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PEOPLE compiled by

Susan Drinkard

watching

“Are you concerned about the integrity of the 2020 presidential election?”

“Honestly, I think Trump will do anything to delegitimize it.”

Jon Nylund Retired Bonner County

“Yes, Trump is already saying if he doesn’t win, the election is rigged. The election should be determined by the voters, and not undermined by fear.”

Loraine Lassen Gardener Sagle

“Yes, I think from day one Trump has been trying to plant seeds of doubt about the institutions of the United States. I am concerned the Republicans will do anything to win.”

Ross Fulmer Retired construction Sandpoint

“Yes, I am concerned about Trump’s integrity as a whole.”

Justine Moore Homesteader Bonner County

“I am extremely concerned about what is happening to the post office and whether it will interfere with the mail-in voting, which is important for the safety of voters during the pandemic.”

Mary Armstrong Retired tax preparer Sandpoint

DEAR READERS,

There’s an old saying/curse that goes, “May you live in interesting times.”

The doings at the special session of the Idaho Legislature these past few days certainly live up to that statement (see Pages 4, 8-9 for our news and opinion coverage of the session). There’s a better quote that comes from 17th century China which reads, “Better to be a dog in times of tranquility than a human in times of chaos.” I think that’s about right. I long for the lazy dog days again when our biggest arguments were about people not using their turn signals, or what constitutes public art or whether the Game of Thrones books were better than the show.

We live in North Idaho for a variety of reasons. Some were born here and remember what this region used to be like in decades past. Others moved here to escape, or to enjoy a quieter life. Still others seem to move here and bring all of their anger with them.

Whatever your reasons for living here are, let’s strive to be dogs in times of tranquility again and give all this chaos a break.

– 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 (cover design), Devon Chapman, Ryan Suppe, Bill Borders, Sarah Clendenon, Susan Drinkard, Barbara Mack, Grace Rookey, Kat Skye, Racheal Baker, Bonner County History Museum.

Contributing Writers: Zach Hagadone, Ben Olson, Lyndsie Kiebert, Lorraine H. Marie, Brenden Bobby, Chris Corpus, Hannah Combs, Cameron Rasmusson, Marcia Pilgeram, Ammi Midstokke.

Submit stories to: stories@sandpointreader.com Printed weekly at: Tribune Publishing Co. Lewiston, ID Subscription Price: $115 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 was designed

by Ben Olson.

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NEWS

An extraordinary session

Idaho Legislature wraps special session addressing COVID-19 amid unrest and chaos at the Statehouse

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff Six months into the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the havoc wrought by the novel coronavirus on everyday life rose into stark relief during the extraordinary session of the Idaho Legislature, which convened Aug. 24-26 in Boise, adjourning at 9:19 p.m. Mountain Time.

Breakages of temper, political fault lines and a glass door in the House gallery dominated the high-tension proceedings at the Statehouse. In an incident that has since made national news, protesters led by famous anti-government activist Ammon Bundy jostled and shoved Idaho State Police troopers to gain entry to the chambers.

The substance of the proceedings were determined through constitutionally allowed executive authority by Idaho Gov. Brad Little to encompass only protocols for safe, secure voting in the November general election and legislation to protect businesses, schools and certain levels of government from civil liability connected to COVID-19 transmission.

Lawmakers struggled to look past the chaos surrounding the session to pass a bill through both chambers to extend deadlines for absentee ballots in the November election: 45 days prior to the election for overseas or military voters, and 30 days for domestic voters.

It took until the morning of the third day to reach that conclusion — perhaps one of the least controversial measures under consideration — while other agenda items charted a circuitous, tempest-tossed course through the body.

The Idaho House approved a measure that would legislatively terminate the emergency declaration imposed by Little in response to COVID-19, only to be quashed after much sound and fury in the Senate late Wednesday afternoon.

“These efforts are unconstitutional,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, on the Senate floor.

“We did a lot of research. We have two — not one — legal opinions independently solicited with no indication of what answer we wanted to get ... that have clarified very clearly that to try to terminate the emergency declaration forci4 /

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bly from the Legislature during a special session is unconstitutional,” he said, adding later, “We had no choice, folks.”

That said, Hill vowed to return in the general session in January 2021 with a 10-point agenda, including: Declare all Idaho workers “essential” in any subsequent emergency; calling for an amendment to the Idaho Constitution that would empower the Legislature to call itself into session; considering limitations on the length of emergency declarations from the governor; limiting emergency and spending powers of the executive branch without legislative input; prohibiting “quarantining healthy individuals” in future pandemics; ending orders barring Idahoans from attending places of worship; rescinding existing emergency declarations; limiting the authority of public health districts to levy restrictions during emergency periods, giving that power to county commissioners and school board members; affirming that all Idahoans “have a right to participate physically in elections”; and further affirming Idahoans have the right make their own health decisions.

“We’re putting everybody on notice,” that this will be the agenda for the 2021 general session, Hill said. “Stay tuned.”

Idaho senators approved another bill focused on establishing so-called “vote centers” to allow for in-person voting during the November general election. In the House, lawmakers parsed the legislation closely with Ada County Clerk Phil McGrane testifying at length about the need for temporarily consolidating polling stations to help election officials around the state deal with an expected influx of voter participation.

Yet, House members — including Blanchard Republican Rep. Heather Scott — voted to hold the bill in committee, effectively killing it.

Bonner County Clerk Mike Rosedale told the Sandpoint Reader in advance of the special session that he supported the voting centers legislation, despite the fact that Bonner County likely would not employ them.

“I’m urging our legislators to vote ‘yes’; because my fellow clerks are in a pickle,” he said, referring to the herculean task of managing both a record-breaking

absentee voting load, as well as in-person voting protocols that require adherence to COVID-19 health precautions.

McCrane referred to Rosedale’s input on the legislation, noting his support for the legislation that would clear the way for populous counties to use electronic polling books to process large numbers of voters who would have been able to cast their ballots at centralized places outside their normal precinct polling stations.

“I think that’s probably just good public policy in general,” McGrane told House panel members.

Yet, Rep. Scott found some cause for concern about the “strings attached” to the polling books, though did not specify in committee to what she was referring.

She did not respond, as neither did Rep. Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay, to a request for comment on the session.

Sen. Jim Woodward, R-Sagle, did tell the Reader that he would provide constituents with an “after-action” report on the proceedings.

To Scott’s question about “strings,” McGrane responded, “Nothing that I’m aware of that we’ve already got to this day. … No strings attached that I’m aware of.”

On the topic of voting, Rosedale was adamant that the system — tested and successful in the May primaries — works.

“Because of what happened in May, the fact that everybody’s going to vote by mail is baked in the cake,” he said, adding that mail-in voters should be confident in the United States Postal Service to handle their ballot in a secure and timely manner.

“The Spokane and the Salt Lake postal centers said that at the height of the election season their average daily flow only increases by about 2% and they see zero chance that the mail won’t be delivered at the normal rate for first-class mail,” Rosedale told the Reader. “If I find out the Postal Service is about to fail, I’ll be the first to tell you.”

The biggest controversy — by now well saturated in local, state and national media — was the consteration brought forth by the so-called “immunity bill” that sponsor Rep. Julianne Young, R-Blackfoot, shepherded through the various committees and floors of both chambers of the Legislature.

The Senate concluded its business Aug. 26 with a vote to approve the measure, sending it to Little’s desk and ending the special session.

That piece of legislation, as amended, would protect individuals, schools and universities, as well as businesses, from legal action stemming from transmission of COVID-19 — provided that complainants can prove they contracted the virus from the “willful and reckless” actions of others who failed to observe measures intended to mitigate the spread of the virus. The bill, unlike its first version, does not protect state or federal governments from COVID-19 lawsuits, nor does it include a previous “good faith” clause, that some feared would turn neighbor against neighbor as they found themselves incentivized to become enforcement agents for public health orders.

Idaho Democrats uniformly opposed the “immunity bill” — termed House Bill No. 6 — on the grounds that it stripped Idahoans of their Seventh Amendment rights to “redress for harm,” should they be exposed to the novel coronavirus due to the negligence of others.

Opposition to the bill made strange bedfellows, as anti-government activist Ammon Bundy — made famous by his family’s armed standoff against federal authorities at their Bunkerville, Nev. ranch and, following that, his leadership of the armed takeover of the Malheur, Ore., bird sanctuary — also protested the bill to dramatic effect. Much testimony was taken in opposition, as well, from citizens who felt the bill represented governmental overreach.

ISP troopers took Bundy into custody twice during the session, as well as a handful of his supporters, as they led disruptive demonstrations in the Idaho Statehouse related to the immunity legislation as well as broad-based critiques of what

Idaho State Police form a wall as legislators leave the House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee meeting August 25. Photo courtesy of Idaho Public Television/Idaho In Session.

they have described as government overreach by Little and the state bureaucracy in responding to COVID-19.

Tuesday saw Bundy rolled by law enforcement officers from the capitol in a swivel chair — termed “swivel disobedience” by some legislative watchers — after which he was booked into Ada County custody. On Wednesday, Bundy returned to the Statehouse to again protest, and was trespassed by police and subject to a one-year order not to return to the grounds.

Idaho conservatives — many of whom have expressed support for Bundy in the past, including Reps.

Scott and Dixon, who journeyed to Bundy’s armed occupation in Oregon to lend their support and mediation to the takeover — distanced themselves from the “chaos,” as several lawmakers described it.

“Some say you’re an agent of chaos,” said Boise radio host Nate Shelman, of KBOI, to Scott during a recess call-in on Tuesday.

“People want to be heard and people are frustrated from not knowing the process,” she said, going on in the interview to talk about the need for Idahoans to identify the “tyrants we have in place right now,” which she suggested may be found in certain mayors.

Asked “who are the tyrants” — and in light of Scott’s recent comments referring to Little as “Little Hitler” and a “tyrant” for his coronavirus lockdown order — she responded, “That’s not up to me; that’s up to each person in their jurisdictions. … Every individual is going to have different tyrants depending on their standards, on their jurisdictions.”

NEWS

Bonner Co. 2021 budget moves forward

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Bonner County commissioners moved to adopt the FY2021 budget following Aug. 24 public hearings that featured little to no public input.

The county’s general budget for the coming year sits at just over $64 million, while the EMS budget — built separately — is $4.1 million for 2021. Both budgets remain largely the same as the expenditures estimated for FY2020.

Commissioners commented during both the morning and evening public hearings Aug. 24 that no members of the public were in the audience — only department heads and other county employees — while live streams of each meeting have accumulated about a dozen views on YouTube as of Aug. 26.

As a result, discussion on the proposed FY2021 budget remained mostly limited to what County Clerk Mike Rosedale and the commissioners chose to offer up in opening statements. All lauded each department for a “smooth” budget season, and highlighted that the commissioners opted not to increase taxes the 3% allowed annually by state statute for the second year in a row.

“With COVID causing people to lose jobs, [the board] didn’t want to put anybody over the barrel,” Rosedale said.

The county is taking revenue from new construction in the amount of $573,000 for FY2021, according to Commissioner Dan McDonald. Rosedale described new construction as, “If we have 10 of us and we

split a $1,000 bill, we each pay $100 — if one more person joins the party, they pay $100, too … So the new buildings moving in from wherever, they have to pay what everybody else is paying.”

Commissioners decided to waive this year’s foregone taxes, meaning that future boards will not be able to use the 3% passed on this budget season. Rosedale said that by waiving the foregone taxes, the board limits the ability to drop a massive increase on county taxpayers in upcoming years.

“The commissioners have decided to waive [this year’s foregone] so that future boards can’t pull that out of the bag and stick it to the community,” he said.

Commissioner Jeff Connolly said that from the beginning of the budget process, he didn’t think the county would be able to afford merit raises for county employees.

However, employees — including elected officials — will see raises around 3% across the board in 2021. Bonner County Sheriff’s Office personnel may see larger raises as the county makes market adjustments.

“Luckily, we had quite a bit of new construction and some other things that helped us through, and we were able to give the people that work [for] Bonner County a raise, which they deserve,” Connolly said. “They’re doing a great job for us.”

Funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act do not appear in the FY2021 budget. The $2 million that Bonner County qualifies for to offset property taxes would likely arrive in December, McDonald said.

“Our idea would be if we got the money, we would just hold it and offset next year’s [taxes], because that’s how it was advertised — to offset property taxes, and we want to make sure we’re faithful to that as well, if we get it,” he said.

Other CARES Act money — meant to supplement law enforcement and EMS wages during the pandemic — is still in limbo, as the commissioners filed a complaint with Idaho District Court in July seeking guidance on how the state’s interpretation of the Act matched up to federal guidelines for how the money should be spent. If Bonner County were to follow Idaho’s lead, the complaint argues, taxpayers could end up footing the bill and elected officials may face criminal charges.

McDonald told the Sandpoint Reader in July that “the declaratory judgement

Bonner County commissioners, from left to right: Dan McDonald, Jeff Connolly and Steve Bradshaw.

