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Vol. 17 Issue 8

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PEOPLE compiled by

Susan Drinkard

watching

“What’s the coolest thing you ever saw in a museum?”

“I saw a spectacular exhibit of shiny butterflies at the Boston Science Museum last spring.”

Abigail Francis Fifth grader at Washington Elementary Sandpoint

“It is probably seeing the tar pits at the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum in Los Angeles.”

Shawn Eisenhut Cook Ponderay

DEAR READERS,

Sure hope you have enjoyed the sunshine these past few days. It’s the second and final week of Sandpoint’s Winter Carnival, with a bunch of fun events on the docket still, including the annual Eichardt’s K-9 Keg Pull Sunday, Feb. 23, which will be held on Cedar Street between Second and Third Avenues this year. This iconic event helps raise money for the Panhandle Animal Shelter and showcases our local pooches’ strength, style and speed.

Also, to all of our advertisers and contributors, don’t forget we’re having a little party tonight at Matchwood Brewing Co. to celebrate our fifth anniversary of coming back into publication. We’ll be there from 5-8 p.m., with free food available around 5:30 p.m. Please come down and say hello if you’re one of the many people who make this paper happen each and every week.

We appreciate you! Have a great week everyone. (P.S. Love you, Grandpa.)

-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 (Staff Writer) lyndsie@sandpointreader.com Cameron Rasmusson (emeritus) John Reuter (emeritus) Advertising: Jodi Berge Jodi@sandpointreader.com Contributing Artists: Ben Olson, Susan Drinkard, Zach Hagadone, Bill Borders, John Hatcher Contributing Writers: Zach Hagadone, Ben Olson, Lyndsie Kiebert, Emily Erickson, Lorraine H. Marie, James Richard Johnson, Brenden Bobby, Mike Wagoner, Ammi Midstokke.

Submit stories to: stories@sandpointreader.com Printed weekly at: Griffin Publishing Spokane, Wash.

“The NASA shuttle trainer — what all astronauts use for training — at The Museum of Flight in Seattle.”

Leslee Tessmann Member services representative Ponderay

“I really liked going in the submarine at the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park in Honolulu.”

Nolon Largen Handyman working to acquire commercial pilot’s license Cocolalla “My son’s reaction in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum where the Lindbergh plane is; he was 16 and we had to drag him to D.C. But he loved that museum and didn’t want to leave.”

Sandra Lawrence Retired accountant for the government Priest River

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 400 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

Nell K. Irion came to Sandpoint in 1906. She became the first female superintendent of schools in the county, the first woman to serve on the Sandpoint City Council and the first woman nominated for U.S. Congress from Idaho.

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NEWS

Full house

Citing concerns about state of the theater, community members turn out to Panida monthly board meeting

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff The Panida Board of Directors received some homework Feb. 19, as about 25 community members attended its monthly meeting — the most that Chairman Robert Moore reported ever seeing in his time on the board.

“I think people are definitely wanting their voices heard,” he said following the meeting at the Little Panida Theater, which ran for two and half hours. “I want to hear from people. It’s the community’s theater.”

Nearly a dozen people spoke — most of them longtime volunteers, former staff or former board members — raising a number of concerns about the state of the theater, ranging from fundraising and facilities to accounting and marketing.

Board members promised to return with answers to many of those concerns at their next meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, March 18, but not before taking in a quantity of specific input from attendees.

Among those who spoke, former board member and longtime volunteer Tari Pardini was concerned that the board is not in compliance with its own bylaws and state law by not including a designated treasurer among its officers — an omission, she said, that “jeopardizes the status of the nonprofit organization that we all love.”

Fellow former board member Nancy Renk echoed concerns about the lack of a designated treasurer on the board, and urged an in-depth profit and loss analysis to determine what kinds of events bring the theater the most financial benefit.

“The overall trend is not in the right direction,” she said.

Board member Aric Spence assured attendees that “we do look at that every month,” and Moore said after the meeting that the Panida has an accountant who monitors the books: “We’re actively looking at all that.”

Others, such as former board member Phyllis Goodwin, weighed in on what she described as “a lot of stumbles along the way” by the board and theater management, particularly regarding grant writing and fundraising — efforts that she suggested have not been kept up in recent years.

“Let me tell you how this breaks my heart,” she said, pointing to the ceiling in the Little Panida Theater, which has suffered water damage from a leak that has since been temporarily fixed. “It just breaks your heart to see your work undone.”

Susan Bates-Harbuck, who formerly served on the board in several capacities 4 /

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Bonners Ferry theater faces blowback for policy banning weapons

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

and is one of the original “Panida Moms,” whose efforts in the 1990s saved the Panida from being condemned, urged the board to ramp up efforts to increase membership.

“You’re losing money because you’re not getting members,” she said.

Likewise, former Panida Business Manager Maureen Tillberg said she hasn’t seen any major fundraisers for the theater in the past four years, noting that during her stint at the theater, the annual auction event raised between $11,000 and $15,000.

“I know it’s a lot of work but it’s worthwhile for the theater,” she said.

Singer-songwriter Katelyn Shook — of local favorites the Shook Twins, who every year put on the well-attended Giving Thanks concert at the Panida — offered a number of suggestions for how to improve performers’ experience at the theater.

Among her points were finding a way to provide a host to help live music acts set up the stage, run lights and handle sound, as well as improve the cleanliness and temperature of the backstage and greenroom.

Of particular importance, she asked that ticketing be streamlined and for timelier payment of artists.

“This theater means everything to me; I’ve been performing here since I was a little kid,” she said, offering to volunteer in any way she could — echoing comments made by meeting attendee Jerry Luther, who reminded the board that it was the “old timers” who “kept this place getting cannonballed and knocked down. … You’ll have to get your own rabble rousers.”

The board took up a number of items in the regular session, but the most contentious centered on the matter of establishing rates for membership to the theater. Initially, the board considered a system of tiered memberships, ranging on the lowest end from a $100 per year discount membership available to volunteers up to a $1,200 per

Community members attending the Panida’s board meeting Wednesday, Feb. 19. Photo by Ben Olson. year “solid gold” membership for individuals or couples that carried with it perks like discounted and early seating.

Spence asked fellow board members if they thought volunteers should be required to purchase memberships, which drew vocal pushback from some attendees who said such a policy would only limit the number of people willing — or able — to donate both their time and money.

“People want to come to the Panida and have a wonderful time, and they want to donate and volunteer because they love the place,” said Ellen Weissman, who added she has volunteered at the theater for nearly 30 years. “For years it was, if you bought a ticket then you were a member.”

After some heated back and forth, Moore had to break a tie on the membership rate structure, ultimately voting to return the matter to the membership committee for further consideration.

“I think we need to work on some things here,” he said, adding after the meeting that “you need to hear the criticism as well as the praise.”

A consistent theme throughout the meeting was that the board has experienced a few members drop out mid-term, and have therefore been working on the back foot.

“I want to be totally clear that when we have five board members and are struggling to keep the doors open, we’re just getting to meeting meaningfully as a board,” said Spence.

For Moore, the solution is to encourage those who have given so much time, effort and financial support to the theater to lend their expertise and energy to serving on advisory boards and committees.

“There are lots of ways we can plug you in,” he said.

The drama over so-called “gun free zones” has spread from Sandpoint — where for months county and city officials have sparred in court over The Festival at Sandpoint’s no-weapons policy on public property — to a performance venue in Bonners Ferry.

The Pearl Theater, a nonprofit operating on private property, recently drew the ire of a number of area residents outraged that its board of directors had decided to institute a prohibition on firearms at its facility and events.

In hundreds of Facebook comments on a Bonners Ferry community forum, opponents of the theater’s policy poured out their anger, with some suggesting The Pearl had no legal right to prohibit firearms from its venue, and others vowing to attend events there armed with concealed firearms regardless.

In response, theater board members released a statement Feb. 19 explaining why the policy — which was approved six weeks ago — had been put in place.

According to the statement, the action was taken at the advice of the theater’s insurance carrier, and after consulting with local law enforcement and legal counsel, in order to “ensure the safety of performances and guests, and to reduce liability.”

As with The Festival at Sandpoint, Pearl Theater directors noted that many artists request a weapons-free environment in which to perform. What’s more, The Pearl hosts a number of events in conjunction with Boundary County School District 101, “which has a zero-tolerance weapons policy at all its facilities, specifically for student safety.”

The Reader attempted to reach out to one of the most vocal opponents of The Pearl’s weapons policy via an intermediary, but received no response.

Meanwhile, local law enforcement has stood by the theater’s policy.

“The Pearl Theater is a private entity and it is the board’s right to make that decision,” Bonners Ferry Police Chief Brian Zimmerman said in the statement from the board. “I support their choice. They serve alcohol, and in my experience, alcohol and weapons are never a good mix.”

NEWS

That’s a re-wrap

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff So-called “yarn bombing” is usually done in secret. One day, a fence or signpost is just what it appears to be; the next, after a nighttime visit from ninja-like knitters, it might be covered with colorful swatches of yarn, transforming an everyday street feature into an impromptu piece of public art.

By nature, yarn-bombers remain incognito, but that’s decidedly not what happened when a local knitting group adorned a pair of trees in the park bounded by Boyer Avenue and Cedar Street in the evening hours of Feb. 10.

Though passersby saw the multi-colored bands of yarn wrapped around the trees on the morning of Feb. 11, by around noon, news spread on Facebook that someone — or, according to a few reported eyewitness, a pair of adults — had cut or snipped apart the installation, taking away the bands of yarn and leaving behind tiny bits of colorful fluff scattered around the base of the trees.

Over the course of the day, local social media comment threads exploded — many people decrying what they called “vandalism,” while others criticized the knitting group responsible for picking colors that, to them, evoked a proLGBTQ political message. For the knitters, several of them dropping their anonymity to respond to allegations that their artwork was in any way political, the yarn bombing was simply their way of adding some color to an otherwise gray February day.

“Rainbows have nothing to do with sexual orientation,” knitting group member Trisha Miller wrote Feb. 11 on Facebook. “They occur naturally after rainstorms and bring smiles when people see them.”

Amid the ferocious online back-and-forth, the city of Sandpoint — which had approved the art installation for display until June — announced that the strips of yarn had been returned and would be reinstalled. According to Miller, Sandpoint police received the yarn, which had “obviously

been in a Dumpster, because it was stinky and nasty.”

The identity, or identities, of those responsible for destroying the original installation remains unknown, along with their motives for doing so.

Regardless, a week later, the knitters returned on the frigid, sunny morning of Feb. 19 to again wrap the trees in bands of color — this time separated into warm and cool colors, and stitched with black thread where they’d been previously cut.

“It’s kind of our way of saying, ‘This rainbow will survive,’” Miller said, standing atop a ladder to install a band of deep blue yarn.

She reiterated that the installation is intended as a reminder that spring is on the way — even if it didn’t feel like it in the 20-degree shade.

“This hopefully will accomplish that without triggering anybody,” she added, noting that the colors had been rearranged into blues, purples and greens on one tree and reds, yellows and oranges on the other.

The knitting group has been together for about six years, working on projects that they then bring to occasional meet-ups. Last year, they installed a yarn bomb on the chain link fence along the bike path that runs beneath the Sand Creek Byway. That site wasn’t available this year, as Burlington Northern-Santa Fe continues with work in preparation for a second rail bridge.

