Idaho Voices

BOISE – Former GOP state Rep. Jana Kemp has launched her independent campaign for governor, now that she’s surpassed the number of required verified signatures on her petition for candidacy by several hundred. Candidates for governor of Idaho can either collect more than 1,000 verified voter signatures or pay a $300 fee to get on the ballot. Kemp says she’ll run on “a platform of jobs, education, energy, fairness and responsibility.”

Today “A Musical About Marriage” – 2 p.m., Sixth Street Melodrama, 212 Sixth St., Wallace, (208) 752-8871.

Good for achieving a New Year’s resolution, fitness is the major topic today. Describing Precision Fitness as specializing in one-on-one, high-intensity-resistance- training programs, owner Scott Stockwell this past week expanded his business from Coeur d’Alene to Hayden. The new facility is in a 2,688-square-foot space at 8252 N. Wayne Drive.

Looking for a place to get away but don’t want to stand in line at airports or battle the crowds of bigger cities? This week in Sandpoint, residents and visitors will celebrate the 37th Annual Winter Carnival. With several days of festivities planned, organizers say that the old favorites will return and new ones will be added to the roster. The carnival kicks off with the popular Taste of Sandpoint Thursday at the Sandpoint Events Center from 5 to 8 p.m. This carnival tradition showcases food from more than a dozen Sandpoint restaurants. Patrons can purchase food and beverage tickets at the door at $1 each; and organizers say the average cost of a sample dish, beer or glass of wine ranges from $3 to $7.

Ramsey Elementary School will kick off itsWATCH D.O.G.S., or Dads of Great Students, program on Tuesday with a dads and kids pizza night from 6 to 7 p.m. at the school. The program is the safe-schools initiative of the National Center for Fathering and was created in response to the 1998 Jonesboro, Ark., school shooting. Since its inception, WATCH D.O.G.S. has spread to more than 800 schools in more than 30 states.

It didn’t take Dan Gookin long to return to bashing CPD Blue spokeswoman Sgt. Christie Wood. Ornery Gookin reinvented himself as Mr. Nice Guy last fall in a council bid that fell short of unseating incumbent Deanna Goodlander. In doing so, he put distance between himself and past nasty remarks about Christie, whom he has called “Sgt. Cupcake” and “a snake.” Now, he’s back on the attack against Wood, questioning in an online comment the quality of a news release she wrote about the downtown shooting involving Coeur d’Alene businessman Adam Johnson – after she’d been up all night collecting information about the crime. Bill McCrory, one of Gookin’s easily agitated playmates at Mary Souza’s OpenCDA.com, bloviated at length about – gadzooks! – the improper use of an apostrophe by Sgt. Wood in the release. All of which prompted Sgt. Wood to offer to bake a made-to-order cupcake to any of my online readers who can explain why Gookin is angry at her 24/7. Berry Picker “Eagle Eye” may have won the prize with his response: “Gookin is intimidated by an attractive woman who carries a gun!” To Kitty with love

Some pink or no pink? It’s a question on the lips of thousands of smiling Red Robin servers across the USA and Canada. They’re asking if you want your burger cooked either medium or medium-well, but the question is evocative of something that might float through the mind of a fine artist at work. A dab of orange here perhaps, a few splashes of green there, tough to decide on the pink. It’s actually an oddly appropriate connection to make. Red Robin restaurants are like the pop art movement of the ’60s, taking a mundane everyday concept, the burger chain, and presenting it in a cartoonish, somewhat ironic and ultimately appealing way.

With chilly temperatures, it may take a leap of imagination to realize spring is coming soon and with it the 34th annual Lilac Bloomsday Run. But to help fortify New Year’s resolutions to get in shape, early registration for Bloomsday is now open at www.bloomsdayrun.org. Those who sign up by Feb. 14 will have a chance to win a trip for two to one of Seattle’s most popular races, the St. Patrick’s Day Dash on March 14, 2010.

New listings Annual All Spokane Area High School Reunion – Feb. 22, at Fortuna d’Oro RV Park Recreation Hall, 13650 N. Frontage Road, Yuma, Ariz. Contact Bobbie Anders at (509) 863-3097, (928) 276-4134 or abarbara11@yahoo.com for more information.

Vaccination Liberation Support Group – monthly meetings for those who are questioning the safety of vaccines and are seeking information and options; Sandpoint, (208) 255-2307; Coeur d’Alene, (208) 765-8421. AIDS Coalition – For meetings information, call the North Idaho AIDS Coalition, (208) 665-1448; in Spokane, call the Inland Northwest AIDS Coalition, (208) 622-0721.

New Year’s Day marked the first polar plunge here in Bayview. Not to be out gunned by Sanders Beach in Coeur d’Alene, a few hardy souls put the word out that there would be a mid-winter swim at the Lake Pend Oreille public boat launch at 2 p.m. Sensing that there wouldn’t be a conflict with boats launching at the same time, they went ahead with plans to take to the water. More than 30 hardy souls showed up all prepared to bare their skins. Actually for the most part, skins were not overly bare with one exception. There is always one. A fat male showed up in a scanty thing approaching a thong. Once dressed down, he pranced about thrusting his pelvis forward in a sexual manner. I guess we could have survived that, if it weren’t for the dozen or so kids ranging from 3 years old to maybe 7, watching with some real odd expressions.

So, how are you liking this “El Niño” winter so far? As I write this article, the Midwest is once again bracing for another winter storm. Just two weeks ago, Oklahoma City picked up more than 14 inches of snow during a Christmas Eve blizzard. Even Dallas has seen several inches of snow so far this season (3.2 inches). A quick peek outside locally, and I see a street devoid of any traces of the white stuff. Most folks here were greeted by pouring rain to start 2010.

Today Charley Packard (originals) - 6 p.m., Spuds Grill, 102 N. First St., Sandpoint; (208) 265-4311.

Filings from Dec. 9-10 Chapter 7

Coeur d’Alene Accurate Molded Plastics, 3488 W. Industrial Loop, commercial, valued at $664,551.

For 01-03-2010

About 60 employees in Bonners Ferry will be back at their jobs in new buildings in the next few months. Riverside Auto Center and TrussTek lost their major facilities to fires last summer. Riverside Auto Center, which sells Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep vehicles, should be in its two-story, 7,000-square-foot building Feb. 1, according to Bill Hiatt Sr. Originally from Sandpoint, his father, Fran Hiatt, started the Bonners Ferry dealership in 1971 and Bill took ownership in 1974. The family has more than 50 years in the car business. They sold General Motors vehicles until the company downsized nationally. They will have 29 employees in the new place at 6437 Bonner St.