COURTESY GARDEN CITY DEPARTMENT OF SHAME
Former Garden City Mayor Don Smitch died from an unfortunate, and somewhat ironic, stationary bike accident while in prison.
along and says, ‘Hey buddy, clean up that mess,’ we start getting our hackles up. Know what I mean? That makes Garden City a great place for doing business, but not such a great place to look at,” explains Ken Eudighet, owner of Ken’s Used Auto Sales. For longtime Garden City residents, nobody has ever typified the “Don’t tell me what to do!” attitude better than Don Smitch, mayor of the city from 1960 until he went to the Idaho State Penitentiary in 1967. It was said that Smitch, owner of what was then the largest pawn shop in Garden City, ran both the city and his pawnery from a barstool in the now-defunct T&A Club, and that on a regular basis, he freely mixed city business with that of his own. Eventually, the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office gathered proof that Smitch, as mayor, was approving the purchase of used bicycles from his own pawn shop. The bicycles were then donated to indigent citizens under a Smitch-initiated program he titled, “Pedal Your Way To A Living Wage.” The bikes inevitably ended up back at Don’s Pawn, only to be resold to the city. The mayor was indicted on charges that earned him a nine-year prison term. However, it was well-known among Garden City insiders that Smitch was the power behind the throne and that he continued to run the city from his cell up until his death in 1972 from, ironically, a suspicious accident involving a stationary bicycle in the exercise yard. Eudighet remembers the incident. “Yeah, I remember old Smitch. I heard they pulled 17 spokes out of his vital organs and a sprocket chain from around his neck. Some accident, huh?” Following the passing of “Boss Smitch,” the governance of Garden City degenerated into near chaos. Within a two-year stretch, there were four mayors, and between 1977 and 1982, there were five recall elections. The root of this turmoil was inevitably the conflict
16 | MARCH 28 – APRIL 3, 2012 | BOISEweekly
between those who wanted Garden City’s image to improve, and those who wanted Garden City’s live-and-let-live attitude to remain inviolate. Today, with a population of just less than 12,000, Garden City appears to be on the verge of transitioning out of the reputation that has for so long plagued it. Both north and south of the Boise River sit million-dollar homes and up-scale retail sectors. Until the GBGCAF sprung up, the days of rancorous politics and feuding factions seemed to be a thing of the past. The city even has its own motto— “Catch the Excitement”—introduced in 2007. That spirit of optimism is what has city leaders gnashing their teeth over the GBGCAF initiative. “We think it’s a joke, what these Goodbye Garden City people are trying to do,” says Gretchen Hanzle, spokeswoman for the city’s administration. “You can’t just go around seceding from cities anytime there’s something you don’t like about it. That would be utter chaos. “Take Boise, for instance. Would it be OK for the Republicans to secede from Boise just because they don’t like having a Democratic mayor? Or in Meridian, should the antiDeWeerders feel free to secede from the proDeWeerders? You see what I’m saying, don’t you? It would be like the Balkans, only worse. Soccer mom Kuna splitting off from cowboy Kuna. Nampa throwing the Nampa-Caldwell Strip out of the city limits like it’s some kind of undesirable bum or something. This kind of thing just won’t work.” Hanzle wants observers to know that even if the initiative passes—and it is expected to— legal challenges will ensue for years to come. “The city intends to go all the way,” says Hanzle. “We even have a lawyer.” Garden City officials could not be reached for comment, but former City Councilman Howard “Howdy” Deauday claims to know WWW. B O I S E WE E KLY. C O M