The knitters started working on what would become the Cedar and Boyer installation in August — about six months of work that took 30 minutes to install the first time, and substantially less the second.

Also unlike the first time, this yarn bombing went up in the sunshine with scores of motorists honking their approval and rolling down their windows to shout encouragement as they passed by.

“I’m excited to see it in the light,” said fellow knitter Vicki Reich. “None of us got to see it during the day last time. … Let’s cross our fingers that it stays up until June.”

Miller said that even with all the online furor, “the positive comments outweighed the negative,”

Following destruction and social media uproar, Cedar and Boyer ‘yarn bomb’ reinstalled

Festival seeking new director

By Reader Staff

and took a philosophical view of the purpose of the public art project — to get people talking.

“It was an unexpectedly successful yarn bombing,” she said.

Knitting group member Susan Harbuck chimed in: “Look for what we do next year.”

Members of a Sandpoint knitting club wrap trees at Cedar and Boyer again.

Photo by Zach Hagadone.

Disclosure: Vicki Reich is the stepmother of Reader Editor-in-Chief Zach Hagadone.

The Festival at Sandpoint is currently accepting applications for a full-time executive director position. The Festival office is currently operating under an interim, part-time ED and part-time office manager. For a full job description go to festivalatsandpoint.com and click on the employment tab.

Resumes can be submitted to info@festivalatsandpoint.com.

Interested parties are encouraged to apply as soon as possible, as the hope is to hire a full-time director to start immediately. Salary is based on experience. The position will be open until the new fulltime executive director is chosen, ideally in early March.

The 2020 Festival at Sandpoint is scheduled for Aug. 6-16 at War Memorial Field in Sandpoint and this year’s lineup is taking shape now. Qualified and interested applicants are encouraged to apply now.

Hearing in gun ban lawsuit scheduled for Feb. 25

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff

Court documents show that Bonner County has filed a motion to stay its lawsuit against the city of Sandpoint, which challenges the legality of The Festival at Sandpoint’s weapons ban at city-owned War Memorial Field.

The motion, filed Feb. 11 in Bonner County District Court, would halt proceedings in the case until further notice and will be taken up at a status conference scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 25 at the Bonner County Courthouse.

According to Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler, a plaintiff in the case, both he and the county wish to pause the lawsuit until the Idaho legislative session ends in order to see whether lawmakers address the issue of how firearms preemption intersects with lease law.

No bills on the topic have been introduced during the current session, though such a bill has been confirmed to be in the works

sponsored by Rep. Christy Zito, R-Hammett.

“What I’ve asked is that we stay this lawsuit until the Legislature gets out of session to see if it’s going to be addressed … and if it is, it will be moot for us to go forward,” Wheeler said.

Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bauer said that the county is requesting the court stay the matter for 45 days “in the interest of judicial economy and to save taxpayers money” while they wait to see what happens at the state level.

“If the matter is not stayed, the county feels the money necessary to resolve the dispute through the court process is necessary to prevent an armed standoff occurring at The Festival,” Bauer told the Reader.

The status conference hearing Feb. 25 will be the second time the matter has come before Kootenai County District Court Judge Lansing L. Haynes.

Scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at the Bonner County Courthouse, the hearing is meant to be a meeting between attorneys and the judge,

during which a timeline for further proceedings is to be set. The original conference for the case, scheduled for Nov. 26, was postponed due to illness. The first official conference took place Jan. 28 — a brief proceeding during which legal counsel for Bonner County presented an amendment to the original complaint, and those representing Sandpoint requested an extension to review the amendment.

Wheeler filed the amendment to the complaint, telling the Reader on Feb. 3 that the move was intended to reorient the complaint away from requesting an interpretation of the law to instead focus the issue on reducing ambiguity for law enforcement in order to provide public safety. He said that as the law is currently interpreted, law enforcement response to an armed individual attempting to enter The Festival might not be uniform between county and city officers.

Wheeler said he believes the amendment to the complaint puts the county in “better standing” in the lawsuit.

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NEWS

Judge upholds Sagle asphalt plant approval

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Second District Court Judge Jeff M. Brudie handed down an opinion Feb. 5 in the case of the hotly contested Sagle asphalt plant proposal, affirming the Board of Bonner County Commissioners’ approval of a conditional use permit for the facility.

The decision comes after more than a year of hearings and appeals spearheaded by a group of concerned citizens who allege that the Linscott gravel pit in Sagle is unfit for a batch plant and that such an operation would be detrimental to health and property values. Interstate Concrete & Asphalt would operate the plant.

At a hearing Dec. 13, Gary Allen — a Boise lawyer representing the Citizens Against Linscott/Interstate Asphalt Plant — argued before Brudie that the commissioners approved the batch plant CUP based on an improperly adopted ordinance, and that the Linscott pit is currently in violation of various county planning codes. Legal counsel representing Interstate and the Linscott family argued that county code regarding asphalt plants stipulates only that the gravel pit be “active” in order for a CUP to be granted.

In his 11-page opinion, Brudie wrote that concerns on the part of the citizens’ group should be addressed outside the pe6 /

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An aerial photo of the Linscott gravel pit in Sagle.

Photo obtained from legal documents. tition for judicial review. He said that the ordinance in question — which the group argued was unlawfully adopted — should be challenged through a declaratory action. The board’s decision to grant the CUP despite opponents’ argument that the gravel pit may be in violation of county code, Brudie said, should be brought before the Bonner County prosecutor in an effort to review and define ordinances and see if any are in fact being violated.

Brudie denied both Bonner County and Interstate’s requests for attorney’s fees, stating in the opinion that “while Citizens’ petition was ultimately unsuccessful, the Court finds it raised sufficient novel issues and therefore was not brought frivolously, unreasonably, or without foundation.”

Allen said the petitioners are currently “reviewing their next steps.”

“We have not decided how we will move forward but [we’re] making decisions,” Jonna Plante, founding member of Citizens Against Linscott/Interstate Asphalt Plant, told the Reader on Feb. 18.

“We feel the ordinances of Bonner County should be followed without having to spend thousand of dollars to get them enforced, such as nonconforming land and expansion of it.”

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: Pay day: Sauntore Thomas, 44, of Detroit, had planned to deposit $99,000 into his bank account — money he’d been awarded in a racial discrimination suit. But the teller balked, and police were summoned. Now he’s suing for racial discrimination, again. The Washington Post said Thomas encountered no problems when he later took his funds to a different bank.

Starting in the summer of 2020, grants will go out for the use of $10 billion that world’s-richest-person Jeff Bezos says he will commit to fighting climate change.

Roundup of ag news: producers of chlorpyrifos, linked to brain damage in children, say they will stop chlorpyrifos production due to declining sales; new research from UC-Riverside links consumption of soybean oil to neurological conditions like autism, schizophrenia, Alzheimers and depression (the USDA says it’s the most consumed edible oil in the U.S.); and, according to the St. Louis Business Journal, Bayer, producers of glyphosate-laced Roundup, may stop sales of glyphosate products to home gardeners (they face 85,000 legal claims of harm and are exploring a $10 billion payout for Roundup claims).

When dicamba-based herbicides drifted onto a 1,000-acre peach farm in Missouri, it resulted in $265 million in damages recently awarded to the affected farmer, according to Reuters. The drift originated in nearby soy and cotton fields and killed peach trees, for which ag corporations BASF and Bayer are being held accountable. Dicamba herbicides are linked to various cancers, liver and heart problems, convulsions and other issues. It contaminates groundwater in 17 states, according to the Pesticide Action Network.

After campaign promises of no cuts to Social Security, Medicaid or Medicare, the Trump administration’s proposed 2021 budget cuts include $1.5 trillion to be eliminated from Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid over the next 10 years.

Meanwhile, $2 billion is budgeted for the border wall.

Cuts also proposed: EPA by 27% (including elimination of 50 agency programs); Interior Department by 13%; State Department by 21% (in particular, deep cuts to foreign assistance programs that work on reducing climate change); the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy cut by 75%; elimination of the Advanced

By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist

Research Projects Agency (which worked to promote high-impact energy projects for reducing emissions) at the Department of Energy; Superfund site funding cut by 10%; and the Land and Water Conservation Fund cut by 97%. As well, significant cuts are planned for the National Park and U.S. Fish and Wildlife services.

Climate scientists are saying today’s semi-arid burned-over forests will not be “coming back as we know them.” Some of those forests may instead become bush or grasslands, InsideClimate News reports.

In the U.S., 55% of Americans don’t use all their paid time off, according to Time magazine. But quality time off has a bonus: it can increase work-place productivity. Numerous new books focus on the use of time; one of the authors, James Wallman, defines “junk” time as too much time alone with TV or Facebook. He says quality time is better spent outdoors.

More than 2,000 former Department of Justice prosecutors — Democrats and Republicans — have signed a letter asking Attorney General William Barr to resign, USA Today reports. The signers have condemned Barr’s overruling of the seven- to nine-year sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone, a close associate of President Donald Trump, after Trump tweeted that the original sentencing recommendation was unfair. Stone, the sixth Trump associate convicted of crimes, was convicted of seven charges, including lying to Congress and witness tampering regarding hacking Democrats’ emails.

Barr has raised constitutional alarms over his appearance of working in tandem with Trump, rather than taking an attorney general’s neutral stance on justice issues. (It likely did not help Stone that after his indictment he posted on Instagram an image placing crosshairs next to the face of his trial judge.)

An emergency meeting by the Federal Judges Association intends to discuss Trump’s influence on the Department of Justice, The New York Times and USA Today report. The group’s president was appointed to a federal judgeship by President George W. Bush.

The U.S. Senate isn’t always partisan: Last week senators from both parties passed the Iran War Powers Resolution, a deterrent to unauthorized war with Iran. It faces a House vote this week.

Blast from the past: “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” Maya Angelou, poet, writer, performer, activist, 1928-2014.

PERSPECTIVES

Emily Articulated

A column by and about Millennials

The front porch effect

By Emily Erickson Reader Columnist

When you date someone, you’re inevitably exposed to their interests, their way of thinking and, generally, a perspective that’s outside of your own.

When you date an architect, you’re exposed to a certain detailed way of seeing the world — while you thought you knew the curves and edges, you realize you’ve never quite looked at them.

Dating an architect means regularly confronting things like a roof’s “pitch” and the nuances of ADA compliance, and being stopped in the middle of a sunny afternoon stroll to look at the way a beam connects to its column and the column to its foundation.

Vacations become a succession of iPhone photos, not of beaches or mountain vistas, but of front doors, window decorations, roof overhangs and the little things that most people — including yourself — normally pass by.

This drastically different perspective makes for interesting conversations about the little, intentional things that have effects far greater than we might think. As I’m learning, through my own relationship with an architect, the little details we’re prone to missing shape the community and how we interact with the things around us.

For instance, in our latest architecturally themed conversation, my partner introduced me to the notion of “interstitial

Emily Erickson. spaces,” or the spaces between the buildings and structures that we inhabit on a daily basis.

Interstitial spaces, like streets, alleyways, parks and sidewalks, while seemingly inconspicuous have the potential to cultivate community or contribute to isolation, depending on how they’re designed.

