(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

Valley Community Park will be alive with activity this weekend. 

Packed days of activity in Valley…

The Valley Community Park will be alive once again for a good cause on May 17-18 for Warriors Against Cancer’s “Warriors at Work” fundraiser. There will be a huge plant sale, vendors in the park and food will be served most of the day. There will also be a 5K walk. Warriors Against Cancer has been around since November, and they help local Stevens County cancer patients. Fundraisers can take months to organize, and last year they had two events: a plant sale that raised $1,600 and a main fundraiser in June that raised $3,500. This year, the group combined the two events. There will also be a kids’ booth with games and the Valley Boy Scouts will be providing food Friday and Saturday. More

(STAFF REPORTS/Chewelah Independent)

Once plentiful population, exceeding 100,000 in the state of Washington, the sharp-tailed grouse population has over time dwindled to less than 1,000. (WDFW photo)

WDFW works with Canadian agency to bring back population of sharp-tailed grouse…

A massive partnership headed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and their Canadian counterparts is working to bring back the sharp-tailed grouse population in the state according to a press release by the WDFW.

The once plentiful population, exceeding 100,000 in the state, has over time dwindled to less than 1,000 due to human population expansion and loss of habitat. The low numbers have put the grouse on Washington’s endangered species list, the release said.

In April, the WDFW and the British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, FLNRORD for short, paired together on a two-week project to capture and transplant up to 40 grouse across the border from the abundant population in British Columbia. More

(PRESS RELEASE/Tri County Economic Development)

Stecker has a diverse professional background…

Tri County Economic Development District (TEDD) is pleased to welcome Liv Stecker to #TeamTEDD as the new Regional Mobility and Veterans Services Coordinator, and she brings decades of involvement with the Veteran community with her.

Stecker helped to build the American Freedom Fund (AFF), a non-profit organization that provides a place for active duty and Veteran service members to come together in a spirit of camaraderie to participate in recreational and competitive sports; to afford the means and opportunity for student Veterans who seek a career in defense or public policy to achieve the next step in their goals; and to raise awareness and financial support for Veteran focused organizations that are providing crucial resources for Veterans in the community. Stecker has spent the last two decades travelling nationally for her work as the AFF’s Program Director and has been serving the local Veteran community with her blog/news column, ‘The Big Voice’, which she uses to help make sure local vets are connected with the opportunities and resources available to them. More

(PRESS RELEASE/WDFW)

Shot cub was found off Sand Canyon Road…

The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is offering a cash reward in the case of a bear cub that was shot and left in northeast Washington.

The incident is believed to have happened around Friday, May 10. The cub was found by a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officer off Sand Canyon Road near Chewelah, Washington. This incident is illegal for several reasons; it is illegal to shoot bear cubs, it is outside the normal bear hunting season, and wasting harvested animals is also against the law.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call WDFW Enforcement Officer Doug King at 509-936-2192. Charges must be brought against a suspect in this case in order for informants to receive reward money.

Persons with disabilities who need to receive this information in an alternative format or who need reasonable accommodations to participate in WDFW-sponsored public meetings or other activities may contact Dolores Noyes by phone (360-902-2349), TTY (360-902-2207), or email (dolores.noyes@dfw.wa.gov<mailto:dolores.noyes@dfw.wa.gov>). For more information, see https://wdfw.wa.gov/accessibility/reasonable_request.html.

(TIM RASSMUSSEN/Stevens County Prosecutor)

The Diversion program is up and running. We have identified several persons who can qualify and have invited them to join the program. The persons have responded with interest and we have signed contracts with some of them. The folks invited are those we think could best benefit and who could qualify. I have a meeting soon with the commissioners to ask for some flexibility in the fee structure in order to make sure we can serve as many folks as possible. We will see.

The program has also investigated starting a re-licensing program under the same umbrella. We are investigating the possibilities of using the existing re-licensing program from Spokane County to serve Stevens County folks. I hope it works out, because many people are caught in a trap of having their license suspended. They are unable to get the money to pay to get the license and unable to work because they do not have the license. Catch 22. More

(ROBERT NEIN/Chewelah Arts Guild)

Kevin Hekmatpanah has been the Music Director at Gonzaga University since 1994. (Courtesy photo)

MOUNTAIN OF TALENT: Orchestra will entertain Chewelah on May 18…

Sitting in a third grade music class in his home town of Chicago, Kevin Hekmatpanah heard one student after another say “violin” in answer to the teacher’s question: “what instrument would you like to play?”

“I had no idea what a cello was, but I wanted to be different,” said the conductor of Gonzaga Symphony, which will make its Music on the Mountain debut at Chewelah Peak on Saturday at 2 p.m.
That decision to begin cello lessons has shaped his entire life. It took him through music degrees at USC and Indiana University, hundreds of cello appearances worldwide and to the position—at age 30—of Music Director of the Gonzaga Orchestra in 1994.

Looking back, he is grateful for the people, places and opportunities that fueled his passion for music, the cello and conducting. They include his first teacher, a supportive grandmother who took him to concerts, and even his father, who questioned whether music could be a real profession. More