Reader April27 2017

APRIL 27• 2017

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VOL. 13 ISSUE 17

TH[ FOR[ST FOR TH[ TR[[S: How Trump's new tariffs on Canadian lumber may help (and hinder) the Nor th Idaho lumber market

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(wo)MAN compiled by

Susan Drinkard

on the street

“Besides the weather changing, what are you looking forward to?”

“Boating on Lake Pend Oreille and landscaping at our new house.”

Janay Smith Assistant Administrator Sandpoint

“We just moved into the area from Moses Lake. We are looking forward to settling in and doing adventurous outdoor things such as fishing. And then football season is right around the corner.”

Wayne Abraham Sandpoint “I am looking forward to building our home near Trestle Creek together this summer—a 400square-foot cabin with straw bale walls.”

READER

DEAR READERS,

Some days you eat the bear.

Some days the bear eats you. But what about getting punched by a kangaroo?

OK, enough silly rhymes. The winner of the caption contest to the photograph at right is Catherine Helms, who provided the winning caption below the photo.

Catherine wins a $25 gift certificate to Eichardt’s Pub, where they won’t punch you in the face, but they will make some of the best garlic fries in North America, perhaps even the world.

In other news, the sun is gradually poking out from the rainclouds more and more as the weeks go by.

Before we know it, it’ll be the beginning of another summer season in the greatest town on earth.

I urge you all to get out and enjoy the natural settings before we have to put our heads to the grindstone and work ourselves silly this summer. It’s such a great time of year to be free from the yoke.

-Ben Olson, Publisher

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

www.sandpointreader.com Publisher: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com Editor: Cameron Rasmusson cameron@sandpointreader.com Zach Hagadone (emeritus) John Reuter (emeritus) Advertising: Jodi Taylor Jodi@sandpointreader.com Contributing Artists: Radek Grzybowski (cover), Ben Olson, Lori Reid, Katie Botkin, Charity Luthy, Cort Gifford.

“And thus ended the short career of National Geographic’s Mike Smith, affectionately nicknamed ‘Punchy.’”

Catharine Helms

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GAME ROOM UPSTAIRS

Rachel Milanez Occupational therapist Hope “We will be doing some traveling to family reunions and we are looking forward to seeing things start to grow, especially the asparagus; we love fresh asparagus.”

Larry McBride Retired construction Hope

“I am looking forward to having a forever home. I’ve been in the shelter nearly nine months now. I must say that small children and men aren’t my favorites. I like the ladies.”

Moses Shy, inquisitive, 60 pounds 5.5 years old Ponderay

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About the Cover This week’s cover features a photo

by Radek Grzybowski of a stack of firewood.

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LETTERS to the editor Do You Need a Break...?

Dear Editor, Do you know a family who has a loved one with Alzheimer’s Disease or some type of dementia or memory issue and are caring for them at home? Is the family caregiver finding it hard to both care for their loved one and also have a life outside of that? Please tell them about the DayBreak Center, an Adult Day Program for people with cognitive impairment. We are a program provided by the Sandpoint Area Seniors, Inc. (“SASi”) and are located at 820 Main St., Sandpoint, Idaho.

We are open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The cost is $10 an hour and there is financial aid available to help defer the cost.

The DayBreak Center is an active social center where adults with cognitive issues can come for all or part of a day, engage in social activities like games and singing, enjoy a hot meal at lunch and be a part of a community. It gives the family caregiver much needed free time to rest and replenish their energy, see friends or do errands.

We have an open door policy and invite you to come in and see what we are about, ask questions and meet the staff. We currently have openings and the first visit is free to see if DayBreak Center is the right fit. Please pass the word on so people who have a need will learn about this wonderful resource in our community.

Anne Haynes DayBreak Center Sandpoint

Humor Important to Readers...

Dear Editor, Humor is something that is greatly undervalued, but extremely important. Especially today. Thanks

to Ben, the Reader values laughs.

With funny pictures, secret wit and contributors like Scarlette Quille and Tim Henney, we can have a balance for all of the awesome articles that fill us with sorrow.

When I read Tim Henney’s contribution in the Easter issue, I laughed aloud. The idea of him mistaking a VERY straight man for a girl that he had been flirting with was funny. The consequential reaction of the VERY straight man bashing the half-blind old fictional villain with his iconic instrument made me laugh aloud.

If there was any mistake on the part of Mr. Henney, it was an innocent one. He must have assumed that everyone involved with the Follies is as good-natured and phobia-free as himself.

Jodi Rawson Sandpoint

Multiculturalism...

Dear Editor, Firstly, I was wondering if someone would stand up and say, “Here I am!” in response to my March 8 letter. With his March 30 letter, that someone was Richard Howell.

Thank you, Richard, for your service and yes, I am a veteran, and no, I have never been married to an immigrant.

Your letter is full of conjecture and somewhat incoherent.

I moved to N. Idaho in 1981, and fear of others had nothing to do with it. When did you move here, Richard, and why? In your letter you said you “fled” Germany. Your use of “fled” tells me that fear was your motivation. Are you part of the recent Redoubt crowd influx who let fear rule their lives?

Winning an argument by putting words/thoughts/concepts into someone else’s mouth is easy. There

was quite a bit of conjecture and supposition as you made my letter mean what you wanted it to. I am quite capable of putting my own words into my own mouth.

Yes, I have no problem with multiculturalism. The fact that you said it as though it is a dirty word tells me that you may be involved with a “white” identity movement.

Should that be the case, then you have no business accusing someone of spreading hate when you should be looking in the mirror.

Your anti-multiculturalism suggests to me you are a fan of Hanns Johst (Nazi poet laureate) who wrote the play “Schlageter” which was performed on Hitler’s 44th birthday. From this play comes the most famous quote attributed to Johst: “When I hear the word culture, I reach for my gun.” Yes indeed, those who have a problem with multiculturalism are most likely fans of Hanns Johst.

So Richard, why do you as a veteran, who put his life on the line, support our Draft Dodger in Chief?

Secondly, John William’s anti-immigrant article in the Reader’s March 30 issue reminded me of something that happened about 30 years ago.

For years the Forest Service had been hiring Mexicans from outside the area to do tree planting in North Idaho. Those living in the area mounted an outcry that these jobs should be offered to locals first (Locals, is code for white). Only one “local” showed up for the job hiring and he quit after only a couple of hours on the job. Thus ended the great “white” tree planting experiment.

Lee Santa Sandpoint

Use of Torture is Illegal...

Dear Editor, While on the campaign trail Mr. Trump repeatedly expressed his

Lake Pend Oreille WATERKEEPER partners with the Eureka Institute to host a fun-filled week of hands-on science, service and stewardship experiences for local students.

Watershed Discovery Camp is geared for kids 8-12 years of age.

If you've got a curious and creative kid in your life, they're sure to have a blast at Watershed Discovery Camp. Full and partial scholarships are available. th - 28th 2017 4 2 July

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Please visit www.LPOW.org for additional information.

willingness and intent to authorize the use of torture on suspected terrorists. He could be unknowingly setting himself up for a rather unique historical precedent.

As most of us are aware, use of torture is an International War Crime as defined by the Geneva Convention and as illustrated by the Nuremberg Trials.

If he does, in fact, authorize the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” against prisoners, there exists the possibility that he could be accused and convicted of the use of torture and face life in prison or execution.

This possibility may seem far fetched, but it could make him the first U.S. President to be convicted of a war crime.

Allan Bopp Sandpoint

Inverse Vote...

Dear Editor, The hyperventilation over the 2016 presidential electoral college process continues to puzzle me. No matter one’s partisan/ideological blindness, per our Constitution Trump won, Clinton lost. Simple, really. However, it’s not simple to those who claim DJT is “not my President.” As Charlie Brown would say, “Good grief!”

The brilliance of the Constitution regarding the electoral college is clear, yet lost on many. In a nutshell, the EC grants voice to low population states that would otherwise be irrelevant.

As one wise man noted, “The strength of people’s opinion about the subject is inversely proportional to their knowledge of it.”

God bless America, and God bless our military.

Steve Brixen Sandpoint

Fire Presentation Beneficial...

Dear Editor: The Selkirk Fire Department is teaming with the Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) to host a timely and interesting wildland fire prevention presentation on Tuesday, May 2 at the Columbia Bank Building from 6-9 p.m.

The presenter is Dr. Paul Hessberg. He has over 27 years of wildland fire and landscape ecology experience. He and his crew have assembled a fast moving 70 minute presentation using compelling video and photographs. The presentation combines an accurate fire history of our North Idaho environment with forecasts for our wildland fire risks.

Several local residents attended this presentation last month and found it to be enlightening and appropriate for our community.

Despite our recent wet weather patterns, we are always only a dry week or two away from serious fire danger. With the warming weather, now is a great time for all of us to plan and act on our individual wildland fire prevention plans.

To support this wildland property owner effort and responsibility, representatives from IDL, Bonfire.

Bonner County Emergency Management, Selkirk Fire, and the National Resources Conservation Service will staff information tables before and after the presentation. The objective of their efforts will be to answer questions and provide information for land owners regarding their wildland fire prevention work.

The presentation is free and refreshments will be served.

Respectfully, Ron Stocking Fire Chief, Selkirk Fire Dept Sandpoint

PERSPECTIVES

A local’s view of the Scotchman Peaks

By Sandy Compton Reader Contributor Just to be clear, my name is Sandy Compton. I’m Program Coordinator for Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness.

I’m involved — and invested — in moving the Scotchman Peaks from proposed wilderness to the National Wilderness Preservation System — Wilderness with a capital W. On both sides of the border.

My family has been in the Clark Fork Valley for 100 years.

My maternal grandparents arrived at Cabinet, Idaho, on March 17, 1917. My mom and dad brought me home to the Blue C Ranch in 1952. My first hike in the Scotchmans was into the east fork of Blue Creek at three years old in 1954.

I grew up near Clark Fork, where my family has shopped and had many friends for decades. We swam and picnicked at Sam Owen’s, ate at Herschell’s Lighthouse, bought new school jeans at Emma’s and gas from Wally Erickson and Bob Hayes. I moved — first with family and later as an adult — between Idaho and Montana several times before settling just east of the border 30 years ago.

So, I’m not a newcomer — and I don’t drive a Subaru. But my sister does.

My territory is bounded on the west by the Selkirks, the east by Thompson River, the south by the Clark Fork/Coeur d’Alene divide and the north by the Kootenai River. Like most territories, it has fuzzy edges, but the closer to the center, the wilder it gets; and more well-defined. The center is the heart of the Scotchmans.

So, I have my own selfish reasons for working to designate the Scotchman Peaks as Wilderness. I wish to keep a refuge from our technology- and machine-filled world; where a body can be on the ground without dragging along a culture

that insists on separating humans from their planet. I want a chunk of nature’s best work available to visit — without fences, roads, power lines, motors, streetlights or any of the things the modern world uses to delineate and control the environment. I wish to save a place like that for my family. And your family.