The design of this infrastructure coincides with the design of neighborhoods, buildings and even the details of our homes, having far greater implications than aesthetics or organization.

Consider the concept of a front porch. When we draw property lines, we’re sectioning off a portion of land to be rightfully ours, designating it and the home we build within its lines as a private space.

By adding a front porch into the design, we’re opening up an interface between our designated private space and the public realm. The porch acts as a bridge between what is ours as individuals and the interstitial spaces in which all are welcome.

Practically, if the closest thing to the sidewalk from our home is a porch, we’re more

likely to wave at people passing by, watch our neighbor play with her dog, see the kids on bikes building a jump on the curb and, generally, become active participants in our community. There is a definite “front porch effect.”

In contrast, if the closest thing to the interstitial space in front of our home is a two-stall garage, with our front door set back into the property, that community participation is limited. We’re prioritizing privacy above community through something as seemingly simple as forgoing a front porch.

Despite the potential for isolation, we often opt for privacy over easy access to community, for reasons like security, a sense of ownership and perceived safety. We put up a garage, or plant trees between our home and the street, because it makes us feel protected.

Jane Jacobs, author and acclaimed American influencer of the fields of urban planning and sociology, debunked these rationales for isolation, asserting the “Eyes on the Street” theory in 1961.

In this theory, she contended that the way to greater security and safety was through strategic design and planning that encourages people to interact with their interstitial spaces, and consequently, one another.

Because when neighborhoods are actively engaged in cultivating community, they’re invested in the well-being of one another, taking notice of the norms and irregularities within their surroundings. The man planting flowers in his front yard or the two ladies playing crib-

bage by their kitchen window will more readily take note of what’s going on around them than someone who is closed off to the outside world.

When we have more front porches than garages, we quite literally have more “eyes on the street,” making our spaces — both private and public — safer. When we organize our neighborhoods, plan our cities and have code requirements that encourage interaction, we have stronger connections and a sense

of ownership within our place.

By considering these details, and the intentionality behind them, we can learn a bit more about each other, ourselves and what it means to be a member of a society.

Next time you take a stroll, pause, not to smell the roses, but to examine the interaction of interstitial spaces and think of the many architects who made their girlfriends wait while they snapped another damn picture of a building.

Retroactive

By BO

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COMMUNITY

FSPW announces 2020 scholarship competition Local high-school seniors submit wild stories to win cash prizes

By Reader Staff Bouquets: • As many of you may know, the “yarn bomb” art project that was stolen from the park by Cedar Street and Boyer Avenue last week was returned the evening of Feb. 11. If it was the thief who returned it, thank you for accessing your humanity and doing the right thing. Let’s be a little more tolerant when it comes to art around here, OK? Pretty please?

• Schweitzer’s brush clearing work on the back side is really a game-changer. There is so much new terrain open around the new lifts — it’s almost like skiing a new mountain. Nice job, Schweitzer. Now send more snow!

• Is there someone in your life who encourages you to be a better person? If so, I challenge you to tell them how important they are to you.

On that same note, have you ever watched someone light up when you give them an unexpected compliment? It’s really worth doing.

Barbs: • If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a hundred times: When we receive anonymous letters criticizing our content, they go right in the bin — especially when they are diatribes that don’t make any cogent point. We sign our work here at the Reader and don’t place any value on those who hide under the veil of anonymity.

• Another fracas erupted on Facebook this week regarding The Pearl Theater in Bonners Ferry. The Pearl’s board recently adopted a policy prohibiting weapons on their premises — which is their right as a private entity. Hundreds of comments flooded in from a couple dozen angry people, a lot of them claiming the private business has no right to prohibit weapons. News flash: Any private business — be it a bar, restaurant, retail store or otherwise — has the right to prohibit weapons in its facility. You may not agree with or support the move, but it is not “illegal.”

Furthermore, for some to claim this is somehow against “freedom” is just silly. What about the freedom of private property owners? Don’t they have rights, too?

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For over a decade, Friends of Scotchman Peaks has given high-school seniors a chance to show their love for wild country.

This year, the FSPW scholarship competition will award prizes in Sanders, Lincoln and Bonner counties for the best essays on the theme, “A most memorable wilderness experience.”

Entries are judged on the power of the story, passion of the writer, sticking close to the theme and writing skill.

Over the years, wild tales of life-changing days, heartwarming events, harrowing adventures and moments of sublime peace have been submitted. Many previous entries can be viewed at scotchmanpeaks.org/category/voices-in-the-wilderness/ or scotchmanpeaks.org/category/blog/.

Winners receive a certificate and a check for $250. This is paid directly to the winner upon graduation, and may be used as they see fit. This scholarship has no minimum GPA. It doesn’t require a commitment for college, though FSPW hopes winners will continue on in school.

The essay may be about a first-hand experience of the author or a story related to the author.

The experience can happen in any wild place and portray traditional wilderness activities such as backpacking, camping, hunting, fishing, berry picking or horseback riding.

Deadline for entries is Friday, April 10, 2020. Download the entry form at scotchmanpeaks.org/ pdfs/FSPW2020ScholarshipApplicationForm.pdf For more information, email info@scotchmanpeaks,org.

READER GOES TO ORCAS ISLAND

The apogee of hypocrisy...

Dear editor, Former Vice President Joe Biden labeled President Donald Trump as “dangerously incompetent” in giving the go-ahead to hit Soleimani. So Joe, was President Barack Obama “dangerously incompetent”’ when he signed off on snuffing Bin Laden? I didn’t/ don’t think so.

Just when I think hypocrisy in D.C. politics has reached an apogee, some intellectual dynamo (Biden) comes along and raises the bar.

Thank the Lord we have brainiacs like AOC, Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell to show us the way.

God bless America, and God bless our military.

Steve Brixen Sandpoint

Poo-poo to the Pine Street Woods ‘Dog Park’...

Dear editor, I was looking forward to using the new Pine Street Woods this winter. With dedicated trails for Nordic Skiing only, and separate trails for bikes, dogs and walkers, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for everyone to enjoy that beautiful area doing the recreation of their choice without infringing on the enjoyment of others.

But, it was not to be! Inconsiderate dog owners are letting their pets run uncontrolled and dogs do what dogs do… they run, jump, chase and crap everywhere. The result is that the area has quickly become the Pine Street Woods Dog Park.

With all of Bonner County at their disposal, is it too much to ask that dog owners control their dogs by keeping them on a leash in this one area?

Len Krause Sandpoint

To Crapo: ‘Do you understand right from wrong?’…

Sandpoint’s Pam Hartry, left, and Ed Ohlweiler, right, with rasta dog Rosie took the Reader to Orcas Island for the 25k trail race, with waterfalls like the one in the background everywhere. Ed came in third in his age group (which he calls the “old farts division.”

Senator Mike Crapo, Those who testify against the president are intimidated, vilified and fired from their duties.

It is OK to seek help in U.S. elections from foreign countries.

It is OK to pardon or interfere with soldiers convicted of a military crime.

It is OK to overturn court decisions and prosecutor guidelines.

It is OK to ignore congressional subpoenas.

You support President Donald Trump, so you apparently do not hold him accountable for these transgressions.

Are you also intimidated by him or do you lack integrity?

Our justice system has been undermined by Trump. Do you feel any responsibility?

If you continue to defend Trump, please do not respond.

Enough phoney justification. This country needs you to show that you understand right from wrong.

Rich Sonntag Priest River

‘Ignorance and greed’ guide City Beach goose policies…

Dear editor, Some people are not aware or informed of the following things to come. For those of you who feel compassion or a connection to the Canada geese, this message is for you.

The banded geese returning to City Beach will be killed.

They have come to this area for who knows how long. They come here to have their babies and to enjoy what we enjoy. They bring us the pleasure of their grace and beauty. They are part of nature that brings us great joy.

They hurt no one.

If the goose poop at City Beach is offensive, there is a simple solution. Get civil offenders outside in the fresh air — supplied with plastic gloves and trash bags to pick it up. Then do the Healing Garden a good turn by taking it there to fertilize the garden.

The geese cannot fly when they are molting and that is when they are captured. Their babies are left without help.

There is ignorance and greed manipulated and designed to take the place of goodness.

Remember this one thing — you destroy nature, you destroy yourself.

P.S. Kim Woodruff needs to be replaced. Amelia Boyd needs to go back to New York.

Evie Leucht Sandpoint

PERSPECTIVES

I want my America back

By James Richard Johnson Special to the Reader I want my America back! I grew up in the Midwest in the 1950s and want back the America that stood for what I believed to be all about the good things that democracy stands for, which includes people voting for their best leaders who stand for the same beliefs that common but civilized humans believe in. Our nation was created so we would never be ruled by kings or armies or tyrants.

I want other nations of the world to look at my country as one that will come to their aid if they are in danger of being overthrown by armies of other nations trying to take away their lands or religions or governments. I want to be proud again to say the Pledge of Allegiance and, if necessary, to give my life for a good cause if it meant helping save all the beliefs and ideas that our democracy offers.

I now talk with people in my own country who don’t respect our politicians, the very people we elect. If so, what has become of our very nation itself? I have talked with friends who would not feel comfortable traveling anywhere outside of the U.S. with the American flag on their shirt or suitcase and I feel outrage!

What shall I tell the souls of the hundreds of thousands who sacrificed their very existence on this planet during the two World Wars, and their children and their children’s children?

I believe I see the cause of many of the problems our beloved homeland now faces: our two party system has been corrupted by money. It has gotten to the point, decade after decade, that it costs so much money to get elected that an independent — even one with great ideas — has no chance of being elected. Moreover, members of Congress are so afraid of not getting money from their party for reelection that they are in fear of voting against party lines.

Even if a charismatic independent candidate promised to hire the best experts from the best universities to serve in his or her cabinet and only listen to the best military leaders, and our ambassadors around the world presented a platform that the majority of citizens felt would be good for our nation and the world, their lack of money would cause them to be trampled by the money and

power of the two party system. In this scenario, both parties would likely work together to defeat such a candidate.

This is not a call for revolution. This is a strong call for a candidate, whether Republican or Democratic, to stand up against their own power brokers and say, “enough is enough.” The people want a change and they don’t accept voting like sheep along party lines.

I believe Americans believe in helping the poor, no matter where they live, and trying to get medical care to everyone, even if they cannot afford it. We respect all religions, want to help save this planet for those not yet born and we want to stop the practice of humans killing humans.

From our smallest weekly newspapers up to major city publications, editors have the ability and a duty to involve their readers in an ongoing dialogue involving important events of the moment.

National topics should be reported and the responses including polls and letters to the editor should be encouraged.

Perhaps a resurgence of small circulation papers is in the offing. Many people do not trust the internet.

I served in 1968 and 1969 as a U.S. Army correspondent/photographer in Vietnam and I tell everyone we won that damn war. We prevented both China and Russia from gaining a foothold in that nation. I also say I love the Viet-

Laughing Matter

namese, for I have never seen nor read about a people who were so forgiving to a country that killed so many of its people. But, wait. I almost left out that beautiful, intellectual and forgiving nation which also has such great respect for its elders: Japan.

