Reader_August8__2019

2 / R / August 8, 2019

(wo)MAN compiled by

Susan Drinkard

on the street

What is your all-time favorite Festival at Sandpoint concert?

“I liked Michael Franti because it was a good dance concert and he was part of a pre-concert yoga session outside. It was more personal than most concerts because you got to meet him. I also liked the Avett Brothers.” (The Avetts are back for another show on Friday.)

Bri Thoreson Piehl Therapist Sandpoint

DEAR READERS,

Welcome to week two of the Festival at Sandpoint!

For those of you who are new to town, we have an issue chock full of guides, suggestions and bluster to help you with any questions about Sandpoint or the Festival you may have. This is a busy time in Sandpoint, so make sure you practice patience in everything you do this week. Also, there’s a fire weather watch in place until Saturday, Aug. 10, so please take care while recreating in our National Forests.

Finally, I want to take a moment to recognize the victims of the deadly mass shootings last weekend in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas. It’s a sad state of affairs that these horrific events happen so frequently in the United States. Our hearts go out to the families of the 31 people killed in both Dayton and El Paso.I sincerely hope we solve this problem someday, because it fills my heart with sadness to see innocent people killed in the name of hate. If you know someone out there who needs help, offer it to them. Don’t forget to love one another.

-Ben Olson, Publisher

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

www.sandpointreader.com Publisher: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com Editorial: Zach Hagadone zach@sandpointreader.com Lyndsie Kiebert lyndsie@sandpointreader.com Cameron Rasmusson (editor-at-large) John Reuter (emeritus) Advertising: Jodi Berge Jodi@sandpointreader.com Contributing Artists: Racheal Baker (cover), Ben Olson, Lyndsie Kiebert, Susan Drinkard, IDL, Bill Borders, Spt. Parks & Rec.

“Ben Harper. His music is the kind I like to listen to.

There were good vibes and it was a fun environment.”

Contributing Writers: Ben Olson, Zach Hagadone, Lyndsie Kiebert, George Alexander Wood Jr., Lorraine H. Marie, Emily Erickson, Brenden Bobby.

Declan Plummer Student at University of Montana Sandpoint

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

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“I like the older bands; I’d say Pure Prairie League was my favorite.”

OPEN 11:30 am

GAME ROOM UPSTAIRS

Lisa Heeney Chef and bookkeeper Sandpoint

“We have gone every year since the Festival started and we liked Little Feat and many others, but both my wife,Teri, and I thought last Thursday night’s concert—Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats—was probably our all-time favorite.”

Reid Barr Owner of Route 66 Auto Body Sandpoint “Sublime—because it was the soundtrack of my youth.”

Kessin Drews Office manager at Christ Our Redeemer Lutheran Church and Little Lambs Preschool Sandpoint

The Psounbality with Per FRESH FOOD LIVE MUSIC THE BEST NW BREWS

212 Cedar Street Downtown Sandpoint

208.263.4005 A SandPint Tradition Since 1994

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

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

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

Sandpoint Reader letter policy: The Sandpoint Reader welcomes letters to the editor on all topics. Requirements: –No more than 400 words –Letters may not contain excessive profanity or libelous material. Please elevate the discussion.

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

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

About the Cover

This week’s cover photo was taken

by Racheal Baker, who we brought on to snap photos during this year’s Festival at Sandpoint. Check out more of Racheal’s photos on page 13.

August 8, 2019 / R / 3

NEWS

A tale of two guns

Chance and diligence played big roles in the Aug. 1 arrest of Shirley Ramey’s alleged killer

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Judith M. Carpenter, 57, of Coeur d’Alene, is in custody at the Bonner County Jail, charged with the 2017 killing of 79-year-old Hope woman Shirley Ramey. Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler announced the arrest at a press conference Aug. 2, noting the combined efforts of the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office and Emergency Response Team, Coeur d’Alene Police Department and ATF. The arrest, which occurred at Carpenter’s Kootenai County home Aug. 1, came two years after Daryl Ramey returned home on April 5, 2017 to find his wife dead at their home on Trestle Creek Road. She had been shot twice in the head while standing near her back door.

BCSO ruled the case a murder, and a few days later arrested Nathan Utt, who lived in a camper just down the road. Utt was exonerated the next day, having been out of state at the time of the murder.

Beyond the mistaken arrest of Utt, the story of how Judith Carpenter came to be accused of murdering Shirley Ramey — a well-liked former Hope city clerk — is a story that spans three counties in two states.

As it turns out, Carpenter was already in custody in Lincoln County, Mont., mere hours after Ramey’s murder. Not only that, but sheriff’s deputies there had a pair of guns in their possession that would ultimately be central to connecting Carpenter with the murder. But Lincoln County authorities held Carpenter on unrelated charges, and didn’t yet know about Ramey’s murder or the significance of the firearms they had locked away as evidence in Libby. The guns sat silently for more than two years until a tenacious ATF agent took up the case.

The story of how Carpenter was arrested is the story of those two guns. It reveals the contours of inter-agency communication and collaboration, how the United States tracks and locates firearms in circulation throughout the country and how chance and diligence come together in making or breaking an investigation.

4 / R / August 8, 2019

Daryl Ramey stands next to a photo of he and his wife, Shirley, together.

Photo by Taylor Viydo, KREM 2 News.

Casings at the scene At the time of Ramey’s murder, two 9 millimeter shell casings were collected at the scene, as well as an intact 9mm bullet. While searching the area around the Rameys’ home, officers found two fresh bullet holes in a camper trailer parked on the road, along with two additional 9mm casings. A Savage Model 99 rifle had been stolen at the time of the murder, as well as a blouse.

In February 2018, BCSO turned over the 9mm casings to ATF. The agency then ran the casings through its National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN) program, which catalogs and compares ballistics from evidence gathered across the nation. ATF Special Agent James Butler took an interest in the case, and prompted surrounding law enforcement agencies to test fire and enter ballistics for all confiscated 9mm guns into NIBIN. On May 18, 2019, the NIBIN system found a match between the casings found at the Ramey murder scene to test-fired cartidges submitted by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office in Montana.

Investigators connected the casings to a Glock Model 19 9mm pistol that Lincoln County deputies seized from Carpenter during a road rage incident, which also occured on April 5, 2017 — shortly after the alleged murder.

“This is the very first case NIBIN had in the state of Idaho where they’ve [been] able to match up shell casings with a homicide,” Wheeler said at the press conference.

Road rage in Montana Carpenter allegedly pointed a pistol at another driver while driving north on Bull Lake Road.

Lincoln County authorities arrest-

ed Carpenter for assault with a weapon and confiscated two guns — the Glock and Savage Model 99 rifle. Lincoln County Sheriff Darren Short told the Reader in a phone interview Aug. 6 that due to mental health concerns, Carpenter was never convicted in Lincoln County. Instead, she received a pretrial diversion: an alternative to prosecution that moves an offender from the traditional justice system and into programs facilitated by the U.S. Probation Service.

Carpenter told deputies at the time of her Montana arrest that she found the rifle at the corner of Highway 2 and Bull Lake Road.

According to the affidavit, blood was on both guns at the time they were taken into custody.

BCSO received both guns from

Lincoln County on June 10, 2019 and submitted them, along with crime scene evidence, to the Idaho State Police Forensic Services Unit for analysis. Forensic investigators confirmed the casings found at the 2017 murder scene matched Carpenter’s Glock, which she purchased from Black Sheep Sporting Goods in Coeur d’Alene in 2005.

Records also show that on April 3, 2017 — just days before the Ramey murder — Carpenter checked the pistol at the Canadian border.

Officials have not identified a motive at this time.

Short said his department entered the Savage Model 99 rifle into the National Crime Information Center system immediately after seizing it to see if anyone had reported it stolen. At the time, their search yielded no results.

Bonner County Detective Phil Stella told the Reader in a phone interview Aug. 6 that that’s because Daryl Ramey didn’t have the serial number on hand when he noticed the rifle missing, and it took BCSO a couple of weeks to obtain that number and enter the gun into the stolen weapons catalog. Stella also said BCSO kept the missing rifle a secret from the public in an effort to hold onto information that could determine the legitimacy of potential leads or confessions.

When asked about the blood on the guns, Wheeler said at the Aug. 2 press conference that he wasn’t sure why it wasn’t noticed and investigated while the gun was in Lincoln County’s custody.

“You can’t go to Yoke’s and complain about the service at Safeway,” Wheeler said. “It is what it is.”

Short told the Reader that the blood wasn’t visible to the naked eye and only noticed when closeup images of the weapons were recently reexamined.

Community closure Wheeler said he’d met with Daryl Ramey following the arrest and that he seemed “very relieved.”

“It’s affected the whole community of Bonner County, and especially the community in Hope and Clark Fork,” Wheeler said. “This is really going to bring, hopefully, some closure to this incident.”

Wheeler also noted Aug. 2 that there is no known connection between the Ramey murder and the December 2017 murder of 73-year-old Clark Fork man George Andres at his home up East Spring Creek Road.

Carpenter’s bond is set at $1 million. A preliminary hearing is scheduled at the Bonner County Courthouse for Wednesday, Aug. 14 at 1:30 p.m.

SEN. CRAPO MAKES THE ROUNDS IN N. IDAHO

U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) kicked off a full day in Bonner County with a gathering Aug. 7 at the Cocolalla Community Hall to answer questions from about two dozen North Idahoans. Questions covered raising the Idaho minimum wage, federal trade wars, data mining and censorship, and more. Overall, Crapo shared his belief that nothing will be done without reaching across the aisle. “Nothing is going to happen unless it’s bipartisan,” he said, “and that’s the way it ought to be. That’s the way our country works.” For more coverage of Crapo’s visit, go to sandpointreader.com. Photo by Lyndsie Kiebert.

NEWS

Fire season heats up in N. Idaho, outlook ‘average’

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff

North Idahoans are making note of clearer skies so far this August, but with fire activity ramping up this week, the smoky haze of summers past appears to be moving in.

A grass fire Aug. 5 near Spirit Lake quickly grew thanks to high temperatures and changing winds, resulting in the first local fire of the season to prompt evacuation orders. The fire was reported around 2:30 p.m. and, by 5:30 p.m., the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office advised residents on several roads near Bandy Ranch — the fire’s origin — to evacuate the area.

Crews from Spirit Lake Fire, Timberlake Fire and Selkirk Fire initially responded to the Bandy Fire, and Idaho Department of Lands fire crews later arrived with a helicopter and three planes to combat what Timberlake Fire officials characterized as a “fast-moving, large wildland fire.”

BCSO lifted evacuation orders around 7:45 p.m. and Timberlake Fire reported on Facebook at around 11 p.m. that the fire had been contained. The blaze grew to 140 acres, IDL reported, and no structures were damaged. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

It’s the first major event in what is expected to be a fairly average regional fire season. The National Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook, released monthly by the Boise-based National Interagency Fire Center’s Predictive Services unit, reports “an active but compressed season is expected across the West.”

Moderate drought conditions exist throughout the Inland Northwest, but periods of rain and cooler temperatures in early July have “lessened the drought stress in the vegetation,” according to the August report.

“The near to above average temperature outlooks for the next three months in combination with the near to above average fuel mois-

tures, should keep fire potential at average levels across the Northern Rockies,” the report concluded.

