The Slice: Not wanting to say ‘Take off, hoser’

So just to be clear.

It’s still OK in Spokane to be seen with Canadians in public.

Let’s back up and start at the beginning.

“I received this window cling from the Spokane Regional Health District to display at my business,” wrote Steve Hill of Hills’ Restaurant downtown. “However, from a distance it looks more like a maple leaf than anything.”

It is, of course, supposed to be a marijuana leaf. And the sticker is a reminder about the limits of legalization.

But Steve thinks it might look like a “No Canadians Allowed” symbol. Which might not be great for business.

“With the weak Canadian dollar this past summer, we have seen a noticeable drop in tourists from up north and I don’t want to do anything to discourage them from coming to our establishment.”

Can’t blame him.

That reminds me of a sign a downtown Spokane tavern displayed about 25 years ago, when the two nations’ currencies were of approximately similar worth for a time.

You’re familiar, no doubt, with the dollar-value expression “accepted at par.”

Well, that tavern displayed a sign that said “Canadians accepted at bar.”

Working on her collection: Mary Ann Schoeff has been noting out-of-state license plates in Spokane over the past few weeks. Her list is already over 40 states long.

Wonder what plate sighting is most rare here. Vermont? Rhode Island? Delaware?

Where would you go to find the greatest variety? Near Fairchild? Near a college campus? A fast-food parking lot by an I-90 exit?

Voting for president for the first time: Bonnie Rae turned 21 in 1968. When she went to vote in November, she requested a write-in ballot. “It was awkward. The ladies at the polling place tsk-tsked about it. One lady even voiced the opinion – loud enough for the whole room to hear – that I was wasting my vote. I wrote in Eugene McCarthy’s name and I’ve been proud of that vote ever since.”

Bonnie also voted for McCarthy in 1976 when his name was on the ballot as an independent, with Spokane’s Carl Maxey as his running mate.

Today’s Slice question: Ever think “Oh, I’ll have to tell” so-and-so about that, before remembering, in the next second, that he or she is gone?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. You aren’t the only one who is phobic about fish bones.