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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

Weekend Wild Card — 4.29-30.17

I enjoyed myself last night at the annual banquet of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, renewing long friendships with the leaders of that group who were instrumental in ridding this region of the Aryan Nations -- Tony Stewart, Norm Gissel, and Marshall Mend, among others. Also, I had the pleasure of saying hello to Ernie Stensgar, the former, long-time chairman of the Coeur d'Alene Indian Tribe. Ernie accepted the task force's Human Rights Award on behalf of the tribe. When I first started at the SR, I was assigned to report on the task force and the tribe. In those days, the unemployment rate of the tribe was over 70%. Individuals like Ernie were instrumental in turning that around. Both of us are gray now. But the journey has been worth the wrinkles and graying hair. Here's your Weekend Wild Card ...



D.F. Oliveria
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.

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