HUCKLEBERRIES: The question remains

Gary Cuff kept a small blanket in his car for years to remind himself of “Ry-Ry.”

“When Ryan was found, the person who found him used a blanket to wrap him up,” the late Kootenai County undersheriff told the Coeur d'Alene Press in a 1999 interview.

The owner didn’t want the blanket back. So, Cuff washed it and put it in his car.

On Nov. 12, 1984, Ryan Hoeffliger, a blond-haired, blue-eyed 2-year-old, was found floating off a dock in Hayden Lake, 2 miles from his home on Dakota Avenue. How he got there remains a mystery — one that haunted his grandmother, Corinne MacDonald, enough to write an annual letter to the Coeur d’Alene Press editor.

Her words differed slightly each year but the plea for information remained the same.

“Someone has to know something,” she told The Press. “How could you live with that guilt?”

Overnight on that November 1984 weekend, Ryan, the son of Kurt and Gail Hoeffliger, vanished.

At 11 p.m. Saturday, his mother put Ryan into bed with his 7-year-old sister because his crib was broken. The boy had fallen asleep on the living room floor. The boy’s sister got up around 5 a.m. to use the bathroom. But couldn’t remember for certain if her brother was still in her bed.

At 8 a.m. Sunday, the boy was gone when the family awoke.

The news of Ryan’s disappearance launched an intensive air and ground search in the Hayden area.

Acting on a hunch, Hoeffliger family friends Dave Mix and Jim Wilcot headed for Hayden Lake. They knew of an abandoned house off Chalet Road and thought it might be “just the sort of place a lost or frightened child would take refuge.”

After searching in and around the vacant house, the two men walked 200 yards to the lake, where there was a boat house surrounded by a wooden dock. At the end of the dock, they were numbed by the sight of Ryan’s lifeless body wedged in the water between two logs. The child’s feet were floating partially under the dock, according to the newspaper report.

Mix pulled the boy’s body from the water and sent Wilcot to contact sheriff’s deputies. He then tried desperately to resuscitate the toddler. But was too late. He told The Press: “I thought, if I could get a spark out of him by beating on his chest, I thought I’d have a shot.”

Ryan was still wearing his diaper and blue-and-red plaid pajama top. The pajama bottom was missing. There were no signs of a serious injury. And his feet weren’t cut or bruised.

An autopsy report would show later that Ryan drowned.

The questions remain.

How did Ryan get out of the house? Did someone drug the family dog, which seemed lethargic the afternoon before Ryan’s disappearance? Why would a “mama’s boy” wander off?

The case bothered Undersheriff Cuff more than any other. Occasionally, a tip came in. But the sheriff’s office couldn’t develop sufficient evidence to resolve it. The case remains open.

Kennedy & Brannon

Coeur d’Alene residents went to bed 15 years ago with visions of narrow election results dancing in their heads.

On Nov. 3, 2009, incumbent Deanna Goodlander edged maverick Dan Gookin by 29 votes. And incumbent Mike Kennedy nipped Jim Brannon by five votes — 3,165 to 3,160.

But the bitter race for Kennedy’s seat wasn’t over.

Weeks before, Brannon had been fired as director of Habitat for Humanity. And he and Republican allies claimed the action was political. So, Brannon was in no mood to concede. He sought a recount. And he sued when that didn’t work.

After a yearlong legal battle that cost Kennedy more than $100,000, the incumbent was declared the winner — by three votes. And he became a swing vote in a series of 4-3 decisions to overhaul McEuen Park without a public advisory vote.

As a result, in 2012, Kennedy faced an unsuccessful recall effort along with council members Goodlander and Woody McEvers, and Mayor Sandi Bloem.

In 2013, Kennedy decided to focus on his growing internet business and not seek a third term.

Also in 2013, Brannon was appointed to replace Kootenai County Clerk Cliff Hayes, who died in office. And then Brannon won two, four-year terms of his own.

A good chance exists that the McEuen Park upgrade wouldn’t have happened if Brannon had beaten Kennedy. But we’ll never know.

An SOS misfire

This City with a Heart has always had a soft spot for worthy causes. And a girl stuck in an iron lung in Moscow 55 years ago (Nov. 3, 1969) fit the bill.

No one was sure where in Idaho the rumor started. But it took root here.