All of us must decide if we want less national parks or more, if we want to let our nation support land mines or not. We all have input about offshore drilling, carbon emissions and a host of other life-changing decisions that presently we do not have a choice to vote on. I believe we all desire this nation to be respected for our freedoms by all other nations.

We owe it to every person who has given their life in wars to preserve this country and all it stands for. I want my America back.

James Richard Johnson was a reporter for United Press International, Chicago Bureau in 1970. He was also a reporter for the Steamboat Pilot in Steamboat Springs, Colo., where he resided from 1965 to 1990. A resident of Clark Fork, he is the author of a poetry book, Poems by Rushing Water…

Smoothing Glass and Stone to Sand, and an American college novel, It is the Fall: The Lost Journal from Colorado, both available from Amazon. He has spent the past 30 years across the lake from Sandpoint.

By Bill Borders

WEIRD NEWS

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

SPOTIFY RELEASES PLAYLIST FOR DOGS LEFT HOME ALONE

After finding that nearly two-thirds of pet owners in the United Kingdom play music for their animals, Spotify has launched playlists — and even a podcast — engineered for dogs to listen to while their owners are away.

The audio-streaming company, based in Sweden, said it launched a podcast featuring soothing music, “dog-directed praise,” stories, and a message of affirmation and reassurance narrated by actors to alleviate stress for dogs who are home alone.

The company also offers playlists aimed at dogs with special algorithms to match pets’ characteristics, such as their level of energy.

Nearly one in four UK pet owners play imusic for their animals when they are away from home and 42% claim their dogs have a favorite type of music.

A quarter of pet owners also claim to have seen their pets dancing to music.

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Mad about Science:

By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist It’s February, which can mean one of two things: It’s cold enough to freeze your hand to your car door and make you call in sick to work, or it’s the best time of the year: baby chick season.

My heart swells as the ruby glow of heat lamps flash on and the sound of cheeping resonates throughout the farms and feed stores of North Idaho.

After a rough winter on my birds, they finally get to meet some new friends — in about two months.

If you’re new to the area or thinking of raising your own chickens as pets, food or conversation pieces, you’re in luck. Chickens are fairly easy to raise compared to other animals, but they are still living beings and not to be purchased impulsively. They should be treated with the same respect and gravity you would extend to a dog or a cat — unless you’re one of those people who feeds your dog from your mouth, then it’s time to take a hard look at the role of sanitation in your life.

Baby chicks are some of the most frail creatures on the planet and they require some special care because of this.

You need to keep them contained within something called a brooder. A brooder can be anything from a cardboard or wooden box to a specially built container for chicks. Whatever you use, it should not be highly flammable or prone to overheating, as you will need to have a heat lamp pointed 10 /

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Brought to you by:

baby chicks

straight into it to keep the chicks at a balmy 95 degrees Fahrenheit at all times. In my experience, plastic storage totes work well enough, but containers made from wood are a vastly superior option.

The brooder should also be something that’s easy for you to clean, because large amounts of ammonia gas from their poop will — like virtually everything else — kill baby chicks.

The reason your chicks need such a high level of heat is because they are unable to regulate their own body temperature until they grow their feathers, which occurs a few weeks to a month after they hatch. A room that is comfortably air conditioned for humans will literally freeze a chick to death in less than a few hours, and no one wants that.

Chicks also need food and water. Luckily for us, farm and feed stores sell specially formulated food that comes in medicated and standard varieties, respectively. Medicated chick feed can help prevent a disease called coccidiosis, which results from a parasitic protozoa that can easily kill entire flocks of chickens by reproducing in the digestive tract and passing to new hosts through feces. Most chicks are vaccinated for coccidiosis at the hatchery, but you can always ask at the farm and feed store if you’re unsure.

When providing water for your chicks, it’s best to use special waterers sold at the same place as the chicks.

They’re designed so that the chicks can’t easily climb into the water and catch a chill.

Having an open water source like a low bowl or a pan is almost certainly a death sentence for most chicks.

Within a week or two, you can set up a low roosting bar for your chicks. They will perch on the roosting bar when they’re ready to sleep, and it will help keep them clean by elevating them above their waste on the ground. Chickens were domesticated from jungle fowl, which naturally roosted in trees to evade predators for millions of years. Roosting is a behavior that’s coded into their DNA. Another important aspect of raising chicks is socializing with them — that is, if you’re not raising them for meat. Well socialized birds are less likely to be aggressive and will feel more inclined to trot up and meet with you. Friendly birds, especially roosters, make collecting eggs and daily chores a lot easier to complete.

The best way to socialize a bird is while it’s still a chick.

Spend a few minutes talking to them or bribe them with treats like chopped up boiled eggs or dehydrated mealworms. If you pour a small pile into their food dish every day for a few days, you can start lowering in a handful of treats and they’ll be pecking out of your hand before you know it.

The most important thing to remember when socializing birds is that they are prey animals, and they think and behave like prey animals — not pets. Quick movements and loud noises will spark a panic reflex and scare them away from future encounters. Be-

cause of this, children should be very carefully monitored when handling baby chicks.

They are extremely fragile in their infant state, and what we might perceive as a gentle and loving squeeze is like the Death Star’s garbage compactor to a defenseless chick.

After any instance of handling birds, you should wash your hands. Most diseases chickens carry aren’t commu-

nicable to humans, but some of the more nasty ones like salmonella are transmissible, and it’s very easy to catch salmonella from an animal that essentially lives among its own droppings.

Flock to the Reader stands next week to learn about raising baby waterfowl. There might even be some puns in there to make you quack up.

Random Corner Don’t know much about dogs?

We can help!

• Wolves became tame companions for humans and evolved into dogs about 27,000 years ago.

corn chips, you’re not alone. The term “Frito Feet” was coined to describe the scent.

• Fido, Abraham Lincoln’s dog, was also assassinated — stabbed by a drunken whittler in Springfield, Ill., in 1865.

• Newborn dogs are born blind and deaf. Most puppies open their eyes and respond to noises after about two weeks.

• Three dogs survived the Titanic sinking out of 12 canines on board.

• The Labrador dog is from Newfoundland and the Newfoundland dog is from Labrador.

• Trained dogs can sniff out prostate cancer with 98% accuracy.

• Only 5% of dogs experience dental decay, compared with 90% of human children.

• The average dog is as intelligent as a 2-year-old child. They can learn and understand about 150 words.

• More than 86,000 people are injured by tripping over their cats and dogs every year in the U.S. • Dogs and elephants are the only animals that seem to instinctively understand pointing.

• Dogs wag their tails to the right when they’re happy and to the left when they’re frightened.

• If your dog’s feet smell like

• One “dog year” is not equivalent to seven human years. Dogs age at various rates, depending on their size. As a rule, large dogs age faster and die younger than smaller dogs.

• Aztecs raised Chihuahuas in order to eat them.

• Dogs may look ashamed, but they can’t feel guilt, experts say, just submission.

• A dog was elected mayor of Cormorant, Minn. in August 2016 — for its third consecutive term.

COMMUNITY

Sandpoint Winter Carnival

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

The annual Winter Carnival spans from Feb. 14-23, featuring a bevy of events, including everything from parades to parties.

Here’s an edited schedule of events for the second and final week. Check sandpointwintercarnival.com for a full lineup of events.

Friday, Feb. 21 Starlight Race Series Races, parties, prizes, music, beer — what more could you ask for?

The theme for this year’s race series is “The Great GatSKI!” Roaring ’20s on skis and snowboards. Teams of five include male or female skier, snowboarder, telemark or any combination of the three. The top three scores per team each week count, using the Starlight handicapping system. Weekly team scores will count for the final team score.

There will be nightly parties in Taps featuring live music for the final party, as well as prizes.

Helmets are required to race.

Chili Cook-Off Do you have a bomb chili recipe? For the third year, Pierce Auto Center will crown the champion chili chef. Enter your dish by 3 p.m. Judging will be completed by 4:45 p.m. and prizes will be awarded by 5:30 p.m. The address is 30 Gun Club Road in Sagle.

Saturday, Feb. 22 Weird & Wonderful Pub Crawl The fourth annual Weird & Wonderful beerfest and bar crawl features 28 themed beers

available in 14 of Sandpoint’s finest imbibing establishments.

Weird and wonderful costumes/attire are welcome. Each location will have two beers on tap from 2-6 p.m. Souvenir glassware is available for purchase, as well.

Snow fort Bonfire Join Utara Brewing Co. and Greasy Fingers Bikes ’n’ Repair for a snow fort bonfire. Enjoy your favorite Utara beverages around the fire and marvel at Brian and Dave’s snow fort building skills from dusk to 9 p.m. at 214 Pine St. in Sandpoint.

Sunday, Feb. 23 Eichardt’s K-9 Keg Pull It wouldn’t be the Winter Carnival without the Eichardt’s K-9 Keg Pull. This endearing event will take place on Cedar Street between Second and Third avenues this year. Watch neighborhood dogs of all sizes pull everything from full-size kegs to beer cans amid the gauntlet of cheering spectators on the snowpacked course. Pre-registration takes place at 10:15 a.m. with races from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. There’s a $10 entry fee per dog, which benefits the Panhandle Animal Shelter. This unique event is a great time for the entire family, dogs included. Awards will follow the festivities.

sented by SheJumps, a Sandpoint-based nonprofit organization with a mission to increase the participation of girls and women in outdoor activities.

SheJumps promotes fun, low-cost educational and social events for women, as well as providing free youth programs, including Wild Skills, a day camp for girls ages 5-14 years.

There will be activities for all ages and abilities, including crowning a “Queen of the Greens,” hunting for the elusive Golden Girafficorn, runs down the NASTAR course, an overthe-top raffle and much more. Each participant will receive one raffle ticket. Cost to attend is $10, with proceeds benefiting SheJumps.

More information at shejumps.org.

Week 2 events

Courtesy photo.

Get the Girls Out It’s the fifth anniversary of Get the Girls Out at Schweitzer Mountain Resort. Once again, the ladies will don leis and shake their grass skirt tutus from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to bring the spirit of the luau to the mountain. This event is preFebruary 6, 2020 /

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Girls Pint Out 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Cool Chicks! Great Beer! No Dudes! Vicki will be pairing chocolate with different beer styles Edgar Cayce Study Group 9-11am @ Gardenia Center

Third Thursday Women’s Meetup 7:45pm @ Matchwood Make connections with other local women Dollar Beers!

