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PEOPLE compiled by

Susan Drinkard

watching

“What social issue breaks your heart?”

“The issue that bothers me most is sexual inequality; it is easy to think you’re not sexist, but it’s so embedded in our culture that it’s easy to perform sexist actions without awareness. I have a little girl and I want her to have the same opportunities as men and to be paid equitably.”

Jaclyn Landscape and dog artist Laclede

“Probably the casualness about COVID-19. Some people have a lack of consideration of others when they won’t wear a mask in public places.”

Charles Holm Retired/communications North of Sandpoint

DEAR READERS, Wishing you all a pleasant end to your work week and perhaps some fun ahead for the weekend. It’s a glorious time to be outside. The sun warms your skin from the cold spring winds still blowing down from the mountaintops. The rivers are rising and so is the lake. Birds fill the air with their busy spring songs and even that grump who lives down the street can’t help but crack a smile in between shaking his fist at the letter carrier.

A walk about town shows our winter selves departing, emerging to our backyards to clean up the garden, plant the early vegetables, fix the fire pit and turn your attention to making your outdoor spaces ready for the busy season ahead. The end of the day brings nods of approval as we look down at our blistered, paint-stained hands and plan for the next step.

Anglers gather on the sloughs and creeks to sip from cheap beer and share a moment after work. Couples walk their dogs along the low waterline, watching the rock messages slowly swallowed by the water for another season. Woodcombers gather at the Clark Fork Driftyard to search out that perfect piece for the garden bed or a backyard bench.

It’s a time of projects, decluttering, renovation and renewal. I love this time of year because it’s truly a shoulder season in North Idaho. The low hum of summertime business is already thrumming out there somewhere, gaining in sound every day we grow closer. For now, here in our once private Idaho, this is the time for locals to do what we do best,which is whatever the hell you want to do with your time.

Drink deep, my friends. Find a little joy instead of dwelling on the darkness. There’s plenty of both out there, but joy has a much better aftertaste.

Until next week, when we do this all again. Enjoy this week’s offering.

– Ben Olson, publisher

“I can’t volunteer due to health problems, so I donate to a school for Lakota children in Montana, to the local animal shelter, The Nature Conservancy, and more. I just love animals and children.”

Mary Jo Peters Retired widow Ponderay “When people are mean, impatient, and rude, especially when driving. I have a 2.5 year-old daughter and I drive slowly and safely, but other drivers become angry and drive carelessly.”

Ali Fitzpatrick Owner of Northern Flowers next to The Longshot Near Blanchard “Everything is about race now. We have bi-racial grandchildren, but it seems people are being attacked for just being white and media tries to sell ideas such as white privilege as though it is gospel. So when there is constant discussion about racism and if everyone is thinking about racism all the time, it perpetuates these attacks on each other.”

Tom and Sue Retired Sandpoint

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

www.sandpointreader.com Publisher: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com Editorial: Zach Hagadone (Editor) zach@sandpointreader.com Lyndsie Kiebert (News Editor) lyndsie@sandpointreader.com Cameron Rasmusson (emeritus) John Reuter (emeritus) Advertising: Jodi Berge Jodi@sandpointreader.com Contributing Artists: Ben Olson, Susan Drinkard, Bill Borders.

Contributing Writers: Zach Hagadone, Ben Olson, Lyndsie Kiebert, Lorraine H. Marie, Emily Erickson, Shelby Rognstad, Adam Hegsted.

Submit stories to: stories@sandpointreader.com Printed weekly at: Tribune Publishing Co. Lewiston, ID Subscription Price: $135 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: www.sandpointreader.com Like us on Facebook.

About the Cover

This week’s cover features a vintage illustration of a woman dressed as a flapper.

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NEWS

CDC updates mask guidance for vaccinated people Panhandle Health District launching mobile vaccine teams

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff

Federal health authorities updated COVID-19 safety guidelines on April 27, announcing that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear face coverings outdoors, unless in a crowded area.

Updated guidance, gradually rolling out over the past few months as the vaccine became more widely available, also states that vaccinated people are safe to dine at outdoor restaurants with both vaccinated and unvaccinated people from multiple households while unmasked.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends that unvaccinated people remain masked in most situations, and masks are also still recommended for vaccinated people in indoor public settings. However, vaccinated people can gather in small groups indoors without masks or social distancing.

According to States Newsroom reporting, the new guidance stems from studies that showed fewer than 10% of COVID-19 transmission was happening outdoors.

The Panhandle Health District, which oversees the five northern counties of Idaho, announced April 28 that it would begin offering “mobile vaccine teams that come to your business or organization to vaccinate employees and their families.”

“We offer mobile vaccine teams throughout flu season for businesses and organizations, so our team is experienced in providing this sort of service,” said PHD Health Services Administrator Don Duffy.

“If there is a way that we can remove any barriers for those 4 /

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who want the vaccine, we want to do that for our community.”

In order to qualify for a mobile vaccine team visit, PHD officials said, a minimum of 20 people must sign up at your locations. The mobile teams will administer mostly Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccines.

A temporary pause on the J&J vaccine was lifted by federal officials April 23 after a “thorough safety review” prompted by rare blood clotting occurring in six recipents of the vaccine. Authorities determined that “the available data show that the vaccine’s known and potential benefits outweigh its known and potential risks in individuals 18 years of age and older.”

At the time of the recommended pause, nearly 7 million doses of the J&J shot had been administered.

Those interested in scheduling a mobile vaccine clinic with PHD should call 208-4155226.

As of April 28, state officials reported that 597,428 Idahoans had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while Panhandle Health District reported that 13,708 Bonner County residents had received at least one shot. According to Idaho’s coronavirus reporting website (coronavirus. idaho.gov), that translates to 42.6% of people 16 and older

partially vaccinated against the virus, and 33.6% fully vaccinated. Idaho has set a goal to vaccinate 80% of residents by September.

Nationally, 53% of people have received at least one dose, while 36.2% are fully vaccinated.

A person is considered “ful-

Image courtesy CDC. ly vaccinated” two weeks after completing their dose series, or two weeks after receiving a dose of a single-shot vaccine.

Three applicants for next Idaho Supreme Court justice submitted to governor

By Reader Staff The Idaho Judicial Council announced April 28 it had submitted the names of three potential appointees for a position on the Idaho Supreme Court to Gov. Brad Little.

Those selected by the Judicial Council include: Jessica M. Lorello, of Meridian, a judge for the Idaho Court of Appeals; Diane M. Walker, of Meridian, a magistrate judge in the Fourth Judicial District; and Colleen D. Zahn, of Boise, an Idaho deputy attorney general in that office’s Criminal Law Division.

Nine attorneys and judges from across Idaho applied to succeed retiring Justice Roger Burdick. One later withdrew.

The applicants were interviewed April 27 in a public session of the Judicial Council.

Next, Little will select a new justice from among the top three candidates.

The supreme court is Idaho’s highest court. It hears appeals from trial courts across

the state, certain original claims involving the state of Idaho and oversees the administration of Idaho’s statewide court system.

Idaho Code 1-2102 tasks the Judicial Council with reviewing applicants when a vacancy opens on the supreme court during a term of office. After interviewing the applicants and reviewing public comment, the Judicial Council selects two to four names to provide to the governor. The governor then appoints one person from those names to the supreme court.

For more information about the Judicial Council, visit judicialcouncil.idaho.gov.

Justice Burdick will retire June 30 after 47 years as an attorney, judge and justice in Idaho’s courts. He announced his retirement Feb. 3. The new appointee will serve the remainder of Burdick’s term, which ends in January 2023. A nonpartisan election to select a justice for the next six-year term will take place in May 2022.

NEWS

Judge hears cross motions in second Festival gun suit

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Kootenai County District Judge Lansing L. Haynes heard cross motions for summary judgment April 26 in the case against the Festival at Sandpoint and city of Sandpoint, in which two private citizens allege that their constitutional rights were violated when they were denied entrance to the concert series in 2019 because they were carrying firearms.

That gun ban has drawn the attention of Bellevue, Wash.based Second Amendment Foundation and Boise-based gun rights lobby group Idaho Second Amendment Alliance, which have joined the lawsuit along with the two North Idaho men who attempted to enter the Festival armed: Scott Herndon and Jeff Avery.

This is the second lawsuit challenging the Festival’s no-weapons policy on publicly-owned War Memorial Field.

Haynes, the judge in the Herndon case, also presided over the Bonner County v. City of Sandpoint lawsuit regarding the Festival’s no-weapons policy, ruling in September 2020 that the county’s case against the city was “speculative” and lacked standing to bring the case before the court from the outset.

Attorney and guns rights advocate Alexandria Kincaid, representing the plaintiffs, opened the hour-long April 26 hearing by reminding the judge that is was his obligation to issue a decision based on Idaho law, not on the laws of other states — states from which the defendants have drawn cases to support their argument, like California, New York and Oregon.

“Can the government in Idaho, can a city, can a county, contract away our citizens’ rights to keep and bear arms?”

Kincaid asked. “Can they do that by leasing or permitting public land to a private entity that says, ‘We don’t want you to be able

to defend yourself?’ That’s the question that is before the court.”

Upon filing the case, Herndon et al. alleged that in being denied entry to the Festival while in possession of firearms, their Second, Fourth and 14th Amendment rights had been violated.

Kincaid shared at the April 26 hearing that the plaintiffs would no longer be making the Fourth Amendment argument, which deals with searches and seizures.

In a series of back-and-forth rebuttals peppered with questions from Haynes, Kincaid and Peter Erbland — of Coeur d’Alene-based Lake City Law, representing the city of Sandpoint — along with Festival attorney Arthur Bistline debated the application of Idaho’s concealed weapons code, which states: “The Legislature hereby finds that the people of Idaho have reserved for themselves the right to keep and bear arms while granting the Legislature the authority to regulate the carrying of weapons concealed.”

Because War Memorial Field is public land, plaintiffs argue the right to carry can’t be abridged. However, defendants argue that in leasing the property for two weeks each summer, the Festival assumes all rule-making ability, and the city has played no part in restricting firearms.

