Could This Soon Be a City Near You?

 Yesterday's news video of the debacle in Kabul brought back so many memories from a similar situation in Vietnam, oh so long ago. Americans literally turning their tails and running.  For their lives. 

It isn't the fault of the thousands of Americans working in Afghanistan, nor the military who kept the Taliban at bay nor the rank and file of the Afghanis themselves.  It is the fault of self-serving, naive and perhaps even stupid leadership - people we've put in power to lead us.  It turns my stomach.

What makes it even worse is those among us who bow to their dictates because we are too lazy to dig beneath the surface to find truth. I think of the children of Afghanistan - both boys, who are subjected to a demented form of homosexuality, and girls who are sometimes not even in their teens spirited off to be the "wife" of some warrior. And more girls and women who are going to lose their opportunities for an education that can so vastly improve their lives.

Well, you might say, that's far away and it doesn't really affect us.  Doesn't it? The illustration above could soon be Chicago or Portland or Seattle or New York if we don't soon get a handle on our own country.

I see hope, I hear people speaking who are angry.  Really angry about what's happening be it CRT or mask mandates or defunding the police. The one thing that's lacking, however, is a lack of cohesiveness.  Someone who is willing to pick up the reins and get a movement organized.  A Tea Party movement without the capitulation to the Republican Party who are just as complicit in our current mess as the Democrats.

The ones I envision pulling it together are parents, no matter their politics. For those who are suffering the most are the children and don't get between a child and its parent. Mother or Father. Kids have lost far too much in the way of schooling during the lockdowns which have proven to be ineffectual at best. This applies to kids up to and including college.  They're not getting the education we expect them to get nor the one they deserve.

A lot of atonement needs to take place. First with our feckless politicians, then to those who have hijacked higher education, to the teachers union and school boards to health care officials who have suddenly turned into petty dictators.

They say they are following the science. How can the science be so different in so many places if that's true? Truth.  That's all we ask. Is that too much?  Apparently so.

Where's The Humanity At Habitat?

It's election season in Kootenai County. The Coeur d'Alene race is well under way with three city council persons and the mayor all up for re-election. They all have challengers. Signs and billboards are popping up everywhere.

You'd have to be deaf, blind and dumb not to know just about every politically connected organization in town is holding candidate forums. Ads for them appear in the paper on almost a daily basis. We're inundated with it.

So what happens? A challenger of a council seat, the executive director for the local Habitat for Humanity, is notified that today is his last day on the job but he'll be paid through the end of the month. What?

It needs to be pointed out this same gentleman challenged an incumbent last time around and rumor had it his job was threatened. I can't verify this as anything other than rumor though I learned of it from another challenger. Where there's smoke there is usually at least an ember, if not a fire.

So this time he is fired. The board claims it's for fiscal reasons. It was time to go back to a managing board. A board of eleven. That will certainly simplify the decision making process!

Naturally the claim is that politics have nothing to do with it. Maybe yes, maybe no.

But you know what really makes me turn away in disgust? The board chairman claimed that not one of the eleven on the board knew a debate was coming up. Excuse me. The man who runs your organization is running for a council seat and you aren't aware of the debates?

The whole board ought to resign for gross incompetence!

See? I get mad. I stay away from this stuff and yet this week I've found myself venting twice. I know people on all sides of the political spectrum in these parts. They are as partisan in their beliefs as any on the national scene. They are also as intolerant of any who disagree with their stand. I've lost many who I had considered friends for not agreeing with them. It was not pleasant.

So, not living in town and therefore not able to vote, I keep my opinions to myself. Unless something so outrageous occurs I can't help myself. This is such an instance. And you know what? If I were voting I'd be voting for the incumbent!

The Government Way

Coeur d'Alene city council elections are coming up. All the incumbents have filed for re-election. Some I would like to see re-elected, to others I'm indifferent. Since I don't live in the city, I can't vote anyway but I still follow the proceedings because what happens in Coeur d'Alene affects all the surrounding areas in one way or another.

The Press is now running bios of the candidates. The one today, on a man I've met but once, captured my interest. Would that all politicians be as forth right as this man when it comes to political speak. He made a comment that is as plain as the nose on your face. "You have no idea what government is like until you're there." Truism number one.

He went on to say, and this is an important point, "It has it's own language, it has it's own money system which sometimes doesn't seem like it reflects everyday life." Boy. Speaking about truisms! Think about how the feds figure the cost of living index while excluding two minor items - food and gas!

"I learned that government can still be strange but I've learned how to move around in it and get people's ideas and go back and rework and re-evaluate those ideas and try to make things happen for the long term good." Isn't this how it's supposed to work? That a politician not forget the people he represents?

"It's about getting good ideas out there and compromise." Are you listening Washington? Every Representative and Senator should have this interview as required reading!

"You meet other people and hear their ideas and think," 'Hey, I never thought of that. Let's give that a try' ". When have you ever heard a Congressman admit there's an idea he had never thought of?

This man has it down pat. An understanding that things inside the system work differently than those outside and, more importantly, that the constituents' best interests come first. Too bad he's not interested in higher office. He'd be a refreshing change.

