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Archive for March 2009
In the news this evening: Another Obama appointee is forced to pay back taxes here. Courtney Love’s online spat launches first Twitter libel suit here. Jimi Hendrix childhood home is torn down here. Congress expands AmeriCorps volunteer program here. John Calipari will become the nation’s highest paid basketball coach as he leaves Memphis for Kentucky here. And the Wild Card remains in play …
Mary Schindler, mother of Terri Schiavo, comforts husband Bob during a mass at Ave Maria University’s Oratory in Naples, Fla., today to recognize the fourth anniversary of Schiavo’s death. Schiavo died March 31, 2005, at age 41, 13 days after her feeding tube was removed by her husband Michael Schiavo, who fought her family in court for eight years over removal of her life support, arguing she would not have wanted to be kept alive in what most doctors called a persistent vegetative state. (AP Photo/Naples Daily News, Greg Kahn) SR’s Today In Photos
Question: Have you had second thoughts re: the decision to remove Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube four years ago?
At the Seattle P-I’s Big Blog, blogmistress Monica Guzman shares several ideas from readers re: April Fool’s Day pranks, including: “Put a package of cookies in a trash can. As people walk by, pull out a cookie, and say “Wow, a perfectly good cookie!” Then eat it.” And: “I set my co-worker’s Microsoft Word auto-correct feature to change “the” to “teh” and “a” to “an” as she typed.” Remember: Tomorrow’s April 1.
Question: What is the best April Fool’s Day prank that you’ve pulled?
It’s sad that when this year’s graduating seniors were in high school, they were told even a 
four-year degree would give them a distinct advantage over their peers who decided to stop their education after high school. Now, those students who did go to college are scrambling to find what few professional, entry-level jobs are available, while many of their high school friends who entered the workforce right away have accrued four solid years of practical working experience. Not only are university graduates competing with newly laid-off, experienced baby boomers — they’re now being forced to, out of desperation, fight for lower-paying jobs that hold little or no relevance to their advanced degrees. Even positions that require advanced degrees are declining in pay/Holly Bowen, UI Argonaut. More here.
Question: What advice would you give a high school graduate today re: college?
Pecky Cox/As The Lake Churns snapped this shot of Luby Bay on Priest Lake as snow was coming down Sunday.
In this March 13 file photo, New Mexico State mascot Pistol Pete, left, chokes Utah State mascot Big Blue, who ripped off Pete’s mustache ripped during a timeout in an NCAA college basketball game in the Western Athletic Conference men’s tournament in Reno, Nev. Pistol Pete was given a one-game suspension by the WAC on Monday for his involvement in the incident. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/The Herald Journal, Eli Lucero, File)
Top Cutlines:
Huffington Post has out a list of the members of the congressional Blue Dog - conservative - Democrats, who have their own organization and evidently a concrete membership list. Although a fifth of the House Democrats overall are Blue Dogs, just one of the 11 Northwest House Democrats is a member. No surprise: Walt Minnick of Idaho’s 1st district/Randy Stapilus, Ridenbaugh Press.
My chickens are wellabit spoilt, I buy them lavendar or lemon scented sawdust for the bottom of 
their bedroom in the coop and then I fill it up with warm snuggly herby scented hay LOL….. my chickens come out of their coop in the morning smelling like they have spent a night in a brothel. … They all bring me such joy, I could sit in me garden and just watch them for hours, when Im stressed out, which has been a lot of late, I take me cuppa tea and go sit on the bench in the garden and me chickens bring me back down to earth……. no ‘shop ya stress away’ for me…. just sitting amongst the chicken poo and sharing me marmite toast with them, see how low maintenance I really am LOL/Marmitetoasty, Twaddle Everyday Rubbish. More here.
Question: How do you spoil your pets?
My son wanted to watch Star Wars: Return of the Jedi for the umpteenth time the other night. Which is fine by me, as I’ve already seen the movie umpteen times and never tire of it. The final moments of the movie are memorable, of course, but I’d never made special note of the classic father-son scene that takes place at the end until my son said, “Wow, dads really don’t like it when people mess with their sons.” You know the scene. When the Emperor is zapping Luke Skywalker with a gazillion volts of dark side juice, and Luke’s rolling around on the floor screaming, “Don’t tase me, bro!” And then Darth Vader finally comes to his senses and tosses the Emperor into the chasm/Idaho Dad, A Family Runs Through It. More here.
Question: What are you favorite father-son movie scenes?
Question: Have you used or are you tempted to use Botox?
Sheriff’s deputies arrested two local 18-year-olds on a variety of charges, including kidnapping, in an incident that occurred in Hayden last night. Chase A. Nutting, 18, of Coeur d’Alene, and Jamison D. Delaney-Waymire (pictured), 18, of Hayden, were involved in allegedly pulling a shotgun on two other men and demanding money. You can read the full sheriff’s report here.
“In the St. Regis Basin in Idaho’s Panhandle National Forest there’s still plenty of snow to tunnel through and play in,” posts Councilwoman KerriT/OnLocation North Idaho. “Amy Bartoo and her family enjoyed a recent winter wonderland of a weekend camping trip. If you still want to play in the North Idaho snow, access the trail system at Lookout Pass. From I-90 at the Idaho/Montana border take the Lookout Pass exit (0) and park in the Lookout Pass Ski Area lower south parking lot.”
I have a reverse calendar at work, ticking off the days to when I’m turning the unbelievable age of SIXTY. Why is this unbelievable??? I look in the mirror and I see maybe 40. I don’t feel this new age. So, anyway, yesterday it was 30 days to 60. Today it’s 29 days. Twenty-nine. I remember that age – vividly. 29 was hard to leave – I went kind of kicking and screaming. The 20’s are such exuberant years. You are finally out from under your overbearing parents. You are on your own. Got that apartment. Then married with children. The house/JeanieS, Nuts & Nonsense. More here.
Question: What were you doing when you were 29?
First of all, Spirit Lake has a population of only around 1300. Second of all, it was a Sunday, so when we arrived it looked like the town was deserted. Right as we walked in to the bar, Karla and I knew it was going to be an experience because of the customers. The bar itself was nice. The walls were all wood, there were plenty of dead animal heads hanging off the walls and it was filled with pictures of all the ‘regulars.’ However, there were so many characters, I thought my eyes were going to fall out from trying to take everyone in!/Amateur Malcontent. More here (scroll down).
Question: Which Inland Northwest town or spot in the road has the most characters per capita?
When my son was 2, he used to play with dolls. Now at 5, he wouldn’t be caught anywhere near one. I never discouraged him to stop playing with dolls – in fact, I prefer them to the superhero action figures – but somewhere along the line, he got the message somewhere that only girls play with dolls/Virginia de Leon, Are We There Yet? More here.
Question: Did your sons play with dolls?
After much debate, the first amendment to change the amount of the gas tax bill - from 2 cents 
next year to 5 cents - has been defeated. Rep. Leon Smith, R-Twin Falls, who sponsored the amendment, said it would raise $26.4 million annually for state roads, and $17.6 million for local roads, while costing the average Idaho driver about $2.50 a month. “That’s an ice cream cone if you only have a single dip,” he said. “Vote for the 5 cents so we have a meaningful bill that can do some good if it does pass.” Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, spoke out against the bill, particularly decrying the idea that people wouldn’t notice another nickel a gallon/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Would you notice a 5-cent hike in the state gas tax?
Item: Spokane residents smuggle suds over green ban/Nicholas Geranios, AP
More Info: Many people were shocked to find that products like Seventh Generation, Ecover 
and Trader Joe’s left their dishes encrusted with food, smeared with grease and too gross to use without rewashing them by hand. The culprit was hard water, which is mineral-rich and resistant to soap. As a result, there has been a quiet rush of Spokane-area shoppers heading east on Interstate 90 into Idaho in search of old-school suds. Real estate agent Patti Marcotte of Spokane stocks up on detergent at a Costco in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and doesn’t care who knows it. “Yes, I am a smuggler,” she said. “I’m taking my chances because dirty dishes I cannot live with.”
Question: Would you smuggle detergents with phosphates, if your town had a strict ban like Spokane’s and they were available nearby?
And, yes, I’ve cussed. And, yes, Bill left on another morning without comment. I’m bettin’ even he, the most patient human being on earth, is getting sick of it. If he’s not getting sick of the snow, he’s surely gettting sick of what dribbles out his wife’s mouth every time a new supply comes dripping out of the sky. I told him this morning I was just going to go back to bed, go to sleep and not get up until it’s over. He chuckled. I don’t know what I hate worse about winter never ending, but there are lots of possibilities that occurred to me on my outdoor travels so far today/Marianne Love, Slight Detour. More here.
Question: What do you hate worse than this winter without end?
Deanna Sherrill, 8, Wenatchee, Wash., grimaces as the spray from a bursting bubble hits her head while she and her sister, Ashlee, (not seen), try out their new bubble makers they bought on their first day of spring break Monday. (AP Photo/The Wenatchee World, Don Seabrook)
Gov. Butch Otter has named a North Idaho health executive to replace a Coeur d’Alene woman on the state Board of Education. Otter on Tuesday appointed Don Soltman of Twin Lakes, vice president for support services at Kootenai Health, the operator of Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d’Alene. Soltman succeeds Sue Thilo of Coeur d’Alene, whose term expired March 1. Soltman’s term runs through March 2014. His appointment is subject to Idaho Senate confirmation/Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: Do you approve of Otter’s selection of Don Soltman as the North Idaho representative on the Idaho Education Board?
The GEICO Caveman attends the 7th Annual ‘Dressed To Kilt’ charity fashion show to kick off Tartan Week on Monday in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)
Question: Would you wear a kilt to a public event?
Item: Palouse gets refresher in free speech: State warns mayor against limiting comments during public meetings in town/David Johnson, Lewiston Tribune
More Info: After receiving some unsolicited advice from Washington state’s ombudsman on open government, Mayor Michael Echanove on Monday declared a resumption of free speech at city council meetings. “Someone can always come in and say the mayor is a bonehead,” said Echanove, who’s been at the helm of this Whitman County town since 2001. “That doesn’t bother me in the least.” But prior to receiving a letter last week from Tim Ford, assistant Washington attorney general for government accountability, Echanove had protected paid city employees from public criticism.
Question: How much guff should a mayor allow during the public forum at a City Council meeting?
Former Washington State head basketball Coach Tony Bennett gives the “Thumbs up” sign to fans and media standing behind a wire fence and calling his name, before he boarded a private jet leaving Pullman on Monday at the Moscow-Pullman Airport. A small number of Washington State Basketball fans turned out to see the former coach one last time before he headed east shortly after announcing his departure from WSU. Bennett will take the job of head coach at the University of Virginia. Tyler Tjomsland/Spokesman-Review.
In the daily poll Monday, Huckleberries Online asked: “Do you support the 48-21 Idaho House vote today that allows pharmacists to refuse to dispense birth control or other medicines?” 69 of 91 respondents to the question — or 76% — said “no.” Only 20 — 22% — support the measure. Which now goes to the Senate. Two respondents were undecided.
First, a disclosure. Jerry Carlson has been my insurance agent for 15 years or so. Now, onward. In the mail Monday, my wife and I each got this note from Farmers District Manager Gary Louis: “Your former Farmers agent Jerry Carlson is no longer with our Companies as of March 26, 2009.” Your policies will temporarily be served at our district office, until such time an agent is assigned to provide srvice for you.” Blah, blah, blah. Seems Farmers takes the approach that your guilty until proven innocent, Carlson, of course, is in legal hot water with the feds for allegedly being involved in cocaine dealing.
Item: Selah’s sacrifice: Single teen mom living in transition to keep help for blind baby/Brian Walker, CdA Press
More Info: Selah has to be with Lelah 24-7 and, to maintain medical coverage in Washington, she needs to live there away from her family in Post Falls to keep residency in that state. That has translated into temporarily living with Lelah at a family friend’s home at Nine Mile Falls north of Spokane and taking a medical shuttle van to medical appointments in Spokane because she doesn’t have a vehicle. Adoption, Selah said, is not an option.
Question: What would you do if you were in Selah’s shoes?
So what does a basketball coach owe you, exactly? Does he owe it to you to stay three years? 
Five years? Ten? Does he owe you unvarnished honesty? For example, do you really want to hear from his mouth that where he coaches is strictly a business decision – knowing that your school can’t do business the way others do? Or do you want to hear that your place is special, that it has some indefinable something to make him resist the blandishments of others? Or does he simply owe you his best effort for the going wage – for whatever period of time he sees fit to give it, since there is never a guarantee the school will fulfill its pledge? Is he obliged to stay longer because you took a chance on him – even if success was delivered more quickly than you could have dreamed, and beyond predictable horizons?/John Blanchette, SR. More here.
Related: Sterk vows to find new coach quickly/Vince Grippi, SR
Question: So what does a successful coach of a team on the Palouse owe his/her university?
Jessica Sherman, an academic assistant in the Plant, Soil, and Entomological Sciences Department, holds an Australian walking stick at a table in the Student Recreation Center during Vandal Friday. (Jake Barber/Argonaut)
When all the bailouts
Have run their course
It might be time
To Get A Horse.
Idaho Escapee
ECoug01: Tony has A-rodded us. … I am so pissed. Don’t tell us how much you love pullman, 
want to build a program, raise kids and have no desire to leave, sign an extension for 1 million bucks in pullman (which is equivalent to 2 mill in seattle at least) and then drop us a year later. If you are going to hit the road do it last year when I was prepared you would probably use WSU as a stepping stone to bigger schools. No more WSU legend in the works, no more hall of fame.
Question: Do you agree with ECoug01 that Tony Bennett has pulled an A-Rod — or Dennis Erickson, for that matter — taking the money, prestige, and running? Or is he something better than that?
JeanieS: Before the shoes, I spent a few days at the Shriner’s Hospital. No surgeries – just 
tests. Checking my back. Checking my feet. Checking my legs. There were dozens of kids there my age – many paralyzed with polio. Shriner’s has been an indelible part of Spokane. I can’t imagine where these children will go without Shriner’s. This “recession” is like a bad cancer, metastasizing into the bone. More here.
Question: Any other stories re: how you or others you know have been helped by Shriners Hospital/Spokane?
Nick Adams: Given the Republican-dominated legislature’s anti-education bias, I wouldn’t want 
the job (of University of Idaho president) either. Can you imagine how frustrating it’d be to have a couple of insurance salesman (Goedde and Nonini) tell you what’s best for higher ed in Idaho? I’d love to see U of I get a well-qualified president hired soon. It is an important and critical component to our state’s future. Frankly, its been rudderless and hamstringed since the scandal-ridden Hoover years—much to the detriment of our fair state.
Question: What do you make of the fact that the 3rd of 5 finalists has withdrawn his name from consideration to be president of the University of Idaho?
Michael Ramirez/Investor’s Business Daily
In the news this evening: A 5-in-1 pill may prevent heart disease here. Auto workers complain that Obama treated industry worse than banks here. The Obama team drops ‘war on terror’ rhetoric here. The Dow drops more than 250 points here. Rapper T.I. was sentenced to a year in prison on weapons charges here. And the Monday Wild Card remains on the table …
A gull snatches a piece of bread in mid-air before it hits the ground while scavenging for food in Chicago’s Millenium Park. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) SR’s Today In Photos.
Do you think Obama’s trip to Europe will be successful?/Idaho Statesman
In case Facebook isn’t creepy enough for you, the latest form of online ADD, Twitter, is there 
for your basic stalking needs. After all the hype I had been hearing, I eagerly created an account, hoping for the same sense of bedazzlement I felt as soon as a logged onto the MySpace world back in 2005 or Facebook in 2007. What I felt logging on to Twitter for the first time was a sense, not of stepping into a vast world of endless possibilities, but of stepping into a dark void of nothingness. I’m here to confirm that there is absolutely nothing about Twitter that makes it different or new or any more interesting or entertaining than Facebook. It’s a giant scam if I’ve ever seen one, created merely to cash in on the success of stalker-esque internet applications that have been so popular recently/Alex Gratzer, WSU Evergreen. More here.
Question: What do you think of the relatively new Internet tool Twitter?
Firefighters work to put out any remaining smolders from buildings at Soldier Mountain Ski Resort near Fairfield, Idaho that burned to the ground Monday, March 30, 2009. Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the Monday morning blaze that destroyed the main lodge at Soldier Mountain Ski Resort, a small ski operation owned by actor Bruce Willis. Story here. (AP Photo/The Idaho Statesman, Shawn Raecke)
Catherine Jolley, 17, left, and Chelsea Leach, 18, both members of the Northeast High School girls volleyball team, wrestle in a wading tub full of Hershey’s chocolate syrup Friday in one of the team member’s backyard in Oakland Park, Fla. The girls team, egged on by the boys team, were just having fun to mark the end of the girls season and the start of the boys season. They used 27 bottles of the syrup. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Sun Sentinel, Joe Cavaretta)
Top Cutlines:
3. and the young dudes said, “ SWEEEEEEEEEEET!” — Bayview Bob.
HM: Token
The Shriners Hospital for Children in Spokane, which provides pediatric specialty care programs at no cost to families, may close as a part of sweeping budget cuts. Hospital executives are telling the 172 employees this afternoon that the hospital is on a list for possible closure. A decision will be made in the coming months. Story here. (Colin Mulvany/Spokesman-Review)
For more than 30 years, late Kootenai County 911 dispatcher Alan Broden was the calm voice 
in the face of chaos, directing patrol officers and emergency responders to their destinations. His retirement on Dec. 1 left a hole in the 911 dispatch center. His unexpected death Feb. 28 left a hole in the lives of his loved ones and friends. Hundreds attended his funeral. A day later, hardship hit the family again when daughter Sarah, a University of Idaho student, fell and fractured two bones in her lower leg. Which required surgery and a wheelchair. In an e-mail to Huckleberries Online, Alan’s daughter, Cyndi Broden Holbert, of Pocatello, tells what happened next: “My parent’s house was not equipped for wheelchair access, but thanks to the EMS crew from the Northern Lakes Fire Department (who transported my Dad to the hospital the day he died), and with materials and funds donated by Avista, a wheelchair ramp was built on Sunday (March 22).” By being the person he was, Cyndi concludes, her father “somehow made sure he would take care of us even when he was gone.” That’s what you call “paying it forward.”
Question: Have you ever made a local 911 distress call?
Begging for alms from Congress and voters, henceforward known as Lieutenant Motors.
The Bard Of Sherman Avenue
Tony Bennett, who led Washington State to its first appearance in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament in 2008, will be named head coach at Virginia. Washington State director of athletics Jim Sterk confirmed that Bennett has accepted the head-coaching position at Virginia on Tuesday. “Dick and Tony Bennett have elevated the men’s basketball program at Washington State to an unprecedented level of success,” Sterk said in a statement released by the university. “We will begin a national search for a coach immediately with the goal of finding someone with the integrity, experience, and values that Dick and Tony brought to the program”/ESPN. More here.
Question: Are you surprised that successful WSU basketball coach Tony Bennett is moving on?
During opening night of Post Falls Parks and Recreation Dodgeball league, Dusty Pfennigs ducks out ot the way of oncoming balls. The Post Falls Park and Recreation is starting the city’s first dodgeball league that runs through April 23. Games are played Tuesday and Thursday nights at West Ridge Elementary School. There are two leagues, men’s open and co-ed, and each team must have at least six players ages 16 and up. ((Colin Mulvany/Spokesman-Review)
Question: Were you a very good dodgeball player back in the day?
Item: Frustrated Americans cheer Obama’s tough auto moves/Reuters
More Info: Obama forced out General Motors chief executive Rick Wagoner, pushed Chrysler LLC toward a merger with Italy’s Fiat SpA, and threatened bankruptcy for both, marking an escalation in Washington’s involvement in rescuing the faltering economy. Skeptics asked whether it was an early sign of a more activist administration or an isolated example. GM shares tumbled 30 percent on the news and the Dow Jones Industrial average sank nearly 4 percent. Rxperts called it potentially the most significant presidential intervention in the private sector since Harry Truman tried to seize the steel industry during the Korean War in 1952, only to be rebuffed by the Supreme Court.
Question: Do you support President Obama’s get-tough approach to the auto industry, which could include letting GM & Chrysler go bankrupt?
I went a long period of time a few years ago reading almost nothing in the form of a novel, as I 
didn’t want to impact my own writing style by picking up other authors’ styles inadvertently. I’m over that speed bump, and am back to reading good books. But a lot of the books I pick up now — granted, somewhat at random — seem to be missing something. Either I don’t particularly care about the hero, or I can sense that some editor came in and butchered a really, really good manuscript. … I don’t want to read only the classics, tried and true. And I don’t want to resort to reading only “bubblegum” books (fun books that I enjoy reading but that don’t have a lot of substance). I’m really interested in reading today’s good novelists. I don’t have a genre preference, though I’m not particularly impressed with the new trend of trying to attach readers to heroes with no moral compass/Beth Bollinger, Accidental Rabbit Trails.
Question: Any suggestions for “good read” books?
The Eagle smoking ordinance is a restriction on private property. I think everyone would agree 
that is true. It would prohibit smoking in bars and allow only 20 percent of a hotel’s rooms to go to smokers. (What public policy is served by telling hoteliers in Eagle that they can only rent out 20 percent of their rooms to smokers? And why 20 percent, of all numbers?) In its current form, the Eagle ordinance could also prohibit smoking in an office where the owner has just one employee, even if that business rarely or never sees outside customers. In other words, you can work hard your whole life, buy office space in Eagle, and then be told you’re not allowed to enjoy a legal activity (smoking) on your property if that’s your choice/Wayne Hoffman, Idaho Freedom Foundation. More here.
Question: Do you share Wayne Hoffman’s opinion that government-enforced smoking bans in bars, hotels and even businesses are a violation of personal property rights?
Virginity and purity. America is obsessed with it. The porn industry thrives on virgins, women 
like Natalie Dylan sell their virginity for millions of dollars and abstinence-only programs preach the importance of virginity. Media, schools, churches and the government all seem to think a young woman’s worth lies in her sexual purity. When I was in high school, my church asked me to sign a celibacy pledge to God — I didn’t. I refused to lie in church. But that was about the extent of the pressure I experienced. Other girls face much weightier pressures. Some fathers will give their daughters a promise ring, others a locket and then there are those lavish ceremonies called purity balls/Anne-Marije Rook, UI Argonaut. More here.
Question: Should teen-agers be encouraged to wait until marriage to have sex?
People who have struggled with another language know that it takes thousands of hours and several years of study and memorization to become anywhere near fluent. But in truth, virtually all newcomers - including my Danish great grandparents and today’s Latino immigrants - eventually do learn the local language. They learn it by studying until their heads ring. They learn it a word at a time from generous co-workers and helpful neighbors. They learn it from their own children - those little language sponges who pick up English from classmates and television, learning four times as fast as thee and me with our old petrified brains/Bill Hall, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: How long did it take your forebears to learn the language and assimilate into the culture of the United States?
Carl and Sally Gidlund along with their new puppy, Sadie at their home in Hayden on Friday. (Kathy Plonka/Spokesman-Review)
Question: When did you last have a new puppy in your home?
The House has voted 48-21 in favor of HB 216a, the “pharmacist conscience” bill, after an hour-long debate. Rep. Sue Chew, D-Boise, who is a pharmacist, said, “This bill really makes things much more complicated for us in a world that’s already much too complicated.” Other opponents argued that the bill would hurt businesses, by forcing employers to stand by while a rogue employee denied people access to prescriptions left and right, offending customers and reducing the business’ profits. The objections could be to any medication, for any reason, though the bill was promoted by groups that oppose abortion and contraception/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here. How they voted here.
Question: To you agree with the House vote on the ‘pharmacist conscience’ bill?
1959 Kellogg state basketball champs. Front row left to right, Don Zimmerman, Chris Milionis, Louie Jennings, coach Ed Hiemstra, faculty representative and team scorekeeper Ray Faraca, Bernard Blondeau, Keith Kilimann, Frank Winiarski; back row manager Sam Cummings, Ron Shreve, Ron Jarvey, Rodney Kamppi, Gary James, Rich Porter, Jeff Wombolt, Dennis Seagraves. Read Greg Lee’s Handle Extra story re: the Kellogg champions who were honored by the IHSAA with the “Legends of the Game” Award during halftime of the 5A state championship game at the Idaho Center in Nampa earlier this month here. (Photo Jon Nishioka/Nish’s Photo) Question: Were you ever part of a championship team at any level of sports? Please share your memories re: that feat.
RE: 2C Etc: Top 10 Pet Peeves/Huckleberries Online
JBelle: My pet peeve, that puts me in a snarl in an instant, makes the logger poetry ERUPT 
from my mouth and all around irritates me to an extent that is unwholly pretty is when other drivers motion me. They motion me through the intersection. They motion me in and out of parking places. THEY MOTION ME TO MAKE A LEFT HAND TURN! So when did they go to the academy and graduate a traffic cop? Who put them in charge? When did I sign up to be subserviant to their commands?
Question: Fishwife can’t stand aging men with flabby arms riding Harleys. Charlie’s bugged by motorists who take two spaces to park. Kage Mann can’t stand owners who run dogs without leashes on Tubbs Hill. You can still add your pet peeves to the list.
Item: New garden center to open just in time for spring planting/Nils Rosdahl, SR
More Info: The name basically says it all – Coeur d’Alene Garden, Gift & Gallery. This 5,000-square-foot store and outdoor acre will open April 15 at 1619 Lee Court. Formerly the home of Granite Planet (and temporarily part of Coeur d’Alene Tractor while its snow-damaged roof was being repaired), the new store is on the east side of Ramsey Road, between Appleway and Interstate 90. It also will take advantage of the huge, neighboring WinCo grocery market planned for the northeast corner of the Appleway-Ramsey Road intersection.
Question: Where do you buy your garden plants and supplies?
All of Twitter was aflame with that burning fashion question until even heavyweight pundits such as The New York Times’s David Brooks felt compelled to weigh in, joking that as far as he could tell, “one of the main reasons Barack Obama ran for president was so Michelle would have a platform to show her biceps, Thunder and Lightning.” There’s no doubt that the new first lady, tall and fit (she works out “like a gladiator” according to one friend), has a head-turning physical presence. Just by virtue of her skin colour, she already looks like no first lady before her. But apart from invoking her “right to bare arms” (that joke was instantly everywhere) and no doubt inspiring legions of women to get to the gym, how is Michelle Obama performing so far as first lady?/Judith Timson, GlobeLife. More here.
Question: Do you believe First Lady Michelle Obama has a right to bare her muscular arms?
Josephine Webb was greeted by well wishers during a reception held in her honor at North Idaho College on Friday, March 27. When she was on North Idaho College’s board of trustees in the 1970s, a developer presented a proposal to build condominiums on the property at the head of the Spokane River. Webb and other community members launched a battle against the proposal. The developer backed out and NIC was able to purchase the lakeshore from Pack River Lumber Co. in 1977, preserving that beachfront for public use. Story here. (Kathy Plonka/Spokesman-Review)
In the daily HBO survey, a plurality of Merry Hucksters — 21 of 59 or 36% — said Matt Bouldin is there favorite Zag on the 2008-09 men’s basketball team, followed by Josh Heytvelt (11 or 19%); Micah Downs (9 or 15%), and Jeremy Pargo (8 or 14%). When asked over the weekend what they’re going to do now that North Carolina ended the Zags season, 16 or 60 (27%) said they will turn their attention to the Seattle Mariners and 10 (17%) each said they will continue to watch the NCAA basketball tournament or begin gardening.
Hermine’s shop wasn’t always so festive and full of foil-wrapped temptations. In fact, it was only 
about two years ago that she was able to realize her longtime dream by installing a fully functional, stainless steel kitchen in the back of her alterations shop, then called the Clothes Clinic. Since 1988, when she made her first batch treats, she’d been using the kitchen at the St. Pius Church and making bonbons as a side gig to sell primarily to folks whose main business was having her hem some pants or replace a zipper. Gradually, through word of mouth and on the strength and uniqueness of her products, just as many people started showing up for the candies. Now, although she does still have a small but devoted customer base for her tailoring services, her shop has been fully transformed into a German candy paradise/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.
Question: How do you satisfy your sweet tooth?
Sometimes, in small towns, something as minor as a snowplow can decide future events. In 
Hauser, city officials were meeting at the Rainbow Inn (now Lakeview Inn) when D.J. Nall moved to town in 1977. In her Hauser Thoughts blog, D.J. (aka Frum Helen Back) tells how she’d never set foot in a bar before her first council meeting – and then vomited on the flowers outside after several locals greeted her by buying drinks. Later, the council met at the fire station and the front office of the then-new City Hall. At the time, the current council chambers served as the garage for the snowplow and other city equipment. That changed when then Mayor Gary Mallon appointed D.J. and another council member to find a new snowplow. They did. Only they didn’t measure the width of the blade. Which was too big for the garage doors. Undaunted, Mallon, a career military man accustomed to occasional snafus, transformed the garage into a meeting room and ordered the existing metal building constructed to house Hauser equipment. That’s DJ’s Hauser her-story – and she’s sticking to it/DFO, Handle Extra Huckleberries. More here.
Question: When did you last attend a meeting or your City Council or a local government entity?
Joe Heller/Hellertoons
Merry Hucksters; I’m simply going to play a Wild Card for you today — and save OrangeTV’s column and the print Huckleberries for discussion Monday. For those who can’t wait for those two columns or others by Nils Rosdahl, Betsy Russell & Michelle Boss, you can look for the Handle Extra in your home subscription of the SR or pick it up on news stands. It’s worth a couple of quarters. Meanwhile, I’m enjoying a four-day visit from Amy Dearest, who joined Mrs. O and I last night to watch the Spokane Civic Theatre’s production of “Godspell” in the Studio Theater, with Coeur d’Alene’s Robby French playing the lead. A good time was had by us three. At one point, I became part of the props when actress Emily Baynes sat in my lap while singing, “Turn Back, O Man.” Earlier, I was a prop for Robby during a pantomime part of the play. I was tempted to take a bow with the rest of the cast at the end. You can use this Wild Card to tell us if you’ve ever appeared on stage for a play. Or simply to start your own thread …
Do you think Idaho teachers’ pay should have been cut?/Idaho Statesman
In the news this morning: Obama plans to widen US involvement in Afghanistan here. The space shuttle Discovery is on tap for an afternoon landing here. Madonna wants to adopt another child here. CNN sinks to third place in prime time here. Criticism over Obama invite mounts at Notre Dame here. And another Wild Card is in play …
After their 98-77 loss to North Carolina, the Gonzaga players turn to their fans and salute them at the South Regional NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen Friday in Memphis, Tenn. Game story, more photos here. Christopher Anderson/Spokesman-Review
The fire that destroyed the patio at Boileau’s last week has been
determined to be Arson. Results of the investigation by the Timberlake
Fire District and the fire marshal have been referred to the Kootenai
County Sheriff Department for investigation. The apparent indication of
accelerants at the fire location and the proximity of the building
behind the patio with stairs and access to the balcony over looking the
cafe is where the fire burned the hottest/Bayview Herb, Bay Views. More here.
In the TGIF HBO Poll, 18 of 54 (or 33%) of you said that Matt Bouldin is your favorite 2008-09 Gonzaga Bulldog regular player. Josh Heytvelt finished in second with 11 votes (20%), followed by Micah Downs & Jeremy Pargo, who were tied with 8 votes (15%).
Question: Name 3 of your pet peeves?
Once
Aunt Beryl taught me how to capture chickens, it was a short run from
there to the 
beheading pen, surrounded top and all four sides with
chicken wire, adjacent to the chicken house and thus convenient for
those moments when you wanted to part a chicken from its life. In the
center of the pen there was an old ax that had outlived wood cutting
and had become the chicken beheading unit. WHOCK! Behead that bird
and then dump it on the ground. It takes the average chicken about
three minutes to die, during which time it will flail and dash madly
from side to side in ecstasy in the beheading pen, until it finally
dies of having no head and and no more blood/David Laird, Community Comment. More here.
Question: Have you ever beheaded a chicken? Or slaughtered any kind of animal? Describe the experience.
Well, about 3 weeks ago we had another MOUSE incident. … this time it
was Ambrose that came 
galloping in through the catflap carrying a
squeeling wriggling little dormouse. … I shouted at me cat at the top
of me voice, and it scared her so much she opened her mouth and the
mouse fell to the floor and ran under the washing machine. … there was
nuffin I could do to get the little mouse out….. I thought the cats
would eventually catch it and there will be nuffin I can do. … but,
catch the mouse they didnt. … it must of crept out at night and stole
and nibbled their food and drank their water…. and as the days went
by I forgot about the little dormouse that was living under me washing
machine. … UNTIL. … I was in me kitchen late one night bunging the
kettle on for a cuppa tea. … as I stood there waiting for it to boil,
I watched as a little tiny dormouse crept along me kitchen window sill
and behind me toaster where it sat nibbling on toast crumbs/Marmitetoasty, Twaddle. More here.
Question: Have you had an interesting experience trapping a mouse or other kind of varmint in your house or yard?
(You have come a long way, baby) was the saying when I was in my 30’s. It was part cigarette 
saying and the by word of women. The call, so to speak, that we could do anything. That men were nice, but we did not have to have them to survive. The times of Anne Murray and I, am Woman. Or Althea Franklin’s R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Yes, you have come a long way, Baby … Or so we thought. In the news of the past few days and weeks, it has shown us that the young women, the teens have not learn this lesson what so ever. Once again, we see women being beat by men, even the music singers. We see that teen girls are taking pictures of themselves in the nude to impress some boy, and texting them to boys. And of course, they end up on the web. So little respect for themselves/Cis, Simple Mind. More here.
Question: Where do you think females stand today in terms of the old saying: “You have come a long way, baby”? Have they arrived? Have a way to go? Slipped back?
There is an air of entitlement in our society, and it stinks. This is a
two-headed monster 
threatening to devour those of us in the middle. The
“haves” and the “have-nots” are very different kinds of people, but
both groups feel that they deserve privileges and special treatment the
rest of us don’t have access to. I came to this realization the other
day when a guy in a new Mercedes pulled onto the commuter lane on I-5
right in front of us. He was alone in his car, and tooled along for
miles in a lane reserved for vehicles with two or more people. The
“haves” think they are entitled to bailouts, tax breaks, free checking,
low interest, and, like this guy, have no regard for rules that should
apply to all. … On the other hand, the entitlement mentality of the “have-nots” is
equally disturbing. We are a great society. Unlike most countries in
the world, we care for those who cannot take care of themselves. There
should be access to medical care, housing assistance, food stamps, and
all the other programs in place to help people help themselves. These
are designed to be a stepping stone, but in many cases, are stopping
stones/JanTri, Brand X Ranch. More here.
Question: Do you agree with JanTri that the entitlements of both the haves and have-nots are threatening to devour individuals in the middle class?
North Carolina forward Tyler Hansbrough, left, shoots around the reach of Gonzaga guard Micah Downs (22) in the first half of a men’s NCAA tournament regional semifinal college basketball game in Memphis, Tenn., tonight. North Carolina led by double digits throughout the second half and won 98-77. ESPN boxscore here. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
I’m taking the day off today, but I left plenty of fodder below for you to peruse and to discuss. It’s Sweet 16 day, of course. So there’s an HBO Poll re: favorite current Zag player and some links to pre-game stories by Jim Meehan. You can also discuss the Owyhee Wilderness vote and even your feelings re: attending weddings. I’ll check in during the day. And I’ll post items overnight to greet you in the morning. Be good. Here’s your Wild Card …
Matt Bouldin of Gonzaga is framed by the logo and bright lights in Memphis, Tenn. Thursday as the Zags prepare for their Sweet Sixteen game against North Carolina today. Jim Meehan’s pre-game story here and notebook here. Christopher Anderson/Spokesman-Review. More photos of Zags practice Thursday.
Question: Predict tonight’s final score between Gonzaga and North Carolina.
Cis Gors/From A Simple Mind offers this “easter egg” for those who think they know something re: geography. You’d better know something re: northern Africa and the Middle East before proceeding here.
So long to one of President Barack Obama’s picks for the Final Four. The president’s NCAA tournament bracket took a hit Thursday night when Memphis lost to Missouri 102-91. Obama
also missed with Duke’s loss to Villanova, and slipped to the bottom
half of the 5-plus million fans who entered ESPN.com’s pool. Earlier
in the evening, Obama won with Connecticut and Pittsburgh. When the
Huskies and Panthers moved into the regional finals, it also boosted
the president’s picks to the top 40 percent overall. Then came
Memphis’ loss. The president had Memphis losing in the national
semifinals to Louisville. He has North Carolina beating Pitt in the
other semi/AP.
Question: Obama (shown with North Carolina coach Roy Williams above) picked North Carolina to win the NCAA tournament in his tournament bracket. How do you feel about that. And how are you doing with your tournament bracket?
Wednesday, legislation resolving a number of wilderness issues in
the country, and 
incorporating the collaborative compromise over
Idaho’s Owyhee Canyonlands, was endorsed by every House member from the
Northwest with only two exceptions: eastern Washington’s Cathy McMorris
Rodgers (pictured) and Doc Hastings. It tells you a lot when McMorris
Rodgers and Hastings vote against something every Republican member of
Congress from Idaho supports. It tells you they are anything but moderates, of course. But it tells you more than that. The
Owyhee compromise, one of Republican Sen. Mike Crapo’s biggest projects
in the last several years, represents, as Crapo is first to say, a
model for settling any number of controversies involving the use of
public land. For eight years, conservationists, ranchers, Indians,
local government officials and others have worked to pass legislation
that gives each party enough of what they want that they consider
themselves winners/Jim Fisher, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: Did you support the addition of the Owyhee Canyonlands to Idaho wilderness designation? Do you further support the designation of the Boulder-White Clouds area in central Idaho as wilderness?
Memphis’ Chance McGrady, left, and Roburt Sallie sit dejectedly in the locker room after their team’s loss to Missouri in a men’s NCAA college basketball tournament regional semifinal in Glendale, Ariz., Thursday. Missouri won 102-91. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
I have literally lost count of how many weddings I’ve participated in during the course of my 25-year-old life. While I never made it as a flower girl, around age 10, my younger sister and I solemnly watched over the guest book at a family friend’s wedding. As a pianist, I booked my first wedding around my freshman year of high school and have averaged musical participation in at least one wedding a year since then. And over the last few years, many of my friends have “come of age” and caught the marrying fever, which puts me in the position of playing a bridesmaid and/or maid of honor. I’ve purchased five fancy dresses now, and, with both of my siblings recently entering into engagements, I see more in my future. There will also be a plethora of parties to attend, gifts to buy, stressed out bride-friends to soothe and, most of all, too many giggles to count/Kendel Murrant, Idaho Press Tribune, 2C Etc. More here.
Question: Why do you like/dislike going to weddings?
