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PEOPLE compiled by

Susan Drinkard

watching

In light of troubling current world events, fires surrounding us, and an upswing of an even more contagious COVID in our midst, one way to feel calmer is to spend time with a purring cat or with a joyful pup. Animals offer unconditional love (some cats do have conditions, however) and unlimited affection during times of peril, uncertainty and fear. Here are some animals available for a new home in the area.

“My name is Earl and I am no longer a barn kitty. Did that. It didn’t work for me because I had a run-in with a barn door and now my beautiful coat is temporarily less than perfection. But I love to cuddle and purrrrr.”

Earl Gray tabby Better Together Animal Alliance Kootenai “I am irresistibly cute. My parents are border collie/Aussie and pit/lab. I am 3.5 months old and I am not a barker at this time. You can get in touch with my people at 208-964-5357.

I live In Sagle and I’m free!”

Name me Sagle, Idaho “Hi. Even with a little poop on my face, I am adorable.”

Black puppy with white feet 3.5 months old Sagle—(208) 964-5357

“Wait a minute! How did I get in with this group? I am perfectly happy eating all the vegetation in the neighborhood!”

Doe, a deer, a female deer West Sandpoint “I guess I will let you photograph me, even though my yawn might give you an indication of how I really feel. I am an elderly kitty who has lived the longest in the shelter than any of the others. I need quiet!

I was abandoned and declawed.

That’s enough trauma for one lifetime, but I am a good girl.”

Max Does age matter?

Better Together Animal Alliance

DEAR READERS, The Sandpoint Reader has always offered our newspaper for free to the community, which means our only sources of revenue are advertising sales and the occasional donation from our readers. The pandemic has affected just about every small business around the country – including ours. While our advertising sales are thankfully keeping us afloat, we have seen quite a reduction in revenue the past 18 months. If not for the many generous donations our readers send in on a regular basis, I’m not sure we could have weathered the pandemic as well as we have.

Even in the best of times, our business model is not one that is intended to make us rich. Far from it, in fact. Zach, Lyndsie, Jodi and I are thankful that the Reader earns enough revenue to pay our salaries, but none of us are laughing our way to the bank.

This is a reality that I have always accepted, because I know there are so many of our readers who depend on us for an alternative voice in Sandpoint. Whether you’re an avid cover-to-cover reader, or you just like to keep a Reader on hand in the bathroom to help pass the time, I like to think we try to offer a little bit of something for everyone.

Sure, there have been haters. There still are. But one thing I always try to remember is that the postive feedback we receive far surpasses the hate mail. I wouldn’t still be in this business if it were the other way around.

About a month ago, I received an email from local Ting representatives who said they were interested in helping the Reader remain a strong voice in the community. This is the kind of company Ting is (which is one of the reasons I use Ting for my internet service, the other being that it’s fast and consistent). In doing some research, I found that this is part of Ting’s outreach with the communities they serve with high-speed internet. They often sponsor or contribute to local entities that help the communities remain vibrant, informed and entertained.

As a result of this meeting with Ting, they very generously offered to match all donations received by the Reader between Sept. 1 and Dec. 1. Which means whatever you donate during these months will count double, thanks to Ting.

I know there are a lot of worthy entities in our community that need assistance, so I try not to lean on our readers too much for donations, but if you have considered contributing to the Reader in the past and haven’t, this would be the perfect time to do so. If you are one of our regular monthly contributors, no need to change anything. Your usual contribution will count toward the donation match.

The Reader plans to use this extra revenue to continue offering more long-form, investigative stories about topics that concern us here in North Idaho. With a bit of extra revenue to work with, we can occasionally hire an additional writer to work on more in-depth articles, which many of our readers have mentioned they’d like to read more of.

Thank you to Ting for this generous assistance, and thank you to those of you who have supported our little newspaper over the years.

What began in 2004 as a labor of love has blossomed into a regular institution in this town – but it’s still a labor of love.

We look forward to many years of serving this community and helping our community stay informed. Thanks for your time.

To donate, visit: PayPal.me/SandpointReader – Ben Olson, publisher

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

www.sandpointreader.com Publisher: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com Editorial: Zach Hagadone (Editor) zach@sandpointreader.com Lyndsie Kiebert (News Editor) lyndsie@sandpointreader.com Cameron Rasmusson (emeritus) John Reuter (emeritus) Advertising: Jodi Berge Jodi@sandpointreader.com Contributing Artists: Ben Olson, Lyndsie Kiebert, Susan Drinkard, Bill Borders, Rich Milliron.

Contributing Writers: Zach Hagadone, Ben Olson, Lyndsie Kiebert, Lorraine H. Marie, Emily Erickson, Brenden Bobby, Sen. Ali Rabe, Bonnie Jakubos.

Submit stories to: stories@sandpointreader.com Printed weekly at: Tribune Publishing Co. Lewiston, ID Subscription Price: $135 per year Web Content: Keokee The Sandpoint Reader is a weekly publication owned and operated by Ben Olson and Keokee. It is devoted to the arts, entertainment, politics and lifestyle in and around Sandpoint, Idaho.

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

The Reader is printed on recycled paper using soy-based ink. Leftover copies are collected and recycled weekly, or burned in massive bonfires to appease the gods of journalism.

Free to all, limit two copies per person.

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

Requirements: –No more than 300 words –Letters may not contain excessive profanity or libelous material. Please elevate the discussion.

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

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

About the Cover

This week’s cover is a cool pop art image of Shakespeare.

Don’t forget to check out the free performance of Cymbeline at Lakeview Park on Aug. 21.

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NEWS

Council looks at census numbers, approves 2022 budget Fee increases also set for Oct. 1

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

Sandpoint City Council members unanimously approved the fiscal year 2022 budget Aug. 18, appropriating nearly $40.6 million as well as the use of forgone levying authority. The FY2022 budget, which begins Oct. 1, includes $25.7 million in operating expenditures and $14.8 million in capital improvements.

Based on the budget, the property tax levy per $1,000 of assessed value is $4.13, meaning the tax bill for a property valued at $417,014 in 2021 would come out $47.73 higher than the year before.

The levy rate has fallen consistently since 2017, when it was $5.75 per $1,000 of assessed value — that’s because of significant increases in overall assessed property values in the city. That jump was especially considerable between 2020 and 2021, rising from about $1 billion to more than $1.13 billion. According to city budget writers, the 2021 preliminary tax rolls show a projected increase of more than $133.7 million (or 13.36%) in overall property tax value from December 2020.

Rising property tax values are part of the wider story of growth both in Sandpoint and Bonner County.

According to figures released Aug. 12 by the U.S. Census Bureau, the city of Sandpoint grew by a total of 1,274 residents during the past 10 years, representing an overall population increase of 17.3% to 8,639 individuals in 2020.

As Sandpoint City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton noted at the Aug. 18 council meeting, the city’s percentage growth tracks with the statewide average but exceeds that of Boise, 4 /

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which recorded 14.6% growth over the past 10 years. Meanwhile, Coeur d’Alene grew 23.8% and Post Falls increased by about 40%, Stapleton said.

“We are definitely seeing the growth,” she added, though noted that it is all but certain that recently released numbers are lower than reality — in part because they don’t capture the influx of newcomers experienced by the region as a whole during the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in spring 2020.

“We believe these [numbers] are lower than what we’re all experiencing, feeling and seeing,” Stapleton said. “We’re looking at data based on the surveys and door-to-door surveys that were completed well over a year ago at this point.

“What we’ve seen is that it feels like we’re at that 17.3% growth just from last year to this year.”

The picture was similar countywide, with relatively slow growth — even a population decline of 675 from 2010 to 2012 — during the first five years of the decade followed by robust and sustained growth from 2015 to 2020.

Over the 10-year period, the county grew by 15.2%, adding 6,233 residents for a total of 47,110. Overall, Bonner County ranked ninth statewide for percentage change in population over the 10-year census cycle.

While interesting in and of itself, the census count for Sandpoint could have had big consequences for the city’s ability to raise voter-approved tax revenue. Under Idaho law communities with 10,000 or more population cannot claim resort city status, which enables them to gather dollars from sources such as bed taxes and local option taxes.

Stapleton said that the city had been “anxiously awaiting”

Statewide census data is made available at lmi.idaho.gov/census.

Image courtesy Idaho Dept. of Labor. the census numbers, fearing that the average $500,000 per year gathered from the bed tax could go away. That money is typically used to pay for things like public safety in order to ensure that tourists pay for some of the demands on city services that they create, rather than all those costs being borne by property taxpayers.

“We’re all feeling the tourists and we’re seeing it in the data,” Stapleton said, noting with some relief that, “We believe that we are well over 10,000 at this point,” but that won’t be represented until the next census.

In addition to the budget, the City Council also unanimously approved a slate of fees, including a number of increases in excess of 5% as well as new fees.

Among the new fees are a $5.25 charge for dog tag replacements, $3,539.08 for tour boat moorage, and several for residential mechanical and HVAC permits.

Utility user monthly rates include $2.08 for extra garbage

cans, $3.19 for roll-out carts over 15 feet and a $30.21 contamination charge representing increases of 13.04%, 15.16% and $20.84%, respectively.

Parking citation fees are set to go up, with a first offense for parking over the allowed time going up 150% from $10 to $25, a second offense within a 12-month period doubling from $25 to $50 and a third offense in a 12-month period rising from $50 to $75. Parking in violation of signage will cost $100 — up from $50.

As with the FY2022 budget, the effective date for fee increases is Oct. 1.

Meanwhile, the city postponed a meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission that had been scheduled for Aug. 17.

