Nov26 reader 2015

While doing morning devotions we looked up to see our farm family chiming in. Give Thanks Indeed! Photo by Jeanelle Shields.

Where the only thing better than our sushi is the view

41 Lakeshore Drive (across the Long Bridge)

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ShogaSushi.com

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Enjoy our Asian fusion cuisine while taking in the beautiful waterfront and spectacular sunset views

(wo)MAN

Susan Drinkard on the street compiled by

What Thanksgiving Day was especially memorable for you?

“One memorable Thanksgiving was about 15 years ago when I went to my daughter Danielle’s apartment in Oregon, and we had a friends-and-family get-together. It was memorable because I can remember it!”

Ethel Holste Retired hospital clerical Sandpoint “I was probably 8 or 10, and the Corcoran side of the family was so big we had to have Thanksgiving at the Calvary Baptist Church in Woodland, Calif. My cousin’s fiancé gave us all a motorcycle ride in the church parking lot.”

DEAR READERS,

Happy Thanksgiving!

People often ask what we’re thankful for this time of year, which I think is a good practice not just once a year, but as much as possible.

What am I thankful for? I’m thankful for my loving girlfriend Cadie and our life together. I’m thankful for my mother, sisters and extended family for reminding me that blood is thicker than water, and that occasionally I need to pull my head out of somewhere.

I’m thankful for you, the community of Sandpoint, for supporting this endeavor for almost a year now. I’m thankful for my editor Cameron Rasmusson for the hard work he does, for my advertising director Jen Landis for helping this small publication grow, as well as all of our advertisers with the Reader for keeping us afloat. I urge you all to take a look at their ads and make a point to purchase something from them during the holiday season. I’m thankful for my co-owner Chris Bessler and the staff at Keokee for all they do to help us succeed.

I hope you all have a great dinner and family time.

-Ben Olson, Publisher

Holly Carroll Therapist Sandpoint

“My first vegan Thanksgiving.

We had tofu turkey and a sausage-looking ham, and they were really good. Then we went to Thanksgiving and didn’t eat. I dragged my girlfriend into being a vegan, but later she thanked me.”

Travis DiFonzo Hypnotherapist and traveler Sandpoint

Editor: Cameron Rasmusson cameron@sandpointreader.com Zach Hagadone (emeritus) John Reuter (emeritus) Contributing Artists: Daniel Cape (cover), Ben Olson, Jeannelle Shields, Harrison Berry, Contributing Writers: Cameron Rasmusson, Ben Olson, Louie de Palma, Zach Hagadone, Brenda Hammond, Tim Henney, Mountain Taylor, Dustin Hoffman

Subscription Price: $75 per year Advertising: Jen Landis jen@sandpointreader.com Clint Nicholson clint@keokee.com Web Content: Keokee

Kathy Johnson Sandpoint

“We were living by Northside School, and I was a teenager.

We were without power during a storm. The turkey was not pretty that year. My dad was so cranky, and we were all laughing at him.”

www.sandpointreader.com Publisher: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com

Printed weekly at: Griffin Publishing Spokane, Wash.

“Every Thanksgiving is special because of God.”

Forrest Tomlin Aspiring musician Sandpoint

111 Cedar Street, Suite 9 Sandpoint, ID 83864 (208)265-9724

Submit stories to: stories@sandpointreader.com

Beverly Krichbaum CBRS actress and songwriter School board trustee in Boundary County Moyie Springs

“It easily was in 2010 when I was living in Oregon. I was so alone. I came back to visit my family, and I felt so much better.

It was a special time seeing my mom, sister, grandparents and the cats and dogs. I will never let that Thanksgiving go.”

READER

“In wine there is wisdom,

in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.

”

-Benjamin Franklin

d unwiin & k y r l o a unc 5 to 7 d

Holiday blow out er the Cool sale!!

ans $2 off craft cottles &b ottles b z o 2 2 f f o 5 $

info@thebernd.com

The Sandpoint Reader is a weekly publication owned and operated by Ben Olson and Keokee. It is devoted to the arts, entertainment, politics and lifestyle in and around Sandpoint, Idaho.

We hope to provide a quality alternative by offering honest, in-depth reporting that reflects the intelligence and interests of our diverse and growing community.

The Reader is printed on recycled paper using soy-based ink.

Leftover copies are collected and recycled weekly, or burned in massive bonfires to appease the gods of journalism. Free to all, limit two copies per person.

Sandpoint Reader letter policy: The Sandpoint Reader welcomes letters to the editor on all topics.

Requirements: –No more than 500 words –Letters may not contain excessive profanity or libelous material. Please elevate the discussion.

Letters will be edited to comply with the above requirements. Opinions expressed in these pages are those of the writers, not necessarily the publishers.

Email letters to: letters@sandpointreader.com Check us out on the web at: www.sandpointreader.com Like us on Facebook.

About the Cover This week’s cover was drawn by Daniel Cape, our beloved caricature artist. Daniel finally has a little bit of spare time after working his butt off at Silverwood this summer, so hopefully you’ll see a bit more of his work in our pages coming up in the near future.

November 26, 2015 /

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COMMENTARY The seven Bs of a drinking town

By Louie de Palma Reader Road Warrior I made a wrong turn into a seemingly ordinary driveway. And you’ll never guess what I found at the end of it.

OK, this is not a real intro to my article.

It’s actually an example of a click-bait headline we all too commonly see on the good book, also known as Facebook.

The good book bombards its users with gussied-up fake journalism relentlessly.

All for one purpose: to get you to click on them and open the link. Click-bait hook headlines can vary. The majority are structured as lists, enticing people to learn something about themselves that they already knew. You’ve probably seen headlines similar to the following: “10 things only people who are socially awkward will understand,” “23 reasons why you’re doing just fine at 23,” or “Nine reasons your cat will always have four more legs than your fish.”

I could give you 100 reasons why these articles are pretty stupid. But honestly, they can be fun. You read them and you’re all like, “That’s totally me. I totally get that.” Relating is fun and feelings of solidarity and inclusion are important.

I get it.

In light of click-bait’s popularity and the recent article published by Roadsnacks.net naming Sandpoint the drunkest town in Idaho, I give you my very own click-bait article, based on observations from my taxi. Here are some headline ideas: “The seven Bs that make Sandpoint an A+ drinking town,” “Seven drinking-themed B words that only Sandpoint drinkers will understand” or “If you’ve found yourself in any of these predicaments, you might be a Sandpoint night life participant.”

1: Bunker It’s a known North Idahoan truth, if you will, that the 219 never closes.

It’s like knowing there will always be a cop hiding across from the Chamber of Commerce—you can just count on it.

Rain, shine, sleet, holiday or snow, the bar will be open. It’s as dependable as the mail, and probably more so when it comes to the holidays part. Even more impressive, however, is its ability to stay 4 /

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open throughout the blusteriest storms and blizzards.

Driving the taxi, I have noticed the 219 keeps its doors open when power has been out for hours, but more often than not, its power is on when most places are dark. This makes it a Mecca for wayward citizens seeking shelter from the storm.

It’s our football stadium for our Hurricane Katrinas. On questionable nights, I have watched more people rally at the Niner than any other place in town to charge phones and wait out storms, sipping easy comfort in unsettling times. In more agreeable storms, people will flock to cheer on snowy blizzards, celebrating our powdery fortune like Vikings taunting Ullr with every sacrificial shot downed. It may look like an apocalypse outside, but in the Niner, it’s business as usual. It is the bunker lounge, the last hold-out to the elements’ temperamental tizzies.

