Reader october13 2016

October 13, 2016 | FREE | Vol. 13 Issue 41

Farmers’ Market harvest Fest oct. 15

Idaho GOP divided on trump

Photos of the Week: Sept. 22-28

From top right, moving clockwise: Nefabit, the director of Northwest Bellydance, put on a fiery American cabaret style solo during the Pearl Theaters, SoirĂŠe Orientale performance on Saturday night in Bonners Ferry. Photo by Cameron Barnes Fall colors in full effect at Sandpoint City Beach. Photo by Cameron Barnes A group of hikers joined Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness up Scotchman Peak on Monday. They halted due to poor weather and early snowfall, but not before unfurling the new banner. From left to right: Glen Bailey, Cary Kelly, David Ramsey, Phil Hough, Bob Bussey, Bryan Hult. Photo by Deb Hunsicker.

October is the perfect month to pick up a black cat at the Panhandle Animal Shelter! Photo by Susan Drinkard.

Calling all photographers, would you like one of your photos to be featured on our Photos of the Week page? Submit them to cb@sandpointreader.com.

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(wo)MAN compiled by

Susan Drinkard

on the street

What is your reaction to news articles in the Daily Bee and the Spokesman-Review that an Idaho organizer for the Democrats had to move out of our area due to being harassed by citizens favoring the opposing party candidates?

“I would not have moved. I would have stayed and gotten assistance—pressed charges and acquired restraining orders after documenting the harassments.”

Robert Dickerson Carpenter Sandpoint

DEAR READERS,

The election is growing closer every week. Are you registered to vote? I’ve said it before, many times, but I will continue to remind you unregistered apathetic few out there who refuse to participate in your democracy: when you don’t vote, you have no say in who gets elected, and that’s a dangerous thing.

Someone was ranting at the bar the other night about how it’s a waste of time to vote in Idaho since our two electoral votes “don’t have any effect” on the election.

First, that’s the whining point of view of a defeatist. Second, voting is not only a privilege, but a duty. To piss it away because of outright apathy is not only dangerous, but the sign of a person who cares about nothing. Third, while the presidential election is indeed important, what about all the local and state elections? The people we elect to our house and senate will have much more of an immediate impact on us here in Idaho than the president will. Finally, don’t be a cliché. It’s not cool to refuse to participate in democracy. Sure, it’s not a perfect system, but if you continue to sit idly by, you are putting your fate in the hands of others. Friday, Oct. 14, is the last day you can register to vote in Idaho, so get on it! You can register at the Bonner County Administration Building or via snail mail.

-Ben Olson, Publisher

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

www.sandpointreader.com Publisher: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com Editor: Cameron Rasmusson cameron@sandpointreader.com Zach Hagadone (emeritus) John Reuter (emeritus) Advertising: Jodi Taylor Jodi@sandpointreader.com Contributing Artists: Hannah Combs (cover), Ben Olson, Susan Drinkard, Cameron Barnes Contributing Writers: Cameron Rasmusson, Ben Olson, Cameron Barnes, Paul Graves, Lynn Bridges, Dan McDonald, Scarlette Quille, Cate Huisman, Steve Sanchez, Laurie Brown, Brenden Bobby, Jim Mitsui, Jerry Luther, Jeanette Schandelmeier, Karen Seashore, Brenda Hammond, Dianne Smith, Chris Balboni, Christine Holbert, Marcia Pilgeram.

“It makes me embarrassed for my neighborhood.”

Christy Morgan Adult daycare worker Sandpoint

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“Well, I’m not for that kind of action. That’s not right. You have to live with the cowboys, Indians, bakers, farmers, chiefs... this is a melting pot.”

J. Byron McNew Retired US submarine nuclear reactor operator Sandpoint

“It’s so wrong. We need both parties—the Democrats and the Republicans. As Americans we are supposed to honor everyone’s freedom of speech and the right to express our political ideas.”

Janet Nelson Struggling artist Sandpoint “I think politics in general are ridiculous. It’s a tribal nature trying to express itself in a modern society. This is a great example of it—one tribe harassing another tribe.”

Jon Friedman Anarchist investor Sandpoint

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The Sandpoint Reader is a weekly publication owned and operated by Ben Olson and Keokee. It is devoted to the arts, entertainment, politics and lifestyle in and around Sandpoint, Idaho.

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

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About the Cover This week’s cover was done by Hannah Combs, done in gouache to celebrate the HarvestFest at Sandpoint Farmers’ Market. You may also know Hannah from POAC, where she continues to support the arts in Sandpoint.

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COMMENTARY

Transforming memories into hope

Returning civility to America’s democracy: the promotion of civil dialogue

By Paul Graves Reader Contributor

While many of us in this region are mesmerized and frustrated by the national political circus called the Presidential Campaign, a few of us struggle to understand what came to public light last week in Bonner County. It suggests that political anger has dramatically surfaced in the District 1 legislative race.

To summarize: On Friday and Saturday, the newspapers reported the Democrats wrote a strong letter to the Idaho State Attorney General over some serious harassment of their 21-year-old field organizer. The men accused of the harassment wore clothing that showed them as supporters of Heather Scott. Scott offered “no comment” Additionally, the 90-yearold mother-in-law of Scott’s opponent, Kate McAlister, was approached by a Scott supporter and challenged because of a “Kate” sticker on her car. I know the man who approached her.

He is physically imposing, and carries an equally imposing gun on his hip.

Suddenly Bonner County became a visible microcosm of the out-of-control abusive political and very personal rhetoric that many persons think they’ve been permitted to now use. It’s like their theme song is “Who Let the Dogs Out?” My few minutes of reflection today may sound fairly simplistic.

I would rather hope the reflection be heard as “radical”, in the sense that I really want to point to the root, the radix, of what I think has disrupted democracy.

As I thought about today’s topic, the word “memories” kept sneaking into my consciousness.

We all have childhood memories. Some of those memories are very pleasant. Too many memories can be horrendous in some abiding way.

So I honestly wonder how much impact those destructive childhood memories have on the way our brains’ prefrontal cortex develops—or not.

I also honestly wonder if how we choose to respond to especially negative stimuli, is impacted by how our prefrontal cortices develop. Our ear-

ly-childhood experiences that we may only consciously know through our memories may unconsciously direct our decisions.

I don’t know, but I do wonder.

My imagination was tickled in this direction as I read “The Mystic Chords of Memory,” a chapter in the book Conversations with Elie Wiesel, by Wiesel and Richard Heffner. In that chapter, he speaks eloquently of how he chose to respond to the potentially devastating memories of how he survived the Holocaust.

Wiesel opted for the “redemptive quality of memory. I always try to say it’s because we remember that we can be saved from further punishment. So I am saying to myself, ‘Maybe memory is not the answer. Not the only answer or entirely the answer.’ It is the main component of the answer.” (p. 145) To me, this strongly suggests each person has a choice on how to use our memories. We can use them to punish ourselves and others. We can use our memories to make our lives stronger, healthier, and more responsive to the needs of others.

The fuller truth may be that we use our memories to do both.

And a civil democracy is at its best when we encourage that fuller truth, where our memories may punish one time but redeem another. But redemptive memories take hard work.

For over 22 years, I’ve written and spoken about what I call “God’s Radical Hospitality.”

The root of God’s nature is Love -- not frivolous, vindictive or manipulative judgments. That love is most often experienced in some form of unconditional hospitality, an unconditional welcome of another human being.

This is the spiritual basis of my thoughts on civility and incivility today. I have spent my professional life, in its many incarnations, trying to live into that radical hospitality. It hasn’t been easy!

And it seems to be getting harder these days. As I experience other people, and engage in self-reflection, I cling to a bit of wisdom from Father Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest and my virtual spiritual guide.

In a number of his writings, he reminds us that: 1) If we don’t

transform our pain, we are bound to transmit it; and 2) Spirituality is what we do with our pain. That wisdom challenges me daily.

It reminds me that everyone – everyone – struggles every day with many kinds of pains. And how we deal with those pains is the essence of our spirituality – our search for meaning in life.

When we don’t feel welcome in our own soul, we can lash out in peculiar ways.

In the welcome and safety of God’s Radical Hospitality, I can bring my pain to tentatively dance with another’s pain. In that dance, we can discover together that underlying our pains is a reality called Hope. Hope is not mere wishful thinking. It is a patient action.

Jim Wallis, of Sojourners, describes Hope as “believing in spite of the evidence, and watching the evidence change.”

I paraphrase his affirmation to add “work to watch the evidence change.” I believe that hope is an essential ingredient to genuine dialogue. My hope is pragmatic that way. Maybe yours is, too!

Response to political harassment in Bonner Co. Response to political harassment in Bonner Co.

By Lynn Bridges Bonner County Human Rights Task Force Reader Contributor Recently it has been reported in Bonner County that there were a number of incidents regarding harassing behavior towards Democratic candidate supporters.

While the incidents are under investigation, it is distressing to think that a person might be singled out for such action due to their political actions or bumper stickers on their car. That a political organizer has been removed from our area due to safety concerns is shameful.

Such action is a reminder to us all of how much work there is to do in our region. North Idaho is one of the most picturesque and beautiful places to live, yet here we are again, in the news for acts of intolerance. When did we forget how to act civilly towards each other and to accept that while we may have differences such as religions or political views, we are all residents of this region and the greater United States with the right of 4 /

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freedom of expression?

Let the political process play out the way it is intended to be. The candidates who build the stronger arguments, present the better plans and solutions for our communities speak volumes for their own cause. When bullying tactics are used, it cheapens the candidates by implying they are not strong enough in their political wisdom to be elected and must depend on strong-arm tactics to win.

We urge all citizens to be politically astute and research all candidates so that you can make your voting decisions based on your beliefs and values. If this includes promoting a candidate via a bumper sticker, you should be able to do this without fear of reprisal from the opposing candidate’s supporters.

The Bonner County Human Rights Task Force will continue to speak out on bullying and harassing actions by any person or group that uses such action to intimidate others. We support the ongoing investigation and are hopeful the outcome will bring our community closer to a point of civility.

By Dan McDonald Reader Contributor After reading through the story in the Bonner County Daily Bee on Oct. 7 about the Bonner County Democrats alleging harassment, I was initially disturbed.

Sure, I’ve seen the videos of Bernie and Hillary supporters yelling, spitting and in some cases physically assaulting Trump supporters at their rallies, but I never thought something like this would happen here in Bonner County.

Of course, like many, I immediately jumped to the conclusion that this allegation was true. However, after reading the story again, some questions jumped out at me.

Why was it only this one Democrat operative claiming harassment? Wouldn’t there be others? Could this alleged harassment been a result of a prior action by the campaign worker? Where are the witnesses?

As I reread the Bee report once again, even more unanswered questions came up. Was the report to the Sandpoint PD and Bonner County Sheriff recorded? Did the Bee get a copy of the recording or the

police reports, or is this simply another issue where one side is getting reported without knowing all the facts? Was there a description of those involved, and is it possible that law enforcement may have seen this report as not credible? Was there an actual crime committed or was this just suspicious activity? This is sounding once again like an unsubstantiated report from one side, without credible evidence or witnesses to substantiate this.

Don’t get me wrong, I am disturbed by people thinking they can bully others based on their political opinions like we have already seen with overzealous Sanders and Clinton supporters, and sure, we’ve seen Republican campaign signs stolen and damaged in recent elections. But common sense tells me that before I start a rallying cry against alleged activities, I prefer to have some hard facts and not the interpretations of a single person with no witnesses. I don’t put it beyond zealots to do something like this just as I don’t put it beyond zealots to make a false report with little or no information in an effort to discredit a candidate so close to an election.

PERSPECTIVES

Send in the clowns Dear clowns, I’m writing this as a public service announcement. I am sure that there is a small percentage of clowns out there making an honest living in the rodeo or some other clown friendly place.

I sympathize with the indignity of dressing up and inviting people to laugh at you. I’m not sure why you, as human being with presumably expert makeup skills and comedic timing, chose the life of a clown. But deep down, clown, you and I both know that the origin of your job had something to do with Satan himself.

In an effort to try to get past the public image and understand the motivations of those who don the clown suit, I looked up clown salaries. Sadly, I found no comfort in the information I discovered. Seems like the peak salary of a clown is around $50,000, and that’s ONLY if you work a big time circus or steady rodeo gig. The average everyday clown, those who aren’t “stars,” is $15 an hour to do birthdays and entertain children at vari-

Words to Live By...

Dear Editor, There has been a lot of talk lately about the politics of this region, and I am writing in regard to what I have heard.

