Huckleberries

You may know that Mike Pearce appeared with his actress wife, the late Patty Duke, in “Love Letters.”

And you may also know that Mike will reprise his role in that play for a Bayview fundraiser Aug. 26-28, opposite Anne Lunceford Capellen.

But did you know that he once shared a Lake City Playhouse stage with his donkey?

Huckleberries hears this straight from Mike’s former director, Dan Gookin.

In 1999, Dan and his then-wife, Sandy, cast Mike as the bit character Pedant in their production of “The Taming of the Shrew.” Mike appeared late in the play – and his donkey, Tiny, later still.

“Anna (Patty Duke) had met with Sandy and me a few times,” recalls Dan. “We had discussed (the possibility of) her acting or directing a show. Every time we did, she’d get a job making a movie.”

The Oscar Award-winning actress would joke that the community theater directors should keep calling because she could use the movie jobs.

Dan can’t recall how Mike got into the show. But he remembers the donkey’s performance.

Dan wanted Petruchio, who, ahem, tamed the shrew, to ride Tiny on stage before the wedding scene.

The Pearces, and their son, Kevin, would deliver the small donkey to the Playhouse alley before each showing. At Tiny’s “call,” Kevin would lead the donkey into a shop, where they waited off stage.

Sometimes, Petruchio (Cary Allen) would ride Tiny onto the stage. Sometimes, he’d walk Tiny onto the stage. Sometimes, the donkey would just poke his head out, to the crowd’s roar of approval.

“Marvelous!” remembers Dan.

And best of all?

During a show, Anna/Patty Duke told Dan: “I knew you’d get my ass up on that stage sometime.”

Thriving at 65

Local contractor Bud Howard bulldozed through the pine trees and volunteers burned the fairways – and that’s how work started in 1955 on the first nine holes of the Coeur d’Alene Public Golf Course.

Later, the cash-strapped founders used manure from a nearby chicken ranch and liquid sludge from the sewer plant to fertilize the fairways and greens.

“We didn’t have all the environmental laws we have today,” dentist Richard Fullwiler recalled 40 years later. “We threw tires on the fairways to keep them burning when we cleared the brush and trees.”

The links opened 65 years ago, on July 14, 1957, when Mayor P.A. Christianson accepted the course on behalf of the public from attorney Sidney E. Smith. And club president Ray Turbin hit the first tee shot.

In the early 1950s, according to the Press, the only golf course in the area was the Hayden Lake Country Club. High fees and limited access prompted a dozen business owners to consider building their own public course. Many of the early helpers didn’t even golf.

“They just wanted to establish a golf course that the average working man could partake at,” said attorney Smith in July 1997 for the 40th anniversary of the Coeur d’Alene course.

The visionaries bought the 143 acres for about $36,000 in donations and the sale of 85 building sites.

The second nine holes were added in the early 1960s.

In 1997, Jack Durdy, another of the founders, told the Press he wasn’t bothered that the course had gotten crowded. Said he: “As long as the kids and families enjoy playing out there, I’m happy.”

Idaho dreamin’

Duane Hagadone talked more about dog and horse racing than a golf course 35 years ago when he announced his purchase of Potlatch’s Rutledge Mill on the waterfront. The floating green would come later. At a news conference July 22, 1987, Duane and partner Jerry Jaeger said the 148-acre site with a mile of shoreline would expand the resort and further develop the region’s economic potential. Preliminary Ideas for the property included: The addition of 200 to 300 resort rooms. Cross country ski trails. A marina. An 18-hole golf course. An ice rink. A tennis complex. And a track for dogs and horses. Duane and supporters had successfully lobbied the 1987 Legislature to legalize dog racing in Idaho. The track would eventually flourish and fade in Post Falls. Duane, meanwhile, would seek to annex the mill site to the city. And run into trouble with city planners. But that’s a story for another day.

Huckleberries

·Poet’s Corner: The grains of sand upon this beach/in total must four trillion reach,/and every single grain you see/belongs exclusively to me – Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Sanders Beach”).

·Retired magistrate Don Swanstrom of Kootenai (Bonner County) reports there’s beaucoup green huckleberries in them thar hills – and he had to hike a bit to pick a half gallon. But, says Don, “at least I got ‘purple fingers’ for the first time this year and am a happy old coot.”

·Signs of the Times (signs at an East Lancaster Road/Hayden garage sale): “Sprinkles are for cupcakes not for toilet seats.” And: “Girls are not complicated. Seriously. How hard is it to say, ‘you’re pretty’ -- and give us chocolate?”

·Bumpersnicker (on a white sedan posted on the Facebook page of North Idaho Traffic & Parking Gripes): “Please don’t park too close. I’m fat.”

·Adrienne Howard of Coeur d’Alene reports People Behaving Badly in our woods, too. On an outing to Bunco Mountain last weekend, she found that campers had left gear behind to reserve sites. That’s a no-no. Says Adrienne: “It's FIRST COME FIRST SERVED in the woods, and that's why we go out on Wednesday or Thursday to find a spot for the weekend.”

·Black-and-white TeeHee Shirt (on a glum young man circling Riverstone Pond with friends): “My rights don’t end where your feelings begin.”

Parting Shot

Janna Scharf’s husband, Rick, was shocked when he spied watermelons on his home’s A/C vents. He thought his Realtor spouse had gone nuts while planning for a client appreciation BBQ July 16 – and suggested she put the melons on ice in the sink to keep them cold. But Janna needed the sink for other things. And she persisted. Janna served the A/C-cooled melons to her guests. And deemed them delicious. However, she admits she chuckled at the sight of watermelons sitting on her floor.

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