8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub

Live Music w/ Ken Mayginnes 3-5:30pm @ Davis Cafe Hope Live Music w/ The Groove Black 6-8:30pm @ Matchwood Brewing Acoustic, alternative, funk, jazz Live Music w/ Harold’s IGA 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Indie folk rock originals and covers

f

Spanish Wine Dinner @ Forty-One South A Spanish Wine Dinner gion of Spain’s wine-gro hearty wine pairings for

Live Music w/ Miah Kohal Band 9pm-12am @ 219 Lounge Sandpoint’s classic outlaw rock band Live Music w/ Ron Kieper Duo 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery A sax and bass jazz duo Live Music w/ Kevin Dorin 8-10pm @ The Back Door

BGH Blood Dr 10am-2pm @ B Go to vitalant.o 258-4825 to sch Walk-ins are als Wet’suwet’en S 12pm @ Farmi Info: WildIdaho

Live Music w/ Dustin Drennen Live Music w/ Spare Parts Trio SHS Grad Night D 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery and Auction Gala Singer-songwriter from Clark Fork An energetic, Spokane-based trio 5pm @Ponderay Ev The main fundraiser Live Music w/ Mudslide Charlie Potluck dance 9pm-12am @ 219 Lounge 1-4pm @ Sandpoint Senior Center of 2020 Grad Nigh Missoula powerhouse group weav- Live music, singles or couples - all are tered by Ivano’s, no ing blues with R&B and hip hop welcome. Contact Betty 208-263-2288 lent auctions, etc. 20 Karaoke Live Music w/ Ken Mayginnes Live Music w/ Chad Patrick 8-cl @ Tervan 2-4:30pm @ Matchwood Brewing 8-10pm @ The Back Door Sandpoint Chess Club 9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee Sunday Brewery Brunch Live Music w/ Ken Mayginnes 10am-7pm @ Matchwood Brewing Co. With their famous DIY mimosa bar 2-4:30pm @ Kelly’s Cafe Monday Night Blues Jam w/ Truck Mills 7:30pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Karaoke 8-close @ Tervan Night-Out Karaoke Trivia Night 9pm @ 219 Lounge 7pm @ MickDuff’s Join DJ Webrix for a Show off that big, night of singing, or beautiful brain of just come to drink yours and listen Wind Down Wednesday 5-8pm @ 219 Lounge With live music by blues man Truck Mills and guest musician Denis Zwang Dollar Beers!

8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Good until the keg’s dry

Piano Sunday w 3-5pm @ Pend d Local favorite pla and favorites on

Lifetree Cafe 2pm @ Jalepeño’s Mexican Restaurant An hour of conversation and stories. This week’s topic: “Why, God?”

Ou 6p A tio

Djembe class 5:45-7:30pm @ Music Conservatory of Sandpoin Join Ali Thomas for this djembe (drum) class for a Conversations About Cancer Geezer Fo 2pm @ Community Cancer Services 2:30-4pm Free and open to the public. Held on the Held seco second and fourth Tues of every month month, pr

Magic Wednesday 6-8pm @ Jalapeño’s Enjoy close-up magic shows by Star Alexander right at your table

PAFE fundraiser and liv 5-8pm @ Idaho Pour Aut Grand Teton Brewing bee Live music with John H mentary appetizers served

Live Trivia 6-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Create a team with friends and family or play solo. Questions are fun, challenging and always new.

Trust Vets monthly m 4:30-6pm @ Matchwo Members receive 20% Open Mic Night w/ K 9pm-cl @ A&P’s

ful

February 20-27, 2020

Dinner outh e Dinner feat. wines from the Catalunya rewine-growing area. Five-course dinner and irings for $75/each. RSVP: 208-265-2000

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

Reader recommended

More Than a Woman Trivia 6:30-9@ The Back Door Female-focused trivia aiming to entertain with facts and connect women in the community. Supports local nonprofit Return Retreats

Nat’l Margarita Day party Blood Drive -2pm @ BGH classrooms with DJ Sterling vitalant.org or call 877- 9pm-close @ A&P’s 825 to schedule an appt. Sponsored by Casamigos.

Prizes! ins are also welcome uwet’en Solidarity Actions @ Farmin Park (on SW corner of N. Third and Oak) WildIdahoRisingTide.org

d Night Dinner Fire and S’mores ion Gala 3-6pm @ Matchwood Brewing nderay Events Center Gather round with friends and fam fundraiser for the Class Roger Fisher of Heart concert Grad Night event. Ca- 8pm @ Panida Theater vano’s, no-host bar, si- A night of Heart classic rock favorns, etc. 208-610-5943 ites with new music from the Heart oke of the Blues album, feat. the vocal @ Tervan talents of Carol Ann Wood. $25

Sunday w/ Dwayne Parsons @ Pend d’Oreille Winery avorite playing jazz, freestyle orites on the grand piano

Outdoor Experience MSR Snowshoe Demo 9am-12pm @ Schweitzer Mountain Roundabout Demo MSR snowshoes for free!

Dance and tango lesson 7-10pm @ Sandpoint Community Hall Tango lesson from 7-8, followed by dancing. $9 4th annual Weird and Wonderful Pub Crawl 2-6pm @ 14 downtown locations Enjoy 28 weird and wonderful beers at 14 locations! Souvenir glassware available. Check out the ad on the bottom left of this page to find out which locations are participating in the crawl this year DJ Kevin 9pm-cl @ A&P’s

Eichardt’s K-9 Keg Pull 11am-1pm @ Cedar Street (between Second and Third Avenues) The most fun you’ll ever see on four legs. Watch local pooches compete and pull everything from beer kegs to beer cans. Fundaiser for the animal shelter

Outdoor Experience Monday Night Run Line dance rant 6pm @ Outdoor Experience 1:15pm @ Spt. Senior Center This A chill, three-mile(ish) group run with op- Every Monday tional beverages to follow PFLAG Sandpoint meeting 6-7:30pm @ First Presbyterian Church Held on the second Tuesday of the month, with game night and social event on the fourth Tues.

Sandpoint class for adults Geezer Forum PNW Macrame art class 2:30-4pm @ Columbia Bank Held second and fourth Tuesday of the 6-8pm @ The Back Door month, presented by Elder Advocates $45/person (includes glass of wine)

Feb. 28 Beatles vs.

Stones Musical Showdown @ Panida Theater Feb. 29 er and live music Pour Authority PAFE Mega Demo ewing beer will be on tap for this Panhandle Alliance for Education fundraiser.

Day @ Schweitzer h John Hastings and friends, silent auction items and raffle prizes, compliMountain Resort ers served Feb. 29 School Day Tour monthly meet-up Birds of Play Matchwood Brewing Co. 8:15-10:15pm @ Sandpoint Waldorf School @ Matchwood Visit K-8th grade to experience the rich curriculum ceive 20% off Bre wing Co. offered, including Japanese, Spanish, music, strings/ Night w/ KC Carter

&P’s

orchestra and more. 208-265-2683 to register

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HISTORY

‘The story of Bonner County’

The Bonner County History Museum preserves the past while looking toward a bright future

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff

When Helen Newton took a U.S. history class at Sandpoint High School in the late 1950s, she was required to do an oral presentation on the topic of her choice.

She chose the history of Sandpoint.

Her greatest research asset at the time lay in the basement of the Sandpoint Community Hall — an early rendition of a local museum.

“It was dark and dank down there,” Newton said.

Since then, the museum has come to occupy the building at 611 S. Ella Ave., where Newton and several of her friends gathered Feb. 17 to donate $5,000 to the Bonner County History Museum to help aid the organization’s newsletter. Newton said the latest rendition of the newsletter was “fabulous,” and that she wanted to support it going forward.

With the permission of her fellow All ’50s Reunion committee members — who decided they’d thrown their final reunion in 2015 — Newton and company donated the large sum from what was left in their reunion coffers.

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‘Gosh, I haven’t been in the museum for years,’” Newton said of reunion committee members who gathered at the museum Feb. 17. “So hopefully this will be a little impetus for more participation and financial support.”

A place for the past Bev Kee, current treasurer on the museum’s board, has childhood memories of her mother dedicating her time and energies to the museum.

“I grew up here,” Kee said, referring to the museum. “I just love the history of my town, and I’m really interested in getting the young people and all the people that are moving here engaged in the history of their community.”

Though demographics have certainly changed since the idea first took root for a dedicated museum in Bonner County, that love for local history has remained steadfast. Museum Interim Director Heather Upton said the institution as it currently exists can be traced back to Dr. Ethel Page Westwood, who wanted a place to display her collection of geological specimens.

“She was really the roots of it all,” Upton said.

Westwood started the ball rolling in

the early ’50s and, by the ’70s, the official Bonner County Historical Society took shape. The group spent the decade raising funds and laying the literal foundation of what is known today has the Bonner County History Museum. Boxes of artifacts began making their way into the building in 1979, and the museum celebrated a grand opening in July 1980.

Though the property has seen changes, the museum remains at Lakeview Park 40 years later.

‘The heart of the museum’ Upon walking into the Bonner County History Museum, there’s a lot to take in.

An eclectic gift shop occupies the wall to the left. To the right, the exhibitions

beckon visitors to explore the past. When the staff member behind the front desk asks how they can help, the answer today involves another part of the museum entirely: research.

In the museum’s research room, volunteers bustle about, scanning photos and postcards, casually cataloging history on a recent Tuesday afternoon. Books line one wall, computers line the other, and in the middle lies a huge conference table complete with a container filled with fresh-baked cookies — a research room mainstay. A volunteer offers to head into the back room and gather information on any Bonner County topic of interest.

Would-be researchers are invited to take a seat at the table and settle in. < see MUSEUM, page 15 >

< MUSEUM, con’t from page 14 >

Adopt an Artifact Put your name on a piece of Bonner County History

Upton said the museum is home to more than 1 million objects, not to mention 98% of the newsprint in the county.

She said it averages out to receiving about a donation per day. But how do they wade through it all?

“The one thing that this museum represents is Bonner County,” Upton said, “so I always have to consider, when an object is coming in, how it can help tell the story of Bonner County.”

Upton characterized the museum volunteers, who help determine how to best tell that story, as “the heart of the museum.” She said no matter the skill set, there is a task for anybody at the museum.

The key is finding those people.

“That’s really how I’m looking at the museum right now: Who can we bring on to help us rise to that next level?” Upton said.

One way Upton has helped the museum level up in the past five years is through her exhibit curation. She has applied her backgrounds in art history and interior design to both permanent and temporary exhibits.

The museum is currently showing a temporary exhibit titled “The Women Who Shaped Bonner County,” showcasing influential female citizens from past decades. Permanent exhibits explore the local histories of forestry, agriculture, the Ice Age floods, early North Idaho settlers, the railroad and more. Westwood’s geological collection is also on display.

Though class field trips to the museum are common, Upton said the museum began a “traveling trunk” program last year in an effort to get more history curriculum into classrooms. Trunks are filled with hands-on artifacts to help supplement textbook learning. The two trunks currently available cover local archeological history and the Native Americans of Idaho.

The future of local history As Upton makes the transition from focusing entirely on curating to tackling more directorship tasks, she’ll have Hannah Combs, the museum’s new adminis-

trator, as her right hand starting March 1.

Upton said Combs’ strong background in nonprofit work with the Pend Oreille Arts Council will be a great asset for the museum moving forward.

“I mean, where do I begin with Hannah?”

Upton said. “I’m so impressed by her.”

Combs said she couldn’t pass up the opportunity and knows that POAC will continue to thrive.

“Heather has done a lot of work to establish a beautiful collection, [and] a really creative way of presenting it, and I’m excited to bring the organizational skills I have to help manage the day-to-day operations and contribute to making it a great place to visit for locals and visitors to the area,” Combs said. “I still have so much to learn, but I’m excited to jump in.”

One potential change to the museum, which has made its way through the Sandpoint rumor mill, is that the institution might be making the move to the historic Granary building between Oak and Church Streets. Upton said that while the board was offered the space and considered transitioning there, a two-year feasibility study revealed that the move might not be in the museum’s best interest.

