Reader_October28_2023

2 / R / October 26, 2023

DEAR READERS,

The week in random review

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

my kids’ costumes ‘rock’

At a certain point during my childhood, my Halloween costumes became pretty uninspired. I was Dracula and the Grim Reaper at least twice each, and Sherlock Holmes about three times. My kids are better at it than me — especially this year. Last year they were spot-on renditions of Wednesday and Gomez Addams, and this time around my son is going as a “stereotypical Russian guy” and my daughter is — get this — Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. For my son, this means dressing in a black Adidas tracksuit, white Adidas shoes, a ushanka and red T-shirt featuring a big yellow star. My daughter, meanwhile, is dressing as The Rock as he appeared in the ’90s: black turtleneck, gold chain, jeans and a fanny pack. We’ve all seen the picture of 1990s Dwayne Johnson, I’m just mystified about where she saw it. Meanwhile, USA Today tells me that “Barbie” has replaced “witch” as the most-searched-for Halloween costume in 2023. My wife and I have either done something very right or very wrong with their upbringing.

getting the wood in

With so much chaos occurring everywhere from the global stage to little ol’ Sandpoint, the highlight of my week has been getting my firewood in. I grew up in a house with wood as its sole source of heat, but can’t say I much enjoyed the process of splitting, stacking and hauling it. That has changed dramatically over the past four years. Alas, I’m too busy to go out into the forest and get my wood, as we used to when I was a kid, so I settle for having it delivered. Still, it must be split and stacked and hauled, which are activities that I now find deeply satisfying, healthful and ritualistic. It’s a simple, but vital, activity that I hesitate to call a chore. It’s something that reaffirms me as a local boy at a time when that often doesn’t feel so great.

media rich

Over the past week, as we’ve had multiple high-profile community conversations about public involvement in local affairs, I’ve been reminded of the vital role played by our local media institutions. This is not an exercise in horn-tooting, but a recognition that I’m not sure many residents are fully aware of how lucky they are to live in a place so rich in local media options (nor do they avail themselves of it enough). It is uncommonly rare for an area of our population size to have both daily and weekly newspapers. We also have several Sandpoint-based radio channels, as well as magazines. Beyond that, there’s Spokane media, including another daily and weekly, three major TV stations and more than a dozen radio stations covering the market. I argue that people in Bonner County are better served by local and regional media, per capita, than most communities in the country. We often say “read the Reader,” but we should all read, listen and watch everything else we have available to us in the way of local news and entertainment sources.

Brrr. I hope everyone enjoyed the brief fall, because winter is here. Nah, just kidding. We’ll probably have one or two more mild days before the cold sets in for real.

One of my most vivid childhood memories is getting dressed up for Halloween with “Monster Mash” playing in the background, then loading up and driving to “the big city” to trick-or-treat in Sandpoint. Most years, our costumes were covered up by bulky jackets, and we wouldn’t get warm until returning home, but it was always fun.

For those still determining who they’re going to vote for in the Nov. 7 election, another candidates’ forum has been set, this time hosted by the Bonner County Daily Bee. The forum will be at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 30 at the Sandpoint Library. In addition to candidates from Sandpoint mayoral and Sandpoint City Council races, the Bee will host candidates from Clark Fork, Dover, East Hope, LPOSD and WBCSD. To submit questions, send to clobsinger@bonnercountydailybee.com. Thanks to the Bee for hosting this forum. It’s always a good idea to be informed.

– Ben Olson, publisher

READER 111 Cedar Street, Suite 9 Sandpoint, ID 83864 208-946-4368

sandpointreader.com Publisher: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com Editorial: Zach Hagadone (Editor) zach@sandpointreader.com Soncirey Mitchell (Staff Writer) soncirey@sandpointreader.com Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey (emeritus) Cameron Rasmusson (emeritus) John Reuter (emeritus) Advertising: Kelsey Kizer kelsey@sandpointreader.com Contributing Artists: Ben Olson (cover design), Jeanelle Shields, Sue and Larry Smith, Dee Ann Smith, Terry Owens, Dennis and Cherry Clark, Bill Borders Contributing Writers: Zach Hagadone, Ben Olson, Soncirey Mitchell, Lorraine H. Marie, Brenden Bobby, Emily Erickson, Jim Mitsui, L.S. Jones, Amy Craven, Alan Ball, Teresa Pesche, Brenda Hammond, Mitchell Etheridge, Jim Jones, Sandy Compton Submit stories to: stories@sandpointreader.com Printed weekly at: Tribune Publishing Co. Lewiston, ID Subscription Price: $165 per year Web Content: Keokee The Sandpoint Reader is a weekly publication owned and operated by Ben Olson and Keokee. It is devoted to the arts, entertainment, politics and lifestyle in and around Sandpoint, Idaho.

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

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

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

Requirements: –No more than 300 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: sandpointreader.com About the Cover

This week’s cover was designed

by Ben Olson.

October 26, 2023 / R / 3

NEWS

‘We’re burned out’

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

Amid public forum testimony at the Sept. 20 meeting of the Sandpoint City Council, mostly dominated by talk of the Travers Park trees, two members of the Selkirk Fire Department came forward with serious concerns about the direction of local fire protection services.

“I’m basically here to talk about retention; it’s kind of a massive problem in the fire department right now,” testified Clint Frank, an engineer with Selkirk Fire, 21year veteran of the department and president of the Selkirk Firefighters Local 2319 union.

He went on to tell councilors that Selkirk Fire has lost four firefighters in the past six months and six in the past year and a half or so. That has left a total of nine personnel — including Chief Gavin Gilcrease — though with firefighters on leave or off duty, on any given day there are about six at work throughout the district, which covers 194 square miles and includes between 30,000 and 35,000 people.

Frank said that while higher wages in surrounding fire departments has been a draw, “the heart of the matter is inadequate staffing, a lack of operational support and leadership of the JPA — specifically the JPA chair.”

The JPA refers to the joint powers agreement in 2015 that consolidated the Sagle Fire District and Sandpoint Fire Department into Selkirk Fire, Rescue and EMS. Westside Fire joined in 2016, allowing the three jurisdictions to share resources, including a chief and assistant chief, though their finances remain separate.

A board of commissioners governs the JPA, represented by two members each from the Sandpoint City Council, Sagle Fire and Westside Fire districts, as well as a member of the community. Sandpoint City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton serves in a non-voting capacity as executive director.

“Under current leadership we’ve seen staffing decrease and battalion chief positions eliminated,” Frank testified, going on 4 / R / October 26, 2023

to refer to the Fitch Emergency Response Study, paid for with $45,000 from each agency in 2020 and which recommended that battalion chiefs — of which Selkirk Fire once had three, serving directly below the chief and adjacent to the assistant chief — be assigned supervisory and managerial duties held by the assistant chief and the latter position eliminated.

In the last round of contract negotiations in 2021, the battalion chiefs were stricken from the organizational chart and the department returned to a fire chief and deputy fire chief leadership model.

“These decisions over the last couple of years directly affect operational readiness, outcomes, staff morale and firefighter safety,” Frank told the council.

“Our No. 1 priority is to provide the best emergency response to Bonner County,” he added. “If we keep losing good firefighters, this will suffer. We are respectfully asking for a change in leadership for the JPA. We believe this will benefit the department and the communities we serve.”

Later in the Sept. 20 meeting, firefighter Jeff Calhoun — who has been with the department for 11 years and formerly served as a battalion chief — testified that he’d brought to the council’s attention the issue of single-person engines and understaffed stations within the Selkirk Fire service area in March, but “got zero response.”

“I’m back to say single-person stations and understaffed engines are a legal liability,” he said. “Leadership needs to change. Leadership needs to get more progressive toward the future and growth that Sandpoint has already seen.”

Calhoun added that Frank’s was the last new firefighter position hired

by Sandpoint — all other hires have been to fill vacancies, rather than create new positions — and that occurred in 2002. Frank is currently 50 years old, Calhoun noted.

Selkirk Fire operates stations in Careywood, Dover, Sagle, Sandpoint and Wrenco. The Careywood station has a staff of two; Dover has no dedicated staff, though personnel rotate in and out as needed; Sagle has two firefighters on staff; and Sandpoint — Station No. 1 —

Selkirk Fire personnel speak out on staffing shortage, call for change in leadership

Selkirk Fire Engineer Clint Frank. File photo.

Selkirk Fire Captain Jake Hilton. File photo.

has three on duty.

Personnel are deployed as needed, which can leave stations — other than Sandpoint — either working down to one firefighter on staff or empty. Additional satellite stations in Bottle Bay, Cocolalla, Laclede and Seneacquoteen are unstaffed, according to the Selkirk Fire website.

“Our fire department has asked for new hires and new safety equipment over the last three years only to be denied by leadership,” Calhoun said at the Sept. 20 meeting.

“Again, we’ve lost six firefighters/ captains in the last year and a half, four in the last six months to go work for better pay, better leadership at other nearby fire departments. How would you feel going to a house fire by yourself knowing that your next help would be 10 to 15 minutes behind you? Please help Selkirk Fire be a more robust department with leadership changes and funding to better serve the deserving public. Don’t compromise my safety and yours.”

careers when they’re vested in the state of Idaho with PERSI with six, seven years left in their careers,” Frank told the Reader in an interview. “What you’ll hear is a lot of folks are just leaving for more money. That’s true, they’re better funded in Kootenai County, Spokane County — they’re better funded. But the larger issue is the influence of the JPA executive director, lack of proper funding and operational leadership.”

What’s more, Frank is looking at early retirement in spring 2024, as is Captain Jake Hilton, who has been with the department for nearly 31 years.

“The stress of knowing that we’re so understaffed is driving me to consider resigning and doing something else as a career,” Hilton told the Reader in an interview.

“The reason I don’t is that I know that I’ll then create a vacancy that one of my coworkers will have to fill. … I don’t want to sound like a whiny fireman, but my back is covered in straw and it wouldn’t take me much to walk away right now, and I have to tell you one of the reasons I don’t is the love and respect of my coworkers. If they have to be in it then I might as well embrace the suck and be with them.”

“It’s not the money that’s making me want to leave and have another career. I’ve made do with this career for 30 years, 27 full-time,” he added. “I don’t feel valued.”

Hilton said that he joined as a volunteer in 1993, was hired full-time in 1997 and promoted to captain in 1999.

‘Micromanagement’ According to a list provided to the Reader by Frank, since early 2021, when battalion chiefs were eliminated in the last contract negotiation with the union, three captains have left — two with more than 20 years of experience — one engineer retired early and two firefighters went elsewhere. Of those, two of the captains and both firefighters opted to take probationary firefighter jobs in other departments.

“People don’t leave 20-year

“We’ve gone through a few chiefs … and a couple of years ago the city, specifically Jennifer Stapleton, approached the three fire districts and said basically, ‘If you don’t let the city of Sandpoint assume all the employees and positions, Sandpoint’s going to drop out [of the JPA],” he said.

“There was a lot of us that didn’t want it to happen. To me, yes, it seemed like a power play — a way to control this agency and bring it under one umbrella,” he added. “Speaking for myself, I told people that if I were them, in their situation, I wouldn’t want to work for the city of Sandpoint.”

Hilton said Selkirk Fire currently suffers from “micromanagement from the very top,” with directives and policies that make it difficult — or downright dangerous — for firefighters to do their jobs.

One example he offered came this past summer, when the department was operating under a former directive not to take fire trucks on medical calls.

“Which is fine, I guess we can do that, but we were directed to take a particular vehicle that didn’t have any water on it,” he said.

“When we’re out and about we can get any kind of call.”

In this particular case, that’s what happened.

“Case in point, the guys who were out on the medical call that day, in a truck with no water, no firefighting equipment, were dispatched to a structure fire at one of the churches in town. They managed to put it out using the two-and-a-half-gallon water can that we carry in every truck and a garden hose that’s sitting outside the church,” he said, adding that while the Sandpoint station is now empowered to respond to medical calls with the ladder truck, the other stations are still directed to leave their engines in the garage and respond to non-fire emergencies using the brush truck.

“We don’t have enough staffing to where when you get a medical call you can send two guys out to a medical call on a brush truck or a rescue vehicle and leave two guys back at the station with the structure fire fighting equipment,”

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Hilton said. “It’s just two of us. We have to take all of our tools with us every time.”

That’s a scary scenario, he said, particularly in cases where a response may require a rescue and a crew isn’t carrying the proper equipment.

“That is first and foremost in our minds is the ability to try to effect a rescue. Without the stuff on the engine or the truck, that’s not going to happen,” Hilton said.

“Honestly, we’re MacGyvers.

We have to figure out what’s going on and how to facilitate the end of that process with what we have,” Calhoun said.

‘It’s a process’ Chief Gilcrease, who joined the department from St. Johns, S.C. in August 2021, chalked up the wave of departures from Selkirk Fire to a combination of more, better-paying jobs in the region and expanding retirements across the fire service in general.

“I don’t necessarily think it’s a retention issue; I believe we’re in a period of opportunity that hasn’t been there before,” he told the Reader in an interview at City Hall. “There’s opportunities out there right now that I don’t think existed going back five years ago.”

Specifically, Gilcrease pointed to the rapid growth in Kootenai and Spokane counties to the south, and, for the first time, Sandpoint has been caught in the recruitment net for those larger communities.

For example, he said, firefighters can leave a community like Sandpoint for Spokane and after three years be making more than $100,000 as a firefighter.

“There’s no way we can compete with that. That’s just not our market,” he added.

Those who have left Selkirk Fire did so to seek higher pay or pursue other private sector employment, Gilcrease said. Meanwhile, the city has posted two openings in the department and 42 applicants have already come forward, he added.

Stapleton echoed Gilcrease, saying, “across the government sector we’ve talked about hitting retirements in general in the workforce and in government it’s a retirement cliff that’s more significant than what you’re seeing in the private sector. … Just in our fire service here, we’ve got several who meet their retirement eligibility in the next year.”

Frank, Hilton and Calhoun — all of whom are considering retirement next year or in the immediate coming years — push back against the idea that their colleagues are leaving solely for more money or that those departures can be rightly called retirements or opportunity seeking. Rather, they characterize them as resignations.

“The reason that they’re leaving, it’s a hot point. What do we need to do to stop this? What is the contributing factor to stop it?” Calhoun told the Reader in a phone interview. “And so that’s why I will retire soon, in three years, but it’s like, we need to change this culture.”

Calhoun, like Frank and Hilton, chalks the problem up to leadership.

“I think it’s the city administration; the head of the JPA, and the reason I say that is because in the three to four years that we’ve been under this umbrella, this person has misinformationed everything that has come out in regards to people leaving,” he said, later adding, “When you lose a person who as been a battalion chief, that has 20, 21, 22 years of service, that leaves to work as a probationary firefighter for another department — I mean, they’re going from, ‘I’ll tell you what to do,’ to, ‘You tell me what to do,’ for $81,000 a year because this is so broken — that’s a glaring issue.”

Calhoun, as well as Hilton, also criticized Gilcrease’s leadership, with Calhoun saying, “The problem we have is I can’t go to my boss [with a problem] and they fix it. When you go to your ‘boss’ and they don’t do anything, what do you have to do? I have to look out

for myself and that’s kind of where we’re all at.”

“I think Chief Gilcrease is good at following directions from his superiors,” Hilton said. “In most cases we don’t know why we’re being told to do this or do that.

Even if we were told ‘why’ we would be able to understand what the end game is. There’s almost no communication. …

“We’re burned out. We’re burned out,” he added. “This model is unsustainable.”

Both Gilcrease and Stapleton said that growing the department is easier said than done. According to Gilcrease, the hope is that voters will approve a levy next spring that could bring staffing up to two at the Wrenco station and ensure that Sagle Fire stations remain filled at all times.

Combined, Westside and Sagle Fire, which include Dover and Wrenco and Sagle and Careywood, respectively, need three more fulltime equivalent employees, which represents an 80% budget increase for Westside and an 18% hike for Sagle. Most of that expense is personnel salaries and benefits, which Gilcrease said would total about $300,000. Assuming one of those hires is an officer, that number would be more like $400,000.

