re: An editorial I wrote on the Idaho quarter, after then guv Dirk Kempthorne selected a peregrine falcon as the state's main symbol.
It could have been worse. On his way out of office, former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne could have picked a nondescript scene of mountains and plowed farmland to represent Idaho on the state’s special 2007 quarter. Incredibly, the boring depiction of Southern Idaho landscape was one of the three finalists among 1,200 original entries. A second finalist was better but busy, with an outline of Idaho, graced by the state flower (syringa) and state insect (monarch butterfly) and the opening words to the state song: "And here we have Idaho, winning her way to fame." The winner features another state emblem, a little known one – the world-traveled peregrine falcon -- D.F. Oliveria/Spokesman-Review editorial (July 26, 2006).
D.F. Oliveria started Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004. Oliveria's Sunday print Huckleberries is a past winner of the national Herb Caen Memorial Column contest.
plowed farmland to represent Idaho on the state’s special 2007 quarter. Incredibly, the boring depiction of Southern Idaho landscape was one of the three finalists among 1,200 original entries. A second finalist was better but busy, with an outline of Idaho, graced by the state flower (syringa) and state insect (monarch butterfly) and the opening words to the state song: "And here we have Idaho, winning her way to fame." The winner features another state emblem, a little known one – the world-traveled peregrine falcon -- D.F. Oliveria/Spokesman-Review editorial (July 26, 2006).
