Good Deed Gives Woman Pleasure, Bird Its Freedom

Kelly Sheffield isn’t one to turn away from someone in need - friend or wildfowl. A secretary at the Kootenai County commissioners office, Kelly sent out an SOS recently when she discovered a bird trapped in the garage of a vacant house next door. A Hope Realty agent responded as fast as his little white shoes could carry him. A half hour later, the warbler was free. Said Kelly afterward: “It’s not a big thing, but it made me feel really good.” Ditto.

Move over, Junior: Ken Griffey Jr. wasn’t the only left-handed outfielder in the Northwest to land on the disabled list over the Memorial Day weekend. Coeur d’Alene Parks Director Doug Eastwood dislocated a thumb when he ran afoul of a pop fly during a church softball game. Alas, Doug didn’t hang onto the ball like Junior did. … You know you’re no longer in Kansas, Toto, when you ask a waitress for the nosmoking section and she says: “Outside.” You’re at the Landmark Cafe in Noxon, Mont. … Which brings back memories. Fifteen years ago, I wore a suit into Boisvert’s tavern on U.S. Highway 2 between Libby and Kalispell, Mont. Faster than I could ask, “Which way to the men’s room?” the woman barkeep snipped off my expensive tie with a pair of scissors and waved it around, cackling. I thought it best to laugh, too - since several loggers lined the bar, sizing me up. That convincing laugh got me and my three-piece suit out the door - in one piece.

Be careful out there: Take your foot off the accelerator as you approach the S-R building on Northwest Boulevard from the north. A CPD Blue patrol car may be hiding between buildings opposite Paul Bunyan and my corner office room with a view. … Asked the Huckleberry Pupette as she roamed my office: “Daddy, you have a bad job because you have to criticize people for a living.” Responded I, defensively: “People criticize me, too.” Summed up she: “Well, maybe they wouldn’t criticize you if you didn’t criticize them.” (I think she gets it from her mother.) … Has executive Bill Reagan been dethroned in a shake-up of the “Hagadone Hotel”? … FYI: A religious Coeur d’Alene TV station went on the air at 8 p.m. Wednesday: Trinity Broadcasting on Channel 53.

Huckleberries: The Coeur d’Alene Recreation Department has received several donations for the Skate Park in memory of local government watchdog Peggy Hopkins. Peggy used to hang out at Memorial Field watching softball games. She’d approve of the skateboard project taking shape behind the right-field fence. … One of our newer reporters saw that sobering Montana bumper snicker for the first time: “I drove 93 - pray for me.” He wondered why North Idaho doesn’t have something similar, like “Stay alive - don’t drive 95.” Good question. … Coeur d’Alene attorney Bob Brown offers one of the few tasteful O.J. Simpson jokes out there: What does O.J. call $250,000 in legal bills? (Thursday.) … Yes, that old soldier gazing over the rows of grave markers at Forest Cemetery on Memorial Day was hizzoner ex-Mayor Ray Stone. His service to country and community is appreciated. … Sight ‘em: a second bumper snicker that says, “I wasn’t born in Idaho, but I got here as quick as I could.” This one was on a car with Texas plates. … The increasingly famous Bates Motel of Coeur d’Alene appeared last week on “Eye to Eye (Without Connie Chung).”

Parting shot: File this one under “Like Father, Like Son”: You want your city finance director to be a penny pincher. And he wants his son to be one, too. Coeur d’Alene bean counter John Austin won the S-R’s “Golden Pen” monthly contest by submitting a well-written letter about his son’s experience with the senior prom. Or lack thereof. The boy took his date to a ritzy restaurant and banked the $250 he saved by not going to the prom. Now, John is one of the 12 monthly winners who will be honored by the editorial board next January. Maybe you’ll be, too. Keep those cards and letters coming.

, DataTimes MEMO: Gotta “Huckleberry” or comment on today’s column? Call the Huckleberry Hound hotline, (800) 344-6718 or (208) 765-7125.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = D.F. Oliveria The Spokesman-Review