2: Brethren Storm or no storm, once you’re inside any Sandpoint drinking establishment, you are greeted with the reverberating laughter of your peers, the ambient clacking of pool balls, rhythmic dull thuds of glass kissing bar top and instant small town family-style camaraderie. All the bars are just like “Cheers” in Sandpoint: Everybody’s going to know your name. They’ll probably know where you live, where you parked yesterday, who your third cousin is and your GPA from high school. It’s both an amazing feeling and a daunting one.

If you’re not feeling the “Cheers” vibe, don’t worry. There are still bars off the beaten path you can find if you want to go where nobody knows your name.

We’ve all got days like that. Most of those places are out of town, so just make sure not to drive away. Have the bartender call the taxi for a ride home. It’s easy.

They just need to tell us your name. We

know where you live.

3: Bikes Taxis aren’t for everyone. If you’re one of those nerds, then riding your bike home from the bar is always a good idea—if you like hospital bills and injury, that is. Biking and bars have had a long and symbiotic friendship in Sandpoint. To the passerby driving downtown, the bikes outside blend artfully with the buildings and pubs as if they grew naturally together. It’s like they were planned into the very architecture by our forefathers.

Sure enough, many of the bike racks actually are planned into the designs, and there is never a shortage of bikes to fill them.

In other places, when you see someone with a brand new bike you might ask them when they got into mountain biking. In Sandpoint, we ask them when they got their DUI. All in all, we’re a fit town into libations. Make a mistake, gain a hobby, no biggie. And once a month we still get to cruise around the streets breaking traffic laws all lit up by the full moon, on bikes.

4: Beer Run Bikes are handy transport devices in many situations, except for an emergency beer run. The locks take too long to fiddle with when every second is precious. Oftentimes, when people are feeling the good libations, they can lose track of time. Then when the lights come on, it’s an on-your-marks-get-setgo race to the gas station to get beer before they stop selling it at 2 a.m.

When people don’t want the night to stop, foot racing from the bars to the Chevron is the only way to guarantee the ability to get more beer. I have watched this looming deadline transform rotund men into Olympian runners and inspire the saltiest drunks to work as teams. They shave seconds by ringing up cases for several parties, while the ever-loyal clerk urges everyone to use credit because it’s faster. It’s a fine case of Sandpointers

united for a common cause.

5: Burritos and Burgers There’s an ancient Sandpoint proverb that says: “When the bar doors close, there are two fighting wolves that live in all of us. One craves burgers and burritos. The other craves social interaction and after-parties. Which one wins? The one you feed. Or you could feed them both, and you have no more fighting wolves.”

We don’t have after-hours clubs that can continue the party. Fortunately, we do have gas stations. Even better. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve pulled into Dairy Depot to get a customer food, only to find a whole different side of night life.

Everyone is getting food and ready to mingle. Plans change, evenings go on.

Night didn’t go as planned? Get a burger and feed two wolves with one bun.

Fry sauce might just be the best wingman/ woman you ever had.

6: Bungee Jumping There is often no fry sauce at the end of tunnel. You wake up feeling like hell from a terrible night on the town. After getting gussied up and going to the same bars to hang with the same people, nothing went your way. You find yourself wondering, “Why do I do this every weekend or every night?” Sandpointers try to jump off the downtown band wagon but inevitably just bungee back. Why? It’s because we love bar bungee jumping. It seems awful. No one wants to do it. But you commit, you jump and you spring back, then you go down again, then you spring back. You’re up, you’re down.

People keep springing back downtown because it’s thrilling. We don’t know why we like it. We just do. The downtown has a draw, and we’re hooked to it.

Sometimes we don’t go out for long periods of time, but we always get yoinked back. Maybe it’s because we’re the drunkest town in Idaho. Or maybe it’s because we just feel the need to bike down to our bunker, see our brethren, go on a beer run and wolf down a burrito until the next time we bungee back.

Oh wait, I guess I forgot the seventh B. 7: Balderdash Whoops. As you Sandpointers know, sometimes nights end earlier than we meant them to.

PERSPECTIVES

The Worst of Circumstances Terrorism, refugees and Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s remarks

By Zach Hagadone Reader Contributor

As surely as the sun rises and winter leads to snow, trust in Idaho leaders to stumble over themselves in a race to be counted on the wrong side of a major issue.

The tally of wrongheaded stances has become tedious and a recounting would eat the entirety of this space.

Suffice to say, here we are again.

Terror bombings in Beirut, followed a day later on Nov. 13 by coordinated assaults on Paris, have left as many as 170 people dead and hundreds more wounded. Amid the mourning comes a wave of anti-refugee—and specifically anti-Syrian—sentiment. A sympathetic reading of this reaction would suggest it’s an (admittedly weak) attempt to rationalize a horrific event. Rationality, however, is as far removed from most Idaho lawmakers as the sites of these tragedies.

As Facebook fills with tricolor statements of solidarity, and calmer heads remind us that now is precisely the time to recommit to ideas of inclusion and empathy, Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter wasted no time in hoisting his own flag: “It makes no sense under the best of circumstances for the United States to allow people into our country who have the avowed desire to harm our communities, our institutions and our people. While I understand that immigration and refugee

Left to right: Amanda Earley and Megan Freeman came to the Idaho State Capitol to show solidarity with refugees. Photo by Harrison Berry, used by permission by the Boise Weekly.

resettlement are authorized under federal law, I am duty-bound to do whatever I can to protect the people of Idaho from harm.”

It would take a constitutional scholar, political scientist, psychiatrist and historian to adequately pick apart everything that’s wrong with that statement. Never mind that—as far as we know—every assailant in the Paris attacks was a citizen of the European Union. Put aside Otter’s insulting, begrudging recognition that he is beholden to federal law.

Try to suspend disbelief that a governor who presides over one of the worst education systems in the country, who has opposed livable wages,

expansion of health care, even equal marriage rights, takes seriously his “duty” to protect Idahoans from “harm.”

What’s most galling is the suggestion that “under the best circumstances” (presumably when no one actually wants to emigrate to the United States?), it is better for our so-called “city on a hill” to be a gated community. At what time, ever, has anyone remotely suggested the U.S. invite those with the “avowed desire to harm our communities” move to this country? Does Otter think so little of our national tradition, which explicitly states this is a nation open to all “yearning to

breathe free.” When we decide that sentiment is naive, or in some way threatening, we might as will ship that big green statue in New York Harbor back to the people who gave it to us.

Zach Hagadone is editor-in-chief of the Boise Weekly and former owner and editor of the Sandpoint Reader. This opinion piece was first published in the Boise Weekly.

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NEWS Local officials resist refugee resettlement sition to a state bill bringing Idaho’s child support system into international compliance, which Scott and other legislators killed in committee. The decision, based in part on fears the bill would require enforcement of Sharia court decisions, resulted in a special legislative session of its own. Lawmakers passed a revised version of the bill in May. If costs are consistent with that episode, taxpayers would shoulder a $36,000 bill for a second special session, assuming legislators need only one day to complete their business.

Exactly what the Idaho Legislature can do to block refugee resettlement is unclear, and Scott did not reply to requests for clarification. Political analysts say refugee resettlement

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff It seems just about everyone has an opinion about Syrian refugee resettlement, and local politicians are no exception.

District 1 Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, is calling for a special session of the Idaho Legislature to halt the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Idaho. In an newsletter emailed last week, Scott encouraged supporters to call Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter and urge him to enact the emergency session.

“How do we demonstrate compassion to legitimate refugees who are escaping persecution, and at the same time work to protect our communities and national security from the Islamic agenda of domination and takeover?” Scott writes in

the newsletter.

Scott goes on to claim Muslims use resettlement as a means to infiltrate communities, reproduce and eventually use their greater numbers to enact Sharia, or Islamic law.

“Under the guise of compassion, our current administration is dumping thousands of Islamic refugees across 190 communities in what can clearly be called an intentional invasion of our country,” Scott writes in her newsletter. “There is a clear agenda to change these communities from within.”

