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Curling For Fun In Coeur d’Alene By Jack McNeel Americans are not too familiar with the sport of curling having seen it primarily on TV every four years during the Olympics. But cross the border into Canada and it’s an entirely different story as many schools include it as part of the P.E. program and it’s a rare town of any size that doesn’t have an ice rink designed for curling. It is surprising then to find women in Coeur d’Alene who venture across the border to enter a bonspiel, or curling tournament, something that originated in Scotland but is now played throughout Europe and various British countries such as New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. Even without an ice rink in the area, a group of nurses from Kootenai Memorial Hospital including Charlene Miller, who has worked there for 34 years, decided to start the rather informal Coeur d’Alene Curling Club. The inspiration likely came from four nurses who were raised in Canada and who had been curling for a number of years. Not having an ice rink is not a problem Charlene says, “Because the people from Creston, British Columbia will give (Continued on page 6)