Huckleberries Online

Century 21 Owner Faces DUI Charge

Posted by DFO

July 15, 2009 5:15 p.m. • 36 comments

A prominent Coeur d’Alene businessman was arrested and charged with driving under the influence following a two-car accident north of downtown Tuesday night. John A. Beutler, owner of Century 21 Beutler and Associates, did not stop at a stop sign while headed west on Walnut Avenue around 9 p.m. in his Jeep Grand Cherokee, the Coeur d’Alene Police Department reported. A Geo Metro headed south on Third Street T-boned the Jeep as it travelled through the intersection. The Metro’s driver and his young son told police they were not injured but were going to the hospital to be checked out, the report said. “I feel terrible there was an accident. I never thought this would happen to me,” Beutler said. “I got in a hurry and made a mistake I will regret for a long time”/Alison Boggs, SR. More below.

Beutler insisted he had stopped at the stop sign, but a witness told police the Jeep was still travelling “at full speed” through the intersection. While waiting to be interviewed by police, Beutler urinated along the side of the street, in potential view of about 10 people, the police report said. Beutler’s blood alcohol content was .12, above the legal limit of .08. He was booked into the Kootenai County Jail for driving under the influence and public urination but posted bail.

36 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Sisyphus on July 15 at 4:11 p.m.
I could a swore there was a comment here.
Cabbage Boy on July 15 at 4:14 p.m.
It got sucked into the tubes.
Cindy_H on July 15 at 4:19 p.m.
So. Does that mean the vanished comment was accurate or just libelous?
DFO on July 15 at 4:22 p.m.
@ CindyH; inaccurate.
sue on July 15 at 4:23 p.m.
I love it when I see something before it gets pulled. Was mm guessing?
Cabbage Boy on July 15 at 4:32 p.m.
DFO, do you still have a soft spot in your heart? :)
jreighley on July 15 at 4:32 p.m.
Teaser….. Blogs are supposed to break the news, not tease it.

If we just wanted to be teased, we would watch TV… ;-)

I wonder if the emphasis is local or the emphasis is VIP? I am guessing you guys will try to beat the 5 pm newscasts?
jreighley on July 15 at 4:36 p.m.
Did I taunt you into posting before you edited out the “.meghann might insert a sentence here about them being treated and released.” ???
Cindy_H on July 15 at 4:38 p.m.
Teasing makes for mean dogs, babies, and Hucksters.
Just saying.
Sisyphus on July 15 at 4:42 p.m.
That sounds like a challenge.
DFO on July 15 at 4:47 p.m.
@jreighley; nope, i simply missed that. i had the rough draft. now, it’s all fixed.
Laughing on July 15 at 4:48 p.m.
Public urnination? Hmm, sounds like Hydro Days. Perhaps VIP was trying to get what alcohol was in his system out before the inevitable testing? I don’t understand the “I got in a hurry and made a mistake” comment. Was it ‘quick drinking’, driving after drinking, running the stop sign, or urninating in public that was the ‘mistake’ he was referencing? All were mistakes, but inquiring minds might want to know which act, of the 4, was the mistake? I guess, at the end of the day, it just shows that VIPs are ‘real’ people, and that they make mistake(s) just like everyone else. Just glad, for everyone’s sake, that apparently nobody was seriously physically injured. We can all look forward to reading about how the ‘criminal justice’ system treats a VIP. Had this been a non-VIP minor, or a general run of the mill non-VIP, I have a pretty good guess what would happen to them.
JohnA on July 15 at 4:55 p.m.
Not in the police report:

CDA Blue; “Hey, who peed here?”
Witness: “The Beutler did it”.
CDA Blue: “The butler?”
Witness: “Yeah, guess he couldn’d find a John.”

:)
Cindy_H on July 15 at 4:55 p.m.
When ya gotta go, ya gotta go.

(This is why my Mama always told me “Go before you go!” You just never know when you might commit a traffic infraction, get pulled over and well…the cops aren’t going to let you go home to use the restroom are they? I sure hope he was wearing clean underwear. Mama had a saying about that, too.)
hmoffsuite on July 15 at 5:01 p.m.
JohnA. That was a good one. I’m still chuckling.
Stickman on July 15 at 6:02 p.m.
If you screw up, you got to pay the price. I would think as we get older, we learn. Sometimes not.
OrangeTV on July 15 at 6:33 p.m.
The DUI is very bad, but it can happen to the best of folks. Even the brightest people seem to get stupid sometimes and hop behind the wheel after a few innocent Bud Lights.

It’s the public urination that will turn Mr. Beutler’s previously clear reputation yellow.
Homebuilder on July 15 at 8:11 p.m.
What a sad story for such an enterprising fellow
moscow_minidoka on July 15 at 8:11 p.m.
For the record, I was just being silly when I mentioned a CAVEr as the accused. I should have had a “?” instead of a “.” after her name, but I assumed my lack of seriousness was obvious.

I wasn’t trying to be slanderous, just stupid. I don’t blame DFO one bit for deleting my comment.

