The Slice: Celebrity can mean hero or goat

It has been a long time since a regular feature running in The Spokesman-Review inspired a nickname for a local kid who then went on to become a colossal celebrity.

So what current feature might be the next Bingville Bugle? What nickname would it inspire? And in what way would the youth given this name become famous?

I’ll send coveted reporter’s notebooks to the readers coming up with the best ideas.

Happy Groundhog Day: Edie Nelson’s granddaughter, Alison, is among those born on Feb. 2. “She is now a teenager, but for many years she would tell others she was born on Grandma Hog Day.”

“My father, his mother, and my cousin were all born on that date,” wrote Sherry Slater.

“My son, Edward Hunt, was born a month premature, on Groundhog Day, 1979,” wrote Jan Knapp. “Since he was small, I would call him my little groundhog. And teased him a lot over the years that I was going to put him outside to see if he saw his shadow.”

Others born on this date include Sophia Premus, Giorgio Usai, Dixie O’Grady, Greg Hein, Caitlin Ruud, Sharon Hill, Brendan Wirt, Don Brown, Jodi (Garitone) Wilburn, Lauren Michele Nooner, Betty Krafft, Rick Howarth, Meredith Lindsey Morrow, Tim Plambeck, Dorothy Ochsner, Lynn Case, Jean Adams and Betsy Hartman.

Then there was this. “I have two family members born on Feb. 2,” wrote Shirley Miller. “My brother and my youngest son. Neither are any good at bringing spring. Let’s have the marmots do it.”

Multiple choice: Compared to the array of issues facing certain other cities, Spokane’s problems seem… A) Solvable. B) Typical. C) Minor league. D) Intractable. E) No reason for surrender. F) Other.

Two kinds of people: One likes setting the car radio on scan and just listening to the automatic station-hopping for extended periods. The other does not.

Which are you?

But who’s counting: Many of you have managed to resist the lure of 4,200 Slice Blog posts at www.spokesman.com, including one Wednesday featuring a reader noting an example of why yours truly is offensive.

Today’s Slice question: What’s your favorite alternative to the Super Bowl?