Young Biden sure impressed Cd'A faithful

Jerry Jaeger remembers waiting for the tardy senator at the front door of the old North Shore and then guiding him through the kitchen to meet Gov. Cecil Andrus.

Mary Lou Reed recalls his devotion to his two sons — Beau, 5, and Hunter, 4 — who traveled with him to Coeur d’Alene.

“He didn’t go anywhere without them,” she told Huckleberries.

Diana Witherspoon, a Coeur d’Alene Press photographer at the time, describes him as “super charismatic” and “a good dancer.” And: “I suspect every girl in the room was impressed.”

Jerry, Mary Lou, and Diana were talking about Joe Biden, of course. Our 46th president was then 31 and in his second year as a U.S. senator from Delaware. He was the keynote speaker at the Idaho Democratic Convention at the North Shore on June 28, 1974. Andrus and U.S. Sen. Frank Church warmed up the crowd of 700. Bad weather in the East had delayed Biden’s plane for more than two hours.

And what was on young Biden’s mind in summer 1974?

Watergate.

According to The Press, Biden told the capacity crowd that “those Democratic candidates who believe that Watergate will automatically bring them victory in the fall are not only fooling themselves but hurting our party.”

He continued, ”Democrats have got to stand for something besides the fact the other guy is worse. Our goal in 1974 must be not just to campaign, but to govern; not simply to win, but to lead.”

It was a “big deal” to land a U.S. senator for the annual banquet, according to Mary Lou, who co-chaired the convention along with the late Bob Brown.

A committee of local Democrats met on Fridays for weeks to plan the 1974 convention.

And that is the lasting legacy of the Biden visit. The planning sessions began the weekly Kootenai County Democrat Luncheon that continues today, 47 years later.

Oh, poop

Huckleberries offers proof that you can’t say the word “poop” around small boys — or grown ones, for that matter — without igniting laughter. Case in point. Rose Backs was telling 4-year-old son, Dalton, a bedtime story about a pet goat of her childhood years. The goat’s name was “Homer” and, says Rose, “he was a naughty thing.” Homer was a free-range kind of animal, more dog than goat, really. Dalton was almost asleep when Rose added the punch line, “and he pooped everywhere.” Dalton was instantly awake and howling. He laughed and laughed. Finally, he said, “Now, I have to pee my underwear!” Rose admits the bedtime story backfired. But her little one’s reaction was “totally worth it.”

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: “Respect your elders,” goes the phrase;/I’ve trouble finding them these days — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“It Keeps Getting Tougher”).

So Daniella Cross of Coeur d’Alene is listening to her husband discussing a life insurance increase by phone with his salesman. Hubby Dearest ends the conversation with this: “OK, just email me the info so I can look it over before I pull the trigger.” Worried Daniella: “Is that the best thing to say to a life insurance salesman?” Only if you’re talking squirt guns.

Jerry Jaeger and Mary Lou Reed both said young senator Biden in 1974 was already acquainted with our viewtiful area. And former Shoshone County sheriff Mitch Alexander knows why. During a 2014 trip to Washington, D.C., Mitch and wife Keri met then Vice President Biden at the Eisenhower Building. Biden told the Alexanders that he was offered a timber industry job in Coeur d’Alene before becoming a politician and wondered how different life might have been.

Bumpersnicker (on a white Subaru Outback on Appleway Wednesday, with an image of a pitbull in the middle): “Ban bad owners, not dogs.” Bingo.

Speaking of dogs, Mrs. O and I were walking our Beagle, Huckleberry, on the Dike Road, near North Idaho College, when a woman approached and said: “The Dalai Lama died three times before he was reincarnated as a Beagle.” Huckleberry ignored the compliment and then pooped.

Parting Shot

Cory Alexander, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Kootenai Clinic, knew what to do when she got her second COVID-19 vaccine shot. A former competitive mogul skier, she headed for the hills — Silver Mountain to be exact. “I enjoyed the slopes,” she told Huckleberries, “but they need more snow.” Cory didn’t get careless. Despite personal immunity from the dreaded disease, she continued to socially distance and wear a mask inside the lodge or when close to others outside. Why? She knows she still can be a carrier. She wants to protect others. And that’s what you call loving your neighbor.

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D.F. “Dave” Oliveria can be contacted at dfo@cdapress.com.