East Coast Critic Should Take Look At His Back Yard
Remember that GQ reporter from Washington, D.C., who painted North Idaho as a hotbed of white supremacy? Now, we have the March 25 issue of Newsweek - including a U.S. map dotted with swastikas, K’s, circles and squares to indicate havens of Nazis, Klansmen, Skinheads and militias. And whaddaya know? The only blemishes in Idaho are a swastika in the Panhandle (thanks a lot, Reverend Dick) and a militia dot in the southeast. Meanwhile, swastikas, K’s and militia squares blanket the GQ reporter’s East Coast stomping grounds. Seems he was looking for hate in all the wrong places.
All the wrong places
Then again, Newsweek might have misplaced a swastika or two. It certainly mislaid Hope artist Ed Kienholz’s grave. Elsewhere in the March 25 issue, Peter Plagens reports: “When he (Kienholz) died at the age of 66 in 1994, his body - along with his dog’s ashes and a bottle of vintage Italian wine - was put into a shiny 1940 Packard and rolled into a grave in northern Utah.” Someone had better tell Ed’s wife, Nancy. Ed requested a trap door be cut in his favorite Packard so she could join him in death, as in life, under ground they shared in North Idaho.
All the wrong places II
The New York Times called the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office in Libby, Mont., last week looking for skinheads in camouflage. Seems the most elite of the eastern media was in a lather about Montana’s kooky freeman. The office clerk paused long enough from filing to give the Times ink-slingers a geography lesson. Jordan, she told them, is way over in eastern Montana - next to one of those Newsweek militia squares.
Stopped the press
A funny thing happened to Brand X photographer Bob Abbott on his way to the Popcorn Forum at North Idaho College. Seems a campus kiddie cop caught him parking in the wrong place and told him to move along. Bob didn’t help his cause by protesting that he was there to snap a quick photo in Boswell auditorium. The security cop told him he couldn’t shoot pictures in there. Baby Blue was wrong, of course. But Bob didn’t know that. He left - without further protest. Just a whimper. … Spring hasn’t arrived in Coeur d’Alene until a disoriented tourist heads the wrong way on the Third and Fourth street one-ways. Alert Muffler, at Fourth & Wallace, is ready for spring and the rubbernecks. Its readerboard tells upstream traffic: “Wrong way.” … A wall sign survived the recent fire that destroyed the upper two floors of a Sandpoint apartment building: “Superior Apartments: A smoke-free building.”
Huckleberries
How about a bumpersnicker with ambience? “Subvert the dominant paradigm.” … Then, my ol’ bloodhound Ed spotted this bumpersnicker on a VW pickup at U.S. 95 and Prairie: “Don’t steal. The government doesn’t like the competition.” … Say hello to Paul (Pops) Ivanovski, a former batting instructor for Manny Mota’s camps who’s scouting for a home here from Affordable Inn. He’s umping high school games and giving batting tips to kids - for a price, of course. Give him a call if junior’s in a slump. … Because you asked: No, Mike Pinera, the lead singer for Pete Hoorelbeke’s classic-rock all-stars, wasn’t with Iron Butterfly when it recorded “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.” Doug Ingle was the lead singer. But Ingle left the band soon after making the cut, and Pinera carried on. … By the way, Pete now has had a second batted CHS baseball bounce off his noggin. This time, though, he didn’t make an ER appearance.
Parting shot
As you know, Hagadone Hospitality and its house organ, The Coeur d’Alene Press, have waged an extensive campaign against field burning. So, you’d think the Company By The Lake would know how smoke bothers neighbors. But no-o-o-o. A slash fire near the maintenance shed at The Coeur d’Alene Resort golf course forced neighbors to breathe smoke for two days. It was blowing away from the resort, of course.
, DataTimes