Pushed Beyond His Limit Car Salesman Protests ‘No Trucks’ Sign With One Of His Own

If you think the ever-changing speed limits along Interstate 90 are confusing, try the first 100 feet of West Dakota Avenue.

Signs say the top speed changes from 55 mph to 25 mph in barely a car length. Talk about a North Idaho speed trap.

It’s nothing of the sort. This is Jerry Miles’ symbolic gesture to the city of Hayden, a form of protest over another sign.

“This is what started it all,” said Miles, pointing to a “No Trucks” sign at West Dakota and U.S. Highway 95. This corner also is where Miles makes his living as the sole salesman, lot boy, and proprietor of Coeur d’Alene Motors. It’s a business that comes complete with a house-converted-to-office and guarded by a mechanical frog that reports with a ribit every time someone shows up.

Miles figures the “no trucks” edict is aimed at the behemoths that deliver the autos he wheels and deals. A couple of “whiny” people up the street complained about the car haulers showing up an average of three times a month, he said, so the city responded with the ban.

Miles didn’t get mad, he got an official speed limit sign through connections in Washington state, a steel post, and ordered a truck-load of concrete to anchor this protest. The 55 mph sign has been at the edge of his car lot for about a week.

He’s not saying exactly where he obtained the sign, though he swears by its authenticity. “When you’ve been in the car business in North Idaho for 40 years you make some friends,” he said.

The dispute with Hayden is rooted in more than concrete. About eight years ago, Hayden passed an ordinance prohibiting the car carriers from delivering to his address, Miles said. When he threatened to sue, Hayden officials backed off.

But last September, the city came by with the “no trucks” sign. And it’s causing problems, Miles said.

“I’ve had a lot of people stop in and give me hell about the sign because I sell trucks,” he said. Miles also bristles at Kootenai Electric Cooperative and KC Construction, located further west on Dakota Avenue, having to take a more circuitous route to their shops with their big trucks.

It’s unsafe and a waste of time and fuel, Miles contends.

The no-trucks designation isn’t a problem for Kootenai Electric crews, said Larry Bryant, marketing director. People delivering power poles, transformers and other large loads complain occasionally because it makes Kootenai Electric more difficult to locate.

And if trucks use Dakota Avenue to get to the utility’s yard, the city calls, Bryant said.

KC Construction didn’t want to comment.

Hayden City Administrator Bob Croffoot said Miles is the only one complaining about the no trucks sign.

Many people, however, constantly complain about the number of big trucks on Dakota Avenue, Croffoot said. And now they’re complaining about the confusion created by the dueling speed-limit signs.

Hayden doesn’t object to the trucks that deliver Miles’ wares. Or the occasional load of concrete. For a patio, that is.

“What we’re after is the guy with a gravel truck making seven trips a day,” Croffoot said. The truck ban also helps protect the more fragile portions of Dakota Avenue.

The council is controlling truck traffic on other streets - Meadow Way and Valley Way - for the same reasons.

Croffoot also doubts there ever was an ordinance banning car haulers from Dakota Avenue. “It doesn’t sound reasonable,” he said.

As to the 55 mph sign? Hayden will take it down if Miles doesn’t, Croffoot said.

No battle there. “I’ll probably take it down,” Miles said.

“I can figure something else to put there.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo