LEMONS to Spokane neighborhood representatives who are pushing to reduce the speed limit around all 87 of Spokane’s parks to twenty miles per hour. The police have already said they wouldn’t be able to really enforce it, and it’s another law that makes outlaws of everyday people. At night and when no one is present, that’s just too slow. And it’s another potential source of red light cameras that will cause people to seek alternative routes. Maybe look at implementing the low limit only in parks where accidents frequently occur.

LILACS to Gonzaga University for their Presidential Speaker Series. We’ve gone to several of these and they are never less than educational, enlightening and empowering. When the founder of the “Me Too” movement, Tarana Burke, along with Ronan Farrow, author of The New Yorker story that exposed Harvey Weinstein, spoke, we felt we were in a rare space of connectedness and personal growth. It’s great seeing the home of the Zags occasionally used for educational pursuits.

LILACS to Governor Jay Inslee for signing a law that outlaws “conversion therapy” wherein gay youths are forced to convert to heterosexuality and often end up suicidal as a result of the guilt and shame and feelings of failure that occur when the therapy doesn’t stick. It makes about as much sense as forcing people to change from right handed to left.

LILACS to Yuppy Puppy downtown’s owner Aquila Brown for offering free grooming to area K-9 dogs. These trained dogs are often intimidating to groomers and end up a bit neglected. She let them park outside her store at Sprague and Lincoln in their special temperature-regulated vehicles, and it was quite a sight to see all the dogs having their “Go Dog Go” moment, being led in one by one, until … 

LEMONS to the tenants upstairs and passersby who decided to raise a huge social media viral ruckus, stating that Brown was abusing the dogs by making them stay outside. Brown cares a great deal about the dogs, who are trained to be solitary for long stretches, but which are NOT trained to necessarily mix well with household pets. They barked while waiting their turns, as pedestrians gawked at them, but didn’t otherwise make any more noise than normal street traffic, so why pick on someone for grooming the dogs? File that under “no good deed goes unpunished.”  Ever defiant, Brown is going ahead and doing it again anyway, saving taxpayers some money in the process.

LEMONS to businesses that post hours on their doors and then vary from them. We especially hate the “Gone for a 10 minutes” signs; instead, how about posting a sign that says “Will be back at 2:20 pm?” We’ve sometimes waited more than 10 minutes with no sign of the employee. But more annoying is the businesses which close 15 minutes early because things are dead. We understand labor costs money, but if the hours are just suggestions, we get the feeling that we shouldn’t gamble on going there anymore for fear the place might have closed early. Most of us don’t give too many second chances, especially when other alternatives exist.