D.F. Oliveria

The Kootenai County Prosecutor's Office stood up for abused women everywhere by taking James Loss to trial last week - although his victim wouldn't help. In fact, Jerrene Loss denied her husband had beaten her to a pulp last year aboard their boat. She testified she'd suffered her near-fatal injuries from a fall. But the evidence couldn't be denied - blood-soaked towels, clots of hair and blood smeared throughout the boat and Mrs. Loss' desperate S.O.S.: "He's killing me in the middle of Lake Coeur d'Alene." If ever there was a classic example of how domestic abusers' control their victims, this was it. Said Deputy Prosecutor Rick Baughman: "Jerri Loss is a double victim here. She had to endure this beating and she's stuck on this guy emotionally." The prosecutor's office could have dropped the case and abandoned Mrs. Loss to her fate. It didn't. As a result, the jury found James Loss guilty - and his wife may heal enough while he's in prison to thank her rescuers.

When Vernon Baker became the first black World War II veteran to receive the Medal of Honor, Idaho Republicans, the state's ruling party, went ga ga. Most of Idaho's congressional delegation traveled to rural Benewah County, where Baker lives, to honor him at the annual Lincoln Day celebration this year.

A year ago, six men and two women - endowed with life tenure and masquerading as impartial arbitrators - overturned the will of Washington voters with an unprecedented ruling that Americans have a "right to die." In other words, eight cultural elitists from the San Francisco-based court outvoted 810,623 Washingtonians.

Ultimately, the 1997 Idaho Legislature might be remembered best for its inability to designate the potato as its state vegetable.

By and large, I'm proud of The Idaho Spokesman-Review endorsements for North Idaho legislative seats last fall. Those who won with our blessing performed solidly in an otherwise lackluster session. Those who won without our endorsement failed to distinguish themselves - other than, possibly, state Rep. Jeff Alltus, R-Coeur d'Alene. Our picks? For state senate: Shaun Keough, Larry Kenck, Gordon Crow and Jack Riggs; for state representative: Rush Balison, Wayne Meyer, Alan Wasserman, Jim Clark, Don Pischner and Larry Watson. Alltus beat Wasserman and then carried a number of sensible bills including one that could mean more sales-tax revenue for Kootenai County. On the other hand, he unsuccessfully proposed a constitutional amendment that would limit Idahoans from using initiatives to challenge hunting practices. That was a bad one. Still, Alltus probably is the north's most improved sophomore. The best North Idaho delegation? District 4 - with Riggs, Pischner and Watson. Hands down. Yes, Oldtown can do something about Jones Oldtown Mayor Brian Orr is right to be concerned about his town's image after a city councilman erected homemade signs promoting "Patriot Country" and "Idaho militia." But he's wrong to think there's nothing the town can do about it because the signs are on private property. Rather than wring their hands, upset residents should exercise their democratic privilege to recall Councilman Cliff Jones. The problem is not going to go away. In fact, Jones claims that several others are asking for duplicates of his signs, which are made to look like official Idaho road signs. Oldtown has become a center for ultraconservative activism since the election of right-wing Bonner County Commissioners Bud Mueller and Larry Allen. A recall effort against Jones might determine if the far right has seized control of Oldtown, too.

Doug Eastwood, Randy Haddock and other North Idaho Centennial Trail boosters deserve Sweet Potatoes - for enduring. For a decade, these guys have pushed ahead with the 23-mile trail despite constant opposition and hurdles. Now, work has begun on the final 3-1/2-mile section between Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene. When it is completed this summer, the trail will offer uninterrupted use from the state line to Higgens Point, five miles east of Coeur d'Alene. At one point, stiff resistance from the Pinevilla neighborhood and Seltice Way industry jeopardized the whole section between Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene. In fact, former Kootenai County Commissioner Frank Henderson tried to play Solomon by proposing that the midsection be dumped and the Spokane River serve as a symbolic link between the two communities instead. But it's a good thing trail advocates kept their eye on the goal. It's hard to bike on water. Commissioners already do enough damage Hmmm. I'm having second thoughts about reconfiguring Kootenai County government. In the past, I've opined that it might be a good idea to appoint rather than elect the coroner, treasurer, assessor and clerk. You never know when our biennial popularity contests will produce a dud in one of those offices. But goofy actions by commissioners from Kootenai and Bonner counties these past 2 months have changed my perspective. Now, I'm leaning toward government that's more cumbersome rather than giving one or two radicals the power to appoint important county officials - or to dispose of good people who now hold those offices. If anything, we should increase the number of commissioners and make candidates run within districts, thus diluting the power of a demagogue who might slip into office.

