Reader_Jan4_2024

2 / R / January 4, 2024

DEAR READERS,

The week in random review

By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff

highly intelligent animals

Both my old dogs lived happy lives and passed on at the ripe old age of 15. I loved them, but admittedly they weren’t particularly intelligent. Delilah — a.k.a. Snorty, Scooby and Deirdre Doggles — had the contradictory combination of a lack of self-preservation instincts and a deathly fear of balloons. When she was a young pup, she loved nothing more than chasing after the deer that stopped to nibble the grass in our backyard. Once, while we were enjoying the sunshine, she took off into the forest after a sweet doe. A few minutes later, we heard yelps and cries barreling toward us accompanied by the drumbeat of hooves: a stag was chasing her, brandishing his antlers, ready to make Delilah souvlaki. It’s safe to say she never chased a deer again. On the less athletic end of the spectrum, Max — a.k.a. Maxwell Munchigen Thought-He-Would-Have-Lunch-Again — was a scruffy Toto-esque dog in the exact shape of a Snausage.

Eating was his hobby, his artform and his raison d’être.

One day, while everyone was gone, he decided that our berber carpet looked absolutely delicious. He chewed up a loose strand of the woven carpet and sat down to lunch.

Once he started eating, he couldn’t stop until he reached the end of the string — several feet later. The vet had to remove a ball of carpet slightly larger than a softball. He didn’t learn his lesson and helped himself to a small dish towel a few years later. I didn’t notice until he passed the entire thing, undigested, while out on a walk.

notable quotable

“I don’t like country music, but I don’t mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means ‘put down.’” — Bob Newhart

less notable quotables

In college, my neighbor started writing down all the ridiculous things she’d heard on sticky notes, which she’d display on her dorm door. Eventually, the entire building was in on the action and began leaving their own quotes behind. Please enjoy a curated few — I have no context for any of them.

“You sound like Kermit the Frog with throat cancer.”

“My life is a step stool slowly rotating from the ceiling.”

“This app makes me want to go on another tri-state killing spree.”

“If there’s a man named ‘Guy’ there’s probably a guy named ‘Man.’” “I know what a rave is! My Model United Nations threw one!”

“I’m not interested in murder — particularly my own.”

“That man looked like a small corn.”

This marks the first edition of 2024, in which Reader staff writers try their luck on the crystal ball and give predictions for what we think might come to pass over the next 52 weeks. Some are funny, some are downright depressing.

Check them out for yourself on Pages 14-15.

In other news, those attending the Sandpoint City Council meeting Jan. 3 saw several changes to the makeup of our city government. Shelby Rognstad chaired his final meeting after eight years as mayor, and outgoing Council President Kate McAlister received well wishes from those on the dais. Rounding out the changes, City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton participated in her last meeting following her announced resignation, effective Jan. 3.

Mayor Jeremy Grimm was sworn in, as well as incoming Councilors Pam Duquette and Kyle Schreiber. Incumbent Deb Ruehle also won the November election, but was not in attendance at the Jan. 3 meeting.

I wish all the incoming electeds productive terms and thank all of the outgoing members for their service.

– 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), Bill Borders, Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey Contributing Writers: Zach Hagadone, Ben Olson, Soncirey Mitchell, Lorraine H. Marie, Brenden Bobby, Emily Erickson, Rep. Lauren Necochea, Mayor Jeremy Grimm, Mike Wagoner, Ruth Brown 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. What are your predictions for 2024?

January 4, 2024 / R / 3

NEWS

Mayor Jeremy Grimm, new council members sworn in at Sandpoint City Hall

Pam Duquette, Kyle Schreiber are new faces on the council

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff The regular Jan. 3 meeting of the Sandpoint City Council ushered in a number of big changes at City Hall, with the swearing-in of Jeremy Grimm as mayor and new Councilors Pam Duquette and Kyle Schreiber. Councilor Deb Ruehle, who won reelection to a third full four-year term in November 2023, was absent.

It also saw the last meeting with Shelby Rognstad as mayor, who ended his second four-year term Jan. 3, as well as Council President Kate McAlister, who relinquished her seat after one four-year term following an unsuccessful campaign for mayor against Grimm in the most recent election.

Finally, City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton officially resigned from her position, effective at the end of the meeting, bringing her eight-year tenure at the top of the City Hall staff organizational chart to a close.

Prior to the swearing in, during announcements, Councilor Joel Aispuro asked City Attorney Fonda Jovick, “Is there any insight you can give us if the city can appoint a temporary city administrator?”

Jovick told Aispuro that the council would need to schedule that discussion and agenda item for a future meeting to address hiring an interim administrator.

Councilor Jason Welker agreed with Aispuro that such a discussion should take place at the next regular council meeting, Wednesday, Jan. 17.

“That should be a discussion we have as soon as possible,” he said.

During the public forum section of the meeting, Ponderay Mayor Steve Geiger wished the outgoing officials well, and thanked them for their past collaborative spirit while hoping that it continues under the new mayor and council.

“Sixteen years ago, as I signed on as council, our communities 4 / R / January 4, 2024

were pretty much at odds,” he said, adding, “Since then, in the last eight years, I think we’ve had a great working relationship with the city. …

“I just want to express that working together in this community is very important for us all to do,” he said, going on to say that he would miss Stapleton and wishing the new officials luck going forward.

“There’s a big job ahead of them,” Geiger said.

Following that, Rognstad thanked the citizens of Sandpoint, as well as members of city staff and current and former councilors for the “privilege of my life,” serving not only as mayor for the past eight years but looking back on a total of 14 years of public service, which has included stints on the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council.

“This has truly been an honor and I’m very proud of what we have all done collectively,” he said. “The mayor is often seen as where the buck stops, if you will, but nothing that happens at the city is the result of anything but a tremendous team effort.”

Rognstad noted the difficulty of the job of serving in public office, describing it as “sitting up here and taking a lot of arrows.”

“There are no easy decisions up here,” he said, later adding, “Every single issue that we face up here is way, way more complicated than it appears from that side of the dais,” referring to the audience.

“Everybody up here cares,” Rognstad said. “Nobody is up here for any ulterior motives. I just want to be clear about that.”

McAlister also expressed her gratitude to the outgoing mayor, her council colleagues, city staff and citizens — emphasizing the difficulty of the job and highlighting the importance of staff to incoming councilors.

“Until you get up here and serve in this seat, you really have no idea what it’s like,” she said, adding later, “The staff is amazing

— their expertise in the areas they serve is invaluable.”

To the council, McAlister said with visible emotion: “You are incredible human beings and you have made a difference in my life.”

Finally, she echoed Rognstad’s comments regarding the spirit of service that motivates those who run for and attain local public office.

“I know there’s been a lot of stress in the community, but I want you to know that up here, again, we have no ulterior motive,” she said. “We don’t do it for the fame and fortune, for sure. We do it because we care about the community.”

Sitting Councilors Joel Aispuro, Justin Dick and Jason Welker all commended both Rognstad and McAlister for their service and their collaboration and leadership over their terms in office.

Following the valedictories, Rognstad swore in Schreiber, Duquette and Grimm in turn, asking them to recite the oath that they would support the constitutions of the United States and state of Idaho, and “faithfully discharge” their respective duties to the city of Sandpoint “to the best of your ability.”

Installed on the dais, Grimm, Duquette and Schreiber — as well as the absent Ruehle — will begin four-year terms, joining Aispuro, Dick and Welker, the latter three having taken office with four-year terms in January 2022.

Duquette spoke from her new council seat first to state that she came with “mixed emotions right now,” stemming from a previous agenda for the Jan. 3 meeting that would have placed the swearing in toward the end of the meeting, clearing the way for the previous council and outgoing mayor to vote on items under “old business” pertaining to the James E. Russell Sports Center and Travers Park playground and splash pad, both of which have sparked considerable public controversy in recent months.

In an 11th-hour change to the agenda of the Jan. 3 meeting, Welker made a motion to reorganize the items under consideration related to the swearing in of new councilors and the mayor — moving the oaths of office and presentation of certificates of election to the beginning of the meeting, rather than after “old business,” as the previously posted agenda had indicated. Dick seconded the motion.

While councilors voted unan-

Outgoing Sandpoint Mayor Shelby Rognstad swears in Jeremy Grimm as Sandpoint’s newest mayor, with Grimm’s daughter, Phoebe, by his side. Photo by Ben Olson. imously to amend the agenda, undertaking the swearing in at the top of the meeting, Duquette said, “I feel like disrespect was shown to myself and the mayor [Grimm] and Kyle Schreiber” through the prior order of agenda.

“I earned this spot,” she said, adding later, “I’m an equal. I expect to be treated as an equal.”

Duquette concluded by saying she looked forward to working together with fellow councilors and staff; and, to the public, “Call me out when I’m not doing what you want, but let me know what you want.”

Schreiber thanked the community for its support at the ballot box in November “and for trusting and believing in me to represent you up here.”

He acknowledged Rognstad, the former council and Stapleton for “getting the city of Sandpoint to where it is today,” and extended an “olive branch” to those who may have felt “attacked” by his past comments as a member of the public during previous testimony

< see COUNCIL, Page 6 >

NEWS

Legal counsel compelled to attend BOCC meetings

By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff The new year did not bring out a new side of the Bonner County board of commissioners, whose regular business meeting Tuesday, Jan. 2 devolved into an argument while attempting to approve the order of the agenda in the first four minutes. The two-and-a-half hour meeting was largely concerned with the BOCC’s standing rules — adopted on Dec. 19 — and the presence of legal counsel at meetings.

Chair Luke Omodt initially moved to amend the order of the agenda to, among other things, remove Commissioner Asia William’s two action items because “they did not include the written memorandum as required by the standing rules of the Bonner County board of commissioners.”

Williams’ action items brought forward two issues that she’s been attempting to raise for several weeks: county property management and the request to archive public records on the county’s website.

“There is no requirement that you’re stating. These particular items, one and two, have been requested by the community,” said Williams. “I think it’s unreasonable for you to table my items if you don’t want to pass them. As directed by counsel, their recommendation is that you not remove a sitting commissioner’s item, but that you just vote in the line that doesn’t allow it to pass.”

Omodt reiterated that he was postponing Williams’ items, not eliminating them, and cited Idaho Code 74-201: “[T]he formation of public policy is public business and shall not be conducted in secret.” In accordance with code, as of the Dec. 19 regular business meeting, commissioners are required to follow the same BOCC meeting agenda submission procedure, and therefore turn in a written memorandum with their submission, just as all other county employees and elected officials.

“The reason why is for transparency, so that the general public — and so that this board — has

the ability to fully weigh in on the consideration and the merits of an agendized item,” said Omodt.

His motion passed with Williams dissenting.

The meeting’s final action item was a motion by Omodt to compel legal counsel to attend all BOCC business meetings and executive sessions. He read from Idaho Code 31-2607, which states that “The prosecuting attorney is the legal adviser of the board of commissioners; he must attend their meetings when required, and must attend and oppose all claims and accounts against the county when he deems them unjust or illegal.”

Omodt further explained that, among other considerations, the “multiple legal threats” against the county warrant further counsel during meetings. Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bauer is currently suing the BOCC for $3.5 million.

“I think it is exceedingly important for our business meetings — where we are entrusted to handle approximately $75 million dollars — it’s important that we have legal counsel, and for executive sessions,” said Omodt.

Williams objected to the motion, as she felt it was too “absolute,” and that Prosecutor Louis Marshall should be present to speak on behalf of his office. “[Marshall’s] job is not to referee a dysfunctional board, his job is to provide legal opinions,” she said, adding, “It isn’t our right

to tell another elected official to come to these meetings unnecessarily when he has a case load.”

“If Louis Marshall doesn’t like 31-2607, then I suggest he rally the people of the state and change the Legislature. We do not have that authority,” said Commissioner Steve Bradshaw.

“The dynamics around this board of commissioners and the Prosecutor’s Office over the last 12 months have been such a shitshow — excuse my expression, but that’s what it’s been,” he added.

Deputy Prosecutor Bill Wilson, who attended the meeting via Zoom, stated that it was already a “lot of work” writing legal opinions for the board of commissioners.

“I would like to point out that for the past couple of months our standing agreement has been that I would be available via phone

if there were ever a procedural question. That wasn’t really taken advantage of, but it was available,” said Wilson.

He requested to attend meetings over Zoom and skip the commissioner reports and the public comment section, neither of which would require his insight.

“The blanket requirement to go to all executive sessions is something that maybe needs to be looked at just because there are many executive sessions that really don’t have anything to do with legal counsel,” he added, clarifying that Marshall had already agreed to this plan.

