Semi crash response on I-90 was near perfect, but traffic control left something to be desired
Many are still amazed by the top-notch actions of first responders and surgeons during the three-semi wreck near the I-90/Rose Lake intersection Thursday, Jan. 19. Including Jacques Lemieux of Kellogg. They saved a man’s life under brutal winter and operating conditions. But Jacques also is frustrated with the traffic control. Or lack thereof. Jacques was one of the westbound motorists caught in the nine-mile, crash-caused traffic jam. The accident occurred at about 5:45 a.m. Jacques was stuck on the Cataldo bridge at 12:45 p.m. “There was not any warning of the traffic stop ahead,” Jacques tells Huckleberries. “I did see a man driving a DOT (Department of Transportation) car placing fuses on the shoulder (indicating) we should slow down.” Traffic, Jacques says, should have been diverted off the freeway at Cataldo and west on a frontage road. Jacques and other locals drove west on the shoulder of the freeway, exited and then bypassed the wreck. Jacques said he had no trouble getting to Rose Lake and back onto the freeway. “I know this was a tough situation,” says Jacques, but (police agencies) created far more of a problem than need be by not doing traffic control on the east end of this situation.” Monday morning quarterbacking? Maybe. But a teachable moment, too.
Customer satisfaction
Florine Dooley, of Coeur d’Alene, has a favorite drink she orders at Lake City coffee shops, one requiring sugar-free hazelnut syrup. When she ordered one at a Coeur d’Alene Starbucks recently, she was told by a barista that the shop no longer stocked sugar-free hazelnut. Florine settled for regular joe and told the server that Starbucks had lost a customer. Later, while Florine hobnobbed with a friend over a breakfast sandwich, the store manager approached with a sugar-free cinnamon drink. On the house. “The gesture re-won my occasional business, and I told them so on the way out,” Florine told Huckleberries readers. “Good management decision, I’d say.” Hashtag: customerisalwaysright.
Huckleberries
Count former KVNI-AM news director Dick Haugen among those who bought a snow blower – after the last big snow. And has yet to use it. D’oh! … Poll: A slight majority (50.24 percent) of Hucks Nation said the sentence handed to Post Falls cop Brenda Knight was fair – for a first DUI offense (16 hours on a work detail, $800 fine, a year’s probation and driver’s license suspension for three months with drive-to-work privileges). Huckleberries does, too … As colleague Nina Culver watched, a Spokane County Superior Court judge granted a restraining order against a brute charged with domestic violence Wednesday. The guy didn’t like it. And he wondered aloud why he needed protection. As others in the courtroom snickered, the judge judiciously pointed out that the victim needed protection. From him.
Parting Shot
If you’re dog-tired of partisan political posts on Facebook in this Age of Trump, Nancy Gillard of Pullman offers a remedy. This is for those of you who don’t want to see the political vomit, pro or con Trump, on Facebook. And don’t want to offend by “unfriending” someone. Go to his or her page. Click on the “following” box opposite the profile picture. Click on “unfollow” in the drop down box. You will no longer see the offender’s posts. And s/he will still think you’re still a Facebook Friend. Reminds Nancy: “You have control over what you see and don’t see.” And for the partisan offenders out there? Be more considerate of your “Friends.”