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(wo)MAN compiled by

Susan Drinkard

on the street

“Pumpkin flavor spice... yea or nay?”

“Pumpkin should be a pie, not a candle or in drinks, especially not in coffee. Yuck!”

Chris Rabe Physical Therapy Assistant Sandpoint

“I like natural pumpkin baked goods, but not fake pumpkin flavoring such as what is used in some coffee drinks.”

Karen Currie Accounting Coeur d’Alene

DEAR READERS,

For those eagle-eyed readers of ours, you may noticed the Reader has received a bit of a facelift starting with the Sept. 19 issue. The slight changes are due to our retaining a new printer – the Tribune Publishing Company, of Lewiston.

Griffin Publishing, our longtime printer based in Spokane, let us know last week they were partnering with the TPC (which publishes the Lewiston Morning Tribune) to help bring a higher print quality to their clients.

Last week we ran a test and were really impressed by the improved quality of the printing, as well as the fact that the Reader now arrives in Sandpoint an hour earlier every Thursday, which is a huge bonus for us. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you there are a lot of our readers who eagerly await the weekly edition, oftentimes giving me a humorous load of guff when it’s late (looking at you, Round Table group!)

Another important reason we are utilizing the Tribune Publishing Co. for printing is because it, along with the Lewiston Morning Tribune, are family-owned, independent companies. Just like the Reader. That’s really important to us, since we pride ourselves on the fact that we are independently owned and operated and always will be.

Why am I telling you all of this? I always believe in keeping our readers in the loop with any changes that may affect their relationship with this newspaper. I know we often fear change here in the Panhandle (read any local Facebook forum for proof of this), but rest assured, this improvement will mean crisply-printed pages, earlier delivery and the same customer service we have always appreciated with Griffin Publishing – all for no extra cost.

We would also like to recognize Griffin Publishing for working with the Reader since its inception in 2004. Thank you for all the great issues over the years. Now go drink some beer, Sandpoint!

– Ben Olson, Publisher

“Nay, it seems pedestrian; it’s not special anymore.”

Darcy Freegard Clerical Hope

Jacob and Cayden agreed they don’t think of pumpkin as a flavor or a food. “I think of Halloween,” Cayden said, and Jacob agreed.

Jacob Pesce, second grade Cayden Murray, sixth grade Sandpoint

“I like pumpkin coffee. Recently my co-worker made pumpkin donuts that were amazing.”

Kira Althar Pharmacy tech at Super Drug Coeur d’Alene

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

www.sandpointreader.com Publisher: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com Editorial: Zach Hagadone zach@sandpointreader.com Lyndsie Kiebert lyndsie@sandpointreader.com Cameron Rasmusson (editor-at-large) John Reuter (emeritus) Advertising: Jodi Berge Jodi@sandpointreader.com Contributing Artists: Ben Olson, Susan Drinkard, BNSF, Kathy Cousins, Elaina Kiebert, Bill Borders, FSPW Contributing Writers: Zach Hagadone, Ben Olson, Lyndsie Kiebert, Lorraine H. Marie Sen. Lee Heider, Sen. Sally Toone, Cary Kelly, Darrell Anderson, Beth Weber, Amy Craven, Sandra Rasor, Jeanette Schandelmeier, Brenden Bobby, Marcia Pilgeram, Katie Greenland, Ammi Midstokke.

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

Subscription Price: $115 per year Web Content: Keokee The Sandpoint Reader is a weekly publication owned and operated by Ben Olson and Keokee. It is devoted to the arts, entertainment, politics and lifestyle in and around Sandpoint, Idaho.

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

The Reader is printed on recycled paper using soy-based ink. Leftover copies are collected and recycled weekly, or burned in massive bonfires to appease the gods of journalism. Free to all, limit two copies per person.

Sandpoint Reader letter policy: The Sandpoint Reader welcomes letters to the editor on all topics.

Requirements: –No more than 400 words –Letters may not contain excessive profanity or libelous material. Please elevate the discussion.

Letters will be edited to comply with the above requirements. Opinions expressed in these pages are those of the writers, not necessarily the publishers.

Email letters to: letters@sandpointreader.com Check us out on the web at: www.sandpointreader.com Like us on Facebook.

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NEWS

Train pulling out of the station on second rail bridge No appeal possible with Coast Guard environmental finding, ICL considering legal challenge

By Lyndsie Kiebert and Zach Hagadone Reader Staff Since Burlington Northern-Santa Fe announced plans in the spring of 2017 to begin pursuing permits for building a second rail bridge to span Sand Creek and Lake Pend Oreille, community members have been vocally divided on the project.

The U.S. Coast Guard released its Environmental Assessment of the project — known officially as the Sandpoint Junction Connector Project — and accompanying “Finding of No Significant Impact” on Sept.

5, which marked the clearance of a major hurdle for BNSF. With all permits in hand, aside from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Clean Water Act Section 404 permit, BNSF spokesperson Courtney Wallace said the company will soon begin “upland work,” entailing “roadway work for site access located off the highway, temporary and permanent trail construction to ensure that the multi-use path can be used throughout construction, [and] clearing areas for new trail construction and bridge approaches.”

In the wake of the Sept. 5 decision by the Coast Guard, which is the lead permitting agency for structures over navigable waters, debate over the project has centered on why the Coast Guard did not require BNSF to pursue an Environmental Impact Statement — considered more thorough than an EA. According to Sandpoint-based Idaho Conservation League Associate Matt Nykiel, more than 2,000 respondents — “the vast majority of comments submitted on this project” — requested BNSF perform an EIS. Despite that, Coast Guard officials stuck hard to National Environmental Policy Act guidelines, which require only an EA in this case.

Wallace pointed out that the EA released earlier this month “is 1,526 pages long, including all the appendices.”

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A BNSF train rolls over Lake Pend Oreille. Photo courtesy BNSF. “The Coast Guard made a carefully considered and measured decision,” Wallace said, “and BNSF believes it was the right decision based on more than a year of process and studies.”

Speaking before the Sandpoint City Council on Sept. 18, Nykiel requested council members submit a formal letter asking the Coast Guard to reconsider its finding and press BNSF for an EIS. At the time, he said this would be “the last opportunity for the city to weigh in.” Since then, he learned from the Coast Guard that there is no administrative process for reconsidering such a finding on projects of the type proposed by BNSF. Nykiel said that means the Coast Guard’s decision is final “in that the option left for people who are concerned is to file a lawsuit” — something ICL is currently considering, he told the Reader.

“We’re talking with an attorney now and figuring out if we will bring a lawsuit,” Nykiel said.

“We’re thinking about whether or not this final EA is sufficient and whether or not it complies with the law. We’re in the midst of making those decisions.”

Among the chief concerns for ICL is the lack of analysis of the lakebed soils along the BNSF right-of-way. According to Nykiel, the railroad shared data from

soil testing at sites around the proposed construction area, but not specifically where the work of building a second rail bridge would take place.

For instance, Nykiel said, results of soil analysis near the byway and Pend Oreille Bay Trail were meant to represent what could be expected at the train bridge.

“They essentially used those examples as sort of like, ‘This is our due diligence to just consider the potential for contamination in the soil,’ instead of just testing it,” he said. “As of now, there’s been no investigation or analysis of the soil in the right-of-way, where the construction would take place. They just say, ‘All soil as it’s excavated will be tested and disposed of as needed.’”

According to BNSF representative Wallace, there is “no known contamination in Lake Pend Oreille within the project area” and “there is limited potential for soils in the project area to be contaminated.” She said that in order to back up that conclusion and “provide a better understanding of how sediments travel out of the Clark Fork River,” the Coast Guard conducted a regulatory database review, consulted with Idaho Fish and Game, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, completing an “upstream velocity assessment,” as well.

“In compliance with the Water Quality Certification from Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and the Biological Opinion issued by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the final EA specifies minimization measures that would be implemented during construction to minimize the risk of mobilizing sediments,” Wallace said.

Nykiel doesn’t quite buy the notion that there is little chance of contamination in the soils around the train bridge.

“This area has a history of legacy mining,” he said, pointing to contaminants including arsenic, cadmium, lead and zinc, to say nothing of a century of high-intensity rail use on the bridge itself.

“They have found soil contamination in the Clark Fork Delta from mines upstream — there’s reason to be concerned, it’s not just pulling things out of the air and saying, ‘You have to analyze every little thing,’” Nykiel added.

Characterizing an EIS as a mechanism to “know before you go,” Nykiel said he was “sur-

prised at BNSF’s unwillingness to perform an EIS because I think an EIS is not only in the community’s best interest but also BNSF’s, as a company and community partner.

“I’m really not sure why BNSF has been unwilling to agree to perform an EIS,” he added.

“Maybe there’s some anxiety around what the additional data and analysis might show? Or, how the public might respond to it?

I’m not sure. But, BNSF has spent the better part of two years trying to avoid an EIS, which seems exceptional to me.”

When asked whether BNSF ever considered having an EIS performed based solely on public outcry — since NEPA requires only an EA — Wallace said: “It is the federal agency that decides the nature of the review. The federal regulations set forth that it’s appropriate to do an EA to determine if there are significant impacts that are not mitigated. In this case, the Coast Guard completed a very thorough review, and in the end issued a Finding of No Significant Impact based on the facts and science.”

Sandpoint Parks and Rec. plan meeting

By Reader Staff The city of Sandpoint and its consultants through GreenPlay LLC, have entered a new phase of the Parks and Recreation Master Plan, which includes site specific planning at four locations: War Memorial Field, City Beach and Downtown Waterfront, Sports Complexes (Travers, Centennial and Great Northern) and the cityowned Watershed.

Representatives from GreenPlay and its contracted landscape design firm, Bernardo Wills Architects, will return to Sandpoint for meetings with city staff and follow-up discussions with key stakeholders who participated in a first round of focus groups and individual meetings.

The public is invited to attend a community meeting and information session Tuesday, Oct. 1

at 6 p.m. at the Panida Theater.

The consulting team will present the results of the recent Parks and Recreation survey, level of service and inventory analysis, preliminary visioning and master plan findings.

In addition, they will be presenting their initial design concepts and alternatives for three park sites: Memorial Field, City Beach and Downtown Waterfront, as well as the Sports Complex (Travers, Centennial and Great Northern).

The visit will culminate in a summary presentation to the Sandpoint City Council at the regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 2 at 5:30 p.m.

Community members are highly encouraged to attend the Tuesday meeting at the Panida.

The council meeting presents a second opportunity for those unable to attend Tuesday.

NEWS

Downtown construction update

Crews working on accelerated timeline to complete road work by late-November

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff Work continues apace on street and pedestrian right-of-way construction in the downtown core. Nearly a month after crews broke ground on the project — Phase 2 of the effort to rebuild downtown Sandpoint’s surface infrastructure — the asphalt from Second Avenue and Cedar Street to First Avenue and Church Street has been removed, trees and street furniture taken out, and workers are installing pipes and utilities.

“We’re on schedule at this point,” said Sandpoint City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton. “We’ve had that caution from the beginning that weather may have an effect on this, and our forecast is now predicting potentially snow up in our area, but at this point the project is on schedule.”

The entire project area remains closed to motorists but

open to pedestrians, who must navigate downtown through tunnels of fencing with a designated crossing area at First and Main.

Crews in the week of Sept. 2127 adjusted the fencing on Main to end at the alley, opening the way for pedestrians to move north-south between Main and Cedar.

According to an update from the city, the varieties of tree species that will be planted along Cedar include imperial honeylocust, chanticleer pear, green vase zelkova and Chinese dogwood.

Officials also noted that businesses are welcome to decorate the downtown pedestrian fencing with lights, so long as they do not present either overhead or tripping hazards.

“We appreciate the cooperation with the businesses and understanding,” Stapleton said.

“This agreed-upon approach with revised timeline and a really aggressive construction plan, I think, is something that is working out

the best that it could be for the city and the businesses downtown.”

Stapleton added that she visited about 20 downtown businesses on Sept. 20, describing most merchants as grinning and bearing it while their street frontage is dominated by construction work.

“We’re definitely not hearing the impacts that we were hearing from businesses during the first phase [of construction last year] on Cedar Street,” she said, crediting the collaborative approach

A crew member exits a construction vehicle on Cedar Street on Sept. 24.

Photo by Ben Olson. between the contractor, city and business owners in addressing concerns over noise, dust, access and general disruption stemming from the project.

“It’s been really a city-owned project in partnership with the adjacent property owners and businesses, and it really allowed us to sit down, hear the feedback and really look at putting out our

County serves city in Festival gun suit

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

It’s official. Bonner County filed a complaint Sept. 18 in District Court against the city of Sandpoint, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief in the matter of the firearms prohibition at War Memorial Field during the annual Festival at Sandpoint concert series.

According to the 18-page complaint, “Sandpoint’s direct regulation, and regulation by lease creates a cloud of uncertainty, and a chilling effect, with regard to the right to exercise Idaho rights, and the enforcement of Idaho law, under the Idaho constitution and Idaho statutes on public property in Bonner County.”

The issue has simmered for more than a month, with Commissioner Dan McDonald leading the charge from the county, contending that the city has no legal au-

thority to allow the Festival to ban guns at publicly-owned Memorial Field, which the nonprofit leases for two weeks each year.

“I can confirm that we were served yesterday,” Sandpoint City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton told the Reader in a Sept. 24 phone conversation. “Up to this point, there’s been a lot of talk about a suit against us, but this was the service and filing of a suit against us.”

Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bauer confirmed that the complaint was served. Further questions for the commissioners — who were out of town at a conference and could not be reached — were forwarded by Bonner County Deputy Clerk Jessi Webster to D. Colton Boyles, the Davillier Law attorney representing the county in the case. Boyles did not respond by press time.

The Sandpoint City Council is

prepared to hire its own outside counsel at a special meeting set for 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 26 in the Council Chambers at City Hall. According to Stapleton, the city plans to retain Peter Erbland of Lake City Law Group in Coeur d’Alene.

Erbland, who earned his law degree from Gonzaga University in 1978, has been peer-selected for inclusion in “Best Lawyer in America” and “Mountain States Super Lawyers” listings. A fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, Erbland is also a member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, whose Idaho Chapter has recognized him for mediation and arbitration.

Details of Erbland’s contract will come out of the council discussion Sept. 26.

According to a Sept. 24 letter from Lake City Law to the city, and contained in the City Council

bid and outlining a process that worked best for our businesses downtown,” she said.

Based on the accelerated construction timeline, which the contractor has indicated to city officials it intends to pursue, crews will begin working on curbs and concrete crosswalks at Main Street beginning Monday, Oct. 7. If all continues as it has, Stapleton said the project is on track to meet the incentivized completion date of Nov. 26.

