HUCKLEBERRIES: Tubbs Hill came close to being developed

Tubbs Hill is hallowed ground today.

But it wasn’t in the early 1960s, when the City Council, by a slim majority, approved a developer’s request to carve up the hilltop for a convention center, resort hotel and multi-family dwellings.

Sixty years ago (July 15, 1963), the Coeur d’Alene council voted 5-4 to rezone 34 acres of Tubbs Hill for commercial use at the request of KAW Development Corp. After casting the tiebreaker in favor of the project, Mayor Jim McKinnon said: “I feel this development will be good for the city of Coeur d’Alene.”

The developers — City Attorney Jim Knudson (K), City Manager Don Averitt (A) and Spud West (W) — estimated the project would cost $900,000 for improvements including a three-story hotel and an access road.

The vote followed a two-hour public hearing that the Coeur d’Alene Press described as “marked often by oratory, heated discussion and outbursts of applause.” When more than 250 people showed up for the hearing, it was moved a block from (old) City Hall to the more spacious Elks Club.

Proponents arrived armed with petitions, containing 739 signatures, including that of prominent businessman Bob Templin, who said he was “unequivocably for the development.”

But most of the audience wanted Tubbs Hill kept in a natural state “as an asset unique in this part of the country because of scenic and recreation worth.”

Besides Mayor McKinnon, those voting in favor of the KAW rezone request were council members Ray Fawcett, Ed Hedge, Charles Ford and John McHugh. Opposing votes came from William Turner, Eben Wolters, Vern Hippler and Marc Souther. The majority rejected an idea pushed by Hippler and Souther to ask residents in a public vote for permission to buy KAW’s land.

In his excellent booklet, “The Treasure Called Tubbs Hill,” the late Scott Reed postulated that the KAW plan would have been “unstoppable” if it had focused on residential development only. The hill was already zoned for it. Scott and Art Manley were part of the planning commission that had rejected the plan 4-3.

However, it was an election year. And the community was beginning to appreciate the public waterfront.

In 1959, voters had rejected another goofy plan, devised by downtown merchants, to build a shopping center on what is now the western portion of McEuen Park. Again, the council supported the idea. But state law required a public vote because bonds were used to buy the land. Voters rejected the proposal.

Two tickets emerged to fight for control of the council that fall: the Community Welfare Party, headed by KAW development opponent Marc Souther, and the Greater Coeur d’Alene Party, led by Mayor McKinnon. Two years earlier, McKinnon had defeated Souther for mayor.

Tubbs Hill development was the main issue in the bitter fall campaign. Accusations flew. The possible conflicts of interest involving the city manager and city attorney were foremost among the concerns.

Ultimately, Souther beat McKinnon 1,588 to 1,139 as his Community Welfare Party swept into office.

In his booklet, Scott Reed doesn’t explain whether council action or lawsuit wiped away the 5-4 vote. But Tubbs Hill was spared at the time and ultimately purchased for public use forever. God bless the visionaries.

‘Music Man’ Concert

The seedling is in the ground and the stone memorial is set. The time has come to honor Chris Guggemos, Coeur d’Alene’s “Music Man.”

The free summer concert at City Park today, from 1 to 4 p.m., is dedicated to Chris, who, for more than 30 years, brought free summer concerts to parks in Coeur d’Alene, Hayden and, for a while, Rathdrum. Known for his mullet, Hawaiian shirts, white shorts, optimism and tireless promotion of local musicians, Chris died at age 68 last Sept. 26 after a six-year battle with cancer.

The concert today fulfills a promise made by Michael Koep of Koep Concerts in January when he agreed to continue Chris’s summer concert series. Michael pledged to dedicate a concert this summer to Chris.

On tap today, Cristopher Lucas, Michael’s bandmate in The Rub, and two other local musicians will play Chris’s music and discuss his influence on the local music scene. As another bonus, Chris’s family will be present as the city dedicates the living monument in his honor.

Excuses, excuses

During her time on the bench in the 1980s-1990s, Magistrate Virginia Balser heard various excuses from Motorists Behaving Badly. But few top the incident she mentioned to the Press 40 years ago today (July 16, 1983).

Seems a fogged window landed a local man in her court. And the window had gotten steamy because he and a Lady Friend were breathing hard inside the car — and naked. So Don Juan wasn’t thinking clearly when a gendarme rapped on the dim window. He jumped in the driver’s seat and led police on a high-speed chase through town.

“When they got him out of the car,” chuckled Magistrate Balser, “he was absolutely stark raving naked.” His excuse for his overreaction? He told Virginia that he “didn’t want to be caught with this lady.”

Betcha Lady Friend wasn’t thrilled with him either.

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: The nutrients/are rich and rare,/and yet it’s much/like chewing air — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Reflections on a Tofu Entrée”).

• Limericking: We have been granted a stay,/Our accreditation hasn’t yet gone astray./So here is a plea/To the majority three,/Please go silent or just go away? — Humble Spud (“SHOW CAUSE”).

• Quotable Quote — On this day in 1988, LaDonna McCaw (Beaumont), then an 18-year-old foreign exchange student, returned here after a year in West Germany and proclaimed: “If you don’t take a little bit of a risk, you don’t learn much.” Now an STCU financial adviser and amateur pilot, LaDonna also said she was surprised to learn that a whole country was only as big as Oregon.

• Factoid: The city of Coeur d’Alene paid $300,098 total over the years to acquire the 134 acres of Tubbs Hill, including McEuen Park, according to Scott Reed’s history of Tubbs Hill. In 2005, county assessor Mike McDowell valued the property at $177 million. A year later, in 2006, the property was worth about $246 million. Today? Priceless.

• Did You Know: Hugh Davis of Coeur d’Alene once operated the world’s longest marine mail run. At noon daily 50 years ago, Hugh would leave Bayview for his 40-mile route on Lake Pend Oreille. He delivered the mail and, at times, groceries. And ferried passengers with him. He also rescued stranded fishermen and, once, a horse. Nothing, including winter’s ice, stopped Hugh from delivering the mail.

Parting shot

Reader Jim Petersen asks: “Did Pat King retire here?” C. Patrick King, a Bonners Ferry native and WWII combat veteran, worked at the Press for 25 years, including 10 as a publisher. He left in the mid-70s to serve as publisher for a year at Duane Hagadone’s newspaper in Beloit, Wis., before assuming the same position at the Kalispell, Mont., Daily Inter Lake (1975-87). In 1987, Pat returned to the Press as a publisher briefly before retiring. He died in 1996. In July 2003, he was inducted into the Montana Newspaper Hall of Fame. As an aside, in 1977, he hired me to be his news editor and then managing editor at the Inter Lake. (He also forgave me for being an hour late for my job interview. And that’s how I learned about Mountain Daylight Time.) It could be argued that Pat, a gentleman in every way, was the one most responsible for my misadventures in Northwestern newspapering for the last 46 years.

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