I’ve been known to whine about traffic peccadillos in these pages from time to time. Today, I’ll tell the story about how I stalked a guy for 10 minutes in the hopes of seeing him using his turn signal once. Spoiler alert: He never did.
It started at a four-way stop sign when I was behind Truck Guy. The car at the other side of the intersection nearly collided with Truck Guy because the latter didn’t use a signal and the car driver had no idea Truck Guy was turning left instead of going straight. As I happened to be traveling in the same direction, I followed Truck Guy and noticed again that he made a turn without using a signal. It was then that I became a turn signal stalker. I was curious how many turns I could follow Truck Guy before I saw him actually use his indicator. Through town, with a brief stop at the Chevron, Truck Guy made eight consecutive turns. Nary a blinker did I see. I did notice the smartphone to his ear the whole time, though. Then, Truck Guy drove north out of Sandpoint and I decided to end my foray into stalking.
I learned a few things, though. First, there are actually people who never use their turn signal. I always thought it was just a myth, like people who never drink water, but they’re real. Second, when someone doesn’t use their signal, it really confuses other drivers. Twice I heard others honk at Truck Guy for his lack of signal, and two times I saw frustration on other motorists’ faces. Third, I’m really good at following people and writing about them in my newspaper the following week.
The randomest facts
• Percentages are always reversible. For example, 10% of 25 is exactly the same as 25% of 10.
• The difference between 1 million and 1 billion is astounding. One million seconds is about 11 days. One billion seconds is more than 31 years.
• Astronomers found in 2002 that the light coming from galaxies averaged into a beige color they called “cosmic latte.”
• Finally, in what could only be described as a cruel trick of wordsmiths, the fear of long words is called hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.
quotes that age like milk
“The Trump Administration will not cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits. President Trump has said it (over and over and over again). ... The press is lying again.”
— From whitehouse.gov, dated March 11, 2025
Note: The “big, beautiful bill” will reduce federal Medicaid spending by $1.04 trillion over 10 years and result in 11.8 million more uninsured people nationwide. Further, Medicaid spending is estimated to decline in rural areas by $155 billion in 10 years. Remember that 20% of the U.S. population lives in rural areas and about 21% of U.S. adults have Medicaid coverage.
DEAR READERS,
We take our role as a provider of information seriously here at the Reader. That includes a robust letters to the editor section where you can read about seemingly any topic under the sun. Some letters are great. Others? Not so much. But that’s all part of the process. We love it that way. However, because we have been inundated with so many letters the past few months, I’m announcing a change to our word limit, which is normally 300 words. From here forward, we will only accept letters that are 200 words or fewer. If we had an unlimited budget to print multiple pages worth of letters to the editor every week, I’d be fine with that. But we don’t. We are always butting up against space constraints, and that means having to turn away some good submissions because there isn’t room on the page for everything. We hope you understand. Send your screeds to letters@sandpointreader.com.
–Ben Olson, publisher
READER
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The Sandpoint Reader is a weekly publication owned by Ben Olson and Keokee. It is devoted to the arts, entertainment, bluster, 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 bonfires to appease the gods of journalism. For back issues, contact the publisher. Free to all, limit two per person, please.
Letter to the Editor Policy:
We welcome letters to the editor on all relavant topics. Please, no more than 200 words, no excessive profanity or libelous statements and no trolls. Please elevate the discussion and stay on topic. Letters will be edited to comply with the above requirements. Opinons expressed in these pages are those of the writers, not necessarily the publisher. Send to: letters@sandpointreader.com
About the Cover:
This week’s cover photo was taken by Racheal Baker at the 2024 Sandpoint Pride.
Idaho congressional delegation applauds passage of ‘big, beautiful bill’
Others see surging deficit and harmful reductions in health and nutrition spending
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff
The U.S. House passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” on a 218-214 vote July 3, which President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4.While Trump proclaimed a “phenomenal victory,” Democrats were unanimous in opposing the sweeping budget legislation, which makes most of the 2017 tax cuts permanent while instituting deep cuts to health care and nutritional programs to pay for the reduction in revenue.
Still, the Congressional Budget Office analysis indicates the “big, beautiful bill” will result in an additional $3.4 trillion to the deficit in the next decade and take away health insurance for more than 11 million Americans.
The Act funnels increased funding to border security, defense and domestic energy production, though some controversial elements were ultimately left out of the final version, including the sale of public lands and barring states from regulating the use of AI.
All four of Idaho’s Republican Congress members voted for the bill in both its House and Senate versions.
In a news release, Rep. Mike Simpson described the bill as “the America-First policy agenda that Idahoans and Americans nationwide voted for in November.”
He stated that, “Republicans came together and passed historic tax relief for working-class Americans, including much-deserved relief for Idaho farmers and small businesses. We are also delivering historic investments in border security and restoring domestic energy dominance.”
Simpson was the first of Idaho’s delegation to oppose the public lands sell-off por-
tion of the bill, and stated that he was “especially pleased that the out-of-touch provision to sell off public lands was withdrawn before returning to the House.”
“Land selloffs are not part of the Trump agenda, and I was proud to fight for that in the House,” he stated.
Rep. Russ Fulcher called the bill “the single largest tax cut in American history for the American People,” which will also “bolster border and military resources to keep our communities safe.”
“While I believe there are additional provisions that should have been included in the final bill, this legislation delivers significant wins for hardworking families, codifying key aspects of President Trump’s policy agenda into law,” he added. “It promotes economic growth by stopping a 22% tax hike through the extension of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and it eliminates taxes on tips and overtime — a measure I introduced and have fought hard for.”
Like Simpson, Fulcher also highlighted the removal of barriers to permitting energy production.
Sen. Mike Crapo stated in a news release that in addition to extending the 2017 tax cuts, border security investment, increased military spending and “restoring American energy dominance,” the bill reduces federal spending by more than $1.5 trillion and delivers more than $400 billion in deficit reduction.
Those figures don’t align with the CBO analysis, yet Crapo stated, “When taking the pro-growth economic effects of Trump’s agenda into account, which the Council of Economic Advisers estimates will increase federal revenues by more than $4 trillion, we are achieving nearly $4.5 trillion in deficit reduction.”
Further, despite what other analysts have reported regarding deep cuts to Medicaid, Crapo wrote that the bill “improves and strengthens programs like Medicaid by targeting waste, fraud and abuse, ensuring it remains financially viable for those it was designed to help.”
As Crapo’s office noted, he serves as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee — overseeing federal tax and health care policy — and was therefore “one of the chief architects of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
Sen. Jim Risch also made a statement on the passage of the bill, celebrating the permanent tax cuts and increased spending on border and defense, while also “dismantl[ing] the Green New Deal, and address[ing] wasteful spending.”
“While no bill is perfect, the One, Big, Beautiful Bill delivers on these priorities and provides working Americans with the largest tax cut in history,” Risch stated.“Congress is not done tackling out-of-control spending. I remain committed to reining in the national debt and ending the waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars.”
Observers ranging from Elon Musk to Sen. Bernie Sanders have described the bill as “pork-filled” and “probably the worst piece of legislation in modern history,” respectively, with dozens of examples of tax loopholes for the ultra-rich, giveaways to foreign businesses and sweetheart deals for certain states to avoid the harshest ramifications of health care and nutrition program cuts.
According to the Tax Foundation, “the good” in the bill is focused on making it easier for businesses — big and small — to expense investments in “short-lived assets and domestic research and development.”
“Permanent expensing has the most bang-for-the-buck when it comes to economic growth,” the nonprofit, non-partisan foundation stated in a July 7 rundown of the legislation.
Those provisions alone are estimated to increase gross domestic product growth by 0.7% while “providing taxpayers the certainty they need to boost long-run investment.”
In addition, the bill allows for expensing of “qualified structures,” which the Tax Foundation stated “would need to be made permanent for longrun economic growth.”
The foundation also lauded the extension of looser limits on interest deductions, while allowing a higher threshold for small businesses to expense some types of equipment.
Another “good” aspect of the legislation is permanently extending rates and brackets from the 2017 tax cuts, “providing certainty for households and stability to the structure of the tax code.”
Meanwhile, it permanently establishes a bigger standard deduction and extends limits on a basket of itemized deductions, including mortgage interest, and limits the value of itemized deductions for the top earners in the economy.
One revenue-generating aspect of the bill comes with the reduction of many tax credits and deductions — including green energy tax credits, which will be cut by half and raise about $500 billion over 10 years.
“The bad,” according to the Tax Foundation, is that the bill “spend[s] far too much money on political gimmicks and carveouts,” including tax exemptions for overtime pay and tips — which Fulcher championed — as well as deducting auto loan interest and a new standard deduction offered to seniors
65 and older, “all of which violate basic tax principles of treating taxpayers equally.”
Those provisions alone will cost in excess of $350 billion in the next four years.
The Tax Foundation also took aim at the “costly mistake” of the House allowing a 23% deduction for business income — up from 20%. That alone will cost between $700 billion and $800 billion over the next 10 years, according to estimates from the foundation and the Joint Committee on Taxation.
At the same time, the version approved by the House on July 3 will reduce revenue by between $3.1 trillion and $4 trillion, further swelling the deficit.
“Lawmakers could have reduced the cost of their legislation by trillions of dollars through further cleaning up the tax code,” the foundation stated.
Finally, “the ugly” in the “big, beautiful bill” starts with new rules and costs related to compliance “that in many cases likely outweigh potential tax benefits.”
The Tax Foundation is especially displeased with the removal of tax on tips, overtime and car loans, which it anticipates will “require hundreds of pages of IRS guidance to interpret.” The same goes for changes to IRA credits, which will come with new rules and restrictions “that may make many of the credits cost-prohibitive.”
The so-called “Trump Accounts,” which provide a $1,000 bonus for children born in the next four years and offer taxpayers the option of depositing up to $5,000 per year into an 18-year tax-free account, is more limited and
< see BILL, Page 5 >
Council punts on adopting preliminary $49.9M fiscal year 2026 budget
Vote rescheduled for July 30, followed by public hearing Aug. 20
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff
The Sandpoint City Council voted July 9 to hold off on adopting the preliminary fiscal year 2026 budget — which would have established a maximum expenditure of $49,927,665 — and instead take up the matter at its Wednesday, July 30 meeting.
