LEMONS to the Spokane Public Defender’s Office, which has kept a 72-year old man locked up in the Spokane County Jail for more than 30 months as he gets bumped from one public defender to another without anyone seeing his case through to completion. He’s likely already served longer than the time he’d have been convicted for, and his case has been delayed 21 times. He’s innocent until proven guilty, but W.H. McNutt languishes in prison. What made it difficult is the three strikes law, and this would be strike three, meaning if found guilty, he’ll spend the rest of his life in prison. But the mere difficulty of a case shouldn’t create endless delay for anyone. 

LEMONS to the Spokane City Council for sinking $240,000 into a parking study that basically is going to rip people off for parking in valuable spaces during busy times, to the tune of up to $5 per hour, and expanding the area that will be metered into roughly half of Kendall Yards, which has always had free parking on the streets. We do believe that most people are crybabies about parking downtown and could use a reality check on how much better we have it than Seattle, but the solution seems unfriendly to visitors and the price tag too high.

LILACS to Spokane developer Kent Hull, owner of Iron Bridge Office Campus, for saving the totem pole on Canada Island (now bearing the nearly unpronounceable name of snxw mene island). It seems the pole isn’t part of the local tribes’ culture and was slated for destruction. Hull is falsely portrayed as a greedy developer, but he was instrumental in the pole being designed and installed in the first place, in 1977, and it seems only fair that it now be used just upriver on his parklike property, where it is wanted and will be cared for and available for all to see.

LILACS to all the shoppers who kept Northtown Sears alive since 1961. It was the iconic store and longtime anchor tenant of the Northtown Mall since the days when it was an open-air mall. Too often when a business closes it’s viewed as a failure, but nearly 60 years of success doesn’t seem too shabby to this writer. Many of us had jobs there when we were young (including both owners of this magazine) and a lot of us have fond memories of the restaurant, the caramel corn shop, the furniture at the north end, the great hardware selection and the many toys in the basement at Christmas.

LILACS to Spokane Public Schools for massaging their budget and moving a few things around to save the jobs of up to 16 teachers. It must be simply nerve-racking to be on their board having to find ways to overcome a huge budget shortage. We salute those who work hard in an almost thankless role.

LEMONS to the Spokane Public Libraries for doing away with late fees. We understand that it forces some to never be able to use the library again, but doesn’t it simply turn the library into a free book store? We feel there must be SOME incentive to get people to return books on time so others may use them. How about instead of charging fines, let them do an hour of volunteer work? There’s always grunt work at the library that needs to be done.

LILACS to Providence Health Care for donating a full $1 million to create a playground in Riverfront Park for children with disabilities. Of course, all children may use it, but many times disabled children can’t access standard park attractions. It’s especially generous considering the park is not on hospital grounds and is open to the public.