In Brief

by Cara Gardner


A Colorful Week -- SPOKANE -- Monday, June 7, marks the beginning of Pride Week, and the Inland Northwest Business Alliance (INBA), a professional gay and gay-friendly business organization, has announced the showing of Key West, City of Colors, an acclaimed film about the creation of the world's largest rainbow flag within the gay community of Key West, Fla. The filmmaker, Talmadge Heyward, will be available afterwards for a Q & amp;A session, and the after-party will be at Dempsey's. On Thursday, June 10, the annual Pride event will honor local individuals and organizations in the gay community. On Friday, June 11, the Spokane Gay and Lesbian Film Festival will host a showing of two films at the EWU Riverpoint Auditorium. Saturday, June 12, marks the EMCC Pride Cruise, the annual spin around Lake Coeur d'Alene put on by the Emmanuel Metropolitan Community Church. Finally, on Sunday, June 13, Pride Week will culminate with the Pride Info and Business Fair at the Gondola Meadows in Riverfront Park and the 13th annual Pride March. This year's theme: "The Wedding Reception of the Year." Marchers will meet in front of the Spokane Civic Theater.





For details on all Pride Week event times, places and prices, visit www.inbaspokane.org and click on "Community Calendar."





This Is Old School -- CHENEY, Wash. -- In 1905, a one-room schoolhouse was established in the wilderness of Pend Oreille County, seven miles west of Newport, Wash. It was called the Jore School, named after the family that donated land for the building; under its roof, local children -- apparently from kindergarten through eighth grade -- were educated. Almost 100 years later, that same schoolhouse is opening again, this time as the Cheney Normal School Heritage Center (CNSHC). EWU will celebrate the grand re-opening of CNSHC on Friday. After refurbishing the historic building and moving it to EWU, the schoolhouse will serve as an educational heritage center.


Rita Seedorf, CNSHC executive director and professor of education at EWU, wrote a book on the schoolhouse called One Room Out West. She says the school closed when the roads were upgraded and buses could transfer pupils into Newport.


The schoolhouse's original wainscot, rafters and floor have all been preserved, and plumbing and electricity have been added.


"The CNSHC is a link between Eastern's rich past and limitless future providing excellence in teacher preparation," Seedorf says.





The grand opening of the Cheney Normal School Heritage Center is Friday, June 4, from 8:55-10 am. Tours will run from 10 am-1 pm. The schoolhouse is located on the EWU campus across from Williamson Hall.





Gorge-ous River -- SPOKANE -- It might be called one of the most endangered rivers in the nation, but the Spokane River is still one of this region's most valuable resources. And plans to develop the Spokane River Gorge, between Spokane Falls and the river confluence at Latah Creek, are moving right along. On Monday, June 7, the Great Spokane River Gorge Strategic Master Plan (SMP) will host a workshop to get input on the various plans for the Spokane River Gorge.


"The goal is to come up with specific projects that can take place over the next few years," says Sue Lani Madsen, local consulting architect for the project. "Anybody interested in putting input into the plan is welcome."


The River Gorge Project is an idea that stretches back to the Olmsted Brothers, the renowned Spokane architects who, in 1908, first conceptualized public access and land preservation along the Spokane River. Spokane's first Parks Commission heard a development proposal for the area in 1913, and has since acquired property along the river as it became available. In 1997, the Friends of the Falls (FOF) decided to re-ignite efforts for a Spokane River Gorge Master Plan.


"It should look like we've saved it on purpose," Madsen says, of the final River Gorge product. "[Historically], nobody planned to have the high bridge railroad going across or the spill dump from the Great Fire. All that's happened over the past 100 years are little bits without the concept of the whole."


Part of the FOF's focus on community participation with the project seeks to make an accessible waterfront area for the public.





The community workshop will be held on Monday, June 7, from 6-9 pm at the River View Falls Room in the Masonic Temple, 1108 W. Riverside Ave. It's free and open to the public.





Publication date: 06/03/04