HUCKLEBERRIES: A woman with a cause

Dixie Reid made one thing clear after she became the first woman to be elected to the Coeur d’Alene City Council: She wasn’t a women’s liberationist.

“They can call me either a councilwoman or a councilman but not a councilperson,” she told the Coeur d’Alene Press after her November 1975 victory to fill an unexpired term.

Dixie also preferred the title “Mrs.” to “Ms.”

“Being called ‘Ms.’ Instead of ‘Mrs.’ robs me of my identity because, after all, it’s taken me a long time to become a wife and a mother,” she said.

At the time, Dixie had three young children at home: Toni, 11, Raini, 8, and Michael, 4.

We know the rest of the story.

As a mother of a traditional family, Dixie became a no-nonsense councilwoman who specialized for 26 years in nuts-and-bolts issues — such as streets, sewer, parks and safety.

Her council career began with a two-year term, then defeat in 1977, and finally a string of city election victories that stretched from 1983 until her retirement in 2007.

It all began modestly in 1970 when she served as secretary of the Bryan School PTA. Then, she became vice president of the Kootenai PTA Council, and she was appointed to the Coeur d’Alene Parks and Recreation Commission.

In the 1975 interview, she told The Press: “About five years ago, I was interviewed for a Press feature story on a housewife, mother and cook. And I was embarrassed when asked what activities I participated in. I had to say none.”

Dixie balked when the nonpartisan Community Action Committee asked her in 1975 to run for City Council. At first, she said no. After talking the matter over with her husband, Tom, however, she changed her mind.

Some thought Dixie would become Coeur d’Alene’s first female mayor, but that honor fell to Sandi Bloem in 2001. Besides, Dixie said she wasn’t interested in the job.

On Dec. 17, 2007, at Dixie’s retirement party at City Hall, Recreation Director Steve Anthony summed up the councilor’s interaction with city employees: “If you screwed up, she let you know. She did not rubber-stamp anything. You had to justify it. You were held accountable.”

Dixie told the crowd assembled to honor her that day that she believed there were two kinds of people in the world: “The ones who cause problems and the ones who solve them.” With a gleam in her eye, she said, “I guess I’m going to be a causer now.”

Flip a coin

In November 1995, for the third time in 10 years, a coin toss settled the outcome of a municipal election in Harrison.

Mayor W. Dean Christensen and challenger David LePard each received 59 votes in a three-way race in the lakeside town of 220 souls.

According to The Press, Idaho law didn’t allow for a recount without an existing City Council resolution supporting one.

So, City Clerk Sheila Gustin flipped a coin. Christensen called, “Heads.” But it was tails.

Spectator Peggy McClelland groused: “This country was not built on the flip of a coin. A lot of wars have been fought for the right to vote.” She was one of several Harrison residents who called the Secretary of State’s office demanding an explanation.

Challenger LePard told the mayor that he was sorry that a coin flip decided the result. But the incumbent wasn’t bitter. He believed LePard would do well.

“Hell,” he said, “I was the one who appointed him to the planning board in the first place.”

Hefty Taft

For 100 years, Winton School has taught Coeur d’Alene children and escaped the wrecking ball that leveled other historic local schools.

Thirty years ago, the school celebrated its 70th anniversary with a party. The kids sang songs that covered seven decades. And old-timers like Jack Marshall, 92, told stories.

In 1909, Jack attended Park School, the precursor to Winton. He recalled fondly the day his class walked down the Mullan Trail, now known as Northwest Boulevard, to see the president of the United States.

“I was used to cowboys and Indians,” Jack told The Press, recalling how awestruck he was to see hefty President William Howard Taft. “I believe that it would have taken a derrick to lift him. He looked like he weighed 350 pounds.”

In 1909, President Taft visited Coeur d’Alene. Also, he played golf at the Bozanta Tavern course (Hayden Lake Country Club).

Little Jack Marshall was correct in his estimation of Taft’s size. At his inauguration March 4, 1909, Taft weighed 354 pounds.

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: The leaves on the maples/are red as dawn;/today they’re on branches,/tomorrow, your lawn — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Gentlemen, Start Your Rakes”).

• Did You Know? In the old days — say, Nov. 3, 1970 — The Press served as Election HQ, in conjunction with the Kootenai County Elections Department. Candidates and curious onlookers watched as employees of The Press and KVNI radio posted the latest tallies on a chalkboard. Most voters listened to the AM station for results on election night or waited until the next day for the news from the afternoon Press.

• Nice Kitty: On the opening day of the 1970 hunting season, Gary Sylte was ready to shoot an elk or a deer — not a mountain lion. But plans changed when Gary sensed something following him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a cougar plodding 7 yards away. Gary survived his close encounter. But the cougar didn’t.

• Ousted: On Nov. 6, 1990, Virginia Balser became the fifth Idaho magistrate in 17 years to be rejected by voters. In Idaho, magistrates are reappointed on a yes or no vote. Some of Balser’s rulings over the years were controversial. But she was undone by a 1989 National Enquirer story about a 16-year-old who was jailed after he couldn’t pay the judge’s $126 fine for possessing cigarettes, a misdemeanor.

Parting shot

Dunno what you’ll do on your 98th birthday. But Betty Owens celebrated hers Nov. 2, 2005, by riding in Duane Hagadone’s Bell 430 helicopter.

She’d ridden in every kind of airplane. So, she figured: Why not?

Afterward, she compared the chopper ride to heaven: “It was just like we were floating,” she told The Press.

Betty cherished travel and water.

At age 94, Betty parasailed over Lake Coeur d’Alene. She’d taken cruises to Australia, Mexico and the Mediterranean. She’d ridden a camel to the pyramids in Cairo and had flown a glider over Lake Tahoe.

And in 2005, she still had a driver’s license. Said she: “I need to stay alive to use it.”

• • •

D.F. (Dave) Oliveria can be contacted at [email protected].

    Dixie Reid is shown with her three children, from left, Michael, 4, Toni, 11, and Raini, 8, in 1975.
  

    City Clerk Sheila Gustin flips a coin to decide the winner of the Harrison mayor’s race in 1995.
  

    David LePard becomes mayor-elect on a coin toss in 1995.

    On Sept. 23, 1909, President William Howard Taft, with Coeur d'Alene Mayor Boyd Hamilton, speaks to a large crowd from the back of a Coeur d'Alene & Spokane Electric Line train at Second Street and Sherman Avenue.
  

  

    Doug Cresswell, the Coeur d’Alene school superintendent, laughs with Verna Driessen, 92, at Winton’s 70th anniversary celebration in 1995.
  

    Mrs. Vernon James of KVNI-AM radio changes tallies on a chalkboard at The Press while newsman Jack Weatherford reads results in 1970.
  

    Gary Sylte, right, and hunting partner Aaron Clark display the cougar that followed Sylte too closely in 1970.
  

    Controversy caught up with 1st District Magistrate Virginia Balser when 59.3% of the voters rejected her reappointment in 1990.
  

    Betty Owens celebrates her 98th birthday with a ride in the Hagadone Corp. helicopter in 2005.