“I think when we’re going to reach that point when it gets tough is when it comes to demo-ing the sidewalks and doing that,” she said. “The project flip-flops when it comes to that — the pedestrian corridor then becomes the middle of the streets.”

For more information and to follow progress on downtown construction, visit sandpointstreets.com, facebook.com/cityofsandpoint and check back in the Reader as work continues.

Taxpayers to bear full costs on both sides of litigation

agenda packet, Eberland’s standard rate is $300 per hour, but he offered to lower that to $200 per hour while his paralegal bills at $100 per hour. He anticipated that one of his partners would assist in the case, billing at the same rate as his own. Rather than a retainer, Eberland suggested he could bill the city on a monthly basis.

Regardless of the terms of the contract, Stapleton confirmed that city taxpayers will bear the full costs associated with the case.

“We did receive a letter from our insurance company yesterday that we would not be covered under our insurance in this matter because it is a declaratory action,” she said. “City General Funds will be used to cover associated defense costs, which is essentially property tax revenue.”

Declaratory actions do not carry with them specific damages.

In a different kind of suit, with

claims for damages, insurance would most likely cover the associated costs.

In this case, according to the council agenda packet, the Idaho Counties Risk Management Program — the city’s insurance carrier — “has denied coverage due to only declaratory and injunctive relief being sought.” “[The declaratory action] does not specifically come with associated financial penalties for the city, however there will be costs by both the city and the county by hiring legal counsel to represent both entities in this matter,” Stapleton said.

Likewise, Bauer told the Reader in an email, “the cost of litigation are born by the County not any outside insurance company [sic].” McDonald stated on Facebook in early September that Davillier has been retained for $150 per hour.

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NEWS Lakes Commission meeting includes updates on CF driftyard, water rights

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff

A crew from Idaho Fish and Game seeding, planting and monitoring the Clark Ford Driftyard. Photo by Katherin Cousins, IDFG.

The Lakes Commission has announced the agenda for its fall board meeting, scheduled for 9 a.m.-noon, Friday, Oct. 4 in the Columbia Bank Building downstairs next to Tango Cafe.

The agenda, which is comprised of half a dozen items each slated to last 2030 minutes, includes updates from several agencies regarding projects affecting waterways across the Idaho Panhandle.

Nate Hall and Eric Oldenburg of Avista are set to present on the Cabinet Gorge Fish Passage Project, followed by an update on the Clark Fork Driftyard improvements from Amanda Collins, who serves as Albeni Falls Dam Operations program manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Next up, an to-be-announced official from the Idaho Department of Agriculture will provide an update on the Idaho Aquatic Invasive Species program. After

a 10-minute mid-meeting break around 10:30 a.m., Doug Jones of the Idaho Department of Water Resources will present on operations at the Priest Lake Water Management Outlet Dam. Bonner County Road and Bridge Director Steve Klatt is then set to share updates on the Priest Thorofare Project and, finally, Sen. Jim Woodward, R-Sagle, will provide a briefing on the North Idaho water rights adjudications, which are currently being discussed in the Clark Fork-Pend Oreille Basin.

The meeting, which is open to the public, wraps up with a comment and question period around 11:40 a.m.

Those with questions about the meeting can reach Lakes Commission Executive Director Molly McCahon at 208-263-5310, extension 107, or at lakescommission@gmail.com.

Copper Ridge Road 403 closed for maintenance

By Reader Staff Copper Ridge Road No. 403, located about 40 miles northeast of Bonners Ferry near the Idaho-Montana border, is being closed for public health and safety during road maintenance activities from midnight Sunday until midnight Friday each week through October 2019. The road, located on the Bonners Ferry Ranger District, will be open to the public for travel on Saturdays and Sundays.

The closure is approximately 13 miles up Deer Creek at the intersection of the Deer Creek-Spread Creek Road 435 and Copper Ridge Road 403, and the inter6 /

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section of Spruce Lake Road 2509 and Copper Ridge Road 403.

The project includes maintenance of approximately five miles of Copper Ridge Road to improve the road surface and drainage, widen turnouts and remove roadside vegetation to increase visibility.

Ditches, culverts and catch basins will also be cleaned.

The project is intended to restore safe and improved access for a range of recreational uses in the upper Deer Creek drainage.

For questions or more information about the closure, contact the Bonners Ferry Ranger Station at 208-267-5561.

Bits ’n’ Pieces From east, west and beyond

East, west or beyond, sooner or later events elsewhere may have a local impact.

A recent sampling: Prices going up? Time magazine suggests consumer prices have risen due to a 15% tariff rate imposed by the Trump administration on $125 billion worth of Chinese imports. More tariff increases are expected in October and December, calculated to cost American households up to $970 this year.

Between 7,000 and 9,000 years ago, in an area of what is now Utah, a unique potato helped ingienous people survive amid climate changes. According to High Country News, archaeologists discovered the role of the potato Solanum jamesii, which has twice the protein and calcium of today’s grocery store variety (Solanum tuberosum) and three times as much zinc, iron and manganese..

Fifty legal experts, drawn from across the political spectrum, recently signed a letter of support for creating a 28th Amendment that would undo the contentious Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which declared that political spending counts as free speech.

Bills in the House and the Senate would create the amendment, “put[ting] us back on a strong foundation of free speech for all Americans, not just those with unlimited wealth,” stated Jeff Clements, president of America’s Promise, a non-profit seeking to undo the 2010 “money is speech” ruling.

Dealing with domestic terrorists is further complicated by funding cuts: Just two years ago, the Homeland Security office that deals with domestic terrorism had 16 full-time employees and 25 contractors, responsible for a $21 million budget; now that office is down to eight employees, no contractors and a budget of $2.6 million, NBC News reports.

In the U.S., transportation accounted for 29% of all emissions in 2017 — in particular, medium- and heavy-duty trucks, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Those wanting to make amends for their carbon footprint can purchase carbon offsets. But ProPublica, in a May report, said a review of two decades-worth of forest carbon offset organizations found that some accomplish very little. If uncertain how to select an offset organization, consider instead making a donation to your favorite environmental protection group.

Poverty can be a disease, according to Sir Michael Marmot, director of the Insti-

By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist

tute for Health Equity at University College in London. It’s complex, but reversible: While U.S. poor are rich compared to the poor in other countries, the U.S. poor die sooner. Marmot’s research indicates that, along with lack of resources, the poor also suffer from a “sense of marginalization in society.” That causes feelings of deprivation, which creates stress and declines in health. Add in variations in parenting skills, such as 20% of mothers in a UK study who found no significant need to talk to and cuddle their kids. A UK parenting program, which encouraged more interaction with offspring, showed children from participating low-income families performed better academically and behaviorally, helping them later on with employment.

Archaeologists now enjoy the benefits of LiDAR — Light Detection And Ranging, which uses radar for surveying large areas quickly and accurately.

Using LiDAR, a Mayan site was found to encompass an unexpected 67 square miles and would have taken 25 years to survey and excavate. LiDAR drawback: While it’s easier to locate archaeological sites, it’s also easier to loot them, reports American Archaeology. Other LiDAR uses include surveying glacier melt and preventing self-driving cars from crashing EPA has proposed cutting back on rules that reduce methane leaks from oil and gas companies. Methane makes up 10% of all greenhouse gasses. According to The New York Times, various members of the fossil fuel industry are objecting to EPA’s rule-cutting plan, saying regulations should instead be tightened. Why? The industry says tighter regulations would be good for the country — and their reputations.

Green-washing: When electrified travel became popular in Los Angeles, a fossil fuel advocacy group began a campaign to classify natural gas-powered buses as “zero emissions” vehicles. But, Earthjustice reports, natural gas does generate carbon dioxide and also emits methane during its production. L.A. has voted to transition to an electric bus fleet by 2030.

Blast from the past: “You don’t have to be great at something to start, but you have to start to be great at something.”

Zig Ziglar, 1926-2012, American author, salesman and motivational speaker.

Another blast: Electric cars are not so new. The first one is credited to Scottish inventor Robert Anderson, whose vehicle was completed sometime between 1832-1839.

OPINION

National Hunting and Fishing Day: Celebrating Idaho’s Sportsmen and Women

By Sen. Lee Heider, R-Twin Falls, and Rep. Sally Toone, D-Gooding Special to the Reader Saturday, Sept. 28 marks our nation’s 47th annual National Hunting and Fishing Day. Formalized by Congress in 1971 and signed as an official proclamation by President Richard Nixon in 1972, the day is a great opportunity to come together and recognize the historical and ongoing contributions of the original conservationists: hunters and anglers.

As co-chairs of the Idaho Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus — part of the 49-state National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses — we and our fellow Caucus Co-Chair Sen. Michelle Stennett, D-Ketchum, are proud to take time to celebrate the time-honored traditions of hunting and angling. On this day, we ask our fellow Idahoans to join us in recognizing the tremendous dedication that our state’s sportsmen and women bring to the conservation of our natural resources.

Idaho’s hunters and anglers are the primary source of conservation funding for the Gem State. Through the purchase of licenses, tags and permits, and by paying self-imposed excise taxes on firearms, ammunition, archery equipment, fishing tackle, motorboat fuel and other equipment, hunters and anglers drive conservation funding in Idaho and the United States, through the American System of Conservation Funding, a unique “user pays-public benefits” program.

Last year alone, contributions through the ASCF generated $21.85 million, while hunting and fishing licenses brought an additional $38 million to fund state conservation efforts through the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. All Idahoans benefit from these funds through improved access to public lands, public shooting ranges, habitat restoration, fish and wildlife research and management, hunter education, fishing and boating access, and many other Idaho Department of Fish and Game projects funded through this program.

Additionally, through the accomplishments of our Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Idaho is proud to have elevated its efforts in providing a variety of access opportunities.

Included in this is the expansion of

Idaho’s traditional Access Yes! program, adding nearly 50,000 additional acres of access to private land or access through private land to public lands beyond. IDFG also signed an agreement with the Idaho Department of Lands to ensure continued access to 2.3 million acres of state endowment lands. To top things off, IDFG negotiated agreements with corporate timberland partners — including PotlatchDeltic, Stimson Lumber Company and others — to provide access to over 900,000 acres of private land.

Hunting and angling are also a significant economic driver for our state.

Idaho’s sportsmen and women spend over $1.02 billion per year on their outdoor pursuits, supporting 15,261 jobs in the state and contributing $202 million in state and local taxes. The Idaho Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus has supported these goals through policy that encourages the allowance of public access on private lands by limiting the liability of landowners who make their land and water areas available to the public without charge, and by supporting the appropriation of an additional $1.8 million to the IDFG Fisheries Program for habitat improvement projects.

Hunting and fishing produce countless benefits for our state’s conservation funding and economy; therefore, it is important that Idaho’s sportsmen and women invest time and effort to encourage future partic-

ipation in these time-honored traditions.

Our hunting and angling heritage should not be taken for granted, and getting the next generation of Idaho’s sportsmen and women involved in the outdoors will help ensure the conservation of our abundant natural resources for the future.

Leslie Kiebert hunts for elk in Hope, Idaho.

Photo by Elaina Kiebert.

More information on National Hunting and Fishing Day is available at nhfday. org or on the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation website at congressionalsportsmen.org.

Laughing Matter

By Bill Borders

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COMMUNITY Parks and Rec. round-up

By Ben Olson Reader Staff Bouquets: • I’m so thankful for those of you special readers who donate to our Patreon or PayPal accounts on a regular basis. Whether it’s a donation of $1 or $1,000, our supporters — including our advertisers — keep the lights on around here. Here’s a short list of the community members who donated to our PayPal account in September alone: Andrea Wells ($20), Ginna Maus ($25), Annie Kuster ($5), Linda Oens ($10), Cynthia Buse ($1), Mamaloose Music ($10), Susan Kirkpatrick ($10), John McPherson ($10), James DeCleur ($10), Marsha Williams ($5), Sharon Rings ($1), Linda Fillios ($2), Mary Shay ($10), Donald Langenfeld ($25), Kathee Calkins ($1), Douglas Coe ($1), David Smith ($10), Jean Gerth ($25).

Thank you all so much. Next week, I’ll recognize those who donate to the Patreon account.

• A Bouquet goes out to the whole crew over at Kaniksu Land Trust for their successful grand opening of the Pine Street Woods last weekend. I’m so impressed with this whole project, from the beginning to the end result. Now, we have brand-new trails for hiking and biking a few minutes from downtown — not to mention an excellent place to educate and entertain the next stewards of the land. Way to go, KLT! GUEST SUBMISSION: • As a contributor, I am lucky to have the Reader publish my art. My articles and pictures are always polished and laid out with style and sophistication. Also, I know how hard it is to write a few articles a season, but not a few articles each week (incorporating heated disagreements). A big bouquet to you, Reader staff!

— Submitted by Jodi Rawson.

Barbs • I searched high and low, but couldn’t find anything to gripe about this week. Oh, well. If you’re hankering to hear about others’ pet peeves, see Page 24.

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Bollywood Dancing for Youth (5-12 year olds) Bollywood dancing is a fun, energetic dance form used in films from India. It is a mixture of numerous styles including belly dance Kathak (Indian traditional dance), Indian folk and various Western modern and popular styles such as jazz.

Learn the choreography to a whole song with possible performance opportunities — no experience required.

This class is sponsored by the Sandpoint Parks and Recreation Department and will be held Tuesdays from 3:30-4:15 p.m. at the Sandpoint Community Hall, 204 S. First Ave. Session 1 will be Oct. 1, 8, 15 and 22. Session 2 will be Oct. 29, Nov. 12, 19 and Dec. 3. The class fee is $36 with a $4 city resident discount.

Free KNPS Monthly Presentations Sandpoint Parks and Rec. and the Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society host free monthly presentations to discuss a variety of natural resource-related topics.

The September presentation will take place from 9:45-11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28 at the Sandpoint Organic Agriculture Center, 10881 North Boyer Road.

The upcoming event, titled “Native Planet Research and the Heritage Apples at UI’s Sandpoint Organic Agriculture Center,” will feature Kyle Nagy and Jennifer Jension.

Attendees will learn about the botany and history of apples and sample some of the apple varieties that are grown at the Ag. Center.

No need to pre-register for this free meeting.

Pilassage (Ages 15-adult) Pilassage is a combination of pilates, yoga and massage intended to keep you healthy,

happy and to reform your body with a gentle approach. Bring your own mat and rolling pin — yes, a rolling pin. Well-behaved young children are welcome to accompany you.

Pilassage classes will be held Thursdays, Oct. 3-24 from 9-10 a.m. at the Sandpoint Community Hall. The fee is $44 with a $4 city resident discount. Pre-register by Sunday, Sept. 29.

