D.F. Oliveria

Hmmm. Kootenai County Clerk Dan English learned a fact of life about political goof-ups. An elected officeholder should admit a mistake when it's been made, accept the blame and move on. Case in point: the recent discovery that a handful of Tanager Avenue residents had voted in the wrong legislative district - again. The election department, which English, a Democrat, oversees, found out earlier this year that voters living along the small new street had cast ballots in the wrong district in the primary. The department notified residents of the error by mail. But it still handed out the wrong absentee ballots to Tanager Avenue residents again this fall. Maybe the second mistake would have been avoided if the original goof had been publicized widely. It's not the end of the world, however. Nor is it any reason to vote against English, the better-qualified candidate in the Kootenai County clerk's race. It's just a lesson to learn. Rogue coach deserves a timeout If ever someone deserved a Hot Potato, it's Sandpoint High School volleyball coach Jeff Hurst. Hurst? He's the role model who taunted - taunted! - Coeur d'Alene High School middle blocker Angie Shirley during and after two recent volleyball matches. In a state tournament qualifying match, he was slapped with a yellow card by the referee for his unsportsmanlike attitude toward the opposing player. At a previous match, he had made a derogatory comment to Shirley as the two teams lined up to shake hands afterward. Worse still, Hurst was unapologetic when confronted about his misconduct. It's bad enough for players to talk trash to opposing players. It's unacceptable for a grown man to vent his sour spleen against a teenage girl from another school. Sandpoint High should reprimand this character - or send him to the corner for a timeout.

Nothing has happened since last spring to change our minds about our endorsements in three North Idaho sheriff's races. The incumbents in Kootenai, Bonner and Shoshone counties have proven themselves as professionals and managers and deserve to be re-elected: Republican Pierce Clegg in Kootenai County, Republican Chip Roos in Bonner County and Democrat Dan Schierman in Shoshone County.

Congresswoman Helen Chenoweth's Democratic opponent would like you to think the Republican freshman is an extremist. That she is a polarizing force. That she's out of touch with the Idaho mainstream he says he represents. But her voting record says otherwise.

You aren't allowed to shoot animals in their cages at a zoo. You shouldn't be permitted to use dogs or bait to kill animals in the wild just as easily. In Washington, Initiative 655 would outlaw the baiting of bears and the hounding of bears, cougars and bobcats. In Idaho, Proposition 2 would ban the spring hunting of bears and the use of bait and hounds to hunt them.

Congressman Helen Chenoweth and her Democratic challenger, Dan Williams, flunked Social Sensitivity 101 Thursday. During their debate, each embraced an indefensible position involving a minority. Republican Chenoweth questioned Indian tribal sovereignty. Williams defended partial-birth abortion with a maudlin story about some Catholic woman caught in a late-term bind. I'll chew on the incumbent first. Helen's been on the Idaho tribes' most-unwanted list because she doesn't respect tribal sensitivities. That was evident when she indicated Indian sovereignty was a "special privilege." Actually, it's a negotiated right protected by the treaties the U.S. government used to seize tribal land generations ago. Those treaties can't be changed simply because a freshman congressman now thinks they're unfair to non-Indian neighbors. Our government has broken too many promises to Native Americans already.

Don't blame yourself if you're confused about Proposition 3, the initiative seeking to void Idaho's nuclear waste agreement with the U.S. government. You're not alone.

Hmmm. Do you suppose Magistrate Gene Marano is going to be Balsered? For those of you new to the area, Magistrate Virginia Balser was voted out of office a few years ago after she handed down a sentence that resulted in a young teen going to jail for smoking. Charlie Foulk, former owner of The Hungry Horseman on Government Way, spearheaded the successful campaign against Virginia. Now, someone's out there putting up yard signs urging residents to vote against Marano next month. A magistrate needs only a simple majority to retain his post. I don't know what the crusaders' beef is with Marano. But my courthouse sources say the First District magistrate has done a good job, particularly in dealing with families. He makes abusive men show their wives respect. He's tough but fair on young troublemakers. Sure, he does goofy things occasionally, like let petty criminals out of jail for Christmas. But all judges have their shortcomings. Overall, however, you'd be wrong to vote against this one. Bumper sticker brings painful reminder

Four years ago, this newspaper endorsed Bill Clinton for president. We're not going to do so again. We're opting for substance over style this time.

