Good dads aren't dime a dozen

Good dads know everything isn't black and white, all right or all wrong. Good dads acknowledge weakness and encourage strength, in others and in themselves.

The best way to identify a good dad is to look at that dad's kids.

The author of this editorial, a father himself, has at times over the past dozen years engaged in some form of verbal warfare with quite a few fathers in the community. The writer has not sparred with mayors Steve Widmyer or Ron Jacobson - not yet, anyway - but acknowledges both men are phenomenal fathers. Their children are proof.

Some of the objects of ire are yet outstanding men and dads.

Dave Oliveria is a journalist with the Spokesman-Review. While The Press and the S-R waged sometimes bitter journalistic warfare for a couple of decades, this writer has seen Mr. Oliveria in a different light in recent years - the dazzling light of a superior pop.

Rick Souza is co-owner of Design Events in Coeur d'Alene with his well-known wife, Mary. This writer puts Rick right up high in the "Good job, Dad" category. While we might disagree with some of Mary's politics, we genuinely acknowledge superb parenting has gone on in that household, with a handful of happy, healthy children attesting to that truth.

A local Father's Day acknowledgment wouldn't be complete without pointing out what a tremendous father Charlie Nipp has been. Charlie and this writer have been on opposite ends of the teeter-totter a time or two, but when you consider the amazing young man his son Ryan has become, you notice a balance that maybe you hadn't seen before.

Ron Edinger of city council and McEuen Park fame also fits that bill. When the dust of controversy and disparate views settles, one thing stands out: Ron is a first-class dad.

We could go on and on, but it's Father's Day so you've got better things to do. Fellow fathers, please just remember this:

Good dads aren't ever perfect, but they work perfectly hard to always get better.

Just ask their kids.