Huckleberries: Interim NIC president gets an earful from elephants

Huckleberries hears … the Repubs were waiting in ambush when North Idaho College interim prez Priscilla Bell paid a courtesy call on the Pachyderm Club on Friday morning. Priscilla, as she prefers to be called rather than Dr. Bell, had asked for the chance to speak to the Republicans. She probably regretted that move when the elephants stampeded. One demanded to know if she was a candidate for the position she now holds while a search committee hunts for Michael Burke’s replacement. She’d have an unfair advantage in the search process if she was interested in the job, it was noted. The prez deferred that question to NIC PRmeister Kent Propst. Another queried her about the political makeup of the faculty – conservative, liberal, middle of the road? Of course, he was dredging up the flap involving student Linda Cook, who received her tuition money back recently after she complained that part-time English instructor Jessica Bryan regularly bashed Republicans and the Bush administration during classroom discussions. That was “European-American” activist Stan Hess’ cue to launch a monologue about the need for the college faculty to reflect the political views of the community. Hess went on so long that former NIC Trustee Fred Ostermeyer interrupted him to say that the Pachyderms had attended the meeting to hear the NIC prez, not him. In other words, pipe down or leave. Which Hess did in a huff. Only to return a few minutes later to leave a tip on the table before leaving again in a huff. Welcome to Kootenai County, Dr. Bell, er, Priscilla.