“It’s not something that just all of sudden showed up. We’ve looked at it for a while now,” Gilcrease said, later adding, “It’s a process, it’s not like we’re just going to go out and hire 12 people.”

However, he agreed that single-person trucks are inefficient and unsafe, which is why the department changed its response policy around the new year so that if a call goes out requiring a station to work down to one person on staff, the responder would be accompanied by a second engine.

“We don’t want them going out alone,” Gilcrease said. “It was an effective way to kind of help that situation until we could get more staffing … we needed something as a stopgap so that’s what we came up with and that’s what we’re running with right now until

we can get those positions filled or created, as the case may be.”

What’s more, Gilcrease said that when he entered the chief’s position, it had been policy that if the sole person on staff in Westside was out on leave, they would “just brown out that station.”

“We corrected that, we don’t brown out that station anymore,” he said.

Stapleton said leave taken by fire personnel is one of the contributing factors to staffing stresses.

“We’ve had times when it’s more than a third of the workforce has been out simultaneously at a given time, and the level of leave that we have seen in that service area is something we have never seen across our entire entity in any single department ever,” she said.

“Not currently, not in the past, when we have so many people out on leave simultaneously, and that impacts staffing with stations potentially staffed with only one person, one person in a rig, and to add to that people being called back in on overtime.

“It’s really hamstrung the agencies with the amount of leave that has existed with fire services.

The overtime budgets for all three agencies have been blown to smithereens.”

All that said, Stapleton noted that the Sandpoint station has never worked down to one person on staff.

“We’ve talked about staffing levels and the need to add more staffing in Sandpoint at some point with the population growth, that’s going to be a reality but that reality is not today,” she said, going on to refer to the Fitch study, which she said indicated that, “based on the numbers then, the types of calls, they did not recommend that we needed an increase in staffing.

And we haven’t seen a substantial increase in calls or types of calls that would justify something different since that time, but it is on the horizon — probably in the next five years Sandpoint’s going to need to look at adding addition-

Selkirk Firefighters who have resigned or retired early in the past year and a half.

From left to right: Britain Whitley, Jeff Littlefield, Mike Gow, Pete Shappanus, Tyler Antilla, Blake Beard (with coffee cup). Note: Nick Krom (with thumbs up) is still with the department. Courtesy photos. al staffing.”

According to Calhoun, the crisis is ongoing. “It’s absolutely chaos,” he said.

“If we get a call in North Side, because we have an agreement with North Side, and we’re staffed with two, we leave the department and head to North Side to help them out. Station 5, which is Wrenco, comes in — which is a single-person station — which it should never be, it’s not even national standards, so they come into Station 1 to cover,” he said.

“So if you have a house fire at your house, you’re getting one person,” he added. “So if one person shows up, and say grandma’s in the second story, you need to rescue grandma. National standards tell us two in, two out. Which means I will not go into that house until a second response shows up.

Your second response is anywhere from 15 to 18 minutes away. So, read what you want into it, but grandma’s probably not going to survive that fire.”

The national standards are guidelines, however, and Sandpoint has never been able to field adequate staff to meet them.

“If we were to do things by the book, we’d have to stand outside and watch it burn before two more firefighters showed up,” Hilton said.

For Calhoun, that’s a liability issue. Slower response times are one thing, but another is that firefighters go into incident response itself without someone watching their back.

“You have to prove that you’re running an emergency system that’s going to negate the legal liability side of it,” he said, “but I can’t prove that I wasn’t negligent in terms of driving, for instance, if I’m one person.”

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October 26, 2023 / R / 5

NEWS

Panida hires Robb Talbott as new executive director

By Reader Staff The Panida Theater announced the appointment of Robb Talbott as its new executive director Oct. 25, effective in November.

Talbott brings to the Panida expertise in event coordination, promotion and production through his experience as the owner of Mattox Farm Productions and manager of the Heartwood Center.

“The board welcomes Robb as the Panida continues to move forward with the Century Fund,” said Jim Healey, chair of the Panida Board of Directors. “His experience with event production and promotion coupled with his passion for the arts, and his relationships in our community will serve him well in the executive director position.”

Talbott is a graduate of Radford University in Virginia with a degree in social science. After college, Talbott spent a decade in public and private schools teaching high school history, government and economics. His love of the outdoors, and a job teaching, brought him to the Sandpoint area in 2013. In 2017, he created Mattox Farm Productions and transitioned into the world of event production, advertising and coordination.

Since then, Mattox Farm Productions has worked with businesses and nonprofits across Bonner and Boundary counties to put together family friendly concerts and events including the Sandpoint Summer Music Series, SledFest, Jack Frost Fest and SummerFest.

It was in April 2017 when Talbott put together his first public event, which occurred at the Panida.

“If it were not for the Panida, I’m not 6 / R / October 26, 2023

New Panida executive director Robb Talbott and family. Courtesy photo. sure if my current career would have been possible,” he said. “My first five events took place in the Panida with the help of Patricia [Walker], Becky [Revak] and the volunteers here at the Panida Theater.”

Since then, Talbott has worked in more than two dozen venues across North Idaho and enjoys bringing his community together in family friendly spaces.

“I love being a part of a thriving arts community, it feels good knowing my kids get to grow up in a very special place,” he said. “And it is rewarding to be able to play a role in bringing a variety of arts and entertainment to our town.”

Talbott and his wife Natasha were drawn here by the natural beauty and the people.

According to Talbott, “Originally it was the mountains, snow and lake that drew us here, but it has been the people that made Sandpoint home.”

Every chance they get, the Talbotts and their two children are out hiking, biking, skiing or playing on the lake. Talbott also spent seven winters as a ski patroller at Schweitzer and still gets up there every chance he can.

“It is an honor to be a part of the history of such an amazing venue and community minded organization,” he said. “I look forward to building off of the progress that has been made by those that have spent so much time and energy making the Panida such an integral part of our community. As we approach the 100-year anniversary we have an opportunity to take some important steps forward in ensuring that the Panida will be here for many more generations to enjoy.”

Bits ’n’ Pieces From east, west and beyond

East, west or beyond, sooner or later events elsewhere may have a local impact. A recent sampling: Of the 19 defendants (including former-President Donald Trump) accused in Georgia of plotting to overturn 2020 presidential election results, recently three entered into plea agreements: attorney Kenneth Chesebro pleaded guilty to a felony charge of conspiracy to commit filing of false documents. He will get five years probation. Attorney Sidney Powell pleaded guilty to several misdemeanors to receive reduced charges and gets six years probation. Attorney Jenna Ellis, who faced charges of attempted election subversion, has pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings, The Guardian reported. Ellis will get five years probation.

After three weeks without a House Speaker, a new slate of speaker candidates faces scrutiny. News sources pointed out that of the candidates listed earlier this week, most had voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Lack of a speaker has put House business on hold, including addressing the federal budget, which, if not passed by Friday, Nov. 17, threatens a government shutdown.

Trump has spent “tens of millions” in donor cash on attorneys to deal with the cascade of legal cases against him, ABC recently reported. Campaign finance experts say that use of campaign funds “appears to conflict” with a federal ban on personal use of donor dollars.

In a New York courtroom where Trump faces civil fraud charges, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen stated on Oct. 23 that Trump Organization assets were valued at “whatever number” Trump wanted, The Guardian reported, implicating his boss in fraudulent property valuation.

ABC wrote that Trump’s former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has “flipped” and will testify against Trump regarding his administration’s post-2020 election denial activities.

Pro-democracy advocates in Poland are “cautiously happy” after their recent election, when the right-wing Law and Justice party, in power for eight years, did not win a majority of seats, The Guardian reported. Resistance to L&J included strong disagreement with their anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ stance.

The Associated Press recently released its report examining the consequences of presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s dissemination of misleading informa-

By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist

tion about vaccines. Contrary to an initial report of a 12-year-old collapsing and dying at football practice in 2022 — which was attributed by some to a COVID-19 vaccination — the athlete had never been vaccinated, the AP found.

Regardless, his photo was placed on the cover of a book that appealed to anti-vaxxers. The boy died of a malformed blood vessel in his brain, yet his parents encountered resistance to having the story corrected in a book featuring a forward

by Kennedy. The book included reports of COVID-19 vaccine sudden death in young people and was printed in partnership with Kennedy’s anti-vaccine nonprofit, Children’s Health Defense.

In the book’s forward, Kennedy stated that, “COVID shots are a crime against humanity.” Examples of fallout from Kennedy’s anti-vaccine activism, according to the AP, include inciting threats against health officials. As well, there’ve been increased deaths of unvaccinated children from measles in Samoa after Kennedy spoke there against vaccination. A nurse in the country had incorrectly mixed a vaccine with a muscle relaxant, which killed two children, adding to Samoans’ vaccine distrust.

In an Oct. 19 speech, President Joe Biden gave reasons for the U.S. seeking funds for Israel and Ukraine: “History has taught us that when terrorists don’t pay a price for their terror, when dictators don’t pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos and death and more destruction.” He said the U.S. wants the Middle East stabilized and is committed to the Palestinian people, who Israel is bombing and blockading in response to a Hamas attack Oct. 7. According to various sources, Biden has emphasized that Israeli leaders need to “operate by the laws of war.” Israel has allowed limited aid to Gaza; but, according to aid workers, it’s insufficient to meet far greater needs triggered by Israel ordering half of Gaza — more than 1 million people — to vacate to avoid being regarded as terrorists if Israel invades.

According to The Lever, mainstream media coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict has been skewed: so many chosen for comment are former defense officials who have become defense-industry consultants, but are not identified as such.

Blast from the past: Historians point out that the U.S. Constitution has no reference to God, Jesus or Christianity. Originally the Pledge of Allegiance was secular, and “In God We Trust” was not adopted as the nation’s official motto until 1956.

NEWS

BOCC approves external audit of fairgrounds

By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff

Fair Board and commissioners work toward a plan to regulate future finances

Bonner County commissioners voted to hire an external auditor for the fairgrounds at their regular business meeting Oct. 24, in a motion proposed by Commissioner Asia Williams, though as of press time the board did not yet know the scope of the audit, nor had it chosen a specific auditor.

“As we move forward with having to repair what has happened at the fair, [we need to] ensure that we put in some internal controls to maintain the solvency of the fair and the trust of the community as we hand money over to the fair. This is absolutely necessary,” said Williams.

She further recommended that the board request bids for the job from at least three different firms; however, she said, all potential auditors currently have a six-month waiting list.

The audit will not specifically focus on the issue of suspected fairgrounds fraud, which an independent investigative report released by the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office in July alleged had been perpetrated by late-Fairgrounds Director Darcey Smith from approximately 2018 to 2022.

At the request of former-Bonner County Republican Central Committee Treasurer Spencer Hutchings, Commission Chair Luke Omodt will compile a list of the fairgrounds’ average income for the past five to 10 years and present it during the BOCC’s regular meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 31, so that the public can better understand the alleged fraud.

County Clerk Mike Rosedale testified to his overwhelming support of the motion to hire an external auditor.

“Every year, we do audit the Fair Board’s funds as it relates to those that we levy and those we spend on salary and benefits, but we can’t see and never have audited their operating,” he said. “I think this is a fantastic thing.”

According to Rosedale, comprehensive auditing has been an “impossibility” until now because the fairgrounds has bank accounts that the county treasurer doesn’t have access to.

“We need to get those back under our county treasurer and the invoices, collections, receipts and revenue need to run under the county clerk,” he said, adding, “I think it’s going to be blue sky from here on out.”

The Fair Board also appointed its own treasurer, which the body has never had before, according to Commissioner Steve Bradshaw.

The commissioners and the Fair Board have met privately with their respective

legal counsels and each other over the past two weeks to decide how to proceed with the fairgrounds’ finances. Because of this, Omodt, who seconded William’s motion, expressed some concerns over the scope of her proposed audit.

“I’m hoping that we’re discussing a fiscal year ’23 audit and we’re not discussing a 10year forensic audit, because my understanding from the conversations last week and today, we’re seeking to try to get a fiscal year ’23 audit so that that can be attached to the county’s audit,” he said, referring to previous meetings with legal counsel.

Though the board does need to complete an audit of the fairgrounds’ current finances, Williams maintained that the auditor will need to go back further to identify any holes in the Fair Board’s financial practices that might have allowed for the alleged fraud. That way, they’ll be better equipped to prevent any potential future misappropriation of funds.

Rosedale agreed that the external auditor is the only one qualified to outline the scope of the audit.

“They’re the pros. They know what they need to do and what we don’t want to do is handcuff them and we don’t want to stifle them,” he said.

Both Rosedale and Williams agreed with

legal counsel that the county should seek an external auditor to assure the public that there are no conflicts of interest.

“This is a unique situation with a lot of politics involved, with a lot of emotions involved, and we need to make sure that what we’re paying for as a community is addressing all the concerns that members of the community have,” said Williams.

Bradshaw supported the audit, and explained that regulating the fairgrounds is difficult because the Fair Board has a unique amount of autonomy — for example, it can enter into contracts without permission from the commissioners.

“There’s two sets of laws for county fairs — how fun is that — based on the population of the county,” said Bradshaw.

“One set of rules fits these counties, one set of rules fits these counties, and so when [attorney Bill Wilson] dug that up, it’s like, ‘Hey guys, Bonner County Fair has always done it wrong. The county has always done it wrong. We’ve got to fix it.’”

Neither Wilson nor Bradshaw responded to requests for clarification by press time, and Wiliams declined to comment but forwarded the questions to Prosecutor Louis Marshall.

In an Oct. 25 email, Omodt told the Reader that he did not completely agree with Bradshaw’s claim.

“Bonner County was not using the wrong laws. Much of the advice given by legal counsel over the last two years has been completely reversed based upon the research conducted by two legal firms — Malek and Smith and Witherspoon, Brajcich, and McPhee — and the accounting firm of Eide Bailey,” he wrote, clarifying that Bradshaw’s comment was specifically referring to Idaho Code 22-202A. He did not detail the differing legal opinions on I.C. 22-202A, which outlines that, in counties with at least 200,000 residents, the Fair Board can “function as an advisory board” and “conduct its operations” as stipulated by an ordinance from the commissioners. The 2020 census placed Bonner County’s population at approximately 47,110, so this law does not apply.

Regardless of the previous hurdles, the commissioners were optimistic that the audit will get the fairgrounds’ finances under control and help the community heal from the loss of Darcey Smith.

“No matter what happens about the Fair Board — with money or finances or paper — nothing will change the loss of life that a lot of people feel to the core of their being,” said Williams.

The commissioners passed the motion to audit unanimously.

IDL pushes back decision on proposed Trestle Creek development to Oct. 30

Visit Idaho launches ‘resident sentiment survey’ to gauge impact of tourism on communities

By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff

By Reader Staff

The Idaho Office of Administrative Hearings received testimony Sept. 6 from the Idaho Department of Lands, developers and the public about the proposed Idaho Club North Lake community dock, with 105 boat slips, near the mouth of Trestle Creek.

At that meeting, Deputy Chief Administrative Hearing Officer Leslie Hayes stated that the IDL director would issue the final ruling no later than Oct. 23; however, that date has been pushed back to Monday, Oct. 30.

The IDL did not indicate a reason for the postponement, nor did the agency respond to a request for comment by press time.

If approved, the project will involve excavating an island and dredging an existing boat basin — both of which are man-made.

Hayes issued her official recom-

mendation to the director on Oct. 19, which stated that the IDL should grant the Idaho Club’s encroachment permit, provided that the developers meet five additional conditions to protect and enhance the riparian zone. Those mandates include using spill containment kits during construction, and operation and diverting the North Branch of Trestle Creek — as was already planned — before dredging and filling the area.

It also outlined the need for woody vegetation to protect the shoreline, specific testing protocols for the dredged materials and that “dirt and topsoil should be placed in the filled areas above the artificial high-water mark or used somewhere else as fill where it is not likely to erode back into Lake Pend Oreille.”

