Women Voters Strike Blow For Common Sense

Those subversives from the League of Women Voters are at it again. Last year, they printed their “citizens guide” at their own expense after the Three Commissioners Gruff objected to their use of the county press. The invaluable guides list locally elected officials from U.S. senators to road commissioners and how to reach them. Now, the LWVers are defying the commissioners’ 1997 English-only resolution by printing the guides in Spanish, too. So, this one’s for Joy Scherr and her rebels: Saaalute.

There is a dog

For months, CdA’s Jovina Kelly insisted that Kate Winslet had spit in Billy Zane’s face 72 times to get their “Titanic” breakup just right. She’d read it somewhere, although Kate told TV interviewers she’d hawked only 27 loogies at Billy. But Jovina wasn’t exaggerating. Her dyslexia was … Chappie Brugger drew my attention to the April edition of Readers Digest and a must-read article: “Escape with Master of Disguise.” It describes the daring 1979 rescue of Iranian hostages, one of whom was Henry Lee Schatz, an ag attache and ex-Post Falls High grad. His parents, Marge and Earl Schatz, are dead now, but Uncle Fred’s around … Bumpersnicker on a Toyota at the Silverlake Mall: “I golf, therefore I cuss.”

Dead man voting

Last Monday, Post Falls election officials called County Clerk Dan English to ask if a dead man’s vote would count in their bond election. Seems a resident died after casting an absentee ballot. English said to count it. And added: “If the man had voted after passing away, then we’d be concerned” … The value of that vote took on new meaning Tuesday night, after the yeas and nays were counted. The bond, of course, passed - by one vote … Now that municipal workers are up in arms about the City Council’s attempt to do away with collective bargaining, Mayor Steve Judy probably would like to eat his words. Remember our Jan. 5 headline? “New mayor asks city workers to speak up” … Sen. Gordon Crow says four elected Idahoans have switched parties midstream since his “Tom Moore Bill” passed, including a Pocatello Republican who became a Democrat. In Idaho. Incredible, but true.

Huckleberries

CdA’s Jeanne Perry, the proud mother of an Idaho State Police officer, has a legitimate beef against both local papers. The Idaho S-R and Brand X regularly sub “Patrol” for “Police” to cover the “P” in ISP. Mea culpa. Mea culpa … My boss, Stacey Cowles, will be impressed with the county’s solicitation for funds to pay for a veterans’ monument - not. The commissioners missed Stacey’s surname and gender by addressing their plea to “Dear Ms. Coles” … Hmmm. Drug-ed guru Don Tennison theorized why Bonner County schools have so many troubled kids. Said Tennison to the school board, “It’s because half of them are wasted on pot.” And - if Tennison is correct - what does that say for his program? … Bumpersnicker on a beefy, black Camaro, idling at Government Way and Ironwood with a young brunette at the wheel: “No, this is not my boyfriend’s car.” Attagirl … Kootenai Democrats showed equal opportunism with a notice in the Nickel’s Worth announcing their Friday luncheon speaker, June Berquist of the Division of Environmental Quality. Continued the calendar item: “Environmentalists and polluters welcome” … So, what did you do last Wednesday to celebrate Idaho’s “Greek Independence Day”? Gov. Phil Batt really did proclaim one.

Parting shot

What’s this? An unsightly collection of rundown cars and a vacant trailer at Commissioner Dick Panabaker’s upholstery shop has angered Hayden neighbors. City Manager Bob Croffott says Dick tidied up his Vicki Avenue business somewhat after an earlier complaint. And there’s nothing the city can do unless the clutter gets bad enough to warrant “junkyard” status. Nothing, that is, except call the Huckleberry Hound. Owwwooooo.

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

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