First, I would like to address the fear-mongers among us. We are all part of the United States of America, whether you like it or not. Moving here to North Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Eastern Washington or Eastern Oregon does not change that fact. Cloistering, stocking weapons (supposedly to protect your loved ones against insurgents), building steel and concrete bunkers, hiding behind Christianity and using fake names when you write letters to the editor or publish online propaganda does not change that.

It creates in your own mind

ous events. Do you know any celebrity clowns? Do you have any neighbors that are gainfully employed as a full-time clown?

Of course not. Considering that birthday parties are typically done two days a week, and there are only so many companies willing to hire a clown to come in and “entertain” children on week days, I’m guessing finding full-time employment is difficult. That means that the majority of clowns are partially employed, sitting at home in full clown regalia looking at themselves in the mirror, wondering what they can do for attention.

Clowns, you cannot cry unfair media representation despite the scary movies and one known clown serial killer. Clownphobia is real. If you’re not convinced, let me enlighten you clowns and clown sympathizers.

People are scared of you because the whole premise of being a clown is as outdated as the ‘50s house wife. Your job is to dress up as a dimwitted, poorly put-together, slow-functioning adult and then do stupid things—things even children understand as stupid—to get

get a laugh. Isn’t that pretty much EXACTLY what we teach children not to do? I mean, it’s not funny to pick on slow people or people who dress funny or boys that wear make up. YOU SEE WHERE I AM GOING, CLOWNS? Society has outgrown you. I don’t know if you have always felt like a social outcast and one day just decided to make money off your plight, or if you are a raging psychopath ready to murder my children.

Either way, I find your choice to be a clown a sign of mental instability and a reinforcement of a bullying culture. Your clown profession makes me question you as a person.

I have heard the typical defense of hated clowns: “I do this to see the smile on a child’s face.” Please, someone tell me why people think that kids love clowns. I have four children, I work with children and I was once a child, AND NEVER ONCE, in the last 40 years, have any of those kids expressed a desire to hang out with clowns, invite them to their parties or seek them out for entertainment. In fact, when

my daughter was 4, we had to leave a circus because she was so terrified of the clown walking around. Kids are pretty easy to make laugh, and they are naturally naïve, so maybe the whole hiring a stranger in costume to entertain them is overkill. A young kid is impressed by his grandpa making fart noises, and a clown costume does not take one’s ability to make balloon animals to the next level.

If my anti-clown statements make me seem like a hateful person, then I guess I will have to work on that. All I know is that when I see an adult male clown, my heart stops and my bowels evacuate my body immediately. Yes. I am that FREAKING SCARED of grown adults in garish make up and false red noses—which up the creepy factor by forcing the clown to be a heavy mouth breather.

As if all this wasn’t bad enough, there are the recent reports of clowns hordes embracing their creepy sides.

You may argue that they aren’t real clowns, but I would argue

paranoia that you are being stalked by a government gone wrong.

Let me allay your fears.

You are not being stalked.

You are being used, manipulated and persecuted by your own mind and the minds of others who have a hateful agenda. Wake up, folks. See a counselor. You need help. If you want to affect a change in the United States of America then become involved with your community. Be happy. Be interested in the future of our nation and vote. Don’t hide behind this false wall which separates you from everyone else. Be kind, not hateful.

how to create new jobs, improve education, and help bring in vitally needed internet infrastructure that supports our needs. Kate has extensive experience collaborating with business, education and local government leaders.

The incumbent, Heather Scott, seems fearful and holds extreme views. Believing that Sharia Law would somehow overtake Idaho, she voted against a bill that would allow an Idaho parent to collect child support from a U.S. parent overseas.

Our governor then had to reconvene the legislature— at unnecessary, taxpayer expense—to finally pass a bill, again with no help from Ms. Scott.

Kate McAlister has the experience, temperament and rationality to represent ALL of us in the Idaho

House of Representatives.

Vote for Kate on Nov. 8!

Marlene Petersen Sandpoint

Kate for Idaho House...

Dear Editor, Kate McAlister knows

Philip A. Deutchman Sandpoint

Only Candidate Qualified...

Dear Editor, In the race for President, there is only one candidate that is qualified for this critical job.

As a conservative editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal noted, Hillary Clinton’s election is all that can save us from the “reign of the most unstable, proudly uninformed and psychologically unfit president ever to enter the White House.”

Trump and his supporters claim that he was ”brilliant” when it was revealed he undoubtedly paid no federal income tax for the past 18

the opposite. It is no surprise to me that clowns have fled their dwellings and are antagonizing and harassing people.

Eventually, people who feel marginalized will turn on society. Ever stop to think that the fear of clowns is more about presumed mental state of those who put on the clown than B-movie representations?

The stereotype of the clown and their motivations is what is doing all the terrifying, not the asshole wearing it. Either way, I am not sleeping easy. That is why I have always feared you, and why I sleep within reach of multiple weapons, including a baseball bat, knife and dog.

You may scare the shit out of me, but I’ve been waiting and preparing for your attack for some time.

I have some pent-up resentments too, clown. You aren’t the only one with problems.

Tread lightly: People in this neck of the woods are prepared to fend off 500 -pound wild animals if need be.

And finally, clown, perhaps it’s time to ditch the clown suit for a while, or perhaps burn it so it doesn’t call to you. If you feel like you were put on this earth to entertain children, perhaps you can find a way to modernize and de-freak the traditional clown.

Just a thought.

I meant what I said about the bat, the dog, and the knife.

Sincerely, Scarlette Quille years. What does that make those of us who paid our taxes to support our schools, our infrastructure, our troops and our veterans (whom Trump claims to support)?

While Idaho GOP voters did not support Trump in the 2016 primary, some may tune in to his fear-mongering now. But we are reminded of the 1964 election. Then, as in our current one, similar misinformation was spread that ”the election may be rigged,” and there were efforts to restrict voter turnout.

Lyndon Johnson countered by exploiting Barry Goldwater’s lack of experience and his dangerous instability. The result: Johnson won an overwhelming victory—winning 44 states, including Idaho.

James W. Ramsey Sandpoint October 13, 2016 /

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NEWS

Idaho GOP officials divided on Trump

Donald Trump.

Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID.)

A schism is forming between Idaho Republicans over whether the party should support its presidential nominee, Donald Trump, following his recent scandals.

Shortly after the Washington Post released a recording of Trump talking about using his celebrity to kiss and grope women, U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo withdrew his endorsement of the nominee. Crapo released a strong statement against Trump, saying his recorded comments revealed a character unfit for the presidency. Crapo highlighted his years of work in domestic violence prevention as an important factor in his decision.

“Trump’s most recent excuse of ‘locker room talk’ is completely unacceptable and is inconsistent with protecting women from abusive, disparaging treatment,” he said.

“Make no mistake—we need conservative leadership in the White House,” he added. “I urge Donald Trump to step aside and allow the Republican party to put forward a candidate like Mike Pence who can defeat Hillary Clinton.”

U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson quickly followed in renouncing support for Trump, although he did not call for the candidate to step aside.

On the other hand, other key Idaho Republicans have held fast in their support for Trump. Idaho GOP Chairman Steve Yates issued a statement supporting the candidate, as did Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter.

“There’s no question that Donald

Trump’s comments about women are unacceptable and unfortunate,” Otter said.

“But I accept his apology and his contrition at face value.”

Other Idaho Republicans have criticized Crapo directly for his withdrawal of support from Trump. Jon Menough, chairman of the Idaho County Republican Central Committee, issued a letter saying the organization would no longer provide physical or financial support to his re-election campaign or distribute signs on his behalf. What’s more, committee members who already put up signs vowed to remove them. Menough argued that the committee supported Crapo even when they disagreed with his decisions and expected him to do the same for other Republicans.

“You have lost our respect as a Republican and feel you are no longer worthy of the title ‘Republican’ that we proudly wear,” Menough wrote.

Crapo, a Mormon, joined Utah Republicans and fellow church members in the revolt against Trump. Party leaders in Utah like Gov. Gary Herbert and Rep. Jason Chaffetz issued strong condemnations of the presidential candidate, a sentiment echoed by many state Republicans. For the first time in years, the traditionally deep red Utah is up for grabs in the election. One recent poll showed voters split at 26 percent support for both Clinton and Trump, with independent Evan McMullin close behind at 22 percent. The last time Utah voted Democratic was in 1964.

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff

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Voters to consider ballot resolutions

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff

Bonner County voters will be choosing more than public servants when the election rolls around this Nov. 8.

They’ll also weigh in on several balloted issues.

The most high profile of these measures is the statewide vote on House Joint Resolution 5, which seeks to protect the Idaho Legislature’s authority over approval or denial of state agency administrative rules. HJR 5, if passed, would add this power to the Idaho Constitution, as well as deny the governor the ability to veto lawmakers’ decision.

While HJR 5 wouldn’t make significant changes to legislative procedure, supporters believe the power warrants constitutional protection.

State officials have come out with conflicting opinions on the resolution.

U.S. Sen. Jim Risch issued a statement supporting it, arguing it was an important protection for representative government. The resolution reinforced legislative authority to protect residents from onerous regulation, he added.

“Agencies are unelected government officials that often do not understand the impact of their rules and regulations on Idaho families, farmers, ranchers and small businesses,” he wrote. “Voting ‘Yes’ on HJR 5 prevents state agencies from implementing overreaching and burdensome rules that negatively impact your livelihood, your leisure and your way of life.”

On the other hand, Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden called HJR 5 an invasion of executive power and judicial oversight that voters already rejected two years ago. He argued the

measure was an open invitation for lobbyists to coerce lawmakers into gutting administrative rules at every level of government.

“The primary reason for resubmitting this constitutional amendment is that ‘the voters didn’t know what they were doing and voters need to be educated better,’” Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID).

Wasden wrote in a statement.

“In essence, the proponents of the amendment are claiming that they know better than Idaho voters what Idaho AG Lawrence Wasden.

Idaho voters want.”

Some Bonner County voters will also have local resolutions to support or reject this election. Voters within the West Bonner County Library District will consider a plant facilities levy of $267,000 annually for three consecutive years. West Pend Oreille Fire District residents, meanwhile, will decide the fate of a bond for a maximum $500,000, which will fund improvements to Fire Station No. 3 and the construction of Fire Station No. 4.

Candidates forum scheduled for Nov. 2

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

Want to learn more about the candidates running for local and state offices?

You’re in luck.

The Sandpoint Reader and SandpointOnline.com will be co-presenting a candidate forum on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at 5:30 p.m. The forum will take place at the Sandpoint High School auditorium, 410 S. Division Ave. We have invited all of the candidates running for state offices, including Shawn Keough, Steve Tanner, Ken Meyers, Carl Crabtree, Heather Scott, Kate McAlister, Sage Dixon, Stephen Howlett and Jessica Chilcott. We have

also invited Daryl Wheeler and his write-in opponent Terry Ford in the Bonner County Sheriff’s race. Most candidates have confirmed they will appear, though we are still waiting on confirmation for several.

The forum is free to attend and open to all interested in knowing how your local candidates stand on the issues that face North Idaho today. You can also stream video live at SandpointOnline. com and listen live on 88.5 FM KRFY Panhandle Community Radio, or listen online at www.krfy.org.

FEATURE

The road to the governor’s office: Russ Fulcher gears up for 2018 primary election

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff

While the nation’s attention is fixed on the 2016 presidential election, GOP legislator Russ Fulcher’s eyes are on Boise.

The Meridian state senator took many lessons to heart from his failed 2014 campaign for the governor’s office, the most pressing being the invaluable resource of time. That’s why, a year and change before the 2018 election heats up, he’s canvassing the state from Sandpoint to Boise, meeting with voters and hearing their concerns.

If time is one element to success, a changing political climate within Idaho is another. And Fulcher believes he can offer voters dissatisfied with the status quo a compelling alternative when he challenges Lt. Gov. Brad Little in the Republican primary election for the gubernatorial nomination.

“Ironically, it may be to my advantage right now that I am not an incumbent,” he said in a September interview.

The lesson of 2014 By most accounts, Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter was feeling the heat in the lead-up to the 2014 primary election. According to a 2013 Idaho Statesman blog post

by Dan Popkey, Otter told the audience at a Associated General Contractors winter meeting that his reelection was “Idaho’s greatest challenge for 2014.”

The gubernatorial incumbent was dragging his share of political dead weight. A controversy over the possibly illegal award of a contract for the Idaho Education Network—a broadband networking system for Idaho schools—culminated in a court ruling against the state in October. Along with it came accusations of cronyism from opponents of the Otter administration.

