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Huckleberries: Don’t be so quick to discount Gen. Sherman’s history in Coeur d’Alene, reader urges

Dave Oliveria (Colin Mulvany)

Now, hold on a minute, suggests Huckleberries reader Aaron Thykeson. The city of Coeur d’Alene, he says, owes much to Civil War Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, and the general’s name shouldn’t be jettisoned as a result of 20-20 PC hindsight today.

Last Sunday, Huckleberries gave voice to Coeur d’Alene resident Dave Chamberlain, who wondered why Lake City’s main street was named after Sherman. After all, Chamberlain reasoned, Sherman was ruthless in waging war and dealing with American Indians.

Citing a Museum of North Idaho newsletter from fall 2012, Thykeson responds that Coeur d’Alene owes its beginning to Sherman. As commanding general of the U.S. Army, Sherman made a trip on horseback from Fort Missoula to Lake Coeur d’Alene, looking for a place to erect a fort. He didn’t say “Eureka” when he saw Lake Coeur d’Alene. But he was awed by the beauty of the lake and the area.

On Sherman’s recommendation, Congress set aside 999 acres for a fort on what is now North Idaho College and the surrounding Fort Grounds area. For a while, the fort was named after Sherman. Emails reader Thykeson: “Sherman Avenue is a direct link to the settling of the West, and it is a direct part of our shared history.” And now, as the late Paul Harvey would say, you know the rest of the story.

So many Realtors

Realtor Janna Rankin Scharf of Coeur d’Alene offers this fun factoid: “There are 1,400 Realtors with membership in the Coeur d’Alene MLS (multiple listing service). Only 627 (44 percent) have closed at least one transaction this year to date. What does this tell you?” Ah, be careful when you’re choosing a Realtor? … Keith Boe and other North Idaho Life Facebook photographers attracted attention in downtown Coeur d’Alene last week. Why all the equipment and big cameras? wondered passers-by. After a few inquiries, Keith decided to roll with it. Don’t you know Brad Pitt is somewhere downtown? he asked. And Angelina Jolie? And Chuck Norris? That did the trick. Keith & Co. were left alone to pursue their hobby. And you believed the rumors that Angelina and Brad had split the sheets? Pshaw.

Huckleberries

Chris Guggemos, who has provided 25 years of free summer concerts in the Coeur d’Alene area, was optimistic before undergoing cancer surgery Thursday. He said on Facebook: “The prognosis is good but there will be a period of recovery that will keep me under the radar for several months. By next summer I will be back in the saddle, staging the concerts in CDA and Hayden.” You can’t keep a good man down … On Wednesday, Facebook friend Emily Walton posted: “109 days until the Idaho legislature convenes!” – You’ve been warned. Hide the children and other vulnerable populations … Poll: 62.5 percent of Huckleberries blog readers say Idaho AG spokesman Todd Dvorak shouldn’t have lost his job after that pot arrest in Lewiston … Item: Ignite Cda board decides against pay raise for executive Tony Berns. Tony’ll simply have to make ends meet on $135K again next year … The popular Hastings store on Coeur d’Alene’s Appleway may be closing shop soon. But don’t despair. Huckleberries hears that Vintage Stock of Missouri will step in, offering the same assortment of goods.

Parting shot

KREM’s Matt Vergara told us recently about the “Giving Wall,” adjacent to North Idaho College, that provides free scarves to the cold and homeless. Last Sunday, Huckleberries counted a dozen scarves in plastic bags hanging on the Giving Wall railing. On Wednesday, only one remained. Here’s hoping that the scarves all went to the needy – and not the opportunistic. Either way, good Samaritans Coleen Jaspers and Andy Howerton deserve a Huckleberries Hat Tip for lighting a candle in the darkness.

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