7 HOME • CULTURE • POLITICS
Hard 7: Another blow to credibility
5/16/2008 | I don't want to pick on the police department, but they keep painting bullseyes on their backsides. All we have to do is wait a few months, and here comes another glaring illustration of why the department's credibility is so badly mangled.
Applying the Pinocchio scale locally
5/9/2008 | There is a big, fat problem with lying in our culture. The Washington Post sees prevarication as so prevalent, it has devised a scale, or continuum to distinguish its varying degrees.
Hard 7: Condemn drinking, or control it?
5/2/2008 | Here in Washington, you can legally start working when you're 14, and get a driver's permit at 15. Somewhere between 16 and 18 you can consent to sex, depending on the age difference between you and your partner.
Hard 7: Will we get the shaft on oversight?
4/25/2008 | Once again, the citizens of Spokane are in danger of being bamboozled. A watered-down, gutted version of last year's original police oversight proposal is being forwarded as the panacea to the widely acknowledged rift between police and the policed in our community.
Hard 7: Track deal should be black-flagged
4/18/2008 | It's mind-boggling. County officials spend months wringing their hands over proposals to restore basic public safety services, yet they can't whip out the ol' checkbook fast enough to buy a dilapidated, contaminated racetrack.
Hard 7: Teen pot use is no relaxed matter
4/11/2008 | Like a lot of parents in my age group, I was pretty relaxed about marijuana. I went to college in the early '70s, when unprecedented numbers of people discovered and smoked pot.
Dog park's popularity not unnoticed
4/4/2008 | My husband says if he ever opens a tavern, he'll call it the Dog Park, and post the rules of Petiquette right above the bar.
In the hot seat at 'Antiques Roadshow'
3/28/2008 | When I schlepped my goodies to the Convention Center last August, I never imagined I'd end up getting the third degree from all those nice "Antiques Roadshow" people.
Hard 7: Still seeking explanation for tragedy
3/21/2008 | The criminal trial of Clifford Helm is over. A jury last Friday acquitted Helm of five counts of vehicular homicide and one count of vehicular assault.
Hard 7: Helm's silence takes a heavy toll
3/14/2008 | The way I see it, there's not much difference between Fred Russell and Clifford Helm. Each killed multiple people after getting behind the wheel of a vehicle – a total of eight souls.
Ballots put voter diligence at risk
3/7/2008 | When I flipped through a stack of mail and saw the familiar red-and white envelope marked "Special Election Mail – OFFICIAL BALLOT-DO NOT DELAY," I had a sinking feeling.
Vote for oversight system long overdue
2/29/2008 | A critical vote is coming up, one that has the potential to help restore faith and trust in the Spokane Police Department. Spokane's police union membership will be giving thumbs-up or -down to a new oversight system for reviewing citizen complaints about police conduct.
Ahern's antics deserve another look
2/22/2008 | I've been a little caught up in the presidential primary, but there's a local politician who has been behaving like such a bonehead, he has managed to score some space in this column.
Hard 7: Making sense of the caucus
2/15/2008 | Something monumental happened in the political landscape this past week, and if you missed it, shame on you. I'm not talking about the Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton stump speeches. Those events attracted a lot of folks, but there was no real action – just the usual boiler-plate blah blah blah. The happening place was the next day, at the local precinct caucuses.
Taking a shot at the written word
2/8/2008 | I lost my voice a couple of months ago, when Mark Fuhrman and I were axed from our 3-hour daily talk radio program. For more than seven years, we talked about cops and crime, politics and policies, drugs and obesity.
Taking a final spin through Spokane
12/28/2007 | Before uprooting my family and taking on a new role as a Chicago magazine editor, I'm soaking up Spokane's singular delights. Several months ago I had an idea for a 7 cover story: Ask prominent locals to imagine three things they would do on their last day in Spokane.
Biting the hands that read me
12/21/2007 | In 189 straight weeks of writing this column, I've taken on all manner of wrongheaded, boneheaded and downright chowder-headed officials. But in a twist, I'm now confronting several of my most supportive readers.
Sorry, I don't know what I was thinking
12/14/2007 | At the request of my editors, as well as state and local authorities, I must once again present my annual list of column corrections. I'll start by setting the record straight with convention bureau honcho Harry Sladich, who e-mailed last week to call me a cheap-shot artist.
Back on offense, Rebecca Mack makes a City Council play
12/7/2007 | Soon after Mark Fuhrman and Rebecca Mack's run at KGA-AM 1510 abruptly ended on Nov. 15, Mack was drawn into a new, but far more pleasant, drama.
Rebecca Mack makes a City Council play
12/7/2007 | Soon after Mark Fuhrman and Rebecca Mack's run at KGA-AM 1510 abruptly ended on Nov. 15, Mack was drawn into a new, but far more pleasant, drama.
Hard 7 's holiday gift guide
11/30/2007 | Only a few of the following notables were nice enough to stay in Santa's good books this year, but let's embrace the spirit of the season and pony up for the following presents anyway.
Spokane courts disaster on judges' whim
11/23/2007 | If Spokane ends up refunding millions of dollars in fines and losing thousands of convictions against drunk drivers and other misdemeanor offenders because of its defective municipal court setup, the blame should fall squarely on city and county officials.
Digging for legal advice six feet under
11/16/2007 | When he wasn't exchanging inappropriate e-mails with a colleague, did Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas rely on his sixth sense to guide him in the courtroom?
Three things we should be doing for war veterans
11/7/2007 | Sen. Patty Murray has been such a champion of military veterans that when President Bush threatened to veto health-care funding for troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Washington Democrat was the natural choice to take him on.
When insurance becomes a protection racket
10/30/2007 | I lost some respect for my insurance agent recently when he sent a note on business letterhead asking me to vote against Referendum 67. Turns out the letter was part of a concerted effort by State Farm and other insurers to defeat a measure that would give consumers a bigger stick with which to wallop companies that refuse to pay valid claims.
