Bud Displays His Parochial Outlook Again

A University of Idaho extension office request had Bonner County Commissioner Bud Mueller fuming again. Seems the aggies wanted $450 to send two Bonner County 4-H staffers to a training seminar in southern Idaho. Ultimately, all three commissioners approved the request - but not before Bubbly Bud delivered this homily: “I never traveled once to learn how to raise my kids, and I think I raised three darn good ones.” Methinks Bud should get out more.

Ode to an RV park

First two stanzas of a poem by Linda Erickson, a Blackwell Island RV park opponent (with her apologies to Robert Frost and his inspiration, “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening”): “Whose dump this is I think I know/His house is out of state, and so/He will not see RVs afloat/Or watch his pads as off they go./ Summer tourists must think it queer/To smell the waste plant oh so near/Between the town and swelling lake/The wettest evening of the year.”

It happened on Sherman

On Tuesday, three Beavis and Butt-head types, wearing black shirts and carrying skateboards, skulked toward two suits and a businesswoman entering Jimmy D’s. Said B&B No. 1: “Say, do you have some change?” Answered Suit No. 1: “Nope. Just a $20.” Responded B&B No. 2, brightening: “That’ll do.” Replied Suit No. 1 ere he walked away: “I’m sure it would.” … On Tuesday evening, I was strolling with my wife on McFarland Avenue when another B&B (also in a black T-shirt) zoomed by on a mountain bike and shouted, “Legalize marijuana!” To which I yelled back, “Why?” Roared he: “It’s good!” Ere he turned the corner, he concluded: “Save the Earth!” A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Fan mail

Lani Allen, 18-year-old daughter of Bonner County Commissioner Larry Allen, thinks the Huckleberries Last about Commissioner Bud Mueller amounted to “tabloid journalism.” (And her point?) By e-mail, she says: “I would like to point out every item about Commissioner Mueller that was completely true: His last name is Mueller and he is a commissioner. I would suggest that you verify and confirm future information that you receive from your ‘bloodhound’ instead of engaging in mean-spirited drivel.” Hmmm. Wasn’t I also right when I said his first name is Bud?

Huckleberries

The North Idaho College Sentinel’s “Chokecherries” column offers this deep thought: “Is it fair that in a computer class the men are required to remove their hats, but the women aren’t?” Hmmm? … Here’s a thought I’d like to see on a Bonner County bumper: “Pray for me; I teach in Bonner County.” … If you look at Bonner County from the air, claimed a Sandpoint wag last week, it’d be in the shape of a pentagram. How else can you explain local government up there? … After three years with two Coeur d’Alene high schools, the rivalry still hasn’t grown bitter. Consider Lake City High School’s new Web site (webmaster@lchs.ml.org), which features a battered Vik and a bandaged T-Wolf - with arms around each other. … I’d love to have seen Boyd Lee Walton’s face when he met the manager of the Wolf Lodge Campground on Wednesday - a day after a man who had identified himself as the manager vamoosed with Walton’s $100 campsite deposit. Always get a receipt. … Do you suppose the Show-No News-Press of Kellogg was suffering volcano envy when it published this breathless headline Tuesday: “‘Volcano’ eruption falls short of ‘Dante’s Peak”’? In other words, “Dante’s Peak,” filmed in Wallace, grossed $4 million more than rival “Volcano” did on opening weekend. Big deal, huh?

Parting shot

One rumor swirling around Sandpoint last week - that there is a big crack in Cabinet Gorge dam - drew a laugh from a fellow at the site. He was sitting under the dam munching a Costco muffin when we called. Nope, he said, I don’t see no stinking crack. Then, the line went dead. … Gotcha.

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