2 / R / June 13, 2019
(wo)MAN compiled by
Susan Drinkard
on the street
What’s the most important thing your dad taught you? “He taught me the importance of a good work ethic and how to treat people well.” Joel Cropper Taxi driver Sandpoint
“My dad taught me to be kind, and he modeled that no one is a stranger.” Crista Bushell Caretaker Sandpoint
READER
DEAR READERS,
Why is there a photo of a cat dressed like Albert Einstein to the right? I have no idea. Honestly, I’m just looking for a way to eat up some space in this confounded box I struggle filling each week. Moving on. This week, we announce some big changes here at the Reader. Check out page 12 for the full story. Happy Father’s Day, dads! I miss you, pops. Also this week, as you may have gathered from our fantastically nerdy cover, the fourth-annual Sandemonium Comic-Con-style event. Remember, the nerds will eventually inherit the earth. Finally, remember to get those cover designs for our $100 ArtWalk cover contest. The winner will grace next week’s cover. Who will it be? Maybe you? Einstein cat? OK, I’m done.
111 Cedar Street, Suite 9 Sandpoint, ID 83864 (208)265-9724
www.sandpointreader.com Publisher: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com Editorial: Cameron Rasmusson cameron@sandpointreader.com Lyndsie Kiebert lyndsie@sandpointreader.com
-Ben Olson, Publisher
Zach Hagadone (emeritus) John Reuter (emeritus) Advertising: Jodi Berge Jodi@sandpointreader.com Contributing Artists: Allison Wier (cover), Ben Olson, Lyndsie Kiebert, Susan Drinkard, Bill Borders, Jason Charm Photog. Contributing Writers: Cameron Rasmusson, Ben Olson, Lyndsie Kiebert, Lorraine H. Marie Emily Erickson, Brenden Bobby, Jane Fritz, Ken Brown. Submit stories to: stories@sandpointreader.com Printed weekly at: Griffin Publishing Spokane, Wash. Subscription Price: $115 per year
“He taught me not to give up – no quitting – and to work through your problems.” Coby Rogers Age 16 Baseball player with Sandpoint team Priest River
“He taught me how to do yardwork, outdoor skills and Dutch-oven cooking.” Mailee Jensen Courtesy clerk Sandpoint
“He taught me the value of hard work and about earning an honest living. He owned a restaurant.” Jamie Erdt Retired Sandpoint
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 amazing cover was drawn by Allison Wier of Weasels on Easels. Allison has drawn the last three Sandemonium posters, but this one is by far my favorite.
June 13, 2019 / R / 3
NEWS
One third of state administrative Report shows sunny revenue forecast for Idaho rules to be cut or simplified By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff Gov. Brad Little’s office is striking while the iron is hot to curb back administrative rules in state departments. In total, Little is proposing cuts or simplifications to 34% of the rules chapters on the books. That’s no small change to an administrative code that contains 736 chapters, 8,278 pages and at least 72,000 total restrictions. With public comment wrapping up on June 11, the office is prepared to move forward on its proposals. “My administration is working hard to reauthorize the majority of Idaho’s administrative code by July 1,” Little said. “We also identified one-third of the rule chapters
Gov. Brad Little. to eliminate and simplify. This process is transforming Idaho’s administrative code into a set of regulations that is easier for the public to navigate!” Little said he never asked for the responsibility to deal with the state’s administrative rules. A task typically reserved for the Idaho Legislature, it nevertheless fell into Little’s
lap when lawmakers failed to approve new rules before the end of the 2019 session. “This effort is transforming Idaho’s Administrative Code into a set of regulations that are simpler and more user-friendly for the public. I want to thank my agency directors and their staff for fast-tracking the rules review process that I started with my executive orders earlier this year,” Little said. “Identifying one-third of rule chapters to cut or simplify in four weeks is no small feat, and the hard work within my administration helps to improve transparency and invigorates public confidence in state government.”
CHAFE 150 riders hit the road Saturday By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff One of the biggest biking events in the region kicks off Saturday morning as CHAFE 150 riders begin their long-distance race for the best times— or maybe just enjoy a leisurely pace in a beautiful setting. That’s the beauty of CHAFE 150: It can be whatever kind of ride participants want it to be. Whether a rider is looking for a serious athletic competition, a gentle lakeside ride through mountains or an occasion to get the family out in the sun, there’s an option to supply a great weekend. And participants can pedal all the harder knowing they’re supporting education in North Idaho. It promises to be a landmark year for the race, which has enjoyed a faster rate of registra4 / R / June 13, 2019
tion than ever before. Among other accolades, CHAFE 150 was named the number-three Top Charity Ride in the U.S. by Bicycling Magazine in 2018, which praised the ride’s scenic routes and its commitment to benefiting local education. “Our ride received national kudos last year, so the word is definitely out there,” said ride organizer Mel Dick, a member of the Sandpoint Rotary which presents the ride every year. More options make the ride even more accessible for riders who wish to tailor their experience. New this year is the 100mile century route, a less-intense but still-challenging route for long-distance riders. There are also 30- and 40-mile routes, which now offer options for electric bike riders. The 150-, 100- and 80-mile rides, meanwhile, all offer professional
timing. Looking to get the kids out for a healthy summertime day? The new four-mile Family Fun Ride starts at Sandpoint City Beach, ends at Dover City Park and features family activities and games. Better yet, CHAFE 150 benefits Lake Pend Oreille School District’s literacy initiative and after-school reading programs by funding literacy curriculum, staff development and expanded after-school options. Past years have seen CHAFE 150 raise thousands for the school district, which teachers and administrators use to improve educational opportunities for students of all stripes. There’s still time to register for CHAFE 150. Visit www. chafe150.org, choose your route and get your bike on this Saturday.
By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff
Gov. Brad Little’s office is celebrating the release this week of better-than-expected revenue collection throughout Idaho. According to an Idaho General Fund Revenue report released by the Governor’s Office Division of Financial Management, Idaho General Fund collections in May 2019 were 12.8% higher than those collected last year. The figure easily outclasses the 4.7% growth predicted by the office. “May’s surplus follows April’s $36.1 million surplus,” the report reads. “Combined, these surpluses have reduced the fiscal year-to-date deficit from $75.8 million in March to $22.1 million this month. Receipts for the fiscal year to date through May are $3,373.4 million, which is 0.7% lower than expected.” The boost in revenue is pri-
marily due to strong corporate income tax and sales tax collections, as well as miscellaneous receipts, according to the report. On the corporate income tax side, unexpectedly low refunds helped the state retain more revenue. Meanwhile, sales tax collections exceeded expectations in all but three months of this year. An individual income tax shortfall of $1.5 million was the lowest of the year, and a house bill directing the state controller to transfer $9 million from the Consumer Protection Fund to the General Fund also helped bolster revenue numbers. “The latest state revenue figures reflect continued strength in Idaho’s economy,” said Little. “May’s numbers are up 7.7% compared to forecast, and we are currently projecting a $100 million fiscal year ending balance. I am proud of Idaho’s conservative, fiscally responsible approach to governing!“
Tamarack Aerospace declares bankruptcy By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff Local company Tamarack Aerospace has declared bankruptcy in the wake of setbacks from aviation regulators. Company officials say declaring Chapter 11 will give them time to address safety concerns raised by the Federal Aviation Administration and European Aviation Safety Agency over its active winglet system, ATLAS. Designed to improve aircraft efficiency and reduce fuel usage, the winglet system was the target of an FAA and EASA grounding order after a plane equipped with the technology crashed. “(Declaring Chapter 11) allows Tamarack to continue to operate and focus all activities on supporting the ATLAS winglet customers and to support EASA and FAA as they consider the proposal for
lifting the restrictions imposed,” company officials said in a statement. According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Chapter 11 isn’t the end for Tamarack Aerospace. Rather, company officials intend for the process to be temporary, giving them time to restore the business to fiscal health. In the meantime, Tamarack staff are working on upgrading all planes equipped with ATLAS technology to the latest version of the system, which they say should address any safety concerns. “Our goal is to complete the retrofit of the fleet with both upgrades as soon as possible, in anticipation that EASA and FAA will concurrently agree that these upgrades are considered the Terminating Action for these (airworthiness directives),” the announcement said.
NEWS
11 Mile and Wrenco dump sites to close By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff
The Bonner County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to close both the 11 Mile and Wrenco waste collection sites, but not without tense discussion regarding public involvement leading up to Tuesday’s decision. The closures come after recommendations from Great West — a company the county hired to help outline a 10-year solid waste improvement plan — and the recently appointed Solid Waste Advisory Committee. The 11 Mile site, located north of Priest River, has been closed since Jan. 1. The collection site is in need of several improvements, but is located on U.S. Forest Service land, making improvements financially improbable. Solid Waste Director Bob Howard also cited “other safety issues” at the 11 Mile dump during a December BOCC meeting. The Dickensheet and Prater Valley collection sites are the next best options for residents who frequent the 11 Mile location. Both locations are full-ser-
vice sites, whereas the 11 Mile site takes only kitchen waste. Commissioners voted unanimously to close the site, though Commissioner Jeff Connolly did question whether the public was engaged anytime during the process. Commissioner Dan McDonald said the Solid Waste Advisory Committee reached out to citizens near the site prior to recommending closure. Howard said the county received a request for closure of the Wrenco site from Selkirk Fire, which has a station near the site. Great West and the Solid Waste Advisory Committee also recommended Bonner County shut down the unattended site and obtain a new, nearby location where proper facilities and oversight can be utilized. Howard said that while the Wrenco dump is meant only to take kitchen waste, appliances, mattresses and the like are regularly found there. “It’s a hazard and it’s a mess,” he said. “It’s more of a liability to the county than it is a benefit.” Again, Connolly asked to what extent the people living near the Wrenco waste collec-
tion site had been engaged in the decision process. McDonald was adamant he’d heard many complaints from neighbors of the dump site. Connolly said he hadn’t heard anything, and felt a public hearing format would be appropriate before making decisions that he said seemed to lack public involvement. “We’ve been talking about
County adopts mass fatality plan By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Bonner County Commissioners unanimously approved adoption of a Regional Mass Fatality Management Plan Tuesday, joining four other North Idaho counties in doing so. The plan, written by the Panhandle Health District, provides a framework for “an organized and effective response to mass fatality incidents ensuring that the dead and their loved ones are treated with dignity and respect.” “It is my opinion, based on my research and our local funeral homes’ responses to my office,
if Bonner County were to have more than 10 people die at a single event, we would be subject to a mass fatality situation,” said Bonner County Coroner Robert Beers. “As a county, we are unprepared for such an event.” The 420-page plan outlines a mass fatality response for all of North Idaho. Bonner County was the last to sign on — Benewah, Shoshone, Kootenai and Boundary counties have already adopted the RMFMP. In addition to signing onto the plan, Beers requested commissioners sign three memorandums of understanding with a handful of parties who would
assist the county in the case of a mass fatality event. Coffelt Funeral Home has agreed to act as a temporary morgue and autopsy facility. Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds, a forensic pathologist out of Tacoma, Wash., will assist with autopsy and pathology services in the event of a mass casualty incident. Litehouse Foods will provide or sell refrigeration trucks to Bonner County in the event that local funeral homes are filled to capacity. Commissioners approved all three MOUs. Beers said this is the first time Bonner County has adopted a mass fatality plan.
this and it’s one of the reasons we formed this committee of citizens — to do this leg work and make recommendations,” McDonald said, adding later, “Why even have an advisory committee if you don’t listen to them and you don’t trust them?” Ultimately, McDonald and Commissioner Steve Bradshaw voted in favor of the Wrenco dump site closure. Connolly voted against.
The 11 Mile waste collection site, located in west Bonner County. Photo courtesy Bonner County Solid Waste. The closure will take effect July 31. In the meantime, Bonner County Solid Waste is taking suggestions for where to build a full-service site nearby. Contact the office at 208-2555681 ext. 2.
Lake Pend Oreille reaches summer pool level By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Boaters, beach-goers and lake recreators of all stripes rejoice — Lake Pend Oreille is officially at summer pool. Lake levels reached summer pool — 2,062 feet — around noon Wednesday. Lake Pend Oreille is monitored and kept between 2,062 and 2,062.5 throughout the summer months. The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, which manages operations at Albeni Falls Dam, told the North Idaho public in April that they hoped to have the lake at summer pool by mid-June. Wednesday’s data, provided by the Northwest River Forecast Center, reflected that those hopes had become reality. Lake Pend Oreille’s levels, which are measured at the Hope gauge, can be monitored at www.nwrfc.noaa.gov. June 13, 2019 / R / 5
COMMUNITY
Idaho Library Assoc. seeking nominations
Bouquets: •When I deliver copies of the Reader to the Sandpoint Senior Center each week, there’s usually a woman playing piano for the seniors at lunchtime. Her name is Betty Overland, and she plays wonderfully. I just wanted to say thanks to Betty for the beautiful playing, and for making my Thursdays a little brighter. • What an amazing community we have. I received a call last week from a man named Dan Murphy who said he was bummed about the theft of my classic Schwinn bike. Dan wanted to give me a bike his wife was no longer using. Such a thoughtful gesture, Dan! But I actually have good news to report. In a strange coincidence, as I was en route to interview somebody Wednesday afternoon, lo and behold what did I find but my good ol’ bike, locked up next to another bike in front of an apartment building. Rest assured, the Sandpoint Police were called, and then the Sandpoint Fire Dept. came and cut the lock. The bike is mine again! Special thanks to SPD Officer Trumble for helping me with this whole situation. Of course, the person who had it claimed they found it abandoned in the ditch, which could be true. It could be they took it, too, and they’re covering their tracks. At any rate, whether or not justice is served, thanks for keeping your eyes open, folks. Lock up those bikes. Barbs • Are you one of those people who sit in the table right in front of the stage talking loudly when a musician is trying to sing? If so, please rethink your choice of seating. There’s nothing quite so demoralizing than trying to play music while someone in the audience prattles on loud enough for the whole bar to hear. I’m not saying everyone has to be pin-drop-quiet (wouldn’t that be cool?) but please show a modicum of respect for those tasked with entertaining you for the evening (this isn’t from me - it’s from another musician who brought this up recently). 6 / R / June 13, 2019
Is there a local librarian you think deserves statewide recognition? Now’s your chance to show your love. The Idaho Library Association is now accepting nominations for its 2019 statewide awards. Awards are given for public library, librarian, paraprofessional, trustee,
school librarian, friend and legislator of the year. If you would like to nominate a library or individual for one of the awards, please visit ILA website for more info: www.idaholibraries.org/Idaho-Library-Awards or contact Rami Attebury, rattebur@ uidaho.edu. The deadline for nominations is June 23.
