Bloglander

It was 2 years ago at this very restaurant that we saw each other. I was their for my birthday with my family: I was wearing a rainbow laplander hat. I am sure that you worked there as a busboy or waiter. When I first saw you, you were walking by our table & I immediately thought that you were something special. Each time you walked by or I looked around the room it seemed that we both met each other eyes at the same time. I thought you were handsome & still do & I wish that I wasn't so shy. I should have left my name, number & even an email on the table knowing that you would find it. This was the first time I had experienced this before with a stranger, & I feel that in some way it was love at first sight. When I was walking out of the restaurant you were all the way across the vast room & when I looked back at you & stopped; you turned around & looked at me too, & smiled. I've thought of going back to the restaurant but by this time you may not work there anymore. If you're reading this I hope you will contact me: glimmerrr@gmail.com p.s I don't want to miss out on the chance of actually getting to know you, because I know your exceptional. Your smile & eyes told me that

Spokane's Office of Police Ombudsman, the eight-month-old experiment in civilian oversight of police conduct, now has its own website: www.spdombudsman.org where people can file complaints.

The site has contact information, forms to fill out electronically (or print out), frequently asked questions, and some biography of Ombudsman Tim Burns.

The site has been a goal of Burns' for several months, adding another way that people with concerns about police conduct — or who have commendations for good police work — can make their voices heard without going directly to the PD.

There is a document tab that so far contains Burns' first annual report (covering the final months of 2009) and his monthly reports to the City Council's Public Safety Committee. Open the April 19-May 17 report (pdf), for instance, and find the surprising revelation that two complaints have been made against the Ombudsman. One is internal (either an officer or Internal Affairs, disputing a policy interpretation), the other is external (most likely from citizen, complaining that Burns refused to amend a complaint).

Burns also reveals that his review of police taser use is ongoing and that he is forming an ad hoc committee to help evaluate police practices.

The ombudsman office continues to be tweaked in its first year. The City Council on Monday will make a first reading of an ordinance designed to expand the office's authority for independent investigation of complaints. A vote is expected June 21.

If we knew about it sooner, we woulda told you they were coming. Because we're not sure what it is about Portland disco-rock band Strength that makes people go totally apeshit and lose their minds, but every goddamn time they come through Spokane, that is precisely what happens. Go for the music or for said mind-losing tonight at Mootsy's. Please Draw in Me opens. 10 pm, $5. 21

They are pretty loud for a band without a drummer. The Soul and the Machine (formerly Space Age Fur) makes a Sonic Youth-y, Slowdive-y attempt at rock — and it's more original and inspired than you'd think for a band of what appear to be really young kids. Last time I saw them, I was instantly hooked. Check them out tonight at Sunset Junction. System and Station opens. 9 pm. $5. 21

Free admission, free music. BeGin! is on again for tonight, this time with music by local singer/songwriter Mark Ward. 6 pm. All-ages (bar for those born before 1989).

Geeks rule tomorrow at the Spokane Beat Battle: a head-to-head beat-making battle with 20 contestants. Read our story here about what exactly will happen — but it's by far your best bet for unique Saturday night entertainment.

Apparently he's the man. John Vanderslice (who you can read about here), a Bay Area singer/songwriter and the man behind Tiny Telephone recording studio, plays Empyrean tomorrow night with prolific local artist, Kevin Long. 8 pm. $5. All-ages.

Now get on with it! 

A tie is still a win, at least when it comes to futbol fans in Spokane getting a chance to watch some World Cup soccer in real time. Even if that means showing up at an East Sprague tavern at 6:30 am Friday. A couple of lucky sorts who didn't have to work were tipping back beers, but owners Keith and Janice Raschko had a special blend of Craven's coffee brewed up for the two dozen soccer fans who turned out, many in colorful team jerseys, for the historic opener.

Host country South Africa and Mexico played to a 1-1 tie in the first World Cup championship game ever played in Africa.

Just being able to see the game live was a huge triumph for Spokane, says City Councilman Jon Snyder, who arrived wearing a brilliant, sky-blue jersey of a Mexican club team. Snyder recalls going to sports bars around Spokane during previous World Cups and finding no interest in televising the games.

"Spokane should be able to participate in the world's largest sporting event," Snyder says.

Among the people lined shoulder-to-shoulder at the bar were friends Matt Salazar and Erik Lehto. Salazar in the green of the Mexican nation jersey, Lehto wearing the bright yellow and green of South Africa's Bafana Bafana, or The Boys, as the team is known in their homeland.

"My dad was born in Mexico. I feel a real connection to the Mexican team," says Salazar, who just finished teaching a year of sixth-grade at the Paschal Sherman Indian School near Omak. He says he turned out to see a live telecast of the game at the Checkerboard for the history of the occasion.

"Mexico gets to play the first World Cup game ever played in Africa. This is our shot at history. Both teams are young and talented," Salazar says.

