Huckleberries

Rachel Oestreicher Bernheim describes her only visit to Coeur d’Alene as “an explosion of joy.”

We celebrated that visit of the New Yorker in mid-July 1987 much as the Big Apple had toasted three representatives from Coeur d’Alene months earlier – with speeches, a dedication, and a banquet.

Rachel arrived here as executive director of the Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States 35 years ago. And remains chairwoman of the organization that honors the memory of the Swedish diplomat who saved 100,000 Jews from extermination during World War II.

“It’s so beautiful there,” Rachel said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I was treated with such kindness.”

During her three days here, she helped dedicate a human-rights collection of 311 books and 20 videotapes at the old library on Harrison Avenue. The collection was purchased with $5,000 given to the Lake City along with the first Wallenberg Civic Courage Award months earlier for fighting racism.

Rachel helped organize the Wallenberg Award ceremony on Jan. 14, 1987, for the Coeur d’Alene delegation: Mayor Ray Stone, Catholic priest Bill Wassmuth, and Undersheriff Larry Broadbent. With the world’s media reporting, Coeur d’Alene was hailed by civic and human rights leaders that day in New York for its “definitive opposition to the entrenchment of the white supremacist Aryan Nations.”

“I’m awed that a city as small as Coeur d’Alene has managed to spearhead a human rights action that has caught the attention of the entire nation,” Rachel told this reporter in 1987.

She has followed news about Coeur d’Alene for decades now, including the June 11 arrests of 31 members of the Patriot Front, hidden in a U-Haul truck, near an LGBTQ+ Pride event at City Park.

“It’s not very different than what is going on in the rest of the country,” she said.

She was heartened to learn that the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations is still active and that the human-rights collection, once kept behind locked glass doors, is now dispersed throughout the library and more readily available.

The Wallenberg Committee handed out three other Civic Courage awards after Coeur d’Alene’s – to the nation of Denmark (1990), Billings, Mont. (1997), and New York City (2001).

But Coeur d’Alene is special for Rachel.

Said she: “I know how to pronounce (Coeur d’Alene) properly, too.”

Big shoes to fill

You might be alarmed to star in a fund-raising production of “Love Letters” with Patty Duke’s widower, Mike Pearce. But Anne Lunceford Capellen isn’t. The Coeur d’Alene native has been active in theater and voice since childhood. A self-described “Drama Queen,” Anne’s credentials include: 20 years on camera for a U.S. Department of Education project. A director for the community theater. And even a Miss Congeniality award. Yet, she knows whose shoes she’s filling. Mike first appeared on stage in “Love Letters,” opposite his Academy Award-winning wife, whom we knew as Anna Pearce. Anne and Mike were glad to participate in the Bayview Community Council fundraiser, Directed by Rebecca Priano Vellucci, the play has three performances scheduled for the Bayview Community Center Aug. 26-28. Tickets are $25. As for replacing Patty Duke, Anne said: “I don’t feel as much intimidated as I just want her to be proud of the job I do, from her balcony seat in heaven.”

Well fed

Although it’s doubtful that William Howard Taft (6 feet tall, 350 pounds) got stuck in a bathtub, as rumored, it’s true that he dined at the Bozanta Tavern (Hayden Lake Country Club). The 27th president (1909-13) ate trout, venison, and bear cub, saying afterward, “I enjoyed it.” So reported colleague Nils Rosdahl in a story (July 15, 1982) announcing the approaching 75th anniversary of the historic site.

Huckleberries

· Poet’s Corner: You can grill them or fry them or stuff them or bake;/you can put them in soup or in bread or in cake;/you can use by the bushel, the quart, or the cup,/but try like the devil, you can’t use them up – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Those Zucchini in Your Garden”).

· On July 18, 1987, while Rachel Bernheim was in town, North Idaho College, along with the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, rededicated its beach to the Schitsu’umsh (Coeur d’Alene Tribe). It was renamed Yap-Keehn-Um or “Gathering Place.” The beach was a spot where Native Americans gathered to swim, fish, dance, race, gamble and play sports.

· Gone with the Skin: A Facebook Friend admits temptation was removed when the nudist Sun Meadow Resort near Worley sold. Quoth she: “For years I’ve been working up the nerve to ‘hang’ with my tribal people and now it’s just a regular, run of the mill vacation spot.”

· “Elysium” is paradise. Or a 2013 sci-fi movie. No telling which idea the driver of a metallic green VW bug with that vanity plate had in mind while driving in Hayden recently.

· The career home run leader for a Major League Baseball player born in Alaska is held by a former catcher for the Lakeland High Hawks – Josh Phelps, with 64. Josh got his first big-league hit for Toronto 20 years ago (July 2, 2002) and was hitting .370 (10-for-27) through that mid-July. He would compile a .273 batting average and 244 RBI over eight seasons. He had planned to be an engineer until baseball called, finishing fourth in the Class of 1996 with a 3.94 GPA.

· What Was Bothering the Pretty Little Head … of Red Cross swim instructor Robert Marks 75 years ago? Lifeguards at City Beach. Or lack thereof. On July 11, 1947, Marks complained to Rotarians that there was only one lifeguard to cover 300 yards of congested City Beach. The Press was bombarded with letters from the public after that story appeared. Wonder what the locals back then would say of City Beach today? No. Lifeguards. At all.

· A new Facebook favorite is North Idaho Traffic and Parking Gripes. Last week, followers were treated to a photo of a local patrol car stopped at Appleway and Highway 95 with an open fuel flap. One commenter compared driving around with your gas flap open to walking around with your trousers unzipped. But many of the other 80-plus commenters were empathetic, including one who said she once left a gas station with the nozzle still in the tank.

Parting Shot

A Cosmic Wagon member interrupted the band’s toe-tapping, blue-grass music behind the Coeur d’Alene Library Monday evening to tell these three Groaners: “Did you hear the one about the two antennas that got married? The ceremony was so-so, but the reception was fantastic.” And: “Did you hear about the guy who got vaporized? He’ll be mist.” And: “What’s wrong with two rotten eggs?” Their yolks are terrible.” Well, the “yolks” were nerdy fun. And the music top notch. Add the library’s music venue (6-7:30 p.m. Mondays) to your list of free, summer concerts. And thank Huckleberries later.

D.F. (Dave) Oliveria can be contacted at dfo@cdapress.com.