Youngster bakes up amazing donation to help hurricane victims

We were scooped … by the Post. The Cedar Post, that is.

It was a conspiracy of silence and denial that goes to the highest levels of our school district and even back to our own newsroom.

The headline on the Sept. 12, Volume 83, Issue 1 CP, said it all: "Soper, Berryhill announce resignation."

I should have known something was up.

The Cedar Post and the Bee have enjoyed a professional relationship during the past few years. We print and have some distribution responsibilities with the Cedar Post and have shared resources on occasion.

I have always been a big fan of CP adviser Erin Daniels and her "piglets," as she likes to call the student staffers. She has done a great job of carrying on her grandfather's CP tradition.

Bob Hamilton, the aforementioned grandfather, established the high-water mark for high school journalists during his multi-decade tenure at SHS.

But even he, who walks on journalistic water, would have had a tough time pulling off what Daniels and the piglets did Monday.

They first became aware of SHS Principal Jim Soper's impending resignation the first week of school through a rumor. Superintendent Mark Berryhill had announced last year his days in office were numbered and that the board of trustees had better get looking for a replacement.

CP news editor Cean Siegel worked to nail down the story, while Soper, Berryhill and Daniels worked on the subterfuge to keep me and the Daily Bee newsies off the scent.

Berryhill and the school district trustees early on decided to give this scoop to the student journalists. Berryhill has gone to bat many times for the Cedar Post so it was only right he serve this one up for the home team.

But, Berryhill has a unique relationship with one of our reporters. He sleeps with her. OK, he's married to her. OK, they have a grandchild together. Mary Berryhill's silence had to be purchased somehow. She covers the school beat.

Then there is this whole issue of sneaking this issue past me. I'm pretty sharp, just ask almost anyone.

The time had come and passed for the first Cedar Post of the year to come through the plant. Usually by now, Daniels and I have met a few times to iron out technical questions, etc. I hadn't heard from her, so I gave her a call on Friday.

She was quiet. A little too quiet.

Yes, the Cedar Post was printing on time, she said. She had worked directly with the composing folks and not me for some lame reason she made up. Later at the football game, she started to give me a clue that the Bee had been scooped. She also said a parent was going to take care of distribution of the CP this time so I didn't need to help. Hmmm.

So on Monday I received a phone call from Daniels and I have to admit she had a "gotcha" tone in her voice as she told me about this sordid conspiracy.

Somehow, the "piglets" didn't squeal. Somehow, the many teacher friends I have didn't let the cat out of the bag. And, most surprisingly, nobody on the school board or high school administration leaked the information out.

We were beaten to this story, nearly fair and square.

CP editor in chief, Casey Pilgeram, and the rest of the CP staff started the year off right. They nailed a great story and produced the finest first edition of the CP I have seen in any year I have been a part of the paper.

For all you do, piglets, this scoop's for you.

KPND's news voice Mike Brown appeared to be down in the mouth Monday. He told me as we bumped into each other at the Dairy Depot counter he lost his job that day … as the head of FEMA. "At least I'm still the governor of South Dakota" said the man with the ubiquitous name but the unmistakable voice. "That's the news. I'm Mike Brown" gets me every time.

Thank you to the Sandpoint Civic Club for hosting me and my daughter, Olivia, on Monday at your monthly meeting. Never has a group with so few done so much for this community.

If you have a few minutes you want to give back to the community, why not consider joining this nearly 90-year-old group? As an added bonus, if you join next month, you will have missed my talk by exactly one month.

I'm so sorry to learn of Jack Young's passing over the weekend. I have only known Jack and June Young for a few years. I know their son, Bashful Dan, better. The elder Young had a contagious sense of humor and an unmatched sense of community pride. He will also be missed by fellow Sandpoint Rotarians as well as the hundreds of people he touched.

Mark this Friday night on your "let's go have fun" calendar and plan to attend the "Zydeco in Idaho" Ultimate Auction for the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce.

This hoorah starts at 5:30 and lasts until 9 p.m. and will be located at the Bonner County Fairgrounds.

Chamber head honcho Judy Baird says there will be many great items to bid on plus a few surprises. Tickets are still available for $30. There will be a special prize for anyone wearing the exact same outfit Judy is wearing that night.

Make your reservations by Wednesday to guarantee a place to sit and a delicious, catered meal, Call 263-0887 for more information.

Someone who called the Bee this week was pretty upset about some of the religious overtones of the rescue operations going on during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The caller was peeved that the Catholics seemed to be the only religion getting any relief efforts.

"Time after time we keep hearing on television that people in all of these parishes are being rescued. Why are the Catholics the only ones being rescued?" she asked.

It was explained that what are called counties here, are called parishes in Louisiana.

On a more serious note … a person never knows how a youngster is going to respond to bad news. When fifth-grader Annalisa Armbruster heard about the plight of thousands of families, she did something.

She spent most of Sunday in front of Yoke's selling cookies and brownies with the promise all funds would go to the American Red Cross. She hoped for $100,

A few brownies and cookies later and she collected $750. She brought the check by the Bee on Monday.

"Even though I don't know these families, I want to help them," she wrote in a letter to the editor last week. "If everyone in the country did just a little thing to help with Hurricane Katrina, it may prevent people from dying or suffering. Can you help?"

Somebody is doing the right thing raising this young girl.

We are proud of you, Annalisa!

E-mails of the week:

According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington recently faced a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick, they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints.

Every night the maintenance man would remove them and the next day the girls would put them back. Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night.

To demonstrate how difficult it was to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required. He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

There are teachers, and then there are educators.

I would like to recommend a big kudos to whoever broke the traffic signal at Fifth and Cedar. While the signal was out, the traffic was only backed up a half a block. Now that it is fixed, the traffic is back to being backed up for 2 to 6 blocks in every direction. Signed, Harvey.

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