Federal agents this week gave us one more reason to believe they learned important lessons at Ruby Ridge and Waco. In arresting three Bonner County men suspected in Spokane Valley bombings and bank robberies earlier this year, authorities avoided gun play and possibly thwarted a third bank robbery.

I've always viewed Kootenai County Commissioner Bob Macdonald as a nice, easy-going guy who could take or leave politics. I was right on two counts. You won't find a nicer guy in this town. And he's easy going. But Bob's more of a political animal than I ever suspected. After losing his Republican primary in May - his first loss in a dozen years of running for office - he has refused to play his lame-duck role gracefully. First, he tried to run for the state Legislature as a Natural Law Party candidate (explaining that he practices transcendental meditation, after all). But he was rebuffed by the Secretary of State's office. The state's sore-loser's law prevents a losing primary candidate from running in the general election under another party's banner. Now, Macdonald has announced his campaign for his own seat as a write-in candidate. His chances of winning are slight, of course. But the erstwhile Republican can be a spoiler and help Democrat Chuck Sheroke. Apparently, Macdonald's handlers fear maverick Republican Ron Rankin more than Democrat Chuck Sheroke in the race of ideologues. Don't go away mad, just go away Macdonald isn't the only one trying to hold onto shattered dreams. In Shoshone County, Commissioner Gary Waters and sheriff's candidate Larry Irvine have filed as write-ins after losing close Democratic primaries. Each, like Macdonald, has run into dozens of well-wishers who think they should try again. Talk is cheap, of course. The candidate has to do the expensive, hard work of telling an apathetic public how to vote for him. Some might admire a write-in candidate's spunk. I don't. I figure Macdonald, Waters and Irvine had their shot and lost. In two cases, they had the advantage of the incumbency. They should have listened to the voters the first time.

Finally, America has remembered the forgotten man on Ruby Ridge - with something more substantial than a hero's funeral and a medal.

Robbie Alomar may be a hero in Baltimore after his two clutch hits, including a 12th-inning home run Saturday, helped the Orioles advance in the American League playoffs. But he's a jerk in my book. Alomar? He's the talented Baltimore second baseman who punctuated a temper tantrum at home plate Sept. 27 by spitting in umpire John Hirschbeck's face. The AL should have suspended Alomar right then. But there was a playoff series against Cleveland to play. As AL President Gene Budig wrung his hands, the umps threatened to boycott the playoffs unless Alomar was disciplined. Of course, all the uproar was for show. A U.S. District judge ruled that the umps didn't have grounds to break their labor contract by striking. And Alomar played. Meanwhile, Baltimore fans booed the umps when they appeared at Camden Yards for a playoff game with their tails tucked between their legs. A game, or a society, can't endure when it allows such blatant disregard for authority. Hey, don't blame me, the trash can did it So, you don't think we need tort reform? Consider the sad saga of Ohio-based Rubbermaid Inc. Prior to New Year's Day 1992, Rubbermaid provided the Idaho Statehouse with wastebaskets, one of which made its way into state worker Jean McNeil's cubby hole in the attorney general's office. As you will recall, Ms. McNeil ignited a New Year's Day fire that caused $3.4 million damage by emptying her ashtray into her Rubbermaid trash can. Or should I say the wastebasket caused the damage by not containing McNeil's burning cigarette butts? A District Court held Rubbermaid blameless. But the Idaho Supreme Court recently overturned that ruling and sent the case back to the lower court. Hmmm. I'm surprised the state didn't sue the manufacturer of McNeil's cigarettes, too. And the company that provided her lighter. And the paper companies that produced the other trash that line McNeil's can. Etc. Trash cans don't start fires. People do.

Poor ol' Idaho. It can't catch a break on the race front. First, Richard Butler moved in. Then came Randy Weaver. Bo Gritz. The militia movement. And Mark Fuhrman.