This narrative echoes Washington pastor Shahram Hadian, who spoke at a Bonner County Republican Women meeting last week for the second time this year. Hadian is best known for his oppo-

Earthquake rustles local jimmies

Schweitzer to open Friday City selects administrator

It wasn’t quite a disaster zone in town Monday, but many residents did indeed feel the earthquake that hit the region around 1 p.m.

According to KREM 2 News, the latest projections pinpoint the epicenter under Lake Pend Oreille and measure it at a 3.4 magnitude. Bonner County Dispatch reports no damage from the incident.

In other words, don’t expect a Hollywood adaptation starring The Rock anytime soon.

On the bright side, at least it gave the always-entertaining “Sandpoint Earthquake Survivor” Facebook page more mileage. [CR]

A Schweitzer employee blows fresh snow off the Village.

Your hopes and prayers have paid off, powder hounds.

Schweitzer Mountain Resort plans to open this Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m.3:30 p.m. on the Basin Express

Angels Over Sandpoint hit the community It might not quite be the Christmas season yet, but the Angels are already hitting the town.

Angels Over Sandpoint members are selling candy in anticipation of the holiday season. The sales will support the Angels’ many philanthropic activities throughout the year.

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Keep an eye out for them at the Waldorf Christmas Faire, Saturday, Dec. 12, and Bonner Mall Christmas Fair, Friday through Sunday Dec. 11-13.

Take a family trip to see Santa, listen to live music and support the Angels this December.

[CR]

Quad and the Magic Carpet.

Adult lift tickets will be $40.

Stay safe out there, and enjoy a terrific holiday weekend! [CR]

Rep. Heather Scott is under federal authority, and states don’t have the power to counter it. States rights advocates, meanwhile, call for Otter to take a stronger stance against the federal government.

Scott isn’t the only North Idaho elected official to oppose refugee resettlement in Idaho.

Last week, Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler also

Sheriff Daryl Wheeler voiced his opposition.

“When I see a potential threat to this community, I am obligated to do everything in my power to expose that threat,” Wheeler wrote in a letter to Otter. “The resettlement of Syrian refugees is a plausible threat and must be prevented.”

The city search committee has selected Jennifer Pearson Stapleton as the final candidate for the new city administrator position.

A Montana native, Stapleton brings with her almost 25 years of experience in administration, a BA in political science from Gonzaga University, an MA in public administration from Eastern Washington University and, based on her work history, an expertise in grant writing.

She currently works for the city of Spokane as director of grants management and financial assistance and interim director of community, housing and human services.

The City Council’s adoption of the city administrator

position was controversial, with some residents balking at the advertised six-figure salary. Supporters argue the position will provide improved management over city departments, increased grant funding and smoother transitions for incoming council members and department heads.

Stapleton won’t be formally approved by the city until a Dec. 16 council vote. The public is invited to the council session to meet her and ask her questions.

[CR]

damage wrought by last week’s wind storm. Despite 84-percent restoration by Monday, thousands remain without power.

“I know it’s difficult and stressful for our customers to be without power for this extended period,” said Avista CEO Scott Morris in a press

release. “I want to assure you that we are making use of every available resource at our disposal to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.”

[CR]

Thousands still without power As of Monday, about 29,000 Avista Utilities customers were still without power following the worst outage crisis in the company’s history.

According to company representatives, Avista officials deployed five times the local crew count to repair the

FEATURE A brief history of human rights in Bonner County

By Brenda Hammond Reader Contributor Editor’s note: This is the first of three articles written by members of the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force. Subsequent articles will run Dec. 3 and Dec. 10.

Several hundred people gathered in 1991, in the gym of what is now Sandpoint Middle School, to hear Father Bill Wassmuth and other community leaders talk about their experiences in Kootenai County standing up to the Aryan Nations. Their courage resulted in death threats and the bombing of the rectory where Father Wassmuth lived.

They had founded the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. They also witnessed many other acts of violence by members of the Aryan Nations, and a splinter group it spawned called The Order. The groups were responsible for bombings, killings, bank robberies, forgery, as well

as many acts of harassment and intimidation.

The Aryan Nations, led by Richard Butler, professed to be a church—a church that taught the supremacy of the white race and found its inspiration in the deeds of Adolf Hitler.

The gathering was hosted to inform and warn the people of Sandpoint of the need to stand up to this racist group, as their agenda included the founding of a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest. Failure to speak out against these beliefs would be interpreted as tacit acceptance.

That evening the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force was conceived. A group of motivated individuals started meeting and in 1992 the Task Force was officially incorporated. In the years that followed, the Task Force had many opportunities to speak out against a whole host of racist and anti-Semitic groups and individuals promoting violence and hate—Holocaust deniers,

members of the KKK, other Christian Identity followers, and militia groups claiming they would win victory “if not by ballots, then by bullets.”

One of the most insistent promoters of hate was Vincent Bertollini, who called himself “The 11th Hour Remnant Messenger.” He took up residency in Sandpoint and in 1998 began sending out mailings that attempted to prove the supremacy of the white race.

Sandpoint residents were disturbed by the hateful content of his repeated and elaborate mailings and looked for ways to express their rejection of these ideas. The BCHRTF sponsored a contest for the best ideas of how to “recycle” these materials. One suggestion was to shred the materials, mix liberally with manure and use as compost. Another creative individual took a VHS tape of a talk by Butler, covered it in white material, and used it as a candle holder with the words “Peace on Earth” written on

A building at Richard Butler’s Aryan Nations compound in Hayden Lake burns shortly after the group lost a $6.3 million lawsuit to the Southern Poverty Law Center, forcing the forfeiture of the property. Photo courtesy of SPLC.

each side in a different language.

The Task Force also invited those who wished to oppose Bertollini’s message to contribute toward scholarships to a human rights institute for young people in the area. For each contribution received, the Task Force sent a thank you card to Bertollini.

The following year, Bertollini published another flyer in which he targeted specific individuals. The Task Force collected signatures of community members who chose to speak out against this—and took out a full page ad bearing over 700 names. Shortly afterward, another ad was published when 300 others said they wanted their names included.

The theme of this first decade was keeping informed and aware, and finding ways to counter messages of hate in ways that would allow people to come together rather than creating conflict and division.

After this the Task Force entered a second decade where there was a great decline in visible opposition to their stated mission: countering hatred and discrimination and helping to create a community where all individuals, regardless of race, ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity could feel safe and welcome.

During this time the Task Force began sponsoring yearly Art for Human Rights events, displaying the artwork of Bonner County students representing articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, hosting events to commemorate MLK Day, giving yearly scholarships to students who honored and promoted human rights and presenting and supporting educational programs

and events that promoted the understanding and awareness of cultural diversity.

Then, in December of 2012, the BCHRTF received a surprise donation of over $300,000 from the estate of Dorothy Adler for the promotion of human rights in Bonner County.

After careful consideration, the Board decided to place this money in trust with the Idaho Community Foundation.

This makes it possible to offer grants to the community each year from the interest earned.

As it enters its third decade, the Task Force is hopeful that this donation will make possible more and more opportunities for community collaboration in the promotion of human rights for all—and that in the years to come there will be fewer and fewer occasions when there is a need to take a stand against hate. However, whenever that need arises, the Task Force will be ready.

Brenda Hammond Secretary BCHRTF

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IPNF gives away free Christmas trees

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

Bouquets: • I would like to give a bouquet to Dillon Robinson. He is the young man who saw the need for a elevated boardwalk on the east side of the Trapper’s Loop Trail and helped organize and build it as his Eagle Scout project. I wonder how many people have walked that trail and thought we sure could use an elevated boardwalk here every spring when the trail is impassable (due to flooding). I personally am one of those people. Thank you Dillon and the volunteers and business donors who made the boardwalk possible. Because of your efforts I will enjoy seeing the east side of Round Lake again! Well done!

