Post Falls Goes Its Own Way

Well, it’s official: Post Falls wants no part of the Kootenai County 911 system. I can’t blame River City either. Several years ago, Kootenai County officials successfully sold voters on the need for a countywide 911 system and a $1 telephone surcharge to fund it - without working out the details. They figured Post Falls would want to merge its system with the county’s. They figured wrong. Seems Post Falls Mayor Jim Hammond, Police Chief Cliff Hayes, et al., believed their system was better, so they wouldn’t agree to consolidation until the county could provide similar service. Nothing has happened since then to change their minds. In fact, agencies served by the Post Falls system say privately that they’re against consolidation, too. Maybe the wrong center is running the countywide system.

A round of taters for initiative bashers

Many people deserve Hot Potatoes Au Gratin for trying to thwart Idaho’s initiative process, including the Idaho Farm Bureau, Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry and state Rep. Milt Erhart, R-Boise. In fact, Erhart earned an additional Idaho russet with all the trimmings for proposing a bill that would have made it harder still to place initiatives on the ballot. Erhart sought to limit the number of signatures that could be collected in any single county and require a minimum number of signatures from 33 of Idaho’s 44 counties. So much for the old one-man, one-vote rule. Fortunately, the House State Affairs Committee killed Erhart’s bill - despite lobbying by commerce and industry association President Steve Ahrens, who wanted the process tightened before Idaho becomes an “initiative factory.” Of course, he was talking horsefeathers. Only eight initiatives have made it to the Idaho ballot since 1982. Your average legislator, like Erhart, can do more mischief than that in a single session.

Hey, fingerprinting beats urine tests

Erhart, Ahrens, et al., aren’t the only ones out of step with the average Idahoan. So is the Idaho Education Association. A bill that would require all teachers to be fingerprinted and to undergo criminal background checks has the association shedding crocodile tears. Said the association’s executive director, Jim Shackelford: “It’s (sniff!) a potentially demeaning experience (sniff!) we feel is unnecessary (honk!)” Maybe ol’ Jimbo hasn’t been reading the paper for the past decade or so. Regularly, we hear of a teacher hitting on a student. Or worse. Of course, all professions have bad apples, but the wormy ones in education have access to our children and, therefore, the potential to do great harm. The public deserves to be warned.

, 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.