Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Maybe someone just needs a nap

Paul Turner The Spokesman-Review

Business owner Elaine Rising wonders if some grouch in her little town is against friendliness.

Someone keeps stealing the “Welcome to Valleyford” road signs.

•Fast forward: Irene Supica said it’s too late for an “Earliest Christmas Light Display Contest,” because she has seen them already.

•Slice answer: “Many years ago, I worked for a small hospital in Oregon,” wrote Michael Brandt, clinical pharmacy manager at Kootenai Medical Center. “Was Employee of the Month in June. By December of the same year I was laid off.”

•Before they became the Baltimore Orioles: Only a dozen responding readers knew that the St. Louis Browns were Father Chuck O’Malley’s favorite baseball team in “Going My Way.” So I’m randomly declaring Leslie Blair the winner of the coveted reporter’s notebook.

•Speaking of Bing Crosby: Several readers mentioned him in naming overrated local icons. Others nominated “the lake,” huckleberries, the Bowl and Pitcher, Hudson’sHamburgers, the Davenport Hotel and The Slice.

•Theme song: Paul Levernier received a notice from the Internal Revenue Service saying he owed more tax than he had paid.

He phoned the number indicated on the form. And while he was on hold, he found himself listening to music from “The Nutcracker.”

•Misspeaking: Bonnie Alberts is pretty sure her co-worker meant to say “A thorn in my side” when he said “A sore in my thigh.”

•Two for Tuesday: 1. Slice reader Jennifer Pearson noted that Spokane is mentioned several times in the new Stuart Woods novel, “Shoot Him If He Runs.”

2. Valerie Adams was instant-messaging with her sister, using a program that converts text to spoken words on the receiver’s end. Well, every time Valerie referred to the Bi-County sports league, her sister heard “Bisexual County.”

•Final farewell to summer: Lisa Arsenault told about seeing a little girl running through a sprinkler on a hot day. She had a life jacket on. “Better safe than sorry, I guess,” she wrote.

•Dealing with litterers: Angela Roth turns them in by calling 1-866-LITTER1. “I have it programmed into my cell phone,” she said.

•Today’s Slice question: If you like hearing trains rumble by throughout the day, where’s the best place to work?