HUCKLEBERRIES: A kind man in a tough business

And so begins my 40th year in Coeur d’Alene.

I’m not a native, neither am I a newcomer.

I arrived here in September 1984 from the Lewiston Morning Tribune and the Daily Inter Lake of Kalispell, Mont.

I wouldn’t be here if C. Patrick King, then publisher of the Inter Lake, was a stickler for punctuality. In June 1977, I was an hour late for my job interview with Pat in the old Inter Lake office, next to the bowling alley.

And that’s when I, then 27 and bureau chief of a news service in Stockton, Calif., learned that Montanans march to Mountain Daylight Time, not PDT.

But mild-mannered Pat King, described by all who knew him as a “gentleman,” shrugged off my oversight and hired me to be his news editor. Two weeks later, I was living in his yellow rental in the east-north section of town. My wife and I spent the 1977 Fourth of July weekend fly fishing and picking huckleberries with Pat and his wife, Dorothy, behind the Hungry Horse Dam.

Oldtimers remember Pat.

A World War II air combat veteran, Pat was the son of a longtime Bonners Ferry Herald publisher and joined The Press six months after graduating from the University of Idaho in 1948 with a journalism degree. He became business manager of The Press in 1959 and replaced Duane Hagadone as publisher in 1963.

Duane, who became publisher after his father, Burl’s, untimely death in 1959, was reluctant to step down, explaining to readers: “Being publisher is a full-time job, and it’s in fairness to my family and The Press that I’m appointing a full-time publisher.”

In his decades with The Press and other Hagadone Newspapers affiliates, Pat was involved in a laundry list of community activities: Lions Club, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Campfire Girls, Eagles and Elks.

And he was kind to subordinates, too.

Once, he challenged Press employees to reduce electric consumption by 15% and still bought everyone a Hudson’s hamburger and cold drink after the staff fell just short of the goal.

Such was Pat King’s impact on the Coeur d’Alene area that the chamber of commerce sponsored a “Pat King Day” when The Press announced 50 years ago (Jan. 2, 1974) that Pat was leaving town. He and Publisher Roy Wellman of the bigger-circulation Beloit, Wis., Daily News were switching places.

In 1976, Pat transferred to Kalispell, where he would forgive my tardiness at our first meeting and give me a chance to manage his small daily newspaper.

We bumped heads at times. I was an idealist and crusader. He was a businessman and community booster. I ranted and tilted at various windmills around the Flathead Valley decades ago. He stoically bore the brunt of community response for my pointed commentary.

Pat remained publisher of the Inter Lake for a dozen years before returning to his beloved Coeur d’Alene in 1988 to oversee The Press for a final year before retiring. He died at age 73 on July 26, 1996.

He was as decent a man as could be found in the tough newspaper business.

Hayden Lake?

Not so long ago, most locals couldn’t tell the cities of Hayden and Hayden Lake apart.

Hayden residents routinely said they were from Hayden Lake. And the presence of the former Hayden Lake School at Hayden Avenue and Government Way bolstered that claim.

Today, the difference between the neighboring towns is pronounced.

With an estimated population of 683, the older and smaller city of Hayden Lake hugs the waterway and country club of the same name.

Meanwhile, the rural area, once known as Hayden Village, spilled west of Strahorn Road, grew to 700 residents, and was incorporated in 1955 as the city of Hayden to bestow business and liquor licenses. Today, the city of Hayden is booming and has an estimated population of 17,383.

On Jan. 3, 1979, Hayden mayor Dan Jones told the Coeur d’Alene Press it was important that locals knew that Hayden and Hayden Lake were separate towns with their own bylaws, mayor, zoning laws and ordinances, for voting purposes if nothing else.

The prospect of changing the name of one of the towns or merging the two wasn’t feasible, according to Mayor Jones, because each town had its own water and sewage systems.

However, the two neighboring towns still have one thing in common. Both were named after a pioneer, Matt Hayden (or Heyden), who won naming rights to “Hayden’s Lake” in a poker game.

It’s really big

The Really BIG Raffle at North Idaho College is a really big deal.