Seems a disabled girl needed empty cigarette packages to help fund her treatment. And the story prompted Good Samaritans Bill and Dorothy Monteith and Dortha Starr to launch a charitable campaign.

Soon empty cigarette packages were pouring in from the sheriff’s office, police and fire departments, retirement homes, schools and even from nearby towns.

As the packages piled up, the trio tried in vain to find a redemption center, but discovered that the story was a hoax.

Afterward, Mrs. Monteith said in way of an apology: “Before I do any more good deeds, I’m going to get all the information.”

In the end, the trio ignited the empty packages, creating a bonfire said by The Press to be “large enough to rival homecoming flames” before the Coeur d'Alene High football game.

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner (with a slight revision): I’m not a Demo or a Pub/I don’t like Donald T or Joe’s sub./I lean not right nor left, you see,/I mainly only lean toward honesty — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“The Bard’s Politics”).

• Star Struck: In fall 1979, actor Andy Griffith called a cab while filming scenes here for a short-lived ABC series about a logging and mining family: “The Yeagers.” He and his agent were drinking at a Coeur d'Alene restaurant when the cabbie arrived. So, they followed him to his car, where they were surprised to see the cabbie's wife and three children packed in the front seat. Such was the star power of Griffith in those days.

• Doubting Thomas: Greg Crimp, the North Idaho College cage coach, didn’t like the smaller roundball instituted in fall 1984 for women’s basketball. But he changed his mind when his players warmed to it. “Their hands seem to fit the ball better,” Greg said. He predicted that high schools also would adopt the new size and that the change would lead to “a dunk or two.”

• Time Flies: Has it been 10 years since artist Terry Lee installed his bronze, “The American Worker,” on the McEuen Park promenade? On Nov. 6, 2014, the $50,000 statue, donated by Dean Haagenson of Architects Northwest, became the first of Lee’s five statues fanning out along Front Avenue and Sixth. The others honor miners, loggers, farmers and suffragists.

• Call of the Wild: In the old days here, nothing came between a hunter and his passion — not even a time clock. In 1964, customers of Guy’s Barber Shop in midtown arrived for a trim only to find a deer head mounted in one of the chairs and this sign posted by owner Russell G. Coulter: “Shop Closed. Gone Hunting Oct. 23 till Nov. 10.”

• Preserving Paradise: On Oct. 28, 1969, the city announced the purchase of 38 acres of Tubbs Hill for $125,000, including $57,500 from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. State inspectors applauded the city’s foresight in preserving the hill. At the time, the purchase increased public ownership of Tubbs Hill to 75 acres and 2,650 feet of waterfront.

Parting shot

You might be discombobulated if you haven’t reset your clocks to Pacific Standard Time. In the old days, the Coeur d’Alene Press featured local VIPs and large clocks in front-page photos to remind readers of the time change. On Oct. 24, 1964, Ken Everson of Everson’s Jewelry was tapped for the honors. The Press cutline read: “Changing clocks proves something of a job for those merchants who have many timepieces on display.” The photo shows Ken instructing little Patty Jean O’Riley of Coeur d’Alene how to adjust a large wall clock to 2 a.m. In spring 2016. Everson’s closed after 70 years in downtown Coeur d’Alene. The family’s contributions to the community were many, including an occasional Coeur d’Alene Press modeling gig.

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

    In 1984, Dave Mix, right, is accompanied by a television cameraman on a Hayden Lake dock.
  

    In 2009, Thom and Melinda George hug Deanna Goodlander, seated left, as Mike Kennedy, right, applauds her re-election.
  

    In 2009, Jim Brannon, left, and Dan Gookin follow city election results.
  

    In 1969, Bill and Dorothy Monteith join Dortha Starr to torch empty cigarette packages.
  

    In 1979, Andy Griffith relaxes at city dock while filming an ABC series.
  

    In 1984, North Idaho College coach Greg Crimp adjusts to the size of the new women’s basketball.
  

    In 2014, artist Terry Lee inspects his statue, “The American Worker.”
  

    In 1964, hunting season means closing time at Guy’s Barber Shop.
  

    In 1964, Ken Everson and Patty Jean O’Riley remind Coeur d’Alene Press readers to change their clocks to Pacific Standard Time.