Submitted by Cynthia Mason.

•A nonprofit organization out of Post Falls and Spokane called CA. Re Foundation Inc. recently decided to shut down.

They had significant funds and distributed them to several nonprofits in the area who were serving a certain group of clients in certain ways. After a brief chat with Stephanie by phone they decided Community Cancer Services fit the criteria and they sent us a check for $25,000.00.

Submitted by Cindy Marx.

•Thanks so much to all of you who showed up Saturday night to support the Reader during our Fundraiser Show! I had such a great time and hope all of you enjoyed yourselves as well. We were able to raise enough dough to buy a couple of newspaper boxes and some other key items to improve our newspaper for you. And special thanks to businesses who donated items to be given away in the raffle; Eichardt’s, Baxter’s and Idaho Pour Authority. Special thanks to Justin Landis, who did the sound, Matt Kinney on lights, Cadence Knepper, who ran the merchandise counter, Jessica Bowman, the ticket taker, and everyone else who gave their time to this event. Thanks!

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Do you know what the best word in the English language is? Free!

The Idaho Panhandle National Forest is offering every fourth grader a free Christmas tree permit through the new White House initiative Every Kid in a Park. The nationwide initiative is a call to action to inspire every young person across the country to visit our national parks, forests, public lands and waters.

All fourth graders are eligible to receive a pass that allows free access to federal lands and waters across the country for a full year. In support of this initiative, the Forest Service will make available a free Christmas tree permit to every interested fourth-grader. Permits are available on a firstcome, first served basis while supplies last.

The Every Kid in a Park initiative is an administration-wide effort among the Na-

tional Park Service, Forest Service, Department of Education, Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Services, Bureau of Reclamation, and National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration.

Today, more than 80 percent of American families live in urban areas, and many lack easy access to safe outdoor spaces.

At the same time, kids are spending more hours than ever in front of screens instead

of outside. The Every Kid in a Park initiative encourages valuable opportunities to explore, learn and play in the spectacular places that belong to us all and aims to inspire stewardship of these places for future generations.

In order to obtain a pass or voucher to collect a free tree permit, fourth-graders should log in to https://everykidinapark.gov and follow the instructions to print out a paper voucher. Bring the printed voucher to a permit sale location, the closest being the Sandpoint Ranger District on 1602 Ontario St. in Sandpoint, to claim the free permit.

The fourth-grader and an adult must present the voucher in person. One free tree permit is allowed per fourth-grader.

For more information, contact Jason Kirchner, Public Relations Officer with the USDA Forest Service at 208-765-7211

Lions Club’s Toys for Tots drive a huge resource

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

Back in the 1950s, when the Sandpoint Lions Club started doing the Toys for Tots drive, people would donate used toys and the Lions would fix them up and give them out to children.

“It was a project they worked on all year,” said Lions Club Vice President Judy Dabrowski and chairwoman of Toys for Tots program.

Nowadays, the Lions hire toy buyers (tough job!) to ensure the area kids receive new toys for the holidays in this annual tradition.

Curious how Toys for Tots works?

“The community can donate toys or money,” said Dabrowski. “With the money, we go out and purchase toys for the program.”

The toys are stored in the Toy Room at the Lions Den, where shelves are loaded each year. Families who would like to participate sign up and receive points for each child. One point equals one dollar, so if a toy costs $10, it uses up 10 points. When a family signs up, each child receives 50 points of credit.

“The people who use the program enjoy the fact that they can pick out their children’s own toys,” said Dabrowski. “We try to have as much variety in our toy store as possible.”

The only requirement to sign up for Toys for Tots is that your child must be a member of the Lake Pend Oreille School District and you must have custody of your child.

“If you come in and tell us you need help, that’s why we’re here,” said Dabrowski.

The Lions serve around 1,000 children every year for Toys for Tots, as well as providing a Christmas dinner box to families in need.

“We hope to raise $50,000,” said Dabrowski. “We’ve set that goal every year and accomplished it every year I’ve been a member. This community is incredible for how much they give to the charities around here: the food bank, Kinderhaven, all the charities.

It’s the community giving back to itself. They are taking care of our friends and neighbors. That’s why we’re here. It could be any one of us

that needs help, and I would hope that someone else would be there if I need it.”

For more information or to sign up for Toys for Tots, head over to the Lions Den at 607 S. Ella near Lakeview Park. There will be someone in the Den from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Dec. 18.

The shelves of toys at the Lions Den could use more toys!

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event

Seniors Veterans Families Homeless Teens Are you

experiencing hardship?

Get Help.

Contact Sandpoint Community Resource Center to find relief 208-920-1840 Scheduled office hours M-F from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. or by appointment

Serving Bonner and Boundary Counties

231 N. Third Ave., Ste 101, Sandpoint

www.sandpointcommunityresource.com/get-help

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Throwback Thursdays at the 219 Lounge 7pm - 11pm @ 219 Lounge Featuring live music with Brian Jacobs, $2 domestics and $3 crafts. Bring your instruments and join in playing in this informal open mic night setting

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Turkey Trot 9am @ Travers Park The 9th Annual Turkey Trot next to th Sandpoint Parks and Recreation Departm key, untimed, fun event - all ages and a point’s Pie Hut! Free to participate; non

Tree Lig Sweatshop Union 6pm @ J 9pm @ the Hive Canadian hip-hop stars Sweatshop The com Union have been making righteous, a festive politically charged music for over a visit from decade. Come out and dance off that holiday Thanksgiving dinner. Tickets $10, and der. Fre this fun VIP tickets are $30 per person Live Music Santa at the Mall Live Music w/ Old Sap 5pm @ Pen 10am - 3pm @ Bonner Mall 8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Live Music w/ Brandon Watterson A fusion of folk, Celtic traditional, Amer- A fusion of f icana, old ti 6:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall icana, old time blues, and drawing influence from c Acoustic medleys and great covers ence from contemporary songwriters Live Music Live Music w/ Truck Mills 5pm @ Idah 5pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery A slide guitar playing blues master Shook Twins “Giving Thanks” show

Santa at the Mall 10am - 3pm @ Bonner Mall Santa Claus visits to hear children’s Christmas wishes. Photos will be available.

Live Music w/ Chris Lynch 6pm - 9pm @ Arlo’s Ristorante Live Music w/ Ken Mayginnes 7pm @ La Rosa Club

Live Music w/ Justin Lantrip 5:30pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Local singer/songwriter Live Music w/ Chris Lynch 6pm - 9pm @ Arlo’s Ristorante

7:30pm @ Panida Theater The Shook Twins are performing live in their hom town, featuring special guests Josh Hedlund and Jo Craigie. Tickets are $15 in advance at Eichardt’s, P dro’s, online at Panida.org, and $20 at the ticket boo on the night of the show Sandpoint Chess Club Santa at the Mall 9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee 11am - 2pm @ Bonner Mall Meets every Sunday at 9am. All are welcome Sandpoint350.org meeting and walk 1pm @ Bridge Street Parking Lot Mug Member Monday @ Neighborhood Pub Participate in a march down Sand Creek Tr to coincide with global rallies, marches and Beer club mug members get 2 draft pints for $5 protests surrounding the Paris climate talks Monday Night Blues Jam w/ Truck Mills “Meet the Coopers” film 7:30pm @ Eichardt’s Pub 1:30pm @ Panida Theater Trivia Night 7pm - 9pm @ MickDuff’s Karaoke Night 9pm - Midnight @ 219 Lounge

Seniors Day — 9am - 12pm @ Bonner Mall Walk the mall, listen to speakers, learn health tips, enter drawings, play Bingo and enjoy free refreshments

Bingo Night 6:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Charley Packard & Friends 7:30pm @ Eichardt’s Pub The legendary singer/songwriter at his house gig. Always a great show

Thursday Night Football Party 5pm @ Laughing Dog Brewery Rock 103 Thursday Night Football Party hosted by Tracy Bell featuring the Green Bay Packers at the Detroit Lions

First Tuesday 7pm @ Eicha Monthly mus Robin and fea

Bonner County Food Bank fundraiser 5pm - 8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Live music by Marty Perron and Doug Bond. Appetizers and food pairing with Stone Brewing Company. Everyone is welcome to bring canned and packaged food donations for the food bank as well as cash Monarch Open Mic 6pm @ Monarch Mountain Coffee Held on the first and third Thursday of every month, hosted by Scott Reid Dollar Beers!