Salsa Dancing Instructor Chika Orton will teach the energetic Latin dance of salsa in a series of classes for those aged 12 to adult. Unlike some partner dances, it’s common to dance with people who have never met before.

Classes will be held Thursdays from Oct. 3-24 from 6-7 p.m. at the Sandpoint Community Hall, 204 South First Ave. The fee is $43 per month. Pre-register online by Sunday, Sept. 29.

CPR/AED with Optional First Aid (ages 16-adult) The American Health and Safety Institute’s CPR/AED with optional first aid is a general community course for people with little or no medical training but who need a CPR/AED and/ or first-aid card for work, school or personal knowledge. The course meets American Heart Association guidelines.

Sessions will take place on the following dates: Mondays, Oct. 7, Nov. 4 and Dec. 2. Class times for each date are: CPR/ AED from 4-6 p.m. and first aid from 6-8 p.m. All sessions are hosted at the City Council chambers at Sandpoint City Hall, 1123 Lake St. Fees for CPR/AED are $35.

Adding the first-aid option increases the fee $25.

For information about these and other Sandpoint Parks and Recreation events, call 208263-3613 or visit sandpointgov. parksrecreation.

What a great night out…

Dear editor, I want to thank Jon and Vicki at the Idaho Pour Authority for allowing the Bonner Partners In Care Free Health Clinic to take part in their Wednesday night fundraisers for local nonprofits.

Our clinic offers free health care to those in our community that cannot afford to pay for doctors visits, lab work or prescription level medications.

It was a great evening of fun and fellowship with our friends and neighbors in Bonner County. Once again, thank you Jon and Vicki.

Bill Litsinger Board president Bonner Partners in Care Free Health Clinic Sandpoint

Closure...

Dear editor, Kudos to Lyndsie Kiebert for an informative and well-written article about Nancy and Ed Kienholz (Feature, “The artists in repose,” Sept. 19, 2019). After learning of Nancy’s death on Aug. 7 in Houston, we searched for news articles to try to learn a bit about her death — and life — since she and Ed had a close association with the Hope community. Very little information was available. Lyndsie’s article provided a closure, and we now know that Nancy and Ed will lie in a state of repose with each other.

A fitting and unusual ending, for an unusual lifestyle.

Jane Holzer Hope

Just say no to niche politics...

Dear editor, This Saturday’s “Freedom Tour” Second Amendment rally is not, in fact, about an actual infringement upon Idahoans’ Second Amendment rights.

It is not about the desire among certain people to actually carry their guns into the Festival.

Rather, this is a wedge issue being used to divide and create conflict within our otherwise mostly peaceful and harmonious community, executed by certain individuals in order to promote their political agendas at the county and state levels.

The county’s legal posturing and threats to sue the city are likewise a political ploy executed by a particular Bonner County commissioner to curry favor among his conservative base.

Let’s not fool ourselves, folks. The Festival was a gun-free zone for 37 years and no one seemed to mind. It’s only in 2019 America — in which we are constantly bombarded with arguments and debates over niche issues about which a very small but vocal minority within

the community are concerned, in an effort to elevate the profiles of particular champions of said issues among their fans, supporters, voters, Twitter or YouTube followers, or whomever else upon whose adoration their delicate egos (or jobs) depend — that the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance would bother to commute 400 miles north from its home in Boise to “train” gun owners how to “protect Idaho from radical leftists.”

Please, Mr. Pruett, when you reach the Long Bridge this Saturday, take a second to soak in the beautiful view of our peaceful community, then turn around and head back to Boise.

Jason Welker Sandpoint

Trump: Stop hurting our grandchildren…

Dear editor, In the early 1950s, my grandfather was a businessman in a small town in Montana. He was politically active and once ran as the Republican candidate for county commissioner. His word was his bond, he treated women with dignity, he was fiscally conservative and respected the environment.

Our current Republican president is making my grandfather roll over in his grave.

This president is not a moral example for our grandchildren. He habitually lies or distort the truth.

His comments on women and conduct are appalling.

The cornerstone of my grandfather’s political being was economic.

Trump’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget projects the federal debt would increase $5 trillion. The debt is at the highest level since shortly after World War II. This debt will be the responsibility of our grandchildren.

Global warming is real and human activity is a significant contributing factor. We are seeing the effects of climate change in numerous ways and it appears that change is occurring faster than originally thought. The policies of this president will cause irrevocable harm. Our grandchildren will inherit planet earth in a very damaged state.

For the sake of our grandchildren, President Donald Trump should be a one-term president.

Ken Meyers Sandpoint

POINT / COUNTERPOINT

Permanent school Levy:

Should voters approve a permanent levy for the Lake Pend Oreille School District? Why or why not?

The case for a permanent school levy

By Cary Kelly Reader Contributor Good public schools are essential for the economic health of our community and for the future of our children.

One of the first questions people ask about this area before moving here or moving their company here is, “How are the schools?” One reason we have been able to maintain excellent schools is because of the community support for supplemental levies. The vast majority of school districts in Idaho depend on these levies to make up for the shortfall in state funding.

While levies have been supported and approved here for the past 18 years, some do not support them because the levies do raise property taxes. The question of whether or not we need the current levy was decided last March.

Now the issue is, “Can we make that levy permanent (with no increase)?”

In recent years, the Lake Pend Oreille School District’s supplemental levies have become essential rather than supplemental. With 35% of the operating budget coming from the current levy, it places the district’s budget in danger every two years and in dire straits should a levy fail to pass.

The need for passing levies puts a strain and uncertainty on the entire planning and budgeting process.

Teachers and staff can’t be certain of having jobs should a levy fail, not to mention the reduction or elimination of all academic and athletic extracurricular activities. Some schools might have to be consolidated or closed.

Also, requesting a large levy every two years requires time, effort, money and divides the community.

In order to put a school budget back on a more sound financial foundation, the Idaho Legislature has permitted any school district to vote for a permanent levy, provided the district meets certain criteria.

Crucially, the district has to have been authorized by election a supplemental levy for at least seven consecutive years that has been equal to or greater than 20% of the total general maintenance and operation budget.

Since our district has met this criteria for many years, the school board agrees that now is the time to submit the question of a permanent levy to the voters.

Additionally, this option of offering an “indefinite term” supplemental levy may be eliminated by our Legislature next session. This issue was on the agenda last year and did not pass, but will probably come up again.

In summary, the issue we would like the voters to decide is whether they would support making the current levy permanent or to continue the two-year cycle of asking the voters to approve an “essential” supplemental levy. If this were to pass, it would take effect in 2021.

A permanent levy can be reduced by a majority vote of the board of trustees, but cannot be increased without approval of the voters. If the current levy should become permanent it would in no way lessen the financial accountability to the public. The outside auditing requirement, budgeting process and financial transparency would remain the same as it is now.

While having a permanent levy may not end the need for future levy requests — depending on state funding — it would certainly put our school district’s finances on a much more solid foundation. For this reason, I would encourage you to vote in favor of this proposal.

Cary Kelly serves as president of the Board of Trustees for the Lake Pend Oreille School District No. 84.

Voters are getting fed up with levies

By Darrell Anderson Reader Contributor “LPOSD’s Financial Future Solid,” proclaimed the headline in the Bonner County Daily Bee on April 2 this year. That was a couple of weeks after the latest supplemental levy of $25.4 million — an all-time high amount and a 49% increase over the previous one — had passed.

Six weeks later, lo and behold, we learned that “LPOSD Weighs Permanent Levy.”

What happened?

For years we were told by the previous LPOSD school board chair, Steve Youngdahl, that LPOSD has no interest in a permanent levy. School board minutes as far back as November 2016 reveal that, “Chair Youngdahl said he would absolutely like to see a two-year levy only and not a permanent levy.” At a Bonner County Republican Central Committee meeting he went a step further, saying that no permanent levy was under consideration because it would mean that they couldn’t raise the levy amounts anymore.

It was quite a reveal of the school district’s attitude — by the person chairing the levy process, no less.

Fast forward to May 2019. Current School Board Chair Cary Kelly, flush with funds from the March levy and a gushing narrative about LPOSD’s “solid financial future,” suddenly sees the need for levy permanency. He suspects the window for a permanent levy will close in next year’s legislative session, meaning supplemental levies that require voter approval every two years will be the only option.

LPOSD CFO Lisa Hals goes on record describing such voter approval as “less than ideal.”

Ah yes, the pesky voters! In recent years they’ve been saying “No” to supplemental levies in steadily rising numbers, from 30% in 2015 to 44% in 2019. The writing is on the wall: Voters are getting fed up with levies, and the

next one could be a loser.

A public meeting seeking community input on a permanent levy was quickly put in place by the school board. The audience of some 40 citizens, many of them current and former school employees, weighed in and, unsurprisingly, school-affiliated individuals preferred a permanent levy.

Opponents had a number of concerns, none of which were mentioned by school employees. Among them were a lack of trust in the board’s transparency; fear that it would continue or get worse if voters were effectively sidelined for years to come; the communication generated in two-year levies would disappear; and negative reports from taxpayers to the Legislature in the five districts with permanent levies were brought up.

Within a month, the permanent levy proposal was approved by the school board.

On Nov. 5 you will therefore be voting on a permanent supplemental levy (the new term is “indefinite term supplemental levy”) in the amount of $12.7 million per year, which is the amount approved last March for each of the next two years.

If approved in November, LPOSD is guaranteed this amount as a permanent baseline beginning in 2021 and continuing indefinitely. Voters, however, have no guarantee that it will stay at that amount. The school board admits that it can ask for additional funding at a future date.

This levy will strip taxpayers of the right to vote on supplemental levies and permanently ties this debt to future generations. Our children currently in the education system will find it harder to afford to live in Bonner County. It is already difficult to find local affordable housing and good paying jobs. We are giving them little choice but to leave.

Darrell Anderson is a longtime resident of Bonner County, parent of two children and small business owner.

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Mad about Science:

By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist This article is meant to do one thing, ja. Pump… You up!

Muscles come in a huge variety of forms and have an amazing amount of intricacy and complexity attached to each and every one of them, so we’re going to use our masseter muscles to bite off just a little bit of info today. If you’re curious about how muscles work, or want to go from being a puny, flabby baby to a big ripped muscle man, ja, check out the health section your local library, or ask a librarian.

They’ll get you on the road to bodybuilding competitions faster than you can say: ”levator labii superioris alaeque nasi muscle.”

Our muscles come in three forms: cardiac, smooth and skeletal. We have direct control over our skeletal, sometimes called striated muscles, which are muscles that anchor to bone and contract to generate movement. Think about your biceps: When you bend your arm to do something like read a library book or shovel pure protein into your mouth, your bicep brachii muscle is contracting and pulling the rest of your arm into that position. As you relax, your arm can fall back into its natural position. These actions occur all over our body with such regularity that we don’t even think about how intricate all of these connections are. In fact, the only time we ever notice the effort we’re putting into simply moving is when we have to do something more, like exercise, which we will cover later.

Smooth muscles are muscles that are generally not consciously controlled. Think about the muscles in your stomach that

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Brought to you by:

muscles

push waste through your intestines. Smooth muscles are also responsible for helping push blood through small blood vessels. These actions are controlled relatively autonomously through chemical reactions triggered by the most primal part of our brain, the brainstem. We don’t think about, nor can we control these muscle movements on our own, which is great when you forget more things than you remember in a day, like I do.

Cardiac muscles are a given — they’re what make up the walls of your heart and ensure blood keeps pumping through your body. Did you know that a healthy heart, on average, beats 42 million times per year? That means that the oldest living person in the world, Kane Tanaka, has had her heart beat over 4.8 billion times. I’m somewhere around 1.2 billion.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve wondered why your muscles hurt so badly after an intense exercise or a day on a tough job. The thing about muscles is, they need to be damaged in order to get stronger. Before you pick up the cleaver on your quest to become the next Jason Momoa, you should know they need to be damaged in a specific way: through use.

Using our muscles for large and repetitive tasks causes wear and tear, from muscle fibers tearing to cells naturally dying.

The repair and growth happens when your body uses stem cells to repair the damage and make more muscle cells in anticipation of more strenuous activity. Very little pain comes from direct tissue damage. Swelling causes considerably more pain in the 48 hours following a workout.

Edema, often referred to as

swelling, happens when your blood vessels start leaking into a damaged area inside your body to repair damage and stop any more from occurring.

This recovery period is the crux of a multi-billion dollar supplement business. The complexity of our bodies means that most people — plenty of doctors included — don’t know the full extent of why our bodies do certain things. Companies jump on uncertainty and unproven theories and swindle us on expensive supplements our bodies end up urinating out anyway. Remember the antioxidant craze? There was a theory floated around 2016 that excessive oxidants in our blood caused excess swelling and slower repair times, so something that reduced the presence of those oxidants (hence, the suffix “anti”-oxidant) could provide increased durability and repair times for our muscles.

Systematic studies since have found no evidence to support this claim.

Now I’m not saying pour out all of your Gatorade; there are good things in most sports drinks. The sugar in sports drinks is the key component: it tastes good and it gives your body a spike of energy in clutch time. However, like all things we put into our bodies, it should be taken in moderation and supplemented with plenty of water.

The 48 hours following a hard workout or a rough day of physical labor are key to repairing your muscles. It all starts with what you put into your body. Eating lots of sugar may make you feel good right away, but your body is going to reconstruct those molecules into fat and keep you aching for longer. Eating protein will help

your body with rebuilding your muscle, and the various minerals in vegetables have been shown to also help the body recover.

Keeping those aching muscles active through things like massage and stretching will also help your body recover. If you can afford it, cryotherapy and ice baths have been shown to help as well — though just give the weather two months and you can opt in for a little North Idaho

cryotherapy. Snow, baby!

There is an immense amount of misinformation out there about our bodies and how to improve them. Before you drop a stack on the next fad diet or miracle supplement, go chat with a librarian and make sure there’s some evidence to support eating a cotton ball to lose weight.

Spoiler alert: There is absolutely none, and you should never eat a freaking cotton ball.

Random Corner hes?

ac Don’t know much about cockro

We can help!

• Headless cockroaches are capable of living for weeks. They die from starvation.

that can only house 40, they’ll split evenly into two groups and leave one shelter empty.

• Cockroaches get lonely and even become ill if they go solo for too long.

• Catnip is a natural cockroach repellent.

• There is a newly found cockroach species in the U.S. that can survive freezing temperatures.

Look out North Idaho!

• A group of cockroaches is called an intrusion.

• Cockroaches raised in space become quicker, stronger, faster and tougher than cockroaches on Earth. They also look cool in those little space helmets.

• Cockroaches shed their skin.

• Cockroaches appeared 120 million years before the dinosaurs.

