Joint Task Force Makes Effort To Clean Up Huetter Rest Area

Idaho State Police is hoping a new task force will help curb vandalism and sexual activity at the Huetter rest area.

For years, the Huetter rest area, located off Interstate 90 west of Coeur d’Alene, has been used as a pickup spot by some homosexual men, said ISP Capt. Ralph Powell.

Some people have complained about being solicited, he said.

Vandalism at the rest area has included graffiti, condoms left behind and even sinks torn from the walls.

“This problem has been out there for years and years and years,” Powell said. Most of the activity occurs in the men’s restrooms in the eastbound rest area. Huetter appears to be one of the worst rest areas in Idaho - in part because of nearby Spokane, he said.

“They are getting away from the people they know,” Powell said. “You wouldn’t solicit in front of the church you attend.”

After the state police conducted a sting operation on the Huetter rest stop in June 1987, charges were filed against 10 men.

Powell said problems there subsided for a while but have resumed in recent years.

“The public deserves to use these facilities the way they are supposed to be used, … to have an area to rest in, to take their children in,” Powell said. “These problems are taking away the right of the public to do that.”

State police officers check the rest area’s parking lots as often as possible.

But Powell said a joint effort among various police agencies is needed to stop the problems for good.

The task force will include representatives from the Idaho State Police, the Washington State Patrol, the Kootenai County and Spokane County sheriff’s departments, the Idaho Transportation Department and the Kootenai County prosecutor’s office.

The group will seek a long-term solution to the problem.