HUCKLEBERRIES: A sharp name

“Coeur d’Alene” rolls off the tongue: a beautiful French word attached to an American Indian tribe, an idyllic lake, a river and a booming resort town.

It’s as striking as the region.

Occasionally, parents name a child after the tribe/town/lake/river.

As summer 1980 began, reporter Nils Rosdahl of the Coeur d’Alene Press found two families that did just that.

First, there was Coeur d’Alene Phoebe Zatarain, the 5-year-old daughter of Joseph and Starla Zatarain of Indianapolis, Ind.

Joseph Zatarain was inspired by a family tale told by his brother, Richard, who, with a friend in the 1950s, got lost in the North Idaho wilderness. The travelers relied on “instinct and crude logic” to scale a height overlooking an unparalleled scene: Lake Coeur d’Alene.

His brother’s description of the lake and the adjoining town stayed with Joseph Zatarain. Someday, he decided, he would name a baby after the western Shangri-La. After his daughter was born, Joseph called Idaho information to get the correct spelling of Coeur d'Alene.

A short time before the story by Nils, Coeur d’Alene Zatarain had learned that her middle name wasn’t “Idaho.” Upon hearing her name, some people replied, “Like in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho?”

One day, Joseph said, he and his family hoped to visit Coeur d’Alene.

Meanwhile, in Dalton Gardens, Richard and Linda Morris had named their children “Coeurd” and “Alene.”

Coeurd was 3 ½ at the time; Alene about 1.

After studying an Atlas map, the Morrises selected Coeurd as the best Idaho name they found. They added Kooskia, a north-central Idaho town — pronounced KOO-skee — as a middle name to extend the Idaho theme.

After Coeurd was born, the Morrises phoned the Coeur d’Alene Public Library to learn the meaning of the word. They were told it meant “heart of an awl” — an awl being a small, pointed tool for making holes in wood or leather.

According to legend, French trappers used “Coeur d’Alene” to describe the tribe from which the town, lake and river get their names. The Coeur d’Alenes were sharp traders.

Puppy love

During his 12 seasons (1993-2005) on “NYPD Blue,” Dennis Franz won four Emmys for portraying Andy Sipowicz, a gruff New York police detective.

But Franz is a pushover around animals.

On June 30, 2005, only four months after the last episode of the TV hit, Franz and his wife, Joanie, toured the Kootenai Humane Society shelter on Ramsey Road.

Franz talked — and listened — to the barking dogs.

“He’s in heaven, believe me,” Joanie Franz said.

Franz was an animal advocate before he bought Camp NeeWahlu, a shuttered Campfire Girls grounds on Kidd Island Bay. He was a member of Actors for Animals, Best Friends Animal Society and had recorded an anti-cruelty PSA for PETA.

Once here, he donated “NYPD Blue” items for an auction to benefit wounded Coeur d’Alene police officer Mike Kralicek. And he and his wife posed with the late Patty Duke Pearce and her husband, Mike, for a Coeur d’Alene Public Library calendar fundraiser.

The couple didn’t have any pets at the time. But friends prodded them to take a puppy or two home after their shelter tour.

Summer fun

Red Hat Society women don’t care what you think about them. The matrons value fun, friendship and freedom of expression.

So, the 10 Red Hatters who descended on City Beach in late June 2005, pinwheels in hand, weren’t bothered by glares. They simply planted their 145 pink-and-white pinwheels in the sand and laughed.

“I’ve never been wild and done things quite like this before,” Red Hatter Bonnie Kesson, just turned 60, told the Coeur d’Alene Press.

While some frowned at the frivolity, Angie Hatten of Spokane cheered on the invaders. She said she wanted to join the carefree Red Hatters when she got older. And that was the point of Jenny Joseph’s inspiring poem, “Warning.”

It begins: “When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple/with a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.” In 1998, the poem inspired a movement.

The local 2005 pinwheel display was organized by Patti McElroy, a Red Hat “queen of vice” who admitted she wasn’t a fan of summer but still wanted to cheer its arrival.

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: Abracadabra,/some pixie dust, too,/and money appears/straight out of the blue — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“The Magicians’ Club of Washington, D.C.”).

• Counting Pennies: At the approach of July 1, 1965, local merchants searched for pennies. On that day, Idaho’s new 3% sales tax took effect. All Kootenai County legislators voted against the tax, including Bill Webster of Coeur d’Alene, who said it wouldn’t be popular in North Idaho. The sales tax has doubled since.

• Humble Start: Doug Eastwood, the Johnny Appleseed of Coeur d'Alene parks, vastly expanded the system during his three decades as director. He also helped build the North Idaho Centennial Trail. But he was just a humble lead man June 21, 1980, when he appeared in The Press — getting a plaque for attending an irrigation seminar.

• Ours at Last: Fifty years ago (June 24, 1975), the city received the final $9,000 needed for the $250,000 purchase of the last 34 acres available on Tubbs Hill. KAW Development made the donation — yeah, the company that caused an uproar by announcing plans to build a resort at the top. In the end, KAW was forgiven for all.

• Lucky Ralph: Google “lucky” and you’ll find a Press photo of Ralph Lawrence’s wrecked car June 21, 1960. A guardrail extends 2 feet from the back. The guardrail went through the car, just to the right of the steering wheel, after Lawrence, 29, struck it at Highway 10 and Bennett Bay. Lawrence suffered a cracked noggin from hitting the windshield. It could have been much worse.

Parting shot

Twenty years ago, Coeur d’Alene policeman Mike Kralicek returned home from Denver, Colo., after multiple surgeries and intense physical therapy.

Six months earlier, Dec. 28, 2004, he had suffered a near-fatal head wound after chasing a hit-and-run suspect into a house. The man shot Mike in the face with a .357 Magnum before two sheriff’s deputies killed him.

In returning with her husband to Coeur d’Alene, Carrie Kralicek said how much North Idaho support meant to her family: “This community,” she said, “has allowed us to survive this.”

Few places support first responders as much as Coeur d'Alene does. That was evident then. It’s evident today after the senseless shootings of the three brave firefighters last Sunday.

God forever bless our first responders and this special place.

• • •

D.F. (Dave) Oliveria can be contacted at oliveriadf@gmail.com.

    Actor Dennis Franz received a kiss from collie Max during a Kootenai Humane Society tour in 2005.
  

    Red Hatter Laura Rouw placed one of 145 pinwheels at City Beach to welcome summer in 2005.
  

    J.C. Penney Co. cashiers Wanda Myhre, left photo, and Ruth Christensen began collecting the new 3% sales tax July 1, 1965. With Myhre were her first customers of the day: Ray Peterson of Cataldo and Kristin Lien of Medimont.
  

    Doug Eastwood, left, received a plaque from Mayor Don Johnston in 1980.
  

    Red Halpern, city parks and rec director, kneeling left, and Mayor Ron Edinger showed KAW attorney James Knudson plans for Tubbs Hill in 1975.
  

    Patrolman P.J. Monaghan, right, and resident Shelton Forest surveyed Ralph Lawrence’s destroyed vehicle in 1960.
  

    Injured policeman Mike Kralicek was surrounded by officers from Coeur d’Alene and Washington after arriving at the Spokane Airport in June 2005.