The Slice: Voting the straight bebop ticket

Colbert’s Ron Lugone saw the question about items at your desk or work station that are older than some of your co-workers.

He trumpeted a photograph of a campaign button.

“I bought this pin in the ’60s at the Monterey Jazz Festival. It was still on my desk when I retired in 2010.”

Here’s another. “I have a pencil extender at my desk that is older than some of my co-workers,” wrote Lynn Burton. “A former boss, Bill Rafferty, gave it to me. He liked to use as much of a pencil as possible and a pencil extender allowed for that.”

I know and like Bill. Every time he sees me, he looks at me like I owe him money. Is that a Spokane thing?

Coasting through life: Spangle’s Lonnie Scott is from Huntington Beach, California. His wife is from Machias, Maine.

“I grew up watching the sun set over the beach, but the first time I went to Maine and saw the sun rise over the beach, it was like watching a movie being played backward – it was just all wrong.”

Slice answers: I don’t usually use submissions that arrive without a complete name and verifiable contact information. But a recent phone call made me smile.

In response to a Slice question, a female caller left a message saying she would pick Tom Sherry as her companion for a drive from one end of Interstate 90 to the other.

“I would get him to spill his guts about all that goes on in the newsroom.”

Good choice. Tom’s been around a long time. I suspect he would have a lot to spill.

Shirley Ward would enjoy making that trip with Mark Few. “Such a wonderful man.”

Anne Albrecht would pick Bill Gates, though I’m not sure he qualifies as local.

And Jean Bruntlett was another reader who would want novelist Jess Walter riding shotgun. “I’m sure he has some great stories.”

Still no votes for Walter’s easily overlooked brother Ralph, sports editor of The Spokesman-Review.

Today’s Slice question: Ever watch a movie that has been around for awhile and suddenly realize that several distinctive lines of dialogue you have been hearing people use for years come directly from that film?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. What percentage of Spokane Chiefs fans would stop going to games if fighting in hockey was eliminated? (Yes, I’ve asked this before.)