Huckleberries

Betsy Russell has announced plans to retire at year’s end.

And all I can say is: “Yeah, right.”

Betsy is a dervish, a whirlwind of journalism activity, political acumen, and fairness. Her newspaper and Eye on Boise blog reports on Idaho politics and the Legislature are must-reads for political junkies. In her “spare time” she’s revered as the long-time president of the Idaho Press Club and enjoys nurturing the next generation of reporters and editors.

Betsy was my boss for two of the four years (1991-95) she was chief of The Spokesman-Review’s Coeur d’Alene office. She drove us as hard as she drove herself. But we celebrated the scoops and fierce competition with the hometown paper, the Coeur d’Alene Press.

“We had a fantastic team, and that’s what made it so much fun,” Betsy told Huckleberries from her home in Boise this week. “It was like running an extremely, high-quality community newspaper with the full resources and backing of a major metro.”

She clicked off the names of her former staff, pausing to praise each one in turn: Cynthia Taggart, Susan Drumheller, Becky Kramer, Alison Boggs, Jesse Tinsley, Chris Anderson, Erica Curless, Greg Lee, Jim Meehan, J. Todd Foster, Dean Miller, who held the Boise job before her, and Yours Truly.

“We covered the community, and that’s what a newspaper is supposed to do,” Betsy said.

The teamwork and the white-hot media environment in Coeur d’Alene prepared Betsy for the rough-and-tumble work at the Idaho Statehouse. She left the Coeur d’Alene bureau for Boise in 1995 to become the state capitol reporter for, first, the SR and then the Idaho Press of Nampa.

Many in journalism circles told Betsy that she’d landed the top media job in Idaho when she left our bureau. And the best part? Her editors were 400 miles away.

“I was free to cover the state,” she said.

During her four decades in Idaho journalism, Betsy’s list of awards and influence grew. She was a regular panelist for Idaho Public TV political discussions. Along with her Press Club duties, she has served as president of the Capitol Correspondents Association and co-founded Idahoans for Openness in Government.

Betsy has said repeatedly that her top priority is snow skiing on weekdays this winter, an activity denied her for decades because the Legislature was in session. Afterward? She plans to work part-time for the Idaho Press, where she’ll share her institutional knowledge with young newspaper reporters.

It’ll be interesting to see how retired this force of nature can stay.

Super Ron

Ron McIntire told Huckleberries that he’d re-read that 50-year-old newspaper clipping just last week.

In the Nov. 10, 1972, edition of the Press, Ron is pictured with James Geddes of Town & Country Realty reviewing a design for a shopping center at Hayden Avenue and the new Highway 95.

The $4.6 million project called for 135,000 square feet of building space on 11.5 acres. Ron’s Thrift and Low-Cost Super Drug and Variety would be the anchors of the shopping center when it opened in spring 1973. The move would triple the space of Ron’s first store, Ron's Thrift, purchased from Al Farver for $55,000 in July 1970 at the current site of Hayden Capone’s.

In the announcement, Geddes touted a feature of the proposal – 600 parking spaces, 10 feet wide.

“Customers will be able to load their purchases into the car with the doors wide open,” Geddes said.

Later, Ron downsized the spaces to the standard 8 feet to serve the flood of customers attracted to his popular new store. Now, Ron, who turns 86 Wednesday, has 16 stores in his expanding chain, all called “Super 1 Foods.”

Said Ron simply: “We wanted something fancier than ‘Ron's Thrift.’”

Election denial ‘09

Donald Trump isn’t the first candidate to challenge election results ad nauseam.

Ten years ago this month, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled that no irregularities had occurred in the 2009 City Council race between incumbent Mike Kennedy and Jim Brannon. Brannon had cried “foul” for three years. For all the huffing and puffing, his challenge had limited success, lowering Kennedy’s victory total from five votes to three.

The saga dragged out so long that Kennedy spent $10,000 of his own money to defend his victory. The City Council chipped in $126,000 to cover the rest of Kennedy’s legal bills.

Brannon didn’t fade away.

A year after he lost the suit, he was appointed by county commissioners to finish the unexpired term of County Clerk Cliff Hayes, who died unexpectedly at age 62 on Dec. 12, 2013. Brannon will retire in January after winning election in his own right twice. Kennedy didn’t seek re-election in 2013.

Huckleberries

· Poet’s Corner: The pilgrims came in little ships/and wore quaint hats and britches;/they’d sometimes take a break from church/to go and burn some witches – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“A History Note”).

· Overheard (at the local driver’s license office): “Your hair is darker now,” said a clerk to a woman standing at the counter. “It used to be purple,” replied the applicant. “That’s one of the occupational hazards of being a hairstylist. You never know what color you want.”

· At the China Inn Restaurant, Charlotte Mitchell of Athol was touting the new “Pink Panther” movie. Only her three companions hadn’t seen it. “Does Steve Martin have a new one?” asked one. “Who was the original Pink Panther,” wondered another. “Peter Sellers,” came a reply. Then, the light dawned. Said Charlotte: “I mean “Black Panther.” Obviously, that’s a cat of a different color.

· We have another sighting for the missing Armistice Day war memorial, dedicated at City Park on Nov. 11, 1947 (Huckleberries, Nov. 20). Deborah Akers Mitchell of Coeur d’Alene spotted the memorial in the Oct. 31, 1961, edition of the Press after veterans had moved it to Third & Front. Where it migrated from there is anyone’s guess.

· Aaron Roberts of Post Falls wonders: “Why does lettuce and cilantro go bad in three days? I feel like I eat two handfuls of lettuce and throw away four.” Only four?

· Factoid: Idaho was the first state to pick a motto for its license plates – and in 1928 it picked “Famous Potatoes.” Despite some 60 modifications, the Idaho Potato Commission has zealously defended that choice. And you know what? I’ve become a fan. A potato is nourishing, useful, and non-threatening. Maybe, in these troubled times, we should relish a quirky symbol for good.

Parting Shot

I expected a long wait with dozens of my closest friends in an office with scowling bureaucrats when I renewed my driver’s license recently. I’d made a 10:30 a.m. appointment online and wondered if I’d be finished before noon. I recalled the annoyance of license renewals past. When I entered the office 15 minutes early, however, there were only seven applicants, three at the counter. Most seats were empty. I was called to the counter five minutes later. I provided documentation for a Star Card, took a quick eye test, and posed for a photo. And, voila, I was out the door at 10:31, one minute past my scheduled appointment time. The process was simple and organized. Our tax dollars are truly working here.

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