The commission was set to hear amendments to Title IX of the zoning code, which city staff presented at its July 20 meeting. At that time, the proposed amendments would have redefined what kinds of structures could be built within 25 feet of the vegetative buffer

from the high water mark of Sand Creek, enabling redevelopment projects between Bridge and Cedar Streets — including the Farmins Landing downtown waterfront project envisioned in the Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Master Plan.

According to the city, the new hearing will take place Tuesday, Sept. 7 with a revised version of the amendments, “which limits the scope of the proposed changes based on public feedback received by city staff.”

The revised draft ordinance containing the amendments is due to be made available on the city’s website (sandpointidaho. gov) on Friday, Aug. 20.

“The purpose of the proposed ordinance remains the same: enabling the public improvements, including significantly enhanced stormwater treatment, as envisioned in the adopted Downtown Waterfront Concept included in the City’s Parks and Recreation Master Plan,” the city stated.

Written testimony of no more than two pages will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 3 and can be delivered by hand to City Hall (1123 Lake St.) or email to cityclerk@ sandpointidaho.gov.

Finally, those interested in filing to run for the Sandpoint City Council are invited to do so from Monday, Aug. 23 to Friday, Aug. 27 and Monday, Aug. 30 to Friday, Sept. 3.

Seats currently held by City Council President Shannon Sherman and Council members Joel Aispuro and John Darling will be on the 2021 ballot, each for four-year terms ending in 2025.

More information and forms are available at sandpointidaho. gov under “Meetings” and at voteidaho.gov/city-resources.

NEWS

BoCo budget hearings slated for Aug. 23 Under new Idaho law, county opts to take forgone taxes over annual 3% increase, new construction

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Bonner County commissioners will hold two public hearings Monday, Aug. 23 to discuss adoption of the fiscal year 2022 ​​ budget. Meetings are scheduled for 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. in the first floor meeting room at the Bonner County Administration Building, located at 1500 Highway 2 in Sandpoint.

The FY2022 budget — which excludes EMS operations, handled within their own budget — sits at a proposed $62.4 million, down from FY2021’s projected $64 million total.

The most notable change from last year’s budget is the means by which the county plans to fund that $62.4 million figure. Rather than increasing taxes by the annual 3% allowed by state law or taking taxes from new construction, commissioners are instead proposing to use $2.7 million in forgone taxes — revenue left untouched in years that the board opted out of the allowed 3% increase. As a result, taxpayers can expect to see a 9% increase on the Bonner County portion of their tax bill, which, for most, constitutes about half of the

overall taxing district amounts.

That averages out to about a 4.7% overall increase per tax bill, according to Bonner County Clerk Mike Rosedale.

“Also, with the new construction here that increase will be spread out over more properties, so the actual percentage will be a bit lower,” he said. “Probably not much.”

Rosedale told the Reader that the decision to use forgone taxes was driven by a change to Idaho law passed late in the historically long 2021 legislative session: HB 389, a bill enacting widespread property tax reform.

Under the new law, Rosedale said the county had “two mutually exclusive options”: use the 3% increase and “only a fraction of new construction,” or use “all of your forgone.”

“This would leave us with roughly only 75% or so of new construction relative to past years ... all else staying constant,” Rosedale wrote in an email, explaining why Bonner County is opting to instead go for the forgone option. While commissioners waived the 3% increase last year and effectively eliminated those funds from ever being used as

forgone, enough funds remained in the forgone fund for use in the 2022 budget.

Rosedale said the changes to Idaho Code came so late in the session that “many taxing districts are having a really tough time due to lack of training.” Critics across the state — including Rosedale — say the new formula is punishing municipalities that try to live on fiscally conservative budgets.

“On top of that, the Legislature has been debating removing counties’ ability to access their forgone in the future,” he said. “That has served to penalize all counties that have tried to live below their means and impose future austerity on them because of their good spending/levying habits of the past. This is crazy.”

Ultra-conservative free market lobby group Idaho Freedom Foundation gave HB389 mostly negative reviews — in large part because it did “almost nothing to reduce government spending.” In its legislative analysis, IFF stated that the bill doesn’t effectively limit taxing districts’ budgets, doesn’t put up any roadblocks for the creation of future taxing districts, and shifts the burden of property taxes from homeowners

to commercial and rental property owners.

Even as he signed the bill into law in May, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signaled his mixed feelings, writing in a letter to legislators, “I am signing House Bill 389 because it provides some relief to Idaho taxpayers. However, I fear the long-term consequences may outweigh this temporary reprieve.”

An editorial in the Idaho Business Review in May called HB389 “poor policy, poorly written, bad for rural Idaho,” and zeroed in on the argument that the bill “prevents growth from paying for itself” — a point echoed by city and county officials from around the state, who are particularly concerned that jurisdictions can now only access 90% of new construction.

Rosedale said it is not yet clear whether the $1.2 million constituting new construction and the regular annual tax increase, which the county is passing on in 2022, will be counted as forgone next budget year.

Inflation is also setting the county up for an unsustainable future, he said, noting that “real inflation is roughly 12% calculated the way it used to be before Re-

gan took office.” He said estimates place that figure closer to 20% next year due to the “trillions of stimulus flooding the markets.”

“With that in mind, think of the county like a boat,” he said.

“We have a bilge pump that pumps water at the rate of 3% per year, while the hole in the bottom of the boat is letting in water at the rate of 12% per year, and will grow to at least 20% by next year. You do the math. This can’t continue for long.”

In all, the $62.4 million FY2022 budget is anticipated to be paid for with nearly $4 million in cash balanced forward, almost $30.5 million in proposed taxes (including the $2.7 million in forgone taxes), $3 million in grants and almost $25 million in “other” operating revenue.

Commissioners will consider adoption of both the larger budget and the nearly $5 million EMS budget at the Aug. 23 hearings.

Those interested in viewing a copy of the FY2022 Bonner County budget can email michael. rosedale@bonnercountyid.gov or call 208-265-1437 to learn how to secure a copy.

Trestle Creek Complex now 6K acres

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff The Trestle Creek Complex fire surpassed 6,000 acres this week, and, as of Aug. 18, remains only 5% contained.

Lightning started the fire — located four miles north of Hope — on July 7. As of mid-August, there are 165 personnel, 11 engines, two dozers, three feller bunchers, two excavators, a forwarder, a masticator and three water tenders dedicated to containing the blaze and keeping it away from residences in the area. So far, no structures have been lost. All homes in the area remain in the “ready” category of local authorities’ “ready, set,

go” evacuation strategy, as of Aug. 18.

In a media release Aug. 17, the Idaho Panhandle National Forests urged those headed into the woods to practice caution and learn about area fires ahead of time.

“Northern Idaho is experiencing a very active wildfire season and fire danger remains ‘extreme’ across the Idaho Panhandle National Forests,” officials stated. “Recent precipitation has provided temporary benefits to the firefighting efforts, with cooler temperatures and more humidity, but the wildfires will remain very active until a significant shift in the weather arrives.

Visitors should do all they can

to stay informed of changing conditions and prepare to adjust their plans, if needed.”

Find the latest information about active fires at inciweb. nwcg.gov, or check out this new resource from the Idaho Department of Lands: idl.idaho.gov/ fire-management/idaho-fire-map.

IPNF reminds recreators that campfires are not allowed under Stage II fire restrictions, and recently burned areas remain dangerous even after the flames have passed, since “wildfires can weaken trees, loosen rocks and other debris that can roll into roadways or permit flash floods, and heat pockets can remain in the ground for months.”

A map of the Trestle Creek Complex fires dated Aug. 17. Courtesy image.

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NEWS

LPOSD finalizes 20212022 virus protocols State health officials warn that latest surge could exceed last winter’s peak

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff The Lake Pend Oreille School District Board of Trustees finalized the district’s COVID-19 protocols for the 2021-2022 school year at its meeting Aug. 10, marking the second year in a row that education authorities have had to give consideration to keeping students and teachers safe during a global pandemic.

The guidelines for the coming school year include optional masking practices; a requirement that students who don’t feel well stay home; encouragement — but no requirement — that parents “who wish to have their student vaccinated” seek out opportunities to do so; hand washing and respiratory etiquette; and the requirement that those who test positive self-isolate for 10 days.

The final piece of the puzzle regarded contact tracing. Last year, any student deemed a close contact to an individual who tested positive for the virus was asked to quarantine. Superintendent Tom Albertson introduced a new protocol for the board’s approval Aug. 10: Rather than close contacts isolating, a notification will be sent to parents of every child in a classroom that experiences an infection, requesting that they monitor their children for symptoms.

“We would not be disrupting as much education as we did last year,” Albertson said, adding later, “This is more main6 /

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The administration building for the Lake Pend Oreille School District. Photo by Ben Olson. stream than the contact tracing we did last year.”

However, if a student lives in the same household as someone who tests positive, that student is still asked to self-isolate at home.

Board Chair Geraldine Lewis said she liked the proposal because “it follows what we have in place for our other contagious, infectious diseases.”

“I think that if we find out that we’re having massive outbreaks in classrooms we would have to reevaluate the success of what we’re doing,” she said.

Trustee Lonnie Williams said that he believed the only surefire way to avoid “big jumps” in cases of COVID-19 in the school system is to rely on students and parents to be honest and accountable.

“The most important thing here, just like we talked about last year and probably every year prior to COVID being a thing … [is that] kids have to speak up and parents have to listen and keep your kids home if they’re sick, just like if it was a flu or anything else,” he said.

The board voted unanimously in favor of the new contact tracing guidelines.