Photo by Lyndsie Kiebert. should force the governor’s office to come to the table to either indemnify so we can move forward, [if] not … we will remove ourselves from the program.”

The case has yet to be settled.

The FY2021 general and EMS budgets were unanimously adopted during the evening hearing.

“There is no fat in this year’s budget — everything is really lean,” Rosedale said.

“We are going to be pressing to pinch every dollar that we don’t spend out of this year going into next year. We are recycling all the public’s money very, very carefully.”

County and city argue standing in Festival gun suit

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff The original suit surrounding The Festival at Sandpoint’s weapons ban saw some action Aug. 25, as counsel for both Bonner County and the city of Sandpoint presented oral arguments regarding the city’s motion for summary judgment based on what it sees as lack of standing on the part of the county.

Kootenai County District Court Judge Lansing L. Haynes said he would issue a written decision on the issue of standing “as quickly” as he can, as well as on the ripeness or mootness of the case, seeing as The Festival was canceled in 2020 and the city has not yet granted The Festival a lease for 2021.

Amy Clemmons, a lawyer with Davillier Law Group representing Bonner County in the case, highlighted the urgent need for a coordinated law enforcement response to the “affray” the county argues will inevitably happen should the court not rule

on the legality of banning guns on public property prior to the next Festival. Sheriff Daryl Wheeler shared in a declaration filed July 24 that his department was planning specialized crowd control training and had already incurred costs to purchase shields and batons in anticipation of a 250-person protest planned outside the Festival gates.

“Mr. Erbland says there’s a chance the dominoes may not fall,” Clemmons said, referring to Lake City Law attorney Peter Erbland, representing the city. “I would agree — there is a chance the dominoes may not fall, but law enforcement can’t go into a known protest situation, a large number of people, alcohol and guns, and say, ‘You know, the dominoes may not fall.

Let’s wait and see what the fallout’s going to be and then we’ll come in.’”

Haynes asked whether the same preparations would have to be made should the court rule in favor of the county and anti-Second Amendment activists stage a

large protest.

“It sounds to me like the plaintiffs better be gearing up for a possible demonstration either way,” he said.

Erbland noted that law enforcement officials are trained to respond to criminal activity, “not to leases, not to festivals, not to the decision of a private party to not allow guns in.”

“They respond to people who break the law, and nowhere has the city agreed that it is not prepared to deal with people who break the law within the city of Sandpoint.

In fact, it is their statutory duty, and they do it,” he said. “The only one that I hear says that they’re not prepared to deal with people breaking the law is the sheriff, and I’m really surprised, because he’s a competent sheriff.”

Erbland said he worried that the discourse surrounding a protest-turned-violent affray would deter people from practicing their constitutional rights.

“These arguments that there’s this black

cloud rolling in and there’s going to be this thunderstorm of a riot — and you need to do something about it, Your Honor, nobody else can — you know what that argument is, really? It creates a chilling effect of prior restraint on the rights of people under the First Amendment of the Constitution to actually assemble and speak, because now we have this vision of shields and batons,” Erbland said. “What kind of image is that in Sandpoint, Idaho?”

Haynes also presided over a status conference Aug. 25 in the case of Scott Herndon et. al. v. City of Sandpoint, in which two private citizens who attempted to enter The Festival with guns in 2019 — along with two gun rights lobbyist groups — are also challenging the weapons ban at War Memorial Field.

A three-day trial for the Herndon case is scheduled to begin Feb. 24, 2021 at 9 a.m. at the Bonner County Courthouse.

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NEWS

County pushes mining code change hearing

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff The Bonner County Planning and Zoning Commission is tabling a controversial mining ordinance change after an Aug. 20 workshop made clear that the issue was not ready to go before the public at a now canceled Aug. 27 hearing.

“As we prepared for the workshop yesterday, it became apparent that there were still questions that needed addressing,” Planning Director Milton Ollerton told the Sandpoint Reader Aug. 21. “That was also clear in the workshop.”

The proposed change would institute the use of a “certificate of zoning compliance” — similar to a conditional use permit, but instead of requiring a public hearing, the planning director could issue a certificate administratively. Critics of the code change see the ability for the plan-

ning director to administratively approve certain mining operations — like batch plants and open pits — as opening the door to increased mining operations across the county with little to no public input.

Ollerton said the workshop saw “productive discussion,” and new ideas will need time for review.

“The Planning Commission stated that their goal was to ‘get it right’ in reference to the ordinance,” he said. “I see them working to achieve that.”

The commission will host more workshops on the ordinance before it holds a public hearing on the matter, possibly in November.

Ollerton said the workshopped ordinance will soon be available to read at bonnercountyid.gov/departments/planning, and the planning department is still taking comments on the matter via email to planning@bonnercountyid.gov.

E. Bonner Co. Libraries to reopen Sept. 1

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff East Bonner County Library District facilities will reopen to the public Tuesday, Sept. 1, exactly one month after closing due to coronavirus concerns.

The shift back to curbside services on Aug. 1 closely followed a July 28 protest outside the Sandpoint branch of the library, when law enforcement officers responded to a group of people attempting to enter the building without required face coverings.

The library board of trustees updated its mask policy during an Aug. 24 meeting, adding a definition for an acceptable face covering after one demonstrator attempted to enter the building in a mesh mask during the July protest. The refined policy requires that patrons wear a mask or face covering “that covers the mouth and nose at all times, and meets CDC guidelines.”

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The Sandpoint branch of the East Bonner County Library. Courtesy photo. and are still required to practice social distancing while visiting library facilities.

Children younger than 2 years old are exempt from the mask rule.

“Any person(s) in violation of this policy will also be considered to be in violation of the Library Code of Conduct and may be subject to potential action up to and including legal trespass,” library code concludes.

To learn what hours each library location will be open starting Sept. 1, visit ebonnerlibrary.org.

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: In case you missed it: South Dakota was mocked on social media for its anti-drug slogan, “Meth. We’re on it.” But, as the state’s Department of Social Services told The New York Times, the slogan has been effective in pointing out that drug abuse impacts everyone. What’s more, the ad campaign triggered a 200% increase in people looking for treatment.

Are austerity cuts the only solution to Social Security’s future shortfall? According to Social Security Works, the wealthy stopped paying into the system in the middle of this month, whereas 94% of people pay into the system year round. That’s because people no longer pay in after they reach $137,700 in earnings. Remove that cap, and Social Security can even be expanded. On a daily basis 10,000 Americans turn 65, adding urgency to stabilizing the program.

Up to 8% of Americans oppose cuts to Social Security and Medicare, which the Trump White House has proposed for the 2021 budget, according to PEW Research.

The further threat creating vulnerability to COVID-19: short-term health plans that were part of rollbacks to the original Affordable Care Act. The Miami Herald recently reported that a Florida man, after returning from business in China, developed flu-like symptoms. Due to having to pay out-of-pocket via his health insurance, he opted to first be tested for flu and sought further, more expensive, testing only if warranted. His bill for the lesser test was $3,270; his insurer said it would be reduced to $1,400 if he provided three years of medical records showing his flu was not related to a pre-existing condition.

Earlier this week the Trump administration’s silence on COVID-19 shifted when it requested $2.5 billion in emergency funds, according to The Hill. When the Ebola virus threatened in 2014, $6.5 billion was requested; some lawmakers are concerned that the current COVID-19 request is insufficient.

Former White House budget director and “Father of Reagonomics” David Stockman has authored Peak Trump, a book exploring the hazards of some types of tax cuts. According to the Wall Street Journal, the book is “a welcome thrashing of the ruling classes in both parties.” After his Reagan days, Stockman admitted that the administration knew their tax cuts would not stimulate growth.

Thank the pesticide Atrazine for turn-

By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist

ing male frogs into females, courtesy of 70 million pounds of it used annually on farmlands, the Environmental Working Group reports. Atrazine is linked to cancer, shortened pregnancies and hormone disruption. The current administration’s EPA appears ready to continue its sales, but is taking public input until March 1 about further use of atrazine.

Russia is already working to re-elect Trump — and working on influencing the Democratic primaries — Congress was recently informed by the acting director of National Intelligence. Regardless, this month Senate Republicans have blocked numerous bills designed to create secure elections. Those bills would have required campaigns to alert the FBI and Federal Elections Commission about “help” from foreign nations, and would also ban internet-linked voting machines. But the FEC contact appears moot, since President Donald Trump has not made appointments that would provide a quorum, so the agency’s leadership cannot meet.

The new managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, an environmental economist, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that climate change and related disasters are now getting the attention of economists. Georgieva has outlined plans for her five-years at the helm of the IMF to address climate change, and says the courage to move on climate change may be “the silver bullet that boosts the economy.”

The entertaining side of politics: “I’d like to talk about who we’re running against. A billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse faced lesbians. And, no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Mayor [Mike] Bloomberg,” spoken by a presidential candidate at one of the recent state caucuses. Despite his Republican history, the wealthy Bloomberg entered the race late, as a Democrat.

Blast from the past: 78 years ago this month President Franklin D. Roosevelt, under war-time pressures, signed the order that forced Japanese-Americans to be taken from their homes and sent to detention camps. One of those incarcerated recently commented to the San Francisco Chronicle, “It’s hard to imagine that after 75 plus years, this is still happening,” now at the nation’s southern border. Asylum seekers are being forced to wait in Mexico, homeless, under threat of violence and kidnapping, and with the slimmest of resources for accessing attorneys who can help them.

NEWS

On the waterfront: City advances proposed Sand Creek land swap

An aerial schematic provided by the city of Sandpoint outlining the potential property swap at Bridge St. and First Ave. in downtown Sandpoint. Courtesy city of Sandpoint.

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

The Sandpoint City Council voted unanimously at a special meeting Aug. 26 to advance a land swap on Bridge Street that staff argued would give a larger footprint to downtown redevelopment while serving the city’s longer-term goals of the Sand Creek waterfront master plan.

Following the council’s vote, a public hearing will take place Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 5:30 p.m. to consider the disposition of the land at the corner of Bridge Street and First Avenue, stricken by a catastrophic fire in February 2019 that resulted in the loss of several downtown businesses.

While the properties in the affected area — the so-called “hole” — had been previously subject to several owners, Bridge Street LLC acquired the parcels after the fire, now intending to turn the site into a mixed-use development in-

cluding a much-expanded version of The Hound pizza restaurant.

As it stands, the city owns the land extending across the throughway on the east side of the Bridge and First property to the waterfront, and extending into Sand Creek.

According to a presentation from Sandpoint City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton, the city’s property encompasses 13,634 square feet, with 6,649 square feet underwater. The upland portion, accounting for 6,985 square feet, is valued at $410,000 or $58.70 per square foot.

That section of property would be traded with Bridge St. LLC in exchange for a six-foot-wide strip of right of way along Bridge Street amounting to 890 square feet, worth $46,673.

As well, the city and the developer would partner to construct a new retaining wall with stairs and landscaping along Bridge Street to improve access

to the waterfront boardwalk and adjacent businesses.

According to presentation materials at the Aug. 26 meeting, the city would take on the infrastructure work, amounting to $150,000, with Bridge St. LLC kicking in $75,000 — the latter making available through an easement about 1,500 square feet along the water as a public-private deck space.

In total the city would contribute about $560,000 while Bridge St. LLC would come across with $378,408 in value — the difference of $181,592 being provided by the developer in cash to help assist in stormwater management and other improvements to the Farmin’s Landing area just north of the parcel, next to the Panida Theater.

The proposed land swap dovetails with broader goals at City Hall to build out the Sand Creek downtown waterfront, with improved stormwater management, more city-owned right of way

and greater mixed-use development.

“We have limited really developable value of this property [on the waterfront] at all, and if a portion is included in a property swap, that limits it even further,” Stapleton said, illustrating the upside to trading with Bridge St. LLC to serve both the developer’s goals and the city’s.

Asked by Councilwoman Deb Ruehle whether the swap would result in subterranean parking for the envisioned mixed-use development, Stapleton said, “Yes, potentially.”

The council’s vote approved the valuation determination presented by city staff, sets the land swap on the agenda for the next regular City Council meeting, which is accessible via the City of Sandpoint YouTube channel. Go to sandpointidaho.gov/your-government/ meetings and click on the “City Council” button on the right side of the page to register for the meeting.

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OPINION

Shattered glass: The end of civil discourse

By Ben Olson Reader Staff Publisher’s note: The views expressed in this opinion article belong to the author.

The downfall of democracy will not come in the form of a tweet or Facebook message, but in the roar of the angry mob and the sound of shattered glass.

For those who attended or watched the Aug. 19 meeting of the Sandpoint City Council, it was hard to miss the shouting coming from outside the council chambers as those in the crowd attempted to gain entrance to protest a proposed ordinance giving Mayor Shelby Rognstad the power to impose a mask mandate. It was hard to miss when a man attending the meeting in person interrupted Rognstad and began badgering him until he was escorted out by Sandpoint police. Before exiting the council chambers, the man shouted “Nazi” to the mayor.