• Cockroaches are among the world’s “fartiest” species.

• Cockroaches can make group decisions. When 50 cockroaches are presented with three shelters

• Cockroaches can run on two legs and reach speeds of almost five feet per second.

• Cockroaches are served fried in China, Thailand and other Asian countries.

• Cockroaches have a much higher radiation resistance than vertebrates, with the lethal dose perhaps six to 15 times that for humans.

• Cockroaches have distinct personalities, a study found.

• In 2015, engineering students in China worked out how to control live cockroaches using a brain-to-brain interface technique.

• Englishman Ken Edwards ate 36 Madagascar cockroaches in one minute in 2001.

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COMMUNITY

Kaniksu Health Services CEO passes

By Reader Staff It was with profound shock and sadness that Kaniksu Health Services announced CEO Victoria McClellan-King suddenly and unexpectedly passed away Friday, Sept. 13.

“On behalf of the entire Kaniksu family, we extend our most heartfelt condolences and sympathy to Victoria’s family,” KHS wrote in a statement. “Our thoughts are with them at this most difficult time.”

Since 2005, McClellan-King provided leadership as CEO for KHS, creating an organization that has become a vital part of the health care system for North Idaho, with more than 150 employees treating 25,000-plus patients. McClellan-King had more than 40 years of experi-

Victoria McClellan-King. Courtesy photo. ence as a senior executive in integrated health care systems with accountability for urban and rural acute care hospitals, ambulatory health services, the development of rural primary health care clinic models, medical group practice management and health plans.

Fall birds, wildfire on docket for outdoor program

By Reader Staff Join Project Ascent for a unique fall outdoor educational program Saturday, Oct. 5 titled, “Autumn Wings, Woodpeckers and Wildfire.” The group will meet at 8 a.m. (Mountain Time) at the Venture Inn, 1015 West Ninth St., U.S. Highway 2 in Libby, Mont. The program runs until approximately 3:30 p.m.

The Thompson Falls, Mont.based organization offers outdoor education and recreational opportunities to under-served youth and interested adults in Lincoln and Sanders counties, as well as surrounding areas. Group members have an expansive collective knowledge of outdoor recreation and a mission of improving the community while protecting wild places for future generations.

The autumn outdoor educational class is timed for the general fall migration of many birds, and will focus on birds of prey, waterfowl and songbirds, with a side emphasis on woodpeckers and their specialized relationship 12 /

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with recent forest fires.

Attendees will visit sites of relatively recent fires near Libby, as well as river, lake and wetland locations. Participants are asked to wear appropriate clothing for the day and bring along an orange safety vest or similarly colored outdoor wear. Organizers will have a few vests on hand to lend out, if need be.

Additionally, would-be adventurers should bring binoculars, spotting scopes, bird books, water, lunch, proper footwear, cameras, a full tank of gas and a good attitude.

There is no charge for this class and spots are limited. Organizers ask that those who sign up plan on attending.

The instructor for the day is Brian Baxter, who has degrees in both forestry and wildlife, and has been teaching outdoor educational programs for more than 18 years.

For more information, see the website at projectascent.org.

To sign up, contact Baxter at b_baxter53@yahoo.com or call: 406-291-2154.

She also had a strong background in clinical program development and health care management business operations, with a track record for producing results in quality of care and cost-effective operations.

Under McClellan-King’s leadership, Kaniksu has become a leader in quality, both within Idaho and nationally, as well as achieving a PCMH Level 3 in all clinics. Her long commitment to a personal leadership style motivated and supported an effective top-performing team and ensured the growth and success of KHS. “Victoria’s accomplishments as CEO of Kaniksu Health Services are surpassed only by her commitment to our community, and every day she worked to fulfill her belief that everyone

deserves access to quality health care,” said Board President Sheila Farmin-Aumick. “She will be missed greatly — by her beloved family, by the colleagues whom she respected so deeply, by her incredibly broad network of dear friends and by our community.

The leadership team she built at Kaniksu is deeply committed to carrying on her legacy.”

In accordance with its succession plan, the KHS Board of Directors named CFO/COO Kevin Knepper as CEO, effective immediately.

“While we are entering into a period of transition, we will continue to operate the company with the same dedication, energy and passion that Victoria brought to work each and every day,” Knepper said.

Skip the bus, not school National Walk to School Day is Oct. 2

By Reader Staff Each year in October, school children around the nation skip the bus and walk to school.

This year, Walk to School Day takes place Wednesday, Oct. 2 throughout Lake Pend Oreille School District No. 84.

Walk to School Day events raise awareness of the need to create safer routes for walking and bicycling, as well as emphasizing the importance of physical activity among children.

Along the way, children are also exposed to the issues of pedestrian safety, traffic congestion and concern for the environment.

Participants have already organized multiple school walking groups: Washington Elementary School will be walking to school from the Bonner County Administration Building at Ontario Street and Division Avenue at 7:25 a.m.; Farmin-Stidwell Elementary School will walk to school from the Sandpoint Library at Division Avenue and

Cedar Street at 7:30 a.m.; and Kootenai Elementary School will walk from Brittany Loop Trailhead, accessed on Brittany Loop Road off North Main Street north of the school, from 7:05-7:15 a.m.

From 7:30-7:55 a.m., the following schools will celebrate Walk AT School Day due to a lack of safe walking routes to schools: Northside, Hope, Sagle and Southside Elementary Schools. Students will be encouraged to walk laps around the playground perimeter before the morning bell, as well as during recess breaks throughout the day.

Sandpoint Middle School and Clark Fork Jr./Sr. High School students are encouraged to select a safe route to walk to school with family and friends.

To learn more about Walk to School Day, contact Erin Billings at erin.billings@lposd.org or call 208-263-2184 ext. 1124.

Coffee with a Cop Day will be Oct. 2

By Reader Staff National Coffee with a Cop Day gives community members across the country the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about local law enforcement.

The fourth annual program will take place across various locations in North Idaho on Wednesday, Oct. 2. Local police departments will be appearing in the following locations: Sandpoint PD will be at Evans Brothers Coffee, 524 Church St. in Sandpoint starting at 11 a.m.

More info: Capt. Rick Bailey, 208-255-6662.

Ponderay PD will be at Starbucks, 477100 Highway 95 in Ponderay. More info: Sgt. Mike Victorino, 208-946-3836.

Priest River PD will be at Infinity Cafe, 5770 Highway 2 in Priest River from 10-11 a.m. More info: Chief Drew McLain, 208448-1521.

Newport PD will be at Audrey’s Restaurant, 332391 Highway 2 in Newport from 1-3 p.m.

More info: Chief Mark Duxbury, 509-447-5611.

Pend Oreille County Sheriff’s Department will be at Audrey’s Restaurant also in Newport from 1-3 p.m. More info: Dawn Taylor, 509-447-1909

Last Yappy Hour Sept. 26

By Reader Staff The final Yappy Hour of 2019 will take place Thursday, Sept. 26 from 4-7 p.m. at the Ponderay Dog Park. There will be live music by the Baldy Mountain Boys.

The seasonal event serves as a fundraiser for the Panhandle Animal Shelter, with live music, drinks and fun with your furry friends. Yappy Hour will return in spring 2020.

PERSPECTIVES

I

suppose it should come as no surprise in the era of “alternative facts” to discover that millions of Americans are falling prey to the quackery of so-called “alternative medicine.”

The adjective “alternative” has, at least in some cases, become a euphemism of sorts — a euphemism for baloney. Indeed, the Kellyanne Conways of “natural” and “holistic” medicine are adept at using doublespeak, pseudoscience and New Age mumbo jumbo to take advantage of — and ultimately profit from — the credulousness and gullibility of the masses.

Australian comedian Tim Minchin famously said: “By definition, alternative medicine has either not been proved to work, or been proved not to work. Do you know what they call alternative medicine that’s been proved to work? Medicine.”

(It behooves me to hedge a bit here and assert that I am not making the case that alternative medicine is all bunk, but that the field is, no doubt, replete with false promises and unsubstantiated claims.)

Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins has asserted, “There is no alternative medicine. There is only medicine that works and medicine that doesn’t work.”

But is it really that black and white?

Is the whole notion of “alternative medicine” complete hogwash? Well, with the term being a bit ill-defined, the answer to that question all depends on what gets lumped into the category.

The fact that diet and exercise — which doctors typically recommend — are closely linked to heart health is indisputable. So, in some situations, increasing physical activity and cutting back on things like sugar and sodium

may be a healthy alternative to prescription drugs. Moreover, meditation and other relaxation techniques can help mitigate stress and anxiety, which, in turn, can improve cardiovascular health.

If remedies like these fall under the umbrella of alternative medicine, then no one — including Dawkins — would suggest that alternative medicine is completely bogus.

But let’s not strawman Professor Dawkins, here. He made the definition of alternative medicine perfectly clear in his book A Devil’s Chaplain, in which he described alternative medicine as a “set of practices that cannot be tested, refuse to be tested, or consistently fail tests.”

Others, no doubt, have a much different definition of alternative medicine.

And so, like many other contentious political and ideological issues, this debate can easily turn into an argument over semantics. I suspect that some of this is intentional — as charlatans will often use tortured logic, obfuscation and deliberately ambiguous words and language in an attempt to disarm their critics.

Whatever the case may be, and regardless of how we choose to define and categorize “alternative,” “complementary” and “integrative” medicine, it is imperative that we become more aware and critical of the quacks in the industry.

Con men, of course, wouldn’t be doing their jobs right if the people they’re conning became aware of the con, so they will often employ brilliantly incoherent scientific babble, appeals to “nature” and cherry-picked statistics — some of which may actually be legitimate. Your local charlatan may also gain your confidence by admonishing the drug companies for their aggres-

sive marketing, obscene profits and the stranglehold they have on Washington — all valid concerns.

But when that same flimflammer who fancies himself a doctor tells you that your body can utilize its “vital energy” and heal itself internally, or when some snake oil salesman claims that “quantum healing” can cure cancer, that’s when alternative medicine begins to drift downstream into the murky waters of pseudoscience.

Homeopathy, which arguably wins the prize for being the biggest con of all in pseudo-medicine, has become a multibillion-dollar industry with extremely high profit margins (so much for pointing the finger at greedy “Big Pharma”). With virtually no scientific basis and with no evidence that homeopathic remedies are any more effective than a placebo, somehow the industry continues to survive.

Of course, it’s not only the quacks themselves who are at fault; the media, who have not provided an adequate counterbalance to the misinformation, share some of the blame here, as well.

Moreover, it seems that we are all a

bit guilty, in this so-called “post-truth” age, of turning in times of distress to con men who tell us exactly what we want to hear.

Journalist Michael Specter said it best: “We hate Big Pharma. We hate Big Government. We don’t trust The Man. And we shouldn’t. Our health care system sucks. It’s cruel to millions of people. It’s absolutely astonishingly cold and soul-bending to those of us who can even afford it. So we run away from it, and where do we run? We leap into the arms of Big Placebo.”

While they cradle us in their arms — consoling us with unscientific claims about how their special blend of diluted water can help cure our cancer, how a “laying on of hands” can help us walk again or how “magnetic energy healing” will relieve our pain — we joyfully open up our checkbooks.

So, with our baloney detectors calibrated to focus primarily on the charlatans in Washington, the charlatans of pseudo-medicine have been able to fly under the radar.

It’s high time we adjust our antennae.

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Dollar Beers!

Wet Hop Beer Release and Hoptoberfest Kickoff Party Live T 8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub 5-8pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall 6-8pm Good until the keg’s dry A fun evening featuring Hoptoberfest glassware, a new Create Manhattan Short Film beer release and fall taster tray. The big game will be on family Free screening of the feature film The Public Festival (Sept. 26-29) See Panida.org for showtimes 5:30pm @ Sandpoint Library An important film exploring homelessness in communities Live Music w/ Harold’s IGA Live Music w/ Bridges Home Live Music w 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery 9pm @ The H Multi-instrumental Sandpoint trio Americana, Celtic, roots and originals Bluesy, funky Live Music w/ Right Front Burner Live Music w/ Red Blend band. Free sho 5-10pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall 9pm-12am @ 219 Lounge Teen Role-Play A blend of soul, pop and blues Funk, disco, rock and groove 3-5pm @ Sandp Teens play Magi DJ Skwish Live Music w/ Kevin Dorin geons & Dragon 9pm @ A&P’s 8-10pm @ The Back Door Live Music w/ Brian Jacobs 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Acoustic folk, rock and pop Live Music w/ Crooked Tooth 9pm-12am @ 219 Lounge Songwriter Kevin Garrett Live Music w/ Mike Wagoner and Utah John 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Folk, Americana and rock duo

Hoptoberfest!

11am-11pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall The 5th annual Hoptoberfest is a celebration of autumn and beer at MickDuff’s. There will be two fall seasonal taster trays featuring Wet Hop beers, live music at 2:30 p.m. with DIGaddie and Brandon Kelty Trio at 6:30 p.m.

DJ Skwish at th 9pm @ The Hive No cover for this

KNPS monthly 9:45-11:30am @ Agriculture Cent “Native Plant Re tage Apples at U Agriculture Cent

Bradetech-Grove Duo in concert: Sister Songs Piano Sun Sandpoint Chess Club 4-6pm @ Create Art Center, Newport 3-5pm @ P 9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee This performance showcases music by women Meets every Sunday at 9am composers with arrangements from the 1800s to A self-taug modern times. $14/adv, $17/door Monday Night Blues Jam w/ Truck Mills 7:30pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Night-Out Karaoke 9pm @ 219 Lounge Join DJ Webrix for a night of singing, or just come to drink and listen Wind Down Wednesday 5-8pm @ 219 Lounge With live music by blues man Truck Mills and guest musician Andrew Browne

Trivia Night 7pm @ MickDuff’s Show off that big, beautiful brain of yours

Bonner Mall Seniors Day 9am-12pm @ The Bonner Mall All are welcome to walk the Mall, plus ther speaker or entertainment, free refreshments, ga

Djembe class 5:45-7:30pm @ Music Conservatory of Sandp Join Ali Thomas for this djembe (drum) class

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

Dollar Beers!

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

Outdoor Experience Monday 6pm @ Outdoor Experience A chill, three-mile(ish) group ru tional beverages to follow

Coffee with a Cop day 10am-10pm @ Infinity Cafe Join your neighbors and Priest River police officers for coffee and conversation. 208-255-8862

Adult Grief Support Group 6pm @ BGH Classroom Support group for those who have lost a spouse or parent. No cost, anyone grieving is invited to attend

Sandp 3-5:30 Locally starts, music

L Ja 7Ex di

ful

Sept. 26 - Oct. 3, 2019

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

Yappy Hour 4-7pm @ Ponderay Dog Park Bring your pooch to live music, beverages and fun to support Panhandle Animal Shelter. Live music with the Baldy Mountain Boys

Substance Abuse in Teens 6pm @ Bonners Ferry HS Gym Learn about the health risks of opiods, marijuana and other substances, and get advice for how to talk to your teens.