My, my. Democrat Dan Williams likes to dish it out, but he can't take it. Now, Williams is whining that U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth, his Republican opponent, is running radio ads tying him to national labor unions. Complained Williams in a news release Tuesday: "I am not going to stand by while Helen Chenoweth tries to mislead people (sniff!) This is what the voters are angry about - all this negative campaigning (sniff!) I am running nothing but positive ads telling people where I stand (honk!)" Baloney and baloney. First, Williams started the mudslinging - with a lot of help from his AFL-CIO buddies. For months, the unions have scared senior citizens with dishonest advertising that Chenoweth had voted for the largest Medicare cut in history. Williams has parroted the lie. (Actually, Chenoweth voted to rein in Medicare growth and possibly save the system.) Second, Williams has disclosed few of his stands on issues, choosing instead to criticize Chenoweth for campaign finance irregularities. Maybe he should go positive now and start another trend. Board of Education feels Idaho's pain The Idaho Board of Education earns a Sweet Potato for voting to reduce trustees' meeting pay from $50 to $25 per diem. An eagle-eyed colleague spotted the action in the small print of the minutes from the board's last meeting. President Carole McWilliam and her colleagues shaved their pay in response to Gov. Phil Batt's emergency order to state agencies to reduce budgets by 2.5 percent across the board. Sure, the board's action is a gesture. After all, the University of Idaho must trim $2.3 million unless the Idaho economy improves. But it's a nice gesture.

I don't care if Barry Loukaitis was depressed over his parents' nasty divorce. I don't care if he was shocked by his mother's goofy suicide plans. I don't even care if he was breast-fed or bottle-fed as a baby. The kid gunned down two Moses Lake classmates and former Coeur d'Alene teacher Leona Caires in cold blood Feb. 2 and should spend his life behind bars without possibility of parole. Washington Superior Court Judge Michael Cooper was right Friday in ordering Loukaitis, 15, to stand trial as an adult. If he'd been tried as a juvenile, Loukaitis would have been free in six years - or two years per murder. I hope local youngsters who've coined a new term for freaking out, "Going Barry," noticed that Loukaitis cried when the judge rendered his decision. Crime has consequences. Maybe Loukaitis realized he probably will receive a life sentence - like his victims' families and a third classmate who barely survived his rage. Environmentalists are curiously quiet Remember how environmentalists screamed and gnashed their teeth when President Clinton signed the salvage logging bill into law? They felt muzzled by the streamlined process to harvest dead and dying trees. Yet, the greenies applauded last week when Clinton declared as a national monument 1.7 million acres of public Utah canyon lands. Clinton probably figured he wasn't going to win Republican Utah's few electoral votes, so he tossed a bone to the Sierra Club (which endorsed him afterward). No wonder Republican Sens. Larry Craig and Dirk Kempthorne are worried. Idaho has more Republicans in its legislature than even Utah. Now, Idaho's dynamic duo has proposed a bill to ban the president from declaring any land a national monument without public or congressional participation. Said Craig: "No one wants the president, acting alone, to unilaterally lock up enormous parts of any state." Unless, of course, he's unilaterally acting on your behalf.

Officials at Coeur d'Alene's Lake City High School would be wrong to let some 35 senior "commandos" get away with vandalizing the freshman homecoming float. Sure, it was a prank. But there's also a lesson to be taught here.

Beware the campaign ads of fall. They're worse than ever this year. In its attempt to elect sympathetic Democrats, the AFL-CIO has spent millions on television "information" ads, distorting the records of Republicans.

The difference in public support for school districts in Casper, Wyo., and Bonner County, Idaho, couldn't be greater.