On the other hand Coeur d'Alene is fortunate to have him. Although he's one of those much maligned Californians who maintains his surfer boy image, he's been in these parts long enough for that to have been forgiven. He, along with his brother, run a popular local eatery where he easily accessible. Imagine that! You can actually talk to the man!

Maybe it's his lack of political ambition that makes him so attractive a candidate to me. He just likes what he's doing for the community in which he lives. He's one of us and he hasn't forgotten it.

It makes me wonder, though, about the would be challengers who do little but nip pick about the process during the off years. Should one of them get elected they may find themselves compromised when they're on the inside looking out. I wonder how they would handle that!

Sowing the Seeds of Hatred

I am so disgusted as I write this I'm having to reign in my anger. The photo is of a section of land not too far south of Coeur d'Alene. It is filled with gently rolling hills coupled with forest land and farm fields. It is here, at the cross roads, a developer wants to build 141 storage units on ten acres. It would require a conditional use permit because the area is rural.

Area residents turned out in significant numbers when the County Commissioners held a hearing. They were against the project. Why? According to The Mica Kidd Island Property Owners Association the facility was opposed because they didn't want a precedent set for possible commercial sprawl, it would infringe on the visual tone of the community, create traffic hazards and would be incompatible with the historical atmosphere of century old farms, barns and Grange Hall. Among others.

The argument that the facility would have a barn like appearance to fit in with it's surroundings and there was a need for boat storage in the area was not enough to outweigh the objections of the area residents. The Commissioners, in my opinion, to their credit, turned it down.

Sounds like run of the mill procedure doesn't it? Right. Wrong. Today, the Coeur d'Alene Press headlined the fact that the developer, one Haitham Joudeh, has filed a discrimination suit against the commissioners and the Mica Kidd Island Fire District claiming religious and racial discrimination.

Please. This is the most preposterous allegation imaginable. I really don't believe the area residents nor the commissioners care one iota that the man is of Middle Eastern descent nor that he follows the Islamic faith. I doubt anyone gave it a thought until this came up!

I do not know if the claim that Grange members and the Fire District held an anti-Joudeh rally or not. If they did I should like to think it was to drum up support for denying his project and had nothing to with him as an individual.

We live in an area where the vestiges of the neo-Nazi's still haunt us. I find it highly unlikely that the Commissioners would partake in any action that even smacked of that kind of racial discord.

Steve Tucker, a Spokane attorney who would do well to stay in his own state and city, tells us Mr. Joudeh was born in Idaho and graduated from the University of Idaho. If true, he well knows the attitudes in this town about that kind of simmering suggestiveness and he should be ashamed of himself.

A $25 million lawsuit this day and age, in a community of this size where the majority of the wealthy only vacation here and the less then privileged well outweigh the privileged, is a slap in our collective faces in the name of prejudice of the worst kind.

I could be wrong in my assumptions. I have only the news report and the comments from the Owners Association web site to draw from, but I just can't get my head around malacious intent of such intensity. I should think Mr. Joudeh might want to consider moving on. I doubt he'll be welcome around here and it will have nothing to with his race nor faith except for the way he's using them to drive a wedge.

Maybe Spokane would welcome him. They have a higher level of tolerance. They have Steve Tucker.

Indignant Righteous Indignation

A while back a local, or locals, asked a state senator to have the attorney general investigate whether or not a board member of our local urban development, LCDC, corporation was in violation of conflict of interest requirements. This gentleman sits on the board of a local bank which is eligible to make bids on projects within the urban development districts.

To the casual reader it would seem that he does. Upon investigation, however, the AG's office found that yes, he was in violation of conflict of interest but could find no evidence of criminal intent nor of a prosecutable level.

The hue and cry over this has been deafening. The "open government" cadre are hailing this as a great victory. Others, including the gentleman himself, friends and colleagues, are lamenting that it even happened way beyond prudence. Letters to the editor and even columns are lauding this life long resident as the epitome of integrity and one devoted to community service.

It leads me to ask why, since he got a pass from the AG's office, are the howls still being heard, including from him! Part of the complaint is that he has a right to face his accusers. Accusers of what? Someone had a question about the relationships. That is not an accusation; merely a question. Do we not have the right to ask for an independent opinion?

Then it has been asked why the senator didn't pick up the phone and ask the bank about the relationship and pick up the phone and ask LCDC about the relationship.

Okay, herein lies the problem. If that is the mentality no wonder everyone is always at each others throats. Asking the bank and the LCDC if the relationship is above board is like asking a wife beater if he beats his wife! What do you think they're going to say?

From what I read about this gentleman and his wife, they are, indeed, pillars of the community. He needs to go quietly into the night lest more of us begin to wonder why he and his minions are protesting so much!

Heros? Bully!

I listened to the noon news with a sigh of resignation as the story about a Dallas cop unfolded. It seems a car rolled through a stop sign in the wee hours of the morning in a rush to get to the hospital. He pulled it over - in the hospital parking lot. The occupants explained they had gotten a call that the woman's mother was near death and they were trying to get to her.

No dice. He refused to let them go, demanding the usual, drivers license, registration, proof of insurance. Flustered, the man had trouble finding everything and finally the woman fled into the hospital, arriving in the nick of time. The man did not.

I don't understand the mentality it takes for these jobs. The man in question was a member of the Dallas Cowboys. Did the officer want to make a score to impress his buddies?

