Duane Hagadone called Sid Rosen one of the finest chefs he’d known.

During the 18 years (1964-82) Sid owned Chef Rosen’s in Hayden, he hosted state attorneys general, senators, governors, local dignitaries and regular patrons.

In retirement, he was known as the “Candy Man” and “Sweet Sidney” for the 30 to 40 pounds of fudge, brownies and happy bars that he baked and gave away weekly.

But the charming World War II veteran with a rapier wit is also remembered for a hate crime perpetrated against him: one that launched a human rights movement.

Sid was Jewish.

And that made him a target for the neo-Nazis who once openly infested North Idaho. In December 1980, Sid found swastikas and other racist graffiti spray-painted on his restaurant.

A day later, according to human-rights leader Tony Stewart, 15 people, some of whom were Jewish, visited Chef Rosen’s to support the harassed restaurateur. In February 1981, those supporters organized in the basement of Coeur d’Alene’s First Christian Church.

At the back of the room, five or six neo-Nazis tried in vain to intimidate them.

That night, Dina Tanners, Stewart, Marshall Mend, Pastor Rick Morris and others declared war on racism and Richard Butler’s Aryan Nations, located north of Hayden Lake. Soon, organizers embraced a name for their group: Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations.

For the next 20 years, the task force challenged Aryan Nations' activity at every turn and was instrumental, in September 2000, in bankrupting Butler’s operation.

However, a Press profile of Sid Rosen on Jan. 12, 2005, focused on his treats, not the old hate crime.

Then, at age 84, Sid gifted his homemade candy and cookies wherever he went — to his health club, to the nurses at the Cancer Center, to Nosworthy’s restaurant, to waitresses and to neighbors.

“I’m trying to make up for my past,” Sid quipped. “Trying to be a little more decent, but it’s not easy.”

A native New Yorker, Sid joined his parents in Coeur d’Alene, after surviving severe wounds from a roadside bombing in Okinawa the year before. From 1946-49, the Rosens operated the famous Fish Inn at Wolf Lodge. Then, Sid managed several taverns and a cattle ranch on the Rimrock.

In 1964, when he opened Chef Rosen’s, he was the first in the area to require reservations.

After Sid died Jan. 24, 2011, three days before he was to turn 90, a friend recalled the time he arrived at Chef Rosen’s sans reservation. Although the place was empty, Sid made him cross the street to a pay phone and call for a reservation.

Even a prominent resident like Duane Hagadone needed a reservation.

“He was a perfectionist who insisted on doing everything himself,” Duane said for the 2005 story. “The quality of food he prepared was outstanding. It was gourmet.”

Nude review

The Sun Meadow Resort near Worley has come and gone with little notice.

But 25 years ago, some 20 angry neighbors hired Coeur d'Alene attorney Scott Reed when word leaked that a nude resort was coming to their woods, off Conkling Road. Of concern, reported the Coeur d’Alene Press on Jan. 7, 2000, was the county-approved conditional use permit.

Applicants Tom and Linda Janson hadn’t revealed that nudity was a key part of the proposed 75-acre resort. “And let me tell you,” Reed told The Press, “(the neighbors) were surprised, if not shocked” when they found out.

But Commissioner Dick Panabaker shrugged. It wouldn’t be fair, he said, to deny a request based on nudity. Said he: “That would be like asking someone their sexual orientation or what church they belong to.”

Now, fast forward to today. The resort has new owners and a new name: Praeder Ranch Resort. And it is not clothes optional. But the current owners note on their website that they share a half-mile driveway with “a community of naturists.” The neighbors, the caution continues, don’t parade around au naturel, but “it is possible you may encounter nudity.”

Read: if that’s a turn-off, try someplace else.

Name game

It could have — should have — been called Heritage Park.

On Jan. 10, 1990, reflecting on his then six terms on the Coeur d’Alene council, Ron Edinger, 53, told The Press how he had botched the naming of Independence Point.

Ron was mayor (1974-78) when four pristine acres replaced the old Playland Pier on the waterfront. But the council deadlocked on a name for the new park. Half wanted Independence Point, the other half liked Heritage Park.