It was also hard to miss the bullying crowd of anti-mask protestors that swamped the Sandpoint branch of the East Bonner County Library in late July, attempting to force their way inside past employees who were upholding the library board of trustees’ mask policy for the building.

These examples and many more are a clear indication that the state of civil discourse here — as well as the rest of the country — has broken down. When volume replaces reasoned debate, when bullying and harassing public officials become the norm in an era that is anything but normal, it’s a sign that a vital component of our representative democracy is in desperate need of fixing.

Sandpoint is a community of diverse opinions on many subjects, but the moment we allow mob rule to influence our public meetings, we abandon the thoughtful form of governance that the framers of the Constitution intended for us when the states ratified that historic document more than 230 years ago.

After the outburst at the Sandpoint City Council chambers, and police removed the outof-order speaker from the room, I was appalled when Councilman Andy Groat proceeded to validate this angry outburst by agreeing with the man’s sentiment — that Rognstad exhibited “hypocrisy” by attending the meeting while knowingly ill with a cold. Groat said he didn’t support speaking out of order at a council meeting, but his elevating the outburst at a time when no other verbal testimony was allowed did real harm to the decorum of our city meetings and, by extension, the democratic norms by which we’re supposed to operate.

Democracy is not furthered by shouts and threats, fascism is. Decency is not promoted by personal attacks, hatred is. We can 8 /

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all reasonably disagree about many topics, but I never thought I’d see the day when the rumblings of an angry mob took precedent over the sacred space of a public meeting.

Shattered glass On Aug. 24, as legislators convened for a special legislative session called by Gov. Brad Little, a crowd of protesters gathered at the Capitol building in Boise. Despite limited seating due to social distancing requirements, the protesters — apparently led by famous anti-government activist Ammon Bundy, who now lives in Emmet, Idaho — forced their way into the Lincoln Auditorium at the Statehouse. They chanted, “Let us in!” and shoved Idaho State Police, breaking a glass door to the House gallery in the process before ripping down social distancing signs and filling the gallery seats. Most were not wearing masks and none were practicing social distancing as requested by the governor and Idaho legislative leadership. A video shared to Twitter by Brad Bigford (@mursebigford) showed the moments leading up to the incident. I encourage you all to look up this video on Twitter to see what mob rule looks like. If you think I’m exaggerating the actions that took place, watch the video for yourself.

Idaho Rep. Mellisa Wintrow, D-Boise, tweeted on Aug. 24: “Unfortunately, I had to excuse myself from the Committee due to lack of social Distancing and the large crowd that filled the Lincoln auditorium.

The crowd was hostile to me but I tried to remind them of the need for civility. Didn’t matter. This is what we have come to.”

This is indeed what it has come to: An angry mob attempting to thwart the democratic process. A legion of people swearing that they “will not comply,” in the very building where bills become law in Idaho. When legislators feel it is unsafe to participate in a legislative session, that’s a clear indication that we have entered dangerous territory.

Left: Protesters swarmed the Statehouse in Boise on Aug. 24, pushing past ISP officers, and shattering the glass in Meanwhile, Rep. Bryan Zollinger, R-Rexa door. Screengrab from live stream by Sarah Clendenon burg, seemed to be all for the disruption, as on Twitter. Right: Ammon Bundy is wheeled out of the he tweeted next to a video of angry people Statehouse Aug. 25 by ISP officers and charged with misdeshouting over legislators: “Fireworks continmeanor trespassing and resisting arrest. Photo by Ryan ue! Love it when citizens get involved.”

Suppe, Idaho Press, @salsuppe on Twitter.

It’s curious that Zollinger feels that way, when he retweeted this statement less than wrenching on a door multiple times to help a month ago regarding Black Lives Matter gain entrance to the Lincoln meeting room. protests: “The right to peaceably assemISP issued a statement Aug. 25 claiming ble does not include the right to set fire to that ISP “personnel determined they could buildings or assault officers. I know this not have made arrests on the spot without might seem obvious, but it’s apparent some elevating the potential for violence. ... An people don’t know this.” investigation is underway into any criminal It’s also apparent that the Idaho Legislabehavior that may have occurred.” ture is filled with lawmakers who condone So, if protesters are civil and peaceful, the very type of behavior we saw at the Capitol with their silence — behavior that would they should be arrested, but when they are violent and angry, it’s too dangerous? Got it. have resulted in criminal charges for any After such a raucous Aug. 24 session, other group, provided they weren’t supporters of the conservative supermajority. In fact, you’d think the protesters would have shown more decorum on Aug. 25. Nope. When it did, during the 2014 Legislative session, when 40 gay rights protestors blockaded Ida- lobbyists from the anti-vaccine group Health Freedom Idaho refused to vacate seats they ho Senate committee rooms on the west side occupied in the press section of the Lincoln of the Capitol to bring attention to the Add auditorium, ISP formed a wall of officers the Words campaign. The organization tried between the unruly audience members and unsuccessfully to lobby legislators to add legislators. Committee chairman Rep. Greg “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to Chaney directed ISP to remove several of the the Idaho Human Rights Act. The activists protesters and according to photos on Twitter were arrested and 23 were charged with at least one individual was arrested and misdemeanor trespassing, ultimately serving charged with trespassing. restitution through a combination of fines Only credentialed members of the press and community service hours. are permitted to sit in the press section.

As of yet, no charges have been filed While the activists claimed they had proper against any of the Aug. 24 protesters, credentials, they are in fact lobbyists and despite clear video evidence of Bundy

< see DISCOURSE, page 9 >

< DISCOURSE, con’t from page 8 > not permitted to sit there. The hearing was suspended and lawmakers left the auditorium immediately after the disruption to reconvene in another room, proving how an angry mob has yet again obstructed the work of a legislative body in session. Meanwhile, Bundy took a seat at the press table after Chairman Chaney directed the meeting to another room, in an apparent protest of the removal of “citizen journalists.”

After the House and Senate both convened hours later, Bundy and a handful of his supporters still refused to leave the press section at the Lincoln auditorium, forcing ISP to cuff him right in the chair he refused to vacate. He was arrested and wheeled out of a side door of the Capitol and down the sidewalk in the black swivel chair before being placed into an ISP vehicle. He was later booked in Ada County Jail on a misdemeanor trespassing charge and resisting and obstructing officers, also a misdemeanor.

After posting bail, Bundy showed up at the Statehouse again Aug. 26 for the third day of the special session and promptly received a no trespassing order by Idaho state officials as a result of his arrest Tuesday. Refusing to comply with the order barring him from the Statehouse for one year, Bundy was arrested a second time. He resisted arrest, so ISP officers had to carry him out of the gallery by his hands and feet before booking him in Ada County Jail again on a second set of trespassing and obstruction charges.

It’s curious that there were no armed citizens on hand at the Capitol building to “protect” against damage to government property. When a few dozen teenagers gathered to protest for Black Lives Matter in Sandpoint on June 2, armed citizens gathered to “protect” the protestors from a nonexistent Antifa threat. Later that night, they patrolled downtown, some in full battle dress, all carrying weapons to “protect” downtown office buildings from riots and looting. Again, where were those armed citizens in Boise on Aug. 24 when the angry crowd literally smashed a glass door and muscled their way into the meeting? Isn’t that exactly what armed activists claimed to be doing when parading around with their guns downtown — “protecting” our businesses and government buildings from being vandalized by politically motivated (frequently out-of-state) demonstrators?

The erosion of freedom?

Government tyranny is not an empty threat — it is very much something that citizens should be on the lookout for. The problem is that lately everything seems to be labeled as “tyranny.” Like the boy crying wolf, the more anti-government activists label benign actions as “tyranny,” the more it erodes their message when and if actual tyranny is actually observed.

At the base of this breakdown in civil discourse is a staggering amount of hypocrisy.

County residents have penned letters

claiming, “We don’t need an activist, we need a Mayor,” but that’s not quite accurate.

Many of those same letter writers openly support activism from other elected officials.

When Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler wrote a letter to Gov. Little urging the governor to convene a special session in late March because he believed the stay-at-home order was “unconstitutional,” was that not activism? When the Bonner County commissioners sued the city of Sandpoint over The Festival at Sandpoint’s no-weapons policy, that was also activism — which has cost taxpayers more than $200,000 to date.

What many of these letter writers are saying — whether they recognize the hypocrisy or not — is that they only support activism when it aligns with their own ideology. When it does, it’s not activism in their eyes, but an elected official doing their job. That is the definition of hypocrisy: The practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform. If you don’t want activism, then reject it from all sides of the aisle, or stop with the bellyaching.

Those who claim law and order as a party platform are also hypocritical when they then refuse to follow laws they don’t believe in. There are laws that I don’t personally believe should be on the books, but I follow them and I also face the consequences — as do all of you — if I violate those laws. How arrogant of us to think we have some entitled right to disobey laws because we don’t believe in them. These laws that we follow are not enacted by mob rule, but by reasoned bipartisan debate.

To give credence to those who choose to harass public officials instead of stating their points in a civil manner is to abandon all hope for healthy civil discourse. You don’t shout down democracy, you participate in it. In the privacy of our own homes, or in a setting among friends, we have every right to be as loud and annoying as we like, but when you enter the sacred space of a city, county or state meeting, check your entitlement at the door.

The reason we have rules and decorum in public meetings is to allow everyone the fair opportunity to hear what has been said and to add their point of view in a respectful manner in order to convince their duly elected representatives to be swayed to their cause.

I have a hard time buying the argument that people are using to justify forcing their way into these meetings: That their voices are being silenced. The meetings are offered via live stream from a number of different sources. If you can post memes on Facebook, you can probably manage logging into a Zoom meeting. Instead of tuning into the meeting, I watched as some live streamed a protest outside the council chambers, claiming they didn’t know what was going on inside. It’s actions like these that make it clear that the mob desires only attention and disruption, not reasonable debate.

Attack policy, not people When you have problems with your government, attack the policy, not the person.

When Councilwoman Deb Ruehle proposed the emergency powers ordinance, she was doing so because many of her constituents raised the concern to her. Ruehle was doing her job as a representative of the people by bringing their concerns to the council. That is how representative democracy works. For her to be verbally attacked in person and personally attacked online is unacceptable. One Facebook commenter even wrote, “A tall tree and some rope is the best idea for her.”

Really? Hanging an elected official because they were responding to their constituents’ concerns? Are we in 1820 or 2020? There is never a good reason to propose violence toward an elected official. While I get a dig in here and there toward elected officials who I think are disrespecting their office by their actions, I have never wished any of them physical harm. Nor should any of you. They deserve your respect, even if you disagree with every word that comes out of their mouths. If you don’t like their actions, vote them out of office, don’t threaten them with violence.

This editorial has nothing to do with the decision of the council to vote down the emergency ordinance. I agreed with Council President Shannon Williamson that the decision for a mask mandate is best made by the Panhandle Health District, not our City Council or mayor. Beyond that, however, I take issue with the fact that our City Council meetings have devolved into lengthy unproductive gripe sessions that often skew wildly off topic. The fact that these outbursts have apparently influenced some councilmembers is cause for alarm, because we elected these people to lead and govern our city, not to hold up a megaphone to extremists — from the right or the left.

We should be proud of our public discourse, not ashamed of it. I am ashamed to see and hear some of our city and county residents behaving in public like petulant children. Grow up and participate like adults, or stay home and wear your tin foil hats.

We all need to get along at the end of the day. Respecting the decorum of a public meeting goes a long way to ensure we can voice our differences in the American way, which is through measured debate and respectful discourse. Once we abandon this practice, it truly will become a world of mob rule.

Idaho Rep. Maryanne Jordan, D-Boise, leveled a crucial blow on Twitter to Idaho Republicans who continue to condone this behavior: “... Make no mistake, the leadership who feigns frustration with this behavior are the same people who have encouraged and allowed it to happen.”

The shattered glass on the floor at the Capitol building in Boise is yet another reminder that forces are aligning to usurp the rule of law in this state. When will rational, decent Republicans stand up to these anti-government extremists instead of looking the other way?

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An open letter to Congressmen Risch, Crapo and Fulcher

Bouquets: GUEST SUBMISSION: • “Mr. Scotchman” wants to thank all the human Trail Ambassadors for helping to keep people away from my salt addled and addicted kids, nannies and billies. Learn how at http://bit.ly/ SPgoats.

- Submitted on behalf of Mr. Scotchman by Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness.

GUEST SUBMISSION: • Kudos to whoever’s responsible for all the new utility box wraps going up around town. It’s super fun to see art pieces, historical photos, and other pretty scenes being featured in formerly uninteresting spaces.

-Submitted by Jen Heller.

Barbs: • This isn’t exactly a Barb, but more of a public service announcement. An anonymous emailer asked if I’d share with our readers a hazard they have noticed in south Sandpoint. The emailer said they have noticed small pieces of broken glass widely and thinly scattered along Euclid Avenue and the side streets of Lake, Superior and Michigan Streets, while a few pieces have also been seen on St. Claire Avenue. The emailer said because the pieces of glass are different colors and thicknesses, and are scattered so widely, they thought it could be a case of the recyling truck leaking some of the glass.

