The Slice: Summer at Hayden? Bada Bing!

Bill Stimson has a guess about what would have become of Bing Crosby if the entertainer had not left Spokane.

“I think he would have buckled down, finished law school, and opened a law practice, probably with a couple of law school pals. Everyone who knew him says he had the intelligence and discipline. Most of his childhood friends entered the professions – doctors, lawyers, dentists, etc. A modest legal practice would have placated his mother and provided the money to do what he really wanted to do, which was to look forward to spending summers boating and golfing with pals …

Bill Stimson has a guess about what would have become of Bing Crosby if the entertainer had not left Spokane.

“I think he would have buckled down, finished law school, and opened a law practice, probably with a couple of law school pals. Everyone who knew him says he had the intelligence and discipline. Most of his childhood friends entered the professions – doctors, lawyers, dentists, etc. A modest legal practice would have placated his mother and provided the money to do what he really wanted to do, which was to look forward to spending summers boating and golfing with pals at Hayden Lake. After all, even after he made untold millions, that’s what he chose to do with his summers.”

In the matter of dealing with bedtime-resisting kids who complain that it’s still light out: Colville’s Lois Lawson has a friend, Bobbi Eveland, who offered her children the following advice years ago.

“Close your eyes and it’ll be dark.”

Moses Lake’s Frances Jones used a similar approach. She doubts it would work on kids today.

Re: accidents with uninsured motorists: Readers shared stories of roadway reality. A lot of depressing, if predictable, stuff. Not only are there plenty of uninsured motorists, countless Spokane drivers do not have a valid license. And plenty of those sharing the road with us are named on outstanding warrants. But you knew that.

Anyway, Dick Wandling had a different sort of experience. “At least five years ago, my wife was at NorthTown,” he wrote. “After she started driving away, she noticed a note on the windshield.”

It said that the person writing the note had run into the Wandlings’ minivan. There was a phone number.

“I called that night and left a message,” said Wandling. “The next day the lady called back and left a message that had an insurance claim number. I don’t remember if I ever even heard her name, but have always been impressed with her honesty.”

Today’s Slice question: Do some parents refuse to let kids camp out overnight in the backyard because of safety concerns?

Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Heard from a reader who, noting that the poet in question took her own life, said she uses Sylvia Plath stamps on credit card payments.