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Archive for February 2010
Blogfest 2010 is over. We’re coming to the end of an exciting Winter Olympics this weekend. On the good side, however, February and winter is almost over. March Madness is just around the corner, beckoning to both the men’s and women’s basketball teams at Gonzaga. We still have a few more months to enjoy the various waterfronts throughout North Idaho pretty much with locals only before the tourists and visitors move in. I have some good topics for you below. But you can always start another thread by using this Wild Card …
Gonzaga’s Robert Sacre gets a hand on the ball as San Francisco’s Perris Blackwell shoots during the second half of their NCAA college basketball game at the McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane. Saturday. Sacre was called for a foul on this play. Gonzaga beat San Francisco 75-69. (AP Photo/Rajah Bose)
Carlene Herburger, of Mount Vernon, Ore., holds a sign as she joins a group of local residents to protest the planned purchase of a building to house the future Aryan Nations headquarters in John Day, Ore. on Friday. (AP Photo/The Bulletin, Pete Erickson)
In an odd twist of events, the Aryan Nations claims its being discriminated against as their public
pronouncement of wanting to move the group from Athol, Idaho to John Day, Oregon has been met with an overwhelmingly negative response. So many people in fact turned out to a public meeting to protest the Aryan Nations looking into buying land in the John Day area that hundreds of people had to be turned away.Paul Mullet, the 36-year-old self-proclaimed leader of the Aryan Nations, says his group has gotten angry e-mails, phone calls and negative publicity from a planned moved to eastern Oregon and he says he doesn’t understand why.“I do have this one question to John Day itself. What did we do to anyone in that community?”/Tania Dall, KXLY. More here.
Question: Is white supremacist Mullet being discriminated against as a result of the backlash he’s facing ever before he follows through with plans to move to John Day, Ore.? Do you care?
There must be something in the water in the
Gonzaga University Athletic Department. Two of the 
assistant coaches
for the GU Women’s Basketball team are pregnant, making for an
interesting season on the sidelines. Thursday night, the GU Women
won the WCC Conference. When Lisa Mispley Fortier and Jodie Kaczor
Berry celebrated the win, they were each celebrating for two. Kaczor
Berry is halfway through her pregnancy, with a baby boy due in July.
Mispley Fortier is much farther along; her child is due April 1st, two
days before the Final Four. “It’s getting a little bit tougher to
stand up in practice all day,” Lisa said. “I keep dropping my pen
during games and I can’t pick it up!” The pregnancies are welcome
news to the family-oriented, close-knit team. For Head Coach
Kelly Graves, it’s a little extra estrogen in his already
female-centric world/Melissa Luck, KXLY. More here.
Question (for the Ladies of HBO): What was the toughest job that you did while pregnant?
Older than most law breakers, a group of Twin Falls seniors
muster little remorse for having played 
Texas Hold ’em. After all, their weekly games made them happy and shouldn’t be
illegal, according to some area poker enthusiasts in their golden
years. But police say nothing in the law permits Idahoans to gamble at
any age. Earlier this month authorities went to the Twin Falls
Senior Center and explained that weekly poker games there were
illegal and had to end. About 20 seniors had played at the center for more than five
years despite failing vision, fading memory and limited mobility,
five of the seniors said on Friday. They enjoyed playing poker at the center and gave an estimated
$400 to $500 to it per month. Each player would put in $20 to play,
and the pot would be split among the top chip holders/Andrea Jackson, Twin Falls Times News. More here.
Question: Did the law do the right thing by shutting down the weekly poker game at the Twin Falls Senior Center?
There’s little doubt Bill Moos will do great things for Washington State University athletics. For 
what he’s being paid, he’d better. Moos’
name was first on the list for Cougar fans far and wide after former
athletic director Jim Sterk unexpectedly departed for the same job at
San Diego State - and for good reason. Moos
has deep ties to Pullman and did wonders during a highly successful
12-year stint as athletic director at the University of Oregon. He’s
experienced, affable and highly capable of turning WSU into one of the
elite athletic institutions in the Pac-10 Conference, if not the entire
country. But the timing couldn’t have been worse as far as his pay rate is concerned. Moos
and President Elson S. Floyd negotiated a seven-year deal worth at
least $455,000 per year - or roughly $150,000 more than Sterk was
earning on an annual basis/Doug Bauer, Moscow-Pullman Daily News. More here. (AP photo/Dean Hare of Moos during press conference this week)
Question: Few would question that Washington State got an excellent new athletic director in Bill Moos. But should it be paying him $455,000 in such a bad economy when the college has been slashing its budget everywhere else?
Dianne Capps’ story should be a cautionary tale for all Tea Party
activists. At the Asotin Tea party 
rally a couple of weeks ago, Capps
made what she believed was a clever allusion to the movie “Lonesome
Dove.” She laughingly said U.S. Sen. Patty Murray should be hung. It
was clumsy, but no reasonable person seeing the video could seriously
believe Capps was actually trying to incite a lynch mob. But that’s the
impression that those who feel threatened by the Tea Party are trying
to promote. If you have 10,000 Tea partiers at a demonstration and one person shows
up with a sign that might be interpreted as racist, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN,
MSNBC, the New York Times and the Washington Post will all highlight
that one sign and use it to smear the entire movement. It’s not hard to
imagine media-savvy leftists infiltrating a rally with just such a sign
knowing full well the prominence it will be given. And so what happened
to Dianne Capps should have been predictable/Michael Costello, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: What do you make of columnist Costello’s point that Dianne Capps of the Tea Party movement was victimized by her own clumsy words about U.S. Sen. Patty Murray?
Nick Anderson/Houston Chronicle
The Coeur d’Alene wrestling team took a big step toward the first state title in school history Friday, racking up 142 points to take a commanding lead in the 5A team race. The Vikings’ 21-point edge over Highland (121 points) is by far the largest margin of any of the four state tournaments being held at Holt Arena. Still, Coeur d’Alene coach Jeff Moffat won’t rest easy until he has the trophy in hand. “The kids wrestled really hard today, but it’s going to come down to the semifinals, probably,” Moffat said. “The tournament very well could be decided (Saturday) morning”/Greg Lee, SportsLink. More here.
Let the politics begin. The chairman of the Idaho Republican Party is calling for the spokesman for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keith Allred to resign his board position with a journalism organization. Shea Andersen, the spokesman for Allred, is a member of the board of the Southwest Idaho Chapter of the Idaho Press Club. “I find it ironic that the Southwest Chapter of the Idaho Press Club would allow a partisan campaign worker in Shea Anderson, Keith Allred’s campaign spokesman, to sit on their board,” said Norm Semanko, the chairman of the Idaho Republican Party/Brian Murphy, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: Should Allred spokesman Keith Allred resign his post as a board member of the Southwest Idaho Chapter of the Idaho Press Club?
Canada Haley Irwin, left, and Tessa Bonhomme, right, celebrate after Canada beat USA 2-0 to win the women’s gold medal ice hockey game at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia on Thursday. Story here. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
Question: The Canadian women’s hockey team is in hot water for celebrating their gold-medal victory by drinking Canadian beer and champagne and smoking cigars on the ice. Do you see anything wrong with that?
I’m losing my beauty sleep due to the Winter Olympics. I can’t seem to get enough of them. I’m enjoying the competitors from other countries almost as much as those from the U.S. That gold medal skate by Kim Ya-Nu of South Korea was spectacular. Ditto for Boisean Speedy Peterson’s aerials and the U.S. gold and silver in the Nordic combined. All this, and who can ever get enough of the curling? I haven’t had more than 6 hours sleep this week. But there’s always Saturday morning. Until then, I’ll play this Wild Card, so you can start your own threads …
This Sunday photo provided by the Blue Mountain Eagle via the East Oregonian shows protesters in John Day, Ore. A community hall in Eastern Oregon couldn’t hold all of the local residents who showed up today to voice concern that a swastika-wearing white supremacist might move himself and his followers to the town of John Day. In a session streamed live on the local newspaper’s Web site, one resident after the other was emphatic: The Aryan Nations was not welcome in their community. Earlier post on Huckleberries Online today here. (AP Photo/Blue Mountain Eagle, Angel Carpenter)
Cuba City High School teacher Stacy Balbach reacts after getting hit in the face with a whipped cream pie during a pep rally at the school in Cuba City, Wis. Students came up with the idea of tossing pies to raise money for the relief effort in Haiti, after a devastating 7.0 earthquake rocked the country last month. Over $700 was raised. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Telegraph Herald, Jeremy Portje)
Top Cutlines:
Gesundheit! — James Marks
Grant County residents turned out in force at a town hall meeting this morning to object to 
efforts by a white supremacist group calling itself the Aryan Nations to establish a new headquarters in John Day. “Never have I been to a community who reacted so quickly as you have to say no,” civil rights activist Tony Stewart, 68, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, told the standing-room-only crowd of about 375 people at the Canyon City Community Hall, just south of John Day. At least 100 others were turned away because of fire regulations. An additional 300 watched a live Internet stream, said Scotta Callister, editor of John Day’s Blue Mountain Eagle weekly newspaper, which sponsored the meeting. A second meeting is planned for tonight. ”It gave this community a chance to put a voice to its values,” Callister said. “That’s powerful”/Richard Cockle, Oregonian. More here. (SR file photo/Jesse Tinsley shows Tony Stewart, background, and Norm Gissel in June 2002.)
“The Attorney General’s opinion confirms what we knew from day one,” said Allan, “that many 
of the opposition’s arguments against HB500 were simply unfounded and based on misguided rhetoric.” Allan further stated, “this opinion puts to bed the “boogeyman” claims about this bill and will allow those in the legislature who have been hesitant because of the about this bill to now more confidently stand up for what is right- public safety for all Idahoans living on reservations.” Opposing groups have declared HB 500 violates the constitution by undermining the county sheriffs’ authority to enforce state laws in Idaho/Marc Stewart, Coeur d’Alene Indian Tribe. More here.
“This white tail deer stood sentry Sunday in a field across from Black Rock Golf Course,” posts Councilwoman KerriT/OnLocation North Idaho. “As I drove away, several deer emerged from the cover of tall grass to the right.”
No, this isn’t the U.S. hockey team that beat Canada 5-3 in the early rounds and now finds itself in the chase for the Winter Olympics gold medal. It’s the Coeur d’Alene Thunder Pee Wee hockey team that recently won the championship Sunday. The team has a “Bad News Bears” feel to it, according to hockey mom Jocelyn Stott, who provided this photo to Huckleberries Online. Jocelyn writes: “Not having an ice arena to play in for half of last season and all of this one really took a toll on these players and their families, but it didn’t stop them from bringing home gold medals at the Idaho State Amateur Hockey Championships.” KHQ will be filming the team at the KYRO Ice Arena later this afternoon for a newscast.
Commissioners have adopted a wolf management policy for Benewah County. “It’s our county 
recommendations for wolf management,” said Rod Halvorsen of the Benewah County Natural Resource Advisory Committee, which introduced the plan. “It amends the current predator policy which is part of the natural resource plan for the county.” The policy passed by a vote of 2-0-1, with commissioners Jack Buell and Bud McCall voting in favor and Cristina Crawford abstaining. The document states that the Board of Commissioners both “recognizes that the existence of the wolf in Benewah County threatens the culture, heritage, customs, property, and lives of the people of the county and restricts their free use of their own real estate and public lands” and considers the wolves to “represent an economic and cultural emergency”/Chris D’Angelo, St. Maries Gazette-Record. More here.
Question: Do you believe wolves “represent an economic and cultural emergency,” as two of the Benewah County commissioners do?
The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department has been able to positively identify the remains of the man found east of Fernan Lake on Feb. 7. The remains of Melvin K. Skaggs, 51 were found in a sleeping bag in a tent on National Forest land east of the Fernan Rod and Gun Club Range. Time of death is believed to have been in August or September of 2008. Skaggs, who was identified through dental records, reportedly told people in the area that he was ill and wanted to die in the woods. According to the Kootenai County Coroner’s Office, cause of death is believed to be due to complications from diabetes. Skaggs next of kin were tracked down in Illinois. Final arrangements are pending with the family/Major Ben Wolfinger, Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department.
Ken and Cindy Paulson the father and step-mother of slain teacher Jennifer Paulson, walk away after talking to reporters today outside Birney Elementary School in Tacoma, Wash. where their daughter was fatally shot earlier in the morning. Authorities say the suspect in the shooting was later killed in a shootout with a Pierce County Sheriff’s deputy. Seattle Times story here. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Question (re: photo & story at top): Are domestic protection orders worth the paper they’re written on?
“Unfortunately, my fears about this summit were realized: rather than a substantive discussion 
about health care reform, the President’s summit was just for show. … It seems the Democrats were more interested in selling the American people the bills they have supported in the House and Senate rather than working together to accomplish health care reform that we can all agree on.” While Democrats have been trying to dub Republicans as the party of “no” when it comes to working on health care reform, the fact is the GOP has several reforms they have been touting for months. To learn more about these reforms, visit here/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: Do you think health care reform is a dead issue after the continued deadlock that came out of the summit Thursday?
A decade back, the Gonzaga Bulldogs somehow managed to lose three basketball games in a 
February fortnight. Message board traffic did not crash servers up and down the coast. Alums were still able to show their faces at work. There was no run on brown paper bags to relieve yet another case of civic hyperventilation. Earth did not careen off its axis. It was Spokane B.C. – before conceit. But those three losses did cost the Bulldogs the regular-season championship of the West Coast Conference, by a narrow game to Pepperdine – which goes to show just how long ago it was, that the Waves were the rival of the moment. This was a minor deal at the time, as it denied Gonzaga a third straight title. It remained a minor deal – very minor – Thursday night, when the Zags undressed Santa Clara 88-51 to complete their 10-pack – 10 straight WCC banners, shared or outright. Ten/John Blanchette, SR. More here. (AP photo/Rajah Bose; Gonzaga Coach Mark Few yells at players in second half of Thursday’s game)
Question: Do you realize how fortunate college basketball fans are in the Inland Northwest to have a consistent team of Gonzaga’s caliber? Or is it something you take for granted?
U.S. Rep. Walt Minnick promised to fight for Idahoans when he took office, making it his top 
priority to hold federal government accountable. He fought to get Idahoans all they were owed from their government. He directed his staff to work hard for constituents and to get results. Minnick keeps promises. In 2009, Minnick’s offices put more than $2.5 million back into the pockets of individual Idahoans. That was money the federal government owed or was trying to take from businesses, seniors, veterans, and families. On top of that, Minnick’s offices ran lean enough to return $100,000 from his $1.5 million congressional budget to taxpayers. That budget covers the costs of staffing and running four offices in Idaho and one in Washington, DC./Dean Ferguson, New West guest writer. More here.
Question: Do you think this is something every congressman can claim? Or is this work by Minnick’s office a cut above?
This Saturday many folks will be “freezin’ for a reason” in the frigid waters of Medical Lake as the fourth annual Polar Plunge gets under way. Since its inception, this event has raised thousands of dollars for Special Olympics Washington. Airway Heights police officer Mikeal Suniga has enjoyed participating in the Polar Plunge. So when the staff sergeant with the Washington State Air National Guard was deployed to Iraq earlier this year, he was disappointed to know he’d miss it/CindyH, Washington Voices. More here.
Question: Have you ever participated in a Polar Bear plunge? Do you plan to do so again?
SB 1353, the “conscience” bill, has passed the Senate on a 21-13 vote, but only after strong objections to the bill were expressed by many senators. “I probably could support this legislation had the authors not included the ‘end-of-life’ portion,” said Sen. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle. Sen. Diane Bilyeu, D-Pocatello, said, “I guess I can envision myself making the decision to refuse nourishment, and quite frankly, I don’t think that any health care professional should be able to override my decision”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here. And: Debate here.
Question: What do you make of the end-of-life and stem cell provisions in the proposed legislation?
Initiative “king” Tim Eyman, left, speaks to a receptive audience at Freedom Festival 3, a gathering of Tea Party-type groups Thursday night at the Greyhound Park in Post Falls. Eyman talked about the negation of Initiative 960 by the Washington State legislature and his attempts to bring it back in another form. (Jesse Tinsley/SR)
Eyman was soliciting signatures for his latest tax adventure, I-1053, which would reinstate I-960, the initiative repealed last week by the state Legislature and signed by Gov. Chris Gregoire Wednesday. Eyman was asking people to sign his petition using the same pen Gregoire used to sign the bill. “I thought it was fitting,” he said. Approved in 2007, I-960 required a two-thirds majority for the Legislature to raise taxes, among other requirements.. The recent action marks the third time government has overturned similar initiatives, Eyman said/Sara Leaming, SR. More here.
Question: Should Legislatures have the power to overturn citizen initiatives?
CindyH: Let’s just say my Texan adventure was short and sweet. I lasted 45 minutes. But I did 
win a couple hands, probably due to the cleavage, because it certainly wasn’t my skill. It was a lot of fun though. The most fun was the half hour or so I got to learn and practice. Some of those tournament guys were pretty serious. Lots of grunting and tapping without much chatting. Heck. I can hear grunting and tapping for free at home Alas, I missed the cigar tutorial at Legends of Fire. But there’s always next time. Right now, I’m going to check out the Spa and get a pedicure. Seems like a good way to recover from last night.
Question: Are you surprised/disappointed/other that Cindy lasted 45 minutes in a game of Texas Hold-em?
Mike Iupati has become a projected first-round pick in the 2010 NFL draft largely thanks to the 
sacrifice and wisdom of his parents. The wisdom of NFL scouts will soon determine his professional fate. Widely considered the top prospect at guard — NFLDraftScout.com, USA TODAY’s scouting service, ranks Iupati the No. 15 player overall and the only guard projected to go in the first two rounds — he could also get a long look at the more valued left tackle position or even on defense. “I really love defense,” Iupati, who played collegiately at Idaho, said Thursday at the scouting combine. “That’s my favorite passion of the game of football/Nate Davis, USA Today. More here. Also: Sporting News story on Iupati here. H/T: Idaho Dad. (Photo: Greg Keller/Idaho Press-Tribune; Iupati hugs Coach Robb Akey in the final seconds of Idaho’s Humanitarian Bowl win over Bowling Green Dec. 30.)
Question: Do you follow the NFL draft?
Surprise! Surprise! Idaho’s congressional delegation has been selected as the most conservative one in the nation from the National Journal’s vote rankings. Behind Idaho on the conservative list are Kentucky, South Carolina, Texas, and Georgia. On the liberal side, Massachusetts leads the pack, followed by Hawaii, Vermont, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, is listed as the 5th most conservative member of the Senate. Mike Crapo was No. 16. U.S. Rep. Walt Minnick, D-Idaho, ranked No. 185 and Mike Simpson No. 152 in the overall House conservative list. You can check the list out here.
Question: Are you surprised that “conservative” Idaho Congressman Minnick ranks in the middle of the pack overall?
Assemblywoman Anna Caballero, D-Salinas, holds a “Cussing jar” on the desk of Assemblyman Anthony Partanino, D-Pasadena. Partanino said he sent a jar to all the legislators so they can collect money for cussing for their favorite charities in their districts on Thursday. McKay Hatch, a 16-year-old boy launched the no-cussing movement that prompted resolution, ACR 112, that was approved Thursday by the Assembly. It would declare the first week of March each year as “Cuss Free Week” in California. (AP Photo/HECTOR AMEZCUA/Sacramento Bee) Your political Wild Card is in play …
Northerner: As one who was there when the warships were integrated, I hope they have plenty of legalmen 
and JAG reps available for all of the harassment claims being filed. And I am sure it is discriminatory, but it is a fact that a sub can be on patrol for upwards of ninety days (rough estimate). If a female becomes pregnant within a week or two of the patrol beginning, it could be three months before she could receive any prenatal care. And it is not the same as a female in a combat zone. She can be transferred out if she gets pregnant. On a sub, there really isn’t any way to do that without jeopardizing the mission at hand. There are disastrous things that happen when a ship gets integrated. I can only imagine how this will affect subs.
Megan_B: It’s not fair to ban women when you could just as easily ban men and have an all-female crew. You can’t favor one sex over the other, that is discrimination. If these men can’t be trained to manage their pee-pee’s urges, they need not be allowed. Simple as that.
Question: Who do you agree with — Northerner or Megan_B?
Such a statute raises a legitimate enforcement question. How can a police officer tell that the 
driver of a vehicle is texting? An officer would have to be able to see into a vehicle and know what’s going on below the horizon of the car window — from across the road or down the street. I’ve asked several police officers to explain to me how they’d enforce this law, and the answer is they can’t. “It’s unenforceable,” one officer told me flat out. Unless officers pull someone over and observe a driver texting as they approach the vehicle, or the person admits to texting, it’s going to be awfully difficult for officers to enforce the statute/Wayne Hoffman, Idaho Freedom Foundation. More here.
Question: Should Idaho lawmakers go ahead with a texting-while-driving ban, even though it may be unenforceable and there’s no hard data, according to Hoffman, that it causes more crashes than other distractions?
She showed up at weddings uninvited, mingled with guests and never left empty-handed. A 
Spokane woman’s wedding-crashing scheme unraveled last summer when an old high school classmate – and off-duty police officer – recognized her at a wedding where she wasn’t an invited guest. When the hosts discovered missing gifts, they realized they’d been looted. Now Pamula W. McBride, 46, will serve 45 days in jail for stealing gift cards and personal checks from a wedding in Nez Perce County, Idaho, last June. Police also suspect McBride stole similar items from the gift table at Scott Drago’s wedding reception at Cataldo Hall on the Gonzaga University campus July 18, nearly one month after she stole from a wedding at the Lewiston Elks Lodge/Meghann M. Cuniff, Sirens & Gavels. More here.
Question: What would be a good sentence for an individual who crashed weddings to steal gifts?
Jeret Peterson of the USA performs his second jump in the men’s freestyle aerials final at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Thursday. The Idaho Statesman tells of Boisean Peterson’s long road to the silver here. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Darlyne Markus flips through past payment books in the living room of her Nampa, Idaho home on Thursday. Markus was recognized by the Guinness World Records as the world’s longest serving paper girl for her 50 years of service to the Idaho Press-Tribune. Idaho Press Tribune story by Sharon Strauss here. (AP Photo/Idaho Press-Tribune, Charlie Litchfield)
Question: Have you ever had a newspaper route? Tell us about it.
Mullet said he would like to attend the town hall meetings on Friday, but he can’t get day off work. The 39-year-old resident of Athol, Idaho, said he is in the construction business. Mullet said he was originally a Ku Klux Klan member, starting in 1995. He declared himself the national leader of the Aryan Nations last April, because, he said, he is in the forefront, making “the mission” come alive. The community’s determination to keep him out of John Day, he said, has strengthened his resolve. “They want to mess with me, they mess with the wrong bird,” he said. “I have way too much stuff to file lawsuits against John Day for discrimination on political beliefs, and I have an attorney looking into this now”/Lauren Dake, Bend Bulletin. More here.
DFO: Tony Stewart and Norm Gissell, of the Kootenai County Task Force On Human Relations, will meet with residents of John Day, Ore., today — to tell them how to combat in a legal way the presence of white supremacists in their community.
After being shown the door at several marinas for inability to pay fees, he finally sailed the boat 
over to Eagle Landing at Farragut State Park. Evicted from there, he set out to examine the regulations on anchoring out from shore. He found that if the boat carries current registration and has an operable anchor light it is legal as long as it’s not just stored on the water, but has periodic habitation. We learned this from Matt Street, Sgt, Kootenai County Water Patrol. This 26 foot blue sailboat sits calmly out from shore at the head of Scenic Bay, tethered to a buoy which is anchored to the bottom. Dan finally figured out how to win even when the system didn’t work for him/Herb Huseland, Bay Views. More here.
Question: Have you ever considered living off the grid? How would you do it?
