The Slice It Doesn’t Get More Special Than This

Mon., June 17, 1996

By Paul Turner srpaulturner@gmail.com

We asked readers what makes their town special.

“I live in Wallace, Idaho, and we think there are many answers,” wrote Ed Eckel. “But I will give you mine. We have the Wallace District Mining Museum. On display is what may be the world’s largest hairball.”

Thanks, Ed. A follow-up call to the museum resulted in a conversation with a nice guy who explained that the hairball, from a cow, is about the size of a softball.

But apparently no official “world’s largest” claims are made because, well, nobody is keeping track.

Places readers have unexpectedly encountered someone smoking pot: Several local restaurants, the basement of a downtown Spokane church during a program for teenagers (going on upstairs), the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, downtown Seattle, the outdoors smoking area at the Spokane Arena and at more than a few seemingly straight-laced private parties.

Riverfront Park was mentioned by half a dozen readers. Our favorite story came from a guy who was riding an over-the-water gondola when he got a whiff of the unmistakable aroma and looked over to see, in a gondola heading in the opposite direction, a guy smoking a big joint.

One reader’s technique for dodging people with petitions: “I’m just down for the weekend, eh.”

Complete this sentence: In the Inland Northwest, the thing that tips you off immediately that a person is here visiting as a tourist is…

There’s no way to figure the exact odds: But we’re almost certain that someone around here who will travel far from home during summer vacation season will encounter a nice old stranger in, say, Michigan or Texas who remembers being at the Farragut naval training station.

Country music can warp a person: Shirley Olson’s sister, Dorene, has a cat named Tonway Kitty.

Warm-up question: Is there something about your yard that makes your front door a magnet for kids offering to mow your lawn for a few bucks?

Today’s Slice question: What’s your fondest tree house memory?

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Drawing

MEMO: The Slice appears Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; fax (509) 459-5098. The Russian election was way more interesting if you had been lucky enough to have had candid conversations about it with immigrants from that country.

The Slice appears Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; fax (509) 459-5098. The Russian election was way more interesting if you had been lucky enough to have had candid conversations about it with immigrants from that country.

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