Crestview, Bright Beginnings hold open house
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 6 months AGO
From left: Secretary Kim Dieter, Principal Debbie Freeman and Cassandra Perez stand behind the welcome table at the open house March 13 at Crestview Christian School and Bright Beginnings Early Learning Center.
COURTESY PHOTO/JUDY TWIGG/CRESTVIEW CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
First-grader Ben Spenser made a new friend at the Crestview Christian School and Bright Beginnings Early Learning Center open house March 13.
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | March 25, 2025 2:05 AM
MOSES LAKE — Crestview Christian School and Bright Beginnings Early Learning Center held an open house March 13. The public was invited to tour the classrooms and see what the schools have to offer, and there were crafts and games for the children.
“It was really fun,” said principal Debbie Freeman. “We had all the rooms decorated for a circus theme.”
Crestview is a small Christian school operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and open to children of all backgrounds. The enrollment is 14 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, with two teachers. It’s fully accredited and the students take the same standardized tests that public school students do, Freeman told the Columbia Basin Herald in an interview last fall.
Bright Beginnings has around 8-10 children, Freeman said in October. It provides day care as well as before- and after-school care for children 12 months through 12 years old.
“We had parents from the school side going to the Bright Beginnings side because they’d never seen the daycare,” Freeman said. “And we had the daycare parents coming to the school side to see what the school was all about.
Both Crestview Christian School and Bright Beginnings Early Learning Center have space for more students, Freeman said. More information is available at www.crestviewadventist.org.
First-grader Ben Spenser made a new friend at the Crestview Christian School and Bright Beginnings Early Learning Center open house March 13.ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Endless battle
Noxious Weed Control Board works to keep invasive plants under control
MOSES LAKE — Some of the nastiest plants in Grant County were the topic of a class led by Jay Johnson, a consultant with the Grant County Noxious Weed Control Board, Tuesday. The Noxious Weed Control Board, as its name would suggest, is tasked with keeping weeds under control in Grant County. That’s not a small job; the board’s website lists 129 species of noxious weeds that are found around Grant County. A noxious weed is defined as an invasive, non-native plant that threatens agricultural crops, local ecosystems or fish and wildlife habitat, according to the Noxious Weed Control Board. Washington state law requires that these weeds be identified and their spread kept to a minimum, if not completely eradicated. “We’re one of those agencies a lot of people don’t really understand,” Johnson said. “We’re a county office and … our funding is tax-based assessment. When you get your tax bill and you look down at all the expenses that you pay for, there we are.”
BASIN EVENTS: Oct. 16-24
COLUMBIA BASIN — Whether you feel like shopping, crafting, learning or seeing a show, there’s something happening for you this week in the Basin. Oct. 16 ‘My Family (Mi Familia)’ screening Spanning three generations, “My Family (Mi Familia)” is a heartfelt drama that follows the Sánchez family as they build their lives in East Los Angeles. Through love, hardship, triumph, and sacrifice, the film explores the immigrant experience, the strength of family bonds, and the traditions that connect one generation to the next. Lowrider show and taco truck before the screening. Sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts, EDUBS C/S and the Moses Lake Creative District. $12 per person. Doors open at 6 p.m., film begins at 7 p.m. at the Moses Lake Civic Center Auditorium, 401 S. Balsam St. Tickets and info: www.cba-arts.org.
Moses Lake author encourages women to look beyond church culture norms
MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake author’s book, “A Christian Woman Striving to Live Her Faith in a Man-Controlled World,” takes aim at the role to which many churches relegate the female half of their congregations. “It’s to encourage women in the faith,” Linda Curran said. “A lot of churches say, ‘Teach Sunday school, do this, do that, but don’t (evangelize.)’" In her book, Curran recounts a time when she moved to a new community and joined a church there. She was surprised to learn that, as a new female member, she had been automatically assigned church cleaning duties. When she questioned it, she wrote, she was met with condescension and her objections were brushed aside. In other churches, she said, women who were capable of teaching were relegated to “women’s ministry.”