Don't tell her what to do!

A tube of “exotic melon” lipstick landed an aging Avon saleswoman in jail during the 1990s and launched a public relations nightmare for Coeur d’Alene.

For eight years, feisty Rose Christmann battled for her right to sell Avon. And lost.

But, for what it’s worth, she won her case in the court of public opinion.

Simply put, Rose wanted to sell Avon beauty products from her home at Ninth Street and Best Avenue. After all, she had sold Avon products since Valentine’s Day 1942.

But she was barred from doing so because the undeveloped lot she bought for $2,300 cash was zoned residential. In 1988 and 1989, her request for commercial rezoning was rejected twice by the city Planning and Zoning Commission and, on appeal, by the City Council.

In 1991, however, she moved into her newly built house and began selling Avon products anyway. Six months later, she received a letter from then-mayor Ray Stone demanding an end to the illegal practice. She ignored the letter and other warnings that followed.

Also, according to the Coeur d’Alene Press, Rose refused to fill out a home occupation application, delivered twice by the city, which allowed restricted Avon sales from her place.

Stymied, the city conducted five sting operations to prove that Rose was running an illegal business. Rose was arrested after selling lipstick to an undercover officer.

In an eight-minute segment, titled “Sting-So-Soft,” Fox Network’s “A Current Affair” told of Rose’s brush with the law. Nasty calls from around the country poured in. Americans couldn’t understand why a granny in her 70s was busted simply for trying to make a buck.

On July 18, 1996, Rose was jailed again after she failed to appear for a 1st District Court contempt hearing. She suffered a claustrophobic attack in jail and needed medical attention. District Judge Craig Kosonen ordered her to stop selling Avon from her home, sentenced her to 50 days in jail, with all but one day suspended, and fined her $5,000.

Afterward, she told the Associated Press: “I’m so bull-headed, I’m going to stick in there until I die. I’m not going to crawl for anybody. This is what I do. It’s what I am.”

Weeks later, Rose accepted the city’s offer for restricted business use of her property. She was allowed to sell Avon from her shop provided customers ordered ahead. Direct sales from store shelves were prohibited. Also, customers were limited to 20 per day.

In 2021, at age 100, Rose was still selling Avon products from her modest home on Best Avenue. She said, “Retirement is just a word that they picked up just for lazy people.”

Indomitable “Avon Rose” Christmann died peacefully at age 104 on April 6, 2025.

Jazzy Mayor

Former Mayor Ray Stone was affable but cranky at times.

He liked people. But he hated dummies.

Few people angered him more than those who dismissed him because he was the drummer and leader of a jazz band: The Ray Stone Co.

In July 1986, he told The Press about an old friend he ran into during his mayoral campaign. “You’re just a drummer,” the man said. “You’ll never get elected.”

Stone won 63% of the vote to throttle incumbent Jim Fromm in the 1985 election.

In his first months in office, Ray’s five-piece band played at The Cabaret (former site of The Athletic Round Table). Later, the band performed for years at the new Coeur d’Alene Resort. Tourists were surprised that the drummer was Coeur d’Alene’s mayor.

“I’m not some drunk up there,” Stone told The Press. “What makes me mad is, sometimes when playing in a nightclub, they assume you do not have any depth or original thoughts.”

Stone learned to improvise while playing in bands — a skill that served him well as mayor.

“I’m a risk taker,” he said. “We have to take the so-called book and sometimes rewrite the pages as we go.”

Walk This Way

Coeur d’Alene was a lawless place in the mid-1960s, if you consider jaywalking to be a serious offense.

Police Chief George Lenz did.

On July 20, 1966, he told The Press: “We know there are far too many jaywalkers in Coeur d’Alene, and jaywalking is dangerous.”

Six driver’s education students from Coeur d’Alene High helped Lenz make his point.

Assigned by instructor Bob Haakenson, the six — Mary Ann Tanner, Betty Walden, Diane Votava, Karen Frawley, Mike Blackburn and Ron Koschel — counted 351 jaywalkers in just four hours at two busy Fourth Street intersections.

Sixty percent of the pedestrians jaywalked.

Jaywalkers violate city law and can be subject to fines and jail time, noted Chief Lenz. But he admitted that few of them are ticketed. “Principally,” he said, "Coeur d’Alene doesn’t have the police staff to enforce the ordinance.”