On July 10, 2024, the college will raffle a 2,338-square-foot, Coeur d’Alene house as the grand prize for the annual event. The raffle is limited to 5,000 tickets at $150 apiece. Thirty-one years ago, when the North Idaho College Foundation started the raffle, it had hoped to sell up to 4,000 tickets at $100 each for a house built by NIC carpentry students — and other prizes.

During the previous three years, the college sold student-built houses to cover material expenses and raise money for scholarships. In 1994, that changed when the foundation decided to hold a raffle — and sell at least 2,000 tickets or return the money to patrons.

The legality of the raffle was the biggest issue that first year. “We did a lot of legal research," NIC spokesman Steve Schenk said at the time. “We went through all the state requirements.”

The first raffled house, in the fifth addition of the Lockhaven subdivision, was appraised at $172,000. The raffle this year features a home valued at $563,000.

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: Raise higher your glass/and be of good cheer/a New Year has come/and we are still here – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“New Year’s Toast”).

• To the Rescue? Lake Coeur d’Alene legend Fred Murphy flashed good humor during the high-water winter of 1973-74. Reacting to rumors that Hagadone HQ was in danger of flooding, Fred hooked his tugboat to the building and prepared to tow. Hagadone HQ, of course, was built on pilings and couldn’t be tugged.

• Has It Been … 20 years since the late Duane Hagadone bought Blackwell Island on the Spokane River from the Hall family? The purchase included 38 acres, one mile of shore, a 331-slip marina and the Yacht Club’s Cobalt boat dealership. The deal came together so quickly that Duane and his son, Brad, said they’d spend most of 2004 developing a plan for the property.

• Resolved — The late Ron Edinger wanted to quit smoking, but, to the best of my knowledge, he never did. The flesh was willing but the body was weak.  On New Year’s Day 1989, after he’d been smoking 36 years, the longtime councilman told The Press: “My resolution, as I light up a cigarette, is to try to quit smoking.” Perhaps the key to Ron’s resolution is the word “try.”

• Beautiful Baby — First Babies born in Kootenai County have started life on Page 1 of the Coeur d’Alene Press for decades. And their early 15 minutes of fame changed their perspectives. Celine Marie (Smith) Lehman, First Baby 1960, for example, told a Press reporter 34 years later: “I used to think that everybody in the world was celebrating my birthday."

Parting shot

Ten years ago, businessman Mike Kennedy left office after eight productive years on the City Council. Arguably, his greatest accomplishment was siding with the majority in a series of 4-3 votes that spawned the $20 million overhaul of McEuen Park and Front Avenue. And his consistent vote for our Greenbelt jewel was made possible by three voters. On Nov. 3, 2009, incumbent Kennedy bested challenger Jim Brannon to retain his seat on the council: 3,165 to 3,160. Jim cried foul, claiming that some of the votes were tainted. During the next year, Jim’s court test succeeded in reducing Mike’s margin of victory from five to three votes. In the end, Mike prevailed and, along with three allied council members, survived a recall effort by local nags who demanded a public vote on the McEuen Park upgrade. Now, thanks to Mike and the council majority, few will admit they opposed Coeur d’Alene’s transformational project.

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

    The old "Hayden Lake School" at Hayden and Government Way (now Hayden Bible Fellowship) reinforced the erroneous idea that the cities of Hayden and Hayden Lake were the same entity.
  

    In January 1994, North Idaho College spokesman Steve Shenck stood in front of the first house to be raffled off.
  

    A Fred Murphy tug pretends to tow Hagadone HQ to protect it from flood waters.
  

Brad and Duane Hagadone, center, are shown with the Hall family after the purchase of Blackwell Island.

    Councilman Ron Edinger, upper right, resolved to quit smoking in 1989. Others sharing resolutions with The Press included: Sandi Bloem, Ron McIntire and Louise Shadduck.
  

    Celine Marie (Smith) Lehman was the first baby born in Kootenai County in 1960.
  

    Two-term councilman Mike Kennedy, who was honored by city firefighters when he stepped down from the council, was a key vote in the construction of McEuen Park.