Idaho Voices

The Coeur d’Alene Public Library, 702 E. Front Ave., will hold reading programs for children of all ages during the month of December. Holly Jolly Holidays programs begin Tuesday and continue through Dec. 18. Each free session includes stories, poems, activities and crafts.

Students and parents at Holy Family Catholic School in Coeur d’Alene showed their appreciation for Principal Karen Durgin on Nov. 19 with more than just an ordinary thank you. Durgin’s students gave her a basket of handmade cards and gifts after a special prayer and then she was serenaded by the barbershop quartet, Coeur D’Nation, made up of Jim Peters, Joe Lykins, Bob Thackston and Dick Wagner.

COEUR D’ALENE – Students interested in attending North Idaho College are invited to NIC’s First Friday campus visitation program Friday at 9 a.m. in the Driftwood Bay Room of NIC’s Edminster Student Union Building. The event will include a campus tour, an advising workshop designed to inform potential students about NIC’s academic and professional-technical programs, and a question-and-answer period.

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

I always enjoy Greek restaurants, but I think the thing that magnetizes me back to them again and again is the dessert. The rest of the meal is just going through the motions, leading up to the grand finale of the rich, honey glazed pastry known as baklava that manages to send both my taste buds and my very soul into a state of bliss. I’ve yet to cross paths with a hunk of baklava that has fallen anywhere short of scrumptious. If it weren’t for fear of questionable looks from dining partners and restaurant staff, my Greek lunch would include a baklava hors d’oeuvre, baklava for the main course, and baklava for dessert, naturally.

BOISE – 2nd District Rep. Mike Simpson says he hasn’t endorsed a candidate in the Republican primary for Idaho’s 1st District congressional seat, though his name appears along with those of U.S. House GOP leaders on an invitation for a Dec. 8 fundraiser for candidate Vaughn Ward in Washington, D.C. Simpson spokeswoman Nikki Watts said, “Mr. Ward asked Congressman Simpson if he could use his name on the event invitation for the event in D.C., and my boss said yes, and he would do the same for any other Republican running in the 1st CD.”

Coeur d’Alene will become the farthest Northwest home of the Texas Roadhouse restaurant chain when it occupies an existing building at 402 W. Neider Ave. in late March. The building originally was an auto parts store and most recently housed a log furniture business. Now with about 310 restaurants in 44 states, Texas Roadhouse specializes in barbecue items and features steaks, ribs, burgers, chicken and fish and has sides of salads, chili, bread and a kids’ menu. The places also have a section selling apparel and music items.

Were weather forecasts really more accurate back in the “good ole days” before the advent of Doppler radar and future trackers? I sometimes get that sentiment from people when I tell them I’m a meteorologist. In the 14 years I have been in this business, I have seen forecast products evolve from the very simplistic, to the very detailed.

For all long-suffering UIdaho Vandal fans, Argonaut News Editor Marcus Kellis offers a unique perspective re: the lopsided results of recent football games w/Boise State. First, Marcus has solid southern Idaho pedigree. He spent his boyhood in Jerome and Meridian. Also, both parents are alums of what was once Episcopalian Boise Junior College – his father earned an associate degree in business, his mother a bachelor’s in technical communications. Now, onward. In a recent column, Marcus admits that Boise State has Idaho beat in “enrollment, football, and number of bowling lanes on campus.” But, he continues, “academics is not chiefly among them, and numbers can tell the story.” Then, he goes on to list Idaho superiority in terms of doctoral degrees, technical and vocational programs, and the amount of money attracted in research grants and contracts ($100M to $37M in 2008-’09). Observes Marcus: “I like to reduce the difference between the University of Idaho and Boise State University to a glib one-liner: they win football games, and we won the National Medal of Arts. But again, that’s glib, and does a disservice – we win football games too, after all.” God bless Robb Akey, everyone. Paranoia tracks deep

Kendra Goodrick- Martinez, the ex-meth dealer who continues to go straight, was an interested observer when Kootenai County voters rejected that jail expansion proposal. She knows first-hand that a bigger jail is needed. In a Huckleberries Online comment, she described a spot of crumbling wall during her stay in the local hoosegow that separated pods that was called the “fax machine.” It was so porous that men and women passed notes back and forth. Space was so jammed in her women’s quarters that there was no ability to segregate known enemies and sex predators. Hence, she said, all sorts of “hijinks” took place outside the view of the security cameras. Worst, she said, was the time a young woman of 19 or 20 hemorrhaged for an hour from a miscarriage because jailers were too busy dealing with other crises. And the two nurses on duty (who handle 175 inmates each) were busy administering insulin shots to diabetics. Kendra concludes by saying that former male prisoners say things were worse on their side. Quips Kendra: “Adding mucho testosterone and subtracting some IQ points may have something to do with it!” Me hates him

Filings from Oct. 28-29. Chapter 7 (liquidation petitions)

Coeur d’Alene Sandy Seright, 1217 N. Fourth St. commercial, framing for mechanical unit, valued at $35,000.

For 11-22-2009

You really have to get accustomed to much less sun this time of year. Aside from the fact we’re down to only about nine hours of daylight each day, those daylight hours are likely to be much cloudier. For both Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, the months of November, December and January are the wettest months of the year. On days when it is not raining or snowing, the moist ground, low sun angle, and cooler temperatures will also lead to higher instances of fog in the area. Unless we have a dry northerly flow – it is easy to be fooled into anticipation with early morning sunshine. Stratus can quickly fill the sky; however, as early morning sunshine evaporates moisture from the ground and returns it to us in the form of low clouds and fog an hour later.

COEUR D’ALENE – North Idaho College’s Outdoor Pursuits will present the Warren Miller winter sports film “Dynasty: Celebrating 60 Years of Filmmaking.” at 6:30 tonight in the Boswell Hall Schuler Performing Arts Center. Lookout Pass is co-sponsoring the event and will distribute two-for-one lift ticket vouchers to all ticketholders.

Lake City High School is helping people in need and getting into the holiday spirit with its annual food drive. LCHS students and staff will be collecting nonperishable food, frozen turkeys and used cell phones through Wednesday.