Grade A Beefcake The Slice Inquired About The Best-Looking Farmer And Readers Nominated The Cream Of The Crop

Sat., Sept. 27, 1997

By Paul Turner srpaulturner@gmail.com

Members of the Mike Kunz Fan Club were quick to speak up after The Slice asked who is the Inland Northwest’s best-looking farmer.

“He’s not only good-looking, he’s a great person,” said Spokane real estate agent Barbara Bell.

And that ain’t hay.

Ten others offered similar praise for the single father who grows wheat and barley near Davenport.

But Kunz wasn’t the only farmer readers raved about. Far from it.

A poll conducted by female employees of an Odessa bank yielded six nominees from Adams and Lincoln counties: Steve Rosman, Randy Schafer, Tom Weishaar, Bill Bell, Dave Beaver and Clark Kagele.

(We didn’t say nominees had to be male, but that’s how it turned out.)

Ritzville wheat grower Doug Wellsandt was endorsed by his wife Heidi and 1-year-old daughter Tabitha. That wasn’t unusual. More than a few farmers were nominated by their wives. But Wellsandt also got a vote from his father-in-law. “Doug is much more than just another pretty face,” wrote the Rev. Grant MacLean of Hayden, Idaho. “He has character and maturity.”

Reardan’s Arnold Mittelstaedt got a vote from his wife of 41 years, Mina. And Rathdrum’s Larry Howell was nominated by a friend, Susan Upton-Hughes of Hayden. “He’s a great guy and a true hunk to look at,” she said.

Among the other highly-touted farmers were Casey Nonnemacher of Reardan, Donnie Kukuk of Four Lakes, John Krom of LaCrosse, Richard Ott of Addy, Donovan Beach of Greenacres, Jeff Emtman and Mark LaShaw of Valleyford/Freeman, Ron Tee of Latah, Ken Canfield of Springdale, Brian Crow of Oakesdale, Randy Emtman of Valleyford, Jim Tate of Almira, Kent Kjack and David Kjack of Rosalia, John Isaak of Coulee City, Joe Figgins Jr. of Boundary County in Idaho, Jarod Wollweber of Edwall, Ron Vold of Sprague, Alva Fountain of Kennewick, Mark Humphrey of Reardan, Greg Ward of Rosalia, Dwayne Gady of Rockford and George Barton of Dayton.

The list goes on. Thanks to the readers who told us about this bumper crop of rural beefcake.

It sort of puts a different spin on the phrase “field of dreams.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 color photos

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