Erbland pointed out that the statute “should not be read in a vacuum,” making special note of the code’s subsection dictating that the law should not be used “to limit the existing rights of a private property owner, private tenant, private employer or private business entity.”

“To use the word ‘astonishing’ hardly goes far enough, because the very people who have conservative ideals and who champion the rights of individuals — now that it’s convenient, seem to have forgotten that private property rights must be championed or there is no society, there is no free society,” Erbland said.

He also noted that “courts

do not make public policy, legislatures do,” and that if the plaintiffs wish to see Idaho law explicitly state that private lessees — or tenants — lack the right to restrict firearms, they should seek a resolution at the Idaho Statehouse.

Kincaid argued that the code

is clear.

“The court can easily find today that the Legislature has spoken,” she said. “We don’t have to go before the Legislature. We have a law that says that these rights are protected for the citizens of Idaho.”

Haynes said at the April 26

Scott Herndon, left, attempts to enter the Festival at Sandpoint gate with a firearm in 2019. Photo by Ben Olson. hearing that he would take the arguments under advisement and soon issue an order on the cross motions for summary judgment.

Idaho Gives set to run April 29-May 6 Reader Staff Nonprofits around the state are ready, willing and able to accept donations from Gem State residents for the 2021 edition of Idaho Gives, this year scheduled to run Thursday, April 29 through Thursday, May 6.

A program of the Idaho Nonprofit Center, Idaho Gives is designed to bring the state together, raising money and awareness for Idaho nonprofits. For the second year, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need both for the services and support of nonprofit organizations, a record number of 650 of which have joined this year’s event — including nearly 20 in the Sandpoint, Priest River and Bonners Ferry areas. Find them all at IdahoGives.org.

Eligible organizations are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations headquartered or providing services in Idaho and registered and in good standing with the Idaho

secretary of state.

In addition to direct donations, participating nonprofits in Idaho Gives are eligible for a range of prizes given throughout the week, which can add up quickly.

More than 18,000 donors participated in Idaho Gives last year, contributing a record $3.86 million in donations. Since its inception in 2013, the program has garnered more than $12 million for Idaho nonprofits.

“Idaho Gives is such an

important platform for nonprofits and donors,” Idaho Nonprofit Center’s Idaho Gives Project Manager Summer DuPree told KIFK-TV in Pocatello. “Donors can easily search for causes and organizations they’re passionate about and nonprofits can take advantage of the collective voice of nonprofits to elevate their own causes and campaigns” Idaho Gives begins at 11 p.m. on April 29 and will continue for a full week, ending at 10:59 p.m. on May 6.

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NEWS

Council to take up final draft transit master plan

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

The Sandpoint City Council at its regular meeting April 21 took in a presentation from Public Works Director Amanda Wilson and Otak consultant Mandi Roberts on the draft Multimodal Transit Plan, which is slated for a final decision Wednesday, May 5 when the council gathers again.

Long in the works, the plan is intended to encompass all the transportation needs for the city over the next 20 years, including previous transit plans.

Included in the document are 55 capital improvement projects and other administrative actions, including work on sidewalk and bicycle networks, updated truck routes, improvements to Division Avenue, extension of Baldy Mountain Road, the third phase of downtown street work and extensive work on Great Northern Road. Altogether, the plan envisions just shy of $95.5 million in projects over the next two decades.

“It’s a pretty big price tag,” Roberts said.

Wilson added that while “[t]his is $100 million we currently do not have,” she stressed that more than two thirds of the city’s transit funding comes from grants, with the next largest portions flowing from Sandpoint Independent Highway District and state highway user fee revenues. “[Local] taxes only make up a very,

very small sliver of transportation funding,” she said.

“How we fund [the projects] and how we get them done is a separate conversation,” Wilson added.

The full plan is posted online at downloadable at sandpointidaho.gov under the “News” tab on the homepage.

Council members considered a handful of the high-level plan elements presented on April 21 — none of which have been prioritized yet, Wilson said, adding that “these are just target timeframes.”

Of particular interest to the council were the proposed pedestrian and bicycle networks included in the plan. On the former, planners envisioned a widespread sidewalk improvement project geared toward building toward citywide connectivity by first focusing on primary routes along what Wilson described as sidewalk “arterials.”

The priority network would be safe, connected (and in the winter shoveled) sidewalks, identified in such a way as to strategize where to invest dollars before adopting a wholesale effort of ensuring sidewalks on both sides of every street.

“It was based on, ‘Where do we think we need to have primary routes for pedestrians to utilize?’ recognizing that some of these streets might require substantial amounts of investment,” Wilson said, later adding, “this is where we’re going to fill the gaps and we’re going to fill in the gaps where we can stretch our dollars.”

Lakes Commission meeting May 11

By Reader Staff

The Lakes Commission, the advisory board to the state of Idaho responsible for monitoring and advocating for North Idaho’s lakes and rivers, announced that its next meeting will take place Tuesday, May 11 at the Priest River Event Center from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The commission and other meeting attendees will hear presentations from a variety of stakeholders, including updates on Albeni Falls Dam operations, Army Corps projects, local weather forecast, current projects and fishery status at Priest Lake, information about aquatic invasive species in Idaho and upstream updates 6 /

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from Montana officials. There will also be a chance for public comment and questions at the end of the meeting.

The Priest River Event Center is located at 5399 US-2 in Priest River. Meeting organizers said that seating will be socially distanced and masks are recommended.

The meeting will also be streamed virtually online. To access the Zoom link, visit lakes-commission.com and look on the right-hand side of the homepage to find the meeting information: “Next Lakes Commission Board Meeting.”

Those with questions can reach Lakes Commission Executive Director Molly McCahon at lakescommission@gmail. com.

Bits ’n’ Pieces From east, west and beyond

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

A recent sampling: The new U.S. Agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack, told the Storm Lake Times there’s been a significant shift toward conservation agriculture. He favors new markets that pay farmers and foresters to sequester carbon in the soil; that would be funded by credits bought by those who are carbon generators. Vilsack says he also favors assistance to disadvantaged farmers, improvements in U.S. Forest Service management regarding climate-driven wildfires, increases in food benefits, turning biomass into energy and smaller meat processing plants.

After a Daily Mail article that speculated President Joe Biden could combat climate change by limiting meat consumption, panicked responders offered their own speculation: Fox Business declared there would be no burgers on the Fourth of July and no steaks to barbecue, The Washington Post reported. The only mention related to diet in Biden’s climate plans is that of “deploying cutting edge tools to make soil of our heartland the next frontier in carbon innovation.” Research shows those tools can include use of cattle.

In 2020 the U.S. had 22 weather and climate events that cost more than $1 billion each, as compared to 16 such events the year before, TIME magazine reported.

New executive orders from Biden prioritize climate repair coupled with good-paying jobs. The orders include creation of a Climate Conservation Corps, a buying order for federally-owned vehicles to be electric vehicles (made in the U.S.); an environmental justice advisory council; a council of advisors on science and technology and a directive to end fossil fuel subsidies.

Last week’s virtual international climate leadership meeting saw Biden pledging to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions up to 52%, relative to 2005 levels, by 2030. That doubles the nation’s commitment made at the Paris Climate Agreement in 2005.

Earlier in the month 400 business leaders, representing 7 million people, signed a letter to Biden asking him to do exactly that; they noted that “new investment in clean energy, energy efficiency and clean transportation can build a strong, more equitable and more inclusive American economy.” Biden pointed out that, with just 15% of the world’s population, the U.S. is the second-largest greenhouse gas emitter. His stance was in contrast to China’s, which has non-specifically pledged to re-

By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist

duce coal consumption and get to zero-net emissions by 2060.

The U.K. announced a commitment to reduce emissions 78% by 2035 (as compared to 1990 levels), which would take the nation three-quarters of the way to net zero by 2050, according to The Washington Post.

Reducing emissions will be a significant driver of a post-COVID economy. Due to past political and corporate foot-dragging that has sped up climate change damages, Vox pointed out that making climate goals will be more difficult, and Biden’s pledge is inadequate but “a good start.”

The market for coal is declining in favor of less expensive alternative energy, despite past efforts to prop up coal.

Recently the United Mine Workers of America, the largest coal miners’ union, backed Biden’s plan to transition away from coal, if there is government support for workers to plug abandoned oil and gas wells, clean up mining sites and train workers for new jobs in new energy technologies.

A triple-mutated COVID-19 virus is overwhelming health resources in India.

Researchers there say it has the potential to be more infectious than the double-mutant version, but the evidence for that is not “concrete” at this time, Business Insider reported. India is experiencing a second wave of the viral infections, and numerous hospitals exhausted their oxygen supplies over the weekend. At that point the nation had more than 16 million COVID-19 cases, coming in behind 32 million cases in the U.S. Psychedelic drugs are getting a serious look for help with mental health issues, The WEEK reported. Psilocybin or LSD, when used with trained supervisors, can avoid unwanted effects. Neuroscientists found that the drugs can stimulate new brain cell growth and help parts of the brain communicate better. There’s also the impact of dissolving the ego, resulting in a sense of oneness with the universe. Benefits are said to be “profound and wide-ranging,” including giving up smoking. In one experience, an atheist said he felt “bathed in God’s love.” Others have said their fear of death leaves them.

The FDA now regards psilocybin as “breakthrough therapy” for anxiety and depression.

Blast from the past: In 1929 Chicago’s Valentine’s Day Massacre saw a gang massacre seven members of a rival gang, which led to legislation prohibiting automatic weapons in the U.S.

NEWS

Legislative staffer who alleges assault by Idaho representative subpoenaed to testify publicly The 19-year-old called as witness in House ethics investigation

By Kelcie Moseley-Morris and Audrey Dutton Idaho Capital Sun The 19-year-old legislative staffer who alleges she was sexually assaulted by Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger will be compelled to testify publicly before the House Ethics Committee on Wednesday, April 28, according to representatives who have been assisting the teen.

