Huckleberries: Let’s stick to the real issues

First, you should know that I always join the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance and close my eyes for prayer when said at a governmental meeting. Now, onward. House Speaker Lawerence Denney triggered a tempest-in-a-teapot recently by sending a note to Idaho Press Club prez Betsy Russell to ask that Statehouse reporters join solons in the pledge. Quoth: “Today we had media people on the Floor of the House during the Pledge of Allegiance. It was noted by several members of the Body and myself that they did not verbally participate in the Pledge. Please inform members of the press that if they choose not to participate in the Pledge they have ample time following the Pledge and before the 11th order to join us on the Floor.” Nathaniel Hoffman of PaleoMedia.org/Boise Weekly summed up the response of several media types when he responded that reporters “will continue to say the Pledge any way we damn well please.” Opinion Editor Kevin Richert/Idaho Statesman, dismissed the Denney’s hubbub as a “kerfuffle.” However, exec Bryan Fischer/Idaho Values Alliance, seized on the issue to proclaim that readers shouldn’t trust the stories of reporters who won’t say the pledge. Me? I don’t trust politicians who use emotional issues to rabble-rouse when more important matters should be addressed, like the need for day-care regulations.

Scared straight?

A Berry Picker who identified himself as The Old Inmate at Huckleberries Online last week endorsed the candidacy of Post Falls Councilman Joe Bodman for Kootenai County sheriff. Seems Old Inmate got to know Bodman well after being arrested by the former Kootenai County deputy multiple times. Said Old Inmate: “He has always treated me with respect as long as I was respectful.” When Bodman last collared Old Inmate, for theft about seven years ago, the habitual offender said the deputy advised him about changing paths and bettering himself. Bodman even gave Old Inmate his phone number in case he needed help, something no one else had ever done. “It changed my life,” said Old Inmate. “I went back to school/college, got an AA degree, and am now married and living a respectful life.” No way to know if this story is true. But it fits several of the good cops I know.

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: In spring the fancy of this dove/will lightly turn to thoughts of love,/and since their modesty is scanty/one sometimes sees them in flagrante – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Pigeon Passion”) … Huckleberries’d like to be the first to congratulate Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Post Falls, Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, and Rep. Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls, for winning re-election without lifting a finger. Read: The three District 5 solons are unopposed … I’d be more impressed with Nonini and Henderson if they didn’t support that constitutional amendment scheme by House leadership to make it harder for local governments to pass the local-option tax to expand jails and possible other infrastructure – and provide property tax relief … Christer? A term I heard the other day for the first time to describe individuals who go to church only on Christmas and Easter.

Parting shot

Not everyone is fond of Girl Scout cookies. Take UIdaho Argonaut journalist Christina Lords, for example. Quoth: “Girl Scout cookies suck,” writes Christina in the student newspaper’s Off The Cuff column. “I know it’s for a good cause – little money grubbers out in cute green outfits and pig tails – but they’re just not as good as everyone makes them out to be.” Christina sez she hates spring because Girl Scouts sit outside every store “… waiting, lurking, ready to pounce.” Continues Christina: “I am the innocent just-want- to-buy-some-freaking- Band-Aids-at-Winco bystander. Leave me be, Girl Scouts.” Doesn’t a simple no-thank-you work in Moscow?