Otter was also dogged by a scandal surrounding Corrective Corp of America. The out-of-state private prison corporation fell under FBI investigation for managing an Boise prison so violent it earned the nickname “gladiator school.” What’s more, CCA benefited from a $26 million-a-year

contract with Idaho, yet a forensic audit by the Idaho Department of Correction showed the corporation understaffed the prison by 26,000 man hours in 2012 alone.

It didn’t help when media sources revealed the more than $20,000 in donations by CCA to Otter election campaigns.

Another open question was how to handle Medicaid expansion in the wake of the Affordable Care Act. Hard-line conservatives and grassroots Tea Party groups chided the GOP establishment for failing to assert Idaho authority in the face of perceived federal overreach. More liberal Idahoans blasted the Otter administration for stalling the Medicaid expansion, leaving thousands of working poor Idahoans in the socalled health care gap.

Fulcher, meanwhile, was buoyed by an endorsement from Idaho Congressman and conservative favorite Raul Labrador, who criticized Otter’s failure to lead and lauded Fulcher’s “political courage and fresh ideas.”

Fulcher also pursued voters dissatisfied with the Idaho GOP establishment. In an email prior to the election, he reminded Democratic, Libertarian and Constitutional party voters they would not be able to vote in the Republican primary unless they changed their affiliation.

“I truly believe under our current leadership that a lot of people have been driven away from our party,” he told the Idaho Statesman. “If I’m going to be successful I’ve got to be able to pull them in, or at least some of them, and unite that effort.”

Otter and Fulcher’s disagreements over the interplay between state and federal government, expressed through issues like health care, Common Core education standards and federal ownership of state lands, was a centerpiece of media election coverage. Idaho voters saw that dynamic in play during the televised May 14 gubernatorial debate. To the nation’s delight and Fulcher’s chagrin, it wasn’t the only thing they saw.

At Otter’s insistence, two perennial fringe candidates, Harley Brown and Walt Bayes, vied alongside the two Boise mainstays

during the hour-long debate. The result: a contrast between two comic farces and two straight men that matched any Monty Python sketch for absurdity. While Otter and Fulcher battled it out over policy, Brown talked about being “as politically correct as a turd in a punch bowl” and Bayes bemoaned the lack of commercial access to potassium iodide for radiation treatment. Brown summed up the election memorably as a choice between “a cowboy, a curmudgeon, a biker or a normal guy,” Fulcher presumably being the normal guy.

The debate went viral, catching the eyes of the world as sideshow entertainment. The next day, Fulcher blasted Otter for what he saw as an intentional derailment of the conversation. “... The ‘debate’ turned from a serious discussion regarding the position for Idaho’s chief executive, to a mockery of the Republican Party and of Idaho,” Fulcher said in a statement. “Clearly, the governor wanted to take time away from me and minimize exposure to his failed record as governor.”

Whether or not the debate had a deciding factor in the election outcome is unclear, but the numbers are not. Otter bested Fulcher for the Republican nomination in a 79,779- to 67,694- vote election.

The road to 2018 Just like that 2014 gubernatorial debate, the 2016 presidential election has caught the world’s attention in all its reality TV luridness. And while Fulcher didn’t mention what he thinks of Donald Trump, he is watching the growing rift between establishment and anti-establishment interests.

“There is a kind of populist attitude bubbling up,” he said.

“More often than not, I am seen as the good guy in this.”

If anti-establishment sentiments persist into the 2018 election, the thirst for change could work to Fulcher’s favor, as could the open seat vacated by the retiring Otter. Fulcher faces Little, long presumed to be Otter’s heir apparent, in the 2018

Russ Fulcher. Courtesy photo. primary election, and he believes he is poised to be the candidate of change. According to him, Little is likely to share many of the positions he criticized in the Otter administration.

“In terms of policy, if we have [Brad Little], I would not expect a lot to change,” Fulcher said.

“Voters may end up saying [about me], ‘Here’s someone who is truly trying to offer a change— maybe we should give him a shot,’” Fulcher later added.

On his website, Fulcher maintains the policy positions that made him a conservative favorite in 2014. He opposes Medicaid expansion, preferring instead a private health insurance market that encourages industry competition. He opposes Common Core, saying that Idaho should control its school standards. And he resists federal management over 63 percent of Idaho lands.

As the state creeps toward 2018, Fulcher believes the appeal of his ideas will only broaden as Idahoans’ patience with the state economy withers. That includes its dependence on federal government, which returns $1.35 to Idaho for every dollar sent to Washington, D.C. “The donor states are starting to lose their sense of humor in subsidizing the donee states,”

Fulcher said.

He also aims to embrace residents wearied by the state’s over-dependence on service industry jobs. Fulcher hopes to reinvigorate Idaho’s manufacturing industry, and one of the ways to do that, he said, is enhance coordination between educators and employers. “…. We don’t want to be just OK,” he said. “We want to blow the doors off this economy.”

Fulcher believes his life experiences have equipped him to serve all Idahoans. After his youth on an Idaho dairy farm, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business at Boise State University. The education led him to a 24-year career in the tech industry with Micron Technology. In 2004, he was elected to serve as a state senator, a position he still holds.

A varied career path is one thing, but winning hearts and minds on the campaign trail are another. Perhaps the greatest lesson from the 2014 election is starting early and strong with that goal in mind. Next year, he and his volunteers aim to reengage the support base that made 2014 such a tightly contested election. Fulcher believes that voters are ready for a change; his job is convincing them he’s the man to bring it.

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Trail Mix Committee blazing a path

By Cate Huisman Reader Contributor

Bouquets: •It’s not often I see eye to eye with Idaho’s U.S. senators and representatives. However, when Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) pulled his support from Donald Trump after the presidential candidate’s crude remarks about women were leaked last week, I felt proud that our elected officials would defy party lines and stand up for what is right. I don’t know why it took this one last straw to break the camel’s back when there have been literally dozens of incidents and occurences from the Trump campaign that have offended the nation. Thank you, Sen. Crapo, for responding from the high road.

•A bouquet to Dave at MickDuff’s Beer Hall for helping me track down my sweatshirt that was accidentally taken last week when we were playing music. It’s funny how attached you can get to a good hoodie.

•Finally, one more bouquet goes out to the staff at Mountain West Bank, who had a “Day of Giving” on Sept. 22 and gave the day to the Sandpoint Senior Center.

“The guys and gals helped get the directional signs in the ground, clean up the flower beds and the grounds! They were awesome!” said Ellen Weissman, executive director of SASi. Nice work!

Barbs: •Just a quick one. I don’t get these people that walk around with their phones blaring music out loud. I was in the grocery store last week and had to listen to the most god awful bubble pop Justin Bieber crap music while some Millennial picked out their Bagel Bites.

Word to the wise: Get some headphones and save the rest of us from hearing your poor choices in music. That, and stop being such lemmings and listen to something with a little bit of soul. Geez... I sound like an old man, so I’m going to stop now.

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If you’ve sweated up Mickinnick Trail, cycled the rocks and drops of Syringa Heights, or walked your dog on the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail, then you’re familiar with some of Bonner County’s most popular trails. But these examples are just a small sample of the county’s trails.

The Trail Mix Committee has counted them all, and it wants to help you find out about the rest of them.

The committee got started in 2014 as an outgrowth of cooperative work among the cities of Sandpoint, Ponderay and Kootenai to create the Pend Oreille Bay Trail, which connects the land of all three. An intern for this group “interviewed everybody who was interested in trails,” recalls Susan Drumheller, the committee’s secretary, “and came up with the conclusion that there needed to be better coordination.” To meet this need, they expanded their group to include cities, the county, government agencies, conservation organizations, and user groups representing hikers, cyclists, skiers and ATV and horseback riders.

From August 2014 through January 2016, the committee worked with the Trust for Public Land (TPL) to come up with a comprehensive plan that covered the county’s entire 1,920 square miles. Their report documents and maps 660 miles of existing trails and proposes the addition

of 490 more.

The plan identifies 160 of these additional miles as priorities for the next 10 years.

But “trails are complicated, and they’re also expensive,” notes Drumheller. Since the committee has neither funds nor staff, responsibility for getting these trails built has been shouldered by “champions”—committee members who work on getting the land-use approvals, rightsof-way, funding, workers and materials to build particular trails.

An example of a priority is the Watershed Crest Trail, which will run around the ridge tops that form the boundaries of Sandpoint’s city watershed. The Pend Oreille Pedalers (POP), a local bicycle club, has already put the backs of its volunteers to use building the first five miles of what will eventually be a 25-mile trail. But a lot of more mundane, invisible work will be necessary before they can complete the trail.

The portions that cross land managed by the Bureau of Land Management or U.S. Forest Service will probably require some environmental analysis before the first Pulaski axe swings into

Trail volunteers work on the Watershed Crest Trail. Photo by John Monks. federal dirt. The city of Sandpoint is likely to want to restrict its portion to non-motorized users to protect its watershed, while the state has traditionally been more open to a variety of users on land it owns. And one private landowner hasn’t responded at all to inquiries about crossing its parcel. A heroic effort is definitely going to be needed from this champion.

Now that the plan is completed and champions have been identified for priority projects, Trail Mix members are pondering their next steps. “The committee continues to be a work in progress,” says Drumheller. “Where it goes from here is an open question.” Some members are considering working together to create a website that will provide something the TPL study found was missing: a comprehensive way of finding

out about the plethora of trails in the county.

Committee meetings are held monthly at the Bonner County Administration Building and are open to any interested parties (those who might know how to build a website might be particularly welcome). The next meeting is set for Oct. 27 at 1 pm.

For more information, contact Susan Drumheller, Trail Mix secretary, at susandrumheller29@gmail.com N.B.: POP will be hosting a screening of the documentary Pedal Driven on [date TK] to help raise funds for the Watershed Crest Trail. Appropriately, the film is about building both trails and cooperation on National Forest land in Washington state.

Pend Oreille Pedalers hold trail work day

By Steve Sanchez Reader Contributor The Pend Oreille Pedalers (POP) recently held a trail work day on the Greta’s Segway portion of the Syringa Heights/ Sherwood Forest trail system.

This very popular system of trails located on Pine Street just west of downtown Sandpoint was built and is maintained by the Pedalers Bicycle Club with permission of the Ravenwood HOA, Kaniksu Land Trust and several generous property owners.

“This trail sees lots of use by not only mountain bikers, but runners and hikers looking for

some exercise and the chance to enjoy these forested trails so close to town,” says club president Mike Murray. “Because of the high traffic, a portion of the trail was experiencing erosion and some mud holes were forming, causing users to go around the muddy sections and widening the trail.”

Club Vice President Brandon Kaastad reached out to Brian Woods, owner of Woods Crushing and Hauling, to order a few yards of gravel for the trail resurfacing, but when Brian found out about the intended project, he proposed to donate the supplies.

Kaastad also reached out to Steve Mix, owner of Selkirk

Sprinklers. Mix was instrumental in helping to develop the Baldfoot Disc Golf course and volunteered to use his Ditch Witch mini-excavator and trailer to get the gravel on the trail.

“With the help of volunteer/ members of POP, and the material and services donated, we were able to make quick work of resurfacing over 200 yards of trail.

The [gravel] will compact down nicely under foot and wheel traffic and provide a durable surface that resists erosion and runoff for a long time,” said Kaastad.

The Pend Oreille Pedalers would like to thank Brian Woods of Woods Crushing and Hauling, Steve Mix of Selkirk Sprinklers,

club officers Mike Murray and Brandon Kaastad as well as all of the club officers, members and volunteers. Thank you also to the owners who have graciously opened their property to allow these trails to be built and to the trail users and stewards who use these trails responsibly.

To learn more about the Pend Oreille Pedalers, their trail and advocacy projects (such as the Watershed Crest Trail), sponsored bike rides, and to become a member, please go to www.

PendOreillePedalers.com or find them on Facebook.

KRFY holds annual online auction Gardening with Laurie:

Critter-resistant bulbs

By Laurie Brown Reader Garden Columnist

By Cameron Barnes Reader Staff

From Left to Right: Jennifer Berkey (Auction Organizer), Suzy Perez (Station Manager) and Charlie Parrish (President of the Board) hold up a few of the tangible items up for auction in the KRFY 88.5 Panhandle Community Radio Station on First Avenue. Photo by Cameron Barnes

Panhandle KRFY 88.5 radio station is a cherished commercial-free institution in Sandpoint, and community members have come to rely on it. Aside from being a community-minded forum, it’s also a diverse, non-corporate operation and a voice for unserved and underserved groups in our area.