In a follow-up email, they said after contacting both the City of Sandpoint and Waste Management, both entities dealt with the issue promptly to investigate where the glass came from. A call to Waste Management from the Reader has not been returned as of press time.

In the meantime, please take care driving on the above-mentioned streets to avoid flat tires on bicycles and cars.

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Dear editor, The idea of the “right to vote,” is embedded in our constitution’s 14th, 15th and 19th amendments.

Congress was given the power, “To establish Post Offices,”(Article 1, Section 8) and to fund them.

Furthermore, The Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 states: “The cost of establishing and maintaining the Postal Service shall not be apportioned to impair the overall value of such service to the people.”

President Trump, through his postmaster general, is attacking both our right to vote and is breaking the law by interfering with the good purpose of delivering our mail-in ballots, so that citizens can exercise their right to vote. Trump has admitted this purpose in public.

I urge you to stop this blatant abuse of power by Trump to sabotage our postal system. It is in your purview to pass the necessary legislation to adequately fund our post offices for the upcoming November elections. I am a senior and, because of the pandemic, I do not want to jeopardize my health by voting in person.

Please stand up and defend our postal service and our democracy!

Sen. Risch’s office: 208-6676130; Sen. Crapo’s office: 208664-5490; Rep. Fulcher’s office: 208-667-0127.

Philip Deutchman Sandpoint

Unmasking lack of leadership…

Dear editor, A supermarket and a big box store here clearly require masks to enter there. I have been to both of them several times in the last couple of weeks. So why do I see about 50-75% of customers and a few employees without masks? It must come down to a lack of leadership, including fear of constitutionalist customers, hypocrisy and corporate B.S. Take down your damn signs if you’re not going to abide by them.

Lawrence Blakey Sandpoint

Preserve rural Bonner County, or leave…

Dear editor, I am opposed to this idea of destroying our rural life in Bonner County, for money. Zoning certif-

icates can essentially destroy air quality, property values, wildlife and the beauty of our wonderful rural life.

So, is that what some of our county commissioners and Planning and Zoning Department want to do?

All for the chase of the “mighty” dollar, no matter what the cost to our environment? I’ll make this as simple as possible: If you don’t like our rural county the way it is, take a hike! Leave and take your so-called “plans” with you. No more mines, quarries or dirty manufacturing processes.

With my total lack of respect for what you’re planning to do, Michael Harmelin Sandpoint

Council’s mask ordinance vote throws citizens under the ‘COVID-19 bus’…

Dear editor, The City Council’s rejection of a mask-wearing mandate in Sandpoint means there will be thousands coming into our town because they won’t have to wear a mask. That was already happening, but now it will get much, much worse.

Over the past month I have been noticing a steady increase of vehicles with Washington and Idaho K plates at City Beach. Most are here to use the beach, not to launch boats.

It seems the town fathers are more interested in the economic impact a mask-wearing mandate would have on Sandpoint businesses, meaning less tax revenue, than in the health of those who live here.

The Sandpoint City Council has decided to throw the people of Sandpoint under the COVID-19 bus.

As for the anti-mask wearing crowd, for the most part they are anti-government as they perpetually see the government infringing on their constitutional rights and personal freedoms.

One of the most insidious infringements of our personal freedoms is the facial recognition technology that is currently being used in this country and around the world.

So anti-mask wearing folks, those masks you are so against make it virtually impossible for facial recognition technology to identify you. Apparently you don’t mind the government infringing on your personal freedom for anonymity by identifying you with facial

recognition technology.

By the way, the facial recognition technology folks have been complaining about how masks have thrown a wrench into their works.

Lee Santa Sandpoint

Tell the county you’re opposed to improper handling of recyclables…

Dear editor, Recyclables account for more than half the volume of trash generated in my household. Presumably it’s more or less the same for everyone.

When did Bonner County stop recycling? I’ve heard that two of three county commissioners voted to stop separating recyclables because the cost to ship them off for processing was “too high.” I’ve heard that our recyclables are now sent to a local landfill. Landfills have costs, limits and downsides, too.

We should minimize the amount of waste buried in landfills. It seems that when recyclables were transferred to a place where they would eventually be processed for reuse, the total amount of waste sent to the landfill would have been roughly half the volume of what’s sent there now.

Even though there may be some savings, by not shipping recyclables for appropriate processing, there are still costs to dump recyclables in landfills. A truly accurate comparative analysis of supposed savings should be demanded.

It appears some county commissioners may be acting on personal beliefs that ignore the damage some recyclable materials can do to the environment. Is it responsible or acceptable to fill the ground with materials that fail to decompose when there are viable alternatives?

Recyclables are reusable materials if we act responsibility.

County commissioners should

be representing the best interests of the citizens and environment of Bonner County. Constituents opposed to improper handling of recyclables should communicate their feelings to Bonner County commissioners. Commissioners Dan McDonald, Jeff Connolly and Steven Bradshaw can be contacted at 1500 Hwy 2, Suite 308, Sandpoint or 208-265-1438.

Savings from discontinuing recycling might cover the $117,631 wasted on suing the city of Sandpoint because two individuals who wanted to carry guns into last year’s Festival at Sandpoint were denied entry. Is that the best use of our taxes?

George Edward Priest River

Modest proposal for city-county gun suit...

Dear Editor: I finally got tired of reading about the ongoing gun battle between the city of Sandpoint, Bonner County and The Festival at Sandpoint organizers.

So I came up with a simple solution. Negotiate and compromise: three nights with guns allowed and three nights with guns not allowed (details to be worked out with Festival performers).

I learned this trick from 39 years of marriage to Gloria. Funny thing, more than half the time, her ideas and plans were better than mine. Bonus: zero legal fees!

Bill Stuble Dover

Send letters to the editor to letters@sandpointreader. com. Please keep letters under 300 words and refrain from using excessive profanity and libelous statements.

Caption contest!

All right you silly ones of Sandpoint, you wits of Wrenco, you ath-ols of Algoma — we present a caption contest for the above photograph.

Sandpointian Devon Chapman captured the image while boat camping with Terry Anderson.

“I was painting on the shore at the foot of the Monarchs,” Chapman wrote.

“When I went in for lunch a smiling

deer came down and had a look at my painting.”

With that information in hand, please send your caption ideas to Reader Publisher Ben Olson (ben@sandpointreader.com) and we’ll publish the winners in the Sept. 3 edition.

The winning caption gets dinner and beer on us with an Eichardt’s Pub gift certificate.

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FEATURE

Rumors abound on potential new use for Thorne building in Dover Spokane Valley-based medical firm looking to establish new facility at former vitamin plant

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

Neighbors in Dover have been abuzz in recent days over what may — or may not — happen at the former Thorne Research building.

The almost 60,000-squarefoot building located at 24820 Highway 2 was built in 1998 to serve as the headquarters for the vitamin supplement manufacturing firm, but has sat idle since late-2018 when Thorne completed its relocation to South Carolina.

With Thorne’s move went 270 regional employees but, in the meantime, Dover itself has grown rapidly as new residents have flocked to the high-end homes that now dominate the oncesleepy hamlet.

Among those new residents is Ian Evans, who just this month completed a move to Dover with his wife and children. Along with his household, Evans also brings with him plans for the Thorne building as a multi-faceted medical services facility combining administrative staffing services for small clinics around the country; the potential manufacturing, receiving and distribution of medical collection kits for bone marrow, blood, urine, oral and nasal fluid, and tissue samples; and a site for “regenerative medicine” that would include the processing and storage of stem cells harvested by individuals and cryogenically frozen for potential future use in cancer treatments.

What he’s not bringing from his Spokane Valley-based suite of companies — which includes Lynx Healthcare and AARK Labs — is COVID-19 testing, which has been the talk of the town.

“I have zero intent of putting COVID-19 testing here, just to be crystal clear,” he told the Sandpoint Reader. “We’re not going to be applying for applications to do that.”

More than one Dover resident has raised concerns about the potential new use for the Thorne building, sending emails to city officials expressing a mixture of concern, curiosity and con12 /

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fusion about the new occupant.

According to Diane Brockway, who serves as president of the Dover City Council, it’s all too early to tell, which has helped feed speculation.

“We would like to know so we can put our residents’ minds at ease,” she said, noting that the city remains in the dark about the company’s specific plans. “When we do know what they want it to be — and then we go through the process of what it can be — I think the whole area should know.”

A letter of support for the facility in Dover had been up for consideration at the Aug. 25 business meeting of the Bonner County Board of County Commissioners, but officials decided that after speaking with Dover City Mayor Mike Davis, who expressed some concerns about a lack of information on the company’s plans, the letter was removed from the agenda.

Speaking to the Reader ahead of the Aug. 25 BOCC business meeting, Davis said, “We have no idea” what’s being planned at the Thorne building, other than the owners had asked to transfer utilities.

“I don’t believe they are COVID-19 specific but are looking at medical research for a variety of cures,” Commissioner Dan McDonald told the Reader in an email. “That’s about all I know for now.”

A draft of the letter, provided by the county, suggested that the project by AARK Labs — which Evans said in a separate email “does not plan on having a lab here in Dover” — has “the potential in creating 200+ new jobs in our community” and noted that it could be provide “a meaningful community match to support this project” with a FY2021 property tax exemption pending filing by the company and approval by the commissioners in April 2021.

Yet, according to an email from county staff, “The county has no info on AARK Labs or their plans.”

Evans said he was surprised at the level of interest in his company’s potential activities in Dover, and was quick to dispel the rumor of a COVID-19 test facility — while noting that his firm

does provide such testing in part through mobile units that have been deployed around Washington, including at Whitman College in the south-central part of the state, according to news reports.

“All COVID-19, all viral-related services are going to stay on the Washington state side,” he said, adding that Lynx Healthcare has been in business for 11 years — currently DBA under Pinnacle Pain Center PS and also known as Lynx Laboratory — providing a range of other medical and lab services that will continue at its Spokane Valley location in a business center on Mirabeau Parkway. “It almost felt like we were being attacked by our neighbors,” he added.

To allay community concerns, Evans reiterated that he’s most interested in putting in place the clinical staffing administration services and medical kit manufacturing/distribution components to pay the bills while his passion project is on the regenerative medicine mission — in large part because of his personal experience with pediatric cancer, which nearly claimed two of his children’s lives. “[My son] survived the impossible and a big reason — if not the only reason — is this research that my wife and I have helped fund over the past several years,” he said.

According to Evans — whose family’s story has been featured on national television media — one of his children received a cancer diagnosis as an infant, with “a 1-in-1,000 chance of survival.” With several injections of the

boy’s stem cells, Evans reported a dramatic improvement in his condition.

Referring to the process as “living life insurance,” Evans said it differs from other stem cell harvesting procedures in that individuals elect to collect and preserve their own cells, paying a processing fee and monthly bill akin to a term-life insurance policy for storage. He was critical of other methods of stem cell harvesting, including what he described as giveaways to big pharma by hospitals and organizations such as Planned Parenthood, and said his company offers its service for a fraction of the $30,000 he and his family were charged for similar treatment for their son.

“We want to undercut these labs that are corrupt,” he said, citing a price point of “somewhere in the range of 1/20th to 1/30th of the cost of other labs.”

Emphasizing that “it was too early in the process” to go forward with a county letter of support, Evans wrote in an email, “What we do know for sure is at this time we have decided that no COVID testing will be performed in the Dover building.”

Referring to the decision to move operations to Dover, Evans said a big impetus was to provide services on “the other side” of the Washington-Idaho border, “where America’s still America, I guess.”

Much of the work of Lynx Healthcare — as well as AARK Labs and Living Life Stem Cells, both of which share the Mirabeau

The building formerly occupied by Thorne Research in Dover. Photo by Ben Olson.

Parkway address in Spokane Valley — Evans ascribes to providing a public good. In the case of AARK Labs, which performs COVID-19 testing, “[We] answered the call of our president to repurpose our molecular lab …

We want to get you back to work and not let these governors shut you down,” he said, referring to testing efforts geared toward fire departments, police forces and other essential businesses whose operations have been threatened by the ongoing pandemic.

Looking forward, Evans said he’s hoping to get operations moved into the Thorne building around Oct. 1, in the meantime working with local governments to put all the paperwork in order — though, “As of right now, we’re not going to use [the building] for any purpose other than what it was already set up for.”

That said, he is paying attention to the sense of concern expressed by some neighbors who are uneasy about a bio-medical facility that, in some cases, abuts directly with their properties.

“Quite frankly, I want to know if we’re well received or not well received. I want to do it in a community that’s excited to have us. … I don’t want to do something that goes against that grain,” he said. “I believe in America still being America and if they’re going to take away our rights to do it or fight against it … maybe we won’t create as many jobs here.”

August is almost kaput. Soon, the busy sidewalks will empty and locals will come out of their summer hiding holes to embrace the beauty that is the shoulder season in North Idaho. Here are a few shots that made the cut this week.

