AM Hucks: SR Gets Fickled Finger of Fate

1970 was a good year. The first episode of “All My Children” was broadcast Jan. 5. The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22 of that year. President Nixon signed a bill lowering the voting age to 18. And, for those keeping score at home, I began work as a journalist for the Chico (Calif.) Enterprise-Record while attending Chico State College (later University) full-time. But 1970 isn’t a good date to have on a check that you might want to cash 37 years later. Ask biz tidbits writer Nils Rosdahl and the other contract columnists and reporters who help fill our Handle Extra edition and other Spokesman-Review spots with their good work. (Yeah, I’m Hucking ourselves today.) Seems we played an inadvertent April Fools’ joke on our correspondents this week. Instead of pocketing extra moolah for their Valentine, some of them ran into banks that wouldn’t cash their checks. Nah, Cowles Publishing hasn’t filed for bankruptcy. An Accounting Department typo caused the correspondents’ checks to be issued with a 1970 date. A Spokane Valley correspondent was the first to encounter the bank roadblock. But not to worry. New checks were issued for those who couldn’t cash the originals.

•A recent story from BYU-Idaho (Rexburg) re: the capture of a panty thief brought back painful memories for a colleague who will remain nameless. E-mails she: “Horrible flashback. Boston laundromat. Me walking in. Guy taking panties – my panties – out of the dryer. Me too shocked to do anything. That was me at 21, though. At 35, I’d kick the guy’s (butt).”