A snappy tune from Coeur d’Alene

Estes Kefauver, the crime-fighting U.S. senator from Tennessee, campaigned hard for the 1956 Democratic nomination for president.

And, as he shook hands and kissed babies, he whistled a catchy tune from Coeur d’Alene.

The ditty was written by Roy Schenkenberger, 25, a North Idaho Junior College honor student from Coeur d’Alene and chairman of the campus Kefauver committee.

According to The Press, it had a hillbilly beat that ended with the chorus: “A statesman and a gentleman, our president will be, we favor Kefauver, the man from Tennessee.”

The jingle caught on among NIJC students.

And instructor James L. Rhodes contacted the traveling senator during a stop in Portland.

Kefauver said he hadn’t heard of the song. So, teacher Rhodes arranged for him to do so at the Spokane airport during another campaign appearance.

The well-known Sylte sisters from Rathdrum — Deanna, Joan and Deanda — sang the snappy tune for Kefauver, accompanied by Ned Saterlee. The senator was so pleased, according to The Press, that he promised to use “The Kefauver Song” in his campaign.

Ultimately, the Democrats nominated Adlai Stevenson for president and Kefauver as his running mate. But the incumbent Republican ticket of President Dwight Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon easily won re-election.

Later, Schenkenberger graduated from Harvard and became a California bank executive.

Bridge Less

Post Falls highway officials shut the Pleasant View bridge without warning May 5, 1971.

And then they held their breath, waiting for a public uproar that didn’t come.

After all, the move meant that residents south of the Spokane River had to drive to Coeur d’Alene or to the state line to cross a bridge. In 1968, the highway district’s closure of the Green Ferry bridge angered some residents.

But the 1971 action was greeted calmly.

Earlier that spring, the collapse of the Post Falls bridge upstream had killed a volunteer dispatcher. That fatal night was on the minds of highway commissioners when Bovay Engineers of Spokane inspected the Pleasant View bridge and urged prompt closure.

Structural engineer Bob Smith found one wooden end post 75 percent rotted out and major other damage to the 46-year-old bridge.

Commissioners promised to do what they could to fix the Pleasant View bridge. But money was tight. And their top priority was to replace the Post Falls bridge.

The district never replaced the Pleasant View and Green Ferry bridges.

Hot Potatoes

Nothing says “Welcome to Idaho” like a giant baked russet with all the trimmings.

At least that’s what organizers of Tourism Awareness Week thought three decades ago when steaming spuds were doled out at the state’s tourism centers.

“That’s what Idaho is all about,” Bernice Achin-Deboever said of the hospitality and free potatoes offered to motorists May 6, 1996.

At the time, Bernice helped manage the Huetter rest stop.

About 2,000 potatoes were handed out across the Gem State, along with Idaho-shaped pins, “Idaho Spud” candy and visitor information.

Howard and Eileen Buxton of Richmond, Vt., got a bonus when they became the 325th travelers to enjoy Idaho’s famous potatoes at Huetter: a $250 tourism package that included certificates for lodging and activities in North Idaho.

Now, of course, the huddled masses are visiting Idaho — and staying — free potatoes or not.

One Bid and Done

Fred Harris didn’t expect to buy the old city library at Seventh and Lakeside so easily.

After all, the owner/partner of Harris-Dean Insurance opened the public auction May 5, 1986, with the lowest allowable bid for the building: $136,000.

His bid matched the appraised market value of the 4,000-square-foot structure, which had also served as a hospital and a mortuary.

Fred expected Walter Perkins of Town and Country Real Estate to bump the bidding up. But Fred’s bid was the only one.

“Quite honestly,” Fred told The Press, “I didn’t know I was going to walk away with it.”

Fred bid for himself and colleagues Spencer Dean, Ken Koep, Bill Drake and Denny Hague.

“As we grow,” he said, “there is enough room to determine our own destiny.”

Fred and his partners made quite a steal at their purchase price.

Originally, the building was constructed in 1930 for Marcus D. Wright and his family on two city lots at a cost of $18,000 — or $588,498 in today’s dollars.

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: That spring is here, I have / no doubt — / the Harley-Davidsons / are out — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“A Sure Sign”).

• Sky High: North Idahoans were as worried about gas prices in May 2001 as they are today. Dorothy Satchwell, 70, of Post Falls, spent $25 then to fill two small gas cans and her 1997 Chevy Silverado pickup. “I think they (gas prices) are terrible,” she told The Press. “You can’t even mow the lawn.” She paid $1.55 per gallon for unleaded gas. In Chicago and elsewhere, gas prices reached $2.02 per gallon. Good old days.

• Licked: They fell far short of the Guinness World Record for ice cream consumption by a crowd. But 650 participants had fun at Greyhound Park on May 21, 2011. At the time, the record was 2,694 people set in 2010 in Rock Island, Ill. Ryan Deguzman, 5, of Post Falls, wasn’t bummed. He summed up the event best: “Yummy, I ate all of it.”

• Hobbled: You may know that late governor Dick Kempthorne was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Interior Secretary in May 2006. But did you know that Dirk spent his first day in the new job, May 30, hobbling across the National Mall on an injured foot? Dirk, then 54, broke his foot jogging a week before.

• Mission Accomplished: With the opening of The Coeur d’Alene Resort Shopping Plaza on May 9, 1991, Duane Hagadone declared his resort master plan complete. He opened his golf course a month earlier and The Coeur d’Alene Resort in 1986. For the first time in eight years, Duane had no major plans on the drawing board.

Parting Shot

Senior Garrett Cabeza, then 17, was labeled “Mr. Perfect” by The Press on May 21, 2011.

Garrett was only days from perfection — 100% school attendance from kindergarten through Lake City High School.

As graduation neared, he had attended 2,219 straight days without an absence.

Originally, he was inspired by a news report about a student with perfect attendance. Garrett made it his goal to do likewise.

“I guess I’ve been pretty healthy,” he told The Press. “I don’t get sick too often.”

Garrett earned As and Bs through high school.

Coeur d’Alene school officials couldn’t recall another student with perfect attendance, according to The Press.

Garrett offered this sage advice to fellow students: “Go to school as much as you can, to learn. It’s a good habit for the rest of your life. You can’t skip work.”

Garrett is now a reporter for The Spokesman-Review.

• • •

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

    Roy Schenkenberger.

    Bob Smith of Bovay Engineers of Spokane inspects a rotten post in 1971 before recommending that the Pleasant View bridge be closed.
  

    Bernice Achin-Deboever, left, and Neadda Baird dole out hot potatoes and trimmings in 1996 to motorists at the Huetter rest stop.
  

    About a dozen people attend the public auction of the city’s old library in 1986, but only Fred Harris of Harris-Dean Insurance bids.
  

    Kim Hutton of Coeur d’Alene isn’t thrilled in 2001 that gas price spikes cost him nearly $40 to fill the tank of his Jeep Grand Cherokee.
  

Cyndie Johnson Lempesis dabs ice cream from the face of husband Chuck during a 2011 Guinness World Record try.

    Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, center, visits the Washington Monument in 2006 with Park Police Chief Dwight Pettiford and National Mall Superintendent Vikki Keys.
  

Manager Bill Reagan of The Coeur d’Alene Resort carries a giant pair of scissors to the 1991 ribbon-cutting ceremony at The Resort Plaza.

    In 2011, Lake City High senior Garrett Cabeza completes his final year of perfect school attendance.