Members of the organization spoke during a press conference Tuesday morning, April 27, about the 19-year-old and the overall issues surrounding sexual assault.

The committee already asked the staffer to tell her story on April 8, and urged her to stop recounting the alleged assault because it was making them “uncomfortable,” according to transcripts of the meeting, which was held in an Idaho Attorney General’s conference room.

The committee provided the transcript and other documents April 26 to the Idaho Capital Sun, in response to a public record request.

Annie Hightower, director of law and policy for the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence, has been representing the woman through the investigation and said she learned late Monday night, April 26, that the committee would subpoena the staffer to testify. A subpoena has not yet been issued, but Hightower said it is expected and would likely come from the chairman of the committee, Rep. Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay.

The ethics complaint relates to von Ehlinger, R-Lewiston, and his alleged conduct. Earlier this month, the committee unanimously determined there was probable cause to release the accusations publicly and hold a hearing with evidence and testimony. The staffer is expected to be called as a witness during the hearing on Wednesday. It is unclear whether von Ehlinger himself will testify.

“As we’ve said before, and will continue to say, we take these claims against one of our members very seriously,” Idaho House Republican caucus leadership said in a joint press release. “The Eth-

ics and House Policy Committee was created to handle allegations like this. We know our members are committed to a transparent and thorough process in order to make a fair determination of whether the conduct was unbecoming.”

Hightower said she argued to Dixon on behalf of the staffer that the testimony should be taken in a closed executive session, but the request was denied.

“She has consistently told the truth about what happened that night, we believe it should be her choice on whether or not to relive very traumatic events in a public forum,” Hightower said. “Our client deserved better.”

‘Maybe the committee’s getting uncomfortable too’ In the April 8 committee meeting, the young woman began to struggle to speak as she recounted the alleged assault and took a moment to regain composure.

“If you are uncomfortable at this point. … We don’t need you to proceed unless,” committee Chairman Sage Dixon said.

The staffer said she was “OK It’s just, it is so overwhelming,” and said she wanted to support the investigation.

“If the committee, though, doesn’t think you need to proceed because we do have the police report and your statement of some of

those details later. We can [review them]. If that’s the committee’s will, I will say we can stop,” Dixon said.

The staffer said she didn’t want “anyone else feeling weird” but did continue to recount the alleged assault. She said there was a point when von Ehlinger got on top of her and put his knees on her shoulders and his groin in her face.

“And that was when I was saying no. And that’s when I know I had said no and I said I don’t want to,” she told the committee, according to the transcript.

“He was just doing. There was no asking,” she said, then continued to describe von Ehlinger’s alleged actions.

“I think maybe the committee’s getting uncomfortable too,” Dixon said.

“I don’t want you to feel like you have to go any further, um, very appreciative that you came and shared that,” he said, according to the transcript. “It is important for us to hear that from your voice. … Please don’t think that we’re, I’m cutting you off because we don’t want to hear anything more. … But, um. We also don’t want you to feel like you have to, to say anything more or be more graphic (inaudible).”

Investigation into sexual assault allegations against Rep. Von Ehlinger

Von Ehlinger has been under investigation for allegedly forcing the teen into oral sex, according to public records from the Idaho House of Representatives.

A police report included in public records obtained by the Idaho Capital Sun showed the staffer told police she repeatedly told von Ehlinger during the sexual assault that she “didn’t want to” and that it was “wrong.” The staffer told police they had dinner at a local restaurant, then stopped at his apartment, where she said she intended to wait in the car, but he opened the passenger door and told her to come up. She said she knew he carried a gun with him and it “made her nervous.”

According to the police report, the woman told her supervisor she had been raped by von Ehlinger. The complaint alleges von Ehlinger, 38, used his position and power as a representative to initiate the sexual activity.

According to an interview transcript, von Ehlinger said he took the staffer to dinner on what he considered a date and they went to his apartment. Von Ehlinger said the encounter was consensual.

Prior complaints about Von Ehlinger’s conduct with women Von Ehlinger has asked other women who work in the Idaho Capitol building on dates as well,

Here We Have Idaho

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff Even from almost 500 miles away, the tension at the Idaho Statehouse is palpable as the Legislature continues into its near-historic time in session — topping 108 days as of April 28, just 10 shy of the record set in 2003. Meanwhile, the body has focused most of its energy on “social issues,” as Idaho Press Capitol Bureau correspondent Betsy Z. Russel put it in her April 25 column at idahopress.com.

A particular handful of ul-

tra-conservative House members — including local Reps. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard; Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay; and Priscilla Giddings, R-White Bird — have steered the 2021 session, dominating the proceedings with a power struggle versus Gov. Brad Little over his executive authority; pushing through a deeply unpopular piece of legislation tightening the requirements for putting citizens’ initiatives on the ballot; scuttling a number of education funding bills over concerns about the “indoctrination” of Idaho students with “social justice” and “critical race

according to the documents, including a clerk and a security guard. He was also advised by Rep. James Holtzclaw, R-Meridian, that he should not flirt with or date anyone at the Capitol, in part because there is an “unspoken” hierarchy between representatives and staffers, and dating is inappropriate. That conversation came after Rep. Megan Blanksma, R-Hammett, said a lobbyist told her von Ehlinger made her uncomfortable at a reception and followed her to the bathroom.

The committee will have 30 days after the April 28 public hearing to make a recommendation to either dismiss the complaint or punish or expel von Ehlinger from the Legislature. If four of the five committee members vote to expel, two-thirds of the House of Representatives will also have to vote in favor of von Ehlinger losing his seat.

This story was produced by the Idaho Capital Sun, an independent, nonprofit online news organization delivering in-depth coverage from veteran Idaho reporters on state government and policy. The Idaho Capitol Sun is part of States Newsroom, a national nonprofit funded by tax-free donations in 22 states. Learn more and follow daily updates at idahocapitalsun.com and statesnewsroom.com.

What’s happening at the Legislature this week

theory” curricula; and, over the past week, an emotionally jarring scandal centered on allegations that Lewiston Republican Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger raped a 19-year-old legislative staffer in March. (More about that from the Idaho Capital Sun news service story above).

Amid all that fractiousness, the nuts-and-bolts functioning of government has gone by the wayside — so much so that the Associated Press reported April 27 that should the Legislature fail to adjourn in the coming weeks it may result in the shutdown of many state offices and services even as an estimated

200 bills, including 65 pieces of crucial funding legislation, cannot be legally made effective on July 1.

According to the AP, those bills can’t become law until the Legislature has been out of session for 60 days. That means shutdowns may begin as early as June, according to an official with the governor’s office.

As state media has reported, the ad hoc Committee to Protect and Preserve the Idaho Constitution submitted a letter to Little marking out its concerns — in-

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cluding that a measure to make those bills effective on July 1 whether the Legislature is in session or not is in violation of the Idaho Constitution.

What’s more, under the Idaho Constitution, the Legislature serves part-time from January through March, though the AP reported that lawmakers have fronted a measure that would allow them to continue in session until Sept. 1.

“This Legislature does not seem to give a whit about the Idaho Constitution or the fact that they have to act within its limitations,” said Committee to Protect and Preserve the Idaho Constitution member Jim Jones, who also served as chief justice of the Idaho Supreme Court, according to the AP.

The education budget In the meantime, education funding has proved to be among the biggest sticking points for the 2021 legislative session. Always a political football — its suite of budgets accounting for the largest single appropriation for state monies — this year it has been almost intractable as far-right legislators leveraged opposition to “social justice” and “critical race theory” into what Democratic Rep. James Ruchti of Pocatello called a “hostage” situation “by the extreme right-wing of the Republican Party.”

According to Boise-based KTVB-TV, Ruchti said, “[I]t’s not really about being meticulous and careful in the traditional sense, it’s trying to avoid upsetting the extreme right-wing or trying to pacify them and that’s not good for Idahoans — what that means is that good legislation is being held hostage by their needs and wants.”

Lewiston Republian Sen. Dan Johnson was the sole member of his party break ranks on the bill in the upper house, saying that while he too is opposed to “critical race theory” — which is a method of social science inquiry that recognizes racism as a social construct linked with and perpetuated by legal structures, as well as other cultural forces — he disliked “the path we took to get here. I think we’re setting a precedent for next year and future sessions going down this road,” according to the Idaho Statesman.

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their bases on the issue. Scott in her April 24 newsletter stated that “a social justice bill for children age 0-5 is coming” and would include $6 million in federal funding for curricula that would end up “promoting social justice propaganda” in Idaho public schools — even raising the specter of “‘wearable’ digital monitoring devices on children age 0-5.”

Meanwhile, McGeachin is building a task force dedicated “to protect[ing] our young people from the scourge of critical race theory, socialism, communism and Marxism.”

Giddings applauded McGeachin’s efforts, according to KTVB, stating: “I appreciate the Lt. Gov. taking the initiative to push back against the flawed concept that white people are inherently racist and that our young people should be made to feel guilty for actions they have never committed and biases they have never displayed.”

Idaho education leaders have categorically denied any such “indoctrination” occurring in the state education system. According to incoming Idaho State Board of Education President Kurt Liebich, speaking on April 22 and quoted by the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, “Forty-seven years I spent actively in Idaho education. I spent thousands of hours in classrooms. I never, at any point, saw one single issue of indoctrination.

I can tell you that teachers are not inclined to do that. They take the standards of teaching very seriously, and, frankly, they have all they can do to teach the skills and to help students grow and mature.”

Yet, Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra in a statement April 14 signaled support for the so-called “Dignity and Nondiscrimination in Public Education” legislation (House Bill 377) stating, “We also recognize that cancel culture and political agendas have no place in our schools. I support the Legislature’s efforts to put in law what is already a standing practice in our schools.”

The bill passed 57-12, with one abstaining, in the House — with both Dixon and Scott in favor — and 27-8 in the Senate — with Sen. Jim Woodward, R-Sagle, in favor — and is now headed to the governor’s desk, though it prompted more than 100 students, rang-

ing in age from middle-schoolers to college, to turn out at the Statehouse on April 26 in opposition.