8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub

Guerilla G 5pm @ Sa An hour-lo Bring ads, of the wor

Singles M 5:30-7:30 Single an Come tog new friend No age lim wine to sh name U-Z

ful

November 26 - Dec. 3, 2015

A weekly entertainment guide to keep you on your toes. To list your event free, please send an email to calendar@sandpointreader.com.

Reader recommended

Dollar Beers!

8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub next to the Travers Park tennis courts. Presented by Sandpoint West Athletic Club and on Department, participants can choose between a 1k, 5k or 10k walk or run. This is a lowges and all paces welcome (no dogs, please). Best costume wins a fresh pie from Sandipate; non-perishable food items for the Bonner Community Food Bank are welcomed

Tree Lighting 6pm @ Jeff Jones Town Square The community is welcome to attend a festive tree lighting ceremony and visit from ol’ St. Nick himself. Enjoy holiday carolers, cookies and hot cider. Free and open to all, so join in this fun holiday kick-off event ve Music w/ Old Sap pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery fusion of folk, Celtic traditional, Amerana, old time blues, and drawing influce from contemporary songwriters

Live Music w/ Devon Wade Live Music w/ Shook Twins 5:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall 7:30pm @ Pearl Theater Come on out for a country music (Bonners Ferry) Thanksgiving get together Tickets are $17 in advance, $20 at the door Live Music w/ Bob Evans Band 7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Vision Maker Media’s “A Blackfeet Encounter” 12pm & 3pm @ Sandpoint Library The Idaho Mythweaver Executive Director Jane Fritz will present the film and lead a Q & A following each screening.

A Blackfeet Encounter tells one of the most cherished stories of American history from the perspective of the Blackfeet peoples. Told mainly through Native American historians, ve Music w/ Marty Perron & Doug Bond cultural experts, tribal elders and educators, the film is set at important Blackfeet historic sites in Montana’s Great Plains m @ Idaho Pour Authority Teen Writers Club 3pm @ Sandpoint Library Free and open to the public. Writing warm up activities, informative discussions and peer reviews

their homend and John chardt’s, Peticket booth

“Meet the Coopers” film 7:30pm @ Panida Theater Destined to become a holiday classic!

walk

Creek Trail arches and mate talks

Used Book Sale 10am - 2pm @ Bonner Mall The public is welcome to bring books and sell them; there’s no cost and tables are provided. Shoppers, this is a great chance to find books at a huge discount!

t Tuesday at Eichardt’s @ Eichardt’s Pub nthly music event hosted by Jake in and featuring special guests

Art On The Go with Jules 4pm - 7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Spend a few hours with Julie Ellies crafting art from recycled materials

Guerilla Grocery (& More) Shopping 5pm @ Sandpoint Library An hour-long workshop with tips & tricks from extreme couponing experts.

Bring ads, coupons & laptop or other electronic device to get the most out of the workshop

Singles Meet and Greet 5:30-7:30pm @ Talus Rock Retreat Single and feeling “sorta lonely and tired of doing things alone?”

Come together for a fun “meet and greet” gathering and perhaps find a new friend in the same boat. No agenda. No pressure. No expectations.

No age limit. What to bring? If your last name is A-L: Bring a bottle of wine to share. Last name M-T: Bring an app or dessert to share. Last name U-Z: Bring a bottle of juice to share. Free! Come on down!

Dec. 4-5 The Festival of Trees @ Bonner County Fairgrounds Dec. 4 Backcountry Film Festival @ Panida Dec. 5 The Sandpoint Waldorf School Christmas Faire Dec. 7 Eugene Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” @ the Panida Theater Dec. 18 The Lil’ Smokies @ The Hive

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Monarch Massage

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-boomerBoomer thought California was too hot so we moved to Sandpoint.

Boomer’s favorite season is winter and he LOVES the snow. He loves to dig in it, roll around in it, eat it and play in it.

Boomer is an Entlebucher Mountain Dog whose grandparents came to the U.S. from Switzerland, so he feels right at home in North Idaho.

The Baumgartner Family Sandpoint

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STAGE & SCREEN Our favorite Thanksgiving films

By Ben Olson and Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff

Thanksgiving is a time for family, fun and a little dash of adventure. In these picks, Cameron and I share with you, our fair readers, some of our favorite Thanksgiving flicks. Strangely, there seems to be a shortage of movies dealing with the subject of Thankgiving (in contrast to the explosion of Christmas films). Maybe that’s why a film like “Son in Law” made it on the list.

Ben’s Picks: “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” 1987 John Hughes created comic gold when he paired Steve Martin and John Candy together in this ultimate Thanksgiving road film. Neal Page (Martin) is an uptight marketing executive who is trying to get home to his family for Thanksgiving, but every step of the way, a misadventure throws him off course. Del Griffith (Candy) is a blabbermouth but loveable

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shower curtain ring salesman who Page can’t seem to shake. They end up joining forces for a three-day odyssey, traveling by any means possible to get Page home.

Martin is the perfect straight man to Candy’s continuous gaffes. We’ve all run across someone like Del Griffith before, I’m sure, but Candy plays the role with such heart, you can’t help but love the guy.

My absolute favorite scene is when Martin and Candy are forced to share a bed together in a seedy motel and wake up snuggling with one another. Martin inquires where Candy’s other hand is, and Candy says, “Between two pillows,” to which Martin replies, “Those aren’t pillows!”

“Son in Law” 1993

Pauly Shore is like a car wreck; you can’t help but stare. In “Son in Law” directed by Steve Rash, he plays Crawl, a howling nonsensical idiot at UCLA who is talked into joining his friend Rebecca Warner (played by Carla Gugino) as she returns home to South Dakota for Thanksgiving dinner.

What follows is the ultimate culture clash. Crawl on the farm in South Dakota is quite ridiculous. But then again, there is something downright entertaining about the film, even though you know it’s bad.

You just can’t look away (see car wreck comment in first paragraph).

My favorite scene is watching Crawl attempt to do farm chores wearing the most ridiculous ‘90s hip attire and getting owned by a pig.

Cameron’s Picks: “The New World” 2005 Thanks to the 1621 harvest feast of Plymouth Plantation, we always remember the European colonists and Native Americans at Thanksgiving. “The New World” is my favorite film about colonial America, and it’s a great Thanksgiving choice even if it’s about Jamestown, not Plymouth Plantation. A recounting of the Virginia settlement’s foundation and the life of Pocahontas, the movie captures pre-industrial America in all its natural splendor.

The film is directed by Terrence

Malick, who, to put it lightly, is not for everyone. His methodical pacing leaves some bored to tears, but I find poetry in his beautiful images and masterful tone (Malick’s “The Tree of Life” is my favorite film). “The New World” may not be perfect history, but it captures a sense of time and place that stays with me.

“Six Feet Under” 2001-2005 To me, Thanksgiving is second only to Christmas as a major family occasion.

