Boys of summer living the dream
A tip of the baseball hat to Toni and Ken Capaul and Chris and Tony Johnson. Their respective sons, Alex Capaul and Kyle Johnson, will be heading out in a few weeks for spring training in Phoenix.
Alex is a pitcher with the Arizona Diamondbacks farm team, and Kyle is an L.A. Angels outfielder draftee. Both are Lake City High School alumni who have been playing baseball together since middle school. Outstanding young men who already have college degrees in hand, Alex from University of Hawaii and Kyle from Washington State University.
The hat tip for their parents is because young people don't achieve what Alex and Kyle have without incredible support and incredible parenting all along the way. I had the opportunity to visit with both of these young ballplayers this week and came away impressed with their focus and determination to go after their longheld dream of playing Major League Baseball. I'm looking forward to following their journey. Nice guys do finish first.
Congratulations to Steve Hanson, newly elected on Saturday to the position of Commander of American Legion Post 143 in Post Falls. This is the largest post in the state and at 30, Steve might just be the youngest post commander as well.
But with two years in the Army, several years with the Idaho Army National Guard and three tours of duty in Iraq, he's no rookie.
So many of our local veterans organizations would welcome an infusion of members from the Gulf War era and Iraq and Afghanistan. The veterans of The Greatest Generation and Korea have been doing much of the heavy lifting for decades.
Vietnam veterans have been on the front line of making sure that those who've come home from later wars have been welcomed as befitting their service. Commander Hanson is hopefully the first of many of our younger service men and women who will continue to actively serve in veterans organizations across the board.
It's those little random acts of neighborliness that can make a snowy day seem sunny. On Monday I was at the radio station about 5:30 a.m. and by the time I returned home at 11 a.m. several inches of snow had fallen and the snow plows had gone down our street. The little matter of a couple foot tall berm in front of the driveway was a dilemma. I was pondering the wisdom of gunning my car to make it over the berm when a neighbor came pulling up on a four-wheeler with a blade. In just a couple of minutes Harley Bush had removed the berm and plowed the driveway. He no doubt saved me from the embarrassment of high centering my car. :)
Happy Birthday today to Dan Ryan, Pat Mitchell, Sandy Emerson, Ester Webb and Chuck O'Malley. Tomorrow Mary Jane Hahn, Katrina Jaeger, Jan Harris, Tom Iverson, Paul Matthews and Ronan Kennedy will celebrate. Kathy Kress White, Susan Thomas, Luke Gonzales, Tim Elder, Cora Cole, Amy Morfitt and Cindy Mitchell have Friday birthdays. On Saturday Pat Russell, Mike Baker, Wendy Wallin, Debbie Oliver and Ryan Wichman mark another trip around the sun. Jan. 13, 2013 birthday wishes to JJ Dion, Joni Clevenger, Janice Myers, Mike Jorgenson, Karen Gage, Judy Manley, Tory Lee, Karen Holt, Teddi Johnson and Andy Irgens. On Monday Teresa Wasileski, Judy Eichelberger and Jaden Alexander put on their party hats and Tuesday is a celebration for Gayle Erickson, Paula Laws, Kelli Oresher and Jim Roberge.
Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. She was voted Best Local Writer for 2012 by the readers of the North Idaho Business Journal. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri is on the air Mondays and Wednesdays on 1080 ESPN AM (KVNI). Find her on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com.