In case you wondered, sex sells
Dr. Heather Branstetter didn’t plan to write a book about the notorious sex trade of Wallace, her hometown.
It was to be part of a larger project that included the labor wars and gambling raids that helped shape the Silver Valley. But the valley’s mine troubles were well chronicled. And the gambling raids could wait.
In the end, few others could have written “Selling Sex in the Silver Valley: A Business Doing Pleasure.” Certainly not an outsider.
“I couldn’t have done it if I hadn’t been born and raised here,” said Heather, the granddaughter of former, longtime Wallace councilwoman Joann Branstetter and daughter of retired Wallace attorney Mike Branstetter. “People were secretive and distrustful of the press, especially about the sex work. They didn’t want to talk to me much.”
But they did talk. And talk.
And Heather will talk about her seven years of research and writing, as the guest speaker of the Museum of North Idaho (Virtual) Annual Banquet from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, April 23. In her presentation, Heather will include a 17-minute documentary based on her book by director Delaney Buffett, daughter of singer Jimmy Buffett, titled “Wallace.”
Heather, a K-12 counselor in the Mullan School District who now holds her “Grandma Jo’s” Wallace City Council seat, tells Huckleberries she grew up hearing about the rumors.
“It was something we talked about in elementary school even before we understood what sex was,” she said.
“Selling Sex” (available at Amazon, $11.49 Kindle and $20.89 paperback) is neither sensationalized nor romanticized. It is divided into three sections: straight-up history, Heather’s commentary on the Wallace sex trade, and first-hand, oral history accounts.
Heather interviewed 100 people for her book, many of whom wished the Wallace sex trade was still around. Most believe the undocumented community claim that the sex trade prevented rape.
The oral histories were important.
“I wanted readers to get a sense of how they talked and thought,” Heather said.
“Selling Sex” examines the civic and financial contributions sex workers made to Wallace during its hard-drinking, hard-living days.
Dolores Arnold, the best-known madam, understood the importance of public relations and charity. She was known for her contributions to the needy and local schools. And she drove around town in a 1958 baby blue Cadillac Coupe with her standard poodle, Mikey, riding shotgun.
What’s next for Heather? She has been contacted about a possible TV series based on her book. And she has begun research for a book about the valley’s gambling raids. Stay tuned.
Into the frying pan
That was quite a column the Coeur d’Alene Press editor wrote — you know, the one in which he sympathized with candidates for the local school board. New trustees, he lamented, will join a board that has to contend with the Legislature’s failure to fund schools adequately.
Added the editor: “And then there’s the people who go after the schools no matter what the trustees do. The pro-sex education group. The anti-sex education group. The long-hair crowd. The crew-cut bunch. The open campus faction. The closed never-let-the-child-out-of-the-school-until-the-bell-rings faction.”
With all the ax-grinders out there, the editor wondered why anyone would want to be a trustee.
When he wrote his column 50 years ago, Press Editor Terry Schick, who had three children in local schools at the time, was concerned about the community pressure faced by school trustees.
Replace “long-hair crowd” and “crew-cut bunch” with militant pro and con maskers and vaxxers, and Schick’s observations would be timely today.
Huckleberries
• Poet’s Corner: Jack Frost wrote a note last night/across our lawn in sparkling white,/said he would be living here/until sometime in spring next year — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Jack’s Back”)
• Editor Zach Hagadone of the Sandpoint Reader heard the irritation in daughter Eleanor’s voice as she watched “Cinderella.” He imagined the 6-year-old’s eyes were rolling, too. Said the youngster: "Uh-oh, there's a prince. Kissin's nearby. That's all they do." Isn’t that what the “happily ever after” is all about?
• Flash Back (April 18, 1971): Fifty years ago this Sunday, Pastor Earl Hunter and the Coeur d’Alene Nazarene Church broke ground on a $250,000 sanctuary and education center at Fourth and Kathleen. Earl died at 99 on April 8, 2015. But his long life of Christian service lives on.
• Most Idahoans, including newbies still driving California plates around, would agree with the meme posted by Daniella Cross of Coeur d’Alene: “God was walking around Idaho. So I asked Him what He was doing. He replied, ‘Working from home today.’”
Parting Shot
Here’s proof that you should be properly caffeinated before reading your Facebook feed. Kim Brown of Hayden posted: “Oops! Left my pansies on the porch. Popsicle Pansies!” Several friends read that short sentence to say, “Left my panties on the porch.” Friend Lora Mattoon came up with the same results after reading the floral declaration twice. She wondered why Kim had posted it. Then, she thought Kim had been hacked. Finally, she read the post a third time. Aha. Meanwhile, don’t worry about Kim’s pansies. She brought them in before the sun rose. And they survived the brush with Jack Frost.
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You can contact D.F. “Dave” Oliveria at dfo@cdapress.com.
