AM Hucks: “Cab Tales” Spotlights CDA Night Life

Before his current reign as potato-salad maker extraordinaire at the Captain’s Wheel/Bayview, Herb Huseland drove a cab. My Huckleberries Online crowd calls him Sweet Herb. In January, Herb regaled us with tales about his days as a Coeur d’Alene cabbie. In one “Cab Tale,” he told about a fare who wanted to commit “suicide by taxi.” In case you’re not acquainted with this form of suicide, it involves vodka, frigid winter weather and a woman who done you wrong. Herb was surprised when the guy asked to be driven to Fernan Saddle. But not as surprised as he was moments later when his customer informed him of his plans – drink the bottle, sit down in a snowbank and freeze to death. He’d caught his wife cheating on him. Herb talked the man out of the rash action – and didn’t even charge for the ride when they got back to town. In another episode chronicled in his Bay Views blog, Herb recalls the time the blues band at the old Chelsea’s was busted for drugs on break – and all the underemployed musicians hanging out at the night spot climbed on stage and finished the show. Then, there was the time that “the Photographer Son of a prominent Innkeeper” saved him from a ticket for driving the wrong way on a downtown alley by exiting the cab to use an ATM machine. The gendarmes recognized Junior and pocketed their citation books. Ultimately, Herb was forced out of the biz when a rookie cop on emphasis patrol busted him twice after 2:30 a.m. for driving a few miles over the 35 mph limit at Highway 95. He couldn’t afford the higher insurance rates.