Williams suggested moving the commissioner reports and public comment back to the beginning of the meeting, and adding a strict 10 a.m. cutoff, so that legal counsel could arrive at 10 a.m. and stay through to executive session without interruption. In her

Bonner County Commissioners Luke Omodt, left; Asia Williams, center; and Steve Bradshaw, right. Photo by Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey. formal motion to amend, she also requested that the microphones and cameras remain on throughout every business meeting and executive session — even during recess — so that legal counsel could hear any additional conversations.

Williams’ amendment died without a second.

After extensive, heated deliberation, Omodt’s motion to require legal presence during business meetings and, as needed, during executive sessions, passed with Williams dissenting.

An aggressive public comment section, wherein the commissioners argued with the public and one another, took up the remaining hour and a half of the meeting.

Opening of 2024 Legislature, State of the State Address set for Jan. 8

By Reader Staff

Members of the Idaho House and Senate will convene Monday, Jan. 8 for the second regular session of the 67th Legislature at the Capitol in Boise.

The makeup of the lawmaking body includes 70 representatives (59 Republicans and 11 Democrats) and 35 senators (28 Republicans and seven Democrats).

Representing Idaho Legislative District 1 are Rep. Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay; Rep. Mark Sauter,

R-Sandpoint; and Sen. Scott Herndon, R-Sagle.

Also on Jan. 8, Idaho Gov. Brad Little will deliver his annual State of the State Address, set to take place at noon (Pacific Time), before a joint session of the legislators.

Little’s address will be streamed live by Idaho Public Television via its news blog Idaho Reports, followed by analysis from statewide political experts.

Watch the address and other coverage at idahoptv.org/shows/

idahoreports.

Find more information about the 2024 legislative session — including calendars, agendas, House and Senate journals, committee minutes, rules and the bill center with legislation by number and subject — at legislature.idaho.gov/ sessioninfo.

Idaho Public Television also streams the proceedings of the House and Senate, as well as committee hearings, at Idaho in Session: idahoptv.org/shows/idahoinsession/Legislature.

Dist. 1 lawmakers • Rep. Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay: 208-610-4800 (home), 208-332-1185 (Statehouse) or SDixon@house.idaho.gov; • Rep. Mark Sauter, R-Sandpoint: 208-332-1035 (Statehouse) or MSauter@house.idaho.gov; • Sen. Scott Herndon, R-Sagle: 208-610-2680 (home), 208-3321349 (Statehouse) or SHerndon@ senate.idaho.gov.

January 4, 2024 / R / 5

NEWS

Bits ’n’ Pieces

< COUNCIL, con’t from Page 4 >

before council meetings.

“Conversation is always better than an angry letter,” he said, quoting from former-Councilor Andy Groat, who resigned his seat in October amid controversy over the James E. Russell Sports Center and its siting at Travers Park, which he came to regret over the emotional toll it put on the Travers family, for whom the park is named and where the remains of several family members had been memorialized on grounds and in trees that have since been removed and turned over to make way for the new indoor tennis and pickleball facility.

Grimm, who served as Sandpoint city planner from 2007-2015, followed by a career as a development consultant, campaigned on a platform of slowing the pace of city initiatives, prioritizing the completion of the Comprehensive Plan, increasing public participation, and eliminating the city administrator role in favor of reinstating department heads and reinvigorating citizen advisory committees. The latter plank resulted in the resignation of Stapleton, which she announced to city officials in a Dec. 21 letter.

Speaking to the audience at City Hall on Jan. 3, Grimm said, “We are so blessed. We truly have more that binds us than divides us,” specifically referring to love for the Sandpoint community.

“I am so humbled and honored to have earned your trust,” he said, later adding, “A house divided will fall and we are more capable, stronger and resilient working together than in opposition.”

Directing his comments to city staff, Grimm said, “As a former employee I know the challenges, dedication and hard work that it takes to provide services to our residents. … I will tirelessly support you in your roles as we face the innumerable challenges ahead.”

6 / R / January 4, 2024

From east, west and beyond

Left: Incoming Councilor Kyle Schreiber is sworn in at the Jan. 3 Sandpoint City Council meeting.

Above: Pam Duquette stands with family after being sworn in for her term as Sandpoint city councilor. Photos by Ben Olson.

He also appealed to the public to maintain its engagement, even on issues that don’t appear to be particularly dramatic or divisive, asking that community members “lean in” to “learn, become informed.”

Finally, Grimm spoke to his family from the dais, thanking them for their support and saying that, next to his role as a parent, “this is some of the most important work of my life. Now let’s do this.”

Later in the meeting, the council voted unanimously to establish Welker as its president, with Aispuro nominating and Dick as the second.

“He’s proven to me to be a good leader,” Aispuro said, noting Welker’s previous experience on the Planning and Zoning Commission.

“I’d be honored to serve as council president,” Welker said.

Duquette voted in favor of the motion, though in her discussion remarks said, “I was hoping that it would be the most senior councilor who would hold that position,” referring to Ruehle, who entered her third four-year term on Jan. 3, with her initial appointment to the council coming in 2014.

The council voted unanimously to confirm Welker as president.

Concluding the portion of the meeting devoted to swearing in new officials and appointing others, the council voted to appoint Schreiber to serve as the city of Sandpoint representative on the Selkirk Fire Joint Powers Agreement Board — which coordinates local fire services — with Welker serving as the alternate.

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

A recent sampling: U.S. homicides dropped 13% in 2023, various media reported, attributing the decrease to the expansion of crime prevention efforts, addressing gun possession in high-crime areas and putting officers on foot and bike patrol.

High rent prices and the end of pandemic aid are behind a 12% increase in homelessness, according to NBC. Uruguay now has one of the planet’s cleanest energy grids, triggered by a response to high fossil fuel prices in the 2000s. The Guardian reported that the nation now gets up to 95% of its power from renewables, which created 50,000 new jobs, while wind turbines provide income for farmers who host them. Meanwhile, 60% of Uruguay’s population is considered “middle class,” according to the World Bank.

NBC reported that Special Counsel Jack Smith, in an 80-plus page response to former-President Donald Trump’s effort to have federal election interfering charges against him dropped, recently wrote: “the defendant’s sweeping immunity claim threatens to license presidents to commit crimes … The Founders did not intend and would never have countenanced such a result.”

Maine is the second state, after Colorado, to say Trump does not qualify under the 14th Amendment to be a presidential candidate, due to his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, The Guardian reported.

Trump plans to appeal, which may go to the U.S. Supreme Court. Maine’s secretary of state said she was mindful that the 14th had not been used before, but, “I am also mindful … that no [U.S.] presidential candidate has ever before engaged in an insurrection.”

The CDC warns there are currently “dire levels” of babies born with syphilis. More than 200 died from the disease in 2022. Inadequate syphilis treatment for babies can lead to blindness, deafness, developmental delays and skeletal abnormalities.

Israel-Hamas headlines: “Israeli military says Gaza ground offensive expanded into urban refugee camps”; “U.N. officials accuse Israeli forces of firing on aid convoy in Gaza”; “Israel bombs Syrian city of Aleppo as tensions rise”; “Israel pulling thousands of troops from Gaza as possible precursor to a scaled-back offensive.”

By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist

According to the BBC’s “anything-can-happen” observations about the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign, an independent candidate could “gain steam”; a candidate could become seriously sick or die (a dead candidate can be elected, but not sworn in); the U.S. alliance with Israel could threaten President Joe Biden’s sizeable youth vote; and a candidate could end up in prison (Trump faces 91 criminal charges).

Three former Trump White House staffers recently alerted ABC viewers to the consequences of another Trump presidency, including the distinct possibility of an end to “American democracy as we know it.”

One, a former deputy press secretary, said Trump’s rhetoric started with knowingly denying the outcome of the 2020 election, and has accelerated to calling for things like “doing away” with parts of the Constitution, and using the Department of Justice for revenge against his political enemies. Trump himself told Fox News that he wouldn’t be a dictator, “except on Day 1.”

Blast from the past: After the failed economic policies of Chilean President Salvador Allende, the strongly democratic country was not seen as likely to become a dictatorship. Allende won office with 36% of the vote in 1970; his poorly executed policies fanned the flames of hyperinflation, wages fell, and violence and opposition increased. Even though he did not participate in planning the Sept. 11, 1973 military coup that led to Allende’s suicide, right-wing military strongman Augusto Pinochet slid into power. “Barbaric deeds” followed: Allende leaders and perceived leftists were interrogated, tortured and killed and many Chileans were “disappeared” — murdered without a trace. By 1976, 130,000 Chileans had been arrested and some 100,000 fled into exile. Before being voted out of power, Pinochet wrangled a grip on power by declaring himself a senator-for-life. In 1998, his attorneys countered an international warrant filed for his arrest for crimes against humanity by claiming that he should be immune from prosecution because torture and killings are “legitimate functions” of government.

For Pinochet’s supporters, the killings were not as damning as his thievery. A U.S. Senate subcommittee discovered that Pinochet had 125 secret U.S. bank accounts in which he stashed a total of $30 million. Pinochet was eventually indicted for financial crimes and murders, put under house arrest with his family and died from a heart attack in 2006.

PERSPECTIVES

Emily Articulated

A column by and about Millennials

Millennial mom dread

By Emily Erickson Reader Columnist

I recently came across an article, the title of which grabbed me so tightly that I was forced to stop — mid-charge of a busy day — and read on. The title was uniquely intriguing, as it connected to something I had only admitted in the half-hazy, half-formed place of unarticulated ideas: “How Millenials Learned to Dread Motherhood,” by Rachel Cohen, senior reporter specializing in women, family and economics policy for Vox.com.

But, first, a little context. I’ve never been the kind of person who was positive I wanted to be a mom — never beelining to the lone baby in the room, picking out future baby names or plotting “have a family” on my five-year plan. Nor have I been the kind of person who is adamant about not having kids; 100% convinced that parenthood isn’t for them.

I’ve always attributed my uncertainty to babysitting too many times while I was still a kid myself and a deep love of — and fear of altering — my life exactly as it is. When prompted, I tell people, “I can’t really picture myself with kids; but, I guess, I can’t really picture getting to the end of my life without having had them either.”

In reading the Vox article’s headline, I wondered if instead of this uncertainty and trepidation just being a “me” thing, that a greater societal questioning might be influencing me as well.

Cohen writes, “For at least the last decade, women my age have absorbed cultural messaging that motherhood is thankless and depleting, straining careers, health and friendships,

Emily Erickson. and destroying sex lives. Today, it’s genuinely difficult to find mainstream portrayals of moms who are not stressed to the brink, depressed, isolated or increasingly resentful.”

In the age of sharing, where transparency over curation is having its moment, women and parents are more empowered than ever to share the real-ness of their experiences: the loneliness of parenthood; the effects that having kids has had on their bodies, their relationships and their financial prospects. They’re finding community in being able to express the challenges of their roles without feeling compelled to downplay the difficulty and acknowledge how profoundly it affects their lives.

Like Cohen, and many other child-free women my age, I see this content in a positive light, aiming to establish realistic expectations for myself and, as she put it, “learn in solidarity with those who are already moms.” This honest perspective is valuable as a response to the former societal expectation that parents, particularly women, should wholeheartedly embrace parenthood and silently endure its challenges and difficulties, all in the name of procreation.

But, this transparency with the difficulties of parenthood is also paired with apprehension to share the good moments, not wanting to be that person when it comes to sharing about their kids (a message women, in particular, are asked to internalize). This leaves the majority of the positive parenting messaging up to the conservative and religious-tilting voices; voices that frequently contradict other truths people like me often hold dear — like starting families being a choice, not a sentence, and people and partners of all genders and sexual orientations being more than qualified to be parents.

This leaves us in the limbo of apprehension, if we’re still considering having kids at all.

We’re hyper-informed, able to recite statistics about mortality rates, inequitable mental loads in heterosexual partnerships, and costs and scarcity of child care, while also being skeptical of “too perfect” examples of having kids as potential sales pitches (something else we’ve been trained to be wary of).

Despite all of it, we also wonder, if parenthood is so bad, why do people keep having kids? And is it actually worth the gamble?

In the comments section of the article, a woman summed up my feelings like she was renting a piece of my brain as I read. She wrote, “As a fellow millennial struggling with this decision in her 30s, thank you for this article, I feel so seen. It feels like online content about motherhood is always black and white (you will ruin your life, or it’s the best joy you will ever experience).

It makes it so hard to get an accurate look into the reality [of parenthood] to determine if it’s suitable for yourself.”

The solution to this question-

ing is, I’m sure, like most things: better when considered personally, turning to the people in our small circles and asking a wide array of questions in the hopes of getting a more complete picture.

