Boy may grow to be chip off old blockhead

In Huckleberries Last, I told you about a 6-year-old boy who startled the CdA street crew by flipping off a heavy-equipment operator. I have an idea where the tyke got the one-finger salute. Let me digress. One recent Sunday, Rathdrum’s Milt Nelson was traveling the 45 mph limit on Bigelow Gulch Road in Spokane when a bronze Chevy pickup began tailgating him. When Milt didn’t speed up, the tailgater flashed his lights and flipped him off. Take it away, Milt: “I persisted in not speeding, and he became so frustrated that he actually let go of the steering wheel to apply his ‘greeting’ with both hands!” Milt didn’t return fire. Not only did he ignore the Tasmanian Devil, but he felt sorry for the pre-teen boy who was the guy’s passenger. Time will tell if the acorn grows up taller and straighter than the twisted tree nearby.

More bad manners

Phil Corless of The CDA Blog ( www.pkmeco.com/cdablog) has his own ideas where kids learn garbage. Last week, Phil blogged about his family’s season finale of roller-coaster and log rides, the carousel and the steam train at Silverwood (Sept. 26). The weather was great. The crowd was small. But the atmosphere reeked. It was “Wild on Silverwood Day,” and the party animals from Wild 103.9 FM were polluting the airwaves with today’s, ahem, music, forcing Phil to explain to his 6-year-old “why the man was talking about ‘how I like it’ and ‘I like it rough’ while a woman moaned and squealed over a hip-hop beat.” Continues Phil: “We were just there for some coaster thrills, not sex education.” And: “Silverwood needs to seriously think twice about who it brings into its park as a sponsor.” Bingo.

Lola and her shadow

Duane Hagadone continues to make a big splash with his megayacht, Lady Lola, and her ancillary yacht, Lady Lola Shadow. Last Monday, the Travel Channel climbed aboard the Hagadone Express by featuring LL & LLS on a program about swell vacation homes. You know the drill. Duane pushes a button. A teak deck slides away. And, voila, he’s standing on a driving range with a ball teed up to be sliced into the Mediterranean and two speed boats ready to retrieve his shot. All of which caused the Travel Channel reporter to gush about the Lady Lola redefining luxury. Huckleberries has told you all about the Lady Lola and the extra boat that hauls around Duane’s helicopter, jet skis, wooden Chris Craft speed boat, fiberglass ski boat, and most of the crew, including two chefs. Alas, all of Duane’s money and sizzle couldn’t prevent the reporter from placing Coeur d’Alene in southern Idaho with all those famous potatoes.

Huckleberries

The name of my online column has been changed from No Holds Barred to Hot Potatoes. But the URL’s the same ( www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/nhb). So is the attitude adopted from my old editorial print column of the same name. Enjoy … “An excellent site,/And picked with great care,/For those folks are used/To wind and hot air” – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Florida Presidential Debate”) … Sightem: Under the light pole, in the water, next to Hagadone Corp HQ, at about 9:30 p.m. last week, an immodest couple was wearing nothing but a smile between them … Sightem II: At the CdA Social Security office Monday morning last, a big security guard with a big gun put individual crayons into the big Crayola box in the sitting room, explaining to an observer: “They get a little sloppy around here on my day off” … Sightem III: At the drive-up window, a customer of KFC/A&W of Post Falls was surprised to see inside a chart of goals for employees, including the prize listed for “champ of the week” – 5 border bucks for Taco Bell.

Parting shot

In real life, colorful Hauser Times editor Frum Helen Back is mild-mannered Councilwoman D.J. Nall. So it wasn’t surprising that D.J. was thinking outside the box re: how to raise $1,600 to print a new calendar for every Hauser resident in color. After seeing “Calendar Girls,” she figured the council could raise the extra money by posing nekkid. The idea died for a lack of a second. D.J.: “The R-word (recall) was mentioned and that idea was dropped. Black and white it is.” And clothed. Most people look better that way.