Michael Ramirez/Investor’s Business Daily
Gonzaga’s Bol Kong looks to pass to Kelly Olynyk, left, against Santa Clara’s Marc Trasolini, center, and Phillip Bach, during the second half of their NCAA college basketball game at the McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane on Thursday. Gonzaga beat Santa Clara 88-51. ESPN Game story here. (AP Photo/Rajah Bose)
A
new informal Idaho Attorney General’s opinion, issued today in response to a request from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, says there are no constitutional problems with HB 500, the cooperative law enforcement legislation proposed by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe. “It’s perfectly clear,” Clark said. “I think the A.G.’s analysis is right on the mark - all the constitutional issues just go away. Now let’s talk about real issues, let’s try to get some public safety for people who are non-Indians living on Indian reservations”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here. And AG’s opinion here.
Question: How do you think the five-county, North Idaho delegation will vote on this bill (given the fact that the sheriff’s association opposes it)?
Coeur d’Alene Police Department officers were out in force to welcome Officer Shane Avriett/Air Force Tech. Sergeant Avriett home from a 6-month deployment with his Air Force Reserve unit in Iraq. More here. John Craig/SR story w/photos here. KXLY story by McKay Allen here. And: KREM2 stories and video here.
I still haven’t found a decent photo for the daily cutline contest. But I’ll keep looking. Meanwhile, I’ll play this Wild Card for those of you who want to start a thread that doesn’t involve politics …
Thanks to one of my army of Berry Pickers who helps me stay aware of what’s going on out there, I have a copy of Jai Nelson’s recent newsletter. In it, Jai introduces herself as someone “committed to looking ahead for all of Kootenai County.” She continues to say that she offers Kootenai County the “decisive leadership” it needs “to prosper and advance. I will provide leadership that envisions our future, seeks opportunities for economic growth, chooses specifics over cursory and principles over convenience.” She closes by asking for a contribution “whether you have 40 minutes, 40 hours or $40 or more to contribute.” What she doesn’t offer is the name of the treasurer (Mary Brown) that should go along with the “paid for by the Committee to Elect Jai Nelson.” I consider that a minor miscue. See .jpg link here. You can see Brown’s name on Jai’s official Web site here.
WWSD (What would Spencer do?): Wasn’t there a bit of a flap during the City Council race involving a similar minor flub committed by the Kennedy campaign. Just askin’.
Herb tells of an unemployed man w/a boat in Bayview beating a system that seems stacked against him. Read today’s Bay Views here.
I
see the ball being squarely in the President’s court. If he doesn’t go back and amend his outline to include some of what the Republicans want we’ll know there was no good faith in this meeting. It indeed will be nothing more then theater. Actually, he has to do a bit more. He has to take Pelosi and Reid to the woodshed if necessary to get them to cooperate. I doubt that he will nor that they would. If there is no move toward the Republicans I will have lost the final wisp of respect I have for the President and his party. It’s sad, really. I’m moving more and more toward the likelihood of no longer participating in national elections/Dogwalk Musings. More here.
Question: Do you view the bipartisan attempt to reach agreement on health care reform to be anything more than political theater for President Obama and the gathered partisans?
Coeur d’Alene Police Department Officer Shane Avriett/Air Force Tech. Sergeant Avriett arrived home safely at Fairchild AFB today after a 6 month deployment with his Air Force Reserve unit in Iraq. More Coeur d’Alene Today photos here and here.
Question: Do you currently have a family member serving in Iraq or Afghanistan?
Item: California Assembly passes resolution for ‘Cuss Free Week’/Denis C. Theriault/Mercury News
More Info: Feeling a little salty? Better get it out of your system while you can. Amid the ongoing — and occasionally tense — debate over how to clean up California’s budget mess, lawmakers have taken time out to tidy something else almost as unmanageable: our language. This morning, the Assembly approved a ceremonial resolution turning the first week of March into “Cuss Free Week.” Once the Senate follows suit, say good-bye to four-letter words, a few choice compound words and probably certain gestures, too. Not that police officers will be waiting with soap.
Question: Could you go a week without cussing?
In this April 10, 2001, file photo, Arnold Schwarzenegger poses with a 2001 concept Hummer H2 at the utility vehicle’s unveiling in New York’s Times Square. The Hummer, the beefy, military-inspired SUV _ a macho icon for fans like Schwarzenegger and a symbol of ruin for environmentalists _ was done in by high gas prices and bad economic times. Unless a last-minute buyer steps forward, Hummer is going the way of Saturn and Pontiac. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) Question: Will you be sorry to see the Hummer go the way of the dodo? And/or: What other vehicles would you like to see go extinct?
Adults caught in a car without their seatbelts on in Idaho could see their costs rise five-fold. Rep. Rich Wills, a Glenns Ferry Republican, introduced a bill Thursday to add court costs of $41.50 to the existing $10 fine levied on adults who don’t buckle up. Juveniles caught without seatbelts already pay $51.50, including the court costs. Wills says it’s only fair for adults to pay the same as those under 18/Associated Press. More here.
Question: How long do you think it’ll be before Idaho fines for failing to buckle up is as bad as those in Washington? Do you support an increase in the seatbelt fine?
Item: Teacher raises raise eyebrows: Report shows 44 percent of Idaho teachers received raises this year; Luna decries pay increases during downturn/Ben Botkin, Twin Falls Times-News
More Info: The Idaho State Department of Education report shows that 37.4 percent of administrative employees have increased salaries this year, while 44.2 percent of teachers across the state are earning more. This comes as state agencies are freezing salaries and assessing furlough days to employees in efforts to offset declining revenues. “Quite frankly, I was surprised when I saw this,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna said in a statement. “In this economic situation, I don’t know how anyone can justify giving anyone a raise. This is $22 million in pay increases that could have been used to preserve successful classroom programs.”
Question: An argument can be made that Idaho teachers deserve raises because they are among the poorest paid in the country? Would you buy that argument?
The Aflac duck mascot visits the floor of the New York Stock Exchange today to celebrate his 10th anniversary representing the company. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
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Had
to happen someday. My major concern is not how it will work on the boat, but how the media attention will cause more work for already overtasked Submariners. There will probably be the same proportion of whiny female Submariners as there are male; the big difference will be that the whiny females will get a lot of press, resulting in more and more useless training and potentially causing a mission-degrading CYA mentality among the leadership. I would hope the Submarine Force bigwigs will be able to keep it in perspective when the first inevitable problems happen, but I doubt they will/Bubblehead, The Stupid Shall Be Punished. More here.
The RNC gathering, held in January in Hawaii, had real promise for solving the conservative 
identity crisis. One delegate proposed a 10-point litmus test to separate the conservative wheat from liberal riffraff. The questions were pretty predictable, including the holy trinity of guns, gays and government. (The correct answers, for those of you scoring at home, are “yes,” “no,” and “no.”) Any GOP candidate who incorrectly interpreted more than two of the 10 fatwas would have been denied funding by the RNC. Voila! A loyalty test directly tied to campaign cash. It was a brilliant idea, masterfully framed, but it had a fatal flaw. Any candidate who passed the test would be perceived, and rightly so, as an ideological zombie marching in formation with the Far-out Right. So the muscular litmus test was withdrawn/William Brock, Moscow-Pullman Daily News. More here.
Question: If your party had a litmus test for members, based on the ideals of its true believers, could you pass the test?
KPerry: 10 years ago I was working full time in a fast food restaurant 12 or more hours a day 
and addicted to meth. Now- I work in prevention and am looking forward to celebrating 7 years clean on April 16th. In between then and now I lost everything, went to jail, moved 800 miles to Spokane where I didn’t know anybody or my way around and only had a bike and lived at Hi-Co Village on the Newport Highway. Got 2 jobs to keep myself out of trouble, went to school, got my degree, my kids back and this job that keeps my head where it belongs. I have everything I need and many things that I don’t (wants)my kids are doing well and life goes on. We wouldn’t be the people we are without our pasts. I used to be ashamed of my past, but now I embrace it, for it has made me the strong woman that I am today.
Question: What have you learned from past mistakes that has made you a stronger person?
Don Sausser caught this activity — repair of the Boardwalk bridge on the west side of the Coeur d’Alene Resort — on the north shore of Lake Coeur d’Alene this morning.
Bubblehead: I went to a “Meet and Greet” for Rep. Raul Labrador last night, and can report that he is in no way a Birther. (Based on the discussion here last week, he was ready for me, and brought it up himself when he realized who I was) I was quite favorably impressed. I’ll post my report on my blog later — it’s currently out to the Labrador campaign for comments.
Question: Are you relieved to discover that one of HBO’s southern Idaho brethren has checked out congressional candidate Raul Labrador and found out he’s not a ‘birther’?
(Lenore) Barrett, pictured,
a miner and investor who’s been giving good quote for 18 years, strongly opposes a 66-page revision of Idaho urban renewal law drafted by an attorney for Boise’s Capital City Development Corporation. Barrett objected to using House Bill 567 as a template for reform and possible incorporation of six other bills generally opposed by redevelopment agencies across the state. “I’m not supporting 567 as a template,” Barrett said. “That’s like playing strip poker. This was written by the people who are all on one side of the issue.” Added Barrett: “If you’re gonna play strip poker, the first thing you give up is your tie. That’s no big deal. You just sit around hoping that you don’t have to give up your underwear. Well, you’re not playing strip poker unless you have to give up your underwear”/Dan Popkey, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: Have you ever played strip poker?
CindyH: So, I’m making my first visit to a casino tonight. It ladies night out at Northern Quest and apparently they have some excellent lady Poker players out there who have invited me to join them. One problem: never played Texas Holdem in my life. Any advice?
Question: Anyone know how to play Texas Holdem? And/or: What do you play when you go to a casino?
President Barack Obama shakes hands with Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, in the Blair House across the street from the White House in Washington, Thursday, prior to the start of the bipartisan health care reform meeting. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Question: Barack Obama is trying to hammer out bipartisan health care reform with Republicans this morning. Obama has as much chance of reaching agreement as HMO and the Left Bank do on this political Wild Card …
Idaho Democratic Party Chairman Keith Roark says the state’s conflict of interest laws need strengthening, citing yesterday’s vote-change that killed a tobacco bill, by a senator whose husband is a tobacco lobbyist. The senator, Melinda Smyser, said her vote had nothing to do with her husband’s work. “I have my own life,” she told the Associated Press. “I would never do anything to jeopardize how I represent my constituents.” In more than three dozen other states, legislators who could be personally or financially affected by a bill are required to recuse themselves from voting on it/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Do you think the state of Idaho has adequate laws to prevent conflicts of interest on the part of elected officials?
Originally posted at 6 p.m. Wednesday
Idaho
could rewrite its statutory rape laws to exclude relationships between consenting teenagers. The changes would decriminalize sex between teenage girls aged 16 or 17 with partners up to three years older than them. The Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee agreed Wednesday to introduce the legal change introduced by Sen. Brent Hill, R-Rexburg (pictured). “I don’t believe that an 18-year-old boy’s indiscretion with a willing 17-year-old girlfriend ranks up there with the degenerates that rape women,” Hill said. “I was surprised to see it lumped in there with some of the most terrible crimes a person could commit.” Current Idaho rape laws list statutory rape, called sexual penetration when a woman is under 18, alongside other forms of rape/Brad Iverson-Long, Idaho Reporter. More here.
Question: Do you consider the changes being proposed in statutory rape laws for consenting teens who are under-age reasonable?
Idaho Coach Robb Akey, center, shakes hands with Ferris’ Connor Halliday, right, at the end of the annual Inland Northwest Sports Awards luncheon Wednesday at the Spokane Convention Center. Greg Lee story here. Also: See Mike Vlahovich story below. (Jesse Tinsley/SR)
A stuffed rhino peers out of a pocket of USAF senior airman Kyle Brown from Toledo, Ohio, member of an Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit, as USAF Staff Sgt. Joshua Rickert, from San Antonio, Texas, checks for improvised explosive devices in the Badula Qulp area, west of Lashkar Gah in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan Tuesday. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
Having
seen orca pods in the past, sedately moving through the water, I am as in awe of their beauty and their majestic intelligence as I am of dolphins. However, I have also witnessed orcas being fed in captivity. There is no way you could ever get me to feed an orca, despite all the warm-fuzzy pictures of them being fed at Sea World and other places. Tipping the scales at over 4,000 pounds, they are still dangerous creatures. Speaking for myself, climbing into the water with one of these majestic creatures is out of the question. Even worse, what would motivate people to come by the hundreds of thousands each year to watch humans sitting inches from orcas or, in some instances, climbing into pools of water with them?/Dave Laird, Community Comment. More here.
Question: Would you be more or less likely to watch a show involving killer whales after the accident that claimed a female trainer at SeaWorld in Florida Wednesday?
Now
that Winston Brooks is back, you might recognize him. If he pulls you over, it’s all right to tell Coeur d’Alene’s new police officer you’ve seen his face somewhere while you fish for your license. “I get that a lot,” Winston said. “They say, ‘Hey, don’t I know you?’” It’s probably from TV, or the sports pages. Gonzaga University basketball fans probably still remember the 96-95 loss to the University of Arizona during the second round of the 2003 NCAA tournament, the first double-overtime thriller in bracket play/Tom Hasslinger, Coeur d’Alene Press. More here. (SR archive photo/Brian Plonka shows Brooks during a first-round NCAA game in Salt Lake City in 2003 against Cincinnati.)
Question: How cool is it to have former Gonzaga basketball player Winston Brooks on the Coeur d’Alene Police Department?
An
Aryan Nations member from Athol visited John Day, Ore., last week, making clear his plan to set up a headquarters compound in that rural town. “They just came by the office and said, ‘We’re here in town and we just want to let you know what’s going on,’ ” said Scotta Callister, editor of the Blue Mountain Eagle, a weekly newspaper in John Day. Paul Mullet of Athol was joined by two Grant County, Ore., residents – Jacob Green and Christopher Cowan – and Leif Berlin, supposedly the Aryan Nations’ Washington state leader, a story on the Eagle Web site said. Mullet did not respond to numerous calls requesting comment/Alison Boggs, SR. More here. (AP File Photo: Richard Butler salutes along with other members of the neo Nazi group during a rally in Coeur d’ Alene on July 3, 1999)
Question: What advice would you give the residents of John Day, Ore., re: how to deal with the Aryan Nations?
Michael Ramirez/Investor’s Business Daily
It was all going well for the Vandals until just after the midway point of the first half Wednesday night. That’s when New Mexico State clamped down defensively and went on a 23-4 flurry to close the half. The withering run helped the Aggies cruise to a 74-57 conquest in Las Cruces. UI shot just 31% from the field and had 19 turnovers. Idaho is now 13-14 and 4-9 in the WAC.
In this photo taken on Dec. 30, 2005, Dawn Brancheau, a whale trainer at SeaWorld Adventure Park, poses while performing. Brancheau was killed in an accident with a killer whale at the SeaWorld Shamu Stadium Wednesday afternoon. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Julie Fletcher)
MamaJD has a problem. I’ll let her explain: “I need to find candy cigarettes for a gag gift due tomorrow. I saw them back in September at the Corner Market at Priest Lake (shout out to Pecky!) so I know they are still sold in some places. I am wondering if anyone knows where I can find a ‘pack’ locally? Perhaps some Hucksters might have some ideas?” You can answer MamaJD’s question. Or use this Wild Card to start your own thread …
New Washington State University athletic director Bill Moos, center, holds up a copy of his old football jersey as WSU president Elson S. Floyd, right, and interim athletic director Anne McCoy, left, watch after Floyd introduced him at a news conference this afternoon in Pullman. Story below. (AP Photo/Dean Hare)
Eight-month-old Alaster “Gator” Thompson protectively puts his hand on a stack of free pancakes as his uncle Kevin Johnson, right, looks on during the IHOP National Pancake Day Celebration held at the Bryan, Texas, location Tuesday morning. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/The Bryan-College Station Eagle, Dave McDermand)
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For those of you who failed to show for Blogfest ‘10, Dogwalk Musings provides proof that Christie Wood brought scrumptious cupcakes to add to the treats at Steve Widmyer’s Fort Ground Grill — and to make the point that she has a sense of humor (unlike her detractors).
Tea Party members have flirted with this message, but subtly. You’ll see one fellow who attends a rally carrying a sign of President Obama as a Nazi. Another wears a T-shirt referring to the 
“tree of liberty” - as in Jefferson’s quote about refreshing the tree of liberty “from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Or a Tea Party parade float in Idaho Falls displays a tree of liberty and depicted on a nearby ax was Obama’s name. All of it has been background noise. So far. This is new. Singling out an elected official for a violent end is shockingly overt. So what did Capps do? She blamed the media. KLEW-TV, which aired the segment, “didn’t print the whole thing.” But she wasn’t ambushed in an interview, grasping for time to think or the right words to speak. Microphone in hand at the podium, she deliberately expressed her ideas/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: Do you think the Tea Party movement will beget violence?
Seattle Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu uses a bat to illustrate a point while working with catchers at the team’s baseball spring training facility earlier today in Peoria, Ariz. (AP Photo/Paul Connors)
I turn 30 today (Tuesday). My thought on that: the older, the wiser. Thus, I feel really smart today. Okay, 
maybe not. But I can say I definitely feel more confident, comfortable, maybe even more happy with age. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my 20’s. I loved college, living with girlfriends. Staying out until 3 in the morning, sleeping passed noon. Moving to Montana for new adventures and a brand new career. Living on my own, with no responsibilities. The entire ten years was awesome, a fun time, a time to remember. But it’s odd how priorities change with age. Ten years ago, I would have considered a drive around town pointless, a Friday night at home with the family boring, going to bed at 8 o’clock lame. Now, those are among my favorite things. Being a wife and mom are the two most important things in my life/Kalae Chock, KXLY. More here.
Question: How have priorities changed for you from 10 years ago until now?
Sea World employees stand in front of a locked gate leading to a bridge to the entrance of the Shamu Stadium after an incident involving the death of a trainer in Orlando, Fla., Wednesday. Story here. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Let’s be honest: We are — all of us — about one electronic glitch away from being in serious 
trouble, be it from identity theft to tax fraud. So these self-checkout counters that abound in grocery stores nowadays make me pretty danged nervous. It’s essentially an electronic nanny system, programmed to catch you cheating. Yet it’s worse: The technology not only assumes dishonesty; it assumes competence. Bad, bad idea. See, the weight tallied on the bagging scale is checked to allow the customer to proceed if — an only if — the observed and expected weights match. If they don’t, a disembodied female voice stops you in your tracks. “Unexpected item in the bagging area”/Steve Crump, Twin Falls Times-News. More here.
Question: Do you feel comfortable enough with your computer competency to use the self-checkout counters in various grocery and retail stores?
The Tribe works with all members of the media — big and small. I have been at the Tribe nearly 
two years and since that time no organization has been frozen out. As a former journalist, I understand the importance of being responsive to media requests. I do my best to get back to the Gazette as quickly as possible. The Tribe previously had a policy of not speaking with the Gazette. I ended that policy when I took the job. I’ve met regularly with Dan Hammes in an effort to keep those doors of communication open. We may not agree on many issues, but I understand his role in the community. Last fall, I invited the two new Gazette reporters to take a tour of the reservation and show them the various operations. To date, they haven’t taken me up on the offer/Marc Stewart, Coeur d’Alene Indian Tribe.
DFO: I give Marc big time kudos for his open-door policy at the Coeur d’Alene Indian Tribe. I covered the tribe for years. Early on, it sometimes was difficult to get information because tribe officials at the time didn’t understand the importance of media coverage. That changed when former PIO Bob Bostwick was hired by the tribe. I’m glad to see the openness continue under Marc.
A Coeur d’Alene espresso stand owner who turned the tables on a would-be robber by drawing 
a pistol on him will receive a crime prevention award from the police department Wednesday evening. Sunshine Espresso owner Michelle Cornelsen will be receiving the Citizen’s Crime Watch Prevention Award Wednesday evening at the Coeur d’Alene Police Department. Cornelsen is receiving the award for her efforts to thwart a teen who attempted to rob her espresso stand in late December. The teen showed her a gun but what the 17-year-old didn’t know was that Michelle had a concealed carry permit and her husband had bought her a gun for Christmas/Rob Kauder, KXLY. More here.
Question: Did the Sunshine Espresso owner do the right thing by pulling a gun on the would-be robber? Or would it have been better if she simply had given him the money?
Central Falls High School math teacher and athletic director Kathy Luther, left, librarian Debbie Fisher, second from left, English teacher Deloris Davis Grant, second from right, and math teacher Pat McKenna, right, protest outside the school before a school committee meeting in Central Falls, R.I., Tuesday. The committee voted during the evening meeting to fire every teacher at the high school at the end of the school year. (AP Photo/The Pawtucket Times, Butch Adams) Question: Do you feel more secure in your job today than you were a year ago?
A
Berry Picker sent the following letter circulated by President Duane Nellis to UIdaho faculty & staff this morning: “I write with an update to confirm that the University will implement a furlough plan, the details of which are being completed over the next few days and will be communicated early next week. The University is a complex organization, with many different functions and units and many different funding sources. As such, a furlough plan for the university is itself a complex process. Any furlough action, in any organization, is a major change and requires careful planning. We are committed to doing that planning so that the implementation is as smooth as possible and employees are treated fairly/UIdaho President Duane Nellis. More here.
Question: Are you concerned about the quality of education at the University of Idaho in the face of ongoing budget cuts?
Spokesman Marc Stewart/Coeur d’Alene Tribe: The Coeur d’Alene Tribe does not call 
people it disagrees with racists. Doug Payne’s assertion that “tribal advocates” marginalize and humiliate people by calling them racists as a matter of common practice is untrue. No one at the Tribe, including myself, has uttered the “R” word regarding this law enforcement issue. I have no idea what it is in the hearts of the decision makers in Benewah County. I fail to understand their logic on a number of issues, but it doesn’t mean I resort to calling people names or throwing insults at them. Doug Payne’s statement that the tribe uses race to advance government is untrue. More here.
Question: Who do you believe here?
Today
the CDA Press ran a front page story on a local hunter who shot a wolf in the Joe recently. The story needs clarification. In that story, is the quote “It was the head and fur of what had been a massive wolf…The 2002 Coeur d’Alene High School graduate got what he estimated was a 180-pound wolf…” This wolf was NOT weighed by anyone, and was presented for check-in as stated – only a head and hide. It “felt” like 180 lbs to the hunter - that doesn’t make it 180 lbs. You can probably tell, chasing down these kinds of rumors ticks me off a bit, but it’s important for us all to deal with facts, not guesses/Jim Hayden, regional wildlife manager, Idaho F&G department. More below.
Question: Aren’t you glad there aren’t 180-pound wolves in the North Idaho woods?
Kent Watkiss leaves the Noon’s store on the corner of Russell Avenue and 39th Street after purchasing a coffee Monday morning in Missoula, Mont. The store has adopted a “no hoodie” policy after a recent rash of robberies where the thieves wore hooded sweatshirts to conceal their identity. (AP Photo/The Missoulian, Linda Thompson) Question: Do you expect the no-hoodie policy to spread throughout the region and country?
Gov. Butch Otter said he was prompted to write his recent guest opinion slamming press coverage of his budget proposals because “I would like to see some compassion, maybe that’s the word I’m looking for,” he said. “This is a tough, tough position to be in, and it’s not fun, and I’ve got to pick and I’ve got to choose. And when you make those choices you’ve got to live with them. They’re not fun”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Which governor of the past 25 years do you think could have handled the Great Recession better than Otter? Why?
“It is difficult to imagine Tensed in bedlam, but it is. The cop from Coeur d’Alene says so. Christine Wood charged that rapists and child molesters were roaming free in Benewah County. This lawlessness, she says, has left citizens in “bedlam.” Wow. That sounds really bad. Of course, over the last few weeks there has been plenty said and written about the latest spat between the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and Benewah County. Little of it was pertinent to the topic at hand. A lot of it was just plain wrong”/Dan Hammes, St. Maries Gazette Record. More here.
Comment?
Grant
County residents are taking steps to fight any effort by members of a white supremacist group calling themselves the Aryan Nations to find a new headquarters in John Day. On Friday, residents will gather for two town hall meetings in Canyon City, just south of John Day. Speakers will include Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, attorneys Norman Gissell and Tony Stewart, who helped win a landmark judgment against the Church of Jesus Christ Christian-Aryan Nations in 2000. On Monday, 60 to 70 protesters carried signs in downtown John Day with slogans such as “One Race: Human,” “No to Aryan Nations!” and “Say No to Hate and Violence!”/Richard Cockle, Oregonian. More here. (Jesse Tinsley photo: Paul Mullet of the Aryan Nations attends the Freedom Festival at the Greyhound Park in Post Falls Dec. 2. He was asked to leave.)
