Elections have consequences, let’s make them positive...
Bouquets: • Zach and I both covered the gun rally held by the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance on Sept. 28 in Sandpoint. While at the hour-long talk, ISAA President Greg Pruett had plenty of disparaging things to say about the media, including calling this newspaper’s coverage prior to the event a “hit piece.” I was disappointed to see this room full of residents groan, boo and shake their heads when we stood and announced we were from the Reader. There was one man, however, who made a point of shaking our hands after the meeting and thanking us for attending. This man deserves a bouquet, since he was the only person in the room to show any respect to the media for doing its job. Thank you. Barbs: • I feel rotten writing this, because I have always been a fervent supporter of the Panida Theater. However, the fact that this beloved historic theater allowed comic Owen Benjamin to perform his act on stage was wrong. Benjamin was banned from Twitter in 2018 and has seen his career implode the past couple years after a series of his racist and inappropriate tweets crossed the line between “funny” and unironically hateful. Benjamin called a fellow comic’s mom the n-word, has denied the Holocaust and written anti-Semitic sentiments — just to name a few instances. I’m a firm believer in the First Amendment, but I refuse to give racists and other people who act in bad faith a platform or megaphone to amplify their message of hate — whether or not they label that hate “comedy.” We heard reports that Benjamin’s show was well-attended, albeit “boring and vulgar,” as one attendee noted. We also heard there were no outwardly racist references made on stage, which is good to hear, but it still doesn’t excuse the fact that nothing was done to push back against this comedian’s inappropriate past statements and actions. 8 /
R
/ October 3, 2019
It’s once again election time in Sandpoint. Our lifestyle and social environment are determined by who we, as a community, elect to represent us. Although the national and state elections often take the vast majority of media time, our local elections have a great deal of importance. I have done my research and will vote for Shannon Williamson as mayor of Sandpoint. I have known Shannon for seven years and found her to be moderate in her approach to governance and mindful of the importance of fiscal responsibility. She is currently serving as the president of the Sandpoint City Council. I have been a candidate for political office in the past and have always appreciated those that voted for me. It made me proud that you had confidence in me. Please, have confidence in me this election when I ask you to vote for Shannon. I take supporting a candidate very seriously and would not do so unless I was very confident in that person and their ability to lead. You can contact Shannon at shannonforsandpoint.com. Bill Litsinger Sandpoint
There’s never a reason to let rights get trampled... Dear editor, There have been many in recent weeks claim that Bonner County’s lawsuit against the city of Sandpoint, for the Festival at Sandpoint’s gun ban, if successful, will mean the end of the Festival as we know it. Some of these have included the claim that well-respected acts will not play the Festival if guns are allowed. However, a cursory search of acts at Idaho county fairs this past summer, where guns and alcohol are typically allowed, turned up a number of well-respected bands, some of which performed at the Festival in previous years. For example, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (Festival 2016), played at the Western Idaho Fair this year in Ada County. There have also been those that, for the sake of the economic benefit the Festival provides, would have lawful gun owners accept the gun ban conditions of the Festival. However, there should never be a reason to accept an organization’s or a government’s violation of the law. The Idaho Constitution and Idaho Code are hardfought legal foundations that should not be sacrificed for economics nor entertainment nor expedience. While some may not value the right to carry firearms as a reason to challenge the city of Sandpoint and
the Festival, one day this city or some other government may sacrifice a right that you do care about. We should not wait until they trample the right you value to keep them in check on all rights possessed by the citizens of Idaho. Scott Herndon Sagle
Empowering people to take charge of their health...
