50 years ago in Expo history: A letter writer worried Spokane would be ridiculed once the environmental-themed fair opened because of trash and litter

A letter-to-the-editor writer scoffed at Expo ‘74’s theme of a “fresh new environment,” because he said that “Spokane is one of the dirtiest, junkiest trash-filled cities of its size in America.”

If the city wasn’t cleaned up in the next few weeks, he said “the Spokane Establishment is going to be the object of nationwide counter publicity and ridicule.”

He challenged the city’s service clubs to get busy on a citywide spring cleaning.

In other Expo items, the “Ideas for Expo” column printed a list of reader suggestions, ranging from the practical to the just plain random. On the practical side was the suggestion that the Gondola ride be left intact after the fair, an idea that caught on. On the random side was the suggestion that eels be added to the Monroe Street whirlpool.

From 100 years ago: The results of the Chronicle’s reader poll about Daylight Saving Time were not yet announced, but some of the ballots came with letters that made it abundantly clear that some were opposed to the idea. One reader said that “this scheme of turning clocks ahead an hour is simply gotten up by people who never get up before 8 and go to work, if at all.”

Another reader said it would make it impossible for small children to be induced to go to bed before sundown.

Another said she wouldn’t follow the plan anyway, “not on Rural Route No. 1.”