Politics from another universe
Not that long ago, Jeff Ward, Ron Lahr, and the Kootenai County Reagan Republicans were a force.
Newspapers printed their endorsements. Republican rivals and social media paid attention to Ward’s conservative newsletters. GOP office holders and candidates visited their lunch meetings. Candidates turned for help to Strategery, the political consulting firm launched by Ward and Lahr.
Things appeared to be going well for Ron Lahr (pronounced like “car”). But they weren’t.
“I dropped out of the scene,” the Post Falls resident told Huckleberries. “Politics is unpleasant. And it’s never more unpleasant than when one party is dominant and (members) turn on one another.”
Ron hasn’t left mean people behind. But now, as the author of a series of high fantasy eBooks, “The Kathaldi Chronicles,” he can control their actions.
In the land of Kathaldi, there are no nasty, infighting Republicans to banish. But the Kathaldis aren’t much better. Ron describes them as a race of “bad guys” and thieving anti-hero, Dirk, as “a jerk.”
In “Children of Kathaldi,” the former political insider introduces us to a warring people who have a long-standing feud with a pantheon of gods. A war between the two sides almost destroyed the Kathaldis’ world 400 years before. Now, the Kathaldis are willing to kill anyone who bows to these annoying gods.
Ron’s fantasy work is gaining traction.
One reviewer compared “Children of Kathaldi” to the works of fantasy giants David Eddings (“The Belgariad” and “The Malloreon”), Joe Abercrombie (“The First Law” trilogy), and Douglas Adams (“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”) Said R.K. Billiau of Primeverse: If those three fantasy authors “had their brains sucked out and blended together then reanimated they would write a book like this.”
“Children of Kathaldi,” (Amazon, paperback $11.98, eBook $13.97) was released in July and is available in audio, with voice actor Alan Adelberg narrating. The second book, “Assassins of Kathaldi,” was released on Oct. 2. The third, “Destroyers of Kathaldi,” will be released Dec. 7. Ron has been joined by friends, including Coeur d’Alene Councilman Dan Gookin, to write a fourth book, “Tales of Kathaldi,” which will be released Feb. 1, 2021.
Ron’s books and fruitful imagination prove there’s more to life than partisan politics.
Just say no
Much has been made of the desperate attempts by Republicans to flip Blue State electors for President Donald Trump. These tactics aren’t new. To a lesser extent, four years ago, Democrats were seeking disloyal Trump electors to flip to Hillary Clinton. One of those Trump electors was Jennifer Locke, who is now Jim Brannon’s chief deputy clerk in the Kootenai County Courthouse. I asked her at the time if she would consider someone else when she cast her Electoral College vote. After she quit laughing, she said: "That would never happen. I'm 100% for Trump. It's been that way since late January 2016 when I sought out a Trump director to try to start up a state campaign for Trump in Idaho. Loyalty and my word are two big things for me." Methinks Biden electors feel the same today.
Huckleberries
• Poet’s Corner: Those clouds you see/aren't here to stay./They'll leave again/sometime in May – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Song for a November Morning")
• Poet’s Corner II: To quell the COVID pandemic,/as our friends and pastors turn up sick,/we've learned non-masking can be sin — /don't touch your face, who knows where it's been? – Sandy Emerson of Hayden (“Pandemic”).
• Photographer Hara Allison of Post Falls fell on the court this week while playing a tough opponent in her tennis league. She scraped her knee and bruised her shin. Then, she said, “I got right back up, shook it off, thanked the Lord nothing was broken, and played some of the best tennis I’ve played in a while.” P’haps, there’s a life lesson here?
• On the front page of the Coeur d’Alene Press 100 years ago, traveling British journalist H.W. Levinson described Americans as “most polite, very kind and hospitable, and only too ready to take trouble for others.” Levinson might find America much different today.
• At the Enaville Resort (aka “Snake Pit”), owner Tom Richards appreciates Jay Inslee’s help. Predictably, the Washington guv’s latest lockdown is pushing his residents across the state line. Reports Tom: “We broke sales records in September and October and may do so again in November.” And Inslee frets about the COVID habits of us Idahoans?
• And just like that, I’m 71 years old today. I share my birthday with former mayor Sandi Bloem. Friend Mike Young of Coeur d’Alene compares life to a roll of (now hard-to-get-again) toilet paper – you know, it goes faster as you get toward the end. Bingo!
Parting Shot
Residents of Palmer Drive, near the Coeur d’Alene Golf Course, have Ron Edinger to thank for naming their street after the golfing legend. As you probably know, the streets in the third addition of the Fairway Forest subdivision are named after golfers. Those honored in the first wave of street naming way back when were Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Gary Player, and Jane Blalock. In April 1986, the Coeur d’Alene City Council was tasked with approving another name. But Councilman Edinger spotted an omission as he studied a list of suggested names. “You got to have (Arnold) Palmer if you have Nicklaus and Player,” he growled. The nominees included Seve Ballesteros, Sam Snead, and Nancy Lopez. But no Palmer. That oversight ended after a short discussion with a unanimous vote for “The King.”
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D.F. “Dave” Oliveria can be contacted at dfo@cdapress.com.
