Community
Make your home site fire resistant
(By Irv Schick/Stevens County Fire District 4)
FYI
Within the last 100 years, in the United States, six of the top ten most damaging single fire events involving structures were Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) fires.
What is the Wildland Urban Interface? On an individual homeowner’s scale, the WUI is an area where human made infrastructure is in or adjacent to areas prone to wildfire.
On a community scale, the interface is an area where conditions can make a community vulnerable to a wildfire disaster.
Essentially, most of Stevens County is in the Wildland Urban Interface.
Remember, most wildland fires are the result of human activity and think about the summer of 2015 when large pieces of ash from miles away landed in our communities.
Live embers can travel over a mile and when they land in receptive combustible materials can instantly advance the fire.
Now is the time to complete work on making your home site fire resistant and to go over your evacuation plan. For more information on protecting your home and community from wildland fire, go online to “firewise.org” or “fema.gov” there is a lot of good information on both sites. More
Civil War vets to be honored July 1
(By Jamie Henneman/Chewelah Independent)
Headstone to be dedicated at Evergreen Cemetery…
Dennis Huntley Jr. is one of the Civil War veterans who will be honored at the dedication ceremony on July 1.
A project to dedicate a headstone to area men who died in the Civil War all started with the discovery of a set of neat boxes tied with cotton string in the Stevens County Auditor’s records that held a letter to the Stevens County Commissioners. The letter, dated 1899, asked the commissioners to appropriate funds and issue a warrant to D.J. Zent for a burial plot at Evergreen Cemetery for all old war veterans. The letter noted Zent had paid for 20 graves for veterans of the “late war,” referring to the Civil War.
Lora Rose, with the Northeast Washington Genealogical Society, found the letter in 2015 when she was working on a scanning project of the Stevens County Auditor’s records.
Rose continued to research the letter, hoping to find a man the letter referenced, George B. Williams, but all she could determine is that he was buried at Evergreen Cemetery. What the search did turn up, however, was the identity of three other men who were Civil War veterans with grave sites in an unknown location. These veterans are William Aldridge, Dennis Huntley, Jr. and James (Benjamin) Moore. More
Remember When for June 22, 2017
Here is Remember When for June 22, 2017…
110 Years Ago – June 21, 1907
The Stevens County Meat Co. recently received an up-to-date power meat chopper for installation in their Chewelah shop. This will make it the most modern shop in the county.
Mr. Paul Crawford of Colville and Myrtle Savage of Chewelah were quietly married at the home of Rev. F. A. Brown in Hillyard. More
Randy’s Auto expands services with tires, alignment
(By Brandon Hansen/Chewelah Independent)
Owner Randy Dollar invested in new equipment so he no longer has to turn tire work away. (Brandon Hansen photo)
Randy’s Auto Service LLC has expanded it’s services to include tires and alignments after getting some new state-of-the-art equipment which allows them to do a more thorough job for customers.
Established in 2005, Randy’s Auto Service LLC has served Chewelah with general automotive repairs and is located on Main Ave. across from the Chewelah Baptist Church. They moved to this location two years ago, after 10 years of renting the building where Quartzite Brewing Company is now located.
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Chamber learns about drug and alcohol abuse prevention
The Greater Springdale Loon Lake Chamber of Commerce met June 1 at the Springdale Fire Station.
Our guest Speaker was Rachel Montgomery who gave a very interesting talk about her life and why she came to Springdale to take on the job of coordinating prevention in the Springdale community.
Heroin was epidemic where she grew up, she said. To watch people destroy themselves is as if you were standing on the bank of a river and seeing drowning people floating by. Today, her job is not to rescue those people but rather to find out why they have gotten into the water. The water in this case is drug and alcohol abuse. She will see that the grant money awarded to the Springdale Together Coalition will be spent creating partnerships in the community and building healthy families, thereby creating community bonding.
A survey of kids in the local rural area found that 50 percent of children feel alone. The goal is to change this, Rachel said. Young people naturally group together so they must have healthy reasons to be in those groups. The next planning committee meeting will be June 20 at 3:30 p.m. at the Springdale church, where community partners will choose programs to grow a healthy community. Surrounding communities are included. Please come if you want to help save a life. More
Johannes’ painting class takes to the streets of Chewelah
Gail Johannes paints a Chewelah scene on Main Ave. (Brandon Hansen photo)
(By Brandon Hansen/Chewelah Independent)
Several painters found their own paint studio last Monday and that studio just so happened to be downtown Chewelah. As part of watercolor classes through Spokane Community College, teacher Gail Johannes had her students paint outside on the sidewalks, using real-life buildings as their subject.
“Every painter was reluctant but good sports; they were mostly tolerating my enthusiasm,” Johannes said. “Every painter after the event was pleasantly surprised how well it went, and said they would do it again. Several were so motivated they segued into their own plein air experiences later in the week.”
As part of the Act 2 program which allows adults to take life-enriching courses, Johannes’ “Paint This! Chewelah” class took students out of the studio and into “en plein air” which means “outside in the fresh air.”
“It isn’t something they’ve done much of,” Johannes said. “The last three classes in the quarter were dedicated to setting up for success when painting in such a manner.” More
Chewelah has great taste
(Commentary by Brandon Hansen/Chewelah Independent)
Nightlife in Chewelah was on display during the Taste of Chewelah. (Brandon Hansen photo)
Event showcases nightlife and excellent food…
Taste of Chewelah could probably be summed up in one encounter I had on the sidewalk during the food tasting, live music and local art event last Thursday in downtown.
“We’re going to write a letter to the editor,” one person proclaimed. “This event is awesome and there needs to be more events like this in town.”
Under the Big Top in Arden
(By Jamie Henneman/Chewelah Independent)
Culpepper and Merriweather head clown Leo Acton shares with visitors about the circus as crews assemble the big-top tent. (Jamie Henneman photo)
Clown shares his thoughts on circus life…
Under a blue and white striped tent, lions, tigers, dogs and acrobats entertained locals in Arden on last weekend with the arrival of the Culpepper and Merriweather Circus. The family-run show set up their 1,000 pound tent Sunday morning and provided a tour of the circus for the public, including viewing of the two tigers and one lion featured in the show.
The show’s head clown, Leo Acton, shared with visitors how many of the animals in the show, including the large cats, were rescue animals that joined the show.
“The three cats were all rescued from a zoo in Texas and have been adopted by the circus,” Acton said. “During show season they travel in enclosures that allow them plenty of personal space, they are fed diets that replicate their diet in the wild and they spend the winter at the circus’ property in Oklahoma.”
The cats, which weight as much as 500 pounds each, eat 10-15 pounds of meat a day.
While the show no longer has elephants, it did feature the large animals in prior years. However, regulations in various states made traveling with the animals difficult.
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