HUCKLEBERRIES: Road rage

The Coeur d’Alene Press headline read: “Riot in downtown Coeur d’Alene.”

But former Coeur d’Alene police chief Dave Scates rates the fracas that broke out during the 1999 Car d’Lane vintage car event as less than that — more like “a large disturbance.”

Said Dave: “We had a large crowd of unruly people, mostly between the ages of 18 and 25. There were some arrests. But little property damage. And few people got hurt.”

Whatever it was — riot, disturbance, uproar, tumult, melee — it made national headlines.

On June 18, 1999, about 2,000 people, many drunk, packed downtown Coeur d’Alene, cheering as motorists revved engines and motorcyclists peeled out on an oil slick in front of the Iron Horse.

Car d’Lane’s annual Friday cruise had ended an hour before.

The cheers turned to jeers about 11 p.m., however, when a foot cop stopped Harley Davidson rider Scott Shawver for peeling out. Scott, a popular, friendly Post Falls businessman, told The Press later he shouldn’t have burned out. And that he was embarrassed to be part of the problem that night.

“I didn’t know I had done anything wrong until he (the officer) asked for my identification,” Scott said. “It was just poor judgment (on my part).”

The officer directed Scott to drive his 1984 Harley around the corner; he complied and waited. But the crowd jeered, screamed profanities, and pressed in on the officer who called for backup.

Dave Scates blamed the crowd, not Scott, who, in August 2014, would drown in a tragic Lake Coeur d’Alene accident: “I have no clue what the heck those people were thinking.” Also, Dave said, the police could have handled the tense situation better.

Before the hour was up, police in riot gear assembled and marched toward the crowd attempting to push it back, chanting: “Back, back, back.”

A Press reporter described the scene: “Several individuals hurled beer bottles, rocks, and other debris at officers. In response, one officer fired a riot gun (loaded with rubber bullets) into the crowd. … Officers proceeded to club, spray mace on, drag and arrest crowd members, rioters, and onlookers who didn’t disperse.”

One hundred and fifteen officers from five agencies assisted the Coeur d’Alene PD. Police arrested 14 people, charging most of them with obstructing and resisting an officer in the performance of duty. Police reported only minor injuries, including those suffered by six officers.

By the following morning, few signs of the disruption remained.

But downtown boosters fretted that the “riot” had given Coeur d’Alene another black eye.

A year before, Richard Butler and the Aryan Nations had marched down Sherman Avenue. And they planned to parade again in summer 1999.

Seems Car d’Lane 1999 was a one-and-done thing. There were no repeats of the unruliness that tainted that night. And the popular June event has purred along since.

Tooting ‘Tootie’s’ horn

Oldtimers may recall that Vernon “Tootie” James was general manager of Duane Hagadone’s KVNI-AM radio station for two decades, retiring in 1981. And again in 1984. But how many remember that Tootie, who played trumpet and trombone while attending the University of Idaho, once saved a man’s life?

On June 8, 1959, tractor operator Curtis Adams of Luke’s Transfer was buried by a cave-in of a 6-foot ditch he was digging by himself in an alley. Fortunately, the work site, south of 19th and Sherman, was near the KZIN station (later KVNI).

Neighbor Inga Lien, who witnessed the mishap, sent her daughter, Betty Leonard, across the street to summon Tootie at the radio station.

James told The Press: “I could hear him moaning when I jumped into the ditch. So I dug to find his face so he would not suffocate.”

By the time emergency help responded, Tootie had Adams’s head partly out of the dirt. Said Tootie: “He was pretty blue and almost gone.”

Adams suffered a broken and dislocated right shoulder, a hip fracture, and a possible right elbow fracture. But he recovered.

A 1938 Coeur d’Alene High graduate, Tootie retired for health reasons in 1981. But agreed to stay on the KVNI board until 1984 at owner Duane Hagadone’s request.

No go hydro

Fans of the old Diamond Cup races tried for decades to bring back unlimited hydroplane racing to Lake Coeur d’Alene, only to be denied by one thing or another.

In November 1985, a strong push by civic leaders to restore racing was overwhelmingly rejected by a public advisory vote. Afterward, boosters opted for a more subtle approach. And, in spring 1989, they helped arrange a test drive on the lake for the U.S. West Cellular hydroplane team.

Thirty-five years ago (June 9, 1989), a crowd of 1,000 trooped to the Coeur d’Alene waterfront to watch driver Todd Yarling and his U-11 race team test the unlimited hydroplane, which had more than 2,900 horsepower and could reach speeds of 180 mph.

