Doug Clark: Dogfight over Hillyard sign dies down - The Spokesman Review

The “Dogtown” part of the Dogtown Auction Company sign was removed without ceremony this summer, thus ending one of the silliest controversies in the history of controversial silliness. Earlier, I wrote about the tiff that erupted after tenant Mike Ferguson affixed the aforementioned sign to the broad beige building he had leased in the heart of Hillyard at Market Street and Olympic Avenue. The 75-year-old saw no humor or positivity in the term “Dogtown,” which ages ago was indeed a cruel slur against the modest residents of this former raw-knuckled, rail-based community in northeast Spokane. “Nobody in his right mind would want the name Dogtown,” Hedley told me. “It’s so damned derogatory. To Ferguson, however, Dogtown was a fresh and funny homage to a long-gone past. Ferguson said he was “ready to go toe-to-toe in court” to defend his doggone right to name his business what he wanted. Seeking a change of direction, Ferguson said he sold his equipment and auction company interests. Hedley, he added, agreed to let the new owners assume his 10-year lease with one unbending proviso:. “All they had to do is take the (Dogtown) sign off the building. I drove by the place Tuesday afternoon and was surprised to see that while only the Auction Company remains on the building, Ferguson’s “Dogtown Mercantile” sandwich board advertisement was parked on the sidewalk outside the front door. Source: www.spokesman.com