“We are so thankful for the [feasibility] study, though, because it really helped us understand the museum and where we need to relate more to the community, what changes we need to make, and so forth,” Upton said.

Beyond its exhibits, collections and educational programs, Upton said the museum is always seeking to reach people by branching out beyond the confines of 611 S. Ella Ave. Some examples of such projects include the history of Schweitzer exhibit located at the ski resort; the museum’s contributions to the city of Sandpoint’s Historic Walking Tour; and even the vinyl wraps on First Avenue, which cover the sites of both a condemned building and the downtown fire of February 2019.

The vinyl wraps, which Upton said were “400 feet of curating opportunity,”

share a taste of the museum’s extensive knowledge of how downtown Sandpoint has changed over the years.

“If there’s an opportunity to put forth history, we are so excited to share that with the community — especially outside the museum walls,” Upton said.

As much as a museum is meant to pay tribute to the people of the past, Upton said it’s the people who are still here — volunteering their time, offering financial support and exploring their curiosities through research — who make the Bonner County History Museum a vital piece of the community.

“To think that I’ve been here for five years, and I walk through the doors and just get filled with excitement — that’s a really good thing, and that’s just the energy of the people that are here,” she said.

To learn more about the Bonner County History Museum call 208-263-2344 or visit bonnercountyhistory.org. Current hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m., and the first Saturday of each month, 10 a.m.–2 p.m. The museum’s next event will take place Saturday, Feb. 29: the “Drink in History’’ historic Sandpoint pub crawl from 2-5 p.m., which takes place throughout downtown Sandpoint. There are only 30 spots available on the crawl. Tickets are $45 and available through the museum’s website or by calling 208-263-2344.

Photos (facing page) Top: The Bonner Co. History Museum after it first opened in the early 1980s. Photo courtesy of the museum.

Bottom Right: Heather Upton and Hannah Combs look to turn a new chapter at the museum. Photo by Lyndsie Kiebert.

Photos (this page) Top left: Helen Newton holds a check for $5,000 amid other members of the All ’50s Reunion committee. The donation will go toward the Bonner Co. History Museum’s newsletter. Photo by Lyndsie Kiebert.

Top Right: A snapshot from the “Women Who Shaped Bonner County” exhibit, currently on display at the Bonner Co. History Museum. Photos by Lyndsie Kiebert.

The Bonner County History Museum is offering the chance for anyone to feel a part of local history by offering the Adopt An Artifact program, in which people can browse museum inventory and put their name on a historic item for one year, all the while providing much needed financial support for collection upkeep.

“It’s a really fun program,” said Heather Upton, interim executive director of the museum, “and it also helps people understand our collection, too.”

Artifacts are $20 to adopt for one year and come with an e-certificate of adoption, the chance to have your name displayed alongside the item when it’s on exhibit and free visits to the museum all year.

The following are just a few examples of items up for adoption.

Life jacket Russ Bishop donated this life jacket, which came off of the S.S. Tyee — the first large towboat on Priest Lake. Cap Markham, who came to Sandpoint from the Oregon Territory in 1883, captained the boat and was known to have built some of the finest early vessels on Northwest waterways. The life jacket is made from block cork and tan canvas.

Wood-grained toilet seat This toilet seat called the Sandpoint Community Hall home starting in 1932 until the building was remodeled in 1974. The seat then found its new home at the museum, thanks to a donation from the community hall.

Ice tongs These ice tongs were used to lift blocks of ice from Lake Cocolalla in the early 1900s, before the handy invention of the freezer.

Cocolalla Ice & Fuel Company operated on the southeast section of the lake from 1903 to 1929, and held the title of largest ice company west of the Mississippi River until 1921. Carol Hammaker Stoughton donated these ice tongs to the museum.

For a chance to adopt these items and dozens of others, visit bonnercountyhistory.org and find “Adopt An Artifact” under the “Support” tab.

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COMMUNITY

Creations treehouse sets roots at the Cedar St. Bridge Tucked at the far end of the Cedar Street Bridge is a new addition, hard to miss and certainly hard to resist climbing upon.

Creations — a nonprofit art studio, shop and children’s play area — began raising funds in spring 2019 to build a treehouse on the bridge, complete with custom woodwork and several North Idaho touches. Tiny Town Studios, a custom playhouse contractor from Houston, Texas, brought Creations’ vision to life.

“They totally felt the heartbeat of Creations and really got into it,” said Creations Board President Kate Mansur, who spearheaded the fundraising effort for the treehouse, which came in just under $20,000. Two large donations came from the Sangham Foundation and in memory of Steve Hoag, and dozens of others stepped up to make the treehouse a reality.

The Creations board will post to its Facebook page, titled “Creations for Sandpoint,” when the tree house is ready for visitors — likely within the coming week.

Caption and photos by Lyndsie Kiebert.

The smiling faces of those who helped to make the Creations treehouse a reality, from left to right: Ross Donwerth, Kate Mansur, Dan Mimmack, Shery Meekings, Scott Meekins, Nolon Largen and Liz Murphy.

Grad Night dinner and auction gala Get ‘Weird & Wonderful’ at this

By Reader Staff

Grad Night is a long-running special event held in June for graduates of Sandpoint High School and Lake Pend Oreille High School. The event was introduced as a fun, safe option for seniors to party with their friends in a drug- and alcohol-free environment and

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celebrate graduation, while also earning chances to win great prizes to help them in college.

The Class of 2020 Grad Night is hosting a fundraiser dinner and auction gala at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22 at the Ponderay Events Center, 401 Bonner Mall Way. The event features a catered dinner by Ivano’s Ristorante, plus a no-host beer and wine bar, along with silent auction baskets to bid on and a fantastic silent auction filled with amazing items and experiences. All proceeds will benefit the Class of 2020 Grad Night in June.

Reserved seating is on sale for $35 per seat, which includes catered dinner, or $500 for a table of eight seats, plus two bottles of wine and a name in the program.

Reserved seats may be purchased in advance at Sandpoint High School.

Please make checks payable to “SHS Grad Night” or pay cash. Contact Annie Hendricks at 208-610-5943 for more information.

year’s annual pub crawl

By Reader Staff Take the phone off the hook, feed the dog and call the babysitter: it’s pub crawlin’ time again.

The fourth annual Weird & Wonderful Pub Crawl kicks off Saturday, Feb. 22 from 2-6 p.m. at various locations in downtown Sandpoint.

The event has served as an anchor for the Sandpoint Winter Carnival since 2017, featuring dozens of beers that fit the theme of “Weird & Wonderful.”

Participants can obtain these specially-themed beers at 14 different establishments, including the 219 Lounge, A&P’s Bar and Grill, The Back Door, Beet and Basil, The Burger Dock, Eichardt’s Pub, The Fat Pig, Idaho Pour Authority, Jalapeño’s, Matchwood Brewing, MickDuff’s Beer Hall and Tasting Room, Tervan Tavern, Trinity at City Beach and Utara Brewing Co. Each location will have two of the themed beers on tap.

Pub crawlers can obtain this years’ commemorative tasting glasses inscribed with “Be Weird” or “Be Wonderful” at MickDuff’s Beer Hall. They are also encouraged to dress in attire and/or costumes that exemplify the “Weird & Wonderful” in life.

Tastes will be $2 for those with the proper glassware at all the locations, with some imperial or special brews costing $4. Bring cash for tasters.

For a full list of beers and more information about this annual event, check facebook.com/DineAroundSandpoint.

FEATURE

Change is brewing

Strong beer brewed in Idaho has been taxed as wine for years — a new bill would end that

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff Gone, or soon to be gone, are the days when Idaho brewers played second fiddle to the state’s wine industry.

A new bill sponsored by Sen. Carl Crabtree, R-Grangeville, addresses a few historic inconsistencies with the way beer is classified and taxed in the Gem State.

While the changes proposed in his bill won’t necessarily affect the day-to-day operations of breweries — which number more than 50 in Idaho, ranking the state 10th in the nation for breweries per capita — it does underscore how far Idaho beer has come into its own as an industry.

Put simply, for years Idaho beer measuring 5% alcohol by volume or more has been subject to the so-called “Wine Tax,” levied on what state regulators refer to as “strong beer.” In turn, 5% of the Wine Tax has been funneled to the Idaho Grape Growers and Wine Producers Commission, which represents the wine industry in its marketing and lobbying efforts. “[S]o in essence, strong beer has been paying to promote wine,” said Idaho Brewers United Executive Director Sheila Francis.

That doesn’t make sense, she added, so Crabtree’s bill would reroute tax revenues on strong beer away from the Wine Commission and into the General Fund.

The bill would also update the standard measurement used by the state for alcoholic beverages from alcohol by weight to alcohol by volume — the latter being the commonly used measurement nationwide. The upshot with that is the allowable alcohol content for beer coming out of Idaho breweries will be matched with wine at 16% ABV. “We’re getting with the times,” said MickDuff’s Assistant Brewer Mack Deibel, who also serves as vice president of Idaho Brewers United, representing brewers state-wide. “This is a step we need to take as an industry to stand on our own and set us up for further legislative success down the road. The day-to-day impact may be nil, but the impact will be what this allows us to do in the future by having our Beer Code in line ahead of time. Incremental and small change for huge impact in the long term.”

Deibel said area breweries Laughing Dog Brewery, Matchwood Brewing Co., Moscow Brewing, Post Falls Brewing Company and Utara Brewing Co. have all expressed their support for Crabtree’s proposed legislation.

Dave Kosiba, who owns and operates Utara with his wife Christina, said “Idaho has always been very confusing,” when it comes to how it taxes and regulates beer.

“It’s been a little backwards,” he said.

“I’m sure somebody in Boise thought it was a really great idea to limit beer to 5%, but the times have certainly changed. …

We’re well past the time when the brewing industry can stand on its own.”

So-called “strong beer” represents the bulk of the output for most craft- and microbrewers, and that holds true for most Sandpoint area breweries.

According to Idaho State Police-Alcohol Beverage Control reporting, strong beer accounted for 2,090 gallons of production in January alone at MickDuff’s — more than five times its output of nonstrong beer. During the same period, at Matchwood, that figure was 292 gallons of strong beer compared to 262 gallons of non-strong beer. Only Laughing Dog reversed that trend, putting out 1,805 gallons of non-strong beer to 391 gallons of strong beer, though it also makes Summit Cider and Current Strong Seltzer, which accounted for just shy of 250 gallons of what ISP-ABV counts as a wine product.

Utara turned out 591 gallons of strong beer — its entire production for the month — and Kosiba said only two of his beers come close to the 5% mark. That means every beer he makes is technically taxed as wine, and concurrently supports the wine industry.

That money adds up. Crabtree’s bill would retain the current tax rates: $4.65 per 31-gallon barrel for beer 5% ABV and under and $13.95 per barrel for beer higher than 5%. If enacted, the legislation would siphon off the portion of that tax revenue that goes to the Wine Commission in phases over three years: $71,500 to the General Fund in 2021, followed by $100,00 in 2022 and $143,000 in 2023.

After that point, the Idaho Grape Growers would not receive any additional funds from taxes on strong beer.