Free admission, dinner provided. 208267-1718 to RSVP. Presented by KHS munities Authentic Relating Games e Music w/ Zach Cooper Band Head of the Pend Oreille Regatta @ The Hive Various @ The Mudhole (Priest River) 6-8pm @ Evans Brothers Coffee esy, funky rock from this CDA The Pend Oreille Rowing and Paddling Designed to help people get to pracd. Free show!

Association hosts the 9th annual regatta tice being truly seen and accepted Role-Playing Games when rowing clubs from the Northwest Apple Pressing Festival @ Sandpoint Library and Canada gather to compete in a 1.7K All day @ Monarch Market play Magic the Gathering, Dun- headrace and a 1K stake race. A great Inaugural Alan and Jeannie Roach memorial event, fundraiser for AHWF & Dragons, and other RPGs event for racers and spectators alike!

USA Dance & Fox Trot lesson Yoga on Tap wish at the Hive 7-10pm @ Sandpoint Community Hall 10:45am @ Laughing Dog Brewery The Hive USA Dance is celebrating National er for this free show DJ Exodus Ballroom Dance Week with a one-hour Karaoke 8-close @ Tervan 9pm @ A&P’s monthly presentation Fox Trot lesson at 7 p.m., followed by Sandpoint Farmers’ Market 1:30am @ Sandpoint Organic general dancing to a DJ until 10 p.m.

9am-1pm @ Farmin Park ture Center, 10881 N. Boyer SHS Model United Nations Int’l Produce, starts, crafts and e Plant Research and the HeriCelebration and Fundraiser more! Live music by Ponderay pples at UI’s Sandpoint Organic 4-9pm @ Matchwood Brewing Co. Paradox ture Center” free to attend 100 Thousand Poets for Change Live Music w/ Chris Lynch 1-4pm @ Evans Brothers Coffee 8-10pm @ The Back Door Piano Sunday w/ Dwayne Parsons Poetry and music open mic for local writers, musicians, artists, and stu-5pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery dents to express their ideas for positive change in our community, in A self-taught, free-form pianist. Free ourselves, in our country, and in the world. 208-255-4410 for info

y Live Trivia 6-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery w Create a team with friends and family or play solo!

Monday Night Run erience ) group run with oplow

plus there will be a featured hments, games and a drawing

of Sandpoint m) class

Lifetree Cafe 2pm @ Jalepeño’s Mexican Restaurant

Wednesdays with Benny 6:30-9:30pm @ Connie’s Lounge A monthly music jam on Connie’s back patio with Benny Baker and this week’s special guest Billy Bancroft

Independence Racing Team fundraiser Sandpoint Farmers’ Market 5-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority With Georgetown Brewing beer on tap.

3-5:30pm @ Farmin Park t Locally grown produce, Live music by Marty Perron and Doug e starts, crafts and more! Live Bond. Silent auction items and raffle prizes.

Complimentary appetizers will be served music by Ian Gaddie Walk to School Day Live Music w/ 7:15pm @ Everywhere!

Jake Robin A national day for students to walk to school, 7-10pm @ Eichardt’s raising awareness of the need to create safer Experience something routes for walking and biking, and to emphadifferent with Jake size safety issues. WalkBikeToSchool.org

Oct. 4-20

Hickey Farms 4th Annual Scarecrow Contest @ Hickey Farms

Oct. 5

Brendan Kelty Trio @ 219 Lounge

Oct. 5

Samantha Carson @ Matchwood Brewing Co. benefit for American Heritage Wildlife Foundation.

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LITERATURE

Today’s art, tomorrow’s world

Sandpoint artists share visions of the future at 100 Thousand Poets for Change open mic

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff

day of.

Lost Horse Press Publisher Christine Holbert said participation in the event has grown over the years, remembering the Writers, musicians and artists from “jam packed” gathering at Evans Brothers all walks of life will take hold of microin 2018. phones in 300 countries across the world “Since the theme is so comprehensive Saturday, Sept. 28, sharing their visions — your ideas for positive change — the for better lives and better communities poems, stories and songs that people have as part of the 100 Thousand Poets for shared over the years are so wonderfully Change event. varied and personal,” she Sandpoint area creators said. will be among them in the 100 Thousand Holbert said people of Poets for Change all ages participate, but seventh annual local rendition of 100TPC, schedin Sandpoint that she wants to encouruled for 1 p.m at Evans age more local students to Saturday, Sept. 28, 1-4 p.m.; Brothers Coffee.

FREE. Evans Brothers Coffee, take part.

Hosted by Lost Horse “We’re hoping that 524 Church St. Contact Lost Press and the Bonner Horse Press at losthorsemore student writers will County Human Rights press@mindspring.com or come to express their 208-255-4410.

Task Force, the open mic thoughts about what needs event invites participants to be different in their to share their visions for world,” she said, “whether it’s personal positive change. Those wishing to take change, improvements in their commupart need only bring their writing, musical nity or their concerns and dreams for a instrument or art along and sign up the better world.”

Holbert emphasized the need for those young voices since, “they’re going to inherit whatever we put into place now.”

“They should have a seat at the table, too,” Holbert said.

Artistic media abound at Sandpoint’s 100TPC event. Poetry, music and art on canvas have made appearances at past annual gatherings.

“We love when someone presents something unexpected,” Holbert said.

“I’m always amazed at the quality of the offerings and the passion.”

Holbert said part of what makes the Sandpoint 100TPC event special is that people from all over Bonner County — from Bonners Ferry to Hope to Priest River — come to participate.

“It’s a real gathering of local commu-

The hardest part is the first word. Courtesy photo. nities and people of differing visions and manner of expression,” she said. “Each year is different and each year has its surprises.”

Searching for Einstein

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

A life-sized bust of Albert Einstein has gone missing from Sandpoint High School, according to its creator, Dan Shook.

The former longtime art teacher at SHS, Shook made the sculpture in the mid-1990s and lent it to a handful of science teachers over the years so it

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could be displayed in their classrooms.

“It started off being lent to Steve Coffman when he was teaching at the junior high school,” he said.

“He moved to the high school and brought it with him.”

Shook said the sculpture moved around into various classrooms before ending up for good in SHS math teacher Cheryl O’Donnell’s room, where the piece of art went missing.

“I don’t know exactly when it went missing,” Shook said. “I just assumed it would always be there.”

Shook said his daughters, Katelyn and Laurie, recently inquired where the piece went because they are interested in obtaining it. When Shook attempted to secure the sculpture, he found out it had gone missing from SHS. If anyone has any information as to the whereabouts of Albert Einstein (other than scattered around the grounds of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J.), please call Dan Shook at 208-597-5339.

The missing sculpture of Albert Einstein by local artist Dan Shook.

Courtesy photo.

LITERATURE

more lions

they were back last night the lionesses, this time with their mate

This open Window

Vol. 4 No.13 poetry and prose by local writers edited by Jim mitsui

momma moose was on the other side of the garage and couldn’t see me

I had to keep steering the mighty cats out one door and toward another

it occurs to me that gangly ungulates like to transmogrify into sinewy felines

their appearance ushered in Act ll, the continuance of an omen - portending what?

in my dreams perhaps it’s due to a change in my diet

the lions were a bit of a nuisance, really they took direction poorly

I don’t eat anything with a furry face anymore — Amy Craven December 2018

but animals don’t owe us their quiescence did you know a moose yearling was practically on our back porch yesterday?

After sensing her mother’s death, Amy has had four dreams involving lions. This was her second. Her poems make the reader aware of the expansive and versatile vocabulary that American English offers, while also providing a story.

I could have opened the door silently and reached out to pet its ruffed neck

strong bones and good eyesight Basic, like truth, nutrition, or art At first, I mistook him for a bumblebee tumbling about in the blossoming thyme but then recognized him as the yellow jacket I’d watched navigate a net of Sweet Alyssum and inspect the undersides of Sweet William leaves stretching from their blue enameled pot from Viet Nam. He was probing for aphids or leaf borers, common delicacies his daily garden gleanings

and on to his ravenous but fruitless forage through bristles of Rosemary that beckon from a sage-glazed bowl Now he rummages among spikes of blooming thyme that shadows an ecru crock I watch this display from a yellow metal chair perched on the redwood deck A marvelous show, not projected from an electronic device, but live, in early sun after seven days of rain.

I’d seen him continue through petunia greenery in the carved terra-cotta pot

Throw out your apples too much fruit equals too much sugar carbs are the culprit eat meat, lots of meat.

Fat you say? Drizzle it over Kale you can’t even digest Kale without fat along with it boil the bones of a chicken in vinegar drink the juice the carcass is full of nutrients if it wasn’t raised in a conglomerate stuffed in cages comb to cock with its fellow miserables.

Rub pork fat into your skin smear it on your eyebrows soak it in, gnaw on those ribs a sheep gave up its free roaming life the least you could do is spread some mint jelly on a rack, sugar free of course sweetener made of the monk fruit can work if you haven’t lost your cravings.

Casein? It causes cancer.

Meat protein feeds the cancer get that apple out of the garbage now

you can throw out your milk, cheese and yogurt.

You’ve been promoting disease in your gut all this time.

Diabetes hovers in your pancreas whining and waiting its chance.

Coffee is good for you at last and green tea forget Kombucha e coli lives there C-diff nestles in your clover sprouts water but tap is better than bottle unless you live in the city.

Dig under the sidewalk for the best dirt, eat that. and reached out to pet its ruffed neck

— Sandra Rasor Sandra is that rarity, a true Sandpoint native. This poem captures our wrestling with what’s proper to eat. Notice her use of stream-of-consciousness as the reader follows her random yet focused thoughts about food groups and what’s proper to eat.

When we get to the end of a line, or stanza, we are frequently surprised at where the poem has gone, maintaining its sensibility.

— Beth Weber Beth has studied with U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins at his Key West workshop. She lives a varied life, from kayaking to playing the violin, teaching and directing musical productions, working with pottery, growing a flourishing garden and recognizing most birds in Bonner County. She believes that most poets are expert observers, and this poem serves as a good example.

Send poems to: jim3wells@aol.com

the fawn and me As I round the corner of the house I see movement beyond the willow. It’s the fawn

to the fawn as I talk to her, and she starts toward me. But then I glance away, and that quick,

following her mother who’s disappeared past the spruce. She stops, looks at me. I have a handful

the fawn changes its mind. I want another chance.

— Jeanette Schandelmeier

of young grass from the shade under the bird feeder I’m taking to the pullets. I hold it out

A retired teacher, Jeanette lives in rural Bonner County and has frequent opportunities to encounter the reality of nature, especially wildlife, whether animal or bird. She also occupies her time raising chickens for their eggs, keeping a beehive, and maintaining an ambitious garden.

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OUTDOORS

‘A celebration of rowing’

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Patricia Sudick is a longtime rower who noticed that something was missing on the tranquil autumn waters of the Pend Oreille River.

When Sudick moved to Priest River and “witnessed the fall waters with little boating activity,” she resolved to see boats — specifically rowing shells — on the water. In 2011, she got Gonzaga University rowers to commit to participating in a regatta in Priest River. When a Washington State University women’s rowing crew signed on, the Head of the Pend Oreille Regatta was born.

Put on by the Pend Oreille Rowing and Paddling Association, the ninth annual regatta takes place Friday, Sept. 27-Sunday, Sept. 29 and consists of two categories: a 1,700-meter head race and a 1,000-meter stake race, open to sweep and sculling youth, collegiate, master and para-rowers with a no-fee entry registration.

Participating rowing clubs from all over the Northwest and Canada will gather at The Mudhole, a recreational park and campground located in Priest River, and the action kicks off Friday afternoon with a practice session.

Sudick said entrants have typically been drawn from within about 100 miles of Priest River, but that has changed in recent years with rowers coming from a much larger regional pool.

“It has only been in the past three years that we have started to have West Coast rowers,” she said.

“This seems to be a growing trend.”

Official regatta competition begins Saturday, Sept. 28, when spectators will get the chance to see the various teams preparing their boats for the day.

“It’s quite a spectacle to witness coxswains and coaches direct teams while they unload and maneuver 62-foot racing shells,” organizers wrote in a statement.

Several different classes of racing will occur throughout the day, wrapping up with a medal

ceremony and locally-prepared barbeque meal. Rowers are invited to stick around Sunday, Sept. 29, and take advantage of the calm fall waters of the Pend Oreille River.

Sudick said that the Head of the Pend Oreille Regatta is the only rowing regatta in Idaho. She noted that there are two fall regattas in eastern Washington — the

Head of the Pend Oreille Regatta slated for Sept. 27-29

Head of the Spokane and the Head of the Snake. Though it’s not a traditional regatta, she said there’s a rowing sprint competition during the summer in Coeur d’Alene.

At its core, the Head of the Pend Oreille Regatta is meant to shine a light on the growing sport of recreational rowing. “[It’s] a celebration of rowing

A rowing team participates in the 2011 regatta. Courtesy photo. with friendly competition,” Sudick said.

For more information on the regatta, contact headrace@netw. com, visit porpa.org or find Pend Oreille Rowing and Paddling Association on Facebook.

FSPW volunteers close the age gap with Winter Tracks

By Reader Staff As implied by its name, saving the rugged Scotchman Peaks for future generations is a key part of the mission of the Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness.

Another part is helping kids “find their wild place.” To accomplish the latter goal, the organization is offering the Winter Tracks program — a primer course in loving the outdoors.

Volunteer Winter Tracks instructors — many of them retired — bring their varied experiences, knowledge and expertise to teach students about tracking, leave no trace, avalanche safety, trees, map and compass, native mammals, winter survival and more.

One generation passes its passion to another while sharing a message to love and preserve wild things and places.

“One of my favorite things to do is to teach kids to be curious and go out and explore,” said Jeff 18 /

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Pennick, who together with fellow retired forester Ed Robinson teaches attendees about trees. “If they are curious to explore wild places, it’s a wonderful thing.”

Retired Libby teacher Gene Reckin brings a collection of bird and animal mounts to Winter Tracks, along with an expansive knowledge of wildlife.

“Getting kids outside is fun for them and me,” he said.

When kids light up about an idea — especially a kid who seemed bored at the beginning of a session — it makes the teacher’s day. And the kids’ day, as well.

“It’s a win, win situation,” said FSPW staffer Sandy Compton, who will run the Winter Tracks program this season. “Kids — and teachers — get turned on to the outdoors and volunteers get turned on to the joys of teaching.”

