Driggs donates part of prize to groups, families

File this under why good things happen to nice people.

Lasean Driggs was the lucky winner of a $1,000 gift certificate to Yoke's Fresh Market. She won the loot in the Daily Bee Great Grocery Giveaway contest. Mrs. Driggs entered the contest each day of the 36-day, six-week promotion.

When she appeared at the Bee office Monday morning, she stunned everyone.

She plans on donating a portion of the food she won for the Teresa Coen benefit at Litehouse. She will also donate a portion to St. Joseph's soup kitchen and also to some needy families she knows.

We all say we would help the needy if we won something, Mrs. Driggs actually did.

Maybe that's the difference?

A local 9-year-old boy with brain cancer is headed to a NASCAR race this weekend with his family, courtesy of our local Wishing Star group. Read all about it in Wednesday's Bee.

The City Forum is officially the City Forum again and it is in good hands.

Jim Lippi and Rich Ballard of Ivano's have leased Sandpoint's largest meeting facility and are already taking reservations for weddings and meetings.

The City Forum closed at the first of the year. Since then, groups have scrambled to find locations for the hundreds of events that were held at 218 Cedar during the past few years.

"There is a need for the City Forum," said Ballard. "People were searching high and low to find all of the amenities the City Forum offered."

Leasing the City Forum also means Ivano's will be the exclusive caterer for the facility. That's not a big switch, Ivano's spent a lot of time catering events at City Forum.

Rumors were swirling that the City Forum would be transformed into professional offices when Charlie Parrish purchased the facility from Ken Jackson. There have been no physical changes to the building since it closed.

The ink on the lease is still wet, so if you are planning an event and the City Forum fits the bill beat the crowds by calling Rich at 263-0211.

The first-ever Daily Bee Wedding Fair was a huge success last weekend at the Bonner Mall. Hundreds of people toured the nearly 30 booths for eight hours. The adorable models and cute kids in tuxedos and gowns drew the most "ahhhs" from the audience. That was until model Chris Jones dropped to one knee, pulled out a ring and asked model Sandy Chalupny to marry him in front of the audience, JC Penney and everyone.

Her answer? "Heck, yes."

The Bonner Mall was hopping Saturday and it appears a few new businesses are headed there. The huge hole left by On Cue should be filled soon by a Dollar Store, I've been told by a mall store owner.

The Dollar Store would resemble the one on the north end of Coeur d'Alene on Highway 95.

Negotiations are winding down and papers should be signed in the next week or so. The Sears expansion looks great, Nancy is as busy as ever at Meyer's Sport Tee and Yoke's is just on fire.

Yoke's manager Steve Brooks is clearly a star in the Yoke's organization and is doing a great job as the president of the Ponderay Community Development Corp. He is also one of the main pushes behind an attempt to start a Rotary Club in Ponderay. More on that later …

It's hard to keep up with what's going on in Ponderay. The former Schlotsky's, which was briefly county property, will soon be a Mexican restaurant. The Dragon Inn on Highway 200 is transforming into a barbecue and a second Starbuck's is headed to Ponderay at a site yet to be disclosed.

As for the recently purchased Kmart building, the company that purchased it is looking for three retail tenants to fill it up. Everyone's wish list seems to include: Target, Walgreen's, Fred Meyer, Bed, Bath & Beyond and Costco.

Look for that stoplight to go up on the Bonner Mall entrance on Highway 95 sometime this summer.

It looks like Rotary International may indeed be headed to the Little City with the Big Future and Growing Business Base. The Sandpoint Rotary Club, with the able guidance of President Ryan Luttmann, is working on organizing a breakfast club in Ponderay.

The first meeting of the soon-to-be Ponderay Rotary was held last Thursday morning at Slates with 18 prospective members. They need around 25 to become an official chapter.

Luttmann has left the chartering process in the capable hands of Sandpoint Rotarian Jim Michaud.

The next meeting of the Ponderay Rotary will be Thursday at 7 a.m. at Slates. For more information, call 265-0897.

The way things look, it appears only the Sandpoint Rotary Club can make mother-in-law jokes while the Ponderay Rotary Club will be able to tell son-in-law comments.

The Bonner County Historical Society's annual meeting and luncheon Saturday should be on every history buff's planner.

Jim Fazio, professor of resource recreation and tourism at the University of Idaho, will be the guest speaker. He is the author of Across the Snowy Ranges, The Lewis and Clark Expedition in Idaho and western Montana.

The meeting will be held at the New Song Bible Church. The church is about a mile south of the Long Bridge. The business meeting begins at 11 a.m., lunch is at noon and the program is 1 p.m. There is no charge for the program, lunch will cost you $15.

Please call Ann at the museum at 263-2344 for more information or to reserve lunch.

Professor Fazio will have copies of his books on hand and will sign books after the presentation.

See KEYES, Page 3

He is a founding member of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation and serves on the board of directors for the National Council for the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial.

The Sandpoint Junior Miss Program suffered from too much of a great thing this year. A record 31 girls participated in what turned out to be a three-day affair. Liz Bell deserves congratulations for being named Sandpoint's Junior Miss. Sarah Barton was first runner up and next year's Cedar Post editor, Casey Pilgerim, was second runner up. Third runner-up was Kelly Peters.

If you are considering a career in print journalism, steer clear of the Spokesman-Review. Review editor Steven A. Smith, the same guy who wrote in a column Sandpoint was not an important part of the Review's coverage area, told a symposium audience last Wednesday night that "print newspaper is thoroughly and utterly doomed."

He also said it's not important whether the traditional, print newspaper survives. What matters is the survival of journalistic values, in whatever form.

I can't imagine this Chicken Little approach to his career came up when he interviewed for his job several years ago. But it appears he has himself a full-fledged, self-fulfilling prophecy on his hands.

The Review is having a fire sale on subscriptions right now in North Idaho and Spokane and at the same time they have reduced staff. The Review's circulation is at a 15-year low.

The smartest move the Review made recently was to let former North Idaho editor Susan Drumheller start writing again.

The Bee, on the other hand, has notched its fifth year in a row for growing circulation. We continue to strive to be a mirror on our ever-changing county. We cherish the relationship we have with our readers and have invited more people than ever to be a part of our newspaper.

We also live here. When we write about lake quality or grass burning, it isn't just a story for us — we swim and fish in our lake and breathe the air. We actively report what our county commission, city councils and school boards are doing, because we pay taxes and our kids and grandchildren go to school here.

People sometime say they wish we were more like the Review — with the national and international news, a full national sports section and full-colored comics.

I'm glad we are not.

The Bee is all about local news you can't find anywhere else.

If I haven't thanked you lately for supporting our local product, thank you. As always, if you have any suggestions on how to improve our paper, get ahold of us.

We'll be around.

David Keyes is publisher of the Bee. His column runs Tuesdays.