“What this does is allow us to have our

Sen. Crabtree’s proposed bill designation for our products as it rightwould address inconsistencies fully is, ‘beer,’ and not as a class of wine, with the way beer is classified which it is not,” Diebel said. “We cannot and taxed in idaho. have part of our industry run by Wine Code and other parts by Beer Code; it needs to stand entirely on its own so we can draw comparisons with other states — tax rates, ABV cap — and make further changes that largely impact our industry specifically.”

Crabtree said he came to the issue when Wallace Brewing, which is located in his enormous District 7 — encompassing Shoshone, Clearwater and Idaho counties — approached him about changing the antiquated rules.

“Their concern was, ‘Listen, we’re putting money into the Wine Growers deal, we’re getting nothing out of it — nobody’s getting anything out of it, other than the Wine Commission, and wine is a competitive product,’” he said, noting that the current rules were written before Idaho had much of a beer industry.

“They found a pot to throw [strong beer tax revenue] in and Adult and youth ski & snowshoe rentals available left,” Crabtree said. “Then the at the Pine Street Woods Outdoor Recreation Center.

Go to sandpointnordic.com for rental hours. microbrewery industry took off. … We want to be helping them See you on the trails! when we can.”

discover

cross country skiing

AT PINE STREET WOODS

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OUTDOORS

‘Everyone’s welcome but cats’ The annual Eichardt’s K-9 Keg Pull relocates to Cedar Street

By Ben Olson Reader Staff Dogs of North Idaho: It’s your time to shine.

The Eichardt’s K-9 Keg Pull returns Sunday, Feb. 23 as the final event in Sandpoint’s annual Winter Carnival.

This endearing event has quickly become one of Sandpoint’s most iconic fundraisers, featuring dogs big, medium and small pulling everything from kegs to beer cans down dual race circuits to record the fastest time.

For a $10 entry fee, dog owners may enter their pooches into three different categories: small (under 30 pounds), medium (between 30 and 89 pounds) and large (over 90 pounds). Each dog gets two runs to establish the best time, with prizes handed out for fastest runs in each off at 11 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 23. Regiscategory, as well as the coveted “People’s tration opens at 10:15 a.m. Because the Choice” award. The event is sponsored street will be closed to motorized traffic,

by Eichardt’s Pub, EzyDog and Selkirk spectators are welcome to purchase food Press, with all money raised from entry and drinks from MickDuff’s Beer Hall, fees and spectator donations benefiting Idaho Pour Authority, Di Luna’s Cafe or the Panhandle Animal Shelter. The event Eichardt’s Pub, which will be serving in raises between $1,000 and $1,500 for the plastic drinkware. No outside alcoholic shelter each year. beverages are allowed.

This year, the Keg Pull will take place Nizzoli said a lot of volunteers have in a brand new location on Cedar Street helped make this event successful each year. between Second and Third avenues in John Hatcher, who owns a dog harness downtown Sandpoint. The move from the manufacturing business called EzyDog, Granary came as a result of redesigns in has been providing keg-pulling harnesses the parking lot that cut into the length of since the beginning. the race circuits.

“It is a great cause and it is also super “We’ll run the races down the middle fun for the community to get out togethof Cedar, with spectators on the sidewalk er and celebrate the outdoors with their and where cars normally park,” said dogs, which is what EzyDog is all about,” Eichardt’s Pub owner and event organizer Hatcher said.

Jeff Nizzoli. “We’ll have the awards at Hatcher began donating the use of his MickDuff’s [Beer Hall’s] grassy area so harnesses after noticing that other harwe can clean up all the snow.” nesses were unwieldy and didn’t support The Keg Pull originated more than 20 the dogs very well. years ago as a fundraising event at the “Our Chest Plate Harness turned out to Pend Oreille Brewing Co., which operatbe much easier for us to do quick set ups ed in the building where MickDuff’s Beer at the starting line and just streamlined Hall is currently located. the process a lot more,” Hatcher said.

“When they closed in Colton Plue has built 2001, Roy Manning, a the race course for “many bartender there, came to years,” Nizzoli said, and me and said, ‘Take this Wesley Dustman with event over, it’s a blast,’” Selkirk Press has been the Registration starts at 10:15 a.m., Nizzoli said. official timer for 20 years, with racing from 11 a.m.-1 p.m., More than 150 dogs as well as making posters FREE to watch, $10 to enter a and twice as many specand organizing volunteers. dog. Cedar Street between First and Second avenues, tators usually turn out for Over the years, the eichardts.com. the event, which kicks Keg Pull has established

Eichardt’s K-9 Keg Pull

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One of the four-legged racers at a past K-9 Keg Pull going for the gold.

Photo courtesy John Hatcher, EzyDog. a lot of charming memories for spectators and competitors alike.

“One year, this lady stood in line and asked if we had really small kegs,” Nizzoli said. “I said we did, but that she needed to have a dog. Out of her pocket, she pulled out this tiny dog that was in her hand. Someone quickly finished a beer and we tied it onto her dog. It was so funny, a big dog ran right before her and made huge paw prints in the snow, so when her little dog went down the track, it would go down into the paw prints and you’d completely lose sight of it and just see a little beer can following behind.”

For dog owners interested in tips to increase race speed, Nizzoli said it’s important for the owners to be at the finish line when the race starts, because if they only stand halfway down the course, their dog will catch up to them quickly and slow down before the end.

“Winning dogs do it in six or seven seconds,” he said. “Some dogs do it in two or three minutes — those are the ones who get distracted.”

Owners are allowed to use whatever props they need to egg their pooches on, including food bribes, special toys, even the dog’s friend from home to help encourage a good chase.

Nizzoli said the event continues to be such a success because it brings “together families and their animals. Kids love it, dogs love it. Everyone’s welcome but cats.”

STAGE & SCREEN

High hopes on the slopes

Olympic Dreams, screening at the Panida, tells a meet-cute story in a unique setting

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff Some films draw their juice from a stellar ensemble cast. For others, it’s a killer premise. For some, like the 2019 rom-com Olympic Dreams, the setting makes the movie.

Filmed on location at the 2018 Winter Nick Kroll and Alexi Pappas in Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Olympic Dreams. Courtesy photo.

Korea, it’s a mature meet-cute romance fueled by the energy of ance is skier Gus Kenworthy, the games, the Athletes Village underscoring the unprecedented and Olympic dining hall. level of access granted to the film Starring comedian Nick crew, which shot the movie under Kroll (Kroll Show, Big Mouth the Olympic Artist-in-Residence and The League) in a more-draprogram. matic-than-usual role opposite Critics universally praised the real-life Olympic runner Alexi inventive format, as it provided Pappas — the wife of director an unprecedented glimpse into Jeremy Teicher — Olympic the culture and personalities Dreams is a unique blend of fact behind the scenes in Pyeongand fiction. Though Pappas’ role chang — it also provided a as a 22-year-old cross-country built-in dynamism to the plot, skier is made up, many of the which revolves around Kroll other athletes in Ezra, a volunteer the film aren’t dentist (because acting as Tethat’s a thing at (PG-13) icher’s camera the Olympics?)

Friday, Feb. 21; 6 p.m. and 8 captures them and Pappas as p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 23; 4 p.m.; gearing up for Penelope, whose $8.72 adults, $7.67 seniors, their respective $6.62 students, $5.46 children. titular “Olympic events.

Little Panida Theater, 300 N. dreams” haven’t First Ave., 208-263-9191, get Among the quite worked tickets at the door and at actual athletes to out the way she panida.org. make an appearwanted.

Olympic Dreams

Ezra isn’t in a great place either, as the 37-year-old tries to get over a breakup with his fiance back in New Jersey.

From there, it should be pretty obvious where this all goes. Ezra is a vulnerable yet extroverted, goofy nice guy — definitely on brand for Kroll — whose charming neediness mingled with the exoticism and excitement of the South Korean games work their magic on tentative, anxiety-plagued Penelope.

Screen pundits ranging from rogerebert.com to the LA Times, Hollywood Reporter and reviewers at South by Southwest — where the film premiered last March — had good things to say about the appealing chemistry between Kroll and Pappas. That’s an accomplishment, considering the wide age difference between them. Is it believable that a 22-year-old Olympic athlete would fall for a stubble-faced “volunteer dentist” 15 years her senior? We’re not so sure (and it’s hard not to think of Kroll in his role as rude-dude radio shockjock “The Douche” in Parks and Rec). But, again, the setting and location of the film helps paper over its dramatic flaws.

More successful than the romantic plausibility of the couple is the film’s internal rumination on failure and how it plays hell with a person’s identity. That’s an especially interesting angle to consider in the context of striving

for athletic greatness, and has led many reviewers to single out Pappas for particular praise (she set a Greek record in the 10K at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, so she knows exactly what it feels like to devote a lifetime to achieving excellence in the field).

Though garnering a respectable 68% critics’ rating on rottentomatoes. com — audience scores haven’t been curated yet, as the film only hit theaters on Feb. 14 — the cineophiles at rogerebert. com wondered aloud if perhaps Olympic Dreams would have been better if it leveraged its access for a documentary, rather than an otherwise standard issue tale of odd couple romance.

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By Mike Wagoner Reader Contributor

Just another Life Lesson I was raised in a small farm town where a kid could always find summer work pickin’ or pullin’ or cuttin’ some kind of crop. When fall rolled around, a lot of weekends were spent huntin’ pheasants, chukars and sometimes grouse with my dad. Having grown up around there, he knew of every backroad and brush-infested gully for miles around.

He had been hit in the side of his right eye by a baseball while playing as a freshman on the local college team, and it ended up blinding him in that eye — except he could still see “around the edges,” just not straight ahead.

He made it through World War ll as a Marine with his injured eye because he memorized the eye chart standing in line during the physical. Since he could

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see with his peripheral vision as the doctor moved his arm indicating what line to read, he just recited the letters from memory.

Anyway, he could spot the head of a pheasant out in an alfalfa field like you wouldn’t believe. His other eye had become stronger overtime. It was quite something. I learned a lot from the guy about life.

One day while huntin’, our dog lifted his leg on a hot wire of an electric fence. I guess the salt or whatever in the dog’s urine really conducted the electricity well. As we watched ol’ Waylon high tailin’ it back to the truck, my dad said, “Now see, son, let that be a lesson to ya: You always wanna be careful where you put that thing.”

MUSIC

This week’s RLW by Lyndsie Kiebert

Music from the Heart

READ

Roger Fisher of Heart set to rock the Panida this weekend

sue solo work along with other collaborative efforts, touring the world along the way. Fisher is currently touring to promote his Seeing as most would album Heart of the Blues. His consider the Panida Theater Sandpoint concert will showcase the heart of the Sandpoint arts songs from the album alongside scene, it seems particularly Heart classics, with the help of fitting that Roger Fisher of the a world-class band and vocalist popular ’70s and ’80s band Carol Ann Wood.

Heart will take the stage SaturFisher is known for his day, Feb. 22. unique approach to playing guiThough the iconic duo made tar, as he has always been drawn up of sisters Ann and Nancy to interesting, new sounds. In Wilson is often remembered an interview with Render Edge as fronting the group, Fisher Media, Fisher recalls recording was also a founding member “Barracuda” for Heart’s 1977 of Heart. The Wilsons and album Little Queen. He said he Fisher, along with a handful of and the rest of the band were other original bandmates, were taking their time inducted into the because they had Roger Fisher Rock ’n’ Roll a hunch that it Hall of Fame in in concert could become a 2013. major hit.

