No empathy for Bambi, fishermen

In the “There Goes the Neighborhood” Dept., Terri Porcarelli and her West Lakeshore Drive neighbors were startled when kingpin Duane Hagadone test-drove his outdoor lights on his new Casco Bay digs. Terri returned from yoga class around 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 31, to find herself in the tracker beam of Hagadone’s half dozen or so large outdoor lights on his 30,000-square-foot mega-mansion across the lake. The lights were in serious need of shades, Terri told Huckleberries, who said, Quoth: “Those lights were glaring, glaring … right into my house.” The lights in the 35-foot towers were still on full glare when Terri awoke for her morning run. So she called the county and Brad Hagadone, who assured her that pops was simply testing the system and planned to be a good neighbor – which satisfied Terri … for now. She’ll see how often Hagadone Sr. turns on the floodlights after he moves into his Casco Bay home June 1.

Oh deer

On Monday, Berry Picker Walkabout spotted unusual litter on Tubbs Hill – a dead deer washed up onshore. The carcass didn’t surprise her. After all, Walkabout has found all sorts of things during her treks around the hill in search of litter. However, she was amazed by the reaction of local animal control officers, who told her to contact Fish & Game officers, who told her they weren’t going to do anything about Bambi. They called it a “circle of life” thing. Again, Walkabout: “I asked, if a dead deer was on city beach, wouldn’t they remove it?” No answer. Again, Walkabout: “This is a special scenic area that tourists and families visit, and despite the cold water, I saw people attempting to swim yesterday. Why isn’t a rotting carcass seen as garbage that needs to be removed?” Anyone?

Huckleberries hears …

… That it was standing room only at Cricket’s Wednesday as the who’s who of community volunteers, philanthropists, nonprofit board members, city officials and business leaders turned out to honor the volunteerism of favorite son Charlie Nipp and accentuate the positive. Basically, the gathering was a chance for community leaders to thumb their collective noses at the CdA Press for over-playing nags who slam anything involving the Lake City Development Corp., City Hall and North Idaho College. Said Jay Baldwin of NICHE: “There must have been 300 people there, all raising their glasses to acknowledge that despite the loud voices of critics and their seemingly endless supply of ink and irk, lots of good people are doing a lot of good and unheralded work in this community.”

Anchors aweigh

How desperate are fishermen to get on the water this late-breaking spring? So frantic that they’re already launching at Twin Lakes – where County Clerk Dan English lives. Quoth Dan of the County: “I mean, there is still some snow on the parking lot. And once they got out in the middle channel, they have to realize that there is only a couple of hundred square yards of open water. Both halves of the Twin Lakes are still snowbound.” Dan gives them an A for effort.

Huckleberries

Overheard (outside the new Youth Ranch Thrift Store on 4th early Saturday afternoon): “Now that they’re in the new digs, everything’s more expensive” – forty-something man in a blue-jean jacket to his female companion … Clueless In Hayden: At a Hayden bank one recent Friday afternoon, the drive-up teller told police that a cuss-tomer made a transaction while drinking from a cocktail glass. Seems the weekend started early for him – or ended early, if the cops caught up to him … If you didn’t blink, and Mama Marianne didn’t, you saw Sandpoint native Will Love, now an Idaho Press Tribune sports writer, in the background as CBS’ Bob Wenzel and Craig Bolerjack announced first-round games of March Madness at Boise … A worried hired hand at North Idaho College contacted higher-ups last week to say he’d seen guys in black shirts packing heat on campus. “I don’t know,” he says. “They may be wooden guns.” Seems word that the college was hosting a police POST course hadn’t filtered down.

Parting shot

Berry Picker Kage Mann lamented online last week that it was a shame that the S-R’s “spacious” CdA building was half full, what with the recurring layoffs and all. Actually, the building is full except for the former newsroom-half of the second floor – which soon will be ready for lease. S-R managers have folded the two wings into about 65 percent of the former space, transforming the conference room into a newsroom for six. The two sports guys – Greg Lee and Jim Meehan – and I have moved into the advertising/circulation side. Where I set up my new Huckleberries HQ, complete with a full-size Ichiro cutout, Huckleberry Hound toys, and S-R memorabilia. Read: The S-R is far from closing shop in CdA.