Cabin Owner Hadplenty Of Warning
Richard Russell needs to get over it.
If anything, his obsession and bitterness over paradise lost could drive him to the grave.
Rather than continue mourning the loss of a precious cabin site on a Priest Lake island, Russell should cherish the 44 years of memories it gave him.
Yet, the 71-year-old Spokanite clings to an impossible dream that someday his family again will gather on U.S. Forest Service land at Bartoo Island. That fixation, Russell admits, has left him “a broken man - physically, emotionally and financially.”
Russell has himself to blame for his condition. He has known for 30 years - 30 years! - that the Forest Service wanted 18 permit holders, including him, off three Priest Lake islands. The noble purpose for the evictions was to open up more beachfront to campers, boaters and picnickers.
In 1966, during President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration, USFS officials told the leaseholders their permits wouldn’t be renewed after 1986. A retroactive law introduced by former Idaho U.S. senator Jim McClure enabled Russell and his family to hold onto their cabin a decade longer.
This is not a case of big government squishing the little guy.
Not only did the Forest Service give Russell ample warning, but also it promised to assist him and others in moving their belongings, including the lumber from their cabins. Some took advantage of that gracious offer. When Russell didn’t budge - even after a federal judge ordered him to remove his property from Bartoo Island by May 15 - the USFS had no choice but to act.
In June, work crews burned and dynamited six summer cabins, including Russell’s, and hauled off the remains to the dump. The Russell family had sufficient time to save the memorabilia lost in the destruction. Now, Russell and his family are facing a $3,904 bill for the demolition and removal.
Russell, naturally, is challenging the bill.
His attachment to the summer retreat is understandable. Generations of his family enjoyed the cabin. His late wife built the fireplace mantel. The cabin was the only place Russell ever saw his estranged parents together.
But Russell had no more right to remain on the public island than a squatter has to stay on private property.
The removal of his cabin allows others to build memories of summer stays on Priest Lake.
, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = D.F. Oliveria For the editorial board