Aside from equipment donations, listener contributions, the spring concert at the Panida and business underwriting, KRFY only has one other income source—and it happens to be the biggest.

The KRFY Fall Online Auction plays a major role in keeping the community station running throughout the year.

There are eight days of bidding through Oct. 16-23, during which you can count on a plethora of items suiting your fancy.

Some of the big ticket items up for bid this year include 2017 Seattle Seahawks preseason tickets, a night at the Westin Hotel, one week in a three-bedroom penthouse on Grace Bay in the Turks and Caicos islands, 10 pounds of wild Alaskan sockeye salmon, a weekend at a Schweitzer Mountain Resort luxury condo, season passes to the Festival at Sandpoint 2017, a family membership to the Bonner County Historical Society and several expensive wines.

“We’re really inviting the community to join us in exploring the items on the auction site so that they can contribute in another important way to support community radio in North Idaho,” said Suzy Prez, the station manager. “We have a voice in our community that’s alive and helpful to spread the word about things that are good. That’s why we’re here, as well as to entertain with great music.”

The auction supports the station’s original content, including “Otto’s Eclectic Music” from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on weekdays, the newly-added “Bioneers” at 6 p.m.

Wednesday and “The Morning Show” with Chris Bessler and Suzy Prez from 8-9 a.m. Tuesday and Thursday. There’s more new content coming next year, too, as well as another possible show from

affiliate UN Pacifica.

“I know that people are appreciating what KRFY brings from our talk radio in the mornings and then the drive time in the afternoons from 5-7 p.m.,” Prez said.

The station is also a Mecca for DJ training in the area, an opportunity open to anyone interested. One such show that has sprung from this DJ influence is Jackie Henrion’s “Songs-Voices-Poems.”

Music is a priority at KRFY. As a member of both Broadcast Music, Inc. and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, the station has over 88,000 songs in its library.

“We want to keep the music forefront, and we have amazing music,” Prez said.

Prez began working as a volunteer for two years, shortly after the KRFY started in 2010. It was no easy task to get over the jitters of live broadcasting.

“There were nerves in the beginning just because we also have to engineer our programs, going in and out of the automated system,” she said. “But now as far as the nerves go, I feel that edginess of nerves is actually a catalyst for something special to happen. If you back away from it, you’ll never know. I tend to like to be on the edge of terror.”

For Prez, her experience at KRFY was much like playing in a band for the first time. Although at first terrifying, the fear eventually gave way to pure exhilaration.

“I remember in the younger years, I would say no to things because I was afraid,” Prez said. “Now I’ll pick and choose my fear and say no to some things. I’m not going to say no to something that I know inside if I just got there and gulped and took a couple of deep breaths, [I’d be fine]. … If you stumble and fall, we’re human beings. What’s the worst that can happen?”

For more information about donating or bidding in the auction, call 208-2652992 or email KRFYradio@gmail.com.

All donations are tax-deductible. To view the full list of items up for bid, check out BiddingForGood.com/KRFY.

Spring blooming bulbs can provide a glorious show, many blooming before many other plants leaf out. Sadly, many of us find them an exercise in frustration, as some of the showiest are prime targets for hungry animals. Tulips, which put on the biggest show, are a delicacy for deer and gophers. Daffodils are supposed to be deer resistant and are poisonous, but they still fall prey to gophers. While it’s a given any of us living rural will face critters, the frequency of moose visits right in town tells me tulips aren’t any safer there! We all face rodents—my bulbs get eaten by gophers and mice; in town squirrels and chipmunks are the enemy. No fencing will deal with rodents. Are we doomed to have no spring bulbs?

There are actually quite a few bulbs that are critter resistant and are hardy in our area. Some are showy, while others are classed as ‘small bulbs’. Small bulbs can create a show, too, when planted in masses. Thankfully, the small ones are cheaper than the big guys!

One showy one is my favorites the hyacinth. They don’t get tall, but their clear colors grab the eye. They come in bright shades (shocking pink and bright purple) and soft ones (yellow, peach, soft purple, light pink, white) and they all have a heavenly fragrance. Plant these beauties where you’ll be working outside when they are blooming to enjoy the scent! They do best in full sun.

Also in the hyacinth family are some less showy ones; bluebells (hyacinthoides) and grape hyacinths (muscari). Muscari look like tiny, six-inch tall hyacinths, mostly bluish-purple but also available in pale blue-purple and white. They aren’t picky as to sun or shade. They do spread rapidly, but not invasively. Spanish bluebells, on the other hand, can be invasive; I’d stick to English bluebells. These plants will grow in shade, even under trees where other plants fail. Also known as wood hyacinths, most are blue purple but can be found in pink and white, too. They are beautiful planted in swathes under trees and shrubs.

The other showy, critter-resistant bulbs are in the fritillaria family. Crown Imperials are the biggest and brightest;

Crown Imperial fritillaria. Courtesy photo.

they send up tall stems and at the top of it numerous red or yellow bells hang down. Guinea hen flower, on the other hand, has graceful, branched stems with one or two checkered flowers of purple and white hanging from each stem end.

Both species have long lasting flowers.

No spring garden is complete without crocus, which bloom very early.

They don’t make much of a show, but at that time of year, when there is frequently still snow, any flowers are welcome! They spread slowly and come in light or dark purple, white, yellow and striped. They require absolutely no care.

They don’t show up from a distance, so plant them near the walkway.

Then there are the really small bulbs.

Windflower anemones look like little blue-purple daisies, while de Caen anemones have poppy-like flowers in brilliant red, deep purple, and white.

Soak the bulbs, which look like wood chips, for a few hours in room temperature water before planting. There are multiple snowdrops species; all are white flowered, most with green touches. They come in doubles and singles, grow in any exposure except full shade, bloom very early, and spread fast. The brilliant yellow of winter aconite blends well with snowdrops; they are both three inches tall and bloom at the same time. Glory-of-the-snow has star shaped blue flowers and are also super early.

They are another bulb that grows happily under trees, even black walnuts.

It’s time to plant spring blooming bulbs now. All bulbs need good drainage to prevent rot. Make sure to plant them top side up; if in doubt (as can be the situation with anemones) plant them on edge. A light mulch is fine, but don’t mulch deeply, especially with the small bulbs. You don’t want them to have to struggle to come up.

Laurie Brown will be taking a break from her gardening column for the winter. We thank her for the great content she has provided for our readers and look forward to her starting the column again next spring.

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Maad bout Science

By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist

SEEDS

Ever wondered how a seed works? Me too.

I mean, it’s a little thing that falls out of a plant that somehow creates a new plant. We sell them in big bags and little bags. We eat them, we throw them around our lawn, we dump them into the soil, then like magic, we watch plants grow where the seeds were dumped.

This is an incredibly broad subject, and before continuing I’d just like to say that I am not claiming this is exactly how the process works for every kind of plant, because it’s not. Some plants have created some incredibly clever and unique means of reproducing.

This should cover most of your garden pretty well, though!

So what is a seed?

Let’s start from the beginning. Let’s pretend that you have a squash plant growing in your garden. Throughout the late spring and all of summer, you’ll see those familiar bright orange flowers start springing up all over the plant. If you look very closely, you’ll notice the interior of the flowers may look different from each other. One is male, and one is female.

If you ever had the birds and the bees talk, this is the bees part of it. Now, the plants can’t exactly crank up the Barry White, so they’ve developed another method to reproduce: pollen.

For some, pollen is the worst part of spring. It’s everywhere, it chokes you at every possible opportunity and until now, you probably never put much more thought into it. Get ready to never look at allergy season the same way again.

You are literally allergic to plant sperm.

Ewwwww.

Pollen grains cluster together, usually carried by the wind, but also by insects, and are deposited into the female parts of a flower, called a pistil, where the germination process begins. Pollen is

very, very small and produced by each plant in great number. This is important for the continuation of the plants’ genetic survival, because if only a single grain of pollen were produced, successful reproduction would have odds that make winning the lottery look like an everyday affair.

The reason people are allergic to pollen is because the human body thinks that the pollen grains are hostile viruses or bacteria and do everything in the body’s power to expel the invaders, despite the fact that the pollen is largely harmless to us most of the time.

Back to the plants, the pollen is introduced to the female pistil.

Then what happens?

It differs from plant to plant, species to species. There are entirely too many to cover here, but the core is the same.

The pollen carries the genetic information required for reproduction to the female organ, and over time and through a lot of cellular division, the plant will grow fruit, seeds, you name it.

Using our earlier example, your female squash flower has grown an actual squash!

Now, the gourd itself isn’t the seed. It’s a sort of life support vessel for the seeds inside.

Usually, the flesh is designed to protect, preserve and feed the seed that will grow into a new plant, but sometimes plants will cleverly use the fruit as a means of propagation and bait. Take huckleberries for example. Who are the two biggest consumers of huckleberries?

Humans and bears. Well, with humans, this tactic is largely wasted, but we all know that bears go in the woods, so to speak. So the berries, obviously very delicious, are eaten by bears where the seeds enter the digestive tract, get encased in a clump of nutrient-rich poop and are deposited up to several miles away from where the berries were first grown, adding

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new genetic diversity to potentially other huckleberry patches.

Gross, but amazing.

But Brenden, what about seedless grapes?

Another case of human intervention. Seedless grapes and most commercial bananas were created by humans for the sake of convenience. The seeds have either been shrunken, like in the case of bananas, or eliminated, like with seedless grapes, for the benefit of human consumption.

So how are seedless grapes grown, if they can’t reproduce?

Plants are crafty. They have more than one way to break an egg, so to speak. Seedless grapes are technically a clone that originated from a mutation.

While you might think at first that scientists worked a bunch of crazy multi-billion dollar techy magic to splice and mess with embryonic cells, the truth is a lot simpler.

They cut a sprig off the parent plant, planted it and let it grow. Then they cut sprigs from that one, then sprigs from the ones that grew from that one, and on, and on, and on.

This technique is modified for most fruit trees sold for planting at home.

Let’s say a nursery has a young crab apple tree growing, but they want a Fuji apple tree

Brought to you by:

Below: a patron uses the Seed Catalogue at the Sandpoint Library.

Photo by Cameron Barnes.

for a client. They cut the crab apple down to the base, almost to the dirt, then they cut a fresh branch from a mature Fuji apple tree, bind them tightly together and seal them to keep bacteria and insects out, and from then on, the tree will grow as a Fuji, despite the base of the tree and all of the roots being a Crab apple.

Could you imagine if that could be applied to human anatomy?

Doctor, I sawed my arm off trying to juggle chainsaws. Can you just glue a new one on?

At the library, we’re about a lot more than just books and movies and the occasional science article littered with crude scat jokes. We’re big on sustainability and community enrichment. I’m personally a firm believer that getting back to the most basic of practices can help our brains make sense of a sometimes overwhelming world filled with technology that we don’t always fully understand.

Where am I going with this?

The Seed Library!

If you haven’t checked it out before, I’d like to invite you to come take a look. We’ve converted a card catalog cabinet

into a seed storage device and opened it to the public with a small set of basic guidelines.

1. Write down what you take.

2. Bring back seeds that you harvest from what you grew this year, that way someone can grow something next year.

3. Only bring heirloom seeds you’ve grown. We appreciate donations, but we would like to continue heirloom lineages that we’re able to trace back to farmers and individual growers rather than laboratories.

That’s really it. Very simple, and it will save you some money in the spring. You’ll also be doing your part to help a plant’s lineage along this great evolutionary journey we’re all partaking in.

Come ask about it at the information desk, we’ll show you to the Seed Library, all of the literature and the seeds themselves. I’m sure Camile would love to talk to you about the Seed Library, too.

And just think about it, the next time you’re holding a small handful of dry seeds in your hand, you’re holding the product of almost two billion years of evolution just waiting for a chance to feed you and your community.

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Dollar Beers!