To listen to a recording of the Sept.

6 hearing, or to read Hayes’ recommendation or the final ruling on Oct. 30, visit idl.idaho.gov/lakes-rivers/administrative-hearings/trestle-creek-public-hearing.

The state of Idaho’s tourism office, Visit Idaho, is seeking statewide citizen input on how tourism impacts their communities in its first-ever “resident sentiment survey,” launched Oct. 24 and open through Sunday, Nov. 5.

The survey is available at visitidaho.org/survey.

Conducted in partnership with market research company Longwoods International, the survey comes amid a years-long increase in tourism in the state, rising to become Idaho’s third-largest industry behind agricultural and technology.

Visit Idaho is continuing to increase its emphasis on tourism marketing that “reflects the character of Idaho and preserves what makes the Gem State so great,” the office stated in a news release.

The feedback and data gathered from the survey will inform Visit Idaho’s future marketing strategy, “aiming to balance resident needs and sentiments while maximizing the care of Idaho’s lands, positive economic impact and traveler interests,” the office stated.

The results of the survey are expected in early 2024. For more info on Visit Idaho, go to visitidaho.org.

October 26, 2023 / R / 7

Inaccurate statements on Providence subdivision…

Bouquets: GUEST SUBMISSION: • “A big thank you to all of the farmers, bakers, musicians and crafters who have made our Sandpoint Farmers’ Market so special all season. Our community is richer because of you all!”

— By Dee Ann Smith GUEST SUBMISSION: • “I’d like to acknowledge Stacey Good D.O., BGH ED for presenting, on behalf of BGH at the October sip ‘n bitch. She gave a thorough and thoughtful explanation for why BGH made the decision to close the OB unit. She took the “heat” of the decision representing BGH finally reaching out to the community to explain their decision. She provided a future look to possibly restore OB care here in Sandpoint, ID. A difficult task given the hostile legislative environment for physicians and the cost of health care.”

— By Cynthia Dalsing, MSN, CNM Ret. NPI Region 1 Representative Barbs: • A travel magazine I’d never heard of until last week just released an article about the “Coolest Small Cities in Every State,” listing Sandpoint as Idaho’s winner. Can I assume I speak for everyone when I politely tell these hacks to stop trying to pimp out our town to the world at large? We get it, everyone loves Sandpoint. It’s “quaint” and “eclectic,” and oh my what a glorious ski hill. Never in these articles do they talk about the lack of housing options for people who aren’t rich, the gladhanding politicians who make it easy for developers to plant their flags here, the bigotry and backward politics that suck all the oxygen out of the room. Nope, it’s all just art galleries, wine bars and good times. There’s a reason I delete those press releases whenever the next charlatan “travel magazine” bestows the next stupid award on Sandpoint. We serve the locals and locals couldn’t care less what some hack travel writer thinks about our town.

8 / R / October 26, 2023

Dear editor, To address the comment from Dan Tadic of HMH regarding the Seven Sisters stormwater management plan, Seven Sisters doesn’t utilize the wetlands behind Chewelah Loop (per their approved plan). Seven Sisters strategically left entire lots of wetland area vacant within the development, allowing those natural sponges to do what they do best — store/manage water.

Wetlands act as water filters/improve water quality and store floodwaters. Their greatest benefit to Kootenai/Bonner County residents is flood protection/water mitigation.

Wetlands trap and slowly release surface water, rain, snowmelt, groundwater and flood waters.

Wetlands within/downstream of urban areas are particularly valuable, counteracting increased rates and volumes of surface-water runoff from pavement/buildings.

The holding capacity of wetlands controls floods/prevents waterlogging of developments. Preserving and restoring wetlands together with other water retention can often provide the level of flood control otherwise provided by expensive dredge operations/levees. The bottomland hardwood-riparian wetlands along the Mississippi River once stored at least 60 days of floodwater. Now they store only 12 days because most have been filled/drained.

Protecting wetlands from fill-in/ destruction can protect our safety and welfare — two important topics for the Providence Development and neighboring communities like Seven Sisters.

Ashley Gerstenberger Kootenai

Providence subdivision is lacking in several ways…

Dear editor, The Seven Sisters stormwater management plan is adequate for a development of its size — 56 lots — built on soil notoriously known to be no/low draining, and not passing PERC tests. Wetlands were preserved as the natural water management/ drainage the area requires.

Concerned citizens of Seven Sisters/Providence Road/Kootenai/ Bonner County pointed out that the fill-in/destruction of the wetlands could cause short- and long-term harm to the health and safety of those living on/near these wetlands.

Seven Sisters purposefully left vacant

lots and undeveloped areas dedicated to the wetlands, with an ultimate distribution point for water to Lake Pend Oreille. The Providence subdivision is lacking in several areas: Providence is 116 lots: overly dense for filling in and building on top of wetlands and no/low draining soils that won’t PERC; Providence does not have a final distribution point to the lake in their stormwater management plan; Providence is trying to create a system within their development to absorb all stormwater and water displaced by building on top of PEM1C wetlands that wasn’t deemed logical by Ryan Fobes, PE, of Foresite Engineering, PLLC. The “filling in” of the PEM1C wetlands was found “unreasonable”

by Fobes Seven Sisters Homeowners Assoc.

Kootenai

Pam Duquette won’t ‘rubber stamp’ unneeded development…

Dear editor, The current City Council has failed to do their job, which is to represent the people of Sandpoint.

They say they want community input but when they get it, they choose to ignore it. We need city councilors who will actually listen and act on what the people want.

Pam Duquette is running for City Council because she is frustrated with what is happening — and not happening — at City Hall. She’s not afraid to speak her mind and will hold accountable the powers that be that want to rubber stamp every unwanted and unneeded development project for their own best interests. She is honest and has integrity and she is running for the right reasons — to represent the people and to work to preserve what is special about Sandpoint.

We have to do better for our town, and we can do better if we vote in the right people. Please vote on Nov. 7, and I urge you to vote for Pam Duquette as one of your three choices for Sandpoint City Council.

Karen Glaeser, MS, LPC Sandpoint

Kyle Schreiber is asking the hard questions…

Dear editor, Kyle Schreiber will make a good city councilor, and we should all support his run. It’s no secret that a lot of us have felt disconnected from the process of city business in

the last couple of years.

We’ve seen a shift from active citizen participation through advisory committees and robust, productive hearings to a much more bureaucratic and less transparent process.

We bring in consultants from out of town, when there are experts here in Sandpoint already who want to contribute.

We only make a half-hearted effort to reach citizens, when we could easily take steps to reach more people and answer more questions.

I’m an optimist, and I love Sandpoint. This community, at its best, is welcoming and inclusive, smart and creative, and steadfast in our dedication to good governance.

That’s why I’m glad Kyle is asking hard questions.

I’m excited to support him, because he could easily say that City Council is broken and we need to throw it out, and instead he’s making a strong case that City Council can embody our values and work for us if we step up.

That’s good leadership, and that’s why I’m voting for Kyle Schreiber on Nov. 7.

Leona Christensen Sandpoint

Schreiber will focus on infrastructure, not amenities…

Dear editor, I support Kyle Schreiber for Sandpoint City Council. Kyle’s priorities are transparency in city government decisions, providing affordable housing for local residents and focusing on the basics when spending tax dollars.

Kyle believes that the first priority for our tax dollars should be city infrastructure. He believes Sandpoint needs to maintain and update our streets, the conditions of which have fallen behind national standards. Along with the roadways, he is a proponent for maintaining and providing safe pedestrian and bicycle routes. However, even more importantly, he believes we need to update our sewer system infrastructure, which is decades overdue for replacement. I agree. If the city is to thrive, it must meet the basics, working sewers and roads. Then we can tackle the extras and amenities.

I hope you join me on Nov. 7 to vote for Kyle Schreiber for Sandpoint City Council.

Sheila McNulty Sandpoint

Travers protests shouldn’t have been a surprise…

Dear editor, It’s appalling to me that Sandpoint’s leaders are playing dumb regarding the pushback on destroying Travers Park, as though protests are sudden and shocking.

For months, there have been dozens of testimonies recorded in the local newspapers in favor of saving Travers Park (including interviews with the Travers family).

My kids grew up playing in Travers and I wrote two letters crying out about it, but the second wasn’t published due to redundancy.

Community leaders who don’t read the local newspapers ought to step down from their rule.

Leaders cunning and nefarious enough to feign ignorance, while callously disregarding nature and public passion — shame on you. You have cursed our town and especially yourselves.

Jodi Rawson Sandpoint

Deb Ruehle has the experience and independence to serve Sandpoint…

Dear editor, Experienced. Approachable.

Dedicated. Independent. There is one candidate running for Sandpoint City Council who has all of these qualities. She has served the city for over 10 years. She talks to and responds to her constituents.

Running again proves she is a dedicated citizen who will continue to contribute her time and intellect for all of us.

Perhaps the most difficult quality to enact in these fractious times is independence. But she has stood up to the majority, asked hard questions and voted her conscience whether she is the only “yea” or “nay” vote. If you don’t already recognize her, this remarkable candidate is Deb Ruehle. She deserves your vote for City Council. She definitely has mine.

Respectfully, Patricia Ericsson Sandpoint

Candidate endorses candidate…

Dear editor, I will be voting for Kyle Schreiber for Sandpoint City Council on Nov. 7. I first met Kyle and his wife Leah at my rhubarb patch in town, and at that time we happily realized we

< see LTE, Page 9 >

< LTE, con’t from Page 8 > were neighbors. Later, I was noticing Kyle at the same City Council meetings as I, and I realized we had many of the same concerns and issues as we spoke on council topics.

Recently, I found myself a fellow candidate of Kyle’s, and now I would like to share my support for him as a future City Council member.

I feel Kyle will do the homework necessary to share the community’s concerns and wishes at council meetings, will vote on issues with the public’s best interest at heart and will perform the job with integrity.

Please join me in voting for Kyle Schreiber for Sandpoint City Council. Thank you!

Pam Duquette Sandpoint

Schreiber will demonstrate transparency and responsiveness…

Dear editor, In six years, Kyle Schreiber has contributed more energy to city issues than I have in 24 years of residence. He has participated in every opportunity for public review and comment on projects from the Couplet to housing, infrastructure to walkability, and the downtown revisioning competitions. And he is asking for the opportunity to contribute even more as a Sandpoint City Council member.

Since becoming a resident, Kyle has been a regular council meeting attendee. He researches agenda items, asks questions and offers a fresh perspective with his comments. Kyle has experienced the challenge of securing housing in Sandpoint and offers concrete ideas for collaborating with our current housing agency, the enforcement of existing rental ordinances and incentives for homeowners to support housing for local workers. He recognizes that infrastructure, especially the sewage treatment plant and city streets, need immediate attention.

Kyle wants the opportunity to demonstrate transparency and responsiveness in solving issues.

He understands the dynamics of collaboration and the importance of community involvement when changes are proposed. Kyle is committed to doing the research, reaching out to city staff and community members, and working collaboratively to establish priorities. He will help Sandpoint focus on issues that matter most.

Mary Toland Sandpoint

In support of Kate McAlister for mayor…

Dear editor, I am supporting Kate McAlister for mayor, because no one has worked harder for this community than she has.

Kate is known as the Irish queen of Sandpoint. Her work with the Angels over Sandpoint has raised millions of dollars for this community. She has been a voice of reason as the president of the Chamber of Commerce and a steadying force in the City Council.

She listens to everyone, not just the powerful or her friends. She is then willing to take risks and make decisions. She isn’t always right, but you can count on her to work for all parties involved. Being listened to doesn’t mean you always get your way. There are always people on the other side.

Kate has integrity. She will do her best and that won’t please everyone, but she won’t be bullied while still being kind. I know her words today will match her actions tomorrow.

I must wonder why Jeremy Grimm can be so concerned about 20 trees in Travers Park, yet want to dredge the entrance to Trestle Creek — one of the top spawning streams in the Lake Pend Oreille system.

So, I am voting for Kate McAlister for mayor.

Mary Haley Sandpoint

The dangers of e-bike entitlement…

Dear editor, I work at the middle and high schools and see children’s behaviors when their parents aren’t around.

The good news is that most of it is decent; the bad news is some of it is life threatening. I’m not talking about the vaping that goes on in school bathrooms. I’m referring to the silent-but-deadly e-bikes some of you have purchased for your children. I was riding with one of my students and we were almost broadsided by an eighth-grade girl, looking quite righteous on her e-bike. She then swerved across Division without stopping at the stop sign and gave her motorcycle/e-bike full power down a side street, reaching close to 30 mph. It’s just a matter of time before she or some other child gets hit as they silently fly down streets with their ear buds in, feeling entitled to do so because their parents bought it for them.

I get the e-bike thing if you’re trying to lose weight, have a bad knee,

are over 70, or need to check trails and your name is Jason Welker. But if your teen is acting entitled and they have an e-bike, take it away.

This decision could save their life.

Justin Henney Sandpoint

Tourists, transplants and cronies are all that matter in new Sandpoint…

Dear editor, Cutting down large memorial trees for pickleball at Travers Park.

Trestle Creek development that benefits uber-rich part-time residents.

Killing native geese, expensive citybacked waterfront redevelopment, uncontrolled developments getting city services, Sandpoint being named the “coolest town” in Idaho, ever-increasing property taxes and fees with little to show for it except rough streets that make forest service roads seem like a highway.

A council and county commission that doesn’t listen to the wishes of its citizens? Million-dollar crackerbox condos downtown… all signs that the people who live and work here don’t matter, only the tourist/ transplant/cronyism economy.

The good Sandpoint of the past no longer exists; just a future Jackson Hole in the works.

Among the several people I know who plan to retire next year and move on isn’t just anyone. This individual’s family has a long and well known history in this town, but has become so disgusted he no longer recognizes the area and has had his bellyful. I’m getting up there in years, so I won’t have to deal with things all that much longer. I wish the younger natives, few as they may be, the best of luck — you’re going to need it.

Lawrence Fury Sandpoint

Reader is ‘our local treasure’…

Dear editor, Thank you for another fantastic Reader issue this past week! Last night at Utara, my husband and I, along with three other couples — both old and brand new friends — could have talked for many more hours than we had available about every single topic covered in the Oct. 19 issue.

Congratulations to you, your staff and contributors for your on-target journalism, timely information-sharing, engaging insights, plus joyful fun bits — not to forget heroic efforts to publish “our” local treasure each and every week.

Arleen Lothian Dover

October 26, 2023 / R / 9

Mad about Science:

Brought to you by:

Sue, the Tyrannosaurus rex at the Evolving Planet evolution exhibition at the Field Natural History Museum in Chicago.

Courtesy photo.

sue, the dark side of dinosaurs

By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist The 1993 film Jurassic Park, based on Michael Chrichton’s 1990 novel of the same name, converted an entire generation of kids into dinosaur fanatics. It was an action-thriller with some brainy concepts to boot; a wild ride that made you think about morality, ethics, evolution and rampaging danger-chickens with a hunger for defecating lawyers.

Many of the concepts presented by the film were fairly new to the public at a time when paleontology was reinventing itself. The 1990s were the first wave in the popularization of science, where figures like Bill Nye were paving the way for charismatic scientists of the new century like Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

However, the arguments of ethics, integrity, the value of educating the public and throwing it all out for a quick buck were subjects that paleontologists had been wrestling with for decades — and it all came to a head with the 1990 discovery of Sue. Sue is the skeleton of a remarkably well preserved Tyrannosaurus rex and one of the largest and most complete specimens that humans have ever found. It was named after the woman who found it, Susan Hendrickson, a fossil hunter and salvager responsible for literally half the world’s collection of amber-preserved butterfly specimens.

In the summer of 1990, Hendrickson spotted bones emerging from a cliff face while waiting for one of her employer’s vehicles to be repaired. Her employer at the time was the Black Hills Institute, a commercial fossil hunting company headed by Peter Larson, who embodies just about everything that frustrated academic paleontologists in the field of fossil recov-

10 / R / October 26, 2023

ery and study.