One student, an eighth-grader at North Junior High in Boise, criticized the bill, stating according to the Idaho Press that, “Many people seem to think that teaching our students about the cruelty and suffering of our country’s past is some form of self-hatred for our own county. But, make no mistake, this is self-awareness.”

Brinkmanship over the education budget reached another level April 27, when the powerful Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee returned with a rewritten budget for $1.1 billion in teacher salaries, which lawmakers killed earlier in the month on issues of “social justice” and “critical race theory,” and a slimmeddown higher ed budget — cut $2.5 million from its initial $315 million — which some legislators similarly opposed on the notion that it would fund diversity, social justice and inclusivity programs.

Idaho Capital Sun reported that Rep. Paul Amador, R-Coeur d’Alene, pushed for the funding reduction, in order “to remove state support for social justice programming.”

The news service reported that both budgets now need to go back through both chambers of the Legislature.

At the same time, the House turned down more than $40 million in federal funding for COVID-19 testing in schools — the opposition being led in part

by Scott, whom the Idaho Capital Sun quoted as stating on the floor: “This is just more government; it’s more data collection on our kids.”

The House killed the bill 4128, which left House Democrats scratching their heads.

“I am surprised at the amount of pushback this is getting; I’ve been hearing all session we need kids back in schools,” said Boise Democratic Rep. Colin Nash, quote by ICS. “This is the money that is going to be able to keep them in school all year.”

Check back for more updates in next week’s Reader, tune into Idaho in Session on idahoptv.org or follow events at legislature. idaho.gov.

Absentee ballot requests for May 18 election due by May 7 Early voting at BoCo Elections office starts May 3

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

Both the Tuesday, May 18 election and deadline to request ballots are fast approaching.

Requests for absentee ballots must be received by county elections staff at 1500 Hwy 2 Ste 124 in Sandpoint by Friday, May 7. Meanwhile, early voting at the Elections Office is set to open Monday, May 3 and end Friday, May 14, with hours Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Polls on May 18 will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., though with some changes of location. According to Bonner County Elections: • The Beach Precinct will now be co-located with Washington at the First Lutheran Church at 526 Olive Ave. in Sandpoint; • East Priest River and West Priest River will now be co-located at the Priest River Event Center at 5399 US Highway 2 in Priest River; • Clark Fork and Lakeview will now be voting at the Clark Fork–Hope Area Senior Center at 1001 Cedar St. in Clark Fork.

The Beach Precinct polling place change is expected to last at least through the end of the year, as renovations at Sandpoint City Hall have required the City Council to host its meetings at the Sandpoint Community Hall, which has served as the traditional polling place for residents in the precinct.

On the ballot for May 18 are two seats on the Pend

Oreille Hospital District Board of Trustees (each for six-year terms), with a slate of candidates including Dolories “Dodie” Glass, Julie Berreth, Thomas Lawrence (incumbent), Jessie Peters and Helen Parsons (incumbent).

Two seats are also up for election on the East Bonner County Library District Board of Trustees — also for six-year terms — with challengers Jalon Peters and Kathy Rose vying against incumbents Amy Flint and Jeanine Asche.

The director position of the Southside Water and Sewer District is also on the ballot, with voters choosing between Kass Larson and Alex Murray for a six-year term, as well as a write-in for a six-year board term on the Ellisport Sewer District.

Two measures will appear on the May 18 ballot: one being a special revenue bond of more than $8.73 million to pay for the cost of constructing improvements to Bonner County’s solid waste system, and the other brought by trustees of the West Bonner County School District for a two-year supplemental levy totalling $6.86 million from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2023.

For more information about the changes to precinct polling places, or about the May 18 election in general, contact the Bonner County Elections Office at 208-255-3631 or email elections@bonnercountyid.gov.

See the May 6 and May 13 editions of the Sandpoint Reader for candidate profiles and more information on the ballot measures.

Jalon Peters brings diversity to library board...

Dear editor, Do you own property? Have you noticed your tax bill increases? Part of the growth comes from “taxing districts.”

Those districts house boards whose members are elected by voters. And they hold the power to place tax-raising levies on ballots, and they make blanket policies that may or may not reflect our values.

And that’s why participating in the May 18 election is vital.

If you’ve been paying any attention to the events of the past year, you’d know that the library board has imposed a mask mandate; that is, anyone who wants to visit the interior of the library must be masked, with no medical exceptions, even for children with learning disabilities that being forced to wear masks exacerbate.

That’s called discrimination. And that’s why Jalon Peters has stepped up to run for library board.

Jalon understands that one-sizefits-all policies are inadequate, and that restricting use of a taxpayer-funded entity is discriminatory.

As it stands, there’s no balance on the library board; its current makeup doesn’t reflect the diversity of Bonner County’s residents, and that’s what Jalon would bring to the position. He’s a champion of civil rights and low taxation, and will make decisions not based in emotion, but on current knowledge, which includes the fact that Panhandle Health District itself has lifted its county-wide mandate.

It’s time to bring balance to the library board. Please consider giving Jalon your vote on May 18.

Victoria Zeischegg Sandpoint

Vote for experience on the hospital board...

Dear editor, Several local elections are coming up soon, and during these politically divisive times it is very important for us to remember that voting for candidates simply because they have our same political leanings should not outweigh that they be highly qualified for the positions they run for.

This is why we will be voting for Jessie Peters, ARNP for the Ponderay Hospital District Board of Trustees.

Mrs. Peters is a local nurse practitioner who understands the financial needs of our local health care providers. She is an intelligent and fiscally responsible person with over ten years of budget management experience for a large rural nonprofit healthcare company. She also does not work for or sit on the board of any of the facilities that will receive the tax money that this board allocates.

Jessie Peters will help ensure that our local hospitals are appropriately funded and that our local tax dollars are well spent. Please consider taking the time to vote for her on May 18, 2021 at your normal voting location or you can vote early at the Sandpoint Elections office.

Roy and Wendy Morley Careywood

Vote on May 18...

Dear editor, Do you know about a hidden jewel we have in North Idaho? Lake Pend Oreille? Yes, but I am thinking of the East Bonner County Library.

Our library served us well during this strange COVID year, as always. Special thanks to Library Board Members Jeanine Asche and Amy Flint, who will continue to work on our behalf with your vote on May 18.

Judy Butler Hope

Stepping up...

Dear editor, Thank you candidates for giving us a true option for Liberty Candidates in both the hospital board trustees and the East Bonner County Library District trustees. After a very informative forum of questions/answers, the Bonner County Republican Central Committee endorsed Jalon Peters and Kathy Rose for the East Bonner County Library District trustees. They also endorsed Julie Berreth and Jessie Peters for the Pend Oreille Hospital District Trustees.

After much research, the Central Committee also recommended a vote of against both the West Bonner County School District Supplemental Levy and the Solid Waste-Special Revenue Bond.

Thank you, candidates, for stepping up to these local positions.

Maureen Paterson Priest River

Stick with incumbents on library board...

Dear editor, To prevent our wonderful East Bonner County Library from becoming a bastion of far-right extremism I urge you to vote for the incumbents, Jeanine Asche and Amy Flint, in the May18 election. Thanks.

Ted Wert Sagle

Will Sandpoint design for bicyclists’ safety?...

Dear editor, On May 5, Sandpoint City Council will be asked to approve a Multimodal Transportation Plan (MMTP) created by the Planning Department. It’s intended to offer a future blueprint for those who walk, ride a bike, drive a vehicle or catch the SPOT bus to get around town.

From a survey taken by residents, it’s known that 87% like to walk and 79% ride their bikes, when weather permits.

Several years ago, a previous City Council approved the “Explore Sandpoint” bike route system. The east-west route down Oak and Main streets was established to provide safe passage to the center of town. Plans called for a separated biking lane through the down-

town core, but this safety improvement continues to be ignored. The city is long overdue in answering our community’s lingering question: “How does a 10-yearold ride their bike safely to City Beach?”

It’s rather revealing that the MMTP’s front cover has a photo of an adult in spandex, biking gloves and toe-clipped shoes when this really doesn’t represent our typical Sandpoint bicyclists. We are residents who jump on our cruiser-style bikes to run errands or meet friends at restaurants. We are healthy families who enjoy riding to City Beach or our two waterfront trails. We are the tax-paying residents the mayor and council need to be thinking about when considering a transportation plan intended to be genuinely multimodal.

Please let council members know their priority should be on designing for the most vulnerable using our streets — our pedestrians and bicyclists. When the focus is on their safety, their numbers will grow with the added advantage of reducing local drivers, resulting in more vehicle parking for others. This especially makes sense for a beautiful resort town that wishes to welcome visitors here to support our economy.

Rebecca Holland Sandpoint

Stay the course with library board members...

Dear editor, The East Bonner County Library is one of the treasures of our community. Few towns the size of Sandpoint have anything comparable. I’ve had a valid library card since 1974; over the years I’ve checked out countless books and other materials. When a book was not available, the library found a copy through the inter-library loan system or, if that was not possible, the library bought the book. Service to the community is the topmost consideration of the employees. All of this is possible because of the dedication of our library board and the knowledgeable and professional staff. Our library is a valuable meeting location. I’ve attended many educational lectures there.

Please support this superb resource in our community by voting for the incumbent board members in the May 18 election.

Jeanine Asche is a professional of library science with decades of experience and many awards in the field. Her library experience is essential in guiding policy and opportunities for the future. She is fiscally responsible in decision making, and knows the needs of our community. A vote for her is a vote for continued great service to us all.

Amy Flint, current board chair, is a retired North Idaho College profes-

sor of English. Her love of books and skills in grant writing and technology have been a boon to the library.

Amy has been an Idaho resident for 30 years and is committed to community service. Please vote for Amy Flint for the library board.

Regular polling places will be open on May 18 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Absentee ballots are available at idahovotes.gov or by calling the election office at 208-265-1437 or in person at the county building at 1500 Highway 2.

Vote for Jeanine Asche and Amy Flint for the library board.

Ann Warwick Sandpoint

Don’t weaponize the library board for politics...

