This day in history: Cable TV was coming to Spokane, and a century ago, a trip to the watermelon patch ended in court

From 1975: Spokane TV viewers would soon be able to sign up for a new technology: cable TV.

A spokesman for Cox Cable Communications, out of Atlanta, said “cable television will be in the living rooms of some Spokanites by next summer.”

Cox’ s application for a 27-channel cable system had just been approved by the Federal Communications Commission. The price would be $5.95 per month. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ inflation calculator, that’s about $35 today.

The channel lineup would include the city’s three commercial stations and the educational (public broadcasting) station. A number of other independent and educational channels would also be part of the package. A “first-run film and a major sports event channel” would be available for an additional $7 or $8 per month.

The company planned to start stringing cable beginning in January.

From 1925: Two vegetable-stealing vandals were serving five days in the Spokane County jail after they stole “a prize squash, valued at $50” grown for an Interstate Fair exhibit.

The two men, 19 and 21, said they “picked up some girls” late at night and headed out to George Trumbley’s watermelon patch in the Spokane Valley. There, they picked seven juicy watermelons and – by accident, they said – one giant squash.

A police officer stopped their car because of defective lights, and spied the stolen vegetables. The car, too, had been stolen.

Trumbley told the court that the boys had “spoiled his chances of winning a fair prize.”