The Hot Seat A Weekly Look At People And Issues In The News

Big boys have big feelings

Here’s an easy one for O.J.’s “Dream Team” lawyers: What’s the difference between a lawyer and a carp? One’s a bottom-feeding scum sucker, and the other’s a fish. Of course, if you ask Bob Shapiro, he would say that one’s “a snake” if the lawyer was F. Lee Bailey. And Bailey would say one’s “a sick little puppy” if the lawyer was Shapiro. Now that the Juice is loose, his ex-attorneys are sliming each other. Aren’t they being juvenile? Isn’t it grand?

Kootenai County courthouse word: shhhhh

Time will tell if mild-mannered Dan English is qualified to be the Kootenai County clerk. But at least he’s a team player and knows how to keep his mouth shut. That gave him an edge with the “speak-no-evil” Republican commissioners who chose English for the job over two other Democrats. Said Chairman Dick Compton: “We don’t go out and say the clerk screwed up, and we don’t want the clerk to go out and say we screwed up. If you can’t say something good, don’t say it.” The Hot Seat is speechless.

Hey, that’d buy a lot of dog food

The Coeur d’Alene Greyhound Park is spending big-time bucks on damage control. Ads from the park are all over the local media telling residents how much the track loves its (smooch, smooch) canine athletes. And that it’d never treat them as badly as the mean ol’ Spokesman-Review says. Scout’s honor. But the greyhounds probably would be better off if the money spent on public relations was used to improve track conditions and race handles.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 Photos

MEMO: The Hot Seat is an irreverent look at controversial issues in the news. The views expressed are those of the writer. Today’s Hot Seat was written by Dave Oliveria.