Dear editor, We are a community of well-meaning, beautiful and complicated beings here in Sandpoint.

In many places, as here, the local public library is the embodiment of community. It is a repository for shared knowledge of all kinds and all are welcome. It helps to nurture, teach and entertain our kids with puppet shows, crafts and story time. It tutors our kids and helps the not-so-tech-savvy among us to use basic computer programs. It is humans helping humans to be better humans. Please consider all our wonderful public library does and resist the urge to weaponize its board for political gain.

There are two seats up for election on May 18. Jeanine Asche is an incumbent trustee with 40 years experience and a master’s degree in library science. Amy Flint, also an incumbent trustee, has served our community as a board member of Angels Over Sandpoint and Sandpoint Headstart and an NIC English professor. The opponents of these two women are far less qualified. One is a recent transplant from Texas whose primary concern is “keeping the focus of the library and its functions on a love for our country and morality.” Nice sentiments, but not really primary functions of the library. The other states she wants to combat cancel culture. I frequent the library about as often as the grocery store and can tell you that there are ample books on offer for all political, religious and entertainment interests — as it should be. Let’s be real. Two of these folks care about a thriving library and community, the others are detrimental to both.

Carrie Taylor Sandpoint

Barbs: • Gov. Brad Little gets the Barb this week, after he signed SB 1110 into law, which increased signature gathering restrictions for citizen-led initiatives seeking a spot on state ballots.

Little had a chance to veto this oppressive bill concocted by the Idaho GOP out of spite after Reclaim Idaho successfully managed to get Medicaid expansion on the ballot and won with over 60% support of Idahoans. Instead, he signed it into law, making it that much harder for grassroots campaigns in Idaho to put initiatives before voters.

The Idaho Capital Sun filed a public records request and found that Little’s office received about 2,200 emails asking him to veto the bill. Of those, only about 50 encouraged Little to sign the bill, the rest asking him to issue a veto. The same records request showed that Little’s office received upwards of 4,000 phone calls, with approximately 100 in favor of signing the bill. That works out to about 98% in favor of a veto. Also, former Chief Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court Jim Jones delivered a petition to Little’s office containing 16,000 signatures asking the governor to veto the bill. What is really going on here is that Idaho Republicans claim to speak for “Idaho values,” (whatever that means), but clearly don’t care what Idaho citizens have to say about anything.

This new hurdle is yet another attempt to strengthen the stranglehold that this majority party has over Idaho voters. Yet again, this state has me shaking my head.

• To everyone who still seems confused about the “lake draining” April Fools’ article: IT WAS A JOKE. Sorry some of you are being called by people who have no idea what humor is. We embrace satire here at the Sandpoint Reader. Sometimes it’s the only thing us locals have left. In other words: sorry, not sorry.

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Mad about Science:

Brought to you by:

the grand canyon

By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist You thought you could get rid of me that easily? Ha! I’m back.

While I wish I could say my sudden and unexpected departure was something cool like a soul-searching transcontinental adventure, I have just been working my gluteus maximus off. That being said, I’ve managed to see some really cool landmarks during my time away, including the subject of today’s article.

The Grand Canyon is located in northern Arizona, a little more than six hours north of Phoenix by car. It is an impressive testament to the unrivaled erosive power of water, having been carved away by the Colorado River during the course of the past 6 million years, though the true age of the Grand Canyon could be closer to 70 million years old — 5 million years before a meteorite exploded over what is now the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico.

That’s right: If you had been standing at the site of the Grand Canyon 65 million years ago, you likely would have seen the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs, and then been incinerated by a superheated shockwave.

It’s incredible to think of how much earth water can move over a very long period of time. The Grand Canyon is 6,093 feet deep — just more than a mile vertically. It is 277 miles long and between four and 18 miles wide, depending on where you are standing. The true scope of this awesome 10 /

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landmark is difficult to truly appreciate when viewing it from the ground. It’s not until you’re flying above it that you can really take in just how immensely huge it is, how much land has been washed downstream and just how tiny we are in comparison.

Yet looking at pictures of the Grand Canyon or seeing it from the air still doesn’t express some of the most unique things about it: its climate. Surrounded by desert, you would believe the canyon to be hot all of the time, but due to the nature of its shape and the water flowing through it, it creates its own weather with notable temperature changes depending on where in the canyon you are standing. One section could be scorching under a setting sun while everything around you is frigid and cloaked in shadow.

It is because of these crazy and unique weather patterns that very few animals seem to thrive in the canyon. Fish, in particular, need to be acclimated to temperatures that can spike into the triple digits and fall below freezing in the same day. Of the eight species of fish that live in the Grand Canyon, six are found only in the Colorado River.

Speaking of fauna unique to the Grand Canyon, the pink rattlesnake is found only in the canyon, and blends perfectly into the surrounding rock.

Aside from being what is essentially a big, long hole in the ground, the Grand Canyon acts as an open history book for geologists. The banded layers of rock act like the rings in a tree, showing the age of the Earth, in addition to a number

of major geological events that happened throughout the planet’s history, such as volcanic eruptions, asteroid strikes, blooms and extinctions of life and more.

If this concept is a little difficult to wrap your head around, I can’t blame you. We’re talking about billions of years of major events and slow-moving rock. Humans have only been lighting fires for about 2 million years, and we’ve been writing down the fact that we light fires for a considerably shorter time than that.

Think of it this way: Every day, you put a little bit of pudding into a cup and seal it. The first day is vanilla, the second day is butterscotch, the third day is chocolate and the fourth day you feel like this is a waste of time so you drop some sprinkles into the mix. If it’s all of equal density, your pudding cup should have neat layers showing exactly when and how you added these flavors. The Earth does the same thing, but with giant plumes of ash and carpets of animal carcasses. Once you cut the rocky tiramisu, voila: you have a snapshot of Earth’s history in an easy-to-read chart. Normally, cutting chunks of rock without compromising these layers is really difficult, but in the case of the Grand Canyon, the Colorado River did all of the cutting for us.

There is one curious and unique caveat in this terrestrial tiramisu, and it’s that more than 900 million years of rock are completely missing from the Grand Canyon. There is a band of rock that has been dat-

ed to be 1.2 billion years old, with another band that’s about 200 million years old butted right up against it.

If it were a sandwich, it’d be like if you had a 1.2 billion year old heel of bread and a fresher, 200 million year old slice of bread on top: the meat, cheese and veggies are all missing!

Scientists don’t really have an explanation for this. Perhaps the area had been struck

by some kind of asteroid or washed away during glacial floods, similar to the ones that carved out Lake Pend Oreille, but there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of that.

Unless one of you dear readers is building a time machine, we may never have an answer for this Grand Canyon mystery.

I missed all of you folks, and I’m glad to be home.

Stay curious, 7B.

Random Corner Don’t know much about pens?

• The earliest records of a pen date back to 3,000 BCE from the ancient Egyptians, who created them to write on papyrus. They made pens out of wood and bamboo straws, and made ink from soot or ochre combined with beeswax.

• From 700 CE to around the 18th century, the quill pen was the main writing instrument. Swan feathers supposedly made the best quills, but commoners used goose feathers. Crow feathers were used for fine lines.

• A major breakthrough in pen technology occurred in 973 CE, when an African caliph devised a pen that had its own ink container after lamenting that ink often spilled on his hands and clothes.

This invention changed the way pens were made forever.

• The ballpoint pen was first known as the Biro pen, named after the British inventor Laszlo Biro.

Ballpoint pens today have a small brass or steel ball at the tip, which helps the ink distribute evenly and doesn’t allow the ink to dry inside

We can help!

the pen. WWII pilots used them frequently because they didn’t leak when they were flying.

• In 1948, Marcel Bich designed the very first affordable pen as we know and recognize it today. He named it BIC after his own name.

A BIC ballpoint pen can draw a line about 2 kilometers long, and can write about 45,000 words before running out of ink.

• Paul Fisher designed the Space Pen for the 1968 Apollo mission. This special pen used cartridge ink that worked in zero gravity, wrote underwater and upside-down, and could even write on oily surfaces and withstand extreme temperatures.

• More than 100 people die each year by suffocating on pen caps. The most common situation is when a person puts the cap in their mouth, bites it or plays with it. That can cause the person to swallow the cap and suffocate. To combat this problem, BIC pens started putting a hole in the cap to prevent choking accidents.

PERSPECTIVES

Emily Articulated

A column by and about Millennials

Nearly 30

By Emily Erickson Reader Columnist

I’ve recently become aware that my 30th birthday is later this year; aware in the same kind of way as a far-off vacation that starts taking up more space in your brain as it grows closer. Like purchasing plane tickets and crafting todo lists is a different version of awareness than the more concrete bag-packing and gas tank-filling, the epiphany of an impending next decade shifted into place and has since been subtly coloring my perspective.

New decades are always attached to their own set of feelings, like the transition from 9 to 10 years old being marked by an overwhelming sense of becoming — in my case, becoming a person with my own ideas, dreams, preferences and ways of navigating my little life. I didn’t know who I was, but I knew I loved chocolate ice cream, reading books and running across the schoolyard, and hated when my parents shouted at one another.

Hitting double-digits meant that I’d get to spend the next 10 years becoming — being shaped by my environment and following my internal compass closer to the things that brought me joy.

The transition into my 20s was intertwined with the feeling of invincibility. I knew death could affect the people closest to me, and that loss of life didn’t discriminate between the healthy, sick or young. But instead of applying that knowl-

Emily Erickson. edge to my own mortality, I allowed it to fuel an unshakable clarity on how I wanted to live. I wasn’t yet self-assured, but I was sure that I wanted to travel to foreign places, move to mountain towns and desert towns, strike up conversations with strangers and live my life in a way that soaked up the world around me, no matter the consequences.

My awareness of this next approaching decade began with noticing the fine lines around my eyes that weren’t quite smoothing out after I stopped laughing or squinting at the sun. It was feeling a bit disconnected from conversations with people in their young 20s, not having a desire to download TikTok, using and abusing WebMD, and reading articles about side-parts and skinny jeans, and how I was getting left behind.

