But seriously, a little laughter never hurts

April Fuhl made her Coeur d’Alene Press reporting debut nearly two decades ago by disclosing that a money tree, sprouting springtime leaves of fives and tens and twenties, was discovered out on the Rathdrum Prairie. There was a photo and everything. Just as readers were being given directions to the tree, the story was continued to a page that didn’t exist.

Press phone lines lit up all day. Hundreds of readers called not to question the veracity of April’s astonishing tale, but to ask where they could find the rest of the story — and ultimately, the money tree.

Ms. Fuhl was just getting warmed up.

Paid a high salary for penning just one piece each year, April has made the investment worthwhile. She uncovered plans to build a bridge across Lake Coeur d’Alene and thereby prohibit all boat traffic forever; she broke the news of President Obama’s recession relief gimmick to turn water into wine and send it through every American household faucet; she disclosed that Tubbs Hill was being permanently closed to humans so dogs could rule the forested roost; that Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls had merged overnight; all with photos, of course.

While the yarns have varied, one constant has remained: The stories are always continued on a page that doesn’t exist. Despite the tradition of this attempt at humor every April 1, Press phone lines lit up again on Monday, with scores of readers wondering where the heck the rest of the story was. April Fuhl scored again, with a big, fat smile on her face.

Not quite everybody was laughing. “I call B.S.,” one cranky soul wrote on The Press Facebook page. “Article says traffic has eased, property prices have fallen, schools aren’t crowded. Build the wall around Idaho!”

“What the hell type of low brow 5th grade reporting crap is this ‘article,’” wrote another. “Did somebody have a few too many… while smoking a few on the WA side when they wrote the completely fact lacking collection of slurred speech ramblings?”

But Ms. Fuhl’s fans were cheering.

“You must be new to the area,” one woman responded to the cranky commenter. “This was a good one. Even my hubby excitedly fell for it.”

“Good job, you got me,” wrote another. “I started reading it to my co-workers, stating, ‘Who is this crazy person writing this article?’ — and then I searched for page A9. HaHa — Happy April Fools. You made me a fool for sure today! We had a good laugh.”

And that’s the point. If we can’t laugh at ourselves once a year, we probably haven’t earned the right to laugh at anybody else.