PANABAKER: A revealing interview

After I saw the Coeur d’Alene Press recommendation for Dick Panabaker for Hayden Council Seat 2, I went to interview him myself at his shop near Hayden Super 1 Foods. My goodness. He has amazing experience, relationships, accomplishments and ideas for the future.

Experience — 27 years: seven as Hayden’s mayor, 10 on the Kootenai Board of Commissioners and 12 already in Seat 2.

Relationships — with the Hayden City Council, its employees, companies, etc. He is a proven team player. This is a big deal. We should be electing team players, not outliers.

Past Accomplishments — His answer to this question was impressive. He said we started around 30 years ago when there were only 2,000-3,000 citizens in Hayden and set out to (a) keep a small-town feeling, (b) keep taxes low, and (c) have a good quality of life. He has contributed to all of these goals including our low 2% growth rate, but hesitates to take credit as it is the team that accomplishes things like this, not lone rangers.

Future ideas — innovative ideas on how to finance the maintenance of Hayden’s infrastructure of roads, sewer and areas of business growth around the airport, etc.

It would be sad to see him go after so many years of public service. He is a regular guy with a regular job with a regular home and regular ideas that have traction, not outlier ideas that sound good during an election but don’t go anywhere. In a word, Panabaker is “amazing.”

GRANDPA RICHARD DANCE

Hayden