Homestead Market seeks produce vendors By Reader Staff The Homestead Marketplace in Clark Fork is scheduled to begin June 6 and will run Thursdays from 3-6 p.m. through September. The market is organized by Produce Ministry Team, Inc. and is held in the parking lot of Evergreen Homestead Supply (the DoItBest building supply store on
Highway 200 just outside of Clark Fork city limits). The market is still seeking produce vendors and others with locally-produced products to sell at market. Potential vendors - including small garden producers - are encouraged to apply at Evergreen Homestead Supply, or contact produceministryteam@gmail.com.
Injectors Auto Club BBQ benefits seniors By Reader Staff The local Injectors Auto Club will be holding their annual fundraiser BBQ at the Sandpoint Senior Center Saturday, June 15 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. The fundraiser will benefit the Sandpoint Area Seniors, Inc. The parking lot BBQ features burgers, hot dogs, salads, desserts and all the fixins for only $5 per plate. There will also be live jazz music by Annie Welle and classic cars on display.
By Reader Staff Be part of one of the quickest growing sports across the country! Sandpoint Parks and Recreation and the Panhandle Pickleball Club is offering a pickleball camp for teens aged 14-17. The camp is held Monday-Thursday, June 24-27, from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. at the Lakeview Park Pickleball courts (down beside the lake). The camp is a free beginner-oriented course with all equipment provided. Participants should wear court-
type shoes, bring a water bottle and get ready for some fun. For those already adept in the art of pickleball, the Panhandle Pickleball Club offers league play on Tuesdays from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Thursdays from 4-7 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Lakeview Park pickeball courts. This is a drop-in league with no registration required and the play is free. Contact (208) 263-3613 for more information.
VA representative in Clark Fork June 18 By Reader Staff
Photo courtesy SASi. Also, Burger Express is hosting a fun-raiser for the fundraiser - stop by Burger Express Wednesday, June 12 between 5-7 p.m. for a burger. All proceeds will help purchase food for the BBQ and Injectors members will help serve.
Learn Henna tattooing By Reader Staff
Mehandi, or Henna tattooing, is an ancient art of meditation used to heal the mind and soul. Mehandi is instand and temporary tattooing that lasts about 14 days. The art originated in India, where people would tattoo for weddings, praying, for prosperity, love and other special occasions. A class for those aged 10 to adult is offered Wednesday through Friday, June 26-28 from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. at the Sandpoint Community Hall. The cost of the class is $65 per person, with a $5 discount for city residents.
Photo by Ben Olson.
By Reader Staff
Pickleball camp and league offered
Bonner County Veteran Service Officer Bryan Hult will be at the Clark Fork Public Library, 601 Main St., from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Tuesday, June 18, to answer
questions about current veterans’ benefits, assist with ongoing claims and take new claims for benefits for eligible veterans and their dependents. To make an appointment, call Lyndsie Halcro at (208) 255-5291.
Support Alzheimer’s research By Reader Staff
Whether you enjoy party bridge or duplicate bridge, Wednesday, June 19, will provide you with an opportunity to enjoy your game, make new friends and share good food. There will also be items to bid silently on throughout the day.
All this for $6 per session while you raise money for Alzheimer’s research. Pre-register with Ginny Retford at 208-661-3789 or email sandpointdbc@gmail.com with your ACBL number. Sessions will be held at the Ponderay Events Center and will begin at 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Players can attend both sessions.
Rhythmic and acrosport gymnastics By Reader Staff
In the class you’ll learn how to apply henna, draw patterns and shapes and learn the meaning of Mehandi with instructor Chika Orton, who studied for three years from Mehandi masters in India.
Rhythmics is a beautiful activity combining elements of ballet, gymnastics, dance and manipulation of apparati. Acrosport uses partners and groups working together to perform acrobatic skills. There will be sessions for both on Wednesdays, June 26 through July 31. The registration deadline
is June 21 and classes will take place at the Sandpoint Community Hall. A beginners class is not offered this summer. The intermediate class is from 4-5 p.m. for ages 7 and up. Pre-requisite skills are: various handstands, cartwheels, front and back walkovers, back extension rolls and more. Call (208) 263-3613 for info.
Bits n’ Pieces
From east, west and beyond
By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist East, west or beyond, sooner or later, events elsewhere may have a local impact. A recent sampling: Transdigm, producer of military products, says it will repay the federal government $16 million for price gouging that was discovered in a Dept. of Defense investigation. According to Reuters, House Oversight Committee Chair Elijah Cummings said more need to be done to “prevent unscrupulous contractors from holding us hostage through abusive monopoly contracts.” CBD, usually sourced from hemp, is not psychoactive and may be helpful with medical and behavioral issues in pets, says online veterinary columnist Dr. Karen S. Becker. She says use of psychoactive marijuana can even be toxic for dogs and cats. CBD oil or CBD extract (the latter could be superior to oil) is used for pain, anxiety, inflammation, cancer, glaucoma, kidney and liver problems, seizure, chemotherapy and encouraging appetite. Sometimes one brand will not work as well as another, so Dr. Becker advises experimenting with brands if necessary. In 2009 there were no electric vehicles on the road, and today there are over a million, the Union of Concerned Scientists says. That’s part of an effort to address global warming emissions while also enhancing fuel efficiency. Transportation is the largest source of carbon emissions in the U.S. UCS says if U.S. oil consumption can be cut to 1.5 billion barrels a day by 2030 it will save drivers $50 billion a year, with a bonus of reducing heat-trapping carbon emissions by over 500 million tons. Since 2005 vehicle fuel economy has improved almost 25% due to the first improvements in fuel economy standards in 20 years, which proves the auto industry is capable of better mpg, UCS says. With a wingspan of 3.5 to four inches, the monarch butterfly can travel up to 5.5 miles per hour. Compare that to a human jogging six to eight mph. But they increasingly are migrating to and from habitats in decline, such as those caused by fires and by herbicides that destroy milkweed. Milkweed is the only plant they lay eggs on. The butterflies’ numbers have declined 99.4% since the 1980s. To help boost monarch numbers, the Xerces Society recommends planting milkweed and early-blooming flowers. With Russia a long-term adversary of the U.S., why didn’t Jared Kushner call the FBI when he was contacted by Russians about helping his father-in-laws presidential campaign? Asked this during an interview on HBO, Kushner indicated he was busy and it did not occur to him. But now with hindsight,
he was asked, would he do so? Kushner stated, “It’s hard to do hypotheticals.” World Refugee Day is June 20. Worldwide there is an unprecedented 68.5 million people who’ve been forced to leave their homes – an average of 42,500 daily. Of Syria’s population, 45% are displaced. They’re called Birth Strikers: women who are deciding that bringing children into a world devastated by climate change is morally and ethically irresponsible. On Facebook they have a site called Conceivable Future, where they review issues like climate-induced weather extremes, famine, violence and wars over resources. Another concern: no indication climate change will be adequately addressed. There are other factors causing women to re-think child bearing, according to USA Today. They include inadequate wages for raising a family, student debt and lack of affordable child care. Both U.S. and international law says stepping onto U.S. soil entitles an immigrant to apply for asylum. The WEEK reports that 89% of asylum seekers in 2018 passed the “credible fear” interview: they fear persecution or harm if they return to their country. But new asylum policies from the Trump Administration have whittled that number down to 17%. Since 2016 more than a million Americans have lost health insurance coverage, the Congressional Budget Office says. According to VOX.com, that is particularly due to loss of Medicaid coverage in Republican-governed states, where it’s more difficult to qualify for coverage. Blast from the past: 65 years ago this month the CIA supported a coup in Guatemala that overthrew that nation’s democracy. The new “president” quickly formed a dictatorship that reversed all prior social reforms, such as a minimum wage and property granted to the landless. The dictator also tortured and imprisoned thousands of his opponents. The CIA’s cover-up claim, that the democratically-elected Guatemalan government had solid connections with the Soviet Union, was never proven; the world community instead tended to believe the coup had been about protecting United Fruit Company’s economic grip over Guatemala. After completion of a U.S. Commission report that linked the U.S. military’s support to genocide in Guatemala, President Bill Clinton apologized to Guatemala for the atrocities that occurred under U.S.-backed dictators. Citizens have continued to protest government corruption, including severe income inequality, genocide and extra-judicial killings. Lorraine H. Marie lives in northeast Washington where she writes and works on soil and forest regeneration of her rural land.
Summer operations begin at Schweitzer with 7B Sunday By Reader Staff
Schweitzer Mountain Resort is looking forward to its summer opening weekend and the resort’s 5th annual 7B Sunday on June 23. “This is one of our favorite summer events at Schweitzer,” said the resort’s Marketing Manager Dig Chrismer. “Getting to share a day on the mountain with so many fantastic people is a great way to reconnect as a community.” 7B Sunday offers local artisans, food trucks and associations based in Bonner County the opportunity to share their passions directly with Schweitzer’s guests that Sunday. “We know that the free chairlift ride is a big draw, but it’s wonderful to see our friends taking time before or after heading to the summit to visit with over 30 businesses to learn about all the incredible things we have in Bonner County,” Chrismer said. Besides the free chairlift rides, Schweitzer will also have free live music from Monarch Mountain Band, The Groove Black and Brendan Kelty Trio. Schweitzer’s village activities will be in full swing and Sky House at the summit will have a special lunch menu available. “The summit of Schweitzer isn’t re-
Schweitzer Mountain Resort at last year’s 7B Sunday. Courtesy photo. served just for skiers and snowboarders,” Chrismer said. “We encourage everyone to take advantage of the free chairlift ride to enjoy the views and see just how lucky we are to call this place home.” Schweitzer’s summer operations will begin in earnest on Friday, June 21, with scenic foot passenger chairlift rides, lift served downhill mountain biking, zip line, trampoline jumper, climbing wall and sluice box open daily from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. until Sept. 2. For more information about Schweitzer’s summer activities and “7B Sunday,” visit www.schweitzer.com.
Laughing Matter
By Bill Borders
June 13, 2019 / R / 7
Music Bridges Borders... Dear Editor, I would like to address an article which appeared in the Reader regarding the new entity in town, Music Bridges Borders, which is entirely run by volunteers. Music Bridges Borders is an offshoot of the volunteers who formerly were helping another music organization in Sandpoint to run what was an exchange program with students from Mexico. In some cases, flyers and articles are generated by volunteers trying to help, and may lead to some misinformation. The article in question says Music Bridges Borders has been brining talented student musicians from Mexico for seven years, which is not exactly the case. Elinor, the founder of Music Bridges Borders, was the person, or ambassador, who introduced the orchestra program from Mexicali, and later, Tijuana, Mexico to Sandpoint in 2012. This planted the seeds of the “el sistema” program in Sandpoint, and was the beginning of a labor of love. Music Bridges Borders, as a distinct organization, was not in existence at that time. Thanks should be given where it is due to the previous music organization and its former strings director, whom, for the purposes of this letter, shall remain unnamed. We are grateful for the good start. However, due to philosophical differences and the resignation of key personnel at that organization, Elinor and the volunteers decided the program needed to move off on its own to realize its further potential. We are sorry for any consternation this may cause anyone who is familiar with the previous program, and hope to clear any confusion as to the difference between any other exchange programs in town. The people in our community who have volunteered with Music Bridges Borders in so many ways are all essential to making this effort possible. Nobody is not essential. A huge thank you to our volunteers and all of the time and amazing effort they put in. We couldn’t do this without you guys! Rick and Elinor Reed Music Bridges Borders Sandpoint
City Beach Geese... Dear Editor, I attended the City Council meeting on June 5th to hear public comments that were not on the agenda, specifically addressing the geese 8 / R / June 13, 2019
waste issue at City Beach. I know that the City Parks & Rec. Dept. has tried unsuccessfully to eliminate the waste of the City Beach geese. There are apparently some other alternatives that have not been tried here, but are used in other municipalities with some success. AwayWithGeese.com and plantings of peppermint were mentioned this evening. Several local business people spoke about their business interests in having the geese gone due to their waste. Others spoke about the health dangers of the waste. I didn’t hear any hard evidence that the public has become sick via goose waste. Trip Advisor and motel tourist guests were sited saying they wouldn’t frequent the beach due to waste. I didn’t hear about any locals not wanting to visit City Beach due to waste. Beginning later this month City Parks and Rec will be trying a more aggressive tact. As I understand it the first stage is capturing, banding and transporting them via horse trailer for release elsewhere. If they return and are banded they are euthanized. This method is not humane in my opinion. This issue has just come on my radar. Myself and others I have spoken to were not aware of the measures that the City Parks and Rec would be taking to rid City Beach of geese. If I have misrepresented their intended procedure, please correct me. There appears to be untried alternatives that have been successful in other communities that don’t involve killing the geese. I want to get this issue back on the table at City Council for discussion as more of the public becomes aware to let others weigh in. A businessman stated the issue has been on the table for a long time and that the public had an adequate time to comment. Businesses knew of the issue due to their personal stake in the matter. If you feel as I do that the matter deserves more research into alternatives, please contact the mayor and city council members to let them know how you feel. Cynthia Mason Hope
Got something to say? Write a letter to the editor. We accept letters under 400 words that are free from libelous statements and excessive profanity. Please elevate the conversation. Send letters to ben@sandpointreader.com.
