What happens in Chicago is printed here

Sleeping arrangements are always ticklish for the boy journos who embark on the Sandpoint High Cedar Post’s annual trek to the national high school journalism convention – this year in Chicago. The girls don’t mind being stacked three or four to a two-bedroom hotel room. But it’s an issue for the boys. This year, Sandpoint High seniors Dennis Wanous, Luke Pearlstein and Vinnie d’Orazi made hay with the sleeping arrangements, claiming in the week leading up to the convention that it was no big deal because they were comfortable with their sexuality. To emphasize their point one evening in Chicago, they propped their door open, climbed into bed together and pretended to fumble around – to shock adviser Erin Daniels or the chaperone assigned to bed check. Well, a security guard beat the chaperone to the room and peeked in to see why the door was open. A witness sez the boys’ blanket almost hit the ceiling when the guard discovered them in their faux embrace under the covers. The guard didn’t act surprised. He didn’t ask questions. He simply asked them to close the door. Seems Chicago is somewhat like Las Vegas. What happens in Chicago stays in Chicago.

Grandest of old flags

WWII Navy veteran Jim Shepherd, Coeur d’Alene, loves the stars and stripes. He’s carried her in almost every Fourth of July parade since he returned from war 60 years ago. He helped set the Veterans Park bell with a forklift years ago. And his father set the concrete Veterans Park memorial in place before him. Recently, Jim was collecting donated U.S. flags for the American Legion when he stumbled across a boxed flag with a Sherman Avenue address he knew. It was the address of a high school friend who died during WWII on a Pacific island, perhaps Iwo Jima. The 9-foot flag was the special one that’d been draped on his friend’s coffin. Now, it will fly over Jim’s home, located in my neighborhood, every Memorial Day. It couldn’t be in better hands.

Poet’s corner

“Hark the herald angels sing,/’Buy some more of everything!’/Cash or check or COD,/Christmas lifts the GDP./Harried, all ye shoppers rise,/charge your bank cards to the skies,/with economists proclaim:/’Spending is the Yuletide aim!’/Hark the herald angels sing,/’Buy some more of everything!’ – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (spoofing Charles Wesley’s original hymn, “Hark, The Herald Angels Sing.”) And: “Engaged on his cell phone/while driving his Beamer,/unhappily thus did/he fracture his femur” The Bard (“I-90 Business Call”).

Huckleberries

And the answer from Dan Gookin/CdA is: “About $5,000.” The Huckleberries Online question? What’s the difference between a university and a college (re: Whitworth College’s announced intention to upgrade to a university) … “Deputy responded to remove a deceased beaver and the log it was carrying at the time of death from the roadway” – Bonner County sheriff’s log. Road kill? And fire wood? In some parts of North Idaho, that’s hard to beat … Did K-County Commish Gus Johnson and CdA mogul Duane Hagadone get into a phone shouting match over the recently defeated local-option sales tax? Secondary sources say so … “Stop supporting terrorists – spend your gas dollars here” – sightem by John Livingston/Spokane, on readerboard of the Maxwell House restaurant/bar in Spokane’s West Central neighborhood … Question: “Do you know why Cougars can’t give change for a dollar?” Answer: “They always lose the fourth quarter!” commenter Eagle Eye, from the Huckleberries Online.

Parting Shot

The Kootenai County Prosecutor’s Office has a nifty new coloring book to prepare kids for court appearances. Mebbe Prosecutor Bill Douglas should hand them out for adults, too. After all, the book contains good tips. Prior to court appearances, it recommends that kids get a good night’s sleep, dress comfortably and eat a good breakfast. And it provides a good list of rules, such as No. 1: Tell the truth. And how many adults would know what to do if nature calls when they’re on the stand? By the book: “You tell the judge you need to go.” Adult version: Use a euphemism for tinkle.