Huckleberries: Kennedy claims career is marked by ‘nontroversy’

Coeur d’Alene Councilman Mike Kennedy thought he’d struck gold Thursday when he conjured the word “nontroversy.” According to Mike’s definition, “nontroversy” means roughly “a ginned up scandal, controversy or otherwise politically inspired nonsense by some political partisan (from either side).” In jest, Mike was busy on his Facebook wall calling for a lawyer to help him copyright the word when a buzz-killer noted that “nontroversy” was already defined in the “Urban Dictionary.” Approximate same definition. Undeterred, Kennedy commented on my Huckleberries blog: “I think my political career has been characterized by nontroversy. Maybe it comes with the territory of the name Kennedy living in Idaho?” Or from having the misfortune of being a Democrat in an elective, albeit nonpartisan office, in ruby-red-slipper North Idaho.

Will Mike run?

Kennedy told Huckleberries that he’s moving closer to a decision about a council run for a third term – or a possible run for mayor. Quoth: “I have seriously not made a final decision about running again for council, mayor or dog catcher. I still wish Mayor Bloem would run again, but she’s firm that she’s a ‘no’ ” … Huckleberries confirmed that firm “no” Friday. Her Sandiness said she absolutely won’t seek a fourth term, describing herself as “tired” of the ongoing political turmoil in the Lake City … Post Falls Councilwoman Kerri Thoreson and husband Bert did double-takes as they left Evergreen Cemetery on Memorial Day. There, wedged between the metal bars of the cemetery fence was (drum roll, please) – a Coeur d’Alene Press newspaper tube. With a newspaper poking from it. Tongue firmly cheeked, Bert wondered which one of the dearly departed still read the obituaries.

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: “Silent and empty,/with no one about;/somber and dark since/the students moved out” – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“The Dorm At NIC”) … Huckleberries hears that the Kootenai County GOP avoided botching a Fourth of July tradition when the Elephants remembered at the eleventh hour to buy tiny flags to hand out at the annual parade … Patrick Jacobs, a former restaurant reviewer for The Spokesman-Review, offers this theory in view of the McDonald’s restaurant under construction at the entrance to John Stone’s Riverstone development in Coeur d’Alene: “You can accurately determine an area’s population growth rate and level of prosperity by how many McDonald’s exist there.” Coeur d’Alene is prospering … Quotable Quote from Facebook Friend Jill Kuraitis: “I can no longer listen to NPR. There are so many catastrophes, hell-in-a-hand-baskets, we’re-doomed causes to care about. The list is so endless – starving people, rape victims, war refugees, torture and abuse, congressional screw-ups, disappearing-bees stories – that I start to cry. Frustrated is an understatement times one godzillian” … So you think hippies are passé? Then, who were those two young men and two young women panhandling Friday afternoon at the Huetter rest stop in a California van painted with peace symbols? Yeah, I know. The answer is blowing in the wind.

Parting shot

My Huckleberries blog crowd is searching for a name to describe the gang of archconservative émigrés who have moved into Kootenai County, seeking to overthrow our politics. Among the offerings: Decepticons (bad guys from “Transformer” movies), Deconstructionists and Outsiders. Also: GetOffMyLawners, Samsoniters (possibly a play on post-Civil War carpetbaggers) and Reclaimers (which targets newly minted Reclaim Coeur d’Alene). I’m still partial to CAVErs (Citizens Against Virtually Everything).