It’s plenty spooky, but not nasty scary

So, what do Senor Froggy and The Bates Motel on Coeur d’Alene’s Sherman Avenue have in common with the auditorium at Coeur d’Alene High? They’re haunted. This, according to The Shadowlands Haunted Places online. Seems there’s paranormal activity in all rooms of the appropriately named Bates Motel. But Rooms 1 and 3 are off the charts “with ashtrays falling off tables, lights flickering on and off, and items left on tables changing positions.” Down the street, Senor Froggy serves guacamole, salsa and an occasional side order of the willies for customers who use the basement restrooms. Rumor has it that a construction worker died in a fall while the original foundation was being poured, and, well, the spicy atmosphere doesn’t agree with his ghost. Another apparition is said to haunt the CHS auditorium. But it doesn’t do much other than pace in the back. Spokane’s got specters, too – at Gonzaga U’s Monaghan Mansion, where the ghost of murdered James Monaghan is said to perform his funeral dirge. At the old Patsy Clark’s restaurant. Even at River Park Square, where a man who jumped to his death from the top elevator is said to whisper sweet nothings in shoppers’ ears. All in all, however, our ghosts are well-behaved and nothing like the ornery ones that regularly startle Jennifer Love Hewitt on the “Ghost Whisperer” TV series.

Going out in style

North Idaho College’s first cadaver prompted a reaction at Huckleberries Online. Some commenters were willing to donate their bodies to science. Others were not. Then, there’s Bob Salsbury/Spokane Valley. Bob’s willing to let future generations of medical pros slice and dice his corpse, but he insists that certain procedures be followed to acquire his remains: “I’d stipulate only if the students donned black garb including coattails and top hats and dug me up from my cemetery – on Halloween night at midnight. Then I wanna be flung into the trunk of a black Lincoln Continental and driven off to the college.” Yes, mahstah.

Why ask why?

Do you suppose the developers working on the Thomas Kinkade-inspired Gates of Coeur d’Alene subdivision of five multimillion-dollar homes on Lake Coeur d’Alene will be happy to learn that Tommy K is catching heat for allegedly groping a woman – and sundry other misbehavior? … The signs say “re-elect” 1st District Judge John Mitchell, but can you re-elect a judge who was appointed? … Do you know of any public road area in Blue State Oregon that is as trashy as the Interstate 90 median and roadsides at the highway’s western entrance to Kootenai County in Red State Idaho? (P’haps our ever-increasing Kootenai County Jail population is too busy eating their three square meals per day to join a litter patrol to address the eyesore?)

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: The pigeon’s/work is bold and bright,/his palette/limited to white – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Picasso of the Skies”) … On a quick trip to Portland and back, I paid as much as I ever have for a gallon of gas, $2.99.9, at the King City pumps, north of the Tri-Cities. One more tenth of a penny, and I’ll be thumbing it to the University of Portland to see my daughter perform on stage … Huckleberries Online has an eclectic collection of stay-at-home fathers, headed by “Family Phil” Corless/CdA. Tongue firmly cheeked, Thom George pointed out the roughest part of being a SAHD with infants: Breast feeding. Badabump. Onward … Because You Asked: That new Silverwood Theme Park ride has a more complicated function than to distract motorists on Highway 95 by resembling what one Berry Picker termed “a red pulsing phallic symbol.” Colleague Jesse Tinsley sez: “The ride hauls you up about 100 feet and lets you freefall down to about 40 feet before slowing down. It looks like quite a rush” … Bumpersnicker (on a pickup seen in CdA): “If God intended for us to vote, He would have given us candidates” … Yo, Mr. & Mrs. California Transplant, you’re not being paranoid if you believe your new neighbors are out to get you. In a Coeur d’Alene Press online poll last week, a plurality of 30.2 percent of 1,149 respondents listed “California transplants” as the greatest threat to North Idaho’s quality of life. “Property taxes” and “All of the above” finished a close second and third.

Parting shot

Dunno what bugs me more about airport security – its questionable effectiveness or the delight it takes in upsetting Seasoned Citizens who obviously aren’t suicide bombers. Take the Las Vegas bunch – puh-LEEZ. Seems an 81-year-old grandmother from Athol ended up in the Kootenai Medical Center ER with a possible broken arm last week, after she fell while trying to remove her shoes for Las Vegas security. Cracked her head, too. All because security doesn’t want to slow things down by providing chairs for people removing shoes. Sheesh. Granny Fran Harms endured her pain on the plane ride home because she didn’t want to go to a Las Vegas hospital for treatment. She isn’t planning to sue the federal government, although she should. Mebbe that’d make security more considerate.