Idaho Voices

We are only six weeks away from our supposed last frost date of May 15. For many gardeners that means it’s time to start vegetable and flower seeds indoors. There’s lots of information out there about how to start seeds. But often overlooked is how to provide the artificial sunshine that makes your seedlings grow.

In her now-monthly CdA Press column, community scold Mary Souza claimed that Councilman Mike Kennedy intimidated one of her OpenCDA.com gang. And demanded that such intimidation by Mayor Sandi Bloem, ex-LCDC chairman Charlie Nipp, Kennedy, and other city, ahem, knuckle-breakers must stop. Which prompted your Huckleberry Hound to consider possible community intimidators. For some reason, Duane Hagadone’s name popped to mind. So I published an online poll to see who my Merry Hucksters considered to be the most intimidating individual in town. His Duaneness won – with 44 percent of the 108 votes cast. In a distant second among the eight named individuals, with 10 percent of the vote, was – (drum roll, please) moi. (Dang those SR circulation guys!) Interestingly, Kennedy and Souza tied for third, with 7 percent apiece. Bloem and Nipp combined for a total of four votes. Mebbe intimidation, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, too. A blade too wide

Armed with a $250,000 planning grant, Vicki Isakson, project manager of Workforce Innovation Now, has spent the last six months compiling information on ways to attract regional job opportunities, and to align both education and the work force to accommodate those jobs. The Idaho Department of Commerce project is charged with developing a 20-year strategic plan on how to transform our region (defined as the five northern counties of Idaho) from being a timber-dependent economy to an economy that is diversified and focused on emerging industries that provide high growth and high wage jobs.

Five students from the Coeur d’Alene School District have been invited to compete in the 2009 Idaho Geographic Bee Friday at Boise State University. The students will be among 100 elementary and middle-school-age kids who qualified to be in the contest. Max McSwain, a fourth-grader from Borah Elementary, Connor Robertson, a fifth-grader from Fernan Elementary, Sarah Klader, a fifth-grader from Hayden Meadows Elementary, sixth-grader James Soderling from Canfield Middle School, and Clayton Gersten, an eighth-grader from Lakes Middle School, first competed at the school level, and then took a test which they submitted to the National Geographic Society. The top 100 scorers are now on their way to Boise.

Filings from Feb. 21-27 Chapter 7 (liquidation petitions)

Coeur d’Alene

For 03-22-2009

Spring is officially here according to the calendar, but we are all aware of how often Mother Nature tends to ignore such details. This month’s cold streak continues with average temperatures now about seven degrees below normal. Though average highs are in the lower 50s, as of Wednesday neither Spokane nor Coeur d’Alene had seen temperatures that warm yet. Spokane continues to hold on to third place in regard to its snowiest winters on record, with just over 89 inches of snow for the season. Coeur d’Alene, with 136.1 inches, trails in second place behind its record winter of 2007-’08. For those who are already looking ahead to the warmer temperatures of the new season and the chance to get the garden going this year, you might want to take a hint from last year. La Niña conditions, while weakening and expected to dissipate by July, point to below average temperatures across our part of the country for the next several months.

I’ve been thinking about cell phones lately. I want my phone to go ring-ring-ring when someone’s calling me. It’s unnatural for phones to attract attention with “When the Saints Go Marching In.” And I really hate that vibrating thing, where it jumps across the table or buzzes your leg. I want my phone to have a bigger keypad so I don’t have to file my fingernails to a point to hit the key I want on the first try. I do like the phone book feature, because at my age, it’s hard to keep all those numbers in my head. And voice mail is nice because I sometimes don’t answer the phone because I’m in a public ladies room (don’t you hate those conversations you overhear in the next stall?), actually having an in-person conversation with a living, breathing person, or have forgotten to turn the phone on in the first place.

On March 11, several leaders of the Sandpoint community attended a special town hall meeting. The gathering of local business leaders, community activists, media representatives and nonprofit board members was organized by Intermountain Community Bancorp CEO Curt Hecker. His message was one of hope, and the goal of the meeting was to enlist the help of the community in identifying what is truly important to the Sandpoint area leaders beyond just making a profit – or as Hecker said, “identify what is relevant.” Hecker’s hope is the information he gathers will assist ICB in helping bring failing businesses back to their feet, and strengthen the financial support of the nonprofit organizations that do much to support vital programs in the community. In addressing the group, Hecker acknowledged that his job, like many others in the banking industry, has been a little stressful lately.

Today BLUES JAM – 4 p.m., Linger Longer Lounge, 6262 W. Maine St., Spirit Lake, 623-2311.

Coeur d’Alene Press honchos should know by now that they can’t operate an online comments section on the cheap. The Press, I believe, still uses volunteers to review comments for inappropriate content. On Tuesday, the moderator was doing his duty by trying to bring attention to anonymous Freedom For All who posted a link to an vile racist music video. Freedom For All left his garbage under an online article about a Nontombi Naomi Tutu speech to the 12th annual Human Rights Banquet. Where it stayed for five hours. The Press was more vigilant, pulling down other racist comments attracted by the story about the local appearance of the daughter of Nobel Prize winner Desmond Tutu. However, racist Freedom For All struck back by posting his foul link in five other spots on the Press online site later in the day. Around town, the Press online section is notorious for inappropriate posts. Either, it should require registration to remove posts from serial cranks and racists or pay someone full-time to monitor the site. This, or get chamber manager Jonathan Coe a year’s supply of Tums. Home sweet home

Coeur d’Alene police Chief Wayne Longo walked into the state’s Regional Advisory Committee on Substance Abuse on March 12 expecting reports on drug prevention efforts by various agencies and nonprofits working together to end alcohol and drug abuse. But the group surprised him with its coveted Community Services Award instead. Longo was honored for helping develop the Meth Is My Neighbor prevention program, enforcing underage drinking laws in North Idaho and “anytime we need a speaker, he’s (there),” said Tammy Rubino of the committee. Longo also was a prime mover behind Coeur d’Alene’s successful “Turn in Your Prescription Meds,” Rubino said.