Fish Off To A Flying Start

How about a Sweet Potato Pie for the flying Fish that put Coeur d’Alene on the map (again) last week? Mica Fish, a Lake City High graduate, wowed ‘em at the United States Amateur Snowboard Association championships in Vermont, winning two golds and the girls freestyle overall (ages 17-18). Now, she has her sights set on the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. Not bad for a kid who picked up the sport four years ago, learning by trial and error. Other snowboarders have coaches and attend academies to learn their stuff. But Fish, a freshman at Central Oregon Community College in Bend, Ore., has paid her own way until recently by working in a snowboard shop. Now, a sponsor is picking up some of her costs. Mica became a champion the old-fashioned way. She earned it.

Mrs. Disney remains true to her school

I don’t want you to think I’ve gone soft, but … someone else deserves a Sweet Potato Pie today: Lillian Disney. Many of you probably thought ol’ Walt’s wife was dead. The Moscow/Pullman Daily News did. Most people have cashed it in long before Mrs. Disney’s age, 97. But Lillian’s not only alive and kicking, she’s also dedicated to raising $608,100 to buy Nez Perce artifacts for the tribe and her old hometown, Lapwai. (She played for the 1917 Lapwai High School girls basketball team and later married Walt Disney in Lewiston.) Disney’s California charitable foundation recently pledged $100,000 to buy 20 artifacts that are among the oldest-known Nez Perce handiwork. Her foundation also has made two other donations totaling $210,000 to the Lapwai school district. Donald Duck’s stingy Uncle Scrooge wouldn’t approve. But Disney fans sure do.

Term-limiters back bad initiative

Don’t waste your John Henry signing initiative petitions circulated by Citizens for Federal Term Limits. The organization wants the Idaho ballot to designate whether incumbents and challengers support the 1994 congressional term limits initiative. The current initiative proposal probably is unconstitutional. Besides, who wants a candidate’s position on term limits cluttering up a ballot besides this special-interest group? No group should be allowed to use the ballot for propaganda purposes - no matter how popular its issue. I wouldn’t want to see candidates’ views on abortion, balanced budgets, trade, immigration and affirmative action on the ballot either, though I consider them more important than term limits. Such issues should be spelled out during campaigns. Not at your polling place.

, DataTimes MEMO: D.F. Oliveria’s “Hot Potatoes” runs Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can comment on the items by calling (800) 344-6718 or (208) 765-7125.