No Southern hospitality for ex-editor
Ex-SR editor Chris Peck hasn’t found love and happiness down south in Memphis, Tenn. Seems he left the frying pan of hard newsroom times here and landed in the fire at the Memphis Commercial Appeal. A recent news story by the Memphis Flyer explained the paper’s problems: a wage freeze and layoffs at a time when Scripps-Howard, the CA’s parent company, “has experienced unprecedented growth in stock prices and a significant infusion of capital.” Then, there’s the Spokane factor. Seems CA workers aren’t happy that Peck brought a handful of managers with him from Spokane. On the cafepress.com Web site, disgruntled workers offer several products, urging a boycott of “The Spokane Appeal.” Quoth: “The boys from Spokane have taken over, giving jobs to their friends and laying off Memphians, destroying innocent families in their wake. They’ve proven time and time again they aren’t in step with the town of Memphis. They need to go back to Spokane, where they’d fit in much better.” Betcha the grass seems a bit greener in Spokane nowadays.
Red alert?
Don’t tell the real terrorists this, but you can take knitting needles on airplanes – 14-inch metal pointy needles. Earlier this month, SR colleague Taryn Brodwater was on a jet bound for Seattle when she noticed her seat mate clicking away at warp speed. Naturally, Taryn was shocked. Before she edged away, the matron explained she was making a scarf for her daughter. How’d you get them past security, Taryn asked, remembering the tales she’s read about les miserables who’ve been pawed by security because they set off THE ALARM. No problem, Knitting Knelly responded. Seems she called ahead to make sure she could bring her weapons, er, needles. Quoth she: “I was surprised they let me bring these on the plane.” Lesson for terrorists? Rather than try to sneak a weapon onto a plane, call first for clearance.
Bell tolls not for thee
“Am I the only person on the planet who welcomes Target’s ban on the red ringers?” asks a woman we’ll call “Pam I Am.” “Believe me, I am no Scrooge, and I suspect that my family and I give more than the average family to nonprofit organizations (at least that’s what the IRS tells me). But I personally find the bell ringers a little too guilt-inducing for me. I almost feel like I need to stop and explain to them why I can’t drop any more money in their bucket and how many other causes I have already contributed to this month. I try not to make eye contact. If I make two or three trips to the store in a given week, I have to pass them no less than four to six times. That’s a lot of guilt or a lot of explaining.” Huckleberries: Dang, girl; the bell ringers get paid whether you donate or not. Plenty do. Lose the guilt and enjoy the holiday.
Poet’s corner
“The warrior leaders of the free/(Who fight from Washington DC)/Perhaps will note at some late date/They’re armored like a paper plate” – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Iraq Humvees”).
Huckleberries
Have it your way if you want at Carl’s Jr. on Appleway, but fuhcryinoutloud, don’t clip your fingernails at a table while you’re waiting. Ee-yew … First, you should know a Moscow police captain has angered University of Idaho students by saying of date rape: “We get a lot of victims that get way intoxicated. They actually give consent but they don’t think so later.” Then, you should know his name: David Duke. No relation to that David Duke. But we’d bet the kids are having a field day linking him to the ex-KKK grand poohbah … Betcha Kootenai County Clerk Dan English enjoyed sending along that story in which Americans rated “local officeholders” (No. 12) far more honest and ethical than “news reporters” (No. 16). Numero Uno? Nurses.
Parting shot
Know that commercial where the main guy goofs up, and a voice sez: “Wanna get away?” Frosh rep Phil Hart from Kootenai County had one of those moments the other day. According to Our Woman In Boise, Hart picked House Speaker Bruce Newcomb’s floor seat as his for the next two years – and was told, unh-uh. By the speaker. From the podium. Ouch!