RE: HBO Poll: Wolf Lodge Inn steaks/Huckleberries Online
Escapee: How many Real Men out there will confess to ordering the
“Cowgirl”…that’s where Wolf 
Lodge Inn is smart…because a Real He-Man
would probably opt for the more expensive “Cowboy” or “Rancher”? Or, in these complicated times, a guy might go for the “Cowgirl”
steak in order to not appear as a ‘Brokeback Cowboy’, perhaps. A very
long time ago, I ate the “Cowgirl” steak and that was waaay more than
enough food for me.
DFO: In the HBO Poll Wednesday, 31 of 60 respondents (52%) said they ordered the 16-ounce Cowgirl steak when they dined at Wolf Lodge Inn. Another 20 (27%) said they ordered the 20-ounce Cowgirl. Meanwhile, 8 brave souls (13%) admitted they order the 42-ounce Rancher.
JeanieS: I could get lost in a paper bag. Worse - I have to be **on time** if
not 15 minutes early 
for dinner dates. I have been known to wander and
wander and not be able to find the “quaint little bistro behind the
fourth maple tree on the right, next to the little bead shop” and when
it approached the witching hour of 6:30, I gave up and went home. I
will NOT be late. Once I drove to my parents house in Yachats, Oregon and took the
wrong exit and ended up lost (I told my parents I was touring) in
Albany. Albany is about as big as from here to that wall over there.
Question: Do you get lost easily when you’re traveling?
RE: LaSarte finally gets hero’s welcome/Ralph Bartholdt, St. Maries Gazette-Record
Stickman: I tell the story sometimes of a young man who on his last day in
country, was killed in 
an ambush. One of the tears of my life, even to
this day. I cry everytime I think of him. His name was Billy, and he
was 19. And another of a young man who was wounded calling in an air
strike on his own position. He wished he died that day, but didn’t. He
is still here, and I take the time each week to go to his house and
give him a bath, as he is embarrassed to let anyone else do it. Did we
serve, damn right! Never forget the ones that came before you to keep you free.
Question: Do you know someone who was killed or injured in war? Who?
Joe Heller/Hellertoons
Before I get into the evening headlines, I’d like to point out that Huckleberries Online has a new blogroll — devoted to Spokane area bloggers (in the right rail). Next week, I’ll explore possible ways to highlight bloggers on the blogroll. Mebbe some sort of roundup a coupla times a week. We’ll see. Also, I’m taking tomorrow off. So I’m looking for a guest host for HBO. Now, for the evening headlines: Obama’s planning to send additional troops to Afghanistan here. Alaska’s Mount Redoubt is still erupting here. New York Times has cut jobs and salaries here. U.S. Senate votes to drastically expand AmeriCorps here. And the Wild Card remains in play …
Atlas Elementary third grader Derrick Collins reads a biography about Harriet Tubman at the school in Coeur d’Alene on Wednesday. Reading scores for Kootenai County’s youngest students, the kindergarten through third graders, have improved quite a bit since the beginning of the school year, as demonstrated by the results from the most recent Idaho Reading Indicator test. Story here. Kathy Plonka/Spokesman-Review. SR’s Today In Photos. Question: How much do you read? What do you like to read?
A civilized political process could finally be taking root. Back room deals may be replacing
roadside bombs as a means of getting things done in the land of the Tigris and Euphrates. It is not impossible to imagine that, 10 years from now, Iraq will be a stable, comparatively affluent and reasonably free society in the heart of the Middle East, the fulfillment of the neo-conservative dream. Of course, it is easy to imagine a much more grim outcome, as well, but, for now, the signs are encouraging. If American troops pull out on schedule, harsh memories will fade. In time, a reassessment of the invasion and its aftermath could reflect more positively on George W. Bush/David Horsey, Seattle P-I. More here. And: Cartoon here.
Question: Is it possible that history will smile on former President George Bush for invading Iraq and supplanting dictator Saddam Hussein?
I discover new things that add to my fear of heights – besides changing light bulbs and cleaning 
ceiling fans. Fire escape stairs. I cannot go down fire escape stairs. I can go up just fine. I went to see a friend in an apartment building that had fire escape stairs that went to the second floor. I didn’t give it a second thought as I skipped up the stairs to her apartment. Once there I realized that 301 was not on the second floor, it was on the third floor. So I turned to go up the next flight when I froze. I could SEE through the stairs to the ground far, FAR below me. I couldn’t move. A couple came out of an apartment and I just stood there/JeanieS, Nuts & Nonsense. More here.
Question: What’s your main phobia?
“I was OnLocation for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Post Falls Dam this week,” posts Councilwoman KerriT/OnLocation North Idaho. “If you want proof that spring is on the way, eight of nine gates are wide open, flowing 10,000 cubic feet per second. This is a bird’s eye view from above the falls on the spillway catwalk as the Spokane River begins its travels over the dam.”
Inspired by a famous 50-year-old Life magazine photograph, Saint Mary’s College students attempt to break the campus’ 24 bodies in a phone booth record Wednesday on their Moraga, Calif. campus. The phone booth competition comes 50 years after Life magazine published a now-famous photograph of 22 St. Mary’s students stuffed into a phone booth, a popular college stunt in the 1950s. Current students matched the number in the 1959 image, though they failed to break the campus record of 24 set in 1984. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Contra Costa Times, Karl Mondon)
Top Cutlines:
A Washington woman visiting Wisconsin last year was arrested for drunken driving three times in three days, including twice in and around Kohler-Andrae State Park, according to court records released Wednesday. Jo A. Trilling, of Spokane, Wash., who was sentenced on the final two cases last week, was arrested in each case after driving off the road and getting her car stuck. She was arrested March 11, 12 and 13 of 2008, racking up a total of 30 days in jail and more than $3,000 in fines/Erik Litke, Sheboygan Press. More here.
When I was in third grade, I wrote some nasty and disrespectful words aimed at my teacher. I knew she’d read them, in fact, I hoped she would. I was just then starting to question the authority around me, and hadn’t yet figured out that most of what we do in life is play games with each other. I hadn’t made the connection that in order to get teachers, and authority, off my back, one had to play the game just well enough to not get noticed. Because I hadn’t made this connection yet, I became frustrated with school, and bored/Toadman, Synaptic Disunion. More here.
Question: Do you have a problem with authority?
Gonzaga coaches and players turn to watch as Micah Downs (rear with hand up ) shoots fom half court in Memphis, Tenn., today as they prepare for their Sweet Sixteen game against North Carolina Friday. Christopher Anderson/Spokesman-Review
Liz: Get ready for this: around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, I was heading down Poplar to pick up 
my son at school. As I waited at the intersection of Poplar and Fourth, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Here is what I saw — a car making the turn in front of me, and attached to it’s bumper was a rope. Attached to the end of the rope that wasn’t attached to the car was, um, a DEAD SQUIRREL!!!! I could see its horrible little teeth and everything. It was rather bloody, as well. I am seriously hoping that the thing was dead when it was tied onto the bumper. Because if it wasn’t, it would mean that some sick-o dragged a small animal around to its death deliberately (or someone else tied it on there still alive and he didn’t notice it; just as bad). Hopefully someone just thought it would be funny to tie some already dead roadkill onto the car. That would be the best case scenario.
Question: If Liz is right, and the squirrel was dead before it was tied to the back of the car, what do you make of this strange incident?
I heard a blurb on BSU Radio about wage inequality in Idaho. It was short, and I’m not sure I 
heard everything, but what I thought I heard was that women in Idaho generally get paid about 60% of what men get paid. Well, maybe, but I doubt that it’s that simple. I believe that there are instances where women, everything else being equal, get paid less. …But, I think the “women get paid less” meme is mostly inaccurate or at least overstated. These stats, or what I read and hear of them, almost never take into account differing circumstances. I believe that by and large women doing the same job, for the same length of time, with the same qualifications and experience, get paid the same as men/IdaBlue. More here
Question: Do you think there’s wage inequality between men and women in Idaho and elsewhere in the Inland Northwest?
A few dates:
- July 23, 1980: Then-President Carter signs the Central Idaho Wilderness Act, creating the 2.2-million-acre Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness.
- Nov. 4, 1980: Larry Craig is elected to Congress.
- Jan. 6, 2009: A new Congress is sworn into office, ending Craig’s 28-year congressional career.
- March 25, 2009: Idaho’s first wilderness bill since 1980 — creating the 517,000-acre Owyhee Canyonlands wilderness — passes Congress.
A succinct but fair assessment of Larry Craig’s dismal public lands legacy/Kevin Richert.
Question: Would Congress have passed the Owyhee Wilderness bill, if Larry Craig was still a U.S. senator from Idaho?
A rabbit heads for cover along a snow-covered path at Riverfront Park in Billings, Mont. after a snowstorm moved through the area earlier today. (AP Photo/Casey Riffe, Billings Gazette)
My life can be mapped by ball fields. The dust and mud of baseball fields; the windy, unshaded 
terrain of soccer fields; and the brightly illuminated green glow of football fields under the night sky. In addition, I’ve spent months inside stuffy gymnasiums echoing with the squeak of athletic shoes and the thudding of basketballs. I can chart the seasons by what’s in the back of my minivan. In the winter, basketballs jostle with ski gear, stray gloves and soggy knit caps. Spring arrives with soccer balls clunking around in the trunk, and the odor of sweaty cleats permeating the air. Summer brings wet beach towels, stray flip-flops and small coolers filled with melting ice. Autumn means a car full of quilts, stadium chairs and mouth guards in my coffee holder/Cindy Hval, SR. More here.
Question: What sports were are your kids involved in? If you no longer have kids/grandkids involved in sports, do you miss it?
Lake City High School’s Tanner Schalk, front center takes off during track practice at the school in Coeur d’Alene this week. Greg Lee will provide a rundown on track & field prospects for high schools in Kootenai County and Sandpoint in the Handle Extra Sunday.
… that friends of former LCDC chairman Charlie Nipp are planning a “friendly roast” at Cricket’s “to let him know how much his contribution to the well-being of our community is appreciated and valued!” The roast is scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 8. In an e-mail intercepted by a Berry Picker, Nipp supporters are encouraged to “share this with other folks you know who might also like to ‘accentuate the positive!’” Nipp, of course, has been in the cross-hairs of anti-LCDC activists and the CdA Press as a result of an AG investigation into alleged conflicts of interest that turned up no criminal wrongdoing.
Item: Spokane, Coeur d’Alene slip in Forbes ranking/Bert Caldwell, SR
More Info: Spokane ranks 29th in the new Forbes magazine list of the 200 Best Cities for Business and Careers, falling from ninth in the 2008 list. Coeur d’Alene slipped from 21st to 33rd in the ranking of small cities. Rankings are determined by cost of doing business, including labor, energy taxes and rent; job growth over three years, and percent of population over age 25 with bachelor degrees, or higher.
Question: Are Spokane and/or Coeur d’Alene good places for you personally to conduct business or pursue a career?
Wednesday, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game addressed more allegations of misconduct released by a North Idaho private investigator. ‘Confidential Investigations’ accused the Idaho Department of Fish and Game officers of bringing their children with them while they were on patrol, citing sworn testimony and department e-mails where officers made specific remarks about taking their kids on patrol/KHQ. More here. Complete Confidential Investigations report here.
Vic LaSarte (pictured above), now 60, received the Bronze Star for being one of the last soldiers to leave a firebase as the enemy overran the position. He made sure the wounded were evacuated and that nothing useful including ammunition or weapons was left to the enemy that swept in from the jungles along the DMZ. He was five months into his tour and a piece of shrapnel struck him in the leg. “We encountered hand to hand combat,” he recalls. “I was blown off the hooch.” The explosion left him hobbling to a remaining helicopter that fluttered away ushering LaSarte and his fellow soldiers to safety/Ralph Bartholdt, St. Maries Gazette-Record. More here. Publisher Dan Hammes comment here.
Question: Did you serve in Vietnam?
Taxpayers have a serious problem right now, because URAs are both rich and powerful. They 
use public tax increment money for lobbyists to stop any changes in the porous old laws. The vague legal language and loopholes, along with the complexity of the subject, keep most citizens, as well as many lawmakers, from taking the time to understand urban renewal. This reluctance helps ensure the stealth success of this little-known tax impact. But now we’re in a serious economic crunch, and every tax impact must be examined. Our elected officials should take a comprehensive look and rewrite the urban renewal law to protect the rights of the taxpayers. State Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, is bringing forward this year’s only effort to tighten this law. He is offering HB 244 for consideration of the whole House later this week/Mary Souza, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: Forget the obsession by Mary and OpenCDA.com with LCDC for a moment, is there anything about urban renewal agencies in Idaho that you’d like to change?
Josh Heytvelt scored 19 points, Jeremy Pargo 16 and Matt Bouldin chipped in 14 points and six assists as Gonzaga upended No. 2-ranked North Carolina 82-74. On Nov. 22, 2006. “Leon (Rice, assistant coach) and I just finished watching it,” Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said earlier this week. “There were a lot of the same characters in the play that will be in this one, too. They look different, but they’re the same characters.” In addition to the aforementioned Bulldogs (plus Will Foster, who didn’t play), the Tar Heels have seven holdovers from the 2006 game, including standouts Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington, who will take the court when the teams meet in the South Regional semifinals Friday in Memphis, Tenn. UNC’s current starting five all played in the 2006 contest/Jim Meehan, SR. More here.
Question: How do you think Gonzaga will do against North Carolina with a berth in the Elite Eight at stake Friday night?
There was no debate and no discussion on the equally bare-bones budget for community colleges that followed the university budget-setting this morning. Community colleges will take an 11 percent cut in their state general funds next year, under the budget, but see a 5.4 percent cut overall, thanks to the addition of $1.6 million in federal stimulus money. No additional items were funded in the budget over last year, not even the $102,000 that Gov. Butch Otter recommended for additional nursing faculty positions, the only one of five budget expansion requests from Idaho’s three community colleges that got his nod/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Are you convinced that legislative budget writers are doing all they can to minimize cuts to education?
At It’s Just Me, blogmistress Me writes: “I had lunch downtown yesterday. Where is spring? I am ready for it. I am waiting for it. PLEASE.” Well, the sun’s out today. So that’s a start toward spring, although temperatures are still 6 or 7 degrees below the seasonal average.
In Wednesday’s HBO Poll, 27 of 64 (or 42 percent) responded that they will be a regular reader of the new city of Coeur d’Alene blog site: Coeur d’Alene Today. Another 21 (33%) said they’d read the links when provided by Huckleberries Online — for a total of 75% who indicated they’ll check out the new site. Meanwhile, 16 (25%) aren’t interested in the new blog.
Stickman: I actually take my two sons to Wolf Lodge each year to celebrate their birthdays and 
all other holidays combined. They love it. They both eat the largest steak, which I think is a 42 ounce one, plus all the trimmings. And for dessert, they order a New York Steak to boot, another 18 ounce piece of flesh that I have to watch being devoured. It all comes to almost $200, and all I have is a beer. It is a sight to behold, with a few beers thrown in and desserts and everything else. They also love the girls that serve up such fare. I will be taking them again in the summer, though I may have to take out a loan of sorts. But, life is short, and who am I to judge. Yes, they are big, both about 6‘4” and maybe 250lbs, or more. But solid. I wish I was, but I am just a vegetarian of sorts.
Question: Which cut are you most likely to order when you eat at the Wolf Lodge Inn: Rancher (42 ounces), Cowboy (32 ounces), Cowgirl (20 ounces), or Little Dude (16 ounces)?
Re: CNN features Worley nudist resort
It is funny to laugh at nudist resorts, but the truth is vacationing at nude resorts is the fastest growing trend in the travel industry. I know of what I speak as my husband and I own The Terra Cotta Inn clothing optional resort located in sunny Palm Springs, California. Last year we were the only resort that had an increase in sales in Palm Springs. We were up 5.85%. And this year business is fantastic too. I can tell by the comments that no one has been to a real nudist resort here. Just like Marriotts and Hiltons have guests of all ages, so do nice nude hotels. Our guests range from their 20’s to 70’s/Mary Clare, Terra Cotta Inn. Full comment below.
Question: This comment by Mary Clare of the Terra Cotta Inn nudist resort prompted some speculation re: what HBOers wear when they’re posting from home. Well?
Michael Ramirez/Investor’s Business Daily
In the news this evening: Congress votes to expand wilderness in 9 states, including Idaho, here. USPO chief: Post office is running out of money here. The Hawaii Senate defeats civil unions here. George Soros says he’s having ‘a good crisis’ here. AIG execs are getting death threats here. And the Wild Card remains in play …
A woman passes a huge photo of watch at the Longines booth at the world watch and jewellery show ‘BaselWorld’ in Basel, Switzerland, Wednesday. BaselWorld opens its doors from Thursday to April 2. 1,952 exhibitors from 45 countries will show their latest collections. (AP Photo/Keystone, Georgios Kefalas) SR’s Today In Photos.
I’m toying with the idea of adding another blogroll to my right rail — to link to Spokane area blogs that were orphaned when we switched blogware in mid-December. I picked through an old list of regional blogs and found 17 Spokane area blogs that are still active. I’ll probably cut that list down to a dozen or so, toss in our SR blogs — and mebbe run a round-up once a week or so. Some of HBO’s favorite bloggers — JeanieS, CindyH, Toad, JBelle, David Laird, etc. — come from Spokane. It would be interesting to see if we can add others to the list by blog-rolling them.
Question: What do you think? Is there room for more Spokane bloggers in the HBO Blogosphere?
Standing outside of Lewis and Clark High School, freshmen Ashley and Chrissy say they’re all too familiar with classmates asking for nude pictures of them. “It happens, like, everyday,” says Ashley. Indeed, Spokane County Sheriff’s Detective Dave Skogen says the exchange of such digital pictures is occurring all the time in local schools. “I think if we had any idea really how many times this was happening, it would shock everybody in the community,” Skogen says. While the problem is mainly seen at the high school level, Skogen says middle school kids also are “sexting” — taking racy, often nude cell phone photos and sending them to friends/Derek Casanovas, Pacific Northwest Inlander. More here.
Question: Any suggestions re: how best to handle the teen phenomenon know as “sexting”?
Tom Hiltenbrand has been selected as the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department Employee of the Year, according to the city’s new blog site, Coeur d’Alene Today. (Sorry JeanieS & CindyH, CdA Today didn’t publish any shirtless photos of firemen.) You can read all about it here.
Impeached former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich listens to a caller as he guest hosts the Don and Roma radio talk show at the studios of WLS Radio in Chicago this morning. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
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While attending different events in Boise over Frank Church Weekend, I was a little surprised and dismayed to hear grumbling about a few of Congressman Walt Minnick’s votes. Apparently, in the minds of a few of our Party members, our newly elected Democratic Congressman is not voting with President Obama - or with the Democrats in Congress - often enough. In fact, I heard one loyal Democrat say that she was so angry that she couldn’t vote for Mr. Minnick again. As I reflected on these comments, I found myself smiling because it wasn’t that many years ago that many in our Party were saying the same things about me/Richard Stallings, former Idaho congressman. More here.
Question: Are you satisfied with Minnick’s performance as the 1st Congressional District representative so far?
JimmyMAC: Here is my warning for all you HBO’ers our there in Kootenai County. If you feel 
like you are getting sick in the least bit-get checked out!!!!! I am one that never ever never goes to the doctor. I very rarely get sick or complain when I do. I went last night to After Hours and was diagnosed with influenza. The good doc said it is rampant, in fact he had 7 consecutive high school students this week who tested positive for it. This thing has hit me like an absolute TRAIN. If you catch it within the first 48 hours, you can get antibiotics and it will be cleared up in about 48 hours but he did warn that without treating it early, you could face the symptoms for 1-2 weeks.
Question: Anyone else out there with the flu bug?
The House has voted 50-20 in favor of HB 256, the measure to cut state reimbursements to school districts for student busing costs. Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, the bill’s sponsor, said in his closing debate, “We’ve heard that this whole piece of legislation is unnecessary - I couldn’t disagree more”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here. How they voted here.
At issue is Coeur d’Alene Paving’s request to operate an asphalt plant on its rural property just south of Highway 53 between Atlas and Ramsey roads. Commissioners voted down the request last summer because of neighbors’ concerns over air quality and traffic. We urge commissioners to approve the permit request tomorrow night for several reasons/CDA Press Editorial Board. More here.
Question: Would you want an asphalt plant near you?
“In my print column in the Coeur d’Alene Press, writes Councilwoman KerriT/OnLocation North Idaho, ”there’s more about these two very special North Idaho residents, Vernon Baker and Tom Norris. Coeur d’Alene was the birth place of perhaps one of the most famous Congressional Medal of Honor recipients, Gregory “Pappy” Boyington. But to have two of fewer than 100 surviving Medal of Honor recipients from WWII and Vietnam living in Kootenai County is quite an honor for us all.
Question: Are you related to anyone who was honored for combat duty during a war?
Professor Molly Pepper leads a discussion in her hate studies class at Gonzaga University Tuesday. Pepper often get the class into discussions, which tackled bullying and the lack of civility in the workplace and society Tuesday. Gonzaga University began offering what may be the only course of its kind in the country – an interdisciplinary class in hate studies. Story here. Jesse Tinsley/Spokesman-Review Question: Where does hate come from?
Don’t look now, but there’s cussing on basic cable TV nowadays. No, serious cussing. The “s” 
word. You can hear it on TNT’s “Amazing Grace” any Monday night, and I’m sure elsewhere as well. I figure it’s only a matter of time before Simon Cowell describes how he really feels about an “American Idol” contestant in words of one syllable. Not the end of civilization as we know it, perhaps, but I sure can’t watch TV anymore. See, I grew up in the 1960s, when comedian George Carlin clearly outlined “the seven words you can’t say on TV.” Heck, I’ve heard three of them over the air in the past week - and I don’t even have HBO/Steve Crump, Twin Falls Times-News. More here.
Question: Is there too much cussing on TV?
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is under scrutiny after a private investigator in North Idaho accused the organization of misusing state property. ‘Confidential Investigations’ was hired to look at IDFG public records for a civil case and ended up finding more than they expected. Erin Jenkins, of Confidential Investigations,’ was hired to review IDFG records for an outside case and in the course of the investigation says he found misuse of state property and evidence that state officers were using state property for personal use/KHQ. More here.
An immature bald eagle stops at Fish Lake for a snack recently. The lake was completely iced over, although the calendar said that month of March was more than half over. Jesse Tinsley/Spokesman-Review.
Now, Rep. Harwood’s usage of confederacy may not be in line with the understanding of modern political scientists, or with people whose political correctness leads them to go racist hunting. But Rep. Harwood’s use of the term confederacy is backed up by the Founding Fathers, and as he described the United States as a confederacy in the context of a bill reaffirming Idaho’s rights under the Tenth Amendment, which was written in the 18th Century, Harwood’s use was totally appropriate/Adam’s Blog. More here.
Question: Does Adam have a good point re: confederacy? Or has the meaning changed so much in the ensuing years that it still is a term that should be avoided?
Opening debate in the House on his bill, HB 256, House Education Chairman Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, said, “The purpose is to make districts be as efficient as possible.” Transportation costs are “overhead,” he said. “Each dollar spent on transportation is a dollar that doesn’t make it into the classroom. … That’s where education takes place.” He said the idea is to cut the state reimbursement to school districts from 85 percent of their busing costs to 50 percent, but still give the districts the same money through state budget-setting, so they’d have an incentive to make better use of their busing money/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here. But: House Dems oppose draconian cuts.
In Olympia, bureau chief Rich Roesler reports that the “Think Outside the Bottle” campaign has come to Washington to urge Gov. Chris Gregoire to stop buying bottled water. Why? Plastic bottles clog landfills. You can read Rich’s report here.
Question: How often do you drink bottled water? Do you consider the environmental ramifications when you do?
Josh Kowalczyk, an intern with the West Michigan Whitecaps, in Comstock Park, Mich. poses for a photo Tuesday. The $20 burger will feature a sesame-seed bun made from a pound of dough, five 1/3-pound beef patties, five slices of cheese, nearly a cup of chili and liberal doses of salsa and corn chips. (AP Photo/The Grand Rapids Press, Rex Larsen) Question: On a dare from Doug Clark, I ate the 42-ounce steak at Wally’s Wolf Lodge Inn some 30 years ago. (Don’t tell Stickman.) That remains my top feat on the dining front. Can you top it?
I reserve the right to pull a comment, but I do it very sparingly — for libelous or obscene 
comments. I recently pulled one commenter who was making crude sexual remarks about another commenter. I think we can agree that had little to do with the topic of the day: Gov. Butch Otter’s defense of his education budget. I compare this to umpiring a baseball game. Hitters and pitchers can respond to an umpire’s strike zone, as long as it’s consistent. If you’re going to call the knee-high strike for CC Sabathia, you’d better give Josh Beckett the same pitch. So I really don’t worry much about how other bloggers set their rules. Some bloggers allow unfiltered comments; some screen comments beforehand. As long as the rules are the same, I don’t have any concerns/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: How important is the HBO comment section to you?
Item: Network features Worley area nudist resort/CNN
More Info: 
There’s something about being naked that makes a person forget a layoff, pay cut or a shrunken retirement account. Promoters say nude vacations offer a complete escape from stress and the norm. At least that’s how the promoters of nude travel see it. The economic recession is “doing us a lot of favors, maybe because there’s the idea that if you’ve lost the shirt off your back, you should go nude,” said Erich Schuttauf, executive director of the American Association for Nude Recreation.
Question: Can you imagine yourself taking a “nakation”?
Item: Presidential visit spurs furor at Notre Dame: Abortion rights debate spills beyond campus/Chicago Tribune
More Info: President Barack Obama’s planned visit to the University of Notre Dame later this spring has triggered a national debate over whether such a prominent supporter of abortion rights should be welcomed at one of America’s premier Catholic universities.
IVA: Notre Dame’s decision to award an honorary degree to President Obama and invite him to be this year’s commencement speaker has stirred up justifiable outrage in the pro-life community as a whole and the Catholic pro-life community in particular. More here.
Question: Should President Obama be allowed to speak at the Notre Dame commencement exercise?
Witnesses in the Kyra Wine abuse case, Valerie Goin and Norma Mabbutt rely on each other to deal with the guilt they feel. Story by Ralph Bartholdt/St. Maries Gazette-Record here.
Responding to the HBO Poll Monday, 37 of 94 choose state Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Post Falls, as the least effective legislator from Kootenai County. He was followed by Marge Chadderdon (22 votes for 23%) and Phil Hart (19 votes for 20%). The only other legislator who received more than 3 votes was state Sen. John Goedde (8 for 9%).
MikeK: Howdy, all. If you’re interested, the new City of Coeur d’Alene Blog is live. You can also get there (and most people will) through the city’s main website here.
OTV: Nice to see that HBO is listed on the city blogroll. Wouldn’t it be rather swell to see Getoutnorthidaho.com listed there as well? Just a thought…(hint hint).
Question: What information and links would you like to see on the city of Coeur d’Alene Today Web site? (BTW, the link has been added to the HBO Blogroll.)
FlorineD: 15th Street IS my community, and I bike it often, south of the freeway. The biggest 
problem is on the west side, where not only is there no bike lane but the repaving doesn’t extend all the way to the curb. Trying to hug the edge of the street means trying to avoid the sizeable raised edge of the patchwork…that’s more dangerous than traffic, so I just grit my teeth, set my red light to flashing, and thank goodness that (so far) the cars coming up behind me go into the northbound lane to avoid me.
MikeK: Florine; please come out and add your voice to the public workshops and comments as they get scheduled (none are yet but after Tuesday they will likely begin to be put on the calendar and communicated). I thought of you Monday in our Public Works committee, knowing you’re a bicyclist and live on 15th there, wondering what it would mean to you.
Bent: Chris Peck, like him or not, knew how to run a paper. He built the SR up into a top-25 
newspaper — not by exposing the perfectly legal sexual habits of elected officals, but by taking the time to acurately and fairly reflect the happenings of all the “communities” in our region every single day. For the most part, Peck resisted the temptation to sensationalize. He understood the importance of keeping the story separate from the personalities and the newspaper. Well except for the time the SR shot a picture Mark Fuhrman’s wife at the airport, but everyone makes mistakes.
Question: What will be the legacy of the last two SR editors: Chris Peck and Steve Smith?
Joe Heller/Hellertoons
In the news this evening: A U.S. bill seeks to rescue faltering newspapers here. ‘Hillary: The Movie’ has blockbuster legal implications here. Al Gore will publish a new global warming book here. WHO issues pessimistic global TB report here. In his address this evening, President Obama urges that investors not be demonized here. And the Wild Card remains in play …
Danny Sellers, visiting the area from Goldsboro, North Carolina positions himself to get a photo of the Looff carrousel in Riverfront Park Friday. Saturday was the grand reopening event, which follows extensive refurbishing. In July, the Looff Carrousel turns 100 years old. (Jesse Tinsley/Spokesman-Review) SR Today In Photos
Question: Have you ever grabbed the gold ring at the Looff Carrousel?
Scooter Mom: I wish I could sing. My voice is horrible, and causes me to avoid church because of the singing thing.
Question: Do you have a good singing voice?
Arpie: Field trips are the cement that holds the learning together. They connect what is going 
on in the classroom to what is going on in the world. I can’t imagine a fourth grader in Idaho only having to read about the trials on the Oregon Trail, picture the burdens of the mountain man, or trying to understand Christianity coming to Idaho. How rich their lives have been and how much will be missed without walking in the wagon ruts, near American Falls, attending a trappers rendezvous in Pierre’s Hole, craning their necks to see the huckleberry stained ceiling at Cataldo mission. More below.
Question: Were you impacted by any school field trip that you took as a kid?
Scott Morris, Avista Corp.’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, earned $2.2 million in total compensation last year, the utility reported Tuesday. The salary reflects Morris’ promotion to chairman and chief executive officer of Avista Corp., roles that he assumed on Jan. 1, 2008, when the former chairman and CEO retired. Morris earned $1.1 million in 2007, when he was president and chief operating officer of Avista Utilities, the firm’s regulated utility. “Our executives are paid mid-range of what their peers are paid,” said Jessie Wuerst, an Avista spokeswoman. “That’s what it takes to run a $2 billion company”/Becky Kramer, SR. More here.
Question: Is $2.2M in total compensation too much/too little/just right for Avista CEO Scott Morris?
Duffer said he’d like to have snapped buttercups. But these crocuses are the best he can do on a cold day like today.
A canine named “Tactix,” wearing swim trunks, launches off the dock to a 23-foot leap into the pool during the Big Air Dog Jump, where dogs jumping distance is measured after a 40 foot take off from the end of a dock into a pool as part of the Purina All Star Dog Show in Toronto on Sunday. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Toronto Star, Steve Russell)
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To understand their impact (of Bill Morlin and Karen Dorn Steele leaving the SR), think for a moment about the people and institutions in our community who are today celebrating their departure. Other celebrants: City Hall politicians and bureaucrats. The Spokane Fire Department. The Spokane County Sheriff’s Department and especially its pre-Ozzie, but lingering, mouthpiece. County Republican officials, alleged business leaders, educators and clergy who either defended Jim West or stood back while other people exposed his misdeeds and then turned him out of office. Corporate environmental polluters. Aryan racists. Federal nuclear regulatory bureaucrats. Diploma mill operators. Religious cultists. Uncountable criminals, miscreants and thugs brought to the bar by Karen and Bill during their storied careers/Steve Smith, Still A Newspaperman. More here.
Rep. Pete Nielsen, R-Mountain Home, today persuaded the House to vote 61-9 in favor of his legislation, HB 229, to declare that during a state of “extreme emergency” including martial law, invasion or insurrection, “No government authority will have the right to come and pick up our arms and ammunition.” Rep. Grant Burgoyne, D-Boise, spoke against the bill, saying no one ever expects to see an invasion or a declaration by the governor of martial law, but no one expected to see planes crashing into the World Trade Center either/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Do you lose sleep over the prospect that someone will declare martial law in Idaho and come for your guns and ammo?
Dunno if I’d be happy if the city banned parking on my side of the street for a bike 
path. I’d like to think so. I enjoy bike riding and generally support any effort by our progressive city to create, extend, and connect bike trails. I realize a proposal to eliminate parking on the east side of 15th, between Sherman Avenue and the interstate, is an inconvenience to the adjacent residents. But it would provide protection for bike riders as well as students walking to and from Lakes Middle School. The concept, according to Tom Hasslinger/CdA Press, is to eliminate the parking for a mile of 15th Street and paint bike lanes for both directions of bike traffic. I occasionally ride along 15th, north of the freeway, where the roadway is wider or marked for bikes. But I avoid the southern part of 15th as too dangerous. The City Council and Bicycle Advisory Committee will catch some static for this proposal. But it is a necessary step for bikers looking for a safe route to Sherman Avenue and maybe out to the eastern end of the Centennial Trail.
Question: How would you rate the access to bike trails in your community?
According to Bayview Herb, winter doldrums are fueling the wild speculation re: the fire that heavily damaged Boileau’s Patio over the weekend here.
Can’t Get No Satisfaction:
Question: What would you change about yourself if you could change one thing?
“Don’t believe in God? You are not alone.” Starting this week, these words will be read by motorists traveling on Highway 95 near Moscow, Idaho. They are part of a highway billboard that features an image of blue sky and clouds with the words superimposed over. The billboard is placed by the American Humanist Association, a national advocacy organization, and is part of an ongoing campaign to raise the public profile of nontheism. The striking message raises a question … and maybe some eyebrows/American Humanist Association. More here.
Question: Do you have a positive or negative impression of atheists?
A southeastern Idaho lawmaker wants horse slaughterhouses operating again in the United States to deal with the glut of unwanted horses resulting from the faltering economy that has led to cases of neglect and abandonment. Rep. Thomas Loertscher, R-Iona, has drafted a nonbinding request to Congress backing a return of slaughterhouses so there is a market for horses people can no longer afford to feed. … There is no federal law banning the slaughter of horses for food, but opposition to the killing of horses for that purpose shut down that industry in the U.S./Tacoma News-Tribune. More here.
Question: If you oppose the return of horse slaughterhouses to the US, what would you have owners do with horses they no longer can afford to feed?
Don Nelson, left, and Bob Morgan hold on as wind catches the cover they are pulling off the 12th green at Indian Canyon Golf Course in Spokane Monday. Story here. (AP Photo/The Spokesman-Review, Christopher Anderson)
The closest Bill and I ever got to film immortality was that close. It was 1992, November, to be exact. Just after being squeezed into a crowd of onlookers inside a U.S. Capitol conference room, listening to Senators debate the Brady Bill and standing directly in front of NBC’s correspondent Pete Williams, we filed out into the hallway. We saw the TV cameras, the lights, the actions. It was time for the evening news on the East Coast, and Senators (all very tall) were lining up to give their sound bytes about the proposed gun legislation which later became law. We stood within 20 feet of the action–so close but so far from stardum/Marianne Love, Slight Detour. More here.
Question: Have you ever experienced any of your allotted 15 minutes of fame?
Gonzaga’s Courtney Vandersloot reacts after tipping a ball out of bounds late in the second half of a second-round women’s NCAA college basketball tournament game against Pittsburgh Monday in Seattle. Pittsburgh won 65-60. Dave Trimmer/Sportslink provides a complete wrap-up of the game here. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Taryn Hecker: I have an SOS from Spirit Lake. My Motorola cell phone, which was working perfectly last night, now has a blue screen with the motorola logo and the words “bootloader usb init.” I googled that and it looks like this fun blue screen is the blue screen of death. Does anyone know a phone techie who might be able to help me via email since I can’t call any of the support lines seeing as my phone is dead and my landline phone isn’t working either?
Question: Can anyone help Taryn?
In this family photo, you see Marine Cpl. Jacob Pleger seeing his 4-month-old son, Levi, for the first time at Mirimar Air Station/San Diego after de-planing from his second tour of duty in Iraq. Jake, a 2003 graduate of North Idaho Christian School, was about Levi’s size when I first met him. In fact, I met Levi before Jake did when his wife, Mandy, brought him to Coeur d’Alene to visit with her parents in law, Earl and Leslie Pleger of Coeur d’Alene. This photo provides another reminder re: how much our military sacrifices to keep us safe. You can also read a brief story from San Diego TV station 6 re: Jake’s return here.
Thursday, as most members of the U.S. House joined a mob to impose a confiscatory tax on recipients of corporate bonuses from AIG and other companies receiving federal bailout money, Idaho’s two representatives fell out of formation. Good for them. Democrat Walt Minnick and Republican Mike Simpson might have found themselves in a minority, 93, compared to the 328 who supported the 90 percent tax, but they were right certainly in principle and most probably in law/Jim Fisher, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
This is the first winter I can recall being affected by weather. I think many of my friends are 
feeling the same way. Perhaps it’s due to a perfect storm of our never-ending winter, the economy, lack of exercise and sunlight, and the stress of dealing with others who are dealing with the same issues. Bleh. I have a girlfriend who has been mentioning that she cries. She knows it is weather related. When I sit in a room of people, it’s as though there is a palpable undercurrent of grumpiness. The bus stop moms exhibit shorter patience and their voices are more curt than usual. Some of my friends are walking through their days on auto-pilot as they wait for better weather/MamaJD. More here.
Question: Has this ongoing winter made you cranky?
Item: Sorry, Idaho kids, field trips may be canceled/Sarah D. Wire, AP
More Info: The House Education Committee approved a bill Monday to stop reimbursing school districts for field trip costs and to change how school districts are reimbursed for transportation. Lawmakers said the moves are designed to save the state an estimated $4.2 million in 2010. Unlike other cuts that are tied to the state’s current economic situation, the changes made by the bill do not have a designated end date. Proponents of the bill have said they will work to reinstate funding for field trips once Idaho’s economic outlook improves.
Question: How important are occasional field trips for the educational process?
Gary Petersen writes a mathematical equation on a chalkboard in the Polya Lab recently. Petersen is one of the non-tenured faculty that faces a possible layoff. Story here. (Jake Barber/Argonaut)
In Monday’s HBO Poll, 38 of 74 (or 51%) said that state Rep. George Sayler, D-CdA, is the most effective of the nine Kootenai County legislators. Finishing tied for second, way back in the pack were Post Falls legislators Frank Henderson and Jim Hammond, with 9 votes apiece, followed by John Goedde (8), and Jim Clark (6). Tied for last with only one vote apiece were Marge Chadderdon, Phil Hart, Mike Jorgenson, and Bob Nonini.
