Huckleberries: A fond farewell to death-ray Dixie

I thought I was going to celebrate when longtime Councilwoman Dixie Reid either was defeated for re-election or announced she wasn’t running again, as she did Thursday. But I’m not. In fact, I already realize that we’re going to lose a woman who is a pioneer and an institutional treasure chest. No one I can think of – except possibly Mayor Sandi Bloem – has done more to ensure that our infrastructure (streets, sewers, public transportation, urban renewal, among other things) met the needs of our booming community. Dixie and I aren’t buds. One of the memorable things she said to me at City Hall was: “You think you’re God.” This, after the council allowed Duane Hagadone to annex his golf course to the city without requiring that he grant perpetual access to his portion of Sanders Beach. I’d been giving Dixie and council members fits in print to force them to demand beach access. As a reporter who covered Dixie and City Hall for nine years, I have also been the focus of Dixie’s infamous death-ray glares and finger-wagging episodes during council meetings. I wrote at least one editorial endorsing an opponent of Dixie’s. Mebbe two. However, she continued to be elected. And I admit I was wrong about her, the first woman ever elected to the Coeur d’Alene City Council. Which means I’m not God.