However, statute requires that the final budget be adopted by Wednesday, Aug. 20, on which date the council will hold a public hearing.
“This is the busiest time of the year for a lot of us, and there’s a lot of information moving forward, and I would like to take the next couple of weeks to do a deeper dive and have more staff time before approving this,” Councilor Justin Dick said, later adding, “I don’t feel comfortable enough moving forward.”
Sandpoint Mayor Jeremy Grimm told the council that the vote would serve only to establish a maximum amount of expenditures based on forecasted revenues, and could be adjusted downward.
“This doesn’t prevent you from making adjustments, it gives you time to hear from all the departments and the specifics of their budgets,” he said. “It keeps us on track and gives us a little cushion.”
However, Councilor Kyle Schreiber first moved to table the tentative budget adoption vote to Wednesday, Aug. 6, but then amended his motion to schedule it for July 30. Dick seconded and Council President Deb Ruehle and Councilor Pam Duquette voted in favor. Councilors Joel Aispuro and Rick Howarth opposed.
“I am worried about the timeline. Things happen, and again, I think the intent of this is to simply go set a maxi-
mum number,” Howarth said. “All of the detail work can happen over the next three, four, five, six weeks.”
Likewise, Aispuro said, “I don’t see a reason to postpone this.”
In the meantime, the preliminary budget, as written, represents an overall 1.13% reduction from 2025, down from $50,499,054.
In his budget transmittal letter, included in the introduction of the document, Grimm wrote that it “not only balances dollars and cents but reflects what I believe to be the values, priorities and aspirations of the community.”
Specifically, he pointed to creating and maintaining “a leaner, more focused government,” while putting “infrastructure first,” responding to growth and public concerns and planning for “a balanced future.”
Some highlights include $7.2 million for street and sidewalk improvements — along with $2 million from the Urban Renewal Agency for Phase 3 of the long-term downtown revitalization project — $4.5 million for wastewater system upgrades and a new $1 million expenditure for RV park improvements at City Beach, the latter which is 95% funded with a state grant.
Other priorities in the coming fiscal year will be implementation of the recently approved parking management plan, updated development impact fees and reviewing the zoning code. Meanwhile, Grimm cited Idaho House Bill 389 as a factor limiting revenue growth.
Passed in 2021 as a way to provide property tax relief, H.B. 389 stipulated that new construction comes onto the tax rolls at 90% of its value — rather than the previous 100% — essentially providing growth
with a discounted levy rate.
Because of that, Grimm wrote, “New construction often contributes less than its actual impact due to valuation rules. Infrastructure continues to age faster than it can be replaced.”
To address that challenge, Grimm wrote that the city will look to grants and intends to again propose a local option tax in spring 2027, with levied funds supporting street repair and improvement. Sandpoint voters rejected a 1% local option sales tax in 2024, which also would have been dedicated to street infrastructure.
Grimm also pointed to impending downtown and waterfront developments that, while they “will enhance longterm economic vitality,” could result in a decrease in local option lodging tax revenue to the tune of $220,000 in the coming year.
“However, the long-term return — stronger infrastructure, increased economic activity and revitalized public spaces — will far outweigh the short-term impact,” he wrote.
Drilling into the preliminary budget shows funding for the Sandpoint Police Department at $3,898,322 in FY’26 — up from just more than $3.6 million — while the Sandpoint Fire Department budget is reduced to $1,358,410, down from $1.48 million.
The Community Planning and Development budget would increase to $5,979,426 — up from $5.8 million — including the new $1 million expenditure for City Beach RV park improvements and $210,000 for City Beach parking lot improvements.
There is nothing in the proposed CPD FY’26 budget for the James E Russell Sport Center — which in FY’25 had an $800,000 allocation — nor
is the Travers Park playground and splashpad in the new budget, after a $431,000 allocation in FY’25.
The Public Works budget would fall by about $1 million to $33,975,381. Part of that reduction comes from an FY’26 budget allocation of $400,000 for lift station improvements, which with a $2.6 million expenditure in FY’25, represented the department’s single largest allocation. However, the FY’26 appropriation for wastewater treatment facility reconstruction will rise to $2 million from $1.6 million last year.
The Finance, Central Services and Elected Offices budget would all see modest increases, at $707,982, $3,823,252 and $184,892, respectively.
The single largest revenue source for the city is charges for services, which the FY’26 budget pegs at $12,517,321, with those dollars going to the General, Fiber, Recreation, Garbage, Water and Wastewater funds. The Wastewater Fund is the largest beneficiary of charges for services, amounting to $6,245,000.
Current property taxes are budgeted to contribute $5,381,169 to the General Fund — the second largest source of revenue after charges for services.
According to the council staff report, that represents a $328,302 increase from the prior year.
The top five capital projects identified in this year’s budget include $3 million for wastewater treatment facility reconstruction, $2.57 million for water main projects, $2.5 million for Cedar Street reconstruction, $2 million for Phase 3 of downtown revitalization and $1.85 million for corridor improvements on Great Northern Road.
Other $1 million+ projects include sidewalk and bike path projects, street equipment, parks land purchase and the City Beach RV park improvements, among others.
Engineering for the Cedar Street and Great Northern projects is budgeted at $4.35 million, along with $4.3 million for wastewater capital projects, $4 million for water capital projects and $2.66 million for park maintenance and capital projects. Finally, the budget anticipates spending $100,000 for a new City Hall fire alarm system.
“This budget affirms a commitment to a government grounded in accountability, sustainability and service,” Grimm wrote. “We’re investing in core needs before expanding further. We’re prioritizing residents and building internal capacity. And we’re listening.”
Find the full fiscal year 2026 budget book at bit.ly/4lIKy8H.
< BILL, con’t from Page 4 >
restricted than saving incentives already in the tax code.
“The major effect is to introduce a new baby bonus entitlement that requires taxpayers to track yet another small dollar account for 18+ years,” the Tax Foundation wrote. “This is a missed opportunity to simplify saving and improve financial security for all Americans.”
Overall, the foundation applauded aspects of the bill like expensing investments for business, but reiterated its dislike for “political carveouts” and failing to reign in the deficit and making the tax code more complex overall.
Bonner County crime rate dropped in 2024
By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff
The Idaho State Police Bureau of Criminal Identification recently released its annual Crime in Idaho Report for 2024, showing a decrease in crime in 32 of 44 Idaho counties — including Bonner County.
The BCI synthesized the statistics using data collected by local law enforcement agencies and from the reports “Statewide Crime Profile,” “Hate Crime in Idaho” and “Law Enforcement Officers Killed or Assaulted.”
In 2024, crime in Bonner County fell approximately 20.31% to an average of 27.89 crimes committed per 1,000 people. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated that Bonner County’s popu-
lation, as of July 1, 2024, was 53,955.
When broken down by charge, Bonner County had several notable changes year over year. Instances of destruction dropped 3.76% to 128 per 1,000; larceny dropped 27.50% to 232 per 1,000; and drug and narcotic crimes dropped 32% to 535 per 1,000.
The rate of sexual crimes stayed consistent at 50 per 1,000; however, that number does not include prostitution, pornography or non-forcible acts.
Two of the most frequent crimes in Bonner County — fraud and assault — increased in 2024. Instances of fraud rose to 46.15%, or 114 per 1,000, while assault went up 3.29% to 314 per 1,000.
Read the full report at nibrs.isp. idaho.gov/CrimeInIdaho.
Bits ’n’ Pieces
From east, west and beyond
There were more than 100 confirmed deaths from the July 4 flash flooding in Texas, where roadways and buildings were overwhelmed by flood waters cresting over 20 feet. Some blame the catastrophe on cuts to jobs and funding for weather services; others blame inadequate weather warning systems (Texas leads the nation in flood deaths.) The Guardian wrote that rainfall intensity in central Texas has increased in recent decades; and, when combined with remnants of Tropical Storm Barry, “this was a complex, compound tragedy of a type that climate warming is making more frequent.”
An AP summary of President Donald Trump’s budget bill, signed July 5 after narrowly passing Congress: $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, primarily helping the wealthy and corporations; the wealthiest will see an annual $12,000 income increase, while the poorest will see a $1,600 decrease; the child tax credit goes from $2,000 to $2,200, though lower income families won’t get the full credit; $350 billion for border and national security, aimed at the nation’s largest-ever mass deportation, totaling 1 million people per year; $25 billion for the “Golden Dome” missile defense; cuts to clean energy tax credits; an earlier expiration of tax breaks for EVs; a children’s savings program, called “Trump Accounts” that will deliver a potential $1,000 Treasury deposit; $40 million for a “Heroes Garden”; and elimination of a $200 tax on gun silencers, short-barreled rifles and shotguns.
In addition, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act was expanded; “billions” go to the Artemis moon mission and to exploring Mars; a state moratorium on AI regulation was dropped; $50 billion over five years for rural hospitals hurt by Medicaid changes was added (up from $25 billion); and a new tax on solar and wind projects using components from China was removed.
Spending is to be partially offset with cuts to Medicaid and food assistance. Meanwhile, there is a proposed $35 co-payment for Medicaid use and new Medicaid work requirements. Analysis suggests as many as 11.8 million Americans will have no health insurance by 2034 as a result, while the national debt limit would increase by $5 trillion
By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Contributor
Using what the Committee for a Responsible Budget calls a blush-worthy “accounting gimmick,” Senate Republicans say the budget reduces deficits by almost a half trillion over the coming decade. However, the Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill will increase the budget by $3.3 trillion.
The budget bill will boost the detention budget from $3.4 billion to $45 billion by the end of fiscal year 2029 and 10,000 more ICE agents will join the current force of 20,000. ICE detention funding will exceed that of the entire federal prison system. More than 56,000 people are currently in ICE facilities, while reports say 71.7 % have no criminal record.
Incensed at the passage of the bill, former Trump ally Elon Musk wants to form “the America Party” to “ensure that [political candidates] serve the true will of the people.”