Local analysts are also predicting an average fire season for the remainder of 2019. Idaho Panhandle National Forests information officer Kary Maddox said the U.S. Forest Service tracks live and dead forest fuels alongside long-term weather trends to formulate an Energy Release Component each year. That report is an “indicator of how much energy is available to burn” in local forests, said IPNF forest fuels planner Sarah Jerome.

Maddox said this year’s ERC is showing average fire danger — a change from the above average danger over the past several years, she said. “[The ERC] is a stable predictor,” Maddox said. “One rain event won’t swing the needle. It’s long-term metrics.”

Aside from the Bandy Fire, IPNF reported Aug. 6 that several small fires have burned across the Panhandle in 2019, but “early

detection and suppression, coupled with an average fire season, have kept the fires small.”

The Bonner County Sheriff’s Office released a fire weather watch Wednesday stating possible thunderstorms across North Idaho through Saturday, Aug. 10. With “abunant lightning” possible, as well as gusty and erratic winds, more fire activity could be on its way.

By this time last year, the fire outlook was substantially worse and the Cougar Fire, located five miles east of Hope, was on its way to burning more than 7,000 acres.

Smoky air during recent summers has proved a serious concern.

On Aug. 19, 2018, Sandpoint experienced Air Quality Index readings into the 300s — classified as “hazardous” by the EPA. Sandpoint

A touring band confronts racism in Sandpoint

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

Members of the San Francisco-based band Afrolicious were looking for something to eat before their Aug. 3 show at The Hive. After setting up at the venue, they decided to take a walk around downtown Sandpoint and find a good spot for dinner. They didn’t make it far before experiencing an ugly incident.

According to frontman Joe McGuire, as he and a few of his bandmates walked through downtown, a 20-something white man with long brown hair sped up to the group in a car, locked eyes on trumpeter Oliver Taylor, made a gun shape with his hand and pulled an imaginary trigger.

“He saw three of us [two of whom were white] and he looked right at the black man. He was looking at the tall, young, good-looking black guy, like, ‘You’re my enemy,’” McGuire told the Reader in a phone interview. “It was like, wow, we just got to town and this happens.”

It got worse from there.

“I looked back to see if it was what I really thought it was, and [the driver] pulled a large pistol out and showed it to me, smiled and just drove away,” said Taylor, adding that the man didn’t directly point the gun at him, but his intentions were clear.

“He didn’t threaten me that directly, it was more of a show of force, and sort of sadistic, like he was really enjoying it,” he added.

“I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life.”

McGuire said Afrolicious, which plays a style of Afrobeat, Latin, disco-funk, has toured small towns throughout the country and encountered racism in more casual forms, but what happened in Sandpoint was “downright frightening. It was like, damn, somebody didn’t want to make us feel welcome.”

Incidents like that are part of why Sandpoint Mayor Shelby Rognstad has asked for $8,000 in the 2020 proposed budget to support the so-called “Inclusion Initiative.”

According to the budget narrative, the initiative is intended to help “eliminate hate and discrimination

and strengthen social equity in our community” by supporting “training, education and other programs” at the city and in partnership with nonprofits and businesses to “promote understanding, acceptance and value differences between people of different races, ethnicities, genders, ages, religions, disabilities and sexual orientations.”

The proposal came up as part of a larger budget conversation at the regular Aug. 7 meeting of the Sandpoint City Council, prompting some pushback of its own.

“I have to ask, how does this inclusion initiative increase understanding and respect for one another?” asked Sandpoint business owner Todd Prather, who added that the “hollow initiative” presumes that “the entire community is guilty of hate and discrimination. … It causes the very division that it’s supposed to get in front of.”

Prather continued by questioning whether an effort to “legislate kindness” might not “kill creativity in Sandpoint.” He doubted that such policies are even necessary.

“I am unaware of problems with either hate or discrimination

in Sandpoint; I’m sure it exists in a here-and-there sort of way,” he said. “It’s just a very slippery slope when you get into legislating political correctness.”

Hive General Manager Rob Smith, who was born and raised in North Idaho in the 1980s and ’90s remembers the bad old days of the Aryan Nations. He said racist attitudes persist in the region but, “as a venue owner, all I can do is promote love and music. ...

Unfortunately the stigma [of racism] is still around us. ... [But] the love that this community has, the conscience that this community has, overpowers all of that.”

Taylor, a 22-year-old graduate of UCLA, where he studied classical trumpet performance, said the incident in Sandpoint gave the band pause. While band members agreed that Sandpoint as a whole showed them nothing but respect and appreciation, “I didn’t really feel entirely safe in town,” said bassist Eric Noble, who added that it isn’t lost on him that two mass shootings occurred elsewhere in the country within 48 hours of their experience in Sandpoint.

Aftermath of the Bandy Fire near Spirit Lake. Photo by Id. Dept. of Lands. registered at about 60 AQI on Aug. 6, 2019, considered “moderate” air quality. “Good” AQI is between 0-50 on the EPA’s scale.

Older people, children and people with preexisting health conditions — including respiratory and heart issues — are more sensitive to smoke pollution, according to the EPA. Visit airnow.gov for current air quality readings.

“In the context of those shootings it’s like, wow, everything becomes real,” he said.

For Taylor, it was also a reality check.

“I feel like I understand that that type of behavior doesn’t come from places of real power, it comes from places of insecurity and fear,” he said. “Afterwards we were just kind of talking about it. I was basically saying this was a wake-up call for me; I can’t really take my safety for granted when I travel.”

The band declined to report the incident to police because the man didn’t point his weapon directly at Taylor. Rather, Afrolicious went on to play a high-energy show at The Hive and took the opportunity to tell the crowd what had happened earlier in the evening.

“We’re always trying to address social issues and issues of the day,” said drummer Vincent Fossett. “We’re always just trying to bring a positive vibe everywhere we go. We’re not tripping on this … we’re more interested in how do we raise the frequency of this country so we can move past this bullshit.”

August 8, 2019 / R / 5

NEWS

PERSPECTIVES

City to host public info sessions on Parks Plan

Notes from a first-year Festival volunteer

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff The city of Sandpoint and consultants Green Play LLC, have begun work on planning and design for four sites: War Memorial Field, City Beach and downtown waterfront, sports complex (including Travers, Centennial and Great Northern fields) and city watershed property as the next phase to its Parks and Recreation Master Plan, which kicked off in April.

The public is invited to an open house on Wednesday, Aug. 15 at the City Council chambers in Sandpoint City Hall, 1123 Lake St., to review the results of Green Play’s initial site observations and analysis, and provide input on each of the specific locations.

Images will be on display with initial options for public consideration and feedback on current and future activities and amenities at the various sites. Members of the public are welcome to drop in anytime from 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

An open public meeting at The Hive, 207 N. First Ave., will follow the open house from 6:30-8 p.m. There, Green Play consultants will again present initial site concepts, summarize the feedback received throughout the day during the open house and take additional input and comments. Information gathered at the events will be used to make changes to the initial concepts and develop alternative options. These will be presented at another public session to take place in late September, when the final preferred alternatives will be decided in preparation of a final concept master plan for each site.

The public still has an opportunity to weigh in on priorities, satisfaction and needs for the overall Parks & Rec Plan, including parks, trails, open space and recreation programming. An online survey at sandpointsurvey.org is open through Friday, Aug. 16.

The city has budgeted $2.7 million in revenues from the voter-approved 1% Resort City sales tax in its proposed 2020 budget to support re-surfacing at Memorial Field and improvements at the other sites with any funds left over. Funding from the Parks Capital Improvement Fund, Recreation Fund and Impact Fees dedicated to Parks & Rec have also been budgeted to support priorities and projects identified in the final Parks Master Plan.

Green Play will develop an overall cost and revenue plan as part of the Master Plan, which will include review and analysis of Parks fees and revenues and grant opportunities.

6 / R / August 8, 2019

By George Alexander Wood Jr. Reader Contributor It is long past midnight, and I am doggone exhausted. My sweaty volunteer shirt, civilian clothes and Production Crew polo hit the floor in time with me flopping on the mattress. My spine aches like a fist-shaking crotchety old homeowner, and my fingers are a latticework of micro lacerations from forgotten work gloves.

When I fall asleep, four pointed porcelain-white tents shade my dreams. There are hazy images of swinging multicolored lights, swaying moods of music, and mountains of stage equipment and plastic lawn chairs cascading down to bury me deep in slumber following a day of hard muscle labor.

These are the dreams of a man more than 100 hours deep as a stagehand, front gate usher, chauffeur, security guard, human sawhorse and production crewman for two weeks at the Festival at Sandpoint.

Thousands of folks storm the Festival’s gates each year for a night or three of live music and boundless merriment, and of course I’ve joined the fun in years past. This year, I decided it was time to give back to the cause and I wanted total immersion.

I snatched every job I could. Here is the inside scoop: Phase 1: Load In Day One, like every Festival workday, consisted of sweltering summer heat, Olympic heavy lifting and good natured trash talking. The production crew met at a dusty, secretive Festival warehouse at 9 a.m., swiftly grooving into the business of loading chairs, fencing, stage platforms and so on into moving trucks for transport to War Memorial Field. Through smooth finessing, tireless work ethic and minimal bloodshed, our crew busted out a day’s work in a record three trips.

From that point forward, the rest of the time for our strong squad of about 20 people would be spent watering the Festival lawn with the sweat of our brows. Moving trucks full of other equipment would bus in and out, and we were charged with unloading everything and building the venue.

Some tasks were completed without a hitch. Luckily, the lifting of the iconic

Festival at Sandpoint main stage tent fell into this category. The preliminary tent groundwork is put in place by having small teams crawl under the heavy fabric and connect the tent to four metal support beams. This is a draining task, lifting poles under the weight of the fabric in super-sauna conditions.

The actual lifting of the tent is a beautiful moment. With the help of two utility trucks and dispersed teams fiercely pulling rope like Alaskan commercial fishermen — “1,2,3, HEAVE!” — the tent rose skyward and eventually held taut and secure. The exhausted crew then crawled away and collapsed in the newly created shade, hands stuck in a half-grip cramp for the next quarter of an hour.

Leveling a stage on a somewhat uneven field proved to be a much harder endeavor.

Each individual platform out of 65 platforms had to be independently leveled multiple times, and this required minute adjustments to each leg of the platform. All told, two members of our team and another hired hand spent about five hours lifting and screwing up or down about 750 platform legs. A brutally tedious process they somehow managed to complete without murdering each other.

OK, “somehow” is a bit of a disservice.

I was continually amazed at the resiliency, the unrelenting level of stoke held by our team. Patiently waiting around in the heat because the task at hand only required a couple of hands? Shouldering a football field’s length of iron security barriers after midnight? No problem, what can we do after that? We kept it light and fun, even when our muscles were pumped out and our mental capacity to problem solve were all but depleted.

It was this fortitude that carried us through Phase 2: The Main Events.

Phase 2: Concert Time In short, a hurricane of activity.

When acts arrive in the morning, the Festival Production Crew took its orders from the bands’ independent production

crews, and every team is different. From my perspective, one of the best production crews arrived with Jackson Browne — a real laid back and fun group. They stashed hot sauce in their sound equipment drawers, set up multiple bird totems and a tattooed mannequin head around their monitoring equipment. They requested we leave one single confetti piece in place while cleaning the stage.