As a naturopathic physician, I could fall into the category of “local charlatan” that Tim Bearly described in his article, “The Baloney Detective” [Sept. 26, 2019]. I agree with his quote from Richard Dawkins, that “there is no alternative medicine. There is only medicine that works and medicine that doesn’t work.” Traditional and conventional medicine continue to have approaches that work and don’t work. The former has been around for a much longer time and formed the foundation for the latter. There certainly have been and continue to be charlatans and excellent market promoters in both, as well. To put an overarching label of charlatanism on non-conventional medicine is more than unfair. The placebo effect is known to have a strong effect with any medicine. In the 2010 August issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, “a new review of four meta-analyses of efficacy trials suggests that antidepressants are only ‘marginally efficacious’ compared with placebo and ‘document profound publication bias that inflates their apparent efficacy.” There is a paradigm difference between natural and conventional medicine, which makes the former more difficult to study using the same parameters as conventional medicine. A holistic medical approach doesn’t just use one particular medicine to affect the outcome — practitioners realize that disease is the product of many factors such as diet, exercise, stress management, toxin load, infection history, detoxification ability, genetics, etc. A corresponding complex treatment protocol cannot easily be put into a double blind placebo controlled study design and the same approach doesn’t work for everyone. Vital energy and quantum healing is based on simple physics with Albert Einstein’s quantum theory being the foundation here. We are all fundamentally condensed energy and have to stop using a sledgehammer for healing. Having said that, making unfounded claims for cure is not acceptable in either camp. Claiming your stage IV cancer is gone after surgery, radiation and chemo, knowing full well that the studies only show reduction in recurrence
rather than overall survival rates, is just as bad as somebody trained by a supplement company to use certain protocols claiming that they can eliminate stage I or II cancer. On the other hand, empowering people to take charge of their own health can go a long way in the healing process, during which both natural and conventional approaches can very effectively be used together. Gabrielle Duebendorfer Elmira
Loss of open space… Dear editor, Are we the citizens of Sandpoint going to sit quietly by as we lose yet another open space to development? I am referring to the 75 acres on north Boyer that are used daily year round for recreation. This property was donated to the University of Idaho over 100 years ago, no doubt donated by a generous citizen of Sandpoint, and now the university is not willing to donate the property back to the citizens of Sandpoint? Instead, they have chosen to sell it for $4 million dollars to a developer. Yes, $4 million dollars is a lot of money, but to put it into perspective, the U of I earned just over $1.4 million recently for playing one football game with Penn State. Four million dollars to the U of I is not like $4 million to us locals. Please join us in letting U of I President Scott Green hear our frustration with the sale and development of this property. Lea Sammons and Erik Larsen Sandpoint
Rognstad is most qualified for mayor... Dear editor, I am delighted to see that Shelby Rognstad has chosen to run again for mayor. It is disappointing and a little puzzling that Shannon Williamson has chosen to run against him. Since they both appear to be moderates, the challenge threatens to split the vote, resulting in the possibility that a lesser-qualified candidate could win. By running against a qualified incumbent, it would appear that Williamson does not think strategically, a necessary skill for a town of diverse views. That’s not the only drawback. If her main credential is heading the Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper, I question her comparative experience. Publicly available tax statements for that organization in 2017 show donation revenue under $150,000, with a history of running at a loss and her own salary being the primary expense as the only employee (source: Propublica nonprofit database). So, I would question her qualifications to run an entire city with a budget of over $40 million and nearly 100 employees, which has shown a surplus for at least the last two years under Rognstad’s leadership.
If she had any political experience, she would withdraw her name. Rognstad is a product of four generations of family history in Idaho, according to his website as the mayor of Sandpoint. He brings not only local knowledge, but the best in leadership and communication skills in an understated way few leaders cultivate. I feel that Rognstad is therefore the most qualified candidate for the position of Sandpoint’s mayor. As the incumbent mayor, former business owner and long-term resident, he brings critical experience such as: 1. Managing revenue, expenses and people with a focus on transparency and integrity. 2. Active involvement in Sandpoint growth and planning since 2007. 3. A demonstrated ability to mediate diverse viewpoints. 4. Obtaining the best strategic solutions during construction on behalf of Sandpoint businesses. 5. Communicates well face to face, in the media and on the internet, and has provided leadership for Sandpoint’s future with a steady hand. I am impressed that someone of his caliber has chosen to continue to serve as mayor. Jackie Henrion Sandpoint
Time to do the job, impeach Trump... Dear editor, President Trump’s abuse of power by trying to influence a foreign leader to interfere in an American election — laid out by a whistleblower — has confirmed that he not only lacks presidential ethics but also is incapable of handling national security issues. In what could be the most incriminating White House document since Watergate, a transcript showed that by misusing the power of his office, he pressured newly-elected Ukrainian President Zelenskiy — by withholding military assistance funds already approved by Congress — to investigate Trump’s political rival, Joe Biden and his son, in an effort to affect the 2020 presidential election. Even more disturbing, it became known that after the president’s phone conversation, White House officials engaged in a cover-up, trying to “lock-down” records of the talk until the whistleblower came forth with the information. A day earlier, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed an impeachment inquiry resulting from the Ukrainian event. Even though most Republicans dismissed criticism of the president’s action, several voiced concerns including Utah Sen. Mitt Romney and Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, a GOP member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who said, “there’s obviously a lot that’s very troubling there.” Another member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado, said this about his GOP colleagues: “I know these guys, and I know a lot of them know the difference between right and wrong. At some point, everybody’s going to have to step up here and do their jobs.” Jim Ramsey Sandpoint