If you’d like to submit a photo for a future issue, please send to ben@sandpointreader.com

Right: A stunning sunset while boating on Lake Pend Oreille. Photo by Barbara Mack.

Bottom right: “My violin broke and this was its funeral. I love this picture.” Photo by Grace Rookey.

Bottom left: A close up of some of the delicious produce offered at Sandpoint Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Photo by Racheal Baker.

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Mad about Science:

Brought to you by:

giant robots

By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist My love for giant robots began when I was 14 years old and first watched Neon Genesis Evangelion, an anime series about giant humanoid “robots” (spoiler alert: they weren’t really robots) protecting Japan from giant monsters.

Neon Genesis Evangelion wasn’t even close to the first representation of the giant robot in Japanese cinema, but it made its mark in that country and abroad with deep cultural, psychological and religious symbology references.

Set in the then-future world of 2015, the series first aired on Oct. 5, 1995, and became such a massive cult hit that it spawned a trilogy of movies with the first installment released in 2007.

Weta Workshop, the company that handled the groundbreaking effects for Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, had even been in talks to handle the CGI for a live-action Evangelion movie that ultimately fell through.

Instead, we got Pacific Rim, and I guess that will just have to do.

It’s now 2020, five years after Evangelion’s plot had come to a conclusion, and world militaries still haven’t built any giant robots — so what gives?

It turns out there are a lot of reasons why creating giant humanoid robots is extremely impractical.

The research and development cost to create a giant war machine would be astronomical.

The U.S. Air Force’s cutting edge F-35 Lightning II fighter jet program has a projected lifetime cost of around $1.5 trillion. This 14 /

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is for technology we already have and are building on to create a slightly better version of a plane that already exists: the F-22/A Raptor.

Another major reason why giant warbots don’t exist is reflected by the F-35. There isn’t an enemy on Earth worth spending that kind of money to counter, and even if there were, how could we deploy it?

The best part of any movie pitting giant robots versus giant monsters (referred to colloquially as kaiju) is watching them smash through skyscrapers and turn metropolitan downtowns into piles of rubble. Real militaries try to avoid doing that as often as they can, assuming annexation is on their mind.

After the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, there was an estimated $88.2 billion cost to rebuild the country, which ended up becoming a hotbed for terrorist organizations like ISIS, anyway.

Destroying your own city with a weapon you developed is a really good way to make the public mad, and what good is a giant robot against a bunch of tiny targets?

The third reason that giant robots don’t exist is because we have already developed weapons that can cause city-wide damage with significantly less investment.

Nuclear weapons have only been intentionally used against humans in warfare twice: detonated over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima, on Aug. 6, 1945, and Nagasaki, on Aug. 9, 1945. Nuclear weapons were unintentionally used against Japanese citizens a third time on March 1, 1954, when the Japanese fishing boat Daigo Fukuryu Maru was caught by the fallout in the wake of a U.S. hydrogen bomb test on Bikini

Atoll. One sailor died from acute radiation sickness.

The final reason why giant robots don’t exist is because they’re giant! Creating a giant creature the size of a skyscraper would take a tremendous amount of mass. When you have more mass, the object itself becomes heavier, and requires more energy to move and maintain a cohesive form. We can build towering skyscrapers because they aren’t moving anywhere, but if you wanted them to get up and roll around, you would need an unfathomable amount of energy just to propel it and some way to keep it from breaking apart during transit.

In the case of a giant robot, its limbs would be constantly fighting gravity and putting immense amounts of downward pressure on the joints. Because of this weakness and the huge amount of energy needed to move such a huge object, the robot would risk shattering its arm to pieces every single time it punched a building.

“But Brenden, what about cruise ships and aircraft carriers?

They’re huge!”

They are, and they aren’t designed to articulate at joints like a humanoid robot would.

They are generally large, straight masses with no major articulations that are also supported by water at the base. The pressure from the water that helps keep the boat buoyant also helps it from breaking apart while moving.

The more massive an object is, the more it has to fight gravity in order to move. Whales can cheat by being immersed by water, which exerts pressure around them. They also don’t have to lift their entire weight

when moving, like humans do.

So what about when you don’t have to worry about gravity?

That’s right, Gundam fans: it’s time.

Giant robots could be plausible if they were built and deployed in the vacuum of space, as the restrictions of mass are not as relevant when you aren’t fighting against gravity — at least to a point. If you were to create a mecha that was too massive, it would either break apart in

the presence of a more massive object, or create a gravitational pull of its own and begin drawing smaller objects like asteroids toward it. A mecha this large wouldn’t be able to move around very efficiently on its own, it would essentially be at the mercy of the sun’s gravity well and just become another minor planet with weapons attached to it.

At that point, you’ve just built the Death Star.

Stay curious, 7B.

Random Corner Don’t know much about blood? We can help!

• One pint of donated blood can save up to three lives.

• The blood you donate is sold on the open market, part of a $4.5 billion per year industry.

• A newborn baby has about one cup of blood in their body.

• It would take 1.2 million mosquitoes — each sucking once — to completely drain the average human of blood.

• Mosquitoes prefer O-type blood to any other. Also, only female mosquitoes bite. Males are vegetarian.

• Your heart will pump nearly 1.5 million barrels of blood during your lifetime, enough to fill 200 train tank cars.

• Our bodies contain about 0.2 milligrams of gold, most of it in our blood.

• 8% of your body weight is in your blood.

• The Bororo people of Brazil are one of the few groups of people who all share the same blood type: “O.” • In the 16th and 17th centuries, Europeans — including royalty, priests and scientists — routinely ingested remedies containing human bones, blood and fat as medicine for everything from headaches to epilepsy.

• The weird bright dots you see floating when you look at the sky are your white blood cells.

• Pregnant women have about 50% more blood by week 20 of pregnancy than they did before they conceived.

• Spiders, lobsters and snails have blue blood due to the presence of the protein hemocyanin, which contains copper.

• A red blood cell can make a complete circuit of your body in 30 seconds.

• The iron in our blood and the calcium in our bones come from ancient explosions of giant stars.

HISTORY

Mysteries of the deep Secrets and sonar in Lake Pend Oreille

By Chris Corpus and Hannah Combs Reader Contributors Her speech well rehearsed, she had just settled into a light doze when a touch of turbulence brought her back to attention. She glanced out the window and down through thousands of feet of clear sky, where a large, sinuous curve of shining water caught her eye.

“How long until we reach Seattle?” she asked a crew member.

“Still about another hour, Mrs. Roosevelt.”

A lake that big and so far from the coast? The mountains ringing it looked steep, too. It must be deep. She jotted down a reminder to mention it to her husband, the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Idaho’s version of Area 51 started out as the Farragut Naval Training Center, once the second-largest base in the world and now a 4,000acre state park. The idea of training sailors 375 miles away from the ocean seemed preposterous to the public in 1942, but creating an under-the-radar Navy submarine research center was a strategic military decision, brought to the attention of President Roosevelt by his wife, Eleanor.

The first lady knew her husband’s desire to train sailors far from the prying eyes and bombers of the Axis powers. The attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 created a need for speed in developing training facilities throughout the nation. By March 1942, FDR made a secret visit to the site with the governor of Idaho, and the presence of two railroads (Northern Pacific and Spokane International) along with a newly built US 95 sealed the deal.

But what about submarines?

Perhaps the rumors started because of the 900 German prisoners of war who came to Farragut in late 1944. Because recruits were sequestered in their own camp, with strict adherence to secrecy, it is difficult to verify any submarine training that may have happened

A model submarine at Bayview in the late 1960s. Photo courtesy of the Bonner County History Museum. in the ’40s. Trained in secrecy — even at the Farragut reunion in 1985 — no sailor came forward with verifiable stories of German Kriegsmarine veterans helping train American submariners.

The Navy maintained a research base over the years at the water’s edge of the Farragut facility. The deep water and the consistent cold temperatures became a perfect laboratory for acoustic research and sonar development. Because of the top secret nature of the work, much of the testing happened under the cloak of darkness and after the summer recreation season. There is little doubt that the Navy used the “monster of the deep” as a diversion for their experiments with acoustic properties of ships, submarines, and torpedoes. Leaks about something big identified in the deepest parts of the lake helped to deflect and obscure the real mission at Bayview.

Military researchers’ advances in sonar detection at Bayview helped solve a major problem for the Navy during World War II. The original sonar would go out and bounce back off of fish. As such, sonar operators would hear

fish “talking” and other unwanted noise. The researchers at Farragut developed a way to filter out any organic sounds — a major breakthrough at the time. They played a significant role in the “run silent, run deep” post-war program.

As service members at Bayview began to embrace their new Idaho home, they named some of the experimental ships — called “large scale vehicles” — after local fish. An early notable test vehicle, christened the Kamloops, arrived in 1967 from a shipyard in California. The 70-foot, 3.5-ton vehicle tested wake signatures, new sail designs, propeller noise, new propulsion concepts and active handling capabilities. The 90-foot LSV-I “Kokanee” became the next arrival to Bayview, serving as a precursor to the Seawolf class of Navy submarines. Its testing helped finesse design characteristics like flow, structural strength, vibration and underwater acoustics. All of the research submersibles were 1/4 scale models of the eventual fullsized submarines and ships. Cost effective, for sure, and easier to operate undetected on the lake. The Navy has always maintained that the vessels were unmanned.

At $3 billion dollars for the full-scale version, the Bayview testing vehicles were economical and helped birth an “exceptionally quiet, fast, well-armed submarine, well-equipped with advanced sensors.” A full-scale Seawolf is 343 feet long.

Another LSV, christened the “Cutthroat” by Athol Elementary School students, helped launch the Virginia class of fast attack submarines. At 110 feet long, it was the largest unmanned submarine at its time. The Navy designed it to be modular so that various parts of its hull could be switched in and out for various testing purposes with relative ease. Where the Kokanee’s propulsion put out 3,000 horsepower, the Cutthroat sped along with 6,000 horsepower.

The Kamloops, Kokanee and Cutthroat may have been part of an inventory of up to 10 vehicles at one time, but it is hard to be sure. Although the Navy became less secretive over the years, it has still held much close to the vest.

With a growing North Idaho population, it became harder for the Navy to bring in experimental equipment overland to launch at Bayview. News photos showed

Part 3

one transported submarine stuck along the highway — an unwelcome headline for the Navy. The Kokanee arrived by rail to Dover Bay, shrouded in secrecy. The Navy built a temporary shipyard at Dover as an easier way to deliver the experimental vehicles. They used the existing railroad spur from the Union Pacific main line from the lumber mill days, and the present Dover boat launch is courtesy of the Navy.

The small base supported every major submarine and sonar design for almost 70 years. The clear water, steep shores, flat muddy bottom and constant chilly water temperatures below 100 feet made for great test conditions. The Navy knew they had an accidental gem, and eventually developed the Acoustic Research Detachment at Bayview/Farragut.

In 2005 ARD Bayview received its first 1/4 scale model surface vessel to operate and test. Nicknamed Sea Jet, it was the precursor to the Zumwalt Class Destroyer, with a unique, radical hull design. Its most notable feature was a shrouded and totally submerged impeller drive design. This rudderless concept built by Rolls Royce could achieve speeds of 18 knots, and the hull design produced a much smaller wake. Its strange design rekindled stories of the fabled lake monster, the Pend Oreille Paddler.

Maybe more of the story of the Navy’s landlocked base will come to light in the future. Retired Admiral Edmund Giambastiani, head of the Navy’s submarine warfare group at one time, called Lake Pend Oreille “the U.S. Submarine force’s most important body of water.” Of course, we beachgoers like it for other reasons.

This article is the third and final installment of the “Mysteries of the Deep” series, brought to you by the Bonner County Historical Society. Research courtesy of the Bonner County History Museum. The beginning of this article has been fictionalized based on historic facts.

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COMMUNITY Priest Lake drawdown to begin Oct. 1

By Reader Staff Drawdown of Priest Lake will begin a bit earlier than usual this fall. Water managers announced that releases will begin Oct. 1 and flows rapidly increased over several days to lower the lake level three feet in preparation for Priest Lake Outlet Dam improvements work and thorofare breakwater rehabilitation work beginning Nov. 1.

The Idaho Water Resource Board recommends early winterization of docks and boats to ensure work is com-

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Left: The Priest Lake Outlet Dam, located at the southern end of the lake. Photo courtesy Idaho Dept. of Water Resources.

Right: An aerial view of the Thorofare and breakwater. Courtesy Google Earth. plete before the end of September. Boat ramps may also become inaccessible earlier than normal and high river flows are expected.

For more information, visit idwr. idaho.gov/lake-management/

COMMUNITY

SHS football game tickets available only by pre-sale

By Reader Staff Sandpoint High School announced Aug. 24 that tickets to the upcoming Bulldogs football game versus Post Falls at War Memorial Field on Friday, Aug. 28 will be available for pre-sales only. Tickets will not be available at the gate before the game. Ticket sales are cash only and there will be no will-call.

