Honors For Outhouses Latah County Insists On Credit If It Pays For Boaters’ Outhouses

The plaque may not read “Latah County Memorial Floating Outhouses.”

But Coeur d’Alene’s southern neighbor will be sure it gets credit for helping relieve boaters’ bladders at Lake Coeur d’Alene’s Windy Bay. “We always ask for (projects) to be identified as funded in part or full” by the Latah County Waterways Committee, said Tom Townsend, association chairman.

Usually, that means a sign on a dock in the St. Joe River or a plaque at a picnic shelter. It’s not clear how the credit lines will be attached to the two planned latrines.

The waterways committee is the donor of record for the restrooms because Kootenai County and the Bureau of Land Management need a cash partner. They are applying for federal money for the $40,000 outhouse project, and the feds require that somebody supply 25 percent of the money.

Enter the waterways committee, even though Latah County doesn’t touch any part of the lake. So, why the contribution?

Each year, the committee receives a part of state boat registration fees that boat owners designate for Latah County. Then the committee shops for places to spend the roughly $20,000 it receives each year in ways benefiting its boaters. “Latah County doesn’t have a great deal of water to play in … they go to Coeur d’Alene or Dworshak,” Townsend said.

Several Latah County residents have summer homes on Lake Coeur d’Alene, he added. So the committee normally considers projects in surrounding counties, including the southern end of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

In past years, the committee has spent money on docks and ramps in the St. Joe River and Heyburn State Park as well as handicapped ramps at Elk River Reservoir.

Latah County hasn’t received word on whether the outhouses will get any federal money. No matter. “If it doesn’t go,” Townsend says, “we’ll find another project.”

, DataTimes