Take an oath to be involved
Our fellow citizens have taken their oaths of office in city halls and at the state house this week. Today we can all take an oath to engage in the practice of citizenship by being involved, contributing our voices and our time to committees, commissions and projects.
Government of the people, by the people and for the people requires people. Be one of those people who make a difference this year.
Duane and Cristene Justus have a heart for dogs and for the past several years have operated Double J Dog Ranch in Hauser Lake, specifically fostering and adopting out special needs rescued canines. At any given time they have up to 20 dogs that are blind, deaf and in need of forever families. Double J Dog Ranch is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and if you'd like to do something wonderful, visit its website, www.doublejdogranch.org and make a contribution or buy some great coffee. Elijah's Bark Roasted Blend and Bunny's Breakfast Blend are receiving rave reviews. Kudos to Duane and Cristene for making a difference, one dog at a time.
Angie Andreason Phillips started the new year off by realizing a long held dream to visit Africa. She returned home this week after a mission trip to Rwanda with the Asante Choir that she describes as life-changing.
The holidays are behind us but the need continues in the quest to feed many in our communities. Something Sherry Wallis of the Post Falls Food Bank mentioned to me recently is that they can always use extra plastic grocery bags and egg cartons. Often they receive large flats of eggs and need to distribute in smaller quantities. Now there's something everyone can do ... save your egg cartons and plastic bags for the food banks.
Spent the weekend in West Hollywood with my daughter, Sarah, who relocated there in November. We enjoyed some of the sights including the Hollywood Walk of Fame, looking up Patty Duke's star, which is in front of the historic Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard.
The landmark hotel has a beautiful Art Deco-esque lobby with seating arrangements of deep mahogany tufted leather that we were admiring. Sarah was wearing a long sun dress (yes, it was almost 80 degrees!) and sunglasses so I asked her to do a movie star pose on one of the divans. After I'd taken a few photos we realized there was a group of tourists standing behind me also taking her picture. She described it as awkwardly awesome and although no one asked for her autograph it was amusing to wonder who they thought she might be.
Welcome to the newest member of the Main Street Birthday Club ... handsome Griffin James McAndrew arrived on Monday, Jan. 6, at Kootenai Health and was greeted by his happy parents Jimmy and Julie McAndrew and big sister Grace.
Happy Birthday today Mark Honnell, Jerry Sparling, Donna Trueblood, Sanday Wendell, Fondra McGee and Rebecca Mort. Tomorrow Dan Ryan, Robert Coles, Ed Anderson, Cristy Bauer, Pat Mitchell, Sandy Emerson, Ester Webb and Chuck O'Malley are blowing out the candles. On Friday 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, Ivan Bosanko and Cindy Mitchell have Saturday birthdays. On Sunday Pat Russell, Mike Baker, Wendy Wallin, Debbie Oliver and Ryan Wichman mark another trip around the sun. Jan. 13 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 Jan. 14, 2014 Teresa Wasileski, Addison Baltzell, Judy Eichelberger, Anita Weaver, Claudia Elliott and Jaden Alexander put on their party hats.
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 2013 by the readers of the North Idaho Business Journal. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email [email protected].