On the surface, approval of an English-only resolution by Kootenai County commissioners last week appears harmless. A confirmation of North Idaho's status quo. But it isn't. It's a cruel action that smacks of the racist, nativist movements of yesteryear that hounded the Irish, Yiddish, Germans, immigrant women, Native Americans, Japanese, southern Europeans and even Finns.

Radical feminists aren't going to be happy - if, indeed they're capable of being happy - until our wives, sisters and mothers are coming home in body bags by the dozens, like their unlucky forefathers before them.

Well, you can thank state Sen. Jerry Twiggs, R-Blackfoot, and his legislative playmates for making the citizens' initiative process harder. (As if it weren't hard enough already.) On Monday, the Senate voted 26-9 to approve Twiggs' bill requiring initiative boosters to obtain the signatures of at least 6 percent of the eligible voters in 22 Idaho counties. Basically, the bill kills bona fide grassroots efforts. Only initiative sponsors with enough money to hire signature gatherers in the boondocks will succeed now. The only silver lining here is that all North Idaho senators - Gordon Crow, Clyde Boatright, Shawn Keough and Jack Riggs - voted against this one. On the House side, where it was passed 48-18, three of our lawmakers voted against it, two for it (Reps. Hilde Kellogg, R-Post Falls, and Larry Watson, D-Wallace) and three skipped out. The new law almost makes me want to sign a One Percent Initiative petition. Gotcha. A little off the sides and square the back First, last November's ice storm was partly responsible for Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler deciding to cancel the annual skinhead conference. Now, we have another silver lining from that freak storm: Tubbs Hill logging. That's right. Coeur d'Alene's urban wilderness area was overgrown and needed thinning. But what bureaucrat in his right mind would have risked tree huggers' wrath by suggesting such a thing? Now, nature has taken its course. The helicopter logging of Tubbs Hill this week has attracted crowds, including "greenies," who have to admit that Idaho Forest Industries crews are doing a good job. Who knows? A careful thinning approach might work on the national forests, too.

Who's the Coeur d'Alene School District trying to kid? On Monday, school officials reluctantly released the terms of a $47,000 buyout agreement with former instructor Paul Mather. Superintendent Doug Cresswell claimed the Coeur d'Alene School Board accepted the settlement to save money and to protect the five girls who had brought sexual assault charges against Mather. But a father of one of the young teenagers doesn't accept that explanation. Nor do we.

In light of the English-only controversy taking root in Kootenai County, I was amused by a piece of Portuguese history I found in cyberspace. In "Azoreans to California: A Passionate People's Immigrant Song," author Robert L. Santos points out that Joao Rodrigues Cabrilho, a Portuguese captain sailing under the Spanish flag, and his crew were the first Europeans to set foot in California. Cabrilho sighted San Diego Bay on Sept. 18, 1542. But that's not the amusing part. The Spanish government that ruled afterward allowed foreigners to stay in California IF "they would convert to Catholicism, raise their children Catholic and, interestingly, (drum roll, please) not teach the English language." The Spanish, you see, feared losing control of California, which they eventually did - to the Mexican government in the early 19th Century. As the writer of Ecclesiastes observed millennia ago: "There is nothing new under the sun."

