Duke women not too tall, but powerful
For those keeping score at home, actress Patty Duke of CdA is 4 feet, 11 inches small. Last week, Huckleberries mentioned that she might hit 5 feet on her tip toes, after learning she stood on a wooden box to see over the lectern during that news conference about preserving part of the St. Joe Basin. Nephew Mike Kennedy: “But you should have seen her mother (my late grandmother). She was even shorter! I’ll tell you, though short or not, don’t mess with those Duke women (my mother included). They’re formidable!” Patty’s son, Sean Astin, of course, played hobbit Sam Gamgee in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Hobbits, according to J.R.R. Tolkien, range from 2 to 4 feet – the tallest being Bandobras Took (Bullroarer), who was 4 foot 5 and could ride a horse. Patty may be height challenged as far as humans are concerned. But she’d cast a long shadow as a hobbit – to match her stature as an Academy Award winning actress.
Gassed at local stations
How come gas prices at the Exxon at Appleway and Gummint Way in CdA are a nickel cheaper than elsewhere – and 20 cents cheaper than the Shell on Spokane Street and I-90 in Post Falls? Need we mention prices in Washington, where 2005 solons picked motorists’ pockets for another 9 cents per gallon? … Post Falls Uncensored, the Post Falls High underground ezine, is losing its brain trust to college. But Editor Vorfeed sez it’ll be ba-a-a-ck – under new management next fall. So, PFHS Principal John Billetz shouldn’t breathe easier … Meanwhile, three hippie PFHS juniors are publishing their own ezine rag, Students Against War, with a goal “to spread agape love through the loveless hallways of high schools across America.” And “to resurrect the hippie era today.” Wonder if Peter, Paul and Mary know where all the flower children have gone?
Quotable quote
“… The Spokesman-Review should not have a monopoly on the market. I may be speaking for myself, but I would like to call on Duane Hagadone to start a second, first-class newspaper that gives back to its community instead of bilking millions of dollars from it” – letter writer Shawn Duncan/Greenacres. Most Coeur d’Alene residents’d like The Duane to publish a first-class snoozepaper in their town, too … “Maybe we sold our souls, but on our way out from drinking bad water, we’ll have the memory of a train ride” – feisty Editor Frum Helen Back of the Hauser Times on that BNSF PR trip for 350 Hauser/Rathdrum residents to Sandpoint Friday. Do you want a little Castroil 10-30 with your martini, Frau Frum? … After Dino Rossi tossed in the towel last week in the Washington guv’s race, Josef, a Red Stater who blogs in the bluest part of Washington’s West Side, asked sadly: “So, what do you all think we should do now? Move to Idaho?” P’haps Josef & fellow R’s should start registering the Dearly Departed in King County cemeteries, too.
Huckleberries
“How refreshing it is to have a scandal that is not of a sexual nature!” – a Berry Picker on news that Idaho Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, owes nearly $90,000 in federal income taxes … Bumpersnicker (spotted by Susan Cuff of the Panhandle Health District): “If ignorance is bliss, why aren’t more people happy?” … And the answer is: Bill Virgin/Post-Intelligencer and the Tacoma News Tribune Editorial Board. Question: Who produced negative opinion pieces about Spokane Mayor Jim West last week? … Do you agree with me that the view along Northwest Boulevard of the 14-screen Regal Cinemas Riverstone roof, with those humongous ventilators, is coyote ugly? Millions for construction materials and silverscreen – but not a dime for camouflage? C’mon.
Parting shot
It’ll be worth 50 bucks for the city of Coeur d’Alene to explain how my wife can be fined for parking in a handicap spot, in front of Mayor Sandi Bloem’s downtown jewelry store – when a car with a handicap sticker was already parked in that spot.