“Bottom line is I’ve spent some time in Boise, I’ve talked to some other school districts, and I think that our plan is reasonable,” Albertson said after the

< see COVID, Page 7 >

Bits ’n’ Pieces From east, west and beyond East, west or beyond, sooner or later events elsewhere may have a local impact.

A recent sampling: Irony: “Insurance companies complain about the costs of climate change — worse hurricanes, floods and droughts mean higher insurance payouts,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). But at the same time they provide insurance for industries that are fueling climate change.

According to Whitehouse, insurers need to “stop underwriting fossil fuel expansion and phase out insurance for existing fossil fuels.” The latest IPCC study of climate change emphasized that further expansion of fossil fuel extraction will accelerate climate change to the point of ever more, greater, and costly storm events.

Officially confirmed: July 2021 was the hottest month ever recorded in human history, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The National Guard is aiding Oregon in addressing its Delta variant COVID-19 hospital crisis, according to numerous news sources. Hospitals are overflowing and people seeking ICU care for car crashes or heart attacks are at risk. Especially hard hit are areas where less than half of adults are vaccinated. Delta variant cases in Oregon went from 15% to 96% in six weeks.

Two airplane passengers were fined $16,000 each for using fake COVID-19 vaccination cards. Also, thousands of counterfeit vaccination cards were seized in Tennessee, The Hill reported.

A CDC study looked at 246 people who were not vaccinated after having COVID-19, and found the risk for reinfection was 2.34 times greater, as compared to those vaccinated after having COVID-19.

Why has Afghanistan’s military collapsed so quickly? A Washington Post report said that despite 20 years of training and billions in U.S. aid to the nation, there were deals made between rural villages and militant groups, as well as “some of the Afghan government’s lowest-ranking officials.” The deals included money if government forces would hand over their guns. (The Miles for Migrants organization says Afghanistan is also challenged by severe drought and COVID-19.) Those deals then expanded across the country. Compliance was aided by the suspicion that lack of U.S. presence

By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist

would inevitably put the Taliban in power.

Another problem: lack of pay. Officers with the Kandahar police force said corruption was more to blame than incompetence: Without the U.S. presence, there was “no fear of being caught for corruption.” For many, going without pay made them willing to accept the Taliban’s hard-to-resist offers for joining them.

Critics of President Joe Biden’s pull out from Afghanistan were once advocates of what they are now criticizing, Business Insider has pointed out. As well, many Republicans have said the U.S. should have done more to protect and evacuate Afghanistan’s U.S. supporters, but 16 of those Republicans voted last month against another 8,000 immigration visas (added to 11,000) for those people. The bill, the ALLIES Act, did pass the House and is now in the Senate awaiting action.

The Refugee Council USA is urging the Biden administration “to bring Afghan refugees to safety immediately,” and say there are numerous re-settling and refugee-serving organizations ready to help.

There are 80,000 Afghan Special Immigrant Visa holders and their families are “in grave danger,” according to the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.

The agency says the U.S. should protect Afghan allies who provided protection to U.S. forces. There are also “tens of thousands” of other vulnerable populations, including women’s rights activists, journalists and NGO workers.

Blast from the (recent) past: During the almost 20 years that the U.S. has been in Afghanistan, 2,448 troops and personnel died and 20,722 Americans were wounded.

The cost has been more than $1 trillion.

After close to 3,000 lives lost due to the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on American soil, the Afghan war began under President George W. Bush, who expanded it to include Iraq. The Obama administration ordered a troop surge and took out Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and hoped to be able to leave Afghanistan. Instead, violence there increased. Former-President Donald Trump initiated negotiations with the Taliban, but they excluded Afghanistan (the Taliban then endorsed Trump for president). Republican veteran and lawmaker Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said both Democrats and Republicans have failed in Afghanistan.

NEWS < COVID, con’t from Page 6 > vote. “I do agree with Trustee Williams, that it’s a partnership with parents and the best thing to do is for parents to monitor their own student’s health and if there are any symptoms or they’re not feeling well, it is best for the parents to keep the kids home.”

Health officials across the state are preparing for the worst — care rationing — as COVID-19 cases continue to rise, due in large part to the extremely contagious Delta variant of the disease. On Aug. 17, Idaho State Epidemiologist Christine Hahn told reporters that the Gem State is “headed for a hospital crisis,” according to the Idaho Capital Sun, and that she and other officials want to “get the message out on how worried we are, and how serious we think this is.”

“The surge is driving our projections upward to about 30,000 cases per week by mid-October,” said deputy state epidemiologist Kathryn Turner during the Tuesday briefing. “This is beyond what we saw last winter, when

our cases peaked in December.”

State health authorities are recommending vaccinations — available for walk-in appointments at most pharmacies — and masking while indoors to slow the spread.

Read LPOSD’s COVID-19 protocols for the coming school year by visiting lposd.org and clicking on the link at the top of the home page: “School Operation Plan for 2021-2022.”

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Tacitus...

Bouquets: GUEST SUBMISSION: • Thanks to the crew that has been laboring all summer, through the heat, with limited shade, working on the Long Bridge pedestrian bridge. They tell me there are 178 joints in the bridge that they have been doing the biggest dental job ever on, as they clean the joints and stuff them with foam and a covering using the world’s largest hydraulic caulk gun. They are well on their way, completing crack number 100. I don’t think it will be smooth enough for rollerblading, but the biking and walking on this Sandpoint treasure will sure be a lot safer and nicer.

— By Rick Price • Here’s a Bouquet to our readers who submit “guest submissions” for this column. This little space is often the last to be filled before deadline because it’s difficult for me to rant or rave at new topics each week without repeating myself or stirring up a hornet’s nest (I fully admit that I have done both many times). When our readers send in guest Bouquets or Barbs, it really helps, because I usually only write about issues that come up in my sphere of influence. I know there are a lot of folks out there who are eager to pass along kind words or constructive criticisms.

Please keep it up. This paper is as much yours as it is mine, so feel free to call out good deeds when you see them. We all need a reminder from time to time.

Barbs: • To the guy who keeps sending me handwritten notes: I’ve tried several times to call the number you gave me, but have yet to have anybody pick up the phone. Your last note seems to imply I’m ignoring you — I’m not. I’m trying to reach you. Next time just send an email or call and we can avoid all this miscommunication from the start.

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Dear editor, The current uproar is, “Why remove the troops now?” Comparisons are made to Germany and Korea. These are invalid because the threat in Afghanistan is not external as it was and was and is in Germany and Korea it is internal. The USSR (now Russia) and North Korea (China) were both external threats. The Taliban and its many branches have and continue to be the internal threat.

The 2,000-year-old quote: “They created a desert and called it peace,” (thank you: Publius Tacitus) was the only other possibility in this country.

Darryl O’Sickey Sagle

No one died in vain in Afghanistan...

Dear editor, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Those of us who have served in our nation’s armed forces are familiar with this oft-quoted verse from the Bible. Military personnel are fiercely proud of serving our country. But we also know that, in the trenches, fighters do what they so bravely and selflessly do, not for their country but for those on either side of them. Their buddies.

Those who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan, and in any of our country’s other conflicts, answered the highest possible calling.

We all owe them our deepest love, gratitude and honor.

Mark Cochran Retired Marine Sandpoint

Open call for ghost stories…

Dear editor, A few years back I had a column in this fine paper, “Haunted Sandpoint.” You may or may not remember, as it only ran a few times. The stories told of spirits haunting different buildings around town.

I was recently offered an opportunity to publish a book of “Haunted Sandpoint” stories. So here’s where you come in, Dear Readers. I need your ghost stories. That haunted house you live in, the ghost at your

work who throws things across the room, even if it’s just disembodied footsteps or a creepy feeling, I’d like to hear about it.

Your story can be anonymous if you’d like or we can take pictures of your haunted place.

You can give me a paragraph’s worth of stories or several pages.

There might even be a possibility of putting “Haunted Sandpoint” back in the Reader, but I can’t do it without you.

I can be reached at:

jessgbowman@gmail.com.

Please, regale me with your ghost encounters.

Thank you very much.

Jessica Bowman Hayden

PERSPECTIVES

Emily Articulated

A column by and about Millennials

Existential dread

By Emily Erickson Reader Columnist

If my brain had a chamber that held all the existential dread I could carry about the state of the world, it would have a heavy door with a creaky spoke handle and a red blinking light. Next to it would be a mounted keypad for plunking in my password and a hastily slapped on sticky note with the words, “Are you sure you want to open this?” scratched in black marker.

If I heaved open the chamber door, the first thing I’d see would be a dark hallway illuminated by a “Vaccine Disinformation” sign, an intimidating threshold I’d tentatively — reluctantly — cross. Flashes of people’s fear would greet me, with their “anti-vaxxer” title emblemizing the turning of their backs against leading epidemiologists and medical researchers as if their medicine cabinets weren’t already filled with bottles crafted by the same scientists.

These anti-vaxxers would be adorned with profile picture frames that read, “Stop the mandate; I stand for medical freedom,” as if they didn’t also advocate for the control and regulation of women’s reproductive organs. They’d start comparing the use of vaccination cards to Nazi mandates, like the Holocaust could be used as a piece of political red meat, or that electing to have reduced choices at restaurants is on the same plane as orches-

Emily Erickson. trated genocide.

Before I’d be consumed by brash sentiments like, “What is wrong with people?” or, “Opting out of the vaccine should also be an opt out of an ICU bed,” I’d make my way to another hallway in the chamber of existential dread.

