Vegetarians Hope Society Takes Root

The dining guide B.J. Jacobucci and Lin Silvan are compiling for Coeur d’Alene is like none other in town.

It promotes savory and mouthwatering vegetables, fruits and breads.

“When we’re traveling, we look up the vegetarian society in each town. They tell us where to eat,” B.J. says.

He and Lin found no vegetarian organization or vegetarian dining guide in Coeur d’Alene when they arrived from New Mexico last spring. So they decided to start both.

“We feel like being vegetarians has changed our lives so much,” says Lin, who’s 47. “It’s a gift we want to share.”

Lin switched to a plant-based diet six years ago after she knocked down a book on vegetarianism from a store display. The animal rights questions on the book’s cover caught her attention.

“I loved animals,” she says. “Even though I’d been killing animals to eat all my life, all of a sudden it seemed horrendous.”

B.J., a 55-year-old retired physicist, had tried vegetarianism once as a bachelor. It fit his pacific philosophies but not his fast-food lifestyle.

When Lin changed her diet, B.J. joined her. They ate plenty, lost weight and gained energy.

“Not only didn’t I miss meat, I liked myself more,” Lin says as she stuffs cut apples, pears and oranges into a juicer. “I felt good about what I was doing.”

Ads they placed to measure Coeur d’Alene’s interest in vegetarianism attracted more than 100 calls. Some people had questions; others wanted recipes. Some just wanted kinship with other vegetarians.

B.J. and Lin welcomed everyone.

“We try to focus on tolerance,” Lin says.

The first meeting of the Vegetarian Society of the Inland Northwest attracted 25 people eager to create a dining guide. They’ve organized talks on vegetarianism and scheduled a health fair Sept. 12-14 at the Silver Lake Mall.

Lin and B.J. will leave Coeur d’Alene for warmer climates in October, but they’re hoping their society takes root by then.

“If I’d had information on vegetarianism when I was younger,” Lin says, “I would’ve been a vegetarian as soon as I could’ve made my wishes known.”

For details on the Vegetarian Society of the Inland Northwest, call 665-1386.

The right touch

Leave it to Mary Reed at the Latah County Historical Society to stay a bouquet ahead of every other garden tour.

This year, she’s combining Moscow’s lushest gardens with historic buildings and cars. She’s smart to figure that people like to walk through other people’s homes.

Her tour includes two 1920’s-era homes and a turn-of-the-century church as well as four gardens, a 1927 Nash sedan and a 1931 Nash sport coupe.

The tour is 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday and includes an ice cream social. Mary’s tours are worth the drive to Moscow on U.S. 95. Call 882-1004 for details.

Who are you?

Mitch Wolfe was a bedraggled University of Idaho student when he arrived in Coeur d’Alene in 1984. He’d hiked into town at 4 a.m. after a storm soaked his sleeping bag and clothes. He took shelter in a laundry at 7 a.m.

A man there heard Mitch’s story, drove away and came back with a new tarp for Mitch. A woman in the laundry insisted on giving Mitch $5 for warm meal and the laundry’s owner took Mitch to her home, let him shower and fed him.

Mitch is married now and an aluminum worker in Goldendale, Wash. But he wants to thank the people who helped him.

If you’re one of Mitch’s good Samaritans, tell Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, ID, 83814; fax to 765-7149; call 765-7128; or e-mail to cynthiat@spokesman.com.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo