Here's yet another indication that summer's on the way in viewtiful Coeur d'Alene: Chris Guggemos of Handshake Productions has released his summer lineup for City Park, beginning Sunday, June 30. Stagecoach West, a classic rock-'n-roll band from eastern Washington, will launch the concert series on June 30, following the next Sunday by Barry Aiken & North Point, a Latin Rhythms/Salsa band, the next Sunday. You can see Chris's entire schedule here. (This link will also take you to concert schedules for Tuesdays in downtown Coeur d'Alene; Wednesdays in Hayden City Park; and Fridays at Rathdrum City Park. The Coeur d'Alene Arts Association has yet to set its schedule for Riverstone Park, on Thursday evenings.

Question: I attended as many as three of these concerts in a given week. How many do you attend?

So Amy Dearest calls at the end of the noon hour to say that she's en route to a hospital in Portland to have her appendix out today. She awoke with bad stomach pain — and the rest is herstory. As a result, I've been distracted this afternoon. My wife had a rough time with appendix surgery some years back b/c a doc-in-the-box misdiagnosis her stomach problem, resulting in another 24 hours of pain. I still have my appendix. I've wondered at times, at my age, if that's good or bad. Meanwhile, I'm comforted that the docs in Portland caught her problem early — and appear to be on top of things. Son-in-law Okie Doke is with her — and keeping us up to speed re: what's going on. How about you?

Question: Do you still have your appendix?

Athletes have the Olympics. Actors have the Academy Awards. Musicians have the Grammys, and quilters have Paducah. Each April thousands of quilters travel to Paducah, Ky., for the American Society of Quilters Quilt Week and Show. Last month, Spokane quilter Terry Engleman won second place in the 1st ASQ Show Entry, Bed Quilts category for her Japanese Flower Garden quilt. Her win came with a $1,000 award. “I couldn’t believe it when they called my name,” Engleman said. “Just being accepted is a big deal!” Indeed, the 2013 show featured 401 quilts in 15 categories/Cindy Hval, SR. More here. (Jesse Tinsley SR photo: Terry Engleman won second place in her category at the prestigious American Society of Quilters show in Paducah, Ky., last month with this quilt)

Question: Are you a quilter? And/or: Have you ever won a major award?

The Coeur d'Alene City Council has scheduled a workshop to discuss the transfer of Lake Coeur d'Alene Driver from the Idaho Department of Transportation to the city. The meeting is scheduled to begin at noon Monday in the Coeur d'Alene Library Community Room. In an article last Nov. 16, the Coeur d'Alene Press reported re: this proposal: “ITD no longer wants to maintain the old highway, and is offering the stretch of road to the city. Annual upkeep on the road would cost the city $13,160, according to the street superintendent, which the department said it could afford. The property up for grabs traces the old road but extends to water's edge in spots, creating public access to the lake, including an area at Silver Beach that the city has said would make a good location for a boat launch.” More here.

Question: Would you like to see the city take control of Lake Coeur d'Alene Drive?

I didn't realize that the cover of the current issue of High Country News, which includes the large feature article about the California archconservative takeover of Kootenai County politics, was free-lanced by none other than Linda Lantzy of Idaho Scenic Images.

.. On Facebook: “OK so my son broke his left arm playing softball at school, had to have surgery it was a bad break. we stayed overnight at doctors hospital. he is home now and doing well. the important thing is he was safe at 2nd.”

Question: I've broken my left ankle twice playing softball — once sliding, once fielding a ground ball. Have you ever been injured playing softball?

From a Berry Picker: “Thought you’d like to know…I got a phone call at 7:10 last night.   Recorded voice: 'Just a quick 1-question survey;  If you were voting for CDA School district trustee today, press 1 if you’d vote for Tom Hearn, press 2 if you’d vote for Bjorn Handeen, press 3 if you’re undecided.'  I pressed 1, and the voice said “thank you for your participation” and hung up   no other information given!!

Question: Anyone else receiving these, ahem, Coeur d'Alene School Board survey calls?

Idaho GOP Rep. Raul Labrador told Bloomberg that a bipartisan group of eight U.S. House members may be holding their last meeting Thursday to attempt to agree on a compromise immigration bill. If they fail, he said, the Republicans will likely move ahead with a GOP bill, which would compromise efforts for a bipartisan solution already moving in the Senate. Bloomberg’s Roxanna Tiron and Kathleen Hunter write that Labrador said the four Republicans and four Democrats are at an impasse over guest workers and health care for legal immigrants/Dan Popkey, Idaho Statesman. More here.

Question: On a scale of 1-10, how important is immigration reform to you?

