DIAMOND CUP DIFFICULTIES

The recent unauthorized disclosure of some of the inner workings of the Diamond Cup principals has caused confusion and dismay for some supporters and in some quarters a desire to face the music.

The motives are unclear at this time, but I am guessing that it was well meaning fund raising that went awry. To the person that ultimately sent the material to the Coeur d'Alene Press, I find it more difficult to be magnanimous. I find it difficult to suggest an act that smells of disjointed thinking or worse, sabotage, motives are suspect.

In talking  with Doug Miller, the president of Diamond Cup Racing, LLC, He explained that the disclosure told only part pf the story.   First, the letter, which I do not have, quotes Sam Cole, President of H1 Racing, the organizer of these events across the country as saying that the committee must respond to several conditions and that time is running out for these to be met if a race in 2014 is to be held.

One condition, a deposit of $5000 to the H1 account, has been met, which happened Friday of last week. Another, that a performance bond be issued guaranteeing the race funds to the sponsoring authority.

The sound of the NSF check in the amount of $71,000 be made good.  Deliberately writing a bad check with criminal intend is doubtful.   It is my understanding that the principals in this matter wrote the check against a line of credit that the bank pulled back citing the first year shaky financial conditions  that prevailed at that time.

Those issues yet to be resolved, are being addressed currently.

The largest culprit in this melodrama is the public taking advantage of the open Centennial Trail, where thousands of freeloaders skated past the necessity for the funds to be raised in order to pay for the expenses necessary to hold the race. I believe that only 3200 tickets for shore viewing were sold, yet an estimated 52,000 actually attended. Perhaps lacking the experience of communities with a more recent racing history, caused the committee to over estimate the honesty of the viewing public.

Had all viewers, including the log boom paid the admittance fee, no financial problem would exist. Those items are being addressed, with closing the trail for the race days and looking with askance at local homeowners that coincidentally held parties that week-end with up to 60 passes for entrance to their homes.

Secondly, there is plenty of money in this community through sponsorships and shares of ownership to conduct this race annually. Apparently the leading businesses in the area are willing to harvest the ton of money the public spent on bars, restaurants and hotel/motels. Perhaps it is the lack of understanding the positive influence annual hydro races bring to the community. The Iron Man competition, in which streets are blocked off routinely, the Fourth of July downtown festivities and now the races, are blockbuster events that across the nation reflect well on Coeur d'Alene and all of the Spokane, north Idaho up to the Canadian border.

Whether reorganization or more community support, or both is needed. you will not have this race to enjoy in future years if freeloaders rule. In 1968, it was lack of funding, not the behavior directly that caused the cancellation of future years. The public would go around the ticket booth with coolers full of alcoholic beverages, hike up Tubbs Hill and camp out for the races.

This generated drunks then poured into town for more, and less controlled, crowds which then became noticed by law enforcement. In 2013, not one incident springing from this race was noted. Alcohol was limited to licensed businesses bordering the course, those being Tony's on the south and the Silver Beach restaurant and marina at the north end. As Seattle and Tri-Cities had solved crowd control issues many years ago, so went the Diamond Cup, era the 21st century.

Some reacted to the article with bitterness, using name calling as a path to vent their displeasure with the source of this story, yet for the most part the information, proprietary that it was, was accurate. This blog, private thoughts aside, does not support name calling. It was however, an incomplete recitation of ongoing negotiations with H1, and has been overtaken by events.

For the record, no blame for this disclosure should be put on the Coeur d'Alene Press, who did their due diligence and printed it as news for which newspapers are supposed to do.

We invite those interested in furthering the cause, to step forward, whether buying tickets in blocks, sponsorship or get involved on the inside by purchasing participation in ownership. The people who run this are doing so without compensation. The public should be sued for non-support.