The decision to become a parent will be made by having honest conversations with the people (if any) we’re hoping to share the job with, setting realistic expectations for each other and ourselves. If we do decide to be parents, it’ll be with a striving for non-perfect,

but “damn, we’re trying” parenting, and preparedness for joy just as much as hardship.

As for me, if it’s not obvious, I’m still unsure about motherhood. But, at least I know I’m not alone in it (I know, typical millennial).

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

January 4, 2024 / R / 7

Speaking for the trees…

Bouquets: • I am a big fan of moving the whole idea of fireworks from the Fourth of July to New Year’s Eve. I’ve gotten to the point in my life where fireworks just don’t thrill me like they used to. That being said, I know they still bring a lot of joy to kids. I just wish we didn’t wake up on July 5 and see all the trash leftover from setting them off in the street. And I really don’t like how we shoot off flaming projectiles in the hottest, driest part of the year.

So it doesn’t bother me one iota when I hear the fireworks going off on New Year’s Eve. Even during non-snow years like this, it’s pretty hard to start a fire in the middle of a North Idaho winter.

Barbs: GUEST SUBMISSION: • “A big Barb to the creep who has cut the light strings in the East Hope Christmas light display.

They have repaired them and with the installation of multiple cameras know who it is and have notified the Sheriff’s Office. The display is lovely, maybe it’s not too late to get a photo.”

— By Diane Newcomer • I’m surprised by the number of people I see driving who haven’t grasped the concept of a roundabout. While most drivers navigate these features without issue, there are some who will continue to gum up the works. I’m talking about the ones who come to a hard stop at the yield sign every time they come to the roundabout, whether there is traffic or not. They’ll sit there waiting while car after car makes its turn. The whole idea of a roundabout is to keep traffic moving, so if there’s a car coming with its blinker on to exit before your entrance, just go, man. Then there are the ones who just YOLO into the roundabout at high speeds, some without even looking to see if the way is clear. I had one of these the other day and actually had to lock up my brakes to avoid running into them. Find the happy medium, drivers. Roundabouts aren’t that difficult unless you make them so.

8 / R / January 4, 2024

Dear editor, Wasn’t it Patrick Geddes, the 1915 Scottish planner and conservationist who promoted, “Think globally, act locally?” Thinking of climate change, it disheartened me when a Sandpoint City councilor dismissed my concern about removing a large healthy maple tree off Pine for yet another traffic pattern change saying, “There is another tree 15 feet away.” What happens when there is no longer another tree 15 feet away?

This tree is part of Pine Street’s canopy between Fifth and Third Avenue helping to cool the city street, lessen air and noise pollution from the traffic, and offer some privacy and enjoyment for those Pine Street residents, cafe visitors, pedestrians, etc. These canopies help reduce flooding and stormwater runoff, increase biodiversity and this type of beautiful tree-lined street is iconic in Sandpoint.

I understand that growth is inevitable, but it still alarms me to witness our forested lots transformed into concrete and giant buildings, and realize the environmental changes this brings to Sandpoint. I think I read in our Comprehensive Plan, Chapter 3, Goal 3, “Urban Forest,” about the importance of maintaining our tree canopy!

I am neither for nor against this stoplight change, but let’s get it right and don’t rush it. We travel on failing streets and crumbling sidewalks that need prioritizing. I am happy to finally see the rerouting of trucks from U.S. 95, now how do we lessen the regular traffic through and in town?

Can’t we make Sandpoint a true “walking town” with accommodations for those with mobility issues?

PERSPECTIVES

After significant strides in 2023, Idaho Democrats are ready for 2024 Rep. Lauren Necochea, D-Boise Reader Contributor

No felon belongs on the ballot — even if he was once president…

The end of a year offers a moment to take stock of our progress to date and our vision for the future. As I reflect on the future Democrats want for Idahoans — thriving Main Streets with economic opportunity, quality education, personal freedoms and an affordable path to raising the next generation — it’s clear that supermajority rule is holding us back.

Idaho Democrats are rolling up their sleeves to repair our political system by rebuilding our party. This year, we established local Democratic committees in all 44 counties and won 73% of the 65 local races where Democrats made endorsements and deployed campaign tactics.

Focused candidate recruitment has positioned us to contest more races in 2024 than we have in years.

Idaho’s Democratic lawmakers are also making an impact.

We delivered critical wins by blocking school vouchers, stopping a bill creating bounties on libraries, protecting Medicaid expansion, enacting scholarships for in-demand careers, creating incentives for nurses serving rural Idaho and safeguarding voting rights. Nevertheless, many votes were too close for comfort.

It’s critical we elect more Democrats to make life better for Idahoans and combat political dysfunction. I will never forget

the words of a very conservative colleague who congratulated me on becoming chair of the Idaho Democratic Party. In spite of our policy disagreements, the legislator sincerely wished me luck and, motioning to the House Chamber, declared, “Because this isn’t healthy.”

Indeed, when one party holds 82% of the seats, there is little accountability and compromise, which are necessary for a healthy democracy.

In the absence of accountability, the extremists who once operated at the fringes of the Idaho Republican Party have taken the helm. Local party tribunals are pushing GOP politicians deeper into extremism by punishing those who stray from their platform — a platform that ranges from dangerous fringe ideas that would destabilize our financial system, like returning

Dear editor, We have been shocked to learn something from listening to former U.S. prosecutors and other wellversed legal professionals.

It appears that if Donald Trump is convicted of the crimes of which he is charged and even in jail, there is nothing in our legal system preventing him from running for election and, if he should win, from holding office from jail.

What a travesty that is!

Former felons who have served out their time are, in many states, not even allowed to vote.

What insanity!

We both think that if a former felon can’t even vote, a convicted felon who is or was president should not even be able to vote, let alone be on a ballot running for any office.

If a Democrat is elected again

to the presidency and that party has control of the Senate and House of Representatives, their first objective should be to pass laws to ensure that every citizen receives the same treatment under the laws of this nation.

This year in Congress has shown that the Republicans in charge will not fix our weak system.

It has worked to their advantage

Pam Duquette Sandpoint

Rep. Lauren Necochea. File photo.

to gold and silver standards, to outright cruelty, like murder charges for abortion even when the patient faces certain death.

In 2024, Democrats will be reaching out to voters, offering an alternative to this extreme agenda. We hope to have openhearted conversations about the central issues that unite us. Voters who get to know their local Democratic candidates will find ample common ground. Polling confirms that voters agree with Idaho Democrats on the issues that affect you daily: tax policies should be fair to regular Idahoans rather than heaping more benefits onto the wealthy and well-connected, public dollars belong in public schools, Medicaid should be strong, politicians shouldn’t interfere in our most intimate decisions and life must be affordable for working families.

As we welcome 2024, I’m hopeful Idahaoans can come together to reject GOP extremism and build the future people deserve.

Rep. Lauren Necochea is the House assistant Democratic leader, representing District 19 in Boise on the Commerce and Human Resources; Environment, Energy and Technology; Revenue and Taxation; and Ways and Means committees. under Trump’s influence, which is why they will not purge him from their party.

Rob and Clarice McKenney Bonners Ferry Got something to say? Write a letter to the editor. We accept letters up to 300 words which are free of libelous statements and excessive profanity.

PERSPECTIVES

Season’s greetings Sandpoint residents!

By Sandpoint Mayor Jeremy Grimm Reader Contributor In the coming days, many of you will be setting resolutions for the new year, reflecting on the past with gratitude, giving thought, and setting intentions and hope for the year ahead. In the blink of an eye, most reading this will settle back into the regular routines and patterns of daily Sandpoint life next week.

For me, this will not be the case. This Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024, I am humbled to be sworn in as mayor of Sandpoint. I am grateful for your time as I share my observations, concerns and hopes for the next four years.

Observations: I have had the good fortune to observe and work for seven different mayors. As can be imagined, each brought a distinctive skill set, personality and approach to the job, which is to serve as CEO of the city. Beyond the mundane task of preparing agendas, running meetings, presenting the annual budget and overseeing the day-to-day operations of City Hall, one of the most important abilities is to lead and facilitate — not dictate or dominate — discussions of the City Council.

I have observed mayors who at times have become frustrated, cynical and lost their cool; but, likewise, some have displayed tremendous grace, patience and calm in their words and deeds. The position can be stressful, and at times the mayor may have more detail, insight and information on a subject item than others, leading to a belief that they “know best.”

As my first pledge, I mark that I will always do my best to lead with an open mind and foster respectful commentary that considers all viewpoints and new ideas, whether from staff, council members, city residents or nonresident business owners.

Every decision made by the city has a cause and an effect. We need to work together, listen and ensure that our actions fully consider the impacts that decisions have on our residents, taxpayers, businesses and the environment.

Concerns: I am deeply concerned that in the past five years, Sandpoint has invested significant time, treasure and effort to prepare and adopt various plans (transportation; utility; arts, culture and historic preservation; parks and recreation; a downtown waterfront conceptual study; and more), yet none have been guided by the community as a whole through the

Sandpoint Mayor Jeremy Grimm. File photo.

lens of the Comprehensive Plan.

This is akin to trying to row a round raft with paddlers on its edges across the lake (it will spin in circles and be taken in whatever direction the wind blows).

These plans may perfectly reflect residents’ goals, their vision and desired future state of the city, and without doubt will (if enacted) result in the expenditure of millions of dollars on projects that will alter what we know as Sandpoint today. I contend that recent master planning documents prepared by the city have occurred during the COVID pandemic period, when public engagement was difficult at best. Furthermore, how did the consultants who drafted them know the proper scale and capacity of roads or utilities or where we need new parks when we haven’t yet set the vision for commercial or residential housing density that come out of the Comprehensive Plan?

Without the consideration and adoption first of a Comprehensive Plan, we lack the unified vision of where, what

type, intensity and how our residents desire to see growth or changes occur in Sandpoint. As a result, our recent master plans may not be well aligned with the desires and vision of our residents.

My second pledge is to work with the City Council as we walk through the draft Comprehensive Plan, chapter-by-chapter, and finally adopt this most important document. The vision and actions that lead us to our future state are not to be set by the mayor, an individual council member, planner, administrator or a consultant.

Rather, it is the vision expressed through the Comprehensive Plan that guides elected officials and provides legitimacy for our future actions — to implement the will of the people.

Hopes: My hopes are simple and based on the key foundations of my campaign. I hope that working with the City Council we can reevaluate the city administrator position and the organizational structure at City Hall. Consolidating administrative authority in the hands of a single unelected individual appears to have not sat well with residents.

I hope to focus spending on our critical infrastructure — boring but necessary things that make towns run, like streets and sidewalks; replacement of our WWIIera wastewater treatment plant; the water transmission system; and, most important, maintaining what we have before building new flashy projects.

I hope to put residents first by reactivating our citizen committees. I hope to help diversify the Sandpoint economy away from tourism — more and better year-round jobs. And finally, I hope for a unifying, healthy and prosperous new year for Sandpoint.

January 4, 2024 / R / 9

Mad about Science:

Brought to you by:

native bees of idaho

By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff When asked to name three characteristics of bees, most would say that they’re yellow and black, they live in a hive and they make honey. For the majority of the world’s bees, all three of these claims are incorrect.

With more than 20,000 species around the globe, bees come in shades of brown, blue and green — including Idaho’s sweat bee — and only Afro-Eurasia honey bees make honey. Bees evolved from carnivorous wasps but adapted to feed on pollen and nectar when flowering plants first appeared approximately 125 million years ago, according to Bee Basics: Introduction to Our Native Bees by Dr. Beatriz Moisset and Dr. Stephen L. Buchmann. Pollen is high in protein and, unlike bugs and spiders, doesn’t mind being eaten.

There are no honey bees indigenous to North America.

Europeans cultivated them as livestock and brought them along while colonizing the continent, where they escaped domestication and became the poster children for bees everywhere.

Honey bees are important agricultural pollinators; however, they’re second-rate when it comes to pollinating North American plants like cranberries, blueberries and pumpkins. Idaho Fish and Game estimated in Wildlife Express: Bees of Idaho that, when pollinating cherry trees, 10 indigenous mason bees can do the work of 60 honey bees because the species evolved side by side and therefore adapted to one another.

According to Idaho State University, of the seven bee 10 / R / January 4, 2024

families in the world, five live in Idaho: Andrenidae, Apidae, Colletidae, Halictidae and Megachilidae. It’s unclear how many individual species inhabit the state — estimates range from 400 to 700 — which, regardless, is a large variety, likely due to Idaho’s diverse ecosystems.

