Error will haunt her for months

Marianne Love hates journalism mistakes – so much so that she equates the feeling she gets from them to running over a dog. Which she has also done. In fact, the Slight Detour blogger had a sign tacked to the board above the light table when she advised the award-winning Cedar Post student newspaper at Sandpoint High, reading: “Do It Right.” Marianne was haunted by those words recently when she realized she’d snapped a photo of the wrong house to illustrate a Sandpoint Magazine article about Sarah Palin. The house on North Fourth where the Alaska governor spent her first three months of life is next to the one submitted to the mag. I’ve made some doozy errors, too – like the time I wrote a feature on a local city clerk and used a wrong surname. And the time I described an ex-First Lady as “the late Lady Bird Johnson” when she was very much alive. And the time I referred to ex-WSU QB Ryan Leaf as “Bryan” in an editorial. Luckily, such snafus are forgotten. But Marianne’s wrong-house photo has longer shelf life. You see, the winter edition of Sandpoint Magazine will circulate six months – and serves as a historical chronicle of sorts. Laments Marianne in her Slight Detour blog: “I screwed up on history.” To apologize, she took a jar of apple jelly to the man who lives in the wrong house. Who greeted her news with a big smile and this: “I’ll have a story to tell every time I serve this jelly.”

Nearly Nekkid At UI

Sure, Huckleberries knows the winners of the recent Nearly Naked Dash at University of Idaho: Austin Nichols (if there was a Most Undressed category) and “Vandal ‘I’ Girls” Amanda Russell and Alexa Allen (Best Undressed). But let’s back up first. The Nearly Naked Dash, as explained by Halley Griffin/Moscow-Pullman Daily News, was devised two years ago to collect clothing for the needy. Students gather fully clothed in the commons area, disrobe as much as they dare, stretch and then scamper across campus wearing a smile and little else. Nichols pranced only in a flesh-colored thong. Quoth (from the Daily News): “I’m a bit of an exhibitionist. I like to be as naked as I can.” Friends Russell and Allen wore black shorts and sports bras, with the words “too legit to quit” written across their thighs. Across their backs read “You wish we” and “were naked,” and when they stood together, gold paint on their torsos formed a capital “I.” Yeah, Nearly Nekkid runners don’t measure up to the streakers of yesteryear. But they’re more productive. The 50 participants contributed six or seven bags of clothes to the Sojourners Alliance.

Huckleberries

Huckleberries hears that there was an awkward moment during the Sandpoint Byway ceremonies in Sandpoint last Thursday. As U.S. Sen. Larry Craig prepared to speak, a wiseacre yelled from the middle of the crowd: “Hey, Larry, are you going to do a soft shoe dance?” Some glanced over at the shouter, kind of upset. Some snickered. But Craig talked without missing a toe tap … Props to Barry McHugh, who’ll be prosecutor-elect by the time you read this, for knocking on doors Saturday despite running unopposed. ‘Ere he walked off, I counseled: “Be careful how you use the e-mail once in office.” He smiled and said simply, “You don’t have to worry about that” … My Berry Pickers compiled a list of words online that they don’t want to hear again: Lipstick, McSame, Obamassiah, You betcha, Joe the Plumber (or any other kind of Joe), change, maverick, “my friends” and much more …

Parting shot

Chris Wagar, formerly KHQ’s Idaho newscaster, was one of those who got out of the media when the getting was good. Now, he’s settling into his role as spokesman for Kootenai Medical Center, as well as enjoying his new son and preparing to move into a new house in CdA. Responding to news of KXLY’s layoffs and programs cuts (on the heels of the SR’s big layoff), Chris commented at Huckleberries Online: “This is a sad one to see but not very surprising. We’ve seen this with newspapers, and it was only a matter of time before TV stations started to see it happen to them. It is one of the reasons I got out of TV news and transitioned to something more stable.” Chris relishes his “normal schedule for a great organization like KMC.” And: “Life is great for me, and I hope it goes much better for all of my old colleagues.” Amen.