According to new allegations filed in the civil and criminal cases against Kilmar Abrego Garcia — who was deported by the Trump administration, then brought back from a prison in El Salvador — claim he was kicked and struck, and battered with wooden batons. He and 20 other cellmates were forced to kneel from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. and were struck if they fell. He was denied bathroom relief and soiled himself.
Abrego Garcia and other detainees were confined to metal bunks without mattresses in overcrowded cells with no windows, constant bright lights and minimal sanitation.
Now back in the U.S., the Trump administration threatened to deport Abrego Garcia yet again if he is released from criminal custody. While it was previously ruled that Abrego Garcia was entitled to release, as of press time he remained in federal custody due to concerns about deportation. Documents filed early this week say Salvadoran officials told the U.N. that the U.S. retained jurisdiction over the migrants it sent to El Salvador — contradicting Trump’s insistence that U.S. authorities had no control once migrants left the country.
Blast from the past: “A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.” — Edward R. Murrow, radio and television broadcaster famous for providing live coverage during WWII (1908-1965).
Sandpoint City Council approves final downtown parking plan
New fees set for paid parking passes, with hourly fees to be set by future ordinance
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff
After more than half a year of presentations, Planning and Zoning meetings, community feedback and other City Hall deliberation, the Sandpoint City Council voted 3-1 at the tail end of a marathon four-hour meeting June 25 to approve a new parking management plan.
Planning and Community Development Director Jason Welker outlined the final proposal, which would institute paid parking in publicly-owned lots at City Beach, Sand Creek, Dock and Bridge streets, the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail, and the city lot at Third Avenue and Church Street.
In addition, metered parking would be instituted on First and Second avenues, and Cedar, Church and Main Streets downtown.
City taxpayers will be eligible to purchase a pass for $15 per year, granting three to six hours of parking at those locations, while Bonner County residents will be given the option to buy passes for $30 per year for two to three hours of parking.
Downtown business owners can pay $40 per month for all-day parking for employees, while downtown residents pay $80 per month for unlimited parking. Those with boat slips at the Windbag Marina can purchase passes for $150 per year for unlimited parking at City Beach and Dock Street.
Hourly fees for non-passholders have yet to be determined — though will be established as further ordinance changes are addressed later in the summer — with a phased rollout of the new policies
expected in 2026.
Finally, the plan reintroduces the requirement that downtown residential development provide parking — which was lifted in 2009 — though puts in place an inlieu fee of $25,000 per parking space per 1,000-square-feet of development with a maximum of 1.5 stalls per unit. According to the plan, that’s intended to incentivize smaller units, and therefore promote the expansion of workforce housing downtown.
“This is just based on best practices around the country,” Welker said. “In the parking management and planning world, there are basically three components to successful parking management plans: market-priced off-street parking; elimination of off-street parking requirements, which we did in 2009, [though] we’re proposing modifying that slightly to bring some requirements back for residential; and then third, reinvesting revenues back in the neighborhoods where they were collected.
“To make these programs successful over years, those who are bearing the cost of paid parking need to see the benefits of paid parking,” he added.
To that end, revenues generated from paid parking will be allocated to maintenance of parking facilities, infrastructure and transportation amenities; the technology needed to operate the system; and enforcement of the policies.
“[I]nvesting in supporting public transport bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure that reduces vehicle dependency is a best practice,” Welker added. “And of course full cost recovery from the parking users themselves, so that
parking facilities importantly don’t require general fund or property tax revenues to maintain in the future.”
He concluded his presentation by summarizing the goals of the new plan, including increasing availability of parking where it’s most needed, ensuring visitors and non-city residents contribute to infrastructure upkeep and that downtown residential developers also help pay for needed infrastructure either by providing parking or paying the in-lieu fee.
Sandpoint Mayor Jeremy Grimm commended the “incredible work” that went into crafting the final plan, and told the council that, “I fully support this.”
“I’m a passionate downtown urbanist, and I think what has been laid out here provides us with a number of solutions to the challenges we face,” he added, “whether it’s SPOT [bus] funding, whether it’s infrastructure funding, whether it’s reducing the tax burden on our Sanpoint taxpayers and residents and businesses, enhancing turnover so those retailers and restaurants and stores downtown can can get people conveniently parked by them.”
While Councilors Justin Dick, Pam Duquette and Council President Deb Ruehle all voted to approve the plan, Councilor Kyle Schreiber expressed the most concern, including his opposition to extending the parking exempt zone to Superior Street and east of First Avenue.
“I think that’s a dangerous section of road where cars are coming off of a high-speed freeway that has no obstructions, and I think putting pedestrians and people step-
ping out of their cars is a bad idea right there,” he said. “I think extending the boundary of the parking exempt zone to that area is also a bad idea, because we’ll be encouraging development that builds to the same standards that we have on First Avenue, where businesses are right up to the the property line and the sidewalk and all of the parking is designed to be on the curb.”
Welker said the 50-year vision is to see the east Superior corridor redeveloped along the same lines as the Commercial A zone downtown, including zero setbacks and narrower rights of way.
“The only reason that’s a high-speed corridor now is because it’s a three-lane corridor when, at which time that gets developed over the next 50 years, that’s likely to become more of a downtown urban street,” he said.
Schreiber argued that downtown-style development would be inappropriate on that stretch of road and, “I will go ahead and say that I’m not going to vote in favor of a plan that shows that extension of the parking exempt zone.”
Both Welker and Grimm told Schreiber that the parking exempt zone extension will be voted on with an ordinance change expected to come before council in August.
“You’re going to have many more bites of the apple on this one,” Grimm said.
Schreiber also took issue with the cap on the in-lieu fee for residential developers at 1.5 spaces per unit, suggesting that a building could be designed with an entire floor described as a single unit, and therefore skirting the parking requirement.
“So a downtown condo
that’s 3,000 square feet and it packs several bedrooms in there, they may only have to provide 1.5 parking spaces,” Welker said, paraphrasing Schreiber. “That’s, sure, that’s true.”
Schreiber moved to approve the plan on the condition that the parking exempt zone not be extended and that the cap on 1.5 spaces per unit be reconsidered in the ordinance. That motion died for lack of a second.
Duquette argued, as she has in the past, that city taxpayers shouldn’t be required to pay any fee to park at City Beach.
“It’s the principle, in my opinion,” she said, however, because 348 of the 505 parking stalls in city-owned lots are regulated under federal land-water conservation guidelines, they can’t be free for some users and not for others.
Councilor Dick, who later moved to adopt the plan, said that while “nobody ever elected me and said, ‘Charge me for parking on First Avenue or down at City Beach,’” he supported channeling revenue from parking fees into public transportation as well as pedestrian and bike infrastructure.
However, he asked that when council considers the final hourly fees in a future ordinance, that they be dynamically adjusted with higher fees during the busy summer months and lower fees during the slow seasons.
“I know the businesses are going to have a hard time as soon as Schweitzer shuts down,” he said. “It’s tough to get locals downtown until we get our tourist business as well. I do not want to put parking meters out and give them another reason as to why they don’t come downtown.”
Bouquets: GUEST SUBMISSION:
• “On a recent ride across the Long Bridge, we ran into Brigette Kucherry who, single-handedly from her wheelchair, shoveled moss from the edges of the bridge! She’s a force for sure.”
— By Karen Hempstead
Barbs:
• I’ve been receiving victory lap emails from Idaho Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo (both Republicans) ever since their party members shoved the “big, bullshit bill” over the edge of the cliff onto Trump’s trough for signature into law. The hyperbolic assertions from these senators, as well as from Idaho GOP Reps. Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson, paint this bill as the best thing since sliced bread. The truth is a little more nuanced, of course, but the consensus is that this is the most pork-filled legislation ever to be signed into law. You can read all about the bill on several other pages in this week’s edition or online, but one thing I’d like to assert is to make sure Republicans continue to own this. They have a convenient habit of disavowing things they’ve done after they blow up a few years later, so make sure to remember who voted to strip Idahoans of Medicaid and SNAP benefits, all while increasing the ICE budget to a degree where it’s higher than the military expenditures of all but 15 countries. If you thought the masked deportations have been bad until now, hold onto something. It’s about to get much, much worse.
The Hammserbergs represent Sandpoint at its finest…
Dear editor,
Always one of the most happy, uplifting experiences of strolling First Avenue in downtown Sandpoint was coming upon Randi and Mike Hammersberg taking a break on the bench in front of their store, the Image Maker, and then joining them there.
As local families passed by, Randi and Mike seemed to know them all. Smiling, waving and bantering, milling, waving and bantering, the Hammersbergs’ cheerful presence on the bench represented Sandpoint at its finest. And so, not incidentally, did the incredible fundraising effort to help pay recovery costs for Randi and daughter Miki. Well done, Sandpoint! All of us need to be more like the Hammersbergs. Rest in peace, Mike.
Tim Henney Sandpoint
‘The essence of dog poop’…
Dear editor,
A few days ago I was in the Super One parking lot and noticed someone open their car door and drop a full pink dog poop bag onto the blacktop. I couldn’t believe anyone could be so thoughtless and moronic.
I doubt that the person who did this will ever read my comment… someone with this mentality prob ably can’t read. May the essence of dog poop reside in your pillow every night.
Marlin Turinsky Sandpoint
anyone: Proud Boys, Oath Keepers or those he pardoned for Jan. 6.
Threatening Greenland, Panama and even Canada with military action?
Using the military to intimidate citizens’ protests?
Ignoring the courts?
Taking bribes from foreign powers, such as a $400 million airplane from Qatar?
Taking away Medicaid in order to give billionaires a permanent tax break?
Adding $3.4 trillion to the deficit, which is what his Big Beautiful Dumpster Fire bill does?
Cutting FEMA’s and NOAA’s budgets, which will affect mostly red states when the hurricanes blow through?
Did they vote to cut food stamps?
Did they count on going to their favorite camp site or fishing place in a national forest only to find it’s been clear cut?
Did they vote to eliminate Head Start or to cut vacation school lunches for their kids?