There are approximately 4,000 species of native bees in the U.S., though that number could be higher. Bees have a large range of behaviors, sizes and colors, making them difficult to catalog. The Perdita minima of the Sonoran Desert averages a little less than two millimeters in length, according to the U.S. Forest Service — about the size of a grain of white rice.

Most native bees are solitary and make their nests in hollowed-out stems, rock crevices, dead wood or holes in exposed dirt, rather than in hives or colonies. Solitary bees may build their homes near one another, but they won’t share resources or care for each other’s young.

As their name suggests, Idaho mason bees (Osmia bucephala) use mud to construct sturdy walls within their nests to protect their eggs from parasites. Leafcutter bees (Megachile subnigra) have a similar practice using pieces of leaves.

Female solitary bees not only build their own nests, they also stockpile all the necessary food to feed their brood into adulthood — a phenomenon known as “mass provisioning.” Most mix dry pollen with nectar and saliva to form a stable paste, which they store in each chamber of their nest alongside the individual eggs. The saliva is believed to protect the mixture from bacterial and fungal infections, according to Bee Basics.

Bumble bees (of the genus Bombus) are an exception. Of the 27 species present in Idaho, most live in colonies built underground in abandoned mouse holes or similar burrows. Some species have become “cuckoos,” and lay their eggs inside others’ nests rather than build their own.

Though cold-blooded, bumble bees can keep their eggs warm by sitting on them and vibrating their flight muscles to generate heat. This ability also allows them to fly in cold weather, making them a valuable pollinator in early spring. Generating heat requires large amounts of energy, so bumble bees rely on early-bloomers, like willows and maples, for food. According to Wildlife Express, these bees will also cling to a flower and beat their wings — a phenomenon known as “buzz pollination” — to efficiently shake pollen onto their hairy bodies.

Like honey bees, bumble bees usually have one queen and a few hundred female workers.

The queen waits until late summer to lay male eggs alongside the future queens so that they can mate shortly after emerging.

Once mated, the newly hatched males promptly die — along with the rest of the colony — leaving the new queens to hibernate and start anew in the spring.

Bees are an integral part of life on Earth; but, due to factors like climate change, disease and pesticides, many species are threatened. Everyone with access to outdoor space can take part in conservation efforts to help native bees.

Gardeners should avoid pesticides if possible — especially neonicotinoids, which poison a plant’s sap and nectar. Never spray a flower directly when

using pesticides.

Clover and wildflowers are a great food source scattered throughout a lawn. Yes, even dandelions help.

Leaving a few bare patches of dirt around the base of plants provides shelter for ground-dwelling bees, and supplying a shallow source of water or mud keeps pollinators hydrated and gives them addi-

tional nesting material.

To be more involved in bee conservation, plant a pollinator garden with blooms of various shapes and sizes to attract different species of bees. Use native plants that flower at different times throughout the year to ensure a lasting food supply rich in nutrients.

Stay curious, 7B.

Random Corner on?

Don’t know much about amaz • When Jeff Bezos quit his Wall Street hedge fund job and started Amazon out of his garage in 1995, it was just a bookstore. Bezos didn’t have any books on hand, but rather, when orders came in he would find the book, buy it and re-sell it at a profit. Today, love it or hate it, Amazon has become the go-to online spot to buy, well, just about everything.

• The first book ever sold on Amazon was Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies, purchased by John Wainwright, the friend of Bezos’ single employee Shal Kaphan on April 3, 1995. Later, an Amazon building was named after Wainwright to honor the historic first purchase.

• Initially, Bezos wanted to call the company “Cadabra,” until his lawyer pointed out that it sounded a bit too much like “cadaver.” The name Amazon was chosen because Bezos wanted his company to be the “largest river of books in the world.”

• The first year Amazon turned a profit was 2004, almost a decade

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after its founding.

• Amazon.com averages about 1.67 billion monthly visits, which is more traffic than any other e-commerce site.

• When you include items from third-party sellers, Amazon offers about 353 million different products for sale.

• What can’t you buy on Amazon? Full-size homes, automobiles and car parts, any meat that originated in China, tobacco products, fireworks and live animals, among others.

• More than 200 million people are Amazon Prime subscribers.

At $110 each, this provides a tidy annual sum. It’s been estimated that 60-70% of American adults are members of Amazon Prime.

• As the pandemic changed shopping habits worldwide, Amazon’s income jumped by 37.6% in 2020.

By Mike Wagoner Reader Contributor

‘i don’t want the stick’ It was right about the time I got my first real job… teaching school… when I decided to get a dog. I had taught that first year in Walla Walla and went to Priest Lake for the summer to explore the 10-acre piece I had purchased on spring break. This was back when a young teacher could actually afford a little raw acreage in North Idaho. It wasn’t on the water, of course, but not far from it.

I set up camp… a tent with power near the stubbed in meter and went to work. I loved it and so did my new pup… a purebred Golden Retriever. I started clearing a path from the county road deep into my little magic forest, choosing the path of least resistance so I didn’t have to take any more pines than necessary.

After a few days I had made some progress and loved to walk along it in the afternoons, having “clocked out” for the day. It was during one of these strolls with “Willie” the dog when it began to occur. While walking, I couldn’t resist picking up an occasional branch or big stick still in the path and casually tossing it onto the nearest brush pile. Willie started goin’ over, grabbin’ the stick and bringin’ it back to me.

“No Willie… leave it there… I don’t want it.

Give it here… now leave it.”

I’d walk on a little ways… come across another renegade branch… toss it on a pile and Wille would go after it again. “No Willie… leave it… I don’t want the stick.”

Well, we went through this exercise a number of times… finally ended up back at base camp… I went inside… Willie wanted to stay out for a while. I did some reading by candlelight… made something to eat… let Willie in and crashed.

Next morning I poured some coffee and followed Willie out through the flap when I kinda tripped over a little pile of sticks and branches… the very ones I had “tossed” the previous afternoon.

He sat there proud as could be with one still hangin’ in his mouth. “What the… are you kiddin’ me? I DON’T WANT THESE STICKS WILLIE… BAD DOG!” He lowered his head… stared at the ground… I felt kinda bad and softly said, “You can’t help it can ya.”

He looked up… our eyes meet and I swear the look on his face was sayin’ something like, “No I can’t help it OK… that’s why they call me a Golden f-in’ Retriever.”

January 4, 2024 / R / 11

PERSPECTIVES

Selkirk Association of Realtors using national grant to ‘rewild the playground’ at Kootenai Elementary

By Reader Staff

The Selkirk Association of Realtors will use a $7,500 placemaking grant from the National Association of Realtors to help “rewild” unused space at Kootenai Elementary School into a destination for community use, enjoyment and educational space for students.

NAR designed the grant to ensure that local realtor associations are partnering with neighboring organizations to plan, organize, implement and maintain lighter, quicker, cheaper placemaking projects in their communities. With this project, the Selkirk Association of Realtors is collaborating with Kaniksu Land Trust, Lake Pend Oreille School District, United Way of North

12 / R / January 4, 2024

Idaho, the Bonner County Native Plant Society, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the University of Idaho.

Grant funds for the Rewild the Playground Project will be used to create approximately 2,150 feet of ADA-accessible nature trail, bring in gravel, install culverts and build boardwalks in wet areas. Other partners on the project will provide design services, clear pathways, build outdoor class space and landscape the areas to be used.

“Realtors live, work and volunteer in their communities and take immense pride in our work to make our neighborhoods better places to live, work and raise a family,” stated Selkirk Association of Realtors Executive Stephanie Rief.

“This grant gives us a tangible, immediate opportunity to identify and address areas in Bonner County that are in need of enhancement and revitalization and can be used for the greater good. Placemaking can help foster healthier, more social and economically viable communities, and creates places where people feel a strong stake in their neighborhoods and are committed to making things better.”

For more information on the playground project, visit kaniksu.org. For more on the National placemaking grant program, got to realtorparty. realtor/community-outreach/ housing-opportunity.

BGH to welcome Internal Medicine Associates as a new clinic in the new year

By Reader Staff A new clinic will join Bonner General Health in 2024, when Internal Medicine Associates, PA, and its providers Drs. Charles Crane and Dr. Paige T. Russell open Bonner General Internal Medicine on Tuesday, Jan. 2 at the hospital campus (423 N. Third Ave., Ste. 110, in Sandpoint).

Bonner General Internal Medicine will provide primary care for adults 18 years and older and offer both in-person and telehealth appointments, with office hours Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Crane, a medical doctor certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, diagnoses and treats a broad range of symptoms and diseases, providing guidance, counseling and preventive interventions to improve overall health and provide lifelong comprehensive and palliative care. He will continue to serve as a hospitalist at BGH and perform an array of outpatient procedures, including endoscopic procedures.

“We are excited to have the expertise and specialty skills of Dr. Crane and his internal medicine team join BGH,” stated BGH Chief Medical Officer Dr. Stacey Good. “Dr. Crane is one of the

region’s most talented physicians, and his unique skill set — both as a hospitalist and in the outpatient clinic setting — is unmatched. He is such an asset to Sandpoint and immensely respected within the medical community.”

Russell is certified by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and received her doctorate in nursing practice through Idaho State University. Prior to earning her advanced degree, she served the greater Sandpoint community as a registered nurse at BGH for more than 10 years.

Russell “believes in a preventative approach to health care and performs preventative, diagnostic, and treatment interventions for acute and chronic diseases, conditions and injuries,” according to the hospital.

Crane and Russell will be joined by longtime office colleagues Karen Applegate, Kathryn Davis and Susan Price, LPN. To learn more, visit bonnergeneral.org.

Bonner General Health is a 25-bed critical access hospital and health care network of outpatient clinics in Sandpoint, providing services to patients in North Idaho, eastern Washington and western Montana.

PERSPECTIVES

The Reader 2.0 approaches a decade back from the dead Looking back at the Reader in Sandpoint

By Ben Olson Reader Staff With the dawn of a new year, the Reader passed an important milestone: The second iteration of our alt-weekly (started in January 2015) is officially older than the first Reader (late-2004 to mid-2012).

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since the early days, when this newspaper was just a pie-in-the-sky idea that three college friends shared while drunk at the end of a dock in McCall. Started by Zach Hagadone, John Reuter and Chris DeCleur, the Reader has grown from a plucky indie newspaper that rarely made any profit into a Sandpoint institution (which, let’s be honest, also rarely makes any profit).

Headlines from the first edition include a story about the forthcoming Home Depot box store in Ponderay and an attempted board shakeup at the Panida Theater. In other words: development and political intrigue. Not much has changed over the years.

I was just a writer at that point, pulled from my lucrative career working in film production in Los Angeles by Zach, who promised me that their endeavor would provide a voice to those in Sandpoint who felt they had none. The first major article I worked on was a behind-thescenes look at the Dover Bay development, which marked the first time the Reader was threatened with a lawsuit.

“We’ve only published one edition and already we’re getting legal threats,” I remember Zach saying at the time. “Hot damn, this is going to be a good newspaper.”

And it was. Reader 1.0 was a labor of love in the truest sense, with a bunch of 20-somethings paying themselves peanuts and applying the principles they learned in school to the real world. We spent late nights in the old office behind Di Luna’s,

clacking away into the wee hours of the morning to make the printer deadline. Today, we believe it’s a minor travesty when we work past 10 p.m. on deadline nights; but, back in the day, it was rare to leave the office before 2 a.m. and common to leave as the birds sang to the coming dawn.

Many of our readers now might not know that Zach is an excellent artist whose drawings graced many a cover for Reader 1.0. His drafting desk still sits in our office today, covered in H.P. Lovecraft novels and bags full of plastic silverware. While I admonish him to keep drawing, I realize how difficult it is to create, especially when you’re not a hungry 20-something with an endless supply of energy. Rest assured, someday Zach’s art will again grace the Reader pages as some sort of retirement plan from his onerous duties as editor.

I learned so much about journalism and the publishing industry from those eight years the Reader was in print. One can take journalism classes in college and study under the greats, but it takes real world experience to truly grasp this strange, but vital industry.

In 2012, after a couple years of the Reader limping along, Zach told me he was thinking of folding the paper once and for all. Nobody ever made any money off of that endeavor — but it was a hell of a time and nobody regretted it. With a family on the way and facing the reality of economic loss, Zach made one last hail Mary to me, asking if I wanted to carry the paper forward as publisher. I didn’t just laugh in his face — I pointed at him, slapped my knee and shook my head as well. I didn’t want any part of that life, dragging myself to an office every day, slogging through boring details from budgetary hearings and public meetings, eating untold amounts of shit from the public because they didn’t agree with a

certain article. For the little money we were earning, why would I want that life?

I told Zach “no thanks,” and he reluctantly printed the last edition with a black cover in 2012.

As far as anyone knew, that was the end of the Reader’s story.

