Mom’s thoughts on Californians

My mother, Eva, who will turn 95 this month in a Coeur d’Alene care facility, bristles when locals get uppity about Californians, particularly incoming ones.

“We should have had that same attitude when everyone moved into California years ago and ruined things,” she inevitably grouses.

Mom was just a kid, living in central California, when the Dust Bowlers invaded. Then, everyone else came. Some Californians were excited in 1962 when the Golden State passed New York to become the most populous state. But Mom wasn’t. Nor was famed San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen. In a 1963 column, Caen slammed then Gov. Pat Brown for celebrating the population achievement:

“I wouldn’t presume to say that most Californians are in favor of border guards to keep the outlanders where they belong — out — but most San Franciscans … would not look amiss if we turned our bridges into drawbridges — open most of the time — and built a deep moat as an independent city-state. … The way it is now, United Statesers are infiltrating us to a frightening degree, and threaten to take us over in a bloodless coup.”

Yeah, I know this bit of perspective is lost on those among us with the bumpersticker attitude: “Don’t Californicate Idaho.” But who can blame the huddled masses for yearning to live free — or at least cheaper — here?

It Almost Wasn’t

Many of you know that the North Idaho Centennial Trail is celebrating its 30th anniversary — and that it’s a tremendous asset to the region. But did you know that its construction was borderline miraculous?

Original trail promoters, like Doug Eastwood, Randy Haddock, and Bob Macdonald, faced obstacle after obstacle in piecing together the 23 miles that stretches from the stateline to Higgens Point. The greatest challenge was the opposition in the early days from the Pinevilla subdivision in Post Falls, lumber companies along Seltice Way, and the Post Falls Highway District.

I remember a public meeting at North Idaho College when an opponent predicted the trail would attract child molesters and thieves on bicycles from Spokane. I’m serious. The opposition from the mills, the highway district and Pinevilla was so intense that Commissioner Frank Henderson wanted to name the Spokane River as a symbolic trail link between Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene and be done with it.

Happily, trail supporters persisted, and we have this treasure today. You can read all about it in Eastwood’s new book: “North Idaho Centennial Trail: The Trail That Almost Wasn’t” ($14.95, Amazon).

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: On April Fool’s Day 2003, a bikini bar, named The Torch, opened in downtown CdA, causing a community ruckus. Five days later, The Bard of Sherman Avenue sent Huckleberries this poem: “They’re dance artists and not strippers/Though they may unzip their zippers,/So please ignore each unclothed part/Cause what you’re looking at is art.”

• Some Coeur d’Alene businesses didn’t appreciate the presence of heavily armed individuals to protect their bars, restaurants and shops during the recent Black Lives Matter protests here. Others did, including Davis Donuts. On Wednesday, its readerboard read: “Thank you to the citizens who came out to defend the businesses of CdA.” Doughnuts, anyone?

• Meanwhile, around the corner from Davis Donuts, the Best Sandwich Shack, which many say lives up to its name, has an A Frame sign that says, “Open 11 – 7 Thu-Mon even in the apocalypse.” Yeah, yeah, I know — our COVID-19 infection rate locally has risen a little since the guv opened things up. But when did we jump from a pandemic to an apocalypse?

• PSA (via my Nextdoor Neighbor website): A “very pregnant-looking raccoon” was spotted running between houses in the 1100 block of Pennsylvania Avenue. The witness cautioned; “Watch your chickens and other pets.” You’ve been warned.

Parting Shot

Fifty years ago, a plague of stray dogs was driving then Mayor John McHugh nuts, according to the Press. His phone — a rotary dial one — was ringing off the hook. Packs of mongrels were running loose south of Harrison Avenue. So the mayor sought and got an extra $1,000 in the city budget to hire two new dogcatchers to enforced the leash law. Once a loose dog was caught, the owner had 48 hours to redeem it or — curtains. Of the 86 dogs caught between Jan. 1 and May 31, 1970, only five had been reclaimed. The rest were put down. The city had received no complaints that the 81 unfortunate dogs had been killed too soon. And that, at the dawn of the ’70s, is how CdA helped a lot of dogs get to heaven.

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D.F. “Dave” Oliveria can be contacted at dfo.northidaho.com. You can also join his Facebook page.