Following a tendril of smoke that grew into a thick cloud, I’d duck under a sign reading “Climate Crisis.” The smoke, a companion of devastating wildfires, would be co-mingling with excessive flooding, catastrophic dust storms, crippling heat and myriad other extreme or unprecedented weather-related events. A report by the IPCC would be blaring, “Code Red for Humanity,” formally concluding that the can we’ve been kicking down the road is rapidly approaching a dead end.

The planet’s profiteers would be glancing over the report like it was news, saying, “I guess those climate-doomsayers were right after all” — meanwhile clutching their riches in their fists. Billionaires would be rocketing out into space like they weren’t practicing their exit

plan, enthusiastically waving down at the employees left propping up more sandbags against a rising tide.

Before being suffocated by anger and hopelessness, I’d continue through the chamber to the hallway labeled “Blind Patriotism.”

Upon entry, I’d be fitted for my armor — the suit of patriotism we’re expected to wear without thinking. This armor would be blown of thick glass, solid and immovable, not flexible or made with the expectation of growth or change.

Questions about our systems of oppression, our acts of injustice or our failed attempts at nation-building would be met with the firm response of, “If you don’t like it, you can leave,” like the people calling for improvement have any less claim on being American than those happy in their suits of glass.

Concepts like equality, reparations, reform and justice would be stones — perceived as weapons by those wearing fragile armor, vehemently denying that the fundamentals of democracy wouldn’t be better crafted in malleable clay.

Nearing toxic levels of exposure to my own anxiety and frustration, I’d be forced to leave the chamber. Upon heaving the door closed and temporarily locking away my existential dread, I’d regain control over my breathing.

In a painstaking process of reflection and reclamation of empathy, I’d be reminded that creating art, committing acts of kindness, seeing live music, and having heart-to-heart

conversations with friends and strangers is the remedy to seeing our world as painted in black and white.

In the catharsis of putting words to paper, and sharing the depths of my fear, anger and existential dread with a community I love, I’d find comfort in the fact that there’s an outside to those feelings — a place in which humanity is complex

and where people are nuanced.

And that, for better or worse, we are all in this together.

Emily Erickson is a freelance writer and bartender originally from Wisconsin, with a degree in sociology and an affinity for playing in the mountains.

Retroactive

By BO

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Mad about Science:

Brought to you by:

small stuff in perspective

By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist As a civilization we have spent nearly the past two years getting our butts kicked by something too small to see with the naked eye. SARS-CoV-2 is tiny, but how tiny? We know that it attacks and assimilates cells, but how?

To really understand the scope of things too small to see, we need to scale them up. Let’s start with something we can see: a single strand of our hair. Normally, our hair has a diameter of about 50 micrometers and is one of the smallest, thinnest objects we can see with the naked eye.

Let’s scale that up to the size of your average freight train, like the one that made you late coming back from lunch earlier this week. Scaled up, that gives your strand of hair a 10-foot, six-inch width and it can stretch lengthwise for up to two miles.

A single grain of salt, normally around 60 micrometers, would be slightly wider than the freight train but not nearly as long — about the size of a Chinook helicopter next to the strand of mega-hair. At 21 cubic meters, this block of salt would weigh more than 102,000 pounds. As a bonus fact, it would take you almost 50,000 years to eat that much salt, based on the average American’s yearly salt consumption.

Beside that helicopter-sized lump of salt, you would be able to see one of our white blood cells — our body’s last line of defense against infection. Nor10 /

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mally around 25 micrometers in diameter, once scaled up into the world of supersized particles, it would be about the size of a four-person sedan. On our list of small things, this is the last item we would be able to see with our naked eye. Anything smaller than this four-person sedan is essentially invisible without a little bit of help.

Red blood cells, responsible for giving your life-juice a horrifying scarlet color, are normally about eight micrometers and would be about the size of an average adult human in the upscaled world. Four of them could squeeze into the sedan-sized white blood cell, though this interaction inside of your body would be a nightmarish experience and you’d very likely need to see some kind of specialist and end up being the subject in an awesome medical journal.

Now we start getting to some of the really small stuff.

Imagine those four human-sized blood cells shooting some hoops at the local park.

The ball they would be hurling back and forth is a particle of wildfire smoke — the cause of our hazy summer. Normally, these particles are around 2.5 micrometers, so around the size of a yoga ball to our person-sized blood cells. A single one of these particles isn’t enough to do any harm, but a single particle doesn’t make a cloud of smoke. You have to figure that each particle was removed from the tree by fire.

If the entire tree burns up, its entire weight is released as particulate matter into the air. On average, a single acre of pine

trees contains 198,000 pounds of wood. The Trestle Creek Complex has burned more than 3,400 acres as of the time of this writing, which would mean somewhere around 600 million pounds of wood has burned in that fire alone, converting it into smoke particles that we’ve been steadily breathing in for weeks.

The Bootleg fire in Oregon, meanwhile, exceeded 400,000 acres burned. That would be more than 79 billion pounds of wood converted into particulate matter. Trying to imagine that in our scaled-up world?

I’ll let you do the calculation on that one.

Smaller than smoke particles is a single instance of SARSCoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. This virus ranges anywhere from 0.1 to 0.5 micrometers. In big-world, that would be anything from the size of a baseball to a basketball. The virus still isn’t small enough to simply slip into your cells. Instead, it stabs healthy cells it contacts with little spikes and begins to inject its genetic code into your cell, reprogramming it to start reproducing more instances of the virus — similar to a Facehugger from the Alien franchise.

Ironically, the virus’ reproduction method isn’t what causes the onset of symptoms associated with COVID-19, it’s the response of your sedan-sized white blood cells attacking the infected cells.

The coronavirus is basically a baby-sized hostage taker, and your body’s response to stop it is to ram it with as many 1992 Ford Crown Vics as possible,

inevitably causing a massive pileup and huge collateral damage to the surrounding area.

In our scaled-up world, that’s not just the basketball court your four red blood cells were playing on, it’s the entire city erupting into chaos — the city, of course, representing your respiratory tract to scale.

Smaller than SARS-CoV-2 is the Zika virus, which is about 50 nanometers, or about

1% of the size of the largest coronavirus. Scaled up, it would be a flea, maybe as large as an ant or a fly.

Smallest of all is the atom, coming in at 0.1 nanometer in diameter. In the scaled-up world, it would still be too small to see without some kind of microscope — coming in around the size of SARSCoV-2 in the regular world.

Stay curious, 7B.

Random Corner ies?

Don’t know much about allerg • A woman who successfully underwent a lung transplant later went into anaphylactic shock after eating peanut butter. Prior to her transplant, she never had problems eating peanuts. She learned that the 12-year-old who had donated the lungs had a peanut allergy, and had died from an episode of anaphylactic shock.

• Daniel Radcliffe, who played Harry Potter in the Harry Potter movies, was allergic to his own glasses. He had a nickel allergy and suffered for weeks with mysterious bumps around his eyes, where the glasses touched his face. The nickel glasses were quickly replaced with hypoallergenic specs.

• Pet allergies are caused by an allergic reaction to the animal’s saliva, not the fur itself. The allergens come from saliva, urine and dander, which then attach to the fur.

• Most people with chocolate allergies are actually allergic to the roaches present in them and not the chocolate itself. FDA deems up

We can help!

to 60 insect parts in 100 grams of chocolates as safe for consumption — anything less than that would require more expensive processing and pesticide use.

• Cashews, pistachios and mangoes are all in the same family of plants, meaning people with nut allergies often react to mango as well.

• If you have a shellfish allergy you should avoid eating edible insects, as they’re closely related and have some of the same proteins that cause shellfish allergies.

• Bill Hader became the voice of Mr. Peanut in 2013, despite having a severe peanut allergy.

• As Larry David grew richer from the success of Seinfeld he developed an allergy to caviar, which, according to him, “was the perfect metaphor for my life.”

• Astronaut Harrison Schmitt, from the Apollo 17 mission, had a severe allergy to moon dust.

PERSPECTIVES

It’s time to address Idaho’s housing crisis

By Sen. Ali Rabe, D-Boise Reader Contributor Idaho continues to make national news for its booming real estate market as people flock to the Gem State in droves, causing home values and rental costs to skyrocket.

As a result, people who’ve lived here for generations are being forced to move to other states. In some cases, Idahoans are losing their housing and becoming homeless for the very first time.

We can’t afford to ignore this growing crisis any longer, especially when mechanisms are already in place to help address the issue. One simple solution is to invest in Idaho’s Housing Trust Fund.

Established in the early 1990s, the fund was created as a way to support affordable housing developments. At the time, the state was experiencing a similar period of unprecedented growth, prompting legislators to take action. But no appropriations were ever allocated. Without a dedicated revenue stream, the fund cannot be utilized.

If the state put money into the fund — which could be a mix of state and federal revenue — it could be used to enable and

empower local governments across Idaho to create tailored solutions to boost housing supply and lower cost for all citizens in their communities.

City and county officials are begging for an opportunity like this. I’ve talked with many local leaders about how they would use the fund to boost workforce and affordable housing options and the ideas are endless. Localities could use funding to create:

• Tax relief — provide tax relief to homeowners who use their property as their primary residence or leave their rentals in a long-term rental pool. Tax waivers could be used to mitigate supply issues created by short term rentals.

• Building incentives — reduce impact fees or property taxes for certain developers.

• Land banks — purchase land to contract with developers to build.

• Housing preservation — contract with developers to redevelop blight and unused or run-down buildings.

And the list goes on.

Housing is the No. 1 issue for Idahoans. I can’t think of a better use for the state’s $900 million surplus other or federal COVID relief money other than investing

in our serious housing problem. If our government fails to act, the crisis will only worsen.