But, like in any terrible ’80s horror movie, the monster always returns after it has been slain to lunge at the hero one last time before the credits roll.

I had already moved back to Sandpoint in 2011 after meeting someone special; and, a few years after that, I realized I needed something to do that I could be proud of. I’d been drifting aimlessly for far too long, and thought it might be fun to bring the Reader back from the dead.

Despite many respected people in my life urging me not to make such a dumb decision, that it would end in poverty and disaster, in late 2014, I banded together with Chris Bessler, of Keokee and Sandpoint Magazine, to take ownership of the Reader. I would serve as the publisher and Cameron Rasmusson came on as our first editor.

An intelligent, young U of I graduate named Lyndsie Kiebert joined us a couple years later, first as an intern and later as a paid staff writer.

Together, we brought the Reader back to this community.

With a curious mix of news, bloviated opinions, humor and offthe-wall topics, the reception of the Reader will always warm my heart in times of darkness. Perhaps it was the nearly two-year hiatus, or maybe a change of attitudes, but whatever the case, the people seemed to embrace the return with open arms.

We began selling enough ads to pay our salaries. Letters to the editor filtered in, and the usual hate mail and vitriol followed. Contributors came out of the woodwork and wrote thought-provoking articles without any compensation.

But accompanying those

usual features of a newspaperman’s inbox were also countless letters from our readers thanking us for covering certain stories or giving leads for other stories.

There were words of encouragement, constructive criticism and even the odd donation check to support the cause.

Around Independence Day 2019, Zach and his family moved back to Sandpoint after living and working in Boise as editor of the Boise Weekly, then Pullman, Wash., where he earned a master’s degree in history at Washington State University. We were delighted to welcome Zach back to the Reader, a paper he started, as editor-in-chief.

Although we were saddened to lose our longtime friend and news editor Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey to the joys of motherhood this year, we again lucked out when Soncirey Mitchell came to interview for the job and blew us away with her wit, unique storytelling and perfect weirdness that fit the Reader family to a T. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs over the years. We’ve endured a yearslong campaign of hate by a neo-Nazi robocaller, who also attacked and intimidated our advertisers because the Reader was the first paper to report his identity. We had to lay everyone off for six weeks during the pandemic, then when they returned, we worked remote for another 18 months and were forced to navigate the strange world that hasn’t quite kicked back to normal almost four years

later. We still get the occasional legal threat and encouragement to jump off a bridge, but they pale in comparison to the sheer volume of kind notes we receive from our readers today.

Love always seems to outshine hate.

Faced with rising costs that we often struggle to meet and a shrinking revenue source of advertisers, I appealed to our readers a few months ago and wrote that, frankly, we needed your help to stick around. Boy, did people ever respond. We set a goal to reach $50,000 by the end of the year. Local philanthropist Dennis Pence pledged to match up to $10,000 worth of donations. We ended up meeting our goal before Christmas, thanks to the fact that more than 700 people donated to the Reader to keep us around.

Even though the fundraiser has officially ended, I’m still opening checks in the mail.

I will forever be in your gratitude for helping us avoid the end of Reader 2.0, because that’s certainly what would’ve happened if not for the amazing show of support from this community. We believe in the free press, and we also believe in this community. Sandpoint has changed a lot over the years, and so has the publishing industry, but we’re confident that with your readership and support, we can weather any storms that come our way.

Thank you for allowing us into your lives each and every week.

January 4, 2024 / R / 13

FEATURE

2024 year in preview What could be in the coming year

By Reader Staff We don’t want some of this to come true, nor do we wish to give anyone any ideas, but as is our custom, the Reader staff presents its annual list of predictions for the coming year. A handful of the entries to follow will be no-brainers, a few of them will be more hopeful than others and there will be some that are just for “fun,” however you wish to define that.

As always, this exercise is performed in the spirit of speculation more than prognostication, and if we get some of these educated guesses wrong or even right — which we will — try not to hold it against us.

Zach’s predictions Shaking up City Hall Elections come and go, but some of them end up functioning more as the beginnings and endings of specific eras. The November 2023 city election was one of the latter, marking not just the changing of mayor and council, but the transition into an entirely different way of pursuing the city’s business.

Incoming Mayor Jeremy Grimm ran with the clear intent to eliminate the city administrator function, which had been at the center of all city doings since the hiring of Jennifer Stapleton for the job in 2015.

Likewise, new Councilors Pam Duquette and Kyle Schreiber also felt the city could and should function better without it (and Stapleton, specifically).

14 / R / January 4, 2024

Even before those folks could be sworn in, Stapleton announced before Christmas that she’d resign, effective Jan. 3. That leaves a huge operational vacuum and ends eight years of some of the most vigorous internal reorganization and management in the city’s history.

Now for the predictions: Grimm will make good on his promise to function as both mayor and city administrator (for a time), but the votes won’t be there to fully eliminate the position. That means sometime over the coming year, we’ll probably be talking about refilling the job, though it will be much altered in scope.

Meanwhile, we’ll see a significant slowdown on a number of projects and increased hesitancy to start new ones. That said, we feel quite confident that the city will have its Comp Plan in place before 2025.

Plan to replan In keeping with the above prediction, many of the elements of the various master plans developed over the past several years will be revisited — specifically in the Multimodal Transportation and Parks and Recreation plans, and even more specifically, the “East-West Connection” long-term concept, a.k.a. “the Curve,” in the former and the downtown waterfront and City Beach projects envisioned in the latter.

Peering into our crystal ball, there will be a (probably) successful effort to eliminate the Curve entirely from the document. Meanwhile, ambitions for the beach and Sand Creek will be dialed back significantly.

People will probably applaud doing away with the Curve once and for all, but the upshot of shelving a lot of the big-vision parts of the waterfront concept will be the beginnings of large-scale redevelopment along the east side of First Avenue.

If what we’ve been led to believe is true, developers have been lined up for more than a year with projects either ready to go or in a holding pattern, waiting for clarity on what’s happening with Sand Creek and that side of First. It has only been by choice that they haven’t started pulling permits and turning dirt.

There’s a possibility that at least some of those developers will decide they’ve waited long enough and, with the direction of downtown design being not quite as solidified as some might have thought (and critical people with whom they’ve worked at City Hall no longer on the job), they’ll jump in with both feet.

That said, the city is launching into several months of workshops and meetings related to downtown design code changes intended to provide that kind of clarity. Will developers hold off on their long-delayed plans to see that process reach its conclusion? Only time will tell, but I wouldn’t be surprised to start seeing real movement on First Avenue redevelopment in the new year that will tee off more than one season of local discontent.

GOP primary will bring out the sharp knives No matter what, the 2024 GOP prima-

ry election in May will be a humdinger in District 1. We already know that Jim Woodward will seek to regain the seat he lost to Sen. Scott Herndon in a bruising, mud-slinging contest in 2022, and Rep. Mark Sauter has announced he’ll seek a second term.

The candidate filing period for the primary is March 4-15, so we’re sure to see some new names. We haven’t received official, concrete word from Herndon or Dist.

1B Rep. Sage Dixon on whether they plan to run again, but Herndon is already pulling in campaign contributions for a 2024 run, putting him up for a grudge match against Woodward, which we prophesize will be even more bare-fisted than the last one.

We’ve heard Sauter will be opposed, and knowing how the Bonner County Republican Central Committee feels about he and Woodward (spoiler: not great), you can bet whoever gets the nod will come from far right field.

Dixon is a bit of a cipher going into the 2024 election cycle — rumors have circulated that he might actually prefer to transition to the county level, while others have claimed he might just step back entirely from the Legislature. Regardless, both the seats held by Commissioners Steve Bradshaw and Luke Omodt will be up for election. If he chooses to run again, Bradshaw has already drawn a challenger in Brian Riley, while we’ve heard that Omodt would have at least one opponent.

< see PREVIEW, Page 15 >

< PREVIEW, con’t from Page 14 > The BCRCC also has a lot of opinions about Bradshaw and Omodt, which will certainly set up a slate of candidates from a very distinct segment of local politics — and one probably preferred by Commissioner Asia Williams — but she might not be too happy to get her wish for colleagues who agree with her, because governing decisions are way more politically fraught than protest votes.

Ben’s predictions Chaos in the county I predict there will be more chaos for Bonner County government in 2024. OK, that’s not fair. That’s like “predicting” that an airplane will take off at an airport. Let’s just agree that if it involves Bonner County in 2024, there will be chaos.

I’ll be more specific and say that one of the current three commissioners will most likely not be seated at the end of the year. There’s just no conceivable way the dysfunction and ire on display at every weekly meeting will be tolerated for another year without something — or somebody — breaking.

My best guess is that Commissioner Asia Williams will resign, either due to the fact that no candidates will prove to be Williams’ allies after the November election, or out of sheer frustration. Following her departure, Bonner County will likely find itself served with yet another lawsuit, which she’ll file on the way out the door.

Regarding the other lawsuits — including several filed by Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bauer and one by Bonner County Clerk Michael Rosedale — I believe most of them will go away without much impact.

It’s clear that Bonner County will continue to be one of, if not the most dysfunctional counties in Idaho next year. Be prepared.

A political nightmare My next prediction zooms out a bit further to national politics. I believe Donald Trump will win the Republican primary and start the slow, eventual faceoff with President Joe Biden in the general election, in what will literally be a battle of the ages (Trump being 77 and Biden being 81). However, due to the four criminal indictments and 91 felony charges Trump is facing, at least one of the court cases will deliver a verdict before Election Day and, for the first time in history, voters might cast a presidential ballot for someone sitting in jail. Unfortunately, the news of Trump facing jail time will likely spark unrest from his most ardent — or do I mean ignorant?

— supporters.

I’m no alarmist, but I believe in 2024 we will see yet another critical testing of the democratic institutions in America. Those who identify as MAGA are either going to protest Trump’s loss at the general elec-

tion or the outcome of his court cases with another Jan. 6-style incident, and it’s not going to be pretty.

It’s going to be a brutal year for national politics, and while I don’t think the U.S. will “fall,” I believe we’re going to come right up to the precipice. Whether or not our guardrails hold, candidates who traffic in fear and outrage will continue to gain ground in Congress, while more nuts-andbolts style lawmakers will head for the exits at an alarming rate. Politically speaking, I predict that our best years are behind us.

High altitude prices Finally, zooming back to North Idaho, I predict Schweitzer will raise its lift ticket and season pass prices considerably next season. There are a few factors that will contribute to this decision. Alterra Mountain Company purchased Schweitzer last fall.

Alterra is big money. It owns some of the most luxurious resorts in the nation: Deer Valley, Mammoth Mountain and Steamboat Springs, to name a few.

An unlimited season pass at Schweitzer last year (purchased before the Oct. 31 early bird cutoff) cost $999, and a day lift ticket was $125. By comparison, a season pass at Steamboat Springs starts at $1,700.

Day lift tickets at Mammoth Mountain are more than $200. Meanwhile, at the super posh Deer Valley, a season pass will run you more than $3,500.

With such a dismal beginning to the ski season this year and a host of new amenities to pay for — including new chairlifts and the inevitable new condo buildings that will continue to claim open spaces like the Gateway parking lot — the days of being able to purchase a pass at Schweitzer for less than $1,000 are likely over after this season.

I hope I’m wrong about this prediction, because I love skiing our home mountain, but I’m expecting to be priced out of this lifelong hobby sooner than later.

Soncirey’s predictions That’s showbiz, baby The San Andreas Fault, which runs up 750 miles of California’s coast, will crumble under a series of massive, long-awaited earthquakes. The sea will reclaim half of the state; however, casualties will be minimal since Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson forewarned residents of the disaster in his 2015 movie San Andreas. Sadly, Dwayne will perish in L.A. like the captain of the Titanic going down with his ship.

California refugees will flood into Idaho (even more than they already do) and broker a peace treaty with the locals, forming the new nation of Idornia for tax purposes.

Sandpoint City Hall will subsequently scrap its Comprehensive Plan and waterfront designs and instead bulldoze historic downtown, making room for Hollywood Two: Electric Boogaloo. Lucasfilm will render all

the buildings using CGI to sidestep unions.

The first movies produced will be Mission: Impossible 9 — Double Death Penalty, Godzilla vs. the Pend Oreille Paddler vs. Queen Kong and a live-action remake of Finding Nemo starring Timothée Chalamet.

The miracle of life Because of the loss of Bonner General Health’s labor and delivery services, the hospital will invest heavily in cloning technology in an effort to maintain Bonner County’s population. BGH will subsequently revolutionize medical science by giving the county’s elite the ability to grow adult replicas of themselves, which are preferable to children because they require little to no maintenance and, because they’re genetically identical to their “parent,” do not have to pay inheritance tax.