Recently, FSPW encountered resistance to the idea of designation from some members of the Hope-Clark Fork community and a few other, right-leaning, people from Bonner County — and other places. In response to these concerns, FSPW facilitated a January meeting in Clark Fork.

The opposition co-opted the meeting, but it was FSPW that set it up in response to their concerns and attended in good faith.

A recent letter to the editor stated that FSPW was “shamed” into doing so. Why would we be ashamed? FSPW has always been open and forthcoming about their goals, intentions and methods.

Since FSPW began in 2005, they have sponsored, organized and presented at hundreds of public events, a number of which were in Clark Fork and Hope. FSPW has faithfully distributed its newsletter, Peak Experience, in both communities since 2005. The local Bonner County Daily Bee, Sandpoint Reader and River Journal; and the regional Spokesman Review newspapers have published hundreds of articles about FSPW efforts and events. For the past 8 years, FSPW has granted scholarships to Clark Fork High School seniors. The Scotchman Peaks Annual Plein Air Paintout has been based in Hope since 2010. Since 2011, FSPW volunteers and staff have helped keep the East Fork, Morris Creek, Regal Creek, Goat Mountain and Scotchman Peak trails open for all users, including hikers, hunters, trappers and stock users.

Anyone who attended a Clark Fork Fourth of July Parade in the

past decade must have noticed the FSPW presence, since it’s won “best float” many times.

FSPW has provided outdoor education and opportunities to kids from Clark Fork High and Hope Elementary. FSPW volunteers have trekked hundreds of miles on both sides of the Lightning Creek drainage doing weed surveys to help protect native forage and provide healthier wildlife populations. They’ve planted hundreds of willow and cottonwood slips in an effort to mitigate streamside damage caused by floods that continue to ravage the drainage. FSPW continues to work in Lightning Creek and the Scotchmans to see what can be done about restoring the keystone species, whitebark pine.

The letter-to-the-editor writer also stated that because FSPW “controlled the mic,” some people who wanted to speak against the proposal “left early.” I was in charge of the mic. My job was to keep comments pertinent and respectful, for which I was yelled at several times and threatened physically at least once. My experience was that those who wanted to speak against the proposal got their opportunity and did so, often in loud, accusatory, and somewhat uninformed voices. The loudest “protesters” included Redoubters who grew up elsewhere and brought their questionable ideas for a “brave new world” to the inland Northwest not so long ago. A number of them didn’t live very near eastern Bonner County, for that matter, and many left before supporters of the proposal had their say.

Some opponents to Scotchman Peaks Wilderness designation wish to make it a divisive, us-against-them issue. They cry foul and assert that they have been kept in the dark about the Forest Service’s planning process. If they’ve been in the dark, maybe they’ve chosen to keep their heads in the sand. They as-

sert that they have been slighted, ignored and left out, and then snap at us when we reach out to them.

FSPW has never viewed the issue as divisive, but as unifying. We have always sought input from others, worked to find common ground and collaborated with a hugely diverse group of people, organizations and businesses. The proposal for Wilderness in the Scotchmans has had supporters in Hope and Clark Fork since the beginning, from all across the political spectrum.

FSPW is not “fighting for wilderness” in the Scotchmans, but “working for Wilderness.”

FSPW is not against something.

We are for something, something we feel will benefit many, including the people of Hope

and Clark Fork, their children and their grandchildren. The Friends are working for Wilderness, and we will continue to do so.

The Inoculant

by Lori Reid

‘The Inoculant’ comic sponsored by: The

law firm of Elsaesser Jarzabek Anderson Elliott Macdonald.

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NEWS

Cedar Street design approved

MEMORIAL FIELD UPDATE

This rendering gives an idea of the street view along the re-designed Cedar Street. Courtesy Century West Engineering

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff A vision of Cedar Street under the city’s planned downtown revitalization project is beginning to take shape.

The Sandpoint City Council approved a plan for Cedar Street between Fifth and Second avenues this week, a step that paves the way for additional phases of the broader downtown revitalization project. It is a the culmination of a lengthy design and public engagement process undertaken by Century West Engineering.

After several public workshops, Dennis Fuller of Century West Engineering said they were able to accommodate several suggestions into the completed design. The plans include a variety of tree species selected for aesthetic value and urban hardiness, wider sidewalks, artistic improvements and maintenance features like storm gardens. The project will also include substantial sewer work, with replacement beginning in August.

A broad base of community groups contributed to elements of the final design. Business owners were largely concerned with maintaining benches and bike racks along the street.

Among the concerns of the Historic Preservation Commission were the inclusion of historic-influenced furniture and design elements, plants approved by the Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society and Idaho Extension Office of Master Gardeners and seat wall materials of either brick or stone native to North Idaho.

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The Arts Commission requested eight-by-eight-foot pads for mounting art in the center of pedestrian bulbs.

Members also asked that the art areas use different joint patterns to differentiate them. These art areas will provide a visual continuity with the Jeff Jones intersection, and Century West removed several storm gardens from the final design to make room for them.

The Tree Committee selected a suite of trees that included honey locust, ginkgo, bowhaul maple, tulip, green vase, eastern red bud and flowering pear, a palate from which the landscape architect can select three to five species.

They also recommended removing the tree grates and fencing that appeared in earlier designs. Other recommendations concerned soil accommodation, access to sunlight and optimal spacing to ensure healthy and mature trees that don’t need replacement.

The Pedestrian and Bike Commission requested the inclusion of “sharrows,” or road markings reminding road users that the area is a shared space between cars and bicyclists. The overall design, as a result, shifted to be friendlier for bikes and foot traffic. While Fuller said in the council meeting that Cedar Street wasn’t included as a designated bike route, council members pointed out that bicyclists will still commonly use the street and felt sharrows were a low-cost way to promote safety mindfulness.

Top: Working under cover from the recent rains, Norcon crew are framing at the back of the stadium. Bottom: The final covering for the roof is in place, stacked in rows atop the stadium roof, awaiting installation. Photos by Cort Gifford.

Residents to march for climate action

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff

Sandpoint residents concerned about climate change inaction will take to the streets Saturday, joining thousands of like-minded people worldwide.

The People’s Climate March will take place Saturday, April 29, from 1-3 p.m., with participants beginning at Farmin Park and marching to Sandpoint Community Hall. The event is supported by several environmental and conservation groups throughout the area, including Idaho Conservation League and 350Sandpoint.org.

“North Idaho will march in solidarity with thousands world-wide in over 200 U.S. cities, [as well as] Canada, Europe, Japan, Africa, Central and South America,” said Rebecca Holland, one of the event planners. “We are demanding the Clean Air Act be reinstated so the U.S. will stay on track with our commitment to the critically important 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.”

A similar event will take place in Boise, where hundreds are anticipated to march on the Idaho Capitol Building. The event is intended as a rebuke to legislative actions like the removal of climate change references in Idaho school text books.

NEWS

The Forest for the Trees:

How Trump’s new tariffs on Canadian lumber may help (and hinder) the North Idaho lumber market

By Ben Olson Reader Staff The Trump administration announced Monday it would enact up to 24 percent tariffs on lumber shipped into the United States. The tariffs come after President Trump’s continued election campaign promises to use them on imports from Mexico, China and Canada.

The tariffs were announced Monday evening after trade talks on dairy products fell through, said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

“It has been a bad week for U.S.-Canada trade relations,” said Ross in a prepared statement.

The imposed tariffs were no surprise for local lumber companies, who have been following this situation closely for decades.

“We’ve been deeply ingrained in this issue,” said an executive at a local timber company that asked not to be identified.

“It’s been going on for 20 years. We’ve been involved with it on a daily basis since it expired a year and a half ago.”

The executive said the tariff actually turned out to be lower than originally expected.

“The forecasted tariff was 30 percent and it came in on average at 20 percent,” said the executive. “This was nothing that the industry wasn’t anticipating. Anything that potentially levels the playing field between the U.S. and Canada is beneficial to U.S. producers.”

Adam Hazelwood, who works in North American Sales for San Industries – a lumber exporter in British Columbia – has a different point of view.

“It’s all pretty fresh right now for sure,” said Hazelwood. “We’re trying to stay loyal with some of the orders that we have on the books right now. We’re going to be reassessing, and taking the next few weeks to slow things down and not quote anything.

Everything is still up in the air.”

Hazelwood said the tax isn’t the only tariff Canadian lumber could be hit with.

“The 20 percent is in place, so right there our lumber prices go up 20 percent,” said Hazelwood. “But I’m still trying to get a hold of this anti-dumping thing, which is another 15 percent. That could mean an added tariff of 35 percent.”

The anti-dumping duty is a protectionist tariff that the US imposes on foreign imports that it believes are priced below fair market value. Dumping is a process where a company exports its product at a price lower than the price it charges in its home market.

According to the U.S. Lumber Coalition, a preliminary anti-dumping ruling is scheduled for June 23, 2017.

“I don’t get it,” said Hazelwood. “I get

W RLD NEWS Le Pen, Macron win first round of French elections

Milled lumber sits at a North Idaho mill awaiting shipment. Courtesy photo.

more money to sell our products in the U.S. than in Canada. That’s not dumping.”

Hazelwood estimates his growing company exports approximately 20 percent if its product to the U.S. – almost all of it cedar.

“We’ve just aggressively gone after the U.S. market, so this is bad timing for us,” said Hazelwood, who said his company just bought a mill on Vancouver Island and has been bidding timber sales. Now these plans might be put on hold.

Back in the US, the regional timber company executive isn’t sure if the imposed tariff will have an impact on increased U.S. timber production: “It might assist in economics of the timber industry in North Idaho. I don’t know if it’s going to alter production volumes … it does help with the economics of the baseline on pricing.”

Lumber imports to the U.S. are split into thirds; one-third coming from Canada, onethird coming from the south, and a final third produced in the Pacific Northwest.

“If prices sustain at a higher level, there is a possibility of increased lumber production out of all U.S. lumber operations,” said the executive. “If there is less Canadian lumber to fill the U.S. needs, that slack has to be picked up by domestic production or European imports.”

But Hazelwood believes the tariff may actually hurt certain U.S. lumber buyers; namely new home builders and those who require cedar.

“It’s all dealing with cedar,” he said.

“The cedar is all coming out of British Columbia. I guess we’re just worried about if the consumers have to pay an extra 25-35 percent for cedar, when do they start looking for alternatives to the products?”

Hazelwood said he has several U.S. customers who are opposed to this tariff because it will drive the price of cedar up dramatically. The cedar that is selling on the market comes primarily from old growth forests, most of which are located in Canada. Cedar has a high demand because of its use with fences, building and because it naturally resists decay.

“A lot of my U.S. customers are opposed

to this,” he said. “They buy all their cedar in Canada. Three customers actually told me they wrote letters to the government to exempt cedar. This is pretty much where all the supply is coming from.”

The National Association of Home Builders believe the tax will hit new home builders more than any, estimating new home prices will increase by 6 percent.

