20 Years Ago

Lapwai Elementary School teachers and administrators were recently honored for making vast improvements in elementary students’ reading and math scores.

Lapwai was one of only five schools in the country — and the only one in the West — to receive the Education Trust’s Dispelling the Myth award that honors schools with large populations of minority students who have shown extraordinary progress in academic achievement.

The Education Trust is a nonprofit Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group for disadvantaged students. Schools that receive the award are selected from a national database showing academic progress year by year.

PULLMAN — The Apple Cup returns to Pullman this week for the first time since a postgame bottle-throwing fracas in 2002, and Washington State officials are planning several measures designed to prevent a sequel.

In addition to placing more security officers in the Martin Stadium stands for Saturday’s game, they are paying closer attention to the dynamics between athletes and fans.

In the aftermath of Washington’s 29-26 triple-overtime win over Washington State two years ago, Cougar fans, primarily students, hurled hundreds of plastic bottles and other objects onto the field. Amid the tumult, several journalists and a musician in the WSU band sustained minor injuries.

Washington State assistant athletic director John David Wicker, in charge of event and facility operations, said the fans were responding in part to the sight of UW players celebrating at midfield and exchanging gestures with the crowd.