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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

AM Hucks: Sandi, Duane Hug, Don’t Make Up

Huckleberries hears that … local Realtor John Beutler tried to get Mayor Sandi Bloem and CdA/Palm Desert magnate Duane Hagadone to kiss and make up during the Christmas holidays. Seems Beutler set up a meeting between the two Lake City heavyweights, away from Hagadone HQ, on about Dec. 28. Beutler served as referee. Hagadone, of course, berated the mayor for a laundry list of wrongs, real and imagined, from her lack of support for his defunct downtown memorial garden scheme to the city height ordinance. Her Sandiness, reportedly, responded politely to questions from The Duane and explained a few points. She kept her wits and her temper. The odd couple didn't part on better terms or with any more understanding. However, Her Sandiness and Hagadone hugged before they parted. A long, friendly hug. Dunno what can be read into that. Or why Beutler was serving as a mediator. Stay tuned.

•Bumpersnicker (on a Ford rig spotted by Steve Granat/Post Falls): "Don't support logging? Try using plastic toilet paper."

•A woman in a wheelchair shook up Hayden Vision Center on Gummint Way on Jan. 10. Seems a Berry Picker found the office atwitter when she arrived moments after the wheelchair blew a tire. The blast was as loud as a gunshot, prompting the receptionist to dive behind the counter. As the Berry Picker waited to get her glasses adjusted, a man arrived to wheel the woman out in her lopsided wheelchair. At that point, optometrist Bob Sorensen's staffers exhaled.



Huckleberries Online

D.F. Oliveria started Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004. Oliveria's Sunday print Huckleberries is a past winner of the national Herb Caen Memorial Column contest.