Winter Tracks sessions consist of four learning modules and a lunch break, totaling about four hours, not including arrival,

Map and compass instructor Robin Chisholm points a student in the right direction at Round Lake State Park. Photo courtesy FSPW. departure and travel time. Shorter sessions can be arranged for schools farther away.

Not every Winter Tracks volunteer is a teacher. Retired phone company employee Howard Shay and his wife Connie help out as group guides and fire tenders. Vet-

erinarian Celeste Grace and retired nurse Mary Franzel often teach the mammal class. Retired Navy veteran Phil Degens, 80, comes as a “general helper.”

“It keeps me young,” Degens said.

Winter Tracks venues include

Round Lake State Park south of Sandpoint, USFS Timberlane Campground northwest of Libby and Roosevelt Park in Troy. Sanders County sessions are hosted at USFS North Shore Campground near Trout Creek. Others are held at the Trout Creek Wildlife Management area in the Pack River Delta and at Judy’s Place, a Kaniksu Land Trust property on the Idaho-Montana border east of Clark Fork.

FSPW is now taking reservations from schools for the coming year. Most sessions take place on Fridays — though other arrangements can be made. FSPW invites anyone with an interest in teaching a module to visit scotchmanpeaks. org/volunteer. Teachers who want to engage their class in Winter Tracks should write to sandy@ scotchmanpeaks.org.

The deadline for Winter Tracks reservations is Friday, Dec. 13.

OUTDOORS

Winter Fat Biking comes to Pine Street Woods

By Reader Staff

The Pend Oreille Pedalers, in partnership with Kaniksu Land Trust and the Sandpoint Nordic Club, is seeking support from those in the community who love both bikes and snow.

For more than a decade, “fat bikes” have been one of the fastest growing segments in the bike industry. Here in Sandpoint, the team at Greasy Fingers Bikes ’n’ Repair have been big supporters of the winter sport, hosting events like the Global Fat Bike Day ride and party in early December and the Fat Flurry Festival in late January.

At these local events, winter fat bike demos have been available for those wondering what it’s like to ride a bike with four- to five-inch-wide tires on compacted snow trails through a winter wonderland.

Like mountain biking, the level of enjoyment one experiences on a fat bike is a function of how well the trail you are riding on is built. For local riders, options for snow biking have typically included the groomed nordic ski trails at Schweitzer and the rough, boot-packed trails in Sherwood Forest.

Now, with help from the community, a new winter riding spot will be available to North Idaho fat bikers. With the recent grand opening of Pine Street Woods, the 180-acre forest and its central meadow offer fat bikers the perfect terrain to groom and maintain fat bike-specific winter riding trails.

With the blessing of the Kaniksu Land Trust and Sandpoint Nordic Club, the local mountain bike advocacy group Pend Oreille Pedalers will begin doing just that with a yet-to-be-acquired single track grooming machine.

The club is planning to buy a “SnowDog,” a machine designed for and used by

The “SnowDog” groomer in use. Courtesy photo. backcountry and ice fishermen in the wilds of Russia, but now widely used by bike clubs all over New England and the upper Midwest for grooming winter bike trails.

The Evergreen East mountain bike club in Spokane already uses a similar machine to groom trails in Spokane’s Riverside and in Mount Spokane State Parks.

Sandpoint riders can look forward to miles of snowy single track in Pine Street Woods, where the machine will be kept throughout the winter in the Sandpoint Nordic Club’s grooming shed — homebase for Pend Oreille Pedalers volunteers, who will take turns grooming the bike trails after each new snowfall.

A GoFundMe campaign is already under way to raise the money needed for the club to purchase the groomer. Unlike trails on Schweitzer, Pine Street Woods’ winter trail network will be free for any fat biker to use.

To learn more about the SnowDog and winter biking, or to contribute to the campaign to bring winter riding to Sandpoint, visit gofundme.com/f/SandpointWinterBike. All donations are tax deductible and will go directly to the Pend Oreille Pedalers.

If you want to take a bike for a test ride before the snow flies, check out Greasy Fingers’ selection of Salsa and Surly fattire bikes.

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FOOD

The Sandpoint Eater

The rice of life

By Marcia Pilgeram Reader Columnist Suddenly, my heater kicked on and, in a blink of my hazel eyes, summer disappeared. Now I’m looking over my shoulder at winter and stocking up on goods like dried legumes, beans, peas, lentils and rice, which will simmer on my stovetop and carry me through the cold spells.

This past year I was fortunate to do a lot of traveling. From Cuba to southeast Asia, I ate daily rations of rice, deliciously prepared in myriad ways and served at breakfast, lunch and dinner. In all the countries I visited last year, rice was the primary staple.

Though it is a Spanish dish, paella is very prevalent in Cuban restaurants and walk-up eateries.

After the Revolution, Cubans were not allowed to identify with their individual cultures — they were all labeled, “Cubans.” Now that some restrictions have been lifted, they are hungry to reclaim their roots and, for the Spanish, that includes recipes like paella from their homeland.

Likewise, Cubans with African heritage prepare their own rice dish, called arroz congri, also known as Moros y Cristianos or “Moors and Christians,” in reference to the long Islamic and Christian history of the Iberian Peninsula.

In Cuba, if you don’t get your fill of rice in your main dish, there’s always dessert. You’ll find rice in a sweet pudding form all over the island.

Halfway around the world, in Cambodia, I had ubiquitous daily rations of a popular street food: bai sach chrouk. It’s a breakfast dish of thinly sliced and marinated pork, grilled and served atop steamy rice, with a side of pickled vegetables. The aroma from the meat, grilling over open flames, filled the early morning market air in Siem Reap and only intensified my anticipation as I waited in line 20 /

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among the locals for my share of this tasty dish.

Every country in southeast Asia (except Thailand) was colonized at one time or another; consequently, there’s an interesting fusion of bold flavors throughout most countries. For instance, a key ingredient of arroz gordo, the traditional rice dish of Macau, is Portuguese sausage. This dish is sometimes referred to as Asian paella or “Fat Rice” (though the recipe calls for jasmine rice). It’s a one-pot wonder and has become one of my favorite dishes to serve my Sunday dinner diners.

Rice has been cultivated by people as far back as 2500 BCE, where records show it was grown in China.

The crop then migrated around the world, from India to Greece and North Africa. From there, the North African Moors brought rice to Spain in the eighth century, along with a host of other new foods. This is why the Spanish word for rice — arroz — is essentially a version of the Arabic word, ar-ruzz.

It’s hard to imagine, but there are more than 90,000 samples of cultivated rice and wild species stored at the International Rice Gene Bank, which is used by

researchers all over the world.

Personally, I can usually find what I need at Yoke’s, where there are nearly a dozen varieties in the bulk section (and other specialty types in the grocery aisle). You can find wild rice, brown rice, sushi rice, paella rice (bomba) and rice for perfect risotto (arborio). You can also find long grain varieties (including fragrant jasmine).

Lots of people rely on rice cookers to turn out a perfect, fluffy batch of rice, but I have the best luck cooking it, covered, in the oven. The most important thing to remember about rice is that different types

Sunday Rice Recipe Makes 6 servings

INGREDIENTS: Marinated chicken thighs (marinate up to two days ahead and refrigerate): • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped • 2 tbs fresh lime juice • 1 tbs paprika • 2 tsp curry powder • 2 tsp ground turmeric • 6 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (about 3 pounds) Raisins: • 1⁄2 cup golden raisins (make up to two days ahead and refrigerate): • 2 tbs rice vinegar • 2 tbs water Sofrito: (make up to two days ahead and refrigerate): • 2 tbs olive oil • 1 red bell peppers, thinly sliced • 1 green pepper • 1 large onion, thinly sliced • 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped • 1 tbs tomato paste • 1 tsp rice wine vinegar • 1⁄2 tsp paprika • Sea salt • Freshly cracked black pepper Rice: • Sea salt, freshly ground pepper • 4 tbs olive oil, divided • 4 ounces linguica (Portuguese sausage), thinly sliced

absorb different amounts of liquid.

Too little liquid can result in dry and underdone rice, and too much can mean mushy rice. Always follow the instructions or a recipe for the correct water-to-rice ratio.

The recipe for Sunday Rice may look daunting, but lots of it can be prepared a day or two ahead, leaving you time to serve up some libations and have your friends help you layer the pot — or chop up some fun garnishes, limited only by your imagination.

My friend Mary says that this is one of the best dishes she has ever eaten. You be the judge.

Let your palate be your guide (more spice, substitute chopped dried fruits for raisins, add other favorite sausages or seafood).

The pickled veggies and egg will compliment the spiciness.

DIRECTIONS: • 4 ounces andouille sausage, thinly sliced • 3 1⁄2 cups chicken stock • 2 cups jasmine rice, rinsed Prawns and clams: • 1 tbs olive oil • 2 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped • 1 tbs finely chopped fresh parsley • 1 tbs finely chopped serrano chiles • 1 pound large prawns • 1 pound mussels, de-bearded, scrubbed • 1 pound Manila clams, scrubbed • 1⁄2 cup dry white wine • Sea salt

For marinated chicken: Whisk garlic, lime juice, paprika, curry powder and turmeric in a medium glass bowl; add chicken and toss to coat.

Cover and chill at least 6 hours.

For raisins: Bring raisins, vinegar and 2 tbs water to a boil in a small saucepan, reduce heat and simmer until plump.

For sofrito: Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add bell peppers and onion; season with salt. Cook, stirring until softened, 8-10 minutes. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are caramelized, 45-60 minutes, then add garlic and tomato paste to skillet and continue cooking until tomato paste begins to darken, 10-15 minutes longer. Stir in vinegar and paprika; season with salt and pepper (wipe this pan clean and use to cook seafood).

For rice: Remove chicken from marinade; pat dry, season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a heavy 5- to 6-quart pot with a lid over medium-high heat.

Cook chicken, skin side down, until skin is brown and crispy, 12-15 minutes; transfer to a cookie sheet. Reduce heat

to medium. Add sausages to pot, stir until crisp.

Add sofrito to pot and cook, stirring constantly, until sizzling, about 1 minute. Add broth, scraping up any browned bits; season with salt. Add rice and raisins. Stir and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat, arrange chicken on top, cover pot and simmer gently until rice is tender, about 25 minutes. Uncover; increase heat to medium high. With a spatula, loosen rice from sides of pan and drizzle remaining 2 tablespoons oil around edges of pot and cook, undisturbed, until rice on edge of pot is crunchy, about 5 minutes.

For prawns and clams: While rice is cooking, heat oil and add garlic, parsley and chilies. Add wine; when hot, toss in clams, mussels, shrimp, cover and cook over medium-high heat, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, top the rice with seafood and drizzle with reserved pan juices.

Serve with halved hard-boiled eggs, crispy pickled vegetables (jalapeños, sweet cherry peppers, red onion) and lemon wedges.

DRINK

It’s a hop, hop world MickDuff’s to release new beers at this year’s Hoptoberfest

which maxes us out. It’ll make about 60 gallons of beer, which could last for a week.”

The second release — the Each autumn, as the natural world quiets down in preparation flagship of MickDuff’s harvest for a long winter nap, there’s one season — is the Wet Hop IPA, a version of the breweries popular magical substance that comes Lupulicious, named after the into its own: beer. Thanks to newly cut hops, beers take on the lupulin contained in hops.

“Lupulins are glands in freshest flavors of the year right after harvest — which is another hops that give off that aromatic flavor,” Deibel said. “If you reason Oktoberfest celebrations took a grinder and grinded hops happen this time of year. down to nothing, the good stuff To usher in another successthat would fall all the way to the ful hop harvest, MickDuff’s bottom is the lupulin.”

Beer Hall will host its sixth anDeibel said the term “fresh” nual Hoptoberfest on Saturday, has been bandied about among Sept. 28 from 11 a.m.-11 p.m. brewers, generally denoting hops The local brewery will release that are fewer than three months two seasonal beers that embody what the harvest is all about: the old. Not the case at MickDuff’s.

“The way we do it is, the Local Wet Hop Harvest IPA and hops are picked off the vine and Wet Hop IPA. into a beer typiAs its name cally within six suggests, the hours,” he said.

Local Wet Hop “At the end of a Harvest IPA is Thursday, Sept. 26, all day special because it pre-release; Friday, Sept. 27, brew day, when has been brewed 5-10 p.m. live music and new the beer is resting in the whirlpool, beers available; Saturday, entirely using we’ll put fresh locally grown and Sept. 28, 11 a.m.–11 p.m.; MickDuff’s Beer Hall, 220 hops in there and harvested hops.

Cedar St., 208-209-6700, let them soak.

“We collected mickduffs.com.

We’re trying to hops from amaget the green, teur hop growers dank flavors that are often dried in Bonner County to make this away during the drying process one,” said MickDuff’s Assistant Brewer Mack Deibel. “This year for hops. You can only make this beer one time a year — during we collected 60 pounds of hops,

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

Hoptoberfest

harvest.”

To launch into Hoptoberfest, MickDuff’s will first throw a couple of pre-celebration nights.

The beers will first be released Thursday, Sept. 26, where pubbers can also watch Thursday Night Football and chat with brewers about the new releases.

MickDuff’s will release a new, 20-ounce souvenir glass jug that can be filled for the price of a pint all weekend long.

On Friday, Sept. 27, catch live music from 5-10 p.m. with Red Blend, along with the new beers available for tasting.

There will be games and events all day Saturday, Sept.

28, including stein hoisting competitions, hammerschlagen (a strangely addicting game in which participants compete to drive nails into a board using the claw side of a hammer) and the always popular cornhole.

Taster trays will also be available with both wet hop beers, a pumpkin ale and MickDuff’s FallFest beer.

The DIGaddie will play live music from 2-5:30 p.m., followed by the Brendan Kelty Trio from 6:30-9:30 p.m.

Minors accompanied by parents will be allowed to attend Saturday’s festivities, and there will be plenty of non-alco-

holic options available for them to drink — including a craft root beer with certified-organic ingredients.

“After the harvest is the time to have a party,” Deibel said.

“It’s a time to celebrate the end of summer and get a little crazy before winter hits.”

Kelsey Batrack and Cooper Balke show off the new glassware at the MickDuff’s Beer Hall courtyard.

Note the fresh hops still growing behind them. Courtesy photo.

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COMMUNITY

Repeat shopping offender caught spending money in downtown Sandpoint

WEIRD NEWS

Expanded Edition!

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

PILOT SPILLS COFFEE, FORCES EMERGENCY LANDING

By Ben Olson Reader Staff Sandpoint local Jim Corcoran took his business to the downtown construction zone Sept. 24, patronizing Sharon’s Hallmark and Image Maker on First Avenue.

