Little fellow has quite the attitude for 6
In the “sign of our times” category, Andy Edmondson of the CdA street dept. noticed a tyke along the road while working at Ninth and Harrison on Sept. 16. Andy was steering a backhoe at the time. As he passed the kid, who appeared to be about 4, Andy prepared to wave. Most little ones are thrilled with friendly heavy-equipment operators. Not this one. The boy squared his shoulders, scowled – and then flipped Andy off. Stunned, Andy told a driver about the boy’s gesture. And the driver tracked down the boy: “Are you bothering my buddy?” he asked lightheartedly. Still glowering, the boy put his hands on his hips and exclaimed ere he stomped off: “I’m 6 years old!” The crew thought the boy was hilarious. But I’d hate to see what Junior becomes in another 10 years.
Play ball! Well!
“Major League Baseball” and “North Idaho College” in the same breath? Yep. The uniting factor is Jason Bay, a rookie-of-the-year candidate from the Pittsburgh Pirates who played for both NIC and Gonzaga, where he won a West Coast Conference batting title. In a feature story last week, MLB.com said: “Because Bay’s high school (in Canada) did not have a baseball team, he had to travel across the border to play for an American Legion team in Idaho. From there, he played junior college baseball at North Idaho College – not exactly a hotbed for baseball scouts in search of the next Brian Giles. In fact, the North Idaho baseball program is now defunct.” With a week to go in the season, Bay’s the Major League rookie leader in home runs (24), RBI (75) and slugging percentage (.576). Go, Bay-bee.
Anti-demo discrimination?
A denizen of the Bonner County Courthouse picked on the wrong person by slapping a note on attorney Janet Jenkins’ car window, instructing her to lose the Kerry-Edwards bumper sticker. Actually, the note said she couldn’t bring political advertising onto the grounds because absentee voting was going on at the courthouse. A bumper sticker? Political advertising? Steamed, Janet thought someone was infringing on her freedom of speech. And then hit the law books. Idaho statute prohibits political advertising at a polling place on Election Day. Wrote Janet to County Clerk Marie Scott: “I do not believe a Kerry-Edwards bumper sticker on the rear bumper of my 1994 Isuzu Trooper falls within the categories itemized in the statute.” She’s right. But isn’t it still against the law in Republican Idaho to be a Democrat?
Huckleberries
Southern California refugee Kathryn Hedges wrote to my No Holds Barred blog ( www.spokesmanreview.com/ blogs/nhb) to claim that her new home in Eureka (Humboldt County), Calif., must be part of the Pacific Northwest. Her proof? Take it away, Kathryn: “Winco Foods has a huge aisle-cap display of Idaho Spuds – for a quarter each. Never seen ‘em before. Tried one out of curiosity.” Case closed? … Singer Carole King’s advocacy for the Kerry-Edwards ticket hasn’t been entirely futile in GOP Idaho. Recently, she won backing for the Demo duo from the Coeur d’Alene Tribal Council. Which means Kerry-Edwards has an outside shot at 33 percent of the state’s vote Nov. 2 … “Come January we’ll remember/How bright the sun shone in September” – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Autumn Thought”) … Seems the challenges of the school year are already driving Coeur d’Alene educators to drink. From the minutes of the Sept. 7 school board meeting: “Mr. Briggs reviewed the monthly cask reports.” Hic … Bumpersnicker (on a Geo with a 30-something blonde behind the wheel): “Go braless – It’ll pull all the wrinkles out of your face” … Duane Hagadone caught a break on his pending 32,016-square-foot Palm Desert (Calif.) digs on exclusive Bighorn Golf Club. Club initiation is $200,000, but he gets a cut rate for the original Lady Lola: $125,000. Can’t beat that.
Parting shot
Oh no, make it stop – the region has two more mentions in a major mag. In Sunset mag, The Davenport Hotel is running with the big dogs in the “Travel/Classic West” section piece by Lora J. Finnegan: “Secrets of the grand hotels.” And Mark and Pam Story’s dyne-oh!-mite patio on Lake Pend Oreille covers a page with photo in the “Garden/Mountain style” section. Any chance we can become undiscovered?