The Slice: Some would push for a one-stroke penalty

Inland Northwest residents are sharply divided over one of the pressing issues of the day.

Is it OK for a person to play a round of golf alone?

Some say sure, it’s fine. But others insist that it is just plain wrong.

There doesn’t appear to be any middle ground.

So what do you say?

“Business trends: With lemonade stands steadily losing market share in competition for the summertime beverage dollar, kids need to explore new opportunities. One vacation venture comes to mind.

Teach great-grandparents how to send e-mail. Then, using them as references, contact retirement communities and propose classes for older residents.

Possible slogan: “Duhkota and Brytuhnee aren’t ever going to write you an actual letter. You need to know this stuff.”

“Smile when you say that: With HBO’s “Deadwood” about to begin its third season, I find myself wondering. What if old-time TV Westerns had used the sort of foul-mouthed language employed by that award-winning cable show?

Just imagine a momentarily irritated Miss Kitty calling Matt Dillon a () on “Gunsmoke.”

Or what if Ben Cartwright on “Bonanza” had grown weary of his drama-queen sons and snarled, “Will you just shut up and do the () chores.”

Or what if, on “The Big Valley,” a young squire at a dance had eyed the luminous Audra Barkley and leeringly confided to a chum, “Now there is one gorgeous ().”

And just think what the easily exasperated Mr. Favor might have said to Rowdy out there on the trail on “Rawhide.” “Head ‘em the () up, move ‘em the () out.”

“Progress reconsidered: “I was never really comfortable with the universality of Henrik Ibsen’s assertion, ‘I hold that man is in the right who is most closely in league with the future,’ ” wrote Spokane’s Jack Vines. “But the increasing usage of cellular telephones and notebook computers in the stalls of restrooms in airports is convincing proof he was flat wrong.”

“Warm-up question: Do you ever confuse that mattress store jingle — “Savings you can sleep on” — with KREM’s “Coverage you can count on”?

“Today’s Slice question: A colleague playfully expressed concern that her 3-year-old son seems to regard a recent visit to the Waste-to-Energy facility as the highlight of his life. And she has been wondering if she can come up with some sort of cultural outing that might rival a trip to the dump in her little boy’s eyes.

So … what seemingly mundane experience impressed the bejesus out of your preschoolers?