Huckleberries: From Dante’s Peak to Center of the Universe

Now just a darn minute, says Rick Shaffer, the prime minister of historic Wallace, Idaho. “Dante’s Peak” may not have received critical acclaim, but it was fun. Rick was reacting to the recent Huckleberries item in which Jeff Ward of Coeur d’Alene recalled his two weeks on the set of “Dante’s Peak” as a “principal” actor. Jeff enjoyed working on the movie but didn’t think much of it afterward. Rick, who runs the Wallace Inn, tells Huckleberries he enjoyed his “two seconds of fame in the movie.” And Rick thinks it would be swell – and economically helpful – if the city that once held I-90 hostage could serve as a backdrop for annual “Dante’s Peak” sequels. In 1992, Rick arrived in the old mining town from New York City. He has been a community booster since the late Harry Maguson told him to do everything he could to get travelers off I-90 and into Wallace. For years, due to Harry’s resistence, I-90 ran through Wallace. When the bypass was built, Wallace needed to get creative to lure visitors off the freeway. Rick Shaffer did his part by guiding tours, often telling Canadian sightseers that he was the prime minister of Wallace. He always got chuckles with the gag. In 2005, the clever Wallace City Council, under the guidance of the late Mayor Ron Garitone, officially dubbed Rick the “Prime Minister of Hospitality & Official Greeter of Historic Wallace” The title comes with no political clout – just the power to make people smile.

Universe’s center

We shouldn’t brush past former mayor Garitone without mentioning one of his claims to fame. On Sept. 25, 2004, Garitone proclaimed: “I, Ron Garitone, Mayor of Wallace, Idaho, and all of its subjects, and being of sound body and mind, do hereby solemnly declare and proclaim Wallace to be the Center of the Universe.” As the story goes, the popular, home-grown mayor and others were upset that the EPA had included Wallace in its Silver Valley Superfund site. The EPA dubbed Wallace contaminated unless it could prove it wasn’t. So Garitone decided that Wallace was the Center of the Universe unless someone could prove it wasn’t. Besides, an inscription on a manhole cover at Bank Street and Sixth Street now backs up his claim. And who are we to say that this is fake news?

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: “Behold in Boise/The Legislature/an odd creation/of Mother Nature/waving its arms/and flapping its jaws,/it mumbles and rants/and passes strange laws” – Tom Wobker, The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Peculiar Life Form”) … KREM 2 weathermeister Tom Sherry tweets: “Am I the only dude left who changes out his snow tires?” Judging from the whir of studs on drying Coeur d’Alene roads, Huckleberries guesses that the answer is “no” – not that Tom runs studs … So Mark Hamill – yes, THE MARK HAMILL – responds to a tweet by SR columnist Nina Culver and she’s over the moon. Facebooks Nina: “I’m over here squealing like a teenage girl seeing the Beatles in concert in the 1960s because Mark Hamill liked one of my tweets.” Yes, Virginia, journalists can squeal, too.

Parting Shot

Overheard by Coeur d’Alene High instructor Bruce Twitchell in the dentist office Monday: First Twentysomething Female: “How do you make Rice Krispies Treats?” Second Twentysomething Female: “Melt butter and marshmallows on the stove.” First Twentysomething Female: “Oh. How do you make them the perfect squares then?” Bruce didn’t mention whether laughing gas was involved.