How many of you as a kid wanted to be either a fireman or a policeman? What has happened to them as role models? Well, in Spokane they can get away with egregious behavior and lose little more than their jobs - if that. We just had a case wrap up where a drunken off duty officer chased a young man through a neighborhood ultimately shooting him in the head. He claimed the young man tried to steal his truck.

He was acquitted and will receive back pay. In the infinite wisdom of the judge, the jury was not allowed to be told the young man had already been found not guilty of trying to steal the truck in a previous trial! Fellow officers cheered the outcome. The chief declared she believes in the process.

Then just this morning there was a story about a former firefighter being convicted of assault. This is his second go round. The first, which cost him his job, was having sex with a sixteen year old in the firehouse and taking pictures of the episode to boot. To make matters easier for him detectives had him erase the photos from his cell phone.

The firefighter said the sex was consensual. In the firehouse? With a sixteen year old? I realize that everyone under the age of 60 looks 16 to me, but the offender was around 35 at the time! And married. The prosecuting attorney said he could not file charges because the evidence had been destroyed.

So. What did he do that finally caught up with him? He bought another 16 year old girl bras and asked her to model them in the adult care home run by his wife. He then fondled her, straddled her on a bed while giving her a massage. This time the charges stuck. His wife lost the license for her facility and he must have a psycho sexual evaluation. Do you think?

If soap opera writers ever get stuck for material for story lines they need but search the archives of the local paper for stories galore. This, unfortunately, is just one more in what seems to be a constant parade of deviant behavior.

Police and firemen are supposed to be our hero's! They're supposed to save lives, not ruin them!

As for the attorneys, the judges and the juries? That's another post after I get the distaste from this one out of my mouth!

Coeur d'Alene - Cattle Barons, Cattle, Sheep and Sacred Cows

Having long been a fan of Westerns, I can't help but see the parallels between Coeur d'Alene and the towns depicted in John Wayne or Clint Eastwood movies.

You know, the town has a boss; usually a rich and ethically challenged rancher. He owns the sheriff and the banker and the mayor. There are the good citizens who constantly challenge the boss but have their property destroyed or worse. They're the cattle. The sheep are played by the extras. Just there to fill space and scurry for cover when a gunfight is looming. The sacred cows are the ambitions of the boss yet to be fulfilled.

To make it a movie, the town folk who care have to get some muscle of their own Either they hire their own gun fighter or the requisite lonely stranger lopes into town. He's never looking for trouble but will always fight for truth and justice if necessary.

We have such a scenario here with a few 21st century twists. We have the boss. A plot twist is that he's being challenged by some newcomers which has created conflict among those he owns. What if the strangers should beat the old man at his own game? Who should we be beholden to?

Well, the boss is a crafty old fellow. He knows how to keep his cards close to the vest. He allows his minions just enough rope to hang themselves if they get too far out of line, but when he wants something he knows how to snug up the noose quite effectively.

Here's how it works in Coeur d'Alene. You have to have lived here awhile and followed local politics with some diligence to follow all the twists and turns of the plot. Let's see if I can make some sense of it for you. The boss owns the resort and a whole lot of the town. One can argue that he owns the mayor and the city council especially since there are two former mayors serving along side the present one. Not being able to eliminate elections, occasionally the mayor and her council have to buck the boss for the sake of their own careers. Example being the boss wanting to close a main street to satisfy his desire to beautify his holdings. Even the sheep took note of this and the protest was such that the effort was nixed.

Okay. There will be another time. There always is.

Meantime the new boss wanna be's came to town with grand plans of their own. Their problem is that to even get started they had to deal with an appendage of the council to get financing so in essence, they too were beholden to the boss.

Meantime the good folks who care, our cattle, keep nipping away at the process, the lack of openness and the outright disregard for law. To no avail. They are belittled, called all sorts of names or ignored all together. Yet still they try.

Suddenly, that lone hombre came loping along and they went to him with a complaint about a member of the councils' urban renewal appendage. It seems the bloke was a banker who's bank lends money for fancy new projects like the newcomers want. Rather than recuse himself from voting on such issues he did so without the proper revelation of his banking connections. Of course this was common knowledge but only the activists seemed to care. The hero, armed with this information, took it to the state attorney general who indeed found evidence of conflict of interest but without enough intent toward wrong doing to bring charges.

As Hub said, that's a stretch. If he didn't know the implications of his position he's as dumb as a cob. But then the rationale is that he loves this town and would do nothing to hurt it. So okay. Hub's point is well taken.

Score one for the town folk and their hero. Why has the boss allowed this to come forth? Well, he does own the paper. Did I mention that? My guess is it's because he wants to resurrect another pet project. He needs his minions to get back in line and remember who's provided them with their lifeline.

The final scenes are yet to unfold. Will the beleaguered member of the urban renewal board resign? I doubt it. Will the boss get the approvals he needs for his project? I doubt that he will not. What will happen to the caring folks that have left the wheel ungreased for a long enough time that even the sheep are beginning to hear it?

In days gone by they'd be pilloried and burned out. We're a tad more civilized than that today. They will continue to be called names and be belittled but they may actually be gaining a foothold. How so? It's an election year for three members of the council, including the mayor. Whoever runs for re-election will be telling as will whoever the challengers may be. They have the attention of their hero, a state senator, and the state attorney general. Hmmm.

