Huckleberries: Candidate happy with endorsement from ‘Sheriff Mack’

‘Constitutional sheriff” candidate John Green is glad that erstwhile former Arizona Sheriff Richard Mack has endorsed his Republican candidacy in Kootenai County. In a Facebook post on his campaign site, Green wrote: “I’m honored by Sheriff Mack’s endorsement, confidence and most importantly, his friendship!” The endorsement from the founder of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association didn’t help Green four years ago in a three-way race with Sheriff Ben Wolfinger. He finished third with 27 percent of the GOPrimary vote. So what is a “constitutional sheriff”? According to Wikipedia, it is “an organization that encourages members to refuse to enforce laws that they consider unconstitutional.” Mack, for example, believes Sheriff Dave Ward of Harney County, Oregon, should have intervened between “overly aggressive and corrupt” federal officials and local ranchers Dwight and Steve Hammond. The Hammonds were sent to prison for setting public land on fire. The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge standoff sprung from the Hammonds’ controversy. In a Facebook post, Green was also critical of Sheriff Ward: “The Hammonds’ sheriff could have protected them from the lynching they suffered and continue to suffer! Sheriff Mack would have done it, and I will do it! You’re either a constitutional sheriff or no sheriff at all!” Huckleberries prefers sheriffs who enforce the law and let the courts interpret it.

What to do?

An awful thing happened to Facebook friend Jill Kuraitis of Boise recently. She accidentally desecrated a polyester U.S. flag that fell from a shelf in her garage. Laments Jill: “What do I do with a desecrated flag that is made of polyester, which doesn’t burn? It would melt into plastic goo and release toxic fumes. Burying seems wrong, since it’s not biodegradable. P.S. It fell from a garage shelf and I ran over it. Horrifying! I was upset for hours!” Any patriots out there have an answer?

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner (Bard of Sherman Avenue trifecta): “Hot air and fog/headed our way/from now until/Election Day” (“Extended Forecast: No relief in sight”). And: “While gazing at his windshield,/bespattered now in white,/he once again was thankful/that cows cannot take flight” (“Things Could Be Worse”). And: “The grizzly’s huge,/with dreadful bite;/if you should meet one,/be polite” (“The Grizzly”) … A Coeur d’Alene officer didn’t think an intertwined couple in front of the Kroc Center was “fornicating” last week when he drove by. But 911 caller did … The Street Formerly Known as Mullan Road will be called Fort Ground Drive when the construction dust settles on the Four Corners project. The road divides Coeur d’Alene’s City Park from Memorial Field. Do you suppose Captain John Mullan is rolling around in his grave? … No Seattle Mariners on KVNI (“the former voice of North Idaho) 1080 AM? No problem. Turn your dial to 700 AM for the M’s and sports news … A plurality of my Huckleberries Online blog readers (34 percent) agreed with the sentence of at least 20 years in adult prison for Eldon Gale Samuel III. Now 16 years old, Samuel brutally murdered his father and his brother two years ago. However, 29 percent said he shouldn’t have been sent to adult prison.

Parting shot

Bud Mueller, the curmudgeonly former Bonner County commissioner, was Far Right before Far Right was in style in North Idaho. One of the first things he did upon entering office in the mid-1990s was eliminate the county’s building code requirements. Mueller was the mastermind behind the “Save a Tree, Cancel the Bee” bumper sticker campaign against the hometown Bonner County Daily Bee. David Keyes, the former Daily Bee publisher, remembers emceeing a candidates’ forum in which Mueller, miffed by a question, threatened to punch him. The “Jerry Springer” moment was caught on local TV and looped for days. Residents told Dave that Mueller would take him in a short fight, but that Dave would win if the battle went the distance. Ultimately, Dave did outlast him. Mueller died at age 80.