Let’s milk this thing for all it’s worth

So, there I was minding my own business when Danelle Reagan and Tracy Shewmake stepped through our elevator – with Sophie, a brown-and-white goat from a Spokane Valley farm. Some old goats have visited the S-R over the years. But this was a young one, 4 1/2 weeks old – with my name on it. KCSD Capt. Ben Wolfinger had shipped Sophie my way, probably as a thank-you for well-intentioned Huckleberries that I’ve dropped at his doorstep over the years. Now, I could tell you about the time I spent as a pre-teen milking goats with my cousin in Manteca, Calif. – a never-ending night out of Dante’s “Inferno.” But there’s no shrink or couch nearby as I write this. So, I’ll lay out the options I faced last week: Allow the goat to browse in the S-R’s CdA office (which I considered seriously). Or make a doughnation to Wishing Star Foundation and send the drive-by goaters on their way. Or make a $75 doughnation to the foundation and ask Tracy and Danelle to goat someone else – say, city P&Zer Mary Souza with whom I have an ethnic connection (read: she married a Portuguese fella, and I am a Portuguese fella). Other names came to mind first: Sheriff Rocky Watson, Coeur d’Alene Press Editor Mike Patrick and Prosecutor Bill Douglas. I figured I should pass on goating-for-dollars with Prosecutor Douglas until after the Supreme Court renders its decision on his infamous e-mails. I settled on Mary, who has made headlines with her outspoken criticism of the city’s urban renewal district. In other words, she has gotten their goat. This week, she gets mine.