The magnificent osprey, featured on this year’s Festival poster, is a truly important fixture of the Festival at Sandpoint. As a production crew member, you can hear this in the constant staccato calls from atop their nests surrounding the venue; see it in their feathers littering the grounds and the occasional half-eaten fish carcass dropped from above.

I volunteered for the front gate crew each concert day and overheard some guests bemoaning the heightened security at this year’s event. All I can say is despite all the “I miss the old days” nostalgia, I am grateful the organization I represent is actively prioritizing the safety of our patrons in exchange for a few meager minutes of waiting in line.

Besides helping put on Sandpoint’s premier summer attraction, there are two things that make me feel elevated and cool about my job: flashing my backstage pass to security within sight of my friends and being paid to drive around on an ATV. One thing that brought me shame: One night, there was a tent flap covering the “M” and “O” on the Smoking Area sign and I never bothered fixing it because I chose not to invest energy in brainstorming a solution. My shoddy work still weighs on my conscience.

So much of my job as a member of the Production Crew is being flexible to help out when called upon. At one point this manifested as a text asking if I could transport Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats from their double-decker party pontoon to the hotel. It was a nice drive. He talked about working out while listening to ebooks and how exhausting tour life could be. I eavesdropped anonymously.

It’s been a helluva rodeo so far, and I’m raring to put in another 100 hours, if need be, during Week 2. Some extremely skilled, dedicated people have been doing this every season for 20-plus years, and I have a lot of catching up to do.

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: The Atlantic reports that in Amsterdam no sweets or sodas are allowed in schools, and fast food ads are highly controlled.

Since imposing those rules in 2012, childhood obesity dropped 12%.

FBI Director Christopher Wray recently informed Congress that domestic terrorist arrests — most of them from white supremacists — are increasing. They’re now close to the number of international terrorist arrests made. In the past nine months there were 100 domestic terrorist threats, Wray said.

The world’s deserts receive more energy from the sun in just six hours than all the people on the planet can use in one year, according to High Country News. Meanwhile, floating solar panels on a small number of U.S. lakes and ponds could supply 10% of the nation’s energy, says the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Trending: experimenting with abstaining from alcohol. NPR reports that abstainers, who can now socialize at “sober bars,” report that a month or more without alcohol can result in weight loss, calmer emotions, regaining a creative edge, better sleep and overall improved health.

There are two kinds of welfare complaints, says economist Robert Reich: complaints about safety nets and health care for low-income people, and complaints about corporations that use tax breaks and government subsidies. Reich says repealing fossil fuel industry tax breaks alone could save taxpayers $39 billion over 10 years. As well, he points out that allowing low wages results in workers needing government assistance; taxpayers spend $153 billion annually to provide for food, housing, medical and other needs not met by wages paid to McDonald’s and Walmart employees.

Two new faux meats: Impossible Foods, which imitates beef, is made from GMO soy, coconut and sunflower oils, potato protein, yeast extract and a genetically engineered strain of yeast called heme. The manufacturer says it uses 96% less land, 87% less water and produces 89% fewer greenhouse gases as compared to producing a beef burger. There’s a red flag, says food author and researcher Anna Lappe: GMO soy uses a greater amount of toxic spray, which impacts the health of people and the environment. For those who are soy-sensitive, there’s Beyond Meat, from pea protein isolates, mung bean

By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist

protein, coconut oil, apple extract and beet juice coloring. The manufacturer says it uses 93% less land, 99% less water and has 90% fewer greenhouse emissions as compared to cattle, TIME magazine reports.

Lappe indicates that, unless the foods are made from organic ingredients, concerns about environmental impacts remain.

Presidential poll ratings usually average 52% favorable in the 10th quarter of a term in office, Mother Jones reports. Gallup pegs Donald Trump’s favorability rating at 44%; it was 42% a year ago.

Recent research shows an immediate decline in violent crime after the release of highly popular violent video games, suggesting they help users release aggression. The American Psychological Association has stated that there is no evidence of violent media causing mass shootings.

Greenland’s recent heat wave created an estimated 12 billion tons of water from melted ice, and quickly raised sea levels along coasts, according to the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition. If all the country’s ice melted, it would raise sea levels 20 feet, reports The Hill.

Blast from the past: A decade after launching efforts to promote loss of public confidence in Social Security, in August 1995 the Cato Institute formed the Project on Social Security Privatization. The idea gained some traction since the stock market was doing well in the 1990s. Social Security has enjoyed popular support since it began under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. But, nonprofit Social Security Works says Wall Street-type advocates of privatizing government functions are eyeing Social Security’s $2.9 trillion trust fund (which is invested in more stable U.S. Treasury bonds). During the administration of President George W. Bush, who had a history of antagonism toward Social Security, a commission to study Social Security privatization led to increased advocacy for the idea of investing program funds in the stock market. The privatization scheme subsided when the stock market faltered.

Today efforts to undermine Social Security include congressional underfunding of the program’s administration, closure of its offices and language on Social Security notices that “Congress has made changes to the law in the past and can do so at any time.” The latest threat comes from Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who recommended deep cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to compensate for lost revenue from tax cuts for the wealthy.

Ballot box, not impeachment, is the best Trump-be-gone...

Dear editor, Democrats who want to impeach Donald Trump should take a lesson from the impeachment of Bill Clinton. For those too young to remember, Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives (where a simple majority vote is required) in 1998 but was not convicted by the Senate (where a two-thirds vote is required). Republicans knew he would never be convicted but were conflicted: There should be consequences for lying under oath, even if it is symbolic, so they needed to do something. But it worked in Clinton’s favor. The average person saw Clinton as just another husband caught lying about an affair and, while they didn’t approve, they also didn’t think he should be crucified for it. His popularity actually increased.

Trump could be impeached by the House, but unless a photo of him and Lulu surfaces he’ll never be convicted by the Senate and will probably win handily in the next election.

My elderly aunt, a lifelong Democrat, said in 1998 (referring to Clinton), “I wish they would leave that poor man alone.” She said exactly the same thing about Trump a week ago.

Many people demanding Trump’s impeachment appear to think he will be removed from office if he is impeached. Not so. Trump will remain in office until the Senate trial, and if a miracle occurs and he is convicted by the Senate he will be replaced by Vice President Mike Pence, who is even more conservative than Trump.

Be careful what you wish for. The best way to remove Trump (and Pence) from office is to vote them out. Or track down Lulu.

Dave Mundell Sandpoint

Tipping Point...

vice industry gratuity finally hit a tipping point, so to speak. I noticed everything on the menu had increased by at least $2 since my last visit a couple months ago. Summer hyperinflation, maybe, but then there was more. A 4% surcharge would be added to my order to “go toward fair wages and employee health insurance co-pays.”

Huh? Every company with employees bears these expenses — it’s part of the cost of doing business.

If a business isn’t making enough profit, then the solution is to either cut expenses or raise prices. But to publicly announce such a dewyeyed statement to your patrons just reeks of a perceived self-congratulatory back patting, and to this patron it was a big turn-off.

The bill for my breakfast of poached eggs, potatoes and a cup of coffee came to $17.58, plus a recommended amount of gratuity based on a percentage of the total. That’s expensive. This is North Idaho, not Paris, France, where I paid less for a cafe brunch in sight of the Eiffel Tower. That was a memorable breakfast and so was this one in Sandpoint because it was the first time ever I didn’t tip my server. This custom is unique to our country and needs to go away. Servers should be paid a solid wage like everyone else, so this budding trend of “crew sustainability” (forced gratuity, really) doesn’t become the new norm.

Yeah, I know servers work hard. We all do. I, too, deal with customers face to face and provide a service that they can’t get at home. Yet never once has anyone thrown a few bucks down on the counter for me when they pick up their order, nor should they. The custom is perplexingly random and simply ridiculous.

Tipping only subsidizes the wages that workers should be earning from their employers in the first place. Bar and restaurant owners: Just build it into the prices already so we can put the social pressure of tipping to rest.

Dear editor: I recently had breakfast at a local restaurant where my dislike toward the social custom of ser-

Laughing Matter

Evan Brown (aka Mr. Pink), Sagle

By Bill Borders

August 8, 2019 / R / 7

COMMUNITY Sandpoint Rotary presents LPOSD with check from CHAFE 150

By Reader Staff

Bouquets: GUEST SUBMISSION: • Thank you to Kristina Orton for her vision in helping create a memorial tree at the Healing Garden. What a wonderful way to honor those who have passed.

— Submitted by Cynthia Mason.

•You know who deserves a Bouquet this week? The Festival at Sandpoint Green Team, that’s who. This group of volunteers are the reason War Memorial Field is so pristine each and every show during the Festival. You’ve noticed them at the trash collection sites inside the Festival — pointing out what item goes where.

They are also the ones who comb the grounds, cleaning up broken glass, debris and food waste so the audience at the next show doesn’t have to deal with it. I’m always in awe of how much work they do for such little recognition. Thank you, Green Team!

Barbs • I’m glad that President Donald Trump addressed the mass shootings last weekend. “In one voice our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy,” Trump said at the White House. “These sinister ideologies must be defeated.” I couldn’t agree more with our president. Unfortunately his words — or rather, the staffer’s words who filled the teleprompter — fall short of his past statements and actions. The galling aspect is, when Trump warned of “the perils of the internet and social media,” he failed to recognize the fact that he uses those platforms every day to promote his divisive politics – including mere hours after this statement to belittle a Democrat candidate for president. Don’t get me wrong: It’s a big step to get this man to actually mouth the words condemning white supremacy. Why it’s that hard to denounce Nazis, I’ll never understand. But I respectfully suggest our president follow his own suggestion and stop sowing division on social media. We can all get better at this, actually.

8 / R / August 8, 2019

It was a record-breaking year for CHAFE 150 organizers, with more than 500 registered riders, a debut of new routes and a record level of sponsorships.

The annual bicycle ride is organized by Sandpoint Rotary, which presented the Lake Pend Oreille School District with a check for $60,000 to support education in the Sandpoint community at their Aug. 7 meeting.

In addition to the $60,000 check, local accountant and CHAFE Ride Committee Chairman Brad Williams presented LPOSD with a check for $3,000 from the Paula Hall Memorial Fund. With this year’s contribution, Sandpoint Rotary has donated more than $320,000 to LPOSD in the past seven years.

“It was a really great year for CHAFE,” said Sandpoint Rotary President Mel Dick. “We had double the number of riders that we had last year.”

Several speakers addressed the Rotarians on Aug. 7, including Andra Murray and Elizabeth Dalessio from the school district, who explained some of the programs the money has funded and will fund in the future.

One program that has benefited from CHAFE funds is the LPOSD Literacy Initiative. The program focuses first on students enrolled in the highest-need elementary schools to provide literacy support, homework help, a healthy snack and social-emotional connections, physical fitness and hands-on STEM activities.

Studies have shown that if children cannot read proficiently by the end of third grade, they may face daunting hurdles to success in school and work later in life.

Murray, who works as the director of teaching and learning for LPOSD, said the program has already shown positive results.

“Only 51% of [Idaho] K-3 students entered the school year in fall 2018 reading at a proficient level,” Murray said. “We ended last spring with 78%, which is a 27% increase.”

The program also includes professional development training for teachers.

“The other big initiative is our after-school programs,” said Dalessio, who splits her time as assistant-principal at Farmin-Stidwell Elementary School and grant director for LPOSD. “One of the biggest chunks [of the Rotary and CHAFE contributions] will be used to add an additional staff member, and, thanks to you, we’ll also be adding kids who will be

safe and supervised.”

