Parting Shots (3/31/04):

I'm beginning to think My Mother didn't raise me right. After all, there I was shooting the breeze with Gov. Dirk Kempthorne at a reception after the NIC health/science building ground-breaking ... when I noticed the cake on his plate. I mean, the guy's governor of the whole state of Idaho. And I'm wondering why he ate the cake and left the frosting and filling. So, I asked if he was watching his weight to keep trim in case a snoozepaper photographer catches him bare-chested again. Remember? Last year, a shooter for The Daily Bee in Sandpoint snapped him coming out of Lake Pend Oreille after a swim. The guv's pretty buff. I don't think Dirk answered my question. He just started inching away. So I followed up with another one of the same vain: Were you targetting the 35 to 54 femme demographic with that skin shot? Mom'd probably have a cow if she knew I talked to the guv that way.

--Never met a politician who didn't enjoy a round of applause. And the North Idaho legislators who witnessed the NIC ground-breaking ceremony were no different. All of them deserved the job-well-dones, too, for supporting the construction bonds to build the $12 million facility. But one. One voted against the 2003 bill, the only North Idaho legislator to do so. I'll announce his name in Monday's Huckleberries. (Hint: Prez Michael Burke announced him last.)

--Chiarpah Matheson, who spoke at the NIC ground-breaking ceremonies for the Coeur d'Alene Indian Tribe, is the spitting image of his Papa, Dave.

--I identified with Prez Burke's comments about health and science courses: They're the reason I became an English major.

DFO