COMMUNITY
Scotchman Peaks announces Wilderness Essay winners By Reader Staff
Each year, Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness (FSPW) asks seniors at high schools in Lincoln and Sanders Counties, Montana, and Bonner County, Idaho, to submit entries to the FSPW Essay Contest. The 2019 version drew over 30 entries on how each writer found their wild place. Stories ran the gamut from lone hunts to trips with family and friends in rugged country. Certificates and cash awards were given to five winners. Sarah Detlaf of Thompson Falls and Delaney Weltz of Noxon tied for Best of Sanders County, and received $250 each. Delaney’s tale was of a family trip to Wanless Lake in her wild back yard — the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness. Sarah tells about starting her first overnight backpack in the rain — but things
got better. Libby High Student Brett Camen received $500 as best of Lincoln County. Brett is an avid hunter who lost his sight to a rare disease at age 16. His story is of his first success as a blind hunter. Elloria Lambert, Clark Fork High School, won best of Bonner County. She received $500 for her story about a less-than-lucky fire-starting class that was still a success. Best Overall was written by Yeo (“yo”) Won Yarnell. Her story about a mountain goat that ate her flipflops during a campout at Rock Lake in the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness won $500. Yeo is a senior at Sandpoint High School. Winning essays will be published on the FSPW website and in local newspapers over the next few months as part of the Voices in the Wilderness series.
Biking, walking safety event planned By Reader Staff
Cynthia Gibson, executive director of Idaho Walk Bike Alliance, will be in Sandpoint for an informative gathering Thursday, June 13 at 5:30 p.m. at 413 St. Clair Ave. in Sandpoint Gibson is excited to meet advocates for biking and walking safety, and learn more about what you are working on to improve safety for everything. She will also share
how the Idaho Walk Bike Alliance is representing North Idaho when decisions are made in Boise. This is a casual event for those advocating safety for walking and biking in North Idaho, as well as anyone else interested in attending. The meeting will last approximately two hours and will feature light appetizers and beverages. RSVP for this event: call Cynthia Gibson at (208) 336-5821 or Molly O’Reilly at (208) 610-6642.
Intro to wakesurfing offered By Reader Staff
Start your summer off right with an introductory class on wakesurfing. Action Water Sports will provide one of the best boats in town for this class for participants aged 10-18 years old. No experience necessary — beginners and advanced surfers welcome. The class will take place Monday, June 24, from 3:30-6 p.m. Meet at Action Water Sports, 100 N. First Ave. 30 minutes before class starts. Register online with Sandpoint Parks and Recreation before the June 21 deadline. Each rider will get 20 minutes in the water per session. Instructors will go over the basics - everything from getting up out of the water to surface spins and airs for advanced riders. Make-up session for weather will be held June 26 from 2:30-7:30 p.m. if necessary. The class fee is $30, with a $2 discount for in-city residents. For more information, contact Sandpoint Parks and Recreation: (208) 263-3613.
NAMI Far North Volunteers sought for Shakespeare in the Park meeting features Sen. Woodward for a particular category — salad, By Reader Staff Volunteers are needed for the fifth-annual Shakespeare in Sandpoint, featuring Montana Shakespeare in the Parks. The event takes place Saturday, July 27, at Sandpoint’s Memorial Field. Organizers need people willing to provide homemade dishes for dinner for the visiting actors since the community is asked to feed the actors while they are in town performing this year’s play, “Henry IV, Part One.” If you would like to provide a dish for the actors’ meal, we ask that it will serve at least 20 people as organizers invite volunteers to attend the dinner as well. Please be aware that you will need to sign up
main dish, dessert or beverage — so that organizers can ensure that the meals are balanced. Hot and cold homemade dishes can be dropped off any time on Saturday, July 27, at the Music Conservatory of Sandpoint’s kitchen area. If you’d like to help, please contact event organizer Christine Holbert at Lost Horse Press: losthorsepress@mindspring.com or 208.255.4410. If you volunteered to cook last year, but did not get your dishes after the play, I have kept them and can return them to you on the day of the play.
By Reader Staff
NAMI Far North - the National Alliance for Mental Health - will be featuring District 1 Sen. Jim Woodward as their guest speaker for this month’s meeting. Woodward will speak at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 19, at the Bonner General Health classroom on the first floor. If you are living with mental illness, are a family member or are a friend of someone will mental illness, this meeting is for you.
PERSPECTIVES
Emily Articulated
A column by and about Millennials
Life after an eating disorder By Emily Erickson Reader Columnist I remember the first time I made myself throw up as clearly as if it were yesterday. My neck cricked as I lowered my head, stopping as it paralleled the rim of the toilet bowl. The lid was lifted, and I let my eyes focus on the grime that crusted the hard-to-reach spaces between the screws and the porcelain. I inhaled deeply in an attempt to focus my thoughts, and my swollen belly ached, protesting against the uncomfortable strain. I’d eaten a near-gallon of ice cream prior to entering the bathroom, and as I’d dedicated the previous year to diligently shrinking my stomach, I was almost in tears at the pressure of the dairy against the walls of my gut. In fact, I was almost in tears for a lot of reasons. I was a junior in high school and a highly-competitive long-distance runner. I had a perfect GPA, was class president, involved in nearly every club available to me, and was already being recruited to attend colleges across the state. I was in control of every aspect of my life that was mine to control. Especially my weight. For over a year it had been my ritual, as concretely as the sun rising to greet the sky, that I’d weigh myself in the morning. I’d wait only until after I went to the bathroom, because I’d read that the first hour of being awake was the time at which the human body weighs the least, not having to account for a day’s worth of undigested food and stored water. I knew all sorts of facts like these. Like that there are exactly 215 calories in a Snickers bar or that I could eat a whole carton of strawberries for 120 calories, which I could make last longer by
cutting into small pieces and eating them with chopsticks. Because of facts like these that I carried in a mental rolodex, it didn’t take me long to calculate as I stared at the dirt around the screw holding the toilet seat to its lid. I had consumed over 2000 calories in one sitting, nearly four times the amount I’d typically allow myself to eat without exercise in single a day. Picturing how the numbers on the scale would reflect my gluttony the next morning, despite my 102 pounds clinging to an emaciated 5’8” frame, my head started to rush and my cheeks grew hot. Revulsion and self-loathing bubbled up into my chest, spreading outward like lava into my hands and my feet. Everything of which I was in control was teetering on the edge of disaster because I had lost control of my eating. Allowing myself to steal one quick glance back at the door I’d locked and at the faucet I’d turned on in hopes of covering the impending noise, I braced myself for what I was about to do. I pushed aside flashes of the rotting gums and damaged teeth I’d seen on posters in my health class and my doctor’s repeated instructions to “eat more,” and replaced them with feelings of failure and remorse. Replaying the images of the previous hour like horror tapes in my mind, I watched myself scoop spoon after spoon of the smooth, cold ice cream into my mouth, even as my stomach ached in protest. Tears began to pour out of my eyes, and in an instant, I did it. I painfully jabbed two fingers from my left hand into my throat, pushing as far back as they’d reach, unaware of how that moment would change my life forever. I spent the next four years battling with alternating bouts of
anorexia and bulimia, deepening my phobia of food and perpetually skewing my self worth, as my confidence was inexorably tied to how “well” I was controlling my consumption. I struggled through a failing running career, I repeatedly damaged relationships and friendships, and was inevitably forced to redefine who I was and what I cared about. The trouble is, disordered eating is a quiet companion, a voice in your head, a shape-shifter and wearer of many masks. Even after years of avoiding social situations that revolved around food, exercising for eight hours straight because I indulged in a tub of popcorn at a movie theater, eating well past mere discomfort and into physical pain, and making myself purge until I tasted blood, I didn’t consider myself a person with an eating disorder. Instead, it took gradually dealing with the multitude of issues I was facing outside of eating, finding other ways besides weight to define my self-worth and learning to understand food as medicine and fuel. Only then was I able to truthfully reflect on that time in my life, properly defining it for what it was. That quiet, unrecognizable nature is why over 30 million people in the United States have eating disorder stories like mine. They are illnesses that have implications well after a person has “recovered,” and that many struggle to acknowledge within themselves. Disorders often begin when a person starts using outside things to fix inside problems. This applies to all sorts of self-medication, but can be understood as it relates to disordered eating when the consumption or withholding of food is used to deal with problems that have nothing to do with hunger or sustenance. For me, these outside problems were a volatile home life, a (then) perfectionist personality, low
self-esteem and a misconception that to be a better runner, I had to achieve the typical “runner body type.” Other common reasons people engage in disordered eating patterns are stress, clinical depression, anxiety disorders or obsessive-compulsive behaviors. Regular feelings of hopelessness and inadequacy are also a factor. And although many people engage in disordered eating, breaking into a Doritos bag to get them through a deadline, or restricting their calories while going through a bad breakup, these patterns become an eating disorder when they cease to be a choice. A common misconception of eating disorders is that they are character flaws or repeated decisions to engage in a certain type of food-consumption-related behavior. But rather, like many illnesses, eating disorders stem from a combination of physical, mental and environmental factors. A person’s genetics, the presence of specific chromosomes, and their family history interacts with their biochemistry, like having elevated levels of serotonin or cortisol, creating predispositions. These predispositions are activated when in conjunction with environmental factors such as stress, an unstable homelife, volatile relationships, a history of sexual abuse, engaging in regular high pressure activities or being the victim of bullying. Understanding eating disorders as illnesses, or symptoms of other multifaceted issues, is the first step in helping yourself or someone you love on a path to recovery. When trying to provide support for a loved one, avoid trying to simply fix the symptom of the disorder instead of the problems themselves. Just as you wouldn’t tell a person with diabetes to “produce more insulin,” you shouldn’t tell a person battling an eating disorder to “eat more,” or “eat less,” because what they are going
through is far more complicated. Instead, talk with them about what’s going on in their lives and connect them to professional resources to deal with the “big picture” issues they are facing. Be their advocate and their unconditional support system, avoiding shaming and guilt. If you are concerned for yourself regarding your relationship to food and eating, begin by doing more research on what is considered “disordered eating,” and by reaching out to the people in your life that love you. Talk with a counselor and work to figure out the parts of your life that are triggering your behaviors and develop strategies for better navigating those situations. Life after an eating disorder doesn’t just move on. For me, that means still having days when I can’t shut off the calorie counter in my mind or when I have to fight back tears because my body in the mirror appears three times larger than the numbers on scale represent. It means continuing to struggle with portion control and working everyday to recognize hunger as separate from my environmental triggers. But, for the most part, I’m better. I have repaired my self-worth for reasons that have nothing to do with how much I weigh, I’ve discerned which strategies work best for me when I need to de-escalate, and I’ve adopted a diet that allows me to eat without restriction. My life is as back to “normal” as it will probably ever get. It’s my hope that by sharing my story, I can help someone else feel a little less alone in their journey to wellness. If you or your loved might be struggling with an eating disorder, visit www.nationaleatingdisorders. org or call the National Eating Disorders Helpline at (800) 931- 2237. June 13, 2019 / R / 9
Mad about Science: By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist
April 26, 1986, one of the worst human-caused disasters in history occurred. The reach of the Chernobyl disaster would be a benchmark for terrible things from then on, just like Three Mile Island and the series finale of “The Sopranos”. But even now, 33 years later, there’s a fundamental misunderstanding about how radioactive disasters occur and affect us. Even the HBO drama, “Chernobyl,” gets serious facts wrong about radiation. In most nuclear-fear media, be it TV shows or movies or literature, there’s this idea that radiation is contagious like a virus and trying to infect and kill as many people as possible like some kind of invisible xenomorph running rampant in the wake of a disaster. Your buddy that went fishing for six-armed catfish in Chernobyl isn’t going to infect Sandpoint with radiation and cause a huge government lockdown. Radiation is the energy given off a particle that is decaying to a more stable form, a natural process of all atoms. Everything from the dirt we’re sleeping on to the air we breathe gives off radiation, but it’s a tiny amount compared to something like refined plutonium. Our bodies are equipped to deal with average amounts of radiation in our environment from everyday encounters; we wouldn’t have evolved from single-celled organisms if we hadn’t learned to adapt a very, very long time ago. However, things like refined plutonium aren’t found naturally in the world, they’re generally made (or refined) by people with extremely limited
10 / R / June 13, 2019
Brought to you by:
radioactive disasters
exposure. These fast-decaying elements give off lots of radiation that’s capable of stripping electrons off other atoms, which begins to cause mutations in the cells of organic things. I’m not talking cool mutations like shooting webs out of our wrists or getting superpowers. It’s more like getting cancer or having blood that clots while it’s still pumping through your body. In normal, controlled circumstances, radioactive materials used for weapons or power generation are contained within a shell that can hold radiation and make sure it doesn’t spread outside of the shell. The problem comes when something explosive happens. Radioactive materials are easy to track and contain if they’re coming from a small breach or a leak: You know where they’re coming from, and you can tell where they’re going. Stop the flow of the water and your radioactive material will just sit in that water. However, when something explodes, the energy of the explosion flings radioactive particulate matter into the atmosphere and from there you have no way to stop it from going wherever the winds take it. That’s what happened with Chernobyl. There was an explosion, and as much as 5% of the core was carried by the wind, which contaminated a massive area. Once you have an event like that, the radioactive particles become part of the environment. Radioactive atoms get mixed with the atoms that make up dirt and plants, people walk through it and transfer it to their shoes, animals eat it and carry it with them for untold miles, it ends up in water that flows to other water and everything turns
into a giant mess. This is all very hard and scary to envision because it’s something we can’t see with our naked eye. Because we can’t see it, and because of what it does to us, we start to develop fear-fueled mythologies about how it works: that it’s contagious, that it gives us superpowers, all that stuff. Once you start to imagine if we could see it, it becomes more understandable. Think about coal: Let’s say a huge coal plant were to catch fire and explode, but this isn’t any regular type of coal. This is a brand new coal that can give you cancer if you’re around it for too long. So there is a big disaster, and you see plumes of black smoke on the news, you see coal dust covering everything for a hundred miles around the plant, you see water running black two states away, animals covered in it and people in suits trying to scrub it away before being sprayed down by those full body hazmat showers. It’s exactly the same thing, except you can see it now. It’s not so scary when you can vision it, right? Or maybe I just wrote the screenplay to the next Greenpeace horror film, I’ll let you judge. So if it can be so wide-spanning and scary, why do we even use nuclear power? Under proper conditions, it’s relatively easy to contain. Chernobyl and Three Mile Island were not proper conditions. The respective governments at the time did what most panicked governments do in the wake of a disaster they caused through negligence— they turned public attention to the horror of the disaster. They should have been cautionary tales about the
real effects of political corruption and negligence rather than the dangers of science, but I’ll leave that to the opinion section. This is a huge and sprawling subject that can’t be contained to a summarized book report, one that’s clouded by a mixture of butt-covering mistruths and advanced science. If you want accurate facts about how radiation works and why it won’t infect you like a zombie
virus, your first step should be at the Library. For such a small town, we have a really good physics section and an even better history section. Not sure where to start? I recommend going straight through the door and asking at the information desk. Even if the person at the desk doesn’t know about the subject, I guarantee you they’ll find someone that does.
