HUCKLEBERRIES: An election to remember

It wasn’t much of an election race. But it received national media attention.

No debates were staged for the 2003 Hayden mayor’s contest. The incumbent, Ron McIntire, was confident that he and the community would win —– and wasn’t surprised when he collected 91% of the vote.

His opponent, Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler, got 50 votes, or 2%.

“Only his true followers voted for him,” Ron recalled last week at his Hayden store, Super 1 Foods.

Butler was the main villain on a neo-Nazi ticket that included two other racists who ran for council seats. Butler aides Zach Beck and Karl Gharst were throttled, too, winning only 69 and 42 votes, respectively.

The 2003 results, Ron said, proved that Butler never was part of Hayden.

“We were taking the rap for these guys,” Ron said of the Aryans and their compound on the Rimrock, north of Hayden Lake. “Hayden was caught in the center of all this garbage.”

At the time of the election, Butler was living with followers in a Hayden subdivision, courtesy of a wealthy benefactor. On Sept. 7, 2000, Butler had lost everything — including his house, compound, printing press, and computers — as a Kootenai County jury unanimously handed down a $6.3 million civil judgment against three other Aryans and him.

The lawsuit was prompted by the violent reaction of three Aryan Nations security guards July 1, 1998, when a car driven by Victoria Keenan backfired near their compound. The guards chased Keenan and her son, Jason, then 19, for two miles along Rimrock Road, firing five bullets into their car. After the Keenans crashed into a ditch, one guard grabbed Victoria Keenan by the hair and threatened her.

The verdict crippled Butler’s operations. But it didn’t stop him, at age 85, from running for mayor. Nor did it prevent his followers from causing mischief.

During the campaign, incumbent Councilman Chris Beck fumed when vandals placed Aryan Nations bumper stickers on his yard signs. The tactic made Chris appear to be the candidate for Butler’s outfit. Compounding the problem, Chris’s opponent was an Aryan with the same surname: Zach Beck.

Aryan Beck spent Election Day in jail on $50,000 bail, charged with a felony hate crime.

The yard sign spoilers didn’t discriminate. They put stickers on Ron McIntire’s signs, too — and on an ambulance and a pickup truck belonging to Northern Lakes Fire District.

“It’s a little discouraging,” Ron said at the time. “But I expected a certain amount of this.”

In the end, the election featuring Ron, council incumbents Beck and Nancy Taylor, and the Aryan Nations ticket attracted a record turnout. More than 2,000 voted – about 41%. Only 600 had cast ballots in the Hayden city election two years before.

Unbowed on election night, Butler declared victory and hinted at a possible run for governor. Said he: “We had almost $100 for us to spend and thought we did pretty good.”

Butler never got his last hurrah. He died less than a year later, Sept. 8, 2004, unmourned.

A hero’s hero

It’s ironic and wonderful that an area besmirched by Aryan Nations activity for 25 years also was home to one of our nation’s greatest Black soldiers.

On Nov. 4, 1998, Vernon Baker of St. Maries told 70 Coeur d’Alene High students about his World War II adventures – and the racism he faced.

“War is a bad, nasty business,” said Baker, then 78.

In January 1997, he was the only surviving warrior among the seven Blacks belatedly awarded the Medal of Honor for valor during World War II.

On April 5-6, 1945, 1st Lt. Baker led a platoon against Germans entrenched in the mountains of Viareggio, Italy. He and his men, while under heavy fire, killed 26 enemy soldiers and destroyed six machine gun nests, two observer posts, and four dugouts.

His heroics are detailed in “Lasting Valor,” a book by my former Spokesman-Review colleague Ken Olsen.

“I was an angry young Black man practically all my life,” Baker told the CHS students. “But I didn’t let that overshadow the job I had to do for my country.”

Vernon Baker died at age 90 in St. Maries on July 13, 2010. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Fan mail

A recent item (Huckleberries, Sept. 24, 2023) about comedian Art Linkletter’s 1973 visit to town struck a chord with former county commissioner Dan Green.

