Idaho Voices

Imagine a sports program where winning isn’t the emphasis, but good sportsmanship, building relationships, having a good attitude and a good time is. Pretty neat, huh? That’s the philosophy at Post Falls Parks and Recreation. When a youngster signs up for soccer, baseball, basketball, flag football or volleyball, the parents and child together must sign a code of conduct. The parents “vow to provide positive support, care and encouragement at all times for their child,” display good sportsmanship, put the emotional and physical welfare of the child above their own urge to win, support coaches and officials, keep the events drug, alcohol and tobacco free, prompt their child to treat other players, coaches, fans and officials with esteem regardless of race, sex, creed or ability, and much more.

Without looking, do you know when your driver’s license expires? Trish Gannon, the owner/janitor of the River Journal mag, does – now. Seems Trish was opening an account at a Sandpoint credit union when she was asked for her license. That launched a sequence of events, climaxing with her failure to pass her written driver’s test. You see, Trish’s license expired in October – ah, October 2007. So Trish decided to drop by the DMV next time she visited Sandpoint from her Clark Fork home. Only to discover that she had to take a written test as required by Idaho law when a license has lapsed for more than a year. The eye test wasn’t a problem. Afterward, Trish paused to ask others in the waiting area whether she should read the driver’s manual before proceeding because, she said, “I guarantee, I won’t get any of the distance questions.” She was right. She missed the distance questions by a country mile. And was forced to ask her brother to act as a personal chauffeur for the three days she had to wait to take the test again. Go ahead and laugh, Trish told readers of her Politically Incorrect column, but remember “one of these days I’m going to be back out there on the road, with all of you who laughed at me.” You’ve been warned. Smacked Down

More than 20 people showed up at Spirit Lake’s City Park on May 2 to clean up the town’s skate park. The event was the first of several monthly work days planned by the Spirit Lake Parks and Recreation Commission to address parks projects and areas in need of improvement throughout town.

BOISE – As Idaho’s legislative session stretched toward the record books last week, Eye on Boise was pushed, as they say, from bad to verse. A sample: An ode to the 114th Day

Post Falls Promenade LLC v. 3592 E. Third Ave., Ste. 102, commercial, cake shop, valued at $20,000.

Now that we’ve had time to clean up our gardens, it’s pretty obvious what took a beating over the winter. Roses were hit hard by the cold both at the beginning of the winter and in March. In December, temperatures dropped from the fairly normal 30s and 40s into the minus-10s in the space of a couple of days. As a result, roses that weren’t quite dormant got hit hard. In March the reverse happened. Roses were beginning to come out of dormancy when the single-digit temperature hit in mid-March. The result is plants with blackened stems that look like they are dead.

Dalton Elementary School will hold a Party of the Century May 15 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. to mark its 100th year on the corner of Hanley and Mount Carol. Expect food, fun and games at the party. Built in 1909, under the guidance of County Superintendent of Schools H.H. Barton of Coeur d’Alene, the original school opened with an enrollment of 32 students. A complete list of the original student unfortunately is not available.

Prepared foods and ingredients from Italian recipes and around the world are the specialty at Rosa’s Italian Market and Deli. Located at 120 E. Fourth Ave. (across from Post Falls City Hall), the business plans to open this week. Its building is a house built in 1910 and is the only Post Falls house on the National Register of Historic Places.

Today “BIG RIVER” (MUSICAL) – 2 p.m., Lake City Playhouse, 1320 E. Garden Ave., Coeur d’Alene, 667-1323. Repeats Thursday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

You may have heard about that recent “Fried Green Tomatoes” episode in the KMC hospital parking lot – you know the one in which a couple of drivers locked bumpers in a tiff over a handicap parking spot. But did you know that former Hauser Lake councilwoman D.J. Nall/Hauser Thoughts had a similar experience? In the same parking lot? Seems D.J. accidentally triggered another driver’s antipathy by pulling into a spot she wanted. D.J. tried to apologize as the other driver turned the air blue. She even offered to move her car. Not good enough. The Road Rager sped off to find another spot, still fuming. And D.J. sped off on foot to the hospital, scared to death that the hothead would get into the elevator with her. “Some people are just way too sensitive about parking spaces,” sums up D.J. “But then, maybe she was headed for the psychiatric ward.” Tawanda lives. So be careful out there. 60 ain’t old

To the owner of Gateway Cafe: Christina really deserves a raise, or at least a big hug and some dark chocolate. The poor girl found herself in the undesirable position of running the entire front of the house solo on a busy Sunday, but she held it together with a stoic smile Super Glued to her face. She had us a little worried at first, as we hovered in the entryway for a few long minutes waiting in vain for guidance. A customer finally said we could just sit wherever and the waitress would eventually find us. We shimmied into the only booth left open, located directly next to the restrooms. “Mmm. Smells like Smarties.” mentioned Q.

Holy Family Catholic School, 3005 W. Kathleen Ave., in Coeur d’Alene, competed in the Northern Lights Regional Math Festival on April 28. The day-long competition took Holy Family’s fourth-grade class to St. Mary’s Catholic School in Moscow, Idaho. The 23 students carpooled in 10 cars in snowy weather and slick roads, dressed in their team shirts, for a day of math with more than 100 students.