This day in history: A housing crisis from another era, and a crackdown on ‘lazy husbands’ and other inmates with cushy digs

From 1975: Housing was tight in Othello, Washington – even though 27 homes were sitting empty just a few miles away.

Those homes had been used as housing on the former Othello Air Force Station outside of Othello. Now, the federal government said the homes would not be available for sale for months.

The Army Corps of Engineers “acts as the real estate agent for the Air Force,” and they were still trying to decide what to do with the former radar station. A decision might take “a year or more.”

The Othello Air Force Station was built in 1951 and served as one of the radar warning stations during the Cold War. The site was closed earlier in 1975.

From 1925: “Vacation days” were over for “jail bums, vagrants, bootleggers and lazy husbands,” said The Spokesman-Review.

Prisoners in the county jail were being put to work on road projects and at wood-cutting camps.

The “lazy husbands” – that is, men who deserted their families or otherwise refused to support them – would earn $1.50 per day, which would be sent to their families. The other prisoners would work for their own room and board in jail. If they refused to work, they would be put on bread-and-water.

The first “gang of prisoners” was scheduled to help clear a right of way on a rural road project.

What if the prisoners took the opportunity to go on the lam? One county commissioner said he wouldn’t mind.

“Here’s hoping that they run fast and get far enough away,” he said. “Spokane County would gladly get rid of some of these regular boarders.”