I SAW YOU
BEACON TOWERS VIEWS: A windy but otherwise perfect Friday morning at the top of the trails on Beacon Hill... I was breathing hard, trying to ignore the pain in my legs after a long climb on my mountain bike. You were finishing a hike, beaming about the cooler temperatures and amazing views. You mentioned your healing ankle sprain and your "poser" running vest, I was nearly frozen by your magnetic smile, wishing I could see the eyes behind your sunglasses. You made my leg pain disappear without trying, hope you see this thank you for making my morning!INCUBUS MAN WITH HIS MOM: My friend (a mom of five) and I sat next to you, your mom & sisters(?). You seemed really kind and caught my attention, but I assumed one of the women you were with was a significant other. It wasn't until we were walking away that my friend told me you were all family members. Me: long dark hair, cuffed capris, black T-shirt. Coffee? If you happen to see this, reply to the "You Saw Me" section here :)
TRADER JOE'S HAND CART WORKOUT: I saw you at Trader Joes in a lavender top, black yoga pants, and a dark hair ponytail with a beaming smile and an amazing laugh. You looked like you were lifting weights with a hand cart. I mentioned to you that you probably should have gotten a wheeled cart, and you laughed and agreed. I should have hit on you then, I'm hitting on you now.
I LIKE BEER AND POT: Aug. 27, Northwest Boulevard and Ash at about 4 pm, two people thought it nice to hold up 15 cars just so they could give a panhandler a dollar. When I honked, I got flipped off. Next time instead of giving to some panhandler, give me some money. I like beer and I like pot. I bet you went home and patted yourself on the back for giving a dollar to a panhandler and then badmouthed me for honking at you for making how many cars wait and be inconvenienced.
CHEERS
WANT TO MEET MY LIFESAVERS: I'm looking for two women who on Aug. 21, 2022, were doing trail maintenance past the gate at Selkirk Lodge on Mt. Spokane. They used a Subaru to get me off the trail to a Life Flight helicopter after I suffered a major heart attack while mountain biking. It's been almost a year since that happened, and I want to thank them both, share how well I'm doing, and let them know that their actions literally saved my life. One was a nurse, named Lynn. Can anyone help me get in contact with these women?
TO THE BUS RIDERS OF SPOKANE: This isn't for the people for the road diet on Division Street, but rather for the people against it. There are radio ads accusing the city of "forcing" people to take the bus. That is not what it's about. It's about reducing traffic to make the street better for people who don't drive. All the bus-hating is going to do is make more people drive, which will make buses even more inefficient than they already are, which will then hurt poor people, you know, the ones who need buses the most. Contrary to popular belief, not everybody wants to drive. Spokane doesn't need a six-lane street, we need better public transit. With that and the new freeway, traffic on Division will calm down.
JEERS
RE: DRIVERS IN STRIP MALLS: I couldn't have written it better myself. However, as part of the general theme of being unsafe, disrespectful, and stupid, I would also add the following. Every parking lot in the city has a plethora of horn honking. Remember when the purpose of a horn was to alert someone to a variety of dangers? Now, the inferior car makers have a function in which the horn honks LOUDLY whenever some fool locks the door! Spokane needs to consider adding that to the noise ordinance/noise pollution ban. For people either smart or considerate enough to do so, it's possible to reduce the horn noise or silence it entirely, but you do have to either have average intelligence or respect your fellow humans enough to do so. Some areas of the country have banned that unnessary noise as an ordinance. Spokane should too! Spokane: Near Nature - Near Loud Honking in Every Parking Lot.
THE REAL DISASTER: RE: The fires: First, did "Climate Change" Inslee use an electric car when he visited Spokane? Why not? Second, how many more fires and homes have to burn before we call "illegal campers" a lethal public health and safety menace? And finally, consider the sheer number of vehicles responding to these disasters: firetrucks and water transports, emergency vehicles, pickups and trailers evacuating livestock, fire fighting planes and helicopters, people fleeing with virtually no warning. What if they were all electric, while the smoke and stagnant air turned solar and wind power generation to zero? If your home was threatened, would you want them all waiting in line at a charging station to be able to respond, or can we agree that gas is still the best fuel available now? "Climate change" is going to get a lot of people killed, but not for the reasons the Inslees of this world would have you believe. It's not the nature of the situation, but the government's response to it that is potentially lethal, and they don't care — just look at Maui.
POMPOUS A** Replying to Aug. 10 "I saw you" directed at the person handing out food to the homeless downtown. You clearly have never been hungry or in need a day of your life. If someone is kind enough to give food out to people who are in need, why would you be so critical? Yes, vagrants can be a problem, and the problem needs to be addressed. But to criticize someone who is trying to do a good deed is coldhearted and pompous. I hope if you ever need a helping hand, a kind soul will take pity on you.
FILL IN THE BLANK? Jeers to The Inlander for posting a blank grid as the solution to the crossword puzzle in the Aug. 24 edition. Guess I will never know if I got it all right. (Editor's note: Sorry! We've included it on this page with this week's answers.)
RE: TALK TO MORE POCS? Not sure what POC means. Do people who use acronyms want to be understood, or only by those in the know??
CRISIS IN SPOKANE: This is in response to the story by Nate Sanford titled Second & Division. It's no secret that Spokane has a drug & homeless problem. In my opinion divide & conquer has never been productive. Instead of Mayor Woodward & SPD criticizing the people who are trying to help, why can't they all work TOGETHER. Woodward was all about getting the homeless shelter set up on E. Trent; does she realize the effect that's had on my neighborhood? Crime has skyrocketed! My car has been vandalized, broken into and mail stolen. There's garbage and blatant drug use in my alley day and night. Downtown Spokane has been in crisis for MANY years. Put a cap on the amount landlords can charge for rent so folks can afford a place to live. Seems to me like a lot of our community is giving up. Let's figure out a way to help each other. That means YOU Mayor Woodward. Your ideas are not working. I'm a senior citizen living on a widow's pension trying to make ends meet.
NO WORKERS? To everyone complaining about "no one wants to work anymore": Have you bothered researching a single thing about generations in the workforce? The baby boomer generation was the largest portion of the workforce (hence the name) — and they all were either forced into retirement during the pandemic, or took their golden parachutes, or are so near retirement that they no longer care about a damn thing at work and are just counting down the days. FYI, many of us knew this was coming BEFORE the pandemic. Generations below baby boomers took a leap forward in their career, then no one was left for the crap jobs anymore. People are working, they just don't want your shit jobs.
MAYOR WOODWARD: Nadine Woodward, who was in church praying for the victims of the fire complexes, fell into a stunt with Matt Shea and his armed-to-the-teeth fringe zealots. The on-stage unity morphing into a desecration of the true mission of worship. Her stumbling excuse of not realizing Shea would co-opt a prayer meeting with a political agenda, when that is all the blowhard has ever done, is disingenuous at best. She had an opportunity to walk off stage. Instead she embarrassed a large portion of the citizens of our city, and in so doing validated her support for the overt message of Shea and his supporters. She now has the endorsement of the white nationalist, insurrection supporting, Malheur Wildlife Refuge armed standoff against law enforcement, anti-American democracy contingent, of that congregation in lock step with seditionist Matt Shea.
REALLY NADINE? The mayor stood on a stage with a known domestic terrorist and then allowed him to hug her but claims she didn't know he was going to be there and denounced him as a threat to democracy. Your lack of judgment and character is beyond comprehension. Resign! ♦