I'm not going to forecast the outcome. I don't live in the town. Unless it creeps into the county I have no stake in it. But I sure am looking forward to following this to its conclusion. I'm just grateful at least one paper is keeping us informed. Even if it does belong to the boss.

I vowed a long time ago to steer clear of local issues except for the occasional animal story or some such. But honestly, this is too good to pass up. Script writers, eat your heart out. I haven't even scratched the surface!

I, however, am done. I'm never too sure how accurate the reporting is nor my interpretation of it. I do know that squeaky wheel has yet to be greased and is unlikely to be any time soon.

Police Guild = Justice Denied

There are days when I just don't get it! You read time and time again about zero tolerance policies, especially in our schools. A little kid who may have a GI Joe with a gun tucked in the innards of his back pack is expelled. A disruptive eight year old is led off in handcuffs because a teacher felt threatened. By an eight year old girl!

Sex offenders have to register even if the crime was sex between a nineteen year old and his sixteen year old girl friend.

Appointees to high government positions pay their taxes only when the job may be at stake.

Now, the Spokane Police Department is back in the headlines. An officer gets reinstated with back pay after arbitration ruled firing was too stiff a penalty. For what? For driving his city assigned car after having been drinking and using his city issued cell phone to snap pictures of a bare breasted woman then having sex with her in her car.

According to arbitration, the penalty was too stiff. He deserved punishment but not dismissal.

Here's Dogwalk's take. There was no policy regarding cell phone pictures. Come on! It was city property. A Mayor was ousted for cruising gay web sites on a city computer!

He was nowhere near legally intoxicated. Just when was he tested? He's a police officer for crying out loud! What can I say?

Excited about his reinstatement he let it be known he didn't want to work anywhere else. Who can blame him? Spokane police, time and time again get a free pass! I give a thumbs up to Chief Kirkpatrick for firing him; a thumbs down for saying "That's our system of justice and I respect that." As for the officer, Spokane is welcome to him.

Unions. They protect athletes who cheat. They demand concessions that reduce companies to the verge of bankruptcy. Think baseball and the auto industry as examples. They protect police officers from punishment for behavior that would have landed the rest of us in jail.

Isn't it time we reassess the zero tolerance rules now on the books before somebody really gets hurt?

Food For Thought Might Do Well As Pub Grub

We have much in common with our friends across the Pond. One is enjoying the camaraderie to be found in an English Pub or, in our case, a local bar. Like "Cheers", often every one knows your name and if you're a stranger when you enter you are not when you leave.

Hub and I have a favorite or two we visit whenever we're in the neighborhood. One is gone. The gentrification of Whitechapel, Jack the Ripper territory, has caused many to close including our favorite, The Alma.

Another is for the same reason many of our local establishments are thinking of applying for bailout money. The smoking ban. The health police are telling us it's for our own good and cite the hazards of inhaling second hand smoke. I don't know. I don't smoke. Haven't for years and as an adult, if it worries me that much I don't have to enter. Somehow a bar without a smoky haze just isn't a bar. It's a generational thing I suppose.

Europeans seem to smoke a lot more than we do and the ban has been devastating to the pub business and its workers! According to a letter in the Financial Times the smoking bans can kill pub workers! While true many workers may have been spared the "possibility" of getting lung cancer 40 years down the road, research is showing that the stress from job loss is causing severe consequences now!

It is pointed out that with 50 pub closures a week, each employing about ten, results in a five year loss of 100,000 or so jobs. A study several years ago found for each 1% difference in income resulted in 21 deaths per 100,000 per year. It went on to point out that if those 100,000 had their incomes cut by 50% for the five year period, that would result in over 1,000 extra deaths per year.

The statistical claims rationalizing the smoking ban was 100 lives possible saved 40 years down the road.

Statistical fluctuations no doubt apply, but the thrust of the letter is that the smoking ban in England and Ireland is killing the very people it was meant to save. To add to an already grim story, it is suggested that the politicians who voted the ban in were well aware of the studies and what they showed.

It would seem politicians abroad are as inept as our own when it comes to looking at the full picture before passing legislation. It's a continuation of the mind set revealed in my post from yesterday about recalling all the toys not certified lead free. It is no comfort to share that commonality!

It makes me wonder if our lawmakers were aware of these studies in their rush to ban smoking. If you excuse them for not knowing because the studies were not American studies, think again. The gentleman who wrote the letter is Michael J. McFadden, Philadelphia, PA, US - author of Dissecting Antismokers' Brains.

I wish he'd write one entitled, Dissecting Politicians' Brains!

Pet Peeve

An oddity occurred in the headlines this morning . The Spokesman Review above the fold headline was Best friends, big bucks and the Coeur d'Alene Press led with KHS (Kootenai Humane Society) holding firm to no-kill policy .

The thrust of each article touches on attitudes of two cities divided by a state line. The Spokane article talks of how technologies for fighting human disease and disablement are becoming more available and affordable for pets. The other, in addressing a boom in our cat population bemoans that enough of them aren't being killed. Including comments from a former director of the humane society to a county commissioner up for re-election to an animal control officer.

