Asking for a little credit
It was a crisp winter night in Athol. The Saddle Up Grill had closed, and owner Howard White was in a hurry to get home to Post Falls. It was his and wife Suz’s 13th wedding anniversary.
About 4 a.m., a fire broke out in the dining room, probably sparked by a space heater close to upholstery. Timberlake Fire District, just a few blocks down the street, answered the call quickly and limited damage to the dining areas, saving the kitchen, except for severe smoke damage.
That was Dec. 17, 2008. When it opened in March 2007, the Saddle Up Grill fulfilled a lifelong dream for the Whites. Howie and Suz cranked out the first of many succulent smoked prime rib sandwiches, slathered with Suz’s secret barbecue sauce, along with what Howie called the world’s biggest and best burger: 12 ounces of choice ground beef surrounded by all the fixings. Out back is a 500-gallon smoker, where they turned out their food from scratch along with barbecue ranch-style beans.
Had Howard White stayed that night in the restaurant, as he normally did to get an early start on breakfast, he easily could have succumbed to the smoke. The date with his wife probably saved his life.
Armed with an insurance policy, the couple figured they’d need a few months to rebuild, then would be back at it. But the insurance paid off a loan on the historic building, once used as an overnight stop by recruits headed for Farragut Naval training base. The Whites were left with a small amount of cash and a paid-in- full deed to a commercial lot and a half-burned building.
They are without an income, a restaurant and the ability to borrow to rebuild.
“Why, with the billions of dollars the federal government has thrown at the banks to stimulate the economy, don’t the banks then use the money for that purpose, instead of socking it away to protect themselves from bad loans?” Howard White said.
The Whites are hard-working people who enjoyed working 16-hour days to make a dream come true. Now, it has turned into a nightmare. White hopes a lender will step up with a small-business loan that can put him and his wife back to serving smoked prime rib dinners.
Herb Huseland
Ready to plow
The man with the big shovel says Spokane Valley is ready for winter.
“We’ve got all the plows and equipment and all the chemicals we need,” city Public Works Director Neil Kersten said. “We think we’re ready to go.”
Kersten has spent the past year marshaling a snow-plowing force to replace the service that Spokane County commissioners decided to quit providing.
He arranged for the city to lease the former Waste Management yard a block from City Hall, negotiated the purchase of a half-dozen highway-grade plow-sander trucks and got the city’s summer road contractor to provide manpower.
Two city employees will be shifted from other duties to plow streets with up to two dozen drivers from Poe Asphalt Paving’s Post Falls operation and its subcontractors.
Poe will provide nine drivers, a combination mechanic and driver, four road graders, a front-end loader and liquid de-icer for $920,000.
Additional drivers will be available on short notice if the city pays them for two hours a day while they’re on standby.
Kersten said all the designated and standby drivers have taken training classes and have had a bus tour of potential trouble spots, such as the steep hill on Carnahan Road.
John Craig