“For builders, it’ll increase the cost of construction by about $3,000 on the average home, which unfortunately will be passed onto consumers,” said Jerry Hower, CEO of the organization.

The group argues that higher lumber prices will slow down construction activity, eventually costing the U.S. around 8,000 jobs and $500 billion in lost wages.

The lumber dispute between the U.S. and Canada isn’t new by any means. It is a contentious battle that reaches back decades. In the 1980s, U.S. lumber companies began alleging that Canadian government had been unfairly subsidizing lumber.

The U.S. Lumber Coalition released a statement Monday asserting that the imposed tariff proves that Canadian lumber companies have been subsidized by their government with the intent to harm U.S. manufacturers and workers.

Fifteen years ago, the U.S. imposed a 30 percent tariff on Canadian imported softwood lumber, a move Canadian firms say cost their industry 30,000 jobs. Canada denies the allegations of subsidizing.

In 2004, the World Trade Organization sided with Canada and two years later the neighboring countries came to a temporary agreement. This agreement expired last October, prompting lumber buyers on both sides of the border to expect changes.

“This timeline was set previously,” the executive said. “It was already in place, regardless of if it was Trump or Clinton in the White House.”

With President Trump indicating he’s ready to begin negotiating a change to NAFTA, the tariff on Canadian lumber could be the first shot in a long and costly trade war with one of the most staunch allies of the U.S.

PARIS - Far-right populist candidate Marine Le Pen and pro-EU candidate Emmanuel Macron advanced to the second round of France’s presidential election on Sunday.

The upcoming election marks another challenge to the political elite, along with Brexit and the election of President Trump.

The former leader of the far-right National Front party, Le Pen is perhaps best known for her anti-immigration stance. Le Pen was endorsed by President Trump, who said; “She’s the strongest on borders, and she’s the strongest on what’s been going on in France.”

Macron, a former investment banker, has never run for elected office, but found himself the front runner to become France’s next president.

New copy of the Declaration of Independence found BOSTON - A parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence was recovered by researchers at Harvard, the Boston Globe reports. The document is thought to have belonged to the Duke of Richmond, a supporter of the colonists during the American Revolutionary War. The document is said to be dated to the 1780s, and was likely made in New York or Philadelphia.

Scientists march to protest Trump’s policies WASHINGTON - Scientists and science lovers gathered for the “March for Science” on Saturday, April 21 to protest President Trumps policies, which they say show an alarming disregard for science and research.

The demonstration in Washington, D.C., kicked off with tens of thousands in attendance, featuring speakers like Bill Nye “The Science Guy,” as well as Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the doctor who brought attention to the Flint water crisis.

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Environmental lessons from Vietnam

By Katie Botkin Reader Contributor Bouquets: •Special thanks to Nicole French and Kim Helms at Petal Talk for delivering the Reader every week to Pack River Store and Samuels Store. We appreciate the help in distribution!

Barbs: •United Airlines has a long way to go to earn our trust as travelers back. The video showing a 69-year-old passenger being forcibly removed and dragged off a flight to make room for United employees was terrible in every way. You’d think that after a public relations SNAFU like that, the company would be a little nicer to their customers.

Not so. When Cadie and I were flying back from Vietnam, we had already traveled from Ho Chi Minh City to Tokyo, then Tokyo to Denver. Our original last flight from Denver to Spokane was supposed to take off after a two-hour layover, but United decided to cancel that flight outright and push all the passengers to a flight taking off five hours later. So, after traveling 19 hours, we were faced with the reality that we’d have a seven-hour layover in the Denver airport. They never sent an email or notified us about the change in any way, causing a problem also for the friend who was supposed to pick us up in Spokane five hours later than we originally planned. Instead of commiserating, or showing sympathy, or simply being human about it, United employees were brash, rude and curt when I asked for an explanation. They offered no compensation, and further, they were perturbed with me for not understanding that “flights change, it’s just policy.” I’ll never fly United again, and I encourage all of you, dear readers, to think twice about flying them, too. Passengers have rights; we’re not sheep.

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I am in Vietnam, freshly arrived from Southern China.

Shenzhen is an industrial city whose air is relatively clean for China, according to all the Westerners I meet freshly arrived from Beijing and Shanghai. It is in Shenzhen where I became instantly sick from the pollution.

My lungs burned. My eyes stung. My skin began breaking out. I had never wanted to leave a place so much, and I felt relief looking out onto the green swaths of Vietnam as my plane hovered in for the landing.

But now I touch a mango tree and stare down as its roots twist into the muddy soil of the Mekong Delta. Irrigation channels march between the trees, opaque brown water littered with floating trash. I wonder how much dioxin, if any, lingers in the soil and the water.

Dioxin is the chemical from Agent Orange that ravaged the nation only a few decades ago and whose congenital affects on the Vietnamese population continue until the present day.

I wonder how much pollution from the bustling developing region the tree takes in. I study the bark and I can’t help thinking the tree does not look particularly healthy. If I eat fruit from this tree or farmed fish from the cages downstream, drawing nourishment from this once-contaminated area, will dioxin find its way into my system? Will my future children be born with disease?

The United States gets food from any number of places, so this mango tree may be feeding an upscale suburban mom in California even as I stare at it. High levels of dioxin have been made illegal, but it certainly was not always; hence why the US government dropped it in copious amounts.

The intention was not to kill civilians and blind babies, melt

the skin of old women, damn future generations to arrive into the world without limbs. The intention was merely to address the plant coverage of the fertile delta — thin it out; destroy the civilian food sources and civilian trees that fed and hid the enemy.

Many other pesticides and herbicides still in use in the US today are classified as teratogenic, meaning they may cause birth defects. Some toxic pesticides are illegal in the United States, but it is not always illegal for chemical companies to sell them elsewhere — shipping substances found to maim children to developing countries. But in a global economy, these products do not stay there: produce may be shipped back to the US and consumed.

In an era where environmental protection is under threat and local authorities in Idaho express disdain for environmental regulation, it is important to remember the potential cost of ignorance and free enterprise. Where substances have ill affects on human populations, and particularly if the humans in question are not actively making a choice to consume the substances themselves, they should be illegal. It’s illegal to poison

A photograph showing the effects of Agent Orange in Vietnam in the late 1970s. It can be seen at the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by Katie Botkin.

A local Vietnamese woman selling fruit in the Mekong Delta. Photo by Katie Botkin.

the town water supply. This should apply to companies out to make a profit from poisoning the water supply just as much as it applies to the person doing it from sheer spite.

And in a global era, the town water supply can extend far beyond the town. The well extends, both figuratively and literally, to any number of sources. Without stringent oversight, how can we be sure they are safe?

My joy at returning home to Idaho is tinged with worry. Here we have the largest roadless territory in the lower 48 states, one of the few remaining places in the world

where wild things prosper and where the air is pristine. Where the water is good, where we do not fear poison from industrial waste. Once that is gone, it is gone.

Libby, Montana, is not far away: the rural population felt the effects of asbestos from the local vermiculite mine for years after those effects were recognized—400 people died; around 3,000 more suffer illness from exposure.

Clean air, water and food are beneficial for everyone, regardless of politics, and this becomes all the more clear when you witness the lack of them.

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Mad about Science:

By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist Whelp, you had to figure this one was coming eventually.

Mad About Science likes to talk about big and powerful forces of nature, and it doesn’t tend to get a whole lot bigger or a whole lot more powerful than a black hole. So why such a long wait?

Well, to be embarrassingly honest, it’s because black holes are an incredibly complex subject.

Not like “Silly Brenden doesn’t know how this stuff works”—more like Stephen Hawking didn’t fully comprehend every aspect of Black Holes.

We have a fairly elemental understanding of how they work and most of what we know is purely theoretical.

So what is it?

One way to look at it is that a black hole is a dead star, but even that is an inaccurate means to describe it. Black holes are very much alive.

However, it starts when very massive stars, at least 20 times the size of the sun, reach the end of their life. Generally, within the star, the inward pull of gravity and the outward push of pressure equalize each other. However, once the star’s core starts running out of fuel and begins to fuse iron, everything hits the fan. Iron takes an immense amount of energy to fuse, and the star begins spending energy faster than it can make it (been there, big guy).

The star will eject its outer shell in a superheated blast called a supernova, and the inward pull of gravity will at last conquer the outward push of pressure, causing the remain10 /

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Brought to you by:

Black Holes der of the star to collapse in on itself to create a singularity, a point of incredible gravitational pull with an infinite density at the heart of a black hole.

Eventually, black holes do “die.” This happens through a mechanism called Hawking Radiation. This is an absurdly complex subject, and I’m a word crunch, so to sum it up, the black hole pulls negatively charged particles in, spits positively charged particles out and slowly decreases its mass over time in doing so. For small black holes, this can happen in fractions of a second, while for large black holes it can take what we can only assume is close to an eternity.

Black Holes come in a lot of different sizes, ranging from microscopically small to brain-bogglingly huge. We’re created tiny ones in CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) that last for only fractions of fractions of seconds (don’t worry, they can’t grow big enough to devour the earth), and we even have one chugging away at the heart of our galaxy.

The black holes at the centers of galaxies are a special breed, ones differentiated by the appropriate moniker of “Supermassive Black Hole.”

They’re like turbo-charged engines, if our galaxy were a car. The one at the heart of our galaxy is known as Sagittarius A*, and we’ve actually got some pretty neat X-ray images of it online. Alas, given the nature of black holes consuming light, you can’t really “see” it, but you can see the ejecta, the gases flying out of it at incredible speeds.

To truly appreciate the scale of what I’m talking about, let’s pretend for a minute that the earth (7,917.5 mile diameter) is a large orange, perfectly three inches across. That’s pretty cool, and tasty.

The sun (864,400 miles across) is about 109 times the size of Earth, which would make it a 27.5 foot wide house.

Care to wager how far apart from each other they’d be?

There would be about 2,958 feet between the house and the orange. That’s the same as laying CenturyLink Field end to end 8.216~ times over between the two. (This is an AU, or Astronomical Unit, which is about 93 million miles).

Comparing the size of the Supermassive Black Hole (roughly 27 million mile diameter) at our galaxy’s center to these objects, it would be an Iowa Class battleship coming in at about 870 feet, guns pointed straight at our little house sun (which is a little over 31 times smaller than it).

That was a lot of huge numbers thrown at your face, so let me go over it again: The earth is an orange.

The sun is a house. The center of our Milky Way is a World War 2 battleship.

Our galaxy, meanwhile, is an estimated 100,000 light years across. One light year is 5,874,589,152,000 miles, roughly. Now multiply that by 100,000 and you basically just slap 6 digits on to that.

That’s the width of our galaxy, 5,874,589,152,000,000,000 miles. Five-point-eight sextillion miles.

To stretch from edge to

edge, you’d have to put 21.75 billion Supermassive Black Holes side by side.

