Huckleberries: Casting wallet away one thing, but fishing license worth a dive

Taryn Hecker-Thompson, of Twin Lakes, had one of those “D’oh!” moments at Sonic restaurant on Highway 41 recently – you know, those times when you want to slap your head after you mess up, like Homer Simpson does. While waiting for an Orange Cream Slush that was calling her name, Taryn picked up trash in her vehicle, put it in a McDonald’s bag, and tossed it in the garbage – along with the wallet she’d handled to pay for her drink. Taryn noticed the wallet missing the next day and remembered that the trash she’d tossed at Sonic seemed heavy. Taryn wasn’t too worried about losing her driver’s license or Social Security card. Those can be replaced. She was more concerned about tossing her fishing license. You can’t take the North Idaho out of the girl.

It ain’t me, babe

Huckleberries can guess part of the back story to a sign stenciled in white letters on that dark-blue van parked along the curb near Borah Elementary in Coeur d’Alene, addressed to “Dear Lady.” It reads: “I own a home next to the school, I like this van, and now I’ve been profiled for driving home. I work at the Hayden Library, and my wife nurses the dying, you owe us an apology.” Seems someone reported the van as the possible vehicle sought by cops in Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls for several attempts at child enticement. On April 23, another blue van was parked about three blocks away from the one with the sign. At the moment, you probably can pick up a blue van cheaply in the Coeur d’Alene area.

No pot o’ gold

You may have heard that children at Bryan Elementary in Coeur d’Alene found asbestos-laden tiles while digging by that old oak tree in the schoolyard. But you probably don’t know why the kids were digging. There’s a good chance they were seeking buried treasure – leprechaun gold. Bryan School children know that a leprechaun lives in the old oak tree. And he reportedly buried his gold somewhere nearby. Happily, the broken tiles contained a benign form of asbestos. Hey, it beats playing the Idaho Lottery.

Huckleberries

How about a show of hands from the four drivers who parked in those handicap-only spots at Finucane Park/Hayden Wednesday afternoon – you know, the quartet who had their license numbers taken down and reported to Deputy Dawgs? Tsk. tsk … Poll: A slight majority, 53 percent, of my Huckleberries Online readers aren’t bugged that so many Washington boaters use North Idaho waterways. But 45 percent are. … Kris Crocker, KXLY chief meteorologist, offered this Quotable Quote last week for our never-ending springer (spring-winter): “If you don’t have anything nice to say, you’re probably a weather forecaster in Spokane.” … Syd Albright couldn’t have been in better hands when he collapsed during U.S. Sen. Jim Risch’s speech to the Pachyderm Club in Coeur d’Alene Friday. Two doctors were a few feet away, including former county coroner Robert West.

Parting shot

Luckily, my wife received a warning and not a ticket from an ISP trooper when she tried to cross four-lane Highway 95 at an intersection without a traffic light – and paused in the median. As everyone does. But she learned from the trooper that she’d pulled a no-no. You can’t stop while crossing or turning left at Highway 95 intersections without lights (between Appleway and Wyoming, north of Coeur d’Alene). You’ve been warned.