Question: Is it fair to say that the Aryan Nations are looking to relocate from Athol to John Day, Ore., when the reincarnation of the movement seems to be a handful of individuals at best?
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is seen on a television screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange this morning. Story here. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Wild Card: You asked for it and now you have it — the Political Sandbox. That’ll be the name of the political wild card that I’ll post daily to allow the partisans to remain at one another’s throats in one main thread while the rest of you enjoy the other threads relatively politics free.
With
Idaho’s child immunization rate among the worst in the nation, lawmakers are revamping the state’s immunization reminder system to try to cover more people. The Senate Health and Welfare Committee voted unanimously this afternoon in favor of SB 1335 - a measure sponsored by the committee’s chairwoman and several other lawmakers - to automatically enroll Idaho children in the reminder system unless their parents opt out. Currently, Idaho’s one of just five states where parents have to actively opt in to the reminder and tracking system/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Why is Idaho’s child immunization rate among the worst in the nation?
Item: Legislators weigh slate of urban renewal agency changes/Ben Botkin, Twin Falls Times-News
More Info: “The overall perception out there is there is not enough public participation with urban renewal,” said Rep. Phil Hart, R-Hayden, and a sponsor of four of the bills. “I think the public feels somewhat excluded from the urban renewal process, so this is an attempt to involve them.” Hart said that his proposal allowing other tax entities to opt out of a proposed urban renewal agency’s boundaries simply means that public support will become a key component of the process.
Question: What change would you like to see most in urban renewal agency law?
Item: Coeur d’Alene High grad shoots wolf in St. Joe River area: First hunting season for animals ends March 31/Bill Buley, Coeur d’Alene Press
More here: Pitcher dropped it with one shot from his 7mm Remington. “We’ve been going after wolf,” Pitcher said. “We finally caught up with one.” That brought the total number of wolves killed to 17 in the Panhandle - two so far in February - with a quota of 30. Statewide, 159 wolves have been killed out of the 220 quota. The wolf season ends March 31.
Question: How come lawmakers are busy trying to shut down access to the names of hunters and fishermen, to protect them from harassment, when wolf hunters here and elsewhere don’t seem to mind have their photo taken with their kill for the paper?
Don Sausser caught this shot of the late winter sun shining over Cougar Bay recently.
Christie Wood: The KCTFHR presented a letter to the legislators based on one concern, and 
that is the current lack of cooperation of LE leadership that creates a public safety issue for all residents of Benewah County. Mr. Payne’s history lesson as to why the elected officials are angry at the tribe is of no interest. Their duty as officers of the law and of the court is to put public safety for their citizens first and foremost. Do not confuse our concern for public safety (remember our mission is the protection and promotion of human rights) as a personal issue with the Sheriff or whether we believe Sheriff Kirts have ever served his country. I am sure his military record is impeccable, and honorable but that is simply not the issue. Mr. Payne knows better but has no reasonable explanation as to why he would condone criminals being set free. So he attempts to cloud the issue. More below.
Question: Why do you think cross deputization with the Coeur d’Alene Tribe works in Kootenai County but not Benewah County?
Originally posted 4:05 p.m. Tuesday
“In case you missed it,” writes Benewah County Prosecutor Doug Payne in an open letter published on the Coeur d’Alene Press online, ”Mr. Oliveria held editorial court on Sheriff Bob Kirts. Oliveria affirmed 
Judge Christie Woods’ (Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations) Coeur d Alene Press verdict saying Benewah County Sheriff Bob Kirts is a racist, an “uber-conservative” and a crude embarrassment to the enlightened. Further, he passed judgement on the residents of Benewah County saying Kirts’ crudeness would “play well in St. Maries” but obviously not in the sophisticated social circles Mr. Oliveria moves in. Unlike Dave Oliveria or Christie Woods, I live on the Coeur d’Alene Reservation and in Benewah County and I personally know many of the people he has insulted, and I know Bob Kirts. They are rural people; less impressed by money or power than by hard work, humility and loyalty to principle. They are not so easily offended by the inartfulness of words used as by the ill intent of the one who uses them. More here.
Comments?
Signe Wilkinson/Philadelphia Inquirer
Supporters of United States’s biathlete Sara Studebaker celebrate during the women’s 4x6 km biathlon relay at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Whistler, British Columbia, today. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer) Question: Have any of you ever painted your body to show support for a sports team or athlete?
Blogfest is now officially behind us. The Olympics are still with us. And the sun is shining on this Mother of All Nice Inland Northwest winters. I forgot to mention here that I encountered some of the area’s best and brightest walking along the waterfront Sunday, including Jon Mueller, and David Rawls and his wife, Hazel Bauman. Also, a group of kids were playing the board game war at City Beach. And the waterfront was busy with people biking, jogging, playing outdoor basketball, sightseeing, and just enjoying the sun. Have you been down to the waterfront yet this year? You can answer that question. Or use this Wild Card to start your own threads …
Item: WSU researchers studying role lack of sleep plays in decisions/John Stucke, SR
More Info: Need another reason to get eight hours of sleep each night? Washington State University researchers say sleep-deprived people make poor decisions because they struggle to remember and interpret important information. Hans Van Dongen and Gregory Belenky have been delving into why a lack of sleep leads people to make poor decisions. Their findings, based on work completed at the Sleep and Performance Research Center at WSU Spokane, are generating some buzz for upending long-held beliefs.
Question: Do you sleep at least 8 hours at night? If you sleep less, do you consider yourself sleep deprived and prone to bad decisions?
Coeur d’Alene artist Joan Grey Smith is inspired by the grass that covers the Earth, which she describes as so ordinary yet primary to the existence of the world. Her prints and pastels on this subject will be featured in an exhibit titled “Grass Roots” on display March 1-26 in the North Idaho College Boswell Hall Corner Gallery. More here. (Artist Joan Grey Smith. Monotype. 24 x 18 inches).
Yolanda Turner, 34, of Head Turner Styling Studio in Greensboro, N.C., puts a string of pearls around her model, Dionne Battle, 32, left, to enhance the Titanic-theme fantasy hairstyle she creates backstage before the Bronner Brothers Fantasy Hair Show in Atlanta on Sunday. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/The Atlanta Journal & Constitution, Elissa Eubanks)
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I felt as though I have just come from “A Tale of Two Sightings” of the Ward for Congress 
campaign yesterday. First I had a very positive and enjoyable conversation with Vaughn Ward, candidate for Congress in the 1st CD. We discussed many issues, including my recent observations regarding the the “Young Guns” program run by the National Republican Congressional Committee. It was a frank conversation and one from which we both benefitted, I would guess. I am looking forward to more discussions on these tough issues. Then, I received word from the Idaho Conservative Blogger site of a dust-up involving emails and intimations by folks associated with Vaughn’s campaign, that his opponent, Raul Labrador, would be dropping out of the race, shortly. This chatter is untrue/Dennis Mansfield. More here.
Question: What do you make of this latest dust-up between the Labrador and Ward camps?
Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, has asked the House Resources Committee to let him withdraw his road-kill bill, HB 562, and the committee agreed unanimously. “My intention with this bill was just to make it real simple, if you see a dead furbearer out on the road you could just pick it up,” Harwood told the committee. “I’ve had some emails that said I’m a terrible guy because I’m trying to pick up little furry animals and use them, and I got a lot from the conservation officers as well.” Last week, the Idaho Fish & Game Commission voted unanimously to oppose the bill, out of concern over how it would affect enforcement efforts when people have an animal carcass and claim they found it on the road/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Kootenai County Commissioner Rich Piazza announced his candidacy for a second term of office today, pledging close scrutiny in holding down expenses and taxes, maintaining infrastructure, promoting job creation and addressing county growth issues. “I’m a Reagan conservative,” he said, “but I serve ALL the people. In these difficult economic times, we have to watch every dollar we spend. We still have to maintain county infrastructure and we have to finds ways to do it without raising taxes. “I’m a fiscal conservative. We have to be wise in spending the people’s money/Piazza Election Announcement. More here.
Question: Has Piazza earned another term?
Item: Coeur d’Alene may cut back outdoors drinking: Proposal would cut one hour from sidewalk dining/Tom Hasslinger, Coeur d’Alene Press
More Info: The city of Coeur d’Alene might scale back late night drinking - at least outdoors. The city’s General Services Committee is recommending the city cut an hour off the time limit for serving alcohol to sidewalk-sitting patrons, from 11 to 10 p.m. The reduction proposal is one of several the committee forwarded to the City Council Monday for consideration in early March, as officials, business owners, residents and law enforcement agencies continue to work together on ways to make downtown safer heading into the summer season. “If we get a reputation downtown for the wild, wild West,” said John Bruning, city councilman and committee member, “it’ll drive business out.”
Question: What other steps should the city of Coeur d’Alene take to rein in the rowdy drinking crowd that congregates in downtown Coeur d’Alene late at night?
A promotional poster for the play “Avenue Q.” Puppet cleavage has been ruled out for advertising posters in Colorado Springs, Colo., bus shelters. Lamar Advertising rejected posters for a touring production of the Broadway show because they show the cleavage of a fuzzy pink puppet. Lamar account executive Jeff Moore says the company takes a conservative approach in Colorado Springs. The city is known for its political conservatism, and some conservative Christian groups have headquarters in the city. The poster has been replaced by one showing the face of another puppet. “Avenue Q” is a Tony-winning musical about twentysomething New Yorkers, both human and puppets, searching for life and love. (AP Photo/NewSpace Entertainment) Question: Did Lamar Advertising make the right call re: puppet cleavage to keep the peace in Colorado Springs?
The House Resources Committee has agreed to send HB 531 to the House’s amending order with committee amendments attached, to clear up a wording problem in the bill. The measure, from Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale, would make all hunting licenses and tags secret, plus add criminal sanctions for any harassment of hunters. The names of those getting hunting licenses and tags long have been public record in Idaho. Several media representatives spoke against the bill, saying it was too broad and would close down records that reporters, hunters and fishermen long have legitimately used/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Do you support this bill as a means to protect wolf hunters? Or do you see it as overkill and yet another exemption to the growing list of public-records exemptions in Idaho?
CPD Blues are still looking for the driver of a vehicle that plowed into a home on Master’s Drive Monday morning. Remember? It was an AM Scanner Traffic item. A patrol officer spotted the 
silver car driving erratically on Fairway Drive and then turn onto Masters w/o using the turn signal. The officer hit his lights, only to have the vehicle speed up to 50 mph, and then abruptly skid into a driveway at 2907 W. Masters Drive. The driver took off running, and the car continued to roll down a hill and into a neighbor’s house, creating a 4-foot-by-foot hole and snapping support beams. The driver eventually was spotted by another Fairway Forest subdivision resident, hiding behind her hot tub. When she confronted him, the man ran across the municipal golf course. Meanwhile, the passenger of the car provided little information about his friend. Later, police learned the driver’s family had kicked him out of the house over the Christmas holidays for using drugs and his lifestyle. You can read the redacted report (caution language) here.
Question: Can you see why the driver was kicked out of his house by his family?
I remember the night that I took my youngest brother, Doug, to see “Easy Rider.” We sat 
through the entire film - the chopper-preening, the mustachio-grandstanding, the smoke-huffing - only to be faced with that ridiculous ending, which would become from that point on a point of movie vocabluary of its own. “Oh that movie?” I would say of something that ended in gunfire and bloodletting, literal or virtual. “It’s OK … if you like an ‘Easy Rider’ ending.” I was so pissed that I almost crashed my VW Bug driving out of the San Diego theater, and then I courted multiple tickets while speeding east on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard. I’d just returned from Vietnam, and I was still full of the kind of supressed rage that came so naturally to me then and for years afterward. It seems like … yesterday. Yet it was 1970. Forty years ago. Is such a thing possible?/Dan Webster, Movies & More. More here.
Question: When did you last have one of those moments that starts … “It seems like only yesterday … ”
American missionary arrested on child kidnapping charges, Laura Silsby, 40, speaks to the press after leaving the courtroom in Port-au-Prince earlier today. Behind her is fellow missionary Charisa Coulter, 24, (orange blouse) and both are from Meridian. Now, it’s reported that they should be freed this week. See below. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano)
Bill Moos said yes today to Washington State University’s offer to replace Jim Sterk as athletic director, a source confirmed to The Spokesman-Review. Moos told WSU president Elson S. Floyd he would accept an offer, made last Thursday. Terms of the deal have not been released, though other sources have said Moos was offered more than Sterk’s $300,000 in base salary, deferred compensation and other income. Washington State is expected to schedule a press conference in Pullman for Wednesday/Vince Grippi, SR.
Question: Are you glad to see Bill Moos get the WSU athletic director’s job? What should he have to do first?
Ryan Bedford, the American flag seen in his hair, reacts after his race during the men’s 10,000 meter speed skating race at the Richmond Olympic Oval at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, earlier today. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Question: Does it bug you to see unorthodox displays of the American flag like the one above — you know, in people’s hair, or on the back pocket of their pants, or comprising a T-shirt, or elsewhere?
I didn’t think much about retirement until I turned 60 in November. Now, I find myself using the statement: “I don’t know how many more years I’ll be doing this.” Why am I bringing this up 
now? I thought about the future of Huckleberries while I enjoyed myself at Blogfest ‘10. Which was the sixth blogfest, including the four that have been held at Capones, Moon Dollar, and the Fort Ground Grill. Not that I plan to retire any time soon. But I did wonder how many more blogfests there will be. I compile Huckleberries Online for three reasons: It’s my job. It’s my hobby. And I feel an obligation to this community to provide an alternative voice to the Coeur d’Alene Press and the keyboard commandos of OpenCHRG and other individuals who are trying their best to stop the progress in this community. I’ve been here 25 years — long enough to see us go through the down times of the 1980s when Coeur d’Alene couldn’t pass a school bond and downtown Coeur d’Alene couldn’t fill its buildings. Naysayers ruled the roost in those days. And a second generation of them are trying to do the same today. In fact, today’s variety might be worse because they can attack at will via cyberspace and have the ear of the Coeur d’Alene Press. So I’ll keep showing up for work here, to provide balance and to have fun, as long as you keep showing up to see what shenanigans are going on around town/DFO.
Complete this sentence: You know it’s time to retire when …
After years of taking millions from gullible Americans, the scam artists have taken to Craigslist. 
The old scams aren’t capable of bringing in the easy money like they used to, so the scam artists have evolved and found a new tactic. The new scam involves taking money from people trying to find affordable housing. Moscow and Pullman are perfect cities for this because of all the students. The swindler combs through recent real estate listings and takes the information on the houses to create a Craigslist ad for a rental — one that is much less expensive than those currently available. After e-mailing for more details, the potential renter receives a reply asking for a completed rental application and sometimes the money for the deposit. After reading one of these e-mails, it is hard to believe anyone is fooled, but it happens/Erin Harty, UI Argonaut. More here.
Question: Can you tell us about the last time someone tried to scam you?
The hearing set for 1:30 on HCR 42, the measure to block a scheduled 1 percent COLA for state retirees, has been canceled - which means the bill is now dead. Sen. John Andreason, R-Boise, chairman of the Senate Commerce & Human Resources Committee, said, “It seemed like the thing to do - this was the best way to handle it.” He added, “I have a lot of faith in the (PERSI) board. They’ve always done a good job. We’re just following their recommendation”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
In this image released by Comic Connect Corp., a the June 1938 cover of “Action Comics” that first featured Superman, is shown. Originally selling for 10 cents, the rare comic book has sold for a record-smashing $1M in New York. Story here. (AP Photo/Comic Connect Corp.)
Question: Which comic books did you read as a kid?
Those people who donate blood are a noble lot. It is a selfless act to donate not just blood, but 
the accompanying time and effort. Even with the promise of cookies and juice in the end, my fear of needles and complete uneasiness in seeing blood prevent me from even contemplating donating. It is also quite bothersome when I have to observe other people giving blood. On a semi-regular basis, a blood drive takes place in the middle of the Teaching and Learning Center for anyone who is unfortunate enough to stumble in to see. There is something not right about holding a blood drive in the middle of a common area. There has to be some other place for these blood drives to take place. They should not stop, but there is no reason they cannot take place in a sheltered space where innocent passers-by do not have to observe the process/Cheyenne Hollis, UI Argonaut. More here.
Question: Are you bothered by the sight of blood? And/or: When did you last give blood?
Rhonda Smith of Sevierville, Tenn. pauses as she testifies about her Lexus’ apparent sudden acceleration earlier today on Capitol Hill in Washington while appearing before the the House Oversight and Investigations subcommittee. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) You can use this Wild Card to discuss politics in general.
I gave you Huckleberry Pickers a lot to process Monday when I posted City Council wannabe Jim Brannon’s request for 48 different kinds of written, handwritten, and online documents from city and county elections officials in his never-ending quest to overturn his loss to incumbent Mike Kennedy. So I thought I’d break down the significant parts. You can read the nature of Brannon’s request, filed by his attorney Starr Kelso, here. You can read the conclusion to county Civil Deputy John Cafferty here.
Question: Cafferty mentions that the elections officials would conservatively need 6 months to provide the documents requested by Brannon, at a cost of $30,000. He mentions that the judge could raise the $500 bond paid by the plaintiffs to cover the cost. Do you think the judge should do so, if he orders the defendants to provide the documentation?
… and tell its online guy that it is now Tuesday, Feb. 23, not Monday, Feb. 22. It’s 9:35 in the morning and the online page still features yesterday’s stories — not that there’s a lot in the paper today. And you can tell the Press switchboard that Huckleberries Online sent you …
Although teenage boys have long taken the rap for being the most reckless drivers on the 
road, teenage girls are now gaining that reputation for themselves. According to “Shifting Teen Attitudes: The State of Teen Driving 2009,” a report released by The Allstate Foundation, girls admit to speeding, driving aggressively, and using a cell phone or adjusting music while driving more often than boys. Julie Wernau, writing for the Chicago Tribune, points out that auto insurance rates for girls have responded to the trend. Thomas DeFalco, an actuary at the New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Co., told Wernau that 20 years ago, it cost twice as much to insure teen boys as girls, but it now costs 20 to 30% more/Finding Dulcinea. More here.
Question: Were you a decent driver as a teen-ager? Are/were your teens good drivers?
Okay,
people. I’m going to say what a lot of you want to say: curling is funny. And it’s even funnier when it’s in the Olympics. Unfortunately for anyone sitting near me during a “match,” curling, like sumo wrestling, cracks me up. The attack that gets me in its grip is guaranteed to ruin any meaningful Olympic experience, unless you enjoy being near a gasping, howling woman with tears streaming down her face. It might be mean to laugh at curling – at least at the U.S. team, but who gives a rip. I just can’t take it, man. Whoever let curling into the Olympics must have been seriously hammered at the time/Jill Kuraitis, New West. More here.
Question: Should curling be an Olympic sport?
David Cheney has buried his two dogs in his backyard on the 3300 block of east 55th Ave in Spokane, Wa. The dogs, Abby and Snoopy, died after someone feed them poisoned meatballs. Meghann Cuniff’s Sirens & Gavels story here. (Dan Pelle/SR)
Question: What would be a proper punishment for the individual caught poisoning these dogs?
“EPA’s public response to the so-called ‘Climate-gate’ issue is unsatisfactory at best,” said Simpson. “Idahoans are frustrated that we are basing major, far-reaching policy changes and significant funding increases on scientific data that has been called into question, but their concerns are being summarily dismissed by the EPA, which simply claims that ‘the science is sound’”/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: Should the Obama administration ignore concerns raised in the “climate-gate” controversy or ignore them and push ahead with new greenhouse gas regulations?
In a recent guest editorial distributed to Idaho media, Otter admitted he never actually planned 
on cutting IPTV’s funding. Apparently, he asked every agency to find ways to cut spending, and when IPTV told him there was no wiggle room in their budget, he made the threat to light a fire under them. If this is true (there’s always the possibility he’s just covering up a bad idea), it’s a bad policy. If Otter wanted to pressure IPTV to trim the budget, he should have done it in private. When the governor uses the press to pressure state agencies, it looks like the state is run by a headless group of bureaucrats who use the press to tattle to the people about each other. Otter and the entire state government have a very serious task in front of them. Let’s see some cooperation, not mindless bluffing/Jeffrey Reznicek, UIdaho Argonaut. More here.
Question: What do you make of Otter’s claim that he never intended to cut funding for IPTV, after threatening to do so? Does he deserve the criticism leveled against him by the Argonaut?
One of the best ideas ever to come from Idaho was the state’s public records law. It presumes 
you have access to government records. Access keeps the process honest. The system is constantly under assault. In the two decades since the law took effect, legislators have tweaked it here, trimmed it there. Now, they’re trying to pull from public view the name of anybody who purchased a hunting or fishing license or game tag. That’s because an opponent of the state’s wolf hunt, Rob Hobson of Boise, posted names of those who shot a wolf this season on his Web site. Some hunters say they have been harassed/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: Should the state of Idaho be allowed to keep the names of those who buy hunting and fishing licenses from the public?
Joe Heller/Hellertoons
The election of Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) energized Republicans as it ensured that he would give them a critical 41st vote to help them block Democrats and filibuster key legislation. So in the second vote of his Senate career, Brown promptly voted to help Democrats cut off a Republican filibuster of a $15 billion jobs bill engineered by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). “It’s not a perfect bill,” Brown said shortly after voting. “I was comfortable with that vote.” Brown defended his vote, saying he was concerned about putting people back to work. “Anytime you can make a small step, it’s still a step,” said Brown/FoxNews. More here.
Question: Still wild about that new Republican senator from Massachusetts?
Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md. is reflected in a window on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, as he answers reporters questions following a news conference to discuss the upcoming jobs bill. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
I’ll play this regular Wild Card now — to be followed by the new Political Wild Card in a few minutes. Several individuals at Blogfest ‘10 told me how much they appreciate the Political Wild Card, to keep the daily struggle for supremacy between our Left Bank and our Right Bank out of the regular threads. I’ll go back through the suggested names and pick one for the new Wild Card. Now, for the regular W.C.
At a time when Idaho legislators have been loath to propose tax increases, Athol Rep. Phil Hart has introduced legislation to bump Idaho’s sales tax from the current 6 percent up to 8.25 percent. The tradeoff: He’d also like to eliminate the income tax on all earned income. “I think when you tax something, you get less of it,” said the third-term Republican. “We are heavily taxing jobs, and we have less jobs.” That’s just one of a dozen bills Hart has proposed so far this year, his busiest legislative session yet. Most have something to do with constitutional rights or privacy/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Would you accept a sales tax of 8.25 percent if it meant doing away with all income tax on earned income?
North Idaho College Residence Hall senior resident adviser Jeff Howard, from Bonners Ferry, feeds Randy and Earl (named after the brothers on the TV show My Name is Earl). The two ducks have made a home in the landscaping just outside the main doors of the NIC Residence Hall. The students living in the hall, many of whom often miss their own pets at home, feed and water the ducks and ensure their safety by keeping them out of the busy parking lot. (Stacy Hudson/Press Room photo)
Veterinary doctors perform a tooth surgery on Socrates, a 20-year-old tiger at Villa Lorena animal shelter in Cali, Colombia, Sunday. Socrates, once a tiger from a street circus, was handed over to the shelter by its former caretakers. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Christian Escobar Mora)
Top Cutlines:
This undated photo released by Terry Hoskins, who allegedly bulldozed his own home after a bank began foreclosure proceedings, shows a bulldozer standing near Hoskins’ home in Moscow, Ohio. (AP Photo/Terry Hoskins via WLWT) Question: Do you know of anyone who has lost his/her home during this Great Recession?
Sam Taylor and his lovely wife, Kat, are expecting their first baby later this year. But that didn’t stop them from making the long trek from western Washington to Blogfest 2010 at the Fort Ground Grill Saturday. Sam is a former reporter for The Spokesman-Review. Nic of Rants, Raves, & Random Thoughts snapped this photo.
