Public Periscope

Hold the wings

Washington residents may remember Michael Farris for helping overturn Spokane’s parking meter ordinance in 1979, leading the state’s chapter of the Moral Majority, urging abortion protesters to violate a restraining order and defending home schooling. Later, he ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor of Virginia. … Farris is back in the news with another cause celebre. This time, he’s an attorney for Michael New, an American soldier court-martialed for refusing to wear the United Nations insignia on his uniform as part of a peacekeeping mission in Macedonia. … “There’s no legal difference between this case and one in which the president orders Americans to become members of the German army or Russian navy,” Farris contends. The federal appellate court in Washington, D.C., said that before he can take his case to a civilian court, New will have to wait for the military process to run its course.

Hall on Earth

Martin Hall, where nine Eastern Washington counties are imprisoning teenage offenders, may be a deterrent to crime. According to Spokane County Commissioner Phil Harris, someone recently erected a hastily painted plywood sign with an arrow pointing toward the Medical Lake facility. “Martin Hell,” it read.

Socked in

No matter what the visibility at Felts Field airport, the air inside the remodeled Skyway Cafe often is a little hazy. … Smoking still is allowed at most tables in the recently reopened landmark, John Morrison, chief executive officer of Spokane Airports, assured Airport Board members at their December meeting. And the cafe operator is seeking a permit to sell liquor. … “Apparently, all pilots smoke and drink heavily,” he said. “They’ve got to build up courage to take off,” replied board member Raymond Hanson.

Setting the pace

For those keeping track, the folks who oversee the Community Colleges of Spokane are on a near-record pace for closed-door meetings. … The five-member board of trustees has had 10 executive sessions in three months. That compares with four during the same period last year. … Meetings can be closed when the board evaluates employees, discusses real estate deals or defends against lawsuits. Board members, who are appointed by the governor, say this year’s high number of closed meetings has been unavoidable. … The board will have yet another executive session - the last for 1997 - Tuesday. It will follow a public workshop on hiring a new chief executive officer - a subject that caused many of the earlier closed meetings. The workshop will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the CCS district administration building, 2000 N. Greene.

Or was it angel of political death?

Al French, president of the Nevada-Lidgerwood neighborhood council, recently presented lame-duck Spokane Mayor Jack Geraghty with a statue of a guardian angel on behalf of the city’s neighborhood councils. … “This memento … comes with deepest gratitude and appreciation to our guardian angel,” said French, who called Geraghty “the father” of citizen empowerment. … It all sounded a little too eulogistic to Geraghty, who reminded French, “I’m not dead yet.”

Some get the cold shoulder

Taking time out from being praised, Geraghty himself praised “Disney on Ice: The Spirit of Pocahontas” for donating 170 tickets to several agencies that offer aid and comfort to disadvantaged residents. They include such worthy agencies as the Transitional Living Center and Salvation Army safe house. … Later in the evening, Toni Lodge of the NATIVE Project noted some irony in the giveaway: Organizations devoted to serving Native American children didn’t receive tickets to the show, which sanitizes the story of the relationship between Capt. John Smith and a certain Indian.

, DataTimes MEMO: “Public Periscope” is published on Mondays and was compiled by Dan Hansen from staff reports. You can contact us at The Spokesman-Review, Box 2160, Spokane 99210, or by fax at (509)459-5482 or by e-mail at jimc@spokesman.com This sidebar appeared with the story: Hot topic Mayor-elect John Talbott and City Council members Cherie Rodgers and Rob Higgins will take their oaths of office today at 5:30 p.m. in the council chambers at City Hall, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by Dan Hansen from staff reports