Taxi rider takes driver for a ride

There was a time when Dave Turner meticulously reported on crime for the Coeur d’Alene Press. Today, he finds himself on the other side of the police blotter. Now a taxi driver, Dave drove a regular customer to Fred Meyer earlier this month. Only to have the customer run back out of the store and begin tearing the taxi apart in search of a lost wallet. When he couldn’t find his wallet, the customer demanded that Dave take him back to his house. When he didn’t find the wallet there, the customer returned to search the back seat of the car. Then, he accused Dave of taking his wallet and threatened to beat him. Finally, the customer disappeared into his house, stiffing Dave of his fare of $19.37. Which sounds like a worse ordeal than an editor hacking your copy on deadline.

Monday, Monday

Stacy Hudson, of the NIC PR department, has found a down side to the Kroc Center. Seems she spent a recent weekend entertaining her 2-year-old with play at the Kroc Center and pizza. Mind you, this is a 2-year-old who doesn’t suffer anxiety separation. Stacy thinks her kid wouldn’t notice if she headed for Timbuktu for a month. However, the tyke clung to her neck and cried, “Mommy, nooooo,” when she tried to drop him off at day care on the following Monday. Shaken, she texted her husband, seeking comfort. Hubby Dearest responded: “ ‘He’ll be OK. Just had a really good weekend.’ ” Which causes Stacy to wonder whether crummy weekends make Mondays easier. Can anything make Mondays better?

Huckleberries

Scanner Traffic: First Male Voice: “Can you send me two male strippers – Tony and Miguel? 2nd Male Voice: “Sounds like you got a party getting ready to start.” 1st Male Voice: “Hunh?” 2nd Male Voice: “I said it sounds like you got a party ready to start.” 1st Male Voice (chuckling): “10-4. It’s going to be a lot of fun.” At ease. It was a coupla maintenance workers discussing a paint job at North Idaho College … Poet’s Corner: “The lawn is lovely,/green and sleek,/but I must mow now/twice a week” – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Fertilizer Lament”) … Huckleberries hears from Berry Picker MikeS that a full-grown cougar was sighted crossing the road at the end of Upper Twin Lakes recently. A trucker told MikeS that he spotted the big cat when he rolled into town … Gotta Go: A passing motorist doesn’t mind triathlete bicyclists hogging the roadways to practice for the upcoming Ironman Coeur d’Alene. But she is miffed that some of them use the roadsides to pee in front of God and everyone … Huckleberries Poll: A possible issue in this fall’s municipal elections might be city pay. When Merry Hucksters learned that 17 employees earned between $96,000 and $121,000 (and another seven between $80,000 and $95,000), a majority (51 percent to 39 percent) voted that those pay scales were too high.

Parting shot

At Priest Lake, Pecky Cox/As The Lake Churns was blogging when she heard a voice, crying loudly from the water, “Help!” So she grabbed her binoculars and ran to the waterfront. Nothing. Then, the voice cried again: “Help!” This time, she jumped on her Jetski and headed toward two small boats on the water. She kicked herself on the way out that she hadn’t grabbed her lifejacket. When she got to the two boats, she asked if everyone was OK. And was surprised by the answer from a guy who ID’d himself as Jim: “Yes, we were just kidding. We ran out of beer.” He was with a woman named Susan. E-mails Pecky: “I felt soooo stupid. But I would run and go again at first call for help.” Indeed, stupidity was involved in this incident. But not on Pecky’s part.