Assistant Superintendent Dave Teater made a good sales pitch for a new four-in-one administration building for School District 271. But I'm not buying - unless the voters sign off on it. Basically, the bean-counter believes he can build a $1.4 million complex, combining a bus garage, warehouse, food service facility and administration office, without raising taxes. And Teater doesn't need voter approval if he can persuade a judge that his Bus Barn Palace is an "ordinary and necessary expense." Thanks to the 1996 Legislature, the undemocratic judicial review process now extends to school districts. Of course, I can think of a half dozen projects more important than new offices for Superintendent Doug Cresswell and Teater. Coeur d'Alene High School renovation has gone begging since Lake City High School was built. Dalton Gardens needs a multipurpose room, etc. Snubbed voters may never approve that work if Teater succeeds in pushing this one through the court. Coeur d'Alenes should walk the talk The Coeur d'Alene Indian Tribe is sending mixed signals. The tribe wants us to believe it's concerned about the Coeur d'Alene River watershed. But it doesn't seem to care about the air its neighbors breathe. The tribe's careless management of field burning in recent weeks is a case in point. Twice, reservation farmers have polluted Coeur d'Alene with grass smoke, including one day when south Spokane County farmers joined in. And asthmatics suffered. Yet, a tribal official reacted with a shrug. Imagine the outcry by the tribe if Silver Valley mining companies had tried emptying tailing ponds into the Coeur d'Alene watershed. There was a lesson to be learned from the reservation smoke, though. Now, Coeur d'Alene knows how residents of Sandpoint and Hope routinely feel when Kootenai County farmers send their smoke northward.

Chris P. Carrot found himself where every cold-weather vegetable ought to be last week when he tried to invade two Spokane elementary schools - on the sidewalk, a side dish to a meat entree. Thank goodness, parent Roger Dudley provided the meat - and balance - for the carrot's freak show: two lean moose steaks propped on a propane barbecue. All that was needed for a meal Hoss Cartwright would have relished was a smear of A-1 sauce and a giant helping of mashed potatoes smothered with a meat-based gravy. Or butter. Yum.

An Associated Press story about Operation Clean Hands brought to mind the late Larry Stem. A recovering alcoholic, "Stemmer," as he was known, worked for me as a reporter in Kalispell, Mont. He could be annoying. He'd shoot photos while on vacation at Yellowstone National Park and then try to hit me up for mileage. On the other hand, he had more news sense than any three reporters. The first and last column the old-timer wrote for me urged people to wash their hands after using the bathroom. In it, he harangued the great unwashed for spreading disease, ranging from common colds to diarrhea. The spiel ended with Stemmer barking: "Just do it." I thought the column was a waste of space. Now, Operation Clean Hands has discovered 39 percent of men and 26 percent of women don't wash their hands after relieving themselves. (You don't want to know how they found out.) The public health campaign is urging bathroom users to wash their hands under warm water for 15 seconds to avoid spreading germs. So, Stemmer was ahead of his time. As for you? Just do it. (Operation Clean Hands may be watching.) Press corps up to old tricks

How can grass growers say unequivocally that field smoke had nothing to do with my friend Kelly McAnally's near-fatal Sept. 9 asthma attack? How can they say, with 100 percent certainty, that their smoke didn't kill asthma sufferer Sharon Buck of Sandpoint last month? I've supported the growers for years. Their industry pumps millions of dollars into the local economy, and their fields provide an appealing buffer to growth while filtering gunk out of the Rathdrum aquifer. But I don't know how much longer I can back an industry that probably is sending people to the hospital - and maybe the morgue. Kelly, a Kootenai Medical Center nurse, collapsed during her shift. She used to sing in church. Now, she can't. She used to be a marathon runner and swimmer. Now, she isn't. Medical experts believe she contracted asthma as an adult from field smoke. The industry disagrees. But its knee-jerk denials are wearing thin.

Let him debate.

Will Rogers once said, "Don't trust anyone who handles money for a living." (And, if he didn't, he should have.) Case in point: GE Capital Corp. plans to begin fleecing "freeloaders" (translation: conscientious buyers who pay off their balances every month to avoid interest charges). Huffy GE officials are informing holders of the GE Rewards MasterCard that they will be required to pay a $25 annual fee if they insist on this despicable practice. Of course, all the other money changers are holding their breath to see if GE gets away with this credit-card stickup. MasterCard holders should tell GE to take a hike. After all, there's no shortage of credit-card companies clamoring to take its place (if junk mail from them and phone solicitations at suppertime are any indication). GE's greedmongers need a lesson.