The Slice It’s Been A Huge Boon For Roswell

Just a thought.

How about “Area 51” as a nickname for North Idaho?

That way, the government could deny that it exists.

The real June Cleaver: Diamond Lake’s Sandee Pritchard has been known to vacuum in pearls.

Spokane summer scene: These two happy little boys were jumping on a big trampoline set up in a side yard. Also on the trampoline was an assortment of stuffed animals. And as the kids sprang up and down, so did the stuffed animals.

For a moment at least, boys, bears and bunnies could fly.

Short apprenticeship: So this grocery store checker decided to let a sacker ring up our purchases while she watched. But the sacker, a teenage boy, hadn’t even passed the first item over the scanner when another checker sternly asked if he was 18. It must be a store policy, a union rule or something.

Looking sheepish, he said he wasn’t. And he skulked back to his bagger’s position, where he demonstrated that he hadn’t even mastered that job yet. (He put the bread in with the Snapple bottles.)

“How would she know if I’m 18?” he muttered.

“Probably because you told her,” said the checker beside him, who seemed to be getting a kick out of it.

Readers write: Dana Sowl said Sowlfest would be a gathering of Ron Lloyd Band followers.

And Colfax’s Kathy Lemon said her brother, “Big Ed” Clauson, is the Inland Northwest’s one true Big Ed.

The view from Riverside and Monroe: We think it would be good for a laugh if Bobby Brett demanded that taxpayers build him a baseball stadium in downtown Spokane.

Slice answer: What should people around here buy in bulk? “Patience,” wrote Tomas Kelley Lynch. “Stop for that yellow light. Don’t honk at the person in front of you the second that light turns green. Allow others to make mistakes. Take a right turn BEHIND a bicycle, not in front of it.”

Warm-up questions: Does the fact that there have been court decisions north of the border supporting a woman’s right to go topless in public prove that Canadians are more grown up than Americans about such matters? Did you ever buy a car from Rudolph “Trader” Lonza?

Today’s Slice question: If you filmed a ‘60s-style beach party movie at a local lake, what would you call it?

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: The Slice appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; fax (509) 459-5098. A form letter sent out by the Coeur d’Alene postmaster stresses the need for “correct address hygiene.”