Huckleberries Hears …

… that the local tourism community is concerned that the Idaho Tourism Council is about to appoint two Hagadone Corp individuals (Bill Reagan and JJ Jaegar) to help supervise the distribution of tourism funds in North Idaho. This, sez a Berry Picker, “even after countless letters were sent to the governor from area chambers and major businesses in opposition and/or requesting another option from another company.” HBO’s source adds: “There is a general feeling in the tourism community … that the funds will quickly be directed toward Coeur d’Alene from surrounding communities during the June/July rewarding of grant request presentations. these two will then have the ability to decide on the items the (Hagadone Corp) has the most interest in and none other once the funds are directed to Coeur d’Alene where they also have control of the CVB marketing committee with more (Hagadone) employees. In essence they have a pipeline of taxpayer dollars funding the promotion of their business interests with little to no checks and balances to keep from unfairly fleecing deserving businesses of needed marketing.” Stay tuned.