Whiner Low Bidder Despite Losing Lament
A bid opening last month for the Benewah Community Hospital expansion project stirred ‘em up. This according to the St. Maries Gazette Record. Seems a contractor hollered “Foul!” when hospital directors started to open a bid submitted one minute late. He groused that the timing gave the late bidder an advantage. Subcontractors routinely withhold bids until the last minute to prevent general contractors from shopping them around. Ultimately, hospital attorney Nancy Wolff opined that a few seconds didn’t give an advantage to any of the 10 contractors present. The low bidder? It was the guy doing the whining.
Paranoia tracks deep: House Speaker Newt Gingrich probably disappointed the tree huggers as much as Give-‘Em-Helen Chenoweth when he cancelled plans to visit Boise last week. Enviros had summoned their troops for a protest rally. But Newt was in a snit because Chenoweth hadn’t backed him on a budget vote. The GOP infighting was as amusing as the postscript on the Idaho Conservation League media advisory: “Black helicopter optional.”
Al-l-l-l righty then: John Jensen, North Idaho College housing director, has acquired a campus nickname since he helped rescue an Akita from the Spokane River. You got it: John Ventura, Pet Detective. … Haircuts Etc. in Westmond (near Cocalalla) offers a deal the follically impaired can’t refused: Men’s haircuts, $10; balding men’s, $7 and $5. The fee schedule is posted on the door. But it doesn’t say how much hair you have to lose to qualify for the cut rate. … In a recent newsletter, the Idaho Division of Tourism Development listed the publications that visited Idaho last year: Men’s Health, Westways, Elks Magazine, AAA Travel Choices Northwest and The Spokesman-Review. Did the other guys construct a $5 million building here, too?
You sue, you lose: Hmmm. Attorney Mark Jones, a Bonner County sheriff wannabe, isn’t going to win votes with his $1 million tort claim against the county. He filed it last month on behalf of a Seattle man who went on a $1 million spending spree in Sandpoint. Seems Sheriff Chip Roos released info on the plaintiff’s mental condition, and the Seattleite didn’t like it. Counselor Jones should note the suit filed by Sandpoint Councilman Ray Miller against the Bonner County School District. It probably caused him to lose a tight mayor’s race last November.
Huckleberries: Jan Patrick, a Museum of North Idaho volunteer, figures Idaho has an identity problem when a letter arrives from Illinois - addressed to “Museum of North Dakota.” … Rumor has it that one Donald Duck checked into Kootenai Medical Center recently. Can’t blame him. It’s too cold to fly. … A bumpersnicker below a peace symbol on a local car offers a world view I can endorse: “Kill your television.” … Idaho labor analyst Kathryn Tacke didn’t pick the best quote for her presentation on Bonner County growth an employment. Quoth she: There are only two ways to tell the truth - anonymously and posthumously. … Were you bothered, too, by KXLY-TV 4’s shameless promotion of its got-there-first (neener, neener) coverage of the Spokane air ambulance crash? … A bumpersnicker spotted on a truck in Sandpoint should make Fuhrman defender Rose Chaney’s day: “Have a nice trip back to California and take Mark Fuhrman with you when you go.” … Don’t you get nervous when the switchboard operator at Panhandle Health District (Bonner County office) has a cold? … I didn’t know a garage door could be injured maliciously until I read the Bonner County Bee. They get damaged, too.
Parting shot: Coldwater Creek sacrificed truthfulness for folksiness in its winter catalogue. An invitation to visit company stores at Cedar Street Bridge begins: “About a year ago they put in stoplights. Used to be there were more moose up here in North Idaho than traffic jams.” Sandpoint is one big traffic jam, and the lights, which have been there awhile, don’t help much either.
, DataTimes MEMO: Gotta Huck? Call the Huckleberry Hound Hotline: (800) 344-6718 or (208) 765-7125.