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

Hospic Learn the Waltz w/ Diane Peters 7 & 8pm @ Sandpoint West Athletic Club 4-7pm @ 10% of Level 1 class begins at 7pm, level 2 be dona begins at 8pm. 263-6633 Adult Public Eurythmy Class Live Music w/ Mobius Riff 5:30pm @ Sandpoint Waldorf School 6-8pm @ Monarch Mountain Coffee $5 entry. Drop-ins welcome every Thursday Unique reverberations

Live Music w/ Truck Mills 5:30-8:30pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery See the best blues player in North Idaho

Sandpoint Contra Dance 7pm @ Sandpoint Community Hall All dances are taught and called with live mu sic. Beginners and singles are welcome (ne Live Music w/ Ron Greene dancers are encouraged to arrive in time fo 7-10pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Ron’s intimate stage precense has gained him the beginning to start with the basics). $5 do nation; bring clean shoes and a water bottle a reputation as a passionate singer Live Music w/ Riff Hangers 7-10pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Acoustic country, blues and swing DJ at the Niner 9pm @ 219 Lounge HarvestFest 9am-3pm @ Farmin Park The year-ending harvest celebration for Farmers’ Market featuring extended hours, live music, holiday crafts and winter storage crops Blaze and Kelly in concert 7:30pm @ Panida Little Theater The Panida Songwriters Circle presents an intimate evening of songs and stories. $12 in advance, $15 at the door

Sandpoint Chess Club 9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee Meets every Sunday at 9am. All are welcome

Monday Night Blues Jam w/ Truck Mills 7:30pm @ Eichardt’s Pub

Queen B. Drag Halloween 9pm-12am @ Sandpoint Eagles Lodge Celebrate Halloween in drag! A costume contest and dancing after the show. Admission is $6

Free First Saturday at the Museum 10am-2pm @ Bonner Co. History Museum Come down to this free night at the museum sponsored by Paul and Sue Graves, and Tim and Margaret Petersen Live Music w/ Truck Mills 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Truck Mills plays the blues, you drink the brews. What a pair

Game Night at the Niner 9pm @ 219 Lounge

Dollar Beers!

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

MCS 3pm @ This w Alyce John Cham

BGH Volunteer Council Scrub Sale • 7a Free admission. proceeds from the sale wi cation funds. Medical supplies including s

Bonner Co. Republican Women Candidate Forum 10:15am @ Ponderay Events Center A forum for the Republican Candidates; Louis Marshall, Daryl Wheeler, Jeff Connolly, Dan McDonald, Sage Dixon and Heather Scott have confirmed their attendance. The public is invited to join Five Minutes of Fame 6:30pm @ Cafe Bodega (Foster’s Crossing) Writers, musicians, listeners - welcome all Lego Club 2pm @ Sandpoint Library Kids of all ages are welcome to come and create with open Lego play

Liv 8pm The ard

Second Harvest Food Distributio 11am-1pm @ Clark Fork High Sch Enjoy free produce, nutritious pe products and other groceries for all in need of food assistance. Open to lic; no appointment needed

Local Decision 2016: District 1 House 8am @ 88.5FM KRFY Panhandle Comm Guests are from District 1 Idaho House S can Sage Dixon and Democrat Stephen H in each Wednesday right up until Electio on the air. All candidates are invited; som get informed, over the air at 88.5 FM, or

Perla Batalla’s House of Cohen 7:30pm @ Panida Theater Hearing Perla Batalla’s transcendent voice for the first time is an epiphany. In this House of Cohen tour, one may go to hear the songs, but you end up feeling the joy and the pathos in the music like never before

ful

October 13 - 20, 2016

Hospice of North Idaho Sip & Shop 4-7pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery 10% of all proceeds for the evening will be donated to Hospice of North Idaho Coffee

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

Reader recommended

Moon Pie and The Milky Way 7pm @ Sandpoint Library Family-friendly star-gazing fun with Sandy Nichols at the Sandpoint Library. Use a telescope to explore the solar system and galaxy and enjoy a moon pie snack

In The Cedar Street Bridge Public Market

No-Till Drill Demonstration Live Music w/ Devon Wade 1:30pm @ U of I Extension Campus 8pm @ Ol’ Red’s Tavern Join Bonner Soil & Water Conservation Dis- Climb on down and listen to some th live mutrict for a technical field Information and good country music at Ol’ Red’s Tavcome (new outreach event on no-till drill techniques ern on First Ave. in time for Live Music w/ High Treason Ammunition cs). $5 doPTR Fall Classic (Oct. 14-16) 9pm @ 219 Lounge er bottle Great punk rock from the wilds of Montana @ Purcell Trench Ranch The season finale at Purcell Trench Ranch Live Music w/ Harold’s IGA north of Bonners Ferry. Rock crawl race dge 8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub events, food vendors, hill climbs, good cos- The three piece indie rock back hits Eichtimes. www.Mountain-Mafia.com the ardt’s like a turd on a cold floor. Have fun!

219 Fresh Hop Festival “Thunder on Sycamore Street” play 1pm @ 219 Lounge um 7pm @ SHS Auditorium Museum Featuring brews from Georgetown Brewing, Presented by SHS Mime & Masque, the play the mu- Fremont, Laughing Dog, Hop Valley, and

by Reginald Rose. $5 general admission.

Graves, Payette. Brats and kraut from Trinity at City Play shows on Oct. 14-15 Beach and tons of free stuff to be given away!

MCS presents Stabat Mater 3pm @ St. Joseph’s Catholic Church (601 S. Lincoln) This will be an outstanding performance featuring Alyce Ispirescu and Brenda Rutledge, directed by John Fitzgerald, and accompanied by MCS Youth Chamber Orchestra

KRFY Online Auction (Oct. 16-23) 88.5FM Panhandle Community Radio The week-long online auction kicks off, with all proceeds benefiting KRFY 88.5FM Panhandle Community Radio. Check out items at www.krfy.org

b Sale • 7am-5pm @ Bonner General Health classrooms he sale will go to the BGH Employee and BGH Volunteer eduncluding shoes and stethoscope covers will also be included Rockin’ For Standing Rock Distribution 6:30pm @ Panida Theater k High School A benefit concert to send aid to the Lakota people to tritious perishable help them protect their water and sacred burial sites ries for all families from the Dakota Access Pipeline. Live music from the e. Open to the pubBeat Digger and the Incredible Flying Dookie Brothed ers. Suggested $10 donation. Doors at 6pm. All ages

1 House Seat B dle Community Radio o House Seat B race, with incumbent RepubliStephen Howlett. Listeners are invited to tune ntil Election Day to hear the candidates live, vited; some have not confirmed. Tune in and .5 FM, or streaming live online at KRFY.org

he en nd ke

Planning Your Home Orchard 6pm @ Ponderay Events Center By popular demand, a class on Planning Your Home Orchard has been added to the fall calendar of Home Horticulture classes

Boo Bash Costume Ball 7-9pm @ Sandpoint Community Hall The fun will begin with a one hour Tango lesson taught by professional instructor Diane Peters. Following will be general dancing, refreshments, door prizes, mixers, prizes for the best costumes and a drawing for a month of free dance classes. Singles, couples and all levels of dancers are welcome! $6 for adults, $5 for teens. Costumes optional

kor y c i ober H t g c n O i u K r • h t Sale Furniture

Meadowbrook Home and Gift 334 N. 1st Ave. #101 Sandpoint, Idaho 83864 (208) 255-2824

Oct. 22 64th Annual Northside Harvest Dinner @ Northside School Oct. 22 64th Annual Northside Harvest Dinner @ Northside School Oct. 22 Boo Bash Costume Ball @ Sandpoint Community Hall

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Crossword Solution

LITERATURE changes 1971:

This open Window

Vol. 1 No. 11

poetry and prose by local writers

edited by Jim mitsui

by Jerry Luther Sitting on the ground in the dark, warmed by a

blazing campfire in my best three piece suit. beating on an upside down metal bread-pan to the

sound of drums with wooden chopsticks.

Watching the shadows of lithe young women dancing on the walls of a run-down little house.

My flashy sports car parked a block away by their request.

Just hours ago, a boardroom presentation

made in Beverly Hills then a hasty drive up the coast highway to be

with new friends.

Workshops and writing groups. If you’re interested in writing, whether poetry or prose, eventually you will want to find others who like to write. It’s great therapy.

It’s been my experience to find different kinds of groups: ones where people just want to socialize, share their latest story and get a pat on the back. There are others that I call workshops, where the emphasis is on constructive critique and not just praise. Of course we all want praise, but we should constantly seek to improve, and the best way to improve is to be critiqued. If somebody says, “I think your poem is really good” that doesn’t help. We already know what’s good in our writing so it’s fair to ask, “What makes it so great?” In other words, specific details, suggestions, ideas—not that we should rush home and make all those changes in our next draft. No. An important part of the writing process is to develop your own editing sensibility.

After being in a workshop for a while you will learn whose commentary demands respect, and a possible basis for revision. And you will decide whose opinion you should probably disregard.

At the University of Washington I walked into my first verse writing class, sat down and found myself surrounded by 50 or so students. They were of all ages and, I soon discovered, all levels from English 274 to 321 to 411 and beyond. There were even former members of the class who visited and brought poems. The guy on my right was working on his master’s degree, while the girl on my left had just published a poem in the New Yorker. It was intimidating; I thought about dropping the class and hid my haiku that I had spread over a page a la Lawrence Ferlinghetti. But I listened and observed, finally realizing that I was learning from my classmates as much as the professor, Nelson Bentley. This system had been started by Theodore Roethke, who felt that a class of all beginners simply confused each other; the loudest and most vocal people dominated—and they were usually wrong.

A yearly Writers Conference is nice, but I don’t think that a weekend or even a week makes that much of an impact on your improvement—unless you’re another Emily Dickinson. I believe in writing on a regular basis, thus my weekly workshop in Sandpoint. I do have a few openings available, so if you’re interested contact me at Jim3wells@ aol.com, and I can give you more information. Send me a brief account of your writing background, your experience and training and a sample of your work. Not a manuscript, just a poem or a page of prose, whether fiction or non-fiction. Please no science fiction, fantasy or children’s literature. I also need submissions to this column, including prose pieces, not just poetry.

I sense a giant tidal wave of change about to engulf me.

-Jerry Luther Jerry Luther lives near Garfield Bay; the Luther home and grounds were in this year’s Garden Tour. He’s working on a collection of poems about his 20 year transition from the corporate world to going “back to the land.”

sons as fathers

by Brenda Hammond The small boy with curly brown hair and dark twinkly eyes like his dad, who as a toddler laughed so hard he would fall to the floor, who annoyed our neighbor by repeatedly pulling up the large slabs of rock in her walk looking for roly-polies; The boy who knew the names of all the dinosaurs and modeled them from clay, now cherishes times with his daughters— blowing giant bubbles, reading, drawing dragons, taking trips to dinosaur digs, teaching swordsmanship, the locations of planets and stars, and of course the names of dinosaurs.

The son who was born a grown-up, dressed in capes and boots with medals on his vest, saved his allowance to buy model airplanes and ships, made intricate drawings of spaceships and birds, read Winston Churchill’s volumes on war when he was 12, and hiked Chaco Canyon seeking signs of the ancient sun-watchers— now explores museums with his daughter, joins her in constructing castles and giant lego cities, helps her amass a trunk full of costumes, watches her make models, write books, and trace the path of the ancient Silk Road, while his youngest daughter walks bravely holding just one of his fingers.

jonesie

by Jeanette Schandelmeier We are a little fearful of him when he speaks in his gravelly voice to us as adults at five. He mostly visits Mom and Dad after we are in bed. But when we are older, for two summers he takes us to the stock car races on Sundays, up past O’Malley Road —Turnagain Speedway, dust and the smell of oil and exhaust, uncorked cars thundering in our bellies.

Buys us popcorn, peanuts, and a soda to share, as we watch numbered wrecks crash into each other and the announcer shouts over the din. Brings us home again in his grey Ford that smells of old man. He lives in a pale yellow house over the bridge, across the field, on a little gravel knoll. Another building sits behind it and we sneak strawberries from the garden there. We see him only as an elderly neighbor of our parents. Little do we know. He mentored our young dad homesteading alone, helped him clear the land using his dozer, assisted with framing a home —“proving up”.

Helped him dig ditches to drain the swamp, build the garage and a second story for Grandpa’s room, carve a road into the spruces for stove wood. He taught that 23-year old miner construction skills he’d use many times—to build a root cellar for potatoes, lofts for his pigeons. It isn’t until we are much older that we discover his real name is William Jones and he has a sometimes girlfriend, an estranged wife, and a son for whom he has built a house next to his own. All of this we learn from listening to Mom and Dad gossip over dinner. We have seen the son, but not the girlfriend or the wife. Once we see a red-haired woman get out of a car at his house and wonder if she is one of them. We learn too he’s a sought-after Union “catskinner” who goes on jobs to the Kenai Peninsula, giving us free reign in the strawberry patch. However, he speaks of “goin’ on rockin’ chair” which we discern to mean he’ll be home for a while before he signs up for another job, and the strawberries will be off-limits as we cannot see his car from our back-of-the-garage path of approach. I suspect he always knew and was amused.