The Black Hills Institute is, at its core, a treasure-hunting firm that specializes in fossil extraction and preservation in order to sell the fossils for a massive profit to private collectors. The company would pay landowners a fee in order to prospect their land and extract fossils that they could go on to sell for tens of thousands, or even millions, of dollars.

This practice understandably frustrated landowners who felt stiffed when practically giving away such valuable resources.

This also frustrated academic scientists, who witnessed valuable sources of knowledge and the few hidden threads of evolution slipping away into private collections, never to be seen again.

This is exactly what happened with the excavation of Sue. Larson paid landowner Maurice Williams $5,000 in order to extract the fossilized remains. Later, during court testimony, Williams expressed that this transaction was not a sale, but a fee for the Black Hills Institute to extract and clean the fossils so that Williams could sell them later. Whether or not this was the original intent or pursued later once the true value of the fossils was known has never been made clear.

Further complicating matters was the fact that the fossil was actually extracted from land held in a trust by the U.S. Department of the Interior. The FBI and South Dakota National Guard raided the facility where Sue was being held and confiscated the bones until the courtroom battles were concluded, eventually in Williams’ favor.

Larson ended up spending two years in prison for unrelated charges of improper customs declaration of foreign currency and illegal removal of fossils from government land.

Sue went to auction through Sotheby’s, where it was feared

that the dinosaur’s remains would disappear from the public forever.

Fortunately for all of us, a coalition of funding formed behind The Field Museum in Chicago.

Donations from McDonald’s, The Ronald McDonald House, and Walt Disney Parks and Resorts allowed the museum to purchase the remains for $8.4 million.

The museum’s study of Sue has revolutionized how both scientists and the public view and understand T. rexes, and dinosaurs in general.

Damage is present on the bones from multiple sources, including a fractured fibula that improperly healed in Sue’s lifetime. Sue’s jaw is pock-marked by the effects of a parasitic infection that mirrors Trichomonas gallinae, which affects small birds like finches to this day (tragically suffocating or starving them with swelling in the neck). The effects of gout have also been observed on the bones.

Our view of these afflictions spanning tens of millions of years gives scientists insight into study beyond dinosaurs — understanding the long history of parasites and how swelling affects bones much larger than our own gives tremendous insight and knowledge to medical professionals seeking to cure our current ailments. The knowledge gleaned from the study of Sue may never have been possible had the bones disappeared into the private collection of a wealthy individual.

The over-valuation of dinosaur fossils has been a blessing and a curse to academics. The 1990s saw a gold rush of fossil digs, which helped push fresh blood into paleontology. Kids who grew up on Jurassic Park entered the field with fresh eyes and excitement for their work. As a greater number of people gleaned more knowledge of the past, scientific literacy rose for the average per-

son — how would you survive a dinner party without rudimentary knowledge of a velociraptor?

Worth noting: Jurassic Park’s depiction of the velociraptor remains critically inaccurate. Even at the time of penning his novel, Chrichton conceded that referring to the creature as a velociraptor was inaccurate, but that the name itself was much more fearsome than the actual source of inspiration: the Utahraptor. Velociraptors were likely heavily feathered and

about the size of a turkey, while the Utahraptor was about the height of an average human but the length of a sedan.

On the flip side, how many fossils exist that scientists have never seen — or may never see?

Could a critical missing link bridging gaps in evolutionary history be sitting in a glass case overlooking some billionaire’s toilet right now?

The world may never know.

Stay curious, 7B.

Random Corner ula?

Don’t know much about Drac • Imagined by Irish author Bram Stoker in 1897, Dracula is a Transylvanian count who turns into a bat, sleeps in coffins and drinks the blood of the living.

• Vampires share a history with Frankenstein. In 1816, Lord Byron proposed a ghost story contest that led to Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein. It also led to the birth of The Vampyre by John Polidori, which gave us the modern vampire (Polidori was Byron’s personal physician). The Vampyre influenced Varney the Vampire of the 1840s and Carmilla, a novella about a lesbian vampire from the 1870s, and, ultimately, Stoker.

• Stoker started writing Dracula two years after Jack the Ripper started terrorizing London. Stoker later confirmed he capitalized on the fearful atmosphere of the time with the writing of Dracula.

• Dracula was possibly based on Henry Irving, Stoker’s horrible boss of almost 30 years. Stoker

We can help!

supposedly began penning the book after a nightmare caused by eating bad seafood.

• It’s also hinted that Stoker based Dracula on a 15th-century Wallachian prince named Vlad Dracula, also known as Vlad the Impaler, who was known for skewering his enemies.

• Stoker never visited Transylvania, but researched the setting as best he could from travel books and train timetables.

• Stoker’s copyright almost destroyed the film Nosferatu. After Stoker’s death in 1912, a German film company made the now classic Nosferatu in 1922. The filmmakers changed the characters’ names, but still didn’t receive permission to use the story. Stoker’s widow sued and a German court ordered that every copy of the film be destroyed. Luckily for horror film aficionados, one copy survived.

Eventually it made its way to the U.S. and developed a cult following.

< FIRE, con’t from Page 5 > ‘Do we want professional administration in the city?’

Aside from understaffing, Selkirk firefighters who spoke with the Reader pointed to day-to-day management as a problem. For instance, Hilton said that there’s almost always at least one fire engine broken down with no replacement plan. Some of the vehicles are waiting for parts, but getting approval to purchase parts — much less equipment — has become cumbersome.

In the past, Hilton said, “If I needed a hammer, I had the authority to go purchase the hammer, turn in the receipt and the chief would trust that I made the right decision. That doesn’t happen anymore.”

Rather, if a truck is broken down and a part is needed beyond something simple, “we have to call around, get prices, get the purchase order, wait for the purchase order to be approved by two people, and the purchase order comes back to us and we’re authorized to get that part,” Hilton said. “Speaking for myself only, anytime I submit a purchase order, I expect a twoweek process.”

“That insults me because I get paid a decent wage to make hopefully smart decisions in managing the day-to-day operations in the department, entrusted with protecting the district, making sure my crews are safe and everybody goes home at the end of the day, but I don’t feel like I’m trusted to go purchase a $50 tool,” he added.

“We’re not buying chrome or bling for our fire engines.”

Asked about the purchase order process, allegations of “micromanagement” and whether a firefighter should be able to go out and purchase a hammer without prior approval, Gilcrease said, “absolutely not.”

“You’re a governmental agency,” he added, pointing out that the fire service like any other agency is subject to financial tracking and audits.

“There has to be internal controls,” Stapleton said.

“There was no real oversight of what was going on, now there is,” Gilcrease said, later adding, “There has to be a method and there has to be a process. You can’t just go out blank checking whatever you want to buy.”

That kind of loose financial control resulted in all manner of legal snarls in the past, which

Stapleton and Gilcrease both said are still being sorted out.

Though the process of buying a $50 hammer might seem trivial, Hilton said it’s indicative of a larger trend, describing a corporatization of fire operations that doesn’t benefit their functioning.

“The local fire department used to be the pride of the community, well this fire department is not run by locals anymore,” he said. “None of the people that are in positions of power are local. I don’t feel like it’s a community fire department anymore; it feels like it’s being run like a business with a business model that’s not sustainable.”

Calhoun put an even finer point on it, saying that when he served as union representative four years ago, the department was working with 20-year-old extrication equipment that it can’t get parts for. Meanwhile, the department secured a grant for breathing packs but they require a $40,000 compressor.

“We have not seen the compressor or the extrication equipment or anything relative to anything we have talked about four years ago,” he said, adding, “You’re compromising my safety.

That’s the issue.”

“Don’t make somebody else go to my door and knock on my door and tell my wife I’m not coming home. Don’t do that to me,” Calhoun said. “And that’s where we’re at. I’m done with it. I’m done with you disregarding my life, my employment, because you want to run it like a business. Do not do that to me. Do not make my wife get that knock on the door.

Sorry, I’m getting a little emotional. It’s horseshit.”

Frank also described the JPA structure as “very corporate-like.”

“It’s too small of a town; we’re not a town of half a million,” he said. “It should still have a great small-town feel.”

If that’s been laid at Stapleton’s feet, she doesn’t see that as accurate.

“I don’t run the fire department,” she told the Reader in a phone interview. “People can think what they want to think, but I don’t run the fire department. And my role at the JPA Board, I’m the executive director; I’m actually not a decision maker. I don’t have a vote.”

Frank said that may be the case, but, “Jennifer Stapleton is the head of the JPA. Even though

she has no voting rights, she has influence.”

The JPA Board meets once a month, and Frank said Stapleton is “always in the chief’s ear. At least that’s our perception.”

Likewise, HiIton said, “[E]ven though the directive may come from the chief or chiefs, I feel that those directives are coming from Jennifer. To be honest they don’t seem like directives that would come from a very experienced fire chief, like Chief Gilcrease or [Deputy] Chief [Jeff] Armstrong.”

“That’s what we’re up against, and with no real leadership in regards to a person, a chief, we don’t know if he’s actually carrying the ball or if he’s actually being suppressed, so we’re lost and we need to come out,” Calhoun said.

“And that’s why the information is coming out, because we can’t survive like this anymore.”

Rather, Stapleton said the conflict over JPA leadership comes down to a bigger disagreement.

“I feel like fundamentally what’s going on is we’re in a fight as a community about, do we want professional administration in the city?” she said, adding later, “At the end of the day, with the fire, from my general perspective, there was little accountability. …

I mean, there’s been no management. Now there’s leadership and management, which I was hired to do, and [they] don’t like what goes along with it.”

‘The public does not understand’ Firefighters have already gone public with their call for Stapleton to step down as the chair of the JPA, but they are also quick to say they support the continuation, even expansion, of the partnership.

The union renegotiates its contract every three or four years, and the next round of negotiations are due to take place in March 2024.

“There’s always this fear that one of the agencies will drop out of the JPA, and the crews strongly believe in keeping the JPA together,” Frank said, later adding, “We have a good command staff … both very capable and strong leaders who can bring the fire department to where it needs to be. We just need a new executive director at the JPA to let them do their jobs.”

Frank said there will be an opportunity to address that in the next contract, as well as the funding and organizational structure.

As it stands, Sagle, Sandpoint and Westside all contribute a portion based on property value and the number of employees in each agency.

Sandpoint’s fire services budget is just shy of $1.5 million in the fiscal year 2024 budget, while Westside contributes about $568,000 and Sagle Fire chips in about $1.7 million, according to Gilcrease. The latter two districts have different taxing structures, with Westside gathering revenue from both improved and unimproved properties, while Sagle only taxes improved properties for fire services.

When Sagle or Westside want to make an expenditure, Sandpoint sends a bill and is reimbursed by the purchasing agency.

Frank said the JPA was originally intended to be a stepping stone to a larger, even more unified regional agency. Getting to that goal, he added, would help ease some of the managerial strain.

“We’d like to either become a fire authority or a fire district, with the ability to run our crews and have one pot of money to manage for all the shared fire services,” he said. “That’s why we have a county EMS — we should have a county-wide fire department.”

Stapleton said, “there’s been a level of frustration for the JPA not moving forward … creating a separate district. That was the vision of the former chief and that was originally the vision, per our former finance director of the city, was to move fire out as a city service, which is common, and into a district. What you’re talking about in Sandpoint is you’re creating a new taxing district.”

However, she said, “This is very complicated when you’re talking about combining fire districts and a department that is in a general purpose government and ultimately you’re talking about raising taxes in all three jurisdictions.”

For Gilcrease, growing the department is “just a time and temperature thing. We’re going to keep progressing.”

“It has to be on a predetermined time frame,” he said. “The ‘dire’ [statements by firefighters] is not going to make me move any faster on that. … When it’s time to grow, we’ll grow. We’re seeing it in Westside, we’re seeing shades of it Sagle.”

Ultimately, the JPA is due to expire early next year, which makes the upcoming contract

negotiations all the more important — especially as some personnel feel like the last contract didn’t benefit the department as much as it should have.

“Panda Express, their managers make, I think, it’s $66,000 a year; we’re at $61,000-$62,000 as a base engineer. And that’s why people are leaving because, No. 1, you can’t afford to live in Sandpoint, you can’t afford to get a decent wage in Sandpoint, and when we bring up bettering ourselves because of the education, the training and everything we have, we get thrown back in our face that, ‘You signed the contract,’” Calhoun said. “We signed it, yes we did, but we just basically poo-pooed on ourselves.”

The future of the JPA is very much on the table.

“Whether agencies want to participate in the JPA or not is something that agencies will need to be discussing in the coming months,” Stapleton said, noting that, “It’s unique in this state in that there is one employee group that is entitled to unionizing and collective bargaining and that’s fire. …

“I’m sure that hasn’t been lost in the mix,” she added, referring to firefighters going public now with their concerns over staffing and leadership.

“The employees don’t want to get rid of the JPA, but at this point if it continues the way it’s going, the employees are even going, ‘I don’t care, let’s just go back to the way it was,’” Calhoun said, suggesting that it may just “implode itself.”

“This needs to go out and needs to be public because the public does not understand that they’re only getting maybe one, maybe two firefighters and the response that comes after that is inadequate,” Calhoun added, describing why he felt the need to speak out.

Hilton agreed that it comes down to public safety.

“I think the people have this mistaken belief that if they see us out and about doing our thing, they’re really well protected.

They’re not. It’s a facade,” he said.

“The reason that we’ve done as well as we have up to this point is that we’re very good at making due with very little, and we’re very, very lucky and one of these days that’s going to run out.”

October 26, 2023 / R / 11

12 / R / October 26, 2023

PERSPECTIVES

Emily Articulated Problems of reduction

By Emily Erickson Reader Columnist

Social media is good for a lot of things, like getting lost in dog videos, Harry Potter memes, capybara content, slow-motion watercolor painting and the latest updates on Taylor Swift’s takeover of the NFL. It’s good for connecting to other users — regardless of our physical place in the world — and for riding the waves of trends that crash over the zeitgeist, tracing the flow of interest and information back from large accounts to the stories of the people I follow.

This ease of connectivity to each other, the things happening in the world and to sources of information can be positive. Capturing the world’s attention is as simple as a viral video or a highly shareable “What You Need to Know” infographic, shedding light on some of the most important current events of our time in a 90-second clip or five-slide explainer. It can generate awareness for things the public wants to understand and can provide simple, clear avenues for people to get involved beyond sharing and reposting on Instagram.

Where this ease of sharing and learning on social media can let us down, is when the things we’re learning about are too important to be “trendy,” or when they’re far too complicated to be summarized in punchy one-liners and neatly bullet-pointed slides.

My discomfort with the limitations of this reductionist approach to information sharing and the trendiness of social and political movements isn’t new, but it has come to a head as the

Emily Erickson.

Israeli-Palestinian conflict is now center stage, looming across seemingly every major account, celebrity profile, and “regular person’s” posts and stories.

I was introduced to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a semester-long political science class dedicated exclusively to the topic, during which we spent months delving deep into the highly nuanced, deeply religious and politically charged conflict involving the holy or sacred ground for three major religions (Judaism, Islam and Christianity). We studied the territory and its occupation over time, and the complicated and shifting politics of each of the major areas — Gaza, the West Bank, Jerusalem — as well as the influence and engagement of the surrounding countries of Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, and the United Nations as a whole.

Beyond the origins and location, the class examined the evolution of and tension between Palestine’s two major political parties — Fatah and Hamas — and Israel’s multi-party system of proportional representation (with the conservative-nationalist Likud and the center-liberal Yesh Atid parties currently holding the

most seats between them). We tracked the conflict’s timeline across decades, through numerous wars and peace attempts, changes in power and interjections from the world’s biggest forces.

All of this history and nuance, which took me a whole semester to barely wrap my head around, is currently being summarized (or attempting to be) in simple slides and videos, asking people to draw black-and-white conclusions, nearly instantaneously upon learning about the subject.

In our era of reduction and simplification for sharing and understanding information — when so much more time is necessary to learn, contemplate and understand — we add urgency to the mix, conflating the speed with which we can virtue signal to our peers through shared posts and videos with caring about it at all.

