Anything Can Happen When I Make Up Rules

Sat., April 15, 2000

Kerri Thoreson Special To Hand

Award Show Fever has taken over my brain and television set in past weeks; everything from MVPs on ESPN to the eye-popping and gravity-defying fashions seen on MTV and VH1. I thought I’d join the fun and bestow my own version of awards to deserving folks here in Kootenai County.

The Dapper Dresser Award is a tie (no pun intended) between Hayden Mayor Ron McIntire and Post Falls City Administrator Jim Hammond.

Nora Sharp wins my Women’s Wear Award for always looking sharp (pun intended), with a supporting role award to her “stylist” Sandra Kay.

The No Bad Hair Days Award goes to D.A. Davidson’s Mara’d Sjostrom, always perfectly coiffed and proving that 40-somethings know more about effortless style than any teenaged cover model ever will.

The Two-Wheeled Transformation Award is presented to Tom Sharp, Les Schwab manager, who by day is your typical white-shirted working guy. But when the weekends and sunshine come around he’s Captain America on a made-in-the-USA Harley.

My Costume Design honoree is Joanie Maine, owner of Pat’s Trans Doc. She toils in a man’s world but keeps in touch with her feminine side by practicing a lost art …sewing.

Another tie is in the Silver Tongued Devil category; Pat McGaughey and Randy Wells. McGaughey’s motivational speeches are rife with good-natured G-rated humor but auctioneer Wells can talk faster.

My Special Effects Award goes to those Post Falls Mazda boys, Gene Reed and Mark Gibson. They’ve found more unconventional ways to display trucks than anyone this side of Cal Worthington.

Rob Elder’s Hot Rod Cafe wins for Set Design. Classic cars as props and furniture make me wonder if the Mazda boys were the inspiration for the spinning roof top hot rod.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to John McGruder of the Inkwell. McGruder is a phenomenal human resource. Exhibit A - as a 27-year member of the Panhandle Kiwanis Club, McGruder achieved perfect attendance! That’s in addition to his couple of decades as an enthusiastic Coeur d’Alene Commodore.

Since I get to make up the rules as I go on these newly created and totally arbitrary awards, I welcome suggestions from readers for future recognitions.

John McGruder’s amazing accomplishment reminds me that April is the month for national recognition of volunteers. It would take a forest full of trees to produce enough paper to acknowledge all of the individuals in our communities who step up to the plate to do the things that most people think just happen. These people are the real leaders and creators of community.

So if you’ve just admired their efforts from afar and never found the time to build a park, visit the infirm or elderly, mentor a child, serve on a committee, clean up a highway or coach a T-ball team, think about this … we all start each day with the same 24 hours.

Birthday bouquets go to the following people who are fortunate to have the diamond as their birthstone.

Leslie Gourley of LeMaster & Daniels has the perfect birthday for a CPA - April 16. Except for this year when April 15 falls on a Saturday, making Monday, April 17, the deadline for filing those pesky income tax forms. She had to file an extension for her celebration.

And Post Falls’ own veterinarian extraordinaire, Dr. Steve Cassel, will turn the big 5-0 on April 15. Wow! I wonder if he knows that’s 350 in dog years?

Commissioner Ron Rankin and his lovely bride, Alice, almost share a birthday, April 19 and 20, respectively. I’m sure they won’t mind if I tell their ages-to-be … 71 and 69. That’s a payback for excessive “grounding” in my formative years. Happy Birthdays, Mom and Dad!

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