New versions of South Sandpoint residents, unwilling to leave their prized neighborhoods for homes in any other part of town, will build an exact replica of Sandpoint on the other side of the Long Bridge called Souther Sandpoint. The new town will be infinitely more popular with tourists, despite looking exactly the same. To eliminate potential conflicts of interest, City Hall will mandate that anyone running for election against their clone must fight to the death to prove their superiority. Meanwhile, all teachers will be cloned without their knowledge to solve staffing issues without raising salaries.

Temperance: The newest trend Because of Generation Z’s love of retro fashion and antiques — as well as the public desire to romanticize any fad over older than 2010 — Congress will pass its first constitutional amendment in 32 years to usher in the new roaring ’20s. The 28th Amendment will repeal the 21st Amendment, thereby reinstating the 18th Amendment and the prohibition of the production and sale of alcohol. Eightyone-year-old President Joe Biden will give his hearty approval after being told that it will make him “hip with the kids” and attract younger voters.

“Big Alcohol” will lobby for a 29th Amendment repealing the 28th, but will ultimately fail because the majority of California’s wine country will have been destroyed in the San Andreas disaster.

Hollywood Two: Electric Boogaloo and Souther Sandpoint will become the epicenter for the West Coast’s illegal booze trade since every other fundraiser in the city was already marketed as a speakeasy before the amendment passed.

Residents will take inspiration from the hit show Peaky Blinders to develop their criminal personas, and will consequently walk around in three piece suits speaking with Brummie accents — much to the delight of Reader Editor Zach Hagadone, who’d been waiting his entire life for the opportunity to do just that.

January 4, 2024 / R / 15

dumb of the week

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

In yet another sign that the American experiment has failed, a new board game is being released this weekend to commemorate the Jan. 6, 2021 riot and insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Called “Storm the Capitol — TrueAnon Edition,” the game will be made available for purchase on Saturday, Jan. 6, the third anniversary of the attack on the Capitol, which saw thousands of so-called “patriots” break windows and doors, as well as assault police officers with everything from hockey sticks to riot shields. Several people died during the attack, including a MAGA supporter who was shot by a Capitol police officer after attempting to breach the House chamber through a broken window.

In the days and week afterward, five police officers who served at the Capitol also died in connection with the events that day, including Officer Brian Sicknick, who was attacked by the mob and died Jan. 7, and Officers Jeffrey Smith and Howard Liebengood, who both died by suicide shortly after the insurrection.

Marketing for the board game claims it will allow players to, “Relive one of the funniest days in American history!”

According to the game’s website, players can, “Take control of one of 6 Patriots as you battle through the Capitol, collecting ballots, taking hostages, and fighting the police. Or play as the Capitol Police and use every means at your disposal to prevent the Patriots from getting to the roof with enough ballots to Stop the Steal.”

The board game is purported to be a “parody” of Jan. 6, created by TrueAnon, a left-leaning podcast hosted by Brace Belden and Liz Franczak. “January 6th was about having fun with your friends — and this January 6th, that amazing feeling is coming back,” TrueAnon wrote on X. The game sells for $64.99 and has (surprisingly) earned several positive reactions, but others criticize the game for belittling or celebrating the events of Jan. 6 — something done often by lawmakers like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who still contends it wasn’t MAGA followers but FBI agents and Antifa members who rioted; but, even if MAGA were responsible, “they did nothing wrong,” she said on a podcast just last week.

“Call me crazy, but I don’t think people should be releasing a board game where the aim is to attack your own government,” one Reddit user commented. “The last thing you want the public to do is associate this horrible event with a game. You’ve got to be better than this, America.”

16 / R / January 4, 2024

STAGE & SCREEN

Top TV of 2023

A few small-screen favorites from the year in review

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff More than a few cultural observers have opined that we’re living in a “Golden Age of TV,” and that may be true, but those same observers have been saying the same thing since around the time of the second season of Game of Thrones, a dozen years ago.

I propose we’re simply living in an Age of TV, considering how many shows there are to choose from streaming on so many platforms and how much time we’re willing to devote to them.

While the writers’ strike in 2023 put a pause on programming for a time, Variety still reported that there were so many smallscreen offerings to choose from that its critics only agreed on a single series to include in their 19 top picks for 2023 (Gen V).

I’m no slouch when it comes to boob tube consumption, but looking at Variety’s list, I could only identify a few that I’d seen over the past year. A couple of them are in the list below, but generally these were the highlights of my 2023 viewing — as well as a few fond goodbyes to favorite series that reached their final episodes.

The Last of Us (Max) Based on the popular video game series, this was a show that just kept on giving. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey absolutely tore up the screen as the central characters, who must fight for safety in a world overrun by fungus-infected zombies and their scheming, murderous fellow survivors. While the premise of the show is pretty rote (zombie apocalypse, etc., etc.), The Last of Us layered on episode after episode filled with tension, pathos, heart and real drama. Not to mention it was as gorgeously filmed and choreographed as it was expertly acted. This might have been my favorite of the year.

Gen V (Amazon Prime) For the uninitiated, this is a spinoff of the superheroes-gone-bad series The Boys, which imagines how horrible it would be if superheroes actually existed in the real world, with all their not-so-super human impulses. In Gen V, that premise is extended to up-and-coming “supes,” who are created and trained in a special school. Gen V takes the cynical heart of The Boys and ratchets it up with all the complexities inherent with

hormonal youngsters. Not for the faint of heart; but, if you can stomach the gore and deviant carnality, it’s a subversive takedown of the superhero ethos.

The Righteous Gemstones (Max) This series is an epic sendup of the world of big-money televangelism, revealing (and reveling in) the profound moral decay behind those who make morality their business. To wit: The Gemstone family has founded an international mega-church corporation, but bickering through a swamp of greed, ambition and deviance are its children, their significant others and extended family members, who are all rotten to the core. At turns deadpan and outrageous, it’s a devilishly incisive critique of hypocrisy in the name of the Lord.

Poker Face (Peacock) In this series, Natasha Lyonne plays a wise-cracking, beer-swilling, cigarette-puffing former-casino employee on the run from her boss after a series of unfortunate events. Twist: she has the mysterious ability to always, always, know when someone’s lying. While trying to evade the big-bad’s henchmen, she encounters various criminal situations in which her superpower is (almost always reluctantly) deployed to crack the case. It’s a witty, creative and twisty vehicle in which Lyonne’s comedic genius takes the wheel and runs hell for leather.

Cunk on Earth (Netflix) If Philomena Cunk didn’t exist, we would have to invent her. Lucky for us, British comedian Diane

The cast of Ted Lasso, a series which concluded in 2023. Courtesy photo.

Morgan already did with the mockumentary Cunk on Earth, which purports to cover the sweep of human history but ends up spoofing everything from the subjects it supposedly covers to the experts it features and the entire notion of such “big history” television presentations. Morgan is drop-dead hilarious in her character of Cunk, bumbling through every minute of every episode with gleeful abandon and, rather than coming off as a total dunce, blindsiding “civilization” with some under-the-radar zingers.

Fare-thee-well A number of my favorite series in recent memory met their finales in 2023, including Succession (Max), Ted Lasso (AppleTV), The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Prime) and The Crown (Netflix). Among them, I found the endings of Succession and Ted Lasso most fulfilling — though for completely opposite reasons. For real, the final episodes of those two shows (not unlike the characters who populated them) couldn’t be more at odds in tone, content or context. Marvelous Mrs. Maisel wrapped itself up leaving me feeling nostalgic and even a little wistful. Finally, The Crown brought itself into (or close to) the current era of British royal family history less and less successfully over the final season. As for the last scene, it’s probably a good thing Queen Elizabeth II isn’t around to see it, much less hear about it.

Diane Morgan, better known as Philomena Cunk from Cunk on Earth. Courtesy photo.

STAGE & SCREEN

Movies coming up in 2024

Remakes, sequels and sequels of remakes will dominate the releases this year Bad Boys 4 (June 2024) This fourth installment of the Martin Lawrence and Will Smith vehicle about buddy cops doing the things that buddy cops do will show whether audiences are ready for Smith to return to the screen after his literal smackdown of Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars.

By Ben Olson Reader Staff Over the course of the new year, Hollywood will embrace its growing trend of trodding familiar ground. While there are some intriguing original film concepts to be excited about, the trifecta of remakes, sequels and sequels of remakes will dominate the release schedule.

Looking ahead, here are the most talked about films we’ll see in 2024.

Mean Girls (January 2024) Kicking off the year will be a remake of the 2004 cult film Mean Girls. Writer Tina Fey claims this forthcoming film won’t exactly be a remake, but rather an adaptation of the stage musical Mean Girls, which was itself an adaptation of the original film. So, remake, got it.

Argylle (February 2024) Kingsman director Matthew Vaughn brings another installment in the cheeky spy action film genre with Argylle, featuring big names like Sam Rockwell, Henry Cavill, John Cena, Bryan Cranston and Samuel L. Jackson. When a novelist (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) draws the attention of an underground crime syndicate — because the plots of her espionage novels eerily mirror their activities — it’s up to an undercover spy (played by Rockwell) to save her. And her cat.

Dune: Part Two (March 2024) One of the few sequels I’m looking forward to, Dune: Part Two tells the second half of Frank Herbert’s epic sci-fi novel, following Paul Atreides as he unites with the Fremen people of the desert planet Arrakis to wage war against House Harkonnen.

Kung Fu Panda 4 (March, 2024) Jack Black returns as Po, the fat panda who does martial arts. While the premise is a bit goofy, some of the previous Kung Fu Panda films have been endearing for the whole family. In this fourth installment, Po faces off against a chameleon foe and searches for a new Dragon Warrior.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (March 2024) We’re entering some strange territory now. This upcoming film will follow Afterlife, the latest release from the Ghostbusters universe. For those keeping score, that makes Frozen Empire a sequel of a remake of a sequel of an original. Perhaps even affable Paul Rudd won’t be able to save this series, but there is a rumor that director Jason Reitman is returning the film’s setting to New York and the firehouse from the

original Ghostbusters films.

Mickey 17 (March 2024) South Korean director Bong Joon-ho made a splash with Oscar-winning Parasite.

Now he’s back with Mickey 17, an adaptation of the sci-fi novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton. Robert Pattinson will star as a disposable employee on a mission to colonize a distant world, whose body is regenerated with previous memories intact every time he dies.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (April 2024) Since the original in 1954, Godzilla has starred in a total of 38 films, five of which were released in America and the rest in Japan. The New Empire makes the sixth American film with the big blubbery monster back for Round 2 in the sequel to the Monsterverse’s 2021 showdown with Kong. TL;DR: Big monsters will fight and destroy stuff.

Civil War (April 2024) Ex-Machina director Alex Garland has one of the rare originals on this list with Civil War, a dystopian film portraying the United States plunged into a civil war. The trailer offers a scary vision of America’s future after 19 states have seceded and an authoritarian president (played by Nick Offerman) vows to deal with uprisings swiftly and permanently.

This one is likely to be controversial, especially among extremists who will either see it as a critique or a battle plan.

The Fall Guy (May 2024) Director David Leitch is a former stuntman who brought us John Wick and Deadpool 2, among others. This forthcoming film starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt is a film adaptation of an ’80s TV show about a stuntman who moonlights as a bounty hunter.

Back to Black (May 2024) This biopic will trace jazz singer-turned-

Courtesy photos. pop star Amy Winehouse from her rise to fame leading up to the release of her studio album Back to Black.

If (May 2024) John Krasinski and Ryan Reynolds wrote and star in this fantasy comedy about a young girl who learns she has the ability to see imaginary friends that have been abandoned by others.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (May 2024) George Miller turned the film world upside down with 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road. He’s back, with a prequel featuring a younger version of the war rig-driving badass Imperator Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy, inheriting the role from Charlize Theron). The film will tell the tale of Furiosa’s kidnapping and her rise through Immortan Joe’s ranks.

The Garfield Movie (May 2024) Not even Bill Murray could save the last attempt at a Garfield film, but Chris Pratt is going to give it his best. Samuel L. Jackson will join the cast, voicing Garfield’s father, named Vic. Mmmkay.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (May 2024) This will be the fourth film in the reboot trilogy that ended with Caesar, the chimp who led the apes to world domination, dying at the end of 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes. This film will take place many years after the events of War.

Ballerina (June 2024) The first spin-off film from the John Wick universe will star Ana de Armas as one of the female assassins trained by the Ruska Roma, a criminal organization led

by Anjelica Huston’s character in John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum. Word has it Keanu Reeves and his Continental pals will make an appearance.

