St. Maries editor trusted by the troops

Ralph Bartholdt was allowed to do something that Geraldo, CNN and network types weren’t – ride with a certain U.S. Marine MP captain into a danger spot. Bartholdt? He’s the news editor of the spunky St. Maries Gazette-Record who took vacation leave to cover the war in Iraq. Already, Ralph’s a hit with the troops. In an e-mail to a paper colleague, Ralph said he surprised the Marines at Camp Taqaddum by asking questions when he didn’t understand their military mumbo jumbo. Ralph: “When I ask, they stop, look quizzically at me and realize I have no clue what they said, so then they talk with me like a person would, slowly. They tell me stuff. They realize this guy is actually interested.” As a result, a Marine captain invited Ralph to take a night ride to menacing Fallujah – the first reporter extended that honor. Afterward, she filed a glowing report about him. Seems she appreciates a journalist from the states who’s rooting for her visiting team. We do, too.

Calling all cars

Did you hear the one about the Hauser woman who had a close encounter with a Deputy Dawg after she scolded her 5-year-old for going too far into the Spokane River at Corbin Park? According to Editor Frum Helen Back of the Hauser Times, the kid thought he would get it when he got home. So he dashed to the phone, dialed 911 and told the dispatcher to send help. A deputy responded. After hearing the story from the embarrassed mother (whose name has been withheld to protect the innocent), the badge gave Junior another tongue-lashing. Concludes Frum Helen Back: “Yes, Junior is still taking nourishment.”

Wrong number

Interest in the Washington State Human Rights Commission in Olympia has picked up since its number was listed by Hagadone Directories, Insight and QwestDex – er, should we say, its old number? The second number posted for the commission sends callers to a sex hotline, where, for $2.99 per minute, they can chat with “real working girls, housewives, students and fantasy girls.” That should explain the heavy breathing on the other end of the line … Ann Sheerin, wife of former CdA cardiologist Jim Sheerin, got a dandy 55th birthday present Tuesday after she traveled from Florida for a family reunion near Lake Coeur d’Alene: a grandchild. Her first. Little Lilah was born to son, Brian, and his wife, Sara. Grandmother and baby are doing well … The Torres Group provides all the info you wanted to know and more about that 11,000-square-foot house being built on Sanders Beach next to HHospitality partner Jerry Jaeger’s at this site: www.cdabighouse.com.

Poet’s corner

Palouse winds blow heavy/And they blow very far;/Now somebody’s wheat field/Is all over my car” – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Windstorm”).

Huckleberries

Yeah, there’s a reason that giant concrete elk at Rimrock Golf Course, near Athol, has its rear to the road. If it faced the road, the owners were afraid motorists would slam on their brakes for a closer view. And a good shot? … Occasionally, graffiti is amusing – like the spray-painted “for higher taxes” on that Cougar Gulch sign that appears below “Kootenai County Democrats” … Ex-WSU QB Ryan Leaf can’t catch a break. Recently, Sports Illustrated named him the top pro sports flop of the last 25 years. Now, Jim Moore, the “Go2Guy” at the Seattle P-I, has made Leaf leader of his pack of Northwest flops over the same period. Monday morning quarterbacking is easier than the real thing … CPD Blue would like to know what kind of schmuck would steal a man’s hearing aids and nothing else from an Ironwood Athletic Club locker – and so would CdA victim Al Locarni … A complaint that a dog was locked in a car on a hot day at the Bonner Mall had a happy ending when Sandpoint Police discovered the air conditioner running … And that “possible fight” reported at 10:38 p.m. July 31 at Sandpoint’s Travers Park? Nothing more than a rousing night game of ultimate Frisbee.

Parting Shot

Jerry Frank, the mercurial Sanders Beach owner who’s in hot water for allegedly detaining a subpoena server against his will, skirted a battery charge last summer after he grabbed an 8-year-old girl by the arm. By apologizing. In writing. He wrote: “Children make mistakes, old people like me should know better.” Wonder when this old attack dog is going to learn new tricks?