The Slice: President Bigfoot? Has a nice ring to it

Just wondering.

Will there ever be a president of the United States who comes from the Northwest?

OK, let’s move on.

•Hmmmm: A local business newsletter touted a new Spokane restaurant featuring “organic and ethnically raised food.”

Maybe that was supposed to be “ethically.”

•Ridpath memory No. 2: “The Reardan High School class of 1968, of which I was a member, went to the Ridpath in the afternoon of our Senior Day,” wrote Bobbie Williams.

She knows that’s not exactly like going to Disneyland.

“But we had a ball. We swam and played on the elevators (you have to remember we were country kids). The evening highlight was a trip to the roof, all dressed up, to have dinner at the famous restaurant and enjoy the skyline. Even 40 year later, these are treasured memories for me.”

•Speaking of 1968: That was the summer before Fran Menzel’s senior year of high school. She was working as a ward helper at Memorial Hospital in her hometown, Worcester, Mass.

It was the week of the tumultuous Democratic Convention in Chicago.

“One of the patients on our ward was the father of famous protester Abbie Hoffman,” wrote Menzel. “Mr. Hoffman had had a heart attack and was in somewhat of a precarious condition. Orders were for him to have no stressful experiences. Well, every radio, television and newspaper story was all about the convention and the antics of his son.”

The soft-spoken Mr. Hoffman must have sensed that there was something odd about the news blackout surrounding him. So he would ask Menzel to bring him a paper and he tried to engage her in conversations about current events.

“I am such a lousy liar, I was petrified I’d let something slip,” she recalled.

Eventually Abbie’s brother told their dad about the events in Chicago and the hospital staffers relaxed.

•Multiple choice: Who would you cast to play Spokane Mayor Mary Verner in a disaster movie set in Spokane?

A) Annette Bening. B) Sigourney Weaver. C) Christine Lahti. D) Christine Baranski. E) Jane Kaczmarek. F) Illeana Douglas. G) Greta Scacchi. H) Candace Bergen. I) Honeysuckle Weeks. J) Helen Mirren. K) Edie Falco. L) Other.

•Feedback: Readers said there are, in fact, more people on bikes and you are more apt to notice cyclists after becoming one yourself.

•Today’s Slice question: What were your favorite school supplies? Don’t say paste.