Ski-Lift Operator Tells All About Silver Mountain
Ever been curious what skilift operators think as they work while crowds around them are having fun? Well, wonder no longer. Jon Luric tells all in the March issue of Transworld Snowboarding. And Silver Mountain ain’t going to like it: “I couldn’t stand working at Silver Mountain. To get there you had to take the world’s longest gondola from a parking lot in town four miles upslope. If it didn’t stop, the ride took 20 minutes each way, but management kept the time clock at the top. For the 40 minutes I donated each day they gave me 50 percent off on coffee and dollar taps in the bar after work. I had to smile at fat, rich Americans and pretend I was happy to see them. The ski instructors thought they were gods. … But worst of all, I had to stand all day with one hand on emergency stop while snowboarders flew joyously past.”
Spy vs. Spy? Luric, copping an attitude throughout the article, added that Silver Mountain paid $20 each time someone reported a violation of the employees’ handbook. Apparently, he quit after a friend named Milt was fired for skiing out of bounds: “Silver Mountain employees desperately needed a union. But I seemed to be the only one who thought so. The other employees were too busy spying on each other for management.” … The red ink’s flowing at the Kootenai County Courthouse - at least it was during swearing-in ceremonies until Treasurer Jeannine Ashcraft noticed the color of ink in her pen. She asked for another. … Well-wishers attending the ceremonies ran into a bottleneck outside the main courtroom of the courthouse. Seems the new metal detectors are in place. Be forewarned. They’re sensitive enough to pick up the metal band on your charge cards.
Freudian slip? Ex-Democratic legislator Lou Horvath is one of the Silver Valley residents supporting Mary Smith’s fight to keep 38 American Eskimo dogs. When asked about his interest in the Cataldo woman’s kennel, Lou’s tongue slipped, “I got involved because at the time I was a state leper.” Make that legislator. He and most other Democrats are lepers now. … Anne Fox has shaken up the education department since being elected state schools superintendent. Heads have rolled. Former department flack Lindy High quit before she was fired and now is working for Gov. Phil Batt as his policy assistant on education matters. That’s right. She will present Batt’s education budget to Fox. Small world, isn’t it?
Huckleberries: It ain’t going to be the same around here beginning next week when Our Man In Boise, Dean Miller, leaves to become city editor of the Idaho Falls Post Register. Good luck, buddy. … A bumpersnicker spotted last week on Sherman Avenue: “CALM DOWN. You’re in Idaho now.” … Post Falls police searched futilely for a gunman reported Friday on the McGuire Road overpass and I-90. Look again, pilgrim. The “gunman” was S-R photographer Jesse Tinsley shooting pictures with his telephoto lens. … Yes, that was Batt delivering the State of the State address Monday - all 6 feet 4 inches of him. Well, the first 5 feet 4 inches behind the podium was him. The last foot was Clerk of the House Phyllis Watson’s custom-made riser. … If CdA Councilman Ron Edinger models the Christmas gift given him by his kids, there will be two thong men in town this summer.
Parting shot: Hmmmm. Three top reasons given by stammering bureaucrat Bill Applegate for state liquor stores being open today, Martin Luther King Day: 3. Patrons expect service to reflect normal retail business schedules; 2. We try to provide the highest level of customer service possible, and (drum roll, please) 1. We keep the stores open on five of the state’s nine holidays. If the state doesn’t think it’s an important enough holiday, why doesn’t it just say so?
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