This urgency becomes especially problematic when things require time and further learning to understand, leading to errors in judgment or confusion at best, and the spread of misinformation at worst.

An example of the shortcomings of this modern and urgent need to share before learning was Justin Beiber’s post stating that he was “praying for Israel” with an image of the war front that depicted a devastated section of the Gaza Strip — the Palestinian enclave that has been subject to Israeli airstrikes for weeks.

I like to think our drive to understand and share, despite its shortcomings, is rooted in a desire to care about things and contribute positively to the world and our conversations about it.

It is good to care about current events and the lives of people near and far amid unimaginable

conflict and hardship. It’s also good to seek information and share vetted resources with people when we find them helpful (especially with those who may not otherwise be connected to it).

But this reduction, simplification, and sharing has to be done with care, and whenever possible, without urgency.

We should consume and share, not to earn social capital through our “participation,” but

because we want to expand our own perspectives or deepen our own understanding and, when it makes sense, to spread a bit more thoughtful awareness about all that we’ve learned.

Emily Erickson is a writer and business owner with an affinity for black coffee and playing in the mountains. Connect with her online at www.bigbluehat. studio.

Retroactive

By BO

October 26, 2023 / R / 13

LITERATURE

This open Window

Vol. 8 No.2 poetry and prose by local writers edited by Jim mitsui

zen and the art of yard work I suppose I should put on warmer clothes when goosebumps rise on my bare arms & legs as I step outside to water the waning flowers hanging in baskets on my front porch and back deck, the latter even facing the morning sun but that would mean accepting the end of summer and yes, sure signs are everywhere — my tomatoes have stopped turning red and the maples at the end of the driveway are just starting to — geese are flying up and down the creek, flocks of red-wing blackbirds are diving in and out of the cattails, crows are convening on the still green lawn, and I’ve been hearing the cry of osprey north of the house, a clarion call to prepare for the cold coming months? I love autumn, the turning leaves, the golden light, the lack of tourists but I still have chores I need to do and would prefer warmer days to complete them. I cannot hold back the seasons nor the years to do all I want before this body says no more. Nor can I push time forward to morning as I lay awake in the middle of the night worrying about what’s not done yet or how I would have done things differently had I the chance to live my life all over again. So I’ll go back inside and find a sweater to pull on, a pair of jeans, and maybe something other than my flip-flops to wear.

— L.S.Jones L.S. Jones has been living on Fry Creek for almost 10 years now and thinks she’s learned what to wear and when. It’s important when living in North Idaho to be prepared for the constant change of weather. Layers are good.

Send poems to: jim3wells@aol.com

14 / R / October 26, 2023

the slant of sun shines a gold swatch across an ordinary lawn Its simple farm house dominated by an ancient maple holding a rope swing Tall lilac hedges in their deep summer green keep the house set unto itself off the road — Everything awash in the filtered sunlight from some trance of time Looking at this dappled yard brings a twinge to my throat Some profound sensation out of the mundane It has no conclusive name but evokes both melancholy and contentment I admit I often indulge in reminiscing I flicker between remembered sweetness and shame,

waiting The soul’s rubber band stretching …pulling peace out of proportion.

Straining hope Draining joy Tensing thoughts into separate fists in a mental battle.

The hardest thing to do, So hard the worst disappointment is a relief And maybe that is its purpose.

— Teresa Pesche Teresa is an ardent supporter of the Panida Theater; her poetry invites introspection.

gramma tissues My grandma, Myrtle Holbrook, who was quite proper, and stood straight in her tight-laced corset, always had a Kleenex with her, which she kept tucked up the sleeve of her sweater.

Baba, my Lithuanian grandma, whose real name was Eva, had a large bosom, always covered with an apron and a long cotton print dress.

She had long gray hair in a braided spiral pinned to the back of her head — and she tucked her tissues down the front of her dress.

Now that I’m a grandma, I discover that I too always need to have a tissue with me. I try keeping one curled into my left hand — but often have to let go of it — and just like my grandmas before me, I am apt to leave a trail of tissues behind.

— Brenda Hammond Brenda Hammond was born in Michigan, won a small Hopwood Award at the University of Michigan, emigrated to New Mexico and settled here in Sandpoint where she is active in the Bonner County Human Rights Commission.

Something sublime that pushes right up against maudlin but doesn’t cross over to what — nostalgia?

Well, maybe that’s all it really is Nostalgia, just a wistfulness for a repetition of a prime sensation The child’s stare at the lighted Christmas tree, The rocking of a boat, like a cradle The stab of the beautiful that lets you muse on creating a pact with the devil to let you return But to what exactly, you aren’t sure — Amy Craven, September 2023 Born on the East Coast, Amy now lives off of Syringa Road. It is common to see several deer in her backyard these days. She is a singer, piano player and poet.

the lake dancer I am a flash of silver from the cold moon Dancing on the lake.

I play on the rippling surface, I dive in the cool depths.

Here I appear, then sparkle and vanish, Only to emerge again Out there.

Out in the middle, Silent. Hesitating.

Suddenly I race toward you, On a wake of liquid diamonds. You open your arms to catch me, To hold me.

But this you cannot do, For my life is of light, And dance, Of ripples and distant dreams.

And not of your realm.

You say — “Stay a moment... I know you!

Perhaps we are the same!

Perhaps we are but One!” And I twinkle and laugh in reply — “Yes... perhaps.

Perhaps.”

And you gaze in stillness As I dance across the lake And disappear.

— Alan Ball

To submit a photo for a future edition, please send to ben@sandpointreader.com.

Right: Happy hee-haw-Halloween! Photo by Jeanelle Shields.

Far right: Sue and Larry Smith brought the Reader on a recent trip to Portugal. This photo was taken in Lamego on top of Mt. St. Stephen.

Everyone at Reader HQ is jealous.

Bottom left: A creepy face appeared in the bonfire, prompting Dee Ann Smith to snap this photo. Happy Halloween!

Bottom center: Terry Owens proves the Reader is good for many purposes, including as a gut-collector for Jack-o’-Lanterns.

Bottom right: Dennis and Cherry Clark took the Reader to the mountains of Colorado for their hunting trip.

October 26, 2023 / R / 15

FEATURE

Harvesting memories

A season of adventure at Ronnigers Organics

By Mitchell Etheridge Reader Contributor

On a brisk, muddy April afternoon, my girlfriend, Lily, and I arrived at a humble farm nestled between Moyie Springs, Idaho, and the Montana state line. Ronnigers Organics, established in 1986 by David Ronniger, has been a cornerstone of North Idaho for nearly four decades. The farm, now managed by David’s son, Simon, and Simon’s wife, Marqui, has always been unique. It is a destination brimming with joy, beautiful willows and interesting characters, not to mention some of the best produce in the Inland Northwest.

Upon arrival, however, Lily and I knew very little about the farm. In fact, our knowledge about Idaho was virtually nonexistent. Our only frame of reference for the state was Napoleon Dynamite. We also knew that the Boise State football team had a blue turf field. That was it.

We discovered Ronnigers Organics through the Worldwide Organization of Organic Farms (WWOOF), an online service that connects travelers, commonly referred to as WWOOFers, with organic farmers across the country and around the world. Farmers almost always need an extra pair of hands, and travelers like ourselves are eager to help in exchange for farm-fresh meals and a warm place to stay.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, Lily and I became increasingly disconnected from our academic and professional work. After spending three years staring at computer screens, we decided that enough was enough. We wanted to lead more fulfilling lives, so, upon graduating from the University of South Florida in Tampa, we saved up as much money as possible and hit the road.

After 45 hours of driving, Lily and I — along with our two cats, Swanson and Kai — were warmly welcomed to Boundary County. We settled into one of the handcrafted cabins amid the forest on the Ronniger property and started acclimating to a more peaceful way of life.

The quirks of rustic living certainly required adjustment, but we quickly embraced our backwoods bathroom, found joy in chopping wood, and rediscovered the long-forgotten power of VHS tapes and DVDs. We read a total of 35 books, hoofed a five-gallon water jug up two hills approximately 30 times and grew accustomed to 16 / R / October 26, 2023

walking 10 minutes for spotty Wi-Fi at the Curley Creek Community Hall.

We frequented Bonners Books, the Second Chance Animal Adoption Thrift Store and Under The Sun Bistro — the finest restaurant in town. I got some of the greatest haircuts I’ve ever had at Lou’s Shear Shack for $17.50 plus tip.

We started most days at dawn and ended them at dusk. We caught the tail end of a drawn-out winter and witnessed the season roll into spring. Our morning routine consisted of walking our cats, yes, on leashes; eating breakfast; drinking tea from the New Flower Herb Farm; and heading down to the garden for an honest day’s work. We spent most of our early days in the greenhouse, planting and caring for this year’s crop. Often, we were greeted by the barking of four sweet farm dogs: Kiwi, Beara, Luna and Rosie. If we were lucky, we would find a white cardboard box filled with day-old donuts from the world-renowned Moyie Store that Simon had picked up on his way to the farm.

For the first few months, Lily and I were the only WWOOFers around, so we spent most days learning from Simon and Marqui, but we could always count on biweekly appearances from Hoang, our farm “supervisor,” entertainer and good friend.

We also looked forward to daily visits from Kevin, a jack-of-all-trades handyman

who can fix almost anything, and Suzanne, Simon’s mother, an impressively devoted horse owner and the most enthusiastic grandmother around.

As the weather grew warmer, the transplanting began; and, before we knew it, the once-bare beds were teeming with life.

We started seeing baby turkeys and fawns on our morning walks, and the days grew longer and longer. The strawberries blossomed, and so did the weeds; we entered a new phase of farm work.

Weeding was tedious. I savored the days I could mow the grass instead of pulling Canada thistle. No one loves weeding, but it had to be done. Luckily, we were joined by a handful of neighbor kids and a few new WWOOFers along the way. The strawberries peaked and began to wane, thus moving us into the summer.

June rolled into July; irrigation and fertilization became critical. The smell of rotten fish percolated throughout the garden — a result of organic fertilizer — and the moving of metal water pipes was a common chore.

We’d often hear the sound of generators pumping water in the morning as we walked to work, past old bikes and cars with doors left open.

The raspberry bushes bloomed, the Sandpoint Farmers’ Market was a few weeks away, and Home Alone was on the

Mitchell Etheridge and Lily Basse at work on Ronnigers Organics farm near Moyie Springs. Courtesy photo.

TV non-stop, don’t ask me why. We were in the dog days of summer, and we started living like it. Between near-daily swims at the Yaak River and Perkins Lake with the Ronniger crew, visiting Kootenai Falls or hiking up Goat Mountain barefoot, Lily and I fell in love with this truly special place. We went to the Bleeding Hearts Tattoo Emporium and saw “Not Green Day” perform live at the Hive in Sandpoint on the same day; we were thoroughly impressed with both.

Once the Sandpoint Farmers’ Market began, our schedule shifted, and with it, our diet. We started harvesting summer vegetables and sometimes traded for other food items with different vendors at the market. We thoroughly enjoyed bartering our handpicked produce for cheese, bread, pastries, tea, honey and sunflower oil with some of the finest folks around.

At the end of most market days, the Ronniger crew, along with the Allicin’s Ranch gang, would grab a beer and a bite to eat at Matchwood Brewing Company.

We sometimes took the party back to the farm, where we would engage in highstakes kickball games. Ben Ronniger, Simon’s cousin and owner of Allicin’s Ranch, was the catalyst of competition.

< see Ronnigers, Page 17 >

< Ronnigers, con’t from Page 16 > Ben and his wife, Claire, are good people with great garlic.

Post-market get-togethers led to some of our fondest memories. From witnessing the premiere of Barbie at Sandpoint Cinemas, to watching the Perseid meteor shower until 2 a.m., Saturday nights never disappointed. Nothing beats good company, cheap beer and warm weather.

Lily and I had originally planned on staying with the Ronnigers through August, then heading to a farm in Vermont in September, but ultimately decided to stay and see the season through; we are so glad that we did. We eventually forsook weeding and most watering efforts, and quickly pivoted to harvesting underneath a shady willow tree. We picked, cleaned and bundled thousands of carrots and beets, some of which were comically misshapen.

As late summer turned to early fall, we continued our outdoor adventures. We met Tracy, a Ronniger family friend and one of the most interesting old-school hippies around. He took us bushwhacking in search of an untouched waterfall off of Yaak River Road for his 80th birthday. We continued building relationships with our WWOOFing co-workers and enjoyed countless sunset dinners together. We visited the Ross Creek Cedars in the drizzling rain and took a weekend trip to Banff National Park, the most beautiful place on the planet.

Before we knew it, the fawns and baby turkeys from a few months back were nearly full grown. The cabbage, squash and potato harvest had started, each with their own unique requirements. Harvesting cabbage certainly had its drawbacks, but driving the tractor and tossing heads of cabbage at each other made it all worth it.

The potato harvest was alluring, mostly due to the interesting characters it attracted, and the squash harvest was rewarding — as long as it wasn’t pouring down rain.

We closed out our last week at the farm with a bang. We saw Flipturn, a phenomenal band in which Lily’s brother is the lead singer, perform live at the Knitting Factory

in Spokane; enjoyed one last post-market meal at Matchwood; and fought hard in our final farm kickball game.

Our experience at Ronnigers Organics was only as good as the company we kept — it was perfect. We were joined by 10 amazing WWOOFers throughout the season who accompanied Lily and me on most of our wildest adventures. We are so appreciative of Shiona, Isabella, Elina, Dan, Henning, Carly, Jasmine, Erika, John and Kitzy for sincerely enhancing our journey. We made lifelong connections with our traveling co-workers and formed eternal friendships with the coolest farmers on earth, Simon and Marqui, who are directly responsible for the best six months of our lives.

Simon and Marqui Ronniger are two of the most genuine, caring people around.

We couldn’t have asked for better bosses.

They are great parents to their two young boys and ideal role models for the next generation of farmers. They roll with the punches, complimenting each other in times of organized chaos. Whether it’s deer in the garden or a dead tractor battery, they always seem to make it work.

Simon once said, “People tend to live up to expectations when you believe in them.” This profoundly underscores why Ronnigers Organics is still successfully operating after 38 years. Between WWOOFers like us and the beautiful community of North Idaho, the Ronnigers know that leaning on decent people rarely disappoints.

Although Lily and I are headed back to Florida for the winter, we will never forget this place, these people and the memories we made here. We found deep appreciation for the natural world and for the farmers who keep it spinning. We will miss the barn cats, the horses, the dirt underneath our fingernails and, most importantly, the friendships, but we will be back soon — hopefully just in time for another year’s harvest.

COMMUNITY

Grab a tinfoil hat for the opening of Sandpoint’s first observatory

By Reader Staff Spacepoint cuts the ribbon for the Sandpoint Telescope Observatory on Saturday, Oct. 28 — a celebration that’s sure to delight local stargazers and alien enthusiasts alike.

The evening begins at 5 p.m. with a reception catered by Beet and Basil and Matchwood Brewing, followed by the official ribbon cutting ceremony. Spacepoint will hand out prizes for the winners of the night’s astrophotography competition and, of course,

to the owner of the best tinfoil hat.

Those in attendance can tour the observatory, go stargazing with an expert in the field of astrophotography and enjoy the Jupiter Star Party.

It’s expected to be a clear night, so come witness the beauty of the open sky over the University of Idaho Sandpoint Organic Agricultural Center at 10881 N. Boyer Road.

All-inclusive tickets are $35 for adults, $5 for students and kids get in free. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit spacepoint.org.

To learn more about the Worldwide Organization of Organic Farms, visit woof.net.

For WWOOF USA, go to wwoofusa.org.

October 26, 2023 / R / 17

PERSPECTIVES

Tim Henney is a good egg. He should be omuletted

By Jim Jones Special to the Reader Sandpoint fixture Tim Henney appeared on my radar a couple of years ago. He got in touch with me online after discerning what he thought was a pun in an op-ed I’d written.