After-school programs include the inaugural STEM Camp this year, which saw 165 children enrolled and 11 staff members taking part.

“Because of our community partnerships, we’ll continue to have our STEM Camp for two weeks in the summer,” Dalessio said.

At STEM Camp, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, students learned how to use and fly drones, and how to build simple machines. Others built animals with Legos and participated in team-building activities.

Sandpoint Rotary members and LPOSD employees pose with a $60,000 check donated to the district from the CHAFE 150 bike ride. Photo by Ben Olson.

“We absolutely would not be able to continue the training without CHAFE,” Dalessio said.

Newly-appointed LPOSD Superintendent Tom Albertson also thanked Sandpoint Rotary, volunteers and CHAFE riders for supporting the next generation of local students.

“Thank you so much for the trust and support for these programs,” Albertson said. “The work that we’re doing grows exponentially.”

READER IN THE ROCKIES

Chamber receives tourism grant

By Reader Staff The Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce was recently awarded a $205,000 tourism grant from the Idaho Department of Commerce, Tourism Division.

The grant was applied to Visit Sandpoint, the Chamber’s tourism group, to provide funds for marketing the greater Sandpoint area as a destination for visitors. Funding for the grant comes from the 2% hotel-motel room tax collected by the state of Idaho.

“The grant requires us to use

the dollars for advertising outside of the area,” said Chamber President and CEO Kate McAlister. “The closest advertising for Sandpoint is Spokane.”

Specifically, grant funds will be used to create the annual visitor’s guide, maps, events and attractions for the greater Sandpoint area. Funds will also be used to maintain the VisitSandpoint website, create digital, print and radio advertising for our events, attend travel shows and create digital campaigns and giveaways.

Steve and Gwen Archer of Dover brought the Reader to Coors Field in Denver, Colo. for a Rockies baseball game. Steve said they had great seats four rows behind home plate (thanks to Keise McSwain, Gwen’s sister’s daughter).

This photo was taken from the end of the row on the third base side. The Rockies beat the Dodgers 9-1 before a crowd of 43,574.

PERSPECTIVES

Emily Articulated

A column by and about Millennials

Gun control and my godfather Kevin

By Emily Erickson Reader Columnist

M

y godfather Kevin is as avid an outdoorsman as they come, with the quiet, confident demeanor of someone who doesn’t need to brag about their skills. He’s the type of outdoorsman whose average weekend excursions easily end with a cooler full of fish or a freezer full of venison, and who scours the land around where he lives for new avenues of opportunity: tiny streams just big enough for a canoe or wooded knolls with freshly trampled grass — the telltale sign of a passing herd of deer.

Kevin grew up in a family where becoming proficient in hunting and fishing was a right of passage, a first cleaned fish the proverbial driver’s license into manhood. Which was why, years later, he began the process of assembling his “Man Cave.”

The walls of Kevin’s Man Cave, or what I refer to in jest as “The Hall of Death,” are studded with mounted heads taken from Kevin’s most prized harvests: muscled bucks with eerily peaceful faces and towering antlers, stuffed fish that stretch the length of the door frame and a pair of menacing black bears staged in an eternal fight.

My relationship to Kevin and his hunting has always been one of distance and respect. The distance was a product of my inherent love of animals, with my childhood questions of, “The doe didn’t have babies, did she?” evolving into, “She didn’t suffer, right?” The respect came from Kevin’s fiber and how he ap-

Emily Erickson. proached the world of hunting.

Kevin is a person with an intrinsic sense of right and wrong, living his life with competence and an unwavering moral compass. He is the person I call when my check engine light is on, who made sure I passed my snowmobile safety course before I ever suited up and who I could always count on to bring me a gallon of gas when I let my tank run dry. As a hunter, he always treats the land, the animals and his equipment with respect and safety.

However, Kevin and I view the world differently. On any given election, we undoubtedly check opposite boxes on nearly every issue, candidate or cause.

Because of that — and because of who he is and how he lives his life — Kevin is exactly who I want to talk to about an issue that no one can or should ignore.

It’s the issue of gun control and it’s filling our newspapers, radio airwaves, TV broadcasts and computer screens with statistics that sting and vex like countless mosquito bites.

These statistics we’re learning, like the CBS report that as of

Aug. 5 there had been 255 mass shootings in 2019 — more mass shootings than there had been days in the year, or the NPR article explaining that the death rate from gun violence is “four times higher in the U.S. than war-torn Syria and Yemen.”

What we lose sight of in these horrific numbers are the stories, names and humanity behind them. And I blame political rhetoric for the loss of this humanity.

Every time a conversation about gun legislation is tied with other partisan issues, the identities of the lives lost become mere numbers on a page — grist for the political mill and an impetus not for anger, hurt or determination to create change, but for more money to be pushed under tables behind party lines.

This loss of humanity through rhetoric is why Kevin, my responsible, gun-owning, opposite-voting godfather, is exactly who I want to talk to about realistic approaches to creating positive change as it relates to gun control.

I want to hear from people within the culture who are doing it right; who are practicing safe gun ownership and who believe in practical modifications to the existing structures, learning from them the best strategies for moving forward in a nonpartisan way.

At a time when politics are more divisive and discouraging than ever before, I find hope in the humanity-centered middle ground: where organizations like, “Gun Owners for Responsible Ownership” exist and where I can sit in the “Hall of Death” and discuss what realistic, pragmatic and unifying progress might look

like with my godfather Kevin.

It will be in these discussions that the statistics are transformed back into names and faces, and the lives lost won’t be for not.

Emily Erickson is a freelance writer and bartender originally from Wisconsin, with a degree in sociology and an affinity for playing in the mountains.

Retroactive

By BO

August 8, 2019 / R / 9

Mad about Science:

Brought to you by:

unusual medieval weapons

By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist

You will be disappointed if you’re reading this and expecting me to list dragons or Valyrian steel swords. Sorry, folks. No White Walker invasions happened in medieval Europe, but feel free to tell me that I know nothing.

Medieval combat was a brutal endeavor most often done with swords, lances, pikes, axes, maces and crossbows, all of which are fun to swing around on Youtube, but are no fun to be on the receiving end of — especially when the guy swinging them has gone through as much training as a professional athlete.

We’re all pretty familiar with the traditional arsenal of premodern death-dealers, but what about the nontraditional weapons of war? Some of these are still in use today.

The “man-catcher” was a pronged spear, on which the end was replaced with a spiked metal collar and spring-loaded hinge. Historians believe it was used to snag high-value targets like knights and lords from their horses to take as hostages for ransom. It’s easy to see a thousand different ways for the application of the man-catcher to go wrong; however, it’s an item still in use today. Law enforcement in both China and Japan use an adapted version of the man-catcher to isolate and apprehend violent individuals in a non-lethal fashion, which makes a lot of sense in a highly populated area.

In another anachronistic twist, chemical weapons weren’t unique to the First World War. Quicklime may have been used several times throughout the 10 / R / August 8, 2019

medieval ages as a destructive chemical agent. Quicklime, or calcium oxide, is what’s left over when you burn limestone or other things with calcium carbonate at high temperatures. It also gives off energy as a chemical reaction with water, which produces heat. Medieval tacticians likely used it most frequently at sea to blind opponents before boarding their ships. The quicklime reacted to the water in the sailors’ eyes, mouths and lungs to burn, blind and choke them.

Today, quicklime, or calcium oxide, is used in almost everything. Calcium oxide is frequently used in steel foundries by counteracting acidic substances and creating molten slag. It’s also used as a food additive for the same reason: to regulate acidity. It’s also used for certain drinking waters, and as I’m sure many local gardeners know: neutralizing the acidity in our soil. Things like asparagus, beets and cauliflower struggle to grow in our soil without help from an agent to make the soil more alkaline.

Speaking of airborne weaponry, one of the earliest and scariest uses of rocketry in combat was the “nest of bees.” This was a wooden box filled with arrows that had barbs on one end and small gunpowder charges on the other. One weapon could fire 32 rocket-propelled arrows simultaneously. Several weapons could have cleared a battlefield.

Given the whimsical name and the fact that it was powered by medieval gunpowder, it should come as no surprise that it originated in China. It was believed to be mounted on the back of a wagon, stacked with hexagonal tubes that made it appear like a beehive.

Today, armies have replaced the rocket-propelled arrows with more rockets. Small cluster launchers are often seen on assault aircraft packed into cylindrical tubes, or on the backs of land-based vehicles called rocket artillery designed to launch dozens of rockets in seconds, like our own military’s M270 MLRS, which have been heavily featured in movies as a source of destructive firepower.

The wildest of all weapons I’ve discovered wasn’t used even before medieval times. The Claw of Archimedes was used to fend off the Roman fleet invading Syracuse in 214 BCE. It was a giant iron hook attached to a crane, and it literally grabbed boats and threw them around like toys. Despite its simplicity, the deployment of the claw was a master stroke of strategy and physics. Archimedes had rained all sorts of fiery destruction upon the Roman fleet preceding the deployment of the claw, so they kept their ships close together and sailed them up to the city walls where defenders wouldn’t dare risk catching their own city on fire.

The solution was simple: Using a fixed location, the height of the walls to gain mechanical advantage as a fulcrum and an abundance of stone to act as a counterweight, Archimedes built a huge lever that could fling Roman ships across the water like a toddler flings Lincoln Logs through your new 65-inch OLED TV. Unfortunately for Archimedes, the Romans were a persistent bunch, and they ended up sacking Syracuse and killing him in the process anyway.

Luckily for the rest of us, the scientific notions of Archimedes and his awesome claw did not

The sinister “man-catcher.” Courtesy photo. die with him, as we still continue to use giant cranes to load thousands of tons of cargo onto trains and ships on a daily basis.

If you’ve only ever seen one of those cranes in action on TV, I would highly suggest taking a tour to see one the next time you hit a port city (like our not-sodistant neighbor, Seattle).

It’s truly a spectacle to behold when you consider one guy

flicking some levers is swinging around thousands of pounds of Amazon orders with mechanical efficiency.

There are dozens more wacky weapons I wanted to cover, but I’ll have to leave you to find those on your own. Maybe your friendly neighborhood librarian will be willing to help.

Random Corner ncy?

Don’t know much about pregna

We can help!

• 4% of women in the United States are pregnant right now.

weight, only need to eat an extra 300 calories per day.

• 3 in every 10 teen girls in the U.S. get pregnant.

• Women who snore during pregnancy are more likely to have smaller babies, according to a study.

• 49% of pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended. That’s more than 3 million children per year.

• 10% of pregnancies end in miscarriage.

• The longest human pregnancy in humans on record is 375 days (12.5 months).

• Every 90 seconds, one woman dies during pregnancy or childbirth.

• During pregnancy, if the mother suffers organ damage, the baby in the womb sends stem cells to repair the damaged organ.

• More than 100,000 babies are born addicted to cocaine each year in the U.S., due to their mothers’ use of the drug during pregnancy.

• Male seahorses can get pregnant.

• Pregnant women, at a healthy

• 30% of pregnant women crave nonfood items, an eating disorder called pica.

• TV show “16 and Pregnant” and spin-offs may have prevented about 20,000 teen pregnancies in 2010, a study says.

• 1 in every 200 young American women claims to have experienced a “virgin pregnancy.”

