COMMENTARY
Surviving the mother of all overscheduled weekends . . . and watering trees By Sandy Compton Reader Contributor Sandpoint, the nominal capitol of the vague state of Montaho, was VERY busy last weekend. Hundreds of folks from as far away as Athol — heck, maybe even Spokane — strolled the streets with melting huckleberry ice cream running down their arms, because it was also hotter than a firecracker. I probably shouldn’t even say “firecracker.” We’ve been smelling smoke for so long it doesn’t smell like smoke any more. Fire danger is extreme. Nonetheless, it was the Mother of All Overscheduled Weekends in Montaho. A music festival, a county fair, arts and crafts fair, craft and yard fair, roughly 127 yard sales, 16th annual fly-in at Montaho International, farmer’s market times two, artists’ studio tour, bull-bucking
Letters to the Editor
rodeo, demolition derby, two downtown late night parties, downhill bike mayhem at Schweitzer, hucklehuckle berry festival in eastern Montaho, big music party at Bull Lake and (coinciden(coinciden tally) the Perseid Meteor Shower. Imagine the overachieving couple Let’s pretend one couple went to them all — not including yard sales — starting with the county fair on Thursday and ending with the music festival Grand Finale on Sunday. That’s 1,232 miles on the Prius, and $1,375 on tickets, gasoline, cappuccinos, chili cheese dogs, a little log table with imbedded rock top that weighs 110 pounds (perfect for the entry hall), two dream catchers for a niece and nephew, fried chicken dinner to go, 10 chances to win a Winchester 12-guage pump shotgun (they didn’t), 10 chances to win a
Keep the Lights on and Support the Reader... Editor, the Flowers Blooming... Dear It isn’t often we have the opportuDear Editor, I applaud the many business owners who wanted to keep the Sandpoint Improvement District which provided the funds for the beautification for downtown Sandpoint with flowering baskets in the Spring and Summer and the warmth and cheer of holiday lights during our long winter nights. What will it be without them? These were signature features that welcomed both visitors and citizens to downtown Sandpoint. What can be done to restore our much beloved flowers and lights? May I suggest all members of the business community come and work together once more, trying to understand what you have done in the past is deeply appreciated. I also encourage the Sandpoint community at large to please voice your thoughts, feeling and ideas. Let’s try to help keep downtown Sandpoint the welcoming and friendly place we’ve come to know and love.
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Sandra and Phil Deutchman Sandpoint / August 17, 2017
nity to rally together and really make a difference in our own community, but one of the simplest ways to do this is to support our locally-owned businesses. The Reader is one of those small businesses. They work hard at giving us a newspaper we can be proud of. They provide narrative featuring both sides of an issue, and this gives all of us a chance to enjoy a lively discussion. The Reader is free to everyone in the community. Wait, how do they do this? They sell space in the newspaper to advertisers of other small businesses we are supporting. But, the cost of doing business and providing a free service isn’t always completely free. There are publishing costs, employee wages, transportation fees, etc. which eat up the money produced by advertising pretty quickly. We, as a community, owe it to ourselves to contribute back some support to these folks who have given of their time so selflessly. We encourage everyone to help the Reader keep us informed by donating a few dollars a week toward expenses so we might all benefit as a community from this service. The
lovely hand-made quilt (they still didn’t) three huckleberry milk shakes, a number of inferior hamburgers, a jar of pickled garlic, some excellent curry, bad coffee, a very nice bottle of red wine, two sixpacks of local beer, four (and a few more) overpriced cocktails and a parking ticket. They slept eleven hours out of the 72 beginning at 7 a.m. on Friday. Monday morning, they both looked five years older. And, they didn’t see one meteor. What we did instead. That was not us. We didn’t see any meteors either. But, we camped out, rescued a guy with a flat tire from the High Drive, picked some huckleberries and worked in a booth at the festival of the same name. I also worked in a booth at the county fair. And, I watered trees on the bike bridge. There are 16 planters on the bike bridge. The man who has watered them for the past three decades can’t any more, and Reader gives us all a voice. Let’s rally behind these folks and help support a very important part of our diverse community. The Monarch Malcontent Refugees: Marlene Petersen Louie Baribeau Erik Daarstad Michael Spurgin Foster Hepperle Etc. Sandpoint
Scotchman Peaks... To the Editor, In this time of divisiveness and rancor, it is encouraging to find that collaboration is alive and well in the world of environmental conservation. Over the past dozen years, a group of over 7,000 people from a range of political views and from industries like mining and logging, have voiced their support for the Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness. This group has been working to have a portion of the West Cabinet Mountains of northern Idaho and western Montana designated as Wilderness. And in December 2016, Sen. James Risch introduced Senate
he worries that the trees and other plants will die of thirst, so he called me. I’m a sucker for trees — I have hugged any number of them — so he called the right guy. Help wanted. I’ve managed to water them twice so far. Not much on the scale of 30 years, but you gotta start somewhere, right? I enjoy it, really, but I won’t be able to water them this week because I am meandering in the wilderness with friends until Saturday. And there are upcoming weeks that I will miss as well, because I sometimes go farther away than Athol — or even Spokane — for days at a time. So, it would be very cool if someone else — even several someones — would take a turn over the next few months. It doesn’t take all day — only about 90 minutes — to ride a bike out there, throw a bucket with a 30-foot rope tied to it over the guardrail, pull it up and dump water caught into a plantBill S.3531 designating about 14,000 acres in Idaho as Wilderness. Across the border in Montana, another 50,000 acres of the proposed Scotchman Peaks wilderness awaits legislation by the Montana delegation. In its latest Forest Management Plan, the National Forest Service recommended the area for designation as wilderness and has managed the area as wilderness since the Rare II studies in the 1970s. It is home to big game animals, like elk, deer and mountain goats, to west slope cutthroat, rainbow and bull trout, to bears, big cats, and hundreds of species of birds. Designations of the Boulder-White Clouds and the Owyhees as federally protected Wilderness areas also stemmed from collaboration among unlikely partners and with the sponsorship of, respectively, Congressman Mike Simpson and Senator Mike Crapo. Now it is Senator Risch’s turn. We applaud him for introducing Senate Bill S.3531 in the last Congressional session. And we urge him to reintroduce the bill in this session. The Scotchman Peaks deserve Wilderness designation for the benefit of the wildlife that there, as a source of clean water and for enjoyment by people
er until the planter has received about 7 gallons. Sixteen times. Easy-peasy. It’s great exercise, and your friends will beep and give you a thumbs-up if they see you out there. In several planters, the tree looks dead, and in one, there is only a stump, but all of them have something green growing in them, so water them all. Don’t wait for someone else to do it. Now that the Mother of All Overscheduled Weekends is over, many people should have time. If you arrive, bucket in hand, and find someone’s been there before you that day, you still get a ride on the bike bridge. Note: Skip Pucci took watered the planters on the Long Bridge for 32 year. Next spring, we might replace the dead trees with drought resistant species and set up a volunteer watering schedule. Write to Sandy at books@bluecreekpress.com.
today and generations to come. Elaine French Former chair, Idaho Conservation League Board Member, League of Conservation Voters Board Sandpoint
Keep the Flower Baskets... Dear Editor, Just a comment about the gorgeous flowers that adorn this special city of Sandpoint. I hope Gary [Circo] knows how much we all look forward to and admire the pots that he has worked so many countless hours to water. It will be a sad day if the council decides to dissolve the funds to keep these flowing baskets from decorating this town. Thanks to Gary! Pat Hegland Sandpoint
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