But Sayler’s comments did little to change the tenor of the debate, and Harwood’s resolution 
affirming Idaho’s sovereignty won easy approval in the Republican-dominated House. Harwood’s effort left some people shaking their heads. Political scientists said Harwood’s description of the U.S. as a confederacy is dead wrong, and a longtime Kootenai County human rights activist criticized Harwood’s use of the term. “It’s a very offensive term for minority communities in our country, like African-Americans,” said Tony Stewart, a board member and co-founder of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, and a retired political scientist at North Idaho College. “That whole term refers to the period of slavery”/Betsy Z. Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Do you agree with state Rep. Dick Harwood and some of Idaho legislators that the United States is a “confederacy”?
for the first time in years, the team gave Vandal sports fans something to be truly excited about 
— an enthusiasm that spills over into other aspects of the university. The atmosphere at home games in the Cowan Spectrum is much different than that of seasons past because of the dedication of UI players, coaches and student fans. Idaho coaches Don Verlin and Newlee and the athletes should be commended for their contributes to UI athletics and the atmosphere of the university as a whole. The university community may not always be able to agree on every aspect of the institution or the direction it is going, but athletics are something that can continue to bring us back to a mutual sense of who we are and always will be — proud Vandals/Christina Lords, UI Argonaut. More here.
Question: Are successful sports teams important for a college campus?
Joe Heller/Hellertoons
Pittsburgh’s Shavonte Zellous, left, and Gonzaga’s Janelle Bekkering vie for a loose ball during the first half in Seattle tonight in a second-round women’s NCAA college basketball tournament game. No. 15 Pittsburgh defeated Gonzaga 65-60. ESPN game story and boxscore here. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
In the news this morning: Gonzaga’s Lady Zags will tip off with No. 15 Pitt at 6:30 p.m. (ESPN2) in the second round of their NCAA tournament here. UI and Pacific will meet at 7 tonight in the second round of the CIT tournament here. Gay Congressman Barney Frank calls Justice Anthonin Scalia a “homophobe” here. The Dow Jones gained almost 500 points here. David Letterman has married his long-time girlfriend here. And the Monday Wild Card remains in play …
Rowdy Hutchison loses his boot while getting bucked off his horse during the saddle bronc riding competition at the Carson High School Rodeo at Fuji Park in Carson City, Nev., on Sunday. (AP Photo/Nevada Appeal,Brad Horn) SR Today In Photos
Seems like the microbrew craze has died out a bit in favor of a return to the old classic lagers. For years, I kept telling the owner of my regular haunt to bring in PBR on tap but she thought I was nuts, calling it “old man beer.” She finally started serving it a few months ago and it’s become her top selling beer. A pitcher is a dollar cheaper than the other domestic brands. I’ve seen some places with PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon) on special for as low as $3 a pitcher/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.
Question: Which classic beer is your favorite?
When Idaho coach Don Verlin renews a rivalry with his twin brother tonight, the dynamics will clearly be different. He’s calling the shots this time, whereas in the past they both played support roles. But Verlin seems to know what kind of atmosphere to expect when the Vandals play Pacific at Stockton, Calif., in the quarterfinals of the CollegeInsider.com tournament (CIT). Tipoff is at 7 p.m. “I’m predicting a low-scoring, physical game,” Verlin said Sunday. “It’s going to be very similar to a league contest, where both teams know what the other is doing”/Dale Grummert, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Kenny Evans of CHS, the owner of the tractor trailer rig involved in a crash today, drags a hose down the embankment to one onf the tanker trailers to pump diesel fuel out before moving it. A pickup and a double tanker rig tangled on an overpass south of Spangle on U.S. 195 early Monday morning, starting a fire and spilling thousands of gallons of diesel fuel. SR story by Mike Prager here. (Jesse Tinsley/Spokesman-Review)
Amber Godinez, 8, of New Smyrna Beach, Fla. tries to focus on the reptile she placed on her nose while playing with the creature in New Smyrna Beach Thursday. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Daytona Beach News-Journal, Nigel Cook)
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Members of the Feldkamp family of Redlands, Calif., led by Bud Feldkamp, second from left, who lost two daughters and five grandchildren in the crash, are seen at the scene of fatal airline crash outside the Butte Airport in Butte, Mont., today. Updated AP story here. (AP Photo/Mike Albans)
Now remember from my first sandwich blog when I stated I didn’t care for Panini Bread or pesto, but I loved the sandwich from Great Harvest anyway? Well, because that sandwich was so yummy I gave pesto another chance. Turns out…. I must love pesto after all! But I really don’t care for this type of bread, for me it’s too hard & crunchy. That’s just my preference. I could have ordered this on another type of bread, but I like to try sandwiches the way they’re advertised first. This sandwich arrived in about 10 minutes, and as you can tell by the pictures it looks wonderful and it tasted just as wonderful!/Dad’s Diner. More here.
Question: Which deli in your community is your favorite?
Quite frankly, sir, it gives me pause to behold the creatures that make our laws. The Bard Of Sherman Avenue
I made another 10 gallons of beer this afternoon. Above, I am setup to start fermenting a nice European Pilsner. I have made this one many times. It’s called Telepathy (that’s a blog post for another time). It is my sister’s favorite beer, and she doesn’t drink beer. I hear that a lot when people first have the opportunity to try my beer. I get the usual: “I’m not really a beer drinker, so I’ll pass, thanks.” But, if I can talk them into trying one glass of a handcrafted beer, they are always surprised by how much they enjoy it/Bent, Bent’s Beer Garden. More here.
Question: First, puts your hands together for Bent’s new blog. Then, for those of you who have had the pleasure of drinking his brew, feel free to praise it in the comments section.
In this image released by Summit Entertainment, Kristen Stewart, left, and Cam Gigandet are shown in a scene from, “Twilight.” (AP Photo/Summit Entertainment, Peter Sorel)
DFO: Mrs. O & I gave mixed reviews to the “Twilight” video last night. She thought the teen-vampire movie started slow but picked up enough to be scary and earn an 8.5 out of 10. I thought it started slow and didn’t pick up enough to pull more than a 7. It’s a bit different to have a human hanging out with vegan vampires. But it’ll be more interesting if the American Indians introduced in the movie turn out to be vampire-hating werewolves in the sequels.
Question: What do you think of “Twilight” — the books or the movie?
After more than two hours of testimony for and against the bill, the Senate State Affairs Committee has voted 6-3 in favor of SB 1148, Gov. Butch Otter’s proposal to reform Idaho’s liquor license system, which currently sets population-based quotas for liquor licenses but has allowed 235 licenses to be issued outside those quotas under special exceptions approved by the Legislature/Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise. More here.
Since Gonzaga matured from the little engine that could, to that super engine that should, we’ve been waiting to see how it would react to a meeting in late March against North Carolina. That time has come. It’s time for Gonzaga to win a game this big against a program this storied. It’s time to step up and be the team it was supposed to be at the beginning of this season. Time to rise and realize its potential. It’s time for Gonzaga to play like the powerhouse it can be and not the Cinderella it used to be/Steve Kelley, Seattle Times. More here.
Question: Do you expect Gonzaga to defeat North Carolina Friday in Memphis?
When Roberts finished his prepared speech and opened the floor to questions at the University of Idaho this month, the first person to the microphone was a woman who said she’d traveled since 3 a.m. that morning to get from California to Moscow, so she begged for a little indulgence on the moderator’s rule that questioners be from the sponsoring College of Law so she could ask a question. About “illegal activity in the Supreme Court.” About her case being “erased from the docket” under circumstances that sounded, to say the least, suspicious. About the president, whom she called Barack Hussein Obama aka Barry Soetero, not legally being president because he was “a foreign national at birth”/Jim Camden, SR. More here.
Question: Where were you born, and do you still have your birth certificate to prove it?
In this picture provided by Martha Guidoni via The Montana Standard, a fire burns inside the Holy Cross Cemetery after a small, singe-engine plane crashed in an area just south of the Bert Mooney Airport in Butte, Mont. on Sunday. Seventeen people, including several children, were killed in the incident, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Montana Standard story here. (AP Photo/The Montana Standard, Martha Guidoni)
At the prompting of Councilman Mike Kennedy, the city of CdA plans to launch the City of 
Coeur d’Alene Today Blog Wednesday at its www.cdaid.org Web site. The purpose of the blog was explained in a city news release this morning: “With newspapers downsizing and closing around the country, it’s important for the city to communicate directly to the citizenry as much and as often as possible. The city will use the blog to post routine information such as hearing schedules, bid reports, community events, and links to more information on timely topics. In emergency situations, the blog will be used to inform citizens about snow events/closures, Amber Alerts, and police updates. The blog will include links to e-mails and phone numbes for staff, council members, and relevant city volunteers. Said Councilman Kennedy: “We’re excited to be able to give clear and straight information, unfiltered, directly to our constituents. Full news release here.
Question (for MikeK): will the city blog have a comments section? If so, who will monitor it?
The Center for American Progress has put together a map on this, showing in the Northwest 
that Democrats made the largest presidential-level gains in Idaho (13%), closely followed by Oregon (12%) and Washington (10%). In Washington state, 18 counties (of 39) registered a Democratic shift of more than 10%. The largest shift was in one of the most Republican counties in the state, Chelan County just east of the Cascades, at 15%. In Idaho, 21 counties (of 44) shifted 10% or more. As in the other states, most were just above the 10% mark, but one of them - Teton County - registered the largest shift in the whole region, at 23%, as well as the second highest, Power County at 18%. Those are both small counties, but also of interest were the shifts in the two largest counties in the state - Ada (17%) and Canyon (16%)/Randy Stapilus, Ridenbaugh Press. More here.
Question: Do you see a day when Idaho will become a toss-up state?
A truck displays a Wyoming State Library “library mudflap girl” sticker in this photo taken in Cheyenne, Wyo., last week. Library officials say the marketing campaign, which was launched in the fall of 2007, still generates a lot of feedback, good and bad. Story here. (AP Photo/Matt Joyce)
Question: Would you like to see one of the local libraries market itself with a “mudflap girl” sticker?
For the HBO Poll question Sunday, Huckleberries Online asked: “Which of the following dramatic finishes in Gonzaga wins in NCAA Tournament games do you rate as best?” 24 of 39 respondents (or 62%) said Casey Calvary’s tip in to beat Florida by a point in Gonzaga’s 1999 magic trip to the Elite Eight beat Demetri Young’s two-pointer with 0.9 seconds remaining against Western Kentucky Saturday. Also, 28 of 58 (or 48%) said that liver & onions is the worst dish that their parents ever forced on them, with “any wild game” finishing a distant second with 9 votes (16%).
“It’s so disappointing” said several members of the Idaho Women’s Commission, who gathered with Director Kitty Kunz in the Capitol Annex hallway after JFAC voted 15-5 to eliminate their funding and staffing. They were talking about scheduling their final meeting, and whether they had enough money left to meet in person or should go with a conference call. “We’ll still be a commission unless they take us off the state code,” Kunz said. “But at this point, we will not be a fully functioning commission after July”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Do the budget committee make the right move by cutting off funding to the Idaho Women’s Commission?
In reality, pets are stolen children - puppies and kittens and other sawed-off little creatures that have been kidnapped from their rightful parents and brought up like human kids. And it almost works for most of us, except for a bizarre deviation of the little creatures. They have hair all over their bodies instead of in the customary locations of human beings. I don’t know about your family, but only a small percentage of the children in our family have ever been overwhelmed by their own hair, and then only during the teenage years. Those real human children have long since fled the nest. So we have dismantled the swing set that was once a child magnet. Today, we live only with imaginary children/Bill Hall, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: What do you think of Bill Hall’s tongue-in-cheek contention that pets become substitute kids for empty nesters?
This month’s cold streak continues with average temperatures now about seven degrees below normal. Though average highs are in the lower 50s, as of Wednesday neither Spokane nor Coeur d’Alene had seen temperatures that warm yet. … For those who are already looking ahead to the warmer temperatures of the new season and the chance to get the garden going this year, you might want to take a hint from last year. La Niña conditions, while weakening and expected to dissipate by July, point to below average temperatures across our part of the country for the next several months/Michelle Boss, SR Handle Extra. More here.
Question: Which winter do you consider tougher — 2007-08 or 2008-09?
Coeur d’Alene High School 10th grader Jessica Lupinacci during softball practice at the school on Tuesday. You can read Greg Lee’s assessment of high school softball teams in North Idaho here.
Marmitetoasty: Hey - there aint nuffin wrong with our British grub lol. … how can you pass up on jellied eels and toad in the hole :) - you doodles have such the wrong grasp on what is British food. … its wonderful. … WONDERFUL.
Question: Do you enjoy British food?
RE: OTV: Idaho’s Woodstock hit Farragut
Gary Ingram: I was chairman of the Kootenai Republican Central Committee and raising a young family. My vice chair and I took my boat out on the lake and took pictures of people screwing on the beach, went into the park and witnessed the selling of drugs and selling beer and wine without a license, watched young people drunk or stoned and out of control, witnessed a large cache of entry money being collected and whisked away to places unknown in an old pickup with hippie folks in charge of the steering wheel.
Question: What was the wildest outdoor concert that you’ve attended?
Arpie: Joan Baez played a concert at the Panida in Sandpoint tonight. She did not deny that she was at Farragut thirty eight years ago. Tonight’s show was amazing. A living legend, still hitting the high notes. She had the sold out crowd of aging hippies wrapped around her finger. She ended the night leading us all in Amazing Grace. The Panida never sounded sweeter.
Question: Who is your favorite folk singer?
Michael Ramirez/Investor’s Business Daily
It’s often said that major cultural trends sometimes seem to take a few extra years before they’re 
absorbed into our beautiful but somewhat isolated cranny of the world. By and large, the flower-power counterculture revolution didn’t hit North Idaho until the scorching summer of 1971, several years after the Summer of Love brought long scraggly hair, LSD, and groovy color combinations like magenta, goldenrod and chartreuse to the forefront of America’s collective consciousness. When the movement finally arrived here, it landed with quite a bang in the form of a drug-saturated, free-love fueled “be-in” and rock festival staged during that year’s 4th of July weekend at Farragut State Park on Lake Pend Oreille. It’s an occasion that seems especially burned into the memories of everyone who lived in the area at the time; a watershed moment when sleepy North Idaho had its safety bubble irreparably ruptured and was forced to finally acknowledge that the times were indeed a-changin’/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.
Question: Were you a hippy?
In Huckleberries Online news this morning: Liz did a swell job as a volunteer DJ last night for River 99.9, according to several Merry Hucksters who tuned in. You’ll find a link to Bent’s new blog below (and on my blogroll Monday). You’ll also see OrangeTV’s Handle Extra column below re: the 1971 hippy invasion of Farragut Park. (You should use that as a reminder that the new, improved Handle Extra is in today’s newspaper and on the news racks.) In the Saturday poll, 22 of 48 respondents marked “liver and onions” as the worst dish served to them as a child by their parents, easily beating the six other choices. As for me … I’m looking forward to seeing my sister-in-law and two nephews baptized today at Coeur d’Alene Bible. And your Sunday Wild Card is in play …
En route to post game media interview Demetri Goodson and Head Coach Mark Few stop to watch the replay of his game winning shot in the Portland Rose Garden at the second round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday. (Christopher Anderson/Spokesman-Review)
Bent: I always look forward to the first butter cup. It’s something that’s hung with me from my 
childhood. The Cd’A Press used to have a tradition of running the a photo of the first buttercup, and I think they gave you a dollar, and coupon for a root beer float at A&W, or something like that. When
I was in fourth grade, my aunt Sandy got me hooked. She took me out
hiking Best Hill in search of the the first buttercup. Sure enough, we
found one and went down to the Cd’A Press to try and get our pictures in the paper, but we got beat by someone who came in that very same day. So, I have been determined to find the first butter cup ever since. More here.
Question: Have you seen your first flower of spring, yet? What was it? Where was it? When did you see it?
Mia: My mother (admittedly) is not a good cook. So, most things she made
were pretty bland and unappetizing. I especially disliked her “Stew”,
it was a watery, unseasoned, combination of tough meat and root
vegetables. It took me becoming physically sick from eating it before I
was excused from eating it ever again. Ironically, I love to cook, and
have been told I’m pretty good at it!
Question: Are you a better cook than your mother?
JimmyMAC: I cannot for a second get my head wrapped around why they let this
crap (racist 
comments on the Coeur d’Alene Press online comments section) continue over there. I mean that for obvious reasons as well as
business relations. I talked to my wife about it today. Let’s just say that a large
group is planning their conference at the Resort or even considering it
as a site. A meeting planner checks out The Press website to see what
the town is all about as a reference for the potential corporate visit.
I may be overanalyzing this, but I think some of those comments could
raise red flags for booking here, especially if they find out about the
affiliation between the newspaper and the resort.
Question: Do you think the Hagadone Corporation higher-ups — and even Duane Hagadone himself — know what is allowed in the comments section of Duane’s newspaper?
Gonzaga’s Demetri Goodson (3) scores the winning shot while Western Kentucky’s A.J.Slaughter (4) looks on during the second-round men’s NCAA college basketball tournament game tonight in Portland, Ore. Gonzaga defeated Western Kentucky 83-81. ESPN game story & boxscore here. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Just a reminder before I check the headlines this morning — Liz/My Life’s A Freak Show will guest host from 9 to 11 tonight on River 99.9. You can read about it here. You can hear the live-stream on your computer here. Now for this morning’s headlines: A flood of upsets sweep away several higher seeds in first round of NCAA tournament here. Space station work 81% complete here. The pope celebrates mass in Angola here. Seattle Times columnist Bud Withers talks about Gonzaga assistant coach Ray Giacoletti here. And the first weekend Wild Card is in play …
Xavier’s Ta’Shia Phillips, left, catches a pass in front of Gonzaga’s Heather Bowman tonight in Seattle in the first half of their first-round women’s NCAA college basketball tournament game. Gonzaga, the 12th seed, beat 5-seed Xavier 74-59, the Bulldogs first win ever in NCAA tourney play. Game story & boxscore here. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Sleepy wintertime Bayview woke up to some excitement late last night, whe an emergency call went out to Timberlake fire Department. Boileau’s Patio was on fire. The interior, fully engulfed was gutted, but Chief Jack Krill believes the structure to be sound, and will be rebuilt as soon as permits can be issued. The gas dock behind the store was unaffected, as the fire department quickly contained the blaze. The fire marshal, when asked of the cause, said that it was as of yet undetermined. He went on to say,”The fire department did a heck of a job to bat that fire down as quickly as they did”/Herb Huseland, Bay Views. More here.
Item: Names remain secret in Nipp complaints/Tom Hasslinger, CdA Press
More Info: Sen. Mike Jorgenson will not be required to disclose the names of the citizens whose conflict of interest concerns spurred a state attorney general investigation of former Lake City Development Corp. Chairman Charlie Nipp, the senator said Friday. “It’s over,” he said. The attorney general was expected to issue Jorgenson a letter confirming the names were protected by attorney-client privilege.
Question: Do you agree with the AG’s ruling that the identities of those who sought an investigation of Charlie Nipp are protected by attorney-client privilege?
Gonzaga’s Ariam TecleMariam, front, does push-ups with teammates during practice Friday in Seattle in preparation for their first-round women’s NCAA college basketball tournament game against Xavier Saturday. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Question: Do you follow any women’s or girls’ sports team?
North Idaho College did not go quietly, but the Cardinals did go down Friday in the third round of the NJCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship tournament. Three Cards scored in double figures and NIC had plenty of chances to steal the game in the closing seconds, but 22 turnovers turned out to be a few too many in a 64-59 loss to Walters State (Tenn.) at the Bicentennial Center/Bo Allegrucci, SR. More here.
Item: Prayer Breakfast: Idaho’s elected officials show they appreciate the power of prayer/Ralph Speer, Idaho Statesman guest column
More Info: It was also splendid to see two old Idaho political lions, Govs. Otter and Cecil Andrus, address each other playfully in political terms but agree spiritually, especially on the need for prayer. It was also remarkable to see unfolded for all in attendance the huge importance our own Gov. Andrus had in shaping the history of prayer breakfasts, including the National Prayer Breakfast. When he was appointed as Jimmy Carter’s secretary of interior, Andrus was pleased to meet Doug Coe, who had been working diligently with small groups of elected officials in Washington, D.C. The National Prayer Breakfasts really began in earnest after a brief meeting Coe had with former President Dwight Eisenhower.
Question: Do you believe that praying to a higher power has an impact?
JeanieS: I’m shocked! I went to school with Bill (Morlin’s) sister. I’ve wondered if he
ever met my Dad, 
Don Rice, on the Chronicle. And I’ve loved everything
that Karen has written. “Incalculable loss” is an understatement. It’s
almost too much to take, Dave, along with everything else: the
economy, my son’s lay off; every Tom-Dick-and-Harry company wanting to
raise their rates; my 401(k) disappearing off the chart; my dreams of
retirement fizzling; papers closing; more layoffs being treatened; and now this.
Question: In the last 7 years, I’ve watched half of the SR newsroom disappear, going from 164 employees in our heyday to about 85 today. I dread the days when the layoff notices are made. I still enjoy my work, however. What we’ve built together here is something special. It helps me answer the wake-up bell in the morning. What silver linings do you cling to as you digest the bad times all around?
RE: Morlin, Steele, Webster leaving SR/Huckleberries Online
Sam: Bill Morlin is an amazing investigative reporter, as is Karen Dorn
Steele and them not being 
at that paper is a severe, severe loss. Work I did last year exposing a local man lying about his
educational background and then working as a contractor, among other
things, earthquake-proofing places like the Hanford nuclear site is a
DIRECT result of Bill Morlin first getting the list of thousands of
people who purchased fake degrees from a Spokane diploma mill from
a source. His work on that story exposed people nationwide and led to the
investigation of Washington State Troopers who purchased fake degrees
and used them to get raises. His work on other stories had the same impact, most especially his work on the Aryan Nations in Idaho. Seriously, I geek out when I hear Bill Morlin’s name and I honestly couldn’t care less who knows it.
Question: Any local media person — from newspaper, radio or television — make you “geek out”?
I’m a fair weather sports fan. A band wagoner. I haven’t ever stuck with a team for a really long period of time. My
Dad had 3 girls, so he ‘forced’ us to watch sports with him. I say that
with a smile on my face, because we lived in Montana and Idaho and only
had a couple of channels. It wasn’t like we were missing something, and
we got to spend one on one time with Dad. He patiently explained things
to us. I especially remember watching baseball with him. The Reds.
Bench, Coleman, Rose. I did grow to love it. I’m wondering how we even
managed to get a Reds game on Missoula TV? And how often could it have
been?/Me, It’s Just Me. More here.
Question (for women): What kind of a sports fan are you? Band wagoner? A “fan” who watches sports to be around the important men in your life? A true fan in every sense of the word? Not a fan at all?
In the news this evening: CBO: Obama’s budget would double the national debt over the next decade here. Regulators seize control of 2 corporate credit unions here. Barney Frank wants to halt Fannie, Freddie bonuses here. The U.S. editor for the London Telegraph documents the Top 10 gaffes by the Obama-Biden team here. The USPO shuts offices, cuts jobs here. And the TGIF Wild Card remains in play …
In today’s HBO Poll, 41 of 88 respondents (47%) say that resort/newspaper owner Duane Hagadone is the most intimidating person in the Coeur d’Alene area. Of the nine choices, “others” received the second most votes with 18 (20%). Your Huckleberry Hound was third (8), followed closely by Mike Kennedy (6) and Dan Gookin & Mary Souza (5 apiece). You can still vote at this link here. I’ll probably use this particular poll in my print column a week from Sunday.
While I was grocery shopping Thursday, I ran into a friend whose cart was filled with boxes of 
Velveeta. “What in the world are you going to do with all that cheese?” I asked. “Use it every way possible,” she replied. “My family likes it and it was on sale today.” The process cheese spread is usually reasonably priced, but my friend, who has three children, seemed pleased to be getting an even better bargain. Velveeta Cheese has been around for a while and those of us who like it, are looked down on by cheese gourmets. I have enjoyed it since I was a kid and for years, never dreamed there were other kinds to use for grilled cheese sandwiches/Vera White, Moscow-Pullman Daily News. More here.
Question: How often do you use Velveeta cheese?
During a visit to Coeur d’Alene today, Gov. Butch Otter and First Lady Lori Otter try out the beaver lodge created by local artists Allen and Mary Dee Dodge for the Seagraves Children’s Library. The lodge, which is part of the wildlife mural created by the Dodges, provides a quiet reading area for young patrons visiting the library.
Illinois’ Stan Simpson goes for a rebound during practice for the NCAA college men’s basketball tournament Wednesday at the Rose Garden in Portland, Ore. Illinois lost a shot to meet Gonzaga Saturday when it lost to Western Kentucky last night. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Top Cutlines:
A California kidnapping victim was rescued in Coeur d’Alene today after about a month missing. A cell phone helped locate the 35-year-old woman at 4304 Bourbon Street about 2 p.m., where Kootenai County Sheriff’s deputies found her with Michael H. Luhdorff, 46. Luhdorff was jailed on a second-degree kidnapping charge. The Tulare County Sheriff’s Department, south of Fresno, told the sheriff’s department of the possible location about 12:45 p.m. and expect to have an arrest warrant for Luhdorff by Monday, according to the sheriff’s department. Luhdorff is a suspect in previous kidnappings in California and has a criminal history that includes drugs and theft convictions, the sheriff’s department said/Meghann M. Cuniff, SR. (KCSD release below)
So then a coupla days ago, teenage daughter ever so casually mentions to me that River 99.9 over in Spokane has a guest listener DJ gig every Saturday night. Kid has NO idea what she 
unleashed. None at all. I filled out the online application to guest host, sent it in and fully expected to get back some form letter type thingie thanking me for taking the time to fill it out and that I would be put on a list or something like that and maybe they would get back to me in a few months. Well. I got a very prompt email back approximately seven hours later. Talk about moving fast … I will be on THIS Saturday night (March 21); from 9 to 11 p.m. PST. For those outside the general Spokane area, the station has streaming audio online/Liz, My Life’s A Freak Show. More here.
“A butterfly flutters through the foliage near Kidd Island Bay on Lake Coeur d’Alene,” reports Councilwoman KerriT/OnLocation North Idaho. “North Idahoans become cautiously optomistic on the first day of Spring since Mother Nature is known to throw a few curve balls in late March and early April.”
Adult Kids’ Belongings:
How many of you, still have your adult children’s things stored at your house? College kids don’t count unless they have been in college 8 or more years. My kids have been gone for about 20 years or more. Yet, I still find something that I still have of my adult children. I have a small stool that belongs to one child. And a living room table, that another built in high school. He has been out of high school since 1986/Cis, Simple Mind. More here.
Question: Are you still storing some of your adult kids’ stuff?
Watercolorist Mary Cain is having an exhibit of her work at the Post Falls Library. SR subscribers and newstand buyers can read all about her in Sunday’s Handle Extra, along with columns by OrangeTV, Betsy Russell, Nils Rosdahl and yours truly. Kathy Plonka/Spokesman-Review.
Sportsman’s Warehouse stores in Spokane Valley and Coeur d’Alene will be honoring gift cards customers obtained prior to the recent sale of the stores through March 31. Fifteen stores recently were acquired by UFA Cooperative based in Calgary, putting the previously issued Sportsman’s Warehouse gift cards on hold/Rich Landers, SR. More here.
Question: Have you had trouble cashing gift cards this year?
MamaJD: Are there any Hucksters going to the Kootenai County Republican dinner this Saturday besides me?
Question: Anyone?
With Nellis gone, Montana State University Provost David Dooley is the last finalist standing. By default, he presumably gets the job - if he wants it. UI and board officials should pause and move back a few steps and stop painting themselves into the proverbial corner. Invite the other two candidates to campus for a shot at the job. Then make a decision. In fact, in light of recent events, it would be prudent to also include in the mix the man who currently occupies the president’s chair/Murf Raquet, Moscow Pullman Daily News. More here.
Question: Should the state Board of Education pick the remaining finalist to be the new UIdaho president by default? Or the current interim president? Or a combination of those two, along with the two remaining in the top five list? Or begin the search process again?
According to the post, this spring the American Humanist Association will announce an atheist/agnostic billboard to go up on U.S. Highway 95 just south of Moscow. It purportedly will beckon non-theistic people by reminding them they aren’t alone and will also offer a Web site and toll-free number that will provide the public with further information about theism, free thought, humanism and ethical culture/Vera White, Moscow-Pullman Daily News. More here.
Question: Will you be bugged if Humanists post a bill board on Highway 95 near Moscow?
” I’m ready for spring.” said Steve Hutchison of Coeur d’Alene as he removed his Christmas decorations on Wednesday. (Kathy Plonka/Spokesman-Review)
Question: Do you know anyone who still has outside Christmas lights up at his/her house?
Kolan McConiughey, left, talks with his foster mother, Jan Pardy at Colonial Lanes in Ann Arbor, Mich., Friday. McConiughey, who is cognitively impaired, has bowled five perfect games since 2005. President Barack Obama made an offhand remark on “The Tonight Show” Thursday comparing his bowling to “the Special Olympics or something.” He quickly apologized and told the Special Olympics chairman he wants to have some Special Olympic athletes visit the White House to bowl or play basketball. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Question: How would you describe your bowling ability?
Earlier this morning, the SR newsroom learned that three respected, veteran reporters have accepted an early-buyout offer and will be leaving the newspaper at the end of the month: Bill Morlin (pictured), Karen Dorn Steele, and Dan Webster. Morlin, of course, is recognized as a national expert on the white supremacy movement. Steele is one of the region’s most respected environmental reporters. Webster’s name is synonymous with excellent SR arts and book reviews. He has written the Movies & More blog for at least five years. In accepting their voluntary resignations, Editor Gary Graham said: ”It should be obvious to all that these latest departures represent an incalculable loss to us and our readers.”
In the HBO Poll Thursday, 65% of the 68 respondents said they don’t want to see the gas tax or vehicle registrations raised to increase revenue for state road maintenance. 32% indicated that Gov. Butch Otter’s proposals (including a gas tax hiked defeated by the House Thursday) were the best way to help fund road repair. You can see the survey here.
Among the 21 lawmakers who debated Otter’s 7-cent fuel increase Thursday, telling words came from Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Eagle. Labrador is ambitious enough to enjoy talk about his running for Congress and represents a district crisscrossed by congested roads. But rather than silently cast a “no” vote, Labrador openly defied Otter and the coalition the governor has spent two years building. The 43-27 vote against the tax increase included a 28-24 defeat among Otter’s fellow Republicans and a 19-9 loss among lawmakers from the Treasure Valley, the region supposedly most sympathetic to higher taxes for roads/Dan Popkey, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: Why did the GOP & Treasurer Valley legislators abandon Otter on the road-fix issue?
Father Robert Spitzer, president of Gonzaga University, stands in the administration building Tuesday. He has seen his school’s stature rise with the success of the basketball team. He will leave his position in July. John Blanchette’s Q-and-A with Father Spitzer here. (Jesse Tinsley/Spokesman-Review) Question: What will Father Spitzer be remembered for most at Gonzaga University?
Item: Montana Senate Passes Horse Slaughter Bill/Natalie Neumann, UM Legislative News Service
More Info: The Montana State Senate on Thursday narrowly passed a bill that would make it easier for a person to start a horse slaughter or processing facility in the state. Currently there are no equine slaughter facilities in the United States, but there are facilities in Canada and Mexico.
Question: Do you support or oppose the concept of slaughtering horses for meat?
In her Coeur d’Alene Press column this morning, Mary Souza begins by exclaiming: “Intimidation 
in this town has got to stop! I’ve heard stories galore detailing the long history of harassment and cronyism in this city, and it is well past time for these deplorable methods to end.” She then zeroes in on her favorite punching bags: LCDC, Charlie Nipp, Sandi Bloem, Mike Kennedy and the City Council. After reciting Charlie’s alleged sins of omission, she tells of the cold reception she received when she asked for his resignation at a recent council meeting. Then, this: ”It wasn’t until I sat down and could no longer respond that they started to attack citizens, by name, for speaking out. Councilman Ron Edinger sarcastically reprimanded us, saying we were ‘out of place.’ Councilwoman Goodlander accused us of ‘character assassination,’ though no one had said a word against Mr. Nipp’s character.” Mary didn’t mention if any of her allies were filming the council reaction for a possible YouTube video this election season.
Question: Who’s intimidating whom in this town?
A motorist waites for the light to change at the intersection of US 95 nad Bosanko in Coeur d’Alene on Thursday. The state of Idaho is talking about removing the lights at the intersections at Canfield and Bosanko in the heart of Kootenai County”s commercial sprawl to speed up traffic through the area. (Kathy Plonka/Spokesman-Review)
Question: Should the state remove the lights and restrict movements at the Highway 95 intersections @ Canfield & Bosanko (Jeff Selle discusses this situation in further detail in the drop-down box below)/Kootenai MPO corrects?
Item: Otter reassures tribe on mission park: Governor issues apology after director said Cataldo site could be closed/Kevin Graman, SR
More Info: Gov. Butch Otter has no plans to close the Old Mission State Park in North Idaho, and he has apologized to the Coeur d’Alene Tribe on behalf of the state official who said otherwise in January. In a letter Monday to tribal Chairman Chief Allan, Otter said any decision to close the park that is the site of the 155-year-old Cataldo Mission would have to be made by the Idaho Parks and Recreation Board, and that hasn’t happened. “The board – not the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation director – has the decision-making authority for the closure of parks,” Otter wrote.
Question: How often do you visit the Old Mission State Park?
Item: Obama apologizes for Special Olympics gaffe/AP
More Info: President Barack Obama has apologized to the chairman of the Special Olympics for his late-night talk show quip equating his bowling skills to those of athletes with disabilities. Appearing on “The Tonight Show” Thursday, the president told host Jay Leno he’d been practicing at the White House’s bowling alley but wasn’t happy with his score of 129. Then he remarked: “It was like the Special Olympics or something.” The audience laughed, but the White House quickly recognized the blunder.
Question: Was it important that President Obama apologize for this offhand comment?
Signe Wilkinson/Philadelphia Inquirer
In the news this evening: AG Holder signals change in medical marijuana policy here. Coroner: Blunt blow to head caused actress Richardson’s death here. Obama tells Leno he was stunned by bonuses here. Citigroup is spending millions on HQ renovation here. Competing studies have men wondering about prostate screening here. And the Wild Card remins on the table …
Akron’s Nikola Cvetinovic (13), of Serbia, and Gonzaga’s Steven Gray battle for a loose ball in the first half during a first-round men’s NCAA college basketball tournament game underway in Portland, Ore. ESPN boxscore here. (AP Photo/Don Ryan) Sportslink report here.
Zips? There’s a basketball team named after our favorite hamburger stand? Zags? Do they even exist independent of Zigs? The Zips are playing the Zags? Is this March Madness or Dr. Seuss? This is it. This is the end. The NCAA tournament has reached its 71st birthday, a ripe old age. And after all the shining moments and the iconic figures– from the Tall Firs to the Wizard of Westwood to Magic versus Bird to Jimmy V – this is finally the last word in March matchups. Or at least the last letter. We have reached – wait for it – the zenith/John Blanchette, SR. More here.
DFO: The Zags will now play the winner of Illinois/Western Kentucky on Saturday. What do you think there chances of getting to the Sweet 16?
Lauren Dorris, 3, of Anchorage, Alaska runs to show her mother a trading card of the airport police dog giving to her by an airport police officer after she petted the dog at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport in Reno, Nev.(AP Photo/Reno Gazette-Journal, Andy Barron) SR’s Today In Photos
In a post today, Otis G tells how his 7YO son made him proud — not for being selected student of the week (which was determined by picking names from a hat) but by what he did with the honor. Seems the honor allows students to pick two other classmates to have lunch with him or her in the classroom. Otis G’s son had a coupla surprise selections. You can read the account in Otis G. Experience about it here.
Question: When did a child of yours do some unexpected kindness to another that made you proud?
All-North Idaho Boys Basketball Team Front row: Ryan Young (Lewiston), Devon Austin (Coeur d’Alene), Shawn Reid (Post Falls). Second row: Justin Podrabsky (Lewiston), Dave Cornelia (Lewiston coach), Nate Frisbie (Lake City). Greg Lee’s column here. (Kathy Plonka/Spokesman-Review)
A squirrel, who’s obviously not shy, reaches for a peanut from the hand of a man at Mount Royal Park in Montreal Tuesday. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Sheila Boardman)
Top Cutlines:
If there is any phrase I’m about ready to gag on if I ever see/hear it again, it’s any phrase 
related to the punching of tickets. Talk about a tired metaphor! Seriously, get a new schtick sports people. The kids nowadays? They don’t punch tickets so much; they typically pay a cover and get their hand stamped. Or they pay a cover and get a plastic cup. I must’ve heard read the phrase “so and so punched their ticket…” like 100 times this past week and it was old after about the first 3 times I heard it. Also tired? Analysts defending the omission of schools with better records and RPI’s in favor of 8th place team from “BCS” conferences because they play a tougher conference schedule. Nut up, NCAA and analysts. Patty Mills and St. Mary’s could smoke Arizona any day of the week, and twice on Sunday if you lined it up/PDX Pup. More here.
Question: Which metaphor or cliche do you dread hearing the most now that March Madness is upon us?
They said that AIG has to pay because it was in a contract with these people. But excuse me, how does that contract hold water now … the company would and could have been in the toilet. How do they pay bonus to employees if there were no company? How do they get money because of a contract, when the money wasn’t profits … it is a TAXPAYERS/FEDERAL bailout. So all bets off/Cis, Simple Mind. More here.
Question: How much of a bonus did you receive from your company last year?
In this June 21, 2002, file photo, visitors and residents spend the day on the beach in Belmar, N.J., on this first day of summer. New Jersey is drawing the line when it comes to bikini waxing. The state Cosmetology and Hairstyling Board is moving toward a ban on genital waxing altogether after two women reported being injured. Both women were hospitalized for infections following so-called “Brazilian” waxes. The board will decide on April. (AP Photo/Brian Branch-Price)
Question: Ah, do you think states should be concerned re: the health hazards of bikini waxing?
We told you so. The Post-Register has an opinion up pointing out the ongoing damage to Idaho schools caused by Jim Risch’s revenue swap from property to sales taxes. Their funding has been destabilized, and we may well start seeing school district seeking new bond/revenue measures. Julie has more here. Also, Kevin Richert notes that the budget cutbacks to education may well require school districts to try to seek more property tax revenue/IdaBlue. More here.
Question: Do you agree with IdaBlue that Jim Risch’s revenue swap from property to sales taxes is a crucial element in the revenue shortfall hamstringing Idaho schools today?
Idaho Falls was the fastest-growing metropolitan area in Idaho between July 1, 2007, and July 1, 2008, according to estimates released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. Idaho Falls grew 3.2 percent in the year to 122,995 residents. Coeur d’Alene was second, growing 2.4 percent to 137,475 residents. Boise, the state’s largest population center, grew 2.2 percent to 599,753 residents. Pocatello grew 1.1 percent, and Lewiston 0.8 percent/Twin Falls Times-News. More here.
Question: Are you concerned re: population growth in your North Idaho community?
