Book-hiding Trumper continues to stymie librarians

You may know that a Coeur d’Alene Library patron has been hiding books critical of President Donald Trump, conservatives and gun lovers, and books supportive of the LGBTQ movement.

But did you know that recent publicity about the stunt hasn’t deterred the Hide and Seek Patron? If anything, they may be emboldened.

A few weeks ago, a Spokane TV station showed Rick Reilly’s “Commander in Cheat” as an example of a book targeted by the disgruntled patron. It went missing that day.

Library Director Bette Ammon isn’t sure whether publicity helps or hurts her attempt to solve the problem. But she does know that “you need to shine the light on everything.”

When books first started disappearing from their proper places, Bette told Huckleberries, she thought they were lost and re-ordered some for as much as $20 apiece. That’s how she ended up with four copies of “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.”

Most were found by library “shelvers” in the literature and history sections, some hiding behind the W’s.

Bette knew she was dealing with a serial censor after getting an anonymous note that said in part: “I am going to continue hiding these books in the most obscure places I can find to keep this propaganda out of the hands of young minds. Your liberal angst gives me great pleasure.”

Bette knows what she’ll do if the ideologue behind this First Amendment attack is caught: Library privileges will be revoked.

And that’s about as harsh as it gets at one of the friendliest places in Coeur d’Alene.

‘Down on Me’

Most remember a brush with greatness. But Tom Hearn of Coeur d’Alene can barely recall his. He was drunk at the time. It happened backstage in spring 1968 at a Janis Joplin concert at Chico (California) State College. Tom, then a college freshman, doesn’t know how he got backstage. The concert took place during Pioneer Week, a weeklong kegger that prompted Playboy magazine to name Chico State as the nation’s top party school in 1987. Tom was swaying to the music and the brewskis when Joplin walked by after a set. He couldn’t think of anything to say. So he blurted out: “I love you.” Joplin shot him a dirty look and scoffed, which Tom admits now, “I deserved.” Tom left his youthful ways behind after graduation in 1973. He became a mental health specialist in Coeur d’Alene and was twice elected to the Coeur d’Alene School Board. But he and many other Boomers still cherish the memory of “Pearl.”

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: Oh comely pizza, hot and cheesy / the most alluring fragrance greasy / bewitches like a siren’s call – / I curseth my cholesterol – Tom Wobker, The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Pleasures Now Forbidden”) … Kellogg cops found “a nice person” with a BB gun when they checked out a report of a suspicious person at the Odd Fellows shelter at City Park. The Odd Fellow there was taking a break while walking coast to coast. Still, you’re not supposed to camp in City Park. Kellogg’s finest warned him. And wished him well … Huckleberries has found a link between Idaho and Iowa that doesn’t involve vegetable cash crops. Several Idaho governors were born in Iowa, including two of the most influential: Robert Smylie (1955-67), and C.A. “Doc” Robins (1947-51). They are Nos. 18 and 26 in “Idaho 100: The People Who Most Influenced the Gem State” (2012) by Randy Stapilus and Martin Peterson … By the way, Coeur d’Alene native son Duane Hagadone, born Sept. 3, 1932, is No. 30 … Anna Marie Pearce (actress Patty Duke) told the Coeur d’Alene Press 25 years ago this week that she’d found “home” when she moved to Coeur d’Alene. And she appreciated that the locals had protected her “as a person and as a celebrity.” Alas, we lost her much too soon.