Saturday, Feb. 22; doors at Fisher began “At some 7:30 p.m., show at 8 p.m.; $25 playing guitar in general admission, $50 VIP point, I had my tickets include meet-and-greet guitar on, and the ’60s, ultione hour before the show. The mately helping I reached beto found Heart in Panida Theater, 300 N. First hind my amp to Ave., 208-263-9191, panida. the mid-1970s. do something, org. Tickets available online, He left the band and … it starts as well as at Eichardt’s, Eve’s in 1979 and Leaves and at the door. Listen making this wild at rogerfisher.com. went on to pursound,” he said,

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff

verbally imitating the whirring sound that began coming from his instrument. “I realized that it’s the proximity of the guitar to the tubes and the flanger, all working together to make this wacky sound.”

The band decided to use the sound near the end of the recording, but while making notes on exactly what it was, Fisher’s invention needed a name. He called the unusual feedback “alien attack.” He recalls the story like a true songwriter — amused with the happenstance that led to the sound making into the final recording, but not at all surprised by it.

Roger Fisher doing what he does best. Photo by Render Edge Media.

Fisher, who played the Panida in June 2019, told the Reader that he and his brother Mike — also a former member of Heart — have several close friends in Sandpoint, and enjoy both the winter and summer activities that North Idaho provides. The venue is also an inspiration for Fisher’s return, he said.

“Older theaters are a joy to play in,” Fisher said, of the Panida. “They are like a living being, with their history of talented people who have worked the stage, unfolding their own dreams in their walk through life.”

A snapshot of notable live music coming up in Sandpoint PAFE fundraiser with John Hastings and Friends, Feb. 26, Idaho Pour Authority The Panhandle Alliance for Education is a local nonprofit organization tasked with promoting excellence in education and fostering broad-based community support for the Lake Pend Oreille School District. Support the cause with a few pints, and listen to live music by John Hastings and Friends.

Hastings plays a mix of covers and originals, touching on everything from parody/humor songs to Americana folk favorites by John Prine, Jerry Jeff Walker, Bill Staines, Lyle Lovett and classic sing-alongs, too. He has even been known to yodel after a beer or two.

Hastings is usually joined by Sandy Compton on his virtuoso harmonica.

— Ben Olson 5-7 p.m., FREE, 21+. Idaho Pour Authority, 203 Cedar St., 208-5977096, idahopourauthority.com.

National Margarita Day Party with DJ Sterling, Feb. 21, A&P’s Bar and Grill

As with many things tequila-related, recollections are fuzzy on where, when and with whom the margarita originated. Some say it came from the Rancho La Gloria restaurant near Tijuana in 1938. Others point to Jose Cuervo importer Anthony Dias Blue and his 1945 ad campaign: “Margarita: it’s more than a girl’s name.” Still others say the drink flowed from Texas socialite Margarita Sames and a particularly wild party at her Acapulco retreat in 1948.

One thing is clear: the margarita has become a national treasure, as evidenced by National Margarita Day, which will be celebrated in style at A&P’s Bar and Grill with Casamigos tequila and DJ Sterling spinning a mix of pop, hip-hop and classic rock hits spanning from the ’60s to the ’00s.

Come for the music, stay for the booze, prizes and giveaways. Even if you don’t rightly remember what happened, it’s a good bet it was a good time.

— Zach Hagadone 9 p.m.-close, FREE, 21+. A&P’s Bar and Grill, 222 N. First Ave., 208-263-2313, facebook.com, @APsbarandgrill.

I grew up with a copy of The Secret Language of Birthdays on my parents’ book shelf, so I didn’t know it was strange to draw conclusions about a person based on the day they were born until, well, recently. Each page details the personality traits and tendencies of people born that day, even listing famous people who share the same birthday. If nothing else, The Secret Language of Birthdays has made for some fun introspection and entertaining party conversations.

LISTEN

From the band that brought us the glorious imagery of a stoner Jesus driving an Astrovan comes more new music this week. Mt. Joy, a five-piece indie folk outfit from Philadelphia, is preparing to release its second full-length album in coming months, dropping singles like bread crumbs along the way. The first single, “Rearrange Us,” builds on the band’s signature groove — a comforting brand of rock with lyrics that pack a punch. Two more singles were released Feb. 19.

WATCH

It feels like a disservice to dedicate only this small space to my newfound obsession: Outlander. I started the first season without knowing much about the show, and now — mere weeks later — I would happily spearhead a regional sect of the fandom. We would meet regularly in 18th-century Scottish Highlands clothes and sip port from thick fluted glasses. Jokes aside, Outlander — which is based on a book series by Diana Gabaldon — combines history, time travel and an enrapturing love story to create something incredible.

11/10.

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HEALTH

A grain of salt From Northern Idaho News, Feb 17, 1925

GUN CLUB SHOOTS UP PASSENGER TRAIN The scattergun artists, who meet every Sunday morning back of the power company plant to shoot blue rocks, demonstrated one thing last Sunday morning when they shot up train 42 on the Northern Pacifric railway, that they could hit a train.

It was not very long after the train left Sandpoint that the agent received a telegram saying the brakeman had been shot in the leg and numerous shot had struck the sides of the train and windows while it was passing through Sandpoint and asking what the wild west manouvers meant.

Investigating the affair Agent Gibson found the Gun club at its usual Sunday morning shoot.

The brakeman on the platform of the rear car felt and spatter around him on the platform and made a dive for the inside of the car.

Investigation proved no damage was done, the shot being wild ones carried by the wind and had expended their force before hitting the train, and the brakeman was more scared than hurt.

The Gun club will in the future cease shooting when trains are passing that point.

Prior to the selection of the grounds John Cranston stood over on the tracks and allowed the members to shoot at him to see if the shot would carry that far and found they would not except when carried by an exceptionally strong wind.

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A health column... sort of

The detrimental danger of goal setting

By Ammi Midstokke Reader Columnist

There’s a sort of pass/ fail culture happening in, well, pretty much everything we do these days.

We set lofty intentions and label them as “goals,” then determine that anything falling shy of that mark is a failure. We can apply excuses as a measure of compassion, but the summary is always the same: We failed.

“I just need a goal,” says my perpetually dieting friend. Last year, her goal was a wedding dress and she starved herself (and mind you, she was not a pleasant human during those months) so she could look “amazing enough” on that day. She did not meet her actual goal (some kind of ridiculous temporary Twiggy who would have required the loss of bone density or the amputation of a limb, no doubt).

The morning of her wedding, we ran along the river banks, sun on our skin, bodies healthy and happy, talking about how wonderful it was that we’d found our people. “I didn’t reach my weight goal,” she said, as if this would diminish the joy of her day. As if she would be thinking about her failure more than the sacred moments of union. As if she maybe wasn’t worthy.

Study after study shows that defining, setting and working in steps toward goals is directly related to us actually achieving them. My question is this: Then what?

The goals we set are a dance with immediate gratification, deprivation and the pass/fail that always has us narrowly escaping another self-imposed lecture on why we weren’t good enough or why we’ll only try to be good enough if we have some urgent reason. There are two urgent reasons I see most motivating in my clinic: imminent cardiac arrest/death/ maiming or vanity.

Somewhere, somewhen, someone gave us the impression that we’d one day

“arrive.”

I hate to disappoint, but that’s a fallacy.

We don’t reach our goal weight or pant size and suddenly not war with food anymore.

We don’t give up alcohol and find ourselves granted with gifts of healthy coping tools. We don’t PR at the gym or in a 5K and find ourselves miraculously enlightened and fit. And until we accept the infinite ebb and flow of life, bodies and wellness, we’re just going to keep dangling these damn carrots in front of our faces.

We don’t need a goal or the fear of failure to motivate us to work toward something. What we need is commitment.

Commitment to ourselves, our families, our health, our values. We can do the things for the sake of the thing, celebrate our achievements and honor the journey.

We don’t have to have a reason to get healthy. Being healthy is the reason. And sure, it doesn’t come with a blue ribbon or a finish line, but there is also no failure.

These 30-day whole food plans and 90 days of sobriety all come with wonderful intentions, and yes, it feels good to achieve them, but do they permanently alter our habits and perpetuate our longterm health “goals” or just make us feel like failures the other 335 or 275 days a year? Are we more committed to healthy habits after these? Or do we just forever compare ourselves to those peak moments of unsustainable gym habits or that time we felt so good on a 10-day cleanse?

Stop. If you like setting goals, commit to something instead. Make it a journey toward something, something infinite and unknown. Or start at age 90 and work your way backward. I’d like to still be running trails as an octogenarian, so in my 40s, I’ll take a rest day when my knees hurt. I’d

like to not need a new pant wardrobe every five years, so I’m committed to eating a doughnut only if it’s a really good doughnut made by a doughnut chef who lives, breathes and dreams doughnuts.

The only thing we’re ever really going to arrive at is death. The goal is to get there as healthy, happy and grateful as possible. Trust me, no one gets there wishing they’d weighed 10 pounds less on their wedding day or not had cornbread during their Whole-30 stint. Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate all those goals and just ask yourself: What are you truly committed to?

Ammi Midstokke can be contacted at ammimarie@gmail.com.

Crossword Solution

The other day I got out my can opener and was opening a can of worms when I thought, “What am I doing?!”

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CROSSWORD ACROSS

Woorf tdhe Week

quiddity

/KWID-i-tee /

[noun] 1. the quality that makes a thing what it is; the essential nature of a thing.

“The quiddity of her genius lies in her ability to understand the other side.”

Corrections: In the story about the survivors rescue, Gilbert the Zebra is alive and kicking, not dead. There was also a numerical typo on the Winter Carnival events listings. Thanks for playing. -BO

1. Severity 6. Timbuktu country 10. Dribble 14. Swelling under the skin 15. Goddess of discord 16. Margarine 17. Oval 19. No more than 20. Suppurate 21. Hasten 22. Send forth 23. Units of force 25. Dehydrates 26. Astir 30. Wears away 32. Guarantee 35. Famous 39. Break out 40. Brain cell 41. Soap for hair 43. Wreath 44. Slogan 46. T T T T 47. Twangy, as a voice 50. A fleshy root 53. Food thickener 54. Weep 55. Silicon dioxide 60. 8 in Roman numerals 61. A diplomat of the highest rank 63. Aquatic plant 64. Not guys 65. Genuflected

Solution on page 22 66. Low-fat 67. 1 1 1 1 68. Chairs

DOWN 1. Coral barrier 2. Doing nothing 3. Mousses 4. Leave out 5. Sexually assaulted 6. Japanese apricot 7. Bowman 8. Go-between 9. Small island

10. Flip 11. Lacquer ingredient 12. Creepy 13. Verse writers 18. Attempt 24. Mesh 25. Discourage 26. Amazes 27. Deep cut 28. Killer whale 29. Linguist 31. Spanish lady 33. Dismay 34. A noble gas 36. Scottish hillside 37. Solitary 38. Concludes

42. Footstool 43. Chitchat 45. Debris 47. Pertaining to the oceans 48. Fast 49. Type of antelope 51. S 52. Hazards 54. Palm starch 56. Alley 57. Bright thought 58. A young male horse 59. Anagram of “Star” 62. Donkey

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