SHS Assistant Principal Kris Knowles said ticket sales will be limited due to capacity requirements at Memorial Field.

City of Sandpoint officials returned an email from the Reader stating that the city has coordinated with Lake Pend Oreille School District and Panhandle Health District to develop a reduced seating capacity based on CDC guidelines for War Memorial Field.

The guidance states that 450 seats will be available in Cotton Barlow Stadium, with another 200 allocated for the visitor

War Memorial Field in Sandpoint.

Photo by Ben Olson. bleachers. City officials said every other row in the grandstands and visitor bleachers will be closed and facility entrances and exits will be marked to promote social distancing. Masks are encouraged but not mandatory.

Pre-sales of tickets will be available at the SHS bookkeeping office during the following times: Thursday, Aug. 27 from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. and Friday, Aug. 28 from 8 a.m.-2 p.m.

The gates at Memorial Field will open at 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 28. The game will also be broadcast on SWX, KSPT Radio and Rock 103. SHS is asking all those who attend to social distance and wear face coverings.

September Parks and Recreation Programming

By Reader Staff

In September, Sandpoint Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces will be offering the following programming: • CPR/AED with optional First Aid on Monday, Aug. 31 – online registration deadline Aug. 27. This class is in lieu of a September offering.

• Pilassage starting Sept. 14, Mondays through Oct. 5. Online registration deadline Sept. 7.

• Youth Bollywood Dancing starting Sept. 14, running Mondays through Oct. 5. Online registration deadline Sept 7.

• Youth/adult Bollywood dancing (ages 12 and up), Mondays, Sept. 14 through Oct. 5. Online registration deadline Sept. 7.

• Salsa boot camp starting Sept. 14, running Mondays through Oct. 5. Online registration deadline Sept. 7.

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Designs from within

Suzy James of Talache Designs has been selling handmade jewelry at the Farmers’ Market at Sandpoint for over a decade

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Upon walking into the Talache Designs booth at the Farmers’ Market at Sandpoint, it becomes clear that no two pieces of jewelry are the same. Each dainty necklace or shining pair of earrings came from the mind of Suzy James, who has been selling her handmade, wearable art at the market since 2009.

James began making jewelry as a teenager, and rediscovered the passion in adulthood. After giving away her creations as Christmas gifts one year, James’ husband suggested that she attempt to make it a business. Thus, Talache Designs was born, and now James builds her signature pieces at a desk her husband built for her in a room with a view of her yard.

“It helps to have a great creative space, I think,” she said. “Sometimes I sit down and a whole day goes by and I don’t even notice … For me, it’s a really peaceful time.”

What starts at her home on Talache Road eventually makes its way onto wooden display racks in Farmin Park, and finally into someone’s personal jewelry collection. As the years have gone by, James said she’s been

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fortunate enough to see her work as it was intended — being enjoyed and displayed out in the world on friends and even strangers.

“It’s fun to run into somebody and they’re wearing a piece of your jewelry and you recognize it — that’s pretty cool,” she said. “I’ve been at the grocery store before, standing behind someone who I don’t necessarily recognize, and I recognize the piece [of jewelry] that I’ve made.”

James said she’s been able to include her children — all high school-aged and older — in her craft over the years. She said they’ve helped her set up and operate her Talache Designs market booth, and have even had a say in some of her creations.

“They help me at home with design ideas, they have suggestions,” she said. “It’s been a thing that they can be involved in.”

The positive feedback James receives is what keeps her returning to her work desk.

She said it always touches her when someone chooses a piece of her jewelry as a gift for someone else — that a customer likes something so much that they want to share it with someone they care about.

“It feels really good,” she said. “That part is by far my favorite.”

It’s the sense of community that has kept James returning to the farmers’ market for more than a decade. Just like each of the

Left: Suzy James at her Talache Designs booth at Sandpoint Farmers’ Market. Courtesy photo. Right: A close up of James’ jewelry collection. Photo by Lyndsie Kiebert. pieces in James’ market booth is unique, so are the other vendors — even the jewelers, who James said she’s been fortunate to befriend over the years.

“The cool thing about being an artist that even though you both make jewelry, it’s totally different because it’s a design that comes from within you — it’s a part of you.

Two pieces aren’t going to be alike because they came from two different people,” she said. “I think we all compliment each other.”

Find Talache Designs at the Farmers’ Market at Sandpoint on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Select pieces will also soon be available at Carousel Emporium on the Cedar Street Bridge in downtown Sandpoint.

WEIRD NEWS

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

WILDLIFE OFFICIALS SEEKING ELK WITH TIRE AROUND ITS NECK Wildlife officials in Colorado are trying to locate an elk that was caught on a game camera with a car tire stuck around its neck.

The Colorado Parks and Wildlife NE Region tweeted a video showing a bull elk walking around wearing a bulky car tire around its neck like a necklace. So far, rescuers have been unable to locate the elk to rid it of its tiresome burden.

“We would love to catch up with him and free him of that tire,” the agency wrote in the tweet.

It’s not the tired elk’s first appearance on social media, said Jason Clay, public information officer for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Clay told KDVR-TV in Colorado that the elk has been caught twice before on the trail camera located in the Arapaho/Roosevelt National Forest.

Clay said wild animals are often

Courtesy photo. found in precarious situations such as this.

“We see it too often whether it’s, you know, a hammock, caught up in it, Christmas lighting, roping, tire around its neck,” Clay said.

“Unfortunately it happens quite a bit here in Colorado.”

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FEATURE

Heaven and Hell

Inside the legal, family saga surrounding Camp Bay

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Contributor

C

amp Bay has been described as a little slice of heaven.

For the Green family, as well as several lessees who have built cabins on the property over the decades, that’s exactly what it was. Located on the western shores of Lake Pend Oreille south of Sandpoint, the 407acre property boasts more than 3,000 feet of shoreline and gorgeous views of the lake and mountains. It’s the kind of blue-skied refuge that crystallizes idyllic summertime memories.

Yet, for nearly a decade, this little slice of heaven has been stuck in a kind of purgatory while siblings battled over its future.

Years of court battles and family disputes, replete with allegations of financial manipulation, centered over one central question: What should Camp Bay be? Over the years, it has been used as a homestead, a cattle ranch, a family getaway destination, a timber extraction site, a leased property, a haven for natural beauty and more.

But Camp Bay’s days as a family-held property may be numbered. Jim Green, who holds a controlling interest in the land, is moving toward parcelling and selling it.

“The selected plan will maintain a density similar to what exists today,” Jim wrote in an email. “The County has approved 21 lots based upon historic use.

The shift from the present lease dwellings to new homes will also see the introduction of state of the art waste management technologies which will be a great improvement on the existing sewer management now near Lake Pend Oreille.”

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Pioneering beginnings The modern history of Camp Bay reaches back to 1902, when John van Schravendyk homesteaded the property. According to his obituary, he followed his mother out to Bonner County from his birthplace in Minneapolis to settle on an adjoining quarter. Van Schravendyk later married school teacher Kate Voorhees, and the couple had a single child together: Jeanne van Schravendyk.

According to her obituary, Jeanne was born in a log house at the Camp Bay homestead in 1927 and enjoyed a North Idaho childhood, riding her horse to school, earning valedictorian status at her Hope high school and eventually graduating from North Idaho Junior College. After a brief stint working at Farragut Naval Base, she relocated to Portland, Ore., where she met and married Ralph Green. The couple lived in Portland until the 1960s, when the van Schravendyks passed away. In 1969, Jeanne Green moved back to the homestead with her husband and, together, they managed the land until 2012, when old age made residence there impractical.

Over the course of her life, Jeanne Green developed a reputation for a love of nature and her support of environmental conservation. Perhaps the best example of that is her work on Pearl Island.

Homesteaded by her uncle, Henry van Schravendyk, in 1907, the 10-acre island passed down to his daughter, Lorraine van Schravendyk Haecker. Haeker specified in her will that after her death, she wanted Pearl Island donated to a conservation entity chosen by her cousin Jeanne. In 2009, after Haecker’s death in 2008, Green facilitated the transfer of Pearl Island to Idaho Fish and Game as a wildlife management area.

Pearl Island is available for public day use and serves as a sanctuary for eagle nests.

Sibling rivalry Ralph and Jeanne Green had five children: Jim Green, Gary Green, Randy Green, Kathy Lefor and Sheila Green. After the couple moved away from Camp Bay, the question of how it would be managed — particularly in a real estate market when waterfront Lake Pend Oreille property could sell for millions — became more pressing.

In 1976, to better manage their assets, the Greens formed Green Family Enterprises, Inc. “It was my understanding that she did this for two reasons,” Randy Green told the Reader in an email. “Owning the property jointly, her heirs wouldn’t be fighting over how to divide the acreage, and secondly, she wanted the extra benefit of corporate law just so it wouldn’t be a family squabble.”

According to Idaho Supreme Court documents, by 1998, the Greens gifted a 10% interest in the corporation to each of the four siblings excluding Sheila, who is developmentally disabled. The remaining 60% of shares went to the Ralph Maurice and Jeanne Green Revocable Inter Vivos 2 Trust, which was to be distributed equally to the four children upon the Greens’ death.

Money came into the corporation through two means: logging and leases.

With more than 400 acres of timberland, Camp Bay is a ripe source of natural resources, and it contains 16 leasable sites for cabins, which are owned by the site lessees.

But by 2011, all the siblings were disinherited except for Jim, who was specified to receive the entirety of the trust.

According to Jim Green, that decision

A real estate sign advertises the Camp Bay property, located on Lake Pend Oreille. Cabin lease sites are behind and to the right of the sign. Photo by Ben Olson. was born from frustration by Jeanne and Ralph Green over Gary, Randy and Kathy’s questioning of their ability to make competent, informed decisions.

The three disinherited siblings, on the other hand, say their parents were manipulated by Jim Green in a case Randy describes as elder financial abuse.

The first signs of a family rift appeared in 2010, according to Idaho Supreme Court documents. At the time, Jim Green sought to secure a long-term, low-cost Camp Bay lease for a residence of his own. But the other siblings opposed his plan. They said it could be seen as self-dealing and imperil the corporation’s tax status. It was after this meeting that Ralph and Jeanne Green sought to make Jim first successor trustee in place of Gary.

The three siblings sought their own legal counsel and, in 2011, Camp Bay tenants received a letter questioning the elder Greens’ competence managing the property.

“Any purported efforts to enter into long term leases or other purported leases, contrary to the existing annual leasing system terms, will be subjected to severe scrutiny, and if necessary, legal action,” the letter read.

Following the letter’s distribution, Ralph and Jeanne met with a new lawyer of their own, Richard Wallace. Between April and September 2011, three key amendments were added to the trust. The first replaced Gary with Jim as successor trustee. The second divided the property equally but would go to charity if the children reached no agreement on a conservation easement. When the

< see CAMP BAY, page 17 >

< CAMP BAY, con’t from page 16 >

conservation easement failed to materialize, a third amendment awarded all trust assets to Jim and disinherited the other siblings.

There were points during these key months where it appeared a reconciliation might be possible. Jim expressed consternation over the possibility in an email exchange with Steve Klatt, a hired property manager, that surfaced during the legal battle.

“The implication is I could end up with some pernicious people as partners,” Jim said in the email. “In fact, I can hear them sharpening their flaying knives in anticipation of getting control.”

“Allowing this episode to be water under the bridge someday before too long does not mean a significant effort is not made right now to prevent these three yahoos from ever having control of the family property,” Klatt wrote.

Following the disinheritance, Kathy, Gary and Randy filed a lawsuit against the corporation, alleging manipulation by their brother and the need for a third party to address Jeanne’s interests. First District Judge John Mitchell dismissed the lawsuit in 2014. In January 2017, the Idaho Supreme Court upheld the dismissal.

“Essentially, this Court’s opinion of all the evidence in this case is that the three plaintiffs, having fouled their own nest via their behaviors vis-a-vis their parents which culminated in [the letter to Camp Bay tenants], now seek to blame [Jim Green] for the stench,” Mitchell wrote in his opinion.

Throughout the proceedings, a point of contention was Sheila Green, who Randy asserts hasn’t been properly cared for according to his parents’ wishes. The siblings argued in court it was inconsistent that Sheila was disinherited along with them, since she wasn’t a party to the dispute.

Another major argument questioned whether Jeanne was competent to manage her own interests. In 2012, during the attempt to secure a third-party conservator, a court determined that she was, Randy said.

Another decision just months later reversed that competency decision.

The three siblings maintain that Jeanne wasn’t fit to make her own decisions.

“In 2010, she asked me to turn the oven on, because she couldn’t figure out how to work it,” Randy said.

Likewise, Megan Green, Randy’s daughter, says a Camp Bay lessee confirmed to her that her cousin hid Jeanne from her in August 2012. She alleges they worried, with her training as a registered nurse, she would recognize how impaired she was.

“They claimed she had a meeting in town they didn’t know about (meanwhile she couldn’t remember her kids names, let alone an appointment),” Megan wrote in an email. “My cousin Annie, who is also a nurse, had visited her a little bit earlier in the year and reported back to her mom, Kathy, how bad she was.”