You often hear lawmakers say they don’t want Idaho to turn into Oregon, Washington or California. We are well on our way to becoming like our neighboring states — where tens of thousands of people are living in homelessness — if we continue to do nothing. The mechanism for the fund is already in place; only a funding source is needed.

Contact members of the Legislature and the governor’s office today and ask that they allocate at least $40 million to Idaho’s Housing Trust Fund during the 2022 session. It’s time to chart a new course for our state before it’s too late. Spending millions of dollars now will prevent us from spending hundreds of millions later.

Sen. Ali Rabe, D-Boise, is serving her first term in the Idaho Legislature, representing District 17. She also is the executive director of Jesse Tree, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing eviction and homelessness in the Treasure Valley. She serves on the Agricultural Affairs, Local Government and Taxation, and Resources and Environment committees.

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COMMUNITY

Photos from the Fly-In One of our readers sent in a bunch of great photographs from the annual Fly-In at the Sandpoint Airport on Saturday, Aug. 6. The photographs to the right were all taken by Rich Milliron.

Ken Larson with the North Idaho High School Aerospace Program also shared the photo below of some aerospace students ages 12-17 who have built a cut-away aircraft engine. The students were on hand Aug. 6 to explain the project to the public.

“This truly is a remarkable project they took on and I can vouch for the fact that the girls did all the work under supervision of Ray King, one of our program mentors,” Larson told the Reader.

The project also got support from 101 Women of Sanpdoint, Sandpoint Community Assistance League and Winter Ridge Natural Foods. The NIHS Aerospace Program is driven by volunteers and donations from the commnity. Their mission is to provide hands-on STEM experience and career pathways exposure.

Angels Over Sandpoint grants available

By Reader Staff Thanks to the generous donations from the community, the Angels Over Sandpoint is able to resume its community grant program. Grant requests for eligible applicants are open until Wednesday, Sept. 15. The Angels Over Sandpoint offer grants of between $250-$2,500 to charitable and educational organizations in Bonner County. All services must be for the benefit of Bonner County residents.

Applications can be found on the Angels Over Sandpoint website — angelsoversandpoint.org — under the “grants” tab. Instructions and a complete description of the grant are under “Community Grants.” All requests must be received by Sept. 15.

Organizations eligible to apply must meet one of the following criteria: ​ • An organization holding a 12 /

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current tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3), (4), (6) or (19) of the Internal Revenue Code; • A recognized government entity: state, county or city agency, including law enforcement or fire departments, that are requesting funds exclusively for charitable purposes; • A pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12 public or private school, charter school, community/junior college, state/private college or university; • A church or other faith-based organization with a proposed project that benefits the community at large; or • A children and/or youth program.

Angels Over Sandpoint organizers said they look forward to reviewing ideas on how to enhance the lives of area children, seniors, veterans and all Bonner County citizens. Each request will receive careful consideration, the organization stated.

OUTDOORS

Human-powered and historical

Pend Oreille Rowing and Paddling Association to host first annual Priest River Sprints

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff The Pend Oreille Rowing and Paddling Association has long held its annual regatta, when rowers from around the region gather in North Idaho to take part in some serious racing.

Working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2021, PORPA decided to create an event that was “less niche” — rowing — “and more across the board to involve the community at large with all other non-motorized crafts,” according to PORPA Secretary Erwin Muller, who also serves as rowing coordinator, equipment maintenance manager and race scheduler.

Thus, the Priest River Sprints were born, with the premiere event slated for Saturday, Aug. 21 at the Mudhole recreation area in Priest River.

Watercraft welcome at the upcoming sprints include rowing singles, kayaks, canoes, standup paddleboards and rafts.

There will be races specifically for experienced, novice and junior rowers and paddlers, as well as a relay race. All watercraft must be solo-powered.

Muller said the first annual event is already proving popular.

“It has been so well-received that we have registrations in all categories, and even one family that has registered for the relays using four different crafts,” Muller said. “Also, thanks to the continued cooperation with the [Corps], there is now a non-motorized boat launch at the Mudhole, whereas in the past we had to share the boat ramp with motorized boats, which was conflicting.”

A tentative schedule for the day includes races from 8 a.m. to noon, culminating in an awards ceremony. Partici-

pants are encouraged to bring their own lunch and, starting around 1 p.m., take in some rowing shell demonstrations put on by PORPA members.

Members of the Kalispel Tribe will also be there to give a presentation on the tribe’s relationship to the Pend Oreille River and other local waterways.

At its core, PORPA aims to “promote non-motorized, human-powered water sports in the area, which has been the practice for centuries on these waters,” Muller said.

“We think there is no better way to promote these sports than to draw back from history and explain how this has been done,” he said. “It is quite amazing and fitting that the Mudhole is considered an archeological site, since it has been used for commerce, recreation, fishing and habitation for centuries.”

Take part in the first ever Priest River Sprints on Aug. 21, with check-in starting at 7:30 a.m. at the Mudhole recreation area, located half a mile east of Priest River on Highway 2. Safety meetings and races will begin soon after.

Registration costs $35 for racers 15 and older, and is free for those 14 and younger. All racers receive a T-shirt.

Same-day registration is welcome. The event will follow all COVID-19 protocols based on federal, state, local and sport-specific guidelines.

Learn more about the Priest River

Sprints at porpa.org, or contact secretary@porpa.org with questions or to register ahead of time.

Members of the Pend Oreille Rowing and Paddling Association embark on the first row of the season in 2016. Courtesy photo.

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COMMUNITY Ivano’s Italian Open Golf Scramble back on for September

By Reader Staff Each year the Angels Over Sandpoint and Ivano’s Ristorante sponsor a September golf scramble to raise funds for the Jim Lippi Family Scholarship. Lippi, who owned and operated Ivano’s alongside his family for decades before his death in 2016, was renowned for his generosity — always ready to help someone in need — and the Angels Over Sandpoint have likewise contributed much to countless individuals in the community.

The scholarship continues that tradition and provides financial help for college or trade school to graduating Bonner County students who exhibit exceptional determination, courage and a desire to continue their education in the face of less-than-perfect circumstances.

Amid COVID-19, and the uncertainties it has brought since spring 2020, fundraising events along with scholarship awards and students’ plans are still somewhat challenging.

Yet, $6,500 has been spread among the following students at three Bonner County Schools: Sandpoint High School students

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Makylee Lambert, Maximillian Reed, Ellen Clark, Damian Jahn, Kayelin Otterson, Chandler Kees and Chloe Martin; Clark Fork High School students Brice Sieben-Nickle, Cameron Garcia and Lydia Selph; and Priest River High School students Lille Sennett.

Meanwhile, the Angels have announced the return of the Ivano’s Italian Open Golf Scramble, scheduled for Monday, Sept. 13 at the Idaho Club (216 Clubhouse Way in Sandpoint). The event continues the tradition of supporting the community and its high-school seniors through the scholarship program.

Those interested in participating as a golfer or hole sponsor are asked to contact Paula Marcinko at paula@ angelsoversandpoint.org.

The 2021 Bonner County Fair opened to fairgoers at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 18, and will continue through Saturday, Aug. 21. Reader News Editor Lyndsie Kiebert made the rounds Wednesday morning as 4-H members showed and tended to their animals, and the main exhibit building began bustling with county citizens excited to see what ribbons they’d earned.

To submit a photo for a future edition, please send to ben@sandpointreader.com.

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FOOD & DRINK

Zach’s got game (in the oven) A rabbit in the pan is a recipe for fine North Idaho dining

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff Somewhere in the woods, off a county road in Sagle in the highlands near the lake, is a rabbit that is alive because of me. Rather, it’s alive despite me. On a wood gathering excursion last fall with my brother and some friends I took a break from doing my part hurling rounds down the hillside to poke around in the surrounding brush with my .20 gauge.

It was grouse season, and I was hoping to bag a bird — even better, I felt that I would.

Up a rocky defile not far from our ersatz lumber camp I moved into a relatively flat area of mixed ground cover and skinny trees. There were lots of snowberry bushes around (or as we’ve always called them, “grouse berries”) and little tangles of dead limbs on the forest floor — perfect grouse habitat. I chambered a shell as quietly as possible, went into a crouch and crept sidelong — foot over foot — with that preternatural “snakeeyed” concentration that has been delivering game to the tribe for millennia.

On the upward angle of a grassy mound, just before the crest, I sensed movement at the base of a syringa bush ahead. I could still hear the muffled thump and crash of the rounds rolling down the hill behind me, and so went lower and stood still, the barrel of my shotgun now in a ready position.

There it was. A big, fat, white snowshoe hare — nibbling and sniffing, sniffing and nibbling — just sitting there under the syringa. This was not the game I was looking for. I stared at it for a solid 10 seconds, waiting for it to dart off. It didn’t. I raised the shotgun and clicked off the safety, doing so slow enough that any sound above a squirrel fart could have sent it running to safety. It didn’t. I put my finger on the trigger and dimmed all peripheral awareness, looking down the barrel at this giant rabbit munching away, with its black buggy eyes blinking and huge ears twitching.

In a failure of eons of hunter-gatherer genetic memory, my big fat Homo Sapien brain went to work on itself. Wasn’t a .20 gauge too big for a rabbit? Would I 16 /

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Are you hungry yet? Courtesy photo. vaporize this animal in a hail of shot and white fur? I’d brought along my .410 as well, but it was in the truck. Wouldn’t that be a better load for a rabbit? Is there a rabbit season? (There is: Aug. 30-March 31, and you can take as many as eight per day.)

What’s worse, sentimentality for our old pet rabbit Paul — a humongous beast with similar coloring and laziness — got in the way. I also realized I didn’t even know how to process a rabbit, much less cook one. I’d be killing this thing only because I could, and that didn’t feel right.

