Membership Has Its Requisites

Here we go again. Now, Lewiston Tribune editorialist Bill Hall is lampooning our parochialism. Like colleague Jim Fisher before him, Hall poked fun Sunday at North Idahoans for knowing so little about Lewiston (other than it smells funny). In fact, the term “North Idaho,” used by The Spokesman-Review to describe the five northernmost counties, offends Hall and Fisher. They figure Lewiston is part of North Idaho, too. (I think they’re suffering resort envy after all these years staring across the Clearwater at the dry Lewiston grade.) However, I’m willing to let Lewiston into North Idaho if it meets certain conditions. Lewiston must: 1. Return Coach Nick Menegas to North Idaho so he can transform one of Coeur d’Alene’s high school football programs into a winner. 2. Guarantee that its residents will wear shirt and shoes inside The Coeur d’Alene Resort. 3. Share its February sunshine. 4. Keep its quaint fishing boats off our majestic but overcrowded waterways. 5. Deodorize.

Primaries: Keep them down on the farm

Hmmm. Kootenai County Commissioner-elect Ron Rankin makes a good point in calling for party registration. A primary should be used by political parties to pick their best candidates. In Idaho, however, partisans routinely cross over to vote in their rival party’s primary in an effort to defeat an incumbent or to pick the weakest candidate. That’s why the screwball who ran against Congresswoman Helen Chenoweth in the GOP primary last spring pulled down 32 percent of the vote. Democrats jumped ship to vote against Our Miss Chenoweth because they figured correctly that their standard bearer was a primary shoo-in. Now, Mr. Rankin, will you be registering as a Republican or an independent?

My kingdom for a Snickers bar

Shoshone County employees are sour this yuletide over the courthouse’s pop and candy machines. So says the Idaho News Observer. Seems county commissioners promised to do something about the machines after a worker complained they were too pricey, understocked and had a limited selection. All hell broke loose, however, after Commissioner Sherry Krulitz pledged to move the machines from the basement to the first floor. Soon, county offices were accusing each other of wanting to monopolize profits from candy and pop sales. Ultimately, the public works department accused the assessor’s office of starting the problem and refused to service the assessor’s vehicles. No shots have been fired - yet. Stay tuned.

, 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, or by sending e-mail to daveo@spokesman.com.