If they live in a rural area, did they vote to close down their local hospital so they have to drive an hour or more to the nearest one while they’re having a heart attack or stroke?
Did they vote for a huckster
than strongly worded signs at the “No Kings” rally? The only thing that approached anything violent were two vehicles that blew black smoke. We were not “reserved,” I’ll admit, but we were in no way violent.
Did they vote for Trump saying he holds all the cards in his ability to overturn election results? Sounds like an old-style king or dictator to me.
Lawrence Fury Sandpoint
‘Truth hurts’…
Dear editor, You know there is something wrong in this country when the Bezos of Amazon can spend $40 million dollars on a second wedding and 12 million people being kicked off of Medicaid will help pay for it. You know there is something wrong in this country when the Supreme Court defies logic and defines corporations as people, money as free speech and gives one man free reign over our democratic republic as if he were king.
You know there is something wrong in this country when masked men in unmarked vehicles can grab people off the streets, in places of work or worship, detain them and deport them to far off places. You know there is something wrong in
by talking heads of the largest national news organization (Fox) and even the president talks about hating half the people he represents.
You really know there is something wrong in this country when the most fervent followers of Jesus Christ talk, act and monetize His words, which were meant to make all of us aware that we are our brothers’ keeper.
We the people have been “had” by both parties, the politicians and oligarchs that control them, the Supremes who allow their larceny and a president who is anything but presidential. It’s almost like we’re being set on the road to a new 1776 Revolution or a replay of the Civil War. It’s the people’s choice: What do we really want?
Cesar Hernandez
Heron, Mont.
Socraptic dialogue... Thanks, Reader…
Dear editor,
I just wanted to say thanks for all the great work you do at the Reader. My family lives here year round and I come for summers and always rely on the Reader for great reporting and fantastic information about events in the area.
Thanks for being an important part of this community.
My family and I very much appreciate it.
Katie Bledsoe Vancouver, Wash.
Is this what Trump voters wanted?…
Dear editor,
Dear editor, Reporter: “President Trump, how do you decide your domestic and foreign policy positions?”
President Trump: “It’s genius. America is like a huge rock. And I’m like Michelangelo. I just chip away everything that doesn’t benefit me.”
A recent letter by John Kludt said Trump was “duly elected” [“Trump is no ‘wanna-be king’...,” June 26, 2025] — maybe, but did those who voted for him vote for the following?
So called ICE/police agents terrorizing citizens like the Gestapo — with no uniform or badges, they could be
for your whole life.
Why your neighbors go to Pride
By Ammi Midstokke Reader Contributor
Most residents of the area seem eager participants in anything with a proximity to crepes, beer or live music, so I was recently surprised when someone asked me, “But why do they have to have a festival about being gay?”
It’s a fair question (then again, I think all questions are fair), but perhaps one rooted in a misunderstanding about what Pride festivals are.
There is a history to Pride events that precedes our small town’s volunteer-run festival — one that celebrates civil rights, freedom, privacy, equality and all the things we hold dear in our Constitution. Granted, there’s a lot more glitter and eyeshadow in this particular party than our Independence Day parade, but in many ways, we’re celebrating the same founding principle of this country: freedom.
Freedom to pursue happiness. Freedom from unjust persecution. Freedom of speech. Freedom from fear.
The first Pride events began in 1970, the year after the Stonewall Riots in New York. These protests were the result of government-sanctioned raids on establishments known to cater to gay patrons, as well as systemic persecution through legislation, isolation and denigration of sexual minorities. Fueled by a nationwide civil rights movement, Pride events began appearing in cities across America, with June officially being declared Pride Month in 1999.
Webster’s Dictionary defines pride as consciousness of one’s own dignity. Dignity means being worthy of respect. In other words, a basic human right that is often challenged or denied to members of the LGBTQ+ community (to name just one minority).
One of the wonders of North Idaho is the diverse set of values coexisting within it. We have at least 73 of the 14 million branches of Christianity (these are rough estimates) living in a cohesive social agreement whereby we accept the Mennonites as the superior bakers and the Hutterites as the best chicken farmers. We’re open to all lengths of skirts.
We have diesel V8s rolling coal next to Teslas and a few relic Priuses. We have people fishing on the lake, sailing on the lake, wakeboarding on the lake, paddling on the lake. Ending a decades-long unspoken cold war, the mountain bikers and dirt bikers even collaborated on trail projects this year.
We celebrate our farmers and crafters at the market each Wednesday and Saturday, along with local musicians. We invite artists to take over the town for our annual Art Walk. Our Fourth of July parade welcomes all voices, including the darlingly-dressed Daughters of the American Revolution and our two registered Democrats to hold the Bonner County Dems’ banner.
We have people defending public lands and property rights, and organizations restoring ownership to Indigenous peoples and championing conservation. We have people of differing races and ethnicities and cultural backgrounds, and finally, good Indian food. We even have vegans. Some of their friends are hunters, and the former makes a better lentil-loaf.
And we have gay people and trans people and everything-in-between-people. They buy our jams and pies at the county fair. Some are wicked-good quilters. Some are our children or parents, nieces and nephews, or were nieces but are now nephews.
In this town, we celebrate old cars downtown in May and microbrews at Schweitzer in the fall. We celebrate
each others’ hobbies, ideals, 4-H hog-raising skills and livelihoods. And in July at Sandpoint Pride, this town celebrates inclusion and dignity for all. LGBTQ+ people have always been within our community, contributing to our vitality and prosperity (though seemingly unimpactful to our stubborn clog fashion, leaving us to be ridiculed any time we travel to real cities). They run businesses, volunteer on boards, practice medicine, own homes, raise families. They pay taxes, go to church, buy our services, support our causes, fork out cash every time our kids have a soccer raffle (which is to say often).
And they throw a hell of a party, for free, for everyone, every year.
Pride festivals aren’t just some public parade of the queer folk. They are about our fundamental right to live freely and equally as diverse people contributing to a thriving community. And that is, indeed, something to be celebrated.
Ammi Midstokke is a writer, ally and mother. She serves on several nonprofit boards, including the Sandpoint Alliance for Equality.
Ammi Midstokke. Courtesy photo
Science: Mad about
south american megafauna
By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist
I have very fond memories of my fourth-grade year at Hope Elementary. Mr. Nietman devoted nearly the entire year to the study of the rainforest and the impacts it has on the continents of Africa and South America.
The Amazon rainforest of South America alone covers an area of 6.7 million square kilometers. Surprisingly, the rainforest is a relatively new ecological development in the grand history of Earth. It has grown considerably since the last glacial maximum during our most recent ice age. Roughly 11,000 years ago, South America was a much grassier and colder place. Colder environments and more open spaces in the past have created favorable conditions for megafauna to roam. Larger body masses better insulate internal organs while an increase in weight can help ward off competition and predators. That was until humans figured out that they could steal adaptations from other creatures by killing them and taking their hides.
The human species proved that brains beat brawn time and time again.
Glyptodon
The armadillo is a bit of a joke in Texas and Mexico. It’s essentially an armor-plated opossum that hasn’t adapted well to a world with fast-moving vehicles. Its distant prehistoric cousin, the glyptodon, would not have had such troubles in the modern world.
The massive animal had a bony shell that could reach lengths exceeding five feet,
with some species weighing upward of 4,400 pounds. They were very bony creatures with massive solid skulls and bone-ringed tails they could swing to batter predators with skeleton-crushing force.
Glyptodons were omnivorous and known to eat anything they came across while crawling along the ground. Their meals included vegetation and carrion, likely acting as nature’s cleaning crew rather than active hunters. They were known to be prolific diggers, likely to find roots and tubers rather than to burrow like meerkats or gophers. It’s likely that a mixture of a shifting climate in the wake of the glacial maximum as well as neolithic humans contributed to the extinction of the glyptodon.
Dire wolves
Not unique to A Song of Ice and Fire, dire wolves were a large relative to many wolf species today. It may be easy to think that wolves simply shrank over time and originated from dire wolves, but this wasn’t the case. Their lineage diverged about 5.7 million years ago, making dire wolves distinct from gray wolves.
Dire wolves had a huge range across North and South America, favoring woodlands and arid plains where they could run and hunt for prey. Despite their fame for being huge animals, they were comparable to some of the largest gray wolves, reaching up to 175 pounds and six feet long. The most intact fossils we’ve recovered have been fished out of the La Brea tar pits near Los Angeles. Unfortunately, their genetic material has been almost completely destroyed
by the tar.
Dire wolves have made headlines recently as Colossal Biosciences has claimed to have brought them back from extinction. These three wolves aren’t dire wolves at all, but gray wolves that were subjected to 20 edits to their genes to increase their size. Rather than bringing back an extinct species, this supercharges a pre-existing species that carries the potential to deal untold damage to ecosystems if ever allowed to breed without restriction in the wild.
Cue Ian Malcolm walking toward a big pile of triceratops poo.
Anaconda
We tend to talk about extinct megafauna, but one form of South American megafauna still exists: the green anaconda. It is the largest and heaviest snake in the world but remains just a little shorter than the reticulated python. The largest green anaconda on record weighed 500 pounds and was more than 27 feet long.
As a point of reference, that snake weighed as much as a grand piano and was as long as a moving truck.
Being an aquatic predator, the anaconda will devour anything it can wrap its jaws around. This includes fish, caimans or even jaguars that come close to the water’s edge. As opportunistic predators, they are eager to consume virtually anything with a heartbeat. In rare cases, this includes humans.
However, the idea of massive snakes going on Amazonian man-killing rampages is largely a work of fiction. The anaconda is not known for actively stalking humans, but instead seems to eat whatever it can
reach at the water’s edge.
One of the strangest behaviors of this snake is the breeding ball. A female will secrete pheromones that attract males in droves. Multiple males will coil around the female in an attempt to mate, forcibly pushing weaker males away in the process. This can go on for weeks on end, which is horrifying when you factor in the sheer size of these reptiles.
Females have also been
observed to breed through parthenogenesis, which means they can reproduce a perfect genetic clone of themselves without the need for a male. This is a highly inefficient means of reproduction, as it makes the offspring susceptible to pathogens and dangers the parent faced, but it’s an acceptable means to continue a genetic lineage in dire conditions. Stay curious, 7B.