Inside Out 2 (June, 2024) Pixar’s first Inside Out showed us what goes on inside the mind of an emotional young girl. We’ll revisit Riley now that she’s in college. This sequel will see a host of new emotions join the cast, along with the departure of several voice actors from the previous film.

Despicable Me 4 (July 2024) Steve Carell returns to voice the master of the Minions in this fourth film with scant details so far.

Twisters (July 2024) This film was originally planned as a remake of the 1996 disaster flick Twister, but Twisters eventually took form as a sequel, though it’s being marketed as a “new chapter.”

Deadpool 3 (July 2024) The Ryan Reynolds-led franchise beloved for its R-rated humor is back, and might merge somehow with the MCU universe, with Hugh Jackman joining the cast as the Wolverine. It’s all still a mystery.

Beetlejuice 2 (September 2024) Tim Burton returns to his 1988 franchise and so does Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara reprising their roles.

Joker: Folie á Deux (October 2024) The follow-up to Todd Phillips’ iconic film starring Joaquin Phoenix will also feature Lady Gaga playing Harley Quinn.

It’s all a bit confusing, as this film has been billed as a “musical.” I have so many questions.

Gladiator 2 (November 2024) Ridley Scott will return with a sequel to his historical epic Gladiator, with the story revolving around a grown-up Lucius who has become emperor.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (TBD 2024) Axel Foley is back almost 30 years since 1994’s Beverly Hills Cop III, with Eddie Murphy looking like he hasn’t aged a day.

The Detroit cop returns to Los Angeles to investigate corruption after the death of an old friend. The usual characters will return, including Taggart, Rosewood, as well as Serge, played by Bronson Pinchot: “It’s pronounced Saeyrrggge.”

January 4, 2024 / R / 17

events

January 4-11, 2024

Send event listings to calendar@sandpointreader.com THURSDAY, January 4

Insantity Fab Winter Challenge @ 3096 Highlands Flats Rd., Naples North Idaho Mud and Crawl invites you to join the best off-road race in the PNW. 4x4 and SxS welcome. Held Jan. 4-7.

Learn more on Facebook

Legally Blond The Musical Auditions Game Night 6-9pm @ EnVision Center 7pm @ Tervan Tavern Come audition for LPO Rep’s spring 2024 pro- Bingo night duction of Legally Blonde The Musical, held at 6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority the Community Resource EnvVision Center

FriDAY, January 5

Live Music w/ Mike Wagoner 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Rock, blues, country

Legally Blond The Musical Auditions 6-9pm @ EnVision Center Live Music w/ Justin Lantrip 6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Sandpoint singer-songwriter

COMMUNITY

Winter Fun Days (Jan. 5 & 6) 9am-2:30pm @ Pine Street Woods Spend the day outside sledding, playing games, exploring, building snow forts, warming around a fire, eating s’mores and drinking hot cocoa. $30

Last Chance Band in concert ($5) 8:45pm @ The Hive Country/rock. Line dance lessons 7:30-8:30pm

Live Music w/ Ian Newbill 6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Country / indie / rock

POAC presents: Winter Mosaic 5-7pm @ POAC Gallery, 313 N. Second An exhibit featuring 13 artists’ interpretation of the essence of the season Karaoke 8pm @ Tervan Tavern

SATURDAY, January 6 Live Music w/ Jake Rozier 9pm-midnight @ 219 Lounge No cover, 21+

The Jazzy Nutcracker Auditions for The Follies (Jan. 6-7) 6:30pm @ Panida Theater 9:30-11:30am @ by appointment The annual family show of the Schedule your audition for the 20th Nutcracker featuring local dancers anniversary of The Follies. Use Live Music w/ Facebook or call 208-290-7685 in ballet, tap, acrobatics, jazz, hip Big Phatty and the Inhalers and leave message to schedule an hop, cheer, and more 7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub appointment Live Music w/ Zach Simms Live Music w/ Double Shot Band 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Friends of the Library book sale 7pm @ Connie’s Lounge Live Music w/ Doug and Marty 10am-2pm @ Sandpoint Library Live Music w/ Ken Mayginnes 6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority The monthly book sale, with great 5-8pm @ 1908 Saloon Mandolin guitar duo titles and deals. Wide selection of Karaoke children’s books available Live Music w/ Tim G. 8pm @ Tervan Tavern 6-9pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall

Old Time Fiddlers’ jam 2-4pm @ Sandpoint Senior Center Join the District 1A chapter of the Idaho Old-Time Fiddlers Association for an acoustic jam session with fiddlers, guitarists, banjo players, mandolins, ukes and more. Free and open to all

Singer-songwriter classic rock

Sandpoint Chess Club 9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee Meets every Sunday at 9am

SunDAY, January 7

Magic with Star Alexander 5-8pm @ Jalepeño’s Up close magic shows at the table

Monday Night Blues Jam w/ John Firshi 7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub

Tipsy Trivia Tuesday 5:30-7:20pm @ The Back Door First glass regular price, second $5

monDAY, January 8

wednesDAY, January 10 Live Music w/ Larry Dalke 5-7pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Acoustic guitar, folk and blues

Open Mic Night 6pm @ Tervan Tavern

ThursDAY, January 11 LPO Rep Theater’s Speakeasy Funderaiser 7pm @ 219 Lounge The annual Speakeasy fundraiser supporting LPO Rep Theater. A musical “whodunit,” songs, dances, comedy and more. Tickets sell out fast, so don’t delay. lporep.com 18 / R / January 4, 2024

Artist reception for SHS art students 5-7pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Emmett Adams will also play live acoustic guitar from 5-7pm

By Reader Staff

The local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is hosting a free eight-session online education program for family, friends and significant others of adults with mental health conditions.

Beginning Monday, Jan. 8, the Family to Family course features presenters who will provide information about anxiety, depressive disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other mental health conditions. Other topics include communication, problem solving, treatment and recovery.

The evidence-based program is taught by trained local family members who have a loved one with a mental health condition, with classes designed to “increase understanding and advocacy skills while helping participants maintain their own well-being,” according to the organization.

For info and to register, call 208-5972047. Or, for more details, go to namifarnorth.org and look for the Family to Family Educational Class.

Sandpoint Teen Center hosts back to school party

By Reader Staff

Trivia Night 6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority

Outdoor Experience Group Run 6pm @ Outdoor Experience 3-5 miles, all levels welcome

tuesDAY, January 9

NAMI Far North offers online education program

Game Night 7pm @ Tervan Tavern Bingo night 6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority

The Sandpoint Teen Center is hosting a back to school party from 2:30-5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 10 at the center (526 S. Olive Ave.).

There will be a raffle to win a bicycle, as well as games with prizes, snacks, cookie decorating, pizza, corn hole, Wii Sports competitions and more. There will also be prizes for parents when they pick up their teen. Parents are welcome to join teens at the party to show off their game skills against our teens.

The Sandpoint Teen Center is located in the Lutheran Church on Olive Avenue and Ontario Street — near to the Sandpoint Middle and High schools. The Teen Center is open to all Bonner County teens every day after school Monday-Friday 2:30-5:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. open on Fridays). For more info, visit sandpointteencenter.com or the Sandpoint Teen Center Facebook page.

STAGE & SCREEN

Speakeasy fundraiser rescheduled for next two Thursdays

LPO Repertory Theater benefit travels back to Prohibition era with third annual event

and having fun. It’s really fun to see what happens when the crowd hushes each time a new singer comes out on stage.”

The script for the evening was written After the postponement of the third by local thespian Corey Repass, giving the annual Speakeasy fundraiser in October, night much the same feel as a local produe to illnesses in the cast, LPO Repertory duction by the theater troupe, which has Theater has rescheduled the date for its popbrought several successful plays to the Paniular event to Thursday, Jan. 11 and Thursda Theater over the years, including Young day, Jan. 18 at the 219 Lounge, with seating Frankenstein, Into the Woods and Murder starting at 6:30 p.m. and the show at 7 p.m. on the Orient Express.

Speakeasy is a fundraiser that transports Proceeds raised at the third annual those in attendance back to the wild and Speakeasy will fund LPO Rep’s upcoming wooly 1920s Prohibition era. The unique production of the musical production combines a murder Speakeasy Legally Blonde, which is mystery, live cabaret singers slated to run in May at the Thursdays, Jan. 11 and Jan. and a lounge atmosphere that 18; 6:30 p.m. seating, event Panida. guarantees an escape from starts at 7 p.m.; $35 general “This is why we raise everything mundane. admission, $60 VIP; 21+. 219 funds during the Speakeasy,” “It really feels like a Lounge, 219 N. First Ave., Gray said, referring to the lounge experience,” said 208-263-5673, 219.bar. Visit nearly $6,000 it will cost just lporep.com to purchase tickets.

LPO Rep Founder Keely to secure the rights to the Gray. “It’s having an authenscript.

“It’s a hurdle, and that’s why before tic nightclub atmosphere, with the lights LPO Rep came around, musicals were few dimmed, decorations out, people mingling

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

and far between. It takes a monumental effort, lots of money and training to do it well. … I’ve developed a team of people who are really excited to do what they are doing.

They’ve put their all into it.”

The evening will see live performances by a half dozen singers, including Gray, Katie Skidmore, Holly Beaman, Sarah Morgan, Kate McAlister and Myla McKechnie. Along with the singers, some familiar names will join the effort to perform at Speakeasy, including Eric Bond, Michael Clark, Andrew Sorg and Repass.

Vicki Turnbull and Valarie Moore will assist with setup and Conrad Dean is slated to work as sound engineer.

Gray said the 219 Lounge is the perfect setting for Speakeasy, which is why LPO Rep continues to come back there each year.

“We love the 219,” Gray told the Reader. “This has been our home the last two years. [Manager] Mark [Terry] is so awesome, and he’s so easy to work with.”

Costumes from the Prohibition era are encouraged, but not required. Gray suggest-

A previous Speakeasy at the 219 Lounge. Courtesy photo. ed anything with fringe or beading works well for ladies and men can rely on top hats, vests and suit pants.

“Anything that makes you feel excited to come out to the event and get into the mood,” Gray said. “Come in character if you want, we’ll play along with you.”

Tickets for general admission are $35 each and usually go fast. VIP tickets will be $60 and include early entry, a free drink and a piece of LPO Rep swag. The 219 will likely have themed drink specials, but otherwise will have their usual beer, wine and cocktails available for purchase.

Studio 1 dancers present The Little Nutcracker and Jazzy Nutcracker at the Panida

By Reader Staff The beloved Tchaikovsky ballet The Nutcracker will get a modern — and youthful twist — when it comes to the Panida Theater on Saturday, Jan. 6 with two performances: The Little Nutcracker and The Jazzy Nutcracker.

Presented by Studio 1 Dance Academy, the program begins at 5:30 p.m. with preschool performers in The Little Nutcracker.

Then, at 6:30 p.m., the older students will take the stage for The Jazzy Nutcracker, featuring performances in ballet, tap, acrobatics, jazz, hip hop, cheer and more.

“We have been performing this show for close to 30 years and many of our families

now have their children in the show so it is fun for everyone,” Studio 1 organizers stated.

Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for students and $5 for kids 5 and under, on sale at Studio 1 (521 Cedar St., in Sandpoint). If there are any left on the day of the show, they will also be available at the door of the Panida.

Doors open 30 minutes before each show.

January 4, 2024 / R / 19

Dreaming of snow: POAC Winter Mosaic

Top: “Tree Shadows” by Sheila Newenham.

Left: “Peace Amongst the Trees” by Teresa Rancourt.

Right: “Falling Snow on Green Pastures” by Daris Judd.

By Reader Staff

20 / R / January 4, 2024

The Pend Oreille Arts Council will unveil its newest exhibit, Winter Mosaic, at a free reception Friday, Jan. 5, from 5-7 p.m. at its new space, located at 313 N. Second Ave., Suite B. Enjoy a glass of wine and peruse the mixed-media collection, featuring 12 local artists’ interpretations of the essence of winter.

“I think the meaning of the exhibit has changed in the sense that originally it was a celebration of winter, and now it’s more of a prayer for snow,” said POAC Arts Coordinator Claire Christy.

This is the organization’s second exhibit since moving to its new location,

giving the community another chance to experience the space for the first time.

Winter Mosaic will be on display until Tuesday, Jan. 30, and all of the artwork is available for purchase. Proceeds from the sales will go toward the artist and POAC to help with its mission to bring art and education to the area.

“We invite everyone to join us for an evening of artistic delight and community spirit, as we embrace the diverse interpretations of winter in Winter Mosaic,” stated POAC Executive Director Tone Stolz in a news release.

For more information, visit artinsandpoint.org.