Civil Deputy Prosecutor John Cafferty said it would take six months and cost $30,000 to provide the broad range of documentation, including office e-mails of elections officials, sought by 
attorney Starr Kelso (pictured) for losing candidate Jim Brannon. Who is trying to overturn the results of his 5-vote loss to incumbent Mike Kennedy. In the 14-page document filed with the court Friday, Cafferty labeled Kelso’s request to provide 48 different kinds of documentation a “witch hunt” that was beyond the scope of the lawsuit “and can be of no purpose other than to embarrass, harass, and annoy Kootenai County.” The county handled the election process on behalf of the city of Coeur d’Alene. Said Cafferty: “To allow the present witch hunt to continue in its existing fashion not only flies in the face of the Idaho Constitution and the Legislators’ clearly articulated intent, but is a large and irretractable step down a slippery slope which any disgruntled candidate will be happy to lead future courts.” You can read Cafferty’s response here. And: Starr Kelso’s request.
Question: What do you make of Cafferty’s response to Kelso’s request for the broad range of election documentation?
HB 486, creating a new special license plate to benefit mountain biking trails, has passed the House on a 49-18 vote. “This bill is purely revenue-generating for the state,” said Rep. Brian Cronin, D-Boise, the bill’s lead sponsor. Each special plate sold will initially send $22 to the state highway fund and $15 to the state Department of Parks and Recreation for trail work; in subsequent years, renewals will send $13 to the highway fund and $12 to parks/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
OtisG/Otis G. Experience kept track of the agenda for his two children and significant other during a bike ride that found its way to Blogfest ‘10 at the Fort Ground Grill Saturday.
… Yes, Sgt. Christie Wood brought a flat full of cupcakes to Blogfest ‘10 to celebrate the outcome of city council elections past and ongoing — and to poke fun at the OpenCHRG.com keyboard commandos who dismissively once referred to her as “Sgt. Cupcake.”
… And, yes, a Coeur d’Alene Press reporter infiltrated the Huckleberries Online crowd for a few moments late in the blogfest, sat at the bar for a bit, and then left w/o introducing himself to me. He’ll remain nameless here b/c I don’t want the lad to get in trouble from the higher ups simply because he wanted to hang out with a fun crowd for a change.
RE: NYTimes spotlights local Tea Partyers/David Stout, New York Times
Pam Stout, Sandpoint Tea Party president, on Huckleberries: “I never expected to make any front page, but especially the NY Times. I am only one of many Tea Partiers who believe we have an obligation as Americans to honor our founders and the Constitution. If you aren’t concerned about our nations future - please take yor head out of the sand. I think that the Republicans won’t co-opt the Tea parties, but the Tea Parties may take back the party. God bless America.”
Question: Is the Tea Party movement the only one concerned about the future of America?
Coeur d’Alene Vikings State Girls 5A Basketball Champions over the Lewiston Bengals 51-45 at the Idaho Center in Nampa. The Viks picked up their third state championship in a row with the victory over Lewiston Saturday night. (Steve Conner/Idaho Sports) Question: Have you ever been part of a championship team?
Kamm: What’s your take on the bill offered by ID Sen Brent Hill allowing ‘victims’ of Ponzi schemes to
deduct ALL their losses from ID State Taxes even averaging them over years so that every penny lost is deductible. I have sympathy for their financial problems but haven’t they heard … “Buyer Beware”? “If it looks too good to be true, it probably is” and “Poor planning on your part doesn’t create an emergency on my part”…? In this era of ‘trimmed to the bones’ state budget should all residents bear the loss of funds because of mistakes made by a few? Just wondering.
Question: Should victims of Ponzi schemes be able to write off all their losses?
Lodge summed up the story and then compared it to the situation JFAC faces in trying to 
balance the state’s budget amid an economic decline. In this version of the tale, told from the wolf’s perspective, he didn’t do anything wrong to the three little pigs or their homes of straw and sticks. Instead, the wolf claims he was framed and wound up in jail. He didn’t huff and puff and blow the houses down. Instead, he went to the pigs’ homes hoping to borrow a cup of sugar. And the wolf, having a cold, sneezed a couple times, which blew down the house of straw and the house of sticks. So what’s all this have to do with the Legislature? JFAC is searching for ways to trim the budget like the wolf was looking for a cup of sugar, Lodge told JFAC. “You are trying to find every possible way to find savings,” (Sen. Patti Ann) Lodge, pictured, said/Ben Botkin, Twin Falls Times-News. More here.
Question: Do you feel sorry for Idaho legislators who have the inenviable job of balancing the state budget in time of great recession?
I come from rustic people over eastern Idaho way, so’s you can just about figure how 
aggravated I got the other day when I heard from state Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, that me and mine have been criminals since Reagan was a Democrat. I’m talkin’ about pickin’ up road kill off the highway here in the great and sovereign state of Idaho. Turns out it’s illegal. It’s the state’s property. The hell you say. Does that mean the Department of Fish and Game really wants all those white-line coyote carcasses back? It’s cultural imperialism, is what it is, against those of us in the sprung-out-couch-and-rusted-washin’-machine-on-the front-lawn crowd. Just like when Jerome, Idaho, run all the trailer houses older than 40 years old right oughtta town/Steve Crump, Twin Falls Times-News. More here.
Question: Would you eat a dish made from roadkill?
Nicole Turner, 12, of Velocity Gymnastics out of Hamilton Montana kept an eye on the competition during Great West Gym Fest at the Coeur d’Alene Resort on Friday. Several hundred gymnast are in town for the meet that runs through Sunday. (Kathy Plonka/SR)
Three Spokane-North Idaho Hollywood Video stores will close in several weeks, the company has announced on its Web site. They are: University City, 10614 E. Sprague, Airway Heights, 12622 W. Sunset Hwy, and Coeur d’Alene, 560 W. Kathleen St. Parent company Hollywood Entertainment Corp., based in Wilsonville, Ore., is restructuring operations following a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing earlier this year. The company has not established closing dates for the three stores. Five other Hollywood Video stores in the Spokane area are not closing, according to the company Web site/Spokesman-Review. More here.
Question: Where do you pick up you videos?
Moscow Minidoka: RiverPark Square is “the most pleasant one to visit.” I didn’t say I go there to meet my basic needs. My wife’s parents live in Spokane. When we visit, it’s a nice treat to 
leave the kids with the in-laws and get a meal and movie in downtown Spokane. I think that the restaurants in the surrounding area are pretty decent, and the movie theater is nice for a megaplex. Yes, there are many “high-end” retailers at RiverPark Square, but I’m not there to buy $150 pants. I’m there to people watch, enjoy the ambiance, and to maybe buy a pair of nice slacks for work on sale at The Gap or Macy’s. In general, I don’t shop at the malls in Spokane/CDA. So when I do go to the mall, I like it to be a pleasant experience. Each time I’ve gone to NorthTown or the Valley Mall, they’ve been overrun by idle teenagers and hoodlums. That’s not usually the case at RiverPark Square.
Question: Which Inland Northwest mall is your favorite? Why?
Ted Piccard of France, left and Daron Rahlves of the USA, right crash out during the men’s skicross 8th final at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Sunday.. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Question: Which Winter Olympics moment is your favorite so far — now that we’re more than halfway finished with the event?
Is the clout of talk radio diminishing? Political people certainly act as if it is powerful enough, considering the bows and scrapes given to Rush Limbaugh from anyone on the right who momentarily crosses him. But as with broadcast television, it may be a lesser influence now than it was, given the competition from the web and elsewhere. Seattle’s Blatherwatch recalled how “KVI was at the forefront of the 1994 Republican resurgence, the pre-Waco militia strutting. John Carlson and Kirby Wilbur organized and ran initiative signature campaign on-air and almost single-handedly got a measure on the ballot (later rejected by the voters) that defunded roads. The US Supreme Court upheld their right to wage that campaign on public airwaves, a huge win for talk radio. Wilbur’s now gone, and Carlson is talking to the crickets in the toughest time slot in town (3-6p)/Randy Stapilus, Ridenbaugh Press. More here.
Question: Is the clout of talk radio diminishing? Can you cite examples to support your conclusion?
In this Feb. 21, 2009 file photo, former eBay Chief Executive and California Republican Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, accompanied by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, speaks to reporters in Sacramento, Calif. Romney is ready to step back into the public spotlight after working earnestly behind the scenes the past two years to help his fellow Republicans, and lay the groundwork for a second presidential campaign. (AP Photo/Steve Yeater) Wild Card: You can discuss Mitt Romney’s potential as a GOP presidential candidate or anything else political with this Wild Card …
The hearing on SB 1353, the abortion and emergency contraception “conscience” bill, has 
been stretching on for nearly two hours already this morning in the Senate State Affairs Committee. So far, among the many testifying on the bill have been the Catholic diocese of Idaho, in favor of the bill; the Idaho Women’s Network, against it; Right to Life of Idaho, in favor; and the ACLU of Idaho, against. Here, anti-abortion activist David Ripley, lobbyist for “Idaho Chooses Life,” answers questions about the bill from members of the Senate committee. Christ Troupis, attorney for the group, also answered numerous questions about the bill. Troupis noted that the Idaho Trial Lawyers Association is opposing the bill, saying it may interfere with patient malpractice lawsuits/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here. And here.
Question: Do you support this legislation?
Item: A powerful thirst in Coeur d’Alene: Three downtown bars rank in Idaho’s top five for purchasing alcohol/Tom Hasslinger, Coeur d’Alene Press
More Info: In term of bars buying booze from the state, three downtown Coeur d’Alene watering holes are cracking Idaho’s top five halfway through fiscal year 2010. Not too surprising, since the same three locales having been hovering in Idaho’s top 10 for several years. Number one so far on the Idaho State Liquor Division’s list of top liquor bottle buyers is the Iron Horse bar and grill on Sherman Avenue. Down the street is the third-place finisher, The Coeur d’Alene Resort, while the Sherman Avenue hangout the Beacon pub and former Brix restaurant, currently the Icon, is fifth.
Question: Is this something of which to be proud — that three of the top five drinking spots in Idaho are all located within 3 blocks of one another in downtown Coeur d’Alene?
Dogs and tea parties remind us that we are more likely to fight for something we believe in if we 
can snatch a few moments of personal publicity from the effort. People who attend meetings of the Tea Party movement are determined to turn their country in a better direction, but they also love standing up in a crowd of their fellow agitators and orating like geriatric Patrick Henrys. Defeating incumbents is invigorating but lapping up the limelight is intoxicating. “Look, Ma, I’m on the TV!” The Tea Partiers are about 90 percent like me. They are the same lovely pale pasty white that I am. They are opinionated as all get out, just like me. And they are way past puberty - by 50 or more years. But there is something surprisingly different this time about my fellow geezers. They are not usually so demonstrative, so showy and so brassy in their utterances/Bill Hall, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: What do you make of Bill Hall’s description of tea partiers — “about 90 percent like me. They are the same lovely pale pasty white that I am. They are opinionated as all get out, just like me.”
At Blogfest ‘10, Digger presented Councilman Mike Kennedy with a T-shirt that’s guaranteed to make certain heads pop around the city of Coeur d’Alene. It’s a perfect gift for that OpenCHRG.com key board commando on your Christmas list.
Clean Water:
We need to do this (Blogfest) more often. I really enjoyed that in this diverse crowd, we found much commonality. It is hard these days to find people who can actually engage in intelligent conversation. Whether it is from my conservative perspective or to someone else’s liberal views, I found that we are more alike than not. Perhaps we need to meet in a park where we will actually be able to hear each other. We are too loud to be allowed indoors. How about a Blogfest 2010 & 1/2?
DFO: How about a shout out to Steve & Marie Widmyer and their employees who set the stage at Fort Ground Grill for another successful blogfest? If you haven’t checked out Fort Ground Grill since the Widmyers took over, you should. Also, I’m humbled by the good many of you who took time off from a viewtiful Saturday afternoon to join us for food and fellowship, particularly the many newbies who were there. Clean Water, one of the newbies, is right. People usually agree on more things than they disagree. Huckleberries Online continues to try to be a catalyst to help people understand that. Now, onto year 7 of this online experiment.
The Ground Round attained legendary status early on with its gargantuan burgers that were so 
fresh they still cried “moo” and omelets big, bright and happy enough to put the sun out of work for the rest of the morning. I can’t recall the exact details of what brought about the name change, but I’m guessing it had something to do with a little legal jazz involving the national restaurant chain of the same name. The forced rechristening to “Nosworthy’s Hall of Fame” was literally the only noticeable change, and the magic remained intact. Nearly every visible surface is covered with owner Dale Nosworthy’s impressive collection of sports memorabilia, so the name fits the place like a baseball mitt/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.
DFO: How about reviewing Fourth Street Pantry (the all-night shop across from the federal building in downtown Coeur d’Alene) next?
Originally published Friday night
Leaders of the Aryan Nations in Idaho say they want to move the headquarters of their white 
supremacist movement to Grant County. Paul R. Mullet, who called himself national director of the movement, was in John Day this week, looking at property to buy for a new “national compound.” … Mullet, wearing a uniform shirt with a swastika patch on it, said the group’s goal is to create a homeland for white people. … Mullet said his group’s current headquarters is in Athol, Idaho, but it doesn’t have the attributes of a real compound. If they can find the right building in John Day, he said, they will be able to provide barracks and space for training recruits, as well as a place for meetings and gatherings/Scotta Callister, Blue Mountain Eagle. More here.
Question: Anyone going to shed a tear if these guys pull up stakes from Athol and head to John Day, Ore.?
Signe Wilkinson/Philadelphia Inquirer
So what did you think of the new — for lack of a better name at the moment — Political Wild Card? I noticed it attracted 56 comments while the regular Wild Card had only 14 or so. But it did work to keep generic political talk from taking over the various threads throughout the day. I was a little skeptical. But I sorta liked it. Feel free to weigh in now about the new feature — or in the days to come. We had another terrific Blogfest Saturday, with Steve & Marie Widmyer hosting us in style at their Fort Ground Grill. I didn’t get a head count. But I’d figure 55 - 65 people wandered in at some time during the day. I got to put faces to three pseudonyms — Clean Water, jt, and Meme13. I’ll wait until Monday to run the photos of Digger presenting MikeK one of his “I (Heart) Mike Kennedy” T-shirts to make sure our blurking fans at OpenCHRG.com gasp together. Until then, I’llre- post this Wild Card for your entertainment …
We here in Coeur ‘d Alene, Idaho, have a very unique community of bloggers. Led for the past six years by the Spokesman Review’s Dave Oliveria, it has gone through a lot. It waxes and wanes according to the mood of Dave and those who contribute. It is often contentious. It is often funny. It reflects the community from which it originates. It is unique. Every year we have a Blog Fest, a time for all of us to put aside our pseudonyms and politics and celebrate that which binds us. Blogging. I’ve missed one over the years. In that period of time, last year, people have come and gone. Today I had the pleasure of greeting old friends and meeting new ones/Dogwalk Musings. More here (including a 2-minute video of Blogfest ‘10.
Gonzaga forward Elias Harris, of Germany, center, fight for a loose ball with Pepperdine forward Mychel Thompson, left and center Denis Agre, of Bulgaria, right, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Gus Ruelas)
Gonzaga rebounded from a disappointing conference defeat with a rout.Matt Bouldin had 18 points and five assists, and Elias Harris scored 13 points to lead Gonzaga (No. 9 ESPN/USA Today, No. 13 AP) to a 72-54 victory over Pepperdine on Saturday night.Robert Sacre and Steven Gray scored 12 points apiece and Sacre added a career-high six blocks for the Bulldogs (22-5, 10-2 West Coast), who won 14 of 16 games.On Thursday night, Gonzaga lost 72-66 to Loyola Marymount for only the third time since 1996.”I just challenged them,” Bulldogs coach Mark Few said of his players. “You can’t approach these games like that. You’re getting everybody’s best shot.”Bouldin said that Few’s approach worked/Associated Press. More here.
Coeur d’Alene’s Carli Rosenthal (24) blocks the shot of Lewiston’s Tanis Fuller, left, in the 5A Girls State Championship basketball game on Saturday in Nampa. Coeur d’Alene won 51-45. (AP Photo/Matt Cilley)
say, there’s a lot more to Edgar than being one of the country’s oldest living men with Down syndrome. “When
you’re looking at Edgar, you’re looking at an angel,” his “sister”
Annika Rau said. “And the same could be said for my parents for what
they’ve done for him.” Her parents, Van and Veanne Elg, took
Edgar in on the advice of Van Elg’s mother, then working at a group
home where Edgar was living. “She thought he’d be good for us,”
Veanne Elg said. “We weren’t sure at the time. He was a complete
stranger. But we met him and fell in love with him.” Edgar has been living with the Elgs for 17 years now. In August, he’ll be 71/Tim Woodward (pictured), Idaho Statesman. 
Schurman, who organized last Saturday’s Tea Party
rally at the Asotin County Fairgrounds with Capps, was not present when
she made the comment about Murray, but said, “I cannot even imagine
this thing being in a vicious context.” Capps had been stalling for time during Saturday’s rally, Schurman
said, and was uneasy about speaking in front of a crowd of about 500
people. It was at that time she compared Jake Spoon from “Lonesome
Dove” to Murray, D-Wash. “What happened to Jake when he ran with the wrong crowd?” Capps asked.
“What happened to Jake when he ran with the wrong crowd? He got hung.
And that’s what I want to do with Patty Murray”/Brandon Macz, Lewiston Tribune. 
qualification questionnaire. John G. Wright was found in contempt of court after he allegedly
refused to fill out a questionnaire sent each month to county residents
who are picked for jury duty. Wright reportedly ignored the document,
and a warning letter sent as a reminder to prospective jurors. Judge Jeff M. Brudie called Wright into court Thursday. Brudie told
Wright the law mandates he fill out the form to determine if he
qualifies for jury service, and that he was not aware of any exemption. “I rescinded all my signatures on any and all past contracts; I am not
a registered voter,” Wright responded, according to a recording of the
hearing/Brad Gary, Lewiston Tribune. 
wealthy in Oregon. Idaho leaders long
to catch their rich neighbor’s eye. Idaho has wooed Nike before -
a revelation offered by Lt. Gov. Brad Little, who salivates at the
prospect of landing one of the world’s best-known brands. “Phil
Knight was up front: Don’t change the tax code, and if you do, we’re
going to do something,” Little said. Knight hasn’t expressed interest
yet, Little said. “But we’re gonna call him.” Knight is No. 24 on
Forbes’ list of richest Americans, with a net worth of $9.5 billion. He
gave $100,000 to the campaign to defeat Measures 66 and 67. Both tax
bills passed Jan. 26/Dan Popkey, Idaho Statesman. 
If the Coeur d’Alene High girls basketball
team had a true point guard, it would win the State 5A championship going away. Ball handling has been the Vikings’ Achilles heel this
season, but they’ve managed to get by with a guard-by-committee approach. 
fellow Americans in the Boston Massacre, John Adams said, “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” There was a time when most newspaper columnists at least paid lip service to the good intentions of public officials. They might be misguided, shortsighted or simply stupid, the writers would suggest, but at least they meant well. Social niceties were observed; there was a higher level of mutual respect and civility. That just isn’t the case anymore. Too many writers now ignore, gloss over or leave out facts they find at odds with their conclusion or the point they’re trying to make. Facts after all, as Adams said, can be stubborn things – and inconvenient/Gov. Butch Otter, Idaho Statesman. 
difference between “advocate” and “opine.” Our opinion columns may endorse a particular point of view, but we would never go to a state legislature and try to influence legislation or a legislator. That’s the bottom line difference between the two organizations, because the IdFreedomFoundation does exactly that. And yes, NewWest.Net is a member of the Capitol Correspondents. This is our fourth year as members, and I am on the standing committee. We are also members of the Idaho Press Club, and have won some significant awards/Jill Kuraitis, New West. 
reject a proposal to block a 1 percent cost of living increase for retirees on the state’s pension program, the Public Employees Retirement System of Idaho. The lawmakers on the committee were ill-informed about the severity of the pension program’s ongoing financial issues. After learning the full scope of the problem, the panel came back the following day, reversed course and agreed to block the cost of living increase. The vote threw a spotlight on an issue seldom discussed around the Statehouse. PERSI had a $3 billion unfunded liability as of July 1, 2009, due to investment loses and insufficient contributions relative to benefits/Wayne Hoffman, Idaho Freedom Foundation. 
State University and Boise State University will play a home-and-home football series beginning in 2016, it was announced by both schools Friday. The first meeting of the two-game series is scheduled for Sept. 10, 2016 at Boise State with the venue shifting to Martin Stadium for a Sept. 9, 2017 contest. “This is a series that football fans throughout the Pacific Northwest have wanted to see renewed,” said WSU Interim Director of Athletics Anne McCoy. “It is our continuing goal to play quality nonconference opponents that our fans want to see and Boise State’s past success makes it an ideal opponent for a home-and-home series”/SportsLink. 
people could ‘hang’ Murray by voting her out of office. “Patty Murray has been hanging with the wrong crowd. I would hang Patty Murray by vote. That’s the whole point that’s missing.” But KLEW news director Greg Meyer said the unedited footage from the Tea Party rally doesn’t have Capps making a statement about hanging Murray with votes. Prior to the comment, he said, Capps had been talking about voter registration. “The raw video shows that it wasn’t taken out of context,” Meyer said. “I still contend the coverage was fair. We had no agenda going into it.” Capps was contacted by KLEW for a story clarifying her statement, but Meyer said she declined an interview/Brandon Macz, Lewiston Tribune. 
people, more or less, were sent to Minidoka Relocation Center in Jerome Country during World War II. Most were Japanese-American residents of the Seattle area who would, after three or four years of humiliation at the hands of their adoptive country, be returned home and resume their lives. But Mary Mon Toy, 26 when she fetched up at the Hunt Camp in 1942, was something extra. She left the Minidoka camp in 1944 — a year earlier than most her campmates — on a scholarship to Juilliard School arranged by first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The rest of her life, she spent in New York City as a star/Steve Crump, Twin Falls Times News. 
Case in point: Idaho Public Television. Otter wants to wean public television from about $1.7 million in state tax support over the next four years. It means the end of statewide public television. And why is this being done? To get Idaho Public Television General Manager Peter Morrill’s attention. “Those agencies and departments who chose to kind of thumb their nose at the governor found that they didn’t find a place in his budget,” Senate President Bob Geddes, R-Soda Springs, told the Idaho Press Club Tuesday/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. Marty’s full Cheers & Jeers 
and Meridian. The Warriors had Centennial on the ropes but didn’t finish.Overall, I thought Lewiston played the best Thursday. But Lewiston should have since it was essentially playing the fifth place team from District III - which, after seeing the games Thursday, seems to be getting weaker and weaker. Post Falls and Lake City, two teams left home in the Inland Empire League, were better than at least two if not three of the teams I saw Thursday. Still, District III continues to dominate state berths. I understand it is based on number of schools, but it certainly isn’t based on quality/Greg Lee, SportsLink. 
Ethical dilemma here that I’m hoping to get everyone’s input on. I got a Facebook invite to a Meet and Greet for Raul Labrador. I don’t see any circumstance under which I’d ever vote for him, but I’m thinking of going and asking if he thinks President Obama meets the Constitutional requirements to be President — that is, to see how much of a Birther he might be. I’d probably post his response on my blog. Would it be dishonest to ask that question without a preface like “I’m a blogger who doesn’t support you…”?
McDowell made the following statement in announcing his bid for re-election as Kootenai County assessor: “I have the education, training and experience of more than 32 years in the Assessor’s Office. I have served the property owners of Kootenai County as your senior deputy assessor since 1983 and as your assessor since 2003. I know and understand the many challenges of the office. I place a high value on quality customer service, professional development for staff, and cost effective operations. 
dorms in the nation. The third site listed in a quick Google search for “worst dorms in the country” is about UI’s dorms. Anyone who has been inside Theophilus Tower or especially Wallace Residence Center understand this report. University Housing does not receive any funds from the state. This means the only money to make improvements or maintain the dorms comes from the rent students pay. Even with these financial limitations, University Housing is planning improvements to some of their more antiquated facilities/Jeffrey Reznicek, UI Argonaut Editorial Board. 
