Blood, Tears Stain Ruby Ridge

Final tally from Ruby Ridge: Three deaths. Several books. A miniseries. Almost $3.5 million to settle civil suits: $1 million apiece for each of Randy and Vicki Weaver’s girls; $100,000 for Weaver; and $380,000 for Kevin Harris, Weaver’s buddy who now lives in Moses Lake. All this over a minor weapons charge involving a sawed-off shotgun. Harris’ payoff last week should bring the curtain down on this backwoods thriller. Alas, we’ll never know for sure who shot first. Or who gave the shoot-to-kill order. But we do know that a mother, with babe in arms, and her son shouldn’t have died for a petty crime.

Whatever happened to ol’ Mr. 1 Percent?

Once upon a time, K-County commissioners voted to raise their own pay by 2-1 margins. Now, it’s unanimous. Hot Potatoes recalls when Ron Rankin was death on taxes … Al Gore’s poll numbers soared among women when he bussed Tipper. Now, Gee Dubya’s pulled ahead by smooching Oprah. So much for issues … Sweet Potatoes - to local officials for telling the North Central Idaho Jurisdictional Alliance to take a hike. The alliance wanted us to join its losing battle against Indian sovereignty and the Nez Perce - and screw up our good relations with the Coeur d’Alenes … For my money, no one has written a better book about Ruby Ridge than ex-S-R colleague Jess Walter: “Every Knee Shall Bow” … French Fries on the side (or, “Ruby Ridge revisited”): 1, Randy Weaver; 2, William Degan; 3, Sammy, Vicki and Striker; 4, Lon Horiuchi; and 5, Gerry Spence.

Hey, Nancy, take a deep breath, count to 10

Take a message to Hayden Councilmaniac Nancy Taylor: You’re on shaky ground when you use “evil” and “cult” to attack Bill Gothard and Character Cities. Gothard is mainstream evangelical, as are many of your constituents. The Character Cities program may not be proper for Hayden. But neither is your rhetoric … Take a message to sheriff wannabe Ted Pulver: Keep throwing mud pies and you’ll get dirty … From “The Buzz”: “Kevin Harris should put the entire $380,000 into a college fund for the children of William Degan. (He doesn’t) deserve any money or sympathy” - jbslicer@hotmail.com … This edition of Hot Potatoes was brought to you by the Nos. 600 and 1,400. Or, the number of people (depending on your paper of record) who linked hands to support Tubbs Hill. Or, Sweet Potatoes to the Tubbs Hill Foundation for its good work over the years.