• In England, you may urinate anywhere in public, including inside a policeman’s helmet if you are pregnant.

• Pregnant women have about 50% more blood by week 20 of pregnancy than they did before they conceived.

• In 31 states of the U.S., Rapists can legally sue for child custody if the rape results in pregnancy.

COMMUNITY

Quick Draw Finish Art Show new feature at the Festival’s Grand Finale

By Reader Staff Attendees at the Festival at Sandpoint’s Grand Finale concert Sunday, Aug. 11 will enjoy a new pre-concert activity. In addition to the ever-popular Taste of the Stars Wine Tasting, the Festival will host the inaugural “Quick Draw Finish Art Show,” during which five nationally known western artists will be painting works in progress to be finished onsite and auctioned off via silent bidding prior to the symphony concert.

Each piece will have a minimum bid, with 50% of the proceeds from the sale of artwork donated by the artists going to the nonprofit Festival to support its symphonic and educational programs. The wine tasting and art event both start when the gates open at 4:30 p.m. and conclude at 6:45 p.m., prior to the concert.

The event is presented and curated by Buddy Le of Coeur d’Alene Galleries, featuring five of the area’s best known western artists: Robert Krogle, Terry Lee, Kyle Paliotto, Tobias Sauer and Jeff Weir.

Krogle is an impressionist oil painter living in Coeur d’Alene. A graduate of the Chouinard Art Institute of Los Angeles, he has been a commercial illustrator for 31 years. Krogle was the 2008 Clymer Museum Award winner and a commissioned artist for the Buffalo Bill Historical Museum.

Lee has created a unique style that sets his work apart. Viewers and collectors of Terry’s work enjoy oil paintings that present contemporary realism with an impressionistic edge and have been described as “a breath of fresh air in a world of sameness.”

Oil painter Paliotto lives in Hayden, where he gathers imagery from the landscape of his local surroundings in North Idaho. He searches out rural settings that display a time gone by when harmony between land and man existed. Paliotto’s style is one that takes from impressionism without disregarding the discipline of representational art up to the early 1900s.

Sauer’s drive to create paintings worthy of the beauty of nature has caused him to look more closely at objects. Trees, skies, antlers, grass, fur and eyelashes must be studied and reflected on in order to capture the right shade of purple or green in its light or shadow. This contemplation of his subjects and their elements has resulted in a deeper appreciation of the beauty of life and the people in it.

Weir is a contemporary western oil painter bringing life to his experiences

Clockwise from left: Terry Lee, Kyle Paliotto, Robert Krogle, Jeff Weir and Tobias Sauer. Photos courtesy the Festival at Sandpoint. living and working in North Idaho. Coming from a background working in the woods and making a living with a chainsaw, he pulls from memories, daydreams and imagination to show how beautiful life can be in the mountains. Jeff uses oil paint in thin transparent layers alongside thick opaque brushstrokes full of color to make work with a strong presence.

Festival Board President Grant Nixon, an art enthusiast and artist himself, spearheaded the new event: “It’s a value add for the visual arts people with five nationally known western artists from the area doing a quick draw with proceeds shared with the Festival.”

Tickets to the Festival’s Grand Finale concert on Sunday, Aug. 11 with the Spokane Symphony and Sybarite5 conducted by Gary Sheldon are $39.95 and include the wine tasting (for 21 and over) and the art show.

Tickets are available at festivalatsandpoint. com or by calling 208-265-4554.

August 8, 2019 / R / 11

BY THE NUMBERS

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

2.8%

Idaho in June marked 19 consecutive months with a statewide unemployment rate below 3%, according to the Idaho Department of Labor. The department also said jobs in professional and business services grew by 5.9% or 5,500.

The manufacturing sector grew by 3.2% or by 2,200 jobs. — Idaho Press

3

The number of cities nationwide that have banned their local governments from using facial recognition technology: Oakland, Calif.; San Francisco; and Somerville, Mass. The American Civil Liberties Union has claimed that facial recognition technology runs the risk of inaccuracies and is often biased against females and people of color. — CNN

96, 672

The number of children who were removed from their homes in 2017 due to parental drug use. This number has increased from 39,130 in 2000 — an increase of 147%. — JAMA Pediatrics

100 million

The number of Capital One customers whose data was stolen by a hacker.

Those affected by the data breach include users who signed up for a credit card from Capital One between 2005 and 2019. The heist included roughly 140,000 Social Security numbers and about 80,000 bank account numbers, as well as 1 million Canadian social insurance numbers. The FBI arrested Paige A. Thompson, a 33-year-old tech worker living in Seattle, on charges of computer fraud and abuse, alleging she was behind the hack. — cnet.com

$130

12 / R / August 8, 2019

The fine in Hawaii for crossing an intersection after the countdown for pedestrians has begun. The new law follows a rise in pedestrian deaths in the state.

— hawaiinewsnow.com

The week in photos W

e asked local photographer Racheal Baker to capture the essence of the Festival at Sandpoint. She nailed it! From top right, going clockwise: Walk Off the Earth throws down Friday night. Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats brought the house down Thursday.

Sandpoint’s Benny Baker jams out “The Star Spangled Banner” on opening night.

Two Green Team volunteers hard at work.

A group of Festival goers pause for a photo together. A Festival attendee and his tender young child. Lucius opened on Thursday night to a happy crowd. A man dances with the next generation of Festival-goers. Katelyn Shook of Shook Twins belts out a sweet note on her telephone microphone Friday night. All photos taken

by Racheal Baker.

August 8, 2019 / R / 13

event t h u r s d a y

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Live Music w/ SZLACHETK Festival at Sandpoint: Lake Street Dive w/ Darlingside 10pm-12am @ 219 Lounge 7:30pm @ War Memorial Field Described by Rolling Stone as Back by popular demand is indie pop, jazz, soul sensation “10 New Artists You Need to Lake Street Dive. Special guest Darlingside is an indie folk band from Boston. Plus, Brew Fest at the Festival Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeepe @ Festival at Sandpoint

f r i d a y

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Festival at Sandpoint: The Avett Brothers Aftival: Slim Wednesday 7:30pm @ War Memorial Field 8:30pm-12:30am @ The Hive The Avett Brothers are back! This alt-country The funk soul sound of New Orleans band combines bluegrass, country, punk, pop Live Music w/ David Walsh melodies, folk, rock and roll, indie rock, honky 5-8pm @ Connie’s Lounge tonk and ragtime to create a unique sound. OpenEclectic guitar from Mozart to Hendrix ing is Che Apalache w/ S. American bluegrass Live Music w/ Miah Kohal Band Sandpoint Contra Dance Live Music w/ Mart 9pm-12am @ 219 Lounge 7-10:30pm @ Spt. Community Hall 5:30-7:30pm @ Idah

s a t u r d a y

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m o n d a y t u e s d a y

Festival at Sandpoint: Kool and the Gang Aftival: PO 7:30pm @ War Memorial Field Scott Pemberton Band 9a Funk rock band Kool and the Gang has earned 8:30pm-12:30am @ The Hive Th two Grammys among other awards for their popuFunky, surfy, rock propelled by ven lar songs like “Get Down On It” and “Celebrate.”

Scott’s virtuosic guitar playing. act Openers LeRoy Bell & His Only Friends will kick Thnk James Brown, Dick Dale, things off for this dance concert.

Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix Live Music w/ Mobius Riff Live Music w/ John Firshi Mugs and Music w/ Dave D 7-10pm @ Eichardt’s Pub 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority 7-10pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Festival at Sandpoint: Grand Finale 7:30pm @ War Memorial Field Live Music w/ Bridges Home Pia The Spokane Symphony with special guests Sybarite5 1-4pm @ 219 Lounge 3-5 will be closing out the Festival at Sandpoint. Gates Music during the Arts & Crafts Fair open early at 4:30 for a complimentary wine tasting.

Monday Night Blues Jam w/ Truck Mills Outdoor Experience M Lifetree Cafe 2pm @ Jalepeño’s 7:30pm @ Eichardt’s Pub 6pm @ Outdoor Experie This week’s topic: “Why Are Rock n’ Roll Bingo A chill, three-mile(ish) g You So Hard On Yourself?” 6-8pm @ Tervan tional beverages to follow

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14 / R / August 8, 2019

f

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Trivia Night Night-Out Karaoke 7pm @ MickDuff’s 9pm @ 219 Lounge Join DJ Webrix for a night of singing, or Show off that big, beautiful brain of yours just come to drink and listen Djembe class 5:45-7:30pm @ Music Conservatory of Sandpoint Join Ali Thomas for this djembe (drum) class Wind Down Wednesday 5-8pm @ 219 Lounge With live music by blues man Truck Mills and guest musician Carl Rey

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

Girls Pint Out 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Cool Chicks! Great Beer! No Dudes! Join Vicki for an evening tasting Hard Cider

ICL member 6-8pm @ Evan For members a servation Leag

Sandpoint Farmers’ Market 3-5:30pm @ Farmin Park Locally grown produce, starts, crafts and more! Live music by Kerry Leigh

We 6:3 We ny B Jak

Live Music w/ Pamela Benton 8-11pm @ 219 Lounge CDA-based artist performing electric violin and guitar. Indie groove jazz, blues and new age

ful

August 8 - 15, 2019

LACHETKA Lounge g Stone as one of the u Need to Know”

aterkeeper booth nt

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

Open Mic Night w/ KC Carter 9pm-midnight @ A&P’s Live Music w/Chad Patrick 6-8 p.m. @ Matchwood Brewing Co.

Dollar Beers!

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

Lakeside Jazz w/ Bright Moments 6-9pm @ Trinity at City Beach Great music and a view

Artists’ Studio Tour of North Idaho Live Music w/ Steven Wayne and The Imaginary Pumpkins 10am-4pm @ Various 8-10pm @ The Back Door leans A self-guided tour of 17 artist studios With a name like that, they have to be good! of North Idaho. ArtTourDrive.org Goes Aug. 9-11, 16-17 Sandpoint Farmers’ Market Yoga on Tap 10:45am @ Laughing Dog 9am-2pm @ Farmin Park Hendrix Come get your produce, starts, Live Music w/ BareGrass c w/ Marty and Doug DJ Skwish crafts and more! Live music 1-4pm@ 219 Lounge For the Arts & Crafts Fair m @ Idaho Pour Authority 9pm-cl @ A&P’s

by Bright Moments Jazz Live Music w/ Mudslide Charley POAC Arts & Crafts Fair 9pm-12am @ 219 Lounge 9am-5pm @ Main St. and 2nd Ave. e The 47th annual Fair, featuring 100 artist Energetic five-piece blues

by vendors, entertainment, a food court, kids Live Music w/ Brian Jacobs 6-8pm @ The Back Door ng. activities and more. ArtInSandpoint.org Acoustic pop indie folk, all rolled into one musical man ale, Live Music w/ Brother Music rix DJ Exodus Karaoke Night 12-3pm @ Lakeshore Realty North w/ Dave DeVeau 9pm-cl @ A&P’s 8pm-cl @ Tervan A free show on the patio! ’s Pub

Live Music w/ Ken Mayginnes Sandpoint Chess Club Piano Sunday w/ Bob Beadling 9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee 5-7:30pm @ Matchwood Brewing 3-5pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Karaoke Night Meets every Sunday at 9am afts Fair 8pm-cl @ Tervan

ome

erience Monday Night Run Early Bird Hike with ICL or Experience 6:45-9am @ Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail mile(ish) group run with op- Join Idaho Conservation League for an early hike s to follow along the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail

member and supporter gathering m @ Evans Bros. Coffee Roasters members and supporters of Idaho Contion League

ket

ce, ve

Wednesdays w/ Benny 6:30-9:30pm @ Connie’s Weekly music event with Benny Baker. This week’s guest is Jake Robin

ela Benton ge erforming the itar. Indie rock, d new age.

