Archive - 2011 - News Article
October 26th
Spokane County Sheriff’s deputies are investigating a burglary at the GreenHouse Community Center at W112 First St. in the early morning hours of Oct. 25.
It appeared that the perpetrators tried to pry off the lock on the outside door leading to Office Manager Roxie Champagne’s office. Once that failed they broke the door window and climbed inside.
October 20th
The Deer Park City Council has not ruled out closing the swimming pool as a way of saving money next year.
The facility, faced with dwindling public use, lost $70,000 last year. The city will have to install a handicapped lip at the pool next year.
Councilman Steve Hughes said it did not make much sense to operate the swimming pool, which was built more than 60 years ago, when it only attracts 30-35 children a day during the summer.
The city only received about $5,000 in usage fees last year.
October 19th
More than 75 people showed up on Thursday to welcome the Legend and Webb families to the neighborhood.
The families will be the first to occupy homes at the 2-acre Habitat for Humanity-Spokane’s Hope Meadows housing development in Deer Park.
The Webbs and Legends, who will not move into their homes until sometime in 2012, were on hand last week for the “raising of the walls” ceremony at the south Colville Avenue site. Joining them were Habitat, Lowe’s Hardware (a prime sponsor of the project) and city officials.
October 13th
Construction on a new interchange at Parksmith Road gets under way this month, a milestone that signals traffic and safety improvements are nearly complete on the northern five miles of the new North Spokane Corridor.
When complete, the interchange, located between Francis Avenue and Farwell Road, will provide convenient access to retail and residential areas in the Mead community, as well as the nearby commercial and industrial properties along the new transportation corridor.
October 11th
Deer Park’s taxable retail sales continue to take a sharp dip, according to statistics supplied by the Department of Revenue.
According to Department of Revenue statistics, Deer Park generated $16 million in retail sales from April-June 2011 as compared to $18.2 million for the same period in 2010, an 11.9 percent drop.
Deer Park’s recent downspin followed a 32 percent drop in the second quarter of 2010 as compared to the second quarter of 2009.
Springdale’s retail sales dropped 26.7 percent from $717,452 to $525,420.
October 5th
Gov. Chris Gregoire announced on Monday that she will appoint Patrick Monasmith to the Superior Court serving Stevens, Pend Oreille and Ferry counties. Monasmith is a former court commissioner for Stevens County, and has extensive experience in private practice.
He will fill the judgeship being vacated by the retirement of Rebecca Baker.
September 30th
Washington’s minimum wage will increase to $9.04 per hour beginning Jan. 1, the Department of Labor & Industries announced on Friday.
L&I calculates the state’s minimum wage each year as required by Initiative 688, approved by state voters in 1998. The 37-cent increase reflects a 4.258 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) since August 2010.
September 21st
The Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office plans to retry a Deer Park man after a Superior Court could not reach a verdict after a week-long vehicular homicide trial.
Jonathon P. Bales was driving his 1985 Pontiac Firebird southbound on Wandermere Road at around 10:30 p.m. on July 16, 2010, when he apparently crossed the centerline and struck 54-year-old Rene Blaume, who was riding a Racer iScooter in the northbound lane near Glenrose Drive intersection. Blaume, an in-home care provider, died at the scene.
September 20th
Faced with shrinking budgets, area school districts received some good news after the preliminary enrollment counts for the 2011-12 school year.
Each of the three school districts has enrollments slightly higher than what was budgeted for this school year.
Deer Park, which has been in the best budget situation the past couple of years, has a district enrollment of 2,423 full-time equivalent students in September. The count is 67 FTE students above what the school district budgeted for the upcoming school year.
School districts receive about $2,000 a year in state funding for each FTE.
September 14th
Overhead lines that return unused power to Avista have been targeted by metal thieves since late August, according to a company employee.
Since Aug. 22, a suspect has stolen more than 1.5 miles of No. 6 copper for a loss exceeding $18,000. The company has been replacing the stolen copper lines with aluminum wire, which is less expensive.
The most recent theft occurred on Sept. 12 on North Hazard Road. Crews had just replaced the line at midnight and it was discovered missing again at 6 a.m.
