Family Values Filmmaker Faces Morals Charge

‘The Last Game,” a family values movie featuring Sandpoint scenery and people, was a stinker at the box office. It never made the big screen beyond three sellouts at the Panida Theatre in Sandpoint. The networks didn’t pick it up. No video. This, despite a Good Housekeeping seal of approval. Now, a Sandpoint woman is trying to amass at least 100 orders locally to preserve the movie’s memory. Maybe she should use her proceeds to help fund the legal defense for co-producer Tom Parrish. Parrish, 50, pleaded innocent Monday to six counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor girl. We’ll have to wait until August to see if he gets a Bonner County jury’s seal of approval, too.

They’re not laughing

So, how’s the latest lip-slip by Congressman “Give-‘Em-Helen” Chenoweth playing outside the Gem State? You know, her remark that blacks and Hispanics can’t stand our weather? Well, Denver Post columnist Mark Obmascik asked several black and Hispanic politicians from cold-weather cities what they thought of it. It wasn’t pretty. Obmascik concluded with this: “If blacks and Hispanics can live and thrive in the winters of Chicago, Buffalo, Minneapolis and Denver, then Helen Chenoweth’s home state must have some other problem. Sure, in northern Idaho, the temperature may get a little low. So, too, do the political IQ’s.” Ouch.

Armed & dangerous?

But Chenoweth has nothing on the current crop of Idaho Democratic Party leaders. Consider the breathless fax from these birds that landed on my desk Wednesday. They considered it significant that Our Miss Chenoweth was listed that day in The Hill as one of 60 congressmen who got campaign contributions from “felons.” The Washington, D.C., newspaper identified three “ex-convict donors” who supported Helen, including potato king J.R. Simplot (tax violations) and Lt. Gov. Butch Otter (drunken driving). C’mon.

Huckleberries

Congratulations are in order for Bob Howman, the embattled Bonner County schools special-ed director, and, I suppose, for Superintendent Max Harrell. Harrell has defended Howman from public protest over budget overruns. Maybe that’s why Bob named his new son Maximilian. … Despite another plaster cast of a huge footprint, I’m convinced Bigfoot doesn’t exist - in North Idaho, at least. Otherwise, he’d be gutted, mounted and hanging over a backwoods fireplace by now. … Overheard Monday at Java on Sherman, three women laughing about a friend who had been “picked up” Saturday. Nasty gossip? Nope. Their friend literally had been swept off her feet by the tornado-force winds that blew through the area May 31. … Richard Nixon, the banker not the ex-president, now is handling commercial loans for Cd’A’s FirstBank. His hiring coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Watergate break-in. And let’s not kick this Huckleberry around any longer. … A passing motorist was surprised to see the Post Falls Flying J readerboard promoting “2% gals” Tuesday - along with low diesel, gas and tobacco prices. Do you suppose tough truckers have a feminine side, too? … Where do city slickers go when they ride off into the sunset? Apparently, to Cassia County. The sheriff investigating a recent murder at a Sawtooth National Forest campground was none other than Billy Crystal.

Parting shot

Red-faced officials are blaming computer error for mistakes found in 160 teacher contracts mailed out and recalled by the Bonner County School District. The pay scales were off. That, of course, pointed the finger at Gary Carpenter, the district’s computer programmer. Ironically, Carpenter’s wife, Barbara, has bashed teacher salaries on her Sandpoint radio show, “Speak Up North Idaho.” Maybe Barbara should do a show on how much this foul-up cost the district. Do you suppose hubby will get overtime pay to correct the problem? Stay tuned.

, DataTimes MEMO: Gotta Huckleberry? Call the Huckleberry Hound Hotline: (800) 344-6718 or (208) 765-7125; daveo@spokesman.com.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = D.F. Oliveria The Spokesman-Review