English is eager to spread the catch-phrase for his Kootenai County clerk campaign: He’s got the skinny. “It speaks to my experience and confidence as county clerk … And it’s a little bit about how I’ve lost about 95 pounds since last July,” the 58-year-old said with a grin Wednesday, adding that folks do a double take since he started his aggressive diet program. “I’m back to my high school wrestling weight. So if I get any tough opponents, I’m ready to go.” County clerk since 1995, and running again this year, the white-bearded Democrat has plenty of plans for improving and sustaining the several departments he supervises/Alecia Warren, Coeur d’Alene Press. 
I set this one up improperly last night. So I’ll try again. In the recent Boise Weekly Jay Vail offers a Boise version of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World — you know, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, etc. He tosses into the mix the Pharos Lighthouse and the Boise Hole among others, admitting “so maybe the infamous Boise landmark doesn’t quite measure up to some of the 
were five children guarded by their dogs and surrounded by police. The McGuckin family has never spoken about their ordeal on camera until now. They are now ready to share their side of the story, and the amazing lives they have led since the standoff. Jo Ann McGuckin says, “we were treated abominably, and I still don’t know why.” Jo Ann McGuckin lives modestly. Her home is a revolving door for her seven children. Pictures line the walls. None of them from the scene of a truly strange five-day standoff. Kathryn McGuckin says it was “surreal. I think that’s the word I would use. Surreal.” But there is nothing there anymore. Any sign of the McGuckin home is gone. All that’s left is unanswered questions and unrepaired image/John Langeler, KREM2. 
A political wild card would be great. … I don’t
like the banter I see at times that makes others stray. Especially the old
timers, that have been quiet of late. I read each day like I said and if it gets
too political, I just move on. I enjoy the simple things in life and leave it at
that. There is too much anger these days and you can see it every day. Sometimes
it shows up on these threads. I never voted for our present President, but I
admire him and he is our chief, whether we like him or not. I will always give
respect to whomever is in office, so when I see things that downgrade him and
what he is trying to do, I find offense. I put myself in his shoes and try to
imagine making the decisions he does.
the world of Sen. Patty Murray’s reelection campaign, at least, there’s nothing like a hanging in the morning to raise campaign cash. The senator’s campaign manager, Carol Albert, has sent out a video clip in which a tea party supporter, speaking to a Saturday rally in Asotin, likened Murray to a character from “Lonesome Dove.” “What happened to Jake when he ran with the wrong crowd? He got hung. And that’s what I’d like to do with Patty Murray,” said the woman, who identified the “wrong crowd” as President Obama. In an e-mail appeal, Albert begins: “Patty Murray is used to rough and tumble campaigns. She and I both know that the debate can be fierce. But sometimes lines get crossed”/Joel Connelly, Seattle P-I. 
would declare that any gun or ammunition manufactured in the state doesn’t have to be registered and is exempt from all federal laws and regulations, under legislation introduced at the request of Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, this morning. “This is a state sovereignty issue,” Harwood told the House State Affairs Committee. “What it’s trying to do is create a court challenge in the federal courts to Commerce Clause powers, is what it basically does … saying we as a state need to be able to control our own commerce within our state”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. 
it the first time. Upon Nate’s death, the book filled me with joy, immeasurable. I began to search the Scriptures for comments about Heaven and REAL life, after this false life. I bought Randy Alcorn’s book “Heaven” and other works by other authors. I centered myself in the Bible AND enjoyed other works. Paul Young’s book is a catalytic book for thinking and imagining…it is not the Bible. It is a fiction story about a non-fiction God who REALLY loves us. It is a story of heart, not head…and it seems that some leaders in the certain Baptist denominations don’t think people have the discerning ability to distinguish the difference between Paul Young and Paul the Apostle. C’mon…are you kidding me? It’s a story…a parable. A metaphor. Jesus used them. No wonder searching people walk past certain Baptist churches and on into Barnes and Noble/Dennis Mansfield. 
A Craigslist scheme that stretched from Spokane to Miami led police to a Coeur d’Alene hotel this week, where they arrested a suspect accused of duping unsuspecting buyers through fraudulent advertisements. Joshua J. Mulvey, 25, was arrested on a second-degree theft charge Tuesday at Motel 6 in Coeur d’Alene after Spokane police searched his Spokane apartment last week. Mulvey escaped during that search, police say, climbing into the attic of a neighboring apartment and fleeing out of a window. Detectives used a ping from Mulvey’s cell phone to trace him to Coeur d’Alene, according to police. Mulvey is in the Kootenai County Jail/Meghann M. Cuniff, Sirens & Gavels. 
was National Soup Month, but it’s not too late to celebrate with a steaming bowl of chicken noodle or a hearty serving of black bean. Researchers say that soup can help you lose weight and boost your immunity. Perhaps that’s why Americans consume more than 10 billion bowls of it each year. But I’ve discovered an additional benefit – making homemade soup is great therapy. In fact, it’s become my surefire stress reliever. Nobody does worry like a mom, and mothers of teenagers are in a league of their own. If worry were an Olympic sport, moms would own the medals stand/Cindy Hval, Washington Voices. 
Times did. And then they brought in all the Nazi stuff that had been up there. And they brought in all the militia stuff, Weaver and such that had been up there. Look, there’s no doubt that The New York Times wants to brand the Tea Party as a bunch of extremist loons. There’s no doubt they want to do that. But there is danger, do you agree with me, that there is danger if some Tea Party people play into that? If they do say we’re getting our guns and we’re going to overthrow and Obama is this and Obama is that and he isn’t born here. I mean, there was a birther thing going on at the convention. You don’t believe in the birther thing do you, Governor?/David Neiwert, Crooks & Liars. Complete interview and Neiwert comment 
appreciate the spirited comments at this blog, and it’s good to see new commenters jumping in to discuss the issues. Welcome aboard, and check back in frequently. I try to update this blog at least once a day. Our guidelines for monitoring comments are pretty simple, and I try to allow the commentary to go wherever it goes. However, I do ask you to stay on topic. I’ve removed a few comments this week that, in my view, were off point. I don’t like to delete comments, but I also want to provide all users a place for topical debate on the issues/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. 
Committee this morning, seeking to penalize employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants by suspending their business licenses. … “It’s not the intent of this legislation to preclude foreign workers from coming here if they were to come here legally,” Hart told the committee. He said he wants to eliminate any incentive for undocumented immigrants to come to Idaho to seek work. “The United States is a magnet for those people, and they’re coming across the border in droves,” Hart said/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. 
12th among the 42 counties that had sufficient data to be included in the report. “The information is no surprise,” said Jeanne Bock, director of the Panhandle Health District. “It comes from reports that health districts submit and others we study to plan programs to improve health in our counties.” Cynthia Taggart, spokeswoman for the health district, said residents here “should understand this shows Kootenai County as being fairly healthy, which we know we are, but there are some areas we can work on.” Latah County has Idaho’s “healthiest residents,” the report announced Wednesday/David Cole, Coeur d’Alene Press. 
proposals such as curbing earmarks, supporting a line item veto and pay-as-you-go legislation, but his proposal to support a constitutional amendment is alarming, especially so with the Tea Partyers’ gaining so much momentum. If they latch onto this idea, we are in big trouble. In every course I took in political science, I learned that there are several reasons why his idea is not good. One is that using the amendment process to solve immediate problems is a terrible idea. This beautifully crafted document has served us well through all the changes in our culture, technology and world status. Tinkering with it is not to be undertaken lightly/Lenna Harding, Moscow-Pullman Daily News.
was an exception. I needed groceries among other things so I headed for the city. Hayden, Idaho. Oh, and I decided to eat at Nosworthy’s, too. The last time I ate there, it was called the Ground Round. I met the owner in Bayview a few years ago. He told me some other restaurant raised hell over the name, so they changed it. Same ownership. We got onto the subject of potato salad, since at that time I was pumping it out by the car load at the Captain’s Wheel. He told me his son made exellent potato salad and that I should stop by and try it sometime. You can read rest of Herb’s review below.
new Tiger emerged today. No, I don’t mean that one, even though it appears he’ll finally come out of his seclusion this week to discuss his golf future. No, the new Tiger is Lindsey Vonn, competing basically on one leg, ala Tiger at last year’s US Open, to win the gold medal in the downhill. For those of us who like to go really fast down a slick hill, it was amazing to see how she kept her weight off her sore right leg, which is really, really tough to do when you are turning left, but she made it happen and won the gold. Amazing stuff tonight.
to put a baby up for adoption? No rights? All rights? Rights sufficient to hold up or stop an adoption, even if he’s really just trying to make his ex-lover’s life miserable? And what about the father’s family, the baby’s biological grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins? There were tears and sobs, there were lawyers, there were sharp questions and more as the House Judiciary Committee wrestled with those issues this afternoon, before unanimously rejecting legislation drafted by Coeur d’Alene attorney Anne Solomon on behalf of a North Idaho family that unwillingly lost all contact with their son’s out-of-wedlock baby boy, who was adopted in Utah before the family could do anything to stop it/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. 
secret — run the morning it won a Pulitzer Prize — an uncomfortable question popped into this scribe’s mind. Should the National Enquirer be awarded a Pulitzer Prize for first revealing that Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards was having an affair and fathered a child? The Edwards affair story was pooh-poohed by reporters covering the 2008 Iowa presidential caucuses. The candidate’s aides worked feverishly to conceal it while wondering whether they would have to blow the whistle if Edwards captured his party’s nomination/Joel Connelly, Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 
the start to Don’s review: “With the cook out of town this week and the Nalley’s Chili cans running low what a wonderful time to fulfill the HBO requirement to dine at Nosworthy’s. I arrived at the tall, narrow barn like building across from the Fairgrounds at and like DFO, hadn’t been there since its previous name, The Ground Round. At that hour the place was half full with more folks in the beer bar rather than food area. Noise was not too bad other than two wannabee studs who will need a designated driver. A server quickly brought a menu. My steaming cup of java (don’t like beer) wasn’t bad for bar coffee in the afternoon.” 
NYT is the shining example of liberal journalism. It caters to the left and it choses its coverage (and shapes it) accordingly. People who rely exclusively on the NYT for their news would never know about ACORN, Climategate, John Edwards’ affair admission, or any number of big news stories that have taken place in the world during the last year or so. The NYT has become opinion coverage, and in so doing it has lost its right to claim any sort of objective journalism. Any objective piece it puts together nowadays is nothing more than an aberration.
marriage got off to a shaky start after the groom was arrested in Lewiston for being drunk and disorderly and then arrested again in Clarkston later for domestic violence against his new bride. Nathan E. Lewis, 21, of Lewiston, was charged Tuesday in Asotin County Superior Court with one count of second-degree assault and interfering with a report of domestic violence following his arrest Monday. Lewis was married on Sunday and allegedly got drunk and was arrested for disorderly conduct in Lewiston … (Asotin County Deputy) Snyder’s report states after Lewis was bailed out of jail, his mother attempted to call law enforcement again when he was “out of control.” … Lewis left and the report states his bride called police to report Lewis assaulted her immediately after getting out of jail/Lewiston Tribune. 
Palin for writing crib notes for a speech she was giving in Nashville on her left palm. “Energy,” “taxes” and “lift the American spirit,” her well-manicured hand read. The next day, she wrote “Hi Mom!” on the same hand for a speech she delivered in Texas. Two days after that, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs conducted a press briefing with “eggs,” “milk,” “bread” (crossed out), “hope” and “change” scrawled on his left hand. Hey, at least he didn’t cross out “hope.” Brian Williams, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert may not display their mitts on air, but that doesn’t mean they’re not annotated/Steve Crump, Twin Falls Times News. 
Rep. Phil Hart, R-Hayden, has his way in the Idaho Legislature, whole-body scanners won’t be used as a primary screening method at Idaho airports anytime soon. Hart believes the scanners, while a good tool for security, are too invasive and unproven medically for use in the state. Hart introduced the plan before the House State Affairs Committee Tuesday, saying that the scanners violate 
prosecuting attorney has been in office for 16 years and the same sheriff who successfully started cross-deputizing with the Coeur d’Alene Tribe in the 1980s is still in office. What has changed over that time is the tribal leadership. The cooperative agreement on cross-deputizing, which worked well for much of the last 30 years, has broken down in recent years. n amid a lot of finger-pointing and name-calling. Despite what you might see in news stories and commentaries on this issue, the county officials are not all to blame. They have negotiated and operated in good faith with tribal authorities on cross-deputizing and a variety of other issues for more than three decades/Rep. Dick Harwood, St. Maries Gazette-Record. 
hailed the success of his controversial $787 billion stimulus legislation on Wednesday, saying on the first anniversary of 
George: Today the population in the City (of St. Maries) is as diverse as anywhere else in Idaho and eastern Washington. However, there is a small core of people that dislike dealing with the Tribe. This dislike is so strong that I personally lost a friend of 20 years because I refused to sign his petition condemning the Tribe over some cigarette-tobacco issue. This is a small group — draw a three mile radius circle around the town and most of them would live outside the circle. (Including Digger’s folks.) So, please lighten up on St. Maries - they are good people. Full comment below.
The last time I had ever heard, “Go back to where I came from,” was back in grade school. And being the little smart mouth that I was, I quite simply asked, at around 10 years old, how was I supposed to get back inside my mother? Even some 40 odd years later, I still remember that. “Go back to where you came from,” is pure bigotry no matter how you slice it. It says that there are certain people who simply can not handle difference of opinion in a diverse country.
community. I can honestly say there are some great people in that city, but it does seem you are traveling back in time when you cross the Joe and enter town. There is certainly a bias toward the Tribe, for some reason, and that is unfortunate since they could be a huge economic engine for St. Maries. I have seen signs that things may be changing, like the willingness of their transit system (via Valley Vista) to tie in to the Tribe’s CityLink route at Plummer. I hope this is a sign that times are changing and the county can begin to partner in other ways with their properous neighbor.
desk and became a dog handler and dog-show judge instead. Now Weiss, who lives in Eagle, will be the judge for the culminating event in the world’s most prestigious dog show, the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It’s the first time in Westminster’s 134-year history that the Best in Show event has been judged by an Idahoan. “We’re honored to have Elliott,” said David Frei, direction of communications for the Westminster Kennel Club. “He understands dogs, he has a working knowledge of the breeds and he’s been there as a handler. He’s the kind of person we want to be the face of the world’s greatest dog show”/Tim Woodward, Idaho Statesman. 
that had unanimously passed the House to grant a temporary, two-year sales tax exemption to non-profit homeless shelters in Idaho has been killed - unanimously - in the Senate Local Government & Taxation Committee. Rep. Branden Durst, D-Boise, sponsor of HB 435, said after the vote, “I think they’re allowing their philosophy to cloud their judgment on people’s needs.” Committee members said they just couldn’t support continuing to pass individual sales tax exemptions, and that they can’t say that one charity is more deserving of a tax break than another/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. 
decision to ban banners promoting an anti-discrimination campaign because a gay rights group is helping sponsor the program. More than 50 parents, students and area residents packed the board’s Monday night meeting in Wheatland, many there to ask the board to reconsider its vote to pull the “No Place for Hate” banners from local schools. The program from the Anti-Defamation League is designed to teach young people about tolerance and respecting differences. District administrators removed the banners after parents and school board members raised concern because the banners list the Gay and Lesbian Fund for Colorado as a sponsor/Associated Press.
Heather, is at their home in Battle Ground, Wash., temporarily corralling their three young children. Dickau has been away only a couple days and misses them already. Then there’s the game of basketball, which grabs Dickau and won’t let go, compelling him to take one more shot at returning to the NBA. “It’s hard on both of us,” Dickau said. “I know it’s probably harder on her because she’s handling things on her own right now. But, 10 years from now, I don’t want to sit back and (say), ‘Man, I should have given it one more shot.’ And she knows that.” Dickau’s “one more shot” starts in Fort Wayne tonight. After being cut by the Phoenix Suns in training camp, the six-year NBA veteran looked into playing in Europe but decided last week to put his name in the D-League pool/Reggie Hayes, Fort Wayne News-Sentinel. 
How much must a person weigh to be too fat to fly? almost makes me try for a joke, but the ensuing thread makes me question some real prejudices here. Fattie? Normal? How, actually, is normal defined - especially in a country with a myriad of ethnicities and cultures. What if normal were defined as “6‘2” 180 pounds, size 38 pants.” I wouldn’t even qualify. Not tall enough. Not heavy enough. Not big enough. Would it round out the equation if you averaged people by two, to make them both “whatever normal is?”
At the San Francisco Chronicle, columnist Mark Morford writes an ode to the sad ‘n squishy white guys in American. Quoth: “Do you feel any empathy for their perilous plight, their incessant sexual frustration, their terrible taste in light domestic beer and that tell-tale slumping paunch, as they are slowly crushed under the relentless demands of their wives, the ruthless wail of their kids, the frightening instability of their job status, all overlaid by a thoroughly devastating female empowerment movement that has successfully mocked, derided and shamed every formerly proud dumb-guy thing — cars, beer, barbecue equipment, porn — down to a quivering puddle of don’t-even-think-about-it?” 
It took bravado, persistence and a $10 bet for a dashing Connecticut Yankee to win the heart of a petite Texas belle. Nick Gaynos and a friend were having drinks in the Bamboo Room of the Hotel Californian in Fresno, in the spring of 1943. Both men were officers stationed nearby at Camp Pinedale. Long stalks of bamboo separated the bar from the dining room. Gaynos peered through the bamboo and saw two young women having dinner. He called his friend over. “I said, ‘See that redhead? I’m going to marry her,’” Gaynos recalled. “My friend said, ‘No way!’ I said, ‘I’ll bet ya $10.” And the wager was on/Cindy Hval, Handle Extra. 
a conservative voice in support of George Bush’s successful re-election. Since 2004, the blog has leaned right and then left in the comments section. About every six to nine months something happens that causes the blog to reinvent itself. The first of those occurrences was the addition of a comments section in the fall of the first year. Which boosted traffic and produced a lot of headaches for me, as I had my first encounter with trolls (before there was software to block them). People have come and gone from here. Many more have stayed and become part of HBO’s fabric. More than once, individuals have predicted the death of HBO as a result of one of these reinventions or exoduses. But the hits keep coming. The intense interaction here has pushed me toward the middle. The comments section is almost perfectly balanced in terms of conservatives and liberals (although hard-core partisans on either sider probably don’t agree). I launched Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004, by warning early readers to “fasten your seatbelts.” Huckleberries may be tamer and kinder than it was in the past. But it’s not totally tame. And the pack here can turn on you at any minute. So, it might be a good idea to keep your seatbelts fastened …
— and on the Web. He doesn’t tap dance around controversial issues and he’s not afraid to challenge the norm. Readers have asked: What makes him special? Why does he get a weekly shot? Simply, Hoffman serves in a unique role. He doesn’t work for the government, for politicians or for any media outlet. As a “very conservative watchdog” Hoffman barks loudly when, in his opinion, someone pushes legislation too far or spends tax dollars unwisely. The Idaho Press-Tribune does not endorse Hoffman’s opinions, nor do we pay him/Vickie Holbrook, Idaho Press Tribune managing editor. 
years working in federal housing programs, watching government lift struggling families with job training and education. She beams at the memory of helping a Vietnamese woman get into junior college. But all that was before the Great Recession and the bank bailouts, before 
heat, lights, buses, counselors, everything by something like 15%. That is what will begin to happen next week unless my colleagues fear going home to constituents and admitting, yes we increased class sizes, laid off teachers and did nothing but cut deep deep into our public schools. It is up to the people of the state to render the fear of hurting schools perhaps more loathsome than the fear of not singing to the tea party tune of lowering taxes until there is little, less or no government left at all/Nicole LeFavour, Notes from the Floor. 
passengers after being thrown off a flight for being too large to fit in one seat. An angry tirade posted on his Twitter page about the way he was treated by Southwest Airlines last weekend has fueled a wave of protests from some angry passengers while other travelers have stood by the airline’s decision. “If you look like me, you may be ejected from Southwest Air,” wrote Smith, posting a photograph of himself on the plane, puffing out his cheeks. Smith, director of the new Bruce Willis movie “Cop Out” as well as “Clerks” and “Chasing Amy,” said a Southwest Airlines pilot ejected him off a flight from Oakland to Burbank, California/Reuters. 
Lawmakers would declare an emergency and urge the governor to do the same and order the state’s wolf population reduced, under a concurrent resolution introduced today in the House Resources Committee at the urging of Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries. “This bill is about legislators being able to show their support, should the governor so wish to have an executive order to have wolves removed,” Harwood told the committee. Rep. George Sayler, D-Coeur d’Alene disagreed, and said the resolution appears to move Idaho toward a position like that of Wyoming, which hasn’t been given authority to manage its wolf population because of its refusal to enact acceptable wolf management plans/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. 
Downtown Transit Tunnel as guards stood by and watched would be restricted by a bill being considered by state lawmakers. Open government advocates warn that Senate Bill 
Cell phone etiquette seems to be suffering during the 2010 session in the new Idaho Capitol, including among lawmakers. On hearing room doors, those entering are admonished to quiet their mobile devices. But at least three people had to frantically plunge their hands in their pockets when their phones began ringing loudly during Monday morning’s House Revenue and Taxation Committee session. One of the tax panel’s members, Rep. Lenore Barrett, has become a quick-draw when it comes to brandishing her cell phone, regularly taking calls this year even as people are testifying on pending legislation/Associated Press. 
and Indian legislation that followed throughout the history of this country. Coeur d’Alene Tribal members pay federal income taxes. They do not pay state income tax for work done on the reservation. They do pay property taxes on land not held in trust by the federal government. Indians have a proud history of defending the United States against all enemies. There are nearly 200,000 Indian veterans in the U.S. who served in various wars. Currently five members of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe are in the military. The Coeur d’Alene Tribe employs nearly 2,000 people and 65 percent of those people are non-tribal. The Tribe’s economic impact on North Idaho is huge. We are talking hundreds of millions of dollars/Marc Stewart, Coeur d’Alene Tribe spokesman. 
I’ve long ago quit checking luggage on any flight. I’m a straight on, carry on kind of guy. I figure given all the things that can - and often do - go wrong with air travel, why not eliminate at least one complication. I never check. The folks who did check on Friday wished they hadn’t. One guy sees my rolling bag and asks how I’d managed to retrieve it in and around all the delayed and cancelled flights. He looked absolutely envious when I told him. Maybe I should have offered him a clean pair of socks/Marc Johnson, The Johnson Post. 
Palin. Really this is attacking the wrong target. Progressives aren’t obsessed so much as they are responding to the traditional media’s inextricable mania with Palin’s 
really hoping they would. You recall that Republicans were hoping to get Justices Roberts and 
there sipping on coffee since before the sun even had a chance to peel off its Breathe Right nasal strips. I’d imagine every rack in the doughnut case would have been stocked if I’d arrived as early as these folks, but it was mid-morning and the possibilities had been consolidated down to just a couple of trays. Still, there was quite a variety of items left to choose from, and like kittens in a pet store window, they were all so adorable I wanted to adopt them all. But too many cats will destroy the carpet and too many glazed delights will destroy the midriff, so I narrowed it down to two/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. 
years ago in the Turin Olympics. He was thinking about lost time. Holland, who grew up in Sandpoint, knew immediately that he would spend the next four years plotting his redemption. On Monday at Cypress Mountain outside Vancouver, he gets that chance. “As soon as I crashed, I thought, ‘Oh boy, here goes another four years. I need another shot at this,’ ” Holland, 31, said. “É It’s pretty much the one medal I don’t have.” Snowboardcross is a one-day event that includes qualifying runs and four rounds of eliminations. Four racers take the hill at a time during the heats - starting with the round of 32 - and the top two in each heat advance/Chadd Cripe, Idaho Statesman. 
have so much in common,” Saleh Elgiadi, education and outreach coordinator to the Muslim community of the Spokane Islamic Center said Sunday. Elgiadi, 50, of Spokane, shared with members of the North Idaho Unitarian Universalist fellowship and other attendees the six articles of his Islamic faith and the five pillars of the religion. Elgiadi spoke at the Harding Family Center in Coeur d’Alene, laying out the pillars, such as praying five times a day, offering money to charity, which Elgiadi called “almsgiving,” fasting during the month of Ramadan, and making the pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once in a lifetime/David Cole, Coeur d’Alene Press. 