-Jeanette Schandelmeier A native of Alaska, Jeanette is a retired educator who lives on Talache Road and keeps active raising chickens, maintaining a bee hive, gardening and hiking.

notes from an indolent nature

by Karen Seashore

I wish I were like my cat, longing to rush out the door, insistent through the grey, under the rain, into the cave of night.

I would be a cat, feet sliding from my bed sheets into ski boots, running shoes, hiking gear. A jaunty swing out the kitchen door, a quick slice of peanut butter toast in hand.

If I were cat, I’d prowl in all weathers, liquid as yoga. My dance a leap to the woodpile, my aerobics a chase, my pranayama deep breaths of treetop air.

My meditation slant-eyed & still, my t’ai-chi a crisp brown skittering leaf tumbling like a bird, aflight over the hard-crusted snow.

-Brenda Hammond

-Karen Seashore Brenda Hammond works in Sandpoint as a mental health specialist for Early Head Start, and a therapist at North Idaho A lot of people love their cats, so here is a poem that reaffirms Children’s Mental Health. She has four grown children and four this. Karen lives in Sandpoint; she loves gardening, riding her bike, grandchildren and was honored this year as a Woman of Wisdom. teaching yoga and sailing on Lake Pend Oreille.

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I watched Butch Otter’s cowboy sex movie (so you don’t have to)

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff

Few would argue that the political world isn’t dirty. And it never feels dirtier than when it focuses on doing the dirty.

There’s no shortage of that this election cycle, including the recent reports of Donald Trump’s cameo appearances in softcore Playboy porn movies.

Unexpectedly, Trump finds himself in the company of Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter.

Sure enough, the Idaho politician has a small (and clothed) role in a low-budget action movie filled with gun fights, bar brawls and, yes, a handful of awkward softcore sex scenes. The movie is wonderfully titled “A Time to Revenge,” and I watched it … for, uh, journalism.

First, the most pressing question: Why would Otter appear in such an embarrassing movie? Maybe it was inevitable, given that “Butch Otter” is already perilously close to a porn name. If he didn’t want to tempt fate, he should have stuck with his birth name, Clement. It’s the same carelessness that got Anthony Weiner into so much trouble.

Otter staffers Jon Hanian and Mark Warbis offered the Idaho Falls Press-Tribune a more plausible explanation. In 1993, Otter, then the lieutenant governor, helped the producers of a low-budget action-Western called “Roundup” secure horses for their shoot. The director took a shine to Otter’s “authentic Idaho-cowboy looks” and cast him in the role of a corrupt sheriff. As nothing seemed untoward about the script, Otter agreed to this rare shot at the silver screen. Hindsight shows the naivety in expecting anything of silver quality—or bronze, or pig iron, for that matter—from “Roundup.”

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studio declared bankruptcy and sold the movie rights. What emerged on the other side of production hell was “A Time to Revenge,” a derivative action-thriller with 10 minutes of gratuitous sex grafted into it.

So how does Otter fare?

He’s … well, he’s OK. He says a couple lines. He sticks his thumbs in his belt. He reflects light, ensuring that he and his cowboy hat are visible in all his scenes. Put it this way: No rational person would count him among the movie’s biggest problems.

I watched “A Time to Revenge” in the format best suited to its dignity: a low-resolution YouTube upload with out-ofsync audio. Trust me, there’s no amount of visual clarity that could save this movie, seemingly pulled wholesale from the darkest corner of a film editor’s nightmare. Some scenes feature characters who speak but are never seen on screen, while in others, belts and props appear and disappear in a game of continuity error whack-amole. If you think that’s bad, wait until you see the action sequences; the only way they make sense is if the laws of time and space decided to take the day off.

The movie takes place in a fever dream of Idaho where the chief export is rodeo and the favorite pastimes are line dancing and bar fighting. In this imagining of the Gem State, the days are filled with ranching, the nights are filled with drinking and the breasts are filled with silicone. Not to put too fine a point on that last item, but rural agricultural communities apparently create an astounding demand for cosmetic surgery.

Much of the movie’s first half-hour is devoted to Whittmar, a land baron trying to push ranchers like the hardworking Conrad off their property.

Eventually, Whittmar orders his

“Whoa there, pardner, you must be 18 to ride this ride.” henchmen to kill off Conrad by making “it look like an accident,” which they read as “beat him up and drag him behind a truck.” Whittmar’s henchmen, it must be said, make stormtroopers look well-trained and capable by comparison.

If anyone can match Whittmar’s goons for incompetence, it is Will, the main character and Conrad’s son. Will’s style of heroism is being pulled away for trysts in public restrooms or trucks while his friends do the fighting for him. He has almost no narrative agency and simply meanders through the movie, vaguely confused by his circumstances. That includes his sex scenes—I’m honestly not sure he’s capable of giving legal consent.

Speaking of those sex scenes, they’re only notable for their soul-crushing dullness.

They go on … and on … and on, with no sensible purpose, until you scream Monty Python-style at the TV, “Get on with it!” Worse still, they’re cut into other scenes without rhythm or tonal coherence. The

worst of the bunch is spliced between an action setpiece and a dance number, cutting so incomprehensibly you’re not sure whether you’re watching “Rambo” or “Footloose” or “Debbie Does Dallas.”

It’s fairly obvious that “A Time to Revenge” aimed to be a low-budget rip-off of

1989’s “Road House,” itself a benchmark for so-bad-it’sgood movies. Let’s be clear: “A Time to Revenge” is no “Road House.” It’s barely the basis for a “Mystery Science Theater 3000” episode. For all its Idaho novelty, it’s a truly disastrous movie, and I urge you to stay far away from it.

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

•“Aunt” is the most popular pornographic search term in Syria.

•Every 39 minutes, a new porn film is created in the U.S. •In 2009, a comparative study on porn was cut short because researchers couldn’t find men in their 20s who had never seen porn.

•In 2009, an accused Florida man said his cat downloaded child porn, not him.

•Every second, $3,075 is being spent on porn.

• It is illegal to distribute “revenge porn” (video or photos of your ex) in California since 2016.

Warm the coatless (and your heart)

By Cameron Barnes Reader Staff

Schweitzer saw its first snowfall last Thursday, and in light of the fast-approaching winter, it’s becoming tougher than ever to leave the house without your coat.

Despite the unpredictable nature of Mother Nature, one thing that is predictable is a cold winter here in North Idaho.

Coats 4 Kids stands to make a difference during the chilly season. Initially formed by power-trio of KXLY, Tomlinson Group and Safeway, the program has since exploded with sponsors. For 30 years, Coats 4 Kids has paired over 341,000 coats to those in need.

Running through the month of October, the program currently has 35 donation bins in the Sandpoint area, as well as locations all over Spokane and Coeur d’Alene.

The program works in two ways. First and foremost is the collection of gently used coats. Luckily in our area, additional items are also accepted including scarves, hats and mittens, which are then cleaned. Instead of the cleaning taking place at Aramark Cleaners in Spokane, Nu-Way cleaners will be generously cleaning the items for this county.

The second priority is the purchase of new jackets from monetary donations.

This option is ideal for those who do not have coats to donate because when enough money is collected, bulk buying allows for significantly reduced costs.

Last year $750 was collected, and upon receiving it, KXLY added another $250 in order to facilitate a bulk deal of 80 coats with Walmart.

When it’s time for distribution, there are such a variety of colors and sizes that it’s certain those in need

Recently donated coats line the Coats 4 Kids display room at the Bonner Mall in Ponderay, which will be the location of the KXLY weather broadcast and distribution day on Oct. 26. Photo by Cameron Barnes. will find a coat that truly suits them.

“It’s very heartening to see a child pick out a coat and know that it fits,” said Sandpoint area coordinator Karen Battenschlag. “[I love seeing] a big smile on their face when they walk away.

You can just see their eyes light up knowing that they can have it. It just warms your heart. It touches your heart.”

If you have a jacket that you think may not be what is considered “gently used,” remember that all coats deemed unfit for distribution are first evaluated for repair.

If they still don’t work, they are recycled properly, so either way it’s a win.

The face of the Coats 4 Kids program is KXLY Chief Meteorologist Kris Crocker.

Recently she was involved in creating the Coats 4 Kids bus, which has set a goal of filling the entire bus by the end of the drive.

Just as important are people like Battenschlag, who makes sure all 35 donation

locations are in full swing.

She estimates that roughly 200 coats have been collected so far.

“Bonner County’s got a big heart, and they usually come through,” she said.

“I’m looking forward to that.

I couldn’t think of a better place to live than where we live. It’s like being on vacation everyday.”

Now in her third year as county coordinator, she’s seen the number of coats donated grow from 800 the first year to 1,000 the second.

Although this year has started off a bit slower than usual, Battenschlag is confident that our county can at least match last year’s figures.

During her first two years as coordinator, there was another coat drive in town that was headed up by the Bonner Mall and the Bonner County Daily Bee, which makes this year’s drive all the more special. The program’s many forces have combined and are now under the Coats 4 Kids umbrella together.

“You feel good that you

were able to be a part of something bigger to help somebody,” Battenschlag said. “[It’s wonderful to] make that child’s face light up and know that they’re going to be warm when they’re going to school or they’re out on the playground. That’s priceless. Absolutely priceless.”

Plans are in the works for next year to reach out to the Priest River community, a project certainly in line with the Coats 4 Kids mission.

“The more people that we touch, the more coats we collect,” Battenschlag said.

The big event day in Sandpoint will be on Oct. 26, from 4-8 p.m. at the Bonner Mall. KXLY personalities will be doing live weather broadcasts during the event in order to spread the word, so it’s a great time to come down and either donate or pick out a coat.

As a bonus, anyone who brings a coat on event day will be eligible to win a pair of tickets to see the Seattle Seahawks battle the Philadel-

phia Eagles this upcoming Nov. 20 in Seattle.

So come on, Sandpoint.

Clean out that jam-packed closet and rid yourself of some things you’ll never wear again! Even if you’re nostalgic, you know you’ll feel better that someone will be staying warm because of it.

For more information please follow KXLYcoats4kids on Facebook, or email coats4kids@kxly.com

Are you reading this?

So are 4,500 other people.

Maybe you should advertise?

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Uncommon uses for common itemsPart 2

More unusual applications for common items found around the house.

Lemons Citrus oil is an age old weapon against insects of all kinds. Since the oil lives in the peel, save them and place them around window sills and cracks to keep spiders, ants and other creepy crawlers out of your home. You can also mix 2 tsp of lemon juice with 3 tbsp of olive oil to make an all-natural, inexpensive polish for leather shoes and wooden furniture. Just apply, let sit for a couple minutes, and wipe off with a clean cloth. One more—add 1 tbsp to rice water while it is cooking to prevent rice sticking to itself.

Butter If you’re out of WD-40 and can’t stand that squeaking door, substitute butter. The squeaky wheel will get the grease. You can also use butter to help swallow pills that would make a horse choke: Just cover them with a light layer and the medicine will go down. Also, when training kittens to go outside or introducing a cat to a new house, butter their paws before letting them outdoors.

Instead of darting out of the door in a panic, they’ll sit down and lick the butter, which gives them time to become aware of their surroundings.

Barf Bags OK, show of hands, how many of you have actually used the barf bag on an airplane? Did you know you can also use them to throw stuff away without stinking up your garbage can? Sealing dog poop, expired fridge items, used feminine hygiene products and used cooking oil in barf bags will help mask the smell.

You can also send a classy letter in your own custom water resistant barf bag envelope. Just stick stamps and label the outside, then tape shut the bag. Voila!

Toothpaste Moving out and found that the giant Lady Gaga poster left unflattering marks on your wall? Toothpaste, my friends. It’s great for use as a Bondo 18 /

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agent to fill nail holes and spackle over imperfections on the wall. You can also use toothpaste to get rid of that stubborn grime that collects on your iron or polish jewelry since it’s lightly abrasive.

Finally, toothpaste is great for rescuing a scratched CD or DVD. Just put a small dab on the scratched side and rub with a soft, clean towel in concentric circles (just like a needle on a record player). Wipe off remaining toothpaste with a slightly damp towel (Note: it’s probably not polite to toothpaste rentals or library items).

Mustard Do you like to yell like a buffoon?