That’s probably why I get an urge around this time of year to revisit my favorite fictional family, the Fishers, in HBO’s brilliant comedy-drama series “Six Feet Under.”

A meditation on life and death in modern America, “Six Feet Under” centers on the Fisher and Sons funeral home and the family that owns it. The drama and laughs that unfold around the Fishers’ dinner table remind me of my own family (well, minus the body preparation room in the basement, anyway), and rewatching the series always feels a little like going home.

Nov. 25 @ 7:30pm – Nov. 26 @ 6:30pm Nov. 27 & 29 @ 3:30pm – Nov. 28 @ 1:30pm

“pan” film

Made to be seen on the big screen! celebrating being there for your best friend and the artistry, adventure and magic

friday, Nov. 27 @ 7:30pm sunday, Nov. 29 @ 1:30pm

“love the coopers” film

all star cast in this new release destined to become a holiday classic four generations of extended family come together for the holidays

Saturday, Nov. 28 @ 7:30pm

Shook twins “Giving thanks” show Katelyn and Laurie shook come home for the holidays, with special guests Josh Hedlund and john craigie

friday, Dec. 4 @ 7pm

SOLE's Backcountry Film Fest Celebrating the human-powered experience Monday, Dec. 7 @ 7pm

Eugene Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” Enjoy Clara's journey through the dazzling fantasy world of the Land of the Sugar Plum Fairy with this holiday tradition

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FOOD The Sandpoint Eater

By Marcia Pilgeram Reader Food Columnist

Sage Advice

In the past I’ve been able to convince most of my young, adorable grandbabes that there’s a very special, super-secret turkey farm where I go each year to buy the six-legged Thanksgiving turkey, ensuring each youngster in my brood will feast on a drumstick. I may have to come clean soon, as I now have seven grandchildren and the older ones, entering into the double digits, are getting a bit wise to my embellished tales.

I’m sure you have your own Thanksgiving traditions and treasured family recipes that you’ll enjoy today. At my house, after he’s carefully selected his favorite “table curtain,” my 5-year-old grandson Willie (think a very young Nate Berkus) will help me set the table with my best china. To make the things even more extraordinary, he’s brought along a piece of crockery for me to use: It’s a two-piece duck lid/bottom, and I hope I can convince him it’s perfect for butter. The last time we were together he chose this special dish as my personal sushi vessel.

My buddy Kate has her own adorable grandchildren, including Jackson, who will wait for his beloved Nana to bake “circle bread” for their feast. I have a childhood pal now residing in Louisiana, and she serves her turkey with cornbread dressing and sweet potato pie. Another friend from my youth has lived in Hawaii for years, and her Thanksgiving feast begins with pokē. A chef and cookbook author friend residing near San Francisco serves her stuffing California-style, with sour dough bread, mushrooms and artichokes. One thing for sure, we’re loyalist when it comes to 14 /

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these traditional foods.

Years ago, after leaving a dinner gathering, a friend reported that her young daughter Laura wailed most of the way home: “It wasn’t like a real Thanksgiving. There were no Brussel sprouts!”

With this in mind (potlucks are not my forte), when I have guests for Thanksgiving, I ask for their favorite recipe and prepare it, not only to share their traditional fare but also to learn the storied history that goes hand in hand with food.

A traditional food from my childhood is Irish potato dressing. Filled with aromatic bits of sage and seasoned with

allspice, it’s a favorite with my clan. It wasn’t always served at my holiday table, and I’m ashamed to admit as a child, not a spoonful of the off-colored potatoes passed my lips, which were always pursed in protest. I longed for the bread stuffing that my playmate Irene’s mom made to fill the cavity of their holiday bird.

Some 40 years later on a trip to Ireland with Casey, we were dining with friends in a lovely country inn in West Cork, and I made my way to the carvery station. There on the buffet was an aromatic, heaped dish of the off-colored potatoes of my youth. I immediately scooped

some on to my plate, as did Casey. A forkful of the potatoes filled my mouth with flavor and my mind with visions of childhood family gatherings, with aproned women chopping onions and potatoes (and smoking Pall Malls) as they caught up on family gossip. Finding the old family recipe was not easy.

Aunts and uncles had passed, and my mother was in her final year of dementia. I reached out to some younger, distant cousins of my mother and fortunately each of them had the recipe (albeit slightly different versions).

Now, Irish potato dressing is a staple on my holiday table.

It’s not chopping the onions, but something about the preparation makes me weepy every time I prepare it. Maybe it’s sadness for my poor Irish ancestors, looking for one more way to prepare a damn old potato, or perhaps memories of my own

Fried Sage Leaves

childhood that grow a bit fainter with each passing year.

A common request from my kids is for the recipes of their favorite foods from my table.

It took me nearly 40 years and a trip to Ireland to discover the significance of family food history. Today, while the turkey’s roasting and the grandkids are taking their turn at shaking a cold jar of heavy cream into butter, I’ll take a moment to jot a few notes about the foods I am preparing and later add them to the recipes I’ve begun documenting for posterity.

If you haven’t already begun recording your family’s food history, today is a great day to start. Learn the heritage of family recipes that you have taken for granted all these years. Ask questions of the cooks, especially the older ones who may be getting ready to pass off the whisk as well as the torch.

If you can, use fresh sage in the potato dressing and garnish with fried sage leaves.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Serve as fragrant garnish or cocktail snacks

INGREDIENTS:

PREPARATION:

•Olive oil •Sage leaves, rinsed and patted dry •Coarse sea salt

•In a medium skillet, heat 1/4 inch oil over medium-high heat until hot and fry 4-5 leaves at a time, 30 seconds per side. Drain on paper towels, sprinkle with coarse salt.

•Don’t let them brown and once fried, they are fragile so handle with care.

Irish Potato Dressing INGREDIENTS: •2 lb Russet potatoes, peeled and quartered • 2 lb yellow onions, coarsely chopped • ½ stick of butter • 2 tablespoons olive oil • ½ to ¾ tsp cloves • 1 tsp allspice • 1 tsp nutmeg • 1 tsp sage fresh sage, chopped finely • 1-2 tsp cinnamon • 2 tsp sugar • salt and pepper

PREPARATION: •Mix all the spices/dry ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

•Boil and coarsely mash the potatoes. Sprinkle in spices and stir until well mixed (don’t over mix, potatoes should remain coarse).

•Saute the onions in butter and oil until well wilted and transparent, combine with the potatoes.

• If stuffing turkey, cool mixture before filling cavity. If serving on the side, heat in oven and garnish with fried sage leaves.

Good job

t n i o p d n a S f o s e inc

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Moments after SHS won the final game that sent them to the State Championships. Photo by Beth Hawkins.

By Tim Henney Reader Columnist

On Friday night, Nov. 13, the civilized world shuddered.

One hundred and thirty people were slaughtered and 350 or more hospitalized in Paris by ISIS murderers.

The next day my son, Justin, who lives across the street from War Memorial Field, invited me to go with him to the Bulldog football game. Depressed over recent events here and in France, I declined. Said I’d watch a college game on TV and worry about the human race. Then I said I’d go. We sat a few rows up from the field, at the 40. The game was thrilling.

A fitting celebration for the aged grandstand. Bulldogs 31.

Rigby Trojans, 22. On to state!

At game’s end Sandpoint’s battered, bruised, muddy, victorious and exultant young athletes gathered in front of us and sang. As we cheered their triumph with fellow fans who jammed the old bleachers, I was reminded of a seminal line from American literature.

In “The Cider House Rules,” author John Irving’s central character, an orphanage founder/director, lovingly compliments his boys as he turns off the lights each night.

“Goodnight, you princes of Maine,” he says. “Goodnight, you kings of New England.”

As Justin and I loudly applauded the mud-soaked young gridiron warriors standing in front of us, I found myself thinking, “Good job, you princes of Sandpoint. Good job, you kings of the Northwest.”

