Wednesday, April 02, 2008

April Fools! A Day Late and A Page Short

The first clue was the picture of a "dock" in southern California credited to CDA Press photographer Jerome Pollos. The second was the byline - April Fuhl. And of course the section only had 10 pages; the story ended on page 11.

I read the story anyway because of the recent hub bub over the re-figuring of the dock our own Duane Hagadone wanted to build at his lakeside home.

Wanting to see if it might be a self fulfilling prophecy, I found the premise to be credible enough for how things happen around here. Supposedly a judge sided with two additional property owners wanting docks after being rejected by the Department of Lands, the agency that refused Mr. Hagadone. The story claimed the judge's rebuke ran some 41 pages. Both had a feeling of realism.

Ms. Fuhl blew the credibility, however, with the claim that over 4000 requests for dock permits had been filed since the ruling. Okay. Even if you combined all the lakeside property in northern Idaho you'd not come up with 4000 residents. Nice try. But, gee whiz, it was reading so well...

The threat of mile long docks and one reaching within feet of the opposite shore, as funny as it sounds, isn't necessarily something that wouldn't be tried. After all, it was the afore-mentioned Hagadone who wanted a 200 foot dock with a helipad to accommodate visitors to his home a few times a year. Of course he owns the cruise boats that run from his resort transporting his nearest and dearest or the curious who are willing to pay the price when he opens his property for fund raising events. The rest of the time the dock would just be - there. And so it will. A mere 23 feet shorther than originally proposed. But better, the helipad was nixed.

Wait now. Before you think I was a total doof for wasting my time with this, consider federal earmarks were allowed for the building of rain forests in Iowa and bridges to nowhere in Alaska. Why should I not have read this article with interest? It could be closer to fact than fiction and it is in our own backyard!

I'm just sorry the paper ran out of pages before story. That isn't surprising either. But I'd like to have known how it ended. On second thought, maybe I do.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I also read the article. And realized it was a joke almost immediately. I didn't find it humorous however. Precisely because of the Hagadone dock issue, the Silver Beach and Sanders Beach homeowners who want docks, and just the general uproar over any type of development in Kootenai County. I also noticed that the story was not posted on the Press website. Probably the only smart thing about that article. Chatterbox

The New Arch Druid's take on the news said...

That may have been Patrick's sorrier tries at a "joke" but it couldn't be any worse than the sorry A%$ letters he gets published, and those definitely are not jokes.