In its pell-mell rush to wrap up the 54th session, the Idaho Legislature is flirting with a legal nightmare that Washington voters had the good sense to reject. Earlier this week, the Idaho House of Representatives passed a measure giving property owners a new way to seek damages, without going to court, if a government decision reduces their property value more than 10 percent.

So, the Idaho Legislature, which has whined all session about tight times despite a $1.4 billion budget, now wants to give a tax break to spec-home builders? C'mon. What building industry lobbyist threw a spell over the Idaho House of Representatives? The House unanimously passed a bill that would make newly built houses exempt from property taxes until they are occupied. The only North Idaho legislator who didn't endorse this nonsense was state Rep. Jeff Alltus, R-Hayden Lake, one of four who missed the vote. Unless the Senate rejects this bill, we property owners will have to dig deeper to make up for the lost tax revenue from the building industry. In Kootenai County, where 1,900 homes are on the market, property taxpayers could take a big hit. Can you say "corporate welfare," children? We should remember votes like this when our "representatives" come around, hat in hand, seeking another term. Crow, Boatright play roulette with students

In his never-ending quest for newspaper headlines, Kootenai County Commissioner Ron Rankin finally has outdone himself. He has proposed English be declared the county's official language. Why? Rankin apparently lives in mortal fear that Hispanic hordes from southern Idaho and French-speaking Canadians will invade Kootenai County, introducing bilingualism and multicultural election ballots that will break the bank. Really.

Hmmm. Senate President Pro-tem Jerry Twiggs said the Legislature values its 14,000 state employees even though it decided not to give them a 2 percent annual raise. What with flood damage and falling revenues, there simply wasn't enough money, you know. However, Twiggs and his Statehouse playmates do apparently value some state employees more highly - in particular, those who wait on legislators hand and foot at the Capitol, cooking their lunches, running their errands and keeping us commoners out of their chambers at certain times. That's right: Earlier this session, both houses of the Legislature unanimously voted to award their staffers pay raises that climbed into double figures in some cases. Now, these employees are seasonal and don't have job security. In some cases, they didn't earn all that much. But the hypocrisy isn't lost on the full-time state workers who will go without this year. Sometimes, it's good to be a poor host Kudos to North Idaho College men's and women's basketball teams for winning their Region 18 tournaments at Christianson Gym Saturday - and qualifying for nationals, to boot. For the first time, both teams will be going to nationals in the same year, which says something for men's first-year coach Hugh Watson and women's coach Greg Crimp. Greg, of course, is in the second year of a second stint as head of the women's program. Watson, who worked through some player discipline problems this year, was named coach of the year. Here's hoping the good times continue at the national tournaments.

Significantly, Germany, the erstwhile cradle of Adolf Hitler's master race, is leading the protest against recent breakthroughs in cloning. German Research Minister Juergen Ruettgers called this week for a worldwide ban on cloning humans, denouncing the pro-cloning arguments of some scientists as the same ones used by the Nazis. Said Reuttgers: "We simply cannot stand by and allow humans to be copied. That would be breaking through an ethical barrier that goes far beyond even the barrier of the atomic bomb."

It'd be nice if one of the North Idaho legislators had the guts to vote against making the potato our state vegetable. After all, a million Irish died in the mid-19th century because they relied too much on the potato. But don't bank on any valiant stands. By now, the southern Idaho spud lobby has domesticated most of our solons. So, we'd best learn a few things about our future state symbol. First, "you should never bake an Idaho potato in aluminum foil because it steams the potato, making its texture soggy and mushy instead of dry and fluffy." Secondly, Mr. Potato Head is now 45 years old. Finally, we Northerners can console ourselves with the fact that the first Idaho potato was planted north of the Salmon River, near Lapwai, by missionary Henry Harmon Spalding. That's the closest a real Idaho spud has been to Coeur d'Alene in the last 160 years. We want to know who's buying legislators