I lowered my gun and rationalized that by staying my hand in this instance the hunting gods, whose benificence has preserved and aided the human species for so many hundreds of thousands of years, would reward me with a particularly idiotic and giant grouse.

The safety reengaged, I settled back on my haunches and watched the rabbit continue its meal. Soon after it hopped — completely unconcerned — behind the syringa and disappeared.

I should have shot it.

This is not bloodlust; it’s just that in the intervening months I have learned how to handle rabbit as a foodstuff and it is not only absurdly easy, but equally

delicious.

The hunting gods did not deliver unto me a grouse, but I did receive four rabbits, preprocessed and sealed in bags, from my mom via a friend of hers. We stewed one with potatoes, onions, leeks, garlic, carrots and red wine. We gave one to a neighbor.

One remains in the freezer, and I cooked another not long ago using the pan-roasted method. This I highly recommend.

Step 1, of course, is defrosting the rabbit in a suitably deep dish or pan in the fridge. Mine took about three hours, so plan accordingly.

(Step 1, if you hauled off and shot a rabbit in the wild, like I should have done and will do next time I have the opportunity, is field dressing technique — that is, cut slits of about one inch under the skin above the knee on each back leg, then pull or cut away the skin up to the midsection. Put the rabbit on its back and make another long cut from belly to neck — avoiding puncturing the body cavity. Step on the rabbit’s feet, get a grip on the loose skin and pull upward. The hide should come away easily; if not, use a knife or your fingers to break apart any catches. After that, it’s a matter of cutting off the feet and head — with the latter, making sure to remove the head at

the very base of the neck so as to remove the windpipe. Gutting is accomplished in the standard way. Just envision a big fish and don’t pop any stomach or intestinal tissues.)

Step 2 is to butcher. Use a heavy sharp kitchen knife and separate the back legs. Rabbit bones are pretty easy to cut through, so it doesn’t take much effort.

Do the same with the front legs. At that point, you should have a rabbit in three pieces. Following that, make it six pieces, cutting along the spine to separate the legs from one another and creating two breast sections.

Step 3: Rub the meat with a generous amount of olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. I poured about two tablespoons of olive oil and 1/3 of a bottle of sauvignon blanc (from the gas station) into the pan, as well as four sprigs-worth of rosemary and a healthy amount of dried parsley. If you’re not in a rush, this is when you’d pop the rabbit back into the fridge to marinate. If you’re in a rush, do all of the preceding in a goodsized frying pan.

Step. 4: Sear the meat on medium-high heat until brown. I spent this time drinking white wine and adding sliced mushrooms and red onion to the mix — occasionally adding a little more garlic powder, salt and pepper, based on my mood. This takes about five minutes per side. Meanwhile, set the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and get a good-sized baking dish ready.

Once you see your rabbit turning golden brown, pour a little more wine into the pan to deglaze all the juices. Let simmer on medium-high heat until your kitchen smells like hot wine. Some people say to also add chicken stock. I used water and it was just fine.

Step 5: When well seared, transfer everything from the frying pan to the baking dish and put it in the oven for about a half an hour.

That’s it. Served with mushroom risotto and garden salad, this was a meal that even my picky 6-year-old daughter ate with all the carnivorous gusto I should have marshaled when I had a shotgun in my hands last fall. I won’t make that mistake again.

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events August 19-26, 2021

THURSDAY, august 19

Live Music w/ Kerry Leigh 6-8pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall

Sip and Shop w/ live music by Red Blend 4-8pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Support the Panida Theater! A percentage of all proceeds go to the Friends of the Panida Theater. Live music by Red Blend

Bonner County Fair (Aug. 18-21) See website for hours @ BoCo Fairgrounds See BonnerCountyFair.com for a full listing of events for our county fair Live Music w/ Truck Mills 7pm @ Matchwood Brewing Co.

FriDAY, august 20 Live Music w/ BTP 6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall

Sandpoint Summer Strings Festival @ Sandpoint Christian School Aug. 19,20,21. More info at suzukistringacademy.com

SATURDAY, august 21 Live Music w/ Pamela Jean 6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Live Music w/ Bright Moments Jazz 7pm @ Matchwood Brewing Co. Live Music w/ Turn Spit Dogs 6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Local Author Storytime: Nancy Binger 10am @ Sandpoint Library Author Nancy Binger will read her book ‘Most Wanted: Sock Thief’ plus kids’ craft projects and book signing to follow Live Music w/ KOSH 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Sandpoint Farmers’ Market 9am-1pm @ Farmin Park Live music w/ Folk Remedy Live Music w/ B-Radicals 9pm-midnight @ 219 Lounge

Shakespeare in the Park: Cymbeline 6pm @ Lakeview Park Hosted by Lost Horse Press, this year’s performance is free to the public. Bring a picnic and enjoy the play in the park.

Gates open at 3 p.m.

Priest River Sprints 7am-4pm @ The Mudhole (Priest River) All ages and skill levels welcome.

Non-motorized watercraft races on the Priest River. PORPA.org for more info

Sandpoint Strings Summer Festival 4pm @ Bonner County Fairgrounds The final performance of the inaugural Strings Festival with guest conductor Michele Jeglum. Free and open to public

SunDAY, august 22

Sandpoint Chess Club 9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee

monDAY, august 23

Outdoor Experience Monday Night Group Run – All levels welcome 6pm @ Outdoor Experience Lifetree Cafe • 2pm @ Jalapeño’s Restaurant “Mental Illness: Breaking the Silence, Overcoming the Shame” Monday Night Blues Jam w/ John Firshi 7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub

wednesDAY, august 25

Sandpoint Farmers’ Market 3-5:30pm @ Farmin Park Live music w/ Larry Mooney Benny on the Deck - Live Music 5-7:30pm @ Connie’s Lounge patio Weekly live music with Benny Baker.

This week’s guest: Jake Robin

Tap Takeover w/ Lumberbeard Brewing All day @ Idaho Pour Authority Pouring from this Spokane brewery all day.

Plus, a community fundraiser for the Sandpoint High School Aerospace Program from 5-9pm, w/ live music by Tim Guidotti from 6-8pm

ThursDAY, august 26

Free Food Distribution • 11am-1pm @ Christ Our Redeemer Church, 1900 Pine St. Free produce, meat and shelf stable foods. No appointment necessary, no ID required.

Award Ceremony for Orchids and Onions • 4:30-6pm @ MickDuff’s on the patio Preservation Idaho For Excellence in Historic Preservation awards to MickDuff’s Yappy Hour 4-7pm @ PetSafe Dog Park, Ponderay A benefit for the BT Animal Alliance

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STAGE & SCREEN

As the Bard intended

Montana Shakespeare in the Parks will bring Cymbeline to Lakeview Park Aug. 21

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Come one, come all — ’tis time again to enjoy Shakespearean entertainment as the Bard himself would have wanted: on the grass, under a summer sky, surrounded by fellow groundlings and good cheer. North Idaho will have its chance to do just that on Saturday, Aug. 21 as Lost Horse Press hosts Montana Shakespeare in the Parks’ performance of The Tragedie of Cymbeline.

The event marks the seventh time Lost Horse Press has brought Shakespeare to Sandpoint, this year in shady Lakeview Park.

Publisher Christine Holbert said that while literary events may not be as initially popular as other community events like live music, “once [people] are in the audience listening to a literary reading or watching a play, [they] tend to appreciate the experience of words washing over them.”

“Words are powerful,” she

continued. “Shakespeare is amazing because his plays and poems have relevance even now, 400 years after he wrote them. And the response of our community and their willingness to volunteer their help to bring the actors to Sandpoint and to make them feel welcome — that’s what keeps me going. Plus, I myself love the plays so I am happy to be part of bringing them to our community.”

This year’s event will kick off at 3 p.m. and feature a variety of pre-play entertainment, including music by students of the Music Conservatory of Sandpoint; a plein air painting event sponsored

by POAC, including artists Connie Scherr, Daris Judd, Kate Weisberg, Sharon Yates, Devon Chapman and Susan Conway-Kean; as well as a performance by the Azul Fire Dancers & Friends — an American-style tribal belly dance troupe, which Holbert described as “lively, colorful and enthusiastic.”

Attendees are encouraged to bring chairs, blankets and picnics.

“I love to organize the local

Above and right: Scenes from past Montana Shakespeare in the Parks productions. Courtesy photos. activities,” Holbert said. “The tribal dance groups are the most fun, the students of the Sandpoint Music Conservatory are excited to show their talents, and this year we will have POAC-affiliated artists spending the afternoon at Lakeview Park doing plein air paintings of the actors as they set up the stage and practice before the show begins. Their paintings will be displayed in the park for

Panida marquee repairs underway

By Reader Staff The Panida Theater’s iconic neon marquee will once again light First Avenue, as work began last week to restore the signage.

The Panida launched its “Unite to Light the Marquee” campaign in early April, vowing to find grants to match each private donation to the marquee restoration fund. Estimates placed a full bid for the work at around $53,000.

On Aug. 11, board members announced that the goal had been reached and work had begun.

“The Board of the Panida Theater would like to thank the Innovia, Equinox and Confidence Foundations for their generosity as together with the support of so many others in our community they helped achieve the goal of ‘Unite to Light the Marquee,’” Panida officials stated in a media release.

New LED lighting has been

installed into the marquee’s reader panels and the old neon has been removed.