Random Corner
•The first batch of butter was likely made by accident. Nomads often traveled with bags of milk tied to their horses, so all the bouncing movement would churn the milk into butter.
•Butter is a pretty big deal in Norway. During the 11th century, Norwegians had to pay the king a bucket of butter per year as a tax.
•For ancient Romans, butter was inferior to olive oil and was seen as food for northern barbarians. Instead of eating it, Romans used to rub it on their bodies to cure coughs and aching joints.
•The color of butter depends on the food a cow eats. Grass-fed cows will produce butter with a deeper yellow hue, because they get lots of beta-carotene in their diet.
•Facing food shortages, Emperor Napoleon III (Napoleon Bonaparte’s nephew) offered a prize for the invention of a cheaper alternative to butter. A French chemist succeeded in 1869 when he blended beef tallow and milk, calling it oleomargarine. Today, we
refer to it simply as margarine.
•Irish people used to store excess butter by burying it in peat bogs, where low oxygen and acidity help protect organic materials from rot. More than 3,000 years later, wooden barrels of bog butter are still being unearthed by farmers.
•India is the world’s largest butter producer, churning out about 7.6 million tons annually.
•Ghee is popular throughout South Asia, and originated in the Indus Valley about 8,000 years ago. Ghee is made by clarifying butter to separate butterfat from milk solids and water in butter. Ghee has a much higher smoke point than butter, so it can be used for high-heat cooking.
•Butter shortages can happen due to global downturns in milk production, especially in the U.S. and New Zealand. Some countries, like Canada and Poland, keep national butter reserves to release during shortages to help maintain stable prices.
An anaconda strangles a caiman in Brazil. Courtesy photo
BY THE NUMBERS
By Ben Olson Reader Staff
13
The number of states rejecting summer lunch funding from the federal government. Last year, the federal government created a program to provide $120 in grocery money for eligible school-age children when school is out. A number of Republican governors have complained about administrative costs or say it’s duplicative of other programs. Idaho is one of the 13 states rejecting the program.
30,000
The estimated number of employees expected to be laid off by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs by the end of fiscal year 2025. Previous downsizing goals projected the loss of 70,000 jobs in the VA, but a July 7 announcement claimed the new reduction goal would be accomplished through attrition from voluntary early retirements, deferred resignations and a federal hiring freeze. As of Jan. 1, the VA had about 484,000 employees. Currently, the VA lists its employment at 467,000 people.
1
The number of minutes missing from a closed-circuit television feed outside of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s jail cell the night of his death in 2019, which was reported as a suicide. In response to a reporter’s questions in February, Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed to have a “client list” of Epstein’s “on [her] desk right now.” Last week, the Department of Justice released a memo reaffirming previous conclusions about Epstein, including that he died by suicide and that there was no “list,” which has upset conspiracy theorists and far-right supporters of President Donald Trump. When asked about the footage showing a full minute missing from 11:59 p.m. to 12 a.m. the night of Epstein’s death, Bondi claimed that Bureau of Prisons videos are “reset, and every night should have the same minute missing. So we’re looking for that video to release that, as well, showing that a minute is missing every night.”
Panhandle Electric teams up with LPOSD for school bus parking lot improvements
By Reader Staff
Panhandle Electric recently finished a significant lighting and energy savings upgrade for the school bus parking lot on Baldy Mountain Road, as part of the Lake Pend Oreille School District’s ongoing project to improve safety, modernization and smart energy use.
The project addresses longstanding concerns about visibility and safety for district transportation staff — particularly in early morning hours when the area is heavily used yet, in the past, underlit. The updated lighting system is intended to enhance visibility for drivers and staff, while improving overall security for the facility.
The new system will feature automated, energy-saving dusk-to-dawn controls for lighting and temperature and time controls for efficient utilization of block heaters that are
critical to start buses in the winter.
The project benefited from a rebate provided by Avista Utilities, which reduced costs associated with the upgrade. Avista’s energy efficiency incentive program supports infrastructure projects that deliver longterm energy savings and operational benefits, making upgrades more affordable for public institutions.
As a licensed public works contractor, Panhandle Electric “is proud to support the school district in improving infrastructure that directly impacts the daily experience of its employees,” the company stated.
“Lighting plays a huge role in site safety, and we’re excited to help make this space safer and more functional for the people who rely on it every day,” Panhandle Electric owner Evan Lewis stated.
For more on Panhandle Electric and their scope of services, visit pnhdlelectric.com.
All photos taken at the 2025 Sandpoint Renaissance Faire by Karley Coleman.
OUTDOOR
Watering in summer
By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff
Keeping plants happy in summer heatwaves is no small feat, and, if done incorrectly, it can balloon water bills to ridiculous proportions. Balancing time, money and a garden’s needs can be tricky; but, in this case, what’s best for one is best for all.
Conserving water in a heat wave starts with knowing when and how to water. To minimize evaporation, water plants in the evening or early morning when it’s cool and there’s less direct sunlight on the soil. At these times of day, it can be tempting to hit plants with the hose for five minutes and then head back inside for coffee or a nightcap, as the case may be, but that doesn’t help plants combat drought and heat.
The best method for watering a garden is low and slow — little water, applied close to the soil for an extended period of time. This strategy ensures that water doesn’t pool and run off, but rather seeps deep into the soil, where it takes longer to dry out. Roots will follow the water, so the deeper it goes, the deeper the plants dig and the more sturdy and drought-resistant they become — and the less you’ll have to water.
The time it takes to water will depend on how absorbent the soil is, the temperature outside and the amount of water the hose is dispensing. To gauge a garden’s needs, start by watering as you normally would, then wait five minutes to give the water time to sink into the ground. Afterward, poke a finger, trowel or stick into the soil to see how far the water has permeated. A deeply watered garden should have six to eight inches of moist soil. If it’s not even close, keep watering.
Achieving that level of water absorption takes time, which is why it’s easier to install a drip irrigation system rather than water by hand. Depending on the size and shape of your garden, DIY kits can cost anywhere from $50 to $200. It can be more cost-effective to buy the individual parts from a gar-
den store if you have a lot of ground to cover. Either way, you’ll need tubing — most commonly ¼-inch — a hose connector, a pressure regulator and water emitters. To make things extra easy, throw in another $50 for an automatic timer.
Drip irrigation systems deliver small, controlled amounts of water directly to the roots. Unlike conventional sprinklers, little is lost to evaporation because the water doesn’t have to fly through the air or sit on plants’ leaves. This also helps prevent common diseases like powdery mildew, which thrives in moisture on the leaves.
There are hundreds of ways to customize a drip system to suit pots, raised beds or conventional gardens and the plants they contain. Porous soaker hoses and drip hoses with evenly spaced punctures work best for rows of crops, as they can cover a large area. Plants spaced farther apart can benefit from individual water emitters staked near their roots, which can drip, mist or spray a small area. Targeted emitters only water the intended plant, minimizing waste and combat-
ing weed growth.
Regardless of how you water, best practice is to add one to two inches of mulch to the garden to lock in moisture, regulate soil temperature and minimize weeds. Spread it around plants, leaving space at the bases so the mulch doesn’t inhibit their growth or provide a cozy home for pests right next to the stems.
Most garden stores sell bags of organic mulch made from dye-free woodchips, but there are plenty of materials around the house or shop that work just as well, if not better. Chopped-up pine needles, leaves, straw, compost and coarse sawdust can all make good mulches. When making mulch at home, try to keep the elements chunky. Fine sawdust or ground leaves can matt together, forming a barrier that actually repels water and smothers plants. Good mulch is absorbent and loose-textured.
Though it will cost more initially, crafting a good system that conserves water will make for healthier plants, fewer weeds and a lower water bill in the long run.
An example of a garden drip watering kit available at most landscaping and hardware stores. Courtesy photo
Antique and Classic Boat Show floats by Sandpoint
By Reader Staff
Seasons change and businesses come and go, but locals and tourists alike can always rely on the annual Sandpoint Antique and Classic Boat show, returning for its 23rd year on Friday, July 11.
Organized by the Inland Empire Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society, this free event will span the length of Sandpoint City Boardwalk on Sand Creek, displaying restored wooden boats — some more than 100 years old. Captains will launch and moor their vessels from noon to 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 10, and the exhibition begins the following day.
Stroll along Sand Creek to view the boats and visit various tables, includ-
ing a face painting and crafting station hosted by Creations, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. See the boats in action at 3 p.m., as they parade up and down the creek. Visit inlandempireacbs.com for more information or for the full, members-only schedule of events.
Courtesy photo
Festival at Sandpoint unveils 2025 poster
Local artist Perky Smith-Hagadone themes ‘Wild Cantata’ after her love of the natural world
By Reader Staff
The Festival at Sandpoint unveiled the 2025 fine arts poster at its July 8 sponsor appreciation dinner at The Idaho Club.
Local artist Perky Smith-Hagadone’s “Wild Cantata” was selected as the winner for the Festival’s 2025 poster contest. Smith-Hagadone’s piece is set on Gold Hill, looking toward Sandpoint. A great blue heron lifts its wings to the falling dusk while various birds perch on its wings, including a lazuli bunting, an American goldfinch, a song sparrow, a western tanager, a California quail and a rufous hummingbird.
“As a birder and a lover of our natural world, finding inspiration was not difficult,” Smith-Hagadone said. “As the Festival at Sandpoint is surrounded by stunning mountains, lakes and rivers, and filled with essential native flora and fauna, I wanted to showcase some of the beauty of our native birds
in hopes that we continue to preserve our wild areas for all who call it home.”
Regarding the title of her piece, a cantata is a musical composition for voices and instruments, often featuring a choir. The word comes from the Italian word “cantare,” which means “to sing.”
“Bird song is probably one of the world’s most original pieces of music,” she said. “I felt the birds wanted to join in a wild cantata with the myriad of Festival musicians.”
The media used includes watercolor, watercolor pencils and table salt to add movement and texture.
Poster prints and T-shirts featuring the poster are on sale now at the Festival office, 525 Pine St., in Sandpoint.