Ron didn’t have a favorite. But, as the tie-breaking vote, he opted for Independence Point, his mother’s preferred choice, and voted so. Only later did he learn that mom wanted Heritage Park.

Fifteen years after the fact, Ron vividly recalled his initial response to his goof: “Oh-oh.”

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: With bird flu causing great alarm/there is no reason to risk harm./Guard yourself from germs that sicken:/never kiss a Chinese chicken — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Asian bird flu”).

• Charitable Walk: On Jan. 9, 1960, proclaiming himself “fit as a fiddle,” Ken Warehouse began his fifth annual walk for the March of Dimes, from 19th & Sherman to Spokane. Joined by a police escort and coin collectors from local schools, Warehouse braved icy footing to try to raise $3,500. In 1959, he’d raised $1,164. His hikes usually lasted about 10 hours.

• Buying Tubbs Hill: Bolstered by “substantial pledges” from local businesses 50 years ago, city officials raised $75,000 in private donations to help buy 34 acres of Tubbs Hill. Another $150,000 was expected in federal funding. The city began talks for the property in November 1973 after a German company proposed to build a 40-unit condo complex on the hallowed land.

• Record Tenure: On Jan. 7, 2014, Sandi Bloem stepped down after a record three, four-year terms as mayor. On her watch, the city built a new library, attracted the Kroc Center, overhauled McEuen Park and outlined an education corridor. Rightly did Councilman Ron Edinger say she was among the best mayors of the last 60 years. Some might say she was the GOAT.

• Has It Been … 40 years (Jan. 11, 1985) since Duane Hagadone and Jerry Jaeger broke ground on the $40 million overhaul of the old North Shore Resort Hotel? Proposed changes included an 18-story hotel tower and a floating boardwalk five-eighths of a mile long. Also, on that day, Duane moved the completion date ahead by a year to May 1986. And the project would meet that deadline.

• Milestone: Huckleberries began 40 years ago this month in The Spokesman-Review as a Monday column called Kootenai Grapevine. In the early 1990s, SR Editor Chris Peck renamed it Huckleberries. And my former newspaper graciously allowed me to keep that name when I migrated to The Press five years ago. Thank you for reading my scribblings all these years.

Parting shot

On Jan. 13, 2010, the Mariner Moose stole the show at Ramsey School when he and three other Seattle Mariners visited Coeur d’Alene, advocating drug abstinence and a healthy lifestyle. The kids preferred the friendly Bullwinkle to his three sidekicks: pitchers Doug Fister and Garrett Olson and announcer Dave Sims. Maybe the kids sensed something. The two players left Seattle at the end of 2010. And Sims departed this year for New York. Meanwhile, the true-blue mascot moose remained. In 2010, fourth grader Sydney Mumford declared the moose to be her favorite player. Although he can’t pitch, hit or announce, the Mariner Moose likely will be part of the first Seattle team to win a World Series.

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D.F. (Dave) Oliveria can be contacted at dfo@cdapress.com. Also, readers can follow Dave on his Facebook page: D.F. Oliveria.

    In 2000, Tom and Linda Janson plan to open Sun Meadow Resort.
  

    In 1990, Councilman Ron Edinger reflects on six terms in office.
  

    In 1960, Ken Warehouse, waving, begins his March of Dimes walk.
  

    In 1975, an aerial photo shows two parcels on Tubbs Hill, totaling 34 acres, that the city of Coeur d’Alene wants to buy.
  

    In 2014, retiring Mayor Sandi Bloem reads a plaque while council members Deanna Goodlander and Woody McEvers watch.
  

    In 1985, Duane Hagadone, right center, and Jerry Jaeger, left center, break ground on the $40 million North Shore Resort Hotel upgrade, while architect R.G. Nelson and Hagadone Construction President John Barlow look on.
  

    In 2010, the Mariner Moose entertains Ramsey Elementary students.
  

    In 2010, first grader Joshua Marcoa and Seattle pitcher Doug Fister watch a highlight film at a Ramsey Elementary assembly.