Tim introduced himself as a connoisseur of wordplay, which immediately formed a common bond between us. We have corresponded back and forth ever since, usually exchanging puns or malapropisms ranging from clever to outright groaners.

Many of those puns are on lists of true classics, such as, “She was just a moonshiner’s daughter, but he loved her still.” Or, “The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.”

But the very best puns are those concocted on the spur of the moment in face-to-face conversation. One of my favorites originated at dinner in Washington, D.C., back in 1971.

When I spied Welsh rarebit on the menu, I told my companions I did not care for rabbit.

One said that there was no rabbit in the dish, which gave me the opening to say I’d had it before and found a hair in mine. I’ve never had occasion to use it again because rarebit has fallen out of flavor and rarely appears on menus. But I would love the chance to inflict it on Tim in person.

Tim and I have another thing in common. We are both would-be columnists.

That has allowed me to learn more about him, for better or worse. Even though he often sends stuff via electronic devices, Tim is the only person I know who also clips articles out of real newspapers, usually the Reader, and sends them by snail mail.

Tim stepped onto the national stage in 1976 with an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, urging executives who’d been fired, rightly or wrongly, to persevere, keep plugging and be honest about the circumstances of their discharge. He’d been through the

experience with a difficult CEO, who preferred yes men to straight shooters like Tim, but he’d made a great comeback. His advice struck home for many.

Since that time, particularly since he moved to Sandpoint in retirement, Tim has opined on a wide variety of subjects, but politics is a primary focus. I find myself in agreement with Tim on most political issues, although his wording is somewhat more pointed than mine. We both were long-time Republicans, who believe the GOP has moved so far to the right in recent years that it has left us behind.

I got a kick out of a Reader clipping in which Tim tells about the band of middle-aged “merry pranksters” he engages in “high falootin’ conversation” with at the Tango Cafe.

It made me want to visit with them and I may do so one of these days, if I can obtain a transit visa from Brent Regan, the frightful overlord of Kootenai County, to cross over his beleaguered fiefdom.

In addition to his love of wordplay, Tim is afflicted with more than a slight touch of blarney. In a recent letter, he described himself as “an uber athlete who won the Heisman Trophy, holds advanced degrees from MIT, Oxford, the Juilliard School of Music (diva division) and founded MEMSA, the organization for geniuses.” I once asked Tim the year he’d won the Heisman. He responded, “which time.” Seems there was a fire that had destroyed all of the records and he did not remember the exact year. I was also a bit suspicious because most geniuses call their organization MENSA. There is certainly much more to Tim, but you have to acknowledge the person who has tried to keep him in line during 66 years of marriage. Tim and Jacquelyn celebrated their 66th anniversary on Oct. 4. You can tell from his writings that he is still devoted to his Jackie. As with all of us, time has worn away at both but the foundation is still strong.

Tim Henney, seen here posing for the Mr. Universe Pageant, which he has applied to every year since its inception in 1947. Pageant organizers reached out to the Reader and wrote, “Mr. Henney, please cease and desist sending any more photographs of yourself.

You win. Now leave us alone.” Courtesy photo.

One piece that Tim published a while back particularly caught my attention. Tim was describing a bout of hospitalization in which he had experienced a number of serious health challenges, not the least of which was his routine dialysis. Rather than dwelling on his problems, he devoted the piece to thanking the health care personnel for their great work and compassionate care.

All in all, I have concluded that Tim Henney is a great guy, even if he really did not win the Heisman. I attribute much of that to his love of puns. Tim believes a well-crafted pun can bring people together. For his dedicated work in advancing punnery and keeping his sunny side up, it is clear that Tim is a good egg. And, as the headline says, he should be emulated.

Jim Jones served eight years as Idaho Attorney General (1983-1991) and 12 years as a justice on the Idaho Supreme Court (2005-2017). His op-eds are published by media statewide.

He blogs at jjcommontater.com.

Sandpoint Nordic Club hosts Winter Welcome

By Reader Staff

18 / R / October 26, 2023

The Sandpoint Nordic Club will host its “Winter Welcome” annual fundraiser and membership drive on Saturday, Oct. 28 from 1-4 p.m. at Pine Street Woods. Attendees will enjoy drinks, s’mores, games, a bonfire, and participate in a raffle and silent auction.

Ten raffle gift bags containing items with a retail value of $130-$200 will be available, as well as eight silent auction gift baskets with an average retail price $250-$500.

“The club is so grateful to all the amazing Sandpoint businesses that donated to the raffle and auction items,” organizers stated.

“Huge thanks to the following businesses for more than $3,000 worth of donations.”

Donors include: Alpine Shop, Azalea, Barrel 33, Bella Terra Boutique, Bellissima, Burger Dock, Carousel Emporium, City Beach Organics, Dave Brown Building-Rane Stempson Arts, Eichardt’s, Finan McDonald, Grace and Joy, Greg SmithLMT Mountain Lake Therapy, Matchwood Brewery, The Meyer Family, MickDuffs, Outdoor Experience, Papillon, Pend d’Oreille Winery, Schweitzer, Spuds, Style Bar Beauty Bar, Syringa Cyclery, Thunders Catch, Whiskey Jack Pottery and Zwazo Nich Bird Nest Coffee.

All funds that are raised from the event and membership dues go toward grooming the trails in Pine Street Woods, plus supporting SNC’s programs and opera-

tions. These include the school program, a cross-country skiing field trip for elementary school kids, Youth Ski League, an after-school program for youth aged 6-18, adult clinics with lessons for beginners to advanced skiers and affordable ski rentals at the Outdoor Recreation Center in Pine Street Woods. SNC also provides scholarships for families in need.

Last year’s event raised $2,500 and added more than 100 members. Members are entitled to discounts at Syringa Cyclery, The Shed, Outdoor Experience, Evans Brothers, and Sandpoint Medical Massage and Bodyworks. For more info and to register for the 2023-’24 season membership, visit sandpointnordic.com.

COMMUNITY

Pend Oreille Pedalers host Shred Fest

By Reader Staff Pend Oreille Pedalers are hosting their annual end-of-season party and bike races on Sunday, Oct. 29 from 1-5 p.m. at Pine Street Woods. It’s a change of venue; after two years of hosting the Crosstoberfest bike races at Hickey Farms, POP had to pivot this year when they learned the longtime Selle Valley harvest festival would not be taking place.

Meanwhile, Pine Street Woods — the community forest and trail system where POP has spent the past four years developing trails — emerged as the natural location for this year’s end-of-season bash.

All are welcome and the event will include family-friendly bike races with two distances to choose from — a 2.7-mile course for riders ages 6-17 or a five-mile course for riders ages 10 and above — a skills course around the Outdoor Recreation Center and a Halloween scavenger hunt in the meadow.

POP board members will be staffing the barbecue from 1:30-4:30 p.m. with $5 hamburgers and hot dogs, while the last keg of Matchwood Brewing’s Shred Sesh IPA

will be available for the beer lovers.

Imbibers can get a Shred Fest metal cup for $10 (including one beer) and $5 per pour for additional beers.

The Pedalers are celebrating another year of trail advocacy, planning, design and construction; youth programming; adult clinics; and more. In addition to completing and opening a brand new segment of flow trail in the Lower Basin in Sandpoint’s Little Sand Creek Watershed, POP once again partnered with International Mountain Biking Association in 2023 to design and flag around about two miles of new trails below the roundabout along Schweitzer Mountain Road, which will be built in 2024.

In January, the city of Sandpoint agreed to let POP raise funds for and oversee the complete reconstruction of the half-acre bike track at Travers Park, a project that ultimately saw more than $70,000 raised through grants and community donations, and is nearing completion with an expected grand reopening within the coming weeks.

POP’s youth programs, now in their

third year, saw 140 local kids participate in an after-school program or summer camp, 17 of whom received full scholarships and 14 getting brand-new Trek mountain bikes through the organization’s youth scholarship and bike grant program.

Riders interested in racing on Oct. 29 must pre-register. The $10 race entry fee allows riders to complete as many course laps as they like, with only their fastest lap counting.

To learn more about Shred Fest, the bicycle skills course project, or other POP programs or projects, visit pendoreillepedalers.org.

October 26, 2023 / R / 19

HOLIDAY

Zombies: the democratic monster How brain-eating corpses took over American film and television

By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff Classic movie monsters usually have a long literary tradition in Gothic or horror novels, but that isn’t the case for the zombie, which made the jump almost immediately from folklore to the silver screen. The history of these living dead traces back to the transatlantic slave trade, where people from different African cultures, who spoke different languages, were bound together and forced to foster community however they could.

“Every culture that buries their dead has some concept of the undead, and understanding the histories of these monsters means understanding human history,” Dr. Emily Zarka told the Reader. “We can actually locate the zombie in West African belief.”

Zarka is a monster expert, professor at Arizona State University and the host and writer of PBS’s Monstrum series and the book Exhumed: A History of Zombies.

The legend of the zombie solidified in Haiti during the 1600s, when West African

20 / R / October 26, 2023

slaves were forming a diasporic religion that helped them understand and survive the horrible conditions under French colonialism: Vodou. In this belief, a zombie was not a voracious cadaver, but rather the hollow shell left behind when a Bokor — essentially a sorcerer for hire — stole someone’s soul. The mindless body was then put to work, ensuring that the victim never escaped the bounds of slavery.

“The origins of the zombie ask, ‘What’s the most horrific thing that you can do to a human?’ and that’s to enslave them even in death. Zombies are about control,” said Zarka.

According to Exhumed, the idea of the zombie came to the U.S. after Haitian independence, when current and former slaves traveled to Louisiana. There, the original West African beliefs continued to mix with indigenous North American and European ideas, eventually forming the religion Voodoo.

It wasn’t until 1915, when the U.S. military occupied Haiti, that white culture appropriated the zombie and brought it from the realm of the spiritual into pop culture. Books like The Magic Island by William Seabrook and pulp fiction printings began exaggerating and demonizing Vodou, Voodoo and the zombie while “wrestling with the legacy of slavery and the anxieties white culture felt toward black bodies,” in Zarka’s words.

“I think there’s a lot of fear in the 20th century — and still today — of outsiders and people who have been othered by society,” she said.

These stories were overtly racist and often featured Black or Black-coded characters assaulting white women, perpetuating the rhetoric around anti-miscegenation laws and the stereotypes that lead to the murder of thousands of African-Americans. The zombie didn’t just represent racial tensions — authors and filmmakers used it to vilify many of the time’s changing power dynamics.

Following the success of Dracula, Bela Lugosi starred in what’s considered to be the first zombie movie, White Zombie, as the Haitian sorcerer Murder Legendre.

“The title White Zombie refers to the main character, Madeline, who becomes the zombie. Around that time women were obviously gaining the right to vote, so it shows how a largely patriarchal society reckons with the idea that they can’t control the bodies they once had,” said Zarka.

It’s clear from the film’s poster that one of the main themes is the sexual domination of women, as it says, “With this zombie grip, he made her perform his every desire.”

At this point in history, popular conceptual-

Dr. Emily Zarka is a monster expert, a professor at ASU, host of PBS’s Monstrum and author of Exhumed: A History of Zombies. Courtesy photo. izations of the zombie were highly racialized and still hearkened back to the original link to slavery, albeit from a racist, colonial perspective.

The modern, flesh-eating zombie didn’t appear until 1968 with George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Cannibalism has no basis in the original Vodou or Voodoo beliefs, but it’s easy to see why the idea became popular in the horror genre.

“Cannibalism is a horrific act in cultures all over the world. It’s the ultimate transgression of boundaries and it’s a fear you often see with monsters, even going back to medieval werewolf accusations.

It’s about making zombies even scarier by stacking transgression upon transgression,” said Zarka.

She’s often asked whether or not zombies should be labeled “cannibals” if they eat humans, rather than other zombies. According to Zarka, yes. These monsters are still inherently human, which makes them all the more terrifying.

“Some people just don’t want to acknowledge that we can’t separate zombies and monsters from ourselves,” she said.

The hit TV show The Walking Dead — as well as the original graphic novels — takes this idea to new heights when it reveals that everyone, regardless of how they die, will eventually become a zombie.

In his famous speech, protagonist Rick Grimes reveals that the “walking dead” are actually the survivors, not the monsters themselves. This feeling of inevitable defeat is what makes zombies so compelling to modern audiences and separates them from horror staples like vampires or werewolves: they’re the only monsters that can and will take over the world.

“Since everyone is one heartbeat away — so to speak — from becoming one of

these monsters, the zombie is almost democracy rising. It’s the democratic monster,” said Zarka. Vampires may transform a select few humans, but overall they often represent an elite minority that many people even fantasize about joining. No one wants to be a zombie, but in media like The Walking Dead, eventually everyone will be.

Despite the insurmountable odds the protagonists face, Zarka believes that zombie media is inherently hopeful. When the survivors band together, though they often fight among themselves, they show audiences that humans will protect one another through the worst catastrophes. This message of unity is especially relevant given the current wars in Ukraine and Palestine, the last vestiges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the frequency of natural disasters.

“Basically, being the only survivor in a zombie pandemic is incredibly difficult,” said Zarka. “You need to parallel the zombies; they can come together to attack the living, so the living have to join together to survive the undead, which has a real positivity to it. Humans inherently want connection, and I don’t think an apocalypse would change that.”

Zarka predicts a greater resurgence of zombie media in the wake of the recent pandemic — a phenomenon that may have already begun with the release of the TV show The Last of Us, based on the video game franchise. Since the early 2000s, it’s been popular among filmmakers to use the living dead as a means of exploring global fears of contagion and medical experimentation, as in the movie 28 Days Later.

As mainstream horror becomes more diverse and artists of different races, ethnicities, genders and sexual orientations get the opportunity to bring their unique perspectives to a wider audience, Zarka hopes that zombie media will return to its Haitian origins. The film Get Out by Jordan Peele came close by dealing with issues surrounding race relations and the physical and spiritual enslavement of Black Americans in a plot reminiscent of the original soul-stealing beliefs.

“I’d like to see a story told by someone who actually belongs to the [Haitian, Voodoo or Vodou] community,” said Zarka.

“The most important thing to remember about the zombie is that it is a direct result of the transatlantic slave trade, and when we remember that, we can have more complex readings of all its interpretations. The zombie is the people’s monster — it can be everything we need it to be.”

HOLIDAY

Scare up a good time

A round-up of Halloween 2023 events

By Reader Staff With Halloween falling on a Tuesday this year, Sandpoint is tacking on a few extra days prior to the official fright night to celebrate. Here are just a few: Friday, Oct. 27 Halloween Dance Party 3531 Upper Pack River Road 6-9 p.m.

Father-daughter duo Brian and Journey Hoyer are hosting a Halloween-themed get-down at Vance’s Workshop, featuring a bonfire, prizes for best costume and a “Spooky Scary Skeletons” dance contest. $10 for adults, $5 for kids.

LPOHS Haunted House 1424 N. Boyer Road 5-9 p.m.

Lake Pend Oreille High School is inviting fans of a good scare to enter a haunted house (if they dare) at the Panhandle Special Needs Greenhouse. Organizers warn that it might be too intense for younger audiences. $5 per person at the door or in advance at LPOHS: 1005 N. Boyer Ave. Royale Halloween 207 N. First Ave. 9 p.m. (doors open at 7 p.m.)

Spokane-based rockers Royale will be buzzing into town to celebrate Part 1 of the Hive’s first Halloween since reopening its doors under new owners last year.

There will also be a costume contest with prizes at 10 p.m. and an appearance by the Queen Bee. $5 at the door or $5 plus taxes and fees at livefromthehive.com. This is a 21+ event.

open at 6:45 p.m.)

Dance up a scary storm at the Sandpoint Community Hall, beginning with one hour of cha cha lessons at 7 p.m., followed by general dancing from 8-10 p.m. There will be a costume contest, refreshments and door prizes, too. Couples, singles and all levels of dancers are welcome. $8 per person.

DJ Set and Halloween Party 100 North First Ave. 7-11 p.m.

