Huckleberries: Day brings reflection on our father

Oct. 19 is a date that lives in family infamy. Thirty-five years ago last Wednesday, my father, Franklin, was killed in a vehicle accident. Mom was 51 then. She’s 86 now. She never remarried, saying she wasn’t interested in another man after living with Dad for 32 years. She has been a widow longer than she was married. I’ve lived without Dad in my life longer than I did with him present. I’m six years older than he was when he died. Dad was a hard-working dairyman who told me often that he made a living with his muscles but I would have to earn a living with my brains. I wonder what he would have thought of the age of technology? I regret that he never met my two children. He never graduated from the eighth grade. Yet, among his grandchildren is a doctor, a college instructor, an expert for the severely disabled, a geologist, a nutritionist, a future family counselor, and more. He lives on in his six children, who are still alive, get along, and continue to miss him to this day.

Occupying Coeur d’Alene

Occupy Coeur d’Alene protesters attracted a wide reaction with their signs at U.S. 95 and Appleway Avenue on Oct. 15. Honks. Thumbs-up. One-finger salutes. Obscenities. In return, organizer Josh Grice and some 40 occupiers gave motorists the thumbs-up or a peace sign. Josh’s menagerie included: teenagers, adults, seniors, veterans, teachers, liberals, conservatives, independents, Ron Paul supporters, former Democrats who feel betrayed by their party, and people holding “End the Fed” signs. The tea party was conspicuously absent unless you count that Second Amendment guy who showed up with an unloaded rifle – and was told to put the gun in his car because it made other protesters nervous.

Huckleberries

Coeur d’Alene Councilman Ron Edinger was backed by unions for local police, fire, and deputies, along with John Bruning, and George Sayler. But Ron’s not featured on the unions’ endorsement billboard on Northwest Boulevard. Why? He didn’t want to be seen as running as part of a ticket with John and George … Poll: HucksOnline blog readers believe the tea party controls the Kootenai County Republican Party. Reality is 90 percent perception … Last Tuesday, a woman called the cops re: Sept. 29 crash with a deer. She claims the deer was being chased by a dog and that the dog’s owner should pay for her repairs. Good luck with that … Quotable Quote: “Went to the funeral home to talk about cremation, felt like I was going to get burned on the deal” – on KXLY Facebook wall last week … At the Coeur d’Alene City Council candidate forums Thursday, Pat “Mitch” Mitchell asked former legislator Sayler: “Mr. Sayler, you were my teacher when I was a student. Can I call you George now?”

Parting shot

Dan Hammes, publisher of the St. Maries Gazette Record, isn’t enamored with the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial because Chinese artist Lei Yixxin created dozens of heroic images of brutal Mao Zedong. Also, there’s the concern re: the dangerous working conditions in the Chinese quarries where the stone was unearthed. Was there no American artist for the project? Dan wonders. Thirty-six percent of my blog readers agreed with Dan. Moi? Categorize under “Tempest in a teapot.”