Funeral services have been set for Ralph Smeed, the 88-year-old libertarian activist and Canyon County political icon who died this week of pancreatic cancer. Smeed will be remembered in a service Monday, Sept. 20, at 3 p.m. at the Jewett Auditorium on the campus of the College of Idaho in Caldwell. Also, on Saturday morning on KBOI-AM radio, Doug McConnaughey will host a Ralph Smeed tribute program from 5 to 8 a.m., and invites callers to share their stories about Smeed.

In a posting today, Idaho Statesman columnist Dan Popkey shares a remembrance of Smeed from former Idaho Sen. Steve Symms, and Marc Johnson writes about his long interaction with Smeed at The Johnson Post here, in which he calls Smeed "one of those characters who can't help but enrich our political system." In 2000, Smeed talked to me about mentoring Butch Otter, who came to him for advice before his first run for the state Legislature in 1972, and Otter recalled that Smeed "gave me my first $20." Smeed later called back to complain that I described him as "an outspoken, often profane libertarian," though he didn't dispute the statement's accuracy. This year, according to Idaho Secretary of State's records, Smeed contributed to just one Idaho politician: Sharon Ullman, who mounted a challenge to Otter in the Republican primary in May.