Broken-Down Visitor Taken In By Repairman

Oregonian Reagan Ririe, en route to British Columbia, was lucky her car was towed to Alton’s here after it broke down. She didn’t know that at first, however. By the time manager Steve Callaway finished explaining the mechanical problems, she was crying. She’d just spent $380 for repairs in Spokane. And her credit card was maxed out. In fact, Ms. Ririe didn’t have enough money to pay for a motel room. Not to worry. Steve and his wife invited her to stay with them for the night and next day while the car was being repaired. Then, our Good Samaritan succeeded in getting his visitor a new credit card to cover the repairs. Later, he explained he would want someone to do the same for his wife. May his kind increase.

New dog at Bob’s

“Cougar Bob” Campbell of Post Falls has replaced Buzz the Airedale with a Queensland Blue Heeler named Tad. The rap on Buzz? Too cheery. Too obedient. Not inclined to serious biting. “Tad is aggressive enough to suit me,” Bob told The Cougar Bob Review as he dabbed blood from a gash on his arm. “I’m just teaching him to be more selective.” … Wife Betty keeps fans posted about Cougar Bob’s exploits by publishing an annual newsletter. … In the September 1991 issue, she tells of the time an Idaho State Police officer stopped Bob near Athol. The ol’ trapper was thinking up an excuse for whatever he’d done wrong when the trooper asked him how to get rid of gophers. Together, they did - 11 of them.

No laughing matter

A Nettleton Gulch homeowner couldn’t figure out why townsfolk were dumping Christmas trees in his yard - until he read the Nickel’s Worth. A practical joker had advertised that he wanted the used Christmas trees. The Coeur d’Alene man wasn’t amused - even after garbage crews hauled a truckload of trees away. Stay tuned. .. Your tax dollars at work: Magistrate Gene Marano wasn’t laughing either when a defendant failed to show for a court date recently. A Coeur d’Alene police detective was there. So was the victim. And the attorneys. But the public defender’s office had failed to notify the accused. So, Judge Gene asked the detective and the victim how much they were paid an hour - and ordered the public defender’s office to reimburse them. Attaboy. … Dane Lowry thought he’d impress his young bride, Bridgette, Jan. 4 by baking her an angel food cake. So, he did, and then placed it on the back steps to cool. A neighborhood German shepherd appreciated the gesture.

Huckleberries

A bumpersnicker you can’t file under “Behind Every Good Man, There Is A Good Woman” was spotted on a tan van zipping past Jacklin Seed Co. on I-90 Wednesday: “Men are idiots; I married their king.” … The graffiti scrawled on the ceiling of “The Great Escape,” Schweitzer’s refurbished quad? “Made In Turkey.” … If Jim Wallace of the Fernan Ranger District wants reimbursement for a $5 car wash, he should fax a copy of his receipt to Genia Hurd not the S-R editorial department. … Someone was prepared for the worst. How else can you explain that house boat for sale in the parking lot of the old Cataldo mission? The mission grounds served as command central for 1996 flood relief efforts. … There was a pregnant pause when an S-R sports writer asked information for the phone number of College of Southern Idaho women’s basketball coach Joel Bate. Seems the operator thought he’d said, “Jailbait.”

Parting shot

In a weak moment, Cougar Bob Campbell revealed his top-secret recipe for attracting coyotes: 1-1/2 pints beef gall, three quarts rotten eggs, a gallon of beef blood, 8 to 10 ounces of coyote urine and two pounds of coyote manure. Blend. Store the mix in quart jars. Then, age for a year in the blazing sun. And if you get any on you? Bob advises you to hold your hand out the window while driving for two weeks. Says he: “the smell comes right off.”

, DataTimes MEMO: Gotta Huckleberry? Call the Huckleberry Hound Hotline: (800) 344-6718 or (208) 765-7125; daveo@spokesman.com.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = D.F. Oliveria The Spokesman-Review