September, is appealing for his life to
the Idaho Supreme Court. Butch’s owner,
Pamela Thompson of Craigmont, filed an appeal Wednesday asking the high
court to review actions by 2nd District Judge John H. Bradbury,
remanding the case back to the Craigmont City Council. Butch has been in custody since allegations were made in August that he
got out of Thompson’s trailer house while she was not at home and
harassed the 3-year-old son of Craigmont’s dog catcher, Jeremiah
Wynott. American Staffordshire terriers are sometimes known as pit
bulls. Thompson said she checked with the child’s mother that day and was told
Butch had not bitten her child. Later, however, allegations of biting
and other harassment were made. Butch is accused of bad acts while he
lived in Elk City with Thompson’s son, Tim/Kathy Hedberg, Lewiston Tribune. 
law has sided with the gun rights advocates who took the city of
Seattle and former Mayor Greg Nickels to court over the city’s gun ban. King County Superior Court Judge Catherine Shaffer on Friday ruled
in favor of the Second Amendment Foundation, the Citizens Committee for
the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Washington Arms Collectors, National
Rifle Association and five individual plaintiffs, declaring the city of
Seattle’s gun ban at public places is in direct violation of Washington
state’s firearm pre-emption law/KOMO-TV. 
speech. Surber, 18, recently took a stand that will keep him from appearing in his club’s yearbook photo. Once a week, Surber wears a black T-shirt featuring the 19th-century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s take on religion. In block letters, the shirt reads “GOD IS DEAD.” Nobody has told him he can’t wear the shirt to school. He wears it to provoke debate, he says, and that’s why he wore the shirt the day the debate club photo was taken for the yearbook. Now Surber believes his T-shirt prompted the school’s yearbook adviser to ask for a retake of the photo, without the T-shirt. “I feel I am a victim of censorship,” Surber said/Gale Fiege, Everett Daily Herald. 
caused by poor diet, lack of exercise or even stress. Doctors stuck a huge needle into the femoral artery in my groin, through which they introduced a tiny balloon, with a nearly-microscopic sized set of tools. Once they had gotten the tiny balloon wedged in where the blockage had taken place, POP, they blew up the balloon, thus compressing the plaque blocking my artery. They then slid the first of two stents into place, blocking my aorta open, ostensibly for good. However, as several cardiology experts in this morning’s news have observed, stent procedures never last forever, because once you have heart disease, you have a sentence to serve/David Laird, Community Comment. 
candy, cards, maybe dinner or are you required to buy a gift too? Why is this? … It is about love. It is something you should be doing every day. I guess I can understand a card, flowers, candy for a guy who is courting (don’t know what the new word for that is) and needs to make points. … But husbands, long time lovers, sorry, I feel for you. You are there every day, all year long, and if you are doing it right, your gal knows you love her. So a nice card and flowers are all you need. But you shouldn’t be doing because a commercial says you should/Cis, From A Simple Mind. 
love with northern California’s ancient redwood trees. “You can say it made a lot of sense to have a tall redhead nicknamed Sequoia,” she reasons. But her fascination with plants, Sequoia explains, goes much deeper than the roots of a redwood. “I’ve been a clinical herbalist for 15 years,” says the 35-year-old married mother of a toddler daughter named Aoife. “I had a clinic in Tacoma for seven years called Grassroots Botanicals.” Today, after coming to Moscow about four years ago with her husband, David Billin, Sequoia continues to work out of her home as an herbalist and wildcrafter, growing, harvesting and collecting medicinal plants/David Johnson, Lewiston Tribune. 
back in downtown Seattle, again wondering how it’s turned into a playground for roving bands of marauders. The videotape of the beating of a 15-year-old girl in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel released this week has set heads shaking throughout the city, and made unwelcome national news. Just like the attack two weeks ago that left a Metro bus driver unconscious, and a 14-year-old boy charged with assault. And just like the killing of Ed McMichael, better known as “The Tuba Man,” who died in late 2008 from injuries he suffered after being beaten by three teenagers. There’s so much senselessness and disbelief here, I don’t know where to start. And it doesn’t help that there are conflicting reports from all parties/Nicole Brodeur, Seattle Times. 
Otis Orchards, Wash., man was stabbed in the leg by a hitchhiker with a screw driver shortly after noon today at State Line on Seltice Way. The 49-year-old man said he was hit in the face and stabbed after he picked up the hitchhiker in the area of Seltice Way and Beck Road. After the stabbing, the victim said, the hitchhiker (a white male in his 20s with blue jeans and a blue hooded jacket) ran from his pickup, southbound on Seltice Way. Deputies searched the area for the attacker but were unable to locate him/Sgt. Ryan Higgins, Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department. 
Legislator and a legitimate candidate for US Congress in the GOP Primary this Spring. They wink their eye and nod their head and pretend that Labrador’s opponent, Vaughn Ward, has reached a sort of “Platinum Preferred Platform” called 
Chad Oakland, an agent in our CdA office, asking if we would be a drop off point for a shoe drive for Haiti earthquake victims. Beth is helping to coordinate the drive for the Friends of the Orphanage, which is the organization that Molly Hightower was volunteering for when the quake hit. Molly was killed in the quake. So, between Feb. 1 and today, our company collected/donated 323 pairs of shoes. I would say that 95 percent of those shoes were donated by the agents in our offices in Coeur d’Alene, Spokane, Liberty Lake and Lewiston. More below.
stupidest movie ever made in our state has to be the “Duchess of Idaho.” Filmed in Sun Valley in January 1950, it was an MGM musical about … well, pay attention or you’ll get lost. Actress Paula Raymond plays the love-struck secretary to uber-rich playboy John Lund, but her real job is running interference among female fortune-hunters trying to ensnare her boss. Her best friend, played by swimmer Esther Williams in a dry-land role, wants to help Raymond snag Lund. The playboy hops a train for Sun Valley, with Raymond in tow and Williams in pursuit. The plan is that Williams will try to seduce Lund, Raymond will rescue him in the nick of time, and Lund will realize how fond he is of his girl/Steve Crump, Twin Falls Times-News. 
Christians don’t want to be identified with the environmentalist movement because it is identified with liberalism and that we have missed our great commission to be green. The idea is that only our petty labeling stops us from working with others for the good of all mankind. I must disagree. I don’t identify as part of the environmental movement because I don’t view the movement as all that noble. Certainly, we ought to have clean air and clean water. Who likes polluted streams and unbreathable air? Likewise, we ought to treat God’s creatures with respect and kindness/Adam Graham, Give Me Liberty. 
child should be free in 10 years? Do you think men who rape a child should be free in 10 years? Do you!” Dale Cougar, a 30-something hipster with more style than cash, stammered out a “Well, no.” Henry Goldenstein, a slick lawyer from Chicago sprang from his chair. “Your honor, I object. What in the world does this have with anything remotely to do with the 2009 Coeur d’Alene city council election?” “Mr. Peterson, please limit your questions to things that are relevant to this case,” growled the judge and wagged his finger at the rumpled attorney. “Your honor, my client was raped. He was raped by a political system that destroyed his professional and political career,” Peterson said with excitement. The judge shaking his head, said, “Please continue”/Joker. 
Northerner: My wife won’t let me watch it. I already have massive food issues and I won’t eat or drink out of plastic. I also don’t eat much out of a grocery store. But I live in a rural area where food is relatively easy to obtain. Ever since my dad told me where hot dogs came from when I was six…I have had, um, issues with processed food.
attending his first class started to dwindle like a game clock in the fourth quarter. Then, spotted across the dimly lit hallway of College Hall, a head stood above all others. His grin still apparent from more than 50 yards away, the big man strolls down the hall in royal velour sweat pants, a beige and black waffle tee with a black felt coat, all size XXXX(etc)L. At 7-foot and 247 pounds, he blends in with the crowd about as well as the Sears Tower would if it was transported to Pullman, Wash. When he finally reaches us on the other end of the building, he smiles and says, “Today is going to be a long day boys, there’s no time for naps.” Thus begins a day in the life of Gonzaga’s larger than life center Rob Sacre/Nate Garberich and Ian Potter, Gonzaga Bulletin. 
around $26 (give or take a few bucks, it’s been a while), here in Idaho, it’ll run you $57 and you have to buy it at a state-run liquor store. One state has a state controlled liquor system and one has a privatized system, I’ll let you guess which is which. What irritates me is the hypocrisy of it, on one hand you have the legislature voting for a useless bill decrying government run health care (a bill which will needlessly cost the state money) and on the other hand the state is raising prices on a good that they won’t allow to be privatized and allow the free-market to dictate the price. Just something to mull over when you’re sipping that Scotch at happy hour tonight/Chris, Treasured Valley. 
pass on everything, I offer this. On Wednesday, former state schools superintendent Marilyn Howard came out of retirement to speak to the Idaho Land Board — and make a weak argument against an idea from her successor and onetime election foe, Tom Luna. The Republican Luna was trying to convince his Land Board colleagues to withdraw $52.8 million from a reserve fund to limit cuts to K-12. Howard, the last Democrat to hold statewide office, urged the board to resist “caving” to the request, and to continue to build up reserves/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. 
telling me the deposition has been postponed and the whole thing is instead going to trial in April. I had my speedo all pressed and ready to wear, ( Mike K- I’ll return that to you today so you can wear it as promised from Mrs K tomorrow night ), my I heart Kennedy shirt was hot off the press and the last thing I needed was for Starr to endorse my witness fee check to the Mike Kennedy Defense fund.. It was going to be a fun day, instead, it’s just another Friday in Mayberry :) p.s. I so would have texted HBO before, during and after the side show.
milk drinkers to take on the biggest force in Idaho agriculture - the $2.1 billion dairy industry. Frank VanderSloot, the founder of Melaleuca Inc. - with $850 million in annual sales - tried to kill a new rule aimed at bringing scores of small raw dairies under the Idaho Department of Agriculture’s regulation. But for one vote in the House Agriculture Committee, the Idaho Falls wellness products magnate would have succeeded in overturning the rule. The story of how he almost rolled an industry that produces 100 billion gallons a year - with a cash value topping beef and potatoes combined - offers a window into a growing cadre of raw-milk enthusiasts who tread far from the grocery dairy cooler for nonpasteurized milk/Dan Popkey, Idaho Statesman. 
by a friend of mine. The innocence was quickly lost. “Kevin: basically a kid with a huge…” Well, I will let you complete the sentence. This somewhat disturbing trend has been making the rounds on Facebook for the past few weeks, bringing back terrible high school memories of those “101 things about me” quizzes, which pre-pubescent teens filled out in droves. At first glance, I counted 12 of my friends who had done this little name lookup, and their posts ranged from the mildly-informative — “Paul: a common given name for males, derived from the Roman surname Paulus,” to middle-of-the-line slutty — “Alisha: a hot curvaceous female,” to the sexually obscene — “Brad: is known to be the ultimate sex machine”/Ilya Pinchuk, UI Argonaut. 
Attention: CoeurGenX … inquiring minds at Huckleberrie Online want to know when you are to be deposed by Brannon attorney Starr Kelso tomorrow. What you’re going to wear. And weather you’ll be texting Huckleberries during the deposition, so we can say in tune here. If you can’t send us text messages, make sure that you phone HBO HQ immediately after you’re finished to provide some of the gory details.
It was a nice thought on DFO’s part, but I’ve always been partial to older men. Now. If he could find a pinup pic of Scott Brown? Why that would really make my day :-) Speaking of, it’s pretty apparent that Republican women are far more attractive than their Dem counterparts. But what about Dem male politicians vs. Rep? Who has the hotter line up? I’m so glad we have a blog like this where serious issues can be addressed.
protect the identity of both resident and non-resident wolf hunters. In her testimony before the committee, Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale, said that on the second day of the wolf hunt in 2009, she received a call from a constituent in her district over the harrassment he was receiving over his wolf kill. The constituent complained to Boyle that anti-wolf hunt protestors had placed harrassing phone calls to his home and business, which negatively affected his life. The constituent said that the New York Times even called him for an interview on the same day he reported to the kill to the state/Dustin Hurst, Idaho Reporter. 
to back up its account of an incident that involved a 57YO male suspected of drug abuse. The tribe mentioned the incident to illustrate problems with police response. Benewah County Prosecutor Doug Payne said the tribe dropped the ball. Colleague Alison Boggs provides both accounts to lead off a story she wrote 
International Engine), which only has one apparent out of service issue that we know of – the headlight high beam foot switch (when you turn the high beams on, everything goes dark, which startled me the other night test driving it on a dark road). It’s particularly concerning because this truck is a manual transmission and you are driving with two feet anyway. We just got a new switch installed this morning and that specific problem is solved/Fire Chief Jack Krill, Timberlake Fire District/Bay Views. 
Clinton underwent surgery at a New York City hospital Thursday to get two stents implanted after he felt “discomfort in his chest,” a representative for the former president said. Clinton counselor Douglas Band said in a written statement that Clinton is in “good spirits” after the operation at the Columbia Campus of New York Presbyterian Hospital. Band said Clinton underwent the procedure to place the stents in one of his coronary arteries following a visit to his cardiologist/Fox News. 
federal government has just about ground to a halt in the nation’s capital, where both the House and Senate have given up on getting anything done in the midst of two record-breaking snowstorms. “It is like a ghost town around here,” said Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, who walked from his home near downtown Washington to his office on Capitol Hill. “I walked from my apartment this morning and there weren’t even taxis on the street. In the building where my office is located very few people showed up for work, but we do have some staff in my office answering the phones”/Erika Bolstad, Idaho Statesman. 
I’ve written before that I suspected that Sarah Palin’s glasses are just glass, and have no real correction. I think she wears them to give herself a bit of gravitas. Our society tends to view attractive women only in the context of their looks. Most folks do not look at an attractive woman and think “I bet she’s really smart.” So, I can understand her wanting to be taken seriously/IdaBlue. 
end up playing in Spokane. The American ones, that is. Anyway, I went to see 
School picnic, he glimpsed a pretty girl wearing white slacks. “I saw her across the crick,” he said. “In those days a girl wearing slacks was something!” Though only a freshman at Mead High School, Headley made up his mind. Wyla was the one for him. “I knew she had everything I wanted.” Then he grinned and added, “And I knew she’d wear the pants in the family.” As winter sunlight seeped through the windows of their Spokane Valley apartment, Wyla Headley said, “He never went with anybody else.” “See how I’ve suffered?” her husband replied, shaking his head/Cindy Hval, Washington Voices. 
for good when the motto gets amended to something like, “Swifter, higher, stronger … epic.” But the change is certainly under way. Think of it this way: After stepping off the medal podium, you won’t find Usain Bolt risking his hide racing leopards across the African veld. But it wouldn’t be out of character for snowboarder Nate Holland to unwind from the upcoming Olympic pressure cooker by, say, dropping from a helicopter and slashing down the 50-degree slopes of Alaska’s Chugach Mountains. “I’ll go up in the spring and ride up there,” said the 31-year-old Sandpoint native. “It’s a blast, but it’s also the most stressful part of the season. You have to be on point or you may not come home”/John Blanchette, SR. 
us. Not that it’s a horrible thing. I just feel like I definitely have more time to name him now than I will once he comes. With that said, we’re still looking for a name. We’re getting closer. We’re thinking something Hawaiian. We’ve had several lovely suggestions and several non-lovely suggestions. One idea: Don Ho Deyo. It’s Hawaiian, kind of. And it rhymes! Lovely. Robby and I have both always liked the name Luke. But with a daughter named Leialoha, Leia for short, we figured Luke and Leia was way too Star Wars-like. Not lovely/Kalae Chock, KXLY’s Morning Madness. 
Dem Chairman Keith Roark, responding to state GOP Chairman Norm Semanko: “Idaho Republicans are chasing a political boogieman by threatening a lawsuit over a health care bill that has not even been enacted. When Republicans turn their fear mongering into senseless legislation – consuming precious time and resources during the state’s fiscal crisis – they misuse the legislative process and the trust of those who elected them. Any doubt that this is grandstanding, was removed when Idaho GOP Chairman Norm Semanko weighed in yesterday as if on cue proclaiming he planned to use the bill to convince voters to vote against Democratic legislators”/Dan Popkey, Idaho Politics. 
made a record $45 million in liquor profits this year, state Liquor Division Director Dyke Nally reported to lawmakers this morning. “It’s the people’s business - the people of the state of Idaho own this business, and the moneys go back to the people from the profits,” he said. When JFAC Vice-Chair Rep. Darrell Bolz, R-Caldwell, asked why Washington state is looking into privatizing its liquor system as a money-making move, Nally said he doesn’t think it’ll happen. “Every seven years in one of the 18 control states, somebody brings up privatization,” he said. “In Washington, they’re just rattling cages and talking about it. No state has ever privatized, by the way, since 1933”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. 
surprise. Stebbijo admits that she has an addiction to This Blog That Will Not Be Named. But contends that she’d rather view her behavior addiction ”over at that gossip blog as UBI or Undercover Blurker Intelligence.” A blurker, of course, is an individual who reads a blog but seldom if ever comments. Huckleberries Online has thousands of them, including the gang at OpenCHRG.com. If she didn’t read the “gossip blog,’ writes Stebbijo defensively, she wouldn’t know that “Mike Kennedy runs recklessy into public records territory with claims to send his photo out – wearing a speedo! … Doesn’t lend much to the professional image of our city leaders, in fact it makes him sound really narcisstic – not really funny.” She doesn’t seem to realize that MikeK and the rest of us are kidding. Bottom line? Stebbijo has embraced her inner HBO blurker. Which gives her plenty of fodder for her own blog and OpenCHRG.com commentary. And she has been able not to blurk 2 to 4 days per week. 
decision provided a partial victory to one board member, state schools superintendent Tom Luna, and perhaps some political cover to another, Gov. Butch Otter. It was a half measure, when circumstances demanded more. That fact will come into focus in the next few weeks, when legislators write a budget for public schools. The board - an all-Republican, five-member panel of statewide elected officials - took the $22 million out of the Public Schools Earnings Reserve Fund for 2010-11. It wasn’t the $52.8 million Luna wanted. And it won’t come close to tapping a fund projected to open the 2010-11 budget year with a $90.4 million balance/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. 
lunch today at Moon Time, SR Editor Gary Graham announced proudly that he’d already purchased a gift for his Valentine. I can’t remember what he’d bought. Nor would I ruin his surprise here by mentioning it. I was surprised/envious that he’d taken care of his Valentine’s Day duties with days to spare. He admitted that he’d sought help from a family members. So he loses a point or two there. Overall, however, Gary’s riding high while I’m stumbling around in the dark as I usually do when it comes to the big days like birthdays, Christmas, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, etc. So I thought I’d contact my experts — you.
and trying to spirit them out of the earthquake- stricken country, a judicial source said on Wednesday. The source said the missionaries, who have been in jail since they were stopped at Haiti’s border with the Dominican Republic on January 29, could be released as early as Thursday. “The order will be to release them,” the source, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. The decision has not yet been made public. “One thing an investigating judge seeks in a criminal investigation is criminal intentions on the part of the people involved and there is nothing that shows that criminal intention on the part of the Americans,” the source said/Reuters. 
more of a stretch is Mrs. Obama’s suggestion that childhood obesity is a threat to national security! 
from OpenCDA.com, where you’ll hear Gary (pictured) refer Huckleberries as the “Gossip Blog” (for which he’ll lose points b/c he capitalized both words), and Mary say, “I’d be ready to jump off a tall building if I had to face such absurdity every day, and Citizen say, “I left that ugly blog site several years ago. It was nasty. I never returned. I refused to ‘feed that beast.’” All this on an open thread that began with Mary’s question: “Did you enjoy the Super Bowl?” See how the comments tie in? Mebbe the natives are restless b/c there hasn’t been a new post on OpenCDA.com since Monday. BTW, Gary continues by saying that we’re “spreading a lot of Pelosi about what CHRG is and is not.” Seems to me that Gary and the rest of Mary’s playmates spend a lot of time blurking on The Blog That Will Not Be Named, for all their claims that they don’t. You can read the full, entertaining comments thread for yourself 
copy of the new edition of “Men’s Journal” magazine. Inside, Willis — who can probably see wolves wandering the ridge above his home north of Hailey — offers up tips on how to kill a wolf with your bare hands. He suggests the first thing to do when attacked in the wild is to “give the wolf your arm.” “You’ve got to lean into it, stick your arm all the way down his throat,” the actor explains. “He can’t swallow it because he’s gagging on your arm. “You reach in, you grab a handful of something — guts, the back of its throat, whatever you can hold — and pull it out. “And try to avoid those claws while you’re doing it”/Steve Crump, Twin Falls Times-News. 
starts chemo tomorrow for the same 
Idaho GOP Chairman Norm Semanko says voters will remember that 18 Democrats in the Idaho House “sided with their counterparts in Washington, instead of standing up for the people of Idaho” on a vote requiring the state to sue the United States over any health insurance mandates. All 52 House Republicans voted for the Health Freedom Act on Tuesday, with all 18 Democrats opposed. House Bill 391 is now in the hands of the Senate/Dan Popkey, Idaho Politics. 
being damsels in distress are so utterly wrong and senseless. Women are more independent than ever thanks to stereotypes no longer holding us back. So it’s time for everything to develop with the times and for chivalry to final die for good. Chivalry isn’t “cute” anymore; it’s down right patronizing. Most of the so-called “chivalrous” acts are severely outdated and corny, and quite frankly no longer make any sense. Standing when a woman sits back down. Hello? Are we back in 1733? This is ridiculous to ask for and even more ridiculous if the action is carried out/Brittney Johnson, BSU Arbiter Online. 
overwhelmingly to dump a provision that’s allowed Idaho residents since 1976 to chip in a buck of their taxes to their favorite political party. Reps. Phylis King and Elfreda Higgins want people to still be able to use their state tax forms to make a voluntary party contribution, as long as it’s not going to take money from public services. Their bill would let taxpayers give up to $50 in their own money to parties. A measure to eliminate the existing $1 voluntary check-off for parties that came out of Idaho’s general fund has cleared both the House and Senate and awaits Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s signature/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. 
U.S. government to do more on their behalf and for the news media to focus on them less. Help us,” one of the detainees, Carla Thompson, 53, of Meridian, said Monday as she lay on a bed in a scorching Port-au-Prince jail cell of about 8 feet by 5 feet, her ankles bandaged from infected mosquito bites. “That’s the message I would give to Mr. Obama and the State Department. Start helping us.” Sitting on a dirty concrete floor in the cell, another detainee, Corinna Lankford, 42, of Middleton, nodded in agreement, a frustrated look on her face. “I have faith in God,” Lankford said. “But maybe the U.S. government could help a little more, too”/Ian Urbina, New York Times News Service. 
understanding themselves. The rigidly prescriptive requirements of No Child Left Behind and the alienating nature of a standards-based curriculum is the primary reason why so many students come to the university unprepared for the academic demands of college courses. Regardless of how they perform on high school exit exams, like the WASL or ISAT, students are still coming to the university horribly underprepared. The 2009 ACT College Readiness Report indicates only 21 percent of students meet the knowledge and skill benchmarks in reading, writing, math and science required to succeed in entry-level college courses/Matthew Wappett, Moscow-Pullman Daily News. 
word agoraphobia, an aversion to wide open spaces, is built from two Latin root words; “phobia” means fear, of course, but “agora” translates literally as “public marketplace”. Those afflicted might want to avoid Coeur d’Alene’s Silver Lake Mall completely, for these days it is as wide open and empty as the rolling wheat fields of the mighty Palouse. On my recent trek through, the atmosphere was so tranquil, I swear I could hear a gentle wind whistling through the corridors and the sound of crickets emanating from somewhere inside Macy’s/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. 
college basketball mission that’s urgent, if not quite desperate. The Gaels have the look of an NCAA tournament team but lack the defining victory to make it a certainty. Yes, there is always that last roll of the dice in Las Vegas for the West Coast Conference Tournament title and the automatic berth that goes with it, but Saint Mary’s can hedge that bet by beating Gonzaga before then – in one of those games that add delight and drama to college basketball’s regular season. One of those games that would be reduced to a shrug if the NCAA entertains the deplorable notion of expanding its tournament to 96 teams. What’s next – “The Godfather, Part IV?” Condos along the fairways at Indian Canyon? World Series games in November?/John Blanchette, SR. 
yet to read one that makes the woman look good. In most cases it makes them look weak and foolish rather than merely wronged. Why do they do it? I’m puzzled. They must know they have to make the round of talk shows to promote the book. I saw Jenny being interviewed by Babara Walters, then she was on The View, later on Larry King. I think Jon Stewart comes tonight. The woman I thought to be strong and a possible role model on how to deal with men such as her husband came across as a somewhat disheveled middle aged woman defending herself for staying with a man who was questionable from the start/Dogwalk Musings. 
that AARP was holding Rep. Jim Clark and other Republicans accountable for Clark’s “health freedom” bill that passed the House on a party line vote today. I’ve posted several links from Eye On Boise re: the Clark legislation. I don’t want to go there with this post. Instead, I noticed Kamm reacted with this comment in one of the threads: “Yea for the AARP! They continue to speak for my needs and the needs of other Seniors. They have great member benefits, too.”
helps strengthen the immune system. Opponents say raw milk is harmful. Some advocate its complete ban. The state Ag department, walking the line between competing interests, wants to regulate it and eliminate “a tremendous black market” for Idaho raw milk, said Marv Patten, the agency’s dairy bureau chief. Patten said the solution was to set a three-animal limit on the number of cows that could be used for raw milk. Those small farms would have to register with the state and submit to testing/Wayne Hoffman, Idaho Freedom Foundation. 