Chances are, you get a sore throat often.

Combine mustard, half a lemon worth of juice, 1 tbsp salt, 1 tbsp honey and a half cup of boiling water. After it cools, gargle. It will not taste or smell good, but it usually improves a sore throat.

Also, if you want to reuse a bottle but can’t get that pesky smell out of it, rinse with hot water and mustard to reset the stink factor.

Vinegar Vinegar makes a great simple chrome fixture polisher, and it doesn’t leave streaks. At dish time, cut a greasy pan’s soak time in half by soaking it in vinegar. You can also use vinegar as a natural weed killer. Apple cider vinegar is also widely used for health benefits.

Hair Dryer Ever have a sticker that won’t come unstuck? Try hitting it with a hair dryer, and the gummy mess is easier to remove. Hair dryers are also good for removing wax on hard surfaces. Just heat it up and wipe it off. Also works to remove crayon marks from walls.

Tired of your winter boots stinking from being wet? Attack them with the dryer, and they’ll dry right up. Finally, if you’re in a hurry and your bathroom mirror is steamed up from the shower, hit it with some hot air. Blam!

Living Life:

World Mental Health Day

By Dianne Smith Reader Columnist Every fall with colder mornings, shorter days and changing leaves we use World Mental Health Day to raise awareness about mental health. Shorter days often mean fewer opportunities for daylight and outdoors, which are important for our well being. For many who struggle with depression and anxiety the shorter days are even harder, and it becomes even more important to do things proven helpful.

We know exercise has positive outcomes and that even a 20 minute walk three times a week is helpful. Different things work for different people, so finding what is helpful for you is part of the journey. Who would have thought we would be seeing adult coloring books to help calm the mind or smartphone apps for mindfulness and meditation?

•Stay active, and as much as possible, get outside. Bundle up and take a 20 minute walk. In North Idaho it doesn’t matter where you walk—it is beautiful and energizing.

•Find something to do that requires focus and attention and provides you with a finish, so there is a beginning, middle and end. We all do better when we add a bit of structure to our lives and feel a sense of accomplishment when we complete tasks.

•Find things to enjoy about winter that are just special to that season with sounds and smells all its own. Fires, stews, soups; let each family member choose their favorite winter meal or start a movie night tradition.

•Keep in touch and call friends or make new ones. If you regularly attend club meetings, church or other activities, try not to interrupt your routine just for bad weather.

Make it a goal to attend a group if you don’t already and build your connectedness.

•Think about a spring garden and use catalogs to dream and plan. Even better, start

seeds—seeing them sprout brings thoughts of spring and new life.

•Find ways to give to others. The holidays provide opportunities to give especially with your time and doing for others raises our spirits. Volunteer at your local elementary school or senior center.

•Embrace the season and everything that it has to offer: snow angels, snowmen, sledding, skiing, hot chocolate, warm fires and cold weather meals. Build winter rituals with your children to build wonderful childhood memories.

•Explore hot drinks that are full of flavor and heighten the senses. Mint, pumpkin cider, hot chocolate and chai all have flavors to savor in the cold winter months.

•Choose a new hobby or interest. It is a great way to meet new people and learn more. Join a book club, attend a class at the library or the local college, peruse the local papers and look for an event that you find interesting, join a service club such at Rotary or volunteer your time at the senior or teen center.

Being active and feeling like we can impact our life in a positive way with choices makes every season better, but especially the shorter, colder months. Positive mental health is important every day but even more so when there is less time for daylight and outdoors. Use this month to remind yourself that others may be struggling, and look for ways to reach out. Before you know it spring will have arrived to all the beauty it has to offer.

Dianne Smith, LMFT is a licensed counselor who works with both children and adults. She has offices in Bonners Ferry and Sandpoint and can be reached at 951-4400982.

Have you ever Contra danced before?

By Christine Holbert Reader Contributor Keep the autumn chill at bay by Contra Dancing on Friday, Oct. 14, from 7-10 p.m. at the Sandpoint Community Hall. Out of the Wood will be playing live music with Emily Faulkner calling. A suggested donation of $5 will help pay the band. Please bring a potluck treat to share.

Contra dancing is an old New England dance form that has experienced a tremendous revival in the last 50 years. We contra dance to live music—often a fiddle with guitar, piano, banjo or other accompaniment, playing mainly jigs and reels. A caller teaches the dances by walking all the dancers

through the figures before the music begins, then calling the figures during the dance.

Each dance of the evening begins with lines of couples facing couples, joining hands to dance a number of figures together. With each repetition of the tune and the figures, the dance moves each couple on to a new couple in the line. The figures are repeated, and everyone eventually dances with everyone in the set. At the end of one dance, it is customary to find a new partner for the next dance; men and women ask each other to dance. No need to bring a partner.

See you there!

STAGE & SCREEN

‘Snowden’ film highlights

By Chris Balboni Reader Contributor “I am not the story here,” says Edward Snowden in “Citizenfour,” Laura Poitras’s Oscar-winning documentary covering his exposure of the National Security Agency surveillance programs.

For Snowden, all that mattered was that the people of the United States have an informed choice as to how much or how little of their life the government has access to. His reticence to talk about himself has only bolstered the strength of that disclosure.

That complicates the premise behind Oliver Stone’s “Snowden:” The film aims to explore Snowden’s personal life while also explaining how the NSA collects data and what exactly that means to everyday citizens. It’s a balancing act, but Stone’s storied history with political filmmaking and larger-than-life-characters (“The Doors,” “W.,” “JFK,” “Nixon”) gives him the right pedigree to pull it off.

Or so one would think.

At its best, “Snowden” is an engaging and unnervingly factual look into modern intelligence gathering, centered around a conflicted young man played with brilliant subtlety by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

At worst, the film is a toothless biopic that constantly gets lost in the weeds.

Things go relatively well for awhile, briskly cutting between Snowden’s military beginnings and his 2013 meeting in Hong-Kong with Poitras and two journalists from The Guardian (all played to great effect by Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto and Tom Wilkinson, respectively). The film starts to get lost in dramatization, however, when Nicolas Cage makes a distractingly bizarre appearance as a CIA officer who adds nothing to the film beyond cringe-inducing tropes (his character, a totally fictional one, is the standard “eccentric genius who said too much, so now he works in the basement”) and once you meet Snowden’s CIA instructor, Corbin O’Brien, you’re treated to an endless supply of tired authoritarian clichés that nobody outside of a George Orwell novel would actually say. It’s as though you’re watching a puppet show where Stone is standing awkwardly in plain sight.

What really sinks “Snowden,” though, is the hackneyed drama between Snowden and his girlfriend, Lindsay Mills. Occasionally there’s a vague sense of chemistry between the two, but a heaping pile of gender and Millennial ste-

reotypes leaves Mills’ character feeling vapid and undeveloped, with most scenes between her and Snowden devolving into the same argument ad nauseam until the end of the film. It’s an inescapable problem, which is too bad, because the film does several important things incredibly well.

“Snowden’” is on point when it’s in the Hong Kong hotel room; watching three journalists and Snowden come to grips with breaking one of the biggest stories of the decade is enthralling, and in the moments where Snowden begins to understand the NSA’s power, you can’t help but sit in horrified awe right alongside him. Incredibly, Stone manages to do in a handful of scenes what print journalists have struggled with for three years: succinctly explain how the NSA’s operation works. The potential impact of this feat is enormous, but “Snowden” squanders it by spending half of its run-time focused on trite melodrama. It effectively sterilizes the impact of any revelations.

While reporting on the film in September, The New York Times referred to one of the emails leaked during the infamous Sony hack of 2014. At the time Sony had just snapped up the rights to Glenn Greenwald’s Snowden book, but Stone got his own production rolling elsewhere using different source material before Sony could get started. Nevertheless, Sony offered their own project to George Clooney, who passed, replying in an email: “Stone will do a hatchet job on the movie, but it will still be the film of Snowden.”

Clooney’s prediction was a prescient one: This isn’t the Snowden film we needed, but for better or worse, it’s the only one we’re likely to get.

Joseph Gorden-Levitt plays Edward Snowden.

Courtesy photo.

“Snowden” is being held over for one last showing at the Panida Theater on Friday, Oct. 14 at 5:30 p.m.

Oct. 14 @ 5:30pm

“snowden” saturday, Oct. 15 @ 7:30pm

little theater

songwriter’s circle presents

blaze and kelly in the little theater Tuesday, Oct. 18 @ 6:30pm

Rockin’ for standing rock fundraiser thursday, Oct. 20 POAC’s performance series presents

Perla Batalla's “House of Cohen” Oct. 28, 29 & 31 @ 7:30pm

monster movie madness!

little Come if you Dare! something different happening each night. theater $5 Treat ticket admission. costumes welcomed.

Oct. 28 & 29 @ 7:30pm

MURDER MYSTERY DINNER THEATRE

Did you ever wonder how there came to be a ghost in the balcony?

You are a guest and suspect!

save the date: golden era of hollywood Nov. 19 October 13, 2016 /

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FOOD

The Sandpoint Eater HOLY SMOKE!

By Marcia Pilgeram Reader Food Columnist

It’s time to turn up the thermostat and pull out the wool socks.

And stock pots. Steaming bowls of soups and hearty stews are a welcome counter to the brisk autumn air. One of my favorite fall/winter dishes to prepare is cassoulet, a rich and savory slow-cooked bean dish from the southern France. Even after the “cassoulet incident of 2008,” it remains one of my favorite Sunday dinner fares.

There I was, the private chef, working a two-week gig in Scottsdale, in the palatial Tuscan-style home of “Madam.”

I’d been there many times and knew the house and the mistress well. Madam decided to host a dinner party that would feature an “oh-so-French menu” from her Provençal cookbook, autographed by the chef/author she’d met at an annual food and wine event (where people like Madam and Sir pay way too much money to rub elbows with more of their kind). The proceeds from the pricy night of schmoozing with celebrity chefs benefited the hungry and homeless.

Our menu that evening would feature a standing rack of veal (which I was to ceremoniously parade around the table before carving and plating on the sideboard), cassoulet and an assortment of roasted root vegetables.

Starter courses included an olive tart and mussels in cream sauce.

Two ovens and twice as many dishes was going to be a challenge; the veal would cook at a very low temperature, the tart required a high temperature in the small oven and the two large bakeware pans for the cassoulet and the roasted vegetables needed a fair amount of time in the large oven. It would be tricky.

The olive tarts wouldn’t fit 20 /

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in the small oven, so I reshuffled the food, removed the roast from its roasting pan, wrapped it in foil and shoved it into the smaller oven. Once the crusty tarts were done, I removed them, and placed the cassoulet and root vegetables in the oven.

The evening began with cocktails and appetizers in the living room before the guests proceeded to the Venetian-plastered dining room and I began plating and serving the courses. The delicately sauced mussels, garnished with fresh sprigs of thyme, were the final offering before I began plating the main course.

Opening the large oven door, I encountered billowing black smoke. I shut the door, shuddered in fear and took mere seconds to contemplate my next move. In one hasty move, I opened the door, grabbed a pan, closed the oven with the back of my foot, rushed to the

patio, opened the BBQ, shoved the burning mass inside and closed the lid. I quickly repeated the process with pan number two. My heart pounded. The fear of serving smoldering, charcoal-like food was only intensified by the fear that Madam might show up in the kitchen to see why the meal was late. Quickly I turned each pan upside down and shook what wasn’t burned onto a sheet pan. I covered it with foil and gave it a chance to recover. I had no time for the same.

I drew a deep breath and presented myself in the dining room to remove the mussel bowls and offer fresh bread.

And to see if there was any residual smoke or odor from my mishap. Nothing. The kitchen gods worked in my favor.

And so the show began! I carried the standing veal roast around the table, stopping at

Cassoulet

each setting for an approving nod before carving and plating.

I followed up with the cassoulet and vegetables, placing a puny portion on everyone’s plate. I give them a quick nod and smile, and retreated to the kitchen for a quick (and well-earned) sip of icy vodka.

Those pans were a mess, a nightmare even, and looked as though they’d been used to fuel a coal operated steam engine. My first concern was finding a hiding spot until I could tackle them with some serious elbow grease.

I slid them into a big black garbage bag, added some dish soap and warm water and secured the top of the bag. I hid the bag in the cabinet under the BBQ grill, washed my blacked-flecked hands and checked on the guests.

They raved over the veal and demanded another chop apiece. And, please, more of that fabulous cassoulet. Madam

reported it to be perfect—so creamy and savory! It was like none they’d ever tasted (I’d say).

