Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

GOP junket stops at ‘McCuen’ Park

City Councilwoman Kerri Thoreson, of Post Falls, wonders which Kootenai County park is misspelled more often – Q’emiln (pronounced Ka-mee-lin) in Post Falls or the McEuen (pronounced mic-you-en) in Coeur d’Alene. You’d suspect the former, an American Indian name that means “throat of the river.” The 78.5-acre park is located at the south end of the Spokane River Bridge in Post Falls. But the Idaho GOP presented a good case for the latter during a traditional state bus tour by top candidates (Gov. Butch Otter, Lt. Gov. Brad Little & Co.), which made its way to North Idaho on Friday. In the online GOP itinerary, the downtown Coeur d’Alene park was misspelled “McCuen.” Which probably made community booster Mae McEuen, for whom the park is named, spin in her grave at Forest Cemetery.

Not-so-hot wheels

Did you hear the one about the Post Falls couple who were charged with stealing two large power wheels and a cake from Post Falls Wal-Mart East last week? According to Post Falls police, Wal-Mart workers watched the man and the woman select the power wheels and then snag the cake on the way out the door. The occasion? The wife-mother told police that her children were celebrating birthdays – and she wanted to do something nice (by helping herself to $400 in merchandise). Nice sentiment. Lousy parenting example … Huckleberries wonders what it’d be like to have teeth/gums fixed by Coeur d’Alene oral surgeon J.R. Haynie. Who performed superbly as Jean Valjean in the Lake City Playhouse version of “Les Mis.” Do you suppose he relaxes patients and staff by singing a few bars of “Bring Him Home” before he reaches for the drill? … Last Monday, bartender Patrick Jacobs of Mic’s in downtown Coeur d’Alene groused: “Columbus Day is seriously the worst of all holidays, for many reasons, and I especially hate it today because there’s no mail. So the fab new fall clothes I ordered won’t appear ’til tomorrow.”

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: “Each year they fill the local skies – /and also local mouths and eyes” – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Ash Aphids”) … Quotable Quote: “Yes, let’s put her in charge of our public schools. She inspires me. If she can not vote and get elected to office, maybe I can become a professor even though I didn’t finish college” – Taryn Thompson, of Rathdrum, re: GOP superintendent of schools candidate Sherri Ybarra, who rarely votes … “Perhaps the eligible folks in Kootenai County are more shy, more private, or simply less interested in their marriage being plastered all over the local news. I can’t say I blame them, whatever the reasons” – Huckleberries Online blog commenter pseudonymed Doctor Watson, after only three same-sex couples obtained marriage licenses at the Kootenai County Clerk’s Office on Wednesday, the first day in Idaho to do so legally.

Parting shot

Former SReporter David Bond had this to say on my Huckleberries blog last week: “Three things killed newspapers. First was television, which offered cheaper ad rates. Another was Craigslist, which cleaned out classified ad revenue entirely. And last was the herd mentality of the journos themselves, who provide no originality of thought or commentary. It was my life’s profession but good riddance.” And yet I toil on in my 44th year in a business that early 20th century journalist H.L. Mencken described as “the life of kings.” I’m still having fun.