[Disclosure: Perky Smith-Hagadone is Reader Editor-in-Chief Zach Hagadone’s mother.]
Tree Cookie Tuesdays returns for July
By Reader Staff
The Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society is bringing Tree Cookie Tuesdays back for its fourth year. The popular event is geared toward parents, grandparents and elementary-aged children to solve mysteries with a nature theme. Participants can take home a cookie after the program.
“Tree Cookie Tuesdays is one of the many outreach programs to foster awareness of ecosystems and the importance of
the interconnected relationships between plants, insects, animals and humans,” KNPS stated in an announcement.
There will be Tree Cookie Tuesdays held July 15, 22 and 29, all taking place from 9 a.m.-noon at the Arboretum in Lakeview Park (611 S.Ella Ave., Sandpoint).
The July 15 event will focus on beetles, July 22 will tackle spiders and July 29 will explore the world of ants.
All are welcome to attend. Get more info at nativeplantsociety.org.
Panida to host Summer Theater Camp again
By Reader Staff
Back for its second year, the Panida Summer Theater Camp is scheduled for Mondays-Fridays, July 21-Aug. 9 from 1-4 p.m. at the theater (300 N. First Ave., in downtown Sandpoint).
The camp is open to students ages 8 to 17 years old and is presented by the Panida Theater and Lake Pend Oreille Repertory Theatre. It is also sponsored by the Pend Oreille Arts Council.
Geared toward aspiring thespians, the camp is taught by LPO Repertory Theatre
educator Liz Iha, introducing students to the basics of theater arts, including auditioning, blocking, line memorization, sets, props, costumes and more. Students are encouraged to attend every day. Participants will prepare for a final performance of The Three Musketeers held Friday, Aug. 8 and Saturday, Aug. 9. Class size is limited to 35 students and those interested in attending should register now, as the class is expected to fill.
To register or learn more, visit bit.ly/PanidaCamp or contact events@panida.org.
Artist Perky Smith-Hagadone and her 2025 Festival at Sandpoint fine arts poster. Courtesy images
Kimekomi comes alive
Jenni Barry Honored as POAC’s Artist of the Year
By Reader Staff
Celebrate Pend
Oreille Arts Council
artist of the year Jenni
Barry at a free opening reception Friday, July 11, at the POAC Gallery (313 N. Second Ave.).
Barry will unveil and answer questions about her new collection of 14 fiber art pieces from 5-7 p.m., and the exhibit will be on display until Wednesday, July 30.
“Sailing” by Jenni Barry. Courtesy image
Barry practices the Japanese technique of Kimekomi, which literally translates to “tuck into a groove.” The artist folds fabric into carved channels in foam to create mosaic-like designs that are often mistaken for quilted or sewn pieces.
“I do not sew,” said Barry. “Each piece of fabric is carefully chosen and meticulously tucked into a foam-core base. The result is a one-of-a-kind piece of art that feels like a warm hug.”
Barry hopes to bring Kimekomi into the fine art world and introduce others to the technique. Her work has been featured in Fiber Art Now and Women Create, and she can often be found volunteering and teaching classes at the POAC Gallery.
“Jenni has been part of POAC since before I started here,” stated POAC Arts Coordinator Claire Christy. “She’s incredibly skilled at capturing likenesses in fabric, especially in her pet portraits. But beyond that, Jenni is kind, gracious and generous with her time. This recognition is long overdue. We’re lucky to have her in our community.”
For more information, visit artinsandpoint.org and jennibarryart.com.
Send event listings to calendar@sandpointreader.com
Pairings in the Pines
Tasting event at Pine Street Woods kaniksu.org for more information
Live Music w/ The Meat Sweatz
8:45pm @ The Hive
Rock ’n’ roll supergroup. Free
Live Music w/ Mobius Riff
6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority
Live Music w/ Sydney Dawn
6-9pm @ Barrel 33
Live Music w/ Bright Moments Jazz
5-8pm @ Connie’s Lounge (outside)
Pride Weekend (July 11-13)
Various times and locations in Sandpoint
See Page 20 for full info
Live Music w/ Nefftones
8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub
Live Music w/ Mason Van Stone
6-8pm @ Baxter’s on Cedar
Live Music w/ Camden Morris
6-9pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall
Live Music w/ Buffalo Speedway
8:30pm @ The Hive
Inland NW country rock. $5 entry.
Line dancing lessons 7:30pm ($10)
Live Music w/ Marcus Stevens
6-9pm @ Barrel 33
Live Music w/ Bright Moments Jazz 6pm @ Arlo’s Ristorante (outside)
Live Music w/ Sydney Dawn
6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority
Live Music w/ Monarch Mountain Band
5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery
Live Music w/ Chris Paradis
6-8pm @ Baxter’s on Cedar
Sandpoint Chess Club
9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee
THURSDAY, july 10
Trivia Night ($5 entry)
7pm @ Connie’s Lounge
Live Music w/ Ben and the Buds
6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall
FriDAY, july 11
Distilling the medicine of the library garden
9am-noon @ Sandpoint Library Garden
Hands-on hydrosol distillation experience taught by Untamed Alchemy. FREE
Historic Walking Tours
11am @ Elevate Realty, 212 N. First Ave.
Tickets $15/adults, $5/youth
Smokesmith’s 2nd annual Sausage Fest
4-9pm @ Smokesmith BBQ
Live music, free samples, hot dog eating contests and more. Live music by Dr. Cee Cee & The Elixir 5:30-8:30pm
Live Music w/ Justin Lantrip
5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery
SATURDAY, july 12
Kids’ fairy garden workshop
9-10am @ Verdant Plant Shop
Kids 4-10 years old will get to choose a real houseplant, learn how to plant and care for it and also add figurines. $25/child, includes all supplies
Tai Chi at City Beach
9:30-10:30am @ Sandpoint City Beach
Farm to table dinner event
5pm @ 11742 W. Pine St. (near PSW)
A delicious meal paired with local wines with proceeds going to MCS
DJ OJ Trailblazer set (free show)
9pm @ 219 Lounge
SunDAY, july 13
Live Music w/ Kerry Leigh 3-5pm @ Idaho Pour Authority
Live Music w/ Thrown Out Bones
8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub
Monday Night Blues Jam w/ John Firshi
7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub
Outdoor Experience group run
6pm @ Outdoor Experience
Trivia night
6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority
tuesDAY, july 15
Live piano w/ Malachi
5-7pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery
Art opening: Woods Wheatcroft
5-7pm @ Bluebird Bakery
Scenes of Pend Oreille and Sandpoint on large-format metal.
Nibbles, drinking and mingling
Live trivia ($5 entry)
7pm @ Connie’s Lounge
July 10-17, 2025
$5 Movie: Transamerica
7pm @ Panida Theater
Doors open at 6:30pm
Live Music w/ Frytz Mor 8-11pm @ Roxy’s
Hospice Kids Grief Camp Fundraiser
5-10pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall
Support Bonner Community Hospice’s Kids Grief Camp. Live music w/ Miah Kohal Band, Liam McCoy and The Real McCoy
Contra Dance
7-10pm @ Sandpoint Community Hall
Live music, lively caller, no partner needed. $5-$10 donation
POAC Artist of the Year reception
5-7pm @ POAC Gallery, 313 N. 2nd Ave.
Opening reception for POAC’s Artist of the Year Jenni Barry. Free
Live Music w/ Ken Mayginnes
6-9pm @ 1908 Saloon
Sandpoint Pride
3pm-midnight @ Matchwood Brewing Co.
Food vendors, advocates on-site, games for all ages, bouncy house and face painting. Live music w/ Sideboob and Thrown Out Bones. See Pgs. 20, 21
Sandpoint Antique & Classic Boat Show
12-5:30pm @ Sandpoint City Boardwalk
Public welcome, check out the wooden boats on the boardwalk. Boat show starting at 10am, parade at 3pm
Smokesmith’s 2nd annual Sausage Fest
4-9pm @ Smokesmith BBQ
Music: The Meat Sweatz 5:30-8:30pm
Music with DJ Sterling 9pm-midnight @ Roxy’s
Live Music w/ Fiddlin’ Red 1-4pm @ Idaho Pour Authority
This space is filled with women who show up for each other fully without competition. Read more online
Kokedama workshop
wednesDAY, july 16
5:30-7:30pm @ Verdant Plant Shop
Make your own moss-wrapped plant art. $30 includes supplies, instruction
Family hour and live music w/ John Firshi
5-7pm @ Matchwood Brewing Co.
Live piano w/ Bob Beadling
5-7pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery
Live Music w/ Kevin Ray
5-7:30pm @ Hope Memorial Community Center
FREE improv show by LPO Repertory Theatre • 6:30pm @ Panida Little Theater
Final showcase of a 12-week improv workshop taught by Alexis Senn and Cory Repass
ThursDAY, july 17
Live Music w/ Sheldon Packwood
6-8pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall
Paint and Sip
5:30-8pm @ Barrel 33
Rock Creek Alliance annual party 5pm @ Matchwood Brewing Co.
Join for an update on the fight to protect our lake. Music by Headwaters
Pee-wee as Himself is a gripping portrait of a complex artist — never a ‘sad clown’
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff
Watching the two-part HBO Max documentary Peewee as Himself, it’s tempting to draw associations with a novel like Heinrich Böll’s The Clown or an opera like Pagliacci. Both are portraits of an artist who put on a costume of capering humor to mask a deep vein of pain.
It’s such a common character that the trope has a name: the “sad clown paradox,” defined as “those who make us laugh the most tend to be the most prone to mental health problems.”
The late-Paul Reubens, a.k.a. Pee-wee Herman, would reject that interpretation outright — as he does in the stellar and affecting documentary bearing his stage name, which premiered on the streaming service in May.
Calling Pee-wee as Himself a “documentary” is a little misleading. While it consists of the standard doc format of sitdown interviews interspersed with archival footage, Reubens himself demolishes the interviewer-interviewee edifice from the first frames. Straight out of the gate he questions the wisdom of making such a film and struggles openly with director Matt Wolf for control of the project.