Catch a DJ set with EBAE and get down with a Halloween party at Barrel 33. FREE.

Halloween Hoedown 207 N. First Ave. 9-11:30 p.m. (doors at 7 p.m.)

Part 2 of the Hive’s Halloween celebration will be a hoedown with high-energy Inland Northwest Country Music Association Band of the Year The Hankers. Based in Spokane, the band has opened for some of the biggest names in the business, blending outlaw country, Southern rock, blues and bluegrass. $5 at the door or $5 plus taxes and fees at livefromthehive.com. This is a 21+ event.

Fat Lady and Halloween Party 212 Cedar St. 8 p.m.

Eichardt’s Pub is throwing a Halloween party with Spokane’s Fat Lady playing live. Fat Lady is a band inspired by the rawness of ’60s garage rock as well as classic

rhythm and blues tracks with a modern twist.

Haunted Conservatory 110 Main St. 5:30-7 p.m.

The Music Conservatory of Sandpoint will summon the spirits with live music performed by MCS musicians. A second performance will take place Sunday, Oct. 29 from 2:30 to 4 p.m. FREE. LPOHS Haunted House 1424 N. Boyer Road 5-9 p.m.

Lake Pend Oreille High School is inviting fans of a good scare to enter a haunted house (if they dare) at the Panhandle Special Needs Greenhouse. Organizers warn that it might be too intense for younger audiences. $5 per person at the door or in advance at LPOHS: 1005 N. Boyer Ave.

Queen B. Halloween Drag Show and Costume Contest 1511 John Hudon Lane 8 p.m.

Put on your best costume and prepare for a night of thrilling entertainment at the Sandpoint Eagles Lodge. Prizes given for best costume. $12 at the door. This is a 21+ event.

to life, weaving earthly elements with supernatural frights. FREE.

UCAN Halloween Costume Party and Fundraiser 1007 W. Superior St. 5:30-11:30 p.m.

Unique Center for Athletes of all Needs will host its annual fundraiser with food from Trinity at City Beach, complimentary drinks from 113 Main, a costume contest, music, casino room, and silent and live auctions — all benefiting fitness and nutrition for those with special needs. Tickets $80 per person or $1,100 per table, available online only at ucansandpoint.org.

This is a 21+ event.

Tuesday, Oct. 31 Halloween Night at Mitzy’s 807 Fifth Ave. 6-10 p.m.

Halloween music like “Thriller,” “The Monster Mash” and more — plus themed shots, cocktails and snacks — will get partygoers in the spirit at Mitzy’s Lounge. Dress in your best costume to enter into the costume contest. No cover. This is a 21+ event.

Halloween with the Lions 609 S. Ella Ave. 4-8 p.m.

Trick or treat through the Wicked Witch Woods at the Lions Club, featuring hand-dipped corn dogs, warm refreshments, popcorn and more. FREE.

LPOHS Haunted House 1424 N. Boyer Road 5-9 p.m.

Lake Pend Oreille High School is inviting fans of a good scare to enter a haunted house (if they dare) at the Panhandle Special Needs Greenhouse. Organizers warn that it might be too intense for younger audiences. $5 per person at the door or in advance at LPOHS: 1005 N. Boyer Ave. MCS Trick or Treat 110 Main St. 4:30 p.m.

Leave the tricks at home and come for some treats at the Music Conservatory of Sandpoint on Halloween night. FREE.

Spooky Spirits and Stories 11915 W. Pine St. 7-9 p.m.

Bring the family for a guided walk through Pine Street Woods featuring an original tale brought

Saturday, Oct. 28 Boo Bash Ball 204 S. First Ave. 7-10 p.m. (doors

October 26, 2023 / R / 21

events

Send event listings to calendar@sandpointreader.com October 26 - November 2, 2023 THURSDAY, october 26

3rd annual LPO Repertory West Coast Swing Dance Lessons Theater Speakeasy @ Yellow Room NED 4:30-5:30pm 7pm @ 219 Lounge Head to 102 Euclid Ave for this POSTPO weekly class. $5-$10 fee Bingo Night at IPA 6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority

For all Halloween events please refer to Page 17

Meet & Greet Candidate Forum Live Music w/ John Daffron 6pm @ Hope Memorial Comm Ctr 6-8pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Attending: East Hope Council Rock / alternative Member, Sam Owen Fire Cmmsr.

Dist. 1, LPOSD Zone 1

FriDAY, october 27

Live Music w/ Samantha Carston Woods Wheatcroft studio 1st 6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority anniversary, Live Music w/ Blird Darling ukulele playing singer 5-9pm @ Woods Wheatcroft Studio Portrait pop-up session, costumes Object Heavy with Biddadat 7:30pm @ The Heartwood Center encouraged, harvest drink and Object Heavy is a talented band snacks. BYOB. Original art. Live music by Blird. 104 S. Second Ave that is part of the West Coast Retirement is Murder play and soul and funk scene. Biddadat Golden Oldies concert is a neo-Funk trio with two of the three members hailing from 7pm @ Panida Little Theater Sandpoint. Doors at 6:30pm. $16/ Comedy, romance, mayhem and GA, $10/youth. Mattoxfarm.com murder. Tickets at panida.org Halloween Bash w/ Royale Live Music w/ John Daffron 9pm @ The Hive 5:30-8:30pm @ Barrel 33 Rock / alternative

Live Music w/ Luke Yates Paint and Sip w/ Nicole Black and Christy Less 5:30-8:30pm @ Barrel 33 6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Get your spooky on with a fall Country paint and sip with Nicole!

Free Strings Concert Sandpoint Nordic Club 6pm @ First Presbyterian Church Winter Welcome Fundraiser Suzuki Strings Academy hosts stu1-4pm @ Pine Street Woods dents ages 6-18 to share classical Great silent auction and raffle pieces they have been working on items, s’mores, family fun adn more. Learn about what your local for over a year. Free.

Nordic club has to offer. sandLive Music w/ Ponderay Paradox pointnordic.com for more info 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Folk and Americana duo

SATURDAY, october 28

Live Jazz w/ Bright Moments Live Music w/ The Get Back Duo Boo Bash Ball Sandpoint Observatory Launch 7-9pm @ Connie’s Lounge 6-9pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall 7pm @ Sandpoint Community Hall 5pm @ UI Sandpoint Org. Ag. Ctr. Beatles / rock DJ Set w/ EBAE Dance starts with a Cha Cha les- Join in on the launch of the first Live Music w/ Ben Vogel 7-11pm @ Barrel 33 son at 7pm, followed by general telescope observatory in Sand5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery 21+ DJ set / Halloween party dancing until 10pm. Costume point! More info on Page 13 Old Time Fiddler’s Assoc. Jam Rock and blues contest, door prizes. $8/person Jarabe Mexicano in concert 3-5pm @ Sandpoint Senior Center Old-Time Fiddlers Acoustic Jam Retirement is Murder play and 7:30pm @ Panida Theater 3-5pm @ Sandpoint Senior Ctr. Come to join or to listen Golden Oldies concert Authentic Mexican Folk and rock Live Music w/ Snacks at Midnight Join along or come to listen!

7pm @ Panida Little Theater by this border band. Hosted by Queen B. Halloween Drag Show 9pm-midnight @ 219 Lounge POAC. artinsandpoint.org Halloween Hoedown w/ 8pm @ Eagles Lodge See more on Page 21 Live Music w/ Fat Lady The Hankers Costume contest with prizes!

Live Music w/ Ian Newbill 8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub 9pm @ The Hive Live Music w/ Cole McAvoy 7-10pm @ A&P’s Bar & Grill 5:30-8:30pm @ Barrel 33

SunDAY, october 29

Sandpoint Chess Club Sandpoint Film Festival 9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee 4pm & 7pm @ Panida Theater Meets every Sunday at 9am Back for its 11th year, this local film festival has two blocks of films in one day, with Block 1 starting at 4pm and Block 2 at Magic with Star Alexander 7pm. Tickets $10/block. This year dedicated to Erik Daarstad 5-8pm @ Jalepeño’s Up close magic shows

monDAY, october 30

Monday Night Blues Jam w/ John Firshi 7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Lifetree Cafe • 2pm @ Jalapeño’s “Painting the Stars: Science, Religion and an Evolving Faith”

Outdoor Experience Group Run 6pm @ Outdoor Experience 3-5 miles, all levels welcome Weekly Trivia Night 6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority With rotating hosts

Shred Fest • 1-5pm @ Pine Street Woods Pend Oreille Pedalers host Shred Fest: family-friendly bike races and an end-of-season party. BBQ, beer, bike races, skills course, scavenger hunt and more. Visit pendoreillepedalers.org for more information

wednesDAY, november 1

Ponderay Rotary EPIC-curean Raffle Tickets $50/each with an opportunity to win an epicurean meal designed, made and served by our community’s finest chefs. Est. value $2,000. Get tickets at ponderayrotaryclub.com or email ponderaryrotaryclub@gmail.com. Drawing takes place Nov. 24

ThursDAY, november 2

Bingo Night at IPA 6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority

Collage Night at Woods Wheatcroft Studio • 5-8pm @ Woods Wheatcroft Studio, 104 S. Second Ave. Dive into the creative process. Instruction starts at 5:30. Some supplies provided. Own supplies encouraged. Hang w/ friends, make art. Great group vibe. BYOB. $25 drop in. Class size limit 15 people

West Coast Swing Dance Lessons 4:30-5:30pm @ Yellow Room 3rd annual LPO Repertory Meet and Greet with new MD at Panida, Robb Talbott Head to 102 Euclid Ave for this Theater Speakeasy NED 7:30pm @ Panida Theater (begins after 6:30pm meeting ends) weekly class. $5-$10 fee 7pm @ 219 Lounge POSTPO 22 / R / October 26, 2023

COMMUNITY Ponderay Rotary selling tickets for annual EPICcurean Raffle

By Reader Staff The Rotary Club of Ponderay is selling tickets for its second annual EPIC-curean Raffle. The prize is a special dinner for six that can be served in the winner’s home in the greater Sandpoint area, including Dover and Hope.

Proceeds from the raffle go toward the club’s educational scholarships and community projects. The meal is designed

by Tango Cafe owner Judy Colegrove, Gordon Holmes, and Carol and Barney Ballard, who together have more than 125 years experience in the kitchen.

No strangers to serving up tasty dishes, the Ballards started in restaurants in 1974 in Boulder, Colo.; and, after moving to Sandpoint in 1984, opened The Cupboard Cafe. In 2003, they opened up the Dock of the Bay at the Holiday Shores Marina. In 2008, they started Tango Cafe.

Colegrove was their employee — first at the Beachhouse Restaurant five years prior, then at The Dock of the Bay. She purchased Tango Cafe from the Ballards in 2010.

Barney Ballard, a Rotary Club of Ponderay member, said he looks forward to the opportunity to again serve alongside his wife, Carol; his longtime friend, Colegrove; and friend Gordon Holmes, while raising money for a good cause.

“The strength of this four-person cooking crew is that we can work with you on your menu, and special dietary needs will be accommodated,” Barney said.

“We were so successful last year with the fundraiser and other fundraisers throughout the year, that we were able to award $33,500 to local students in the way of scholarships, plus support local projects, too,” said Tiffany Goodvin, of Ponderay Rotary.

Last year, the club distributed awards to 21 continuing education students and 23 graduating seniors, in addition to a $1,500 aeronautical scholarship that went to one deserving student.

Raffle tickets are $50 each and the winner will be drawn Nov. 24.

Tickets are limited to 200, after which the raffle will be sold out.

Tickets can be purchased from Ponderay Rotary members or by visiting ponderayrotaryclub.com.

STAGE & SCREEN Sandpoint Film Festival offers 11th annual selection of international short films This year’s event to honor late-Ocscar-winning local cinematographer Erik Daarstad

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

entific luminaries like Jane Goodall; celebrities such as Ike and Tina Turner, Elvis Presley, Rita Hayworth and Paul Newman; and lesser known but equally fascinating people all over the world — including Idaho, where Now in its 11th year, the Sandpoint Film Festival is he and his wife settled in 1976, with a 10-year stint in returning Sunday, Oct. 29 to the Panida Theater with Sandpoint followed by 11 years away in Seattle and a two blocks of 31 short films from around the world. permanent return in 1997.

The first round screens from 4-6 p.m. and the second Daarstad’s stellar cinematography work earned him from 7-9 p.m. Admission is a suggested donation of an Oscar for the short film Why Man Creates in 1969, $10 per block, with doors open 30 minutes prior to the along with several Academy Award nominations. showings.

“This year SFF 11 will be honoring Erik Daarstad, SFF made its selections from 2,010 entries spanning his contribution to the film industry and his importance the globe, from as far afield as Dubai, Malaysia, Russia to the community of Sandpoint,” festival organizers and the U.K. to as close to home as North Idaho, with wrote. three local films in the mix.

Local filmmaker Jimmy Matlosz will screen his “Many of the submissions are based on human rights interview with Daarstad, Erik Daarstad: 60 Years of and protection of the Earth and our resources,” orgaCinematography, in Block 2 of the 2023 festival. nizers said in an email, but many others focus on the Other films include Lebanese short Open Sesame, fantastical, whimsical and heartfelt. which centers on a bank heist with citizens demanding In keeping with several of those themes — and in access to their own savings.

Toy, from Greece, is a fanhonor of his passing this year — SFF organizers have tastical telling of an unexpected encounter dedicated this year’s event to Erik Daarswith Santa Claus, who has gone incognitad, who died on March 13 after a surprise Sandpoint Film to.

Mugging is a relatable comedy about cancer diagnosis at the age of 87. Born in Festival the health restrictions imposed in 2020 Norway in 1935, Daarstad’s early years Sunday, Oct. 29; Block 1: 4-6 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. were spent under German occupation p.m., Block 2: 7-9 p.m., doors I Am Yours, from Ukraine, is “a beauduring World War II, but it was also then open 30 minutes prior to screenings; $10 suggested donation tifully choreographed short of a couple that he developed his love for photograper block.

Panida Theater, 300 navigating their way through the current phy and cinema.

N. First Ave., 208-263-9191, obstacles in their country,” according to Years after the war, he traveled to the panida.org. More info at sandpointfilmfestival.com. organizers.

U.S., where he studied cinematography Those are only a fraction of the films at the University of Southern California to be screened at the 2023 festival, all of which are rated in Los Angeles, ultimately becoming a documentary G, PG or PG-13.

Capping off the event, an audience filmmaker with subjects ranging from presidents to sci-

The 11th Annual Sandpoint Film Festival is dedicated to the late-Oscar-winning local cinematographer Erik Daarstad. Courtesy photo. choice award ballot will be offered for the two blocks.

To learn more about the Sandpoint Film Festival visit sandpointfilmfestival.com.

Worst. Movie. Monsters. Ever.

By Ben Olson Reader Staff There have been some iconic movie monsters to grace the big screen over the years. Whether you’re into the classics monsters like Frankenstein (yes, yes, we know about the name), Godzilla or King Kong, or you go more for the unique takes, like The Pale Man in Pan’s Labyrinth or the Xenomorph from Alien, Tinseltown has left some memorable entries in this film genre.

Then there are the other monsters — the ones that make you laugh instead of run.

Here are some of Hollywood’s worst monsters over the years: Killer Tomatoes, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978) This film might have worked better in the present, because it has that odd parody-that-isn’t-quite-a-parody thing going

on. The premise of this movie that was supposed to spoof B-movie horror flicks is basically just a bunch of giant tomatoes that go on a rampage, killing people indiscriminately. The absurdity intensifies at the end, when the Run! It’s a... tomato.

Killer Tomatoes are finally brought back to normal size to the tune of a song called “Puberty Love” and subsequently squashed.

(Fun fact: “Puberty Love” was sung by a teenaged Matt Cameron, who later became the drummer for Soundgarden and, since 1998, has been the drummer for Pearl Jam).

There isn’t anything redeeming about this film except perhaps a catchy theme song written by John DeBello and sung with a captivating operatic flaire.