Mike Hammersberg, co-owner of Image Maker, and Sharon’s Hallmark owner Deanna Harris are seen here taking Jim’s money.

As a reward, the Reader is

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giving Corcoran a gift certificate good at either MickDuff’s location. Corcoran also regularly volunteers for the Neighborhood Watch Program.

Do you want to receive one of our “bribes” for shopping downtown? It’s simple. Just buy something within the construction zone, snap a picture of yourself and send it to ben@sandpointreader.com. It’s easy money! We’re always giving stuff away to local shoppers.

Occasionally, a spilled cup of coffee means a stained pair of pants, a light burn or perhaps a computer keyboard malfunction. Rarely does it involve emergency landings and the evacuation of more than 300 people.

That’s what happened to a commercial flight bearing 326 passengers when a pilot accidentally spilled hot coffee over the cockpit control panel while flying over the Atlantic Ocean. The Airbus A330-234 was flying from Frankfurt, Germany to Cancun, Mexico, but was redirected to an emergency landing at Shannon Airport in Ireland after the butterfingers move by the flyboy.

The hot liquid caused smoke and a strong electrical burning smell to rise from the control panel, causing the pilot to divert, according to a report from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch in London. AAIB also noted that the pilot caused the incident after placing a coffee cup without a lid on a nearby tray table, rather than in a cup holder.

There were no injuries in the incident.

The AAIB announced it had since changed procedures to ensure that cup lids are provided for flights on all routes, and that crews are reminded to use them.

IDAHO MAN THROWS TORTILLA, BREAKS RECORD.

Some people will do just about anything to get in the record books.

David Rush, of Boise, attended a Guinness World Records event in Toronto, Canada and wound up taking home a world record for tossing a tortilla farther than anyone in history.

Rush, who has broken more than 100 Guinness World Records to promote STEM education, made the official attempt with a Guinness adjudicator at the Science of Guinness World Records Exhibit in Toronto.

Rush said two other attendees of the conference managed to beat the previous record of 30 feet, 1 inch before it was his turn to throw and make history.

Rush’s first throw — which didn’t count toward the official three attempts — bounced off a wall.

His first official throw was disqualified when it bounced off the ground at one point in its flight, but the third throw was declared the winner at 54 feet, 5 inches.

Rush’s other world records are for equally esoteric feats, including running from end zone to end zone on a football field while juggling blindfolded.

RACOON HITCHES RIDE ON BREAD TRUCK FOR 16 MILES IN (YOU GUESSED IT) FLORIDA More weird news articles emanate from Florida than anywhere else in the world.

In that vein, a racoon went for a 16-mile joyride on top of a Florida bread delivery truck that reached speeds of more than 50 miles per hour during the journey.

The operator of the Wonder Bread delivery truck said he was first notified about the stowaway after other drivers called his attention to the raccoon riding on top of his truck. He had already traveled more than 10 miles before calling 911 from the parking lot of a fast food restaurant.

Local law enforcement attempted to get the racoon to safety by positioning the truck near a low-hanging tree branch, but the stubborn procyon held fast, forcing the driver to complete the rest of his route — some six miles — with the animal still riding on the roof.

The raccoon eventually climbed down on its own after the truck parked at the company’s headquarters in North Fort Myers.

No injuries were reported to the raccoon, the driver or the packages of Wonder Bread carried inside the truck.

STAGE & SCREEN

Alt-right comedian Owen Benjamin comes to the Panida

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff Owen Benjamin is coming to the Panida Theater for a “Date Night Comedy Show” on Monday, Sept. 30. The 39-year-old New York native is also a classically trained pianist, but he’s bringing with him much more baggage than a microphone and sheet music.

Once an up-and-coming stand-up, in recent years he has been shunned by the entertainment industry, barred from venues around the country and established himself as a darling of the alt-right.

Asked if she was familiar with the mass of controversy trailing behind Benjamin, Panida Executive Director Patricia Walker said “just a little bit.”

“I didn’t come across whatever the hugely controversial stuff was,” she added, noting that Benjamin rented the theater — he was not booked by the Panida. “We don’t censor; we’re here for the entire community, but we don’t allow hate speech and he was all in favor of that. People can vote with their money.”

Pariah status didn’t come immediately to Benjamin, who landed a supporting role in The House Bunny in 2008. The same year, he and Christina Ricci — with whom he starred in the rom-com All’s Faire in Love — announced they were getting married, though the engagement ended after a few months. Benjamin appeared on Comedy

Central Presents in 2010, acted in three seasons of the TBS comedy Sullivan & Son from 2012-2014, appeared on Inside Amy Schumer in 2014 and was a frequent guest on The Jay Leno Show and Fallon, among others. He has toured with Vince Vaughn and also had a part in the Adam Sandler flick Jack and Jill.

Yet, Benjamin’s mainstream success effectively came to an end in October 2017, when he called NPR host Jesse Thorn a “child abuser” for giving his 3-year-old the choice to identify as male or female.

That was the least of the controversial remarks Benjamin increasingly shared on social media, but it resulted in the cancellation of an appearance at the University of Connecticut. From there, his schtick spiralled to the point where, following a February 2018 appearance at his hometown public auditorium — during which he sang a song titled “That N– Stole My Bike” — the town administrator purchased an ad in the local paper apologizing for hosting the show.

The comic responded with a week of diatribes online, including hours-long videos denouncing leftists, censorship and Hollywood.

In March 2018, a Pittsburgh theater canceled Benjamin’s stand-up event after learning of his material and prior public statements. In retaliation, Benjamin engaged in a war of words with a local comic in which he wrote “keep up the shitty improv group

Short films from the Big Apple and beyond

Manhattan Short Film Festival hits the Panida Sept. 26-29

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

This year’s event features 10 finalists, hailing from seven countries and representing the best short films from 2019.

Notable entries this year are NEFTA Like short stories in literature, short Football Club, about two football-loving films are often overlooked by the average brothers from Tunisia who find a headconsumer. It’s anyone’s guess why, since phone-wearing donkey in the middle of the this underrated genre has the potential to desert, and Debris, which takes place after pack an entire two hours-worth of pathos a disastrous accident on a construction site into a fraction of that time. causes a worker to stumble into the If not for grim world of human trafficking. festivals like the Manhattan Short Film Festival In This Time Away, an elderly man Manhattan Short Thursday, Sept.

26, 7:30 p.m.; Frilives as a recluse, haunted by his past Film Festival, the day, Sept. 27, 5:30 p.m.; Saturday, and memory of the family he once had, average moviego- Sept. 28, 3:30 and 7:30 p.m.; Sunwhen a non-human visitor arrives to er may never have day, Sept. 29, 3:30 p.m.; $8.72disrupt his isolation. At the End of the the opportunity to $10.38. Panida Theater, 300 N. World takes place in an apocalyptic First Ave., 208-263-9191, get delve into short tickets and more info at panida. future in which a lonely government films. The fourorg. These films are not rated and worker finds solace with a soldier day festival takes may contain adult themes. during the final world war, but their place Thursday, future together is threatened when the Sept. 26-Sunday, soldier is sent back into battle.

Sept. 29 at the Panida Theater.

Attendees, be ready to experience “one Audiences in more than 400 cities world, one week, one festival” and to vote spanning six continents will watch the films on your favorite films. simultaneously during the festival, with attendees voting on their favorites in real time.

A photo of Owen Benjamin from Facebook. or open mic or whatever it is you do… or not.. Say hi to your n— mom for me [sic].”

After attacking Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg in April that year — referring to the teenager’s lack of “pubes” — Twitter permanently suspended his account.

Benjamin’s rhetoric has since turned distinctly un-comedic, redolent with anti-Semitic, misogynistic, racist and conspiracist material. In an Instagram post Sept. 21, he seemed to suggest that Israel was behind the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. On Sept. 22, he shared a Holocaust denial meme pointing to the “alleged ‘homicidal gas chambers’ of Auschwitz.”

On Sept. 23, he posted another meme

calling sodomy “genocide” and shot a video criticizing the idea of women in the workplace. On Sept. 25, he shared a post from PragerU claiming that “The Left ruins EVERYTHING,” from universities, religion and free speech to race, the Boy Scouts and “Male-Female.” Accompanying the post, Benjamin wrote: “If you look at the people involved in ever[y] example he lists it’s much more accurate to say ‘jews.’ Obviously there are many exceptions but it’s an infinitely more accurate term than ‘left.’”

Beyond all that, Benjamin denies the 1969 moon landing ever happened.

“They told me that it was PG-13,” Walker said, referring to conversations with Benjamin’s agent. “They’ll be using the piano and he wanted to record some stuff that parents won’t be afraid to play in the car for their children.”

That said, the promotional material for the Panida show, provided by Benjamin’s people, specifically states the event is “Rated R-Only21+.”

“It’s a fine line. Where would the community like me to censor?” Walker said. “I’m just the caretaker and, at this point, I had six whole people at the movie last weekend and a fundraiser that went south, so I’m trying to figure out how to keep the doors open. It’s a fine line on what I can turn away.”

GIVING BACK TO THE KIDS Lenny Hess, owner of 7BTV, installs a security camera at Kinderhaven while executive director Jen Plummer looks on. Kinderhaven received a grant from the Community Assistance League to replace its existing security camera system. Plummer contracted Hess to do the job, but Hess decided to donate the installation back to Kinderhaven through the Dish Cares initiative, which promotes and helps nonprofits in local communities. Kinderhaven is a nonprofit which was started in 1996 by Marcia Ogilvie to provide a safe place for children in the area who need foster care. Kinderhaven thanks Dish Cares and CAL for their generosity. Photo by Ben Olson.

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HUMOR

Pet peeves of the people

How those minor annoyances could actually be a healthy thing

By Ben Olson Reader Staff A few weeks ago, we assigned our “(Wo)Man on the Street” columnist Susan Drinkard her weekly question: “What are your pet peeves?” Little did we know what a rich vein of material we were tapping into with this question.

Immediately after receiving the email, Drinkard replied with a top-10 list of her own pet peeves: “Being treated like I am invisible because I am old(ish)”; “When men spit in the parking lot of grocery stores and you have to look at it to step over it”; and, “Children screaming in stores,” to name a few.

Then, after bringing up the subject with a passerby on the sidewalk, we noticed how their eyes lit up as they launched into a laundry list of their own peeves. We repeated this experiment again and again that week. The consistent result: People brightened considerably when asked about their petty annoyances.

Intrigued, we posted the question to the Reader Facebook and braced for the usual flood of rude, demeaning or otherwise snide comments that seem to typify social media interactions. Instead, we saw scores of comments from readers who really got into the spirit of the question.

Belittling and trolling comments were replaced by helpful witticisms and playful exasperation. It was almost as if people saw each other as fellow human beings, rather than mortal partisan enemies, because all shared in the minor foibles of daily life. Weird.

Bartender Racheal Baker wrote, “Waiting very impatiently at the bar for a drink (waving me down) then I walk over only to listen to you humm, and tell me you haven’t decided what you want yet.”

Mel Davis included a few of her own: “Not putting away shopping carts. Not using the blinker. Newbies moving here complaining about everything, asking silly questions that Google has the answer for.”

Some peeves were downright specific, like Natalie Grace Larson, who wrote, “When businesses, or movies use default Microsoft Word fonts. All the free fonts in the world and you had to pick Papyrus?”

“When you’re at a music concert and the person standing next to you films the WHOLE THING with their phone,” wrote Nellie Lutzwolf.”Why are you even at the concert? ... Just let me feel the music and head bang in peace – geez-ah.”

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open, bad parking etiquette and shoddy driving habits. One big takeaway: Use your blinker.

“Most people that I have to share the road with peeve me but I’m especially passionate about the ones that don’t use their blinker,” Abby Tighe wrote. “I have special words for them.”

On parking, Glenn Lefebvre had this to say: “The downfall of Western Civilization is apparent in grocery store parking lots.”

It turns out there is a simple reason why people enjoy sharing their pet peeves with others: We all have them.

Dr. Joe Wassif, a psychologist at Bonner General Health, weighed in on why he thinks talking about pet peeves can actually be a healthy way to communicate with others on equal ground.

“One of the things I love about pet peeves, it’s an area of mental health that people can laugh at themselves about,” Wassif said. “They know it’s their own thing, but we all have some pet peeve to an extent.”

Many mental topics are by nature treated with gravity — suicide, depression or psychological disorders, among them — but pet peeves tap into something we all share, while doing so with a bit of levity.

“It’s a little more front country,” Wassif said. “It doesn’t make us feel that we’re crazy, because we all have them, and a lot of them aren’t for great reasons.”

Wassif noted that while pet peeves are usually discussed in a light-hearted manner, they do have the potential to cross into areas of a diagnosis if taken too far.

“It can touch up against OCD qualities, obsessive thoughts that don’t necessarily turn into compulsions, where people have an obsessive quality of just walking in the door and anticipating this thing,” Wassif said. “Or having a hard time having it escape their mind. From that lens, it can become somewhat diagnostic.”

As an example, Wassif remembered a former co-worker with echolalia, “where certain sounds would drive her crazy, like

chewing ice. She would go to all these … gatherings and someone would be there jiggling ice in the glass or chewing it and it would just impede her work.”

Wassif also pointed out that it is common for those on the autism spectrum to have highly specific sensitivities, such as wearing clothing made from certain materials or being in a room lit by fluorescent bulbs.

For the most part, however, people who hear about others’ pet peeves usually treat them as a humorous, sometimes eccentric personality trait and respond by sharing an equally humorous peeve of their own.

Wassif shared how a couple of pet peeves play out in his own home.

“Growing up, we were always told to, ‘Turn off the lights.’ Now it’s my turn to do that to my kids and my wife,” he said. “My wife is another therapist in this community, so we have this really funny way of arguing with each other. … Her dad used to say to her, ‘Go the distance,’ you know, go a little further and do that extra thing. Like turning the lights off. So I’ll say that to her: ‘Go the distance.’ It drives her crazy.”

On Facebook, some readers pointed out peeves that many related to, such as Mike Brown, who wrote, “Bicyclists not following traffic rules and keyboard tough guys.”

Sam Cornett made a splash after writing, “Coming to the stop light heading east on Hwy 200 and Kootenai Cutoff where it turns into two lanes, I constantly lose the redneck drag racing towards McGhee Road where it turns to one lane. For clarification, I am in the left lane... the conservative and conformist lane. The lane that says, ‘I am at peace with myself and love others.’ The right lane is reserved for impatient people who cut in line at public bathrooms and piddle on the seat... it’s Sandpoint’s very own Fast and Furious racing league.”

Others were a bit more esoteric.

Chris Aitken’s pet peeve? “Warm toilet seats.”