Shortly after the Idaho Supreme Court

decision in February 2017, Jeanne passed away. She followed her husband, Ralph Green, who passed away in 2013.

The future of Camp Bay In March 2018, Camp Bay went on the market with an asking price of $13.5 million, although the intention is to sell it in parcels. This presents a prickly situation for the property lessees, who say the coming months are filled with uncertainty.

Ally Unzen and her husband arranged their lease and built their cabin in 2006, moving there full-time in 2007. Over the course of their residence, she said they became close with the Green family, Jeanne and Ralph included. But now, it’s hard to say what their future looks like.

In February, they received a letter stating their lease would not be renewed. They also heard other cabin owners were told to be out by the end of September.

“To me, that’s not even possible if people want to dismantle their cabins,” she said.

Jim says lessees were informed about the end of the leases in February and were

invited to a meeting in 2014 that included a timeline for Camp Bay’s future. He maintains it’s been clear for years that Camp Bay was moving in the direction of a sale.

If they are forced to leave Camp Bay, Unzen said they will tear down their cabin and use the materials to build elsewhere.

But their preference is to stay. Initially, they disputed their lease’s termination, but recent investigations on their part indicate the language is “poorly worded but legally sound,” she said.

Disagreements also persist over how the land is managed. Randy says the ecology of Camp Bay has been dramatically altered through past clear-cutting operations. But Jim says Camp Bay has been managed with fire safety and natural beauty in mind, with 40,000 new seedlings planted to promote more sustainable diversity of species.

Legal disputes are one thing, but the familial rifts, on the other hand, aren’t so easily resolved. According to Randy, he and his sibling allies grew closer as they navigated the turbulent legal waters together. The relationship between Jim and the other siblings,

Top left: Randy Green and Judy Paullus stand with their daughter Megan Green and family friends Staci Borup and Sara Muzechenko before the old homesteader cabin where Randy’s mother was raised.

Top right: Megan Green points out the former site of a barn that has been removed, which she honored with a tattoo.

Bottom: Docks in front of the handful of cabins owned by leaseholders at Camp Bay on a bright summer day.

Photos by Ben Olson. however, sustained serious damage. While Jim is optimistic about the future of Camp Bay and believes his plans are in keeping with its legacy, he said the future that Jeanne Green hoped for may never be realized.

“Unfortunately, what my mother wanted most was a harmonious family, united in advancing her values about this land,” Jim wrote in an email. “Because of divisions within the family, and realities of the marketplace, this will not happen as she desired.”

Additional reporting by Ben Olson.

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events

August 27 - Sept. 3, 2020

THURSDAY, august 27

COMMUNITY Chamber names Sandpoint Elks Lodge #1376 August volunteers of the month

Live Music w/ Benny Baker 6-8pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall

FriDAY, August 28 Live Music w/ John Shipe 8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Live Music w/ Mama Doll and Windoe 7pm @ The Longshot A special outdoor concert on the lawn (at a reasonable distance) featuring two of the best indie bands in the Northwest: Mama Doll and Windoe, which is Karli Ingersoll (Fairbanks). Great music, great people Live Music w/ Sara Brown Band 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Blues, rock, pop and funk Live Music w/ Kevin Dorin 8-10pm @ The Back Door

Early Bird Paddle Plus 6:30-8am @ Sand Creek behind OE Free class, rentals available, meet behind Outdoor Experience on Sand Creek Live Music w/ Devon Wade 6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Live Music w/ The Nefftones 6-9pm @ Matchwood Brewing Co. Blues and R&B quartet SHS Varsity Football Game 7pm @ War Memorial Field SHS takes on Post Falls in the first game on the new artificial turf. Pre-sale tickets only

SATURDAY, August 29 Sandpoint Farmers’ Market 9am-1pm @ Farmin Park The Market is back at Farmin Park!

Live Music w/ TBD 6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall

Live Music w/ Okay, Honey 6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority

Live Music w/ Bright Moments Jazz 8-10pm @ The Back Door

SunDAY, August 30 monDAY, august 31 Monday Night Blues Jam w/ Truck Mills 7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Monday Night Run Posse (free) 6pm @ Outdoor Experience

Lifetree Cafe 2pm @ Jalapeño’s Exploration of a film featuring Rwandan John Gasangwa.

tuesDAY, September 1 wednesDAY, September 2

Sandpoint Farmers’ Market 3-5:30pm @ Farmin Park The Market is back at Farmin Park!

ThursDAY, September 3

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By Reader Staff The Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce is marking the Sandpoint Elks Lodge’s 100th anniversary by naming the organization its August Volunteers of the Month. The ceremony took place on Aug. 13 as a virtual meeting in lieu of the chamber’s regular General Membership Luncheon.

The Sandpoint Elks No. 1376 officially became the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks in July 1920 with 171 original members. Their first female Elk member, Nancy Hadley, was admitted in 1995. The four philosophical legs an Elk stands on are fidelity, charity, justice and brotherly love.

With that in mind, the Sandpoint Elks have raised more than $3 million in support of local causes.

Some of the programs and projects the Sandpoint Elks support include senior and veteran Thanksgiving dinner, providing free meals including delivery to those unable to attend; providing free dictionaries to every Bonner and Boundary county third-grade student; financial scholarships for highschool and college students; offering an edible schoolyard garden project for area youth; and donations to Bonner Homeless

Chamber President Bob Witte presents Exalted Ruler Linda Tatlock, left, of the Sandpoint Elks #1376 with Volunteer of the Month certificate on August 13. Photo by Ricci Witte.

Transitions, CCS, Head Start, the Bonner County Fairgrounds and SASi. Having made their mark on downtown Sandpoint, historically, the original Elks lodges were located in some of Sandpoint’s oldest buildings on Main Street and Second Avenue until 1999, when they moved the official lodge to the golf course on Highway 200, which the Elks have owned and operated since 1948. The Sandpoint Elks are currently working with the Bonner County History Museum to create a Sandpoint Elks display at the lodge.

Due to pandemic concerns, plans for a large anniversary celebration have been delayed. That is why the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce is pleased to acknowledge Linda Tatlock, Exalted Ruler, on behalf of the Sandpoint Elks No. 1376 with its August 2020 Volunteer of the Month award.

For more information on the Sandpoint Elks call 208-263-4321. For the Sandpoint chamber, call 208-263-2161 or visit sandpointchamber.org.

STAGE & SCREEN

Sandpoint Film Festival celebrate 10 years with Labor Day weekend screenings at The Longshot

By Reader Staff The Sandpoint Film Festival, usually hosted at the Panida Theater in the beginning of November, is celebrating its 10th anniversary but under different circumstances in the strange and challenging year of 2020. In effort to accommodate COVID-19 concerns, the festival will be presented as a free, three-day outdoors festival under the stars at The Longshot cafe and wine bar on the corner of Boyer Avenue and Highway 2, across from Dub’s.

Scheduled for Labor Day weekend, Friday, Sept. 4-Sunday, Sept. 6 at 7:30 p.m., this year’s program consists of 15 films picked from almost 2,000 submissions.

The goal of the festival is to find films that excel in telling a story, whether it is in a narrative, animation or documentary category. Festival organizers selected films that contribute to the art of filmmaking through telling compelling stories and presenting issues that are important to us as human beings in today’s world.

According to organizers, “They also give us a window into that same world by showing other cultures, lives and environments that are important to us in recognizing our similarities, rather than our differences.”

The opening night, Friday, Sept. 4, will consist of notable short films from around the world, and this year includes entries from France, Spain, Norway, India, Italy, Iran and several other countries.

Bear With Me is a charming animated film about a bear who is desperately trying to go to sleep when it is time for hibernation. My Daughter Yoshiko is about a mother who is trying to cope with an autistic daughter. Missing My City illustrates the effects that the novel coronavirus has had on a city such as Los Angeles. Bathtub

By The Sea, from Norway, is about a lonely lighthouse keeper who finds a mermaid washed up on the shores of his little island.

Parable of the Little Miracle, from Russia, shows the magic that occurs when two lively teenagers present a stuffed animal to a sad young child.

On Saturday, Sept 5, the program will consist of an Academy Award-winning short called Why Man Creates, followed by

Promotional art for Why Man Creates, Skid Row Marathon and The Exiles. Courtesy photos. a feature titled The Exiles, about a group of Native Americans living in L.A. in the late 1950s. Both films are considered classic American films and have been inducted into the Library of Congress as films worthy of being preserved for all time.

Sherman Alexie, the well known writer from the Spokane tribe, considers The Exiles one of the most important films made about contemporary Native American life.

The films Why Man Creates and The Exiles were also both photographed by local Oscar-winning filmmaker Erik Daarstad, who is an organizer of the Sandpoint Film Festival.

On Sunday, Sept. 6 the program will start with more shorts followed by a screening of Skid Row Marathon, an uplifting documentary that tells the story of how a criminal judge started a club on L.A.’s skid row where he trained a motley group of homeless people to run international marathons.

The Sandpoint Film Festival is organized by Janice Jarzabek, who founded the event 10 years ago; Daarstad; and Bernice Webb, who serve as an all-volunteer board.

Mike Jarzabek downloaded and prepared the films for screening. Eric Ridgeway will host the event.

Festival organizers wish to thank Milestone Films and Pyramid Films for permission to show The Exiles and Why Man Creates, and extend thanks to Gabbi and Mark Hayes for Skidrow Marathon.

Thanks also go to The Longshot for serving as a venue for the event and to Pacific Northwest Law for sponsoring the festival.

Bring a chair or a blanket to The Longshot on the Labor Day weekend and enjoy three evenings of unique and inspiring stories under the stars.

For more info, go to sandpointfilmfestival.com.

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FOOD

The Sandpoint Eater Bubble up

By Marcia Pilgeram Reader Columnist

I was raised on penny candy (which I now call highway-robbery candy). Even with inflation, I am hard pressed to pay upwards of 50 cents (or more) for the single treats I once purchased for a penny or less (some selections, like “red coins,” were only two for a penny). In small town east Helena, Mont., where I grew up, we had the Mecca of all candy stores: Lucky’s Fountain, run by crabby, old babushka scarf-wearing, Mrs. Rusek.

Bless her heart. Today, I envision her lounging at her wellearned seat in Heaven because she long ago served her time in Hell, behind the triple-shelved glass candy counter, stooped over the bottom shelf, dropping our wisely chosen pieces into the small, brown, Kraft paper bags.

Finally, we’d ask the million-dollar question: “How much is that?”

“Twenty-three cents,” she’d answer. Near that point of no return, it was time to turn in some cinnamon bears for a Sixlet or two.

If you were flush, a dime would buy you a Mallo Cup and a Bubble-Up soda. First, you’d take a big bite of the candy bar and immediately wash it down with a huge dose of soda, causing a foaming, mini-eruption in your mouth. I was easily led down this dark path and, though I felt like I was doing something criminal (besides wasting a dime), it was especially exciting if the sweetly acrid foam found its way to your nostrils.

Who even remembers Bubble-Up soda pop? It was created more than 100 years ago, in 1919, in Ohio and was later purchased by the Dad’s Root Beer Company. Processed with a 24 /

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hint of lemon and a hint of lime, it was my go-to drink for many years, even after I gave up the Mallo Cup challenge.

Now, as my kids are trying to navigate school groups and speaking in COVID-19 vernacular (“podding-up or bubbling-up”), I can’t help but think of that soft drink from my youth.

I often think of my youth these days. I know we had parents, but I’m not sure where they were when we’d grab leaky tire tubes from our garages and roll them down Main Street, stopping briefly at Mrs. Rusek’s for sweet fortification before launching our barely-waterproof floats into Prickly Pear Creek, where we’d bob along, carefree, as far as the current would take us. Speaking of “bubble-up,” sometimes, we’d leave the inner tubes home and head, instead, to

the pools of warm water flowing from the American Chemet plant for an afternoon soak (now I shudder). What didn’t kill us…

It was all idyllic and wonderful and, in spite of myself, I flourished in those thermal pools on my summer diet of fruitstripe gum, Pom-Poms, Black Crows, Junior Mints, Sugar Daddies and red coins, dwelling on the mysteries of life, like, how did my teenage sisters’ bags of Lucky’s Fountain penny candy last them for an entire week?

I also still have a penchant for those candies of my youth, but, yikes, last time I looked online at oldtimecandy.com, a two-pound box of my favorite 1960s assortment was $27 plus $9 for shipping. Kind of steep, so I’ll just continue the homemade treats tradition.

I came by my treat-snack

stashing honestly. My mom made scads of after-school cookies and treats. When I was a kid, we had an extra freezer in our rumpus room, and now I know why she kept it locked: It was heaped with treats. There was a plethora of Tupperware containers and tins, filled with a variety of cookies and different sweettype breads, which she would dole out, modestly.

Summer’s end in Montana was not unlike ours used to be here. We harvested our gardens, bought the kiddos new shoes, fulfilled the long supply lists from enthusiastic teachers, and baked and froze after-school snacks.

