Painful lessons in politics still apply
If 60-year-old Steve Widmyer could talk to his 35-year-old self, the Coeur d’Alene mayor knows what he would say: “Do your own homework.”
Twenty-five years ago, Widmyer, then controller for The Coeur d’Alene Resort, announced his decision to run for the North Idaho College Board of Trustees. As a Booster Club member and former student, he had strong ties to the college.
In the November 1986 election, he won one of two available seats. But soon found himself in a controversy involving then NIC President Bob Bennett. Two veteran trustees, with axes to grind, persuaded Widmyer and the two other trustees to oppose adding a year to Bennett’s rolling contract, the equivalent to a vote of no confidence.
“That was one of the biggest failures I’ve had in my career,” Widmyer told Huckleberries.
Bennett, who was popular with the business community, later left — and so did Widmyer. Haunted by the vote, he resigned after less than a year in office.
“That was my first taste of local politics,” Widmyer said.
Seventeen years later, Widmyer got a chance to prove that he’d learned an important lesson from the NIC controversy. In 2014, he replaced three-term mayor Sandi Bloem and continued her outstanding legacy of community and waterfront improvement.
Under his guidance, the city has upgraded public safety, built Atlas Waterfront Park, with its 3,700 feet of shore, and overhauled the Four Corners area (Memorial Field and grandstand, Fort Grounds Drive, Coeur d’Alene Carousel, Skate Park and expanded parking).
In January, Widmyer will step down after two successful terms. The Lake City has prospered because he learned to do his own homework.
Hollywood connection
Back in the day, Paul Kelly, a tough-guy character actor (1920s-1950s), told The Press that North Idaho was a swell vacation spot. Seventy-five years ago (Aug. 19, 1946), Kelly and his “pretty wife” were in town as guests of Louis Davenport of Spokane’s Davenport Hotel. Kelly had just completed his latest film, “Spoilers of the North.” He dined on ham, eggs and milk at the old Desert Hotel Coffee Shop. And he raved about Hayden Lake and its golf course, “If I’d known we were going to get to Hayden Lake, I’d have brought my golf clubs along.” The Kellys were headed to Canada, to visit Banff, Lake Louise and Vancouver. Then came a final paragraph that will make modern women cringe: “Mrs. Kelly, as a good wife should, agreed with her husband that North Idaho is a perfect vacation spot.”
Huckleberries
• Poet’s Corner (originally written with Iraq in mind, but it describes Afghanistan, too): “Next time we free/Our fellow man/it might be wise/To have a plan" — The Bard of Sherman Avenue.
• He’s done it again: Councilman Dan Gookin that is. Gookin attended this week’s City Council meeting shoeless. And it’s not for lack of funds. WikiFame estimates the Computer Dummies Book Guy is worth $3 million. After he pulled the same stunt on July 7, 2020, Huckleberries asked Shoeless Dan why he did so. He answered: “I thought it would be a fun and crazy thing to do.”
• Did You Know: Bing Crosby, pictured only in swim shorts on The Press front page, interrupted a vacation at his summer home on Hayden Lake 70 years ago (Aug. 22, 1951) to urge locals to help others. Joined by Bernard Merriman of KVNI and Oscar Nelson of the local Red Cross, the popular crooner asked North Idahoans to assist flood victims in Kansas. Helping others? What a novel concept today.
• No one would blame you for thinking that Father Bill’s Kitchen at St. Vinny’s is named after the late Bill Wassmuth, the local human rights leader and former St. Pius X Catholic Church padre. But the community dining hall is actually named after Father William C. Crowley, a former diocesan chancellor and pastor of St. Thomas Parish.
• Keith Allen, who co-owned North Idaho Cider before it was sold to Mad Bomber two years ago, checks in from his new home in Arizona. Seems he and a friend recently rode their motorcycles on a 3,500-mile sightseeing trip — to the Grand Canyon, Montana and back. His only gripe was the slow-moving vehicles in the fast lanes. Now, he’s searching for one of those signs he saw along the way: “Get out of the fast lane, Moron.” Bingo!
Parting Shot II
My friend Sharon runs a retail shop in town. So she knows about staff shortages and cranky cuss-tomers. On Wednesday, she was in a long checkout line at a Fred Meyer when a chattering woman dug out her phone to demand that managers hire more cashiers. This, despite a big sign in the store that said: “Everyone in town is short-staffed, be kind to those who show up.” Sharon asked Chatty Cathy not to make the call, explaining that it might divert an employee from more important work. Blank look. Later, Sharon helped the woman unload her cart because she was still yakking and sipping a yet unsold drink. Meanwhile, the clerk and other shoppers in line waited. And that’s what you call “Clueless in CdA.”
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You can contact D.F. “Dave” Oliveria at dfo@cdapress.com.
