Hotrods, medals and 'Time' to question an NBC news anchor

Congratulations to Sandpoint’s Nate Holland for his fourth-place finish in the Olympics on Monday.

Everybody I know gasped when Holland slipped at the top of the start of the boardercross race. What a great race — the best of the Olympics so far.

I can hardly wait to hear Nate’s story from his mom when she returns.

While some people might be disappointed that Holland finished out of the medals, it’s great that he did so well. Fourth in the Olympics! What an outstanding performance!

Three cheers for Sandpoint’s two-time Olympian!

I have always been a huge fan of the Olympics. One of the best dates with Marlisa was the week we spent in Calgary at those Winter Games in 1988. There is nothing like watching Olympic hockey up close.

The Winter Olympics is by all measure more dangerous than its summer counterpart. The death of the luger during a practice run reminded me that in the Winter Olympics, athletes not only compete against each other, they fly down icy slopes in skis, they dance and race on ice wearing razor sharp blades and they make the impossible look effortless.

Sandpoint’s Lost in the ’50s made the big time this week with a great spread in Street Rodder magazine.

Writer Chris Shelton chronicled better than most, our annual celebration of horsepower that has been going on for 24 years. There were 26 cars that first year. Last year it attracted more than 500 vehicles from all over the country.

Shelton did a great job capturing Carolyn Gleason’s passion for this great event but couldn’t help but take a jab its hometown.

“Never heard of Sandpoint, you say?” he wrote. “Well, you are not alone. If Idaho’s panhandle is the middle of nowhere, Sandpoint is the outer edge.”

Gleason shared how the first Friday night cruise consisted of she and a few friends in a Lincoln Continental convertible — complete with speakers in the backseat while they waved pom-poms.

The writer also liked the fact that Cedar Street reminded him of those “nostalgic tree-lined places in the movies.”

The seven-page story included 20, full-color photos of various cars with some interesting cutlines below the photos, like this one: “If I had my way I would’ve conked Russ Gartrell over the head and taken his ’39 Merc. Lucky for him there were people around.”

Gleason shared how a legion of volunteers have helped her over the years and that she found creative ways around potential roadblocks.

“Whether it is the city fathers, the sheriff or even the governor, every year they try to throw a brick wall in my way,” Gleason said.

“For example, when the sheriff joked that it would be safer is she just closed the whole town for the weekend, Gleason and her crew appealed to the local businesses, filed the appropriate paperwork, and got the whole downtown area for the show,” he wrote.

Shelton wrote that Lost in the ’50s success hinges on its small-town hospitality.

“This little town of 7,000 practically doubles every third weekend of May,” he wrote. “And for those four days, everybody is a local.”

Great publicity for a great program.

Although I am perfectly happy writing this column in the Daily Bee, I did get a little extra kick out of having my name in Time magazine in January.

Jan. 11 to be exact. I know that because I liberated a copy of the magazine Paul Jezek left in the magazine rack at Sandpoint West Athletic Club.

I am thinking about framing it.

Each week Time magazine runs a feature called “10 questions.” Readers submit the questions online and a Time magazine editor tries to find 10 unique questions to pose to a celebrity of some sort.

Back in December I was taking a break after several hours of going through financial statements and I wondered over to Time.com late one night.

NBC anchor Brian Williams was going to be a future 10 Questions recipient. The deadline to submit a question was the next morning so I figured I had nothing to lose.

There was just over 1,000 questions asked so I scanned through them to make sure I wouldn’t repeat one.

My question was simple: “Why are there no ugly people reading the nightly news?” You can read Mr. Williams’ response next to this column.

Since I don’t subscribe to Time, I didn’t know my question had been selected until I received a note from a Bonners Ferry friend, Gini Woodward, who wanted a press release in the paper and then commented that I might be too good for her now that my name was in Time.

I wrote back that I didn’t know what she meant so she scanned a copy of the page and sent it back.

That led me to Mr. Jezek’s Time magazine at SWAC. There I was — in print in a million circulation magazine.

My question was located right after the guy from California who asked if Williams actually wears pants while doing the news and right before a question from Shawnee, Kan., that asked Williams his thoughts about losing Time.com’s poll of most trusted name in news to Jon Stewart.

Of course I thought I was hot stuff. I showed Marlisa and the kids. The kids didn’t know who he is but Marlisa was impressed. She likes seeing my name in print — it is a telltale sign I am still employed.

I also sent a copy to my mom.

I wanted to do a story about how the editors chose the questions, celebrities, etc., but, alas, after several weeks of e-mails to various editors, nobody from Time responded. Some big shot …

Did I mention Marlisa was impressed?

David Keyes is publisher of the Daily Bee.