I know a lot of you are animal lovers. One of my favorite bloggers just lost his beloved Rufus. I had a lump in my throat while writing him a personal note even though I have never met him. I judge people more on how they feel about animals and how they treat them than anything else. There is absolutely nothing I would not do for that old guy in the picture. And there was no stone left unturned for any of his predecessors.

We have been fortunate to have had the means to take the best possible care of our pets. That, however, does not seem to me to be the point. It's attitude. I don't care if it's a cat or a rat, it is a living breathing being; not merely a possession - or a wild thing that has no value. It's life should not be abused nor ended because it becomes an inconvenience.

I was elated when KHS hired it's current director. The attitude of the former director is one reason why he is no longer at the helm. As for animal control, what can I say? Technically, death is a type of control.

I know this over population of cats is an issue. But rather than addressing it and trying to solve it, the death option is far more convenient and cost efficient. This type of thinking is one reason, among others that indicate a similar mind set, that the commissioner will not get my vote.

The Coeur d'Alene area keeps getting mentioned in magazines as being such a great place to live. It may be for the wealthy who can still afford their summer places on the lake and the medical and legal communities. Other than that it is not a wealthy area, the economy died along with the timber industry and it is not the destination tourist community one is led to believe. It is an area divided by political acrimony and for good reason.

Yeah. I know. Sour grapes. It's true. Hub and I knew after a few short weeks we had made a mistake. We don't "fit" and we never will. We're stuck for the time being, until the economy turns around. Then there will be another house on the market. No, it's not on the lake. We don't fit in that financial category. But we have nearly five acres, fenced; plenty of room for your pets to run.

If you want to bring them.

Small Town Politicians And Wannabes With Ambition - Beware!

I have often wondered if corruption in government trickles down from the top or begins at the local level and creeps upward. I believe an AP investigation has answered my question.

As I mentioned a few posts ago, we have a very fractured community with a very active watchdog group. While I think their obsession with finding all things wrong is unhealthy for the community, it is also true that they are not always wrong. My major complaint with them is that they never seem to applaud what is right.

That being said, if there are any local politicians with ambitions for higher office, beware. What you do today, how you vote, what the perception is, be it correct or not, in this age of You Tube and blogging it is quite likely to come back to haunt you at the least opportune moment!

Just look at Sarah Palin. Regardless of what the McCain campaign would like us to believe, they did not properly vet her. Had they done so I doubt she would have been chosen regardless of her youth and gender. Ah, yes, her history of small town politics.

Asking for a zoning exception to sell a house, accepting an "awesome" facial, asking for the loosening of rules for a snow machine race at the time she was a co-owner of a store that sold snow machines. These may appear innocuous enough but they lead to a pattern.

Our town is not unlike many others. The movers and shakers public lives intertwine with their private ones. Sometimes it's difficult to separate the political from the personal and this is where the difficulties begin. As our watch dog group points out day in and day out.

There is a lesson to be learned for both sides from what Sarah Palin is now having to endure. If you hold public office and want to climb the ladder you will be under the most invasive of scrutinies. Like going through airport security every moment of you life with your neighbors wielding the wands.

On the other hand, those doing the watching aren't above risking their own perils. Inaccurate accusations, character assassination, grudge bearing and self righteousness can also come back to haunt. Especially if the intent isn't so much for the good of the community as is preached, but an ambition to take the places of those you disparage as you move them out - or they move on up the ladder.

The Lake Isn't The Only Thing Toxic Around Here

We have two newspapers in the area. Both host blogs. I do not participate in one at all and the other with less frequency than I used to. I rarely post about local issues because the climate is so toxic.

There are three factions in this community. One is the government and its entities and those who believe they can do no wrong. The other consists of the watch dogs who are more often like pit bulls than Saint Bernards. The third are those who don't much care one way or the other.

I have slowly slipped into the third category. I know people on all sides. None are friends in the true sense of the word; some are better acquaintances than others. Why the slide into apathy? The acrimony is exhausting.

We have a columnist who is part of the watch dog group. She had, lost and regained her column for political reasons no doubt. I'm not privy to the arrangement; this is just my assumption. When the second coming of the column came there was the promise that the watch dog efforts were going to expand beyond the city limits. Oh, boy.

There was a forum yesterday regarding the controversial education corridor. The details, for the purposes of this post, don't matter. The reporting of what happened does.

The columnist wrote a flowery, yet scathing, accounting of the proceedings on the watch dog blog. It was purely personal opinion and observation, which is fine, it's what columnists do. Another point of view was in the paper this morning and a live commentary on line by a third party. There must have been three different meetings.

Somewhere in between the three is probably what actually happened. This is an example of why I have a problem with the watch dog group wanting to expand its horizons. They would seem to be on overload already with keeping track of every detail of what the city and its entities do. They are probably aware of where people eat and what. We know the hidden tape recorder tactic was tried and failed.

Now it seems the intrepid columnist has poked into the doings of the urban renewal district of a small community down lake. The resulting column was apparently riddled with inaccuracies; a trait for which the columnist is known.

The members of that town's urban renewal agency wrote an opinion piece that was published in this mornings paper refuting much of what the columnist had written and in so many words suggested the effort was not appreciated and to butt out. Sound advice to people who do not live in the community when you have enough trouble getting it straight in your home community.