Random Corner e phones?
Don’t know much about mobil
We can help!
• Your mobile phone has more computing power than the computers used for the Apollo 11 moon landing. • In 1983, the first mobile phones went on sale in the U.S. at almost $4,000 each. • Mobile phones have 18 times more bacteria than toilet handles. • In Japan, 90% of mobile phones are waterproof because youngsters use them even in the shower. • Scientists have developed a way of charging mobile phones using urine. Don’t try this at home! • Nomophobia is the fear of being without your mobile phone or losing your signal. • 100,000 mobile phones are dropped down the toilet in Britain every year. Also, more people in the world have mobile phones than toilets. • Apple’s iPhone consumes $0.25 worth of electricity per year if it’s fully charged once a day. • 65% of smartphone users download zero apps per month. • 99% of all mobile malware is targeted at Android users. • The average person unlocks their smartphone 110 times each day. • Mobile Phone Throwing is an official sport in Finland. • In Malaysia, it’s legal to divorce your partner via text message. • 47% of millennials said in a survey they sometimes use their smartphones to avoid people around them.
OPINION
Sandpoint’s plan for geese strays from the value system that once guided our future By Jane Fritz Reader Contributor On the September 22, 2011, front cover of the Reader is a colorful illustration of a future lakeside Sandpoint with a story written by then editor, Zach Hagadone. I saved this issue of the paper because I love the concept drawing. In the far background edged by mountains, it shows buildings and a BNSF train with many, large trees between the tracks and a paved public trail heavy with bicyclists, and couples and families out walking along it, or sitting on benches. In the foreground are thick native grasses and cattails, separating the people behind a low railing from the abundant wildlife at the lakeshore — leaping fish, families of ducks, heron, swans and Canada geese with their goslings. This is the healthy lakeside town that I want to live in, not the one that after being here 40 years I now find. Why? Because the value system guiding Sandpoint’s future has strayed from this nature/wildlife/people interconnectedness which drew many of us here. It now primarily favors people, mostly tourists and their money. The evidence is the city’s upcoming plan to eliminate Canada geese adults and their downy goslings from our shared beach and park. Spending thousands of tax dollars, on June 24-25, Wildlife Services-APHIS, a federal agency responsible for dealing with “nuisance” species of wildlife, will corral, capture, and attach leg bands on 200 geese and goslings. The city has a depredation permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as geese are a migratory species protected by Congressional law. The birds then will be loaded into a horse trailer (how many goslings will survive?) and relocated to the Chain Lakes Wildlife Management Area just south of Coeur d’Alene. Originally, Idaho Fish & Game, another partner, had planned to separate the young goslings from their parents, so they would be less apt to return to City
Beach, but that part of the plan has been dropped. However the Catch-22 might be that a higher percentage of geese will return next year. Those geese that reappear with a leg band will be caught and killed by Wildlife Services, paid with more city taxes. Any new, non-banded arrivals will be caught, banded and relocated. This cycle, according to Kim Woodruff, director of Parks and Recreation, will likely continue for several years. Imagine how you might feel watching a Canada geese breeding pair, who mate for life, engage in courting behavior on the sprawling spring lawn of City Beach having just migrated here, and you notice leg bands on them. Their honking, once a welcomed herald of spring, suddenly becomes a harbinger of death. “Depredation: The act of attacking or plundering.” However, the FWS depredation permit is not given because we are plundering the geese; rather it’s the geese attacking us (like rats infesting grain bins). The reason? Well, geese poop. A lot. And the city’s vague claims are that “human health and safety hazards” are the reasons the geese need to be eliminated. However, not a single health complaint or human injury report has ever been documented by the city relating to goose droppings. Some fear E. coli contamination while swimming since the lake adjacent to City Beach has high levels. But shallow waters elsewhere in the Pack River and Clark Fork river deltas, where there are hundreds more geese, have very low E. coli levels. So what’s the missing variable? Humans, children and boaters. Blaming the geese is a stretch. Safety hazards? If people harass them, then maybe, since mother geese are very protective. Regardless, elimination of geese has been chosen. What is the alternative? Deterrents and there are many. In addition to the beach sweeper now used, vegetative plantings — the grass and cattails in the illustration — as well as peppermint, which geese detest. Mechanisms like awaywithgeese.com which are effectively used by Coeur d’Alene are
another; Coyote decoys work for Coeur d’Alene City’s park mainly because it has many large trees. Dog hazing has been effective here, but it’s inconsistent and expensive. So perhaps it’s time to make City Beach dog friendly. Barking dogs on leash walking the sidewalk that separates the beach from the grass would surely make the geese uncomfortable. Drake the Reader Dog would love City Beach! Sandpoint could also do what Dover does: educate with interpretive signs. Most people are surprised to hear of the city’s draconian plans. There’s one more City Council meeting before it occurs—June 19. So now is the time to let our leaders know how you feel. It’s not too late to change this inhumane course of action, and learn to live with our wild neighbors again, and in the future.
OPEN 11:30 am
GAME ROOM UPSTAIRS
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
June 13, 2019 / R / 11
PERSPECTIVES
Ch-ch-ch-changes at the Reader
Zach Hagadone to take over as editor in July while Cameron heads to law school
By Ben Olson Reader Staff
12 / R / June 13, 2019
We have some pretty exciting developments here at the Reader we want to let you all know about. Starting the second week of July, original Reader Cameron Rasmusson. co-owner and former editor-in-chief Zach Hagadone will be stepping back into the editor’s chair, and longtime editor Cameron Rasmusson will transition into an “editor-at-large” position. Let me explain what this means. First of all, rest assured that Cameron will still very much be part of the Reader team. His position as “editor-at-large” will mean he won’t be saddled with the weekly ball and chain of editing the paper, but rather, to work on long-form journalism stories, focus on special features and contribute the odd piece of writing. You’ll still see his byline often, and he will remain on the masthead, and he’ll always have a desk to sit at in our shabby high-rise offices in Sandpoint. With the addition of Zach to the team, the Reader’s coverage and quality will undoubtedly improve. For those of you who may not be familiar with Zach Hagadone, you wouldn’t be reading this newspaper if he wasn’t around. Zach – along with the help of a few 20-somethings (including yours truly) – first launched the Reader in 2004 as an alternative voice in Sandpoint media. After almost eight years of heart and passion, Zach and co-owners John Reuter and Chris DeCleur took jobs that actually paid living wages, and the Reader went out of publication until 2015 when I brought it back from the dead with my business partner, Chris Bessler at Keokee. Zach has been a newsman since grade school, when he co-founded a newspaper at Sagle Elementary School. He subsequently worked on the Sandpoint High School Cedar Post and the Albertson College of Idaho’s Coyote before finishing his undergraduate work. Before founding the Reader, Hagadone (rest assured, he is not related to those Hagadones) also worked as a weekend staffer at the Associated Press Capitol Bureau in Boise. After the Reader folded in 2012, Hagadone took a job at the Idaho Business Review in Boise and later served as editor of the Boise Weekly from 2013-2017 and columnist at the Inlander for a couple years before taking a hiatus for a return to school. Recently, Hagadone completed graduate school at Washington State
Zach Hagadone. University in Pullman to obtain a Master of Arts in History degree, focused on American colonial and early republic history. Upon completion of this goal, Hagadone and his wife and two children set their sights on returning to his hometown of Sandpoint to live and work again. “It’s hard to describe how it feels to have this opportunity not only to return home with my family, but to come back to a thriving Sandpoint Reader, which I also think of a sort of home,” Zach wrote. “Doing the Reader from 2004 to 2012 – sometimes from as far afield as Boise, while Reuter minded the store in Sandpoint – was one of the hardest, yet most rewarding things I’ve ever done. Seeing how Ben and Cameron have revived and improved it over the past few years has been gratifying, exciting and, more than once, made me jealous that I wasn’t working alongside them. This paper has achieved something increasingly few news outlets can claim: It’s an essential, valued part of its community. That’s thanks to the work of Ben and Cameron, but also the talents of the Reader’s contributors and support of its advertisers and readership. I can’t wait to contribute to the ongoing success of the Reader and again be a part of this community, which means so much to me.” Not only is Zach an old friend born and raised in Sandpoint like myself – he is recognized as one of the top journalists in Idaho, with over a dozen Idaho Press Club awards and more than 20 years of experience under his belt. He placed third in nationwide election coverage at the Association of Alternative Newsmedia in 2012, and his work has appeared in a dozen alt-weeklies around the country. Even if I didn’t know and love Zach as a human being, he would still be absurdly overqualified for this position. As far as my role at the Reader, nothing will change with Zach’s addition. Perhaps my whiskey consumption will increase? For Cameron Rasmusson, after over four years staring down the barrel of weekly deadlines, the transition marks a possible new career direction. Cameron has expressed interest in attending law school in the near future and obtaining a law degree, a goal we wholeheart-
edly support here at the Reader. “I’d been thinking the past couple years about branching out into a different direction career-wise, and Zach coming back to Sandpoint finally gave me the opportunity to do that. There’s a lot to do before I can apply to schools, and I can’t do it if I’m tied down to an office,” he said. “It’ll be bittersweet to not be at the Reader every workday, because I consider everyone here to be a second family. But I’m excited to be heading back to school and encouraged by all the community members who are helping me get there. I’m also thrilled to be working directly with Zach, because there are few people I respect more than him.” Aside from his school plans, Cameron will also take on several other writing gigs, including his recent joining of the Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness staff as a communications specialist. “We are excited to have Cameron join our staff,” said FSPW executive director Phil Hough. “With his skills as a writer and editor and his deep roots to our area he brings a lot to our team!” Cameron’s main responsibilities with FSPW will be to write blog posts, edit the quarterly newsletter and help spread the word about the wild backyard in North Idaho. “I’ve always been interested in the work the Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness does,” he said. “I think I can add a lot to the Scotchman Peaks team. And there’s a chance for me to learn a lot, too.” Cameron will also continue writing for various publications in North Idaho, including Sandpoint Magazine. “I’ve admired Cameron’s work for many years and hope that I can continue the standard of excellence he’s established,” Zach wrote. Change can sometimes be tough, but rest assured this is an improvement for all involved. I could no t have launched the Reader into such a successful run without Cameron’s help these past four and a half years. I will always consider him a dear friend and thank him from the bottom of my heart for the years of quality work and integrity he brought to this newspaper. To step away from the weekly deadlines and contribute writing on his own terms is actually a dream of mine, so I’m a little jealous of Cameron at this moment. But when he’s elbow-deep in law briefs and working 50-plus hours a week, I’ll have my revenge. We’ll be hosting a little celebration of sorts to commemorate the transition. We don’t have any details, of course, but stay tuned to the future issues of the Reader to find out where we’ll go and how much beer we’ll drink.