Reubens makes it clear that unlike his iconic Pee-wee char-
acter — defined by a wild extroversion that used earnestness to veil impish subversion — his intense need for privacy is only rivalled by his unashamed need for total control and justified belief in his own genius.
Or was. That is to say, Reubens died in 2023 following a cancer diagnosis that he kept secret for six years. Even the documentary crew didn’t know he was sick until the very end, when he refused to continue participating but delivered a final message the day before he passed.
Meanwhile, Pee-wee as Himself ends up being far less the “sad clown” and more a tightly wound, contentious portrait of one of the most singular yet misunderstood artists of the 20th century.
For those who grew up in the 1980s and early-’90s, that might sound overblown. For that age group, Pee-wee was the frenetic, bow-tied resident of a mad-cap playhouse in which almost everything was a sentient puppet: the chair, the globe, a “magic screen,” the clock, the window, a kite, the flowers outside and even the floor (and more). There was also a disembodied genie’s head, a pteranodon, a band of jazz-playing cats and basically anything else Reubens decided to throw into the mix.
Pee-wee’s Playhouse was a staple of kids’ TV from 1986 to 1990, then rerun on Saturday
mornings until mid-1991. Reubens’ movies — Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985) and Big Top Pee-wee (1988) also solidified the character as a core memory for an entire generation.
Pee-wee as Himself, however, does what its title implies — or at least tries to: decenter Pee-wee Herman in order to let Paul Reubens explain who he really was, which was a revolutionary performer whose legacy belongs among the greatest conceptual comedians of all time, but continues to be overshadowed by the personal disgraces he suffered in the early 1990s and 2000s.
“More than anything, the reason I wanted to make a documentary was to let people see who I really am and how painful and difficult it was to be labeled something I wasn’t,” Reubens says in that final message before his death.
Of course, most people know he was dragged through the headlines following an indecent exposure arrest in 1991 (for which he pled no contest) and a raid on his art collection in 2002. (Though he eventually entered a guilty plea for misdemeanor obscenity, he vehemently denied anything in his collection was “obscene,” consisting of vintage erotica and kitsch.)
With all that baggage freighted into the second half of Reubens’ life, it would have been easy for Pee-wee as
Himself to descend into a final settling of scores or a hagiography. Rather, it’s a gripping confessional and self-examination that reveals how little we actually knew Reubens, and are poorer for it.
The earliest parts of the story show Reubens growing up in New York, then Florida, where he was entranced by the children’s TV of the late-’50s and ’60s, then the circus. He later moved to L.A. and attended CalArts, where he flourished as an avant-garde performance artist who outshone even his most outre classmates. Reubens then performed on The Gong Show, followed by joining The Groundlings, which is where Pee-wee’s story really starts.
Amid those career moves Reubens was living openly as a gay man in a fiercely felt and committed relationship; but, as success mounted, he retreated to the closet, where
he mostly remained for the rest of his life. Even decades after that relationship ended and his former partner had died of AIDS, Reubens still struggled talking about it.
Meanwhile, for those who only knew Reubens from Playhouse and his later arrests, it’s shocking to discover how enmeshed he was with the most cutting-edge comic artists then working: Phil Hartman, Cheech and Chong, Saturday Night Live and MTV being among some of his highest-profile associations. The first Pee-wee movie was directed by no less than Tim Burton (his first feature film) with music by Danny Elfman. Pee-wee’s Playhouse featured Hartman until he landed an SNL spot (for which Reubens appears never to have forgiven him), Laurence Fishburne (as Cowboy Curtis) and a very young Natasha Lyonne, among others. Guest stars included no less than Little Richard and Cher.
Just as Reubens went through a dark decade, he persevered and reinvented himself, enjoying if not a renaissance starting in the late-2000s, then at least a reaffirming of his boundless talent. Pee-wee as Himself is a masterful capstone to that talent, career and life, and should by all rights put Paul at least on an equal footing with Pee-wee for posterity.
Panida $5 movie Transamerica is about identity as much as family
By Reader Staff
As Walt Whitman wrote in the iconic poem “Song of Myself,” “The past and present wilt — I have fill’d them, emptied them/ And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.” In the same piece, he penned the immortal line: “I am large, I contain multitudes.”
Those notions of reinvention and interior identities animate the philosophical and emotional arc of Transamerica — the story of a trans woman on the cusp of a life-changing
surgery who suddenly learns she is a “father” to an unknown son.
Sabrina “Bree” Osbourne (Felicity Huffman) is in the final stages of transitioning when a 17-year-old boy named Toby (Kevin Zegers) calls looking for someone named Stanley Schupak, whom he claims is his father. That was the name Bree carried from birth, but wants to leave in the past — along with an estranged family and an identity that never fit. Bree needs her therapist’s green-
light before she can get the surgery; however, she won’t give it unless Bree connects with Toby.
Bree flies from L.A. to New York, where she bails Toby out of jail. Posing as a Christian missionary — and not disclosing her true relationship to Toby — she learns of his hard-knock life as the son of a mother who committed suicide, a runaway, drug dealer and sex worker.
Maintaining the facade, Bree offers to take Toby out west, though intends to ditch
him with his stepfather along the way. Realizing that would put him back in the abusive situation that caused him to flee to New York in the first place, Bree decides to take Toby all the way to L.A. Her secret gets more and more difficult to conceal as she and Toby get to know each other along the way, leading to profound revelations about love, identity, loyalty and ultimately family.
Transamerica earned Oscar nominations in 2006 for best actress in a leading role and
best original song, while winning Golden Globes in those categories the same year.
The Panida Theater will screen the film Thursday, July 10 at 7 p.m. as part of its $5 movie series. Sponsored by La Chic Boutique, Planned Parenthood, Evans Brothers Coffee Roasters and Bonner County Democrats, doors open 30 minutes before the show at 300 N. First Ave.
Paul Reubens, a.k.a. Pee-wee Herman. Courtesy photo
Havin’ a gay old time Sandpoint Pride
By Reader Staff
Break out the rainbow flags and glitter for the fifth-annual Sandpoint Pride, hosted Friday, July 11 through Sunday, July 13, by Sandpoint Alliance for Equality. The celebration includes workshops, performances, games and more across the city, culminating in Saturday’s party at the Granary District.
To kick off the weekend, local experts will host a series of advocacy workshops at Marigold Bistro (414 Church St.). Dr. Michael Welp and Ammi Midstokke will present “Skill-Building Practice for Transformative Conversations” from noon to 1 p.m. and then “Crafting Your Message in a World of Opposing Values” from 1:302:30 p.m. “Know Your 1A Rights” by Jeanne Howe will begin at 3 p.m., after which the group moves to the Yellow Room (102 Euclid Ave.) for “Queer Writes: A Sto-
rytelling and Writing Workshop” taught by local advocate Jen Jackson Quintano from 4-5:30 p.m.
Eichardt’s Pub (212 Cedar Street) will break out ping-pong tables and putt-putt golf — alongside its iconic shuffleboard table — for Teen Gayme Night. Teens can enjoy free snacks and pop, play games and learn more about SAFE from 4-6 p.m. Afterward, head over to happy hour from 6-7 p.m. at the Heartwood Center (615 Oak St.) for free snacks and a no-host bar and sign up for SAFE’s open mic from 7-9 p.m.
Saturday’s festivities kick off at Pride Outside at Pine Street Woods (11915 W. Pine St.), where outdoorsy-types can enjoy hiking, biking and nature walks with allies and fellow members of the LGBTQIA+ community from 9 a.m. to noon.
Back in town, take a shopping break at any point during the day
to be a part of SAFE’s first Out and About event, which supports local queer-friendly businesses. From 1011:30 a.m., you can also catch the Peace and Justice Activist Musical Rascals of Spokane (a.k.a. PJAMRS Marching Band) performing pop-up concerts around town.
Sandpoint Pride Celebration main event begins at 3 p.m. at the Granary Arts District (513 Oak St.) and will include more than 50 vendors, advocacy groups and activities. Play games, tie-dye fabric, make a friendship bracelet or take the kids to get their faces painted. Special events include bingo with Sandpoint Area Seniors, queer trivia and best-dressed competitions. Following the 5:15 p.m. drag show, Thrown-Out Bones and Sideboob (See Page 21) will perform from 6:45-8 p.m. and 8:30-10 p.m., respectively. The event ends with a silent disco from 10 p.m. to midnight.
celebrates five years
Show appreciation for Pride’s hosts, performers and volunteers on Sunday from 8:30-11 a.m. by cleaning up the Granary District. Later, hop on a boat and join a flotilla of queer folk and allies for the Rainbow Regatta (at a time and place to be announced on Saturday), before returning to land for a volunteer appreciation party at Eichardt’s from 7:30-11 p.m.
Photo by Racheal Baker
Sideboob and Thrown-Out Bones headline Sandpoint Pride
By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff
The main stage of the fifth annual Sandpoint Pride Celebration at the Granary (513 Oak St.) will host two electrifying bands to close out the day’s festivities on Saturday, July 12. The San Carlos, Calif.-based band ThrownOut Bones will take the stage at 6:45 p.m., followed by the beloved girl-power band Sideboob at 8:30 p.m. for one high-energy, free concert.
Anyone who’s seen Thrown-Out Bones knows the chemistry between the trio has only grown stronger during their 15 years and eight cross-country tours together.
Lead singer and drummer Liliana Urbain sets the tone with her classical, smoky voice, which pairs well with the gritty, psychedelic sounds of guitarist Nick Chang and bassist Sam Miller. The trio has dubbed their sound “swanky rock.” An apt description, as their mixture of rock, blues and jazz has a surreal, flirty edge that often leans into a rich, old-style New Orleans-esque spookiness.
Listen and learn more at thrownoutbones.com or visit Spotify to hear their newest EP, Matter of Chance, where the band dips into its indie-rock side. Thrown-Out Bones will perform its final song at 8:15 p.m., followed by a brief intermission when concertgoers can compete for the
title of “best dressed.”
