Huckleberries: Claims about Santorum’s game may fall short

Jimmy McAndrew, who caddied at the Coeur d’Alene Resort golf course before becoming a Coeur d’Alene banker, is skeptical about Rick Santorum’s golf prowess. According to eyewitnesses Tuesday, the Republican prez wannabe landed two golfballs on the floating green, at its winter distance. Doubting Jimmy told Huckleberries: “We are talking 270 yard (on the fly) in 30-40 degree weather over the lake which is always gusting heavily every day and always requires you to club up one minimum (usually two clubs up). Just look at the flag out there, it’s rarely blowing toward the lake.” And even if Santorum hit the green, he’d be lucky to keep the ball on it, says Jimmy. Who estimates the floating green is 30 yards deep. Tops. In the winter, Jimmy said, the surface would be as hard as an airport tarmac. “Hit the green? Maybe,” says Jimmy. “Held it?” Hmm. Later, Santorum was a big hit before an appreciative crowd of 600 packed into the resort events center, too – until he said “Iowa” instead of “Idaho.”

Channeling Abe

John Austin has always been a ha-huge fan of President Abraham Lincoln. But the Lake Coeur d’Alene resident didn’t realize how much he and the 16th president had in common until he began calculating last Sunday – on the 203rd anniversary of Lincoln’s birthday. At 56, John knows he is the same age as Lincoln was the night of his assassination, April 15, 1865. Lincoln lived 20,516 days, according to John’s tabulation. Or the exact number of days John had lived as of Lincoln’s birthday last Sunday. “How’s that for irony?” John tells Huckleberries. “It’s also humbling to think of all he achieved in his rather short life. He may be a little ahead of me, somewhat, at this point.”

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: “A schooner of Pabst,/a tumbler of wine,/a Slim Jim to share –/please say you’ll be mine” – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“North Idaho Valentine”) … Kroc Center user Bonnie Hudlet wonders why drivers of the SUVs and vans packed into the row near the front doors can’t read the word in the pavement before entering the space – you know, “compact” … Sam Crawford was minding his own business in a McDonald’s restroom in Madras, Ore., Feb. 10, when a woman walks in, says “oops” and walks out. Sez Sam: “I don’t think either of us was embarrassed.” No performance anxiety there … As you know, Gordon Ramsay will begin filming an episode of his new “Hotel Hell” at Roosevelt Inn in Coeur d’Alene on Monday. Which prompted HucksOnline blog sidekick Cindy Hval to watch an episode of Ramsay’s “Kitchen Nightmares” Thursday – and Facebook: “All I can say is if Chef Gordon was in my mom’s kitchen, he’d be sitting in the corner with a bar of Irish Spring wedged in his mouth!”

Parting Shot

So what did the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers say about the 4,400 signatures collected by Kootenai Environmental Alliance to save stately pines on Coeur d’Alene’s waterfront (west of City Beach) from the corps’ demand for a clear cut? Spokeswoman Jo-Ellen Darcy told the KEA: “I appreciate the importance of this issue to the city and to the members of your organization. In fact, it is a matter of intense interest to many communities and groups across the nation. Because of pending litigation on this issue, I cannot comment further at this time.” Blah, blah. That was a waste of a 45-cent stamp.