The governor’s legislation to increase Idaho’s gas tax has failed in the House, on a 27-43 vote. The debate in the House lasted for close to two hours, with representatives from throughout the state speaking out for and against the bill. “I’m going to support this bill because I see a need for it, but if we end this session without also investing in our human infrastructure, I think it will be a great failure,” said Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, calling for avoiding cuts in education funding/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Related: Idaho Demo caucus response
Ira Brown (front in red headband) and Jeremy Pargo (rear) work the sidelines and sign autographs after practice Wednesday. (Christopher Anderson/Spokesman-Review)
Gonzaga University Head Coach Mark Few leaves the NCAA tournament media interview room after taking questions about the upcoming game with Akron in Portland during the first round of the 2009 Tournament. Every time there is an opening for a Head Coaching job it seems Mark Few is mentioned as someone to interview for the position. Lately his name has been linked to Oregon. (Christopher Anderson/Spokesman-Review)
Question: Will this finally be the year that superb Gonzaga men’s basketball coach Mark Few receives an offer from another university, like Oregon, that’s too good to pass up?
The House has begun debating HB 246, the governor’s bill to increase Idaho’s gas tax by 7 cents over the next three years, to raise money for road maintenance. The tax is now 25 cents per gallon. “This is a bill that you’ve all been waiting for,” House Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, told the House. “I don’t present this bill lightly”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Earlier this week, I wrote about Idaho’s lackluster efforts in making public records available online. I researched the issue on behalf of Sunshine Week, a national organization that spotlights the value of public access to government records. Idaho wound up tied for No. 40 in a national ranking of online records access. Now to a double serving of good news from Monday’s Senate State Affairs Committee meeting. The committee introduced a bill that would require elected officials to file financial disclosure reports, and approved a bill to put some teeth into the open meetings law/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: By and large, do governments at all levels in Idaho respect the Open Meeting Law?
In the HBO Poll Wednesday, 46 of 67 respondents or 69% said that Councilwoman Deanna Goodlander is the most vulnerable incumbent who will seek re-election this fall. She was followed by Mike Kennedy with 10 votes (15%), Mayor Sandi Bloem with 9 (13%) and Woody McEvers with 2 (3%).
More Info: The so-called “conscience protections” are for pharmacists who have moral, ethical or religious objections to dispensing birth control pills and other medications. Idaho law already gives hospitals and doctors authority not to fill prescriptions. The bill passed the committee Wednesday on a voice vote. It stands a good chance of passage in the full House. Idaho Pharmacy Board Executive Director Mark Johnston told the House State Affairs Committee that pharmacists already can deny drugs because there is no state law requiring them to fill prescriptions.
Question: Do you support or oppose the “conscience protections” for pharmacists?
Item: County to pay $350K for firm to look at Comp Plan: Lack of ordinances is main problem with current document/Alecia Warren, CdA Press
More Info: This time, they want the job done right. And they’re willing to pay good money for it. To ensure the new Kootenai County Comprehensive Plan has more regulatory muscle than the current version, the county has already set aside $350,000 to hire a consulting firm to fashion new ordinances and regulations once the final plan is written.
Blast From Past (Jan. 2, 2008): (Cheri) Howell resigned as a senior planner in the Planning and Building Department Wednesday afternoon, leaving her $48,000 annual salary behind. Moments later, she was hired by the county as an independent contractor for $75,000 to finish the county’s Comprehensive Plan by May 31 — Coeur d’Alene Press. Complete story here.
Question: Izzit just me, or hasn’t the county been throwing time and money at the comprehensive plan for years?
In a summer photo, Yogi “the Wonder Dog” retrieves the newspaper from the end of HMOffsuite’s dock on Lake Coeur d’Alene. Spring arrives tomorrow. Which means great times on the lake won’t be far behind.
In a Dec. 17, 1970, file photo, right, Charles Manson is pictured en route to a Los Angeles courtroom. At left, Manson is shown in a photo made and released Wednesday by California corrections officials. The photo of the 74-year-old Manson was taken Wednesday as part of a routine update of files on inmates at Corcoran State Prison. (AP Photo/ho/files)
Question: Should Charles Manson ever be released from prison?
JeanneH: I can’t remember the title of the last (movie) I saw at the Coeur d’Alene Drive-In on Gov’t Way, but I do remember the last time I saw the screen, it was on the ground after a windstorm, and the marquee said “Gone With The Wind” - that’s the last time we had a drive-in here…probably sometime in the early ‘80’s. And before that we also had the Showboat, which was a real boat (for the concession stand), over on the property where Goodies service station is now on Ramsey…We used to take the kids in the back of the station wagon with their jammies on, back it in to a place, and all of us lay in the back with the tailgate open and watch the movie…everybone could see that way. The good old days when movies were CHEAP! JH
Question: What do you miss most re: the Coeur d’Alene area’s “good old days”?
RE: Patrick H: Racist post spreads at Press/Huckleberries Online
Patrick H. Is As Mad As Hell: Sent a letter of to Mr. Patrick, our ad rep, and Mr. Hagadone a few minutes ago, and tomorrow we are posting the following sign in the cafe: “Due to recent racist comments posted on the CDA Press’ website we are asking our customers to boycott the Press until Mr. Patrick removes the comments and issues an apology. If you have a copy of the Press with you we will gladly replace it with a current issue of the Spokesman Review or USAToday.”
Question: What have you done to express your displeasure to the CdA Press re: racist postings on the Press online site? (Editor Mike Patrick can be contacted at mpatrick@cdapress.com)
Katrina: I sure wish there was a way to get a follow up on the police blotter section. Some of the stories leave me highly anxious, wanting to know what happened (like “1:11 p.m. R/P reports that a man in a blue pickup has taken a boy of about 8 who didn’t appear to want to go with him, from a local school.”) and some of them sound like they might make for good entertainment if I knew the whole story (like “10:37 a.m. A man on Windermere Avenue reports that his mother and his wife are threatening him.”) I bet those 911 operators get curious, too.
DFO: You’re not the first to raise this point, Katrina. Alas, I’m lucky to catch the snippets from the scanner while I’m blogging away here. Sometimes, I don’t have enough info to post an item that sounds interesting, like the woman who wanted to see police about a potato gun yesterday. I simply don’t have enough time to follow any of this up. Nor would the police have a report for a day or so. If at all. Feel free to imagine the rest of the story in the comments section.
Question: Do you follow Scanner Traffic?
Signe Wilkinson/Philadelphia Inquirer
Drake forward Jonathon Cox (31) grabs a rebound in front of Idaho center Marvin Jefferson (53) and guard Kashif Watson, right, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the first round of the College Insider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) tonight at Memorial Gym in Moscow, Idaho. Idaho won 69-67.ESPN boxscore from CIT tournament first round here. (AP Photo/Moscow-Pullman Daily News, Dean Hare)
After the win, the Vandals learned they will play a quarterfinal game Monday at Pacific, whose associate head coach is Ron Verlin, twin brother of Idaho head coach Don Verlin. Tipoff will be 7 p.m. at Stockton, Calif/Dale Grummert, Lewiston Tribune. Full game report here. And: Sportslink report from Josh Wright here.
In the news this evening: Actress Natasha Richardson dies here. US mortgage rates slide toward 30-year lows here. Obama picks McCain’s team to lose in the first round here. ‘American Idol’ crushes “Dancing With The Stars’ in a reality TV matchup here. Fed launches $1.2 trillion effort to revive economy here. And the Wild Card remains in play …
A worker carries a water bottle in the underground deep drainage tunnel system in Mexico City, Wednesday. Mexico City’s government announced it plans to complete an upgrade and repairs to the deep drainage tunnel system by April 15th in time for this year’s rainy season, making the tunnel capable of handling up to 180 cubic meters per second of rainwater and sewage. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) SR Today In Photos here.
OrangeTV: The racist links are still up over there. I’m about to compose an email to the editor letting him know this is unacceptable how embarrassing those comment sections are for our town and requesting that something is done immediately to make the racist/homophobic posts stop and/or go away. I suggest others take a few minutes and do the same.
Question: What are you waiting for?
A honey bee searches for nectar on the flowers of a tree in the parking lot of a church along Garden Valley Boulevard in Roseburg, Ore., on Tuesday. (AP Photo/The News-Review)
A couple, Kaveh from Iran and Madina from Uzbekistan, jump over a fire as Emarati men look on during the Chaharshanbeh Soori festival in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday. Thousands of Iranians living in UAE jump over fires during the festival to burn away the year’s sins on the last Tuesday night before the Iranian new year, Nowrooz on Friday. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
Top Cutllines:
The upstart Vandals (16-15) will open the first CollegeInsider.com tournament by playing Drake (17-15). Tipoff is slated for 7:05 at Memorial Gym. A delighted Verlin and his staff notified each of the players by Sunday evening that the program had received a CIT bid, and all were back in Moscow by Monday morning/Josh Wright, SR. More here.
Question: Predict the final score?
In her Slight Detour post this morning, Marianne Love focuses on prospect of life after newspapers. Quoth: “One of the guiding principles I learned while working as a professional 
journalist was that communities rely on the newspaper to sort out truth from fiction/gossip/hearsay/inuendo and downright lies.” As a City Hall/courthouse reporter from 1984-93, I was part of the heyday of newspaper reporting in Kootenai County. On any given weekday, I was matched against aggressive reporters from the Coeur d’Alene Press, like Keith Erickson and Les Tidball, trying to get a scoop. If we didn’t dig out the story, John Rook and Ron Rankin were firing away re: local politics and issues from the KCDA studio above the old Wilson Drug store on Sherman Avenue. If it was news, one of the three media would sniff it out. Now, with the cutbacks at both the Press & SR in North Idaho, news goes unreported. I don’t think anyone is keeping close tabs on the county commissioners or county government. I doubt that the situation is going to get better in the near term. Nor do I see bloggers having the expertise or time to fill the void. The misinformed who relish the demise of “liberal newspapers” are myopic. Once the papers are gone, who’s going to provide the reliable info to discuss at the coffee shop?
“The generations-old tree roots and white caps give the appearance of an ocean beach on Lake Coeur d’Alene’s West Lakeshore Drive” posts Councilwoman KerriT/OnLocation North Idaho. “In a few short months the tree will be providing shade for summer beach goers.”
This undated photo released by Kelley Davis via the News & Observer shows Augie, a 2-year-old greater Swiss mountain dog in Apex, N.C., that ate $400 cash that Davis made working extra hours. The 42-year-old Davis says when she took Augie for a walk Saturday, she found parts of three $100 bills and five $20s in his leavings. She washed them with a garden hose and hopes to find enough pieces to exchange them for cash. (AP Photo/Kelley Davis via The News & Observer) Question: What would you if your dog ate $400 of your cash?
Shellye Stark was convicted this afternoon of first-degree murder in the shooting death of her estranged husband, whose bullet-riddled body was found slumped in the kitchen of their South Hill home in 2007. Jurors also convicted Stark of conspiring to murder Dale Stark, whom she had just obtained a temporary restraining order against. “I’ll be fine,” Stark, 47, told family members as she was led out of the courtroom. “I’m so sorry. I love you. Oh my God, I love you”/Meghann M. Cuniff, SR. More here.
As of Wednesday, student groups are now able to buy alcohol for public or private events on 
campus. Though this may seem opportunistic for groups looking to host a kegger on the mall, there are policy stipulations to prevent such gatherings. Well thought out safeguards decided upon by a committee created by the vice president of the Division of Student Affairs, Equity and Diversity will ensure that only serious, responsible student organizations will be allowed to host events with alcohol. For example, permits and licenses must be submitted weeks in advance, and an adviser and five group members must attend alcohol awareness education sessions annually/Daily Evergreen Editorial Board. More here.
Question: Is this a good policy? Would you want other area colleges — UIdaho, Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, North Idaho College — to adopt a similar policy?
Charlie Smith and Christina Haynes subjected Kyra Wine n who was 3 years old at the time n to 
unspeakable torture over a two-week period. Torture, not abuse. At least that’s what the evidence suggests since even a team of doctors cannot determine what exactly these two wretches did to this little girl. The abuse, it appears, was a prelude to the torture that transpired in the final days of Kyra’s suffering at the hands of the two who discovered, via the Internet, that they were soul mates. Kyra’s feet were amputated as a result of the torture. Doctors believe the horrific wound on her scalp will heal eventually, but forever prevent the growth of hair. Other scars, like those on her buttocks, will also remain forever. For all this, young Charlie Smith will serve 10 years in prison/Dan Hammes, St. Maries Gazette Record. More here.
Question: Do you agree with Publisher Dan Hammes/St. Maries Gazette Record that special enhancement should be made in cases like Kyra Wine where egregious abuse occurs?
Sara Cahoon reads a book while using a nebulizer Friday morning at her Meridian home. Cahoo, 28, has had cystic fibrosis and uses the treatment up to three times a day. Lawmakers are deciding whether to keep a very small program that pays medical bills for patients with cystic fibrosis. Many patients use the program to pay for multiple prescriptions that each cost around $1,400 monthly. The medicines have been key in turning the lung disease from a childhood death sentence to a chronic condition in which patients live well into their 30s, with life expectancies rising all the time. (AP Photo/Idaho Statesman,Chris Butler)
The soft peanut brittle from Bruttles Candy Shoppe is heading to the Lake City. The makers of the signature turn-down treats at Spokane’s Davenport Hotel will open the new Bruttles by the Lake on Friday, at 115 Sherman Ave., in Coeur d’Alene. It’s Bruttles’ second new location in six months. … Owner Carol Measel said in a news release expanding to Coeur d’Alene was the neighborly thing to do, “It just makes sense that we would take candy over to our neighbor”/Lori Hutson, SR Fresh Sheet. More here. Question: Which candy treat is your favorite?
At Remember The Roxy, OrangeTV headlines this 1936 postcard image as “Lovely Lumber Mill, Lake Cd’A, 1936. It appears to me that this mill once stood at the current site of the Coeur d’Alene Resort golf course. Dunno if it was called the Rutledge Mill then. Eventually, Hagadone bought the old Rutledge Mill and constructed his golf course and floating green. A piece of the Rutledge Mill machinery now sits in the paid parking lot north of the North Idaho Museum on Northwest Boulevard.
Question: Do any of you have a relative that once worked in the old Rutledge Mill?
There was lots of testimony this morning on the big election consolidation bill, HB 201, but the Senate State Affairs Committee ran out of time and had to continue the hearing to tomorrow, so there was no vote today. The measure earlier passed the House; it’d make sweeping reforms in Idaho’s election system, to move all elections to four dates and have counties run them all, with standardized polling places/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise.
Question: Do you support this election consolidation bill?
Citizen Lori Shoemaker told the committee, “Centralized government is dangerous - that’s against the American way.” Rep. Mary Lou Shepherd, D-Prichard, said, “I have never in my life received so many emails as I have on this one. … Not a single one was anti. Therefore I would move that HJM 4 be sent to the floor with a do-pass recommendation.” A handful of supporters in the audience burst into applause at the vote of approval/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Just how sovereign are the individual states in this country?
“Hey, wait,” said Caden Brown,7, right before playing pool with Dylan Sande,7, far left and James Star,6, front at the Boys and Girls Club at their temporary headquarters at the Post Falls Church of the Nazarene on Tuesday. You’ll find this photo and columns by HBO regulars in Sunday’s Handle Extra, including OrangeTV, Betsy Russell & your Huckleberry Hound. The Handle Extra will be available in the regular paper, for SR subscribers in Kootenai, Bonner & Shoshone counties — and in news racks. (Kathy Plonka/Spokesman-Review)
Question: Are you a good pool player?
A bill which would grant mothers the opportunity to request a “certificate of early fetal death” if she loses a child to a miscarriage barely passed out of the House State Affairs Committee this morning on a 9-8 vote. Current Idaho law allows for the issuance of a certificate of death only for a child who dies beyond 20 weeks of gestation. The bill was ably sponsored, introduced and defended by Rep. Judy Boyle (R-Midvale). She explained that the purpose of the bill is to provide a means of comfort and closure to the mother, and grant some official recognition of the humanness of her baby/Brian Fischer, Idaho Values Alliance. More here.
Question: Do you support of oppose the miscarriage bill?
“I opposed the TARP bill and I opposed the bailout for AIG. I’m a businessman, and when I bought businesses I took due diligence seriously. We taxpayers shouldn’t buy companies or socialize businesses. Having made the mistake with AIG we should not now throw good money after bad. Instead, we should now withdraw taxpayers’ support and let AIG go bankrupt, let a federal bankruptcy judge void these ill-advised bonus contracts, sort out the losses, and bring in new, qualified management to properly manage AIG free of one more nickel of taxpayer support. Thank you, Mr. Chairman” — Walt Minnick, at House subcommittee hearing on A.I.G. this morning. H/T: Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman.
Question: What do you think of your congressman’s attitude toward A.I.G.?
I’m re-running this late-afternoon Tuesday post to make sure most of you see it: At Priest Lake, Pecky Cox/As The Lake Churns has created a Google map that contains pretty much everything you need to know about her neck of the woods, from resorts to campgrounds. She tells Huckleberries that she created the useful map after getting beaucoup maps on her site from people looking for directions. You can take a closer peek at Pecky’s map here.
In the HBO Poll Tuesday, 55% of the 55 respondents said you wore green on St. Patrick’s Day because you were either full-blooded Irish or partially Irish. Of the five choices, the one that received the second most votes (17 or 31%) was “I’m not (wearing green). Bah! Humbug!”
I never liked dark beer before either. When we went to Ireland, I had to dive in. We went to the Guinness Storehouse where they give you a free pint up top with this beautiful view of Dublin. The company, the view - the Guinness tasted GREAT. I ended up drinking a lot of it that night and the nights after that. I have to say that it doesn’t taste here, like it did there. Over there you have to wait wait wait to get your beer because they pour it in two steps. They don’t seem to do that here and I think that’s why it doesn’t taste right/Me.
Question: Is there a pub in the Inland Northwest that knows how to pour a Guinness properly?
JeanieS: It’s not the drive in food places I miss - it is the drive in movies! Just think about the fact that children today will never know what it’s like to drive your car right into the “theater” and have with you all the food you want, home made popcorn, sandwiches, cookies, Koolaid. And playing on the swing set until the sun goes down low enough to see the screen. The Autovue on Trent I think. When I got my driver’s license, I was “allowed” to take all my siblings in the Volkswagen and go to the Autovue for a $1.50 a carload. The upside: the driver had the best seat.
Question: What movie was playing the last time that you went to a drive-in movie?
re: http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/hbo/2009/mar/17/cda-press-asleep-online-switch/
It (a racist post with WNTube video) is now up (7:06 p.m. Tuesday) again in five different places on the Press’ website. It really is time for the Press to either moderate all comments and approve them before posting them or turn of posting all together. The Press uses a publishing suite called Town News for their site that is basically a high end version of the blogging tool Movable Type. All it would take to change the comment settings to either turn them off or make it so they had to be approved is changing the preferences in the software. So either Mr. Patrick and the Hagadone News Network are to lazy to do it or they like the attention that it brings/PatrickH Wants His Guinness. OrangeTV’s observations on Press online comments here.
Joe Heller/Hellertoons
St. Mary’s Patrick Mills, center, dribbles past Washington State’s Taylor Rochestie, right, in the first half of an NIT college basketball game in Moraga, Calif., Tuesday. ESPN game story & boxscore here. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
In the news this evening: The national debt hits a record $11 trillion here. Pope Benedict says that condoms worsen AIDS epidemic here. Actress Natasha Richardson is near death after skiing accident here. Oxford experts: Obesity danger ‘rivals smoking’ here. Study: Pious ‘fight death the hardest’ here. And the Wild Card remains in play …
Rielly Weathers watches a band pass by during the St. Patrick’s Day parade Tuesday in Savannah, Ga. Celebrated here since 1824, this coastal city’s sprawling parade and street party have become its most lucrative tourist attraction, drawing up to 400,000 revelers every March 17. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton) SR’s Today In Photos
Item: Outcry builds in Washington for recovery of A.I.G. bonuses/New York Times
More Info: Senate Democratic leaders demanded on Tuesday that the insurance giant American International Group reverse the $165 million in bonuses that the firm had paid to executives after receiving more than $170 billion in bailout money. Alternatively, lawmakers said they would seek to reclaim the money by adopting new tax legislation.
Question: The Obama administration, Congress, and the Federal Reserve are trying to avoid blame for this ridiculous situation. Who do you hold to blame?
Rep. Marge Chadderdon, R-Coeur d’Alene, persuaded the House State Affairs Committee to introduce legislation today to require that whenever any Idaho state agency, college or university, or local government agency in Idaho purchases a U.S. flag or an Idaho state flag, it must be one manufactured in the United States. She estimated that any cost to the state from the bill would be “negligible.” Her bill states that if a non-U.S. made flag is purchased with state or local government funds in Idaho, that purchase would be “null, void and of no force and effect.” “They’d have to ship ‘em back,” she said merrily/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Your reaction to this bill?
Idaho State Police officer Holly Branch shares a laugh during the annual awards luncheon recently at transportation headquarters in Coeur d’Alene to honor the officers who have made the most DUI arrests. Branch has won the award 4 years in a row, this year with 35 DUI arrests. Story here. (Kathy Plonka/Spokeman-Review)
Byclists, some of them naked, ride through the streets of Lima during the World Naked Bike Ride on Saturday. Cyclists demonstrated to promote the use of bicycles and to highlight the damage caused by car dependency. You write the cutline.(AP Photo/Karel Navarro)
Top Cutlines:
At Priest Lake, Pecky Cox/As The Lake Churns has created a Google map that contains pretty much everything you need to know about her neck of the woods, from resorts to campgrounds. She tells Huckleberries that she created the useful map after getting beaucoup maps on her site from people looking for directions. You can take a closer peek at Pecky’s map here.
Good stinking grief. A comment featuring a WNTube link to a vile racist song has been sitting for hours like a pile of merde among the Coeur d’Alene Press online story comments re: Nontombi Naomi Tutu’s speech to the Human Rights banquet last night. You can see the post by Freedom For All (10:58 a.m.) here. (You can hear the WNTube for yourself, if you have the stomach to do so, here. Caution: Extremely racist.) It now has been posted for four hours. I’m told the Press has removed other racist garbage from the same thread today. Press Editor Mike Patrick needs to remove this post, ban Freedom for All, and issue an apology to readers.
Three-term Councilwoman Deanna Goodlander won’t make it official for a coupla weeks, but she will run for re-election this fall. Goodlander, who sits on the LCDC board, believes she’s facing a nasty campaign from opponents of urban renewal. But she wants to continue working on several projects, including downtown renewal and possible changes to McEuen Field. She said she first ran for office to help change the way city staff and the building department operate. And believes those two areas are now very user friendly. Also, she noted, the city, behind Finance Director Troy Thymesen, has handled its finances so well that no layoffs have occurred despite the deep recession.
In the “Some Things Never Change” category, Louis’ Drive-In Hamburgers offered a landmark that is with us still a half century later — the giant Paul Bunyan that fronts Northwest Boulevard. You can see OrangeTV’s latest posting of vintage photos on his Remember The Roxy blog here.
Question: Which landmark is your favorite in your Inland Northwest community?
I don’t like it when people mess with my routine. For the past several weeks the owners of my grocery store of choice have been remodeling. I don’t like it. I don’t like it that every time I go in there things are moved around. And I won’t like it when it’s finished because I had the store memorized and could get in and out quickly. Now it takes twice as long to shop because I have to zig zag back and forth through the store because my list is written in the order of how the store used to be arranged/Jen, A Butterfly Moment. More here.
Question: Do you get upset when something messes with your routine? Or embrace the change?
Post Falls Mayor Clay Larkin told Huckleberries moments ago that he plans to announce his decision re: another election bid Friday. Larkin said he’s surprised that incumbents and possible opponents in Coeur d’Alene have announced their re-election intentions so early. Post Falls City Council incumbents whose term expires this year are: Linda Wilhelm, Ron Jacobson and Joe Bodman.
In the March 23 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday): “I Want You to Start Spending!” Daniel Gross writes about how we, as consumers, need to start taking risks again in the economy and start spending to help the recovery. (PRNewsFoto/Newsweek)
Question: What would it take for you to be comfortable to start spending again, as you did before the recession hit hard?
Legislators were treated to St. Patrick’s Day bagpiping by a Senate page from North Idaho, who admitted to pining for the pubs of Sandpoint and Coeur d’Alene. Mallory Triplett’s heart will be with St. Joseph’s Pipe and Drum Corps tonight, though she’ll be in her temporary quarters in Boise. “It’s one of our best nights to make money, but I’ll be home tonight. I have nowhere else to go.” Triplett, 17, (a Sandpoint High senior) played five selections just before the House and Senate convened Tuesday morning, “Roses and Jacobites” “Athol Highlanders,” “Rowan Tree” “Scotland the Brave,” and finished with “Amazing Grace”/Dan Popkey, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: Do you like bagpipe music?
Smoking is a nasty habit. I think that’s a pretty widely accepted statement that few folks would 
disagree with. I smoked heavily for many years - sometimes consuming upwards of a carton per week. My New Year’s resolution in 2007 was to quit, so at midnight Jan. 1 I threw away all my cigarettes and started the year with fresh breath and lungs. That resolution lasted about three days before I was back to puffing those nasty cancer sticks. But I was determined to kick the habit, so I kept trying. I also promised myself that I would do it on my own with no patches or gum to help me along. I’m glad I did it that way, too, because there is no bigger sense of accomplishment than breaking an addiction strictly on willpower. But it wasn’t easy/Henry “Digger” Johnston, Moscow-Pullman Daily News. More here.
Question: Have you ever tried and failed to quit smoking?
Brian Ringle from Seaport Janitorial washes a third floor window at the Inn America in Monday in Lewiston. (AP Photo/Lewiston Tribune, Kyle Mills)
When Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain took the stage for the presidential debates in November, viewers may notice both candidates scribbling notes with their left hands. Such a curiosity has occurred before: In 1992, all three contenders — George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Ross Perot — were lefties. Six of the 12 chief executives since the end of World War II will have been left-handed: Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, Bush number one, Clinton and Obama. (This is a disproportionate number, considering that only ten percent of people in the general population is left-handed.)/Adrianna, Vox Box. More here.
Question: Are you lefthanded?
City Attorney Mike Gridley told Huckleberries moments ago that the city is close to a settlement with Kathy Sims and Tom Macy over alleged campaign finance violations that occurred during the 2007 municipal elections. In the closing days of that campaign, Sims & Macy were involved in circulated a flyer attacking incumbents Ron Edinger, Al Hassell and Dixie Reid. The city alleges that money for the flyer wasn’t reported properly or in a timely manner. The city will be glad to settle the matter if Sims and Macy will issue a letter acknowledging the campaign finance violations and pay a fine (that will be considerably less than the $20,000 accrued in possible fines for missing deadlines and incomplete information).
Question: Is this a decent settlement to the long-running flap involving possible campaign violations by Sims & Macy?
A Berry Picker tells Huckleberries that he fielded a recorded message from an organization — he couldn’t remember the name — that was unhappy that U.S. Rep. Walt Minnick had voted against President Barack Obama’s stimulus package and a large omnibus proposal. He was encouraged to join the chorus to force Democrat Minnick to back Obama’s plans — and given told which button to push on his telephone to immediately call Minnick’s office. So the Berry Picker did call Minnick’s office — to thank the young woman who answered the phone that Idaho was represented by an elected official who put the concerns of his constituents ahead of his party.
Question: Anyone else out there get one of these calls?
The nudity versus violence battle raged on in America last weekend with the opening of the brutal superhero epic/soft-core porno “Watchmen.” Teenage boys and their unsuspecting girlfriends showed up in droves to the film’s opening, oblivious to what they were about to see – and folks, this ain’t no “X-Men.” So began the “Watchmen” blue penis scandal. The film, based on the popular graphic novel by Alan Moore, takes place in an alternate 1985 America where superheroes, called Watchmen, have mostly retired. But when one of the Watchmen is violently killed, a plot is exposed to kill them one-by-one to ensure nuclear war. The only Watchman with superpowers, Dr. Manhattan, is a glowing blue Godlike being with unstoppable and impenetrable abilities. He also coincidentally appears nude in about 80 percent of his scenes/Alex Gratzer, WSU Evergreen. More here.
Question: Evergreen columnist Alex Gratzer contends brutal, soft-porn “Watchmen” is a bold addition to the rising maturity of American culture.” Do you agree?
This image provided by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer shows the cover this morning, last edition’s commemorative section. (AP Photo/Seattle Post-Intelligencer) Related: Farewell to the Seattle P-I/David Laird, Community Comment
In Monday’s HBO Poll (also posted on Sportslink), 46 percent of 342 respondents said they expected Gonzaga to reach the Sweet 16 round this year. Another 17 percent (58) expect the Zags to reach the Elite Eight, while 16 percent (54) say they will fall in the second round. And 6% (21) of you believe that Gonzaga. Will. Go. All. The. Way. Thanks for supporting the new feature.
The responses I’m receiving about last Friday’s acquittal of Jay Olsen – the boozed-up off-duty cop who shot Shonto Pete in the head after a wild chase two years ago – can be filed under two categories. 1. Purple-faced anger and … 2. What the “BLEEP!?!” disbelief. Then we have Lee, a 47-year-old North Side Spokane resident, who took a more subtle approach, thanks to a diabolically creative mind. Lee, by the way, doesn’t want his full name in the paper because of fears of reprisal. Whatever. I’m more interested in what came out of his disgust with the aforementioned verdict. And that is the Shonto Pete Bulletproof Hat/Doug Clark, SR. More here.
Related: Police launch Olsen inquiry/Karen Dorn Steele, SR
Question: Why do the cops in Spokane seem to get in a lot more trouble than their counterparts in North Idaho?
If Josh Heytvelt had followed his original, now hard-to-imagine academic plan at Gonzaga - as a public-relations major - he would have been groomed to make fuller, more evocative speeches than the one he delivered recently on Senior Night at the McCarthey Athletic Center. But his 28 words - a reporter for the student newspaper counted them - found a rapt audience. “I have to thank everybody in this gym and in this community” - and he paused here - “for accepting me back and letting me do what I did over the last couple years”/Dale Grummert, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: Did former Zag bad boy Josh Heytvelt succeed in winning back your trust?
“Even the four-legged among us are dressed for St. Patrick’s Day, as is this filly who appeared in the holiday parade in Coeur d’Alene (Saturday),” posts Councilwoman KerriT, OnLocation North Idaho.
Bye, bye
Miss Seattle P-I
Drove my Chevy to the newsstand
All they had was the Times…
Those good ole’ boys
Drinkin’ ink and hot lead
Sayin’ this be the day that I’m dead . . .
DeePee
The complaint of a Maryland Mayor, frustrated over the image portrayed by bloggers, is lashing out. At no time in our history, except perhaps villages in revolutionary times.has the person on the street had such a voice. Suddenly, from every corner, politicians are being held responsible for their words and actions because more citizens have access to them and this makes them uncomfortable. Folks, this is democracy in action. Because suddenly we have more people paying attention, and perhaps being more critical is freedom of speech at it’s finest hour. Anonymous critics, however, are a pox on our house/Bayview Herb.
Question: Has the Internet and bloggers added to our freedom of speech? Or abused it?
MamaJD: I am supportive of Mike Kennedy’s re-election bid but I am interested in hearing who Steve Adams and what his views are regarding CdA. I know I could give him fair treatment and am confident that many others on HBO could as well. I’m not sure why explaining your platform here is any worse than explaining it in an open forum. I would figure it would provide good practice. And at least you can preview what you want to say before you say it in a forum like HBO.
Question: Indeed, MamaJD, all wannabes are welcome to toss in their 2 cents here. I tip my cap to the elected officials who has used this forum for input and to communicate their ideas (i.e., MikeK, Dan of the County, and Sgt. Christie). The kinder, gentler Huckleberries Online is a relatively safe place for public officials to interact. I hope more of them take advantage of this forum this year.
Michael Ramirez/Investor’s Business Daily
Not only does CindyH thank you Merry Hucksters for providing input re: a business card slogan, but she wants you to know that she picked a winner from among the suggestions: “Read Hval About It.” Cindy pronounces her last name Ha-VAL. She believes Lew2nl made the suggestion. ‘Tis nice to see HBOers helping one another. Now, for a brief look at the evening news: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is concerned about the fate of the nation’s newspapers here. Austrian father pleads guilty to raping daughter 3000 times and incarcerating her for 24 years here. Pew poll: Obama’s public support eroding here. And your Wild Card remains in play …
Seattle Post-Intelligencer photo editor John Dickson hugs AME Chris Beringer after Roger Oglesby, publisher and editor, announced to the staff that Tuesday’s paper will be the final print edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer during a brief meeting in Seattle on Monday. The P-I began publishing in 1863. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer/Dan DeLong) SR Today In Photos here.
A juror was dismissed this morning from the first-degree murder trial of Shellye Stark after disclosures that he had improperly discussed the case during a social gathering last week, including comments about one of the prosecutors’ apparent struggle to conceal his baldness. Mike Cathcart acknowledged the discussion when questioned today by Spokane Superior Court Judge Tari Eitzen, and was removed from the jury without objection from the prosecution or the defense. He was replaced by one of the three alternates who have been present each day of the trial/Meghann M. Cuniff, SR. More here.
Question: What do you think of guys who try “comb overs” to hide baldness?
Remember that snow-bound chair that Pecky Cox/As The Lake Churns snapped a few days ago, along her trail to Priest Lake? Here’s a different view after a little snow melt. The deer are drinking from buckets of water that she left nearby.
Apparently, I forgot to post the APhoto of the Day this morning. You still have a chance to win the contest. I’ll pick the winners later tonight, if you’re so inclined to post a caption. Here, Mary Hebbel of Hempstead gets a kiss from a llama named Oprah at the llama and alpaca show in Reliant Arena at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Friday in Houston. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Melissa Phillip)
Top Cutlines:
I was very interested in the Jay Olsen trial because I was on jury duty these last two weeks, my 
time ended the day the Olsen trial ended. I wasn’t picked for a jury - for whatever reason. My friendship with police officers? My acquaintance with several attorneys and judges? My father being a former editor of The Chronicle? I was appalled at the verdict. And I really truly question how the jurors came to their decision. I wonder if they caved because of it being late Friday and they didn’t want to go through the weekend. And there is a “law” that is presented to the jury that is straight from the judge and it is that law that the jury needs to comply with and make their decision on. Even if the jury was excluded from hearing about Shonto Pete’s trial results, they should have considered an intoxicated, off-duty cop, running through residential streets shooting several rounds from his personal weapon as “reckless endangerment”/JeanieS, Nuts & Nonsense. More here.
Question: What is your reaction to the innocent verdict rendered by the jury in the case involving Spokane police officer Jay Olsen?
For the blahs and
winter sadness,
nothing beats a
dose of Madness.
The Bard of Sherman Avenue
He called yesterday to tell me that he had lost his job. It was hard to hear, but even harder for him to voice the words. It has been a couple of weeks, but it is still so incredibly painful for him to say out loud. It isn’t really real yet. This was his Dream Job, the career that he has prepared for all his life, the culmination of years of hard work and study, an uphill climb with as many steps backward as forward….. in an instant it is gone. I hear the pain in his voice, he sounds beaten, defeated/JanTri, Brand X Ranch. More here.
Question: Have you or a close friend or a loved one lost a job as a result of the current deep recession. How are you/they dealing with it?
“Chief Justice John Roberts doesn’t do much public speaking, so it was a treat for the University of Idaho to land him for a speech and a chance to answer a few questions at the College of Law’s Bellwood Lecture Series,” posts colleague Jim Camden/Spin Control. “But the first question may be a good example of why members of the Supreme Court don’t go out much on the speaking circuit.” You can read the rest of Jim’s post (and hear the Q-and-A involving President Barack Obama’s birth certificate here).
Question: Anyone out there still think that Barack Obama’s birth certificate remains a legitimate issue?
… Huckleberries has learned via contact with the CDA city clerk’s office that Steve Adams from Allstate Insurance has filed his appointment for campaign treasurer. He noted on the form that he is a candidate for Council Seat #2 – Mike Kennedy’s seat. Stay tuned.
Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist David Horsey speaks with the media outside the newsroom of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer today in Seattle. Hearst Corp., which owns the 146-year-old P-I, said Monday that it failed to find a buyer for the newspaper, which it put up for a 60-day sale in January after years of losing money and will print its final edition Tuesday. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Woody McEvers, co-owner of the popular Rustler’s Roost in Hayden, told Huckleberries this afternoon that he’s “pretty confident” he’ll seek re-election to a third term on the Coeur d’Alene City Council. Woody said he’ll have to talk to his brother about another re-election bid because the restaurant is busier than ever since the brothers expanded hours to add dinner hours to their business day. Woody said he’d like to continue working on the public access programming that he has spearheaded for the city and recreation opportunities for the alternative sports, like skateboarding and BMX biking.
A fifth-grade fan of the president can’t wear a Barack Obama mask in a school talent show, his principal says. The fifth-grader, crestfallen, says his routine makes no sense without the mask, so he’ll go roller-skating instead of being in the show. Dru Lechert-Kelly, 11, is a fifth-grader at Llewellyn Elementary School in Portland who was adopted at age 1 from a Romanian orphanage. He hoped to dress presidentially and dance to a YouTube parody that features an Obama look-alike and a rap called “I Can Do Whatever I Like.” He rehearsed the skit Thursday. The choreographed routine ended with Dru on the floor in the splits. The newspaper reported that students and teachers in the crowd went wild. But some adults objected/AP. More here.
Question: Did the principal make the right call after hearing from offended adults?
The House has voted 63-5 in favor of HB 213, the bill to combat quagga and zebra mussels by imposing a fee on all boats launched in Idaho, motorized and non-motorized alike. The cost for the annual sticker would be $10 for boats registered in Idaho, $20 for those registered elsewhere, and $5 for non-motorized boats, which aren’t registered. The only exclusion would be for inflatables less than 10 feet long/Betsy Russell, SR. More here.
Judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals For The Ninth Circuit from left David R. Thompson, N.Randy Smith and Stephen S. Trott were at the new federal courthouse in Coeur d’Alene on Monday for a special sitting. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals hears appeals of cases decided by federal agencies and federal trial courts in nine western states and two Pacific Island jurisdictions. The court normally meets monthly in Seattle, San Francisco and Pasadena, every other month in Portland, twice per year in Honolulu and once in Anchorage. (Kathy Plonka/Spokesman-Review)
Item: Heart of trail marches onward: Many resources are behind the maintenance and expansion of region’s jewel Centennial Trail/Carl Gidlund, SR Handle Extra.
If you use North Idaho’s Centennial Trail, you have a stake in its future, according to Charlie Miller, manager of the foundation that oversees its use and development under a 16-member volunteer board.