Committee has voted unanimously to allow a bill removing authority for cross-deputization from him, if he can’t act like a grown up in dealing with tribal police. Importantly, the dislike, distrust, and possibly bias Kirts and other elected officials have toward the tribe is now on full display for Idahoans to see. Kirts hasn’t helped his cause by referring to respected human rights official Christie Wood as “stupid” and by labeling concerns from the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations as a bunch of “fecal matter.” That might play well in St. Maries coffee shops. But Kirts’ crude comments and dug-in attitude are fueling human righs reform — and giving Benewah County a bad name. A similar thing happened in Bonner County at the cusp of the new millennium when uberconservatives Bud Mueller and the late Larry Allen bulled their way into power. And began to shake things up in a neaderthal way. Only to land their county on the Southern Poverty Law Center watch list and become a target for human right efforts. Ultimately, they and their movement lost control when Bonner County residents got fed up with their Far Right antics and the stigma attached to them. This battle over cross-deputization may be the beginning of the end for redneck bigotry in Benewah County. Kirts may discover he’s become the pin-up guy for small-mindedness in Benewah County/DFO.
The Idaho AARP has released a strongly worded statement condemning 
Chief Allan, chairman of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, was sitting in the audience as the 
You now have to register to get access. The whole thing seems like a headache. It is not user friendly. It is not easy to read/post. People with political opinions but not Dummies-proficient would not be able to post easily there. They’ve actually accomplished something I thought not possible: ensure that an even smaller group than OpenCDA will participate with one another. Well done — their choir just got smaller.
a technicality. Randall L. Tetzner, 50, left the Adair County Detention Center on Monday after a judge dropped two counts of sodomy and two counts of rape for alleged incidents in 1986 and 1987, said Adair County Prosecutor Mark Williams. The dismissal hinged on a change in the Missouri statue of limitations for sex crimes. Previous law didn’t allow charges more than 10 years after an alleged crime. That changed in June 1997 to 10 years after a victim’s 18th birthday, Williams said. But under the old law, the statue of limitations for filing against Tetzner had already expired - in February 1997/Meghann M. Cuniff, Sirens & Gavels. 
Mike K defense fund. I cracked up when on Friday afternoon; I was re-served the subpoena with a $35 witness fee check attached. I laughed my butt off when the same kid from Confidential Investigations handed it to me. He SO did not look happy about it. So I guess by donating my $35 witness fee to the Mike K defense fund, Starr Kelso is helping fund his opposition. This is getting FUN :) I can’t wait for Friday. ARPIE- I will have an attorney there and I still need some advice on what to wear. Sorry OrangeTV, your suggestions just didn’t seem to fit the occasion. I am thinking of wearing a I HEART MIKE K shirt and maybe a speedo. Now if I can just find a speedo!
name and address written in calligraphy and gold-monogrammed initials on stickers sealing them shut. Wedding invitations usually begin to arrive in February for the summer wedding season. Couples want to make sure to give adequate time for guests to “save the date” and buy them a present from one of their registries. I enjoy getting these invitations — it makes me feel important. I am happy to know I mean enough to someone they would want to share this special day with me. Then again, a lot of times I apparently mean a lot to the bride or groom’s parents (i.e. former colleagues, fellow church members, friends of my parents, etc.), as I do not have any recollection of ever having a conversation with the ones who are actually getting married/Erin Harty, UIdaho Argonaut. 
halftime remembrance ceremony was put together by the NIC 
feeding two million grateful Americans who took advantage of the offer, Denny’s is doing it again. That’s today— Tuesday, February 9th from 6 a.m. through 2 p.m. at participating restaurants. We already checked in with a Denny’s restaurant in Spokane Valley and it was jam-packed! Our reporter spoke with several college-aged kids who told her they’re “broke” and this free meal is something they definitely wanted to take advantage of Tuesday. The CEO and president of Denny’s says times are still tough and a free hot breakfast helps a lot of folks and their families/KREM. 
fund-raising effort for losing candidate Jim Brannon last night at the Greenbriar Inn. In the comments section, Phaedrus quotes Souza from 
initial hype has subsided, but Eastern Washington University’s decision to replace the natural grass in Woodward Field with a red synthetic playing surface continues to stir interest and conversations across the country. Since the school first announced late last month that former Eagle Michael Roos and his wife, Katherine, had pledged $500,000 toward the project, EWU and its proposed red turf have been at the center of discussions on several cable television shows, including ESPN’s “Pardon the Interuption,” and a host of radio programs, including the nationally syndicated “The Dan Patrick Show”/Steve Bergum, SR. 
Bridgestone Super Bowl Halftime Show into the most exciting 12 minutes in rock and sport, Sunday evening on CBS, unleashing a riveting live halftime performance at Super Bowl XLIV. The band’s exhilarating set electrified Sun Life Stadium, and thrilled the millions of fans watching throughout the U.S. and around the globe, affirming that America’s most watched sporting event also delivers on its promise of presenting the world’s pinnacle musical spectacular. The awe-inspiring British band commanded a circular stage at luminous Sun Life Stadium in front of approximately 72,000 thousand fans, the iconic Who logo blazing below them as they led the charge into a pyro-powered, multi-platform tour de force/PR Newswire. 
but when they were teens and young adults, it seemed to be the only phrase they knew – because I seemed to do things that only embarrassed them. Like the time I wanted my 14-year-old to quit smoking! I was appalled that my little baby, pink-skinned and perfect, would take up something so disgusting (that, and tattoos!) Who ever thought their little bundle would some day sport dragons and swords on their arms, that you had personally made – perfect! So – I took copies of his 7th grade picture and posted it on every little Ma & Pa store in the neighborhood. Saying something like, “THIS child you are looking at is a MINOR and you will be arrested if you sell him cigarettes.” I didn’t think it worked until one day he came pounding through the house, whining “Oh, Mo-om!!! I can’t believe you did this!” I just smiled/JeanieS, Nuts & Nonsense. 
Idaho hosted the Special Olympics World Winter Games last year, Sen. Les Bock (pictured), D-Boise, said he was startled when reading through an Idaho statute to see outmoded terminology like “mentally retarded,” “mentally deficient” and even “lunatic” and “idiot.” Bock said, “I think it made all of us a little more sensitive with respect to some of the language we use with regard to people with intellectual disabilities.” So he asked the Legislative Services Office to do a search of state law, and found lots of such wording/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. 
section in CdA. I love to dig deep at the bottom of a shelf and find some title nobody else knew was there. I especially love used book sales at the library. Yesterday a used book sale was held at the public library in Colville. Now since this was my second visit I knew the routine a bit better. Get a coffee drink and get there early. I was about twenty minutes early and there was already a line winding down the sidewalk. The nice thing about this book sale is they only let so many people in at a time. No trampling for that gently used softback copy of “Twilight”/Gathering Around the Table. 
beginning to understand Palin’s immense popularity. I see a woman who is just enough politician to be canny. I see a woman who has taken her lumps and has come to realize she isn’t quite where she needs to be to have the credibility to run for the highest of offices. She certainly is smart enough to be in the House or Senate when compared to many already there. I see a woman enjoying her fame and new found stature. I see a woman still determining where she wants it to take her. Back to her popularity. She speaks in sharp, witty sound bites. She stumbles over her notes. She speaks the language, by golly, of everyman. I do believe that’s why the average man and woman on the street love her/Dogwalk Musings. 
How great is this: Tim Tebow’s ad with his Mom was a fun, tender ad about the quality of life…and the hard early years…and it NEVER mentioned Abortion. NEVER! And all the pro-abortion people panicked this week and HAD TO show their hand, anticipating some type of culture war attack…which never came tonight. Instead throughout the week we had to watch a whole host of pro-abort people justifying the termination of life…and Americans probably scratched their heads, wondering what the HELL they were combating. … What a fake by Tebow and Focus on the Family!/
Yes, this new granddaughter is beautiful just because she’s a brand new human being, she’s healthy, she’s ours and we are so happy about it. But when I looked at Miss Erin Kathryn Oberholtzer at 2 days old, I saw through the lens of a woman who has seen plenty of newborns. And my honest reaction was, “Good God, she looks like a lizard.” Not that I voiced this concern to my daughter. It seemed obvious - those puffy eyes, that red, splotchy skin, even that little pink tongue that darted between her lips seeking either her mother’s milk, or perhaps bugs, gave Miss Erin an unmistakable resemblance to the scaly little beasts I’ve seen sunning themselves on rocks in the desert/Kathy Hedberg, Lewiston Tribune. 
me, please, in pointing and laughing. I encounter more than my fair share of Utah motorists — or Utah! as their license plates proclaim — because I drive Interstate 84 a lot. Ninety-eight percent of them are speeding. The other 2 percent are driving 15 mph under the speed limit and straddling the white line because they’re gabbing on cell phones. I have a friend — we grew up on the same street in Pocatello — who’s a Utah Highway Patrol officer. For 30 years, he’s worked the Interstate 15 corridor from Salt Lake City to the Idaho border, and I-84 from Tremonton to Snowville. His observation is that the closer they get to the Idaho state line, the worse Utahns drive/Steve Crump, Twin Falls Times-News. 
and a couple of throws and tackles then stopping again … and, I couldnt make head nor tail of the rules or what was what LOL … on saying that, when I went to watch a Baseball game whilst in Maine a couple of years ago, I was totally lost watching that to LOL … just hit the dam ball and run like hell … the bloke sitting next to me did NOT appreciate me shouting that out LOL … anyways … maybe if ya actually go to a football match it might be different, but after 30 minutes I was ready for bed :)
Administrative Assistant Cindy Ingalls modeled for Dredzen Modeling Agency, doing runway fashion shows for companies such as the Bon Marche and Nordstrom. It was during that time that her love and appreciation for the artistry of makeup began. But Ingalls isn’t 20 anymore. And the styles, colors, and techniques that worked for her in her youth, aren’t necessarily appropriate for older women. That is why Ingalls recently started Prime Beauty, a blog that acts as a beauty resource for women 40 and older. “There are lots of makeup and skincare blogs for the 20- to 30-year-old crowd, but very little for mature women,” Ingalls said. “Women over 40 have unique issues and Prime Beauty addresses those issues with information geared specifically for them”/Stacy Hudson, NIC Press Room. 
KeithinCDA: Hey you HBo’ers that have Kindles, give me the low down would you please? Mrs keithincda’s BDay is on Valentines Day and we’ll be in Mexico so I am thinking of getting one for her and presenting it while there. She loves to read in the warm sun by the pool. Do those of you who have it like it? How about reading in sunlight, can you see the screen ok?
made from scratch. every sauce, every salad dressing, every side dish, every soup, etc. about the only thing we dont do is bake our own bread or make fresh pasta. maybe that is why we can crank out food for 30+ tables on a busy friday night with only 3 people in the kitchen. I can assure you that if you were to stick your head into an olive garden kithen, you would likely see anywhere from 6 to 12 people back there heating up another box of soup, grabbing another case of pre-breaded chicken, defrosting more special sauce and so on. Or you could visit any one of hagadones fine establishments and pay 2 to 3 times as much for food that is mediocre at best. 
They could send all the information on the stop and person stopped to the County Prosecuting Attorney and he can and could file charges against the driver. But then you would have the same problem with a certain person, however the law is the law and some people aren’t god. There are some very excellent Prosecuting attorneys in the State that would prosecute. I have taken classes from County Prosecutor and Tribal prosecutors working together to make sure we in law enforcement were trained. Check my facts and if the prove to be right then please apologize to Sheriff Kirts, he is NOT the bad guy/Vicki Gehring. Full comment below.
fellow Americans on the east coast and elsewhere in this diverse land have when they read a headline that says: “Idaho missionaries charged with bad stuff in Haiti…” These fellow citizens wonder just what is it about that strangely shaped western state, home to good potatoes, formerly home to a bunch of crackpot, white supremacists, and headquarters of a growing football dynasty, that such a story could emanate from there? It will come as little surprise to anyone who has traveled the country a bit that Idaho is about as well understood as the rules of cricket to most of our fellow countrymen. It is not so much that the state has a bad image as that it has almost no image at all. Or, perhaps more correctly, some folks assume the worst given a generally blank slate to draw upon/Marc Johnson, The Johnson Post. 
daughters, the remarks touched a nerve with
some, and praise from others. The first lady made the issue of healthy eating personal last week at an 
blogosphere. We haven’t hit the deadline for signing up for the various offices for the spring primary, and we’re already getting hit with “astroturfing.” (H/T to MarkR for providing 
president of the
20-person firm, said the company has pride and reputation on the line,
being the first Spokane ad agency to produce a Super Bowl TV spot. “This is like the Super Bowl of advertising for us as well,” Magner said. Right
after Christmas executives from Flo TV, a subsidiary of tech firm
Qualcomm, told Magner Sanborn it needed three Super Bowl spots by Feb.
1. Manger Sanborn had just finished the multimedia campaign for the Flo
TV launch. Flo TV is a $249 mobile video device that lets people watch TV programs on demand, on the go. Filming and producing the three Flo TV ads became a full-time job since early January/Tom Sowa, SR. 
downward spiral started. That infuriating red “check engine” light came on forty thousand miles ago and just never went away, no matter how many times we took her in for a check-up, but we learned to live with it. Over the years, she occasionally needed this or that part replaced, her brakes repaired, or her tires aligned, but it was never anything serious. About six months ago, the lights in the dashboard went out, leaving us to guess how fast we were going anytime we traveled after dark, but it was a minor inconvenience at worst. We were (mostly) faithful about her quarterly engine service appointments, and, in blatant denial of her Ford-ish origins, we were somehow convinced that she would keep running for years to come/Katrina, Notes on a Napkin. 
high-speed chase near Stateline. The incident began along Highway 95 about seven miles south of Couer
d’Alene when a law enforcement officer attempted to pull over a driver
who was speeding and driving recklessly. The driver refused to pull over and sped away, accelerating to speeds up to 100 miles an hour with police in pursuit.”Beer
cans were coming out of the windows during the chase and there are
still beer cans in the vehicle,” said Sgt. Jonelle Greear with Idaho
State Police.The chase ended up on Interstate 90 where the
driver crossed the state line into Washington, turned around and headed
back into Idaho/Rob Kauder, KXLY. 
candidate failed to file an annual report as a lobbyist. In a statement late Friday, Allred said he “expressed regret” for missing the Jan. 31 deadline, but said he was an unpaid lobbyist who was not required to file an annual report with the secretary of state’s office. Allred said he still filed his annual report Friday. Allred was a registered lobbyist in 2009 for The Common Interest, a nonpartisan good-government group. In a press release, the Idaho GOP criticized Allred for missing the deadline, an oversight that can result in fines of up to $50 per day/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. 
know if you’re aware of this, but counties are not surrounded by walls and razor wire with checkpoints. This is not a Gaza/Israel thing. People move freely between counties. Benewah has no major retail outlets so many of us go to Kootenai county and into Spokane for groceries and other goods as well as recreation and entertainment or the occassional use of government services. Most criminals do not politely stop at the county line when fleeing the police or committing a crime. A few head towards Latah, but most head north to Kootenai or northwest to Spokane. Enjoy. Once arrested there they are yours for the duration. Full comment below.
and managers spoke up about over intoxication by patrons, a certain disorderly element that is attempting to be in their businesses, fights, malicious injury to property, and verbal harassment of visitors as they leave restaurants and other businesses in the evening hours. The meeting was well attended by the majority of the bar owners in the downtown area, and was very productive in the exchange of ideas and solidarity in addressing these issues. Bar owners offered up viable solutions. Those solutions ranged from additional police presence in the downtown area to bars providing enhanced training to their bartenders’, and door security personnel/Sgt. Christie Wood, Coeur d’Alene Police Department. 
Jerry Carlson provides an interesting testimonial. Yeah, the former Coeur d’Alene High booster who is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to federal drug charges. After introducing himself as a 47YO who has struggled with his weight since graduating from UIdaho in 1985, he tells how a friend mentioned Precision Fitness 3 years ago — and how he half-heartedly tried working out at first. Then, he says in his testimonial, “After a life shattering event last February I decided there was nothing to lose. A few weeks later I started to see results.” Bottom line? Carlson was able to lose 100-plus pounds as a result of strength training and proper nutrition. 
the lure of easy money clogging intersections and triggering additional crimes. It’s an increase in panhandling that’s causing new problems for police in Spokane and Spokane Valley. The problem for authorities is that panhandling can be a lucrative business, with a person being able to earn as much as $30 an hour. It’s no wonder their numbers are on the rise and because of a poor economy drivers are giving more than ever before. Panhandlers call it “Flying the sign.” All they need is a piece of cardboard, a raggedy old backpack and they’re open for business/Jeff Humphrey, KXLY. 
been back much since. The original girls were temporary transfers from the Boise Torch and they were entertainers, really good at what they did. They had interesting gimmicks and would pick good music to slither around to. They were acrobatic and creative with their pole routines. And, they were beautiful and charming. I’m not going to say anything cruel, but let’s just say these days the magic is long gone and the dancers have no sense of style or class, just robotic gyrations and chicken cutlets. Scary place.
a guest opinion on the flap over proposed legislation from the Coeur d’Alene Tribe regarding cross-deputization, after a three-year dispute between the tribe and the Benewah County Sheriff. “The purpose of this guest opinion is not to discuss the merits of the proposed legislation,” Jorgenson writes. “It is to address the inflammatory and patently untrue claims of its opponents now circulating. Statements by groups such as the Idaho Eagle Forum and the North Idaho Citizens Alliance, generally considered a radical Anti-Indian activist group, do a substantial injustice to Idaho Indian Tribes and are stoking unwarranted fears in local citizens”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. 
term or long-term plans to build a jail. The Tribe currently is the midst of a $75 million project to expand and upgrade its casino resort hotels. The Tribe is very interested in building new houses, community parks, and roads on the reservation. The Tribe is focusing its energies on infrastructure improvements to the reservation and its business holdings. The assertion that the push behind the State and Tribal Cooperative Law Enforcement Act is to somehow clear the way for a jail is false. The Act will close a loophole that allows criminals to go free if a sheriff is unwilling to cooperate with a tribe. The idea there isn’t crime happening on the reservation is inaccurate/Marc Stewart, Coeur d’Alene Tribe spokesman.
in Northern Idaho. While campaigning, Labrador missed the House State Affairs Committee. Among the important topics covered in today’s hearing was a briefing from Idaho’s military division. They discussed the possible assignment of three F-35 Strike Fighter squadrons to Boise that would effectively double the size of the Idaho Air National Guard. The Air National Guard’s payroll would double, which would be a significant economic impact for southern Idaho. “Raul Labrador must think it is more important to campaign for higher office than to work on behalf of the Idaho taxpayers that elected him,” Ward spokesman Ryan O’Barto said/Idaho Conservative Blogger. 
this country, Jorgenson forgot about those foreign nationals who are legitimately residing in the Gem State. Jorgenson’s anti-illegal immigration included a provision that required all driving tests be administered in English. Sure, that’s going to nail any illegal immigrant who signs up for a driving license. But it also hurts refugees, exchange students and foreign workers. In a state without mass transit, having a car is a ticket to a job, school and a social life. So Idaho, like many states, is a good host. It offers driver license exams in the languages of its guests. Jorgenson says he’s going to pull the English-only driver’s exam provision, but the damage already has been done. When anything even hints at Idaho’s reputation for intolerance — undeserved in many cases — the story gets attention. Google Jorgenson’s bill. It’s all over the Web/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. 
victims. We also serve as advisers to other communities in the Northwest and beyond that are challenged by hate group activities or crimes. We are proactive in promoting state and federal laws addressing human rights issues, and coordinate a number of educational programs and community events to advance human rights.” Sheriff Kirts is no doubt displeased with our letter highlighting a area of grave concern we have for our neighbors in Benewah County. Our hope is he opens up the line of communication with the Tribe, and institutes the cross deputization agreement that will provide for the safety of all citizens.
I didnt expect it to be throwin at my feet in street and then driving off. I had heard earlier in the day my name was next and what was about to happen. I gotta admit, thats what I love about our little CdA. ‘People looking after people’ and thats why I have been so passionate about giving back to a town that has done so much for me. Seriously, it’s not like I went behind some curtain at the voting poles and did something to taint the election. I voted legally and proudly for Mr Kennedy, I proven leader. So now, what I need is some suggestions on what to wear next Fri at 4pm when I have to go to Mr Star Kelso’s office. Any suggestions?
Cronkite, or the long gone Chet Huntley/David Brinkley team or many of the others who pioneered the roll of news anchor as I was growing up. The only one we have now that was ever actually a newsman is Brian Williams and he’s been reduced to little more than a news reader. As for the women? How can you consider someone who graduated from the ranks of Today or Good Morning America a news man? Oops - news woman. To me they come across as news ‘light’. When in serious mode they tend to strike me as maudlin/Dogwalk Musings. 
not sure if it’s the winter months,” writes Susie Rantz/Seattle P-I Readers’ Blogs, ”but I’ve began to notice a rise in - well - the number of doggie “leftovers” I find on the sidewalk or yards in Maple Leaf. Maybe it is due to the dark evenings and cold weather. Or it could be because the city decided to 
621) … it was stuck and would not release. I tapped it to try to break it loose and it stuck in full throttle position. Luckily we had the brakes fixed a few weeks ago (remember the mechanic said there was so much corrosion on the brakes that we were lucky the truck even stopped). I was able to keep the speed down as I shouted a few choice words pulling into the lumber yard parking lot. Once the transmission down shifted into 1st gear, the brakes would not hold back the truck (still stuck in full throttle) so I quickly switched it into neutral and shut it down before it red-lined. Imagine if we pulled in the driveway of a working house fire with the stuck pedal and ran right into the house”/From Bay Views. 
have been in regular communication with the State Department from the beginning of this situation, as well as working with the families of those involved. Our first concern has been that all ten of the detainees have their physical and medical needs met, as well as access to legal representation. 