Every monster in the Sharktopus universe For some reason, the back alleys of Hollywood keep churning out You can run but you can’t these horrible hide from the Whalewolf. monster films that are supposed to be kitschy and funny but just clog up the genre with title after title that goes straight to DVD and into the trash. These films are so prevalent, IMDB has even coined a new genre called “Stupid Monster Films,” with such entries as Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus, Sharknado and Dinocroc vs. Supergator. In Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf, the former is half-shark, half-octopus and all stupid. Its adversary is an awful CGI orca with legs called a Whalewolf. The fact that people keep making these movies is just one of the many signs that our society is broken and we’re all doomed to someday serve the machines.

I’m embarrassed at how many sequels have been produced from this franchise.

Giant Anaconda, Anaconda (1997) You’d think with such names as Jon Help! It’s a giant anaconda killing Voight, Jon Voight’s movie career!

Jennifer Lopez and Ice Cube, Anaconda might have enjoyed some success at the box office.

You’d be wrong. This monster movie’s premise involves following a documentary film crew on the Amazon River as they are stalked and eaten whole by giant anacondas.

While this film is a bit more entertaining than the other stinkers on the list, the giant anaconda that preys on the film crew is just goofy. The film was so bad it was nominated for six Razzie Awards, losing only because Kevin Costner’s The Postman swept most categories that year.

October 26, 2023 / R / 23

COMMUNITY UCAN Halloween Fundraiser promises thrills, chills and charity

By Reader Staff

Unique Center for Athletes of all Needs recently announced its annual Halloween Fundraiser, promising a night of entertainment and charitable giving. The inaugural event is set to take place 5:30-11:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28 at UCAN (1007 W. Superior St., in Sandpoint).

More than just a costume party, UCAN’s Halloween Fundraiser is “a celebration of community, philanthropy and the spirit of giving back,” the organization stated.

Some of the event highlights include: • Hauntingly delicious cuisine: A Halloween-themed feast prepared by Trinity at City Beach. For dessert, pick from one of 12 Halloween-themed desserts provided by local bakers.

• Costume contest: Dress to impress and compete for a chance to win prizes.

• Entertainment: Music, dancing, casino room and more. Bar provided by 113 Main with free beer and wine.

• Live/silent auction: Bid on unique items and experiences in a live or silent auction, with all proceeds going to support UCAN’s mission.

• Philanthropy: All proceeds from the UCAN Halloween Gala will support fitness and nutrition for those with special needs.

Tickets are $80 per person, or $1,100 per table, and available at ucansandpoint.org. The dress code is “Halloween chic,” with costumes encouraged. The event is for adults 21 and over.

“Don’t miss out on this spooktacular event that combines the thrill of Halloween with the joy of giving back,” UCAN stated.

For more information about UCAN and the Halloween Fundraiser, visit ucansandpoint.org or contact Kelli Bult at ucansandpoint@gmail. com or 208-627-6079.

24 / R / October 26, 2023

MUSIC

This week’s RLW by Zach Hagadone

Jason Mraz to play Festival at Sandpoint

By Reader Staff The Festival at Sandpoint released the first announcement for the 2024 concert series on Oct. 23, with Jason Mraz and the Superband set to take the Festival stage on Friday, Aug. 2.

The Grammy-winning musician/songwriter will play in Sandpoint as part of the second leg of his tour, The Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride.

Mraz is currently participating on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, after releasing Mystical Magical

Rhythmical Radical Ride, his eighth studio album and return to pop music. Mraz said the lead single, “I Feel Like Dancing,” is a reminder to dance your own dance without fear — which they’ll be invited to do at the 2024 Festival show.

“Songs appear out of a real necessity, and this song appeared as I struggled with identity and self worth in my mid-40s,” he stated.

“And I have to truly dance like no one’s watching.”

The second leg of the tour will again feature a stage full of musicians, including longtime

collaborators Raining Jane; Austin, Texas-based Grooveline Horns and guitarist Dr. Molly Miller, performing both new pop tunes and Mraz fan favorites.

Tickets to Jason Mraz at the Festival at Sandpoint will go on sale Friday, Oct. 27 at 10 a.m. and are $64.95 for general admission.

Get tickets at festivalatsandpoint.com.

READ

Jason Mraz. Courtesy photo.

Object Heavy / Biddadat, The Heartwood, Oct. 27

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

Those seeking the perfect neofunk-soul musical pairing are in luck with a special concert Friday, Oct. 27 at The Heartwood Center (615 Oak St., in Sandpoint).

Acclaimed players on the West Coast soul and funk scene Object Heavy will headline the show, which starts at 7:30 p.m., led by the nuanced and powerful voice of Richard Love and composed of seasoned musicians.

Hailing from Humboldt County, Calif, Object Heavy has gathered some impressive reviews of late, including a stint as a featured artist on Apple Music’s Soul and RnB carousel. Fresh off the release of its newest record, Love & Gravity, the band’s magnetic blend of classic Cadillac soul and effortless dance grooves will

definitely have you out of your seat. Object Heavy has spent the past few years establishing itself as a premier live performance band, sharing the stage with such acts as The Motet, Polyrhythmics, Turkuaz and Chali 2na.

Opening for Object Heavy is a band that is no stranger to Sandpoint — in fact, two of its members are Sandpoint High School graduates.

Biddadat will bring its unique blend of funk and rock, with influences from alternative and indie rock. If Stevie Wonder was making music today, Biddadat would be what it would sound like.

Don’t miss Object Heavy and Biddadat at The Heartwood, hosted by Mattox Farm Productions.

There will be drinks available for purchase and doors are open at 6:30 p.m.

Left: Object Heavy.

Right: Biddadat.

Courtesy photos.

Friday, Oct. 27; 7:30 p.m.; $16 general admission, $10 youth. The Heartwood Center, 615 Oak St., Sandpoint, get tickets at mattoxfarm.com. Listen at objectheavymusic.com and biddadat.com.

A snapshot of notable live music coming up in Sandpoint Jarabe Mexicano, Panida Theater, Oct. 28

Snacks at Midnight, 219 Lounge, Oct. 28

Take a trip south of the border without leaving the panhandle when Jarabe Mexicano takes the stage at the Panida Theater. This five-piece hailing from just north of the Mexican border in Arizona brings a charismatic brand of “Bordeño-Soul” which honors the musical tastes and cultural influences of its members.

These talented musicians play authentic Mexican folk, rock and roll, Norteño/Tex-Mex and Latin rock, among other genres.

It’s been a hot minute since Spokane-based pop-funk-infused indie rock quintet Snacks at Midnight made a Sandpoint appearance — literally, it was hot out in late-June when the band rolled into town for a “summer kickoff” at the 219. Now it’s not so hot, and in keeping with its midnight party vibe, the band will be going bump in the night Saturday, Oct. 28 at the Niner for its Halloween bash.

The Niner will be handing out full-sized sonic candy bars that night, with opener Left On Tenth,

With traditional Mariachi string instruments and dramatic vocals in English and Spanish, Jarebe Mexicano shows how to embrace change without forgetting the past.

Brought to you by POAC. — Ben Olson 7:30 p.m.; $35 adults, $10 student; presented by POAC. Panida Theater, 300 N. First Ave., 208-263-9191, panida.org. Listen at jarabemexicano.com.

of Bozeman, Mont., making their 219 debut with a mix of jam, reggae, funk grooves, rock and even a sensual ballad or two.

If you’re looking for an excuse to stay up past your bedtime — even on a Saturday — put on your best costume and be sure it includes some dancing shoes.

— Zach Hagadone 9 p.m.-midnight, FREE, 21+.

219 Lounge, 219 N. First Ave., 208-263-5673, 219.bar. Listen at snacksatmidnight.com.

There’s a new publication in town — focused specifically on original stories of the macabre — that hit the streets just in time for Halloween. Strange, Stranger, Strangest, Vol. 1, is spearheaded by local writer Jeff Keenan featuring 21 pages of his stories, as well as one by Daniel Jay, and art by Hannah Leal and Bella Wright. The glossy mag costs $7 and is available in a box by The Tervan (411 Cedar St.). As it says, “If you’re a lover of the strange, then go ahead, put your feet in the fire, clutch an axe and get uncomfortable.”

LISTEN

It’s hard to accept BMG’s description of Nick Cave and Bad Seeds as an “alternative rock band” — unless you consider a doomstruck melding of David Bowie, Leonard Cohen and Lou Reed as “alternative rock.”

Since 1983, frontman Nick Cave has created a sound that spawns acolytes, with its swirling, dark-hued ruminations on death, religion and all the other big stuff. He’s been tantalizing us with a new album all year (which has yet to appear). Meanwhile, absorb the 2021 Cave-Warren Ellis duo release Carnage, available on YouTube.

WATCH

I tried to watch the new Netflix miniseries Fall of the House of Usher, but fell asleep on the couch — though not before getting really annoyed at the voice of actor Bruce Greenwood. I’m going to make another run at it, since the vast majority of reviews have been positive.

Inspired by the story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe, it’s been described as the “horror version of Succession,” putting a contemporary twist on the gory collapse of a morally bankrupt family that made its riches in the pharmaceutical trade, which is a horror story all its own. All eight episodes dropped for streaming on Oct. 12.

October 26, 2023 / R / 25

BACK OF THE BOOK

Caused by a dead bear From Northern Idaho News, November 29, 1927

BRIDE RUNS AWAY WITH ANOTHER MAN Married life was short for Irene Wilson, a 14-year-old girl, who was married for just two weeks when she lost her husband by his parents coming and taking him home to mamma, but nothing daunted by that, she attended a dance in Sandpoint last Wednesday night and at the close of the dance left with another man, presumably for Spokane, according to her friends.

The sheriff’s office was asked this morning to be on the lookout and see if they could locate Irene Wilson, or rather Irene Smythe. The girl’s parents told the sheriff the girl was married about the first of the month to a man named Kenneth Smythe and the couple came here on their honeymoon. The girl will be 15 years old in February, but she has the appearance of a girl of 18. Her husband is also under 21 years of age, but both swore to being of age in securing their license.

They lived here about two weeks when Kenneth’s father came and took his some home with him. Last Wednesday night, Mrs. Smythe, the bride, attended a dance in Sandpoint and after the dance left with a man named Earl but whose last name is not known, for Spokane.

They went in a Chevrolet or Star coupe and were accompanied by a girl known as “Billy.” The description of the missing bride was given to the police as brown curly hair, large for her age, dressed in a blue dress and trimmed with black fir.

The girl has been living with her parents at Boyer. The sheriffs of the surrounding county were notified to be on the lookout for the girl and her friends.

26 / R / October 26, 2023

By Sandy Compton Reader Columnist As I grow older, it becomes more difficult to accept the uncaring nature of what seems to be a majority of humans when it comes to other species on the planet. From mosquitoes to redwoods, we seem bent on destroying the other biota on Earth. They get in the way.

They block the view. They are more valuable as commodities or oddities or collectors’ items than they are as living things. We buy and sell them. We kill them with impunity, as if we are the only creatures in creation that have the right to be alive.

We are wrong.

Humans seem to have the imperious thought that we can survive everything we do to our environment, so it doesn’t matter what happens to the rest of the living.

We are wrong about that, too. As we kill off other species, we are killing ourselves as well, bit by bit. We just don’t know where the tipping point is. How many trees can we cut before we begin to suffocate from lack of oxygen? How many rivers can we plug shut to salmon and other spawning species before the oceanic ecology collapses and we lose that food source we and much of the other planet so depends on? How much toxic stuff can we dump into the atmosphere, the ground, the water and our bodies before we sterilize the planet?

Earth doesn’t really care whether our species survives or not. On our scale of time, Gaia is immortal. She has at least 75 billion years before the sun absorbs her. Before that, she is set to support carbon-based life for a billion before the sun’s radiation increases to a point where the oceans evaporate and the water cycle goes completely away.

We will miss that, but the longer we can

put off our own extinction — sorry, folks, we only have about 600,000 years left, no matter what we do — the better we should like it. But will we really allow ourselves that? At the rate we are killing off creatures and plants, we may not last another 20,000.

So, party on, dude! Right?

Wrong again.

Everything is connected, and for every animal we blithely run over on the road or gas or poison or kill for sport or just because we can, our own connection becomes more tenuous.

This little rant was precipitated by a bear.

It died on the road sometime last week, left by whoever hit it to die. It managed to drag itself out of traffic and laid on the verge of the pavement until someone saw a chance for some profit, stopped and cut the paws and head off and removed its gallbladder (worth about $10,000 dollars in Asia, where they are considered medicinally valuable).

Finally, I stopped and dragged it into the ditch and out of sight. My reasons for this are based in many things, but mostly in respect for the animal, and I admit I came late to the act this time. But I have dragged lots of dead animals off the highway; and dispatched the mortally wounded and

STR8TS Solution

Sudoku Solution

hopelessly crippled struggling to stand or somehow get themselves out of the danger that has already hurt them beyond redemption. I’ve hit my share of animals. Maybe more than my share. But I have never left one to lay on the road or drag itself into the woods and die alone.

As the driver who hit them may have cursed the crippled creature as they drove off, I curse the driver for being an uncaring, irresponsible human being. And every time I do this, I rage and cry. I’ve not gotten inured to it. And I hope I never will.

I’m being harsh and judgmental, and I don’t really care. If we don’t respect all life on the planet as best as we can, how can we respect ourselves? And if we don’t respect ourselves, how can we expect our species to endure for the next 599,999 years?

As we watch Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Palestine go at each other, it is apparent that there is a lack of understanding in those conflicts. We kill what we don’t understand, and I think we don’t understand ourselves very well at all.

Crossword Solution

Whenever you read a good book, it’s like the author is right there, in the room, talking to you, which is why I don’t like to read good books.

Solution on page 26

Solution on page 26

By Bill Borders

CROSSWORD

Copyright www.mirroreyes.com

Laughing Matter

ACROSS

arcane /ahr-KEYN/

Woorf tdhe Week

[adjective] 1. known or understood by very few; mysterious; secret; obscure

“The ancient comedian told such arcane jokes that few in the audience under 75 years old laughed once.”

Clarification: In the Oct. 19 recap of the candidates’ forum, we oversimplified Kyle Schreiber’s response to a question regarding relocating the wastewater treatment plant to Baldy Mountain Road. While he did note the expense of moving the plant, his fuller answer also indicated that a future, second plant could be built there to accommodate growth. This is in greater contrast to Deb Ruehle’s answer than we reported, which is that it would be financially impossible for Sandpoint to ever build a treatment plant at Baldy.

1. Chip dip 6. Exclamation of contempt 11. Dialect 12. Someone from Italy 15. Consultant’s offering 16. Be vulturous 17. Honey insect 18. Joint of a finger 20. Grassland 21. Farm building 23. Heap 24. Depression 25. Rear end 26. Feudal worker 27. Platter 28. Type of duck 29. Permit 30. Fastidious 31. Exalted 34. Prickle 36. Local Area Network 37. Assistant 41. Wife of Zeus 42. Color of a clear sky 43. Mid-month days 44. Small songbird 45. Objective 46. Heads 47. A box for bricks 48. Harness-racing horse 51. Falsehood 52. Get going

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54. Ledger entries 56. Remorseful act 57. Surgical dressing 58. Avarice 59. Implant

DOWN 1. Firearm 2. Unfavorable 3. Fifty-two in Roman numerals 4. Punch 5. Ends a prayer

30. All right 32. Chapter in history 33. Blame 34. Seat of power 35. Listening 38. Admire excessively 39. Charged 40. S S S 42. Kicked 44. Lash 45. Simple elegance 48. Fork prong 49. Border 50. Unit of paper 53. Driveway surface 55. “Buddy” October 26, 2023 / R / 27

6. Predicament 7. Not fresh 8. Possess 9. Beer 10. Without a victory 13. Bureau 14. Tidy 15. Old Jewish scholars 16. Sparkle 19. Discomfit 22. Infant 24. Scorn 26. Distinctive flair 27. Expected