Yet we only need one at the center, with such immense gravitational force to bind the whole thing together and make it turn at an astonishing 550,000 miles per hour. Our solar system makes a full rotation of the galaxy once every 230 million years because of the pull of a cosmic body 26,000 light years

away from us.

That’s pretty staggeringly huge and awesome when you stop and think about it.

Does your brain hurt? Hopefully nothing is hemorrhaging.

If it is, though, don’t worry: That’s the feeling of knowledge seeping into your skull.

Also, you may want to see a doctor, I don’t think your brain is supposed to bleed from learnin’.

Random Corner ld...

Our mysteriousdistwurbor ing, mysterious facts in the world that There are some think and be wary. leave you scratching your head. Read,

• Found over 2,000 years after her death, Lady Dais of the Han Dynasty is one of the world’s most well-preserved ancient human remains. Her skin was still soft, her arms and legs could flex at the joints. She was buried in a mysterious liquid that scientists still can’t replicate.

• Scientists are still baffled as to why humans have different blood types at all. Karl Landsteiner, in the early 1900s, discovered the types of blood, and that certain kinds cannot mix, but nobody really knows why.

• Nearly 90 different commercial airliners have gone missing in the last seven decades. No one knows where they went, or what happened to the vanished planes.

• In 1876 it mysteriously rained meat over a Kentucky area near Rankin in Bath County. “The Kentucky Meat Shower” was studied by the Newark Scientific Association and the meat was found to contain lung tissue from either a horse or infant, muscle tissue and cartilage.

•When asked about death, Koko the gorilla famous for knowing sign language, responded by signing, “Comfortable hole, bye.”

• In 1975 odd and anxious behaviors of dogs and other animals in the Chinese city of Haicheng led to an evacuation of a city where, hours later, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake hit. The earthquake destroyed nearly 90 percent of the city of 90,000 people.

NOT

We the undersigned, do support the proposed Scotchman Peaks Wilderness!

Abraham Collett Abraham Weaver Adam Finney Adam Hartman Alan Roach Albert Schenck Alex Mays Alex Schultz Alfred Stoffels Alicia Heigis Alisa Feist Allen Myers Allie Whitt Allissa Riggins Amanda Thompson Amber Burgess Amber Montgomery Andres Hobbs Andrew Hunton Andy Duncan Angie Stevens Anthony Hendrickson April Darling April Owens Ardella Book Arlan Ruen Arron Umphenour Art Rosholt Ashley Aumick Ava Schultz Avid Belville Bailey Lindgren Barbara Chapman Barbara Thompson Barry Smith Barry Smith Bart Widgren Beaux Waggoner Ben Feist Ben Gunter Ben Jones Betty Rosholt Bill Bostock Bill Leach Bill Weston Bill Widgren Blaine Stevens Bob Flowers Bobbie Kennedy Bobbie Komanec Brad Corkill Brandi Jones Bree Church Brett Evens Brian Book Brian Colin Brian Bailey Brian Wilcox Brianna Chandler Brower Lindgren Byron Ruen Caleb Bopp Caleb Holloway Candy Callen Carmen Daugherty

Caroline Allen Carolyn Hogan Caryl Abbott Casey Schneider Cassie Palaniuk Chad Hays Chadrick Denney Charlene Highman Charles Polan Chaunce Nesbitt Chris Gavin Chris Moore Chris Morlen Chris Scarlett Christian Taylor Christina Goodwin Christina Smith Christine Boward Chuck Weiskoff Cierra Piazza Clint Gunter Corey Vogel Cornel Rasor Craig Hewitt Craig Scarbrough Curtis Riggs Dale Greene Dale Kedish Dan Boardner Dan Hieronymus Dan Jones Dan Baker Daniel Plante Daniel Stevens Daniel Vaniman Daryl Ramey Dave Constantin Dave Widgren David Anderson David Banning David Higgins David Maben David Mac Farlane David Mann David Reynolds David Teska David Boyle Deandra Foster Debra Trinen Debrah Williams Debres Mathews Del Hathaway Denise Bangle Dennis Jaspersin Dennis Mccracken Dennis Yaeger Dennis McIntire Dennise McMillen Derek Hatcher Derek Phaup Derwin Workman Deyvon Powell Don Green G Donald Banning Donald Madrid

Donald Gunter Doug Bottcher Doug Gunter Doug Talbot Douglas Manuel Douglas Robertson Drew Westfall Ebba Foster Ed Peters Edel Myers Edward Foote Edward Gould Elma Schultz Emily Feist Emily Myers Eric Babcock Eric Cox Erik Christensen Erin Montgomery Fawn Thompson Frances Schenck Frank Holbrook Frank Inman Gabe Komanec Gail Anderson Garret Belgarde Garrett Pomerkan Gary Tittes Gayle Beshir Geoff Smith Georgana Diffey George Bloor Gerald Boward Gerald Felch Gerald McGinnis Glenn Geignetter Gracie Johnson Gregory Shoemaker Hal Overland Harold Bradohan Harold Davis Heather Haller Herbert Wiens Hjohn Holbert Holly Banning Hugh Gavin Jack Hammack Jack Miller Jackie Marth Jake Feist Jake Steen Jake Williams James Cheslic James Cox James Kane James Mitchell James Wade Jamie Westman Jan Sletager Jana Cates Jaraiya Williams Jason Guthrie Jason Palmer Jay West Jay White

Jeanne Roach Jeannette Craig Jeff Hewitt Jeffery Devine Jeffery Stevens Jennifer Bartlett Jerene Hobbs Je Jerry Dexter Jerry Fulker Jerry Myers Jess Parker Jessica Drinnon Jessica Lindgren Jessica Shipton Jim Bunte Joan Davis Jody Shapiro Joe Eberley Joe LaCroix Joe Swales Joe Gibbs John Balison John Boehme John Carr John Pearson John Travers John Wells John Darling Jolene Geisinger Jonathan Bates Jonathan Butler Jordan Adams Jordan Hammack Jordan Speelmon Josh Palaniuk Josh Travers Josh Edlund Josh Robinson Joshua Haller Joyce Bordenave Joyer Bisagno Justin Webb Justin Snyder Kaelene Bare Kari Komanec Kathleen Alderman Kathrine Stevens KC Chisley Keith Bookey Keith Felts Keith Pitts Kelly Ruen Kelsey Decleve Ken Bosker Ken Stevens Kenneth Putnam Kevin Lowery Kevin Sawyer Kiana Crum Kimberly Palaniuk Kory Watson Kristine Gunter Krystal Travers Kurt Caldwell Lacey Lindgren

Lana Kay Hanson Larry Cross Larry Loveless Laura Linjer Laura Moye Layne Mathews Leah Moore Moo Levi Palaniuk Lewis Speelmon Linda Feist Linda McDaniel Lindell Walley Lindsay Feist Lloyd Potter Lonnie Lockman Lori Potter Louis Dash Luke Meglich Lydia Phillips Lyle Anderson Mac Stevens Madison Gunter Marcy Palaniuk Marilyn Whittier Mark Parker Mark Stevens Mark Linscott II Marshica Dudley Mary Ann Myers Maryann Jeffers Matt Peak Matt Linscott Mathew Linscott Matt Lindgren Maureen Snyder Mau Max Icardo Max Schultz Melinda Widgren Michael Burgess Michael Cresina Michael Emerson Michael Euland Michael Lindgren Michael Myers Michael Phillips Michael Ward Mick McCrum Mike Conn Mike Creegan C Mike Dulaney Mike Gear Mike Gunter Mike Perry Mike Travers Mira Gunter Mitch Widgren Widg Myria Ragland Nancy Hadley Nathan Howlett Nathan Jones Nathan Jeffres Nicholas Barnett Nick Oas Niko Holborn Nora Kair

Norman Everhardt Orrin Thompson Pam Courtright Pam Gray Pam Meglich Pamela Schenck Pat Derr Pat Gunter Patricia Speelmon Patrick Raynor Patrick Spence Patrick Hulce Paul Mitchell Pete Thompson Peter Feist Phil Lassen Phil Voer Phil Whichman Philip McGuire Raelynn Meglich Randall Sharp Ray Simmons Rebecca Gunter Rebekah Holderman Reggie Ross Renae Feist Richard Harter Richard Howell Richa Richard Shults Richard Weare Rick Dettwiler Rick Mauer Riley Feist Robben Hilton Robert Maricle Robert Riggins Robert Bristol Robert Patuto Robert Hays Robert Moore Robert Sherrill Robin Lantrip Robina Scarlett Rod Berget Rodney Darling Roland Derr Ron Hager Ron Johnson Ron Shadel Ron Allen Ronald Caldwell Ronald Crawford Ronnie Regan Ross Calvert Roy Meyer Roy Whittemon Russ Osborn Russell Schenck Russell Warner Ryan Eagle Samantha Chandler Samantha Smith Samual Hall Scott Finney Scott Foster

Scott MorďŹ tt Scott Tiemeter Scott Smith Selden Herron Shane Smith Sharon Kennedy Shawn Slinkard Slinka Shawna Smith Shyeayre Wilson Stacey Walley Stacy Philbrick Stan Fisher Stan Potter Stephanie Beebe Stephen Denham Stephen Youtz Steve Richardson Steven Spanski Susan Sutton Tami Axelson Tammy Blankenship Tammy Voer Tanya Nelson Taylor Daugherty TelThompson Teressa Gunter Terri Nelson Terry Cravens Terry Davidson Terry Stevens Tessa Vogel Theresa Stevens Thomas Anderson Thomas Fergal Thomas Swales Jr Tim Richy Tim Rogier Togi Kyllonen Tony McDermett Tracie Finney Travis Kiebert Travis Miller Travis Smith Travis Hunt Tyrel Thompson Vance Geisinger Vicki Colin Vicki Woodward Wade Stevens Wayne Broehl Wayne Ridley William Kessler William McAdam William Seay Wind Grayghost Zack Brown B Zeb Rosenthal Scott Myers Stan Myers Dan Roos Kendal Roos Don Roos Tom Albertson Tracie Roos Douglas Burt Dan Burt Jan Burt

Paid for by Russell Schenck, David Reynolds and Stan Myers.

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event t h u r s d a y

Twice as nice!

Beat the rain with our famous lattes!

located on the historic

CEDAR ST. BRIDGE in Sandpoint, Idaho

www.cedarstbistro.com

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30 1 2 3 4

Learn to dance the Country Two-Step 7pm @ Sandpoint West Athletic Club With instructor Diane Peters. 610-1770 Dollar Beers!

8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Live Music w/ Truck Mills Trio 9pm-12am @ 219 Lounge

‘The Frontline is Everywhere’ workshop 5-8pm @ Sandpoint Library Please join regional climate and indigenous acti for this workshop discussing pipelines and other sil fuel invasions to courtrooms and prisons. We to discuss how to build strong movement defe against the Standing Rock Dakota Access Pipelin

Live Music w/ Brian Jacobs Live Music on the Bridge 6-8pm @ The Wine Bar on the Cedar St. Bridg 5:30-8:30pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Brian’s music covers folk, rock and soul Great wine and music for a Friday night Live Music w/ Harold’s IGA Live Music w/ Devon Wade Live Music w/ Chris Ly 8pm @ Ol’ Red’s Pub 9pm @ 219 Lounge 6pm @ Arlo’s Ristorante The 219 welcomes back our Sandpoint’s country star Live Music Live Music w/ Mostly Harmless worldy, weary travelers!