I'm sure I'll be told to take my own advice. And I will. This will be the last of it for some time to come.

However, once, just once I'd like to see the watch dogs say something nice; like nice job guys! Like the Mudgy and Millie project.

No. Nothing. But then I don't really care any more. I'm tired of being tired. Nothing ever changes. Name calling, finger pointing, inflammatory accusations. Ho hum. Life in a small town. What's to care about?

Commissioners And Experience At The Local Level

For some time now there has been an argument as to whether or not we need professional management on the county level. At the rate the county is growing, I say yes.

The commissioners themselves are not too crazy about the idea though with re-election looming for two of them they have been wavering a bit in their stance. Testing the winds I'd guess.

A statement quoted in this mornings Coeur d'Alene Press regarding an issue thought closed was this, "We honestly at this point in time don't know what's going on. When I say we're between a rock and a hard place, we don't know where the rock is and we don't know where the hard place is." Whew!

Here's the story. Back a few months an asphalt company requested a temporary use permit for building a mobile plant on land that had once been zoned for such. It was to accommodate a highway construction project slated for the area though the asphalt company at the time had not secured the job.

Neighborhoods and schools have grown up in close proximity to the site. The neighbors organized and pulled together impressive statistics of the downside to having this permit granted. We live about two miles south, the direction of the prevailing winds which are constant on the prairie, and we found the flier in our mailbox.

I followed the story with interest and to their credit the commissioners did have hearings with the protesting locals and ultimately denied the project. However, activity has begun on the site.

This morning's paper tells us the state claims to have nothing to do with this though the company that holds the lease claims they granted an easement to the state for just such a project. That company also says an easement isn't even needed and the homeowners should have expected at some point in time this might happen. That company goes on to claim that the decision as to safety is within neither the neighbors nor the commissioners purview.

Okay, that covers all the finger pointing. My question is why the heck don't the commissioners know what's happening? That's what they're being paid for!

I went to the county web site to check on the experience of our commissioners. Not one claims to have a four year college degree. Work experience? Pretty sketchy. Car salesman. Pizza shop owner. I in no way mean to demean their backgrounds. They are all good and well intentioned men but I do think the county is growing beyond their capabilities.

When I read the quote above, I shake my head. They've been rolled and as of right now don't even know by who. Unless there was a wink and a nod along the way that has yet to be revealed. Either way, professional management employing someone with county management expertise looks pretty good to me. Experience is all fine and dandy but it's not worth squat if it isn't job appropriate,

In a word.

Unintended Consequences

The conversation continues in regard to the coffee shared by NIC board member Christie Wood and community advocate Mary Souza. It has me puzzled. When word got out that the conversation had been covertly recorded by Ms. Souza, the lid flew off. I found it interesting the direction the different blogs took.

HBO, the Spokesman Review blog broke the news and no one doubted the word of Ms. Wood. Confirmation was immediately requested from Ms. Souza, one of the founders of the openCDA blog. None was forthcoming. There has been no denial but no confirmation. Rather the allegation is being framed as everything from a personal attack to an avoidance of the issue of the conversation.

That doesn't eliminate the reason to believe the conversation was indeed recorded without Ms. Wood's knowledge.

The city and any official that serves it has long been under intense scrutiny by the openCDA members. What I don't understand is what has driven them to pursue such measures during private conversations. It is said, after having obtained the tape, Ms. Souza rushed it to the CDA Press editor and a reporter who was present, claiming - what - proof of some wrong doing? Allegedly neither the reporter nor the editor agreed. Why would anyone resort to such behavior?

It saddens me that a person who has long lived in this community and once served it well, has so much hatred for the current power structure that she felt such an action was necessary. You may think my use of "hatred" is rather "love" of the community. I think not. It would seem to have become an agenda.  Just what exactly that agenda is remains a mystery.

The main consequence, it seems to me, is that the only thing to have come from this sorry incident, is that the wedge between the two sides has just been driven deeper. Those who were once much admired for questioning the process have now been diminished to the level in which they have so ardently placed the power structure.

As one blogger observed, the staunch supporters of both sides will remain loyal. The rest of us will watch the story fade. But the trust has been broken. That's not something to take lightly for it will not be easily regained.

For what?

The Never Ending Battle For Truth, Justice and the Coeur d'Alene Way

Wow! I go away for a few days and I miss all the excitement. It seems our super heroes are back on the job to save us from ourselves!

As I was getting ready to leave last week, the chatter was about a Council meeting during which a councilman asked if anyone was recording it. He asked a few by name plus a reporter. It hit the shadow government blog like fat in a hot pan. What was he afraid of? Why was he so paranoid? Besides it would be perfectly legal if someone was.

It seems in Idaho only one person need know recording is going on. That would mean the person doing the recording. Well, this is Idaho! Nothing much surprises me anymore.

When I returned today, it seems our very own Wonder Woman actually did record a conversation she had - with a police officer no less. There were charges and counter charges about the propriety of this action. Will it rage on? In one way or another I expect so. It's the nature of the town and those who would be the power brokers. Soap writers need only look to Coeur d'Alene politics and they'd never have to stretch their imaginations again.

