North Idahoans At Home On Web Residents, Businesses Launching Into Cyberspace

Four hundred and seven people have toured Betty Zirkle’s kitchen since mid-December.

Not one of them have stepped inside the Rathdrum, Idaho retiree’s home.

“A kitchen” is how the grandmother and cyberspace junkie describes her new personal Internet home page. It’s a warm, familiar place - like a cozy breakfast nook - where she posts poetry and family anecdotes for all to see.

“A lot of people these days need a place like the kitchen, where they can sit around and talk and explore the world,” said Zirkle, who spends six hours a day in front of her home computer.

Zirkle is one of thousands of Kootenai County residents who are joining the millions of computer users worldwide on the Internet. Shockwaves from a cyberspace explosion that began several years ago in metropolitan areas are finally stretching to smaller rural areas like Coeur d’Alene.

Spokane has had Internet access for more than three years, while Coeur d’Alene’s first provider - Computech - crossed into Idaho just 18 months ago. Since then, however, four others have joined the ranks and a fifth is on the way.

In that time, 2,500 to 4,000 Kootenai County computer users have been linked to the Internet. Tom Jones, systems manager at DMI Computers, predicted those numbers could triple before the end of the year.

Coeur d’Alene’s Netlink Inc. boasts 600 new customers since September. DMI Computers no longer can keep track.

“I’ve been too busy adding people to figure out how many people I’m adding,” Jones said.

Ease of access, the falling costs of home computers, media hype and peer pressure from city dwellers who have moved to the country is feeding an Internet craze in rural Idaho.

“Three years ago we would do all sorts of surveys and spread sheets over here, but people just weren’t interested,” said Computech’s Sharon Caswell.

Panhandle residents no longer have to drive to Spokane for information not found in their smaller libraries or bookstores, she said.

“I’ve had Idaho people who’ve never been on-line say ‘I’ve got to get on the Internet - Oh, and by the way, what’s the Internet look like?”’ said Todd Chavez, accounts manager with Boise-based Micron Technology Inc.

Many area real estate offices already provide detailed home listings - many with pictures - that allow customers to search for North Idaho dream houses without leaving home. In recent months, the Coeur d’Alene Area Chamber of Commerce, Kootenai County and Sandpoint have unveiled home pages.

When Kootenai County hired former San Diego man Ron Coulter as its new public defender, he was appalled at his office’s lack of technology. Coulter, who reads on-line newspapers and follows California events on his home computer, convinced commissioners that access to better technology was essential.

Internet links also are building small businesses.

A Coeur d’Alene chocolate company is marketing fudge overseas. An area butcher found other meat cutters and great deals on cutlery. Another woman is selling stuffed-animal pillows.

One North Idaho builder hooked up to sends messages to his daughter. He also now sends engineering plans to his Boise headquarters via the Internet.

More than 20,000 customers have taken a gander at merchandise for sale by one Post Falls-based national religious organization.

“Oh, it’s just been incredible,” said Carol Gill at Koinonia House.

Some individuals here are finding computer links socially rewarding as well.

After learning her 38-year-old son had contracted non-Hodgkins lymphoma last July, Zirkle took her first information surf.

“I was on until 4 in the morning,” she said. “I found support groups and people who were so helpful. I learned what my son could expect and how we both could get through this.”

Zirkle put her pictures and poetry on-line simply to personalize the computer world. One Texas grandfather was so grateful, he left her a message of thanks: “It’s great to find a real person on the net.”

The power of technology to assist human contact is amazing, Zirkle said. But it’s also, well, a lot of fun.

“I’ve really gotten out of hand,” she said, sheepishly admitting she even went through a computer game phase. “My husband says I’ve stopped cleaning house.”

, DataTimes