OPINION
Calls for EIS choose alarmism over analysis By Ken Brown Reader Contributor
In a recent article piece, environmentalist Matt Nykiel asserted that an Environmental Impact Statement should be conducted prior to U.S. Coast Guard approval of BNSF’s proposed rail bridge over Lake Pend Oreille. And while no one can doubt Mr. Nykiel’s passion or commitment to an ideology, the arguments contained in his column were misleading, hypocritical and generally unconvincing. Opponents of the Sandpoint Junction Connector Project – another way of referring to a proposed second rail bridge running parallel to BNSF’s existing bridge spanning Lake Pend Oreille – are ringing alarm bells in demanding a delay. But a closer look at their argument shows those alarm bells are just that: alarmist, and not tied to real concerns. As the business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 73, I am acutely aware of the importance of an efficient transportation system. The great northern rail corridor is critical for many of the companies and proposed projects all along the rail corridor that we work with. If those businesses are thriving it means more work for my members. The Sandpoint rail bridge is a major choke point in the rail corridor that must be fixed. At the core of the plea of those who oppose the project is the claim that a second bridge would increase traffic and, in doing so, lead to more commodities they deem undesirable (namely, coal and crude oil) traveling through our communities. Increased traffic, they claim, brings with it increased risk of incidents like collisions, derailments or spills. This talking point is either intentionally alarmist and misleading or incredibly uninformed. The Coast Guard has already conducted extensive review of this proposal in recent years. In doing so, they found a few things to be true. First and foremost, adding a second bridge would not increase rail traffic in any meaningful way. Rail traffic doesn’t go up or down
based on the addition of a single bridge across a vast, nationwide network. Supply and demand, commodity prices and other market dynamics drive traffic. New bridges don’t. Given that the new bridge won’t lead to new traffic, opposition claims focused on increased risk of incidents simply don’t hold water. Far from creating more risk, adding a second bridge will reduce the volatility currently present at the Lake Pend Oreille crossing by reducing congestion at what is currently a known and troublesome bottleneck. Only one train at a time can cross the lake now, and that means traffic heading in both directions must stop, idle (creating emissions all the while), wait and re-enter traffic on ongoing basis. Congestion causes problems when it comes to safe and efficient rail transport. This bridge will alleviate congestion, make traffic more manageable, and reduce risk. To invoke the names of recent rail incidents like Mosier or Lac-Mégantic in opposing this bridge is deceiving, alarmist, and inaccurate. Aside from misleading scare tactics, Mr. Nykiel’s core argument in favor of delay is tied to the number of people who submitted comments in favor of his position. The piece dings BNSF for an “election-style media blitz,” but fails to note the fact that supporters of Mr. Nykiel’s position have been running a campaign designed to flood the public comment process with form letters for more than a year. Supporters of the second Lake Pend Oreille bridge recognize the importance
of fluid and efficient rail infrastructure. Rail plays a crucial role in shipping far, far more than energy. Farmers need rail to get their crops to market. Manufacturers depend on rail to move both raw materials and finished products to consumers. Even every day commuters need a functioning rail system, whether they’re riding Amtrak or waiting at a train crossing. Despite what people like Mr. Nykiel would have you believe, it is possible to care deeply about our community’s resources while also believing that a second bridge is needed. The two goals are not mutually exclusive; they can – and must – co-exist. The Coast Guard’s review process, to date, has been thorough and effective. They’ve already found both environmental and traffic-related concerns to be unfounded and noted the potential benefits of approving the second bridge. An open and intense review process when considering a project like this is more than warranted, it’s essential. At this point, though, adding another layer of review in the form of an EIS would drastically delay an important project without justification. Further delay isn’t the answer. Sandpoint Junction should move forward. Ken Brown is a business manager with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 73 representing Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho. He currently lives in Post Falls, Idaho.
June 13, 2019 / R / 13
event t h u r s d a y
13
f r i d a y
14
s a t u r d a y
15
s u n d a y
16
m o n d a y t u e s d a y
18
w e d n e s d a y t h u r s d a y
14 / R / June 13, 2019
17
19 20
Dollar Beers! 8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Thursday Night Solo Series w/ Kyle Swaffard 6-8pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall As seen with The Other White Meat. Food by Sandpoint Curry
f
Grateful Dead Jam Night Selway Trio Conce 5:30-7:30pm @ Idaho Pour Authority 7:30pm @ Panida T Join Scott Taylor for couple hours Presented by the Fes jamming to the Dead and Phish. All son Moody on violin musicians welcome. Yoon-Wha Roh on Festival at Sandpoin Open Mic Night w/ KC Carter 9pm @ A&P’s Bar and Grill
Live Music w/ Ron Keiper Jazz Trio Live Music w/ Miah Kohal Band DJ Skwish 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority 6-9pm @ Matchwood Brewing Co. 9pm @ A&P’s Outlaw classic rock band from Live Music w Live Music w/ Ron Greene 6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Sandpoint. Family friendly 8-10pm @ The The Jam Shack - a free con Live Music w/ Lost Ox Live Music w/ BOCA 9pm @ 219 Lounge 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery 8pm @ The Hive Portland progressive rock Ben & Cadie as a duo from the A free concert event present Productions and KPND. Do / country Americana / funk band Harold’s IGA
DJ Skwish at The Hive Live Music w/ Harold’s IGA Tales From Ghos 9pm @ The Hive 6-8pm @ Laughing Dog Brewery 9pm @ Utara Bre No cover, doors open at 8 pm. 21+ The project featur Multi-instrumental indie folk rock Live Music w/ John Firshi Live Music w/ Baker & Thomas as punk grass, cow 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority 6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall CHAFE 150 Gr Live Music w/ Ken Mayginnes Featuring Benny Baker and Ali Thomas Find out more at Live Music w/ Lonesome Lyle Arboretum celebrati 6pm @ Chop Restaurant 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery 9am-1pm @ Lakeview Live Music w/ Devon Wade Groove-based sound influenced by Shop for a wide select 9pm @ 219 Lounge British blues, folk, jazz and more & perennials perfectly Sandpoint country singer
Live Music w/ Ken Mayginnes Daughters and Sons day at the Range Spr 5-7:30pm @ Matchwood Brewing Baldy Outdoor Shooting Range (June 15-16) Bring your kids, ages 8-18, to the Outdoor Shooting 3pm Piano Sunday w/ Peter Lucht Range for a free day of safety education, shooting The 3-5pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery and family bonding. Equipment provided Cho Monday Night Blues Jam w/ Truck Mills 7:30pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Rock n’ Roll Bingo 6-8pm @ Tervan Night-Out Karaoke 9pm @ 219 Lounge Join DJ Pat for a night of singing, or just come to drink and listen
Lifetree Cafe 2pm @ Jalepeño’s Mexican Restaurant An hour of conversation and stories. This week’ topic: “Can God Love a Mess Like Me?”
Triva Night 7pm @ MickDuff’s Show off that big, beautiful brain of yours
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
Dollar Beers! 8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Good until the keg’s dry
Magic Wednesday 6-8pm @ Jalapeño’s Enjoy close-up magic shows by Star Alexander right at your table
Pare 5pm An o is op perie age.
Science Cafe 5:30pm @ Sandpoint Library Dialoguing about climate change realty, urgency and solutions with Dr. Gabrielle Duebendorfer
San 3-5: Loc start mus
Thursday Night Solo Series w/ Brian Jacobs 6-8pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall All your favorite songs! Food by Sandpoint Curry
Girls 5-7pm Cool dudes pairing
ful
June 13 - 20, 2019
A weekly entertainment guide to keep you on your toes. To list your event free, please send an email to calendar@sandpointreader.com. Reader recommended
rio Concert Shop for a Cause Panida Theater 5-8pm @ Gracy & Joy Clothing by the Festival at Sandpoint, featuring JaBenefiting Sandpoint Commuy on violin, Miranda Wilson on cello, and nity Resource Center. Come by a Roh on piano. Proceeds benefitting the for shopping refreshments, girlSandpoint Youth Summer Music Camp friends and great clothes
CHAFE pre-ride dinner 5:30-7:30pm @ Trinity Speaker Tristen Chernove, a Paralympics gold medalist and Canada’s para-cyclist of the year, will speak. Dinner $35
Skwish Sandpoint Teen Center Yard Sale & BBQ Spring Concert @ A&P’s Bar 8am-1pm @ Huckleberry Bowling Lanes 7pm @ First Lutheran Church Music w/ Kevin Dorin A variety of goods sold by our local teens The Spring Concert by the Pend Oreille pm @ The Back Door Chorale and Orchestra. Free admission a free concert event Sandpoint Contra Dance Karaoke Night DJ Exodus 7-10:30pm @ Sandpoint Community Hall 9pm @ A&P’s 8pm-cl @ Tervan nt presented by Dig Beats New dancers arrive early for basics. BeginLive Music w/ Brian Jacobs PND. Doors open at 3pm ners and singles welcome! Live music 8-10pm @ The Back Door rom Ghost Town in Concert Sandpoint Farmers’ Market Yoga On Tap Utara Brewing Co. 9am-1pm @ Farmin Park 10:45am @ Laughing Dog Brewery ect featuring Nick Hagan described Come get your produce, Taught by Tiki, followed by a group pint grass, cowpunk and gothic country starts, crafts and more! Live June Cornhole Jam E 150 Gran Fondo 11am-6pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall music by Living Well ut more at CHAFE150.org ACL regional points earning tourney All You Can Eat BBQ celebration and native plant sale 12-4pm @ A&P’s Bar & Grill Injectors Club BBQ Lakeview Park Live music, $20 pre-sale tickets. 11am-2pm @ Sandpoint Senior Center wide selection of native trees, shrubs Proceeds help Josh Thompson Raise money for the Senior Center! s perfectly suited to our climate Sandemonium! • 10am-4pm @ Forrest Bird Charter School Karaoke Night Spring Concert 8pm-cl @ Tervan Love superheroes? Video and board games? Or other nerdy oting 3pm @ 1st Lutheran Church, 526 S. Olive activities? This annual fandom event featuring cosplay, games, performances and more oting The Spring Concert by the Pend Oreille Chorale and Orchestra. Free admission Paws for a Cause • 8am-12pm @ Lakeview Park Outdoor Experience Monday Night Run Make up for last week’s rain-out urant 6pm @ Outdoor Experience This week’s A chill, three-mile(ish) group run with opMe?” tional beverages to follow
ge ns er
y
Parent Grief Support Group 5pm @ Turning Leaf Counseling An ongoing, informal meeting that is open to all parents who have experienced the loss of a child at any age. 1205 Highway 2, Suite 304B Sandpoint Farmers’ Market 3-5:30pm @ Farmin Park Locally grown produce, starts, crafts and more! Live music by Jake Robin Girls Pint Out 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Cool chicks! Great beer! No dudes! Join Vicki for an evening pairing of cheese and craft beer.
Free Estate Planning Workshop 2-3pm @ ELTC Newport Office 418 W. Third St. in Newport, Wash. Gain a better understanding of options and a direction that makes sense for every situation
Open Mic Night w/ Kevin Dorin 6-9pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Positive environment. 21+
Third Thursday Women’s Meet-Up 7:45pm @ Matchwood Brewing Co. Gather with local women to talk and sip a pint or two. Open to all women
June 21 Elope in Hope @ Beyond Hope Resort June 21 Summer Solstice June 21 ArtWalk Opening Receptions @ Sandpoint June 22
DogFest North Idaho @ Forrest Bird Charter School
June 13, 2019 / R / 15
ENVIRONMENT
Science Cafe to discuss climate change By Reader Staff Libraries are known for being open to controversy. In fact, the Sandpoint Library invites people with conflicting opinions to attend their monthly Science Café events. This month’s topic is climate change — a hot topic related to global warming. Dr. Gabrielle Duebendorfer will lead a scientific discussion about climate change evidence, urgency and solutions, encouraging dialogue from all points of view. She will include information about peripheral effects of climate change, such as increased incidence of fire, dying trees and water shortage. She also discusses local and global solutions, government policy and the health impacts of burning fossil fuels. As a naturopathic physician, Dr. Duebendorfer has been very concerned about the health impacts of climate change and founded the Sandpoint Chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby in early 2017. Her passion is to advo-
16 / R / June 13, 2019
cate for climate change action so that her grandkids and patients will have a healthy environment. Science Cafés are community discussions set in a casual atmosphere, are open to everyone and feature an engaging conversation with a scientist about a particular subject. They are not exclusive to scientists or science majors and are not passive lectures. A facilitator draws out participation and encourages debate and interaction. The Library’s Science Café Series is officially registered with the international NOVA Science Cafés organization. The June Science Café – Solutions for Our Planet: Local and Global Action, presented by Dr. Gabrielle Duebendorfer, ND will take place in the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation Community Room A at the East Bonner County Library District Sandpoint Branch, 1407 Cedar St. For more information, contact Mike Bauer, Lifelong Learning Coordinator, at 265-2665.