Local stars Laurie and Katelyn Shook of Shook Twins will take the stage at 8:30 p.m. with their glitter-clad cover band Sideboob, who perform funky renditions of ’90s pop songs celebrating femininity. The all-female band will feature the talents of Megan Letts, of the indie-soul band Mama Magnolia, on the keys; folk musician Kat Fountain on harmonica and vocals; Liz Chibucos, of the funk-rock band Far Out West, on lead electric guitar; techno momrock musician Jem Sophia on electric guitar; indie-folk artist Aviva le Fey on bass; and Andrea Murphy on drums.
attended this fest every year and am blown away by the camaraderie and love I feel when I’m there in the Granary District with all these supportive and open-minded people who live in this beautiful town. It reminds me why I love it here, and shows me the best of what Sandpoint truly is.”
Left: Sideboob prepares for another stellar show. Above: Thrown-Out Bones playing live. Courtesy photos
Keely Gray, Sarah Morgan, Sarah Edmonds, Sydney Dale, Alex Cope and the Resistance Revival Chorus.
This week’s RLW by Zach Hagadone
“We are so excited to be a part of Sandpoint Pride,” said Katelyn Shook. “I have
As always, local performers will hop on stage to join in the fun and share their takes on hits from Britney Spears, Sheryl Crow, Christina Aguilera and more famous ladies. Special guests this year include Cadie Archer, Megan Turner,
“We’re gonna bring down the house with our woman power and these ’90s hits. Come join the ‘boobment’ — and bring your kids. We love when young people get to see our rare all-woman band!”
Visit Sideboob’s instagram for more information. For a full breakdown of Sandpoint Pride events, see Page 20.
Dario Ré to play Little Live Radio Hour
By Reader Staff
Singer-songwriter Dario Ré will make the journey from his off-grid mountain home to give a free concert at the latest installment of Little Live Radio Hour on Tuesday, July 15 at 7 p.m. in the Panida Little Theater (300 N. First Ave., in downtown Sandpoint). The monthly variety show comes from a collaboration between
88.5 KRFY Panhandle Community Radio and the Festival at Sandpoint, and can be experienced live in the theater, heard at 88.5 FM or streamed on KRFY.org.
Most Sandpointians will be familiar with the poetic lyrics and original art of the formerly Spokane-based musician. Whether performing in the seven-piece folk fusion band Heat Speak or as a solo
multi-instrumentalist, Ré is known for image-rich music that flows from language to language and genre to genre — sometimes English indie rock, other times French world fusion.
The live performance will also include a conversation and skit with local actors.
Visit KRFY.org for more information and listen to Ré at dariore.com.
A snapshot of notable live music coming up in Sandpoint
Hospice Kids Grief Camp fundraiser w/ Miah Kohal Band, Liam McCoy and The Real McCoy, MickDuff’s Beer Hall, July 12
The only thing better than listening to live music outside on the lawn at MickDuff’s Beer Hall is when it’s for a good cause.
Head to the Beer Hall for a heartwarming fundraiser benefiting the Bonner General Health Community Hospice Kids Summer Grief Camp, which helps children through
their grief journey. Tunes will be provided by the Miah Kohal Band, Liam McCoy and The Real McCoy. Bring some bucks for the cause! See you there.
Country rock connoisseurs scrutinize new bands the way sommeliers might approach a glass of wine, asking, “Does this singer’s voice have the grit of a country back road?”; “Does the guitar sound like Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Eagles had a lovechild in the back of a flatbed Ford?”; “Do the lyrics appeal to me, a hard-working, beer-drinking man?”
Rest assured, the original music of Buffalo Speedway
meets all these criteria and more. Stop by The Hive for a line dancing lesson, then put those skills to good use twirling to the band’s blend of country, blues and rock.
— Soncirey Mitchell
7:30 p.m. dance class, 8:30 p.m. concert, $5 ($10 for instructor), 21+. The Hive, 207 N. First Ave., 208-920-9039, livefromthehive.com. Listen at buffalospeedway.com.
READ LISTEN
Gary Shteyngart is perhaps the finest writer today melding genuine pathos with whip-smart humor and cutting satire. Following his brilliant pandemic era retelling of Uncle Vanya (Our Country Friends) is Vera, or Faith — a novel about childhood self-discovery buffeted by the tumultuous socio-political currents of contemporary American life. Released on July 8, it’s available where you buy books and is already being heralded as “the book of the summer.”
In case you didn’t listen to my 2022 recommendation of Wet Leg — and therefore haven’t been listening to the Isle of Wight-based fivepiece ever since, like I have — here’s another chance: The band will release its sophomore album Moisturizer on Friday, July 11. Put simply, Wet Leg is irresistible with its quirky indie-pop-rock sensibility, spiced with the kind of playfulness that leaves bite marks. Get a sample at wetleg. bandcamp.com, then get thee to store.wetlegband.com.
WATCH
Fans of noir crime thrillers and alternate history will be pleased with the limited BBC series SS-GB, which imagines that the Nazis won the Battle of Britain and occupied England. A year after the invasion, life in Merry Ol’ is anything but, as Scotland Yard detective Douglas Archer (Sam Riley) struggles to solve a murder while working under Nazi overlords who despise each other almost as much as the British resistance despises them. Meanwhile, the case takes on world-historical importance. Stream it on Amazon Prime.
From Pend d’Oreille Review, July 11, 1913
FIREBUG MAKES TWO ATTEMPTS
WHITE SWAN POOL ROOM SCENE OF FIREBUG’S ACTIVITIES
Two attempts to burn up the building at the corner of First avenue and Church street were made early in the week and prompt work of the fire department and cold feet sustained by the firebug were the only things that saved the structure.
Early Sunday morning the fire department was called to put out a fire in the White Swan pool room and owing to the fact that the fire had not made much headway the department made short work of it. Little damage was done but the timely discovery of the fire probably saved the building.
Monday morning, Frank Kelly, the proprietor, discovered a bunch of excelsior soaked in turpentine stuffed into a stovepipe hole where the firebug had apparently started another “plant” but had been scared off by the fact that the door was tightly fastened or by some one passing. Chief Hurd was shown the second attempt of the bug but has no trace of the miscreant.
An attempt to fire the place was also made about six weeks ago.
BACK OF THE BOOK Sorry JD Vance, there is no ‘native-born’ American aristocracy
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff
Add another entry in the ever-expanding catalog of lies, intellectual abuses and inanities that define the Trump administration, with the remarks delivered July 5 by Vice President JD Vance upon his acceptance of the Claremont Institute’s “statesmanship award.”
Speaking to members of what he described as the “intellectual center for California conservatism” and “the only group in California that makes me seem just like a reasonable moderate,” Vance centered his 35-minute speech on the notion of defining American citizenship, couching it in a pack of ahistorical and nativist claptrap that would get him laughed out of any actual “intellectual center.”
First he suggested that “the left” wants to “replace” the “native-born” “with people who will listen to their increasingly bizarre ethnic and religious appeals.”
Later, he argued against “identifying America just with agreeing with the principles, let’s say, of the Declaration of Independence.” To do so, he went on, would require admitting “hundreds of millions, maybe billions of foreign citizens” while also “reject[ing] a lot of people that the ADL would label as domestic extremists, even though those very Americans had their ancestors fight in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.”
Getting to the point, he added, “I think the people whose ancestors fought in the Civil War have a hell of a lot more claim over America than the people who say they don’t belong.”
In other words: Some Americans are more “American” than others,
STR8TS Solution
because “our shared qualities, our heritage, our values, our manners and customs confer a special and indispensable advantage.”
This was pretty rich coming from Mr. Hillbilly Elegy — and the husband of a first-generation Indian-American wife — but it also completely ignores the complicated history of how Americans have defined themselves.
When my Hagadone (née Hagedorn) ancestors arrived in New York colony fresh off a repurposed slave ship in 1709, they were German-speaking indentured servants bound for labor on an oligarch’s plantation in the Hudson Valley (he referred to it as his “manor”).
They had more in common with today’s itinerant farm workers than any glorious colonial American tradition. They really wanted their freedom, though, and so they and their fellow Rhineland migrants broke their contract and went to live among the Mohicans, who agreed to let them form settlements in present-day Schoharie County.
My ancestors rejected both imperial British and American colonial authority, preferring to find their liberty elsewhere with the actual native-born Americans — the total opposite of Vance’s ridiculous vision that “our ancestors ... carve[d] a successful nation from new land” and “tame[d] a wild continent. That is our heritage as Americans.”
While conducting research for my master’s in early American history, I visited the archives in Schoharie County, where I found records of my family’s participation in the Revolutionary War. But, again, opposite of Vance’s hackneyed portrait of the exceptional American, I had one ances-
Sudoku Solution
tor serving as a lieutenant in the New York militia fighting the British while his father hid British-hired Hessian mercenaries in the barn back home. I suspect he did so because those soldiers came from the same region of Germany as his own ancestors, and though he was by then a second-generation “native-born” American, he saw them as his fellow countrymen.
Being an “American” has never been anywhere near so simplistic as Vance would argue, though that crude and baseless reasoning animates the brutality and bigotry of the Trump administration’s approach to immigration, naturalization and citizenship — with inhumane effects.
True, my ancestors fought in the Revolution and the Civil War, but that provides me with no “special and indispensable advantage” nor gives me “a hell of a lot more claim over America” than anyone else. To argue otherwise is to assume there is an inherent aristocracy of American old stock, and I can’t think of anything more un-American than that.
I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it.
Laughing Matter
By Bill Borders
CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1.Army rank
6.With
11.Nimble
12.Candidate
15.Beginning
16.Bright meteor
17.Depression
18.Footstool
20.A spider’s home
21.French for “State”
23.By mouth
24.Split
25.Assess
26.Competition or combat
27.Glazier’s unit
28.Away from the wind
29.Circle fragment
30.Rule
31.Skeptics
34.Lawn covering
36.Male child
37.Decorated, as a cake
41.Tatters
42.Wall upright
43.No
44.Gesture of farewell
56.Railroad support
57.Water nymph
58.Administered
59.Grin
DOWN
1.Wedded
“Jay aced the exam, but the afterclap of this success was getting drafted to tutor the entire class.”
