Quotes & amp;amp; Notes

by Inlander Staff


One in a Million -- The one millionth Lilac Bloomsday Run finisher will run, walk or wheel across the finish line during this May's race, race organizers announced at their kickoff press conference last week.


What's really cool is that officials will reportedly be able to tally results and name that one-millionth person. Organizers are still trying to determine what sort of prize to award that person, says Bloomsday founder Don Kardong. May we suggest a one-of-a-kind finishers' T-shirt and a crown of lilac?





45,346 -- That's number of people who finished the 7.46-mile (12-kilometer) Bloomsday Run last year.


The Spokane race's size is a source of continual pride to its organizers, given that, as association President Jerry O'Neal said, "There's probably more people who sleep on the street in San Francisco than live in Spokane."


Organizers for San Francisco's Bay-to-Breakers race claim, like Bloomsday, to have the country's largest road run, with about 75,000 running in San Francisco. But that number, concede SF public relations people, includes runners who jump in the race part-way without registering -- what their PR people euphemistically call "spectators" or "participants."





This Far, No Farther -- "No more!" said Mayor John Powers last week at a press conference announcing a May anti-poverty summit. "Poverty will reside no more in Spokane."





Hidden Treasure? -- "The idea that... we have a vault downstairs full of cash is not true. It's not there."


-- City Administrator Jack Lynch, at a recent press briefing, making the argument that the city is running lean.





A Familar Name -- Remember when John Powers was in the home stretch of his run for mayor and allegations of a big lawsuit against him came up? Brought to light by Citizens for Fair and Open Government (CFOG), the lawsuit, coming from one Duncan McNeil, was put in the public eye by local attorney Shawn Newman. Now the Newman name has turned up again, this time accusing the mayor of political patronage. In a letter to Washington State Attorney General Christine Gregoire, Newman asked for an investigation into the mayor's hiring of attorney Laurel Siddoway, who contributed to his campaign. Siddoway is the mayor's special counsel on River Park Square litigation.


But there's also a postscript to the McNeil episode: Just last month, he was ruled a "vexatious" litigant by the federal Bankruptcy Court of Eastern Washington. He was previously named as such by a similar court in California. He is now required to post a bond prior to filing any new lawsuits.