Miller is a 28-year-old Coeur d’Alene native who’s been in charge for the past year. Once a cross-country runner for Lake City High, North Idaho College and the University of Idaho from which he graduated with a natural resource recreation degree, he obviously has appropriate credentials for his job. He also projects an infectious enthusiasm for the trail.
Question: Which part of the Centennial Trail do you use most? Why?
Councilman Mike Kennedy told Huckleberries moments ago that he definitely will seek re-
election to a second term on the Coeur d’Alene City Council. He’ll make the official announcement later this spring. Mike plans to launch his campaign efforts earlier than he did in 2005 when he didn’t announce until then incumbent Ben Wolfinger decided not to seek another term. “I’m enjoying the heck out of the job,” Mike said. “And I’m not done with what I want to do.” Mike’s top priority is to continue to work on the problem of homelessness in the community. Added Mike: “There’s too much good happening in the community. I don’t want to see it stopped by some of the folks who may run.” Huckleberries is trying to contact incumbents Deanna Goodlander and Woody McEvers to see if they plan to seek re-election.
Question: Which non-incumbent would you like to see run for Coeur d’Alene City Council?
I’d let it go, if I were Charlie Nipp. Charlie, of course, was the focus of an attorney general’s 
investigation brought about by a private citizen or group of citizens with a beef against the Lake City Development Corp. State Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, was the willing conduit to press for the investigation. In the end, the AG’s office ruled that it found no criminal wrongdoing re: the complaint that Charlie had a serious conflict of interest in his former role as LCDC chairman. Now, Charlie is pressing to find out who sicced the AG dogs on him. Coeur d’Alene’s native son has a sterling reputation as a self-made man and community servant. Last week, Leadership Coeur d’Alene added to those intangible credentials by bestowing its community service award upon Charlie. Charlie should take comfort that the award was greeted by a standing ovation of some 200 in the Upbeat Breakfast crowd — a true measure of appreciation this community has for his selfless service. By pressing for a name or names behind the AG’s investigation, Charlie keeps the issue alive and gives the opposition Coeur d’Alene Press fodder for front-page headlines and antagonistic editorials.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer will roll off the presses for the last time Tuesday, ending a 146-year run. The Hearst Corp. announced Monday that it would stop publishing the newspaper, Seattle’s oldest business, and cease delivery to more than 117,600 weekday readers/Seattle PI. More here.
In her final State of the City address, Salisbury (MD) Mayor Barrie Parsons Tilghman warned residents of what she sees as a great danger to the city: malicious bloggers. Tilghman said in her address Thursday that over the last five years, the presence of a small group of suspicious, mean-spirited people focused on the negative has grown, endangering the city’s vitality. Tilghman says some people are avoiding serving their city because it’s not worth chancing the scorn of bloggers. But Tilghman says they need to stand up for the city/AP. More here.
Question: In Coeur d’Alene, there are three online sites that touch of city of Coeur d’Alene business regularly — this one, OpenCDA.com, and the Coeur d’Alene Press comments section. The latter two sites are openly antagonistic to Mayor Sandi Bloem’s administration. Do you think those sites help or hurt the city?
A student driver vehicle sits ready on the course at State College High School in State College, Pa., Friday. A rite-of-passage for American teenagers hits a dubious mile marker this year, it’s been about 75 years since the first driver’s ed class in the country took place at State High. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Question: Did you take driver’s education in high school? Where? How old were you when you began driving?
Item: Idaho Freedom Foundation applauds Nampa and Mayor Tom Dale for plan to post city check register online/Wayne Hoffman
More Info: Idaho Freedom Foundation Executive Director Wayne Hoffman today applauded Nampa Mayor Tom Dale and the City of Nampa for becoming the second Idaho city to become more transparent by disclosing details of the city’s spending records on a website.
Hard times lead to hard feelings, and worse. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate and related groups around the country, reports finding 926 such groups around the country, “up more than 4 percent from the 888 groups in 2007 and far above the 602 groups documented in 2000.” It goes on: “As in recent years, hate groups were animated by fears of Latino immigration. This rise in hate groups has coincided with a 40 percent growth in hate crimes against Latinos between 2003 and 2007, according to FBI statistics. Two new factors were introduced to the volatile hate movement in 2008: the faltering economy and the Obama campaign”/Randy Stapilus, Ridenbaugh Press. More here.
Question: Do you think hate groups could get another toehold in the Inland Northwest, as they did during the heyday of the Aryan Nations?
The best season in 10 years is not yet over for the University of Idaho. The Vandals surprised their fans Sunday by being selected for participation in the inaugural CollegeInsider.com postseason tournament (CIT). Idaho will play host to Drake University at Memorial Gym at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday in the first round. The Vandals’ portable court in the Kibbie Dome has been removed in preparation for the dome’s renovation project. A UI release announcing the selection Sunday night didn’t mention its financial obligation, but teams in the tournament are generally required to pony up $43,500 in order to play a host role/Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question (for skeptics): Does the Vandal turnaround in basketball this year finally show that the University of Idaho belongs in Division IA?
Nick Rook, center, is the new baseball coach for Coeur d’Alene High School. You can read Greg Lee’s capsules of high school baseball teams in the area here. Kathy Plonka/Spokesman-Review
More Info: The Spokane Chiefs have cancelled their hockey games for Saturday night and Sunday night after 11 members of the team came down with a serious illness. The team noticed something was wrong when two players showed symptoms during Friday night’s game. By Saturday morning, 11 players called in sick with the same symptoms. The team doctor says the players are exhibiting symptoms that are consistent with food poisoning.
Question: Can you tell of a time that you suffered from food poisoning?
One of the things that makes us American citizens and different than the subjects of the Queen of England, the late Tsars and the Kings of Africa is our rights. Chief among is the right to face our accuser. Charlie Nipp has that right and now that he has had due process in determining his responsibilities under the law with regard to his position with the LCDC, he asks the next question and I believe a question tantamount to the American experience: who exactly was my accuser? And not incidental to this, anybody who sits on a community or not for profit board of any kind should be quite interested in this question and the answer the courts and/or the system provides. So quite far from being small minded, Charlie Nipp steps up again and asks the big questions/JBelle.
Question: Will the investigation launched against former LCDC chairman Charlie Nipp by state Sen. Mike Jorgenson on behalf of an unnamed person(s) cause other residents to think twice before volunteering for a city committee?
If you have been seated in a restaurant and after having ordered coffee and maybe taken a couple sips of water the waiter walks up and coughs into his/her arm and shows obvious signs of a cold - running nose, cough, etc, is it ok to just bail out? I don’t want to catch that hideous thing. Who knows how much he/she will germinate my meal between the kitchen and my booth – and the bill at the end - the extra napkin - I could never enjoy eating a meal knowing 10 days of chills, sniffles, coughing, and headache could follow. Just wondering how others handle this type of situation. I bit the bullet and stuck it out/Poolman. More here.
Question: What would you do if you were being served by a waiter/waitress who obviously was quite sick?
Nick Anderson/Houston Chronicle
The Idaho men’s basketball team is participating in postseason play for the first time since the 1989-90 season. The Vandals (16-15) will play host to Drake on Wednesday in a first-round game of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. Drake is 17-15 overall (finished 7-11 in the Missouri Valley Conference) and has lost eight of its past 11, including the final three/Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: Does it matter to you that CollegeInsider.com isn’t one of the prestigious postseason basketball tournaments?
Washington State got its wish. The Cougars, a No. 7 seed, will take their 17-15 record into the NIT, facing St. Mary’s, a No. 2 seed, Tuesday night in Moraga, Calif., at 8 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN2. For more on the Gaels, read on. We’ll have more after we talk with WSU coach Tony Bennett this evening here. Complete 2009 NIT seeding here.
The Gonzaga men’s basketball team, making its 11th-straight appearance in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, drew Akron and will play in Portland on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Zags, 26-5 overall and a perfect 14-0 in the West Coast Conference, won the WCC postseason tournament last Monday, gaining an automatic berth into the tournament. Gonzaga is the No. 4 seed in the South Region/SR. Complete NCAA tournament bracket here.
Question: Is a No. 4 seed appropriate for Gonzaga?
The Handle Extra debuts on Sunday today, with a coupla Merry Hucksters playing starring roles, including OrangeTV (with his Get Out! column), Betsy Russell (Eye On Boise tidbits) and yours truly with the print Huckleberries column. You’ll also get Nils Rosdahl and weatherwoman Michelle Boss. You can read all about it here. You won’t be able to get this one free on news stands. Subscribers in Kootenai, Bonner, and now Shoshone counties will find the new & improved Handle Extra in their newspapers. You can also pick it up at regular SR news stands where you’ll find my mug smiling back at you b/c the Handle Extra will serve as the front page for news stand sales. I’m happy about the new arrangement. It has only taken me 25 years to get my print column featured on Sundays. After you check it out, you can use this Wild Card for your own threads …
Major John Chamness of The Salvation Army near the climbing wall at the Ray & Joan Kroc Community Center in Coeur d’Alene earlier this winter. The Kroc Center is one of three community centers that will open in Coeur d’Alene or Spokane in the next two to four months. You can read about the progress of them here. Kathy Plonka/Spokesman-Review
Question: What aspect of the soon-to-open Kroc Center appeals to you most?
What kinds of do-it-yourself projects are you starting to do in order to save money?/Idaho Statesman.
WinCo Foods is filing the preliminary paperwork for a
95,000-square-foot store in the northeast corner of the intersection of
Appleway and Ramsey Road in Coeur d’Alene. The physical store itself is
at least two years away in the acreage that now is a combination
gravel-sand pit. With the success of two new stores in Spokane, WinCo is banking on
the same for here. The WinCo stores have everything a supermarket
usually has – groceries, meats, produce, bulk foods, a bakery and a
large deli. The new store would employ about 200 people/Nils Rosdahl, SR Handle Extra. More here.
Question: Where do you shop for groceries?
Councilman Mike Kennedy can’t do a thing right, as far as Dan Gookin
and his OpenCdA.com 
playmates are concerned. In a recent post, Gookin
slammed Kennedy for leaving his seat for coffee during the March 3
council meeting, not once but twice. Harrumphed Gookin: “What message
does that send us regarding his attentiveness and focus, not to mention
his discipline?” Tongue firmly cheeked, Mike responded to Gookin’s
broadside by informing Huckleberries Online that he had “an elaborate
catheter and drainage system” installed under his desk in the council
room. “It was expensive,” joked Kennedy. “but it allows me (with my
admittedly small bladder) to drink more coffee than any small army
could consume without having to get up and use the bathroom, thus
ensuring I don’t fall asleep.” Alas, Mike continued in jest, the
engineering department installed a flawed system. His internal intake
works don’t have the same capacity as the discharge system. So Mike has
to fetch coffee constantly to ensure the in-to-out system is balanced/DFO, SR Handle Extra. More here.
Question: Which OpenCDA.com activists or allies do you think will run for the CDA council this year? Will one of them run against Sandi Bloem for mayor?
The Hudson’s experience is a bit like old-timey Blues or Country music,
some really get into it and some just don’t appreciate its history and
raw, essential simplicity. Obviously, the majority of local old timers
(of all ages) fall into the former category, and some are viciously
defensive and/or completely obsessive about the landmark burger stand
that has attracted national attention in publications like Sunset and USA Today. 
There was even an official proclamation by the Idaho State House of Representatives
two years ago recognizing the burger stand’s 100th birthday and
honoring all five generations of the Hudson family who have kept our
town well fed and happy, having survived “two World Wars, several
international military combat situations, the Great Depression,
economic recessions, and the arrival of the Golden Arches.” It opened
as the “Missouri Kitchen” in a rickety shack built by Harley Hudson and
has since been handed down to son Howard, grandson Roger,
great-grandsons Steve and Todd, who currently run the show, and
great-great grandson Alex who is poised to take the golden spatula some
day in the future/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.
Question: Can you guesstimate how many Hudson’s Hamburgers you eat a year?
I’m becoming increasingly aware that there’s hundreds of stories behind the short items that appear in Scanner Traffic. An unattended death leaves behind families. A trailer fire in Athol is dealt with quickly. But it wipes out a family’s possessions. This week, two items hit close to home. First, a little boy was knocked down by Husky dogs at a bus stop @ Lunceford & 17th. That happened to be the son of an HBO regular who told me that one of the dogs tried to drag the boy off. She asked for Stickman’s address, so she could comfort him with one of Stickman’s treasured sticks. Then, an older man fell on ice at Shopko and badly hurt his left shoulder. That was the father of a friend of mine, a former North Idaho sheriff. He faces a long rehabilitation after suffering other recent health problems. It’s amazing how connected we are in this community. Now, for your Wild Card …
The investigation involving former Lake City Development Corp. Chairman Charlie Nipp isn’t over . Nipp, through his attorney, has requested copies of all correspondence between Sen. Mike Jorgenson, his constituents and the Idaho attorney general’s office prior to the criminal investigation on the former chairman. The request was made on Thursday by Nipp’s lawyer, Scott Reed, in a letter to Jorgenson citing Idaho’s Freedom of Information Act/Tom Hasslinger, Coeur d’Alene Press. More here.
Question: Where do you think this is headed?
Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, John G. Roberts, Jr., right, answers a question from Jordan Reich, left, back to camera, 20, of Gig Harbor, Wash. after speaking at the Sherman J. Bellwood Memorial Lecture Series at the Student Union Building ballroom at the University of Idaho Friday in Moscow. Reich is a University of Idaho sophomore civil engineering major and a member of the UI Air Force ROTC detachment. (AP Photo/Dean Hare)
Question: Am I the only one who thinks it’s great that the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court paid a visit to the University of Idaho?
… (spotted by Steve Sibulsky in the KMC parking lot): “God bless our troops; especially our snipers.”
Item: Girl’s abuser gets 10-year sentence: Kyra Wine lost feet as result of injuries/Ralph Bartholdt, St. Maries Gazette Record
More Info: Blackened, dead flesh on toddler Kyra Wine’s hand and feet and black
patches of scalp were among the injuries police saw during a welfare
check at the child’s home near St. Maries last summer. Authorities still don’t know the cause of those injuries to the
3-year-old, which required amputation of her feet and a finger and
months of recuperating at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center. They do know that Charles W. Smith, one of two people charged in the abuse case, is going to prison for 10 years. Wine’s mother and Smith’s girlfriend, Christina L. Haynes, is awaiting arraignment.
Question: Is 10 years in prison an adequate penalty for what Charles W. Smith did to Kyra Wine. Should Kyra’s mother face a similar penalty, if she is found guilty?
Cis: When my son’s were in their teens, I put the curse on them. I told them
I wished for them to 
have 5 sons like themselves, so they would know
what it was like to raise them. And that I felt sorry for their pending
wives, but if they were crazy enough to marry you guys, oh, well … and
when I got to meet each of the pending wives, I told them the same
story with the ending of … no refunds. 14 years later, as my
husband was getting roasted at his 50th birthday, something was said
about getting the boys back, of which my daughter in law Kathy yelled
aback … NOPE, MOM SAID NO REFUNDS, SO WE ARE STUCK WITH THEM … everyone
laughed. I have the greatest daughter in laws, far better than my son’s deserve. More here.
Question: Do you have any kids that have the same annoying characteristics as you when you were younger?
Christie Wood: Warning … my comments will percieved as kissing up. I do not care. …The
truth 
is she is the best leader the City has had in my 19 years of
employment. Mayor Bloem embraces and models the core values of strong
leadership. From her first day on the job to what ever meeting she
probably just left with City staff, she encourages team work, input
from every level no matter what your job title is, and she fosters a
sense of community and mutual respect among employees.
DFO: In order of capability, I’d agree with Christie that Sandi Bloem is the best Coeur d’Alene mayor in my 25 years in the Lake City, followed by 2. (tie) Al Hassell & Jim Fromm, 4. Ray Stone, and 5. Steve Judy.
Question: Who do you consider the best mayor of Coeur d’Alene (or your North Idaho town) over the past 20 to 25 years? Best city councilman?
Liz: I have returned to the classroom a couple of times in my adulthood. As
an evangelical 
Christian, what I have found is this: if you are
respectful that others do have a right to believe something else, then
you are for the most part also respected even with politically
incorrect views. The ones who come out spoiling for a fight and imply
an insult along with a carefully (or more likely NOT so carefully)
thought out argument wind up slinking out with their tails between
their legs feeling like they were “persecuted.” More here.
Question: Do Evangelical Christians bug you?
OrangeTV: I’m slowly piecing together an article about a big Rock Music
Festival that brought 
15,000 naked, stoned hippies and innocent
bystanders together in Farragut Park on July 2-5, 1971. It was billed
as the “Universal Life Church Picnic” but was, by all reports,
incredibly wild and resulted in drug busts and much heavy-duty
moralizing by the governor and others at the time. Seems to have really
shaken up sleepy old North Idaho at the time. Anyway, more importantly I’m gathering memories from anyone willing
to share them if you can recall this festival at all. I’m especially
curious to know what bands played - in the Press, they speculated Grand
Funk Railroad and Iron Butterfly, but that seems a bit lofty. I have a
hunch it was mainly local “talent.” More here.
DFO: OrangeTV needs your help, if you remember anything about the 1971 Rock Music Festival at Farragut State Park. (BTW, OTV, the Gary Ingram you mention later in your comment is the same one who hangs out at HBO. He’s a former state legislator.
So what doomed this iconic Seattle fish wrap? The Seattle P-I’s
ultra-left-wing columnist Joel 
Connelly unintentionally and unknowingly
sideswiped the answer when he used his column to ask this ironic
question: Once the P-I shuts down its presses, “who will speak truth to
power?” I had to laugh. If there is one reason why the P-I is
shuttering its doors, it is precisely because it would not speak truth
to power. The Seattle P-I never strayed from the mainstream media
orthodoxy. To speak truth to power, the P-I would have had to take
issue with itself. Whether it is newspapers, television news,
news magazines, Hollywood movies or late-night television comedians,
there exists a herd mentality that the the P-I blended into seamlessly.
The P-I almost never reported news or composed an opinion that strayed
from left-wing orthodoxy. When the P-I shuts down, Seattle will become
a one-newspaper town with only the Seattle Times littering porches/Michael Costello, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: Which is the most liberal newspaper in Idaho? Which is the most conservative?
In the news this evening: Justice Ginsburg hints there may be a Supreme Court opening soon here. VP Biden drops an F-bomb into an open mic here. Wall Street registers its first four-day rally since November here. Obama abandons term ‘enemy combatant’ here. AG: Anna Nicole Smith’s boyfriend was an ‘enabler’ here. And the work week ends with this Wild Card on the table …
Mitch Seavey’s dog team watches Jessie Royer drive her team along the Kuskokwim River and into the Nicolai, Alaska, checkpoint on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race this week. (AP Photo/Al Grillo) SR’s Today In Photos
Temps were plunging,
snow was storming;
could have used some
global warming.
The Bard Of Sherman Avenue
OrangeTV: I’ve found that it’s much easier to blog about a particular subject, in my case food & nightlife etc, than it is to maintain a general personal blog. I could never come up with clever enough stuff from my mundane life and I didn’t like the idea of unwanted eyeballs learning certain details. Now it’s fun to blog about my subject and interject my own point of view within that context.
Question (from OTV): If you were to start a blog about a specific subject (i.e., music, designer footwear, celeb gossip, artichokes etc.), what would it be?
Spokane Police officer James “Jay” Olsen waits in a courtroom today for a jury’s decision from a hearing where the jury determined that Olsen had acted in self-defense in the shooting of Shonto Pete. The decision is separate from Olsen’s ongoing trial on assault charges for his shooting of Pete. The decision means that Olsen’s legal bills will be paid by the taxpayers and that he will receive back pay for the time he was suspended. Story here. Jesse Tinsley/Spokesman-Review.
Spring Break attendees dump beer and other drinks at people below while watching country music singer Kenny Chesney’s concert from the upper floors of the Summit Condominiums in Panama City Beach, Fla., on Wednesday. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/The News Herald, Terry Barner)
Top Cutlines:
In this Thursday photo, Jim Cramer, left, host of the “Mad Money” show on CNBC, talks with Jon Stewart during an appearance on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” in New York. The feud between Stewart and Cramer has been good for laughs, and ratings, but has also raised the serious question of whether the experts at TV’s No. 1 financial news network should have seen the meltdown coming and warned the public. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow) Question: How often do you watch “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”?
“After the show (‘Jungle Book,’ performed by Christian Youth Theater), I asked the boys if they thought they might want to be in a play. As expected, they said, ‘No.’ But a little while later, Josh said, ‘Mom, if I was going to be in The Jungle Book, I’d want to be the oldest Mowgli.’ ‘Oh, yeah,’ I replied, “Why?” His answer was, ‘Because he gets to do something with the girl behind the umbrella.’” — A Butterfly Moment. More here.
It’s often said that freshmen can gain 15 pounds during their first year of college due to their increased intake of alcohol and fast food. But the same can happen in the workplace with the availability of candy, homemade treats, Girl Scout Thin Mints, snacks, and office party leftovers. While I can’t blame every one of the 20 pounds I’ve gained while working at the Press-Tribune (despite my active lifestyle) on handouts alone, I’m sure they’ve contributed significantly/Randy Lavorante, 2C Etc. More here.
Question: Do you have too many snacks and treats available at your workplace?
“As the sun sets a cow elk and yearling head into the trees to join the rest of their herd, just off of Burlington Road at the north end of the Rathdrum Prairie,” writes Councilwoman KerriT/OnLocation North Idaho. The herd numbers around two dozen and winters between Chase Road and Greensferry each year. In another month or so they’ll make their way back up to Rathdrum Mountain for the summer.
At 4 p.m. Saturday, the fourth annual St. Patrick’s Day Celebration Parade will take place in downtown Coeur d’Alene. The parade will begin @ 8th Street and Sherman Avenue.
Question: Are you part Irish? If not, do you still celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by wearing green?
Sheriff Rocky Watson tells Huckleberries he isn’t moving to the new digs he set up at Cougar Bay. Remember? Rocky bought Duane Hagadone’s old Casco Bay “cabin” and moved it in two pieces to his Cougar Bay property. However, Rocky said during a visit to HBO Central, his wife became increasingly reluctant to move from her long-time Rockford Bay home. And Rocky’s smart enough to know that if Mary ain’t happy, he’s not going to be happy. So he has taken both homes off the market and will wait out the economy, hoping to sell the Cougar Bay property in a year or so, possibly as a bed-and-breakfast place.
Anyway, Taco Time truly has the quintesstial version of the Crisp Burrito. They’re never frozen; 
they really do make fresh batches several times a day, rolled and ready for the fryer. The pinto filling is made from a dehydrated spicy bean mix, but is still very tasty. The ground beef is also cooked fresh in a humungous frying pan, the same spiced meat they use in the tacos, but it’s hand-mixed with shredded cheddar cheese before being rolled. A more recent (well, early 90’s) menu addition is the Chicken Crisp Burrito, which has a cream-cheese and chive thing going on. Also very good. Whatever variety I decide on, I always have to get the tangy pink sauce (you have to ask for “thousand island”, although it really isn’t quite that) on the side for mad dipping action. I think every diet I’ve ever been on has been sabotaged by one of these babies/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.
Question: What’s Mexican dish is your favorite?
When news broke that the Oklahoma Legislature had proclaimed “Do You Realize??” by the 
Flaming Lips as the state’s official rock song, my eyes welled up with tears of gratitude. Thank heavens our own Legislature busies itself with more pressing issues. Like taxing brewskis or telling the federal government, Cartman-style, to “Respect our sovereignty!” Still, I felt a pang of jealousy. How come a backwoods state like Oklahoma gets an official state rock song? Come on, we’re just as backwoods as they are! Idaho does have an official state song: “Here We Have Idaho.” You know that one, right? No? The Legislature adopted it in 1931. I’m guessing you still may be able to hear it at, say, a Kiwanis or Rotary club event. Here’s the thing: Nothing is stopping our lawmakers from giving Idaho an official state rock song/Michael Deeds, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: Washington, of course, has “Louie, Louie” as its official song. What song would be a good one to serve as Idaho’s official rock song?
Becky Washa, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, cries as she holds a photo of her sister Holly Washa, Thursday, outside the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, Wash. The state Supreme Court stayed the execution of Cal Coburn Brown, who killed Holly Washa in 1991, on Thursday, just hours before he was to die in what would have been Washington state’s first execution since 1991. Story here. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Although it isn’t official yet, Mayor Sandi Bloem told Huckleberries this morning that she will 
seek a historic third term this fall. “I’m healthy, and I love what I’m doing,” Bloem said. “I’m in a good place.” Ray Stone is the only other Coeur d’Alene mayor to be elected to two, four-year terms. He was defeated by Al Hassell in his attempt to be elected for a third term. Bloem said she wasn’t prompted to seek re-election to finish a particular project, like the Education Corridor or the Midtown renovation. She simply enjoys her role as part of a progressive team that involves city staff and community leaders. “I want to continue as part of this team and to play another game.” She said she wants to be part of bringing other worthy programs and projects to the Lake City, like the Kroc Center and Ironman Coeur d’Alene. Mayor Bloem said she hasn’t set a date to officially announce plans for re-election.
Question: How would you rate Sandi Bloem’s performance over the past 8 years?
Pecky Cox/As The Lake Churns has been chronicling below-zero temperatures at Priest Lake on her blog. She snapped this photo of the chair she uses to read at noon yesterday. The white in front of the chair is frozen Priest Lake. No fog. No clouds — “just solid frozen white and beautiful.” Writes Pecky: ”The chair had disappeared under snow but ‘signs fo spring’ (yeah right) it is back and red as can be.” She adds that the noise of cracking ice have stopped. No more melting and “very cold here.”
The goal of creating a tolerant environment is a noble one. The problem is, the neutral position 
we are aiming for does not exist. Cleansing academia of any reference to God does not create an unbiased, intellectual environment. On the contrary, it makes a very strong statement about the existence and importance of God. Claiming we can study a given field without any sort of reference to God assumes even if God exists, he isn’t necessary to explain the world. That is not a neutral position. We think removing questions of God from the classroom will put everyone on equal footing, but what it does in reality is to assume an atheistic view of the world. Atheism means “without god.” Therefore, if we remove God from the discussion, we are engaging in an atheistic education, not a neutral one/Benjamin Ledford, Argonaut. More here.
Question: Ledford maintains that colleges and universities foster an environment in the name of tolerance that supports atheism. Do you agree or disagree?
During my freshman year, my roommate brought an 18-by-24-inch poster of Paris Hilton in our 
dorm, and despite my protest, it stayed propped up against the wall for the whole year. I absolutely despised it. How any college student can look up to her is beyond me. The celebrity craze has successfully managed to rid young women and girls of respectful and inspiring role models. And media with dollar signs in its eyes are only making it worse. A pantyless crotch shot of Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan, a coked-out Amy Winehouse or one of the starving Olsen twins all make successful magazine covers, Web site hits and E! News shows. Meanwhile, a female astronaut only makes a People Magazine cover by going on a crazed rampage against her ex-lover. It seems role models for girls are drowned out by the rich, famous and stupid/Anne-Marije Rook, UI Argonaut.
Question: Who is a good role model for young women and girls?
(Rep. Jim) Clark, who was convicted of DUI himself 10 years ago, isn’t the only Idahoan concerned about the huge number of drunken driving cases that appear in courthouses throughout the state every day, or the number of automobile collisions caused by people who risk their own and others’ lives by driving when they shouldn’t. It seems no penalty is great enough to deter some people from such recklessness. But a law with no enforcement mechanism is worse than no law at all. It only encourages disrespect for laws in general, and the people who write them/Jim Fisher, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: Would you support a bill like Jim Clark’s to prevent repeat DUI offenders from getting alcohol, if it meant you’d have to show your ID every time you bought beer, wine or booze?
The University of Idaho spirit squad raised $1250 to be able to attend the Western Athletic Conference tournament. Among other fundraising methods, the squad went through the audience during basketball games asking for donations. Story here. Jake Barber/Argonaut
Gov. Butch Otter hopes to spend more than two-thirds of Idaho’s $1.2 billion in stimulus money on schools, transportation and help for low-income Idahoans. What do you think of his plan?/Idaho Statesman
MamaJD: Lately I’ve been pondering shutting my blog down. I’m tired and sometimes the people are creepy. Granted, most people who visit are friends and family. Every once and while though, I get a comment that is creepy. And then I wonder, “Why am I doing this?” as I am removing a post that attracted a creepy person. I can manage this contact better through Facebook and I could still comment on HBO. Why do I need my own blog?
Question: Any words of advice for MamaJD?
Me: Oh - while cleaning out my Mom’s house I found a casette of Kelly Hughes from 1983! Idaho Born it was called. I know it belonged to my sister who graduated with him from Post Falls High. He looks so young and I need to pop it into a casette player and give it a listen.
Question: Do you enjoy country Western music?
Cindy Hval: Reminds of what my dad said when my husband asked for my hand in marriage. “Hval all the people to marry,” he then added, “You can’t have her hand. You have to take the whole package. And she’s non-refundable.”
Question: Did you ask your wife’s parents for her hand in marriage? Or: Did you husband ask your parents for your hand in marriage?
Signe Wilkinson/Philadelphia Inquirer
Idaho guard Trevor Morris, foreground, comes up with the ball ahead of Louisiana Tech guard James Loe, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game at the Western Athletic Conference men’s tournament in Reno, Nev., tonight. Boxscore here. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
In the news this evening: The chairman of the National Governors Association says new GOP chairman Michael Steele is ‘toast’ here. The Army fired 11 soldiers in January for being openly gay here. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics finds carcinogens in bath products here. The Justice Department investigates controversial Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio for enforcing the immigration law here. President Obama declares the economic crisis is ‘not as bad as we think’ here. And today’s Wild Card remains in play …
Big Mac snapped this group of bulls outside of Sheridan, Wyo., Feb. 16, and was surprised that the bulls hadn’t shed their antlers yet. He adds: “This group is part of the herd located in the Black Hills area and is one of the last herds of true ‘Plains’ elk. He labels the photo: “Winter Bachelor Party.” SR Today In Photos.
Item: Bristol Palin, Levi Johnston split up/Huffington Post
More Info: Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin, the teenage daughter of Gov. Sarah Palin, have broken off their engagement, he said Wednesday, about 2 1/2 months after the couple had a baby. Johnston, 19, told The Associated Press that he and 18-year-old Bristol Palin mutually decided “a while ago” to end their relationship. He declined to elaborate as he stood outside his family’s home in Wasilla, about 40 miles north of Anchorage.
Question: Did you consider marrying someone before you met your current spouse?
North Idaho College basketball player Bianca Cheever, of Geelong, Australia during practice at the school in Coeur d’Alene on Thursday. She is headed to the University of Idaho to play after this season. Kathy Plonka/Spokesman-Review
A bold seagull lands on the head of Jackie Cempura, of Springdale, Ark., to take a chip from Cempura’s mouth while visiting the beach in Ormond Beach, Fla. on Tuesday. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Daytona Beach News-Journal, Nigel Cook)
The day-care licensing bill, SB 1112a, has passed the Senate on a strong 30-5 vote. Sen. Tim Corder, R-Mountain Home, gave an impassioned 40-minute opening debate, in which he said, “It’s not our policy to interfere in family business, but it is our policy to be providing safe businesses that families will use.” Idaho currently requires no criminal background checks, no smoke detectors, no minimum staffing requirements, or anything else for small day-care operators; it licenses only those with 13 or more unrelated children. Idaho ranks last in the nation for its oversight of child care/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
… The state Supreme Court has issued a stay of Friday’s execution of Cal Coburn Brown for the 1991 slaying of Holly Washa in SeaTac.
Above photo first appeared on SteveQuayle.com, attributed to “Pam”
The U.S. Army Reserve made good on its promise to hold an “open house” on having some of its soldiers marching through Hayden one Sunday morning in almost full gear as part of a training exercise. Sort of. The “house” was open Wednesday night, but it was reminiscent of that old ‘60s poster: “Suppose they gave a war, and nobody came?” A half-dozen men in camouflage BDUs showed up at the Hayden City Hall and occupied the council chamber on Wednesday night, and waited for anyone wanting to question them about an exercise last month which involved several platoons marching along neighborhood streets/Jim Camden (pictured), Spin Control. More here.
Question: What do you make of this flap involving armed Hayden Reservists drilling by marching down Hayden streets earlier this winter?
CindyH: Oh dear. It’s a quiet day in HBO-land, but I need some help. Tomorrow, I have to order new business cards and I’d like to have a catchy, witty, or pithy saying to put on them. But. I. Can’t. Think. Of. One. Which is embarrassing because I’m a freelance writer! This is what I do folks. Write Words. Oh! That’s a good one: Write Words! JeanieS suggested “Wise Witty Wordsmithing.” Another friend came up with “Professional Prose” and at Blogfest BethB. suggested using my last name somehow and maybe including something about hearts. The cards must be suitable to hand out to business owners, artists, editors, publishers, and people come up to me in restaurants and say nice things. Anyone else have ideas? Your help would be appreciated.
Question: Any ideas?
OrangeTV has a new batch of vintage photos posted on his Remember The Roxy web site today, including this one of the old Templin’s restaurant in the 1960s. I’ve been here long enough to have eaten at the restaurant. Which became Murphy’s for a short period after Duane Hagadone/Jerry Jaeger grabbed Templin’s, the old North Shore, and the Western Frontiers hospitality empire from Bob Templin in 1983. Did you ever eat at Templin’s or Cloud 9 of the old North Shore Resort?
Outstanding In His Field: Jared Phay probably doesn’t know me from a hole in the ground, but I’m gonna congratulate him anyway. I know Jared, his mother and his grandparents. I even got to know his uncle, the detective, via email. Jared, who coaches basketball at North Idaho College, was just named Region 18 coach of the year after a stellar season with his NIC Cardinals. I watched Jared play basketball back in the mid-‘90s. That was when he was attending Falls Christian School, and our son Willie was playing basketball for Sandpoint High/Marianne Love, Slight Detour. More here.
This Nov. 20, 2008, photo shows the execution chamber at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, Wash. Cal Coburn Brown is scheduled to die in about 10 hours for the murder of Holly Washa in 1991. If the execution is carried out, Brown will be the first person executed in Washington since 2001. Story here. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) Question: Do you care whether murderer Brown is executed at Walla Walla after midnight?
Item No. 1: Sex column causes stir at University of Montana/Missoulian A University of Montana law professor has taken her concerns about a weekly sex column in the student-run newspaper, the Montana Kaimin, to top school administrators. Professor Kristen Juras wrote a letter last week to UM President George Dennison and School of Journalism Dean Peggy Kuhr, requesting that they meet with the Kaimin editorial staff to “ask them to reconsider their publication of this column.”
Item No. 2: Student sues college after being barred from showing pro-life display/KHQ: The official complaint Sheeran filed in court states that when Sheeran and the Spokane Falls Christian Fellowship wanted to hold a pro-life event at the College on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the College refused to allow the event. Court documents say the College told Sheeran and SFCF “that their pro-life display was ‘offensive’ and ‘discriminatory.’”
Question: Should both of these situations be protected by the First Amendment? One of them? Neither of them?
Hill, 52, said things have gotten much better for working women since the judiciary committee treated her like a criminal for alleging Thomas sexually harassed her when they worked together. But much work remains to be done, she added. “Every day someone is confronted with some form of sexual harassment in the workplace,” she said. Perhaps only 10 percent of actual cases are reported, she said. And even when lawsuits are pursued and won, victory can be empty when faced with a drawn-out appeals process/Joel Mills, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: Were you affected by the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearing?
Spokane Fire Department personnel secure the body of a man who fell or jumped from the west side of the Parkade parking facility in downtown Spokane Wednesday. The death has been ruled a suicide. Story here. Christopher Anderson/Spokesman-Review.
More than $2 million in federal stimulus funding will be used to thin trees in four North Idaho counties, restoring the ecosystem and lowering the risk of wildfires. The work will create about 55 jobs. The removal of hazardous fuels will take place on private and state lands in Kootenai, Bonner, Benewah and Boundary counties. More than 400 jobs will be created from $32.5 million in fuels reduction projects in nine states, ranging from Florida to Alaska/Becky Kramer, SR. More here.
A broken sprinkler head at Skyway Elementary School in the Coeur d’Alene School District caused water damage to four classrooms overnight and forced the school to move classes to other parts of the building, school officials said. The sprinkler head apparently broke some time after a night custodian left at 11:30 a.m. and was not discovered until accumulating water caused an alarm to go off in the early morning hours today/Mike Prager, SR. More here.
Last week I was driving down Division, listening to a station that plays a mix of songs from the ’80s, ’90s and today. Then it happened. I heard Kelly Clarkson singing, “My Life Would Suck Without You.” That’s the name of the song. Seriously. Here’s a portion of the lyrics, “I know that I’ve got issues, but you’re pretty messed up too. … My life would suck without you, being with you is so dysfunctional.” Is this what we descended to – using words like “issues” and “dysfunctional” in pop songs? Who is writing this stuff, Dr. Phil?/CindyH, SR. More here.
Question: Is today’s music any worse than the music you listened to, as a youth?
Duane Nellis, Kansas State University’s provost and senior vice president, said today that he has declined the job as president of the University of Idaho. He was offered the position earlier this week, KSU spokeswoman Cheryl May said. Nellis, 54, who visited the Idaho campus in late January, has been K-State’s chief academic officer since 2004. Montana State University Provost David Dooley was the other finalist for the position. UI has gone through five leaders, both temporary and permanent presidents, in the past six years/Wichita Eagle.
At Unequivocal Notion, blogger Chris mentions a major problem with blogs — “a lot of people 
still don’t read them.” Continues Chris: “Ask 10 random people you know if they know what a blog even is, then to
those who do know what a blog is, ask them if they read any. I bet the
answer will surprise you — it’s never surprised me — for as big as the
internet is, the blogosphere is still pretty small.” North Idaho has a well-developed blogosphere, with most blogs associated in some way or another with Huckleberries Online. We’re a mutual admiration society that learned years ago that we grow our page-counts by promoting one another. We should all be proud that many North Idaho bloggers have celebrated several blogiversaries because blogging is a hard, lonely avocation. Feedback in the form of comments and page-views keeps us going. I’ve tried here to expand our blogosphere to include southern Idaho brethren for two reasons — to encourage their blogging efforts and to expose North Idaho to their thoughts. Now, let’s drop in on Chris again for his bottom line: “What am I asking of you? Simple, just spread the word. If you like what I do here and what other bloggers from around the state do with their blogs, please let some people know. What would be awesome would be if you could email 1, 5 or 10 friends or family and just say something like “Hey, I read these blogs everyday, you might enjoy them … check them out here …” And, of course, don’t forget Huckleberries.
Question (for bloggers): What is the greatest difficulty re: blogging?
Jessie Tinsley, my SR compadre, snapped this photo on Freya Wednesday afternoon.