The game was one for the books. A nail biter, like many my 1957 bride and I have weathered while rearing two athletic sons. We went through the drama and emotion of high school football many years ago. In other places. So, although a local booster, I am probably not as zealous as most of those rocking and pounding the old grandstand that Saturday. I’ve lived here a decade.

The 80-something Bulldog advocate sitting alone next to me was born and grew up here.

He has watched “just about every game since, oh, 1942 or maybe 1943,” he told us. To that fellow, Bulldog football is a sacred ritual. One of life’s priorities. We admired him.

Justin’s older brother, of Park City, Utah, played at Geneseo High School in Illinois. They won the state championship. Attending “Green Machine” games (their uniforms mimic the Green Bay Packers) was what everybody did on Friday nights. At least once in 1972 or ‘73, realizing it conflicted with a Geneseo high game, I cancelled a Deere and Company trip to Europe at the last minute. It inconvenienced colleagues who had arranged a soiree there with the company’s overseas leadership. Some probably were at job levels comparable to, maybe higher, than my own. Too bad. Putting personal needs over corporate interests tends to interrupt one’s climb up the corporate ladder. It did mine, and it was worth it. I still did okay.

At Ridgewood High in New Jersey, some years later, Justin was drilled in the back returning a kickoff. His mom and I watched it. He was seriously injured. Doctors said if it happened again he might be paralyzed. He was wrestling team captain and varsity pole vaulter. He quit all sports. Doctors’ orders. At Indiana University he couldn’t participate as he would have had he not been

hurt. Instead he watched Bobby Knight’s Hoosiers play basketball. Today, in Sandpoint, he is a healthy husband, father, bicycle rider, counselor and soccer coach. And Bulldog booster.

As uplifting and exciting as Saturday’s triumph was, the untrammeled exuberance of the sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers and friends in the rickety grandstand made an even deeper impression on this observer. At the south end of the bleachers the school band blared encouragement. At the north end the most energetic yell leader I have ever seen (or heard) kept the heat on. And up. He ought to be marketing VP of General Electric. Turn him loose at an annual shareowner meeting and the stock, mired for years, would shoot through the roof.

Still reeling from the tragic recent suicide of a young student many at the game (and in it) undoubtedly knew and loved, Bulldog fans forgot their fear, their sadness, their disbelief. For three hours they exorcised from their minds life’s home-grown and faraway tragedies. They momentarily embraced Bulldog football rather than the tragedy in France or the chilling loss of

a young friend. With whistles and whoops, with ear-splitting energy and warm collegiality they bellowed their joy. With shouts, screams and song. With laughing and slapping of backs.

With banging and thumping of feet. And, responding, their beloved Bulldogs ground out a win in the mud.

The football team and those cheering them on made that Saturday an afternoon not soon forgotten. More importantly for this writer, the team and its fans helped restore gnawing octogenarian doubts about the human spirit. And goodwill.

About hope, faith, love and charity. About all the good stuff. Thanks, you Princes of Sandpoint. You Kings of the Northwest.

Editor’s note: In a nailbiting game at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow last Saturday, our Princes of Sandpoint lost to Bishop Kelly High School 3421. We congratulate them on a great season and wish them luck next year.

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By Mountain Taylor Reader Contributor

It’s almost time for that magical night spent waiting outside a megastore in the cold, just hours after Thanksgiving, primed for those doors to open, revealing one-day-only super-bargains.

Deals on the hottest new electronics make even a chilly wait in a crowded early morning line feel warm and fuzzy. Although there is the risk of bodily harm, the thrill of tackling a complete stranger over a DVD-boxset or pepper spraying your neighbor all add to the experience of the contemporary kick-off to the holiday shopping season’s theatrics.

Though the name and events of Black Friday seem to suggest it is a sort of dark and ancient harvest festival, involving human sacrifice or maybe lots of worshippers fighting for cheap squash,

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its roots are rather recent. Other than the name given to various stock market crashes in the 1800s, there’s the theory that retailers started to profit as the holiday shoppers emptied their wallets after Thanksgiving, but there’s no proof. This is probably just a tale told by retailers to associate something favorable with the dark connotations of ‘Black Friday.” In more modern times, the name was used by the Philadelphia police and bus drivers to describe the frustrating grid-lock of traffic on the Friday and Saturday following Thanksgiving in the 1960s. Then Philly and New York newspapers picked up the term, coining the first day of holiday shopping ‘Black Friday’.

Of the people I surveyed in and around Sandpoint’s downtown shopping district, none were (or would admit to being) excited for the unofficial holiday, Black

Friday. In fact, most were planning on simply working as usual, avoiding the holiday craziness at all cost, or binge watching their latest Netflix obsession. However, business owners and shop keepers I talked to are expecting and preparing for a busy day. Some businesses will be providing refreshments for hard-pressed shoppers, while most stores are going to be fully staffed, hoping to be swamped with customers and guests.

Other locals fortunate enough to get a four-day Thanksgiving weekend told me they plan to spend it with their families or shop local businesses—maybe both.

But unsurprisingly, no one who talked to me expressed any warm feelings about the potentially violent, capitalistic marathon of shopping that the Thanksgiving weekend has become synonymous with. Although I didn’t bring it up, many people I talked to

at screen! me want fl

support corporations closing on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. It reminds people of the reason for the season and encourages them to shop the local, open businesses that rely on our patronage all year round. Grocery stores in Sandpoint will be open on Thanksgiving with limited morning hours, so you can get those final ingredients you forgot (or burned). For example, Super 1 will be open as late as 3 p.m. A few corporation stores in our area will be closed all day Thursday, including Staples and The Home Depot. A little further away, stores catering to your home and everything inside, such as TJ Maxx, Nordstrom, Costco, Gamestop and Pier 1 Imports will be closed Thanksgiving, reducing the temptation to drive south on a turkey-fueled impulse shopping

Ah, nothing like the holidays to usher in good will toward men... and pummel your neighbor for a flat screen. Photo by Ray Tang. / November 26, 2015

splurge.

All these stores will be open again on Friday, except REI, a recreational equipment dealer and largest consumer co-op in the country. Business officials have chosen to close doors Thursday and Friday, urging shoppers to connect with friends and family with their #OptOutside campaign.

REI will pay its 12,000 staff members to not work Nov. 27, and employees, members and fans of the outdoors will be sharing their outside experiences on social media through the holiday season with the #OptOutside tag.

With many business attempting to tone down the rampant capitalism and ridiculous store hours that have become commonplace since the 2000s, what is it that keeps this ongoing craze ... a craze? Could it be that 12 percent of the people shopping for Black Friday are drunk? Or is it being convinced you’re saving hundreds of dollars, when in reality, corporations create cheaply made products designed just for this “holiday” and manipulate the original price, making you awe at the savings you’re not actually saving. On the other hand, it could be making up for the camping trip you never went on this summer—nothing beats sharing the concrete with that urban homeless man who just happens to be a coupon-clipping enthusiast. A poll last year showed only 55 percent of expected people turned out for Black Friday, leaving the fate of this holiday in question for the years to come.

So, where do you fall? Do you support this accident-prone, overdrawn-bank-account, trampling-your-peers-for-a-great-deal -holiday? Or do you skip out of it completely and spend it in Sandpoint with your family and local businesses?

MUSIC

This week’s RLW by Ben Olson

A hometown tradition

By Dustin Hoffman Reader Contributor The Shook Twins have been off honing their indie folk-pop style in Portland, Ore., but they are Sandpoint natives, born and raised. They are headed home to play the Panida Theater on Saturday, Nov. 28. Laurie Shook, with some assistance from multi-instrumentalist bandmate Niko Daoussis, was kind enough to share some thoughts on music, touring and Sandpoint.

