HUCKLEBERRIES: A vanilla milkshake and bittersweet ending

An intensive search for two young siblings two decades ago had a bittersweet ending.

The girl survived a horrible ordeal. The boy did not.

Seven weeks after they vanished, a waitress at Coeur d’Alene Denny’s spotted a scared girl and a nervous man in a booth shortly before 2 a.m. Saturday, July 2, 2005.

Amber Deahn told the Coeur d’Alene Press later that they were out of place. Usually, at that time in the morning, she said, the restaurant was teeming with late-night partiers.

The server suspected the girl was 8-year-old Shasta Groene.

On the night of May 15-16, 2005, three members of Shasta’s family were bludgeoned to death at their Wolf Lodge home: her mother Brenda, 40, her brother Slade, 13, and Brenda’s boyfriend, Mark McKenzie, 37. Shasta and her brother, Dylan, 9, were missing.

Joseph Edward Duncan III, then 42, a high-level sex offender from Fargo, N.D., had committed the crimes. And that night at Denny’s, he was sitting with Shasta.

Amber Deahn, 25, and pregnant with her second child at the time, knew she had to act fast.

First, according to the Press, she took their order: a plate of greasy finger foods.

Then, she made another pass by the booth to confirm her suspicion. And brought Shasta some crayons, coloring paper and a Denny’s promotional mask. Ordinarily, the waitress told the Press, children perk up when she gives them those items.

Shasta didn’t. She looked at Duncan, who nodded. Then, she said quietly, “Thank you.”

Amber hunted for a poster at the restaurant with photos of the missing children. But it was gone. Later, she told The Press, she suspected that Duncan had ripped it down.

Then, Amber told shift supervisor Linda Olson about her belief. After a casual trip around the restaurant, the manager agreed: It was Shasta. The women called the police.

The waitress had one final gambit. She persuaded Duncan to allow her to make a milkshake for Shasta – a large vanilla one. And she took her time preparing it. Her foot-dragging gave police officers time to arrive and take Duncan into custody without incident.

In the days following, Shasta gave a detailed account of the killings, the kidnappings, and the murder of her brother, Dylan, in the Lolo National Forest, near St. Regis, Mont. Duncan had killed her brother by shooting him twice with a 12-gauge shotgun, once in the head.

Duncan never killed or raped again, thanks to an observant waitress and a brave little girl.

Big Mac attack

Once, a McDonald's Express moved into the Hudson Hamburgers neighborhood.

Same 200 block of Sherman Avenue. Same side of the street.

The Eagles Club separated the hamburger diners.

A week prior to the planned opening, May 27, 1995, franchise owner Mark Ray discussed his plan with the Coeur d’Alene Press. It was controversial: a fast-food giant challenging venerable Hudson’s for a slice of the downtown burger action, fries and all.

“The only controversy is in a few people’s minds who don’t know any better,” said Ray.

Meanwhile, Roger Hudson, whose grandfather Harley founded the burger joint in 1907, said that the McDonald’s Express would be an “interesting neighbor.” And Roger admitted there were people excited about the new downtown business.

McDonald's would feature a ‘50s décor, 40 seats and old standby menu items, like the Big Mac and Egg McMuffin. But Big Mac’s attack fizzled before most knew it was an option.

Bud versus Billy

Notorious Billy the Kid was faster with a gun and certainly more cold-blooded than “Li’l Bud the Kid.” But Li’l Bud shot straighter and won more trophies.

In May 2000, Adam Piper (aka Li’l Bud), then 13 and a Lake City Junior Academy student, was the third-best single-action shooter in his class on the planet, competing against teens as old as 17. A 16-year-old from Australia had won the 2000 Single Action Shooting Society competition at Norco, Calif.

Undeterred, Li’l Bud fired 500 rounds a week to prepare for Buffalo Bill’s Summer Range competition in Cody, Wyo., that June.

“He’s a sweet kid,” said his father, Mike. “He’s always demonstrated that, and there’s a side of him that’s absolutely competitive.”

Li’l Bud’s resolute spirit earned him prizes such as plaques, belt buckles and guns.

Billy the Kid’s quick temper won him an early grave at age 21.

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: Of all sweet smells/that May renews/my favorite is/the barbecues — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Fragrance of Spring”).

• Milestone: As the company name implies, Buck Knives of Post Falls makes knives, oodles of them. So, it was no surprise when executives Chuck Buck and C.J. Buck brought a super-sized blade instead of scissors to their grand opening May 21, 2005. The gag worked, too. The firm hit the ground running in its new Idaho home.

• Joyful Nun: Sister M. Aloysia, a child of Coeur d’Alene pioneers, had two reasons to celebrate as summer 1965 approached. First, the Immaculate Heart of Mary Academy music teacher was nearing her golden jubilee in the Catholic sisterhood. And, secondly, she was part of the IHM Academy Class of 1910, the first one to hold commencement exercises at St. Thomas Catholic Church 55 years before.

• All Fall Down: On this day in 1970, a detonation of 128 sticks of dynamite rocked the town. And leveled the approximate 11-story sawdust and bark burner at Potlatch’s Rutledge Mill. For some 50 years, the burner had belched black smoke into the air before sitting idle for six years. The burner was replaced with better technology. And in 1991, The Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course replaced the old mill site.

Parting shot

In this post-COVID era, some still growl when others wear masks in public. The grousers view a mask as a political statement. Or a sign of weakness. But 45 years ago, when Mount St. Helens blew, seven of eight people were photographed masked for the Street Forum feature in the Coeur d’Alene Press on May 20, 1980. The question asked them was: “What do you think of all this mess?” Said masked Bob Ball: “Where’s the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) when we need them?” The best-designed mask in town was worn by Coeur d’Alene Press paper carriers. The useful bandanas featured an erupting volcano with the words: “CD’A Press Carriers deliver through rain, snow, sleet & volcanic ash.”

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You can contact D.F. “Dave” Oliveria at [email protected].

    A 2005 Amber Alert shows Shasta and Dylan Groene.
  

    Shasta Groene and serial killer Joseph Edward Duncan III are shown in a surveillance photo entering a Kellogg convenience store July 1, 2005, hours before Shasta’s rescue.
  

    Waitress Amber Deahn is shown with her 15-month-old daughter, Maria, after visiting Shasta Groene in the hospital July 2005.
  

    Adam Piper (aka “Li’l Bud the Kid”) aims his .357 magnum in May 2000.
  

    Chuck Buck, left, and C.J. Buck, right, of Buck Knives join Mayor Clay Larkin of Post Falls at the company’s 2005 grand opening.
  

    In May 1965, Sister M. Aloysia of Immaculate Heart of Mary Academy, displays a 1912 Coeur d’Alene Press photo of Rev. Thomas J. Purcell, the parish priest who built St. Thomas Catholic Church at Ninth and Indiana.
  

    After 128 sticks of dynamite explode, dust billows from the old Rutledge mill sawdust and bark burner as it begins to tumble May 24, 1970.
  

    Coeur d’Alene Press carrier Mike Murphy braved fallen ash in May 1980 to deliver the newspaper, protected by a special newspaper bandana.
  

    All but one person interviewed for a Coeur d’Alene Press Street Forum after the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption wore masks. They were, clockwise from top left, Bill Bashburn, Joe Brabeck, Bob Ball, Dale and Gloria Martin, Guy Smith and Roy and Mary Milks.