6:30-9:30pm 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Live Music w/ Harold’s IGA 6-9pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Harold’s IGA features indie folk rock originals and covers

Greasy Fingers Birthday Bash 2-6pm @ Greasy Fingers Bikes n’ Repairs Swing by shop for some music, refreshments, raffles, discounts and some good ol’ times on our birthday celebration day!

Live Music w/ Brian Jacobs 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Meet and Greet with LPSD School Board Solo vocalist and guitar player candidate Lonnie Williams 5:30-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Live Music w/ Devon Wade Meet and ask questions and get to know 9pm @ 219 Lounge this candidate for LPOSD School Board Boot scootin’ country night Live Music w/ The Serf Kings, High TreaNeighbor John Kelly and the son Ammunition and Homewreckr Atomic Blues Band 6pm @ Ol’ Red’s Pub 8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Punk, rock and metal night at Ol’ Red’s Sandpoint Chess Club 9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee Meets every Sunday at 9am. All are welcome

Monday Night Blues Jam w/ Truck Mills 7:30pm @ Eichardt’s Pub

Live Mus 6-8pm @

Night Out Karaoke 9pm-12am @ 219 Lounge Sing your hearts out, my pretties Robotics with Lego Mindstorm 3pm @ Clark Fork Library

Open Mic Night Lego Club 5-8pm @ SKåL Taproom 2pm @ Sandpoint Library Kids of all ages are welcome to come Sandpoint Photo Club 5pm @ Sandpoint Library and create with open Lego play Learn and share with other photographers!

Dollar Beers!

8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub

Cedar 10am-

Game Night at the Niner with Racheal 9pm @ 219 Lounge It’s a fun night of games, beers and cockta with one of Sandpoint’s favorite bartender Homework Help • 3pm @ Sandpoint Lib Geared for high school and middle schoo study space with peer to peer collaboratio

Era of Megafires presentation 6:30pm @ Columbia Bank Building A 70-minute presentation by Dr. Paul Hessburg, with compelling photographs and discussions about solutions surrounding future large wildland fires

“The Zookeeper’s Wife” 7:30pm @ Panida Theater

Peopl 1pm @ Join portio mate i and w Hall w as wel

LPOSD Trustee Electio 6pm @ Ponderay Event Sponsored by the Bon Republican Central Com

May the fourth be with you and IDAHO GIVES 4:30-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority It’s the annual celebration of Bonner County Non profits and your opportunity to donate with us fo the day. You can also donate online for this Idah fundraising event

ful

April 27 - May 4, 2017

hop

enous activists and other fosisons. We plan ment defenses ess Pipeline

Wellness Fair 1-4pm @ Luther Park Free. Visit with numerous professional providers from Bonner County and Kootenai County

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

Yappy Hour 4-7pm @ Laughing Dog Support Panhandle Animal Shelter! Live music, a fencedin area for dogs, and food and drink available for purchase

Wine Festival 5:30pm @ Bonner County Fairgrounds r St. Bridge Unlimited tastings of 150-plus premier ght Chris Lynch wines, catered dinner, silent and live auctions and the announcement of the Ristorante 2017 line-up! ve Music w/ Bright Moments Jazz 30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall People’s Climate March 1pm @ Farmin Park Join 350Sandpoint.org for the Sandpoint portion of a nationwide march to support climate issues. The march starts at Farmin Park and will conclude at Sandpoint Community Hall with information about climate issues, as well as activities for kids and adults alike.

Cedar St. Bridge Public Market 10am-2pm @ Cedar St. Bridge

Live Music w/ Ken Mayginnes 6-8pm @ Cedar St. Bistro Wine Bar Racheal

Thursday Night Solo Series w/ Brian Jacobs 6-8pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Jacobs, his guitar, great tunes and great brews ... hope to see everyone there! Free and open to the public

INBC Blood Drive 10am-3pm @ Bonner General Health Donors can schedule a time to donate by calling 1-800-423-0151 or by going to INBCSaves.org.

Walk-ins are also welcome Live Music w/ Doug Bond and Marty Perron 6-8pm @ Cedar St. Bistro Wine Bar Mandolin / guitar duo

Guest Beertender at SKåL Live Music w/ Chris Lynch 6pm @ Arlo’s Ristorante @ SKåL Taproom Winner from most nominations on Facebook receives this guest appearance. His choice of favorite nonprofit organization receives proceeds from his time behind the bar Comparing prehistoric people in Idaho to present-day subsistence culture in Panama 9:45-11:30am @ Sandpoint Community Hall With Bill Harp, anthropologist and retired Director of Technology for Bonner County Missoula Children’s Theater’s “Gulliver’s Travels” 2 & 6pm @ Panida Theater Fun for families and friends of all ages!

ICF Grants Deadline Bonner County Fund for Arts Enhancement in the Idaho Community Foundation seeks grant requests for projects that demonstrate how the arts encourage creative and critical thinking. IDcomfdn.org

nd cocktails bartenders. dpoint Library dle school students, there is quiet llaboration and help from library staff

ge pretties ndstorm ary

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

First Tuesday at Eichardt’s 7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub A monthly music event at everyone’s favorite pub!

ee Election Debate BGH Community Hospice Adult Grief Support Group ray Event Center 6pm @ Bonner General Health classroom the Bonner County Share stories and feelings. 265-1185 for more information entral Committee Hiawatha Drum Circle! Unite the Tribes!

6:30-8pm @ Memorial Community Center (Hope) O GIVES! A journey through the spirit world. Not a class!

unty Nonwith us for this Idaho

Paint & Sip Party: “Spring” 6:30-8:30pm @ Memorial Community Center (Hope) Come enjoy a great evening of painting with Kem Hughes-Davis and support MCC at the same time

May 5 POAC exhibit “Piecing It Together” @ POAC Gallery May 6 Live comedy @ 219 Lounge May 6 A Novel Night Gala @ Columbia Bank

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Falcon goes to graduate school

By Ben Olson Reader Staff Saying goodbye is always hard to do, but for Lilly Mitsui, it’s part of raising puppies.

For a year-and-a-half, Mitsui has raised Falcon for Canine Companions, a nationwide company that specializes in providing service dogs for people with a variety of needs. The affable Labrador retriever, golden retriever mix was assigned to Mitsui at just eight weeks old.

In their time together, Mitsui is nearing completion of the first stage of training for service animals; she has taught him over 25 commands, basic obedience, as well as indoctrinating him to accept a variety of social situations.

This is the third puppy Mitsui has raised for Canine Companions. Usually, after 18 to 20 months, puppies will have completed their first stage of training and be sent to the facility in Santa Rosa, Calif., to complete their final training with professionals. Think of it as doggie “graduate school.” The budding service animals learn valuable skills like turning light switches on and off, opening drawers and refrigerators, as well as getting clothes out of the dryer.

After a successful six-months of training, the service animals are then matched up to an appropriate owner for no cost.

For Mitsui, the work she has done raising Falcon for the first stage has been incredibly rewarding, but also bittersweet when she has to give him up.

“He’s a really sweet dog who really wants to please,” she said. “I’m very attached to him, which happens. It’ll be

hard for a few weeks.”

Mitsui and her husband will embark on Falcon’s journey to graduate school on Tuesday, May 2. Once there, they will face the difficult task of giving up the dog that has shared their home for 16 months, but Mitsui said the benefits outweigh any sad feelings.

“You get used to it,” she said. “This is the third dog I’ve raised, and we all go through having to give them up. It will hurt, but it’s such a worthy thing to do.”

Mitsui said working as a puppy raiser for Canine Companions is the ultimate way to give back to those who are in need.

“I’m looking for other people to help as puppy raisers in this area,” she said.

“I want to spread the word that people can volunteer for this great organization and get so much out of it. I also want let disabled people know that these dogs are available.”

After both stages of training, the dogs are valued at $50,000 each, but they are given to their new disabled owners for free. Since 1975, Canine Companions has placed 5,275 dogs into the hands of those who need their services. Last year, a record number of dogs were placed: 366. Mitsui is proud to be the only puppy raiser in Bonner County but eagerly wants others to take part in this program.

“Without puppy raisers, you don’t have service dogs,” she said, “so I’d love to find more puppy raisers in this area. Businesses can sponsor a puppy or contribute to the training. It also makes an awesome project for a senior in high school or a church project.”

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Falcon poses with puppy trainer Lilly Mitsui, who has raised him for close to 16 months. Photo by Ben Olson.

The most important part of the first stage of training is to raise the dog with a calm demeanor and teach them that they are “working” when their vests are on.

“Whenever he has his vest on, he’s working,” said Mitsui. “At home, when the vest comes off, he gets to play.”

While it’s difficult to resist the temptation to pet a service animal, Mitsui noted that while they are working, it’s best not to offer, since service animals are supposed to pay attention to their owners’ needs and not be distracted.

Mitsui said if anyone is interested in more information about how to raise service dogs as puppies, they can contact her at Lilly3Wells@aol.com. You can also check out Canine Companions

at www.CCI.org.

For now, Mitsui is relishing her final two weeks with Falcon before he attends graduate school.

“It hurts like crazy when you get close,” she said. “It’s a little painful when you turn in the dog, but it makes it all worth while because I actually get to present him to his new family when he completes training. Oftentimes, his new family wants to stay in contact, too.”

When asked if they would entertain raising a fourth puppy in the future, Mitsui looked at her husband knowingly and said, “We’ll see. We have to talk about it. You can change somebody’s life raising these puppies. We’ll see.”

A past graduate from Canine Companions

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

While Falcon prepares to enter his final stages of training (see story at left on page 14), one Sandpoint’s more beloved canines happily holds onto his position as the only facility dog from Canine Companions in Bonner County.

Meet Ken, a black lab/golden retriever mix who holds the very official title of courthouse facility dog. Ken’s main duties are to be on hand for victims of abuse; most of them children.

Ken’s handler and loving owner Peggy Frye, Bonner County’s victim witness unit coordinator, said every prosecutor’s office should have a facility dog.

“My job changed for the better when we got Ken,” said Frye. “It’s like night and day.”

A few years back, Frye saw a video extolling the virtues of a courthouse facility dog. Since her job deals with a lot of underage victims of physical and sexual abuse, Frye was looking for a way to help her them feel more comfortable during tense meetings and conversations about traumatic events.

“I stuck the video on [Prosecutor] Louis [Marshall]’s desk and asked what he thought,” said Frye. “Two minutes

after he watched the video, he was in.”