I will say this, though: when DFO writes things like “VIP faces DUI charge!!!!!!” I expect a higher caliber suspect than the owner of Century 21. Does he really count as a “VIP”?
Sadbuttrue on July 15 at 9:05 p.m.
It’s so cool being a guy. You can just whip it out and go anywhere.
brentandrews on July 15 at 9:16 p.m.
Oh man I remember one night I was out drunk-driving in the snow and snow was a pretty new thing to me, Coeur d’Alene kind of snow I mean, where you’re driving in ruts. Ruts! Everything’s crunchy and slippery and white. Out drinking too long I found myself creeping along those white streets in the middle of the night and I made a turn and even as I made it I knew it was a wrong turn - into an alley, instead of the street I was looking for - and there was no escape back to the street. I just had to plod on into the alley deeper and deeper into the snow with that sick sinking feeling ruining my buzz. I knew I was getting into a mess. When the last tracks left the alley into a driveway I hit the untracked snow and was immediately stuck. No one wants to face that. Who wants to go home and tell his wife he had to leave the car? I wanted to sleep there. I was tired and drunk and it was going to be a hard trudge to my house anyway. But I trudged it home. I might have publicly urinated beside someone’s tree on the way home, I don’t remember. We woke up early the next morning and went out with the 4-Runner to rescue my car. Fortunately, there were no police anywhere so my shame escaped the official public record. And thank God no one was hurt. I soon quit drinking and got on the pot plan, and things like that don’t happen to me anymore. Any alcoholic who is not able to stop drinking through traditional therapy should try a concentrated marijuana only plan. Smoke pot, instead of drinking. It works. (And it doesn’t make you have to pee!)

***
“Mention marijuana, of course, and the machetes come out.” - The Tennessean, 2004
Don_Sausser on July 15 at 9:37 p.m.
MM, with John’s abundant contributions to Coeur d’Alene, he needn’t own a business to be called a VIP!
Cindy_H on July 15 at 9:57 p.m.
But Don, we non-Coeur d’Alenian Hucksters wouldn’t consider John a VIP. In fact I wonder how many regulars in the HBO blogosphere have heard of him.
‘Course, I’m just an ignorant Spokanian Huckster:-)

PS:I think I just invented a new word. Mebbe two.
JIMMYMAC on July 15 at 10:50 p.m.
I would think most everyone Cindy. He owns C21 in Spokane as well. John is a very very charitable businessman and a very down to Earth person. Everyone I know of in the biz likes John and his wife, which is very rare for someone who is at the top of their field. I’m not making excuses for anyone, but there are many charities in town that are fortunate to have John as a supporter and ally. Particularly with CASA, a very worthwhile cause.
OrangeTV on July 15 at 10:55 p.m.
The term “Very Important Person” is a bit much perhaps, for those who DO live in Cd’A John Beutler is a pretty big name and VIP fits. He is very ubiquitous here, his name and face seem to pop up in the CDA Press for various reasons constantly as well as on Real Estate signs and ads all over KootCo. If someone created a Top Ten Pop Chart for well-known Cd’A business big-wigs he would probably land somewhere between numbers 5 and 8. Outside of town? Ya, probably just another Joe Blow.
spokelooneh on July 15 at 11:19 p.m.
If I recall correctly, during the bubble period, Beutler was the top Century 21 broker IN THE COUNTRY!
JIMMYMAC on July 16 at 12:10 a.m.
Three times, Spokelooh, he was number one in the world-‘03, ‘04 and ‘05.
spokelooneh on July 16 at 12:27 a.m.
Thanks for the confirmation about Beutler, JIMMYMAC.
florined on July 16 at 12:46 a.m.
The guy, like everyone, is many things, in life and in this extended community. I can attest, as have others here, to some of his charitable activities that often involve not just financial but personal involvment. But in this situation, his vip-ness is significant only if it somehow affects how his DUI charge is dealt with by law officials.
sue on July 16 at 8:05 a.m.
How many dui’s were given out yesterday, and how many of those had an article written about them? Did this warrant the attention given it?
wheels on July 16 at 8:10 a.m.
Why did’nt the Beutler seek relief @4th&Walnut, in all likelyhood the sight of his last stimulus pkg?
spokanerealtor on July 16 at 10:09 a.m.
All I can say as a fellow Realtor, we have a public image to uphold. I feel John displayed not only extremely poor judgement, but risk innocent people’s lives. Are all the “ahh, poor John” comments posted by his employees? i’m thinking so. As for the rest of us—SHAME ON YOU for getting behind the wheel in the first place!! There’s NO excuse. Gee, what happens if he gets his license suspended, as he probably will? Oh, wait, he can afford a chauffer to show homes to his clients.
57chevy on July 16 at 10:14 a.m.
Beutler’s distinction as number on in the world is a bit disingenus.
that is for century 21 which is not the number on r. e. brokerage in the first place, secondly when a local broker/owner includes the stats for departing agents etc..to pad his own numbers it becomes somewhat of a snow job. No doubt the guy knows the “art of the deal” but he knows how to play “hard ball” too and sometimes that means the end justifies the means.
brentandrews on July 16 at 10:31 a.m.
All I can say as a fellow Realtor, we have a public image to uphold.

Nice to see John’s peers piling on during this difficult time.
57chevy on July 16 at 10:55 a.m.
Brent, It’s not “piling on” it’s holding others to a level of professional and personal behavior that we can all (realtors and anyone) feel proud about. Drinking and driving is simply unacceptable.. period! We have all been drilled by ad campaigns from MADD and others that have driven the point home.. we drive home w/ a designated driver, via taxi or we don’t go home after a “few beers” or what have you. That goes for driving under the influence of booze, pot or any other substance that can impair our driving. There is no excuse for it and there never should be. 100% - ZERO TOLERANCE. If someone in my family was ever hurt/killed by a drunken driver, suffice to say they’d wish they were safely confined behind bars rather than meet my wrath. No excuses! I don’t think beutler should be vilified nor deified, he made a mistake that he is lucky did not result in life changing circumstances for him and others. I hope he is dealt with in an appropriate manner and not held up as an example or given special treatment by the powers that be.
lovincda1 on October 29 at 9:52 a.m.
This is ironic. Why is it the CDA Press chooses to not run these stories against a source of revenue?

The enitire incident is an absurdity and the dude should be shamed for what he has done.

Regardless of who he is, urinating in public driving drunk are inexcusable acts that cannot be dismissed.

What will he do for his next Open House?

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.