I’m trying to figure out how to be helpful, now that Ryanne’s family has carefully bubbled up into a pod in Moscow. Given I have this darn cat, who requires insulin twice a day, my useful-

ness is pretty much limited to having the kids (there are six in the pod) come here, two at a time, for “Camp Mimi days,” which will be project-based learning experiments (if only I can get my hands on some Mallo Cups). I’ve also been trying to stockpile snacks, but, apparently, I am not as strict — nor feared — as was my mother. Last week I sent them home with two loaves of butterscotch banana bread, which didn’t even last until the first day of hybrid school.

If you’re looking for a cool school snack (before, during or after class), look no further than this delicious banana bread. It bakes and freezes well (hint: if freezing, it will last longer if you hide your loaves in empty, frozen vegetable bags).

Brown butter and Butterscotch Banana Bread with toasted Pecans Recipe Browning the butter really adds a depth to the flavor profile of this moist and flavorful bread. I often make this for holiday gift giving. Yield one delicious loaf — though this recipe easily doubles. Slather with butter or let it stand alone.

INGREDIENTS: • ½ cup butter • 3 very ripe bananas • ¼ cup brown sugar • ¼ cup white sugar • ¼ cup plain yogurt • 1 egg • 2 tsp vanilla extract • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour • 1 tsp baking soda • 1 tsp baking powder • 1 tsp ground cinnamon • ½ tsp ground nutmeg • 1 cup butterscotch chips • 1 cup toasted pecans pieces

DIRECTIONS: Brown butter: Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat; bring to a low simmer and cook, stirring frequently, until butter is browned and foamy, with visible browned, solid bits — about 7-8 minutes. Set aside and stir a couple times until cooled to room temperature, about 15 minutes.

Bread: Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a loaf pan and line with parchment paper. Mash bananas in a large bowl; stir in brown sugar, white sugar, egg, vanilla extract, yogurt and brown butter.

Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a bowl. Fold flour mixture into banana mixture just until all ingredients are moistened. Add butterscotch chips and pecan pieces,

pour into prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean, about 45-55

minutes. Cool on rack for about 10 minutes and carefully turn out. Wrap and refrigerate (or freezes very well).

MUSIC

Upcoming albums to get us through the rest of 2020

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff

For all the bad things that can be said about the year 2020, a silver lining shines through: the music has been good.

There’s more to come from female pop icons to the more underrated, offbeat bands in the dustiest corners of streaming platforms. Here are a few: Lana Del Rey: Chemtrails over the Country Club (Sept. 5) Lana Del Rey was born in the wrong era, and damn are we happy about it. Her sultry, caramel-coated voice pairs perfectly with the R&B niche she’s carved out for herself since she released her first LP in 2012. Anything she creates is sure to sound timeless, but still completely original.

Blitzen Trapper: Holy Smokes Future Jokes (Sept. 11) Anyone unfamiliar with Blitzen Trapper needs to listen to “Black River Killer” right now, then continue reading.

The track, off of the band’s 2008 album Furr, perfectly exemplifies its multi-layered folk style and knack for writing lyrics about mundane happen-

ings with deeper meanings.

Front man Eric Earley is said to be looking “beyond mere existence — or even the end of it — to contend with grander cosmic explorations” with the new album, and “what it means to escape the cycle of birth and rebirth.”

Future Islands: As Long As You Are (Oct. 9) There is no voice quite like the one that comes out of Future Islands’ Samuel T. Herring.

Two singles off the upcoming album As Long As You Are, “For Sure” and “Thrill,” showcase the band at its best: driving beats, soaring electric sounds and Herring pouring out his whole soul through his vocal cords. It sounds as though Future Islands is reaching a new high.

Rihanna: R9 (TBA) The name of Rihanna’s ninth studio release hasn’t been officially announced, so fans have dubbed it R9 in the meantime.

Her last album, ANTI, brought the hard edge of her pop sound to the forefront and was well received. Rihanna has done it all when it comes to sound, but there’s no doubt R9 will reveal a new dimension.

Mama Doll and Windoe to play outdoor show at The Longshot

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

Live music has begun to spring back up again in Sandpoint, and a nighttime show Friday, Aug. 28 promises to be one filled with talent. Mama Doll and Windoe will play on the lawn at The Longshot in Sandpoint at 7 p.m., showcasing the passionate soul-folk-rock quartet featuring Sandpoint’s own Jen and Justin Landis, as well as Sarah Berentson and Caleb Ingersoll.

With Berentson’s powerful voice leading a host of songs that speak to the delicate nature of love and life in the Northwest, Mama Doll has consistently earned positive accolades from critics over the years.

Windoe is Karli Ingersoll’s solo project. Hailing from Spokane — and formerly playing under her maiden name Karli Fairbanks — Ingersoll has been a fixture in the Lilac City music scene for years. Whether it’s her work with the folk rock band Cathedral Pearls or her former gig co-owning the downtown Spokane

Top: Mama Doll plays live.

Photo by Kat Skye.

Bottom: Karli Ingersoll from Windoe.

Courtesy photo. music venue The Bartlett, chances are you’ve heard her music. Her emotive, contemplative voice shines through on this solo project, providing depth and body to the indie folk rock genre that has defined the Inland Northwest over the past decade.

The show will take place on the lawn, with social distance encouraged. There is no entry fee for attending, but donations are always happily accepted.

This week’s RLW by Zach Hagadone

READ

As a Gen X/Gen Y cusper, The Neverending Story is right up there with The Dark Crystal and The Labyrinth for triggering nostalgia. But I was this many years old (one month shy of 40) when I finally picked up the book of the same name. First published in 1979 by German author Michael Ende, The Neverending Story is orders of magnitude more complex, absorbing and downright brilliant than its filmic counterpart. Looking for a magical-realist fantasy novel with undertones of Nietzsche? You’ll never find a better story.

LISTEN

For those hot August nights you need a suitably chill soundtrack, and Staten Island, N.Y.-based Budos Band is here for it. In celebration of the 15th anniversary of its debut album, The ’70s-infused “doom rock Afro-soul big band” is releasing a new LP, Long in the Tooth, on Oct. 9. Listen to the title-track single on YouTube. In the meantime, create a Budos Band Pandora station and explore what the sound is all about.

WATCH

For the past few months, Netflix original The Umbrella Academy has been haunting my streaming queue. It keeps getting ranked in the top 10 shows on the platform but, because I typically despise the superhero genre — especially the young-people-withpowers-they-don’t-understand subfield — I’ve shied away from it. Rest assured, it is far darker, more subtle and interesting than it might first appear. Family dysfunction meets time travel? Sign me up.

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BACK OF THE BOOK

A grain of salt

A health column... sort of

The small things that keep us sane

From Northern Idaho News, Nov. 6, 1903

IMPROVEMENTS TO BE MADE BY THE HUMBIRDS GROUND IS BROKEN FOR ERECTION OF A NEW STORE AND OFFICE BUILDING That Sandpoint has a great future before it none who are in a position to speak advisedly will deny. The natural resources are here and the city is populated with a progressive and energetic class of citizens.

Business firms interested are making plans along this line and the next few months will see many decided improvements.

In addition to the water works which will be installed during the coming six months, the Humbird Lumber Company will have erected one of the largest business houses yet in the city. This same company will also enlarge their mill in the north part of the city so as to increase the capacity 50 per cent.

Work on the new store building and offices of the company has already been commenced. Ground was broken this week for the basement of the main building which will be two stories in height in addition to the basement. This main building will be 55 by 100 feet and will have a store room on the side and shed in the read which will make the building cover a ground space of 765 by 130 feet.

The company may not be able to complete this structure this fall, but work will be pushed on the basement and foundation and that much will be at least completed.

From present indications next spring will see many new businesse structures erected in addition to those referred to above.

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By Ammi Midstokke Reader Columnist The world may well be ending, and if assessments of common science are plausible, we’re headed along an expected trajectory where the only real debatable matter seems to be the timeline.

It’s a little overwhelming, to say the least. Regardless of where you fall on the socio-political-value-religious spectrum, what your source of news or social media filters look like, the incessant, relentless barrage of bad news and emotionally-loaded content is enough to make anyone invest in a set of blinders.

I predict them to be the next fashion statement, after we’ve exhausted styles of face masks.

As my social circle grows smaller and my outings limited to only the essentials, I am finding even those interactions to be awkwardly filtered and guarded engagements of tip-toed conversation and labored conscientiousness followed by a deep sigh of relief when I cloister myself back in the front seat of my car. It is as if the world is now a minefield of issues of divisiveness that we cannot escape.

If you’re emotionally exhausted, it would seem warranted; and, perhaps time to employ some of your strongest tactics of avoidance. I’m calling this method “Sanity

by Naivete” and applying it as needed in the form of mountain escapes and meditation on the simple pleasures of life. For it is in the minutiae of the day-to-day that we

STR8TS Solution

often find comfort and normalcy.

In those things, I find the solace of nothinghas-changed. While I doubt it’s healthy to live in a state of perpetual ignorance, I know it is not healthy to live in a constant state of unknowns, fear and helplessness — the latter being a common thread I hear among patients and friends alike.

Many of us just don’t know how to help, be it in bridging gaps between political divides or relieving economic distress or bringing calm to the mask/no-mask debate.

Yet one of the first steps we can take to becoming part of a collaborative solution is to take care of our own minds and hearts. The research has long been clear that when we are having an extreme emotional response, flooded with stress hormones, we are not capable of constructive communication, emotional attunement or even hearing the words coming from other people’s mouths.

If this time in our lives calls for anything, it is for us to be able to hear each other.

The more we feel threatened or unable to sustain our standard of living, the less capable we are of having compassion for our communities. This is why it is imperative that we practice the kind of self-care that makes us feel safe and grounds us in the rituals and relationships that provide us with security.

I write this from the front porch of my father’s home in the mountains. Today, we

made coffee together and sat quietly around the fire pit while the dogs played in the cool morning air. My small nephew ran with his stubby bare feet across the lawn with the kind of hysterical laugh about nothing that makes even the most callous heart soften. A strange bird came to drink water out of the Radio Flyer wagon (now bird bath) and we all had lengthy, uninformed discourse on what kind of bird it might possibly be. None of us knew, so we just agreed on its beauty.

For a few hours, nothing else mattered.

It is this kind of reprieve we must seek and find solace in right now. Yours might be in a bowl of really great cereal or a fantastic novel or a walk among the trees. It could be in the mere joy of a child’s laugh. Whatever you find, take the moments your mind and heart need to find calm in this storm. It is how we will keep ourselves from becoming part of it.

Crossword Solution

Sudoku Solution

I wish I would have a real tragic love affair and get so bummed out that I’d just quit my job and become a bum for a few years, because I was thinking about doing that anyway.

Solution on page 26

Solution on page 26

Laughing Matter

plaudit

Woorf tdhe Week

Copyright www.mirroreyes.com

CROSSWORD ACROSS

By Bill Borders

/PLAW-dit/ [noun] 1. (Usually plaudits). An enthusiastic expression of approval

“Her moving speech won the plaudits of even the toughest critics.”

Corrections: In our Aug. 20 story “Bonner County prepares to adopt 2021 budget,” we stated that the county would not increase taxes for the third year in a row, but 2021 will only be the second year that the county won’t take the allowed 3% tax increase. We also noted that budget hearings would be held Aug. 26, but that date was incorrect. Hearings were held Aug. 24. —LK

1. Make a counterfeit 6. God of love 10. Umpires 14. Something to shoot for 15. Grumble 16. River of Spain 17. Depart 18. Teller of untruths 19. Metal money 20. Particularly 22. Ailments 23. Explosive 24. Area of South Africa 26. Native of Gascony 30. Grave marker 32. Mime 33. Sluggishness 37. Pearly-shelled mussel 38. Smidgens 39. Colored part of an eye 40. A pocket pistol 42. Units of medicine 43. Drugged 44. Growing in two parts 45. Scrimp 47. Bleat 48. Extent 49. Precis 56. Operatic solo 57. Placed 58. Severity 59. Gave temporarily 60. Bloodsucking insects 61. Positive pole 62. French for “Head”

Solution on page 26 63. Sleigh 64. Untidy

DOWN 1. Dossier 2. Poems 3. Harvest 4. Donated 5. Voter 6. Panache 7. Train track 8. By mouth 9. Nimbleness 10. A verbatim performance

11. African virus 12. Ruffle 13. Male offspring 21. Hotel 25. Former boxing champ 26. Cheap showy jewelry (archaic) 27. Skin disease 28. Blend 29. Organize 30. Filled to excess 31. Russian emperor 33. Balcony section 34. Constellation bear 35. Weight loss plan 36. Anagram of “Sees”

38. Set up for use 41. Charged particle 42. A drawing 44. Poor 45. Binge 46. Corrupt 47. Stayed 48. Sodium chloride 50. Hoop 51. Type of cereal grass 52. Not yours 53. Prima donna problems 54. Gestures of assent 55. 3

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