The YESCO sign company is hard at work bending the new neon set to grace the Panida, a project headed up by the company’s 82-yearold glass-bending expert — “one of the few capable of this art,” according to theater managers. Staff is cleaning the entire marquee structure and also doing some painting, including the original letters spelling out “Panida.”

“We look forward, after this work in progress is completed, to celebrating with the community the return of our unique antique wonder that has, for so many decades, lit both our hearts and First Avenue,” said Panida Board Chair Keely Gray.

Find the Panida Theater on

the audience to view.

“Every year is different, which makes each year fun as well as a delightful surprise to organize,” she continued.

The performance of Cymbeline will begin at 6 p.m. While the play is formally classified as a tragedy, modern critics often describe it as a romance or comedy. It follows the story of Innogen, daughter of King Cymbeline of Britain, as she enters a secret marriage resulting in her husband’s banishment. She runs away and ends up aiding the Roman army in its British invasion, finding long-lost siblings along the way.

Montana Shakespeare in the Parks is a nonprofit dedicated to bringing high-quality productions

of Shakespearean works and other classics to rural communities at no cost to play-goers.

“I love meeting the young actors of the troupe, getting to know them, where they’re from, why they love Shakespeare, why they love the grueling summer theater life,” Holbert said. “And I look forward each summer to seeing what play we will be enjoying that year.

“I hope the audience appreciates the poetry and beauty of Shakespeare’s words and rhymes,” she said, “and the generosity of our community.”

For additional information about the event, contact Lost Horse Press at 208-255-4410 or email losthorsepress@mindspring.com.

Auditions open for Young Frankenstein

By Reader Staff

Courtesy photo.

Facebook, or visit panida.org, to stay current on all events happening at Sandpoint’s historic downtown theater.

“It’s alive! Alive!”

The Lake Pend Oreille Repertory Theater is holding open auditions for its upcoming production of Young Frankenstein at the Panida Theater, which is slated for November 5-6, 12-13, 2021.

Auditions will take place Sunday, Aug. 22-Monday, Aug. 23 at the Music Conservatory

of Sandpoint. Those interested can sign up for a slot at lporep. com. Please bring 16 bars, or 30 seconds, of your favorite song (sheet music recommended) and a one-minute monologue.

Callbacks and dance call will be Tuesday, Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. at the Allegro Dance Studio.

For more information, visit lporep.com.

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FOOD & DRINK

Blueberry Fields Forever

By Bonnie Jakubos Reader Contributor

Picking blueberries is on my list of Favorite Things About North Idaho. I hasten to assure local huckleberry aficionados that I am not dissing their obsession. Indulging in those tiny bursts of intense flavor leave my hands (and face) as purple as anyone else’s. The problem is that I have a short attention span and a tendency toward instant gratification — which means that huckleberries rarely make it back to my kitchen.

Like a summer sunrise, I savor huckleberries in the moment.

A u-pick blueberry farm is a very different experience. When I see those neat rows of blue-laden branches, my Midwestern farm girl takes over. This becomes the harvest, filling the larder for the dark days of winter. This is serious business.

Berry picking can be approached in several ways. Some use it as a family bonding ritual or social recreation. In one row, grandparents share stories of their youth. In another, adolescent girls mingle talk of 4-H competitions with descriptions of their worst hair days. The wanderers pick

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Photo courtesy Shingle Mill Blueberry Farm. a few of the largest berries from each bush, then move on in search of the motherlode.

Friendly competitors check each other’s progress with banter and laughter. Others show up alone and get the job done, methodically stripping every bit of blue from each bush.

K (my husband) and I practice blueberry

picking as a martial art. We don our traditional loose clothing, which must include a belt. Few words are spoken as we hasten to our destination in the early morning hours. Caffeine is the ritual substance to be consumed along the way. Once we enter the blueberry field, there is a ceremonial scan to select the day’s best arena. We stop, attach the berry buckets to our belts, then glance at the time. The contest begins.

In the beginning, I was K’s sensei, carefully explaining the delicate movements of the thumb roll and the complicated two-handed interior pluck. Several years of practice have made K an honorable opponent, though he has not yet surpassed me.

I may continue to triumph, but that is only because I was schooled by one of the greatest masters of all: my mother.

Mom was greatly affected by her Great Depression childhood. Her life mantra was “don’t let food go to waste.” Other families went camping or traveled. For us, the summer break was scheduled around canning vegetables and ripening fruit. Strawberries, blueberries, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, summer apples, peaches, blueberries… and then it was time to go back to school.

My siblings were grown and gone by the time I was an adolescent. It just so happened that my teenage years coincided with the pinnacle of mom’s food-gathering proficiency. To my dismay, I was thrust into the apprentice role for her avocation. The only way I could escape my duties to hang out with my friends was to hone my own skills until I equaled her efficiency. By the time I left home, I could almost pick berries in my sleep — indeed, I remember at least one nightmare featuring never-ending buckets of berries.

It is curious how the dutiful drudgery of youth becomes a treasured memory. Mom has been gone a long time now, but the annual blueberry rites are a memorial to her life.

After a couple of hours, the rising temperatures remind us that it is time to conclude the match. It is time for the final score, measured in pounds. K always adds a few surreptitious handfuls on the way out — a vain attempt to weigh the scale in his favor. But the final numbers don’t lie, so my ranking is intact. Congratulating each other on an honorable contest, we head home with another 20 pounds of blueberries.

In the finest tradition of the sport, the winner will make the pie.

MUSIC

Blue collar tunes, blue ribbon views Country tracks to set the mood on the way to the Bonner County Fair

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff I’ve long been a fan of the pre-game playlist. One can pre-game for anything: a party, an interview, a workout. It’s all about setting the mood. With the Bonner County Fair happening Aug. 18-21, it appears that a fair pre-game playlist is in order.

After all, this year’s fair theme is “Lettuce Turnip the Beet.” These beats are worth it.

‘REDNECKER’ by HARDY We enter the playlist on a strong note, with this unabashed song about being the most hillbilly: my truck is louder, buck is bigger, town is smaller, collar is bluer, etc. Competitive chiding aside, HARDY is a songwriter to watch and “REDNECKER” is a hilarious track. It does the job when the adventure requires an extra tinge of country badassery.

‘I Like It, I Love It’ by Tim McGraw This is an obvious choice for a county fair pre-game playlist, thanks to it’s opening lyrics: “I spent 48 dollars last night at the county fair/ I throwed out

my shoulder, but I won her that teddy bear.” This is your sign to spend a hefty wad at the fair — support local vendors, eh? — and also to fall completely and stupidly in love like McGraw does in “I Like It, I Love It.” ‘Only In A Small Town’ by RaeLynn Country purists might take issue with RaeLynn’s pop sound, but there’s no denying that this girl can produce a redneck jam.

I find this song supremely funny and deeply relatable; but, hey, maybe that’s because I’m from Clark Fork. (Pro-tip: Only a select handful of people are allowed to crack jokes about Clark Fork, and if you have to pause and think about whether you’re one of them, you’re not.)

‘Boot Scootin’ Boogie’ by Brooks & Dunn Turn up this 1991 hit and take note of the people who can’t sit still — those are the country folk. When the steel guitar slides in and the bass line begins to thump, those who feel compelled by greater hillbilly forces will rise and do exactly as Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn

Courtesy photo. declared: boot, scoot and boogie.

‘That’s Country’ by Copper Mountain Band This song, made great by heartfelt lyrics and the powerful vocals of frontwoman Jacque Jolene, is the latest release from Copper Mountain Band, which also happens to be playing at the Bonner County Fair on Thursday, Aug. 19. Buy tickets at bonnercountyfair.com for the chance to hear this track in person.

‘Save A Horse (Ride a Cowboy)’ by Big & Rich Some may call me tasteless for loving this song so much,

but I can’t fight what’s right and true. Big & Rich has a way of taking any ordinary moment and dressing it up in rhinestones and redneck cheer. Many of the good folks attending the Bonner County Fair might not be saddling up horses to “ride into the city,” but I’ll be damned if we’re not as overjoyed as the men behind this wildly fun song to see all the hard work of our neighbors pay off in the form of gorgeous exhibits, bustling livestock barns and shiny, hardearned ribbons.

Yee-haw, and happy fair week.

A snapshot of notable live music coming up in Sandpoint Sandpoint Summer Strings Festival concert, Bonner County Fairgrounds, Aug. 21

Sounds Under The Silo, Matchwood Brewing, Aug. 19-21

It won’t just be feats of agricultural expertise on display at the Bonner County Fair — students and teachers of the Suzuki String Academy will present their talents to audience members in a special concert Saturday, Aug. 21 at the fairgrounds bandstand.

Led by guest conductor and cellist Michele Jeglum, local students participated in a three-day camp leading up to the fairgrounds event, flexing their skills and learning new music under the tutelage of instructors including Laura Otto, Ruth Klinginsmith, Marianne Wall

Matchwood Brewing Company is continuing to bring good jams to Sandpoint’s Granary Arts District this summer with three more artists slated to play the Sounds Under The Silo music series this coming weekend.

Thursday, Aug. 19 will feature beloved local blues artist Truck Mills, widely regarded as a local legend on guitar. Friday, Aug. 20 brings Coeur d’Alene-based, Americana singer-songwriter Jackson Roltgen to the silo

and Bianca d’Avila do Prado.

As d’Avila do Prado told the Reader in May, “We want to lift the spirits of our string players.”

The same goes for fairgoers, who can look forward to celebrating the county’s artistic culture alongside the culture of its land.

— Zach Hagadone 4 p.m., FREE. Bonner County Fairgrounds bandstand, 4203 N. Boyer Road, bonnercountyfair.com.