MUSIC

Music for the mind and the soul

Release of Heat Speak’s newest album de bouquet ok

By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff

The band Heat Speak has its roots in Spokane, where founder and lead singer-songwriter Dario Ré began collaborating with a number of area performers to produce innovative, genre-bending music. Their newest album, de bouquet ok, drops on Friday, Jan. 12, bringing an end to nearly a year’s worth of constant collaboration.

“This time of year there’s a lot of room for change. Releasing the album at this time just parallels that shift in energy,” said Ré.

Though this is the first time Ré has recorded the songs on de bouquet ok, the album is an amalgamation of years of ideas — one track dates back to 2010, while another was written a week before being recorded.

“I’ve been kind of slow-releasing this album to friends and family, and the feedback I’ve gotten is that we leaned more into the ‘rock band’ sound,” said Ré.

He believes that listening to the album as a whole takes the audience on a journey, but those who prefer creating playlists will discover that the songs run the gamut from ethereal to fast and driven — something for

every mood.

“My impression of this album is that it’s very sonically explorative. There’s a lot of texture and a lot of depth. It’s very transportive and it gets me floating,” he said. de bouquet ok sprung from a unique partnership between Heat Speak’s 12 musicians and the Spokane Public Library-Central Branch, which provided the recording facilities and equipment.

In exchange for 40 hours in their studio, Heat Speak agreed to put in 40 hours of volunteer work for the library. The Central Branch will also host de bouquet ok’s inaugural performance on Friday, Jan. 12.

“I look at limitations as inspiring methods. For this album, the week in the studio at the library was the parameter that made it come to life,” Ré told the Reader.

The library wasn’t the only new collaborator; this is the first album not to feature Ré’s art. Spokane artist Oana BaracMatei painted the titular bouquet, never imagining it would be an album cover.

“The artwork by Oana BaracMatei was already hanging in my house, and one day I looked at it and the album cover became clear to me. There was an element to it that spoke to all the players,” said Ré. With BaracMatei’s permission, her work

Tim Guidotti — a.k.a. Tim G — puts it pretty simply on his music Facebook page: “I enjoy performing the songs people ask me to play.” The Spokane-based singer-songwriter does more than that, with an extensive catalog of covers ranging from John Denver to the Allman Brothers to Bob Dylan to Jimmy Buffett, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, The Doors, George Strait, Ben Harper and dozens more.

He also has a robust collection

of originals — all delivered with easy-going, pitch-perfect vocals and impeccable guitar work.

Check out “Lovers Liars Thieves” on his website for a stellar example of both. Better yet, head to Mick Duff’s Beer Hall on Saturday, Jan. 6 for the real thing.

— Zach Hagadone 6 p.m., FREE. Mick Duff’s Beer 220 Cedar St., 208-2096700, mickduffs.com. Listen at timgmusic.com.

READ

When I first read the Dork of Cork a few years back, I was awestruck by author Chet Raymo’s elegant and often poetic prose, especially from a trained physicist. Now my wife is equally captivated and reading aloud beautiful passages to me that I had forgotten about. The protagonist, a reclusive little person, publishes a book that becomes a literary hit and is forced to leave his life of relative obscurity in the Irish countryside; but, like a precious stone, there are many more facets than that.

LISTEN

Heat Speak band members, above, and their newest album de bouquet ok, insert. Courtesy photos.

not only took center stage, but inspired the name de bouquet ok.

“I’ve always loved collaboration and that’s a huge part of why I love music, as opposed to my other artforms like painting, which are more solitary,” said Ré.

Now based in Sandpoint, Ré plays locally as a solo artist or with a rotating cast of musicians.

He and Heat Speak have released a combined three albums in the last four years and have toured the West Coast for the past two — no easy feat. To recharge after

years of diligent work and take time to focus on other projects, the band will not tour this season.

Before they take a well-deserved break, don’t miss their performances at their upcoming album release parties on Friday, Jan. 12 in Spokane (906 W. Main Ave.) with Traesti Darling and Saturday, Jan. 27 at the Heartwood Center in Sandpoint (615 Oak St.) with the band Mama Llama. For more information, or to listen to Heat Speak and Ré’s discographies, visit dariore.com.

A snapshot of notable live music coming up in Sandpoint Tim G, Mick Duff’s Beer Hall, Jan. 6

This week’s RLW by Ed Ohlweiler

Jake Rozier, 219 Lounge, Jan. 6 If you’re hankering for a folkfired amalgam of country-blues, featuring a tinge of grunge, Spokane-based singer-songwriter Jake Rozier is here to supply everything from bluegrass getdown tunes like “Hard to Kill a Ghost” (the title track from his 2022 debut album) to heartfelt, introspective balladic numbers like “Better Man” (from his 2023 EP Bulletproof).

No matter the tempo or style, Rozier’s music is driven by a

deep lyrical sensibility, showcasing his storytelling chops as much as his distinctive tremolo-tinged baritone vocals.

Rozier will fill the 219 stage Saturday, Jan. 6 with his bona fide Inland Northwest sound.

— Zach Hagadone

I’m not one to wait intently for a new release, yet I found myself doing just that when I pre-ordered the new album Bonfire by Hazmat Modine. It didn’t disappoint. The band has umpteen members, including a horn section with tuba or sousaphone, and is unlike anything you’ve probably ever heard. iTunes wrongly puts it under blues (perhaps because there is a harmonica), but it is a blend of New Orleans jazz, Eastern European folk, ska and more. The new CD even has a reggae-ish song to accompany the sometimes raucous, sometimes subdued vocals.

WATCH

The Race to Alaska premise is simple: $10,000 in bills are nailed to a dock in Ketchikan and people race there from Port Townsend, Wash., with no motorized support. The winner gets the money, second place gets a set of steak knives, third place gets zilch.

While you can find the coverage of individual years on YouTube, the 2022 R2AK movie is the best because it features the evolution of the race, stormy years and the crazy cross-section of watercraft that have completed the harrowing 750-mile voyage.

9 p.m.-midnight, FREE, 21+.

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

January 4, 2024 / R / 21

BACK OF THE BOOK

From resolve to dissolve

Some old habits die hard, while others fade away

From Northern Idaho News, January 5, 1906

WAS STRANGER MURDERED? Many people are of the opinion that the stranger, whose remains were found in a Northern Pacific freight car in this city last Friday as chronicled in the News of last week, was murdered. The fact that no powder burns show on the face and neck of the man make many people believe that he did not shoot himself, it being claimed that a revolver fired at such close range as it must have been if the man shot himself, would have caused powder burns to have been left on his neck and the side of his face. The bullet entered the temple and was discovered just beneath the skin on the left side of the scalp.

After the body was discovered

by Assistant Agent Jake Burkett and Conductor Charles Foster of the Northern Pacific it was allowed to remain in the car for some hours while awaiting instructions from the coroner. When he was heard from it was simply to instruct Justice Walters to take charge of the remains and do what in his opinion be deemed best. Mr. Walters had the body removed to the Hunt undertaking parlors, and an examination made. In the deceased’s pocket there was found $9.50 in money and a small blank book on which were bloody finger marks, but no information as to who the deceased was could be learned therefrom. It was decided that no inquest would be necessary and the remains were buried in the pauper’s field at the Sandpoint cemetery Saturday.

The revolver which was found in his hands was a cheap Iver Johnson containing five loaded shells and one empty. It has been retained by Justice Walters.

22 / R / January 4, 2024

When I took a philosophy class a long time ago, one of the students asked our professor how he planned to observe the new year. His response was that he would drink whiskey and hope things didn’t get worse.

I’ve followed that philosophy more times than not since then, though a curious thing has happened: For some reason, I stopped drinking whiskey almost altogether. I’m not sure exactly when that took place; as far as I can reckon, it must have been sometime right around the start of the pandemic and maybe even before.

I hadn’t intended to make that change, it just sort of evolved (and doesn’t always hold true). The same thing happened to me with soda much longer ago — perhaps even more dramatic, as there was a long stretch when I used to consume about two cases of Dr. Pepper a week. I probably haven’t drunk more than a half dozen servings of soda since 2006. Likewise with candy or really sweets of any kind — not even pastries, cakes or pies.

(Of course, this does not extend to the sugars contained in beer or wine. Those ones are definitely OK with me, but not in any kind of “fruit” beer; nor “chocolate” or any other kind of sweet stout; nor any cider other than dry apple; nor almost any riesling, spumante or port, unless the latter is good port.)

I more consciously but just as consistently swore off fast food at least 15 years ago, though have been known to enjoy a burger from Serv-a-Burger from time to time, which I’ve never considered “fast food.”

Perhaps the weirdest and most recent shedding of a formerly well-nigh rampant habit was when I mysteriously stopped drinking coffee. Again: I don’t have a clue precisely when or why this took place. One week a few months ago I just stopped making it in the morning. It wasn’t on purpose, and I found this strange when I realized it had been happening — replaced with unsweetened black tea — and so figured I’d order a coffee from Bluebird Bakery and take it back to the office.

I consumed that coffee at my desk and, after about 15 or 20 minutes, thought I was going to die. I developed flop sweats and my heart palpitated to such a degree that I feared my colleagues might find me expired, head down on my keyboard.

For context: I started drinking coffee at the age of 7. I am now 43. That was the last cup of coffee I’ve had, and I want to say that I experienced it in the early spring of 2023.

This drifting away of generally harmful consumptive habits wasn’t something I expected as I’ve advanced through the years. I didn’t “resolve” to do any of that, those habits just seemed to dissolve.

“Quitting” things has never come easy to me, and I don’t expect it comes very easy to most people. For instance, this year will mark probably the 20th annual occasion when I swear off tobacco products.

That is a habit that I desperately wish would simply fade away. As for the beer and wine, that could also at least undergo a demonstrable ebb.

Article after article cites expert after expert this time of year reminding us that only about 20% of people who make

STR8TS Solution

Sudoku Solution

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

“resolutions” during the new year make it past the first weeks of January, to which my long-running and so-far-unsuccessful battle with cigarettes can attest. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to give it another go.

At the same time, as I’ve (mostly) given up on whiskey, I think I might attempt to abandon my customary grim New Year’s ruminations. Rather, I plan to attempt what so many of those aforementioned “lifestyle” experts also tell us, and practice a little more guarded optimism and try on a little more gratitude for the good things, rather than the bad things that have happened or might happen.

Maybe starting some things, rather than quitting them, will have more success than my past efforts. And maybe a few current habits will start to fall away as inexplicably as those others. At least I can hope, and that’ll be a thing to start, too.

Crossword Solution

When this girl at the museum asked me whom I liked better, Monet or Manet, I said, “I like mayonnaise.” She just stared at me, so I said it again, louder. Then she left. I guess she went to try to find some mayonnaise for me.

Solution on page 22

Solution on page 22

By Bill Borders

perspicuity /pur-spi-KYOO-i-tee/

Woorf tdhe Week

[noun] 1. clearness or lucidity, as of a statement.

“The lawyer presented their case with remarkable perspicuity, leaving no room for doubt in the minds of the jury.”

Corrections: No corrections to note this week. —BO

Copyright www.mirroreyes.com

Laughing Matter

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1. Degrade 6. Rotating mechanism 11. Award 12. Area next to a runway 15. Buffaloes 16. Voice between bass and tenor 17. Rodent 18. Condemns 20. South southwest 21. Death notice 23. Do damage to 24. Seating sections 25. Winglike 26. Crones 27. Greek district 28. Sandwich shop 29. Unit of energy 30. Countdown clock 31. Dangerous fish 34. Matches 36. Canine 37. Comparison connector 41. Ancient alphabetic character 42. Physiques, informally 43. Formally surrender 44. Fill to excess 45. Purple shade 46. Possess 47. Cobbler’s tool 48. Human-powered taxi 51. Bloodshot 52. Long-legged bird

Solution on page 22 54. Verse 56. Perfume 57. Twisty turns 58. Thick woolen fabric 59. Vista

DOWN 1. Friendly 2. Inhuman 3. Big fuss 4. Found on most beaches 5. Apart from this 6. Steps 7. A group of concubines

8. Center of rotation 9. Physically sound 10. Couple 13. Reply 14. Evergreens 15. Vast 16. Empty boasting 19. Small troutlike fish 22. Champion of the people 24. Repeat competition 26. Not his 27. Accomplished 30. Yanks 32. Consumed

33. Digital compression device 34. Barroom fights 35. Endure longer than 38. Cheer 39. Unfavorable 40. Destitute 42. Moved slightly 44. Out of harm’s way 45. British penny 48. Durable wood 49. Gorillas 50. Pear type 53. Kitten’s cry 55. East southeast

January 4, 2024 / R / 23