So, what do you get when you combine 20 agencies, five years' worth of work, thousands of hours of meetings and community support? Nothing if you live in Oldtown, Idaho. Last week, Bonner County's Dynamic Duo struck again. Republican Commissioners Bud Mueller and Larry Allen rejected a plan to protect a sole source of drinking water for more than 5,000 residents of Oldtown and nearby Newport, Wash. This, despite the fact that Washington residents were going to pick up 80 percent of the tab. Why the rejection? Property rights, silly. Despite all the time and effort put into this proposal, Mueller and Allen hearkened to the voice of a handful of dissenters. They and their handlers believe a man ought to be able to do anything he wants with his property - and his neighbor be damned. Daggumit. What foolishness. Teacher gets by with help from his friends

If nothing else, whistleblower Jerry Roth deserves credit for drawing attention to possible abuse of handicapped children at a Coeur d'Alene middle school.

Sometimes, state Sen. Clyde Boatright, R-Rathdrum, seems to be in over his head at the Idaho Legislature. During the 1996 session, for example, he nearly derailed a two-year effort to allow optional forms of county government by voting both ways on the same bill. This year, he mistakenly voted "yes" in the Health and Welfare Committee on a bill establishing a $55 license fee for restaurants for health inspections. He actually opposed the legislation, which squeaked out of committee by one vote - his - and then was approved by the full Senate. Last week, he moved to kill a bill that would have protected carnival operators from lawsuits filed by injured riders - his bill. Still, Clyde gets good marks from Senate leaders, mainly, I suppose, because he tends to vote as they do. So, they probably should clarify their marching orders to Sen. Votes Right to avoid future goof-ups.

Last year, the director of the Kootenai County Humane Society's shelter killed an estimated 500 dogs himself. Some 2,000 cats were "put to sleep," too. Each of those animal deaths indicted irresponsible pet owners and was a waste - a waste of money spent euthanizing and disposing of the animals and a waste of an animal that could have benefited other pets.

Some "concerned citizens" were fit to be tied last week after learning Kootenai County had shelled out $2,000 to feed and fete county workers. County officials fielded calls from constituents who complained that the annual appreciation breakfast Thursday was a waste of money, blah, blah, blah. Well, I think the county did a good thing - and so does tax-miserturned-commissioner Ron Rankin. His Rankiness not only participated in the event but also muttered a few kind words about the assessor's office. Really. He knows county employees need a pat on the head, just like us working stiffs in the private sector. Many private firms reward good work through bonuses and Christmas parties. If the breakfast inspires employees to think up cost-saving ideas, its cost will be well worth it. In fact, Employee of the Year Carol Grubbs easily covered the breakfast expense by developing a joint purchasing system. So there. No surprises in term-limit ruling "Hot Potatoes" hates to say "I told you so ..." (OK, OK, "Hot Potatoes" loves to say "I told you so") but the U.S. Supreme Court has just shot down another term-limits proposal. The court outlawed an Arkansas initiative - similar to one passed by Idaho and seven other states in November - that would have required candidates to state their position on term limits for the election ballot. In an earlier ruling, the high court had said states can't limit congressional terms. So, for those keeping score at home, Monday's decision means term-limit supporters are 0-for-2 in U.S. Supreme Court cases. Consider that track record next time a paid signature gatherer asks you to sign a term-limits petition. For the record, the court ruling also means all four initiatives on the 1996 ballot failed, including three opposed by the voters. Curiously, Kootenai County was the only Idaho county to pass all four. That's nothing to be proud of.

Idahoans should be asked one last time if they really meant it two years ago when they approved wide-ranging term limits. Donna Weaver of Hayden Lake, chairwoman of the Citizens for Federal Term Limits campaign, thinks they did. The associations of cities, counties and school administrators think they didn't.

Fortunately, most Americans living outside the Pacific Northwest don't know the difference between Iowa and Idaho. And if they do, they're more likely to think about russets than racists and mine waste. Still, the state suffers from an image problem that's based more on fiction than fact. Becoming the adopted home of racist Richard Butler, survivalist Randy Weaver and ex-Detective Mark Fuhrman will do that to a rural state.