Idaho Voices

Our Daily Bread Soup Kitchen – Offers free lunches each Sunday, 1:30-3 p.m., at Lutheran Church of the Master, 4800 N. Ramsey Road, Coeur d’Alene. Contact Mitch at (208) 660-4309 or mitch@agencysoftware.com. Peace Lutheran Church (LCMC) – Sunday worship at 9:30 a.m. at the new location at 618 E. Wallace Ave., Coeur d’Alene. Pastor Kurt Wandrey serves the new Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ church. Featuring weekly Holy Communion for all baptized believers, fellowship, activities and education for youth, Bible studies and community ministries. Church offices are open from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Call (208) 765-0727 or contact Pastor Wandrey at (208) 818-6790 or www.peace-lutheran.com.

North Idaho Home Educators – Meets the second Tuesday of every month, 1-3:30 p.m., Skate Plaza, Coeur d’Alene; (208) 777-2656. North Idaho Hunting Retrievers Club – Meets the second Monday of the month, 7 p.m., Kootenai County Fairgrounds Wildlife Building; call Matt Newcomb, (208) 664-9382.

We are in the midst of what many people would call the “dog days of summer.” Outside of the occasional wind/dust storm, the days are hot and dry, and weather changes very little on a day-to-day basis. Like many phrases we use to refer to weather, i.e. “March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb,” the “dog days of summer” actually has its origin in astronomy. The ancient Romans considered the period between July 23 to Aug. 23 to be the “dog days,” associating the hot weather with the star Sirius, whose ascent during this period appeared to coincide with sunrise. Sirius is often called the dog star, because it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (a name which means “large dog”). Back in those days, the Romans would even sacrifice a brown dog to appease the rage of the god Sirius, because the hot weather he was thought to bring caused crops to ripen prematurely.

One young animal lover recently saw a baby owl in trouble and took action. Eight-year-old Breanna Levery, of Fairchild Air Force Base, told her mom that a baby owl had fallen out of a tree into a neighbor’s yard. “He fell out of the tree. I saw and heard him. He was all puffed up,” Breanna said.

Classical Christian Academy in Post Falls is reaching out to the community to help them be one of 20 schools across the nation to receive $500,000 each in grants in the Kohl’s Cares $10 million Facebook contest. Members of the community can help Classical Christian Academy win the grant by voting online for the school at www .facebook.com/kohls or http://bit.ly/KohlsCares.

And the readers’ choice is … Kerri Thoreson. In a poll last week to decide who’d be the best choice to stop the never-ending revolving door at KVNI radio, the Post Falls councilwoman was easily the pick of my Huckleberries Online readers, capturing 40 percent of the vote among the seven choices. Another 28 percent said they “don’t care” who parent company KXLY picks to handle the morning host slot recently vacated by Rick and Teresa Lukens, a possible indication that the continuing changes since Dick Haugen left have taken a toll on listeners. Haugen attracted 15 percent of the vote. Brett Bowers and octogenarian Bob Hough each gained 6 percent of the vote, while Dave Walker finished far back with 5 percent. Actually, an entry finished behind Walker. Only one of my Berry Pickers wants to see KXLY send out someone from its downtown Spokane office again. BTW, Candace Smith, an ad exec with KVNI’s parent company, KXLY, sent out a private e-mail Tuesday (which was forwarded to Huckleberries HQ by a Berry Picker) asking for suggestions re: changes the local station can make to expand its audience. You can tell Candace what you think by writing to her at CandaceS@ KXLY.com. But you need to do so by midnight today because she has a ha-huge meeting re: KVNI’s future with higher-ups Monday. Trashing Tubbs Hill

COEUR D’ALENE – Pre-entries are being accepted for the 2010 Kootenai County North Idaho Fair Open Horse Show, to be held Aug. 6 through Aug. 8. The show will offer a variety of classes for horse enthusiasts. All breeds are invited to participate, including registered and unregistered, mules and donkeys.

BOISE – Former Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, who served as President George W. Bush’s Secretary of the Interior from 2006 to January of 2009, has been mum since leaving office about the scandal at Interior’s Minerals Management Service, but he broke his silence last week. “On Sept. 18, 2008, I unequivocally told Congress that the conduct disgusted me and there would be prompt personnel action,” Kempthorne told a congressional committee. “Because that action was under way, I was advised by Interior’s lawyers that I could not discuss it in detail. Now I can, including the fact that we fired people.”

Today Bill Reid (Jazz) – 1 p.m., DiLuna’s, 207 Cedar St., Sandpoint, (208) 263-0846.

It appears there is an upside to the downturn in the economy after all. According to Sandpoint’s city planner Jeremy Grimm the lull in growth has allowed the city and its citizens to work diligently on its comprehensive plan – a map that will help steer Sandpoint’s development and growth for the next 20 years. “It (the economic slowdown) has been a perfect storm in a good way for us,” said Grimm, adding that the plan is in response to the rapid growth experienced earlier this decade. “It allows us to prepare ourselves for the next wave of growth.”

As you know by now, Councilwoman Deanna Goodlander survived the scare of her life when her heart stopped beating five times at Kootenai Medical Center July 7. But did you know that Dan Gookin, Mary Souza and the rest of their Gang That Can’t Shoot Straight at OpenCDA.com foamed for days about a vast City Hall conspiracy to keep Deanna’s illness secret? As Deanna rested in the hospital after her close encounter with the Grim Reaper, Gookin was harrumphing on OpenSewer.com about the public’s right to know about her health. Quoth Gookin: “Hiding such information from the public and – worse – directing city staff to lie about the situation – reminds me of the old Soviet Union or even North Korea. We expect totalitarian states to hide such information from their masses. We don’t expect it here at home, but it’s something people should expect, especially from such a non-transparent and secretive organization like Coeur d’Alene City Hall.” Lying? Soviet Union? Totalitarian? And this guy almost beat Deanna for a council seat? Gookin’s rabble-rousing had the usual effect on the keyboard commandos of his blog. Souza made a snarky remark about Deanna’s role on the council. Another called Deanna “an appalling human being.” A third called her “a dictator.” Classless comments all. And all because none of Gookin’s Gang had the gumption to do what I did right after I heard the news – call Deanna at the hospital. She candidly told me the whole story and was surprised that anyone would raise questions why the public wasn’t told about her illness: “I thought everyone knew.” A brush with fame