“Parents who name sons ‘Travis’ or ‘Colt’ or ‘Cody’ knowing full well they’ve condemned their sons to a life of petty crimes and incarceration,” wrote Bob Salsbury. “It’s the ‘Triad of Recidivism’ and it needs to stop.”

For now, pet peeves will hopefully remain a common denominator through which folks can laugh at themselves and others without fear of reprisal.

“I don’t think it’s unhealthy,” Wassif said. “To laugh at ourselves, that’s a sign of good health.”

Staff pet peeves Something’s eating at Lyndsie...

I become violent when I hear people eating, but I’ve determined that’s misophonia — an involuntary reaction stemming from deeper anxiety. To label it as a pet peeve would be giving my desire to put people’s lip-smacking heads through walls a serious disservice.

Instead, I’ve decided to come out as the social justice warrior I am and share how much it peeves me when people scoff at the concept of political correctness. Using terms people prefer in regard to their sex, sexual orientation or race is a form of basic respect.

Quit being offended because your Native American friend prefers not to be called an “Indian,” or because your queer friend would prefer you didn’t use “gay” as a synonym for “lame.” Words have power. Social rhetoric has a huge effect on how people see themselves, and in turn, how the world sees them.

Once the initial shame of realizing maybe you were wrong or hurtful wears off, it’s possible that being a little more PC isn’t hurting anyone. And it’s a constant learning process — open and honest dialogue is a must.

— Lyndsie Kiebert

#nobacktracking #leaveyoursweatsathome In an apocryphal moment in the 1970 biopic Patton, George C. Scott as the eponymous general says, “I don’t like to pay for the same real estate twice.” Despite the fact that Patton never actually said those words, for some reason as a preteen history buff I absorbed the message over the course of about a thousand viewings.

Put simply, I hate backtracking.

If I leave something at home on my way to work, unless I’m standing on the front porch, I will not go back for it. I don’t care what it is. Get me more than 20 steps past a garbage can and I will hold on to whatever trash I’m carrying until I come upon another bin. If I’m absolutely forced to backtrack for some reason — say I skipped a Reader distribution point — it turns me into the absent-minded professor all day. It’s no way to live.

Speaking of no way to live, how do people slouch around — in public — wearing sweatpants? I’m sorry, did I wander into your bedroom by mistake? I also couldn’t help but notice you’re wearing the kind of flip-flops that my college dorm mates used to sport in the shower to avoid athlete’s foot.

The only acceptable occasion for that kind of dress is eating pizza bagels and farting your way through a binge session of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

Also, don’t ever say the word “hashtag.”

— Zach Hagadone

MUSIC

Music Conservatory finds a permanent home

By Katherine Greenland Reader Contributor The Music Conservatory of Sandpoint recently completed the purchase of the building at 110 Main St. After 10 years of occupying the nearly 12,000-squarefoot building as rental tenants, the news of finally having a permanent home caused a roar of celebration.

“It’s amazing how many mountains have been moved in the last 60 days,” said MCS Board Chair Kathi Samuels. “This effort has been a significant one and our board has worked very hard. I could not be more proud.”

This news arrives as MCS prepares to celebrate its 10-year anniversary as a nonprofit organization dedicated to instructing and inspiring musical excellence. Founded in 2009, MCS started serving just a few families and has since grown to meet the needs of the broader community. Today, more than 300 students walk through the doors of MCS every week, serving well over 2,500 families per year, including new classes at Clark Fork Middle School and Clark Fork High School.

As if to say, “Happy Birthday” to MCS, the Pend Oreille Arts Council moved into the MCS building earlier this year. POAC

A concept drawing of the Music Conservatory of Sandpoint building at 110 Main Street in Sandpoint. Courtesy image. is now headquartered on the ground floor.

Since 1978, POAC has built a track record of facilitating quality experiences in the arts through educational programs and presentations that benefit the people of North Idaho.

“With MCS and POAC, we have two greatly successful arts organizations in the same building,” said POAC Board President Carol Deaner. “MCS and POAC are collaborative partners, working together to make this town an arts town. Our board is excited. We are all excited.”

Sandpoint residents may remember the brick building at the corner of Second Avenue and Main Street when it housed the fire station and Sandpoint City

Hall. MCS has renovation plans to preserve the historic structure, including raising the twin fire doors to create an open-air gallery space and putting solar panels on the rooftop to create a zero carbon footprint.

“The open-air gallery will be designed to stand as a symbol of community accessibility and participation,’’ said MCS Executive Director Karin Wedemeyer.

“Preserving this historic building for the purpose of the fine arts is an essential part of our mission, and MCS is actively realizing that importance in our community. We have been dreaming of finding our permanent home for a decade.”

MCS is an accredited school, and Wedemeyer envisions transforming the building into what

she calls The Center for Arts and Culture.

“The complexities of music enhances our learning ability on many different levels,” she said.

“The Center for Arts and Culture will host different organizations with their own identities, but the place itself will be a beacon of both performing and fine arts in Sandpoint. Everyone needs culture. The Center for Arts and Culture will be a place for everyone in the community to enjoy. Starting with the Conservatory and POAC, we are looking together, toward the future.”

Carol Deaner agreed with Wedemeyer.

“The Center for Arts and Culture is our opportunity to maintain Sandpoint’s identity while also growing arts accessibility within our community,” she said.

“Renovation plans for the building will carefully preserve the historic nature of this iconic place while keeping accessibility in mind.

Together, POAC and MCS are dreaming about the Center for Arts and Culture, and how to carry that legacy forward.”

To learn more about the Music Conservatory of Sandpoint, visit its new permanent home at 110 Main St., or go to sandpointconservatory.org.

A snapshot of notable live music coming up in Sandpoint When Particles Collide, Sept. 29, Utara Brewing Pop-punk outfit When Particles Collide is what happens when you take The White Stripes and dip them in an oversized can of bubblegum-pink paint. Guitarist Sasha Alcott and drummer Chris Viner blend several rock subgenres to arrive at complex rhythms and addicting harmonies all their own.

While the Bangor, Maine-based duo often takes an upbeat, pop approach to rock ’n’ roll, there’s something special about their sound when they hit a harder edge of the genre.

“Bell Jar,” a track off the 2018 EP release Fade to Gold, has the ripping electric guitar and driving beat to “knock us on our asses,” as one reviewer put it — which is exactly what we’re looking for in a road-warrior rock band.

—Lyndsie Kiebert 6:30-9:30 p.m., $10, 21+. Utara Brewing, 214 Pine St., 208-6275070, utaraidaho.com. Listen at whenparticlescollide.com.

This week’s RLW by Lyndsie Kiebert

READ

My dad saves me all of his old Bugle magazines and earmarks the stories he thinks would be of particular interest to me. It’s in the pages of those magazines that my love for hunting and storytelling collide, so I attempt to indulge my dad’s suggestions as often as I can. As elk season creeps closer, I find myself thumbing through the various Bugles stacked on my desk.

Like I’ve said in the Reader before and will say again, hunting isn’t just about the kill. There’s a whole plethora of preparations, scenarios and work to do both before and after the rifle is fired. All of that can make for some damn good stories.

LISTEN

I have yet to find a band that sounds anything like London-based three-piece Palace.

Falling somewhere under the indie rock banner, what sets Palace apart are echoing, other-worldly guitar sounds and lead singer Michael Palace’s smooth, deep, perfectly English-accented vocals. The group’s first full-length release, So Long Forever, dropped in 2016 and showed the Palace’s strength with dynamic ballads like “Bitter” and the title track. The album Life After, which came out this year, offers an even more complex sound, shining especially on the deeply emotional track “Heaven Up There.”

WATCH

When I say, “Watch ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’” I don’t mean the current episodes airing on ABC nowadays. I mean the early-series 2005 Most people know Kevin Dorin “Grey’s” episodes that I shouldn’t around Sandpoint as “that guy with have been watching when I was the sweet voice.”

10 years old (but I most certainly Playing his unique hybrid of was). Before “Grey’s” established blues, Americana and country blues, itself as one of the longest-running Dorin has been a standard around the cult shows of all time — starting Sandpoint music scene ever since he its 16th season next week — it was moved here from his home in British clumsily and endearingly navigatColumbia, Canada. ing being a funny, romantic and Dorin’s take on the blues is exgut-wrenching medical drama. tremely accessible — even for those Those original surgical interns — who have never felt the blues a day in their life. There is an uplifting quality to his music, both originals and covers, that leaves listeners satis- Meredith, Christina, Izzy, Alex and George — have a special place in fied while also wanting more. my adolescent memory, and now With his semi-regular shows at the cozy basement Back Door bar proin my evenings, as I rewatch the viding the perfect listening venue, Dorin is always worth checking out live.

— Ben Olson first eight seasons thanks to my generous sister cleaning out her 8-10 p.m., FREE, 21+. The Back Door, 111 Cedar St., 208-610-7359, DVD cabinet. baxtersbackdoor.com. Listen at reverbnation.com/kevindorin.

Kevin Dorin, Sept. 28, The Back Door

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HEALTH

A grain of salt A health column... sort of From Northern Idaho News, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 1913

BAD GUN MAN IS TAKEN IN BY SHERIFF Leo West, alias J.C. Hunter, alias Howard Hunter was arrested Wednesday afternoon as he stepped off the steamer Northern. For the preceding week, Sheriff Remer had been in communication with Sheriffs Stone of Spokane and Adams of Phoenix, Ariz. relative to West or Hunter as he called himself here. He is wanted at Phoenix for forgery. Since July he has been working at Blacktail for F.O. Berg, the Spokane tent man.

Hunter is a quite grizzled appearing man of 54 with bow legs and a roll to his walk that smacks unmistakably of a life largely spent riding the range.

He took his arrest quietly and did not appear surprised when told what he was wanted for. All of the matter regarding him received by Sheriff Remer touted him as a bad gun man but he was unarmed when arrested.

He is said to have killed several men in his time.

He has served time both at Boise and at McNeils Island according to the advice received regarding him and is considered a desperate man. That he has a violent temper and is afraid to trust himself with a gun is the opinion of Sheriff Remer, who saw a flash of his anger when the morning afte rhis arrest, he denounced a woman in Spokane as the cause of his capture.

In his dress he is neat as wax and his pack sack was arranged as carefully as a merchants display. At first he declared that he would not go back without papers but changed his mind and expresses a willingness to return to Arizona to face trial.

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Getting back to the basics

By Ammi Midstokke Reader Columnist

“Do you believe in those IV infusions as a hangover cure?” a family member asked me as he loaded some hotel pancakes onto his plate. I recommended some bacon and eggs to replace his electrolyte levels and increase those anti-inflammatory essential fatty acids. Then I explained that science is not a belief. There is as much science behind the efficacy of a $50 bag of nutrients pumped into our veins as there is behind the reasons why we shouldn’t binge on cocktails in the first place.

I spend half of my time with patients debunking the myths of cures and diets and single-pill solutions to a lifetime of poor habits and ignoring the basics. I get it, it’s confusing. Butter used to be the devil, now it’s the super food. But are we being distracted by infinitely tiny details of our habits just so we can ignore the big picture?

Absolutely, we are.

Whether we have been eating butter or margarine our entire lives is not the defining factor in our current state of (un) health, but rather the myriad other habits that support or detract from it and how they add up. We’re going to get a few things wrong, not because science has intentionally misled us for generations in some scheme to ruin humanity, but because we are processing an incredible amount of data to reach new conclusions.

Those will probably change again, too.

The issue is not butter or margarine.

It’s not processed sugars or fresh fruits, meat or plant-based, cardio or weight lifting. Allowing ourselves to sum up each other in these eternally debatable questions — and biologically diverse answers — is both a cultural and individual problem. It is an avoidance of basic truths we know: The donut is not the problem.

The regular donut in lieu of a meal that offers some nutritional value is.

I would argue that we often know the answers about what serves our health but just as often prefer to bury our heads in the minutiae and become victims of misinformation instead of empowered by accountability. The answers might be different for each of us. But a multi-billion dollar health industry is drowning out your internal voice with its promises of easy weight loss, determined erections, stress reduction without lifestyle change and ageless skin. And, oh yeah, those hangover cures.

Our general health and vitality precedes the past 50 years of the chemical revolution and amassing of empirical evidence. Eat whole foods. Sleep. Move your body. That was it. Somehow our big brains have decided we need to outsmart millions of years of evolution with biohacking, B-vitamin cocktails and nano-knowledge of biology (where words like “interleukin” and “inflammatory” are common jargon among unqualified professionals, but the basic understanding that we need to eat at regular intervals is challenged with fad diets).

Our list of simple health rules now also needs to be expanded to the ever-enlightening consciousness of our society. We must include our mental and emotional health as we recognize how important things like human relationships and trauma-informed education are. This expands our list to: eat, sleep, move, love and heal.

I would add, “Don’t do blatantly harmful stuff when you know better.”

Don’t watch your screens too much.

Don’t drink too much caffeine. Don’t eat too many pesticides. Don’t do yards of tequila, read the news before bed or consume energy drinks (ever).

The overwhelming likelihood of failure is omnipresent and thus we bargain by seeking cures to willingly acquired illnesses. If we didn’t do those things in the

first place, we wouldn’t need all the quick solutions to long-developed problems.

While that might not be possible because donuts sometimes call to us with their siren song, a balance between donuts and healthier fare is achievable.

We would best serve our health as individuals by simplifying our lives and inquiring within. Opt out of that which does not serve your health and choose the basic things that do. If you’re hung up on or confused by the minutiae, just take a look at the basics and try to get those right most of the time.

Ammi Midstokke is a local nutritional therapy practitioner and author.

Crossword Solution

I remember one day I was at Grandpa’s farm and I asked him about sex. He sort of smiled and said, “Maybe instead of telling you what sex is, why don’t we go out to the horse pasture and I’ll show you.” So we did, and there on the ground were my parents having sex.

Library hosts free screening of The Public

By Reader Staff

The Sandpoint branch of the East Bonner County Library District is hosting a free screening of the film The Public, Thursday, Sept. 26 at 5:30 p.m. at the Sandpoint Library, 1407 Cedar St. The feature film boasts an ensemble cast, including Alec Baldwin, Emilio Estevez, Jena Malone, Taylor Schilling, Christian Slater and Jeffrey Wright, to name a few.

The Public tells the story of a public

library that is taken over by a large group of homeless patrons who stage a non-violent, Occupy-style sit-in that quickly escalates into a standoff with riot police.

The film raises important questions about homelessness and community spaces, which will be addressed in a discussion led by Library Director Ann Nichols and Joanne Barlow with Bonner County Homeless Transitions.

This film, directed by Emilio Estevez, is rated PG-13.

Copyright www.mirroreyes.com

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