Back then, Spokane was truly swingin’

Slice-meister Paul Turner is taking some time off this month, but don’t despair: In his absence, we’re rerunning some of the tastier tidbits from this date in Slice history. Today’s sampling:

FROM 2004:

In a survey of 101 American cities’ problems with alcohol abuse, Spokane scored an F and tied for 95th with New Orleans. That’s bad.

The unscientific study, conducted by list-loving Men’s Health magazine, supposedly looked at factors such as drunken driving and rates of alcohol-related liver disease.

Of course, Forbes magazine just designated Spokane a Norman Rockwell “porch-swing” community.

So take your pick.

Just don’t get drunk and fall off your swing.

FROM 1999:

No escape: A well-traveled Wake Up colleague told us about going into a cafe in Canada’s Northwest Territories recently and seeing a TV tuned to the KREM-2 news at noon.

And we heard from a Spokane reader who was in Alaska when she opened up the Anchorage paper on Sunday, Aug. 1 and found a big travel story on the Lilac City.

FROM 1995:

Today’s Slice question: If you piled up all the Idaho and Montana mud that gets washed off Spokane cars and trucks in one summer, how much soil would you have?