On a more serious note, I must say I am appalled by what's going on. Even if taping is legal, when is it and when is it not ethical? For keeping track of the facts about a policy question, why not just announce that you'll be taping for the sake of accuracy?

I have long since given up trying to understand our merry band of caped crusaders; their obsession with everything that goes on and their unending search for misdeeds. I have my own thoughts on how they might be more successful in their attempts but any suggestions, given long ago, fell on deaf ears. So be it.

This obsession, however, is now turning ugly and I must say I would never trust one of them again. Like minds and all that. I would not speak to a one of them on the phone. I would be fearful of being honest not knowing how or when it might be used against me.  The knowledge that they are willing to tape is chilling. 

There is a lot of anonymity in blog postings under the guise that people fear for their jobs. If true, it's not a nice community we live in. One where a person can not speak their mind without fear of retribution.

I nearly lost a friend because of this obsession. A comment on a post some time ago sounded so much like this friend I didn't believe her denial. We've discussed it often since. Wonder woman admitted she had made the comment and had signed it as anonymous to protect me. That's when I washed my hands of the whole bunch and apologized profusely and profoundly to my friend.  

What we have here is no longer politics as usual. It's becoming vindictive and vengeful. It is a sad state when a city with such a beautiful lake has such frightening and dangerous undercurrents.

What The Heck IS An Ombudsman?

The local Council On The Aging is always advertising for people to join the program. They listen to and look into complaints made by residents of the local homes for the aged. The Spokesman Review has one. Their function, by definition, is to look after the interests of the public.

ombudsman |ˈämbədzmən; -ˌboŏdz-|
noun ( pl. -men)
an official appointed to investigate individuals' complaints against maladministration, esp. that of public authorities.
ORIGIN 1950s: from Swedish, ‘legal representative.’

The Spokane Police Department needs one. Though the relatively new police chief has done much to bring some semblance of order and responsibility to the department it still strongly resembles Camp Run-a-Muck.

This is another situation where, as a senior, I wonder if I'm losing my ability to reason. This is a position of independent oversight. The Spokane Police Guild is resisting. Why are they even involved? This is like Congress passing a law, sending it to the President for signature, him signing it then making a signing statement saying he has no intention of paying any attention to it. Bush is famous for this! Spokane seems to be following suit. Maybe because it's the Republican stronghold in Washington state. Follow the leader!

The strings being tied to the selection process for this position are enough to strangle any possibility of success. It is beyond pathetic and should be an embarrassment to all involved in the process.

Many here in the Coeur d'Alene area are constantly finding fault with how the city is run, some of which is justified. It is said the City Council wouldn't recognize an open meeting law if it jumped up and bit them and due process is not in their vocabulary. Maybe so. Maybe no. At least they function.

If I were a resident of Spokane I'd be fearing for my safety. If any action was misinterpreted by the long arm of the law, recourse would be slim to none. Running around in little tight circles by the Mayor and City Council trying to keep everyone happy is non-productive. That pile of dirt under the carpet is growing too large. It has long been obvious.

The citizens of Spokane deserve better. Just ask the family and friends of Otto Zehm.

Is The Die Cast?

I figure by starting now maybe we can get more than 21.37% of the people to the polls in November though I have my doubts.

While the local results did not surprise me, it's always curious why more people don't bother to vote. It can't be the inconvenience factor. Absentee voting is becoming more and more popular. Those who are against vote by mail on the premise that "uninformed" voters may be more inclined to vote should look at the absentee numbers. What's the difference? It is voting by mail!

If it's not inconvenience, it must be a lack of interest. Well, no. That doesn't wash either if you're into the blogging community. The best coverage of yesterday's elections is on Huckleberries this morning. Especially since it includes reactions.

This go round I'm not going to denigrate either the candidates or the voters. The candidates did their part. They got involved and ran for office. With all the rights that have been taken from us lately, I applaud the voters who did their part. They exercised their right. It's one we still have and should exercise!! They've told those who did neither what they think, how they feel and who they want running things. They will have their way.

It will be interesting to see who prevails in November. My guess is it will be pretty much what the primaries are telling us now. If you're not happy with the results you can do something about it. If you voted and the results didn't go the way you'd have liked, well, that's democracy. If you didn't vote and you don't like the results, well, you know, everybody still can. In November!

A Lesson to Be Learned?

Today is primary day in Kootenai County. It isn't quite three o'clock in the afternoon, but the threads on Huckleberries, our local online news source, reports turnout has been dismally low. I had been talking with a neighbor earlier and she had totally forgotten today was election day! I mentioned there was still plenty of time. The reply was a shrug of total disinterest.

Thinking about the Democratic primaries we have been watching for what seems like forever, got me to wondering about why there is so little interest on the local level. Odd, the heated battles for the minds of the people seem to be on the various blogs - not in the press. Blogs are not the most widely read choice the people have but they contain the most information - good and bad.

Candidate forums have been few and far between and voter guides lacking. I look at the fervor generated by Obama and Clinton and wish we had it on the local level. We have issues that have hearts pulsating and tempers flaring on a multitude of issues - yet little is spelled out,  except on the blogs.