Idaho Senate voted 24-10 today to confirm Fish & Game Commissioner Tony McDermott, who represents the North Idaho Panhandle, for another term, but only after an extended debate in which Sen. Jeff Siddoway, R-Terreton, tried to frame the vote as a referendum on wolves. Siddoway criticized the Fish & Game Commission for setting a harvest target of 220 wolves in the current wolf hunting season, rather than a figure double that number. “We have an opportunity here to send the whole Department of Fish & Game a real message,” Siddoway said/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. 
steadfastly refused to initiate a cross-deputization agreement with the Coeur d’Alene Tribal Police. The Benewah County Sheriff’s Department has also failed to respond in a timely manner or at all, for calls for assistance from the Tribal Police. Neighboring Kootenai County under the leadership of Sheriff Rocky Watson has had a long-standing agreement of cross-deputization with tribal police as well as other surrounding agencies. This agreement has worked remarkably well to protect citizens from criminal activity. The failure of Sheriff Kirts to work with the Tribal Police has left citizens in bedlam/Christie Wood, 1st vice president, Kootenai County Task Force On Human Relations. 
healthy dose of vindication and start retaining lawyers because of the ‘principle’ of the thing, they’ll often do just about anything to prove they’re right. And the lawyers and investigators are retained to produce results to that end. Innocent people who get in the way of that are expendable, as is, often, the truth. I recognize that people have nothing to hide, and are eager to demonstrate as much. But our system is designed to make voting simple and easy and its up to our administrators to make sure its done within the confines of the law at the time its going on. People complaining it wasn’t done properly have the burden of proof in establishing such. Rest of the comment below
for their lessons to begin. Chattering children squirmed as parents laced up their skates, while others pressed their noses against the plastic, watching skaters skim across the ice. But children weren’t the only ones preparing for ice skating lessons. Patty Mathias, 51, laced up for her third Learn to Skate class. Eagles offers group instruction for adult novice skaters as well as private lessons. It wasn’t last month’s national figure skating championships that inspired Mathias to take to the ice – it was love. “My grandson signed up,” she said as she cautiously skirted the edge of the rink. “He wouldn’t do it without me”/Cindy Hval, Washington Voices. 
The Brannon PI has now called the homeowner who I sold my house to on getting info on the exact date I moved out. This is getting ridiculous. I received a phone call on Monday from Erin Jenkins the sneaky PI, and afterwards was a little concerned I had done something wrong. Well in fact the state law says you can register and vote on the same day. I had paper work (utility bill) that showed I did live in the city limits and had for over two weeks prior to the election. It’s my understanding from attorney Scott Reed that I am not in the wrong and did everything legally. Heck, all I did was walk in and told them my story and they registered me and I voted according to the candidates that were on the sheet that the people at the voting pole gave me.
chief executive has crossed the line when it comes to ego. In the process, he’s cost taxpayers about $70,000 since June. Seventy grand is not a huge amount when it comes to government spending. But we still would like to see it go to something important like health care or education. Sadly, that was not the case. The 70K was spent by the Idaho Transportation Department on ribbon-cuttings; specifically, a series of events meant to celebrate the completion of highway projects. Such events are attended by politicians and other officials for little else other than photo opportunities/Murf Raquet, Moscow-Pullman Daily News. 
pools. An Idaho police officer who catches someone gambling and doesn’t do something about it can currently be charged with a misdemeanor because of a decades-old law still on the books. Boise Democrat Grant Burgoyne says police officers should be able to exercise discretion when pursuing potential low-level gambling offenses. His bill would get rid of the law. The House State Affairs committee voted unanimously to send his measure to the House Wednesday. Burgoyne said he doesn’t think police officers should spend their time pursuing “your mother-in-law’s football betting pool” or other small-time offenses/Associated Press.
banner Letter of Intent Day on Wednesday, inking ” some who will play right off the bat, and many who will redshirt.” In what’s become Idaho style, Akey and his coaches recruited mainly from the high-school level, but added a few junior college recruits to help fill some immediate voids. The biggest void is on the offensive line where the Vandals lost four starters, including All American Mike Iupati. … Idaho recruited 15 players from the northwest, four from Florida, one from Texas and one from Arizona/Sandra Kelley, Moscow-Pullman Daily News. 
the ongoing challenge of translating woman-speak into man-speak continues to add intrigue, even after 23 years. Indeed, I’m afraid any more mystery might lead to heartburn. We must not be alone, considering a quick search of Amazon.com reveals 2,419 book titles under the topic “marital communication.” Even though I’m a professional communicator, occasionally Derek finds my skills somewhat lacking. For example, Saturday morning, I awoke to the smell of French roast brewing. “Is the coffee ready?” I hollered to Derek who was in the living room. “Yes,” he replied. Then things got a bit spicier. “That was a hint,” I said/Cindy Hval, Front Porch. 
Utah is the latest Rocky Mountain state to consider this sticky question: Should it be legal for cyclists to run red lights—after, of course, they’ve slowed and looked for cars? It’s legal in Idaho and has been since 1982. And, it was on its way in Utah as well. Until the liability problem came up. House Bill 91 failed on a tie vote in a House committee yesterday, with those lawmakers voting against it noting the liability problem. … So for now, Idaho remains the only state to allow that now-called “Idaho stop” at red lights for bicycles/Courtney Lowery, New West. 
Adams that he had the plans to build a two-story parking garage at street level on McEuen Field, in place of the old tennis courts. Tymesen remembers talking to Adams after the Jan. 19 meeting. But he said that Adams has misinterpreted his comments. Adams was recently appointed to the city parking commission. Tymesen said he was trying to bring Adams up to date on parking challenges and opportunities around town, including urban renewal plans for a parking garage near the federal building. Adams may have thought he was talking about that structure when he then moved onto parking possibilities at McEuen Field, Tymesen said. A long-time suggestion for parking at McEuen Field is for a two-story structure with the first story built underground to prevent viewscapes from being blocked. In fact, Tymesen said, protection of views is one of the requirements in the Walker-Macy study. Tymesen called Adams’ claims “amazing”/DFO.
states require fifteen job searches a week. And it occurred to me that I am relatively lucky – secretaries are a dime a dozen (almost literally). But what about unique jobs, like, say, neurophysicists. What if a neurophysicist was laid off and then had to make 15 contacts in a week? How many neurophysicists do you think live and work in Spokane? New York? Well, that would just suck. So, I’ll follow through on my measly three job searches/JeanieS, Nuts & Nonsense. 
today expressing the deepest concern and out-rage over the recent series of hate crimes that have taken place in the Inland Northwest. The organization has decided to spearhead a campaign to assist law enforcement agencies in their investigation of these hate crimes. The KCTFHR Board has agreed to work with Crime Stoppers of the Pacific Northwest in providing rewards to individuals who provide information that results in solving these hate crimes. The KCTFHR Board has set aside a grand total of $1,000 to assist Crime Stoppers in encouraging those persons with information to come forward/Tony Stewart, Kootenai County Task Force On Human Relations. 
teenager. Darin J. DeBolt, 26, a teacher at Lakeside High School in North Idaho, appeared in court today on one count of sexual battery of a minor child ages 16 or 17. DeBolt (pictured as an Eastern Washington cheerleader in September 2008) was arrested Tuesday at the 130-student high school in Plummer, where the Spokane resident has worked for five years, said Judi Sharrett, superintendent of the Plummer-Worley School District. “The district is fully cooperating with police,” Sharrett said. DeBolt remains in Benewah County Jail on $50,000 bail/Meghann M. Cuniff, Sirens & Gavels. 
Troy Tymesen has plans to replace the tennis courts at McEuen Field with a two-story parking garage. Seems her source was Steve Adams (pictured), an unsuccessful challenger for a City Council position in last fall’s election. Adams backed up Mary’s contention by going to the council meeting last night and claiming that Tymesen had said he had the plans after the Jan. 19 council meeting. And that he’d passed that information along to Souza at a Reagan Republicans meeting later in January. Tymesen wasn’t at the meeting last night. Then, according to Souza’s newsletter, Adams asked that Mayor Sandi Bloem public apologize to Souza for suggesting that she’d lied about the situation. Bloem didn’t. Souza finishes with a nasty slap at the mayor: “She lacks the professional integrity we need in our public officials.” 
range at Farragut State Park this spring, despite a so-far successful lawsuit from nearby neighbors that shut down the range in 2007. Since it was shut down by court order, the state’s spent $367,500 on upgrading the old military shooting range, and it still plans to spend another $200,000. The state Legislature also passed a new law - unanimously - in 2008 banning nuisance lawsuits over public shooting ranges, and setting new noise standards, including a requirement for soundproofing at new homes or businesses built near existing ranges/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. 
Witnesses are the door to door telemarketers of the world. I got so fed up with it, I notified them that if they didn’t stop calling and visiting, I would file police reports and contact my lawyer to sue them. Once they learned of this, they stopped harassing me. Even when notified, they wouldn’t stop. Only under the threat of police reports and law suits did they stop. I don’t mind religion. But, I don’t like it when someone comes to my house uninvited. If I want them here, I’d ‘choose’ to invite them.
years study released today by the Idaho Food Bank and “Feeding America,” a national group. The numbers are up sharply - 142,200 Idahoans received emergency food last year, a 59 percent increase from 2006. “One of the messages we’re sending to the Legislature is to increase the dialogue about the partnership between the non-profit charitable sector and the public system,” said Karen Vauk, president and CEO of the Idaho Food Bank. “Neither of us can really do it on our own. … We couldn’t meet the need, there’s no way”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. 
the department about this issue. I have also talked with the person who works closely with 911 dispatch services in Kootenai and Benewah counties. They all say the same things. Benewah County is either unwilling or unable to come and enforce state laws on non-tribal members. The officers I have spent time in the field with say they’re letting people go simply because Benewah County’s response to their calls is, “Sorry, only one officer on duty” or “Extended ETA” which in cop speak means don’t count on me being there. Interestingly, Benewah County calls for assistance every day. They call for help and the tribal officers respond in a timely fashion/Marc Stewart, Coeur d’Alene Indian Tribe spokesman. Full comment below.
degree of sin. For so many to vilify a man who spent all of his adult life working earnestly to build a successful, prominent business, be a dedicated family man, support his community in countless ways, and in a short period of his life stumbled and fell into the abyss of drug addiction, and now is paying for it dearly is call for at the very least empathy and at most thankful he did not use all of the cocaine he purchased for the original intent, which was his own use. He would have killed himself!
I would advise that before anyone berates the easily-marked simpletons in Benewah County, that they fully research this, including hearing what the U.S. Attorney’s office says (they didn’t release a statement re: the Jack Buell case, which has seemingly been lost in their files), ask questions of all (not just both) sides until they get real answers. That could require public information requests all around. To say that cross-deputization should occur because it “has been commonly done in the past,” is a lazy answer. Full comment below.
hopes to start offering third-year law classes in Boise this fall without state financial support. UI College of Law Dean Donald Burnett said the only remaining hurdle is what the American Bar Association calls “acquiescence.” The process is designed to ensure expanded programs in different locations don’t detract from a law school’s home location. “We’re going to go ahead, subject to the ABA’s acquiescence,” Burnett said. The new approach is a dramatically scaled-back version of the law school’s original plan to open a full three-year branch in Boise that would focus on business and commercial law/Joel Mills, Lewiston Tribune. 
were the only group that included skaters over the age of 20. The rink was infested with hormone-heavy middle schoolers (and a few horny highschoolers). I couldn’t believe all the tonsil hockey going down. Gag. I don’t think I’d want Kegan going there without a pre-emptive shot of penicillin. That place is a den of 8-wheel debauchery. The DJ played only one song from back in the day – Journey’s Faithfully – to which Eric and I clasped hands and swooned. Otherwise it was all semi-current stuff you hear in the meat markets – Sir Mix-A-Lot, Rihanna, Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas, Pitbull and Lady Gaga … you know, all the latest crunk hits/Tricia Jo Webster, Fabulocity. 
generation will have to put up with their choices long after they are gone, and we will have our work cut out for us in putting the state’s higher education system back together. Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna is one of the few members of state government who has it right. He proposes an additional $58 million in revenues to help public K-12 schools from the Public Schools Earnings Reserve Fund. He sees the importance of education and can draw the conclusion that without solid primary instruction, our state’s children will have difficulties even making it to college. … There’s not a whole lot of incentive for students to “go on” when the governor puts education on the back burner/Kelsey Samuels, UI Argonaut. 
Sarah Palin took out after White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel today for referring to a group of liberal activists as “retarded.” “Just as we’d be appalled if any public figure of Rahm’s stature ever used the ‘N-word’ or other such inappropriate language, Rahm’s slur on all God’s children with cognitive and developmental disabilities — and the people who love them — is unacceptable, and it’s heartbreaking,” Palin 
District Congress candidate Vaughn Ward has joined four Idaho elected officials in signing a pledge to “oppose legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue.” In a news release Tuesday, the free market group Americans for Prosperity, said Ward had signed on. An early signatory was state Treasurer Ron Crane, who signed last year when he was considering running for same job Ward wants, the GOP nomination to face Democrat Walt Minnick. Crane declined to challenge Minnick last spring. The other Idaho signatories are state Sen. Monty Pearce, R-New Plymouth, state Reps. Lenore Barrett, R-Challis, and Dennis Lake, R-Blackfoot/Dan Popkey, Idaho Statesman. 
accepting of the Lord as Savior. Today, “born again” has been removed 10 times over from its original meaning and morphed into what is convenient for the speaker. People claim they are born-again vegans, born-again Americans, a born-again Elvis, and more recently born-again virgins. This born-again virgin movement has been around for some time, but has been brought into the spotlight, as of late, by “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Danielle Staubs. She claims after two failed marriages she wants to do things differently. She says she is abstaining from sex until her next marriage and has already been abstinent for a year. I say good for her. I just wouldn’t call it becoming a virgin again/Erin Harty, UI Argonaut. 
the essential technology for television in 1927. But who’s No. 2? Gotta be Boisean Caleb Chung, co-inventor of Furby, the wide-eyed robotic toy that’s sold 40 million units since its introduction in 1998. At $35 a pop, that works out to $1.4 billion for Hasbro. Chung went on to found his own company, Ugobe, creating and marketing an interactive dinosaur, Pleo. An amazing piece of technology, Pleo goes through different phases of maturity and learns behaviors based on the user’s reactions. With audio sensors in its ears, an infrared camera in its mouth and touch sensors covering its body, Pleo develops a virtual personality/Steve Crump, Twin Falls Times-News. 
would block Dennis Wheeler’s view of Tubbs Hill from across the street at Coeur d’Alene Mines. It would be political suicide. The town simply wouldn’t put up with such a structure blocking the viewscape of McEuen Field and Tubbs Hill. There is talk about putting some of the parking underground, to extend the green space. Now, I admit that I get nervous when city boosters eye McEuen Field. Because some downtowner have lusted after that space for decades. However, I know that Bloem, Edinger, Goodlander, and others on the council have been around long enough to remember how attempts to invade McEuen space with unpopular ideas (even Duane Hagadone’s memorial garden) have blown up. One council was run out of office in the 1950s when it considered allowing a supermarket complex on the property. The public property needs to be realigned. Mebbe some fences pulled down and parking moved. But McEuen Field supporters can rest assured that Bloem & Co. are too savvy to allow something to happen that would hand 3 council seats to the anti-progress activists who have sought them for two terms now/DFO.
joint rules of the House and Senate to credential members of the press for access to the press seats on the floor of the chambers during sessions, and to press work space in the capitol. That access is not granted as a “perk.” It is granted as a public service, to promote public knowledge of the activities of the Legislature through news reporting. As you know, lobbyists specifically are not admitted to the chambers during floor sessions. They also don’t work out of the press work space (a room in the basement), but they have their own, designated space (a different room in the basement). …The public has full access to all the activities of the Legislature, including floor sessions, through public galleries, and all committee hearings are open to the public. … As you point out, it’s entirely possible to cover the legislative session, and do it well, without membership in the CCA. Full post below.
Huckleberries online re: that unsubstantiated rumor Mary was circulating — you know, the claim there’s a clandestine plan to build a two-story parking garage at the site of the old tennis courts. Sez Mary, “I don’t appreciate being called a liar by the Mayor, but I am glad the city was jolted into action.” Mary continues to stand by her “incredibly reliable source” who told her that Finance Director Troy Tymesen has such a plan to build the parking garage. Meanwhile, Bill doesn’t mind calling the mayor a liar, commenting that she can “can flat-line a polygraph.” And Dan Gookin has returned to the OpenCDA.com fold now that he’s no longer a council candidate. In other words, situation normal at OpenCDA.com this morning.
state legislation had nothing to do with resolving the health care crisis in Idaho and was instead taking the partisan hackery, with ideological undertones, pervading the federal legislation, to the state level. In 
boat ramp could stay just move the parking lot for boaters to the south side of city hall it’s just dirt there, pave the darn things and put in lights and landscaping with a nice walk way along the base of Tubbs from there to the docks and make that nice looking as well. Sheeesh. I mean honestly, when downtown is busy, I mean really busy to the point that the lot is full it’s a gigantic PITA to even get to the lot. Lets grass roots a campaign called “Move the damn parking lot” T shirts, banners, buttons. We could be Park baggers :)
party having delivered tax relief, Otter won the governor’s office with 52.7 percent, the worst showing since 1994. Like Samuelson, Otter has had a contentious relationship with his own Republican Legislature. Last spring, Otter vetoed 36 bills. That’s second place for the most vetoes in a single session. The record - 39 - belongs to Samuelson in the 1967 session. And both men share a gift for the gaffe. In Samuelson’s case, it was an awkward, unfortunate speaking style that earned him the moniker “Big Dumb Don.” With Otter, it’s political fumbles that have fomented a reputation for incompetence/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. 
first day! Because it’s working so well, I propose a change up out of the first inning. ;) Since we stumbled upon a tasty bone in the form of the Reuben sandwich discussion, I think we should all go about our business sampling the Reuben of our choice, making notes of what makes it so fabulous, or not I suppose, and meet back here in two weeks to compare opinions. Then we can all scurry back out to everyone else’s Reuben-Venus, Reuben-Adonis to be absolutely sure we’ve got it right. A Reuben off! Also, a consensus might arise, giving an area eatery bragging rights on the Best Reuben of the Huckleberry World. Of course, we can then go back to our regularly scheduled analysis and audit of eating and cooking practices here in the INW.
the story in today’s paper about flight 261 on Alaska Air. I read the article and was brought back in time to when Michael Smith, Randy Huber, Jae Enos, Rick Blizzard and I were supposed to be on that plane. We had a three room attached suite for a week but had only wanted to take a five day trip…while down there…we all agreed to extend our flights one day. One day that saved our lives. It was a miracle; a blessing; a show of “it wasn’t our day”. And we are all so thankful for that fortunate decision. God bless the souls that we had played pool volleyball with that day they left to catch their flight…and all the others that died that fateful day ten years ago. And we all thank God for our fortune/Tom Torgerson.
were in utter shambles. Not to mention the courts DFO stated earlier, there are courts on the west side of Atlas Road just south of Kathleen that NEVER have people on them! I think CDA has an incredible asset in the Field and in the 3rd Street lot that could be utilized in a much better way. Keep the baseball, football and softball fields and lets figure out a way to maximize the incredible asset we have down there! I am not saying I know the answer as to what belongs down there…but I will say, as a native, a CPA and a very involved business person in this town, that the 3rd street lot is one of the most valuable parcels of land in the Pacific Northwest…and a parking lot is nowhere near highest and best use.
I took part in a medical mission to Haiti about seven years ago and every reputable organization knows the rules and the problems with Haitian children being improperly taken into the DR. In my opinion this group was just being holier than thou and forcing their beliefs onto the Haitian people in the middle of a crisis; I hope they receive long jail sentences for their actions.
fast forward to Taryn’s studio. I was a little nervous, but she put me completely at ease. She was such a good sport about all the outfits I had brought! She changed backdrops twice because she thought the black backdrop would look better with one of my outfits… then recommended that we head outside for some photos in the park. So, just amazing. And then - two hours later! - she explained how she would go through the photos and make adjustments, and then put them on line for me AND send me a disk, and I said “Oh my gosh, Taryn, I’m going to pay you for this.” Really. She was just too good to not pay. And so professional. She never once flinched from treating me like a paying client. I’m impressed/Beth Bollinger, Accidental Rabbit Trails. 
through this: There’s no meaningful doubt that Hurst and Iverson-Long are reporters: They’re doing that work. They produce news reports, by any reasonable definition. They’re covering the legislature. At the Statehouse. Their reports are disseminated to the public at large. The issue is in the section referring to “an organization that exists to advocate, lobby or otherwise influence legislative, executive or judicial decisions.” CCA President Betsy Russell seemed to confirm that in saying, “It is simply a matter of what constitutes a news organization, and under our bylaws, an advocacy organization is not a news organization.” That’s not so simple as it sounds, though. /Randy Stapilus, Ridenbaugh Press. 
year-old senior at Garfield-Palouse High School says he’s been treated differently because he’s the only boy on the team. “I want to perform in dance routines and do all the things the girls do,” Ben says. “As the season went on, I was reduced to standing there. I could only move my arms.” The school responded to his concerns by allowing him to participate in a recent dance routine and giving him a set of pom poms. He is cheerleading at varsity basketball games. But his mother, Suzanne Grundy, isn’t satisfied. She has raised the discrimination issue, alleging school officials initially tried to talk her son into being a mascot and treated him unfairly by not letting him participate fully in all of the activities performed by the cheer squad/Kerri Sandaine, Lewiston Tribune. 
you Berry Pickers have had a week now to dine at 
him was how did he get my name and number. His answer was Star Kelso. Then he precedes to ask me my current residence and if I voted and for whom. I said ‘Mike K of-course!’ Then he asked where I lived before recently moving into my current address.. He had lots of questions, so I decided to ask my own in return and ask how getting his license to be doing work in CdA was going (something I learned from my addiction to HBO). His response was he didn’t need one to work in the state of Idaho and that HIS attorney was handling all that. His last question was if I would be willing to sign an affidavit that everything I told him was true. I said I would and wished him luck with the investigation and hung up..Nice way to start a Monday. Weird stuff going on in Maryberry.
Committee of Nine redo of McEuen Field, but for many reasons that hasn’t ever happened. Courts have been constructed in several places around the city and there wasn’t reason to spend money repairing the McEuen courts if they were going to be replaced in a refurbishment. So there are a lot of tennis options, many more so than 10 years ago. I’m sure the Mayor gave you more insight which I hope you share. I’m on the record supporting keeping the Legion ballfields on McEuen, their historic home. I’ll continue to support that. There are other ways to enhance and give TLC to McEuen (and the Legion field) which is needed, and I think it would be a good use of LCDC redevelopment funds.
plans to replace the tennis courts at McEuen Field with a parking structure of some sort. Read: Finance Director Troy Tymeson has no clandestine scheme to build a two-story structure, contrary to what you might have read at OpenCDA.com or in Mary Souza’s newsletter. “That is such a lie,” Mayor Sandi Bloem told Huckleberries Online this morning. “They’re just making things up.” Mayor Bloem plans to address this unfounded rumor at the council meeting Tuesday night and possibly on KVNI radio tomorrow. Any changes to McEuen Field will be made only after significant input from the public in workshops. Bloem said the public discussion re: McEuen Field needs to begin soon because it’s tied into the upgrade of Front Avenue. Which is long overdue.
probably not going to change the dialogue here in Idaho - where, three weeks into a budget-cutting legislative session, anything that smells like a tax increase is off the table. But the big thinkers in Idaho politics - and I know you’re out there - need to contemplate what happened across the border in Oregon (last) Tuesday. Voters approved a pair of ballot measures that will increase taxes in a recession; one raises income taxes for the wealthy, the other raises corporate taxes. The votes will spare Oregon legislators from making some $727 million in cuts when their session opens next week/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. 
to say I honestly can’t recall any openly Republican ones, so the concept is rather odd to me, personally. They do seem to be rare creatures. Malcolm Forbes, Bloggers Andrew Sullivan and Matt Drudge, Leon (Roseanne’s sitcom boss), Waylon Smithers, Mary Cheney, Suze Orman. I couldn’t really turn up a lot of names. I don’t have any real issue with it, whatever floats the cherry in your Cosmo, I guess.
rural Bonner County. some nine miles south of Sandpoint. … We are all used to animals coming back hurt from journeys into the region. Whether this is from neighbor pets, cars, coyotes, or other wild animals, we rarely know. Indeed my neighbors spent some time tonight talking about other injuries their dogs had received in the past. In any case, at some point during our conversation, a vet bill was produced, and I told them we would take care of it. On my way out they gave me some garlic from their garden which I used some of for our family’s pasta dinner tonight. It was really good garlic.
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