This day in history: Stay Alive at 55? WSP was strictly enforcing the new nationwide speed limit, but its intent was not what it seemed

From 1975: The Washington State Patrol said it would have all available officers, including inspection men, on the highways to enforce the national speed limit: 55 miles per hour.

That’s right, the limit everywhere was 55, even on Interstate 90 .

The state patrol’s theme was “Stay Alive at 55.” The 55-mph limit wasn’t really about safety. This maximum speed limit was instituted in 1974 as a way to save fuel during the recent oil crisis.

The State Patrol was warning that officers would be especially strict over the Thanksgiving holiday and would issue no warnings, only citations.

Enforcement had proven especially difficult on freeways, because, as Sammy Hagar would later sing, “I Can’t Drive 55.”

From 1925: After the initials “LC” were painted on the North Central High School building, three Lewis and Clark High School boys were suspended by the LC principal.

There was a twist, however: Those three boys did not paint the letters. They just went to North Central to look at the letters, out of “curiosity.” The actual perpetrators were unknown.

The Spokane Chronicle reported that this occurred in the midst of “hostilities” between the two schools on the eve of the big football game. A few nights earlier, unknown persons raised their “Tiger victory flag” on the North Central flagstaff and daubed the LC initials.

The North Central principal urged his students not to make reprisals.

“Let the letters L.C., which were painted before our school, stand for low conduct, not Lewis and Clark,” he said

The Chronicle reported that an “armistice” now held between the two hostile camps.