Public Periscope
Not so fast Mr. Mayor …
After hearing three-and-a-half hours of testimony on the human rights ordinance Monday, Spokane Mayor John Talbott was clearly ready to go home.
Seconds after the council voted, he banged his gavel and adjourned the meeting … After being reminded there were still two items on the agenda, he gaveled again and reconvened the session … As soon as that vote was taken he raised the hammer again, only to stop mid-air as a voice in the audience asked “what about the public forum?” … Slowly, he laid the gavel on the desk.
As we said, it was a long night.
All the better to drink with …
Gov. Gary Locke was mugged in Spokane last week by the School Employees of Washington at their 50th anniversary convention … Not literally, of course … The 23,000-member group gave the Democrat a glass memento mug as thanks for speaking before them.
Locke, whose infant daughter Emily is still learning to dribble her juice down her bib, said the gift would come in handy around his Olympia mansion … someday.
Could he watch the M’s next?
Not all Spokane residents spent the recent 100-degree heat wave hiding from the sun in air-conditioned rooms or cold, clammy basements … On one blistering weekend last month, Spokane County budget officer Marshall Farnell spent an entire day outside in Cheney, watching the Seattle Seahawks practice … That amazed others in the courthouse, such as Commissioner Kate McCaslin and Administrator Fran Boxer.
“You ride your horse in the heat, don’t you?” Farnell asked McCaslin, who shook her head … Boxer added that she parks her mountain bike as well … “Huh,” Farnell said, then brightened. “At least the team was hot that day.”
Ba-da-bing.
Perhaps after November is better …
Spokane County resident Lester Smith wanted to give the commissioners a gift last week, but they apparently declined … He gave the commissioners a certificate and offered to frame it and have it hang in the courthouse … After reading the certificate, the commissioners shrugged and laughed, but said nothing … The certificate read, “Voters Creed: If you are not devoted to the voters seriously, you will be de-voted by the voters! Seriously!”