Doug Clark

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News >  Spokane

Clarksville: 84-year-old Gonzaga superfan once helped UI beat the Zags

Tue., Feb. 28, 2017

I made a friend of an 84-year-old basketball junkie named Lefty Melton. Who better to lead us into the madness of March and add a bit of perspective about the Zags’ recent 71-79 heartbreaking loss to BYU than a guy who was some kind of player back in the day?

News >  Spokane

Spokane jazz singer Julia Keefe ready to showcase her skills at Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival

Thu., Feb. 23, 2017

Julia Keefe caught the jazz bug grooving on Billie Holiday – as a toddler. I know. Weird, huh? But Keefe, now a seasoned professional jazz singer, swears it’s true.

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: The story of how a great guitar found its way home

UPDATED: Mon., Feb. 20, 2017

Much has been written about the bond between a boy and his mutt. But that’s a marriage on the rocks compared to the bind that ties an old rocker to his beloved ax. And so it is with Pierre Glindeman and Boomer.

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: They’re not potholes, they’re Spokane pits of opportunity

Sun., Feb. 19, 2017

Columnist Doug Clark imagines what bits of constructive criticism former streets director Mark Serbousek might leave for his successor, as Spokane grapples with its seemingly endless pothole problem.

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: Moon Creek Gourmet Sweets entrepreneur has caramel knowledge

Thu., Feb. 16, 2017

The first one’s free. It’s the oldest trick in the drug pusher handbook. And the tactic works just as well for the irresistible caramels John Linstrum makes and peddles to the area’s sweet-toothed masses.

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: I prefer an armed Ozzie to an unarmed one

Tue., Feb. 14, 2017

I all but coughed up my toast and coffee Sunday morning when I read about the sheriff having to give up his gat at the Arena Saturday night. We really are living in an age of nincompoops.

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: “Liberty” deserves a new state song, and I’m happy to oblige

Sun., Feb. 12, 2017

State Rep. Matt Shea, R-Pluto, and a few other jokers would chop Washington in half and turn the East Side slice of the pizza into a new 51st state. Liberty, they want to call it.

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: Float pod soaked my stress away, but did nothing for my deadline

Thu., Feb. 9, 2017

Tuesday afternoon found me seeking inner peace and tranquility in a North Side strip mall, a Frisbee toss from a Red Lobster franchise. I naturally would have preferred a one-on-one with the Dalai Lama himself. Although getting to Tibet appears so exhausting and arduous that the logistics, I fear, would defeat the purpose.

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: I’m done with the winter of 2017. How about you?

Tue., Feb. 7, 2017

Doug Clark asks, “How Freaking Fed Up with the Winter of 2017 Are You?”

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: UI student Jodie Lewis is coming to terms with her own disability by learning to help others

Sun., Feb. 5, 2017

Once in while someone comes along who makes us forget about our problems and maybe realize how lucky we are.

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: ‘Groundhog Day’ Spokane-style would be radio jingle, Zags gear

Thu., Feb. 2, 2017

Remember Bill Murray stuck in a time loop in the 1993 comedy movie classic, “Groundhog Day”? Murray, as the jaded and condescending TV weatherman Phil Connors, wakes to find himself living the day (Feb. 2) over and over and over … again.

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: The bird feeder draws as many opportunists and bullies as a political race

Tue., Jan. 31, 2017

One of the swell things about marriage is that you have someone who’ll let you know when your mental faculties fly off the tracks like a jackknifed coal train. The following evaluation took place on a recent Sunday after I drove to a hardware store for a light fixture and returned home with a birdseed-encrusted wreath made out of suet.

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: No wonder Walt Disney wanted Spokane’s Looff Carrousel

Sun., Jan. 29, 2017

Riverfront Park, a friend observed the other day, is as important to Spokane as Disneyland is to Anaheim. If that’s the case – and I can’t disagree – then you could argue that the Looff Carrousel is our Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: Time is on Eben Cole’s side in his quest to make the perfect guitar

Thu., Jan. 26, 2017

As clichéd as it may sound, Eben Cole’s dream of selling his own line of handmade electric guitars really did begin with a bang. Cole said it was 3 a.m. or so when some drunk or inattentive driver lost control and took out a good chunk of the front of his business, Cole Music Co., at 816 W. Garland.

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: Spokane’s Patrick Glass is a celebrity in Sweden thanks to reality TV show

Tue., Jan. 24, 2017

Patrick Glass, of Spokane, is a Swedish celebrity, thanks to his participation in the 2016 season of that country’s top reality TV show.

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: Mac McCormick a solar true believer with an $8-a-month power bill

UPDATED: Wed., Jan. 11, 2017

Mac McCormick, 72, is a true believer in his family, in paying cash, and in solar energy.

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: A new year, a new knee, and I’m ready to go

Mon., Jan. 9, 2017

Doug Clark talks about his two-month absence for knee replacement surgery.

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: By the time you read this, I’ll be in a ton of pain

Tue., Nov. 15, 2016

By the time you read this, I will most likely be hollering for morphine louder than the entire cast of “Hacksaw Ridge.”

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: Cheney High relents on student’s yearbook photo that says ‘They Can’t Deport Us All’

Sun., Nov. 13, 2016

Cheney High School relented and will let a student’s yearbook photo run; in it he’s wearing a T-shirt that says, “They Can’t Deport Us All.”

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: Marshall Mend first taught himself how to succeed, then taught Coeur d’Alene how to do it, too

Mon., Nov. 7, 2016

Marshall Mend, a self-made millionaire, says helping drive Richard Butler and his Aryan Nations from the region never gave him a sleepless night.

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: Time to round up a Presidential Press Posse

Wed., Nov. 2, 2016

Doug Clark is looking for members of his 2016 Presidential Press Posse; do you think you have the right stuff?

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: Impressive butterfly collection wings its way home to WSU

Sun., Oct. 30, 2016

The last part of one of the state’s largest butterfly collections has been given to Washington State University.

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: There’s nothing creepy about Dougles the Clown, although he’s inappropriately dressed for a South Hill cocktail party

Mon., Oct. 24, 2016

Dougles the Clown wants to put to rest any suspicions people harbor about clowns.

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: Keep eyes, nose alert for counterfeit WSU gear

Sun., Oct. 23, 2016

Counterfeit t-shirts are the tip of the iceberg. Doug Clark rounds up other counterfeit WSU products.

Opinion >  Column

Doug Clark: I’m no fighter pilot, but I do like a good belt buckle mystery

Wed., Oct. 19, 2016

It’s not every day that some guy you’ve never met from the Mississippi Gulf Coast thinks you’re a fighter pilot.