ENTERTAINMENT
Sandemonium back for its fourth year By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff It’s a year of change for Sandemonium. The first is obvious for those who have enjoyed previous years of the event, a celebration of all things nerdy. Rather than taking place in late August as with previous years, Sandemonium 2019 lands this Saturday, June 15, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at Forrest M. Bird Charter School. But people can still expect the same great time enjoying cosplay, games, panels and more. “I love that Sandemonium creates opportunity for like-minded people to come together and celebrate their common interests,” said Kevin Penelerick, planning committee co-chair. “Whether it’s gaming, comic books, anime, cosplay or whatever somebody likes to geek out about, Sandemonium has something for everyone.” The new date will hopefully allow more students to attend. Fresh out of school and ready for new weekend activities, they’ll have Sandemonium as one option this weekend to keep them busy. While the event is popular with teenagers, it draws a broad range of ages, from young children to young adults and sometimes whole families — often in coordinated costumes. Like other fandom events, cosplay — or dressing up as a favorite fictional character — is a major part of Sandemonium. And sure enough, a costume contest is the centerpiece of the convention. One of the most popular aspects of Sandemonium, the contest draws dozens of participants for judging, with a chance to show off on stage in front of their friends and family later in the day. If you’re interested in learning about designing your own costume, Sandemonium has panels for that and much more. From chainmail construction to sewing to tutorials on art and YouTube creation, there’s something to learn for everyone. “Every year at Sandemonium I learn something new, and I meet a huge amount of awesome people,” said steering committee member Bronwyn Toth. “I love the community that comes with, ‘Hey! I like this thing!’ and it’s always great to see other people learning and meeting new people as well.”
Likewise, gaming is a major focus of Sandemonium, with this year placing a greater emphasis on board and tabletop games. Are you a veteran of “Dungeons and Dragons” role-playing games, or have you never rolled a D20 in your life? Either way, there will be options for you, including a panel that will teach the basics of the game. As for board games, several different titles will be available for play throughout the day at Sandemonium. Another change this year is the addition of a special guest. Actress Sandi Sellner, who played the robot Alpha 5 on the TV show “Power Rangers,” will be attending to describe the experience of working on a major TV show. Expect a fascinating look into the world of show biz. Of course, some changes are bittersweet. I’ve worked on Sandemonium since its debut four years ago, and Penelerick has been involved for three years. Due to upcoming changes in our lives, both of us have to step down from planning the event. Of course, that brings about an opportunity for new planning committee members to make Sandemonium bigger and better than ever. Those who want to see Sandemonium continue by contributing to the planning process should email me at cameron@sandpointreader.com. “Growing up in a time before these kinds of things were as widely appreciated as they are today, I’m honored to be a part of helping with the event and creating space for others to come celebrate what they enjoy,” Penelerick said. Check out Sandemonium from 10
Well-dressed cosplay attendees at last year’s Sandemonium. Courtesy photo. a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, June 15, at Forrest Bird Charter School. Cost of entry is $3.
June 13, 2019 / R / 17
COMMUNITY
A party all about pups By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Dogs of all kinds make the world a better place. But it could be argued that dogs raised and trained through the nonprofit Canine Companions for Independence may take the cake for dogs going above and beyond to improve the world we live in. Celebrate those dogs by attending DogFest 2019 on Saturday, June 22, at Forrest Bird Charter School 10 a.m.-2 p.m., and support the organization’s mission to provide skilled assistance dogs to disabled people at no cost. When DogFest was first held in Sandpoint last year, the local CCI chapter raised $20,000. “I was shocked,” said CCI puppy raiser and event organizer Lilly Mitsui. “We had great support from the community.” The Inland Northwest Chapter of CCI — of which Sandpoint is a part — is one of 44 chapters across the country. DogFest celebrations all over share in the common goal to raise funds to keep these specially trained
18 / R / June 13, 2019
service dogs free of charge to the families they’re matched with. Mitsui said CCI dogs are worth $50,000. “We have a waiting list all over the country of people who need dogs,” she said. “Money raised through DogFest supports breeding, raising, training and placing the dogs.” Mitsui described DogFest as a “crazy canine festival for dog lovers,” but added that you don’t have to have a dog to come. However, there will be plenty of games and treats — including “musical sits” and even frozen doggy ice cream, to name a few — if the family pup does tag along. All well-socialized dogs are welcome on a leash. There will also be activities for kids, the chance to meet CCI dogs and the companions they matched with, as well as breakfast and lunch from Jupiter Jane and music from Kevin Dorin. KXLY 4 Chief Meteorologist Kris Crocker will emcee the event. DogFest is free to attend, but donations are appreciated. “It’s just a fun, festive family day,” Mitsui said. DogFest will feature more than 30 silent
Canine Companions for Independence event DogFest celebrates and supports service dogs June 22 auction items and will also mark the end of CCI’s “Raise the Woof” dog house silent auction, which is going on now at the Sandpoint Center. Three dog houses were created and donated by Mrs. Nitcy’s first grade class at Farmin Stidwell Elementary, Duke’s Dynamics and Winterhawk Construction to raise funds for CCI. The houses will remain downtown for bidding until June 21, when they’ll be moved to Forrest Bird Charter School in preparation for DogFest on June 22. Once at DogFest, people can bid on the houses until 12:30 p.m. After that, winners will be announced. To learn more about DogFest, the “Raise the Woof” dog house auction or about CCI in general, visit cci.org/ dogfestnorthidaho.
A dog house created and donated by Mrs. Nitcy’s first grade class at Farmin Stidwell Elementary.
June 13, 2019 / R / 19
KNPS offers field trip in the woods
By Reader Staff
Kinnickinnick Native Plant Society, in conjunction with Sandpoint Parks and Recreation, offer monthly presentations covering a variety of natural resource related topics — everything from wildflower identification to forest tree management and mushroom gathering. In lieu of their normal monthly presentation, KNPS will offer a field trip Saturday, June 22. Participants will spend about two hours walking in the woods with knowledgeable native plant enthusiasts identifying
native plant species. To attend, join the group at the Sandpoint Community Hall at 9:45 a.m. on June 22 where they will organize carpooling to a Colburn Culver forested property. Bring water and snacks you may need, and dress for the weather. Don’t forget insect repellent. Contact Ken Thacker for more info: idahoweedguy@yahoo.com. Don’t forget this Saturday, June 15 is the KNPS annual plant sale at the Native Plant Arboretum in Lakeview Park from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
WEIRD NEWS By Ben Olson Reader Staff
MORE FLORIDA MAN STORIES The force is strong in Florida. What force that is is anyone’s guess, because it continues to give the rest of us headlines to laugh at on a daily basis. Here are a few classic Florida Man tales, which usually start with the words, “A Florida man...” PINOCCHIO A Florida man caught with cocaine in his nostrils during a traffic stop claimed to the arresting officer that the drugs inside his nostril did not belong to him. HOT STUFF A Florida gas station owner announced that he was “sick and tired” of customers using his microwave to warm their urine. The owner said he sees people “walking in every day” to heat their urine, probably due to the close proximity of a drug-testing facility nearby. One customer became angry with the owner after being told she couldn’t, claiming “Where is the sign that says you can’t use this for this kind of purpose?” which forced the owner to put up a sign that has since gone viral. The sign on the microwave now reads, “Only for food use. Do not warm urine.” WTF An armless Florida man was arrested for stabbing a tourist with scissors last summer. Late at night, a homeless man well-known in the Miami Beach area apparently stabbed a tourist from Chicago with a pair of scissors wielded with his feet. The homeless man claimed the tourist provoked him, but officers found the tourist has only stopped to ask directions. The homeless man also claims to have impregnated singer Gloria Estefan over 200 times.
20 / R / June 13, 2019
STAGE & SCREEN
Radius Film Festival back for the second year The local film fest kicks off June 29 at the Panida
By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff There’s real cinematic talent in the Inland Northwest. The problem is getting it in front of an audience. Enter the Sandpoint Radius Film Festival. The festival’s central idea is to provide a showcase for short films made in Idaho, Montana Washington and any other location within 400 miles of Sandpoint. It’s a chance for filmmakers to get their work in front of an audience at a festival tailored specifically for them. “With so many ‘international’ film festivals out there, we decided it was high time to have a festival that catered to regional talent, with networking and learning opportunities for filmmakers,” Aric Spence, one of the festival organizers, wrote on the Radius website. “This is why we started the Sandpoint Radius Film Festival. We encourage film submissions from within a 400 mile radius around Sandpoint, Idaho.” Set for June 28 and 29, this year’s festival will expand upon the work established by Radius’ debut year in 2018. The festival kicks off Friday, June 28, with a
BY THE NUMBERS
By Ben Olson Reader Staff
17%
The amount of decrease for farms in Idaho measuring between 50 and 1,999 acres. Conversely, small or “hobby” farms are exploding in Idaho, as are very large farms. Mid-level farms, however, continue to decline.
2
meet and greet for the filmmakers at the Little Panida Theater complete with a no-host bar. At 8 p.m., there will be a free concert at the Panida Theater featuring Fox & Bones. The real action begins Saturday, June 29. After coffee with the filmmakers at 8:30 a.m., the first block kicks off 1 p.m., featuring eight short films totaling 83 minutes. Block Two also features eight films and runs 85 minutes. Finally, the last block of the night includes 12 films at 82 minutes altogether. The submissions this year range from animation to documentaries to narrative shorts.
Some are comedic, like “Terror Reading,” which sees a psychic trying to parse the fate of two friends. Others deal with themes of loss and heartbreak in a creative way, like “Tiny Armor.” Shorts like “One Foggy Night, No One Saw How Morning Came” and “In the House of Paper Flowers,” showcase animation in spectacular ways. And be sure to look out for the surprising ending of “Recommended For You,” where a man finds that the “recommended items” section in an online store seem to have a prophetic quality. Sandpoint Radius Film Festival features films from around
Promotional art for “Terror Reading.” Courtesy image. the country, but only those within the 400-mile radius will be shown in competition. What will take the top prize? There’s only one way to find out. Come out for one or all blocks of the Sandpoint Radius Film Festival when it kicks off Saturday, June 29, at the Panida Theater. Tickets are $8 per block or $15 to attend the entire festival. There are also higher-priced tickets which include donations to keep the festival going. Buy tickets online at https://filmfreeway.com/SandpointRadiusFilmFestival/tickets.
The number of U.S. Forest Service roads that have been blocked with a gate by Texas billionaires Dan and Farris Wilks. The Wilks brothers own thousands of acres in Idaho, and made waves last year when they gated off another road giving access to public land. The latest road in Valley County was gated off just last week.
2
A second case of measles was reported in the Idaho Panhandle. The patient in Latah County (Moscow’s county) was the second person to contract measles in North Idaho. They were reportedly related to a young child who contracted the first case after international travel. Anyone who attended Trinity Reformed Church in Moscow on May 26 or Gritman Medical Center on May 31 may have been exposed to the virus.
June 13, 2019 / R / 21
HISTORY
? e m a n a What’s in
Part 3
cal placenames
ing the origins of our lo An ongoing series explor
By Ben Olson Reader Staff
This is the third installment of an ongoing series exploring the origins of where we got some of our placenames from. Last week, we covered Sagle, Schweitzer, Colburn, Selle, Hope and Oden. This week, more local history brought back to life. Newport/Oldtown There’s some question as to the origins of the name Newport. My research showed it was named as such in 1890 because it was the “new port” after Albeni Poirer established a trading post and steamship port on the Pend Oreille River. The steamboats ferried settlers in the Pend Oreille Valley. Present-day Newport is actually the second town of that name, the first located at the current site of Oldtown across the Pend Oreille River. Old Newport (on the Idaho side of the river) eventually dwindled and was renamed Oldtown in 1947. Albeni Falls Dam was, of course, named for Albeni Poirer. One alternate theory that local historian Nancy Foster Renk suggested was that a man named Mike Kelly opened a store and post office with the name of Newport, Idaho. According to Renk, the completion of the Great Northern Railroad in 1892 brought more business but when the depot burned, Great Northern built the new depot across the river, leading to the growth of the town on the Washington side. The original town (Oldtown) dwindled over the years after the move across the river. Scotchman Peak The name of this majestic peak wasn’t named after a Scot. Local writer Sandy Compton shared a story about his grandmother Mariam Clayton showing him the eastern profile of the peak, which resembled a “craggy-faced man
22 / R / June 13, 2019
The Talache Silver Mill in its heyday. You can still see remnants of the works to this day. Photo courtesy Bonner Co. Historical Society.
