A Stone-Cold, Sobering Case Of Convenient Inconsistency

Thu., Jan. 27, 2000

My world doesn’t revolve around Spokane. So, I didn’t pay much attention to the River Park Square squabble other than to note my boss was on one side and Mayor John Talbott, Councilman Steve Eugster and developer John Stone were on the other. The issue involved using public funds to help underwrite and guarantee a loan. That’s why I chuckled recently when Stone asked Coeur d’Alene for $1.2 million in tax increment (public) financing to help build his 73-acre project on Northwest Boulevard. My, my, how they sing a different tune when they’re playing with their own projects.

Hey, this Dirk won Humanitarian Bowl title

Nah, it doesn’t bother me that Boise State football coach Dirk Koetter earned almost twice as much as Gov. Dirk Kempthorne last year. As Babe Ruth would say, he had a better year than the former Boise mayor … Do you suppose Y2K righties and global warming lefties suffer from the same Chicken Little psychosis? … Don’t look now but the 2000 Mariners are going to be very good, with or without Junior. You’d better reserve your seats aboard the M’s September bandwagon now … I don’t know whether to commit suicide or tune in to live broadcasts of the Idaho Legislature, now available on the Internet (idahoptv.org) … French Fries on the Side, or Diets I’d Prefer to Subway Sandwiches for Weight Loss: 1, peanut butter; 2, cheesecake; 3, root beer float; 4, Whopper; and 5, baked potato with all the trimmings.

I-95 death toll mounts while solons harrumph

A moment of silence please for the first two Panhandle residents to lose their lives this millennium on Highway 95 while their Legislature tuned up its fiddle: Skylin Picard, 8, of Lapwai and Cass Roberts, 48, of Sandpoint … So, if this Potatohead gets a parking ticket in downtown Coeur d’Alene, I can contact the Downtown Association? And it’ll make the ticket go away? Without costing the city a dime in lost revenue? Eat your heart out, David Copperfield … Take a note to David Sawyer, the long-haired, bleeding-heart, Buddhist ex-telemarketer who just stepped down as Sandpoint mayor: Well done. Thanks for making us look good endorsing you four years ago … Today’s edition of Hot Potatoes was brought to you by the No. $2.5 million. Or the gambling proceeds donated to education in seven years by the Coeur d’Alene Indian Tribe. Saaalute.

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