The best the voting public has been given by the press is lackluster endorsements of less than inspiring candidates and half page ads for but a few of those running, listing supporters. If you don't know where the candidate stands, read their ads. The names of the supporters tell you everything you need to know. If you know who the players are in the community. Otherwise they'll be meaningless.

How many people read them? Probably very few. How many people will know what issues the supporters endorse? Probably very few. Most of what we get is eye pollution along our streets and highways. Signs of the times. What are we supposed to do? Pick the candidate with the prettiest sign?

In actuality, the candidates are probably not as uninspiring as they seem; but more likely they aren't given enough of a platform to let the public get to know them.

I wouldn't know the candidates if I bumped into them on the street what's more know what they really are about other than hardworking and caring.

I may be tired of seeing Hillary and Obama all over the media sparring with one another, but I know who they are and what they stand for.  Everything they say, every place they say it, is covered. On the local level I know little.  I'd know even less if I weren't involved in blogging.

I know the papers are understaffed and northern Idaho politics are not covered well by the broadcast media, so I say hurrah for us. At least we who read the blogs have the opportunity to vote better informed then we might otherwise.

Stumped

Who wants to blog on a holiday weekend? Not many, I'm sure. I spent the morning planting a ton of bare root trees and am, literally, bushed. So, as I rest the weary bones for a few minutes, I thought I'd mention one of life's little oddities from around here. Speaking of trees.

During the past several months there has been ongoing controversy about who should pay for the repair of city sidewalks where tree roots have done damage. It's an issue that seems to be continuously under study. The problem being, the city planted the trees and put in the sidewalks yet expects the home owners to have the walks repaired. Many are in the older parts of town where the less than affluent live and can ill afford the expenditure. A discussion of ideas was printed in the City Streets column in the Coeur d'Alene Press a few weeks back. The issue is if the residents don't pay for the repair where would the money come from? Not an easy question to answer. Here is why.

In the same column, today, the headline reads Street tree planting project announced. The trees are free. They are provided by the Urban Forestry division of the Parks Department. Parks Department? Not the Street Department? They are paid for from a street tree fee that is collected as a part of the cost of residential building permits. If the builder plants the tree he can get his money refunded, otherwise it goes to the purchase of trees for the neighborhoods where the builder opted not to plant.

Is this clear yet? As mud! The article goes on to say the trees will be planted by a contract tree planting service. It doesn't make clear if the home owner who wants the tree has to pay for this service or if it's part of the fee the builder paid. However, the owner does have to feed, water and otherwise nurture this investment.

In time, the roots will grow, the sidewalks will heave and those very same homeowners will probably still be expected to pay for repairs.

The Street Department, the Parks Department, the builder or the homeowner. It seems like a shell game. Who's going to pay what? I'd make good and sure I knew if I were going to be around long enough to watch that old tree grow.

That shady old tree.

Glaucoma Is "Vision" Too

I quote the late Senator Everett Dirkson: "A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon we're talking about real money." Knock that down to millions and you'll find yourself in the middle of the line of local officials looking for money.

A school levy for $31.1 million dollars was just turned down. Not that the need for it isn't there; but rather the officials did a poor job of putting together and communicating the reasons to the voters. They'll be back.

We have local elections coming up and the issue of the need for a new jail is back in the news. It has been kicked back by the voters twice that I can remember and yet the price tag continues to increase. We're now up to $120 million!

And don't forget the chunk of land for the "education corridor" the city of Coeur d'Alene and tax payer funded North Idaho College wants. Price tag $10 million. Are we looking at real money yet?

I'm not going to say yea or nay on any of these projects. I am going to suggest our governmental "visionaries" aren't looking at the whole picture. How much of a tax burden can the people handle? I don't care if you call it a bond issue or a levy or what, it is by any name a tax. Add to that one of the sources being considered for the education corridor are foregone taxes. You know, those that haven't been collected because there was no need at the time.

When elected officials remind us we have elected them to make "tough" decisions and that is all they need to proceed with any project they deem desirable, we are not always being well served. When they are quick to hire outside consultants to advise them on salary scales for themselves, yet don't bother to have an independent appraisal done on a ten million dollar piece of property; don't explain what happened to the money for the last levy for the same project nor put forth independent estimates for the cost of what they want to do, they are not serving us well. When there are few public forums for candidates who's responsibility it will be to make final these decisions, we are not being well served. Though I must admit when you look at the war chests and the names of supporters listed in their ads you can pretty much determine where they stand.

When people from each side of an issue hold their own forums to control the information, we are not being well served. By either side. They should be working together to iron out differences before the fact, not after it. Instead of a forum by each side how about a debate between them? Free. For the public. I know. That isn't the way things around here work.

When we're told "The generations of the past provided Tubbs Hill, McCuen Field and City Park" and "The economic report that's coming will underscore that there is value beyond property taxes", take a good close look at a couple of things.

What were the economic conditions when Tubbs Hill, McCuen Field and City Park came to be? Consider the fact they are parks, not structures the magnitude of a new jail complex or school buildings. Consider too, we taxpayers are the ones paying for it. We tax payers who have trouble paying our property taxes now, who have trouble keeping nutritious food on our tables, who can barely afford the gas to go shopping, and work whats more their one sided forums!

Hindsight is worthless. True "vision" is not tunnel vision; it requires a wide angle lens. Remember, too, we elect them.