laying on his back” with a ruffle at his neck like an old-fashioned Scot might wear. But Sandy has been known to spin a yarn or two, so this story may change after a few beers. Talache The Pend Oreille Review ran a story on Nov. 30, 1917 headlined, “Village of Talache springs into existence.” According to the article, what started with a single miner’s cabin beside the lake grew into Henry H. Armstead’s mining camp. Prior to the name “Talache” the settlement was referred to as “Blacktail.” It boasted a population of 125 people, a company store, a post office and seven cottages to be used by “married employees.” Over 100 of the village’s inhabitants were employed at the Talache Mine, amounting to a payroll of $15,000 a month. The article stated, “The postoffice, heretofore known as Blacktail, has been changed and will hereafter be called Talache, which being interpreted means ‘miner’s pick.’ Armstead was a New York mining engineer who purchased the mine in March 1917. Prior to Arm-
stead’s purchase, the mines were known as the “Keystone mines of Blacktail.” The mine shaft can still be seen at present-day Talache beside the shores of Lake Pend Oreille. Denton Denton Slough, just east of Beyond Hope, is a shallow waterway that supports many submerged plant life and wildlife, including a colony of more than 30 nests of Western Grebes. Local historian Chuck Peterson once told Nancy Foster Renk — another local historian — that Denton Slough was named for Dennis Thornton, an early resident in the area east of Hope. The rural school across from old Highway 200 west of the Sam Owen Fire Station was a small log cabin known as the Thornton School. An old newspaper archive from 1901 refers to Dennis Thornton as a “timber cruiser” for the “past two months” before leaving for their homes in Wisconsin. In James Carl Dahl’s publication “Bonner County Placenames,” Dahl wrote that a station
named Thornton (Dahl spelled it “Thorton”) was established in 1891 when a Northern Pacific Railway siding was constructed. The station was later moved, and the name “Denton” was used. Denton was a combination of “DENnis and thornTON.” Idaho I would be remiss if I didn’t cover the strange naming of our state. Several different theories have been introduced as to the origins of this word, but the truth is somewhat shrouded in mystery. The naming of the state can be traced back to a white man from Philadelphia named George Willing. He once fraudulently won an election as a delegate from the territory that later became Colorado (the results were never certified and he never officially took office). But, Willing first introduced that his territory should be named “Idaho,” an idea that found its way to the U.S. Senate in 1860. Willing claimed Idaho was derived from a Shoshone term meaning, “The sun comes from the mountains,” or “gem of
the mountains.” Boise historian Elizabeth Jacox said it was shortly before the name was ratified, lawmakers discovered it was a fraud. “At the very last minute, Idaho was pulled from the bill and it became ‘Colorado Territory’ instead,” Jacox said. But the name stuck. Locals in the Colorado Territory named a community “Idaho Springs.” Also, a county called “Idaho County” was created in the eastern Washington Territory. The county was supposedly named after a steamship named Idaho, which was launched on the Columbia River in 1860. It’s unclear which came first, the steamship or Willing’s sham of a name. But it persisted. When the Idaho Territory broke off from the Washington Territory a few years later, elected officials embraced the name, forgetting that it wasn’t a Native American term. It didn’t have any meaning at all, actually. That didn’t stop many textbooks well into the 20th century erroneously attributing the name “Idaho” from a Shoshone term “ee-da-how.” So, if you were to say our state was named after a hoax, you wouldn’t be wrong. Cocolalla The origins of the name of this small town south of Sandpoint are somewhat unclear. One source states that it is a Salish word meaning “very cold,” while another states it is an English derivation of a Coeur d’Alene Salish word meaning “deep water.” It is known that the Kalispel Tribe used Cocolalla Lake, carrying their boats overland from Sandpoint to fish. Next week: Travers, Dufort, Culver, Ellisport Bay, Westmond, and Samuels. Special thanks to local historians like Nancy Foster Renk and Bob Gunter, whose work I have checked to verify my conclusions. Also, very special thanks to the Bonner Co. Historical Society and Museum for keeping history alive.
MUSIC
Bring on the mid-week dance party
Mattox Farm Productions presents free, family-friendly Washington Trust Bank Sandpoint Summer Series in Farmin Park
By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff
A handful of nationally-touring bands will make their way into Farmin Park this summer to perform free, family-friendly shows, and if that sounds too good to be true, that’s because it’s the brainchild of Mattox Farm Productions. The Washington Trust Bank Sandpoint Summer Series will consist of three shows over the coming months, and is the latest effort by Mattox Farm founders Robb and Tasha Talbott to bring foot-tapping, story-rich and occasionally fiddle-ripping Americana to North Idaho. The first show in the series, set for June 19, will feature PNW “jamgrass” outfit Cascade Crescendo, which visited Sandpoint in 2017 and 2018 as part of previous Mattox Farm shows. “We’re always giddy when we see a Mattox Farm show on our calendar,” said Harrison Olk, banjo player and vocalist for the band. “We always look forward to coming back.” Olk said such easily accessible shows benefit both those in the community and the artists performing on stage. “As a band who is mainly playing venues, we may not always get to perform for younger or older audiences,” he said. “However, free, fami-
This week’s RLW by Ed Ohweiler
READ
One of the socalled “metaphysical” books I find myself returning to is “The Mastery of Love” by Don Miguel Ruiz. The tagline, “A Practical Guide to the Art of Relationship,” might lead you toward the relationship with your spouse, but it is also about your relationship with others, yourself, and the divine. And, like “The Four Agreements,” it is rooted in Ruiz’s shamanistic studies, personal journey, and Toltec wisdom.
LISTEN
Cascade Crescendo will play at Farmin Park Wednesday, June 19. Photo by Jason Charm Photography. ly-friendly shows provide us a conduit to that crowd.” Olk said such community-centric concerts also create a special “fellowship” among show-goers. “There’s always a great energy playing outside under the sun and sharing that moment with an attentive crowd,” he said. Seating at the June 19 show in Farmin Park will be available at 6 p.m. and the music will start at 6:30 p.m. Summer Series shows are kid-friendly, but dogs will not be allowed. All the shows are free to attend, including a July 17 performance from soulful R&B artist Lilla and an Aug. 21 show with blues-rock artists Jocelyn and Chris Arndt — the touring musicians who round out the series, showcasing Mattox Farm’s desire to
bring something for everyone to Sandpoint. The shows are all free thanks to several local sponsors, including the Pend Oreille Arts Council, KPND, Kochava, La Quinta, the Reader, Sandpoint Curry, the City of Sandpoint, Upside Kombucha and Eichardt’s. The lead sponsor is Washington Trust Bank, which Robb Talbott said is largely thanks to Sandpoint branch manager Nate Rench. Rench said the Summer Series is a chance to bring families out for not only great music, but everything
else Sandpoint — his hometown — has to offer. “Washington Trust Bank truly wants to see the communities that it serves to be thriving,” Rench said. “For me personally, I feel both lucky and honored that the place I work wants to bring good things to this community since this community has been so good to me. It makes me proud to go to work everyday.” For more information on the Washington Trust Bank Sandpoint Summer Series or to contact the Talbotts, visit www. mattoxfarm.com.
By Ben Olson Reader Staff
mash-up of bands will again hit the stage at Farmin Park in Sandpoint on Sunday, June 16 for a special rocking Father’s Day of music. The music goes from 3-7 p.m. with live music from CobraJet, High Trees n’ Ammunition and The Wow Wows. Bring a chair or blanket and whatever you’d like to eat and sit back with daddy-o for some good old fashioned hard rock bonding. Best of all? It’s totally free. You know your dad will love that.
Dads, get ready to rock Dads don’t ask for much, usually: get them a beer from the fridge, leave them some time to tinker in the garage, don’t talk over their favorite episode of “Pawn Stars.” With Father’s Day coming up this weekend, what better way to honor your pops than rocking out in the middle of Farmin Park? The annual hard rock
Kudos once again to our wonderful library for turning me on to yet another outstanding CD: “Bhangra Pirates” by Red Baraat. (Bhangra is traditional song and dance of Punjab that has been refined further by the Punjabi diaspora. The band itself hails from Brooklyn.) It has a manic energy I associate with Gogol Bordello, yet with even more going on when you consider the dhol and crazy percussion, horn section, and that unique brand of Indian scat that seems like a vocalization of the tabla.
WATCH
Next time you’re at the library, you might also want to check out the video Cave Digger, the story of Ra Paulette and his obsession with creating works of art by carving sandstone caves—completely by hand. Some are living spaces, some are sacred alters, but they start out as a vision by Ra and, after years, grow into something that—well, you just have to see for yourself. June 13, 2019 / R / 23
LITERATURE
Woolnough pens book about living with Parkinson’s Sandpoint Literary Collective to “On Fire” follows the author’s journey through 40 columns of work
By Ben Olson Reader Staff A former educator and principal of Sandpoint High School from 1992-2001, A.C. Woolnough is wellversed with the written word as a powerful form of expression. When he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2015, Woolnough again turned to the English language to cope with the diagnosis, as well as to share what it’s like to live with the disease. Shortly after his diagnosis, Woolnough began writing a monthly column for the now-defunct River Journal titled “All Shook Up.” After the River Journal went out of publication, Woolnough contacted the Reader and asked if there was any interest to continue the monthly effort. Woolnough’s column “Shake, Rattle and Roll” has appeared monthly in the Reader since 2017. “This column is to not be in denial,” Woolnough said. “If I’m writing about stuff happening to me, or people I know, it keeps it real. There are times I’ll go five or ten minutes without noticing any tremor and I’ll think, ‘What if they’re wrong?’ But it’s always there.” Earlier this year, Woolnough compiled more than 40 columns he’d written about Parkinson’s into a book called “One Fire: Reflections on a Journey Through Life with Parkinson’s Disease.” As noted neurologist Dr. David Sulzer wrote on the back cover, “His essays, suffused with humor and bravery, will be a source of inspiration, education, realism and hope for the increasing number
24 / R / June 13, 2019
A.C. Woolnough and “On Fire.” of affected patients and families, and will inspire you to become involved in the quest to eradicate this disease.” One of the biggest drives for Woolnough is to educate people about Parkinson’s who may not have had any exposure to it before. “I want to let people know it’s not a death sentence,” he said. “It can be ugly, but it has its own rewards.” One such bright side is Woolnough’s efforts to become involved with the research to eradicate Parkinson’s. “Every three years, there’s something called the World Parkinson Congress for people with PD, care partners, clinicians, researchers, therapists and family members,” Woolnough said. “It’s the only time and place where the entire community comes together.” Intrigued by the positive step forward the Congress showed, Woolnough applied to be an ambassador and was accepted. “For the last three years I’ve traveled around the country meeting people, speaking at support groups, at conferences, on the internet,” he said. “From being an ambassador, I was asked to be on the faculty, as they call it.”
Woolnough was invited to travel to Kyoto, Japan for this year’s conference, which just concluded. At the Congress, Woolnough emceed and moderated a roundtable discussion titled “Planet Researcher versus Planet Patient: How Can we Better Communicate and Collaborate.” I won’t go into specifics about the conference since Woolnough will most likely write about it in his column, but suffice it to say it’s a great honor. Woolnough said his greatest reward with the columns – and now the book – is impacting others’ lives. “I love the fact that one researcher bought 11 copies of the book,” Woolnough said. “One for himself and the others for each person in his lab.” Woolnough said he is honored to participate in research, mainly because he feels he can provide an actual “on the ground” assessment of what Parkinson’s patients go through on a daily basis. “Some researchers have never even met something with PD,” Woolnough said. “I’ll listen to scientists and tell them about quality of life issues. Like my wife will be wearing a new perfume, and I won’t be able to smell it. Unless I see the curds, I don’t know if milk has gone bad. I can’t tell the difference between Coke and Dr. Pepper. The scientists then say, ‘Oh. I understand.’” “On Fire” is for sale at Vanderford’s and The Corner Book Store in Sandpoint, or you may contact Woolnough directly at acwooly@gmail.com.
host first Author Dinner By Reader Staff
The Sandpoint Literary Collective will host its first semi-annual fundraiser, an Author Dinner at the Pack River Store, June 26 at 5 p.m. The delicious event is intended fill attendees’ minds and stomachs with the very best in NW cuisine, and to raise funds for SLC’s educational literary programs and events which benefit not only writers and writing professionals who are members of the group, but also all writers in the community. The event will feature Spokane writers Sam Ligon and Kate Lebo. Ligon is currently writing and publishing a serial novel — “Miller Cane: A True & Exact History” — which appears in fifty installments in Spokane’s weekly newspaper, The Inlander, as well as online, on Spokane Public Radio and as a podcast. Ligon is the author of four previous books of fiction, including two novels — “Among the Dead and Dreaming” and “Safe in Heaven Dead” — and two collections of stories, “Wonderland” (Lost Horse Press), illustrated by Stephen Knezovich, and “Drift and Swerve.” Ligon is co-editor with Lebo of “Pie & Whiskey: Writers Under the Influence of Butter and Booze.” His stories have appeared in the Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner, New England Review and elsewhere. His essays appear in The Inlander. He teaches at Eastern Washington University in Spokane, and is Artistic Director of the Port Townsend Writers’ Conference. Lebo’s writing was anthologized in “Best American Essays
Kate Lebo, left, and Sam Ligon. Courtesy photos. 2015,” and her first collection of nonfiction, “The Book of Difficult Fruit,” is forthcoming from FSG. She’s the author of “Pie School” and co-editor, with Ligon, of “Pie & Whiskey.” Through the Arts Heritage Apprenticeship program of the Washington Center for Cultural Traditions, she is an apprenticed cheesemaker to Lora Lea Misterly of Quillisascut Farm. The SLC Author Dinner begins at 5 p.m. with a no-host wine and beer reception and readings from Ligon and Lebo. Dinner will follow the readings. The special menu for the evening includes Frisée salad: Lardon of bacon, cherry tomatoes, poached egg and grilled bread with a lemon poppyseed dressing. The main course will be chicken fricassee with mushrooms and onions over mashed potatoes and local broccoli. Dessert is homemade strawberry shortcake. Pack River Store chef Alex Jacobsen’s tasty dinners sell out quickly, be sure to make reservations early by calling 208-263-2409. This event is $75 per person (tips for servers not included in this price). The Pack River Store is located at 1587 Rapid Lightning Road. For additional information, please call 208-255-4410 or email losthorsepress@mindspring.com.
