Councilwoman calls activists to order

This & That: So, who were the two individuals in the City Council audience last week reprimanded by Councilwoman Dixie Reid for playing with their laptops and not paying attention during an anti-drug presentation by local high schoolers? Activists Larry Spencer and Dan Gookin. Spencer, in particular, was lashed by Dixie. After all, she said, the students had listened attentively to his comments about the Kroc Center alleging a fill-dirt coverup by the Salvation Army … The L.A. Times article detailing the commotion Duane Hagadone has caused by building a mega-mansion in Palm Desert, Calif., appears on the front page of the S-R today. The Brit Daily Guardian also published a story about the $30M mansion that sprawls over 64,000 square feet on a ridge above the town. My favorite line? “One reader of the Spokane Spokesman-Review, Mr Hagadone’s local paper in Idaho, wrote of the tranquility offered by life in the desert: ‘All you see for miles and miles is rock and cliff and, oops, Hagadone’s house.’ ” That’s gotta hurt … The S-R Opinion Page has launched its own blog, A Matter of Opinion. Huckleberries Online has a link to it … In the St. Maries Gazette-Record last week, Barb Scaroni spotted this gem in an article about Kootenai and Benewah counties opposing the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s bid to put some of their properties into trust status: “In this case, a wealthy tribe seeks to avoid paying property taxes to a county suffering with significant growth issues, unfounded mandates and a 3 percent cap on taxes each year.” And a spelling problem, too.