Huckleberries: Ex-mayor with Ruby Ridge role has Malheur advice

Darrell Kerby has advice for Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and others demanding federal action against the armed occupiers of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge: not so fast. Kerby? He’s a former mayor of Bonners Ferry. And a former member of Idaho’s Boundary County Executive Emergency Board that served during the Ruby Ridge standoff: “I had a front row seat to watch a total and complete tragedy unfold,” he wrote on Facebook. “What did I learn? I learned that time is your ally and use of force is the enemy. I do not know any of the parties involved in this latest standoff, but I do know absolutely nothing is being harmed by leaving the occupiers alone.” Sensible readers should agree with Kerby’s concluding thought: “Let’s hope those in authority are more concerned about life than (saving) face.”

Take back the GOP

Sandy Patano, a former, longtime U.S. Senate aide, has the numbers to support her theory that the closed Idaho Republican primary has depressed voter turnout in Kootenai County. In 2010, the year before the state GOP closed its primary, Sandy notes in a Coeur d’Alene Press op-ed column, 13,857 county Republicans voted. In 2012, the year after, 13,042 voted. In 2014? Only 12,534. This, despite an increasing population. Further, Patano believes that the closed primary has helped uber-conservatives win races and control the local party. Their supporters vote. Many mainstream Republicans and conservative Independents do not, turned off by the party registration requirement. Sandy’s message to them? Get over it. By not registering and voting, moderates and Independents help the hard-liners. She’s right, of course. But not Far Right.

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: This is no doubt a/remarkable species:/one half is honk and/the other half’s feces – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Thoughts on a Canada goose”) … So Keith Boe is sitting in his home office in a gated Post Falls community Friday morning when a bull moose peeks in the window. Bullwinkle had just shed his antlers and was hanging out in Keith’s backyard. Noting that his gated community has a 6-foot fence, Keith deadpanned: “Must have gotten the code from the pizza guy” … At 10:38 a.m. Friday, a patrol officer wondered whether the figure lying on Interstate 90 at Highway 41, Post Falls, was a mallard duck or a decoy … Phil Corless, of Coeur d’Alene, is celebrating a perfect run – all green lights for 5 miles on U.S. Highway 95, from Walnut Avenue in Coeur d’Alene to Honeysuckle Avenue in Hayden on Thursday afternoon. He’s never done it before in more than 12 years in the Lake City. P’haps he should buy a lottery ticket?

Parting shot

Anne Nesse, of Coeur d’Alene, has thrown in the towel. She’s moving to Portland. For years, Nesse and a few like-minded Idaho progressives have fought in vain to raise the miserable $7.25 minimum wage in ruby red Idaho. Also, as a Democrat, Anne ran unsuccessfully for the state Legislature. She bid adieu on Huckleberries Online Friday: “I will be closer to family when located on the coast, and a different sort of activism.” And another one bites the dust.