Third Thursday Women’s Meetup 7:45pm @ Matchwood Brewing Co. Gather with local women to talk and sip a pint or two. Open to all women More Than A Woman Trivia 6:30-9pm @ The Back Door Bar A night of laughter and female-focused trivia in support of Return Retreats, a local nonprofit

Pop-Up Open Mic with Sandpoint Literary Collective 6-8pm @ 219 Pend d’Oreille Winery Whet your palette with an immersive pairing of your favorite Pend d’Oreille wine and a mélange of fiction, poetry, storytelling, and creative nonfiction readings. Free to attend

Aug. 16 The Lark and the Loon in concert @ Di Luna’s Cafe Aug. 16 Movie in the Park: “How to Train Your Dragon.” @ Lakeview Park Aug. 16 Super Diamond Tribute Concert @ The Hive

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COMMUNITY

A newcomer’s guide to Sandpoint Part two

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

Every summer for the past 37 years, the Festival at Sandpoint has raised its iconic white tent and drawn folks from all over the country to our little corner of paradise in North Idaho. If you’re one of the many newcomers in town for music or other reasons, here’s a quick list of activities you might check out in Sandpoint and surrounding areas. *Note, there are so many great spots to check out here — this isn’t supposed to be a cumulative list, just a sampling.

EAT

Beet & Basil at the Creek With their tagline “Global Street Food,” Beet & Basil, 105 S. First Ave., offers something for everyone. Head chef Jessica Vouk uses her experience with world cuisine to create fresh, unique dishes exploding with flavor.

One of my go-to meals is the vermicelli noodle bowl, which is very similar to a traditional Vietnamese dish I had once in Hanoi. Also, the kung-pao cauliflower is quite possibly the best preparation of cauliflower known to man.

Eichardt’s Pub Don’t make the mistake of visiting Sandpoint without grabbing a pint and a delicious meal at Eichardt’s, 212 Cedar St. For more than 25 years, locals and visitors alike have congregated in “Sandpoint’s living room,” where the staff treat you like family and the food is made with heart and skill. Garlic fries are the easy favorite, but don’t overlook the specials board.

Secret Thai This unassuming little eatery is one

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of the Reader staff’s favorite haunts.

Their traditional Thai dishes are created not only with love but experience from years of cooking in Thailand. The pad thai is the best in Sandpoint, and the cashew chicken and pad gra prow are divine. Secret Thai is great for takeout after a long day playing in the sun.

Located in the alley behind Eichardt’s at 218 Cedar St. Uptown Bagel Co. A quality bagel shop is integral to a vibrant community. With a dedication to using fresh ingredients and spinning a positive vibe from the moment you walk in the door, the crew at Uptown Bagel Co. treats their customers right.

Serving New York-style bagels (think crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside) and frischkäse instead of cream cheese (it’s softer and more spreadable, plain or combined with flavors like blueberry, roasted red pepper or honey), Uptown has everything from a quick schmear to elaborate ’80s-themed sandwiches. They’re open from 7 a.m.2 p.m. every day at 301 Cedar St., just south of the Pend d’Oreille Winery.

DRINK

Idaho Pour Authority With a dozen rotating taps and more than 300 unique bottles of beer from all over the world for sale, Idaho Pour Authority is a great stop for those looking to stock up on suds for the Festival. They also fill growlers and have a super-knowledgeable staff to help guide you along your path to craft beer enlightenment. Idaho Pour Authority is a favorite after-work watering hole for locals, and if I’ve learned anything about traveling it’s “go where the locals go.”

Check them out at 203 Cedar St.

Looking south down Sand Creek from Cedar St. Bridge. Photo by Ben Olson.

Matchwood Brewing Co. One of the two newest breweries in Sandpoint, Matchwood Brewing Co., 513 Oak St. is a great spot to hole up for a couple of locally brewed beers, either inside or on their patio. They have a wide variety available: anything from IPAs to chocolate milk porters to the crisp kölsch, which is my summertime favorite. Also, their food offerings like pork belly and burger sliders hit the spot.

Tervan Tavern Normally when people start throwing axes at a bar, you should clear out of there fast. But at the Tervan Tavern, that’s just part of a night out. Sandpoint’s oldest bar, the Tervan, 411 Cedar St., is a jumping little hole in the wall where the beer is the coldest in town. Bonus points for singing “Bohemian Rhapsody” at karaoke Saturday and Sunday nights.

PLAY

Coins Arcade - Cedar St. Bridge Bring the kiddos or leave them at home while you catch up on nostalgic arcade games at Coins Arcade in the top level of the Cedar St. Bridge. There are more than 60 retro arcade games to play

here, plus there’s a bar serving bottled and draft beers, as well as bar food. It’s family friendly until 8 p.m. Thursday– Saturday when you must be 21 or older to enter.

Green Bay Now calm down, locals, I’m not giving away any big secret here. Green Bay is a beautiful campground and beach south of Sandpoint with a view of the Green Monarch Mountains across the lake, hiking and biking trails and picnic spots if you’re not camping. Take Sagle Road to Garfield Bay, then follow the signs to Green Bay from there. Keep a few things in mind: Locals don’t like it when you leave their beaches dirty, so please pack out what you bring.

Schweitzer Mountain Resort Work off that Festival hangover with a trip up to Schweitzer Mountain Resort. They have a ton of activities in the village for kids and the chairlift will take you to the summit for a beautiful view of Lake Pend Oreille, the Cabinet and Selkirk Mountains, and even Canada on a clear day. Rent mountain bikes or hike the many trails —it’s all good. Just take Schweitzer Cutoff Road north of Sandpoint and you’ll be there in a jiffy.

TECHNOLOGY

Library seeking tech tutors

By Reader Staff The Sandpoint Library is seeking people who love technology to consider volunteering as a Tech Tutor.

Tech Tutors donate predetermined blocks of time as their schedules permit to assist people with tech applications in which they are fluent. The library then matches people who need assistance with an appropriate Tech Tutor. Volunteer Tech Tutors typically choose a two- or three-hour blocks of time each week to make themselves available for one-hour appointments.

The skills most in demand are Mac, PC, iOS (Apple), Android, basic internet navigation, Gmail, YouTube, social media, photo editing, online shopping, eReaders, MS Office, completing online applications and resume writing.

Tech Tutors are volunteers who have been screened and trained through the library’s Volunteer Services Department, with all scheduling and tutoring space provided by the library. Tutors also become part of the library’s volunteer force,

which is invited to a monthly meeting in which they learn about a different topic each month and network with other volunteers and staff.

If you are a techie and want to use your skills for good, find a Tech Tutor volunteer application at ebonnerlibrary. org, click on “Get to know us” then “Volunteer.” For more information, email Annette at annette@ebonnerlibrary.org.

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SPORTS & OUTDOORS

Sandpoint sends it

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Time to grease those bearings and perfect that kickflip. The 14th annual King of the Kongcrete skateboard competition is dropping into the Concrete Lake Skatepark in Sandpoint on Saturday, Aug. 17, shedding light on a local sport that attracts athletes of all ages and abilities.

Sandpoint Parks and Recreation Supervisor Jason Wiley credited 7B Boardshop, among other sponsors and organizers, with keeping the city-hosted event alive for more than a decade.

Wiley said King of the Kongcrete gives skating — typically a very individualized activity — a visible platform in Sandpoint.

“It gives [local skaters] a place to showcase their skills and get together and have a little fun,” he said.

The event splits skaters into four

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skill levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced and shop sponsored. Competitors vie for best tricks and best run in their category. The action starts at noon and will run until finished.

While skateboarding isn’t known as a spectator sport, Wiley estimates that King of the Kongcrete attracts three times more supporters than participants.

He said oftentimes the skaters’ families show up to cheer on the athletes.

“It’s more of a family event than people might think,” he said, “and that’s part of what makes it so cool.”

Registration is now open online at sandpointidaho.gov/parksrecreation, or the day of the event 10 a.m.-noon at the skatepark, 2102 Pine St.. Competitors must pay a $15 entry fee. Helmets are required and other protective gear is highly recommended.

For more on the King of the Kongcrete, call the Sandpoint Parks and Rec Department at 208-263-3613.

14th annual King of the Kongcrete skate comp hits Concrete Lake Skatepark Aug. 17

Photo courtesy of Sandpoint Parks & Rec.

STAGE & SCREEN

Movies in the Park journeys to Berk in ‘How to Train Your Dragon’

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff Friday, Aug. 16, as the secondto-last installment of the 2019 Movies in the Among Park open-air film series the many presented by the Bonner Counmilestones of parpar ty History Museum, Pine Street enthood is waking up Dental and Sandpoint Parks at one day to realize you’ve gained Rec. an encyclopedic knowledge of Featuring the voice talents of some movie or TV show (or Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, both) that you would never have Jonah Hill, Christootherwise pher Mintz-Plasse, Movies in the Park: given much Kristen Wiig and thought. Fun “How to Train Your T.J. Miller, “How though “My to Train Your Dragon” (PG) Little Pony: Dragon” is set in a Friendship Friday, Aug. 16; movie starts fantastical Medieis Magic” at dusk and runs 1:38 minutes; val world in which may be, FREE. Lakeview Park/Bonner hordes of dragons most adults County History Museum, 611 descend on the ViS. Ella Ave., 208-263-2344, wouldn’t kingesque commubonnercountyhistory.org devote their nity of Berk. While mental energy Berkians at first to parsing the delicate politics fear the beasts, the bravery and of Equestria — woe betide the parent who confuses Canterlot, Ponyville and the Crystal Empire in conversation with an astute 4-year-old.

Some kids’ filmic fare is far better than others, however, and if your little ones are going to get obsessed with a movie/ series, it’s a bonus if it’s something enjoyable for viewers both young and old. Such is the case with “How to Train Your Dragon,” the first installment of the three-film franchise that also spun-off into several shorts and two small-screen series — the most recent, “Dragons: Race to the Edge,” ran from 2015-2018 and still streams on Netflix (nearly every day in some parents’ homes).

The movie that started it all hit theaters in 2010, earning Oscar nods for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score, and has lost none of its appeal after nearly a decade. Now it’s coming to Lakeview Park on

ingenuity of village youngsters led by Hiccup (Baruchel) and Astrid (Ferre (Ferrera) show them that dragons can not only be trained, but become their best friends.

Parents whose kids have fall fallen under the spell of the “Drag “Dragons” universe will come to Mov Movies in the Park well acquainted with courageous Hiccup’s trusty Night Fury dragon Toothless and loyal Astrid’s mount Stormfly, the arrogant Snotlout and his dragon Hookfang, gentle Fishlegs and Meatlug, and the feral Thorston twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut astride their two-headed Hideous Zippleback named Barf and Belch.

It’s a testament to the enduring and endearing story that it won’t matter if it’s your first or 50th time watching it. “How to Train Your Dragon” is a guaranteed crowd pleaser and what better venue to see it in than a grassy park under the stars.