Aliasjax: Anybody who monitors local blogs and other public cyber-forums knows that a very ugly racisits sentiment bubbles just below the surface in North Idaho. Read the recent comments on several threads at the CdA Press story comments section - criticism of NIC offering minority athletes scholarships, criticism of a local school bringing an African dance troupe to the school for a performance; calls for “white heritage” month; and on and on. It’s sickening. More here.
Question: Should the Coeur d’Alene Press do a better job of monitoring comments on its online story posts? Or do uncensored free-flowing comments provide a good gauge re: community sentiment?
Item: Taco Chic Salsa a rise in temperature: Rathdrum woman becomes a Northwest hit with her grandmother’s recipe/Seattle Examiner
More Info: Juanita has been featured in both local and national magazines, from the Idaho Cuisine to Country Living Magazine. She has been featured on a live Web cast with CNBC’s Donny Deutsch Show “The Big Idea,” where budding entrepreneurs present their products and the NBC’s Today Show in a production about mom entrepreneurs going from home-based businesses to seeing their dreams come true.
Question: What’s your favorite type of salsa?
Item: Literature deliveries shock senior center: ‘David Duke Report’ left at Post Falls facility on multiple occasions/Brian Walker, CDA Press
More Info: It isn’t exactly the type of material you’d expect to read with a cup of coffee at the local senior center. Someone has dropped off copies of “The David Duke Report” newsletters after hours at the Post Falls Senior Center four different times recently. Duke is a former grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux.
Question: Is this an isolated incident. Or is it proof that racism still remains a problem in North Idaho?
A car hangs on a bank above I-90 as firefighters and tow operators prepare to move it Wednesday. The driver, Majid Rafiq, said he was trying to avoid another car that ran a red light when he crashed through the chain-link fencing at 3rd and Freya, where law enforcement personnel closed down the near lane of I-90, snarling rush hour traffic for an hour. Jesse Tinsley/Spokesman-Review
Should Congress have to vote on its own pay raise?/Moscow-Pullman Daily News
Gov. Butch Otter’s plan for spending stimulus money calls for still cutting 5 percent from statewide personnel costs for all agencies funded by the state general fund, his budget director, Wayne Hammon, just told lawmakers - and, in response to a question from Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, he said that does apply to public schools. “Yes, it does include public schools - that would be in addition to the list submitted to you by the superintendent,” Hammon said. State schools Supt. Tom Luna’s proposed $62 million in cuts for schools next year already includes the equivalent of a 1.5 percent pay cut for teachers and other educators - eliminating funding equal to three contract days of pay. The governor’s proposal would add the 5 percent cut in personnel cuts on top of that/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Given the times, is a 6.5% pay cut proposed for Idaho’s public school teachers reasonable?
Item: Dennis Mansfield’s oldest son dies in Missouri/Idaho Statesman
Signe Wilkinson/Philadelphia Inquirer
Oregon’s Frantz Dorsainvil, left, and Kamyron Brown, right, try to reach a loose ball along with Washington State’s Aron Baynes, center, from Australia, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game at the Pac-10 men’s tournament in Los Angeles on Wednesday. WSU clobbered Oregon 62-40 to earn a matchup with UCLA today. ESPN game story & boxscore here. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)
At approximately 10:30 a.m. today, the Timberlake Fire Protection District responded to a structure fire at 30450 N. Pasttime Street/Athol. Units arrived to find a 10-by-60-foot trailer home on fire. The fire quickly spread through the trailer. Units from Spirit Lake and Northern Lakes responded to assist. A total of 16 firefighters responded including 3 engines, 1 ambulance, and 1 chief officer. The fire started in the back bedroom and the cause is under investigation. The two adults that lived in the trailer lost nearly everything and did not have renters insurance. The Red Cross is providing assistance/Timberlake Fire Protection District news release.
In the news this evening: Bristol Palin kicks her baby’s father to the curb here (H/T: CYRTS). A King County judge refuses to stop a Washington killer’s scheduled Friday execution here. The richest people in the world have gotten poorer, like the rest of us, here. Obama taps Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske as his next drug czar here. 41% of America thinks that global warming is ‘exaggerated’ here. And the Wild Card remains in play …
Rescuers pull a man from the frigid Niagara River after witnesses said he went over the Horseshoe Falls Wednesday in Niagara Falls, Ont. Canada. The man reportedly held on for about 30 minutes in the frigid Niagara River before rescuers pulled him to shore. (AP Photo/The Niagara Falls Review, Mike DiBattista) SR Today In Photos
Any suicide leaves behind painful, unanswered questions, but the hanging death three weeks ago of Samuel Jackson Lindsay-Brown leaves more than most. In addition to the searing questions for family and friends over why he ended his life, no information has yet been released about Lindsay-Brown’s involvement in the murky world of cross-border drug smuggling and why undercover agents busted him when they did. His passing has become big news across western Canada, where he is seen as a casualty in the U.S. government’s war on drugs. The 24-year-old Canadian was arrested Feb. 23 on federal drug trafficking charges after flying a helicopter bearing 350 pounds of marijuana over the border in crappy weather at night/Kevin Taylor, Pacific Northwest Inlander. More here.
Question: Is the war on drugs worth the continuing, costly fight?
“North Idaho has already marked record-breaking amounts of snow this winter and now the past two days are record cold temperatures for March,” posts Councilwoman KerriT/OnLocation North Idaho. “In Post Falls this morning the sun shining on my frosty backyard thermometer brought the temperature up to double digits by 9 a.m.”
A student poses with a Xenesthis immanis tarantula on her face during an exhibition at a school in Bogota Tuesday. Biologist Dario Gutierrez tours schools throughout Colombia teaching students the use of almost 300 species of arachnids in traditional medicine. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/William Fernando Martinez)
Top Cutlines:
A 34-year-old Coeur d’Alene man was arrested on aggravated assault charges late Tuesday night, after he allegedly beat a drinking companion and fired shots at his car as he drove off. Andy Lee Jones was arrested after a standoff with police at 1374 Kaleigh Court. Initially, Coeur d’Alene police were called to Kootenai Medical Center, where Craig Evans, 28, of Coeur d’Alene, was being treated for injuries to his head and face. Evans reported that he and his fiance spent the evening at the Mousetrap Bar in Coeur d’Alene, having drinks with a friend and Jones. Later, he gave the two men a ride to their home, where Jones reportedly began waving around a Ruger 9mm handgun. As he tried to leave, Evans said, Jones bear-hugged him and then started beating him. He was able to leave and get in the car. At that point, the victim said, Jones fired several shots in the direction of the car. Officers found a bullet hole in the rear passenger side fender.
The Spokane Medical Examiner’s Office ruled this week that the death of a Post Falls toddler who was in the care of a foster family earlier this year was a homicide. Karina Moore died at Sacred Heart Medical Center 10 days after she had been taken there in a coma with life-threatening injuries. Her injuries and coma were brought on as a result of what her foster family called a tragic accident in which they claimed she fell down a short flight of carpeted stairs at their Post Falls home/KXLY. More here.
Idaho’s Rachele Kloke, left, pulls the ball out away as Utah State’s Shawnta Pope dives for it during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game at the Western Athletic Conference women’s Tournament in Reno, Nev., Wednesday. Utah State beat Idaho 59-58 in overtime. ESPN boxscore here. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
For 10 years, Ronald Zebell, better known as Zeb Bell, has broadcast his AM talk radio program “Zeb at the Ranch” from Rupert across the Magic Valley. In response to what they call Bell’s “ongoing bigotry targeting numerous groups including Hispanics, gay people, blacks, Native Americans, women, and Muslims,” these two blogs, the MountainGoat Report and the Political Game, are methodically documenting Bell’s slurs. While bloggers debate how to get Bell off the airwaves, Bell hopes for legislation to take bloggers off the Internet. Bell adamantly denies that he broadcasts hate speech/Mathias Morache, Boise Weekly. More here. And: MountainGoat Report here.
In the comments section this afternoon, Don Sausser speaks for many Berry Pickers when he writes: “If there is ever a Huckleberries prize for photographic composition Pecky Cox/As The Lake Churns frequently treats us with winners. It is one thing to notice a subject but to transform it into eye candy is another. Thank you Pecky.” Pecky’s a treasure. So is Kerri Thoreson, Don, Granati & all local photographers who grace this site with their work. Earlier today, Pecky snapped the shot above of a thirsty deer walking from Luby Bay to Kalispell Island. E-mails Pecky: “I kept watching after taking the picture and saw him stop to drink water.” BTW, Pecky reports that the temperature was 6 below at Casa Cox this morning.
One beautiful day will obliterate mountains of grousing and moaning. Winter around here seems more like an elephant pregnancy than a human in its interminable nature, so when spring finally pops out, I’d bet that we’re probably the happiest people in the Universe. Who would ever want to get out of here? That’s what we start thinking and saying when spring springs forth. And, we maintain that attitude until about October when we’re still enjoying beautiful fall days but gradually dreading what’s ahead. For now, there’s no dread/Marianne Love, Slight Detour. More here.
Question: Have any of you said mentioned once, over the past two winters, that you were thinking about moving elsewhere?
A early blooming daffodil is surrounded by rows of snow in Sumner, Wash., Monday. (AP Photo/The News Tribune, Dean J. Koepfler) Question: Anyone seen the usual early-spring flowers poking through the snow yet?
Item: Future: Foreclosed: Some people in Kootenai County staked fortunes on the housing bubble and now it’s exploding in their faces/Taryn Hecker, Pacific Northwest Inlander
More Info: More than 900 notices of default were filed in Kootenai County in 2008, an increase of about 40 percent from the previous year, says Kootenai County Clerk Dan English. One of every 454 homes in Kootenai County is in the process of foreclosure, according to market statistics. “A lot of what we’re seeing is people overspent,” says Joel Elgee, a realtor with Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty in Coeur d’Alene. “They go into a home and their margin was too tight and if anything went wrong, they’d be missing house payments. “Once you miss one payment, it’s all over. … The situation perpetuates itself.”
Question: Do you know of anyone in danger of losing his/her home?
When I was 3, my dad - a Power County wheat farmer - died. Without being asked, our neighbors harvested his crop, using their own fuel and equipment to do it. When it came time to sell the wheat, they hauled it to the grain elevator in Pocatello. My mother offered to pay them for their trouble, but they all declined. … We don’t make a big deal about it, but Idahoans look after each other. So whenever somebody - in this case the Idaho Senate - does something to violate that spirit, it makes me angry. And as an Idahoan, it should make you mad too. Eighteen of the 35 members of the Senate voted last Friday against legislation that would have allowed utilities like Idaho Power to establish programs to help struggling customers keep up with their electricity and gas bills with help from other ratepayers/Steve Crump, Twin Falls Times-News. More here.
Question: Have you had friends and neighbors help you through tough economic times?
The measure, supported by Idaho Licensed Beverage Association leaders and Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, would let cities and counties issue unlimited new licenses, but only to businesses with restaurant or hotels. Owners of some 1,000 existing licenses would receive special treatment to preserve their value, like 10 percent discounts, cheaper relicensing and transferability almost anywhere in
Frozen in time and snow a retired combine is permanently idle in a farm field Tuesday near Moscow. (AP Photo/Lewiston Tribune, Steve Hanks)
Give or take about a month ago, a band calling themselves paranormals spent a long evening in the Old Jail, listening and watching for any strange sounds, images, visions or just about anything outside the realm of “normal.” What did they find, hear, discover…? “Well, we’re not exactly sure at this point,” reported John Morgan, vice president of the yet, unnamed group. “But, yes, we heard some things. Some things that bear a repeat visit,” he said, adding, a second visit is being scheduled, “as soon as the (Rathdrum/Westwood) historical club will let us in!”/Tom Burnett, Rathdrum Star. Latest Rathdrum Star issue here.
Question: Do you believe in ghosts?
In the North Idaho College Sentinel, columnist John Monnier suggests that violent sex offenders should be executed. Quoth: “Take a stand against the violent offenders because 
they should not be able to live among people who do not cause severe harm to others. They should be stopped with extreme prejudice. Nip it at the bud, and let God sort them out.” Of course, that’s not going to happen in a society that largely eschews the death penalty, even for the most violent criminals. But he does raise an interesting point. What do you do with your run-of-the-mill registered sex offenders? Most would say avoid them at all costs. Unless you can’t, of course. Mebbe you’re related to one. Mebbe a sex offender attends your church. Or community organization. Sex offenders are the modern-day lepers. Deservedly, they bear the modern-day scarlet letter for their — hopefully past — crime. Some of them have committed horrible crimes. Others maginal ones. You can find their photos, addresses, and a brief account of their crimes on the Web. I know two of them in our community, individuals who committed crimes decades ago. They remain crushed by their crimes. I know I should show compassion. But I remain uneasy around them. I wonder what the Good Samaritan would do?
Question: What would you do if a nonviolent registered sex offender wanted to join your church or community organization. Would you give him or her a second chance?
Two years after Washington launched a controversial domestic partners registry for same-sex couples, the state Senate late Tuesday voted to grant the partners virtually all the rights of spouses — except marriage. “You have denied us that right,” Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, who is gay, told his fellow senators. “Do not deny us the right to care for our families and to build our lives.” Largely along party lines, the Senate voted 30-18 in favor of the bill. It now goes to the state House of Representatives, where it is expected to pass. Gov. Chris Gregoire hasn’t said whether she’ll sign the bill, but has said she supports such rights for same-sex couples/Rich Roesler, Eye On Olympia. More here.
Question: Do you support the action by the Washington Legislature to give same-sex couples all the rights of traditional marriage, but marriage itself?
In this April 13, 2007, file photo by Jesse Tinsley/SR, Dr. Dirk Vanderwall, left, of the University of Idaho talks about mules with Penny Stokes, center, who is the barn manager at the Jacklin farm near Hauser while two students from Northwest Christian School check out Lochsa, one of the Jacklin’s mules. Now, Vanderwall is leaving the campus, as did his colleague Gordon Woods in 2006. The departures will probably lead to the demise of the Northwest Equine Reproduction Laboratory. From day one, the University of Idaho didn’t give proper support to the renowned lab that created the world’s first cloned mule, and now it is paying the price, the former chairman of its advisory board claims. For more of Joel Mills/Lewiston Tribune story, click here.
Want to get an Idaho politician to go mum? Ask why it is some voters must pay school taxes twice to get the same schools as other taxpayers. That gets `em quiet real fast. First they ask what you’re talking about then when you explain they will clam up. The reason they don’t say anything is because there is nothing to say. There is no explanation to the fact some Idaho residents pay school taxes twice just so their schools are comparable to what the state pays for in other communities. Alright, this theme is a bit worn. We’ve whined about it here before. But it is timely/Dan Hammes, St. Maries Gazette-Record. More here.
Question: Do you plan to vote for the next supplemental school levy in your community?
Idahoans unhappy with all the earmarks in the big spending bill now before the U.S. Senate have a lot of people to blame, including the members of their own congressional delegation. Make that their own congressional delegation of last year. As the Obama administration correctly points out, to the derision of some, the bill was assembled before the new Congress, and the new president, assumed office. That means freshman Democrat Walt Minnick is responsible for none of the earmarks, but, as his predecessor’s former press secretary points out, the four Republicans then in office - also not including freshman Sen. Jim Risch - are. (Bill Sali, Mike Simpson, Mike Crapo and Larry Craig are responsible for 65 earmarks specific to Idaho, totaling more than $69 million)/Jim Fisher, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: Are you surprised that last year’s conservative congressional delegation from Idaho is responsible for more than $69 million in earmarks in this year’s federal budget?
At OrangeTV’s Get Out! North Idaho blog: “Attention Get Out! print readers: We are pleased to announced that the Get Out column will be moving to the meaty Sunday edition of the Spokesman-Review starting 3/15 as part of the new, improved Handle Extra section, along with the music and arts calendar and other beloved favorites such as DFO’s Huckleberries, Nils Rosdahl’s business beat, and cranky Herb with his Bayview jazz.” More here.
… (on an older-model blue-and-white pickup with Shoshone County plates @ 4th & Harrison this morning): “The federal government has spent $58 billion this week.”
Item: Shooter in hunting accident heads to jail Friday; Dalton Gardens man to begin 180-day sentence/Meghann M. Cuniff, SR
More Info: A North Idaho man who accidentally shot and killed another hunter in Shoshone County last year will report to jail Friday to begin a six-month sentence. James L. Egan, 64, of Dalton Gardens, mistook James R. Hinchliff, 57, of Deer Park, for an animal when he shot him in November near Thompson Pass Road. The families involved in the tragedy that shattered a longtime tradition between three hunters hope their story will become a catalyst for a movement to mandate hunter orange in Idaho, which neither hunter was wearing when the shooting occurred Nov. 18 near Murray.
Question: Do you voluntarily wear hunter orange while hunting? Why? Why not?
RE: 2 Idaho GOP leaders want income tax cut: What would Ronald Reagan do? That’s what Rep. Mike Moyle wonders/Dan Popkey, Idaho Statesman.
Kevin Richert/Idaho Statesman: Idaho cannot afford to use $45 million of stimulus dollars to cut income taxes. This tax “relief” will punch a hole in the state’s tax structure — setting up a day of reckoning when Idaho will either have to cut school funding or increase some other tax. Unfortunately, we’ve been down this road before. In 2001, lawmakers insisted on permanent and unsustainable income tax cuts, which passed with bipartisan support and contributed to two years of budget cuts. More here.
Question: Should Idaho use $45M in stimulus money to provide income tax cuts for taxpayers?
How would you fill out Obama’s report card at this time?/WorldNetDaily
Signe Wilkinson/Philadelphia Inquirer
A Post Falls driver remains in critical condition after hitting a snow plow head on while rounding a curve on Highway 95 Sunday near Tensed. Diana Houston, 43, is in the intensive care unit at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane after her 1990 two-door Plymouth Laser struck an Idaho Transportation Department snow plow driven by David L. Duncan, 51, of Worley, about 4:15 p.m. at milepost 381, according to Idaho State Police. Houston’s passenger, Gary L. Waters, 51, is in stable condition at Kootenai Medical Center. Duncan was uninjured/Meghann M. Cuniff, SR. More here. ISP report below.
In the news this evening: The Dow surged almost 400 points as Citigroup offered some good news here. Congress sends last 2009 spending bill to Congress here. An Alabama shooting spree leaves 8 dead including gunman here. A study concludes that blood & ultrasound tests catch ovarian cancer here. Paper: Collapse of Evangelical Christianity in offing here. And the Wild Card remains on the table …
At Priest Lake, e-mails Pecky Cox/As The Lake Churns, the deer have trouble finding water because the lake is still frozen. SR Today In Photos here.
I remember being descended upon by no less than three different employees at the Steam
Plant in downtown Spokane because I carried my two year old up to the downstairs bar (OH THE HUMANITY!!!!) to get a napkin for his snotty nose. I’m sure he was damaged for life for being SO NEAR THE LEGAL SALE OF ALCOHOL, because LORD KNOWS nothing like that happens in PEOPLE’S HOMES! heh….sorry…it’s just weird…like the whole “beer gardens” thing. In Texas, at an event similar to, say, “Pig Out In The Park” in Spokane, one could get a beer, and WALK AROUND with it…but NOOOO, not here.. one must remain safely behind the ropes until the offending beverage is consumed. I’m still not sure why/Toadman. More here.
From left, Katie Sanders (30), Shaneya Valdez (20), Brigitte Boucher (45), Natalie Nichols (12), Lauren Boyd-Miller (32), and Deanna Dotts rush the court after North Idaho College defeated the College of Southern Idaho Saturday night at NIC to win first place in the Region 18 finals. Bruce Twitchell/Special to The Spokesman-Review
A student, who successfully passed the entrance examination of Tokyo University, gets a congratulatory toss at the university campus as the school announced the students who passed one of the nation’s toughest entrance examinations, in Tokyo, Japan, earliler today. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
Top Cutlines:
“At the end of the day, during a bit of a blizzard, this woman walked up Coeur d’Alene’s Sherman Avenue, wearing a frosty fashion statement,” writes Councilwoman KerriT, OnLocation North Idaho of this photo taken on Monday. Earlier today, she posted a photo of a sunny day, looking from the Coeur d’Alene Resort toward Cougar Bay. She added this old saying: “if you don’t like the weather, wait 15 minutes and it’ll change.”
Question: Do you think that old saying is true — that the weather in the Inland Northwest can change dramatically within 15 minutes?
Frito Ray survived “the talk” with flying colors. Remember? Last week, I mentioned here that Frito Ray had been drafted by Dalton Elementary officials to give the annual sex talk to the fifth-grade boys at the school. A year ago, he told teachers how impressed he was with the film-and-talk presentation that his son William attended. So he was asked to do the honors this year. Frito Ray told Huckleberries that nothing was off limits. At first, he said, the boys “giggled like girls.” But they quickly tuned in. During the Q-and-A, one fifth-grader seemed to distressed that there wasn’t an alternative method for reproduction. I doubt he’ll consider that a problem down the line. Afterward, Frito Ray said, several other fathers in attendance told him that they couldn’t have done what he did. And that his presentation was a far better method to learn about the birds & bees than the way they did as kids.
Marmitetoasty: My X asked for his slippers back when he first left, didnt ask for a photo of our boys or time with them or anything, just his slippers … So, I posted him his slippers, it was not my fault that the cat seemed to of done a poo in them just before I wrapped them and posted them to him :) ok ok, so the cat didnt actually do ‘it’ in his slippers, ‘it’ needed a little lifting and placing lmfao.
Question: How would you describe your relationship with your ex (if you have one)?
If you’ve ever received a speeding ticket and faced a rude cop, you may be interested in new ratings website. Ratemycop.com has generated a firestorm of criticism from the law enforcement community. It allows Joe Citizen - that’s you - to post anonymous statements and the site lists officers by name. Officers have been described as ‘demeaning and harassing,’ while others have been told to ‘step down.’ More here. And: Coeur d’Alene Police & Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department here. H/T: KHQ
Question: Ever had a run-in with a cop after which you wanted to give him/her a piece of your mind?
Liquidity is when you look at your retirement funds and wet your pants/David Laird, Community Comment.
I just read this news article about how Army reserve soldiers in Hayden, Idaho, decided to do a training exercise by walking down the streets in full gear instead of their usual exercise due to the snow. Somebody snapped a photo, and now the Internet is abuzz with paranoid crackpots claiming the new administration is trying to acclimate us to soldiers in the streets and preparing for the “communist takeover.” Get these people some meds/Photo Editor Jake Barber, UI Argonaut. More Off The Cuff.
The church I grew up in was overbearingly liturgical. Granted, overbearing is a personal opinion but it is one I will defend. I know there are other churches with more rote or ritual, but for a small Nazarene church, we had a stagnant order of worship. It wasn’t the most liturgical church on the face of the planet, but there was enough routine to be predictable. I could tell you when our worship leader would ask the congregation to stand, and when he would tell us “you may be seated” before either order was given. I knew when a certain pastor preached we would get a lesson in church history and Greek vocabulary. To this day, I can still recite the exact order of worship for both the Sunday morning and Sunday evening worship services/Nic, Rants, Raves & Random Thoughts. More here.
Question (for church attenders): How do you prefer your Sunday church service — liturgical, nontraditional, or informal?
Update: Idaho Statesman reports that CDA store will be sold to Canada firm
In a teleconference with all Sportsman’s Warehouse employees yesterday afternoon CEO Stu Upgaard announced that 23 of the company’s 67 stores would be closing in the next few months, including two stores in Idaho (Pocatello and Nampa), one in Oregon (Bend) and one in Colorado (Aurora). Other Idaho stores and all Montana stores would remain open/Bill Schneider, New West. More here.
Question: Where do you shop for outdoor sports items?
For those keeping score at home, Idahoans rank 31st in national beer consumption. This, according to Beer Nut blogger Patrick Orr/Idaho Statesman. Seems Patrick discovered that nugger in the state-by-state drinking list of the Beer Institute while doing research for his beer column. Idahoans drink about 30.7 gallons of beer a year, placing us in the lower half of imbibers in the U.S. Not surprisingly, Patrick continued, Utahns drink the least amount of beer in the U.S. — an average of about 21.1 gallons of beer a year. The thirstiest state is North Dakota, whose residents drink an average of 45.3 gallons a year, followed by New Hampshire, at 43 gallons per person per year, and Nevada, at 42 gallons.
Question: Do you drink more or less beer than the Idaho state average of 30.7 gallons per year?
Across the border in Washington, former state Rep. John Ahern was famous for floor speeches trotting out the specter of unhappy Washington businesses decamping en masse for Idaho. “That great sucking sound you hear,” he’d warn, as Democrats rolled their eyes, “is business heading for Idaho.” Ahern’s now gone, ousted by a Democratic challenger in November. Yet the issue clearly isn’t. “Democrat bills send clear message to employers: Go to Idaho!” said a recent press release from Sen. Janea Holmquist, R-Moses Lake. She blasted several bills that she said would “rip the welcome mat away from our employers”/Rich Roesler, Eye On Olympia. More here.
Question: Does Idaho have a better business climate than Washington? Or are Washington lawmakers simply over-reacting to perceived business competition from Idaho?
My Dad said: Save 10% Give 10% Budget the rest. He also taught me to save for what I wanted, to pay cash, and to balance my checkbook every time I got my monthly statement. I’ve followed all of his advice with the exception of balancing my checkbook each month. He was a very wise man/CindyH.
Question: How often do you balance your checkbook. And do you balance it to the penny, when you do?
North Idaho College student Shannon Corder makes her way through the morning snow at the campus in Coeur d’Alene on Monday. Story here. (AP Photo/ The Spokesman-Review, Kathy Plonka)
National studies reveal that average Americans know less about money matters than the Octomom knows about family planning. This may explain why the nation is now in an even bigger financial mess than Tom Cruise in “Risky Business.” In that documentary on capitalism, a pre-Scientology Cruise had to become a whoremaster in his own home in order to raise his bailout money. Members of my baby boomer generation never gave much thought to economics. We were too busy ushering in a new era of peace and harmony through song lyrics, like … “In-a-gadda-da-vida, honey/“Don’t you know that I’m lovin’ you?/“In-a-gadda-da-vida, baby/“Don’t you know that I’ll always be true?” /Doug Clark, SR. More here.
Question: What did you learn from your parents about household finances and the economy?
Fans watch the Gonzaga cheerleaders and turn to catch the act of Justin Padley during a timeout Monday night at the WCC tournament championship game in the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Padley and the cheer squad can take their moves to the Big Dance as Gonzaga beat St. Mary’s to win the league automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. Christopher Anderson/Spokesman-Review Question: How wild and crazy do you get when you’re watching a favorite team play?
Charlie Nipp received a standing ovation from 200 fellow citizens this morning at the Upbeat Breakfast. Why? Leadership Coeur d’Alene honored Charlie for his lifetime of community service. Mebbe Leadership Coeur d’Alene should send copies of the achievement award to the Coeur d’Alene Press, OpenCDA.com and state Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake — in case they’re looking for material for an editorial, blog post, or legislative speech that does something other than attack Coeur d’Alene’s native son.
It’s true. I know her. And he didn’t leave her with a dime to spare after years of marriage. In my 
opinion, the marriage lasted long enough for him to reorganize his finances and get the paperwork in order so he really could leave her with nothing. Not because she deserved it but because he was that greedy and self-interested. In my opinion, of course. If you peruse the garage sale ads in Craig’s List, you will see an advertisement giving the details of The Bastard Left Me With Nothing Sale. Obviously, this sale is not your typical garage sale. It’s not even your typical Estate Sale. It’s more like a Wash That Man Right Out Of Your Hair Sale. Or a Need Some Moolah To Re-Start My Life At Fifty-Something Sale/MamaJD. More here.
Question: Have you ever had to start completely over in life, after losing everything?
Item: Committee kills anti-drinking bill for repeat DUI offenders/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise
More Info: The House Judiciary Committee has voted 6-5 to kill a measure from its chairman, Rep. Jim Clark, to ban repeat drunken drivers from buying, possessing or consuming alcohol.
Question: Can anything be done with repeat DUI offenders who haven’t caused an accident that has hurt or killed someone?
About all you hear these days is that it’s time to “tighten our belts.” The economy is in trouble and we’re in trouble right along with it so we all better get used to making do with less. Finally, my life experience will come in handy. I am used to being poor. The poorest part of my life, the time when I had the least amount of resources available to me, has to be when I found myself as both a new mother, and a divorced wife, back when Misty was about two months old. We lived in my car for a while, me, the baby, and a wild yellow cat. But I can’t remember anything especially funny about that time, which means there aren’t any good stories to tell, so instead I’m going to talk about the second-poorest time of my life, when I sold dirt/Trish Gannon, River Journal. More here.
Question: What is the worst job you’ve ever done, in order to scrape by?
Pecky Cox/As The Lake Churns shot this photo Saturday, showing Old Man Winter more than holding on in her neck of the woods.
Which senior Zag had the most spectacular play this season?
I had the honor of being one of the first year writers/editorial board members of the Spokesman and The Chronicle’s “Our Generation” section and was lucky enough to write several news pieces for it. News is gone from the newspaper business, its about entertainment now. The proof is on our front steps in the form of The Press and The Review, and in the death of The Rocky. While I wish DFO and the rest the best of luck with the latest format change, can we just please quit calling them newspapers, those vanished long ago/Patrick Hoffer. More here.
Question: Is Patrick right? Do you have a newspaper delivered to your doorstep in the morning — or an entertainment guide?
I have all I want. though my life is slowly coming to an end. I do what makes me happy, not what makes me rich. Richness is again, a state of mind. Everyone is racing around to make their life a statement of sorts, mostly to no end. I am going backwards in a sense, looking for the simple things that I remember as a youth. Of course I will never find that. but my journey has been very satisfactory of late/Stickman. John Austin’s response here.
Question: Do you need to simplify your life?
There is only so much a blogger can do. I’ve seen bloggers expose tons of stories, and those bloggers were chased by reporters from the traditional media (who probably had so much going on they couldn’t focus on this one issue like the blogger could). They’re valuable. Back in the day, bloggers simply would have been sources for journalists. But it seems the public has been told that journalists are flat-out biased in everything they do, so they can’t be trusted to be approached to look into things (I still have plenty of people coming to me each day for this, but I think less than perhaps before the advent of the Internet). Rather than coming to me with a tip, the blogger might simply complain on a blog that I’m not covering something (for the record, I cover seven cities, a county, six state legislators, a U.S. Congressman, pipeline safety and elections)/Sam. More here. And: here.
Joe Heller/Hellertoons
Josh Heytvelt of Gonzaga ( left in white ) stretches out to deny #20 Diamon Simpson of St. Mary’s a shot at the basket in first half action Monday at the WCC Championship game in the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Gonzaga won 83 to 58. Game story & boxscore here and here. (Christopher Anderson/Spokesman-Review)
In the news this evening: Dr. Phil says Octo-Mom will get free nurses for her babies here. A study shows that Hospice patients feel abandoned by doctors here. The gunman accused of killing an Illinois pastor marked Sunday down as ‘Death Day’ here. A-Roid has undergone surgery on his hip here. Research indicates that warm weather may trigger migraines here. And the Wild Card remains in play …
Heather Bowman of Gonzaga (top) dives onto the floor to battle Morgan Henderson of San Diego and is called for a foul during second half action of the WCC Championship game in Las Vegas, Nevada Monday. Gonzaga won 66-55 here. Christopher Anderson/Spokesman-Review. SR Today In Photos.
My Significant Other is a mechanic. He is an excellent mechanic and can fix any problem in any
car and especially loves the older, pre-computer cars. He’s detailed, intricate, dedicated, and painstakingly thorough. If you have a problem with your car, take it to MechanicMan and it is a done deal. Now, if the car belongs to MechanicMan there is a whole other set of rules that are followed. Mechanics do not fix their cars the same way they fix yours. They do whatever is the least possible method of patching the car. MechanicMan’s cars were always very old (he calls them classic), rusty (character), and noisy (proof they are Mopar)/JeanieS, Nuts & Nonsense. More here.
Question: Are you a decent mechanic?
“Out for a suburban Sunday trot on Syringa St. in Post Falls, this teen multi-tasks by checking her cell phone messages while in motion,” posts CouncilwomanKerriT, OnLocation North Idaho.
Utah State fan Bill Sproat, (without shirt on) tries to to distract San Jose State guard Robert Owens as he shoots a free throw during during an NCAA college basketball game Saturday in Logan, Utah. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/The Herald Journal, Eli Lucero)
Top Cutlines:
1. DanG is shown at a recent CDA city council meeting trying to distract Councilman MikeK into thinking there is a party at some place called Tummi Yummies. (Sources close to DanG later commented that “party” should have read “coffee”)
2. (tie) Poolman here. And: As the Foam Fingers move down the index of popularity, the Foam Belly gains in stature — Cabbage Boy.
3. Utah basketball fan Bruce Sproat proves he isn’t shy about exposing his gut reaction for all to see — Escapee.
HM: Sisyphus & John Austin
The Humane Society of the United States is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person who used strychnine to kill two Sandpoint dogs. “To use any poison to kill an animal, especially one as lethal as strychnine, is incredibly cruel,” said Lisa Kauffman, the Humane Society’s Idaho director, in a news release. “These were two beloved family dogs that went through hours of intense pain and fear before dying horrible deaths. Their owners are devastated. These dogs were like children to them, and we need to prosecute those responsible”/Alison Boggs, SR. More here.
Three former governors (from left: John Evans, Cecil Andrus and, far right, Phil Batt) met with Gov. Butch Otter prior to the first official meeting of the Stimulus Executive Committee today. The bipartisan panel will provide analysis to Governor Otter on the use of federal stimulus funds. The committee will provide its findings and non-binding recommendations to the governor no later than close of business on March 19/Otter spokesman John Hanian.
The University of Idaho is losing one of its top researchers, a veterinary science professor who helped bring renown to the state by being part of a team that gave the world its first equine clone. S-R higher ed reporter Kevin Graman reports that some university critics, including some prominent Idaho veterinarians, are unhappy about the imminent departure of associate professor Dirk Vanderwall, who is taking a position at the University of Pennsylvania. “The University of Idaho frankly screwed this up beyond repair,” said Bruce Lancaster, of Idaho Falls, former president of the Idaho Veterinary Medical Association and former chairman of the advisory board for the university’s Northwest Equine Reproduction Laboratory/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Are you concerned that the imminent departure of Dirk Vanderwall is a sign that academic oversight at the University of Idaho is going downhill?
Put your hands together for a newby to the HBO Blogosphere: “It’s Just Me.” Me, of course, is a regular HBO commenter who was pushed into blogging by JBelle. Who also pushed Marmitetoasty into blogging a couple of years back. One of Me’s specialties is photography, as you can see above in the photo she snapped of the ghost town at Bannock, Montana. You can check out her new blog here. Or in the HBO Blogosphere blogroll to the right.
If I Won The Lottery … My sister-in-law and I were talking the other day about the Lottery. We have over the years when ever we have bought the tickets, which isn’t often … what we would do with the money? Pay off the bills first … of course. Maybe a 2 week vacation to a beautiful beach … but then we always said we would invest the rest and live off the dividends. But in our conversation of late … we wonder when we got to the investing part, where would we put it?/Cis, Simple Mind. More here.
Question: After you paid your bills, how would you invest your money if you won the lottery?
The mysterious tabloid discussing the Lake Management Plan that appeared in Saturday’s Press raised a few eyebrows, as much for its lack of information as for what was included in its eight pages. “I thought the Hagadone Press did it,” quipped Bob Hopper, owner of the Bunker Hill Mine in Kellogg. “I paid for it. As it turns out, who wrote and paid for it inadvertently got left out. It was completely an oversight”/Rick Thomas, CDA Press. More here.
Question: All newspapers goof. Do you have a favorite newspaper snafu?
Unfolding horror stories of wrongheaded loans and wretched excesses by bankers prompt a reasonable citizen to ask: Who was guarding the store? Who was looking out for white-collar crime? Outrage and ersatz populism on cable TV news — spread by guys with seven-figure salaries — has taken the form of blunderbuss attacks on Congress and pictures of villains. Nobody questions the absence of watchdogs. The Seattle P-I did just that. Our paper has painstakingly detailed how FBI agents and dollars were diverted from white-collar crime to the war on terrorism. The promise of $1 billion to revitalize white-collar work graced our front page a week ago. It’s satisfying to see as the print P-I nears its last edition/Joel Connelly, Seattle PI. More here.
Question: Do you think blogs and online editions can replace the declinging newspaper industry as media that will hold government and other powers that be accountable for their actions?
Molly Creager of Torrington, Wy. reacts after placing third in the 2009 Wyoming Spelling Bee Saturday in Laramie, Wy. (AP Photo/Laramie Boomerang, Andy Carpenean)
Item: Deployment to Iraq is bittersweet for Guard family/KXLY
More Info: Dozens of family, friends, and fellow soldiers watched as loved ones took part in a farewell ceremony Saturday afternoon, one of the last steps before heading off to Iraq. 50 National Guard members based in Spokane got orders to head to Iraq. For many, saying goodbye is never easy, but for one local family it’s especially bittersweet.
After 25 years, print Huckleberries finally has made it to Sunday, including front page in a news 
stand near you. Beginning next Sunday, Huckleberries and Betsy Russell will share the front page of the now-combined Handle Extra. The old Handle Extra (Saturday) and Prairie Voice (Thursday) will be folded into the one Sunday edition and be circulated throughout North Idaho. For those keeping score at home, Huckleberries appeared for almost 20 years in the Monday edition of the SR’s Idaho regional newspaper. Under former Editor Steve Smith, it was first broken into daily columnets of 6 to 8 inches and then migrated to the Prairie Voice and Handle Extra two years ago. Additionally, the new Handle Extra will include some of your Huckleberries Online favorites: OrangeTV (restaurant reviews), Bayview Herb & CindyH. You’ll also get Nils Rosdahl, weather woman Michelle Boss, and columns from Rathdrum & Sandpoint. On news stands, Handle Extra will wrap around the newspaper & become the front page. In other words, don’t be surprised to see my mug smiliing back at you from the news stand in your favorite restaurant Sunday. I consider this the best thing to happen to my print column since it lost its regular Monday perch.
Question: Do any of you remember the name of my original three-dot print column?
President Barack Obama signs an Executive Order on stem cells and a Presidential Memorandum on scientific integrity today in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Story here. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Question: Do you support President Obama’s action this morning to lift federal restrictions on embryonic stem cell research put in place in 2001 by President Bush?