Still Swinging

Has it really been 35 years (July 14, 1991) since Tracy Hanson of Rathdrum carded two straight par-71s to finish as the top amateur at the U.S. Women’s Open?

Her successful LGPA career (1995-2008) flew by, too.

Now, the North Idaho Hall of Famer is 54 and still winning trophies. Last month, she captured the senior division of the Connecticut Women’s Open.

But life hasn’t been the proverbial bed of roses for the golf star.

She left the Inland Northwest for San Jose State emotionally scarred and bottled up.

In 2025, she published a book about her struggle to gain spiritual and mental health, titled: “Finding My Course: A professional athlete’s journey through pain to purpose.”

Jim Murphy, her coach, guarantees that Tracy’s book “will tear at your heart.”

Available on Amazon ($15.99), “Finding My Course” sounds like a must-read for Tracy fans.

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: The wind it blowed / so awful hard, / rolled up the sod / in our front yard / and old skinny / Uncle Harry / came back down in / Bonner’s Ferry — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Windy Day”).

• Answer Man: Which of the following is true about Jean Holt? 1. During WWII, she was a Rosie Riveter for Boeing. 2. She wrote 44 letters to an American POW and later married him. 3. In 1943, she enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. 4. She was in NIC’s first class of LPNs. 5. In July 1986, she became the first woman to command an Idaho VFW post. If you believe all the answers are true, go to the head of the class.

• Yesteryear: So, who remembers the bricked-in curbside fountain in front of Everson’s Jewelry at Third and Sherman? The Press ran a photo of the fountain on July 19, 1966. Everson’s was scheduled to open at its new location on the following day. Everson’s and Floyd’s Camera Center moved a week apart from the 100 block of Fourth Street to become Sherman Avenue neighbors.

• Giant Step: When Bob Templin aired plans for a convention center on the waterfront on July 8, 1961, he was greeted with enthusiasm. The place was a mess. But no one knew that Templin’s dream would transform Coeur d’Alene. The North Shore Motor Hotel was built first (1964), followed by the convention center (1966). Much later (1986), the Coeur d’Alene Resort replaced it all. And the rest is history.

Parting Shot

We know too well today that firefighters risk their lives every time they respond to a fire.

The same was true 75 years ago.

On July 15, 1951, Richard Gaines became the first Coeur d’Alene fireman to fall in the line of duty.

On that fatal Sunday morning, fireman Gaines was the first to rush into the burning Thompson Building in the 200 block of Sherman Avenue. Overcome by smoke, he crashed through a fire-damaged stairway into a cellar eight feet below.

All responding firefighters that day suffered smoke inhalation as they desperately tried to reach Gaines, some as many as four times. “The smoke was so thick that we couldn’t even see where Dick had gone through,” said Fire Chief W.W. Swofford.

The fireman’s body was retrieved three hours later.

Gaines, 27, worked for the department for four years.

At a memorial service three days later, Presbyterian Pastor L.W. Winkle eulogized: “A fireman risks his life every time he goes to a fire. They are called upon to perform many tasks of which little is said. Dick, last Sunday, paid the high price of being a fireman.”

Amen.

• • •

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

    Niece Jane Pittsley holds the door in 1996 while Rose Christmann, visibly shaken, is wheeled out of jail by Deputy Randy Smith.
  

    Some underestimated the political savvy of Coeur d’Alene Mayor Ray Stone, shown in 1986, because he was a drummer in a band.
  

    Coeur d’Alene High students Mary Ann Tanner and Betty Walden count jaywalkers in 1966 at Spokane and Fourth.
  

    Pro golfer Tracy Hanson, formerly of Rathdrum, tees off during The Showcase golf exhibition at The Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course in 2021.
  

    In 1986, Jean Holt became the first female commander of an Idaho Veterans of Foreign Wars post.
  

    Clemans siblings (from left) Colleen, 8, Keith, 4, and Karen, 2, enjoy the new fountain on Sherman Avenue, fronting Everson’s Jewelry in 1966. Their parents were Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Clemans.
  

    In 1961, Bob Templin (second from left) and architect Ed James hold the blueprints for a 16,000-square-foot convention center.
  

    The body of heroic Coeur d’Alene firefighter Richard Gaines is carried from the scene of a fatal 1951 Sherman Avenue fire.