Commissioners Correct Error

Kootenai County commissioners finally did the right thing at a State Line speedway owned by Post Falls Councilman Joe Doellefeld. Upset constituents and a possible violation of the open-meeting law helped show commissioners the error of their ways. On Friday, they rescinded a decision allowing Doellefeld to hold weekly training and noise-testing sessions at the dirt track. That ruling had been made a week earlier in a private meeting with Doellefeld. Now, a noise-reducing berm must be completed at the track before any practices or tests can be run. The board of commissioners can keep itself out of such pickles by following a simple rule of thumb: When in doubt, always notify the public and conduct open meetings.

Bathroom humor not standard e-mail fare

Another rule of thumb is this: If you wouldn’t say it to your parents, don’t say it on e-mail. Ask Scott Fedale, chief flack for Washington State University’s College of Agriculture and Home Economics. Fedale pressed a few computer buttons and - wham-o! - sent a string of off-color and pornographic jokes to extension offices throughout Washington state. Said a now-suspended Fedale in his own defense: “I think this thing has been terribly overblown as it is (sniff!) Anybody who is on an e-mail system who has never sent a personal message on e-mail … is living in another world (sniff!) Let’s be realistic (honk!)” Sorry, Scott. The personal e-mail banter I exchange occasionally with co-workers usually involves sports scores - not jokes about flatulence, profanity and penis, butt and breast sizes.

Kudos to dynamic DJ duo

KEZE disc jockeys Jeff Connor and Darren Johnson earned a double dollop of “Sweet Potatoes” for helping Robert Quast last week. Quast, who suffers from cerebral palsy, lost his mobility in March when a hit-and-run driver crashed into him while he was riding his electric wheelchair down Sherman Avenue in Coeur d’Alene. Enter Rock 106. Connor and Johnson used the airwaves to raise more than $4,000 for Quast. Last Thursday, they presented the Coeur d’Alene man with a new scooter-type wheelchair and a check for $1,440, enabling him to return to his job at the Iron Horse restaurant. Who says radio talk is always negative?

There but for the grace of God go I

So, like 45 percent of other Americans, you’re fed up with the legal system after watching O.J. Simpson’s trial? Think how the jurors must feel. Basically, they’ve been jailed for months with strangers and forced to watch a soap opera without end. At least “Days of Our Lives” changes story lines occasionally. Jurors aren’t free to say, as you and I: Call me when this one is over.

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