Lehto, who works for Catholic Charities in Spokane, says his parents in Denver mailed him the South African team jersey in a similar way of marking an historical occasion. And because their son is a huge World Cup fan.

"I've been talking about the World Cup for six months. I was even thinking of going to South Africa," Lehto says. Most Americans simply don't understand that, "The world comes alive every four years in June and July. During 2006, there was a drop in the insurgency in Iraq and (former president) Bush said, 'Look, our strategy is working.' But after the World Cup ended (the violence) went back up because people had just been inside watching the games."

An Exxon Valdez every week New estimates peg the gushing crude from BP's broken Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico at 1.7 million gallons a day. The Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons, previously the worst oil spill in American history, but 34th on a worldwide list. (BBC)

BP leak laps into local politics Some state house candidates recalibrate position on offshore drilling in light of massive oil leak catastrophe. (SR)

Ding-dong! It's an idea calling North Idaho Avon lady says buy from her and she will dedicate a percentage of profits to pay down the national debt. Mr. President, are you listening? (KREM)

Idaho Dems meet at casino Yes, we know there is a joke or two lurking in that headline, but you will have to tell them yourselves. The Famous Potato State Democrats meet today and Saturday at the Coeur d'Alene Casino near Worley, (CdA Press)

Legal cloud over asphalt plant Kootenai County Commissioners admit they are stumped in complying with a court order about a temporary permit for an asphalt plant that's trying to move. (CdA Press)

Spokane Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick has sent an e-mail to Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, asking to be reconsidered for the post of Seattle's police chief after one of three finalists dropped out on Wednesday, a television station is reporting.

Q-13, the Fox affiliate in Seattle/Tacoma, says its sources confirm Kirkpatrick e-mailed McGinn asking to be reconsidered for the job after Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel withdrew Wednesday. Kirkpatrick made it as far as the round of 11 semifinalists but did not advance last month after interviews with the selection committee May 8 in Seattle.

The station says it's not known if McGinn responded to the e-mail, but the mayor ended his announcement of Braziel's withdrawal Wednesday by saying, "We have two strong candidates for consideration."

After the Seattle finalists — Braziel, Seattle interim chief John Diaz and East Palo Alto, Calif., chief Ron Davis — were announced May 11, Kirkpatrick told Spokane media that she was concentrating on her job here and would not actively look elsewhere. The Seattle Police Guild recently announced it is supporting Diaz.

Kirkpatrick, chief in Spokane since September 2006, has had run-ins with the police guild here.

Damage from an arson fire that displaced residents from 41 low-income units at the Hifumi En Apartments in Spokane’s East Central neighborhood is being repaired and some tenants have moved back. But there are still no sprinklers in the building, to the dismay of Spokane firefighters, who have responded to six apparently intentional fires and eight false alarms big enough to require “full response” in the last three years, according to dispatch logs made available by the Fire Department. “I’ve said it before: This is one of our target hazards,” Assistant Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer says of the two-story apartment building that is home to a number of disabled tenants.

Vagaries in the state fire code allow several buildings around the city, including Hifumi En to be occupied without a sprinkler system.

Hifumi En’s landlord, the low-income provider Northeast Washington Housing Solutions, would have been required to install sprinklers if the May 8 arson fire had damaged more than 50 percent of the building.

But damage was not that extensive, Schaeffer says.

It would take action by the City Council to require a more stringent sprinkler standard than the state fire code, Schaeffer says.

"We certainly support surpassing code requirements for the health and safety of our clients," Northeast Washington Housing Solutions director Steve Cervantes says. "We want sprinklers in there, and it's a matter of going out and getting extra funding to get them."

Cervantes said the fire, and putting residents up in a motel for a month, created a cash crisis for the budget-strapped agency. The agency has a line on a sprinkler system in an empty, recently constructed Seattle high rise, he says. In the meantime, security cameras have been installed at Hifumi En.

“I would love for Hifumi En to have sprinklers,” South Hill City Councilman Jon Snyder says. “But, oh boy, sprinklers are a difficult issue for me to make a spot policy that affects the entire city.” While there are undeniable safety benefits from sprinkler systems, the calculus of sprinklers has other costs, Snyder says, noting the trendy coffee house, Empyrean, had to move from its old location over a sprinkler dispute and the building is still vacant.

“I’m not pretending to know what the right balance is, but there is another kind of fire hazard to blocks of old buildings that sit empty because people are unwilling to make the investment to bring them back into service,” Snyder says.

Kathleen, you're a redhead. I saw you reading the I Saw You section. Maybe we can hang out.

I've seen you lately, you walk to what I assume to be your first class from the parking lot where they are doing construction. Fashion sun glasses & beautiful dark brown hair that glistens in the sun shine when you walk out the shadow of the bldg 24. Your black Berlin messenger bag suggests you've maybe seen the world? Would love to walk you to class & hear of German escapades.