(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

Landgon Cook has lived in the Pacific Northwest for 30 years and has done extensive research into mushrooms. (KS Brooks photo)

ARE YOU A GATHERER IN THE MAKING?: Award winning outdoorsman talks about the nature of mushroom hunting…

The Pacific Northwest is perhaps a perfect setting for prospective mushroom hunters, and Langdon Cook is coming to Chewelah to show you just how to get started.

“Our region has a long history of mushroom hunting,” Cook said. “People who enjoy the outdoors or good food can be easily converted into hardcore mushroom hunters. It’s a hobby that gets you into the woods and mountains by day and then into the kitchen at night, which is a great way to live in my opinion.”

As an accomplished writer of several award-winning books, and having been published in numerous magazines, newspapers and online journals, Cook should know about them more than most. Cook has been on PBS and the Travel Channel but can be seen in person at the Chewelah Public Library on October 9 and Oct. 10 at 6 p.m.

“I’ve been hunting mushrooms since first moving to the Pacific Northwest nearly 30 years ago, but I only started delving into their cultural and economic importance in the past decade or so when I started researching my book,” Cook said.

Langdon Cook

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(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

Yeah, we don’t get it either…

I’ll be the first to admit, popular trends tend to come late to Chewelah. That is why you still see wallet chains around town.

This week is homecoming meaning students will dress up each day of the week, and the Chewelah student body has elected Monday as VSCO day, causing everyone about the age of like 24 to go “huh?” More

(JARED ARNOLD/Chewelah Independent)

Steve Warner

HEADING TO D.C.: Steve Warner will take trip to see Vietnam War memorial in Washington, D.C….

Thanks to Inland Northwest Honor Flight, a Chewelah-area Vietnam veteran will be headed to Washington, D.C. next week along with 94 other war veterans to see the memorials built in their honor.

The veterans will leave Spokane on Monday morning, October 7 and return Tuesday evening, October 8.

Army veteran 1LT Steve Warner, a Forward Observer in Vietnam from November 1968 to November 1969, said he is looking forward to the trip to see the D.C.-area memorials, including the Vietnam War memorial.

“It’s really appreciated,” Warner said about the opportunity to travel with INWHF and see the memorials. More

(KS BROOKS/Chewelah Independent)

Students from several different schools take a look at traditions, artifacts and history of Spokane Salish Culture. Several areas of Chewelah’s creative district were utilized during the day. (KS Brooks photo)

SHOWING A NEW GENERATION: Tribal members talk about the people who lived here for thousands of years…

When the big yellow school busses arrived one after another at Chewelah City Park on Thursday, September 26, they were greeting by the sound of a drum circle. Fourth- grade drummers from Wellpinit set the mood for a cheerful Spokane Salish Culture Day.

Seventh grade students from Mary Walker, Summit Valley, Columbia, Chewelah, Wellpinit and Valley schools filed into the seats at center stage in the park. A number of speakers, including Chewelah Mayor Dorothy Knauss, Monica Tonasket, Tribal Elder Pat Moses and Tribal Chairwoman Carol Evans talked about what this day meant.

Pat Moses explained about reasons to pray, letting the students know that life is precious and sacred and there is always something to be thankful for. He talked about the history of the area, recounting how the Spokane people lived here thousands of years ago. More

(STAFF REPORT/Chewelah Independent)

The Capital Press is reporting that Klickitat County Sheriff Bob Songer has taken charge of handling cougars in his county. In August, the central Washington sheriff swore-in hound handlers to pursue problem cougars and black bears.

While illegal in the state, state law gives wildlife managers and sheriff’s offices the ability to use hounds. He has already had one cougar chased and euthanized. The sheriff stated that slow response times and less agressive responses by the WDFW led him to begin handling predator calls. The Klickitat Sheriff’s Office has a handful of hound handlers which Songer said makes them able to respond 24/7. WDFW currently had two officers assigned to the county. WDFW chased and killed 100 cougars last year. The organization estimates that the state has 3,350 based on a formula, not a head count.