Frye said bringing Ken on board took a lot of research and preparation. She applied for a facility dog through Canine Companions and was put on a waiting list until August 2015 when Ken was introduced to his new career: helping children.

“To be a facility dog, it has to be the kind of dog that loves people,” said Frye.

“Ken loves people, especially kids. He was perfect.”

Frye said Ken provides a calming, light presence in the midst of traumatic issues and cases.

“Say a child needs to make a disclosure about abuse,” said Frye. “It begins as a scary, serious situation, but when Ken comes in the room, he’s this big goofy dog wagging his tail and making everyone feel better.”

Frye said in Ken’s first case, involving a victim of a home invasion and robbery where the perpetrator of the crime was actually a wanted murderer, Ken immediately earned his dog kibble.

“The teenage daughter of the parents who were robbed was really angry about the home invasion,” said Frye. “While she was talking, Ken came in and sat by her feet, which is what he normally does. She

petted him and told me it helped her feel less angry with Ken by her side.”

In another situation, a 7-year-old who was molested by a family friend were scared and nervous about testifying. Frye let them walk Ken to the courthouse and just interacting with him was enough so that the victim actually made additional disclosures on the stand, which is rare.

Frye said that Ken is very much a beloved office dog. While not working, he loves to lie on his side and snooze. Every morning he makes his rounds around the office to say hello to each employee. At home, he loves to swim and chase tennis balls.

“He’s just a big goofball,” said Frye, “But he loves to cuddle and when he wags his tail, his whole hind end moves around like crazy.”

Frye also said Ken’s addition to the prosecutor’s office doesn’t just benefit the victims, but the workers also.

“My position has a high burnout rate,” she said. “Ken boosts morale around the office. Basically this is Ken’s house.

When you have a bad decision made in court or are just having a tough day in the system, it’s so nice to shake it off with Ken. He doesn’t care. He’s here for you.”

Ken poses in court, where is he often utilized in helping young victims of abuse to feel more at ease while dealing with traumatic events.

Photo by Ben Olson.

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By Reader Staff and Contributors

Earlier this year, we had an issue highlighting many of the different options for summer camp in North Idaho.

After the article, however, we heard from several camps that unfortunately weren’t included in the article. As an attempt to help our readers have as much information as possible, we’ve included a few more listings here for summer camp options.

If you would like to view the first article, please put the following in your web browser: http://sandpointreader. com/send-kids-summer-camp-2017/ Early Summer Basketball Camp June 12 - June 16, 2017 304-3912 laiche.darren@gmail.com www.hoopsknowledge.com Join camp director Darren Laiche, a player in two NCAA tournaments for the University of New Orleans, for a week-long basketball camp covering the fundamentals of the sport. The camp, open to boys and girls from secondthrough eighth-grade, will cover skill development drills, shooting competitions, dribbling races, three-on-three and five-on-five games, sportsmanship lessons, camp awards and more. Participants will be divided into groups based on skill level, ensuring everyone gets the most out of their week.

The basketball camp will take place Monday, June 12 to Friday, June 16, at the Bonner County Fairgrounds from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m.-12 p.m. Friday. The cost is $70 before June 1 or $80 from June 1-12. Sign up and pay at www.hoopsknowledge.com. Call 304-9140 or email laiche.darren@gmail.com for more information.

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Sandpoint Waldorf School Camps For information about the following camps, call (208) 265-2683 or go online at www.SandpointWaldorf.org.

Early Childhood Sunshine Camp July 10-21 w/ Ms. Beth 8:30 - 1pm • Ages 4-7 Let your child experience the wonders of a Waldorf summer! Participants will sing, play and dance outside. Each morning there will be storytelling and a project to bring the story to life. There are so many summer treasures to create with watercolor painting, sand art, mud printing and seasonal crafts. Each day includes work in the garden and fresh snacks from the harvest. The magical world of flower fairies and garden gnomes awaits! Children will need to bring their own lunch, a sun hat and a change of clothes. Cost: $240 for the two-week session, $140 for one week.

Minimum number of students: six.

Grades Summer Camps Japanese Summer Camp June 19-23 8:30 - 1pm • Ages 1st - 8th grade Come get a taste of Japan! Japanese teacher Hiroko Tanaka will share the food, crafts, songs, stories and games of her native land. With some of the harvest from our school garden, Tanaka Sensei will lead the children in preparing Japanese cuisine for their lunch each day. We will end the week with traditional Japanese tea ceremony to which parents are invited. Cost for the one-week morning session is $100.

Minimum number of students: seven.

Puppetry Summer Camp June 19-23 1-5pm • Ages 1st - 8th grade Olga Lambert, a handwork teacher, will teach the students how to create the puppets for the story of Gwinna.

Julie McCallan will direct the students in creating a puppet play of Gwinna which will be performed for families on Friday. Gwinna is a magical story of a girl born with wings who goes on quest to find a harp of her own. She is helped on the way by a number of animals and magical beings. An afternoon snack will be provided. Cost for the one week afternoon session: $90. If children enroll in both the morning and afternoon sessions, the cost is $175. Minimum number of students: seven.

Little House on the Prairie Days July 10-21 8am-4pm • Ages 1st - 6th grade Experience two weeks of Little House in the Prairie fun. Campers will make butter, bake bread in an outdoor oven, work in the garden, make our own lunches and learn some prairie crafts.

Come dressed for the times: bonnets and straw hats, pinafores and overalls. Each day, the camp will read a section of Little House in the Prairie and work on a scene from it to present in a play for parents at the end of the session, followed by a proper prairie meal prepared for every-

one. There will also be a field trip to a farm on one of the days. Cost: $340 for the two-week session. Minimum number of students: seven.

Olden Days on Lake Pend Oreille August 7-18 8:30am-4pm • Ages 3rd - 8th grade Join up for two weeks of frontier fun: fur trappers, explorers and Native Americans all met in this area centuries ago before there were railroads and permanent houses. Come discover what life was like in those times. Learn the sign language that these people used to communicate with each other and their crafts with artist and historian, Shaun Dellar. He will also tell stories of the fur trappers. In addition, Beth Krause will teach children how to draw the animals that were of interest to both the Native Americans, fur trappers and explorers.

With food harvested from the garden, campers will cook lunches using recipes from those days. On the last day of the session, we will prepare a meal for the families and Shaun will act out one of his stories. Cost: $340 for the two-week session. Minimum number of students: seven For all three sessions: students bring their own morning snacks, but lunch and afternoon snack will be provided. For the two-week sessions Aftercare from 4-5 p.m. is available for an extra cost.

Megafires presentation aims to educate home owners

The property of Carl Costello in Cape Horn near Bayview is a great example of defensible space that may have spared a tragic loss. This photo was taken just days after the Cape Horn fire of 2015. The property was untouched, thanks to the defensible space. Photo by Ben Olson.

By Ben Olson Reader Staff North Idaho is a fairly safe place when it comes to natural disasters.

We don’t suffer through annual hurricanes or tornadoes. There isn’t any widespread flooding except for spring runoff, and the earthquakes we get are thankfully minor occurrences.

What we do have to deal with on a yearly basis is wildfire.

Two summers ago, North Idaho endured one of the worst seasons for wildfire in decades. Kicking off with the Cape Horn fire in Bayview, the season saw smoky skies and seemingly a new call for firefighters every day.

As firefighters around the nation always preach, the best way to protect your property from wildfire is to practice defensible space, which means to cut back combustibles from your house, create a firebreak around your property and use common sense.

A public event taking place on Tuesday, May 2, at the Columbia Bank Building plans to advise homeowners about defensible space and much more.

“Era of Megafires” features a 70-minute presentation by Dr. Paul Hessburg, who has more than 27 years of experience in fire and landscape ecology. The multi-media event merges short,

topic-based talks with compelling video and photography by wildfire photographer John Marshall.

During the free event, representatives will be on hand from various agencies, such as the Selkirk Fire Department, Idaho Department of Lands, NRCS, Bonfire, and the U.S. Forest Service, will help make suggestions for fire prevention, defensible space and other areas of concern.

“A lot of people, especially if they’ve just moved up here, don’t have a lot of insight in what they’re up against,” said Mark Sauter, a firefighter with Selkirk Fire Department. “Informing them beforehand, and letting them make those decisions on their own is a much better way than going in as a governmental agency after a fire.”

As a way to increase education to their public, Idaho Department of Lands is responsible for sponsoring this presentation in Sandpoint, as well as similar presentations in Coeur d’Alene, Moscow and surrounding areas.

For more information, please check out www.north40productions.com/wildfire.

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A poem for the mayor’s pocket...

1319 Hwy 2 Suite C Sandpoint, ID

Mon-Thur 11-9 Fri-Sat 11-10 Sun 12-9

adult coloring contest Winner!

Right: Rae Charlton, left and another member of the Friends of the Library deliver Sandpoint Mayor Shelby Rognstad a poem for the “Poem in Your Pocket” day on Monday. The intrepid Friends of the Library scoured the town of Sandpoint delivering poems to unsuspecting members of the public.

Courtesy photo.

D.D. Dombrowski

Camp Walay’La has been serving our community for 18 summers and is based upon Waldorf education. The camp director Hattie Goodman has been teaching in Waldorf education for 25 years.

Her passion is creating an environment that inspires the young human being to explo explore this wonder-filled world.

The camp offers a wide variety of activities for children in magnificent natural surroundings. Some activities include swimming, rafting, canoeing, hiking, archery, driftwood fort building, nature inspired arts and crafts, and dramatic arts and storytelling. o Our mission is to offer a safe haven in the “lazy days of summer.” Let each day unfold as gentle as a daisy in the warmth of the summer sun. Let your imagination carry you. Camp begins June 12th.

Summer Sessions are available throughout Serving our community for 18 years

June & July

Three-day weeks from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Serving children ages 4 - 10

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STAGE & SCREEN

Portland-made film ‘Emily’ to feature Q&A with director

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff There’s no easy solution when worldviews among family members and loved ones begin to diverge.

That’s the tough reality explored by “Emily,” an independent film by Portland filmmakers Ryan Graves and Kelly McCrillis. The story of a young couple struggling as they are drawn toward opposing values, “Emily” is a film that avoids easy answers. Instead, it portrays a theme as messy as human relationships as the sometimes funny, often painful and rarely elegant process it is, and it has the maturity to acknowledge that in matters of the heart, there are frequently no right answers.

“The most important thing we wanted to communicate was not a story of right versus wrong but rather a story of right versus right,” said Graves.

“Emily” introduces its central characters, Nathan and Emily, as a couple whose lives follow the rote rhythms of work and small talk over dinners. For Emily, her faith and weekly Bible studies imbue meaning to the domestic lifestyle. But Nathan is not content. He admits to Emily he no longer shares her religious convictions. What’s more, he isn’t satisfied by his predictable life as a Portland copywriter and instead pines for travel and creative fulfillment. As the initial conflict over religion grows to include disagreements about having children, the strain on Nathan and Emily’s marriage nears a breaking point.