From Post Falls Police Department Web site: Missing: Angela Simpson - aka Angela Walker or Angela Dunning - was last seen at her residence in Post Falls at around 9:30 a.m. on May 15, 2013. She’s age 42, approximately 5’7”, 165 pounds with long curly red hair. Unknown clothing description, but she was likely wearing grey and pink tennis shoes, black tank top, and carrying a black faux leather purse. Angela is reportedly schizophrenic and off her medications. She frequents clinics and transient camps. Other possible locations are truck stops, rest stops, and shelters. If you have any information or tips to her whereabouts, please contact the Post Falls Police Department at 208-773-3517, or our website here.

A snippet from the recent article by Sierra Crane-Murdoch in the High Country News: “How right-wing emigrants conquered North Idaho”:

 Rankin's failures and successes read like a litmus test for the county's political transformation. His first move — an attempt to recall Sen. Church — was seen as radical, even among Republicans, and over the years, as theSpokesman-Review noted, he ran “for every public office from governor to a seat on a local highway district … most always unsuccessfully.” Eventually, though, Rankin's popularity grew. He hosted a radio talk show and had some success spreading his anti-tax philosophy. In 1996, he finally won a seat on the Kootenai County Commission and persuaded fellow commissioners to make English the county's official language. By the time Rankin died in 2004, local politics had shifted so drastically to the right that some conservatives considered him too liberal. (Rankin reportedly dubbed them “the far-righteous.”) And: 2003 SR file photo of Kerri Thoreson and father, Ron Rankin, at a courthouse farewell party.

Question: I wonder if today's arch-conservatives in Kootenai County would consider former Commissioner Ron Rankin as too liberal?

I suspected that a rumor would start swirling re: the possible future fate of historic Memorial Field in Coeur d'Alene. And, with discussion of a “Four Corners” upgrade (Northwest Boulevard/Mullan Avenue), totally unsubstantiated rumor has it that the old softball diamond will be leveled to make way for progress. I suspect any move to replace Memorial Field will be met with a protest reminiscent of the 2012 McEuen Field turmoil. I remember the opposition the late Coeur d'Alene Press publisher Bob Pollos received when he opined years ago that Memorial Field should be turned into a parking lot, to serve City Park during the summer and North Idaho College year round. I suspect my old buddy Ron Edinger would handcuff himself to the grandstand to stop bulldozers from knocking it down. It's worth noting — again — that the rumors out there are totally unsubstantiated. (SR file photo: Jesse Tinsley)

• DFO: Check out the great discussion re: this on my Facebook page, too.

Question: Would you support moving Memorial Field to make way for an upgrade of the Four Corners area?

The Lake City Development Corporation has produced a 7-minute video to explain the mission of local urban renewal efforts. It explains the video here: “We've seen the successes. The Kroc Center. Riverstone development. Higher Education Campus. New downtown library. The city’s urban renewal agency, the Lake City Development Corporation (LCDC), played an integral role in all of these projects. But where did the money come from to help support these progressive community endeavors? Take a few minutes and we'll help you understand.” More here.

• Latest LCDC newsletter here

Thoughts?

• 11:54 a.m. Male vomiting, peeing himself while going through detox jitters @ 15th/Lakeside, CdA.
• 11:22 a.m. ISPer wants back up to conduct search of car @ H95/MP 441 (Ohio Match Road)
• 11:21 a.m. Female unconscious in vehicle along H95 b/n Kohl's & Best Buy/CdA.
• 10:45 a.m. ISP officer stopping to help motorist w/disabled car @  e/b I-90/stateline.
• 10:28 a.m. Male in 7300 block of Bedford Lane/CdA trying to keep girlfriend from leaving.
• 10:18 a.m. CPD officers en route to KMC from 17th/CdA with female on mental health hold.
• 10:06 a.m. Someone hurt in fall in 4300 block of W. Cougar Circle/CdA.
• 9:44 a.m. 57YO Oregon transient (9:31 item) trespassed from bridge, ordered to clean up debris.
• 9:31 a.m. Motorist reports transient sleeping under w/b I-90/4th Street overpass, CdA.
• 9:30 a.m. Coeur d'Alene Casino employee reports male having hard time breathing.
• 9:09 a.m. Someone has been injured in fall in 2600 block of N. Partridge Loop/CdA.
• 9:08 a.m. 38YO female having difficulty breating in 2500 block of W. Pocono Court/CdA.
• 8:52 a.m. Male in white, disabled Chevy e/b on I-90/McGuire Road, PF, waiting for dad to bring gas.
• 8:37 a.m. ISP officer cites motorist she stopped for possessing less than 3 ounces of marijuana.

