Reporter Cuts Rumor Down To Size

The rumor’s been around for some time that Bonner County is “twice as big as Rhode Island.” In fact, officials from the sheriff’s office and the school district recently parroted those words to an S-R reporter. And, much to the chagrin of a Coeur d’Alene editor, they got into print. Our editor feared we’d reprinted a popular myth. Well, never fear, the Huckleberry Hound is here to sort fact from fiction. In this case, both sides are right, sort of. Bonner County is more than 1-1/2 times bigger than Rhode Island (1,918 square miles to 1,210 square miles, according to reference books). In other words, if you round off to the next highest number and remove Rhode Island’s 158 square miles of inland waterways, Bonner County, indeed, is twice as big. Of course, then you’d have to pull out Bonner County’s waterways, and they’d be about the same size.

Wanted: Dead or alive?

The Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office will be waiting a long time to arrest Robert Parks, 66, of Wallace. This, according to Paul Friend, publisher of the Idaho News Observer. Seems Parks is one of 800 people sought by Sheriff Dan Schierman on outstanding warrants. However, he may be the only wanted man on the list with a valid excuse for not paying his debt to society. He died three years ago in a farm accident. … What’s this? Summer Fomenco, a Coeur d’Alene Inn employee, recently reported the $480 theft of a stereo, robes, glasses and towels from one of the rooms. Towels? And what is it called when a hotel charges big bucks for a continental breakfast through room service?

Sneak attack

Area supremacists are getting sneakier. Recently, they slipped some hate mail into a mailbox belonging to a Post Falls man with a return address stating it was from Gov. Phil Batt of Bosie. Hey, no one said you needed intelligence to be a racist. … Update: A month ago, I hucked the Coeur d’Alene Building Department for charging Christ the King Luther an Church double for a permit to replace the roof. The building department penalized the church because it had ripped off the roof without a permit. The city since has refunded half the money, blaming a communication error for the mixup. … Freudian slip? During a recent weekend broadcast, Trova Hutchins of KXLY-TV reported that Idaho was threatening to shoot down U.S. warplanes. Ahhh, make that Iraq, she corrected herself. (Now, she might have been correct if she’d been talking about black helicopters.)

Huckleberries

Was I the only one who did a double take after reading this recent Coeur d’Alene Press headline: “Experts: Mother who shot her children unusual.” Duh. (And I’m not criticizing Brand X here.) … He made a difference: Coeur d’Alene Recreation Director Steve Anthony bought Jerry Ryen a farewell burger from Hudson’s Friday. After years manicuring Coeur d’Alene’s marvelous softball fields, Jerry’s leaving the city to drive a forklift for Potlatch Corp. His special touch could be seen before Church League games, where the on-deck circle resembled a church and steeple. He leaves behind big shoes to fill. … The owner of a pickup with a dented tailgate and the license plate K152623 knows how to laugh at hard times. You know, the guy who painted the word, “didn’t” above the Dodge insignia. … And, if you see downtown mover Sandi Bloem and I sharing a cup of joe this week, you’d be proper to wish both of us a happy birthday. We both add a year Thursday. I’ll be 48. And she’ll go from being 8 years younger than I to 9 years younger.

Parting shot

Hmmm. At the top of the Sandpoint City Council agenda for Wednesday is this quote from the Dalai Lama, er, make that misquote: “Help others. If you can do this, at least do not harm them.” … Good thing Mayor David Sawyer and his playmates didn’t quote the Golden Rule instead. You know, Matthew 7:12: Do to others what you would have them do to you. The American (un)Civil Liberties Union would have shut them down.

, 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