SPORTS & OUTDOORS
Scenic Newport train offers June dates Ride the historic train June 22-23 during the Newport Rodeo weekend
By Ben Olson Reader Staff The Scenic Pend Oreille River Train, or SPORT, is offering June rides in addition to their regular fall color routes held in September and October. In conjunction with the popular Newport Rodeo, the SPORT will run special routes Saturday and Sunday, June 22 and 23, with departures at 1 and 3 p.m. each day. The train, owned and operated by Newport/Priest River Rotary Club the past three seasons, is the same historic train the North Pend Oreille Valley Lions Club operated for 35 years. It’s a pleasant 15-mile ride from Newport to the historic whistle-stop at Delkena, where a sawmill once operated. All in all, the trip takes under 90 minutes. “We’ve got seven cars altogether,” said upcoming Rotary president Ken Schueman. “There are three open cars and three enclosed cars, just like the old-fashioned railroad cars we rode in many years ago. Then there is also a caboose. The kids love the caboose because you can actually ride up in the cupola.” Schueman said the train dates back before World War II, with 1920s and 1930s era cars giving the ride a truly historic feel. The route follows the old railroad north from Newport to Delkena, tracing the footsteps of the Native Americans and later early French couriers d’bois who made their way north during the Klondike gold rush. Keep an eye out for the descendants of the nefarious train robbing Dalkena Wild Bunch Gang, also! “We have someone that talks about the area on the ride,” said Schueman. “We try to point out some of the features along the way.” One fun activity for kids of all ages is a wildlife viewing card, which alerts kids to look out for particular species and gives a checklist to check off what they see along the way. Wildlife seen along the route
Main: The 1920s and 1930s historic SPORT train in action. Inset: A view from inside one of the historic open seating train cars. Photo courtesy Newport/Priest River Rotary. includes river birds, eagles, deer, moose and much more. “We’ve not seen a bigfoot yet, but we’re still hoping,” Schueman joked. The proceeds from the train ride benefits the Newport/Priest River Rotary, a philanthropic organization which funds many essential community projects, including awarding $10,000 in scholarships just this year. All proceeds from the train will benefit community projects in Newport or Priest River. “I believe in the Rotary principles of honesty and integrity in everything you do,” Schueman said. “That’s the base for all the charitable work we do.” To reserve your seats on the SPORT, check out the website at www.sporttrainrides.com or call (877) 525-5226. The SPORT runs June 22-23 at 1 and 3 p.m. each day. Fall color rides take place Sept. 21 and 22 at 11 a.m., 1 and 3 p.m. each day, as well as Oct. 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, 20, 26 and 27 at 11 a.m., 1 and 3 p.m. each day. Tickets only cost $20 for adults, $15 for kids 3-12. Seniors 65 and older pay only $15 and kids three and under ride for free. Groups of 20 or more also receive a $3 per ticket discount. One of the open train cars is handicap accessible.
June 13, 2019 / R / 25
PERSPECTIVES
So long, Ol’ Blue By Ben Olson Reader Staff
I
try not to let possessions rule my life. It seems the older we get, the more crap we haul around with us. It used to be I could fit everything I owned in my car. The rest was just junk that could be dispatched without a sentimental feeling in the least. This was not the case last month when I sold my beloved pickup truck, Ol’ Blue. The period of time I owned and drove Ol’ Blue was one of the favorites of my life. It was 2011, and I had just returned to Sandpoint after living and writing in an RV for the better part of two years around the West. I’d only returned home to Sandpoint to connect with old friends for a weekend, but I met a girl, and we fell in love. A week later, I was signing the lease for an apartment and hanging up the itinerant life I’d been living since my college days.
From Northern Idaho News, Sept. 28, 1906
BURNED HIS GOLD WATCH AND MONEY Harry Haywood had the misfortune to lose $22 in money and a $75 gold watch, chain and charm Monday. He resides near the city dock and Monday morning placed his valuables in the kitchen stove for safe keeping. With Mrs. Haywood he had gone across the lake. He had asked a friend to go to the home and build a fire so the room would be warm on his return, and the friend, not knowing the valuables were in the stove, built a fire and burned the watch and money. 26 / R / June 13, 2019
I listed the RV for sale, asking twice what I paid for it after improving its condition considerably. I still remember the day when a gravel-voiced man named Dan called and said he’d like to take a look at the RV. Dan roared around the corner at our set meeting time in a blue 1980 Chevy Scottsdale short box. I always wanted an old bench seat pickup to tool around the back roads and take camping. That old Chevy was perfect: square and utilitarian – what a third grader would draw if you asked them to draw a pickup. Dan must’ve weighed 350 pounds. He opened the door to Ol’ Blue, and a half dozen spent beer cans clattered to the pavement. He alternated smoking a cigarette and hitting a plastic hose from an oxygen tank he wheeled around with him. In the passenger seat was a man as thin as Dan was fat. He was jittery and shy and never told me his name. Dan explained his thin friend had recently suffered some type of calamity and needed a place to live, so he was loaning him the money to get set up in an RV. “If you’re interested in that pickup there, I’d consider trading,” Dan told me. He and the thin man drove off to test drive the RV, leaving me with the keys to the blue Chevy. When I turned over the engine, that American-made steel and oil roared to life and purred like a cat. An outdoor cat, mind you, not one of those that piddles in a box. I drove it around the block and quickly returned, knowing that I wanted this truck. Oh, I wanted it badly. When Dan and the thin man returned, he said he’d pay me just over half of my asking price and throw in the Chevy. Since I had asked double what I paid for the RV, this actually meant I would be coming out $200 ahead and have a free truck. We shook hands, and I never even looked back as he drove off in my motorhome. My relationship with Cadie was only weeks old at this time. We were still feeling each other out, getting to know each other’s quirks and virtues. When I roared into her driveway in this blue pickup older than I was, with a black hood and four bald tires, lots of women would have widened their eyes, clicked their tongue and shaken their head. But Cadie came running out with a big smile on her face and said, “What is this!?” and demanded that
we go for a ride. She fell in love with Ol’ Blue just as I had. Over the next four or five years, we did everything in that old truck. We drove back roads and stopped in unknown places, making a bed in the back of Ol’ Blue so we could sleep under the stars. We strapped our canoe on the top and headed for the waters of Montana, Washington, Canada, Idaho – anywhere we damn well wanted. If it rained, we’d stretch a tarp over the bed and listen to it fall all night from our cocoon. One of the reasons Cadie and I fell in love was that truck and the amazing memories we shared in it. Swerving and narrowly missing a black bear in the heart of Glacier National Park. Driving down some godforsaken road between Priest River and Priest Lake to find one of the most tucked away camping spots ever (it was perfect, except for the mosquitoes). Lazy drives around the backcountry, stopping to drink beer and build a fire, then realizing we were too drunk to drive home so we’d just sleep in the back. Like any sentient being, Ol’ Blue was prone to unexpected bouts of temperament. Occasionally, like a stubborn mule, he wouldn’t start. Or he would die and you’d have to wait a few hours before he’d be ready again. One time he left us stuck on a mountain road halfway to Lunch Peak. Another time we were left high and dry on a drive back from Green Bay. Still another, the front tire almost fell off because the lug nuts were somehow loosening. But there are silver linings to these calamities. On the way to Lunch Peak we just camped in a beautiful spot and started Ol’ Blue later that night. In Sagle, we walked around the Sagle Elementary School baseball diamond where I remember playing Little League as a kid, then hitchhiked into town and got picked up by a childhood friend I hadn’t seen in years. In the days before I was running the Reader, I was working odd jobs, trying to figure out a way to live in my hometown again. I worked for Ted Bowers pulling nails out of reclaimed lumber and helping him construct outbuildings and horse barns. I spent countless days in the woods, listening to books on tape I’d rented from the Library and searching for downed wood to buck up and haul home. I managed to live one winter on the money I’d made selling cords of wood, each one
gained through backbreaking work. The work was doubly hard on Ol’ Blue. He wasn’t a spry young truck anymore. One season I used him as a yarder, hooking up a chain and pulley to tow tons of big logs that fell after the blowdown. That was the beginning of his decline. I started to notice he was having more and more trouble getting up the hills. Sometimes he would die mid-hill and I’d have to wrangle the steering wheel with no power steering until I either got him in the ditch, or safely to the bottom of the hill. Once, delivering two cords in a trailer, he refused to navigate up a hill, and I ended up jackknifing and losing the load. Once, while pulling our band trailer out to a gig at SummerFest, it became evident that he wouldn’t be able to pull the trailer home up the hills we’d come down. I had to detach the trailer and come back to pick it up with another rig. Then I bought a newer truck. Still 20 years old, but this one was reliable and trustworthy – and didn’t burn eight miles to the gallon. I began driving Ol’ Blue less and less, thinking that I was saving the end of his life as a truck I’d keep on a farm, or my future land, that I could ramble about gathering brush with, just like my old days gathering firewood. But time keeps flying by. As the years pile up, I realize that maybe I won’t ever be able to own a house here, or land or anything other than the things that clutter my rented apartment. Maybe Ol’ Blue would just waste away, parked in the back alley, covered with snow, baked by the sun, blanketed with leaves, and repeat. I decided that I’d rather see my old truck go to someone who could give him another life than greedily hold onto this connection to my past. I listed him for sale on Craiglist, asking a ridiculously high number because I knew nobody would buy it for that. And nobody did. And another winter went by. But this spring, a man left a note on the windshield of Ol’ Blue saying he’d be interested. He had a friend who liked to rod out these old trucks, drop huge engines in them and make them roar with a youth they never had before. He made a fair offer and, as if I was watching myself from afar, I heard the words come out of my mouth, “OK, deal.”
He said he’d be there in an hour with a flatbed trailer. I changed out of my work clothes into my firewood-gathering Miller High Life shirt and got to work. I jacked up Ol’ Blue and filled two flat tires. I jumped the old battery in the hopes it still had life left (it didn’t). The man showed up with a new battery and after a bit of fussing, Ol’ Blue fired right up for the first time in over a year, just as loud and bossy as he was the day I met him. I took position on that old bench seat and clicked him into gear one last time, swung him out into the street and onto the man’s trailer. We completed the sale and I gave the man the title and the key, and stood in the street to watch him take Ol’ Blue away. I couldn’t help crying like I’d lost an old friend. Because I did. In the end, just like love, sometimes you have to let things go. Ol’ Blue has a chance at a new life in Montana. Maybe he’ll feel the wind in his grill again as a hot rod. Maybe he’ll roam new back roads looking for firewood, a fishing hole, or just a good place to pull off by the river to have a beer. Maybe someone else will find love, as I did, thanks to that beautiful old blue pickup. Here’s to your next life, Ol’ Blue.
Crossword Solution
Most of the time it was probably real bad being stuck down in a dungeon. But some days, when there was a bad storm outside, you’d look out your little window and think, “Boy, I’m glad I’m not out in that.”
Copyright www.mirroreyes.com
CROSSWORD ACROSS 1. Hoodwink 5. Defects 10. Agile 14. River of Spain 15. Parts portrayed 16. Not false 17. Wastefulness 19. Somersault 20. Levy 21. Of a pelvic bone 22. Tropical nut 23. Astringent 25. A religion based on sorcery 27. And so forth 28. People who smile offensively 31. Keno 34. Affair 35. Comes after Mi and Fah 36. Not legs 37. Noise 38. Quash 39. Hit on the head 40. Threw 41. Levelled 42. Guiding /fee-KUHND / 44. French for “Good” [adjective] 45. Bumbling of the 1. very productive or creative intellectually 46. Campaign 50. Expensive fur “The fecund years of the Renaissance produced a lot of classic works.” 52. Vibes Corrections: Last week in the story about the goose poop at City Beach, we referred to the geese as “Canadian” Geese, but the proper name is “Canada 54. Public transit vehicle Geese.” Thanks, birders, for your diligent attention on this important matter. -BO 55. 62 in Roman numerals
Word Week
fecund
Solution on page 26 56. Instructions 58. “Oh my!” 59. Come together 60. Cut into cubes 61. Left 62. Academy award 63. Beers
DOWN 1. Liabilities 2. Submarine 3. Representative 4. A very long period 5. Cavort 6. Reasonable judgment 7. Diatom 8. Very cordial 9. South southeast
10. Stripe 11. Credence tables 12. Govern 13. Scream 18. Repeat 22. Large mass of ice 24. Writing implements 26. Fasten 28. Catapulted 29. Learning method 30. Not barefoot 31. Hindu Mr. 32. God of love 33. Lives on land and in water 34. Decorative water springs 37. Faux pas
38. Campers 40. No charge 41. Get out of bed 43. Sign up 44. Stimulating drink 46. Calcium carbonate 47. Agitated 48. Numbskull 49. S S S S 50. Shredded cabbage 51. Spindle 53. Relating to urine 56. Twosome 57. Actress Lupino
June 13, 2019 / R / 27