Mortenson's gift of books inspires Sandpoint High School seniors

Local movie star Viggo Mortenson has a heart of gold.

Last Wednesday the star of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and one of my favorite movies, "Hidalgo," donated a set of books to each of the 350 Sandpoint High School seniors.

Lame duck SHS principal Jim Soper ran into the star last December. According to a story in the SHS newspaper, Cedar Post, Soper didn't have a clue who Mortenson was.

Mortenson asked Soper what he thought was the biggest problem facing the school. Soper responded with reading.

Two weeks after that meeting, Soper received a call from Walter Mortenson. Mortenson said he represented Perceval Press and wanted to donate $32 worth of books to each graduating senior.

Perceval Press is Viggo Mortenson's publishing company. Walter is Viggo's brother.

Each senior received two books written by Mike Davis: "Land of the Mammoths" and "Pirates, Bats and Dragons." In addition, they received two bookmarks and a handwritten copy of a note from Viggo wishing the students well.

C-P reporter Becky Garrison talked with several students who were moved by the gift.

"I think it's great," said senior Nichole Rench. "I would hope it would be an inspiration. I thought it was really exciting to see him do stuff for our community."

I have shared with you that I am part of the inagural Citizens Police Academy with the Sandpoint Police Department. The group of ordinary citizens and Mayor Ray Miller have been meeting Monday nights to learn more about law enforcement in particular and specifically how the SPD operates.

The class has been very informative.

I had a chance to do a ride along last Saturday night with Officer Jason Wiedebush and his drug dog, Kai.

The tour of duty was supposed to begin at 8 p.m. but we were out the door 10 minutes before that. Soon after I was slopping through the mud behind a home with two officers. The homeowner heard someone knocking on the back door. No footprints or signs of attempted entry, just mud and dog poop. We stepped in both.

We left there and a minute later we were at Cedar and Fifth Avenue at the scene of a rear-end accident.

I asked one of the officers at the scene if the car that hits the other car from the rear is ever not at fault in a rear-ender. Several officers confirmed my suspicion that the rear driver is always the guilty party except for a very rare exception.

We drove behind Roxy's on Pine and came upon what looked like the beginnings of a fight in the parking lot. Roxy's is fairly notorious for extracurricular activities so the SPD keeps a pretty good eye on the establishment. We would go back to Roxy's three times in just over four hours.

The most unique call of the night started innocently enough with a traffic stop where Kai the drug dog was needed. A PT Cruiser was pulled over near the old Ninth Grade Center by another officer. Kai sniffed the outside of the vehicle but didn't alert on anything.

As Kai was finishing, a station wagon drove past us.

"I know that car," Wiedebush said to himself under his breath. "I know that guy."

We jumped into the car and pulled up right behind the station wagon. Wiedebush then said the driver's name and called dispatch to check on the license plate and the status of the driver. The driver had a suspended license.

The station wagon pulled into the Sandpoint post office's parking lot and we were right behind it with the headlights of our patrol car illuminating the scene.

Seemingly in slow motion the driver attempted to dive from the driver's seat to the back seat. He was high-centered for a moment but forced himself over. At that point Wiedebush and several other officers were concerned.

Did the suspect have a gun on the back seat? They yelled at the driver for a short time and he finally emerged.

"He was trying to pretend he was asleep in the backseat," one of the officers said, shaking his head. The subject miserably failed a field sobriety test and spent the rest of the night in jail.

The remainder of the night was pretty quiet. The only other incident of note was that we were at the tail end of a high-speed chase. The excitement ended with a suspect speeding though the poleyard on Boyer with his lights off. He was hauled off to jail after he came within 20 yards of the front door of his trailer.

Officer Wiedebush said we lucked out with a pretty busy night.

Stay tuned …

Bee reporter R.J. Cohn was salivating when he got the call last week that a mad herd of sheep was terrorizing Laclede.

"Ewe have to be kidding," I told him as raced out the front door of the office, camera in hand.

He imagined homeowners cornered in their homes by these ba-a-a-d four-legged creatures. Oh, the photos he would have. Look out Pulitzer!

As he scanned the horizon, nary a sheep did he find.

Instead, he saw what he described as a "wild, mangy poodle" running up and down the highway. Cohn sheepishly returned to the office with nothing to show for his efforts.

Later that day, he swears he saw this same standard poodle racing down Third Avenue toward the hospital.

Cohn made another attempt at winning the "Wild Kingdom" award Tuesday when he tracked down the gaggle of geese that have been terrorizing the City Beach area.

There is something afoot at the Community Assistance League. It's big. I know readers have come to expect news you can't find anywhere else in this column. I'm afraid I must let you down this week. I know this great organization is up to something that will help the community but I just don't know the whole story yet. But I will. I'm sure it will be Bizarre. I'll let you know when I know.

E-mails of the week:

One day my housework-challenged husband decided to wash his sweatshirt. Seconds after he stepped into the laundry room, he shouted to me, "What setting do I use on the washing machine?"

"It depends," I replied. "What does it say on your shirt?"

He yelled back, "University of Oklahoma."

Last week's online poll:

Who will win the Super Bowl: We had 150 votes. 65 percent voted Seahawks and 34 percent for Steelers. We had 13 people cast a vote for the Steelers on Monday and one vote for the Seahawks the day after the outcome was decided.

This week's question: Do you think your property tax assessment is fair?

Bonus e-mail of the week:

You know you are a redneck if:

? You take your dog for a walk and you both use the same tree.

? You can entertain yourself for more than 15 minutes with afly swatter.

? Your boat has not left the driveway in 15 years.

? You burn your yard rather than mow it.

? You think the "nutcracker" is something you do off the high dive.

? The Salvation Army declines your furniture.

? You offer to give someone the shirt off your back and they don't want it.

? You have the local taxidermist on speed dial.

? You come back from the dump with more than you took.

? You keep a can of Raid on the kitchen table.

? Your wife can climb a tree faster than your cat.

? Your grandmother has "ammo" on her Christmas list.

? You keep flea and tick soap in the shower.

? You've been involved in a custody fight over a hunting dog.

? You go to the stock car races and don't need a program.

? You know how many bales of hay your car will hold.

? You have a rag for a gas cap.

? Your house doesn't have curtains, but your truck does.

? You wonder how service stations keep their restrooms so clean.

? You can spit without opening your mouth.

? You consider your license plate personalized because your father made it.

? Your lifetime goal is to own a fireworks stand.

? You have a complete set of salad bowls and they all say "cool whip" on the side.

? The biggest city you've ever been to is Wal-Mart.

? Your working TV sits on top of your non-working TV.

? You've used your ironing board as a buffet table.

? A tornado hits your neighborhood and does a $100,000 worth of improvements.

? You've used a toilet brush to scratch your back.

? You missed your fifth-grade graduation because you were on jury duty.

? You think fast food is hitting a deer at 65.

Quote of the week: "The best is yet to come."