Among all the subtle markers that were adding up to the beginning of another transition was one podcast episode, and how I just couldn’t seem to shake what it inspired in me.

It was a RadioLab episode

about falling, and the phenomena of time seeming to slow down in the moments when we’re forced to confront our own death. Jad Abumrad and his team of researchers struck out to study what is actually happening in our brains during near-death, or simulated neardeath experiences — when seconds or fractions of seconds seem to stretch out or slow down in a “slow-motion-like” effect.

After testing out multiple theories, they landed on one about memory and our brain’s natural tendency to sift through the information it receives in an attempt to keep only what is necessary and important for learning or shaping future behavior. In a normal-stakes environment, our brain only commits bits and pieces of sensory input to memory, setting a baseline level of awareness as it relates to the time it takes to collect that information.

In a high-stakes environment, like being in a car accident or bungee jumping off a bridge, our brains stop sifting, keeping and committing to memory all of the information it is receiving. After the fact, in an attempt to reconcile the amount of information it received and stored into memory, our brains conclude that more time must have passed in order to account for all of that input.

Because we’re consumed with unimpeded and undivided awareness of our surroundings in these moments, we seemingly get more time out of our time.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been applying this concept,

albeit metaphorically, to the impending transition into my 30s, attaching the feeling of possibility to my next decade.

By committing to being present in my life, and by continuously paying close attention to and engaging with my surroundings, I get to expand my experience of time.

I may no longer be blindly becoming or under the guise of invincibility, but I know that possibility begins when a per-

spective shifts into place, and that I can bend and stretch my perception of a moment, a day or a decade by wholeheartedly participating in them.

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

Retroactive

By BO

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PERSPECTIVES

Mayor’s Roundtable: The housing problem

By Mayor Shelby Rognstad Reader Contributor As growth continues in Idaho and Bonner County, rising rent and rising real estate prices are making it harder and harder for locals to live here. The median income for Bonner County households is $50,256 in 2019; however, more than 12% of Bonner County households live in poverty. In 2019, the median rent was $853 while the median house price is north of $254,000. In Sandpoint the numbers are considerably higher. Of Bonner County renters, 46% are overburdened with the cost of housing. HUD defines housing as affordable, or not overburdened, if less than 30% of a household’s income is dedicated to rent. In Bonner

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Sandpoint Mayor Shelby Rognstad.

County, a household making less than $2,843 a month would be considered overburdened when renting an apartment at or above the median rent.

These numbers only tell part of the problem. Those who can’t find a home or can’t afford to live here are forced to

commute from the rural areas of the county, from Priest River, Athol, Coeur d’Alene and even as far as Spokane. The long commute is unpleasant, shortens one’s day, lowers productivity, impacts happiness and quality of life, contributes to climate change, and increases the wear and tear on one’s vehicle, which adds even more expense.

Lack of workforce housing also makes it much harder for growing businesses to hire when potential employees can’t find housing near their work.

This affects local businesses’ ability to serve their customers, grow and create more jobs.

This cycle affects the livelihood of small business owners, their employees and those of us who depend on their services.

Young people in particular

are pushed out because they typically aren’t earning enough to afford to live and work here.

Retirees also suffer because the services and quality of life they depend on ultimately suffer as the workforce that keeps our culture and economy thriving are pushed out.

If we do nothing, Sandpoint will continue to age and gentrify. If we do nothing, it will one day be mentioned with towns like Sun Valley and Vail, known as a place only for only the wealthy. If we do nothing, Sandpoint will become increasingly unaffordable, inaccessible, and without the character and personality that has made this town a great place to live, work, play and raise a family.

So how do we get out of this unhealthy dynamic? How do we make housing more accessible and more affordable? How can we encourage housing that improves our quality of life and environment? How can we make hiring easier for local businesses? How can we house our workforce? How can we create more jobs and live closer to where we work?

At its most basic, it is simply supply vs. demand. Sandpoint is increasingly a desirable place to live. As we invest in quality of life here, it will become increasingly desirable. There are so few homes available to rent or buy, that the prices can only go up. We don’t want to sacrifice our quality of life, but we want more options and more affordable options for housing.

We want housing that serves everyone, not just the wealthy.

I will spend the next several editions of this column attempting to build a shared understanding of the local housing problem and provide solutions for how we can best address it. We can solve this problem, but we have to act.

Next month, I will start with discussing how planning and zoning can be a powerful tool helping us to build the community we can all live in.

Please join me for the Mayor’s Roundtable to discuss these issues and more this Friday, April 30 at 4 p.m. on Facebook Live: Mayor Shelby Rognstad.

Toilet paper, and so much more

Artist Kally Thurman to debut pandemic-inspired collection ‘Hoard Effect’ at Evans Bros Coffee May 1

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff

Local artist Kally Thurman has spent the pandemic reacquainting herself with her love of painting. The longtime art teacher discovered profound inspiration in a household object that received coveted status during the COVID-19 surge: toilet paper.

“There is the everyday thing that is symbolic this COVID year,” she said, “and there is a long tradition in painting of painting that everyday object.”

Thurman will show the resulting works as part of her show “Hoard Effect,” opening on Saturday, May 1 with a reception 5-7 p.m. at Evans Brothers Coffee in Sandpoint.

Thurman said she was able to find a “deep quiet” during the pandemic, within which she was able to delve into her technique and go back to basics. The journey brought her to the conclusion that in an increasingly digital world, painting may be one of the only ways left to truly capture life’s quiet moments.

“I wonder what is going to be left that records our everyday lives, because everyone right now has a cell phone and there are gazillions of images, but are they going to be saved?” she said. “Are they really going to be recording how we live, here and now?”

Thurman explored the concept in more depth in her artist statement for “Hoard Effect.”

“With consternation and pounding heart, I sincerely confront the theory that painting may die,” she wrote. “The visual world is so full of imagery from a spew of electronic devices, how can paintings matter? I return to my gut truth of the thing. It is that timeless hand, that human endeavor of lifting up and laying down paint. The brain, the soul, the heart playing to that endless human song.”

The collection on display at Evans Brothers will feature 19 paintings, though there were a number of others that Thurman created over the past year and gifted away in gratitude to community members and friends she’s been

able to lean on in hard times.

“COVID is actually the story about community, and who are your chosen few, and the ones who will rally around you in your darkest hour,” she said.

Kally Thurman’s “Hoard Effect” show opening is 5-7 p.m. on Saturday, May 1 at Evans Brothers Coffee, 524 Church Street in Sandpoint. Refreshments will be served. Organizers request that attendees mask up and social distance.

Thurman’s art will remain on display through June 13.

An art piece by Kally Thurman titled “Lock the Door.” Courtesy image.

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FEATURE

Kind Idaho aims to put medical marijuana initiative on the 2022 ballot ‘We’re starting out as a tortoise, but slow and steady wins the race’

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

Illustration by Daniel Cape.

In recent years, Idaho has become an island in the sea of changing marijuana laws in the nation. It shares a border with Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and Montana.

All but Wyoming have legalized recreational or medical use, as well as Canada to the north, which legalized recreational cannabis nationwide in 2018. Idaho is one of six states in the nation where marijuana remains completely illegal, whether for medical or recreational uses.

A volunteer-led organization called Kind Idaho is trying to bring about

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change in the Gem State’s marijuana prohibition. As of February 2021, Kind Idaho received approval from the Idaho secretary of state to begin gathering signatures across the state, with the goal to put a medical marijuana initiative on the 2022 ballot.

Tracie Carlson, a volunteer coordinator for Kind Idaho based in Hailey, said her lifetime of suffering from migraines made her a proponent of medical cannabis.

“I remember one of my first memories as a child is having a migraine,” she told the Reader.

Carlson said she saw several doctors and specialists over the years, some of whom thought she was lying about her pain.

“I was constantly in pain, almost every single day,” Carlson said. “I was prescribed Demerol, and had to travel to Twin Falls to a pain clinic once a month.”

The travel, as well as the effects of her migraines caused Carlson to miss between three and four weeks of work every year.

“My doctor finally said, ‘Have you thought about trying medical marijuana?’” she said. “I tried it in my late teens and early 20s and I wasn’t interested in go-

ing back to that, but one day I was so fed up with what Demeral was doing to me, I gave it a try. Oh my God, I had the best relief I’ve ever had. The migraines were able to stay away and not come back.”

Carlson is currently off of all prescription medications, including over-the-counter drugs, and said she also lost 30 pounds.

“I won’t say I got my life back, because I never felt like I had a life before,” she said. “I can’t believe this was always right there for me and didn’t know it.”

Carlson’s story is one of many from Idahoans who have found that the medicinal properties of marijuana have helped them overcome health battles, as well as curbing their usage of opioids and their damaging side effects.

“To me, it’s the most amazing thing that ever happened,” she said. “I was on Demerol, Phenergan, Lorazepam, Norco. None of it was enough.”

Carlson acknowledges that there is a segment of Idaho’s population that believes marijuana should remain illegal for moral reasons. She hopes her story helps prove to them that cannabis wasn’t a “gateway” drug — rather, an “exit” drug.

“For me, medical marijuana has 100% been an exit drug,” she said. “I thank God I’m not dead, because if I had to go back to taking so many prescription drugs, I think they’d kill me.”

To obtain medical cannabis, Carlson — like other Idaho residents — has to travel to a bordering state where it is sold legally. This leaves her open to potential criminal charges, as possession of marijuana in Idaho is still outlawed. Carlson said Idaho lawmakers need to recognize that it’s not a dangerous

drug, and that it can be used to help people get their lives back.

“I just don’t feel like the lawmakers care about my health,” she said. “They’d rather have me be doped up on prescription medication that’s a lot stronger than smoking weed.”

The effort to get the initiative on the ballot will likely be an uphill struggle, especially after the Idaho Legislature passed a bill this year that Gov. Brad Little signed into law curtailing the ballot initiative process as well as introducing a constitutional amendment that would make it impossible for voters to pass a ballot initiative to legalize controlled substances in Idaho — which includes medical marijuana.