(STAFF REPORTS/Chewelah Independent)

Over a dozen people nationwide died from fatal lung illnesses tied to vaping products…

Governor Jay Inslee has directed state officials to impose a ban on flavor vaping products. This comes after 13 mysterious fatal lung illnesses nationwide that have been linked back to e-cigarettes. The state Board of Health can use its emergency authority to ban all flavored vaping products including those with THC. If the ban is carried out, Washington would join Michigan and New York in banning vape products. Washington has roughly 4,000 e-cigarette retailers and 500 licensed cannabis businesses.

Gov. Jay Inslee announced the executive order at a Seattle press conference Friday that changes how agencies will regulate, monitor, and communicate about a variety of vaping products. Other state leaders, including Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Washington State Department of Health Secretary John Wiesman, joined him at the event. More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

UPTICK IN UNEMPLOYMENT: Stevens County sees highest unemployment rate – 6.8 percent – for August since 2016…

It’s probably unfair to compare every year to the historic lows of unemployment we’ve seen, but there is an upward trend in unemployment in Stevens County from the past couple of strong years where numbers reached notable lows.

The August unemployment report is out and Stevens County had a jobless rate of 6.8 percent while Ferry County had a 10.8 percent rate and Pend Oreille County had a rate of 9.5 percent.
The 6.8 percent rate is higher than the 6.1 percent rates in August 2018 and 2017. It must be said that these rates were some of the lowest rates the county had seen in years, and 6.8 percent is still very on the low end historically for Stevens County. More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

KREM 2 meteorologist Tom Sherry stood in front of a loud crowd of Springdale and Northport football fans on Friday night as the rain begin to pour on the field and northern Stevens County.
“I predicted this!” Tom exclaimed as a joke. But he was right, as various weather services warned of an impending snow storm for mountain areas with white stuff possibly finding its way down into valley areas.

And that is exactly what happened. Spokane set records for both daily and monthly snow totals. It was also the first measurable snow in September for the Lilac City since 1926. The Spokesman-Review reported wind chill dropped the temperature at the Spokane International Airport to 21 degrees at 1 a.m. on Sunday morning.

Starting on Friday and going through the weekend, the skies sputtered, rained, snowed and there was even some cutting wind as well.

In the Colville area, where as much as 17 inches of snow fell, 700 homes were left without power overnight. In North Idaho, 100 people lost power, and Verizon voice and data services went down in Stevens County as well. More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

Bowen Middlesworth returned to the Cougar lineup this week and immediately caught a touchdown pass. (File photo)

HERE WE GO AGAIN: Cougars remedy slow start with victory turning heads around the state…

Chewelah’s 2019 football season is quickly resembling the movie “Rocky 3,” you have some early setbacks in an 0-3 start, an old rival in Colville helping the Cougars getting their groove back with an offensive battle last week, a triumphant comeback in Week 4 as Chewelah downed No. 5-ranked Reardan 14-6, and we could probably compare Cougar assistant coach Mark Hopkins to Mickey since he’s a farmer and probably makes players chase chickens for training.

But you heard right, Chewelah just downed the No. 5 team in the state. After a strength of schedule tougher than the University of Washington Huskies, the Cougars played down in Reardan on Friday night after an 0-3 start to the year and some questions about some high expectations in 2019.

Chewelah quarterback Jake Jeanneret through two touchdowns, and more importantly that Chewelah defense held the other team to just one touchdown.

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(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

Eric Stevens

CONJURING COUGAR: JJSHS grad Eric Stevens finds fulfilment in the world of illusions with personable attitude, desire to perform and a little bit of humor…

When watching Eric Stevens perform on stage, you’ll notice that the Chewelah grad isn’t big on being mystical and serious, but rather personable and relate-able. The 20-something magician is about to move to Las Vegas, and while he has the goal of becoming a teacher, he is turning some heads of some top magicians.

Stevens tends to use a more personal form of trickery called “close-up magic.” This is different than big prop-based tricks, but it fits the Chewelah native’s style of knowing his audience and breaking their expectations.

“Comedy and magic are two examples of the performing arts where the audience comes in immediately judging you,” Stevens said. “They often want to see you not do well or not get fooled, and you have to deal with that as a performer.” More