WEIRD NEWS

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

MAN MOCKS RECYCLING WHILE PUSHING FRIDGE OFF CLIFF, POLICE MAKE HIM HAUL IT BACK UP A man recently posted a video of himself tossing a refrigerator down a ravine in Spain, mocking recycling as it tumbled to the bottom.

The Spanish Guardia Civil posted a video of the incident to Twitter on July 31, identifying the man from his vehicle license plate, which was captured in the footage.

In another video, the genius tossed a washing machine off the same ledge. In-

vestigators tracked the fridge to the man’s workplace — an appliance company — which terminated his employment.

He was also ordered to pay a fine of more than $50,000.

In a final insult to injury, police ordered the man and an accomplice to drag the fridge back up the ravine.

Authorities posted a video of the man sweating as he lugged the enormous appliance up the rocky cliffside.

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COMMUNITY

Chamber welcomes Cedar St. Bridge Public Market

Chamber staff and Cedar St. Bridge shopkeepers attend a ribbon cutting last week. Courtesy photo.

By Reader Staff With the historic Cedar Street Bridge at near capacity for the first time in many years, the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce is announcing collective membership for the Cedar Street Bridge Public Market businesses.

Under the co-ownership and management of Scott and Shery Meekings, there has been an exciting vibe coming from the bridge. With many new businesses, a collaboration with the Sandpoint Shopping District on events and a partnership with the Chamber, there are offerings and options for every shopper.

It is also a unique shopping experience because it is the only covered retail bridge in the United States, mirrored

after the Ponte de Vecchio in Florence, Italy.

Businesses on the bridge include: Aquagem Jewelry, Cabi — Phyllis Foro, Carousel Emporium, Cedar Street Bistro, Coins Arcade, Creations, Essential Vibes, Gethsemane Oil and Vinegar Shoppe, Huckleberry Depot, Mary Ruth’s Gift Market, Naked is Responsible, Panhandle Nuthouse, Salon DeMars, SXS Leather, Syndicate Tattoo Co., Tawni Sullivan Cosmetics, The Little Christmas Store, The Pickled Kitchen, Uniquely Sandpoint and Zwazo Nich.

Visit bridge retailers at 334 N. First Ave., on the corner of First Avenue and Cedar Street. Find them on Facebook and at cedarstreetbridge.com.

Call for vendors for Ponderay Neighbor Day

By Reader Staff

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The city of Ponderay is calling for vendors for the third annual Ponderay Neighbor Day, a community event scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 14 that promises to be fun for the whole family.

Ponderay Neighbor Day is a family-focused event that celebrates community connections — this year, including the Ponderay Police Department, which marks its 25th anniversa-

ry. The event runs from 1-6 p.m. at the city-owned field behind the Hoot Owl Cafe on Highway 200 and features live music with the band Bum Jungle, inflatable amusements for kids, pony rides, crafts, a beer garden and more.

Vendors can participate free of charge, though a returnable deposit will secure your spot. Call the city of Ponderay for more information, at 208265-5468.

POAC Arts & Crafts Fair returns to downtown for second year More than 100 vendors will fill Second Ave. and Main St.

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff It’s the 47th year for the Pend Oreille Arts Council’s Arts & Crafts Fair, but only the second in which the annual event has taken place in downtown Sandpoint.

From Saturday, Aug. 10-Sunday, Aug. 11, more than 100 arts and crafts vendors drawn from throughout the West — from the Northwest all the way down to Arizona — and as far afield as New York, will fill four square blocks: on Second Avenue north to south from Cedar to Church streets and on Main Street east to west from First to Third avenues.

The fair runs 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sunday.

Since its move from City Beach in 2018, the event has only grown bigger.

“I think everybody was a little nervous about it,” POAC Executive Director Hannah Combs said of the relocation to downtown last year. “But it was really easy to access and we’ve definitely seen our number of vendors go up.”

Coinciding with the second and final weekend of the Festival at Sandpoint, the Arts & Crafts Fair pitches its tents during one of the busiest weekends of the year in Sandpoint. Drawing between 3,500 and 4,000 attendees, its downtown location draws strength from its proximity to the Sandpoint Farmers’ Market, which is open concurrently to the west at Farmin Park and surrounds.

“We’re excited to be in the same general space as the Farmers’ Market again this year,” Combs said. “It’s fun to see people go to get their veggies, then walk down the block to see the arts and crafts.”

Vendors will offer everything from jewelry to woodworking to fiber arts, metal smithing,

sculpture, ceramics, photography, paintings, mixed media, wood crafts “and everything in between,” Combs added. About one-third of the vendors hail from Sandpoint.

The crowd-favorite belly dancers will perform at the southwest corner of Second Avenue and Main Street in front of U.S. Bank. Food vendors Azar’s Greek Restaurant, based in Spokane; Sandpoint-based Mandala Wood Fired Pizza; The Lemonade Sisters from Bonners Ferry; and Sweet Maggie’s, which will feature macarons, cannolis and assorted desserts, will be located on Main Street near the public fountain, along with the POAC info booth and vendor hospitality area.

Live music will be available at the nearby Farmers’ Market, which hosts Bright Moments on Saturday, Aug. 10, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., and the 219 Lounge, with Bare Grass on Saturday, Aug. 10, 1

Attendees at the 2018 POAC Arts & Crafts Fair. Courtesy photo. p.m.-4 p.m.

Admission is free to the fair, but access to a special art area set up in the U.S. Bank parking lot costs $5 (open to kids 12 and under). All proceeds from the fair go to support POAC’s programs in visual and performing arts and

art education, but the impact on downtown is much larger.

“We did hear from a lot of business owners on First Avenue and the surrounding area say that they had a lot of people walk in during last year’s fair,” Combs said.

To see a list of vendors and a map of the 2019 POAC Arts & Crafts Fair, go to artinsandpoint. org/arts-crafts-fair. For more information call 208-263-6139 or email poactivities@gmail.com.

Artists’ Studio Tour gives behind-thescenes view of area studios

By Ben Olson Reader Staff There is a backstory to every piece of artwork — an influence and undoubtedly a studio where it all came together. Visiting these studios can give art lovers the opportunity to peek behind the curtain and see how some of their favorite local artists create the magic that is their art.

Once a year, North Idaho artists open their studio doors to share their processes with the general public. This year, 20 artists spread across 17 locations will open their studios from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Friday-Sunday, Aug. 9-11 and Friday-Saturday, Aug. 16-17. The self-guided tour can be taken as slowly or quickly as you wish.

Participating artists include: Carolyn Beckwith, Jola (Yola) Bitler, Larry Clark, Bruce Duykers, Vickie Edwards, Pauline Ehly, Don Fisher, Doug Flückiger, Susan Gallo, Steve Gevurtz, Terrie Kremer, Whitney Palmer, Rob Payne, Earl Petznick, Kim Powers, Connie Scherr, Eli Sevenich, Jodie Stejer, Lucy West and Mary Gayle Young.

“We think you’ll love your self-scheduled drive through local highways and byways, around the lake and among the mountains, as you explore brand new art during this year’s tour,” Tour director Petja Scheele wrote.

For a brochure featuring detailed information about each artist and driving directions to

studios, visit arttourdrive.org. If you are on the tour and are lost, call 208-265-1776.

A map showing the 17 studios open for visitation during the Artists’ Studio Tour. Courtesy image.

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FOOD

A walk down Festival Street From the gate to the stage, a moveable feast at the Festival at Sandpoint

By Lyndsie Kiebert and Ben Olson Reader Staff Evans Brothers Coffee A mainstay first stop on Festival Street — the Festival at Sandpoint’s food vendor row — is Evans Brothers Coffee, owned by local brothers Rick and Randy. They source their beans ethically from organic and fair trade farmers and have created a vibrant culture around the magical cup of java. Specials include the nitro cold brew, flavored with chicory and vanilla. The affogato features Panhandle Cone and Coffee’s salted caramel butter ice cream topped with espresso.

Bab’s Pizzeria Next on the street, New York-style pizza and calzones rule the day at Bab’s, but you can also check out a soft pretzel to satisfy that quick hunger. Bab’s also has gluten-free chocolate cake and New York cheesecake with a cherry topping. C’mon, when isn’t it a good time for pizza?

Arlo’s Ristorante In the Italian tradition, Arlo’s offers its famous lasagna, usually only available on Sundays at its restaurant at 124 S. Second Ave. Other savory selections are the sausage and peppers or grilled chicken with peppers, both smothered in savory marinara sauce.

The cold tortellini salad with a roasted red pepper puree is a great counter to these hot August days. Also available are Caesar salad options, but don’t neglect the coveted Arlo’s cannolis — made with shells flown in special from Queens, N.Y. — for dessert.

Joe’s Philly Who says you can’t find an authentic Philly cheesesteak in the West? Joe’s does it just right, with thin-sliced beef that’s chopped as it’s grilled. “It’s the best thing you can put in your mouth,” joked owner Lj Sams. Throw in a variety of cheeses, mushrooms and peppers, and a soft yet crispy hoagie roll and you’ve got yourself a winner dinner. They also have sloppy Joes and buffalo chicken with house-made sauce.

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Pack River Store New owners Alex and Brittany Jacobson from the Pack River Store bring their homestyle selections to the hungry masses.

Their pork belly burrito fuses Southwest flavors with North Idaho wholesomeness.

We suggest getting it smothered with their homemade roasted jalapeño and honey sauce. For kids of all ages, there’s the “$50 grilled cheese sandwich” sporting a who’s

who of cheeses (it thankfully doesn’t cost that much — it’s $12 or $14 with bacon).

Curry in a Hurry Sandpoint Curry owner Pete Hicks learned his love of Indian food straight from the source: traveling through India “in a band where none of us knew how to cook,” he said. Hicks brought the curry flavor back to North Idaho, putting together such classic traditional favorites as coconut chicken, chicken tikka masala and saag aloo, which has spinach and potatoes for the vegetarians in the crowd. Don’t forget the garlic naan, which completes this perfect curry adventure.

Independence Racing Team Dine here and the proceeds will benefit the Independence Ski Racing Team, the only 100% free fully-certified ski team in the country. This team has even put a former student on the U.S. Ski Team, according to director and coach Shep Snow. “Our nachos are the most popular item,” Snow said, noting that they come prepared with guacamole, sour cream, beef and all the fixings. They also serve burgers, polish sausages and hot dogs for easy concert food.

May’s Catering Those looking for an authentic Thai food fix at the Festival can find an array of good eats at May’s Catering. The family-owned Priest River business brings pad thai, curries, cashew chicken, spicy beef basil and beyond, served up in a hefty heap. When it comes to the most popular dish at May’s, chef May Callos said there’s no doubt what Festival patrons crave: “The red curry, definitely. We sell it out every night.”

Klondyke Cafe & Tavern That delicious scent of barbecued meaty goodness is coming from the Klondyke booth, where Festival-goers can get a filling plate of ribs or even half a chicken. Chef Bruno Williams said he serves more ribs at the Festival than chicken, estimating the ratio at about two-to-one. “I put a dry rub on them the day before, then put them in the cooler,” Williams said of the ribs. “I let them soak overnight, then I cook them five or six hours. I put a lot of time into them.”