Emails Dan: “I was a participant on the Art Linkletter show when I was probably 5 years old. It was probably 1960-61. We were living in Pasadena, Calif., and I was in nursery school or kindergarten. I remember the question that Art asked: ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ My answer was ‘a policeman.’ And when he asked why, I responded: 'I would enjoy writing tickets.’”

Dan cherishes the huge audience laugh sparked by his clever one-liner.

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: Two things this month/for which we’ll pay;/Black Friday and/Election Day — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“November”).

• Once Upon a Time … Coeur d'Alene had a club of 13 soapbox derby racers, ages 13 to 15, including president David Weitz’s sister, Susan. They practiced on Foster Avenue, between 9th & 11th. Annual dues were 15 cents. Members sank from $1 to $25 into their racers. In October 1958, as it prepared for official races behind Wally’s drive-in, the club had but one rule: Always use a safety belt. Words to stay alive by.

• Factoid: On Nov. 2, 1948, Kootenai County helped Democratic President Harry Truman pull off his shocking upset of Republican Thomas Dewey. Local voters favored Truman 5,284 to 4,265.

• By the Way — Owner Ron McIntire answered the phone when I called his Hayden Super 1 store to contact him. Says I, “What is the former mayor of Hayden doing answering the phones?” Ron chuckled and said: “At my age, that’s all they let me do.” But don’t believe that, says daughter Becky McIntire Boifeuillet: “He will be 87 in a month and still works six days a week!”

• Yes, Virginia — there really was a Davis or four associated with the old Davis Donuts. Robert and Beverly Davis ran the 24-hour counter, assisted by son Bob Jr. and his wife, Barbara. They offered 50 types of doughnuts, ice cream sundaes, chili dogs, and coffee. By fall 1983, they’d opened their shop at Fourth and Best after 15 years in the doughnut business in Idaho and California.

• And They’re Off: Calaveras County, Calif., had its jumping frogs, immortalized by Mark Twain. But Coeur d’Alene wasn’t to be outdone. On Saturday, Nov. 1, 1958, seven prominent men, including my old publisher, Pat King, met to race frogs on Sherman Avenue. The promotion was sponsored by the Two Scotsmen Discount House. “Bohemian beer distributor” Bill Jones won.

Parting shot

No one saw it coming – the end to colorful mayor Ray Stone’s political career. The headline in the Coeur d’Alene Press on Nov. 3, 1993, the day after the city election, was succinct: “Hassell ends Stone Age.” In a shocking outcome, councilman Al Hassell, then 49, overwhelmed Stone, then 70, despite being outspent $10,000 to $4,000. Stone credited an anti-incumbent sentiment in the country for his defeat. Some blamed his testy personality. Hassell would go on to serve a productive four-year term in which he extended infrastructure to allow Coeur d’Alene to grow northward. Four years later, he was outspent and narrowly defeated by business candidate Steve Judy. Elections can be unpredictable. One day you’re the hero. Four years later you’re the goat. We’ll see if the election Tuesday holds any major surprises.

• • •

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

    Founder Richard Butler at the 2000 Aryan Nations parade on Sherman Avenue.
  

    World War II hero Vernon Baker talks to senior Nancy Pilkington after a Coeur d’Alene High presentation.
  

    Commissioner Dan Green hugs his son, Brett, after 2011 swearing-in ceremonies.
  

    Soapbox Association racers zoom down Foster Avenue hill, from left, John Wood, David Weitz and Sandy Emerson.
  

    Robert and Beverly Davis at 24-hour Davis Donuts counter.
  

    Frog racers in November 1958 (from left): Tootie James of KZIN, “Press” Presley of Roundup Tavern, Mike Franksen of the Hitching Post, Pat King of Coeur d’Alene Press, Bill Rhodes of KZIN and beer distributor Bill Jones, the winner.
  

    Mayor Ray Stone dedicates $3.75 million Lakeside Avenue revitalization project on the eve of the 1993 municipal election.