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By Mike Weland
There are a number of
people in Boundary County, younger folks,
mainly, who complain that there's nothing to do
here. Back in the day, they'd have called it a
one horse town.
There is one man in this
county, however, who finds plenty to do in all
seasons, and those who watch can set their
seasonal clock by him when he hitches up his
one-horse shay and makes his first six-mile trip
to town after the snow breaks.
In his one-horse shay,
Wayne Nishek is as sure a harbinger of spring as
the robins.
He does have one problem,
though. In a town filling up with parking lots,
he has no place to hitch his horse.
"The last time I came to
town," he said, "my mare got upset because there
wasn't a hitching post."
He said he had a promise
from former city mayor Darrell Kerby to erect
two posts and a crossbar at a place in town
where he could safely park his horse, but since
a new administration's taken over, that promise
has yet to be fulfilled.
"I was thinking it would
fit in the lot behind Mugsy's," Wayne said.
It seems a problem simply
solved.
Boundary County maintenance
supervisor Gerald Kothe and a crew of painters
from the City of Bonners Ferry created markings
on asphalt behind the courthouse and buckets of
sand with a sign planted in them to designate
reserved parking spaces for the county clerk,
the treasurer, the assessor and the sheriff.
Cal Russell didn't even
seek official approval when he created a
reserved parking space, complete with sign and
masking tape parameters, for county mapper
Tom Ulappa ... at the farthest end of the
farthest lot ... and at least a 10-minute walk
away on a good day. On a snow day, all that
accumulates is heaped in Tom's reserved space,
but that's okay!
No one parks there.
Especially not Tom.
As a good reporter, I asked
Bonners Ferry City Coucilman Tom Mayo about it,
and he said, "huh?"
According to Nishek, city
founders opposed his idea because his mare might
take a poo within unregulated areas of city
limits. Nishek said he'd purchased special
diapers for his mare to preclude any such
offense.
While this site tries to be
a fair, accurate and timely arbiter of unbiased
news, this situation just raises my hackles, and
I'd like to hear what you think.
Does Bonners Ferry, or does
Bonners Ferry does not, need and deserve at
least one hitching post?
Before you answer, watch
the national news. Gas prices are going up.
E-mail your thoughts,
publisher@newsbf.com.
Comments:
Why not put up a hitching post for people
who use horses and bring them to town? What
is the difference between horse poop and
garbage people are to lazy to pick up when
they drop something or throw it on the
ground? I would much rather see horse poop
than garbage.
Mary Ann Tritt
Yes - that is a great idea - it's great for
tourists - plus I happen to own a few four
legged friends myself.
Marv & Tish Lagerwey
www.mtpocketsranch.biz
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