Two-Tiered School Setup Unfair To Bottom Dwellers

High schoolers who don’t attend the Taj Mahal on Ramsey Road want their due, too. Good for them. Last week, 100 Coeur d’Alene High choir students protested their inadequate facilities. While CHS singers sometimes are forced to practice in the girls’ bathroom, their Lake City High counterparts enjoy choir practice rooms, a large rehearsal room and a two-story auditorium complete with a light and sound booth. In 1992, school officials sold the LCHS bond by promising to dramatically upgrade the old high school, too. It was renovated somewhat. But much was left unfinished. Recently, school officials pushed through a bond for a third middle school and even tried to build themselves a new central office - without giving more than lip service to Coeur d’Alene High’s needs. As a result, they’ve divided the teens in this district into haves and have-nots, causing some to lie about their address so they can play sports and attend classes at the new school. Here’s hoping CHS students constantly remind school officials and this community of their broken promise.

Just say no to high school drug tests

I probably would have peed in a bottle in front of the school nurse to play baseball back in high school. But I wouldn’t have liked it. Of course, booze, not drugs was the issue then (though one of my classmates showed up for school one day during my school year trying to pawn off two aspirins as LSD). Providing a urine sample is embarrassing - even in a doctor’s office. Now, however, Bonner County School District trustees have decided, in principle, to require that athletes be tested for drugs. But the cost of the tests is making them reconsider their principles - $20 a tinkle, or a total tab of about $11,600. For a district that hardly has money to patch roofs, that’s wasteful. Send this one back to the drawing board.

Cattle corrals separate men from boys

I milked my first and last cow when I was 6 (a hind leg to the milk bucket persuaded me immediately that I was destined for other things). I also fed calves, collected eggs and shoveled smelly beet pulp into troughs. But I didn’t realize that those activities made me a ranch hand until I read Steve Judy’s resume. As part of his work experience, the Coeur d’Alene mayoral wannabe said he became a ranch hand at age 6. Now, growing up on a ranch and being a ranch hand are different things. I figure I became a ranch hand at age 14, when my uncle ordered me to shovel manure from corrals on Saturday mornings. It was a great primer for my future work as an editorial writer, too. , DataTimes MEMO: D.F. Oliveria’s “Hot Potatoes” runs Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can comment on the items by calling (800) 344-6718 or (208) 765-7125, or by sending e-mail to daveo@spokesman.com.