But the hydroplane didn’t cooperate. A fuel problem throttled four tries to make the test run. By the final attempt, the crowd had dwindled to a few. And then the clock ran out on the test drive.

"That’s what tests are all about,” said Yarling philosophically.

The Diamond Cup, which ran from 1958-68, experienced a brief revival in 2013.

Growing bright kids

Opened in August 1999, the Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy is nestled in the house that Steve built. Or, more precisely, the business that Steve Badraun built.

Thirty years ago (June 21, 1994), Steve Badraun, who’d operated the popular Duncan’s Garden and Nursery at Fourth and Hattie for 21 years, surprised customers with an announcement: He planned to open a new garden center west of U.S. 95 and Kathleen Avenue.

Duncan’s Garden had outgrown the neighborhood grocery that Steve bought in 1973 and converted.

Steve and wife Jane planned to build a $1.2 million building for his thriving business on 4 ½ acres purchased from Idaho Forest Industries, next to IFI’s old Atlas Building Supply.

Five years later, the founders of the Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy bought the place. And, instead of offering seedlings, bushes, trees and garden supplies, it now annually nourishes more than 600 students who may change the world. The school is rated as Idaho’s second-best.

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: On weekends I ride at/the head of the pack/on my big black Hog with/a chick on the back;/I’m bad to the bone so/don’t get in my way,/I’m wild as they come/for a CPA — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Part-time Outlaw”).

• Lose the Tie: Forty years ago, local businesses loosened dress codes about Memorial Day and opened their arms to tourists. And, for a photo op, the local chamber manager, who was Sandy Emerson on May 30, 1984, traditionally went to City Hall to cut off the mayor’s tie. Since Mayor Jim Fromm was unavailable, city administrator Gene McAdams lost his tie instead.

• Strung Up: County residents of the 1970s had a scary way of showing their displeasure. At Hidden Valley (near Rathdrum), the locals hanged in effigy commissioners Douglas Frymire and Chuck Harris (June 13, 1979) for approving a rezone that could triple their population. Opponent Mike Gagliano predicted that the two were “washed up as politicians.”

• Factoid: Most of the trees covering the previously denuded mountains surrounding Kellogg were grown one-quarter mile in and 3,000 feet below the Bunker Mine surface. Started in 1975, the project was supervised by revegetation engineer Ed Pommerening.

• 49 or Bust: The year of 49 is here. I was born in 1949. I’m a lifetime San Francisco 49ers fan. And on June 21, Mrs. O and I celebrated wedding anniversary No. 49. One more year, and we’re golden. My Lady is the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31:10 whose worth is more precious than rubies. I'm blessed.

Parting shot

Sixty years ago (June 11, 1964), State Forester Roger L. Guernsey declared Coeur d’Alene to be the “forestry capital of Idaho.” At the time, Idaho ranked fifth in the nation in volume of “big timber” (saw-timber-size trees). And Guernsey said: “No community in Idaho can surpass Coeur d’Alene as a rare gem amid our forested mountains.” To celebrate the role of timber in Coeur d’Alene Past, the town held Forestry Festival Week. Lake City inhabitants dressed as Paul Bunyan, crowned Miss Coeur d’Alene, held lumberjack and lumberjane contests, ate barbecue together, and danced to the music of Tootie James’s Knights of the Round Table. No name-calling. No nasty bumper stickers. Just a community smitten by its surroundings and a shared way of life.

 • • • 

You can contact D.F. (Dave) Oliveria at dfo.northidaho@gmail.com.

    Tootie James stands in the ditch where he rescued a buried man. Betty Leonard, top left, and her mother, Inga Lien, helped in the rescue.
  

    A fuel problem thwarted a test run for U.S. West Cellular.
  

    Steve Badraun built the garden center that now houses the Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy.
  

    Chamber manager Sandy Emerson snips City Administrator Gene McAdams’s tie.
  

    Hidden Valley residents hanged in effigy two county commissioners.
  

    Ed Pommerening helped reforest Kellogg’s hillsides.
  

    Among those dressing up for 1964 Forestry Festival Week were, from left, clerk’s office employees Judith Kugler, Margaret Shepperd, Larry Thorsness, Marguerite Tomblin and Jeanne Loomer.
  

    Carved from the historic Mullan Tree, a giant mallet, billed as the world’s largest gavel, was unveiled at a 1964 Forestry Festival Week lunch. Joining in the hilarity were, from left, 1964 Woodsman of the Year Nick Ormonde, Miss Coeur d’Alene X Janice Compton and featured speaker Dr. Howard Alden of the University of Idaho.