Harrington News

The Harrington Public Development Authority meeting was held at the Harrington Golf & Country Club at 7 p.m. Tuesday in a most congratulatory spirit following the successful promotion of the Spring Festival. Josh Steward opened the meeting. Bunny Haugan resumed her secretarial role, and Allan Barth, newly appointed vice president, were the members present.

Others in attendance were Margie Hall of the Economic Development Council, Paul Charlton, Karen Robertson and Marge Womach.

Of old business was the mention of the phone poll of the members for the vote last month regarding the potential partnering with Jerry and Karen Allen for a grant, in which the members felt the PDA was ill-prepared to participate. Mention was made of starting a banking account to establish a record.

Mention was also made that Mark Stedman is checking on the Landmark Apartments, which are continuing to sit idle and are eliminating low-income housing for the town. A vague trail of ownership was stated and it was concluded that USDA had the original loan for the building of the apartments. The Lions Club took over the responsibility of them followed by the Lincoln County Housing Coalition ownership. Fourth and last, it was owned or at least controlled by the Spokane County Housing Coalition. At present no one is paying tax on it, and apparently the ownership is not being acknowledged.

Karen Robertson has created an informational sheet on most of the local organizations with contact persons as part of her webmaster work. Discussions were held regarding ownership of the empty and historic business buildings on 3rd Street and interest that had been expressed by potential buyers.

The greatest portion of time was spent discussing the successful Harrington Spring Festival, the highlights as well as ways in which it could be improved. Allan Barth, owner of the Studebaker Garage, was pleased with the turnout for the Classic Car Show, estimating that between 3,000 and 4,000 people were there for it. Barth stated that 58 cars were pre-registered with 80 plus cars there. He stated that 265-270 meals were served at the barbecue. Someone commented that the Harrington Golf & Country Club ran out of food with such an influx of people in town. It is also known that for more than two hours the Harrington Food Market was selling sausage in buns as fast as they could be cooked. Due to these comments, it was suggested that vendors be brought in next year. Barth also acknowledged that he anticipates creating a wider range of automobiles, perhaps to include motorcycles, jeeps and tractors. He is also preparing to advertise swap meets. Due to the weather consideration, Barth would like to see the Car Show move to the third weekend in May next year, and he is hoping that the Chamber of Commerce will also move the Spring Festival to that same weekend.

The entire meeting was very up-beat with enthusiasm over the interest that is shown in Harrington, the interest that has been expressed about potential new businesses, and the potential sale of real estate in the near future.

Harrington Public Library

The Harrington Public Library is in the early stages of organizing the library into use of bar codes, and the preliminary agreements with the state library have been made. Difficulties with the computers will be addressed by the state library, in changing the computers from Windows XP back to Windows Vista, at no expense to the city. New adult fiction books are on order and will be available within a week.

Doggone Dogs

The City Council of the City of Harrington approved Ordinance No. 488 pertaining to the licensing, vaccination, and registration requirements of dogs; prohibiting dogs from running at large within the corporate limits of the City of Harrington; or creating a public nuisance by barking; proper disposal of animal waste; authorizing the impoundment of dogs; providing for civil penalties; and superseding all other ordinances in conflict. Copies of the actual nine page Ordinance are available at City Hall. There is a yearly license fee of $15 for spayed or neutered dogs or $25 for non-neutered. Each dog must be licensed by the last business day in May. For those that had previously registered their dog, the fee must still be paid before the end of May. These fees are doubled after the last day of May. There will be a $100 citation for each non-licensed dog. During the many council meetings in which dogs were a topic of discussion, the council was made aware of the large number of households that believe that they can allow their pets to run at large at dawn and dusk. The $50 fee for a first offense if the dog is able to be apprehended or $100 fee if the dog cannot be apprehended is meant to inform the residents that this practice needs to end. With cell phone cameras, gathering evidence will be much easier. Impound fee is $35 with another $20 per day for maintenance. Fines are also set for unreasonable barking or howling and for animal waste infractions. The committee that created the framework for this ordinance was Councilman Peter Davenport, Sharon Schultz, Scott McGowan and Paul Charlton. Residents were informed prior to the selection of a committee that the city council wanted input from the community, and a good attendance was present for the first council meeting that addressed the lack of consideration by the dog owners. Monies collected from the new Ordinance No. 488 will go toward the expenses of problem dogs such as food, fencing and transportation.

Young Musicians

Provide Recital

Students of Billie Herron and Heather Safe that have been taking lessons in the Art/Music Room of the Opera House are Darby, Glenna Mae and Brenick Soliday, Rob Bitcon, Shaelyn Nuner, Bella Mattozzi, Elaine Van Bell, and Laurel and William Victor.

Eight of these students participated in a recital Sunday, May 4, at 4 p.m. in the Opera House auditorium on the Wurlitzer piano which was donated to the Opera House last December by Sue Shear. Following a brief introduction Heather Safe of Sprague and Billie Herron played a duet from "The Sound of Music". William Victor, dressed in a nice turquoise shirt, grey vest and slacks, played two numbers, "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Dinosaur Music Night." Glenna Mae Soliday played a duet with Billie Herron, "Joy to the World." Elaine Van Bell played the traditional spiritual, "Oh, When the Saints", which pleased the audience. Shaelyn Nuner played a duet with Heather Safe, Roman Trumpets followed by a solo, "Nothing But the Blood." Bella Mattozzi, attired in a beautiful pastel turquoise dress, performed "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" as both a solo and a duet with Heather Safe. Darby Soliday, in black and white, played a solo, "Sweet and Low", followed by two duets, "Sleeping Beauty Waltz" and "Greeting", with Stacia Soliday. Brenick Soliday, also in black and white, played Brenick's "Masterpiece" and Beethoven's "Symphoney Number 5" as solos, and finished with "Down in the Valley", a duet with Stacia Soliday. The concluding numbers were performed by Rob Bitcon, dressed in black slacks and a gray shirt, "Olympic Games" and "Tarentella", a duet with Billie Herron, "Theme from Love Story", and "Joy to the World", a duet with Glenna Mae Soliday. Each child heard enthusiastic supportive clapping as they entered the stage area and again on the completion of each song. When each completed their entries, the students bowed before leaving the stage.

At the completion of the program, Billie Herron invited each student individually to come forward to receive a gift as she spoke praise of the student. Laurel Victor received an award for the greatest number of hours of practice, although she did not perform. Heather Safe similarly had gifts for each of her students. Flowers were presented to the music teachers and then to the two art teachers, Carol and Bonnie Hardy.

Between 50 and 55 people were in attendance and adjourned to the Art/Music Room for refreshments and a social hour to view the pianos and the changes in the room. A beautifully decorated "piano" cake created by Carolyn Mattozzi was served by Bunny Haugan and punch and coffee was served.