Rep. Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay, told the Reader he is opposed to legalizing marijuana, but supports citizen-led initiatives as long as they follow the new guidelines.

“I have not read the language of the proposed initiative, so I cannot firmly state whether, or not, I support the proposal,” Dixon wrote in an email. “I have [a] strong aversion to allowing the plant itself to be consumed.”

When asked about bipartisan support for legalization in Idaho — notably among those who lean libertarian — Dixon wrote, “Libertarians normally support the elimination of drug restrictions, so no surprise there.

Republicans are a compassionate group and do not like to see people suffer, so I am not surprised that a few are supporting an action that purports to ease the distress of certain individuals.”

Idaho’s resistance to legalizing cannabis is so strong, it is one of two states in the nation where cultivation and transportation of industrial hemp is still illegal. The issue came to the

forefront in 2018 when three truck drivers were arrested and charged with felonies for transporting industrial hemp through Idaho. Because hemp contains a microscopic amount of the psychoactive compound tetrahydrocannabinol — though not nearly high enough to produce any mind altering effects — Idaho’s strict adherence to what many observers describe as antiquated laws generated criticism after the truck drivers faced serious charges simply for driving their loads through the state. The felonies were eventually dropped to misdemeanor charges thanks to a plea deal, but the point was made: Idaho is not friendly to marijuana or hemp in any form.

Kind Idaho volunteer Suzette Meyers from Post Falls told the Reader she thinks the initiative is worth the effort to get before Idaho voters. She also believes it has more bipartisan support than meets the eye and stands a good chance of succeeding if it makes the 2022 ballot.

“I’m a stroke survivor and a registered Republican, and medical marijuana gave me my life back,” Meyers said, adding that she underwent a hysterectomy and suffered a pulmonary embolism about five years ago that left her with an opioid addiction.

“I transitioned to medical marijuana in the last four years,” Meyers said. “I was dying from the opioid addiction. Opioids kill people, plant medicine saves lives.”

Meyers said she previously helped lobby for the legalization of medical marijuana in Arizona, where she lived at the time.

“It wasn’t so stigmatized as it is here in Idaho,” she said. “A lot of our base here in Idaho is Christian, and a lot of new rules have come from their churches saying that medical usage is OK

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now. The Church of the Latter Day Saints’ prophet has even said that your medicine cabinet is your business.”

Along with the health benefits, Meyers said she is appalled to see so much potential tax revenue going to neighboring states.

“When I lived in Arizona, I spent about $7,000 a year out of my pocket for medical marijuana,” Meyers said. “That’s just me. Idaho is missing out on a lot of tax revenue we could put back into our own state.”

Just how much potential tax revenue has been studied over the past couple of years, honing in on one Oregon town where the majority of Boise-area residents travel to obtain their weed.

A Politico story claimed that since Ontario, Ore., began allowing weed sales in November 2018, the city generated an estimated $120 million to $130 million in annual sales, accounting for more than 10% of sales across the entire state of Oregon. Malheur County, where Ontario is located, averaged $2,857 of cannabis per county resident in 2020. By contrast, in Multnomah County, which contains much of Portland, the dispensaries sold only $378 per resident.

Ontario City Manager Adam Brown estimated that Idahoans make 1,600

unique trips across the state border each day to shop at the town’s dispensaries and tax-free box stores such as Home Depot. The boom has led to a significant financial windfall for the city, which took in $1.5 million in tax revenue in 2020 and is expecting to reach $3 million in 2021, accounting for 9% of the city’s $35 million annual budget. Dispensary owners say most of their transactions are with Idahoans crossing the border.

Just a half hour from Ontario lies the town of Huntington, which approved legal sales of cannabis two years earlier than Ontario. The small town soon received $100,000 in tax revenue from a single marijuana shop, accounting for half the 400-person city’s annual budget, according to Politico.

“When I watched what was happening to Huntington, and our city was struggling [and] didn’t have any money, then I became for it,” Tracy Hammond, who owns a home goods shop in downtown Ontario, told Politico.

For Idahoans crossing the state border, returning home with legally purchased weed brings with it the potential for criminal charges, as locals claim to see Idaho police camped out just across the border, ready to pull people over and search their vehicles for illegal marijuana.

Kind Idaho has until April 30, 2022 to obtain the more than 65,000 signatures from around the state that would guarantee the initiative placed on the ballot.

Though it seems like a high hurdle, Meyers is confident that it has enough bipartisan support to succeed.

“We will do it,” she said. “We’re starting out as a tortoise, but slow and steady wins the race. We’ll get all of our signatures. We expect the obstacles, but

Board member and secretary for Kind Idaho, Angela Osborn advocates for medical marijuana on the 2022 Idaho ballot. Courtesy photo. we’ll qualify.”

The organization expects to start getting petitions to North Idaho soon, but asked those interested in participating to follow along at KindIdaho.org. The URL directs to their Facebook page for now, but a dedicated website will be launched soon.

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COMMUNITY

Idaho Trails Association is looking for youth to be part of trail stewardship projects

By Reader Staff The Idaho Trails Association is planning six trips in Idaho’s backcountry this year for youth ages 14-18. ITA’s Youth Trail Crew Program provides opportunities to learn about the outdoors while building and maintaining hiking trails in a safe, teamwork-oriented environment. These week- long projects allow teens to meet new friends, try new things and explore Idaho’s best outdoor places.

The trips are led by experienced crew leaders who are passionate about the outdoors.

For many young people living in Idaho, the opportunities or resources don’t exist to experience our state’s extensive trail system and the wonder of being outdoors on a trip. ITA hopes that by providing these opportunities, young people that otherwise may not have the chance to experience Idaho’s backcountry will develop a passion for public lands.

These projects are completely free to join thanks to the support of grants and ITA’s members. ITA is currently looking

for youth volunteers to join us this summer.

To see the schedule of all the group’s trips, visit idahotrailsassociation.org/youth.

A group of young adults pose while working for the Idaho Trails Association. Courtesy photo.

Ting Internet expands service into Dover and Kootenai

By Reader Staff

Ting internet recently announced that it is expanding service in the Greater Sandpoint region, bringing fiber internet to Dover and Kootenai.

Ting Internet’s mission is to bring the speed and reliability of true gigabit fiber internet, opening new opportunities for communities across the United States.

“We are grateful to be a part of the Greater Sandpoint community and to bring new opportunities to local residents and businesses through fiber internet,” said Kari Saccomanno, Ting manager for the Greater Sandpoint area. “There’s been a strong response from customers in Sandpoint, and we’re thrilled to announce today that we’re expanding our service to reach more residents in our broader community.”

Prior to Ting Internet’s local launch, the Sandpoint area was limited to an older generation of cable internet. Cable internet transmits data through a copper wiring infrastructure, which is often installed as a shared service in neighborhoods and, as such, is prone to slower service and network interruptions. However, with fiber internet you do not share bandwidth with your neighbors, guaranteeing residents and businesses higher speeds and service 16 /

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reliability.

“The city of Kootenai is very excited to welcome Ting Internet. Local fiber internet access is a new first-class service for everyone within our community, which is especially important in the digital world that we live in,” said Kootenai Mayor Nancy Lewis. “Services like Ting Internet are vital as our city continues to grow; they open new opportunities and provide an excellent incentive for prospective residents looking to move to our area.”

The first Ting Internet customer in Sandpoint was lit in June 2018 and, thanks to resident interest and proactive government participation, the service was able to expand to the surrounding regions.

“We are excited to bring Ting’s fiber internet to the community,” added Dover City Council President Diane Brockway.

“Fiber internet will be a great addition to the city of Dover and will help our residents and local businesses thrive, which is critical as we continue to rely on the internet more and more.”

To integrate fiber internet within the community, Ting Internet also provides bulk service to homeowners associations, apartment complexes, and other multi-dwelling units. Locally, the Dover Bay Property Owners Association worked

with Ting Internet to secure a bulk internet package, providing fiber internet to more than 100 homes within its community.

Infrastructure work is underway in both cities, with fiber internet access slated to launch later this year. With a threetiered pricing model and no data caps, Ting’s symmetrical residential internet is being offered in the Greater Sandpoint region at $39 per month for 50 megabits per second; $69 per month for 200 Mbps; and $89 per month for Ting’s gigabit fiber internet with 1,000 Mbps.

Ting also offers customizable plans for businesses of all sizes, starting at $139 per month.

Residents in Dover and Kootenai can pre-order Ting Internet at ting.com/ greatersandpoint. A one-time, refundable $9 pre-order is returned as a credit on a customer’s first bill.

For more information and updates visit ting.com/internet.

COMMUNITY

LPOW thanks volunteers for cleanup day

By Reader Staff Last week, Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper hosted three volunteer cleanup events around the local watershed, during which nearly 100 volunteers picked up 500 pounds of trash to celebrate Earth Day and care for the lake.

Participants such as the Wildflower Spa at Seasons picked up close to 100 pounds of trash and litter along the Sand Creek Trail on April 19 and cleaned up under the Cedar Street Bridge. On Earth Day, April 22, the Pend d’Oreille Winery picked up more than 270 pounds of garbage along the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail, including old rusty metal, piles of dog feces, two tires and part of an old car. On April 24, LPOW hosted its annual Shoreline Clean Up at City Beach, which was open to the whole community. Despite the forecast calling for rain, more than 75 people showed up to clean up City Beach and the Sand Creek area and filled the dumpster at City Beach.

“We wanted to give our wholehearted thanks to everyone who came out last week and did their part to preserve our natural resources,” LPOW stated in a news release. “Our amazing volunteers dug up plastic buried in the sand, picked up microtrash, hauled tires away from the water, lugged around heavy bags bursting with garbage, adventured to new spots along the shoreline, brought their own reusable gloves, took care of their own garbage so they could reuse their bag, cheered on other volunteers and showed their love for Lake Pend

Oreille.”