As you know, I'm not a fan of the attempt by the Reagan Republicans to insert their endorsees into nonpartisan offices in Coeur d'Alene under the name “Republican.” I like RR founders Ron Lahr and Jeff Ward. But I consider the successes they've had so far (think: Coeur d'Alene Councilman Steve Adams and, mebbe, NIC Trustee Todd Banducci) has hurt good government in my hometown. However, there is a silver lining to Ron & Jeff's pedal-to-the-metal attempt to make everything about Hard Right partisanship. The Coeur d'Alene School Board and Kootenai Hospital District campaigns have come under intense scrutiny. In the past, these nonpartisan elections have been snoozers for all but insiders. Ditto for the North Idaho College trustee elections. I've never voted in a hospital election. In fact, I wouldn't know who the candidates are, without the decision by the Reagan Republicans to attempt to expand their political turf by establishing a beach head at KMC with two endorsees. The Reagan Republicans' takeover of the controversial Coeur d'Alene School Board is another example of the heightening attention paid to this important nonpartisan election. Trustee forums have attracted good audiences, including a packed one at the Mica Grange. The rise of Balance North Idaho is a direct result of the controversial action by the Reagan Republicans to insert partisanship into nonpartisan offices. The Reagan Republicans deserve credit in spotlighting offices that draw poor voter turnouts. That should trigger a bigger turnout than usual. I'm hoping, for the sake of good local government, however, that most of their candidates lose/DFO.

Agree/disagree?

The Domestic Names Committee of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names doesn't like apostrophes. Visitors to Harpers Ferry or Pikes Peak might not realize it, but anyone aspiring to name a ridge or a swamp after a local hero will soon find out. In this Adirondack town, pop. 1,219, a move is on to put a mountain on the map in honor of James Cameron, who settled here in 1773. There is some dispute as to which mountain, and whether to call it Jimmy's Peak, Jimmie's Peak or James' Peak. But there is no opposition to the apostrophe—except from the government/Barry Newman, Wall Street Journal. More here.

• In the same article, reporter Barry Newman writes: “Irish names (O'Fallon, Ill.) and French ones (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) aren't possessives and get by.”

Question: Do you support the Domestic Names Committee's move to strike apostrophes from geographic names?

Demonstrators protest in front of the Barbie Dream House in Berlin today. It probably wasn't the reception Barbie was hoping for at the start of her European tour. Feminist protesters burned a doll on a cross and left-wing demonstrators shouted “pink stinks” at the Berlin opening of a life-sized Barbie house today. They far outnumbered Barbie fans who came to see the Mattel toy's fictional Malibu home. The “Barbie Dreamhouse” in Berlin is the second such theme house after a similar one opened recently in Florida. It will remain in the German capital until August before going on tour around Europe. (AP Photo/dpa, Jens Kalaene)

Question: Do you — or someone in your family — own a Barbie?

• Wednesday Poll: A supermajority of Hucks Nation considers the benefits offer made by the Coeur d'Alene School Board to local teachers to be unreasonably low. 106 of 161 respondents (65.84%) said the offer presented by trustees to the Coeur d'Alene Education Association to be “unreasonable.” Only 43 of 161 respondents (26.71%) supported the offer. 12 (7.45%) were undecided.
• Today's Poll: Should Congress pass a federal shield law?

The U.S. Justice Department’s spying on the Associated Press was an underhanded act that ought to frighten everyone. Rather than ask the news agency for information about alleged leaks of national security information, the department ignored its own guidelines and went straight to the phone companies with wide-ranging subpoenas. Here’s the specific Justice Department rule in such cases: “Negotiations with the affected member of the news media shall be pursued in all cases in which a subpoena for the telephone toll records of any member of the news media is contemplated where the responsible Assistant Attorney General determines that such negotiations would not pose a substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation in connection with which the records are sought”/Spokesman-Review Editorial Board. More here.

Question: Is a federal shield law needed in this country?

The Boise Police Department has been ranked fourth-highest in the country among mid-sized police agencies for its number of Twitter followers, with more than 6,300. The only other city in the region to make the ranking was Salt Lake City, which ranked 10th at 3,712 followers. “Twitter connections mean a lot to us, and it’s good to know that, judging by the number of followers, that connection means a lot to citizens as well,” said Boise Police Chief Mike Masterson. The chief said his department uses Twitter to “share urgent and important public safety information” along with safety-related community events, and citizens use it to interact with the department. On Twitter, the BPD is @BoisePD/Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise. More here.

Question: Do you follow the Coeur d'Alene Police Twitter feed (@cdapd) or on Facebook?

“To Lady Lola,” went the happy toast on Wednesday at Hagadone Marina. The occasion was a celebration of the launch of the wooden tender formerly belonging to the 205-foot Lady Lola. A tender is a small boat that ferries passengers between ship and shore when a ship is anchored in a harbor. The tender's new owners, Rob Newell of Black Hawk Capital Managers and Jon Aune of Whitehawk LLC, were thrilled with their purchase of the 28-foot, torpedo-style craft - especially the fact that it has put in at ports from Gibraltar to Galapagos/George Kingson, Coeur d'Alene Press. More here. (Shawn Gust Coeur d'Alene Press photo: Jon Aune, far left, and Rob Newell, alongside his wife Martha, pour champagne Wednesday in celebration of their recent joint purchase of Lady Lola)

Question: Anyone know what happened to the 205-foot Lady Lola?