Huckleberries: Huckleberries mailbag: Some love us, some love us not

This five-times-a-week column-writing gig that started this month has attracted attention – and emails. Old friend Tony Stewart, the guiding light of the human rights struggle in Kootenai County, has written, along with several readers from the Washington side of the state line. Huckleberries enjoys input from Washington. That’s where the paychecks come from. But this column remains Idaho-first through and through (even when the Gem State is doing something nutty, which is often). Here’s a sampling of the recent emails:

Memory lane

Last Saturday, Huckleberries told you about the day in January 1987 when Coeur d’Alene was the toast of New York City – and received the Raoul Wallenberg Civic Award for fighting racism. Emails Tony Stewart: “I can hardly imagine that it has been 30 years since that special ceremony in NYC. Wow, where has the time gone? Your article brought back so many memories, and the detail you had in the story was incredible and so accurate. I was especially pleased that this recap of the event has informed so many people who were not here at the time or not yet born.”

Just desserts

On Thursday, Huckleberries agreed with KXLY’s Melissa Luck that media-bashers often misfire with their criticism. But reader Bill Johns emails that we’re getting our just desserts: “I am enjoying the wailing and gnashing of teeth of the ‘media.’ Let me try to explain. The media is you at the SR. You tell us things along the lines of your opinion but there is no debate. We can email you but the SR subscriber only sees your take on things. Same goes for letters to ed. Most letters never are printed. The new media has a lot more interplay. I like a mix of my ‘media’ but I am afraid your days of ruling the roost are over.”

We need THE MEDIA!

Bob Curry, of Endicott, Washington, takes a different view of THE MEDIA! column: “You’re right about media. If democracy is to survive, it needs to be unrestricted, open, and free. Of course, I am talking about professional media whose only goal is to try to accurately report to us the goings-on of our government and all its agencies and branches.”

She loves us

Anne Oswald, of Spokane Valley, provides these encouraging words: “My husband and I lived in Seattle for 40 years before retiring and moving to the Spokane Valley in 2013. We love living in the Inland Northwest and, from the beginning, one of the things we liked best was your column in the Sunday paper. Thank you so much for being willing to write a daily column. It is a daily breath of fresh air and an island of sanity in what has become increasingly insane.”

He loves us not

And, under subject line “quality journalism,” Spokane reader Rodney Fuller comments: “Spell check much?” re: mix-up of “assent” and “ascent” in the Wednesday column about the coyote on the Denver runway that caused a jet to abort its first landing try.