Jupiter Jane Traveling Cafe Eclectic freshness is what Festival diners will find when they check out Jupiter Jane’s offerings.

Chef Laura Peitz said tacos are what her traveling food bus is known for. “They’re not your traditional street taco,” Peitz said.

Pete Hicks serves up some Curry in a Hurry at the Festival Thursday night. Photo by Ben Olson.

“They’re really big and very fresh and organic, and just different combinations that not everybody is doing.”

Opa! Opa! brings the fresh flavors of Mediterranean cuisine to the Festival’s food lineup.

Chef Adia Burton said the gyros and madefrom-scratch falafel are the highlights of her menu. “I’ve been cooking it my whole life,” Burton said of Mediterranean eats. “I’m half Greek and I got a lot of recipes from my grandmother. It’s in my blood and it’s what I love to do.”

Farmhouse Kitchen Ponderay’s Farmhouse Kitchen is known for down-home, hearty fare, and the restaurant’s Festival offerings are no different. Manager Cory Treman said Farmhouse Kitchen’s Festival menu gems are the pulled pork sandwich and brisket sliders. “We smoke them for about 16 hours,” he said.

“They always come out tender and really good.”

Panida Theater No Festival meal is complete without a sweet treat to top things off. Thankfully, the Panida Theater is there to fulfill those needs with its annual ice cream parlor. Booth manager Megan White said the berry pie a la mode is undoubtedly the crown jewel of the menu, made with pies from Miller’s Country Store in Sandpoint. “You get a scoop of ice cream on top, and all of the fixings,” White said.

MUSIC

Festival at Sandpoint: Week 2 Our guide to Sandpoint’s biggest music event of the year — whether it’s your first time or a longtime summer ritual

FESTIVAL AT

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff

Getting there Walking or biking to War Memorial Field is ideal. Driving to the venue, while possible, will probably still mean walking quite a ways thanks to limited street parking. The best option is to park at Sandpoint High School and catch a free SPOT bus ride to the field, then get ferried back after the show.

Lines & Security What line you should be in depends on the ticket in your hand. General admission ticket holders line up to the right when facing the main entrance.

Sponsor/patron ticket holders line up along the fence to the left. Season pass holders and early-entry ticket holders enter at the lakeside early entry gate.

Be ready to have your bags and coolers briefly searched upon entry, as the Festival works to keep the venue safe for everyone. While cheese knives are not considered weapons, larger knives and firearms are not allowed at the Festival.

There is now also an “Ex-

SANDPOINT

Week 2 shows Lake Street Dive + Darlingside + brew tasting Thursday, Aug. 8; early entry gates open at 5:45 p.m., brew tasting and general admission gates open at 6 p.m., show starts at 7 p.m.; general admission $49.95, early entry $74.95.

Shook Twins play at the Festival Friday night. Photo by Racheal Baker. press Lane” for general admission ticket holders who aren’t carrying coolers or bags. Ask a nearby volunteer where to hop in line.

Supplies Coolers full of food and drinks from home are welcome, along with blankets and lawn chairs. Blankets must be 8 feet by 8 feet or smaller.

Chairs are also available to rent for $3 if you forget your own, or don’t want to pack them to the venue. Don’t forget cash for Festival Street treats and a sweatshirt for when the evening cools off.

Setting up camp Dancers should congregate

toward the front, where concert goers typically end up standing for the main act. Those looking forward to a low-key evening while seated in high-backed chairs should choose a spot toward the back. Talking during the show isn’t outlawed, but be mindful of the people around you who came to hear the music, not the latest gossip.

Odds and ends Pets are not permitted at the Festival. Shows happen rain or shine, unless organizers determine there is a safety risk. Festival attendees are welcome to start lining up at 6 a.m. the day of their show, but no earlier.

The Avett Brothers + Che Apalache Friday, Aug. 9; early entry gates open at 5:45 p.m., general admission gates open at 6 p.m., show starts at 7:30 p.m.; general admission $74.95, early entry SOLD OUT. Kool & the Gang + LeRoy Bell & His Only Friends Saturday, Aug. 10; early entry gates open at 5:45 p.m., general admission gates open at 6 p.m., show starts at 7:30 p.m.; general admission $64.95, early entry $89.95.

Grand Finale: Spokane Symphony + Sybarite5 + wine tasting Sunday, Aug. 11; gates open at 4:30 p.m. for complimentary wine tasting, show starts at 7:30 p.m.; $39.95 for adults, $10.95 for youth 18 and under.

All shows are at War Memorial Field, 801 Ontario St., 208-2654554, festivalatsandpoint.org.

BAND WAGON A snapshot of notable live music coming up in Sandpoint The Lark and the Loon, Aug. 16, Di Luna’s Cafe

Mudslide Charley, Aug. 10, 219 Lounge

The Lark and the Loon has a sound planted securely in the past, but with songwriting that propels the band into the present.

The Arkansa-based husband-and-wife duo is known to roll into gigs with a resonator guitar, accordion, antique washboard and shotgun-shellcrate-turned-stomp-box. Jeff Rolfzen and Rocky Steen-Rolfzen combine pre-war jazz and blues with Dust Bowl folk to create upbeat tunes. The couples’ voices dance together, simply sweet and subtly sorrowful at times, coming across as especially charismatic on the track “Change Our Tune” from their 2019 release “2.”

The rural American experience of bygone times is somehow alive and well in the songs of The Lark and the Loon, making their performances a trip through music history.

— Lyndsie Kiebert

North Idahoans know that Montana is often lovingly called Montucky (we’ve heard some folks refer to us as Idabamans, so all’s fair).

Not for nothing, Big Sky Country has Southern swagger. Evidence: Mudslide Charley, the Missoula-based five-piece that comes to the stage with a tub-thumpin’ mix of roadhouse rock, rhythm and blues.

The band plants its flag in the tradition of blues legends Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker, and we’re not going to argue with that.

Simmering with those masters’ sounds, Mudslide Charley stirs in ripping sax, fiery harmonica and no small hint of rock-a-billy punch. Nicole Cannavaro belts out the vocals with verve — there’s something of Aretha Franklin and Grace Slick in her delivery, both strident and sly.

This is music that makes you want to kick off your shoes and get those feet muddy dancing on a riverbank.

—Zach Hagadone 9 p.m.-midnight, FREE, 21+. 219 Lounge, 219 N. First Ave., 208-, 219.bar. Listen at mudslidecharley.com.

5:30 p.m. door and dinner, 7:30 p.m. show; $12 advance or $15 at the door. Di Luna’s, 207 Cedar St., 208-263-0846, get tickets at dilunas. com. Listen at thelarkandtheloon.com.

This week’s RLW by Zach Hagadone

READ

The best books make us think in new ways about something we think we already know.

Such is the case with “Travellers in the Third Reich.” Published in 2017 and written by Julia Boyd, it puts a profoundly innovative twist on the oft-written history of the Nazi state by viewing it from the perspective of tourists. Thinking of Nazi Germany as a vacation spot is weird, yet a gripping, human, perspective on the powerful mechanics of culture, politics and marketing.

LISTEN

Released in 1958, Arthur Lyman recorded the album “Taboo: The Exotic Sounds of Arthur Lyman” in Henry J. Kaiser’s Aluminum Dome in Honolulu a year before Hawaii became a state. Its melding of indigenous Hawaiian and copy-cat Polynesian sounds, mingled with jazz marimba and vibraphone styles, pretty much invented the “exotica” and “lounge” genres.

It’s a quintessential summer soundtrack.

WATCH

If there’s a Sandpoint in France, it’s probably Villefranche, the rural mountain-lake-forest town at the center of the French-Belgian supernatural crime thriller “Black Spot.”

The French-dialogue series, with two seasons to date, follows the travails of a physically and emotionally damaged local sheriff as she and her oddball team of deputies — along with a put-upon Parisian prosecutor — attempt to unravel the mysteries that live, l i t e r a l l y, behind every tree.

Stream it on Netflix.

August 8, 2019 / R / 25

From Northern Idaho News, Oct. 6, 1939

‘40 FORD MODELS ON DISPLAY TODAY 22 IMPORTANT IMPROVEMENTS ADDED TO THE NEW YEAR’S AUTOS, SAYS A.H. PIER “No one year has seen so many improvements added to the basic Ford quality features as in the new 1940 Ford models,” A.H. Fier of the firm of Cady & Pier, said yesterday when he announced that the new models will be on display starting today.

There are 22 important improvements, said Mr. Pier, who added that they include the following: New beauty ... all 1940 Ford cars have low, graceful grilles and deep hoods ... long lines, big-car appearance; new finger-tip gearshift, new controlled ventillation, more leg room; more seating comfort, new sealed-beam headlamps; new ride stabilizer; improved spring suspension.

Queiter operation, new interior luxury, two-way adjustable driver’s seat backs new “floating-edge” seat cushions; improved transmission; new-design curved disc wheels, improved drums for big hydraulic brakes; self-sealing shock absorbers, bigger battery capacity, larger generator, battery condition indicator on all models; two-spoke steering wheel, dual windshield wipers, new instrument panel, engine more accessible.

26 / R / August 8, 2019

Crossword Solution

I’d like to see a nature film where an eagle swoops down and pulls a fish out of a lake, and then maybe he’s flying along, low to the ground, and the fish pulls a worm out of the ground. Now that’s a documentary!

Copyright www.mirroreyes.com

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1. Neck warmer 6. Obligation 10. Spike 14. Work hard 15. Beige 16. Iridescent gem 17. Anoint (archaic) 18. Blacken 19. Savvy about 20. An abundant source 22. Oceans 23. Pay attention to 24. Highest goals 26. Young sheep 30. Buff 31. Spot 32. Dwarf buffalo 33. Russian emperor 35. Send, as payment 39. Pike (fish) 41. A dais 43. Sleighs /uh-PEL-uh-tiv/ 44. Adroit 46. Anger [noun] of the 1. A descriptive name or designation.

47. Eastern Standard Time “Alexander’s appellative ‘The Great’ is not quite accurate, according to historians.” 49. Brassiere 50. The original matter 51. A level in a building 54. Paddles Corrections: In an article published Aug. 1 about the upcoming NAMI 56. A muscle of the thigh farm-to-table dinner, the location of the dinner was listed as “From the 57. The start of pregnancy Heart flower farm.” The actual name of the location is “Flowers From 63. Celestial bear the Heart farm.” Sorry about that! - LK 64. Death notice 65. Fragrance

Word Week appellative

Solution on page 26 66. Nile bird 67. Exude 68. Oarsman 69. Nonsense 70. Require 71. Rise

DOWN 1. Shredded cabbage 2. Walking stick 3. Cain’s brother 4. Somersault 5. Not stale 6. Diminished 7. Spiny anteater 8. Fiber source

9. Tumescent 10. Currant-like berry 11. Breathing problem 12. Deadly 13. Clean between teeth 21. Trifling 25. Arrow 26. Statutes 27. Rectal 28. Infiltrator 29. Nonsense 34. Bent rays of light 36. Letters, etc.

37. Doing nothing 38. Swarm 40. To be, in old Rome 42. Look at with

fixed eyes 45. Stain black 48. Magnate 51. Type of firework 52. Engine supercharger 53. Fertile area in a desert 55. Boxes lightly 58. Double-reed woodwind 59. Gait faster than a walk 60. Hawkeye State 61. Portent 62. An aromatic ointment

August 8, 2019 / R / 27

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