There's an interesting set of numbers from the recent Coeur d'Alene School District Zone 3 trustee race between incumbent Christie Wood and challenger Stan Hess: at the Ramsey School precinct, 471 voted in the smaller of the two levy elections and 459 voted in the trustee race. Why? Human-rights activists, campaigning door-to-door for Christie on Tuesday, told voters to cast ballots at Ramsey School to avoid confusion at other precincts.

As you know, school patrons can vote at any of the district schools, including those outside your zone. Unfortunately, most voters don't know what zone they live in and have a hard time finding their streets on maps with small type. Some decide not to vote in trustee races because they're unsure if they're eligible to do so. Human-rights activists targeted voters in the heart of the zone to inform them about Christie's solid qualifications and to make them aware of Hess's background in white supremacy. In a telephone conversation with Huckleberries Online this morning, Tony Stewart of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations said he was satisfied with the result. Tony said he has ammunition again to tell New York Times reporters when they call that "the people have spoken again, and they have said no to racism and prejudice." He said the same thing when the city of Hayden turned out overwhelmingly to reject the late Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler's bid to become mayor.

Christie Wood defeated Hess 1243 to 159. As for Hess's ability to attract 159 votes, Stewart said: "Even Donald Duck could pull 10 percent of the vote."

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