Potatoes, radishes and chickens

We haven’t talked about “strange news” for awhile, but it is something that’s always around. Story last week out of Moses Lake, Wash., involved a fella named Chris Voigt who won his state’s “Potato Man of the Year” award. The Associated Press release said Chris went a complete 60-day stretch without eating absolutely anything except potatoes to get this outstanding recognition from the Washington State Potato Commission. If a guy had to go 60 days eating only one kind of food, spuds would certainly make an easy choice because there are so many known ways to prepare them: boiled, mashed, fried, baked and raw … whole, diced, or thinly sliced, peeled or not peeled. Eating only one food for that long would be a lot more challenging with something like … say radishes?

The spud story said the winner “had to go above and beyond the call of duty to prove potatoes are healthy and not junk food.” Wondered about a couple of things in there. 1. Did the fact that Voigt is the head of the Washington State Potato Commission have anything to do with his winning the award? 2. What was the prize? Maybe it was letting Voigt keep his job. The AP said the award was announced at the National Potato Council’s Annual Convention in Las Vegas.

I contacted the Associated Press last week regarding information about entering a “One Food” contest and was told they did not know whether or not there is a National Radish Commission, let alone an annual eating competition. AP also suggested that if the radish people actually were organized on a national basis, they probably couldn’t afford to hold their convention in Las Vegas.

Elsewhere, most of us have read about John “Sonny” Franzese being sent to prison for what his lawyers tearfully call “life.” In New York, “Sonny” was convicted of racketeering conspiracy while running the infamous Colombo crime family. The case against him was finally nailed down when detectives caught him on tape four years ago describing his favorite ways of getting rid of bodies. After reading the whole trial story it is easier for us regular folks to understand why “Sonny” took a nap during damning testimony given to the court by his “turncoat” son, and why the measly eight-year prison sentence is called “life.” Sonny is 93 years old.

In Whitefish, we have the chicken situation to be brought up and discussed at this week’s council meeting. That official review will be over by the time this column is published, but there are some interesting things to recall. The council passed a city law allowing any family to have up to five hens but no rooster back in 2009, and the law was to be reviewed in two years to see if things were going OK. Planning Director David Taylor was recently quoted as saying everything seems to be functioning as planned with hens providing fresh eggs daily and no disturbance to neighbors.

That topic was originally a great source of column material where-in I even suggested there would be rooster “stud farms” outside the city limits where people could take their lovesick biddies. I also wrongly predicted there might be a problem with poo poo on the sidewalks. Apparently none of my dire projections have come to pass. Even the Whitefish law enforcement folks have only had one call of “chickens at large,” and that was by an anonymous person on Denver Avenue.

More big stuff coming out of Whitefish these days. Daily Inter Lake reports there is a waiting list for people wanting a lot at the local cemetery. All of the sites and lots are sold. Maybe we’ll discuss this grave situation at some other time.

G. George Ostrom is a national-award winning Hungry Horse News columnist. He lives in Kalispell.