Mary Jane Honegger

Some things about driver’s education have not changed since I first walked into my high school cafeteria over 40 years ago to join dozens of students eager to get their driver’s education endorsement. For you skeptics, yes, they had driver’s education way back then. As in years past, today’s classes are dedicated to preparing teens for the serious task of driving a motor vehicle. There are requirements for classroom hours, behind-the-wheel experience and observation time, and there are written and driving tests to pass.

This place matters. That’s the theme for National Historic Preservation Month once again this year. Preservationists at the National Trust for Historic Preservation must have kept this same theme because it is powerful in its simplicity – and because it’s true. The month of May, National Historic Preservation Month, is a great time to remind ourselves of the importance of our historic buildings and the vital part they play in our sense of community. It’s a great time to remind ourselves that this place matters; that these places matter.

When times get tough, the tough get going. At least that’s how it is in the Lions Den in Rathdrum. Instead of allowing today’s challenging economic times to hamper the dozens of community projects they support each year, the Rathdrum Lions, local members of the largest service club in the world, have risen to the challenge with a really great motivator – a wager.

Rathdrum is finally getting what mayors, economic development groups, and chamber of commerce folks have been saying we needed for decades: a motel. Rathdrum businessman Kevin Randles recently announced his intention to build a 28-unit motel on a strip of land along Highway 53, adjacent to his other businesses.

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.

March is Women’s History Month. It’s a great time to learn about women who went about their daily business, helping to shape our communities and the lives of those they loved; most often with neither fanfare nor recognition. This is one such story. Few homes are eligible to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places for their significance to a historic woman, but Rathdrum has one such home. In fact, Rathdrum’s Main Street pretty much dead-ends in the front yard of the former Cassedy Funeral Home, which Constance V. Cassedy built for her daughter upon her return from Chicago after attending embalming school.

I lost my cell phone somewhere between Carlin Bay and St. Maries while on a motorcycle trip around Lake Coeur d’Alene last summer. Despite a slow trip back the way we had come and talking to a few people where I had last used my phone, it was a no-show. I had service turned off shortly after we returned home, then froze. I could not get a new phone. Purchasing that cell phone just a few months earlier had been one of the most frustrating adventures of our lives, causing hours of stress and hundreds of dollars.

Rathdrum businesses have been on the move during the past six months. A few have closed, several opened, and two relocated; while a couple have remained “in the works.” The recent closures include three eateries: two pizzerias and an old-time favorite, A&W. K-12 Clothing Exchange, Dawghaus Computers and the Brugge Salon closed their doors during the same period; while one longtime Main Street business, Steve Nagel State Farm Insurance relocated to Commercial Park Avenue; and Taco Bell Express expanded into a new building.

This year, giving chocolate for Valentine’s Day is not merely a gesture of love; it may extend the life of your valentine and save our country at the same time. There is growing evidence that buying (and eating) chocolate is actually the patriotic thing to do – and it’s healthy, too. On the national scene, Valentine’s Day may provide the stimulus our economy needs to get moving. Despite recent sagging retail sales, Americans are expected to spend an estimated $345 million on chocolate this week. Add those chocolates to flowers and a valentine or two and we could really jumpstart the nation’s financial system. While recognizing sales will be down from last year due to a slowing economy, the National Retail Federation predicts Valentine’s Day sales to reach $14.7 billion.

Radios used to be the only diversion for folks taking a drive. They would ease back in their big, comfortable seat and listen to the latest crooner; their attention on the road. By the time drivers began installing eight-track tapes, their attention had already begun to waver. Today’s drivers have so many electronic gadgets, that it seems like paying attention to the road is merely one of the distractions.