I explained how I liked to crank the oven up real high at the very end, to set the flavors of the meat and fat into the beans (a bit of a stretch, but that night was about self-preservation). I only felt a tinge of guilt when one of the guests actually thanked me for sharing this fabulous tip.

Over the following days, whenever Sir and Madam left on a golfing outing or shopping excursions, I dug out those pans and scrubbed until my fingers ached. A week later, I left the pans spotless, the mini-mansion intact and my secret safe. And forever more, when preparing cassoulet, I find myself double checking the oven temperature.

Keep your oven at a steady 325 degrees and give this recipe a try. It’s rich and filling. No standing rib roast required.

The first cassoulet was created during the Hundred Years War. Bringing together all their remaining food, the inhabitants of Castelnaudary prepared a dish composed of dried beans and various meats to nourish their bold defenders.

Other than soaking the beans, and the oven time, the preparation can be done in about 45 minutes. Well worth the effort. Serve with rustic bread and a small green salad. Makes 6 to 8 servings

INGREDIENTS: •1 lb dried white beans (preferably Great Northern) •8 ¼ cups cold water •2 cups chicken broth •1 tablespoon tomato paste •2 cups chopped onion •6 garlic cloves, finely chopped •2 stalks celery, cut into thirds •2 carrots, unpeeled, cut into thirds •3 fresh thyme sprigs •bay leaf •3 whole cloves •4 sprigs parsley •¼ cup chopped flat parsley leaves •¼ teaspoon whole black peppercorns •1 (14-oz) can stewed tomatoes, finely chopped with juice •¼ lb diced salt pork •4 chicken thighs •1 lb cooked smoked pork kielbasa, cut crosswise into 1/3-inch-thick slices •1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil •2 cups coarse fresh bread crumbs (homemade are best, using rustic bread) •1 ½ teaspoons salt •½ teaspoon black pepper

DIRECTIONS: Cover beans with cold water, soak overnight. Drain in a colander. Transfer beans to a 6- to 8-quart pot and bring to a boil with 8 cups cold water, broth, tomato paste, onion, and 2 tablespoons garlic.

Put celery, carrots, thyme, bay leaf, cloves, parsley sprigs, and peppercorns in cheesecloth and tie into a bundle with string to make a bouquet garni. Add bouquet garni to beans, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until beans are almost tender, about 1 ½ hours. Stir in tomatoes with juice and simmer until beans are just tender, about 15 minutes more.

Prepare salt pork, chicken thighs and sausage while beans simmer: Brown salt pork in 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, until browned and crisp, transfer to bowl.

Cook thighs in skillet until skin is crisp, transfer thighs to bowl, leaving fat in skillet. (You should have about 1/4 cup fat; if not, add olive oil.) Brown sausage in batches in fat in skillet, then transfer to bowl with salt pork and chicken, reserving skillet. Preheat oven to 325° Make bread crumb topping:

Add remaining tablespoon garlic to fat in skillet and cook over moderate heat, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in bread crumbs and cook, stirring, until pale golden, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in chopped parsley and ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper Assemble casserole: Remove bouquet garni from beans and discard, then stir in kielbasa, thighs, remaining tsp of salt, and remaining ¼

tsp pepper. Ladle cassoulet into casserole dish, distributing meat and beans evenly.

Spread bread crumb topping evenly over cassoulet and bake, uncovered, in lower third of oven, until bubbling and crust is golden, about 1½ hours. (check to sure cassoulet says moist, add ¼ cup chicken broth, once or twice, if needed (careful to disturb the bread crumbs as little as possible).

MUSIC

This week’s RLW by Jen Heller

READ

Perla Batalla’s

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

SPR: What type of arrangement can we expect at your upcoming show?

When it comes to musical street cred, Perla Batalla has got it covered. Not only did she cut her teeth as a backup singer for the prolific and legendary poet, singer and songwriter Leonard Cohen, but her solo career has taken her around the world and back, sharing a wide variety of genres with appreciative audiences.

To listen to Batalla sing is to take a personally guided trip through her life of amazing influences. The transcendant quality of her voice can soothe even the most savage of souls.

I had a conversation with her upcoming show “Perla Batalla’s House of Cohen” at the Panida Theater on Thursday, Oct. 20, as part of the Pend Oreille Arts Council Performance Series. We talked about her time with Cohen, her early roots with music and, oddly, how she actually knows my grandfather from a small town in Southern California.

SPR: So you’re playing at the Panida. How did you get hooked up with that gig?

Perla Batalla: I actually sang at a conference last year called Folk Alliance and I met someone who is part of the POAC board—Steve Garvin. Coincidentally, he comes to Ojai, which is where I live, this tiny town in California.

SPR: I know Ojai. We used to go there every summer when I was a kid. My grandpa lived there for years.

PB: What’s his name?

SPR: Leon Likens. He owned an antiques store called The Antique Collection in Ojai.

PB: You’re kidding me. I know Leon. Oh my god, you have to mention to him that I am Heather Benton’s best friend. Heather just loves him.

She just mentioned Leon like last week when we were having

PB: I have a really amazing pianist named Michael Sobie.

He’s a Broadway pianist who has traveled the world playing for shows like “Wicked.” He’s also a beautiful singer. Also, my bass player is Charles Frichtel, who was Michael McDonald’s bass player forever. He’s also a beautiful singer.

SPR: What are you working on for the near future?

PB: I’m actually wanting to do a Volume Two of Leonard Cohen’s songs because there are so many. Also, I’ve written a musical based on Frida Kahlo’s journal that is finished, but we’re still in development. I’m singing all the songs myself.

Perla Batalla. Courtesy photo. coffee. Isn’t that an insanely small world?

which you didn’t think was possible.

SPR: Wow. That is so amazing that you know my grandpa! Well, back to the interview…

SPR: You spent a lot of years with Cohen. Was he a muse for you, and did he help propel you off on your solo career?

PB: (laughs) Yeah, I’m really excited about coming to Sandpoint. I’ve been doing this “House of Cohen” concert, which is the music of Leonard Cohen, and that’s what we’ll be doing at the Panida. … Also, I had a friend of mine in Spain translate some of Leonard’s songs into Spanish, so I’ll be doing some of those.

SPR: I bet a song takes on a whole different dynamic when translated into Spanish like that.

PB: It really does. What’s interesting about Leonard is that his work is already so deep.

He reaches very deep with his lyrical poetry. When translated to Spanish, it just goes further,

PB: Absolutely. He was not only a mentor and a friend, but a very great inspiration for me.

Being as I was young when I worked with Leonard—I was in my 20s—I watched him like I was watching a master and learning as much as I possibly could. His ability to perform and always seek the comfort of his audience, and to make people laugh and his ability to tell a story—to me that was the most fascinating thing. I heard those stories night after night and it was always like the first time. That’s the sign of a great storyteller.

I have so much affection and respect for him and his work that I feel like I have to care for these songs.

SPR: I read recently that you have been immersed in music literally since you were born. Tell me about that.

PB: Yeah, my father was a singer. Spanish was my first language. My father’s music in the early days was a lot of Mariachi music and the romantic songs of Mexico and South America. And my mother was Argentine. It was a musical tradition in my family to sit around after dinner and sing the songs of Mexico with my uncles and my dad. I took it for granted—I thought everyone’s life was like that. … My parents also ran a Spanish language record store, so I was surrounded by music all the time.

These songs are very deep to me. They’re my tradition, my legacy. They’ve been handed down to me from my dad and my ancestors so I have a deep connection with these songs.

As the nights grow longer and the politicians grow weirder, we all need a good laugh. There’s no one I trust more for that purpose than Terry Pratchett, who passed away last spring but lives on in his 40plus Discworld novels. Pratchett’s books are patchwork quilts of satire, British humor, fantasy and artfully awkward pauses. There’s no need to read them in any particular order, but if you’re too intimidated to pick one at random, try “Going Postal” or “Small Gods” for some laugh-out-loud (and satirically brilliant) writing.

LISTEN

I’m a tragically ungifted soul.

I’ve never “discovered” a new album before it was popular, with the odd exception of The Lumineers’ self-titled “new folk” debut. Five years later, the Lumineers are now a bit overplayed, but for good reason.

This year’s release, “Cleopatra,” retains their canny knack for painting surprisingly melancholy character portraits over peppy, bright bursts of piano. The final, full-bodied flavor feels like North Idaho— nowhere better than in their song “Angela,” where both the quiet introductory guitar and the final triumphant crescendo make the perfect score for an early autumn’s drive along Hope’s shorelines.

WATCH

I love it when a movie blows my admittedly-low expectations waaay out of the water. “The Big Short” provides a clever, insightful look at some of the folks who predicted the recession of ‘08 and then found a way to profit off of it. It’s funny.

It’s infuriating. It’s educational. It’s an underdog story. It mocks Hollywood, and it features all those actors you’re supposed to like. Really, you can’t lose on this one.

Catch “Perla Batalla’s House of Cohen” at the Panida Theater on Thursday, Oct. 20, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the box office, at POAC’s First Avenue office, or on Panida.org.

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w o N & Then compiled by

Ben Olson

Each week, we feature a new photograph taken from the same vantage point as one taken long ago. See how we’ve changed, and how we’ve stayed the same.

Historical information provided and verified by Bonner County Museum staff and volunteers. The Museum is located at 611 S. Ella — (208) 263-2344.

Looking east from First Avenue at the St. James Cafe. This photo was taken one year before the Panida Theater was built on this location. To the left was the Grill Annex and Sandpoint Plumbing and Heating.

CROSSWORD

Copyright www.mirroreyes.com

1926

ACROSS

The Panida Theater now occupies this location, as it has since 1927. The entrance to Gunnings Alley is to the right.

2016

Woorf tdhe Week

lucida

/LOO-si-duh/

[noun] 1. Astronomy. the brightest star in a constellation.

“Polaris, or the north star, is the Little Dipper’s lucida.”

Corrections: We quite possibly made mistakes last week. We didn’t hear anything or get any bricks through the window, though, so this box will remain blank. Ha! -BO 22 /

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1. Cursed 6. Church alcove 10. Newbie (slang) 14. Burdened 15. Z Z Z Z (American) 16. Therefore 17. Supplemented 18. Mining finds 19. Cunning 20. Bad luck 22. Views 23. Suffering 24. Cancels 26. Associated 30. Ill-gotten gains 32. Not square 33. Begrudging 37. Be compelled 38. Runs 39. Threesome 40. Balls 42. French for “Queen” 43. Lost cause 44. Equine animals 45. A sloping mass of loose rocks 47. Triangular sail 48. Stop for a horse 49. Formation of a leg clot 56. Awestruck 57. Swiped 58. Genus of heath 59. Backside 60. If not 61. Charges per unit

Solution on page 14 62. P P P P 63. Clairvoyant 64. Sleighs

13. Young males 21. 16 1/2 feet 25. A large vase 26. Not legs 27. French for “Wolf” DOWN 28. Verdant 1. Close violently 29. Merges 2. Dry riverbed 30. Pariah 3. Probabilities 31. Applications 4. Coral barrier 33. Part in a play 5. Gifted 34. Colored part of 6. Nitrogen (archaic) an eye 7. South American country 35. 1 less than 10 8. Observed 36. “Comes and ____” 9. Colognes 38. Anagram of 10. An open letter “Unsettle” 11. Bay window 41. Caviar 12. Leers

42. Thieves 44. Not her 45. Portion 46. Thicket 47. Wisecracker 48. Envelop 50. Puncture 51. Thorny flower 52. By mouth 53. Location 54. Frozen 55. Back talk

It’s funny how two simple words, “I promise,” will stall people for a while.

S F. H A True Democrat Candidate for Idaho State Representative Legislative District 1 Seat B I have lived in Idaho since 1969, first in Blaine County, then moving to Bonner and Boundary County in 1977. I’m a lifetime Democrat and have been active in the Boundary County Democratic Central Committee for 14 years and have been elected Precinct Captain for Naples for the last 12 years. I am endorsed by the Democratic Central Committee in both Bonner and Boundary County.

-Stephen F. Howlett

I support funding for school teachers students and buildings

I support current practices and will consider inter-agencies and State Department collaborations

I support increasing the minimum wage to $9.75 over 3 years

Taxes are necessary to operate a government. I will seriously check the databefore adding, lowering or increasing any taxes

I support the Medicaid Insurance Gap

I support the Second Amendment

stephenfhowlett.ruck.us

Paid for by candidate – Stephen F. Howlett, Treasurer

READER

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