Huckleberries

The Coeur d’Alene Shrine Club Octocycle hasn’t appeared at a Fourth of July Parade since 2016. And, unless its new owner in Spokane has mastered its quirks, the bike won’t turn up this year either.

On May 5, helmsman Bill Hamilton donated the Bicycle Built for Eight to the El Katif Shrine Temple of Spokane. The Octocycle was stored in Bill’s Coeur d’Alene Airport hangar after local Shriners decided a new parade entry fee was “exorbitant” for a nonprofit organization.

The Octocycleers were parade regulars for 60 years, with Bill’s father, attorney C.J. Hamilton, serving as the brakeman at the rear for the cycle’s 1957 maiden ride.

“We went out to have fun and to show people that it would be fun to be part of our group,” Bill said.

The Octocycle was the brainchild of Shriner Bill Webster, a former legislator and owner of the old Brunswick Café (now the Iron Horse) on Sherman Avenue.

Custom-built in 1956, by Hamilton Engineering of Wichita, Kan., the 22-foot-long bike, with a 1948-49 Indian Motorcycle frame, was delivered to Spokane. Shriners discovered how hard it was to manage when they tried to ride it to Coeur d’Alene. Three blocks and several broken chains later, they called for a flatbed truck.

“It was a lot of work, especially for the helmsman,” Bill said. “The bike weighed 800 pounds. Then, you add eight men weighing about 200 pounds apiece. And manual steering. You had to be careful going around corners. And it could only negotiate very small hills.”

Bill’s father worked his way up from brakeman to the helmsman, where he guided the Octocyclers to cheers of Independence Day parade-goers until age 82. During one fateful parade, C.J. crashed the bike in front of the family home at Ninth and Sherman — and swore off smoking a cigar while steering afterward.

The Octocyclers were regional parade favorites and appeared in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and twice in Boston for bicentennial events.

Bill Hamilton straddled the back bumper as a boy of almost 7 during the inaugural 1957 run. Later, between stints in the service, he became a Shriner and ultimately took his father’s place at the helm.

Said Bill: “It was a wonderful experience, and I’m glad I had it.”

BFFs forever?

Council members Christie Wood and Dan Gookin were all smiles June 7 as they munched cupcakes on the Bakery by the Lake patio. Later, Christie confirmed for Huckleberries that she will run for re-election this fall as part of a ticket with Dan.

Only a true Coeur d’Alene-ologist understands the significance of this.

A decade-plus ago, Dan and Christie were oil and water. On his old OpenCDA.com blog, Dan criticized All Things City Hall, including the police department and then Sergeant Wood. On occasion, he dismissed her as “Sgt. Cupcake” and “a snake.”

But times have a-changed.

Christie figures she and Dan agree on issues “about 75% of the time” and consider the extreme politics promoted by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee to be the greatest danger facing Coeur d’Alene.

Christie and Dan know they’ll be targets of Chairman Brent Regan and his political circus.

“We realize what we’re up against,” Christie said. “This is going to be a battle. We need to pool our resources.”

Councilman Dan English, another incumbent seeking re-election, decided not to join the Wood-Gookin ticket. Said he: “I guess I may be stuck in my ways but also have won 15 out of 18 races for election or appointments. If I was in baseball, I would be batting over .800 and happy with that.”

Let the games begin.

Remembering Linda

The Idaho State Police’s Region 1 office on Wilbur Avenue is named after Trooper Linda Huff for good reason. Twenty-five years ago (June 17, 1998), she was ambushed outside ISP headquarters, shot 12 times, returned fire, and sacrificed her life to save others.

After finishing the paperwork, Linda returned to her patrol car at about 11 p.m. when Scott Yager, then 34, of Rathdrum, unprovoked, opened fire.

Yager was hell-bent on killing a cop.

Despite being paralyzed by a bullet that severed her spine, Linda unloaded her magazine, hitting Yager in the shoulder and throat. The killer was caught quickly and is serving a life sentence without possibility of parole.

Linda’s three children were 10, 5 and 4 at the time. Her husband, Chad, was also an ISP officer stationed here.

Linda laid down her life for her colleagues. Greater love hath no man — or woman — than that.

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: He stood on the fringes/with a drink big and tall,/a very late bloomer/who might not bloom at all — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“High School Reunion”).

• Limericking: The bizarreness is really expandin’/When a district hires someone like Branden./They looked for the worst,/And they found him in Durst./Let’s hope they decide to abandon — The Humble Spud (“SUPER”).

• Standing Pat: The old Corless steam engine from Potlatch’s Rutledge mill won't go anywhere when the Museum of North Idaho relocates to the base of Tubbs Hill. It’s too heavy (50 tons) and expensive to move again, says MONI’s Stephen Shepherd. It took 100 volunteers to disassemble, move and reassemble the engine in the fall of 1988 after the mill shut.

• On This Day — Victor Wilson sold iconic Wilson’s Pharmacy, Fourth and Sherman, to Californians Charles J. Sears and Mickey Holovka on June 18, 1963. Wilson and his father, Clay, opened the pharmacy July 21, 1925. The newcomers planned to keep the name Wilson’s Pharmacy. The Moose Lounge now occupies the space.

• In Memoriam: Two-term mayor Ray Stone (1986-93) was described as a man with “a heart of gold that he protected with a crusty exterior.” Educator, liberator of a WWII concentration camp, human rights advocate, jazz musician and home-spun politician, Ray loved representing this town. He died at age 89 a decade ago (June 16, 2013).

Parting shot

For Father’s Day 45 years ago (June 16, 1978), the Coeur d’Alene Press posed a Man on the Street question to six people, “What was the best advice you ever received from your father?” And Sandy Emerson said this about his banker pop, Tom: “Keep your hair short and tell the truth. I’ve always tried to keep one of them.” Two years before that Father’s Day feature, my dad, Franklin Simas Oliveria, then 55, died in a car wreck. An Azorean Portuguese dairyman with massive forearms from milking cows, he drilled one piece of advice into me: “I made a living for my family with my muscles. You’ll have to make a living for your family with your brains.” He never graduated from the eighth grade. But he loved his six kids and took care of our family. He was right about the future. I became a newspaperman instead of a dairyman. And I’m glad this good man lived to see the beginning of my career.

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