FDR’s use of his wheelchair and the ability of his handlers to not call attention to it, is the focus of a wonderfully clear and well-written book, entitled “Splendid Deception”. I’ve owned it for years and highly recomend it. The book details FDR’s deceptive success in NEVER calling attention to his disability…and thus deceiving many Americans about his health condition. Though the longest serving President ever, FDR’s lack of complete honesty regarding his health, still boggles the mind of admirer and those less engaged in admiration of him. So what is the splendid deception of today? One picture tells a thousand puffs…President Barak Obama smokes. So why do we not see any pics of President Obama smoking?/Dennis Mansfield. More here.
Question: Would your attitude toward President Obama change if you regularly saw photos of him smoking cigarettes?
Around 6 o’clock Saturday evening, I’d just entered Super 1/Kathleen Avenue en route to rent “Madagascar II” when I heard a man behind me complaining loudly about the Coeur d’Alene Police Department. “It’s the worst I’ve ever seen,” the mid-thirtyish man told a female companion, as they grabbed a shopping cart. “I’ve been all around this country,” he continued, “and Coeur d’Alene police are the absolute worst, bar none.” I didn’t stick around to hear whether he explained his particular beef. But I disagree with him. Chief Wayne Longo at CPD Blue seems to run a good department, as did others before him.
Question: What do you think of the performance of your local police department (CPD Blue, PFPD Blue, KCSD, or other)?
The 50th anniversary of Barbie is commemorated by a lineup of Barbie dolls from different eras, starting with the original Barbie in a black and white swim suit, right, in a display by Mattel at the Javits Center in New York where the recent Toy Fair 2009 took place. Story here. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
Question: As she turns 50 today, Barbie apparently doesn’t have a gray hair on her head. Are you holding up as well?
Who in these parts would ever have suspected the not-so-distant community of La Grande, Ore., would be so infected with fear? When some residents complained about a play scheduled to be performed at the high school, not only did the school superintendent, backed by the school board, ban the performance, but the president of the public university in town tried to keep it off her campus as well. Yes, a university president decided that a play considered unfit for a high school was also unfit for a university. And who is the playwright whose work so scandalized small minds in La Grande? Steve Martin. Yes, he of the arrow through the head and the “wild and crazy guys” of the golden era of “Saturday Night Live”/Jim Fisher, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: Does this sound like a suitable play for high school? College? Both? Neither?
In my view, we need to get back to the basics of sound government - the blueprint put together 
by George Washington, John Adams, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin and other framers of our Constitution. That’s why I am sponsoring a joint memorial before the Legislature. Idaho must send a strong message to the president and Congress reminding our national leaders that the federal government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states. Unfortunately, over the years the states have become agents of the federal government. We are seeing those dynamics in the form of the Endangered Species Act, the management of wolves and other wildlife, No Child Left Behind, regulation of air quality and other measures. It’s time for the federal government to back off and it’s high time for states to control their destiny/Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: Does Rep. Harwood have a point that the federal government should be the agent of the states rather than vice versa?
Grace Yancey, 4, shares her igloo playhouse with Boulder Hut cook Shirley Hansen of
At Dalton Elementary School, my sister-in-law Lisa was helping first-graders learn their states last week. She received the usual input when she asked the youngsters to name states off the top of their heads. Idaho. Of course. Ditto for California. Then came the show stopper. The third little one suggested “Athol.” Which surprised Lisa. She responded that Athol wasn’t a state. But the student persisted: “Yes it is. My grandmother lives there.” Mebbe Athol is a state of mind?
Item: Truck driving becomes a popular career choice/Tom Sowa, SR
More Info: The sputtering economy has led to a surge in applications at area truck driving schools. Driving school directors say they’re getting more online and over-the-phone applications than ever before. But there’s a hitch; like any other sector, trucking firms have been slammed by the downturn. Paying about $5,000 to earn a commercial driving license used to mean a solid chance to land a trucking job. Today, the driving jobs are still there but they’re most likely on long-haul routes that will take drivers away from home for long periods.
Question: Would you be willing to drive a truck long haul to provide for your family?
I’m thinking that, to do something for the environment, I’m gonna buy me a Hummer. Let me 
explain. Indisputably, we should be all good stewards of the Earth. No one wants rivers and lakes to be toilets or the air to be fouled with pollutants. Environmental zealots, though, narcissistically wrapped up in their own sense of preciousness, take a perfectionist approach to environmental issues, which is inevitably doomed to failure. With 6-plus billion people inhabiting this planet, resources are going to be used, stuff is going to be burned, and we’re going to make messes. Rather than turning environmentalism into a religion of pointless gestures, like cloth grocery bags, sane people take a different approach. They focus on what works at a cost that’s reasonable/Michael J. O’Neal, Moscow-Pullman Daily News. More here.
Question: How do you rate yourself in terms of environmentalism?
Nick Anderson/Houston Chronicle
Gonzaga’s Micah Downs, left, looks to pass as he is defended by Santa Clara’s Marc Trasolini and Kevin Foster, right, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game at the West Coast Conference men’s tournament in Las Vegas, Sunday. Gonzaga will play St. Mary’s at 6 o’clock Monday on ESPN to decide the WCC tournament championship. AP game story here and ESPN boxscore here. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In the news this morning: 700 people applied for a school janitor’s job in Ohio here. President Obama chides AG Eric Holder for describing America as a nation of cowards here. Obama says recovery isn’t certain this year here. Review: ‘Watchman’ blazes with violence here. Daylight-saving time began this morning here. And the Sunday Wild Card is in play …
Billings firefighter Ben Jares, center, heads out on an ice rescue sled to retrieve Duke, a St. Bernard dog who was frozen to the ice on a pond at Peter Yegen, Jr. Golf Club in Billings, Mont. Friday. Despite suffering from the cold and exhaustion, Duke was treated at a vet clinic and released to his owners that afternoon. (AP Photo/Billings Gazette, Casey Riffe)On F
So just how much work does a teacher do? 2730 hours during my contract year plus 60 hours in classes (on average) plus 40 hours of additional summer work plus 64 hours during spring break makes 2894 hours of work a year. My annual salary in this, my sixth year of teaching, is $30,000. That means I get paid the equivalent of $10.37 an hour. I have a bachelor’s degree plus 60 credits of post-grad classes/Big Mac. Big Mac’s schedule, full comment here. And: a terrific observation re: American education here.
Question: I work 10 hours each work day and another 3 or 4 on weekends, compiling this blog. I don’t mind b/c I consider Huckleberries Online to be a hobby as well as a job. Anyone out there work only 40 hours a week?
Item: Barbie at 50: Iconic doll has lived a full life, and she’s still going strong/Kathy Flanigan, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
More Info: Little girls worship her; adult women want to be her. Iconic fashion model and doll Barbie turns 50 on Monday. So does that make her over the hill? Before you answer, consider this: She still has the supple skin of a teenager, the idealized body of a woman in her 20s and no crow’s feet to be found. To this day, Barbie wears the smallest of sizes. Then again, she’s sporting more plastic than one of “The Real Housewives of Orange County.”
Question: If Barbie were 5 feet 6 inches tall, she would have a 39-inch bust, a 21-inch waist and 33-inch hips. How realistic is that?
Item: School invests in cell phone jammer to block teenage texting/KHQ
More Info: Frustrated by the continued distraction of cell phone texting
and calling, a Spokane area school has invested in a device to block
the phones from working. Mt. Spokane spent less than $100 to
buy a cell phone jammer online and just completed a 3 day test period
designed to foil students who text during class. “We just thought it was something we wanted to evaluate,” said Principal John Hook. The Mead School District is working with the FCC to clarify whether the device is legal before using it again. The jamming device was turned on during class time and turned off during passing periods and lunch hour. Question: Do you support the method used by Mount Spokane High to control the problem with cell phone texting and calling?
Fresno State guard Dwight O’Neil, right, grabs defensive rebound in front of teammate Sylvester Seay, center, and Idaho forward Luciano de Souza (13) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday at the Cowan Spectrum in Moscow. By virture of the 59-56 win over Fresno State, Idaho finished tied with Boise State for third in the Western Athletic Conference with a 9-7 record (16-14 overall), after being picked to finish last in two preseason polls. (AP Photo/Moscow-Pullman Daily News, Dean Hare)
In the news this morning: Daylight-saving time begins again early Sunday morning here. A New Jersey congressman labels Barack Obama ‘Abortion President’ here. Newsweek explores why men and women diet differently here. A Boulder, Colo., company shares $9M with its workers here. And another Wild Card is in play …
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger congratulates Iris Kyle after she won the Miss International body building competition during the Arnold Sports Festival Friday in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)
Question: How would you describe you fitness today?
A Hayden man was one of the people who contacted Sen. Mike Jorgenson about concerns regarding Lake City Development Corp. Reid Harlocker, 52, a business manager in Hayden, told Jorgenson last year he felt the state should investigate Coeur d’Alene’s urban renewal board to determine whether any perceived conflicts of interest existed/Tom Hasslinger, Coeur d’Alene Press. More here.
Question: In an editorial Friday, Brand X attacked Nipp for seeking to find out who sicced the AG’s office on him. Generally, Press editorials are toothless. Do you think newspaper owner Duane Hagadone has a vendetta against the former LCDC chairman?
Pita
Pigsty? Pita Purgatory? Pita Pity Party perhaps? There are certainly
worse names possible 
than Pita Pit, but I do think they’re kind of
selling themselves short with a name that evokes both snake-filled
crevasses and dark, shadowy underarms. Far from being “pits”, the
interiors of every Pita Pit restaurant I’ve had the pleasure to visit
have been quite nice and clean. Maybe Pita Palace is overstating it a
little, but certainly something more akin to Pleasant Pita Parlor would
be more representative of reality. Whatever, the name doesn’t at
all seem to hinder the expanding popularity of this Coeur d’Alene based
national chain of fresh eateries. It’s a winning concept, brought to
North Idaho in 2005 by former Idaho Lieutenant Governor Jack Riggs, who
purchased the fledgling chain and soon relocated the company’s national
headquarters and training center here. Opening a Pita Pit is a hot
business prospect for folks looking to invest in something that has an
established, relatively risk-free form’/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.
Question: Which downtown eatery do you frequent most?
Washington State head coach June Daugherty, right, consoles her three senior players (left to right) Katie Appleton, Heather Molzen and Ebonee Coates after a 62-55 loss to Washington in an NCAA college basketball game Friday at Jack Friel Court in Pullman. ESPN boxscore here. (AP Photo/Dean Hare)
Question: Do you take losing hard?
Would you favor a four-day public school week?/Lewiston Tribune
The Idaho Senate voted 17-18 on Thursday on SB 1119, the measure proposed by Avista Corp. to allow utilities to establish programs to help struggling low-income customers and cover the cost in their rates, killing the bill. Sen. Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, said, “Idaho utilities want you to pay the other guy’s bills,” and called the measure “redistribution of wealth.” Sponsor Sen. Curt McKenzie, R-Nampa, said utilities already adjust their rates to cover costs for unpaid bills; the new measure would allow them to reach out to struggling customers before they get to that point/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Do you support the Idaho Senate’s 18-17 vote to kill a bill that would allow Avista to help low-income people who are struggling with their power bills?
Item: Gov. Butch Otter breaks with Rush Limbaugh on Obama: He hopes the president’s stimulus plan works, though it conflicts with his free-market ideas/Dan Popkey, Idaho Statesman
More Info: Conservative icon Rush Limbaugh has said that he hopes President Barack Obama fails. “No, I don’t share that,” Gov. Butch Otter said. Otter said his “free-market tendencies may ruffle a little bit” at Obama’s strategy to pay for immediate economic stimulus by ballooning federal debt. But he said the country risks a worse recession if Obama doesn’t succeed. “I think it’d be deeper and lengthen and maybe even go into a depression if we failed,” Otter said.
Question: Are you surprised that Gov. Butch Otter would disagree with Rush Limbaugh, who has said that he hopes President Barack Obama fails? Do you want Obama to succeed?
Asked to react to the decision to remove wolves from the federal government’s endangered species list, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter offered up a howl. Judging it on aesthetics, it was a short and not terribly rousing howl. But when was the last time a Western Republican governor howled in approval of any natural resource policy from a Democratic White House? Times could be changing from the Sagebrush Rebellion, which took root after the Carter years, and the oft-repeated “War on the West” rhetoric from the Clinton years. The “delisting” decision, affecting burgeoning wolf populations in Idaho and Montana, won’t go over well with environmental groups, especially on the national level. A lawsuit is inevitable. But this decision is biologically sound — and, politically, it was a no-brainer/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: Idaho officials and officials are discussing a wolf hunt later this year, now that wolves have been de-listed in Idaho & Montana. Do you trust state government in Idaho to properly manage wolf populations?
In the news this evening: President Obama plans to reverse Bush policy on stem-cell research here. Baby bottle makers are ditching the chemical BPA here. A-Roid could be facing hip surgery here. The Minnesota Supreme Court says Al Franken has no right to an election certificate here. Hearst makes an offer to some staffers to continue P-I online here. And the last Wild Card of the work week remains in play …
Jonathan Adler, the designer of Barbie’s Real-Life Malibu Dream House, is pictured inside a mirror framed by Barbie Dolls in the house in Malibu, Calif., Wednesday. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) SR’s Today In Photos
Slowly lifting one leg over the window sill, he felt his tights stretch out to maximum load. Maybe those last Pilsners hadn’t been a good idea before he took flight. He’d thought he’d been a little weighed down, and that confused him, because his bag was ever lighter. He lifted his other leg through the window and tip-toed over to the bed. Jimmy Smart. The kid was a tooth-giving machine. Larry had been impressed. He’d already been over to Jimmy’s three times that year. Maybe it was time to do a little bit of an investigation, like looking into the alleged misdeeds of an insurance fraudster. Maybe little Jimmy was running a teething Ponzi scheme of his own/Sam. Full comment below.
DFO: I’m going to start fronting the best comment of the day in this spot after HBO’s PM Headlines. Dunno who can argue with Sam’s work here. Major H/T, Sam.
Orangutan is seen at Dusit zoo in Bangkok this week. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) Top Cutlines:
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter told the Idaho Press Club today that Rush Limbaugh isn’t right when he says that he hopes President Barack Obama fails. Betsy Russell/Eye On Boise tells you all about the presentation here.
What’s the going rate for a tooth these days? Is it a sliding scale or flat rate? According to this WebMD article, the Tooth Fairy is feeling the effects of the bad economy and our children are taking the hit. According to WebMD, the average payout for a tooth by the Tooth Fairy is $1.88. I believe the Tooth Fairy that visits the JD household has been possibly paying out too much. I’m confused and I need to figure this out. The Dude Ha has another loose tooth and he’s eating apples like crazy. When I was a little girl, my Tooth Fairy gave me $5 for my first tooth/MamaJD. More here.
Question: How much does the tooth fairy leave under pillows @ your house?
With the photo of one of six robins that stopped by her yard today, Cis/Simple Mind declares that spring has arrived.
Manners Matter:
We need the old Emily Post lessons, a return to decorum and dress codes. We were raised by parents who stressed good manners; and the behaviors are part of our fabric. Yes, Ma’am; No, Sir, hold the door for the ladies. … Jim’s manners are impeccable. He stands up when a woman comes into the room or when she gets up from the table (even it it’s just me!), he makes it a point to dance with every gal at the party, opens car doors, helps with my coat, and has a firm handshake. He is ever the gentleman. I really like it/JanTri, Brand X Ranch. More here.
Question: How much do manners matter to you?
A homemade bong, consisting of a piece of garden hose attached to a duct-taped plexiglas box, is seen in this handout photo provided by the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Dept. Deputies responding Sunday to a domestic disturbance call at a Lincoln, Neb., area residence, cited a 20-year-old man on suspicion of animal cruelty after catching him smoking marijuana from the contraption that had Shadow, a six-month-old female cat, stuffed inside its 12-inch by 6-inch base. The man told deputies the cat had been acting hyper and that he was trying to calm her down. (AP Photo/Lancaster County Sheriff Dept.)
The Idaho State Board of Education may select the next University of Idaho president by its next meeting on April 6. Spokesman Mark Browning said board members have not made an offer to either Kansas State University Provost Duane Nellis or Montana State University Provost David Dooley since they interviewed them last week. But Browning said members have been having informal conversations with one another since those interviews. He said they thought both men were “very impressive”/Lewiston Tribune. More here.
American Indians, joined by whites, on Thursday celebrated the completion of a decadelong 
project to remove the derogatory word “squaw” from the names of 76 streams, buttes and mountains across Montana. “We celebrate 76 old places and 76 new names,” said Jennifer Perez Cole, Indian affairs coordinator for Gov. Brian Schweitzer. Ch-paa-qn (or Shining Peak or Gray Colored Peak) stands tall on the horizon in Missoula and Sanders counties. The name replaces the old Squaw Peak. Perez Cole said Montana was the second state to undertake such an effort, following Minnesota. Other states have followed. This derogatory word ‘squaw’ was a word used by white men to describe Indian women,” she said. “We sent a message in ‘99 that it was unacceptable”/Charles S. Johnson, Missoulian. More here.
Question: Similarly, efforts are under way in Idaho & Washington to remove the name “squaw” from geographic places. Do you approve of these efforts?
I have learned tonight that there have been new layoffs at the SR. I know of three news staffers who have lost their jobs. As I am no longer involved and have not talked with the new editor in some months, I do not know if these are the only staff reductions or if there are more to come. I have tried not to become involved in SR affairs since leaving the paper. But I have to say these latest cuts are deeply hurtful. I hired all three of these people and have seen them grow and develop. Their loss will cause the newsroom added pain and will, of course, make it even harder to cover the news/Steve Smith, Still A Newspaperman. More here.
Question: Have you ever had to fire or lay someone off?
Bill Bowen of Whitehall, Mont., keeps dry with a little help from an umbrella as he fishes for steelhead Thursday, near Orofino. (AP Photo/Lewiston Tribune, Kyle Mills)
… you held a North Idaho Press Club meeting — and only one member was still working 
full-time as a journalist? Well, you’d probably make him the president. Congrats to Brand X reporter Rick Thomas. I think. Rick was the only remaining journalist when the Press Club got together to break bread in the Lake City Thursday. VP Erica Curless (pictured), the past president, now is a horse massager and freelancer. And Sec/Treasurer Linda Ball is a freelancer/job seeker after receiving a pink slip from Brand X recently. Erica, a former SR colleague, told Huckleberries: ” It was really sad and pathetic, a North Idaho Press Club with no employed members.” She continued: “Due to layoffs and an unfortunate lack of interest by the majority of our “membership,” press club is barely an organization and we have no seminars or education events planned. Yet because the tiny core still likes to break bacon and catch up, we will continue to have meetings about every five weeks. So please keep joining us for coffee and chat.” (BTW, You the way you can see Erica’s ad and read about her Dog & Pony Show business in the SR Handle Extra pet section Saturday.)
I am part of a group of people who read our local newspaper online and comment on the news of the day in the public forums provided. It’s great fun and offers an excellent place to interact with others. Some of us have become close, exchanging e-mails and chat messages. One of the women has suggested we all get together at a local watering hole and meet each other, and the gang has agreed. I would love to join in, but the problem is that the persona I built online is that of a hunky, handsome young man — including a pilfered photo I posted as “me” on my profile. Needless to say, he is NOT me. I am a 54-year-old, chubby, graying man who wears glasses/ABS Of Sponge, to Dear Abby. More here. H/t: Liz.
Question: Have you enhanced your online profile?
I’ve been thinking about that flap launched Thursday when Coeur d’Alene Press Editor Mike 
Patrick e-mailed a demand that Huckleberries Online quit linking to his paper’s online articles. (Which led to this wonderful thread.) I hope Patrick knows that such links are in the public domain and he has no power to make such a demand. I’ll be concerned with his decision-making abilities in this brave new cyber world if he doesn’t. As many of you know, I pointed out to him in the e-mail exchange that this site drives traffic to his whenever I post a link from CDAPress.com. A lot of traffic. He apparently views HBO as a competitor benefitting from his staff’s work. He should view HBO as a former rival that’s helping out his Web traffic. More below.
Tiffany Trent, a Biologist at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge grabs a boa constrictor as part of a training program Thursday at the park west of Boynton Beach, Fla. Wildlife officers who work in the area were taught how to capture the non-native invasive species which have been captured in the Everglades and the Florida Keys. (AP Photo/South Florida Sun- Sentinel, Joe Cavaretta) Question: When did you last touch a snake?
I’m somewhat ambivalent about reading the remarks of anonymous commentators who are 
passionate and unified behind their disdain for me. I’m not excited about it, but I’m also never emotionally distressed by it either. It would be nice if my secretive friends would put more thought into their arguments, and be more constructive rather than lash out with much bitterness but little substance. The other day, I asked a left-of-center blogger to sit with me and talk politics over tea. This blogger, from the Unequivocal Notion, is no fan of mine; he tends to be critical, but not malicious in his assessment of me. He graciously accepted my invitation. I found him intelligent, well-spoken and kind, and we began to understand each other’s positions a little better. We resolved to spend more time emphasizing the things on which we can agree, such as my foundation’s transparency-in-government project/Wayne Hoffman, Idaho Freedom Foundation. More here.
Question: Hoffman, of course, is the controversial former spokesman for Bill Sali. He was opposed to the now-dead attempt by Rep. Steve Hartgen, R-Twin Falls, to rein in online comments. Are you surpised by Hoffman’s stand on this issue?
Item: Hospitals won’t help patients end lives: Deaconess, Valley will opt out of law/John Stucke, SR
More Info: Spokane hospitals will not allow physicians to prescribe or administer lethal doses of medication to terminally ill patients, opting out of a voter-approved initiative that allows the controversial practice. Executives at Deaconess Medical Center, along with Valley Medical Center and Hospital, announced their decision Thursday.
Question: Do you agree with the stand taken by Spokane hospitals?
The ASUI Senate voted down a bill Wednesday that would have allotted $125 to pay for the Moscow/Pullman Girl Scouts to come to the Idaho Commons and sell cookies. “I love Girl Scout cookies more than anyone else, but we are not a charity,” said Sen. Zach Arama. The senators said they were wary of using student fees to benefit a group unaffiliated with University of Idaho students. “We’re for the students, by the students,” said Sen. Brad Griff. Sen. John Rock spoke out in favor of the bill. “It’s kids, it’s a good cause … you have to be kind of heartless to do that,” he said. The staff of the Idaho Commons does not allow non-profit organizations to table for free in the Commons if they are not affiliated with students. To sell cookies for two days, the troop would have to pay $125 fee. Emmalee Kearney said the troop didn’t have the money/Chava Thomas, UI Argonaut. More here.
Question: Was the UI student Senate acting responsibly when it refused to cover the $125 fee for Girl Scouts to sell cookies on campus? Or was it being shortsighted?
In the Coeur d’Alene Press today, the Editorial Board takes Charlie Nipp to task for trying to discover who asked the attorney general’s office to investigate possible conflicts of interest during his tenure as LCDC chairman. Quoth the finger-wagging editorialist: “Nipp’s reaction is disappointing. He should be thanking Sen. Jorgenson, rather than trying to squeeze the name of a concerned citizen out of the senator. Jorgenson requested an investigation so that questions, doubts and rumors about Nipp’s personal business dealings and place at the head of the LCDC table could be answered and the community could then move forward.” Full Brand X editorial here.
Question: What should Charlie Nipp do in this situation?
Since this idea came forward, I have heard about a lot of commercial activity in the parks and public spaces that has gone on ‘underground’. For example: photographers taking senior portraits on Tubbs Hill; private for-pay tours scheduled on Tubbs Hill by the Resort (given by Robert Singletary, a local treasure); for-profit yoga and physical fitness classes being held in Phippeny Park; for-profit scuba instructors and classes who use City Beach for putting into the water, etc. All of these have great merit and I wouldn’t want to be a event-Gestapo on this sort of thing, but if people want us to be completely consistent, we have to look at it. I’ve also heard the old saying “consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” Tough call/Councilman MikeK, Huckleberries Online. Full comment below.
Question: Do you understand Councilman MikeK’s reasoning, even though you may not agree with it?
In twenty years of daily commuting, I’ve never seen carnage like that I saw just now. I actually 
slowed down, unlike some other fools I later saw on their sides, to witness the event. One truck after another jack-knifed, cars and RVs stopped, and the usual assortment of SUVs either on their side, or a new one for me, high-centered on the guard rail. I even saw one pour guy fall on his backside trying to figure out why his fifth-wheel trailer had changed places with his four-wheel drive. Bottom line, the westbound side of I-90 is closed and likely will be for some time. To those thirty semis and one hundred cars stranded in that seven-mile long parking lot, don’t blame me because I made it through/John Austin, Huckleberries Online (@ 7:16 p.m. Thursday). Full comment below.
Question: Do you agree with John that the Idaho Department of Transportation can do a much better job handling bad road conditions on Fourth of July Pass?
Signe Wilkinson/Philadelphia Inquirer
In the news this evening: California judges grill gay-marriage backers here. Surgeon general nominee withdraws name here. A conservative group files a lawsuit on behalf of ‘Joe the Plumber’ in records probe here. Comedian Robin Williams undergoes heart surgery here. A new study shows that divorces are harder on women here. And the Wild Card remains on the table …
Two horses available for adoption nuzzle in the pen while awaiting adoption Saturday in Herriman, Utah. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Scott Sommerdorf) SR Today In Photos
The media seem to have their focus on cancer recently, constantly giving the public
updates on studies and causes. With all of this flying at us at once, how can one possibly take it all in and therefore heed the advice given? Jade Goody (pictured), a British reality show star who got her fame on “Big Brother,” is a 27-year-old terminally ill cancer patient. Her cervical cancer spread to her liver, groin and bowel, and she has said she will die during March. She’s done various interviews about her illness and even wed her husband on TV Feb. 22. “I’ve lived in front of cameras,” Goody told the Daily Mail Reporter. “And maybe I’ll die in front of them”/Kelsey Husky, UI Argonaut. More here.
Question: Kelsey Husky goes on to say that studies show that cancer is more survivable than ever. She goes on to say that the media should provide updates on possible cures rather than focus largely on dying patients. Do you agree?
Don Sausser sends the photo above and writes: “Dave, in case you haven’t seen a knee joint replacement operation here is a view of mine last week. Dr. Roger Dunteman performed the magic in 1 1/4 hours with it’s healing progressing well here at home.”
Question: What is the most serious medical procedure that you’ve had to undergo?
Spring-breakers, mostly from Canada, enjoy themselves at the beach in the resort city of Cancun, Mexico, Wednesday. You write the cutline.(AP Photo/Israel Leal)
Top Cutlines:
Firefighters and emergency personnel respond to a natural gas explosion on Main Street in Bozeman, Mont., Thursday. Bozeman Chronicle story here. (AP Photo/Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Sean Sperry)
It’s Wordless Wednesday day at A Family Runs Through It. This was snapped on an iPod with the color splash applicaton.
Blogfest ‘09: I was one of the first to arrive at Moon Dollars, a wonderful coffee
house in Post Falls, thanks to our very own BondGirl. And it was immediate hugs. Hugging was the act of the day. As people came in, more hugs abounded. Trish Gannon came in, in her awesome condom dress, and the first thing she said was “Where is JeanieSpokane?” I was sitting across the room and tentatively raised my hand – I mean – could she be a closet stalker? And she ran over and squeezed me long and hard and told me she thought I was so funny. And squeezed me again/JeanieSpokane, Nuts & Nonsense. More here.
Item: Idaho Bucket List: 5 fishing experiences you want to hit before you die/Roger Phillips, Idaho Statesman
More Info: You can catch North America’s largest freshwater fish in its deepest gorge. How many more superlatives do you need? Sturgeon are prehistoric fish that typically are measured in feet, not inches, and you can catch them in one of Idaho’s most scenic places, where bighorns roam and chukars call from the cliffs. The canyon divides Idaho and Oregon in a roadless stretch below Hells Canyon Dam.
Question: The Idaho Statesman reporter mentions no “bucket list” fishing spots north of Lewiston, unless you consider the “Mountain Lake Trout” entry to cover our area. Which fishing spots in North Idaho should be included on the “Idaho Bucket List”?
Item: Sandpoint High parents don’t want 2009 graduates going to Triple Play for Grad Night/Conor Christofferson, Bonner County Bee
More Info: Plans for Sandpoint High School’s annual Grad Night celebration are in flux after a group of senior class parents voiced concerns about the party’s location.Traditionally held at the Bonner County Fairgrounds, the June event is scheduled to take place at Coeur d’Alene’s Triple Play Family Fun Park. The move has proven controversial, with a group of unhappy parents going as far as threatening to hold a competing party at the fairgrounds.
Question: Would you be angry if your kid’s graduation class decided to hold Grad Night in another community?
Lori VanAlfen and her son Hudson, 3, of Eagle, ride the ski lift at Tamarack Resort in Donnelly, Idaho against the backdrop of unfinished condos Wednesday on the last day of skiing. Tamarack Resort, which opened in December 2004 and once hailed as America’s newest all-season resort, is shutting down Wednesday due to financial troubles. Story here. (AP Photo/Kerry Maloney)
My love and commitment belong to the wife of my youth, Susan. 32 years proves that. My passionate joy belongs to the Corvette Sting Ray. Always has … especially the model from 1963. (46 years proves that, too.) I first beheld the ‘63 when I first held it in my hands. My brother, Gary, and I had just received a race car set with the “fast back” cars being small enough to fit in the palm of my little boy hands. Nevertheless, they roared … That’s when I fell in love with the Corvette. This past week, a buddy of mine, Michael B, loaned me his ‘Vette when he took off for Hawaii with his bride of 20 years for their celebration. I did not “hold it in my hands”, like I did as a boy in 1963….it held me/ Dennis Mansfield. More here.
Question: What in your estimation is the best now-vintage vehicle ever made?
Arpie: Okay folks, I need help. My wife and I are heading out mattress shopping. I view the mattress business a step below used car sellers. For me it’s even tougher than buying a car because I know nothing about the lingo or construction of mattresses. I have heard some say that I must buy a new box spring at the same time and others that say it’s just a scam to double the profit. Does anyone have any thoughts on how I should proceed without being ripped off? We’re looking for a queen size semi firm mattress.
Question: What recommendations/cautions can you offer Arpie re: the purchase of a new mattress?
As long as most members of the House State Affairs Committee agree to indulge St. Maries Republican Dick Harwood in mulish braying at Uncle Sam, why be so timid? Instead of sending meaningless junk mail to Congress asserting Idaho’s purported “sovereignty,” why not tell the federal government to keep its money and leave the state the hell alone? If legislators are going to embrace a crackpot nostrum, let them really get their arms around it. Then let the committee turn to Harwood for another bright idea: how to replace the nearly $2 billion in cash the government sends Idaho’s way each year to help it provide services from education to health care/Jim Fisher, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: Is there a toothless type of resolution that you’d like your representative to present to fellow legislators, just for the heck of it?
Louis, Hedley and Dorothy, the Ring-tailed Lemur family at the Spring River Zoo in Roswell, New Mexico, examine and nibble upon an old cardboard box that had blown into their cage Wednesday, during gusty winds. According to zoo director Elaine Mayfield the Lemur cage is cleaned out every morning to clear such debris. (AP Photo/Roswell Daily Record Mark Wilson) Question: Didn’t I see a couple of these guys at Blogfest ‘09?
Editor Mike Patrick, CDA Press: When we had coffee at Java awhile back, you asked me if I had any problem with your linking to our stories. The online landscape has changed since then and we’re going to be doing some new things. Please stop linking to Press stories and photos, effective tomorrow.
DFO: bad form on 2 levels, mike. first, you can’t block a site from linking to you. secondly, you have no idea how much traffic huckleberries sends to your site via the links. however, i will stop using your photos. which is a loss for your photographers who get solid exposure from my site. effective tomorrow, i’ll stop posting your photos and would suggest that you put a note on them for ap purposes that the sr isn’t to use them — dfo
Patrick: Ever the gentleman, Dave. I should have expected as much. Question: What do you think of this development?
Marshall Mend and Ty Beaver plan to raise money for the Human Rights Education Institute in Coeur d’Alene and other groups through a deal with a New York City-based organization to sell its diversity curriculum, “A Study of Heroes.” Mend and Beaver are shown Tuesday at the institute/Kathy Plonka, SR.
A longtime Coeur d’Alene human rights activist has struck a deal with the New York City-based Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States to market and sell its character education program, “A Study of Heroes.” Marshall Mend, a founding member of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, is forming a nonprofit organization called Human Rights Sales and Marketing, which will donate a portion of the proceeds to human rights organizations, including the Coeur d’Alene-based Human Rights Education Institute. “This program inspires kids to be mentors and heroes,” Mend said. “The program is so good and so exciting and something people can believe in”/Alison Boggs, SR. More here.
Question: What would the Coeur d’Alene area be like today if the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations hadn’t emerged to challenge the Aryan Nations?
Item: Assisted suicide law now in effect: Washington measure patterned after one from Oregon/Brandon Macz/Lewiston Tribune
More Info: The Death with Dignity Act takes effect in Washington today, but language in the law could turn local patients toward private practitioners and away from hospitals in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley and on the Palouse. Similar to Oregon’s Right-to-Die law, which was implemented nearly 11 years ago and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2006, the Death with Dignity Act allows terminal patients with six months or less to live to request fatal medications. It was placed on Washington ballots last year and received about 60 percent approval statewide. About 56 percent of Asotin County residents voted in favor of the initiative.
Question: Should Idaho adopt an assisted-suicide law?
Item: Tubbs Hill tour groups sought: City Council authorizes parks department to begin search for businesses/Tom Hasslinger, CDA Press
More Info: Businesses looking to offer guided walking and kayaking tours along Tubbs Hill this summer will now get a shot to impress city staff with ideas how nature-loving groups can best experience Coeur d’Alene’s pine-treed gem. The City Council authorized the parks department Tuesday night to begin advertising for requests for qualifications from businesses interested in bringing group tours to Tubbs — a pitch which city officials are calling a “trial basis.” “We’ll see how it goes,” said Doug Eastwood, parks director. “The first year is more of a trial basis.”
Question: Should the city permit walking and kayaking tours of Tubbs Hill, even on a “trial basis”?
“There are some outdoor recreational activities here in North Idaho that I don’t go OnLocation to … snow camping is one of them. But there’s no shortage of adventuresome Idahoans willing to rough it, like the Boy Scouts of Troop 202 in Coeur d’Alene” — Councilwoman KerriT, OnLocation North Idaho. More here.
I used to be a member of the CDA YMCA. Sometimes Dads would bring their little girls into the Men’s Changing Room. That would also qualify as an awkward moment. Well, it was awkward for me, anyway. I’d usually take my time getting dressed, except in ‘that’ situation. I’d just wanna get outta there as fast as possible. So is it ‘right’ to bring an ‘opposite-sex’ child into the restroom? ‘twould be interesting to see how people weigh in on this …
Question: Should parents of smaller children be allowed to take them into a bathroom or lockerroom of the opposite sex?
RE: Telling your kids about sex
When me lads were poor students and I KNEW they had steady girlfriends, I could just buy their condoms along with their deodorants and shaving stuff as part of the course……. I didnt want them taking unnecessary risks for the sake of a few quid….. I mean, i knew they are ‘doing it’ and I knew they was stoney broke…. and I knew that ‘things happen’…. so…. it was either tell them to ‘keep their bits in their boxers’ or to take the necessary precautions :) - as touch wood (maybe thats not appropriate wording LOL) we are still all open about everything here….. even though they are older, well my Jacob is only still 15 and Sam 18…but Ben and Tom are older, but still, nuffins taboo/Marmitetoasty, Twaddle: Everyday Rubbish. Full post below.
Question: Who told you about the birds & the bees?
RE: DanG’s criticism of Councilman MikeK’s coffee break
More than a year ago, the LCDC installed an elaborate catheter and drainage system for me under the desks in the Council Meeting Room. It was expensive, but it allows me (with my admittedly small bladder) to drink more coffee than any small army could consume without having to get up and use the bathroom, thus ensuring I don’t fall asleep, and to solve another problem which I’ll also share in a moment. The problem we didn’t foresee is that the coffee intake system they installed doesn’t have near the capacity as the discharge system, so I have to continue to get up in order to keep the equilibrium of the coffee in-to-out ratio/Councilman MikeK, Huckleberries Online. Full post below.
Question: Do you have a problem with a council member leaving the chambers briefly to grab a cup of coffee and return?
In the news this evening: Update: Ex-SR editor Steve Smith withdraws from the UOregon Daily Emerald controversy here and here. The feds launch a $75B mortgage plan to help homeowners here. Comedian Robin Williams is in intensive care with heart problems here. Demos are using Web to mock Limbaugh, prominent Repubs here. Queen El;izabeth awards Ted Kennedy honorary knighthood here. And the Wild Card continues in play …
Wrigley, a miniature dachshund, appears to have bitten off more than he can chew as he chases a ball around Brittingham Park with owner Natalie Carroll Wednesday in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Wisconsin State Journal, John Maniaci) SR Today In Photos.
Six years ago Jacob Rothrock was inspired to create a just-for-fun mid-winter excuse to get together with friends to celebrate Marchstache. The only criteria to participate is risking relationships and employment by growing facial hair during the month of “Februhairy.” Rothrock’s friends then get creative with the trimming for the big night. Last weekend Jon Totten and Zack Wood hosted Marchstace ‘09. David Kilmer, with a self-described scraggly Nick Nolte-esque attempt at a ‘stache, deftly described some of his competitors; Totten’s classic Southern Highway shave, Rothrock’s ‘70s-era push broom, Nick Haas with a luxuriant “soup strainer” and Paul Chivvis’ unwieldy creation resembling a high school shop project/Kerri Thoreson, CDA Press Main Street. More here.
Question (for men): Do you look good with facial hair?
These are not girls in juvie, or in trouble, just average middle school girls. I wonder what this world is going to look like in ten years, when these eleven to thirteen year olds are in their twenties. Some of the main topics we heard were severe drug abuse and addiction with themselves and their families, alcoholic parents, physical abuse, rape, hopelessness, fear of becoming their deadbeat parents, girls getting pregnant at nine, another girl who has been pregnant three times at the age of thirteen/Live, Love, Laugh, Hope. More here.
Question: Live, Love, Laugh, Hope encourages adults to step into the lives of troubled teens to give them a parent figure who cares. Can you think of anything else to turn things around?
Seems the 455th Engineering Co. from the Hayden Reserve Center stirred up the far-right blogosphere Feb. 8 when heavy snow prompted them to forsake its regular exercise and march down the streets of Hayden. Someone snapped the photo above, and a Patriot site used it as proof that President Obama was getting Americans acclimated to troops in the streets. Jim Camden’s Spin Control story here. Inlander story by Kevin Taylor & Derek Casanovas here.
Question: Have you seen any black helicopters lately?
A dog barks though a hole in the wall of a hardware store decorated with a bat painting in Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Top Cutlines:
At OpenCDA.com, Dan Gookin takes umbrage at the audacity of Councilman Mike K to get up in the middle of a presentation by city staff to get a cup of coffee. You can read all about it here.
