in December, 2021 and running through July 2023, a $480,871 grant through June 2024 and a $237,288 grant ending June 30.

Gerl said most of the funding, $266,000, will go towards supporting court personnel. Just over $14,546 covers training and travel, $9,000 each to treatment and recovery supports and $1,970 to staff equipment.

Also referred to as Community Court, state RCWs specify that Therapeutic Court shall “Use funding to identify individuals before their Therapeutic Court…with behavioral health needs outlined in their application and engage those individuals with community-based therapeutic interventions within the Therapeutic Court’s jurisdiction in accordance with the Court’s funding application.”

According to the city’s website, Airway Heights Community (Therapeutic) Court provides assistance with substance use disorder treatment, mental health services, job training, housing, identification, health care and legal assistance. It also helps with gambling issues along with veteran, women, victim, education, family and library services.

Additionally, participants can appear in court in person, via phone or video. Court takes place every Wednesday from 1 – 2:30 p.m. in the City Hall second floor chambers, 13120 W. 13th Avenue, with lunch offered to any participant appearing in person.

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“It is a program that we’ve been running since April of 2022,” Gerl said. “I think it’s working great. We enjoy it. It’s been a wonderful partnership with the community and law enforcement.”

The Washington Courts website describes therapeutic courts as specialized courts that give participants the opportunity to address the reasons for their involvement in the criminal justice system through closely monitor programs. While many therapeutic court types, each court is comprised of interdisciplinary teams led by a judge that collaboratively support and provide supervision to participants “through behavioral health challenges that contribute to their court involvement” that address individual needs.

The goal of each court is to “build lasting whole person health and recovery” in order to have participants charges dismissed and avoid further involvement in the criminal legal system.

EDITOR/PUBLISHER Ben Wick

ben@westplainsstream.com

CO OWNER Danica Wick

danica@westplainsstream.com

CONTRIBUTORS

Nina Culver, John McCallum

www.westplainsstream.com

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Discover amazing local geology, assist in the study of Medical Lake’s water

By Dr. Chad Pritchard, Professor of Geology Eastern Washington University

The geology of Medical Lake is amazing. It sits right on the boundary where supercontinent Nuna (two supercontinents before Pangaea) ripped apart some 1 billion years ago.

The history of Medical Lake is also fascinating from the early founders to the establishment of Eastern State Hospital. The evolution of restoring the lake from a nearly eutrophic (almost dead) lake has been a remarkable story.

You are invited to walk along the Medical Lake trail with me

Wilderness survival, other library classes for adults in the West Plains

By Erin Dodge Stream Guest Correspondent

If you’re preparing for the unexpected on an outdoors trip or concerned about the uncertainty of the grid, food supply chain, and civil unrest, the class “Introduction to Wilderness Survival in the Inland Northwest” may be for you.

Class instructor Charlie Bouck has 20 years of experience as a U.S. Air Force Survival Instructor. When I asked about the outdoor skills he would be focusing on during the class, Bouck shared, “I focus on teaching people how to meet their five basic needs: health, personal protection, sustenance, travel, and signaling for rescue.”

and Steve Cooper, Medical Lake Wastewater Director, as we chat about the natural science and history of the beautiful lake. As a walker, you’ll also assist us in gathering samples of the lake as part of an ongoing research project that uses citizen science to do more collectively than any one scientist can.

The “Medical Lake Geo-Walk & Water Sampling” event is for adults, teens, and tweens. We will meet up at Waterfront Lake, at S Lefevre St and Hwy 902, on Wednesday, August 6, ready to start the walk at 5pm.

We have been conducting this walk since the fall of 2022. Samples are analyzed for nitrogen and phosphorus at the city’s laboratory. Samples are also taken to check for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as forever chemicals, as part of a larger study of the West Plains. The waters of Medical Lake have been clean in previous samples, and we are continuing to build a data set to help make informed decisions in

Bouck is the owner of Herbal Expeditions, focusing on survival training, guided foraging, and holistic wellness. He shared more about the survival classes he teaches: “Some clients may already be skilled in one or more of [the five basic needs], wherein I would help them to buff up on their weaker areas. It is so rewarding to me when I see clients strengthen their survival skills in a semi-controlled outdoor learning environment and when they are able to thrive, despite facing natural or perceived obstacles, difficulties, and discomfort.”

Registration is required for “Introduction to Wilderness Survival in the Inland Northwest” taking place at Cheney Library (610 First St), on Wednesday, August 13, at 6:30pm. Go online to scld.org/survival-programs to sign up and to find survival programs at other SCLD libraries. Other upcoming library programs happening in the West Plains include the library-

collaboration with the city. Walking around the lake with new friends is a pleasure in itself, but it is much more meaningful when you are also making a difference. So, bring your own garbage picker-uppers, and we will make sure to have extra bags and grabbers in case you forget to help us all pick up trash along the way. Luckily, there is not usually too much trash, but there seems to be an uptick of garbage during fishing season.

If you have never been to Medical Lake, or maybe it has been a while, Waterfront Park is a gem of the Evergreen State. We meet at Waterfront Park and walk around the 3-mile loop trail—much of it is a beautiful, treed section of the park.

This geo-walk is about enjoying the lake, meeting new friends, and getting to know the wonders of the area we live in. If you aren’t able to be there for the whole adventure, I encourage you to join us for what you can.

LEVEL UP at Your Library

sponsored “Plaid Cat in Concert,” playing a mix of swing, country, oldies, and original songs. This all-ages musical performance takes place at Sutton Park, 815 Washington St, in Cheney at 6:30pm on Wednesday, July 23.

You can be a Dementia Friend and help create a dementiafriendly community by attending a “Dementia Friends Session.”

No registration is needed, and the sessions are held at Cheney Library, Wednesday, August 20, at 6:30pm and at Medical Lake Library (321 E Herb St), Tuesday, September 23, at 10:30am.

Take the guesswork out of Medicare with the free, unbiased “Medicare: Getting Started” class. You can register to attend in person at Medical Lake Library, Wednesday, July 23, at 6pm. Or you can register for an online session on Tuesday, August 12, at 2pm or Wednesday, September 10, at 6pm. Visit scld. org/medicare-sessions to sign up.

Online Summer Reading Challenge

For all ages Sign up on Beanstack to:

• Track your summer reading

• Get a free book (kids & teens)

• Reach your reading goal! Get started at scld.beanstack.org

Summer Reading Programs

Check these out!

• Build Your Own Board Game

• RPG Adventures (Online)

• Cookie Decorating

• Wilderness Survival

• Medical Lake Geology Walk

See all events at scld.org/engage