Doug Clark

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? Jane Raemsch begs to differ. Color this artist flame broiled. The Spokane woman is anything but flattered at some rip-off artists she says unashamedly cash in by copying her unique window paintings without permission.

You can't help but wonder how many Olympic skiing medals this compact dynamo might have won had he not been avalanched by fate. For one electric moment during the 1964 Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria, Jimmie Heuga appeared to be a phenomenon on the rise. At just 20, he grabbed the bronze in the slalom, a heartbeat behind second-place countryman Billy Kidd. They were the first American men ever to win medals in alpine skiing.

QUESTION: What's worse than hosting a party and having nobody show? ANSWER: When the party is hosted by Snapple and the guest of honor arrives guzzling a Diet Coke. This unplanned, red-faced moment actually happened at Spokane's Lutheran Social Services.

Anyone up for Snowflake Roulette? The odds are probably shorter than Lotto and you don't have to travel to some smokefilled casino to grab a piece of the action. Just head to Mandell's Jewelers, 221 N. Wall in the downtown skywalk level, and buy something between now and Christmas.

Seasoning's greetings from Peter Urio: Bottles of secret spice blends from the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro. Treasured recipes handed down from the former Tanzanian's father and grandmother. Taste sensations Urio vows will wake up our jaded junk-food palates with multicultural zing.

Silver bells. It's Christmas time in the city. Java City, that is. The holiday season isn't so merry or bright for the owners of this cozy corner espresso and sandwich joint at 18 S. Monroe.

Harwood J. Tibbits says he has more than 67,000 bottles in his downtown Spokane shop. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Capt. Scott O'Grady signs a stack of books Saturday. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

I'd love to hear North Idaho's Nazi king, Richard Butler, giving these directions to his Aryan Nations hideaway: "Well, (gulp) after you get to Garwood, head south on (gasp) Martin Luther King Jr. (choke) Drive." Hey, maybe it could happen. The area's top racist-busters want to rename Rimrock Road - the rural lane bordering Butler's headquarters - after America's slain civil rights leader.

Though never as majestic as Spokane's historic Davenport Hotel, the nearby towering Ridpath was plenty regal enough for the King and me. My first night of wedded bliss was spent romantically ensconced in the Ridpath's purple honeymoon suite. That same year - 1973 - Elvis checked into the downtown hotel, 515 W. Sprague, for the second time in his hip-swiveling career.

Mai Bee Vue chats with Tim Popov before class starts at Shaw Middle School. Vue, a popular Hmong singing star, teaches English as a second language. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

Drew Van Dyche waits it out at the Liberty Park Post Office. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Linda Flint should set more attainable goals, like getting O.J. to confess to butchering Nicole and Ron. Instead, the Spokane woman is charging after the ultimate in impossible dreams: getting the IRS to correct a mistake. Flint, 36, has wasted more than a year battering this windmill. The lawyer she hired has nearly cost her more than the $508.62 refund the IRS mailed to the wrong address.

To quote Jack Nicholson as the Joker in the first "Batman" movie: "This town needs an enema!" Sorry, but I knew Spokane was in serious trouble even before some low-life purse-snatcher mugged my dear mother. The violence of the last 10 months - from Felicia Reese's murder late last December to Tuesday's gang-related killing of a young North Side couple - has been a bloody reminder that we no longer live in Leave it to Beaverland.

To heck with catching Bigfoot. I'd rather catch the big groans coming from Washington State University academics and administrators when they learn their Professor Sasquatch is making news again. He is Grover Krantz, instructor of anthropology at WSU.

Marilu Garcia has a problem a lot of people would pray for: The government won't stop sending her money. Since September 1994, the Spokane Valley woman has received four checks totaling more than $700 from the Washington state Department of Social and Health Services.

Life behind bars gets sweeter all the time. There are weight rooms and basketball courts and cable TV. And law libraries better equipped than most private legal firms. What's next? you may wonder - cocktails and a wet bar?

Gene Heister emerged from the kitchen, clutching the cardboard box that once held the ashes of his wife, Jean. "That's what she was in, all right," said Heister, 73, grinning wildly. The snow-haired man set the box down along a wall and then eased himself into a chair at the dining room table. He passed me a photograph with the reddish image in the corner that may or may not be the back of his dead wife's head.

A gaping hole and support for the cougar statue are all that show in the central atrium of the STA plaza. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Athur Anguiano sketches the backside of SCC students Monday. Photo by Molly O'Hara/The Spokesman-Review

It's a clear and bright Saturday morning. Normal Americans are lounging around their homes, reading the paper, drinking coffee. Yet, I am standing outside in a line of about 100 good-humored zealots. My new comrades have that steely, resolute stare common to war survivors and those waiting for Garth Brooks tickets. These people, however, are worse off.

Gov. Lowry's missed several signs from voters during his first term. File/The Spokesman-Review

Jenny Lucey applies makeup before her appearance on stage as "Magenta the Domestic" in the Rocky Horror Picture Show Friday night at the Magic Lantern. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Life seems to be one endless whine for Spokane City Councilman Chris Anderson. I'm willing to bet that, as a child, Anderson was one of those pouty, lip-quivering spoilsports for whom the tennis net was always an inch too high. Nobody probably ever passed him the basketball enough.