“Emily’s” thematic honesty is buoyed by its fine details. Whether it be the anxious minutes Emily spends awaiting a longed-for text reply or the couple’s prac-

ticed avoidance of conversation through household tasks, the movie finds as much authenticity in its small moments as the broader strokes of its narrative.

Given the genuine feeling of “Emily’s” conflict and characters, it’s no surprise that Graves took inspiration from elements of his own life. Drawing from his experiences with his college girlfriend, now his wife, he worked with McCrillis to develop the story. Once the script was complete, the creative duo was able to recruit a capable crew and a cast of veteran television actors, including Rachael Perrell Fosket and Michael Draper in the central roles. The true-to-life elements of story contributed greatly to the movie’s nuanced performances, McCrillis said.

“Ryan did a lot of really personal work with both of the actors to help them figure out their characters,” he added.

Much like the relationship at the heart of the story, the effort to bring “Emily” to the big screen was itself a labor of love.

Graves and McCrillis received an initial investment based on the strength of an earlier short film. After principal photography wrapped in November 2014, the pair found they needed additional funds for editing, color correction, original music and other post-production concerns.

An Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign gave “Emily” the final push it needed to be theater-ready, although the process wasn’t without its hurdles.

“I remember we did lose all of our music at one point because our composer had a [hard drive failure],” said Graves.

In an interesting twist, the pre-production for “Emily” began just around the time Graves and McCrillis were introducing their short film, “Mr. Right,” at the Sandpoint Film Festival. The relationships

Actors Rachael Perrell Fosket and Michael Draper navigate a rocky relationship in “Emily.” Courtesy photo. formed at the local festival paved the way for the Panida Theater “Emily” screenings this weekend. For Graves and McCrillis, both Spokane natives, it feels like bringing the project full circle, and they are excited to share that moment with Sandpoint’s enthusiastic arts community.

“Sandpoint is quickly becoming our home away from home away from home,” said McCrillis.

Catch “Emily” at the Panida Theater 7 p.m. April 28-29, 3 p.m. April 30 and 7 p.m. May 1-4. Take note that the filmmakers will be present on Saturday, April 29, and will host a question-and-answer session after the film. Tickets are available for purchase online at www.panida.org or at the door on the night of the show.

April 28 @ 7:00pm – Little Theater Sat. April 29 @ 7 pm

Live Q&A with Writer/Director Ryan Graves April 30 @ 3pm | May 1-4 @ 7pm

“Emily”

saturday, april 29 @ 2 & 6pm Missoula Children’s theater and POAC present:

“gulliver’s travels”

May 4 @ 7:30pm | may 5 @ 5:30pm May 6 @ 3:30 & 7:30pm | may 7 @ 3:30pm

Explore Nature in Sandpoint

“The zookeeper’s wife”

Ponderay, ID (208) 263-1222

friday, may 12 @ 7pm

full draw film festival little theater

friday, may 12 @ 7pm

“vaxxed’ film

may 11 @ 7:30pm | May 13 @ 3:30 & 7:30pm may 14 @ 3:30pm •Free Breakfast •Free Wifi

Rooms starting at $87.75/Night (inc. tax)

“after the storm”

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FOOD

The Sandpoint Eater Happy Campers

By Marcia Pilgeram Reader Food Columnist

It’s not long until we’ll wake up to the aromas of campfire coffee and bacon sizzling in a cast iron skillet. Summer camping around Sandpoint is as good as it gets. And around these parts, you needn’t go far to capture that idyllic summer experience. There’s an abundance of lakes and streams and great campgrounds, our just reward for tolerating winter—especially this year.

A couple of years ago my oldest (and bravest) Ryanne, along with her husband, secured a great spot at Sam Owen Campground so the visiting nieces and nephews could have an authentic camping experience. Ryanne is a master at camping with children, and the added trio of kiddos didn’t even faze her. We loaded up the gaggle of grandkids (including a baby), two tents, as many kayaks, food for a small army and spent a few mostly carefree days at Sam Owens State Park, camping on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille.

Just a month later, I was treated to an over-the-top glamping experience at the luxury resort Paws Up, in Western Montana.

An oversized white canvas tent, pitched on the banks of the Blackfoot River provided power, oversized terry robes and slippers, butler service and twice daily housekeeping. Even if I had $1,500 per night to spare on a tent for two (not kidding), I still prefer flipping a burger over a hot campfire to haute cuisine any old time.

Of course, you know my favorite part of camping is the food (and beverages!). I practice my camping mantra of “keep the food simple” as I plan menus (that now include recommendations from 20 /

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several opinionated junior campers). I’ve learned less is more, and getting the food prepped as much as possible before loading up the trusty coolers leaves more time for play once we’ve set up camp.

Since many campgrounds have limited facilities for meal cleanup, I try to have a lot of the messy work done beforehand, like preforming burgers, which I wrap in waxed or parchment paper and freeze. I also trim and marinate meats for campfire foil packs (our favorites), which I place in gallon-sized zip locks and freeze.

When filling the plastic bags, remove the air, making them as flat as possible, and be sure the seal is secure before placing in the freezer. I also freeze several gallon-sized bags of ice the same way (laying the bags on a sheet pan in case of a leak). I layer the bags of ice between frozen foods, with the foods I’ll use last near the bottom of the cooler. I utilize separate coolers for frozen foods, chilled foods and beverages, which limits exposure to foods

when someone is only seeking a cold brew.

Likewise, for staple products, I try to prep as much as possible while still in my fully functioning home kitchen. I boil pasta for salads (adding a little olive oil so they don’t stick), hard boil and peel eggs, parboil potatoes to fry up with freshly caught fish (fingers crossed) and precut and dice my vegetables. Everything goes into zip locks, which take up little space compared to bulky containers and are great for sealing up food waste that attracts wild beasts.

While I am mostly a food purist, this is the time I go for time-saving convenience, such as dehydrated foods I can reconstitute or packaged mixes for pancakes and campfire dump cakes.

No one wants to hang around the camp and help Mimi, and honestly, I’d rather be kicking back at the water’s edge myself.

Foil packets show up as frequent offerings on our camping trips. Everyone customizes their own, and the kids like the owner-

ship of their creations. The only rule: if you build it, you must eat it. For protein, try cubed chicken or steak (precut and frozen), hamburger or sliced kielbasa.

Vegetables options are endless— just keep all the diced foods about the same size so they’ll cook up evenly. Use heavy foil and dab with a little butter or olive oil before sealing so your veggies don’t stick. A little chopped bacon is also a good addition for some added fat, and you can spice up your packets with sweet chili or other savory or spicy sauces.

Fresh grated ginger and horseradish roots add some nice flavor, so I always bring them along to either grate a little on before cooking, or as a zesty garnish before serving.

Apples are great in foil packets too; just core, add a little butter, cinnamon and sugar in the cored center and throw on the grill until the apple is semi-soft. Other fruit like peach halves and pineapple slices can be tossed right on the grill until lightly marked and fragrant. Onions cut in half are great

prepared this way too. Finished with a little butter or balsamic vinegar and a dusting of brown sugar, these grilled goodies are worthy accompaniments to any camp meal.

Most foil packet meals take about 20 minutes on the grill, which is just about how long it takes to whip up and enjoy a decent margarita. While I leave most town trappings behind, when I camp, I do love a blended margarita and yes, I travel with my Magic (margarita) Bullet. When I’m lucky, there is an available outlet on a nearby power hook-up pole.

Otherwise, shamefully, I start my car and use the battery power inverter. Either way, my entire family abandons me during this libation ritual, though the adult children are quick to reappear when they see the waiting pitcher of icy rhubarb margaritas.

I hope you and your family enjoy some happy camping time this summer, and with or without your blender, please do try this delicious and easy campfire recipe.

Grilled Chicken and Pineapple Foil Packets Chicken, pineapple, peppers, and onions are a delicious combination cooked in the great outdoors. Grill some additional pineapple rings and onions halves to accompany the packets. Shrimp or cubed pork are tasty substitutes for the chicken. Serves 4.

INGREDIENTS:

DIRECTIONS:

•4 boneless skinless chicken breasts or boneless thigh cut into 1½ inch pieces, marinate in ½ cup sesame dressing several hours (or overnight) •1 red bell pepper, chopped •1 green bell pepper, chopped •1 small onion, chopped •1½ cups fresh pineapple chunks •1 tsp salt •Grate of fresh ginger root •1 tsp red pepper flakes •½ cup teriyaki or sweet chili sauce

Preheat the grill. Lay out 4 large (about 24 inches long) pieces of heavy duty foil. In a bowl whisk together sauce and sesame dressing. Toss in pineapple and veggies and coat with the dressing.

Mix the chicken and veggies and distribute evenly on foil sheet. Add a couple dabs of butter (or olive oil) to each packet, then fold the sides of the foil over the fillings and carefully seal shut.

Grill packets for about 10-15 minutes, turning over once half way through.

Carefully unfold foil packets and allow to cool a minute or two, use caution as hot steam escapes as you unwrap! Garnish with sesame seeds if desired, serve immediately.

•1 cup Asian toasted sesame dressing (half for marinate and half for packets •4 tbs butter or olive oil

ENVIRONMENT

This week’s RLW by Ed Ohlweiler

A market-driven approach to fight climate change

By Art Piltch Reader Contributor A nationwide bipartisan organization called Citizen’s Climate Lobby is promoting a carbon fee and dividend plan that is aimed at fighting climate change, while stimulating the economy and reducing the need for government regulation. According to the plan, the federal government would impose a fee on fossil fuels, collected at the source. It would start at $15 per ton of CO2 equivalent emissions (around 16 cents / gallon of gasoline), and increase annually by $10 per ton, until emissions reduction targets are met. Instead of the money going to the government, the proceeds would be returned to the American people on an equal basis via monthly dividend checks. As the fee rate rose over time to further reduce emissions, so would the dividend payments. It is believed that a majority of Americans, including those with the lowest income, would come out ahead, because they tend to have a lower carbon footprint than wealthier households. Another important feature of the plan is that a border tariff adjustment is placed on goods imported from, or exported to, countries without an equivalent price on carbon. This adjustment would both discourage businesses from relocating to where they can emit more CO2 and encourage other nations to adopt an equivalent price on carbon.

This would protect American competitiveness.

This plan is a market-based solution, meant to correct the fact that current prices for fossil fuel are artificially low, because they don’t include the huge costs that will be inflicted on future generations in terms of extended drought, longer wildfire seasons, extreme weather and sea level rise. There are also hidden costs to burning fossil fuel in terms of the effect of pollutants on our health. The burning of fossil fuels and the resulting pollution from sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulates and ozone,

contributes to four of the five leading causes of death in the United States, including heart disease, cancer, stroke and lung diseases, while putting children at risk of asthma and delayed mental development. All these missed work days, hospital visits, and deaths not only cause suffering, but they handicap our economy, increase insurance premiums, and contribute to an unsustainable growth in health care costs. Also, fossil fuel prices are artificially kept low by huge government subsidies to the fossil fuel industry. Fossil fuels subsidies from 2002-2008 exceeded subsidies to “renewable” projects by a factor of 5:1. Over the next ten years there are over $158 billion in potential fossil fuel subsidies. In particular, subsidies for exploring for new sources of fossil fuel are especially counter-productive, considering that 80% of already known reserves will have to remain in the ground to achieve goals for curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

A carbon fee and dividend can have economy-wide effects in changing investment decisions and individual behavior. For it to be most effective, it must be long term and predictable, and the tax rate must increase gradually.