Today marked the first time - in five straight years of trying - that the day care licensing bill has made it out of committee and to the full chamber in either house. “That’s a breakthough of sorts,” said Rep. George Sayler, D-Coeur d’Alene. The 8-1 vote to send the bill, SB 1112, to the full Senate for amendments was a strong one, with just Sen. Melinda Smyser, R-Parma, voting no. Even Sen. Denton Darrington voted in favor of … the bill. … “Sen. Darrington has, I think, appreciated that the current statute needs changing,” Sayler said after the vote. “I think he was aware of public opinion and the changing nature of Idaho, and that there was a lot of public support for this legislation even though he didn’t support it/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
DFO: Put your hands together for state Rep. George Sayler, D-CDA, who has persisted after 5 years to move this common-sense, day-care bill to the House floor.
The threat to Idaho from invasive zebra and quagga mussels is so great, according to Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake, that Idaho needs to enact emergency legislation right away to make every boat owner in the state purchase a sticker that’d help fund wash stations to keep the tiny and insidious shellfish out of Idaho’s waterways. Anderson won unanimous support from the House State Affairs Committee this morning to introduce his bill; next step is a full public hearing. “It’d be a $100 misdemeanor to not have that (sticker) on your vessel,” he told the panel. “However, the intent of this is not to fine, the intent of this is to educate”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Should boaters pay $10 to $20 more for a sticker to fight the waterway threat from zebra and quagga mussels?
What am I really like? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s not pretty. I am the kind of person who, in real life, hides from all her high school friends on Facebook. I am ugly enough in real life to run up a credit card bill but to ride my children relentlessly when they do the same thing. In real life, I wear the same socks twice. I have been known to have a horrendously messy office and a horrendously messy bedroom. My refrigerator is toxic. Quite often. I get really pissed off at my neighbors when they are impatient with me. Over my dogs. Those (expletive deleted). And there’s the logger poetry. I can nurse a grudge/JBelle, Notes From The ‘Kan EWA. More here.
Question: I’ve asked before, I’ll ask again: Are you anything at all like your online persona?
Wanna know what Tubbs Hill looked like during the WWI era? OrangeTV had this shot posted on his secondary Web site, Remember The Roxy, today. He explains the shot, from the 1910s, as “Coeur d’Alene Railroad Boat Dock Saw Mill @ Tubbs (Hill).”
Question: When was the last time you hiked Tubbs Hill?
Question: Are you surprised by Congress’ decision to pass a budget loaded with 8,500 “earmarks”?/Moscow-Pullman Daily News
I had perhaps 10 minutes with Harvey, before scurrying back to work. Harvey had two things to impart. One: Young man, you’ve got an alcohol drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Neither is good for you. (I agreed to half, putting out the cigarette.) Two: Young man, I’d like to offer you my newspaper column, now carried by some 250 newspapers. Although I wasn’t the decision-maker at that time, I demurred on behalf of the Tribune, saying his radio broadcasts were sufficient. (Actually, he was better on radio than his print column, in my opinion.) At that time, Harvey was in his 50s, lean and tall and balding. His voice was a marvel, whether in conversation or on the radio/Butch Alford, former publisher of the Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: What do you recall most fondly re: the late Paul Harvey?
Washington’s state House of Representatives today approved House Bill 1596, which would declare that a mother’s right to breastfeed in public places is a civil right protected by the state’s anti-discrimination law. Mothers would be free to breastfeed in any public place, including restaurants, stores, malls, parks, libraries and government offices. There is already a law on the books protecting the mothers from being charged with indecent exposure. HB 1596 would allow anyone discriminated against to file a complaint with the state’s Human Rights Commission/Rich Roesler, Eye On Olympia. More here
Question: Should breast feeding in public be a protected civil right?
Sue Smith holds a picture at her inlaws home near Colbert, of her husband, Rob, who was killed last Friday in a snowmobile accident. The couple’s children from left are Ryan Smith, Cameron Moors, Shea Smith, Erica Cease, Sara and Emily Overfelt. Jody Lawrence-Turner SR story here. (Dan Pelle/Spokesman-Review)
My baby brother, Frito Ray, has been enlisted by Dalton Gardens Elementary to help give fifth-grade boys “the talk” this week in an event called “Boys Night Out.” Ray told me this morning that he was so impressed with the film and the presentation last year involving his son, William, that he said so afterward. And got drafted by the appreciative school officials to discuss the changes that happen to tweener boys. I responded: “you mean … ” and then listed several possibilities. Ray responded: “Ah-ho …” and more.
Question: Who gave your kids “the talk”? How old were they? How did it go?
I think JimmyMAC was the one who pointed out last night that little-used Gonzaga senior Andrew Sorenson epitomized the type of Bulldog who wasn’t the most talented but brought much in pride and spirit to the team. Others mentioned were David Pendergraft and Errol Knight. Sorenson started his last home game, against USC-Upstate, Tuesday night and scored his personal best of 15 points. Jim Meehan Sportslink post here. (Colin Mulvany/SR) Question: When did you last experience the type of joy that would cause you to leap like Zag Andrew Sorenson above (if you could)?
Here’s an interesting study (from the Mercatus Center of George Mason University), quantifying and ranking various aspects of freedom in 50 states (page 19 of 64 for overall ranking). Idaho comes out quite well, at #4 overall. It should also come as no real surprise to see that politically “Blue” states are also the ones that turn up on the bottom of this study. Democrats spend more time controlling your life and your money than other folks do… huh? Who knew?/Bill, Free In Idaho!
Question: Do you consider the No. 4 ranking in this freedom study by the George Mason center to be a good thing?
In November, the Emerald recruited Steven A. Smith, Emerald alum and former editor in chief of The Spokesman Review in Spokane, Wash., to work as a consultant and draft a strategic plan for the future of the Emerald. In Smith’s strategic plan, he recommended hiring a publisher with a five-year contract to replace the current general manager position. Smith wrote a loose job description for the publisher position, including its responsibilities. As described in Smith’s proposal, the publisher would have supervisory control over the student editor, which the general manager does not have. This poses an obvious threat to student control and editorial independence that is key to the service we provide/Ashley Chase & Allie Grasgree, Editor in chief & managing editor of University of Oregon Daily Emerald. More here.
Question: Should student newspapers at colleges and universities be autonomous?
This undated photo shows actress Janet Leigh in the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 classic thriller “Psycho.” A British auction house says it is selling the heart-stopping score to Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho.” (AP Photo/File, HO) Question: What type of horror scared you most — the graphic type of today or the subtle horror of Hitchcock and yesterday?
Item: Not enough to do? Harwood wants Idaho to declare sovereignty from federal government/Randy Stapilus, Ridenbaugh Press
More Info: The Idaho Legislature is in a slow state right now, for understandable reasons - more needs to be done on the matter of budgets and revenue before the pace can pick up to normal. But that seems to be allowing all sorts of … creative … stuff to take up some of the quiet time and committees. Like the special from Representative Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, introduced today (Tuesday) in the House State Affairs Committee (the vote was 13-4). It would have Idaho “declare its sovereignty” from the federal government. Declare its sovereignty? As in independence, as in sovereign nation? Well, no.
Question: What do you think of Rep. Harwood’s proposal that Idaho declare itself sovereign from the federal government?
Whom do members of Idaho’s House Revenue and Taxation Committee think they represent, anyway? It sure isn’t Idaho’s Main Street retailers, who must collect the state’s 6 percent sales tax on every sale they make while most online and catalog retailers collect nothing. The retailers know this puts them at a competitive disadvantage. For that reason, the Idaho Retailers Association has always strongly supported the Streamlined Sales Tax Project through which 22 other states are working to capture tax dollars that are supposed to be paid by Idahoans making purchases, but for online or other distant sales almost never are/Jim Fisher, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: Should the Idaho Legislature make it easier to collect sales tax from Idahoans purchasing items online?
Council to urban renewal watchdogs: You’re out of line. That was the message two council members delivered Tuesday night to a pair of citizens concerned with last week’s news that former Lake City Development Corp. Chairman and current board member Charlie Nipp had been under investigation by the Idaho State Attorney General’s Office. Tuesday marked the first council meeting since the attorney general’s office cleared Nipp of any criminal wrongdoing regarding a conflict of interest between his positions on the LCDC board and Mountain West Bank. And after Jim Brannon and Mary Souza requested council exercise strict oversight in the matter, council members Ron Edinger and Deanna Goodlander said enough was enough/Tom Hasslinger, CDA Press. More here.
Question: Were council members Ron Edinger and Deanna Goodlander correct in calling out Mary Souza and Jim Brannon for remarks about former Lake City Development Corp. chairman Charlie Nipp?
Skyway Elemenatry 5th grader Danni Payton helped out in the 1st grade class at the school in Coeur d’Alene on Friday. KATHY PLONKA, The Spokesman-Review
Rain, snow, hail, or fog. Which would you rather have?/UIdaho Argonaut
The recent expenses include $26 million for relicensing, plus an undisclosed number of millions settling a century-old dispute with the Coeur d’Alene Tribe. These are costs that Avista would obviously rather not have incurred, but they’re critical to the company’s future — and, therefore, to ratepayers as well. Avista expects renewal of its license sometime this year and has settled with every one of more than 200 stakeholder groups but one — the Sierra Club. The settlement with the tribe adequately satisfied both parties, but only after years of negotiation and mediation. It is in everyone’s best interest that their dispute is now history/CDA Press Editorial Board. More here.
Question: The Press editorialist makes a solid argument for the natural gas and electric rate increases sought by Avista. Do you see any flaws in the logic?
Item: Marina back on drawing board: Hagadone submits plans for Blackwell Island/Alecia Warren, CDA Press
More Info: After years of research and consulting, Hagadone Hospitality has set the wheels in motion once again to excavate and replace the Blackwell Island Marina. “We spent well into the six figures — many six figures,” said John Barlow, president of Hagadone Real Estate Holding, of the past three years rethinking the project. “Many developers might have given up, but we know this will be Coeur d’Alene’s finest marina.” Armed with an entirely new set of environmental standards, Hagadone Hospitality resubmitted a joint permit application to the state Department of Lands and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Monday.
Question: Do you have reservations re: Duane Hagadone’s plans to construct a top-flight marina and boat sales operation on Blackwell Island?
Joe Heller/Hellertoons
Gonzaga senior Andrew Sorenson celebrates his final 3-pointer against South Carolina-Upstate during an NCAA college basketball game in Spokane, Wash., on Senior Night Tuesday. ESPN game story & boxscore here. (AP Photo/Rajah Bose)
In the news this evening: A poll shows 6 in 10 Americans fear government will spend too much here. Congressman: Demise of old media mostly for the better here. Obama overrides Bush move on Endangered Species Act here. The GOP chairman backs off Limbaugh criticism here. And the Wild Card remains in play …
Carrie Suhr, right, of Grass Valley, Calif., smiles while getting the back of her shirt autographed by San Francisco Giants pitcher Brandon Medders, left, before their spring training baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Scottsdale, Ariz., Tuesday. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) SR Today In Photos.
My father gave my first gun back in 1956, a single shot .22, and I’ve owned guns ever since. But until two weeks ago, I’d never been to a gun show. Since I’ve been writing about guns and firearms legislation of late, and gun shows often came up in the comment sections of those articles, it seemed like my professional and civic duty to see what was really going on there. So I did it. What I found surprised me, and it probably would surprise a lot of people. First off, and no surprise here, gun shows are big business. I tried to find a total number of shows or sales, but couldn’t find a figure, but rest assured, it’s huge. Every state has gun shows, and nationally, those hundreds if not thousands of shows generate many millions in sales/Bill Schneider, New West. More here.
Question: When did you get your first gun?
Item: Bill that would ban firing squads advances in Idaho Legislature/Idaho Statesman
More Info: A bill that would remove firing squads as an alternative for execution in Idaho is moving on to the full Idaho House. The House Judiciary and Rules Committee unanimously approved the HB107 Tuesday afternoon. … Staffers with the Idaho Attorney General’s office told the committee the changes were necessary to prevent lawsuits and make Idaho’s antiquated death penalty laws constitutional. If approved, it would also make it faster for Idaho to carry out death warrants.
Question: Is there a universal method of execution that you’d prefer in extreme capital punishment cases that warrant the death penalty?
Marshall Mend and Ty Beaver talked about their idea of raising money for human rights activities at the Human Rights Institute in Coeur d’Alene on Tuesday. Mend struck a deal with New York City-based Raoul Wallenberg Institute to sell a diversity curriculum the institute produces called A Study of Heroes. He is setting up a nonprofit organization to sell the curriculum to school districts and other organizations nationwide with a share of the money going to the Human Rights Institute in Coeur d’Alene. KATHY PLONKA The Spokesman-Review
A flock of Griffon Vultures gather over sheep corpse in a canyon of the Uvac river, some 220 kilometers (138 miles) south of Belgrade, Sunday. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Jaroslav Pap)
Top Cutlines:
A Rogers High School teacher has been cited on a misdemeanor charge of indecent exposure 
for exposing his gentalia to a woman in the parking lot of Super One Foods/Post Falls. Daniel James Rhoades, 31, admitted to police that he intentionally exposed his genitals to the victim who was sitting in her parked car about 11 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7. Rhoades admitted that this was not the first incident where he had exposed his genitals in public, according to a Post Falls police news release. But he claims it was the first time that anyone had seen him do so. According to the police report, Rhoades was standing near the front of the store when he unzipped his pants and exposed himself to the victim. The victim was able to get the license plate number of his blue Dodge Dakota before he drove off.
The list is now final: The Idaho Transportation Board has approved $28 million in local highway projects to be targeted with federal economic stimulus funds, and $149.9 million in state highway projects, including the Dover Bridge, the Vista Interchange, and six other projects around the state. Plus, as directed by the stimulus bill, $5.9 million would go to an enhancement project, “hardscaping” at the 10-Mile Interchange. That adds up to $183.9 million - about $2 million more than the stimulus actually will send to Idaho for such road projects/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
All of the business establishments that sell alcoholic drinks are in business except for Wendy’s Hauser Lake Resort and they hopefully will have their license very soon. The City Clerk, Cheri Howell, is trying to get a quorum together for a special council meeting this Thursday to approve their license. So hang in there my drinking friends. Things are looking good/Frum Helen Back. Hauser Thoughts.
In 1985, or thereabouts, we were powerful, we were unbreakable, we were indestructible, we were all boyish and proud and full of everything that boys are, at fifteen, or thereabouts. It was a church camp. Don’t let that fool you, however. It wasn’t a place for “church” per se. Oh sure, they made us do the church thing in the evenings, and sometimes in the mornings.. but the rest of the time, it was an adventure in socializing with our peers. Forming cliques, dissolving cliques, and reforming old alliances, all in one week. Finding true love on Monday, losing it on Tuesday, running the panties up the flag pole on Wednesday, reconciling on Thursday, and saying goodbye and promising to write/call, but never follow through on that promise, on Friday/Toadman, Synaptic Disunion. More here.
Question: Did you ever go to church camp or summer camp? What did you enjoy about it?
E-mails SR colleague Carolyn Lamberson: “So I pull up behind the pickup truck (around noon @ Kathleen & 95) and can’t believe what I’m seeing. From the roof is mounted an American flag. OK. Fine. Sitting on the cover of the pickup bed is a toy Woody doll from “Toy Story” – aiming a little plastic machine gun right at me. Uhhh. Then the back of the truck is covered with every possible anti-Obama, pro-NRA bumper sticker imaginable. There’s Obama as bin Laden. “Impeach Obama.” “Gun Control is a Steady Hand. “Proud Member of the Right-Wing Resistence, 2009-2012.” “Sarah Palin – 2012.” The kicker? Continues Carolyn: “All this from a guy driving a Nissan. Now that’s a proud American.” Carolyn was reaching for her cell phone to snap a picture (for you Berry Pickers) when traffic started moving. So she couldn’t get the shot. Alas.
Whether or not you’re religious, Lent is the time of year to give up something - usually something you like, such as beer or chocolate - and take time to make a quiet assessment of your life. This year, because of the economy, many people will be giving up their homes or their jobs, and not necessarily for only the 40 days of Lent. Some people may be giving up meals, as well - not because they are trying to make atonement for their sins, but because they can’t afford food and the box from the food bank has to last a week. In other words, Lent is sure to have the penitential pallor appropriate to the season, but not necessarily because that’s a choice/Kathy Hedberg, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: Have you been forced to give up something for Lent due to the economic situation rather than religious observance?
Item: Moscow won’t alter discrimination policy: Majority of council says city already gives adequate protection to the transgendered/David Johnson, Lewiston Tribune
More Info: City councilors here shot down a resolution Monday night to amend the city’s nondiscrimination employment policy to specifically prohibit discrimination based on gender expression, identity or characteristics. By a 5-1 vote, the majority of councilors agreed the city’s current policy already protects people from such discrimination.
Question: Did the Moscow City Council make the right decision by not specifically including transgender people in the city’s nondiscrimination policy?
Graham Watanabe, of Sun Valley races to victory in the men’s snowboarding World Cup snowboardcross event, Saturday in Newry, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Reality TV hit a new low (How many times have we said that?) Monday night when teary-eyed Jason Mesnick pulled a flip-flop on “The Bachelor” by first proposing to one woman and then dumping her for the woman he earlier rejected. The finale of the ridiculous, yet addictive, series ended with Jason presenting Melissa Rycroft (pictured) with a big, sparkly ring and making her “the happiest girl in the world.” And if you turned off the TV right then and there, you probably thought you just witnessed the proverbial fairy-tale ending. But noooooo. Moments later, on the “After the Last Rose” follow-up show, Jason revealed that, in the weeks after production ended, “the chemistry started changing” and that he couldn’t stop thinking about the other woman — Molly Malaney/A+E Interactive. More here.
Question: So what would you do if you’d finished No. 2 in the running for “The Bachelor’s” heart, only to learn that he made a mistake with his choice and wants you back?
That stretch of grass by his back door
had been all white the day before;
those ivy beds out near the gate
were still in snow at half past eight;
though Spring herself he had not seen,
he spied her footprints – they were green.
The Bard Of Sherman Avenue
Our View: For Idaho schools, it’s raining now: Idaho schools face a downpour right now. And Tom Luna still wants to save for a rainy day/Idaho Statesman.
More Info: The state’s school superintendent would rather keep $114 million socked away in a savings account to protect public school funding - someday. He would rather condemn Idaho schools to historic budget cuts. He would prefer to move full steam ahead on $62 million in education cuts - including a plan to reduce school staff salaries by the equivalent of three school days, and a change in a busing reimbursement that would cost Boise schools $1.45 million.
Question: Should Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna tap the state’s large rainy day fund to prevent deep cuts in public school funding?
I’ve never articulated one of the underlying principles that guides my decisions on what I do at Huckleberries Online. It’s time to do so. From the beginning, I have tried to promote people, their written work, and their off-the-cuff thoughts. With varying degrees of success, I’ve tried to 
look beyond the differences I have with the HBO Blogosphere bloggers, commenters and blurkers re: religion, politics, culture, etc. I did so for several reasons. One, I wanted to build something in which individuals with wide differences would have a place where they could get beyond ideology and philosophy, learn from one another, and become friends. I wanted HBO to become a cyber “Cheers,” of sort, a place where everyone knows your pseudonym. Secondly, I realized early that all of us are trying to get through life as best we can. As blogmeister, I have a ringside seat as Berry Pickers here have told about their struggles with aging, illness, kids, finances, marriage, local government, etc. I haven’t always made the right decisions. I have let things go too far in the comments section more times than I’d like to remember. But I promise to rededicate myself to protecting people from personal attacks — and sometimes protecting you from yourself. Bottom line: If Huckleberries has lightened your load at all, given you a reason to smile on an otherwise lousy day, then it has accomplished its accomplished its original mission.
In the news this morning: The Coast Guard is losing hope of finding 2 NFL players at sea here. Older people face greater HIV infection risks here. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says U.S. may need to expand bank rescue here. Married gays in Massachusetts are suing for federal benefits here. ‘The Bachelor’ Jason Mesnick tosses off his first pick Melissa for a second chance with No. 2 Molly here. And another Wild Card hits the table …
I absolutely don’t know anything about this. Here, Trish Gannon/River Journal — she of the infamous condom dress that drove Any Mouse to the sidelines several years ago — is seen with an unknown man who claimed to be a blurker (probably for the free pizza & pop) and attended Blogfest ‘09. You can see more of Trish’s photos of Blogfest ‘09 here.
During her address the Mayor also announced population growth of 3,000 residents over the course of eight years. That’s equivalent to about 375 new residents per year, every year. The mayor believes that by limiting population growth
Question: Does it matter to you as a shopper whether a business is locally owned or part of a chain?
Item: Idaho ranks 2nd in percentage incarcerated, on probation or parole/Dallas News More Info: One in 31 Americans is in prison, in jail or on parole or probation, at an annual cost of $47 billion in 2008, according to a new report. Texas ranked among the five states with the highest rate of adults under correctional supervision, one in 22, according to the Pew Center on the States report, released Monday. The top five were Georgia, the leader with one of every 13 adults, Idaho, Texas, Massachusetts and Ohio. Those with lowest rates were New Hampshire, Maine, West Virginia, Utah and North Dakota. Question: Should this report prompt Idaho lawmakers to review laws and sentencing guidelines to reduce the number of individuals in the penal system and cut costs?
Legislative players know every session has its own character and personality, as individual as the characters and personalities who work within its brief (?) life span. This session is no different, but it challenges the imagination to conjure accurate descriptions of the “character” of this session. And “personality?” We’ve all had blind dates with more personality. This odd, disjointed session began in a rhetorical atmosphere dominated by words like “shortfall,” “holdback,” “deficits,” and “cuts.” All 50 states were embroiled in the national financial cataclysm, but each state also had its own budget demons to wrestle/Steve Ahrens, Idaho Business Review. More here. (H/T Kevin Richert/Idaho Statesman)
Question: Have you ever had a blind date? How did it work out?
Actress Patty Duke receives a pin from Pamela Beyer, a district governor for Lions Clubs International, during a ceremony recently in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho honoring the actress for her service and contributions to the volunteer service organization. (AP Photo/Coeur d’Alene Press, Jerome A. Pollos)
Nipp said he wrote Jorgenson a letter following last week’s report. “I’ve been a citizen of this community since childhood,” Nipp said Monday, adding he volunteered his time to the board. “I always try to perform my duties with honesty and integrity,” he said. “For over two years this undisclosed group has been accusing and trying to slander my character and other members on this commission. The AG’s report said it appeared clear that this was not done to defraud or deceive, but rather a belief that (I) did not have a conflict”/Charlie Nipp, former Lake City Development Corp. chairman. More from CDA Press here.
Question: Would you be willinig to serve on a controversial board like LCDC, if you knew a misstep could trigger an investigation?
Nick Adams: Clearly, some of the posters here (and in Idaho overall) still believe in the conservative path—tax breaks, lower spending (except defense), restrictive social policies, etc. Others are embracing the liberal approach—wealth redistribution, increased government spending (except defense), inclusive social policies, etc. The question is—will DFO allow this blog to reflect the Idaho bias or will he create an environment where all philosophies are welcome?
DFO: Nick, in a word, the answer is yes. Via interaction on this blog, I’ve come to appreciate liberal positions more. Or more accurately view them with the same interest as conservative positions. Obama’s spending worries me, for example. But I appreciate that he’s a man of action. A bigger issue for me is tone. For months, I’ve been trying to rein in the insults. Some of you like to mix it up. But the majority of my bloggers, commenters and blurkers don’t. Also, I will be focusing more on North Idaho than ever. Huckleberries has a habit of momentarily lurching one way. But it tends to achieve balance again in short order.
In the news this evening: A massive snowstorm freezes out a global warming protest in Washington, D.C., here. The Dow closes below 6800 here. 2 NFL players including a former Washington Huskie remain missing at sea here. John McCain launches a broadside against Barack Obama on spending here. A study shows that there’s widespread resistance to the main flu drug in this country here. And the Wild Card remains in play …
Raindrops gather on branches at Falls Park in Post Falls today. Rain is in the forecast everyday this week. KATHY PLONKA The Spokesman-Review. SR Today In Photos.
Item: Legislature of hard knocks: In Idaho, four-year degrees are no pre-requisite for legislators/Jared S. Hopkins, Twin Falls Times-News
More Info: Ask a good portion of the Idaho Legislature about their alma mater, and they’ll give you a stock answer that could resemble a school fight song. “I went to the school of hard knocks,” said Sen. Shirley McKague, R-Meridian, one of Idaho’s legislators without a college diploma. She isn’t alone. Nearly 20 percent of Idaho lawmakers don’t hold four-year college degrees, according to interviews with legislators and the Idaho Blue Book, a 400-page guide to government published by the state.
Question: Is it important to you that your state representatives have four-year diplomas?
Jim Camden/Spin Control knows why those reservists from the 455th Engineering Co. were marching down a Hayden street (in this SteveQuayle.com photo) here.
Casper Kelly Walsh’s Jesse Hillhouse,left, maintains control as Campbell County’s Burke Burgess attempts an escape during their quarterfinal bout in the 125 pound division of the Wyoming State Wrestling Championships Friday afternoon in Casper, Wyo. Hillhouse, a defending state champion, advanced after a 13-4 major decision. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/The Wyoming Tribune Eagle, AAron Ontiveroz)
Top Cutlines:
We all feel the same; besides the AT&T stock he inherited from his father my dad’s legacy to us was the cottonwoods and meadow grass, the high, fast, muddy water of Memorial Day, the huckleberries and the apples, the woodpeckers and hummingbirds and the fish, elk and deer. On the Joe, my dad (shown with his granddaughter, Melissa) was man of immense means and we benefited from a largess of clarity and spirit among pine trees and splashing streams as we tramped up and down the mountainsides of the St. Joe River/JBelle, Notes From The ‘Kan EWA. More here.
Question: Is there any part of this country that you’d consider to be “in your blood”?
In this photo released by the U.S. Coast Guard, shows former University of South Florida football player Nick Schuyler clinging to the engine of an overturned boat in the Gulf of Mexico today. Schuyler, Marquis Cooper, William Buckley and Corey Smith left Clearwater, Fla, on a fishing trip Saturday morning and did not return. The other three remain missing. Schuyler, a former University of South Florida player, told rescuers that the 21-foot boat was anchored when it flipped Saturday evening in rough seas and that the others got separated from the boat, Capt. Timothy M. Close said. Schuyler, who was wearing a life vest, had been clinging to the boat since then. Story here. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, HO)
I think it was when the big national bank lost my mother that I first began to realize I would be better off doing business with a small local bank. The recent blizzard of incompetence atop today’s biggest banks has made me happier than ever to be doing my banking with people who live in the same town. For one thing, they have more civilized ways of bribing me as a customer. Oh, like the big banks, the people at my small local bank try to buy my affection. The big banks throw lavish Las Vegas parties for potential customers. The small local bank does something similar, though on a smaller scale. Several times a year, it gives cookies to me and to its other customers. And sometimes they have dishes of candy. If you don’t take more than a couple of pieces they won’t slap your fingers/Bill Hall, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: Do you bank at a big institution or a local one? Does it make a difference?
Sandie, a French bulldog, is all dressed up and patiently waiting her turn on stage during the Kootenai Humane Society’s Dog Daze fundraiser at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds, posted Kerri Thoreson/OnLocation North Idaho. More here.
Blogfest ‘09: What a wonderful afternoon on Saturday, as we were able to meet
“face to face” with many of our fellow bloggers and members of the HBO Family. Capital F in family…. we are a wild and crazy and unique bunch. Maybe bloggers in general are such, but I think this group in particular is especially talented, opinionated, and expressive. The individual blogs that are wired to HBO are in themselves entertaining and thought provoking, but then as we are stirred together in the communal soup, the entertainment (and sometimes the fur that flies) multiplies exponentially. This is a very powerful group of people/JanTri, Brand X Ranch. More here.
Question: Is JanTri right? Have we formed something here at Huckleberries Online that goes beyond the usual collection of individuals that share a common interest?
A correspondent (who asked to remain anonymous) pulled together some comparisons of daily newspaper page size, on occasion of the Boise Idaho Statesman’s switch today to publication on the press of the Nampa Idaho Press-Tribune - which is cutting the page size. But it has been cut before, and it has been a process. A big process it has been, too. In 1986, space on a page of the broadsheet Statesman covered 323.1 square inches. As of today, a page is 233.7 square inches. And we should note here that the Statesman is far from alone in the trimming; few if any daily newspapers publish today in the dimensions they did 20 years ago/Randy Stapilus, Ridenbaugh Press. More here.
Question: How much are you bothered when a newspaper literally shrinks in size?
Sporting there best dresses, runners burst from the starting line of the third annual “Red Dress Run” Saturday in Moscow. Story here. (AP Photo/Lewiston Tribune, Kyle Mills)
In this photo provided by the Girl Scouts, pastry chef Ernie Rich applies the finishing touches to the largest chocolate and vanilla girl scout cookie ever made during an event at the National Constitution center in Philadelphia on Friday. The Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania made the cookie to mark the 75th anniversary of the first commercial girl scout cookie sale which was in Philadelphia in 1934. (AP Photo/Girl Scouts, Tim Shaffer) Question: Which Girl Scout cookie is your favorite?
Item: BusinessWeek ranks Portland at the top of ‘unhappiest city’ list/Oregonian
More Info: Portland has found itself at the top of another list, but not the kind you can brag about. A staggering jump in calls to a crisis intervention hotline, high rates of depression and divorce have landed Portland atop BusinessWeek’s list of unhappiest American cities. The magazine looked at a range of factors - crime, unemployment, and cloudy days (an average of 222 a year in case you’re wondering) - and concluded that the Rose City is one miserable place.
Question: Portland is a fairly liberal city. Does this mean that liberals are unhappier than conservatives?
Trish Gannon/River Journal just posted more Blogfest ‘09 photos here. Above, Christa Manis & Taryn Hecker underscore the claim by many that this piece of the blogosphere would be a classless place without The Women of Huckleberries Online. You can read the entire comments thread from Blogfest ‘09 here. You can find a list of the award winners here.
… that there may be another reason for the visit by former Secretary of State Dirk Kempthorne to North Idaho later in the week. A Berry Picker sends along a private invitation landing in some well-heeled laps to “join us for a Private Reception with our friends.” That private reception, featuring cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, will cost $100 per couple. What for? “Proceeds will go to retire Kempthoren for Governor debt incurred for the successful 2002 Election.” Observes the Berry Picker: “We’re in the midst of a dire economy in north Idaho, and he wants us to help pay off a 7-year-old campaign debt. I’m quite sure he’s been bringing in a much bigger paycheck than most people in Idaho the past several years. Chutzpah to the nth degree.” Well said. You can read the invitation for yourself here.
Question: If you have an extra $100 burning a hole in your pocket, would you spend it on cocktails & hors d’oeuvres to help Dirk Kempthorne retire his 2002 gubernatorial campaign debt?
North Idaho College finished second Saturday in the National Junior College Athletic Association wrestling championships in Rochester, Minn. Asst. Coach: Chris Harris. Tim McGoldrick. Head Coach: Pat Whitcomb. Celic Bell, DJ May, Trevor Powell, Rudi Burtschi, Luke Chesher, Lester Brown, Jeremy Bommarito, Spencer Sharp, Kamron Jackson. Athletic Trainer: Randy Boswell. Asst. Coaches: Justin Pluid, Jeremy Zender. Coeur d’Alene Press story here. (Courtesy of NIC)
Question: Have you ever seen a high school or college wrestling match?
I’m grateful for all the Berry Pickers who took time out from a sunny Saturday to make Blogfest ‘09 successful. I needed it more than anyone else. It’s easy to lose focus re: what goes on here, when you’re trying to ride herd on individuals who treat the Huckleberries Online 
comments section as their personal kitty-litter box. Blogfest ‘09 was a reminder that we’ve built a unique online community that knows no circulation boundaries. Or political, religious or social boundaries. I’m thrilled that this is a place where a witch with a gun, a gay man who used to work in a mortuary, a curmudgeonly seventysomething former lawmaker, a gentle Buddhist who gives away sticks, city council members, among others, relish one another’s company so much that they’re lobbying for more than one get together per year. And they seem to accept as blogmeister an Evangelical Christian who once thought George Bush was the cat’s meow. The cameraderie at Moon Dollars (a wunnerful new place in Post Falls to hold small and medium-size private gatherings) reinforced my decision to rein things in here and return to Huckleberries to its roots as a North Idaho regional blog. More below.
In this photo released by Naracoopa Holiday Cottages, nearly 200 whales and several dolphins are seen stranded on a beach on Tasmania’s King Island, Monday, March 2, 2009. Rescuers are working to save dozens of whales and several dolphins stranded on the beach. (AP Photo/Naracoopa Holiday Cottages, John Nievaart)
Question: Have you ever seen a whale swimming in an ocean?
Item: Everyone’s a winner in press partnership: The paper you’re holding was printed on Nampa’s state-of-the-art press/Idaho Statesman
More Info: The expanded printing press at the Idaho Press-Tribune is one of a kind, said Production Director Roger Stowell, who ran the Statesman’s press for years and is now in charge of printing both papers at the press in Nampa. “There isn’t anybody doing what we’re doing,” Stowell said. DGM, a printing technology company, specially manufactured parts that allow the Pennsylvania-made press to print three pages side by side, he said. Other equipment allows for color on up to 30 pages in one daily edition, Stowell said.
Question: Newspapers are doing everything they can to survive the perfect storm of a decline in readership and advertising, and a poor economy. How confident are you that the Coeur d’Alene Press and Spokesman-Review can survive?
Item: Cop faces trial two years after wild shooting chase/KREM2
More Info: After two years and numerous delays, a Spokane police officer accused of shooting an unarmed man in the head is finally in a courtroom facing trial. Opening statements are set for today at the Spokane County Courthouse. Jay Olsen is charged with shooting Shonto Pete after a chase through a Peaceful Valley neighborhood in 2007.
Juror Issue: Based on how long jury selection takes it could run into the NCAA men’s basketball tournament that starts March 19. Olsen’s attorney did ask the judge if the court can take a recess during Gonzaga’s games and the judge said he’d consider it.
Question: Should the judge allow recesses during March Madness, so jurors can watch ballgames involving the Gonzaga Bulldogs? (Vote in KREM2 poll)
Mountain View teacher Paul Uzzi, center listens as University of Idaho instructor Kathy Canfield-Davis gives a talk during on educational leadership.The program held at Betty Kiefer Elementary in rathdrum gives local teachers an opportunity to earn credits towards a masters degree. Kathy Plonka/Spokesman-Review
Item: Wall Street tumbles below 7,000/AP
More Info: Investors turned cautious again Monday as a staggering $61.7 billion in quarterly losses at insurer American International Group Inc. touched off fresh worries about the health of the nation’s financial system.
Question: What’s your financial strategy at this point?
Item: Good credit no longer means good interest/Shawn Vestal, SR
More Info: Al Anderson had his credit card for a decade or more. He paid his bills on time. He rarely carried a balance. He thought he was a good customer. Then, a couple weeks ago, he got a notice from Capital One that his interest rate was rising from 9.9 percent to 17.9 percent. “To me, that’s a slap in the face,” said Anderson, a 69-year-old retiree who promptly canceled his card. “I would understand if my credit history was bad or I hadn’t made payments or gone over my balance, but I never have.”
Question: Has the interest rates on your credit cards gone up?
Item: Kempthorne credits Idaho with success: Former governor’s homecoming marked by appreciation for state/Alecia Warren, CDA Press
More Info: Before he settles back to rest, (the former secretary of Interior will) stop by Coeur d’Alene on Thursday to open up about his achievements and stumbles with the federal government at a public luncheon and forum. Hosted by the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce and The Coeur d’Alene Resort, the event will run from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. at The Coeur d’Alene Resort Convention Center. “This is a homecoming — I’ll be able to talk about some of the issues we tackled and were successful with,” Kempthorne said.
Question: Would you say that Dirk Kempthorne’s political career was successful or otherwise?
Blogfest ‘09 was as good as advertised, thanks to the wunnerful digs and service provided by Moon Dollars in Post Falls. (If you’re looking for a place for a private party up to 100 or so, you should check out Moon Dollars.) JeanC/Cat House & Shooting Gallery here, Frum Helen Back/Hauser Thoughts here, & Bayview Herb here provided glimpses re: what went on during the three-hour event. You can also read the official Blogfest thread (in which the Merry Hucksters commandeered Alison McArthur’s laptop and posted more than a few posts under my avatar here. And see Trish’s condom dress here. As always, Blogfest leaves you hungering for more. It’s too bad we don’t do these things more than once a year. With that thought, I’ll post the Wild Card and hit the sack …
In this photo by Bayview Herb/Bay Views (other blogfest photos here), I’m explaining something to Gary Ingram. Do you have any idea what it might be?
A number of tongue-in-cheek awards were handed out at Blogfest ‘09 Saturday, including:
- Best Nom de Plume - Best alias moniker on HBO - Digger
- Peace-Keeper Award - Goes to the HBOer who breaks up the most blogfights - Stickman
- The Do-Your-Job Award - The HBOer who posts more at work than at home - Jeanie (confessed)
- Most Creative Avatar - The poster with the most unique avatar - Frum Helen Back
- Cutline King (or Queen) - the HBOer with the most/best cutlines in Dave’s cutline contests - John Austin
- You can read the rest in the box below
In this March 26, 2001 file photo, Paul Harvey is seen with his wife, Angel in Phoenix. Paul Harvey, the news commentator and talk-radio pioneer whose staccato style made him one of the nation’s most familiar voices, died Saturday in Arizona, according to ABC Radio Networks. He was 90. Story here. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Suzanne Starr)
Question: Are you a Paul Harvey fan?
A crash on U.S. Highway 95 at Athol sent four people to the hospital
early Saturday morning after one driver apparently drove on the wrong
side of the road. Andrew M. Becker, 21, of Moscow was heading
north on Highway 95 and trying to turn west on State Highway 54 when
his left rear side was struck by a car heading north in the southbound
lanes at about 1:40 a.m., according to the Idaho State Patrol. The
second car was driven 25-year-old David L. Wilder of Powell, Wyo./SR. More here.
Item: New rules could curb wandering cats: Licensing animals will rid neighborhoods of nuisances, citizen argues/Brian Walker, CDA Press
More Info: Police Chief Cliff Hayes said for the third time in the last 15 years he’ll be seeking guidance from the council on whether it wants to tackle cat licensing. He said Spokane requires cats to be licensed, but he’s not aware of any Idaho city that does. Hayes said no definitive reason was given by the council in the early 1990s and again around 2000 about why it didn’t want such a law. Hayes said he earlier supported the cat licensing concept, but he’s refraining from publicly taking a stand this go-round.
Question: Should owners be required to license cats?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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