Huckleberries: Connections help soldier itchin’ for a hitchin’

It’s a good thing Kenny McAnally remembered that Uncle Dan had something to do with marriage licenses – or the young soldier might still be waiting to get married. On Friday, the Army combat engineer arrived in his native Coeur d’Alene on leave, with love in his heart after a stint in Iraq disarming IEDs (improvised explosive devices). He felt it was time to marry his longtime girlfriend. And so did his sweetheart, Christy Porter. Only, the courthouse recorders office was closed. Usually, the office is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays to handle those itchin’ to get hitched. It might be the only one in Idaho to be so. But this past Saturday was different. The office was closed for Veterans Day. Before you can spell I-R-O-N-Y, Kenny called his uncle by marriage, County Clerk Dan English, who hurried into town from his Twin Lakes home and then spent several hours trying to contact his recording office crew. No one was home. Finally, about 5:30 p.m., Dan reached his recording supervisor. Cheryl Reed hurried to the courthouse to provide the proper forms for the young couple. Kenny and Christy married in a private ceremony the next day and will spend a few days together before Kenny ships out to Germany. The county clerk, meanwhile, was still beaming Monday when I talked to him. He said he woulda reacted the same way for any serviceman in that situation. And what would have happened if Dan hadn’t reached Cheryl or any other staffer? Dan: “If I’d had to write something down on a napkin, I would have.”