A predictably increasing carbon price will send a clear market signal which will unleash entrepreneurs and investors in the new clean-energy economy. To the extent that investments are shifted from fossil fuel development to energy conservation and clean energy, more jobs will be created. The green economy already supports more jobs than the fossil fuel economy, and has for years, even though renewable energy accounts for only 12 percent of our domestically produced energy.

Renewable energy provides more and higher-paying jobs, with more diverse opportunities. This is because $1 million dollars worth of oil and natural gas directly creates 0.8 jobs, and $1 million of coal produces 1.9 jobs. Compare that to building

retrofits for energy efficiency (7 jobs per million), mass transit services (11 jobs), building the smart grid (4.3), wind (4.6), solar (5.4), and biomass power generation (7.4). The changeover to a clean efficient economy, will also create the need for innovation in every aspect of the economy, giving birth to whole new industries.

Among the supporters of the Citizens Climate Lobby plan are well known climate scientists including James Hansen and Katharine Hayhoe, and the congressional Climate Solutions Caucus, which is made up of equal numbers of Republican and Democratic legislators. Their website, citizensclimatelobby.org presents more details of how the plan would function, and studies how it would impact the economy and how it would curtail greenhouse gas emissions. The sources for much of the information in this article can be found on their site. Just as important, the site has lots of information on how citizens can organize and effectively communicate with members of congress. If you agree that action is needed to limit climate change, but prefer a market based solution to more government regulation, you should definitely check them out.

Recently, in a sign that bipartisan support for climate change action is gathering momentum, a group of prominent conservatives, called the Climate

Leadership Council, presented a similar proposal to the White House. The authors of the plan include James A. Baker, Treasury Secretary under Reagan and Secretary of State under George H. W. Bush; Henry M. Paulson Jr., Treasury Secretary under George W. Bush; and George P. Shultz, Treasury Secretary under Nixon and Secretary of State under Reagan. Their version puts more emphasis on eliminating current regulations on greenhouse gas emissions, claiming they would no longer be necessary.

This includes an outright repeal of Obama’s Clean Power Plan.

Also, unlike the Citizen’s Climate Lobby plan, methane emissions wouldn’t be included in the calculation of carbon fees. These differences aside, considering the current political environment of climate denialism by the administration and many Republican legislators, the proposal by these Republican luminaries is a ray of hope. There is no reason that climate change and the environment should be partisan issues.

In fact, polls show that most Americans of both parties, and independents, support action to limit climate change.

To show your support for climate change action, attend the People’s Climate March on Saturday, April 29 at 1 p.m. at Farmin Park. The march will end at Sandpoint Community Hall with presentations and speakers.

READ

The “Best American Short Stories” is a yearly anthology that features a new guest editor each year, someone who you’re always happy to see inside the book like Annie Proulx, Richard Ford, John Updike, Amy Tan, Barbara Kingsolver, Garrison Keillor, T. C. Boyle, Michael Chabon, Tobias Wolf, Ann Beattie...

I started randomly in 1996 and am reading my way into the future—I’ll drop off my castaways at the Monarch Mountain bookshelf if you’re interested.

LISTEN

Do you ever listen to an album or CD in the dark? Album sides were always our favorite—if you’re gonna turn out the lights, sprawl starfish-like on the floor, and risk getting stepped on by room mates, it should be worth your while. For my, I dare say, “g-g-generation” this was any side of any Pink Floyd album, Rush’s “2112” (the live version), maybe Jethro Tull’s “Thick as a Brick”... my favorite is Traffic’s “Low Spark of High Heel Boys.”

WATCH

The first footage of Eskimos (or Inuits) ever seen in the western world was in “Nanook of the North,” shot in 1914. In a time before “talkies”, the film uses words on the screen to tell the story, such as “Nanook trades polar bear skins from bears he killed with his bare hands.” Stuff like that.

Check it out at our library. The walrus fishing scene alone will keep you entertained.

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Insuring The North Idaho Way Of Life!

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Sandpoint – Ponderay

920 Kootenai Cutoff Rd. Located just northeast of Walmart.

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Good for the gander:

Canada Geese couple return to their nest at Arlo’s Ristoranté for 16 years

By Ben Olson Reader Staff Tom and Lisa Guscott of Arlo’s Ristoranté have observed the same spring ritual every year for 16 years: the return of Sinatra and Sweetie.

No, these aren’t famous crooners, but a pair of lovebird Canada Geese that have returned to the planter box on the back deck at Arlo’s to lay their eggs every year, without fail. Sinatra is the male and Sweetie is the female.

“When we first open in November of 2001, I came in during the morning like I always do,” said owner Tom Guscott. “I walked through the restaurant and noticed feathers in this planter on our deck.”

Guscott, who had noticed geese before along Sand Creek, didn’t think much about the sight of feathers at first. He thought maybe there had been a goose fight.

“I walked up to the planter and looked into it and saw eggs,” he said.

Guscott was concerned because the planter was located on a side deck right next to where customers dine al fresco: “Plus, it was May and Lost in the ‘50s was right around the corner,” said Guscott, “But it was lousy weather that year, so they made it all right.”

The following year, the Guscotts moved the planter along the back deck rail so the geese would have more privacy should they return. The next year, they were surprised and pleased that the geese showed up again.

They’ve been returning to the same planter box year after year ever since.

“I had no idea that geese lived so long,” said Guscott.

Canada Geese mate for life and usually will return to their place of nesting if it was a positive experience. The average lifespan of geese that survive to adulthood ranges anywhere between 10 to 24, with

Crossword Solution

Sweetie preens in the rain from her planter box on the back deck at Arlo’s Ristoranté. Photo by Ben Olson. some species lasting into their early 30s.

The female lays an average of five eggs every spring, and both parents protect the nest while the eggs incubate.

“Sinatra stays in eyesight along Sand Creek,” said Guscott, pointing to a goose flying low off the deck. “He never came up on the deck until about five years ago.

Now he’s just a big show off.”

For the Guscotts, the arrival of Sweetie and Sinatra has been a spring tradition.

Their planter box has been engraved with a golden plaque with their names etched on it. A second feeder box stems off the original where the Guscotts keep a supply of goose feed.

It’s an annual tradition the Guscotts are happy to share with their loyal customers.

“The customers love it,” said Guscott.

“We get a lot of people asking if they’ve returned, if the eggs have been laid yet.

One day a guy came in; he was a wildlife postage stamp artist, and he came back in with a painting he did that is hanging on our wall still. Another woman painted a portrait from a photograph and it’s hanging, too.”

Guscott said once Sweetie lays her eggs and starts to sit, she’ll only get up about once a day before returning to sit. Guscott

estimates the eggs will hatch Friday.

“We usually catch it when they hatch,” he said. “We’ll see little yellow heads poking out from the box. Then they’ll be gone within 24 hours.”

Guscott said they remove a piece of lattice on the back deck to help the geese reach the water earlier. Some years, when the water is down more than usual, the goslings bail off the deck only to land squat in the mud. Other years, they hit the water immediately. Either way, the protective parents lead them along with honking from below, then the happy family spends the next period of their lives living along one of the knolls in Gunnings Alley.

“They just keep coming back,” said Guscott. “One year the eggs didn’t hatch.

That was sad. Another year, a raccoon got into the next and scattered some eggs around. One year they arrived on Valentine’s Day. That was special. We had a fire eight years ago that didn’t scare them away. It’s such a special time that we look forward to every year.”

Next time you’re dining at Arlo’s Ristoranté, be sure to ask about Sweetie and Sinatra, the lovebird Canada Geese on the back deck.

Instead of a Seeing Eye dog, what about a gun? It’s cheaper than a dog, plus if you walk around shooting all the time, people are going to get out of the way. Cars too!

ERA OF MEGAFIRES A PUBLIC EVENT & CONVERSATION ABOUT LARGE WILDLAND FIRES

This 70-minute presentation features Dr. Paul Hessburg, who has more than 27 years of experience in fire and landscape ecology. The engaging multi-media event merges short, topic-based talks with compelling video and photographs by wildfire photographer John Marshall. It is sure to promote discussion about solutions surrounding future large wildland fires. For more information go to north40productions.com/wildfire.

May 2nd, 2017 at 6:30 pm

(doors open at 6:00 pm, seating is limited)

Columbia Bank Building

CROSSWORD

Community Room

414 Church Street, Sandpoint

FREE

Also showing in Coeur d’Alene - May 1st @ 6:00 pm Coeur d’Alene Library, 702 E Front St, Community Room

Productions

Hourly rates • Day rates • Image packages •Portraiture: business/school/ holiday/family/pure enjoyment •Commercial Photography: lifestyle/brands/architecture •Stock imagery for sale: business/website/branding Woods Wheatcroft • 208.255.9412 • www.woodswheatcroft.com

kerfuffle

Woorf tdhe Week

/ker-FUHF-uh l/

[noun] 1. Chiefly British Informal. a fuss; commotion.

“The old man caused a kerfuffle in the bank line.”

Corrections: I didn’t hear anything from readers this week. Let’s see how the next week treats us! -CR

This crossword was hand-crafted by local cruciverbalist Charity Luthy - cluthy@cmds.co April 27, 2017 /

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1C& S. 3RD AVE. • SAtl)POINJ

HughesNet. AUTHORIZ!D R!TAIL!R

·New residential subscribers only. Save $20/month on the 20 GB or save $30/month on the 30 GB and 50 GB plans. Savings appHes to your first 12 months of service. After 12 months, all service plans revert to the standard monthly fee for the remainder of the term. Offer ends 6/30/17. Cannot be combined with any other service plan offer. Restrictions may apply. Offer void where prohibited . .. The HughesNet Gens service plans are designed to deliver download speeds of 25 Mbps and upload speeds of 3 Mbps, but individual customers may experience different speeds at different times of the day. Speeds and uninterrupted use are not guaranteed and may vary based on a variety of factors including: the configuration of your computer, the number of concurrent users. network or Internet congestion, the capabilities and content of the Websites you are accessing, network management practices as deemed necessary, and other factors. When you connect to the HughesNet service using Wi-Fi. your experience will vary based on your proximity to the Wi-Fi source and the strength of the signal.

Offers void where prohibited. Other restrictions may apply. Minimum term required. Monthly service and early termination fees apply. Visit legal.HughesNet.com for details. HughesNet is a registered trademark of Hughes Network Systems. LLC. an Echostar company.