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Huckleberries: The Bard of Sherman Avenue fights cancer battle with his words

For years, The Bard of Sherman Avenue has provided short rhyme to please and uplift my print and online readers. Now, he’s in a battle with cancer that he appears to be winning. When news of his health issue reached my Huckleberries Online ( www.spokesman.com/blogs/hbo) readers Thursday, they reacted by penning their own rhymes and messages, in wishing him a return to health. Former Coeur d’Alene Councilman Mike Kennedy wrote: “As a partner with words,/Bard’s a very fleet dancer/We all hope and pray,/He beats that damn cancer.” And former Kootenai County Clerk Dan English offered: “I can’t count the times I have been uplifted, challenged, or had a smile break out because of his incredible ability to put so much into four lines of text.” At this point, the identity of The Bard remains a mystery. He was prepared to reveal his identity and take his first, long-overdue, public bow at Blogfest 2015, the annual celebration of the blogiversary of Huckleberries Online (set Saturday, Feb. 21, at Fort Ground Grill in Coeur d’Alene). That’s now in jeopardy. But I’ll leave you with a message from The Bard himself: “I would love to be there. And I HOPE to be there. And there is still a chance I’ll be there. But things may certainly not work out that way.”

Gum control

The Post Falls prosecutor’s office is taking heat for the arrest of the 9-year-old boy who swiped chewing gum from a Post Falls store, even though the Kootenai County prosecutor’s office issued the arrest warrant. The story went national. And at least one national blog provided the phone number of the Post Falls prosecutor for readers to contact. Among the interesting observations from angry emailers: “I’m also not sure how you figure out how to put pants on each day, being as stupid as you are. But regardless, I sincerely hope you get hit by a bus or struck by lightning for what you are doing” – JamesG. And: “I hope your rinky-dink department AND county goes bankrupt. You people should just as well seize the parent’s house in order to pay the restitution for the package of gum that was no doubt put right back on the shelf in the store” – ZacharyS. And: “What are you going to do next? Arrest Mr. Potato?” – JimW. These messages are the civil ones.

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: “Although it’s reported the Eskimo/has two hundred words he can use to say snow,/she has just one, with no ifs, ands or buts:/when she sees it falling she simply says ‘nuts’ ” – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“The Linguistics of Snow”) … You may have read that the Movoto real estate blog lists Post Falls as the second-most boring city in Idaho, behind Ammon. But did you know that my Huckleberries blog crowd agrees? In a poll last week, 74 percent said the River City was boring. Ouch! … Two bumpersnickers on a white Ford F-150 parked near Sanders Beach in Coeur d’Alene last week indicate Arfee hasn’t been forgotten. Left bumper: “GOOD Arfee.” Right bumper: “BAD Kelley.” Coeur d’Alene police Officer David Kelley shot 2-year-old black lab Arfee through the window of owner Craig Jones’ parked van July 8 … Quotable Quote: “These gum control laws go too far” – S-R buddy Gary Crooks regarding arrest of 9-year-old Post Falls boy for stealing gum.

Parting shot

Rich Loudenback, secretary of the local John Birch Society, told Republicans in Coeur d’Alene on Friday, that Rep. Luke Malek, R-Coeur d’Alene, and state Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, are the worst North Idaho legislators. And state Rep. Ron Mendive, R-Coeur d’Alene, and Rep. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens, are the best. If you flip-flop Loudenback’s best and worst legislators, you’ll have it right.

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