Learn more at suzukistringacademy.com.

stage. Finally, on Saturday, Aug. 21, the Bright Moments Jazz group is set to snazz up the brewery’s outdoor area.

Each show begins at 7 p.m. The music is free and open to the public, but Matchwood will have food, beer and other beverages available for purchase.

— Lyndsie Kiebert 7 p.m., FREE. Matchwood Brewing Company, 513 Oak St., 208-718-2739. matchwoodbrewing.com.

This week’s RLW by Zach Hagadone

READ

There are few books more hell-bent on offense than The Flashman Papers.

Ostensibly the recovered diaries of fictional anti-hero Harry Flashman and put down by real-life author George MacDonald Fraser beginning in the late 1960s, the 12 volumes cut a bawdy swathe through the second half of the 19th century. Flashman is a drunk who buckles swash only when he’s assured of victory, cowers when in doubt, always wins and beats his servants with all the righteous certainty of a Grade-A Victorian a-hole. Do not do, say or think anything the “protagonist” does at home, though.

LISTEN

Welsh singer Cate Le Bon is sick of hearing comparisons between her voice and German singer-songwriter Nico, who made her mark well before the latter was born in 1983. Fair enough, but after 10 seconds of listening to Le Bon, I could hear the similarity — and the critical difference. Le Bon trafficks in a “psych-folk” sound with gorgeous ’80s-rific backing and a whip-sharp sense of humor and satire. Wales, birthplace of Dylan Thomas, is a land of bards and Le Bon wears her pedigree with brilliant ease.

WATCH

HBO Max series The White Lotus is deceptively simple in premise: A bunch of rich white people descend on a rich-whitepersons’ resort on a Hawaiian island and their internal/familial “white person problems” roil from the depths to consume them all.

There are elements of workplace drama, as the hired hands try and fail to be normal people amid the manufactured drama of the guests.

There’s also a lot of timely social commentary. All that surface stuff aside, it’s pretty heartbreaking.

Money isn’t everything, but everything’s nothing sometimes, too.

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BACK OF THE BOOK

Opening doors From Sandpoint News Bulletin, Aug. 16, 1945

NATION CELEBRATES WORLD WAR VICTORY JAPAN SURRENDERS UNCONDITIONALLY, GEN. MACARTHUR TO DICTATE TERMS People in Sandpoint went mildly wild at 4 o’clock Tuesday afternoon when President Truman’s proclamation of the end of hte war had come over radio sets.

The city’s fire siren and every bell and automobile horn that could be reached by human hands joined in making a din of noise that echoed throughout the city, adding this community’s bit to the sum and total of jubilation throughout the nation over the cessation of the war with Japan.

Business establishments in the city immediately closed. Customers in every retail store were shooed out as rapidly as possible and all beer parlors and bars closed promptly.

A parade of automobiles swung through the downtown area, horns sounding as residents let off steam.

This continued throughout the evening but aside from this there was little to mark the end of the war.

Sheriff Robert Ellersick made a swing about the county and said that everywhere people were restraining themselves in a manner “that should win them compliments.”

He said that while there were more cars on the highway than he had seen in four years, there were no accidents reported from any source and little evidence of drunkeness by over-enthusiastic celebrants.

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By Ben Olson Reader Staff In today’s increasingly angry world, there is a special place where kindness is still very much en vogue. I’m talking about the five square feet that surround the front door at the Sandpoint Post Office.

I’m one of those people who check my mailbox at the Post Office most every day.

In the 20-plus years I’ve maintained a box there, rain or shine, smoky skies or bluebird sunny day, there has rarely been an instance where I haven’t either held the door open or had the door held open for me while entering the Post Office — usually accompanied by a smile or a courteous greeting. It’s just that kind of place, and I love it.

I don’t know why or how the Post Office became the epicenter of kindness in Sandpoint, but I’m on board to spread the kindness that exists at the front door to other places in town. There are certainly some spots that could use the help.

Like the other day when I was out at Les Schwab pricing some new tires. While walking back to the parking lot, I heard a commotion in the McDonald’s drive-thru. A prototypical North Idaho Neanderthal man was in his big loud truck absolutely raging at some poor old woman in front of him. I watched as he shook his fist out the driver’s side window at her, yelling something like, “Move! Get the hell out of the way!” with such aggression it was shaking his truck back and forth. (Surprise, surprise: It was one of those trucks with a big dumb flag flying from the bed advertising a certain presidential candidate who lost an election nine months ago). I was further dismayed when I noticed he had a young kid in the passenger seat watching everything unfold.

I don’t know who was at fault or what was the issue — perhaps the woman cut in line ahead of him or wasn’t moving ahead

STR8TS Solution

The front door at the Post Office is the epicenter of kindness in Sandpoint

quickly enough. Whatever the reason, I felt an immediate scowl come to my face. No matter how hungry you are or how much of a hurry you are in, that kind of behavior is simply not acceptable, especially when directed at an elderly resident. Some people move slower than others. I imagine after dealing with humanity after 70-plus years, I will probably move a bit slow myself.

Then there was the time when I was riding my bike downtown to run errands and I rolled through a stop sign, as the bike laws in Idaho allow when no traffic is coming. The motorist behind me began screaming obscenities at me out of her car window, shouting something like, “I can’t wait when you get hit by a car for doing stupid crap like that!”

She then followed me and continued to yell gibberish out the window until I said, “Idaho Stop! Look up the law before you start yelling out of your car like an idiot.” Two blocks later she finally gave up and drove off.

I get it. I can be impatient, too, especially when driving through downtown Sandpoint. Sometimes I grumble when someone cuts me off or makes a boneheaded traffic move. But my grumbling takes place inside the car, where only my girlfriend can hear it (and she usually frowns at me when Ugly Driver Ben comes out).

One time a guy’s dog ran out into traffic between cars, forcing me to slam on the brakes to miss him as he ran out to catch the dog. He yelled, “Slow down!” at me, as if it was my fault. I said to him out my window, “Slow down? Your dog ran out into traffic without a leash on. I’m only going 20 miles per hour. How is this my fault?” But he wasn’t about to hear anything resembling logic. In his mind, I was just another crazy, impatient driver trying to kill his dog.

On and on, the stories of ugliness persist, but not at the front door of the Post Office. It’s as if there is a force field protecting that sacred space, forbidding any

incivility from existing where only kindness and courtesy are allowed.

The challenge I have for you, dear readers, is to take that front door mentality and extend it to every encounter you have in Sandpoint. Food taking a long time at the restaurant? Think of the Post Office.

Someone cut you off at the grocery store line with a cart filled to the brim? Envision that same person walking up to the front door and holding it open for them. Tourists invaded your quiet town? Just chuckle at them and move on with your day.

It’s a shame that so many people have embraced anger as their default emotion. It’s as if we’re all waiting for someone or something to send us into rage mode. At the heart of this issue is the self-centeredness that exists in people nowadays. “Have a nice day,” used to be the mantra, but it seems to have been replaced by, “Get the f-ck out of my way.”

That’s not the world I want to live in, and I’m pretty sure you feel the same way.

It feels good to be kind. It feels good to be patient. Try it out sometime. Next time someone tickles the rage monster, just smile, take a deep breath and picture yourself at the Post Office, where kindness still exists in this mad, mad world.

Crossword Solution

Sudoku Solution

On the other hand, you have different fingers.

Solution on page 22

Solution on page 22

By Bill Borders

CROSSWORD

Copyright www.mirroreyes.com

Laughing Matter

ACROSS

fustian

Woorf tdhe Week

/FUHS-chuhn/ [adjective] 1. pompous or bombastic, as language.

“The fustian style of politics lately has turned off a lot of voters.”

Corrections: I made a boneheaded mistake in the Aug. 12 Reader article about the Festival of Quilts. The Panhandle Piecemakers Quilt Guild president is actually named Linda Angel (not Linda “Evans,” as I had written it). Apologies for this inconsiderate error, Linda. Also, the Sunday show was canceled at the last minute by the VFW, so guild members would like to apologize to anyone who was unable to attend the event because they chose to attend on Sunday and didn’t get the information about the closure until it was too late. — BO

1. Poplar tree 6. Toward the outside 11. A pinnacle of ice 12. A 19th century art movement 15. Cream-filled pastry 16. Spouse 17. Genus of macaws 18. Treatable 20. Uncooked 21. Brothers and sisters 23. Burden 24. Swine 25. Black, in poetry 26. Probabilities 27. Leisure 28. Arid 29. Record (abbrev.)

30. Throws away 31. Abounding in trees 34. Cooks 36. Mountain 37. Rapscallions 41. Elderly 42. Questionable 43. Conceited 44. Sun 45. Against 46. Sea eagle 47. French for “Friend” 48. The easing of tensions 51. Frozen water

Solution on page 22 8. Adhesive strip 9. A high alpine meadow 10. Journal keeper 13. Phases 14. Kittens’ cries 15. Relieves 16. Handmade 19. Cowboy sport 22. A canvas shoe DOWN 24. Inactive 1. Attribute 26. Spheres 2. Criticize 27. French for “Water” 3. Historic period 30. Replicate 4. Nonclerical 32. Crimson 5. Beige 6. Greek god of darkness 33. Spritelike 34. Caped Crusader 7. Mobile phones 52. Triggered feelings of hatred 54. Flatter 56. Diabetics lack this 57. More pleasant 58. Cornered 59. Aspersions

35. Opposed 38. Sailor 39. Chelae 40. Contemptuous look 42. Have in mind 44. Indian dress 45. Eagle’s nest 48. Handout 49. Anagram of “Nest” 50. Wicked 53. Mongrel 55. Euro forerunner

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