CDA man must dig up, remove poison hemlock

COEUR d’ALENE — The plant rising tall all around Cecil Kelly’s yard looks nice enough.

Clusters of pretty, white flowers. Purple spots on the roots. Strong stem. It had been growing each year for more than a decade, reaching 10 feet tall, returning every spring.

“I just let it grow. I thought it was carrots,” Kelly said Friday. “It was more for ornamental purposes than anything.”

It was also quite dangerous.

Kelly recently received a code enforcement notice of violation that the plant that appeared sweet and innocent was not.

“Sir, it appears this is poison hemlock,” wrote Shawn Youngman, code enforcement officer with the city of Coeur d’Alene.

“These weeds need to be pulled,” he added.

Youngman visited with Kelly a day later and gave him a week to remove the poison hemlock, of which there is quite a bit all around the property on the north 400 block of Second Street.

He said in his seven years as code enforcement officer, cases of houndstongue, a toxic weed poisonous if eaten, have come to his attention, but not poison hemlock — until now.

It can spread from its seeds, so it's important to remove it.

Youngman said a noxious weed officer brought it to his attention. It's poisonous to animals, kids, adults — pretty much any living thing — if ingested.

"The toxic compounds are found in the stems, leaves and fruits of this plant," the flyer said.

“It is dangerous,” Youngman said Friday.

Kelly, a lifelong Coeur d’Alene resident, owner of the now closed Law Shop, civil rights activist and frequent letter writer to The Press, said what he thought was a harmless weed has attracted attention before. Tourists have stopped to admire it, and visitors to Lakers Inn bar next door “bet if it was carrots or something.”

“I was quite happy to let them grow,” Kelly said. “I thought it was natural and all that good stuff.”

Kelly gained some fame about a decade ago when a marijuana plant — not his — was discovered growing on his property, which he said actually has three mini-gardens.

“The guys at the bar said I was the marijuana king of Coeur d’Alene,” he said, laughing.

Today, Kelly grows roses, squash, chives, peas and other flowers and vegetables on his land.

“I want the squash in the Kootenai County Fair if we don’t have a fourth wave of the pandemic,” he said.

There is a $100 fine if the poison hemlock is not removed within the seven days.

Kelly said it will be done.

“No biggie. It’s part of life’s struggles and a plant trying to survive the best it can in a world where people don’t want it,” he said.

It will, though, take time. He said he'll have to dig it up with a shovel even though he has a bad back. The project will take filling several trash cans with poison hemlock and properly disposing of it, he said.

Long sleeves, pants and gloves should be worn when around or handling poison hemlock, according to a flyer from Kootenai County Noxious Weed Control.

“But I’ve got to get it out,” he said.

There is a bright side, Kelly added, smiling.

“Getting rid of the hemlock will get more sunlight on the squash,” he said. “Lemonade out of lemons.”