Shook Twins return for the “Giving Thanks” show at the Panida Theater

How does playing music affect you?

We grew up singing in choir, and something about singing with many people was so satisfying.

We just never really stopped singing.

I read some positive reviews of you from Neil Gaiman and Langhorn Slim. How do reviews like that make you feel?

Cool [laughs]. Getting quotes is a funny thing. It’s a bit awkward to ask someone to say something nice about you. But when they do, it’s not too hard to believe them and feel super grateful.

What are you listening to?

More pop music these days. We are interested in the tones that they get out of the synths and electronic drums. We really like Gregory Alan Isakov, Chet Faker, Sylan Esso, Bahamas, the songs “Talkin’ Bodies” and “Good For You.” Do you have a recurring theme in your songwriting, something you want to get across to your audience or something that just keeps popping up?

We just accidentally wrote another song about living under water. “Time to Swim” is our song about the excessive rain and what we would do if it never stopped— swim to the market and down through the door and up the aisles, slowly placing items in a shopping cart through the water. Life could be so slow. The new one we just wrote is called “What is Blue” and it’s about living under the sea

I still remember the first time I read “Watership Down” by Richard Adams. My brain wanted to stop, because it was a story about rabbits for crying out loud.

But then I realized it wasn’t just a cutesy children’s story. It was a classic adventure story utilizing the themes of tyranny, oppression and freedom to the fullest extent of the reader’s imagination.

Like Tolkein, Adams invents a whole world inside the pages of his novel, and it’s not just for kids.

LISTEN

It wakes me up. It makes me forget that my back and neck hurt from living in a tour van. It makes me remember to remember the goods things and to focus on them. Dream.

Who or what experience made you want to play music?

READ

in “our own world inside a world (the separate world of the ocean) inside the world (planet earth)” where “we could be secret... we could be silent again.” Something about the slow quietness of underwater living intrigues us and inspires us to write about it. Perhaps we were fish in another life.…

Any advice for young girls— even lads—starting out?

The best thing that we did was move to Portland. No offense to our lovely hometown of Sandpoint, which will always be home, but for the music scene, it was a good move for us. We started by just going out all the time to the venues that we had a shot at playing, meeting bands, chummin’ up with promoters and bookers.

It worked, thankfully. We were able to get a monthly residency at a McMenamins bar, and that was what really started it all. So yeah, be friendly, go out and make yourself known in the musical world.

Tell me an anecdote, something funny or terrifying that you’ve experienced together.

There are hilarious moments all the time thanks to our humor savior Niko Slice (who won’t be at the Panida unfortunately). We drove through a tornado once in Kentucky in July. Katelyn and I were totally freaking out in the back while Kyle and Jimmie (bass and sound) were so calm in the front. Kyle was explaining how tornados work and calmly advised us to move away from the tall

Laurie and Katelyn Shook, as photographed by Kirsten Cohen.

swaying trees. Jimmie held the steering wheel strongly as the wind whipped around us and leaves swirled onto the windshield. We passed the front of the storm and trudged through a downpour of rain for hours till we made it to the gig.

Man, that was a scary one!

Where do you see the band in a few years?

On a sheep cheese farm in western New Zealand milking ewe after ewe. That’s what Niko says!

What do you like about Sandpoint? Any specific people or venues, places to eat and drink?

We love Sandpoint with all our hearts! We are huge supporters of Bonner County Bicycles, Common Knowlege (sooooo sad that they closed), Amish Butter from Winter Ridge, The City Beach, green bay, and black rock trail (duh)! We love that our wonderful family is all in one place! We love playing the Panida, and it’s so rad to have another club in town—the Hive.

Niko is really sad that Coldwater Creek closed. Litehouse dressing... just off the top of our heads.

ple to connect with your music online?

CD Baby is great way to buy the album digitally or a hard copy.

They are such huge supporters of independent music and they have helped us out a lot! http://www. cdbaby.com/Artist/ShookTwins Check out the Shook Twins at shooktwins.com. Watch their video for “Awhile” and link up with them on social media. Then, clear your schedule for the evening of Saturday, Nov. 28 and go see them play the Panida. The doors open at 6:30 p.m., show starts at 7:30 p.m. Advance tickets are available through their website.

Crossword Solution

Indie rock band The Sea and the Cake strikes a great balance between electronic sound and jazzy analog output.

In their 2008 release “Car Alarm,” they show that you can embrace new music styles while relying on strong jazz foundations.

Front man Sam Prekop’s voice is also one of those voices that is both soothing and jarring at the same time.

Easy to listen to, yet with just enough unique jagged edges to prop it above the middle of the field.

WATCH

Every once in awhile, I get an urge to drink whiskey and watch old spaghetti westerns.

While there are hundreds to choose from, Sergio Leone’s “Man with No Name” trilogy remains the best of the best.

The trilogy consists of 1964’s “Fistful of Dollars,” 1965’s “For a Few Dollars More,” and my alltime favorite, 1966’s “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” which has the best soundtrack I’ve ever heard in a western.

A young Clint Eastwood certainly contributed to the success of this trilogy, but everything from the score to the costume designs make these films timeless.

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w o N & Then compiled by

Ben Olson

Each week, we feature a new photograph taken from the same vantage point as one taken long ago. See how we’ve changed, and how we’ve stayed the same.

Historical information provided and verified by Bonner County Museum staff and volunteers. The Museum is located at 611 S. Ella — (208) 263-2344.

The back side of the Bonner County Courthouse, looking southwest.

c. 1960 Copyright www.mirroreyes.com

CROSSWORD ACROSS

The same view today. There have been some additions to the building, as you can see, but it remains very much unchanged from the 1960s.

2015

Panglossian

/pan-GLOS-ee-uhn/

[adjective] 1. Characterized by or given to extreme optimism, especially in the face of unrelieved hardship or adversity.

“The Panglossian attempts of the pimply lad to woo the lady went unnoticed throughout the years.”

Woorf tdhe Week

Corrections: None that we caught, or heard about from our red pen warriors.

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1. Light bulb unit 5. Possesses 9. Powdery dirt 13. River of Spain 14. Trounce 16. Goddess of discord 17. Winglike 18. Female demon 19. A lustrous fabric 20. A bodily fluid 22. Abuses 24. Legumes 26. Style of interior furnishings 27. Goon 30. Spade 33. Grant freedom to 35. Donnybrook 37. 52 in Roman numerals 38. Blockade 69. Type of sword 41. Legislation 70. Peddle 42. Hermit 71. If not 45. Turtle 48. Interstellar cloud DOWN 51. Coureur de bois 52. Death notices 1. Welt 54. Cooking fat 2. With competence 55. Minor planet 3. You jump up and 59. Balderdash down on this 62. Cartoon bear 4. Underwater missile 63. Boredom 5. A wise bird 65. Corrosive 6. “Pow!” 66. Defeat decisively 7. Bedouin 67. Kingly 8. Grins 68. A tart spicy quality 9. Merit

Solution on page 17 10. Murres 11. Sediment 12. Sounds of disapproval 15. Quilt part 21. Angel’s headwear 23. Space 25. Figure (out) 27. Body of a ship 28. Scallion 29. Japanese apricot 31. Oval 32. Rental agreement 34. Mesh 36. Pitcher 39. Snagged

40. Makes a mistake 43. Hard rubber 44. Country bumpkin 46. Tight 47. Perform surgery on 49. About a US quart 50. Makes amends 53. Burn slightly 55. Combustible pile 56. Coil 57. Chills and fever 58. Twofold 60. Skittles 61. Border 64. Sick

I think there is more wisdom in a single drop of rain than there is in all the books in all the libraries in the world. Wait, not rain. Super-concentrated brain juice.

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