The organization also extended special thanks to Evans Brothers Coffee for providing free coffee for volunteers; the city of Sandpoint for supporting the cleanup by providing large garbage bags and taking care of the trash; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for donating bright yellow bags that were easy for kids to use; Jimmy Matlosz, of The Idaho Film Company, for documenting the event and interviewing volunteers; Bob Foster, of Foster On Media, for filming the event for LPOW’s educational video series; Joel Manfred, of Drone Solutions, LLC, for bringing his drone to capture the event from above; Captain Dan for bringing his treasure chest full of goodies for the kids; and others who helped get out the word.

“We loved seeing everyone working together and were so thankful to have had such an incredible turnout,” LPOW stated. “We are incredibly grateful for

the support of our community and we really appreciate your dedication to keeping our watershed clean. We’ll see you all on the water this summer.”

Left: The LPOW staff and most of the board members.

Right: Volunteers from the Pend d’Oreille Winery gathered to clean up along the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail.

Center: Dan Mimmack brought a treasure chest full of goodies for the kids.

Courtesy photos.

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events

April 29 - May 6, 2021

THURSDAY, April 29

Trivia Night at the Longshot 7-9pm @ The Longshot Prizes to the winners!

Live Music w/ Alex and Maya 7-9pm @ The Back Door

Silent Disco 8pm @ The Longshot Strap on those headphones and shake it Live Music w/ KOSH 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Kosh has been performing for 30 years

Live Music w/ Steve Rush and Scott Taylor 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Blues, rock and swing

FriDAY, April 30

Live Music w/ Kevin Dorin 8-10pm @ The Back Door

SATURDAY, May 1 Live Music w/ Jerry Lee Raines 8-10pm @ The Longshot Spokane-based singer-songwriter

Live Music w/ Bright Moments jazz 7:30-9:30pm @ The Back Door

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

Sandpoint Farmers’ Market opening day 9am-1pm @ Farmin Park It’s finally here! Opening day at the market, with live music by BOCA Free First Saturday at the Museum 10am-2pm @ BoCo History Museum Free admission all day!

SunDAY, May 2 Piano Sunday 3-5pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery

monDAY, May 3

Outdoor Experience Monday Night Group Run – All levels welcome 6pm @ Outdoor Experience Lifetree Cafe • 2pm @ Jalapeño’s Restaurant “Love Ya, Mom: Celebrating Mothers.”

Monday Night Blues Jam w/ Truck Mills 7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub

tuesDAY, May 4 wednesDAY, May 5

Bike to School day LPOSD invites families to join students nationwide to bike to school Cinco de Mayo fundraiser 12-3pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Live music by Bridges Home, great food!

Bingo returns to Senior Center 6pm @ Sandpoint Senior Center COVID-19 safety protocols followed to ensure our seniors’ safety Sandpoint Farmers’ Market 3-5:30pm @ Farmin Park

ThursDAY, May 6 Open Mic Night at the Longshot 7-9pm @ The Longshot For musicians, comedians, spoken word poets and more! longshotsandpoint.com

COMMUNITY May Parks and Recreation programming

By Reader Staff In May, Sandpoint Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces will be offering the following programming: • Adult doubles tennis league (ages 16+), May 18-Sept. 22. Warm up begins at 5 p.m. Match play begins at 5:30 p.m. Fee: $70. Sandpoint Tennis Association members receive a $45 discount. Online registration deadline May 10.

• Ultimate Frisbee league (ages 16+), June 3-Oct. 28. Play is 5:30-7 p.m. every Thursday on Field 8 of Great Northern Field at the Sports Complex. Fee: $20. Online registration is open April 19-Oct. 28. League requires a minimum of 20 players to begin.

• Adult 7v7 flag football league (ages 18+), June 6-Aug. 1. Games played Sundays starting at 1 p.m. on Field 2 of Travers Field at the Sports Complex. Fee: $100/team. Online registration deadline is May 23.

• The city of Sandpoint outdoor shooting range, located at 113 Turtle Rock Road, is

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The city of Sandpoint Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department also acts as a clearinghouse to connect the public with other recreational opportunities in our community. Visit the online activity catalog to view listings. Outside organizations and individuals wishing to list their activities are encouraged to contact Parks and Rec with their program information at recreation@ sandpointidaho.gov.

For Parks and Rec. program registration, shooting range hours of operation and other community programs, visit the Sandpoint Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces website at sandpointidaho.gov/parksrecreation, visit the office located at 1123 Lake St. or call 208-263-3613.

Panhandle Health District recommends following CDC guidance: stay home if sick, reduce physical closeness when possible, wear a mask if possible and wash hands often.

Donations needed for downtown flower baskets

By Reader Staff The Downtown Shopping District, Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce and city of Sandpoint are seeking the community’s support in purchasing decorative flower baskets to be displayed throughout the downtown core for the summer. As in previous years, the city will water and maintain the baskets — however, it is up to the community to purchase them.

Local business leaders are asking for support and donations to help reach their goal of 109 baskets for 2021. Baskets cost $75 each, with checks payable to the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce. Organizers of the effort ask that donors write “For 2021 Flower Baskets” on the memo line of their checks, which can be mailed to P.O. Box 928, Sandpoint, ID 83864 or delivered in person at the Visitor Center, located at 1202 N. Fifth Ave. The plan is to hang the baskets in mid-May and enjoy them throughout the summer.

Sandpoint Farmers’ Market opens May 1

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

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currently open for the season. Range hours of operation are available on the city’s website on the most currently posted range calendar.

The long wait is over, as the Sandpoint Farmers’ Market will open for the season on Saturday, May 1.

The market will be open every Saturday from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. and every Wednesday from 3-5:30 p.m at Farmin Park in Sandpoint. Oak Street will be closed to traffic to allow for more vendor space, and the Jeff Jones Town Square will also be utilized as the market swings into the summer season.

Opening day for the 2021 season comes after last year’s season seeing a reduction in vendors due to COVID-19 restrictions

forcing market staff to relocate to the city parking lot. Market Manager Kelli Burt said the season is looking bright already, with more than 65 vendors committed to sell their wares at the market and more applying every week.

“We have a lot of returning vendors and a ton of new vendors,” Burt said. “We’re gaining a lot of momentum.”

Live music will also return for Saturday markets, with BOCA playing opening day May 1 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

For more information about the Sandpoint Farmers’ Market, visit sandpointfarmersmarket.org.

STAGE & SCREEN

Where talent meets time travel

LPO Repertory Theatre makes debut with two ‘speakeasy nights’ at the 219 Lounge

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff There is no shortage of talented, inspired people doing cool things in Sandpoint. One of those people is Keely Gray, founder of LPO Repertory Theatre — a group of performers ready to bring a new energy to the North Idaho theater scene.

“We’re hoping to create really wonderful, high-caliber, big productions — musicals and plays,” she said.

LPO Repertory Theatre will make its debut Thursday, May 6 and Thursday, May 13 at the 219 Lounge, hosting two “speakeasy” nights — “an elegant and interactive evening of song,” according to organizers, serving as a fundraiser for the group’s future performances. The limited tickets are $35 for general admission, while VIP seats are $60. Seating starts at 6:30 p.m. each night, and entertainment kicks off at 7 p.m.

Gray, who has an educational background in theater arts and music, said she’s been part of the Sandpoint theater scene since about 2008. She officially created

LPO Repertory in late 2019 with plans to launch performances and events the following year — that is, until the novel coronavirus pandemic hit.

“Then 2020 rolled around, and everything that we were thinking of doing came to a screeching halt,” she said.

Now, thanks to vaccine availability and the gradual return to gatherings and events, Gray and her crew are going full-steam ahead. She and fellow LPO Repertory member Andrew Sorg came up with the idea of the speakeasy nights while brainstorming ways to welcome the community back to in-person performances and officially introduce their theater company’s talent. These initial shows will provide just a glimpse into the vision Gray has for the troupe.

“There was a big part of me that wanted to create our own little, mini Broadway here in Sandpoint, because we have the talent,” she said, “and there’s no reason we shouldn’t be offering The Addams Family or Guys and Dolls or Little Shop of Horrors — all these plays and musicals

that people know and love and are dying to see.”

An example of the talent Gray has been able to find in Sandpoint is local artist Nellie Lutzwolf — owner of Wolf & Bell, and an apparently gifted performer.

“She’s one of the gems that I found that I’m so excited about,” Gray said, adding later: “She can sing her face off.”

Lutzwolf will be one of a handful of LPO Repertory singers performing at the speakeasy nights, which will also feature actors mingling with the crowd and partaking in an interactive mystery. Lutzwolf said her role is a “sultry and maybe slightly evil lounge singer.”

“The speakeasy combines so many of my favorite things: music, dressing in costume and celebrating,” she said, “but the thing I’m looking forward to most is seeing a group of people laugh and enjoy themselves. This past year I’ve really missed experiencing the collective joy events like this one create.”

Gray said that rather than emulate a formal performance

with an intermission, the events will remain true to the style of old-fashioned speakeasy lounge nights, where guests are able to chat with one another, order drinks any time and feel free to partake in the “interactive and experiential” elements of the evening.

Costumes inspired by the 1920s and ’30s are encouraged, but not required. However, there will be one prohibition-era requirement: a bouncer at the 219’s door will be asking for “the password,” Gray said, which will be emailed to ticket holders prior to the event.

“Our goal is to have everybody who walks in feel like they’re being transported back to the time where your only source of entertainment was going out to a club, seeing your friends and seeing lounge acts perform all night,” she said.

Funds raised from speakeasy ticket sales will go toward purchasing rights to LPO Repertory Theatre’s fall musical. Gray gave the Reader two hints as to what that musical might be.

Nevermind the naysayers

“It has a tap dancing monster,” she said, “and will be shown around Halloween.”

To learn more about LPO Repertory and purchase tickets to the speakeasy nights at the 219 Lounge, visit lporep.com. Also find the theater company on Facebook: facebook.com/LPORepertory.

The Nevers on HBO is more fun than the critics say

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff Joss Whedon is an odd fish. Full confession: I never liked Buffy the Vampire Slayer (well, OK, I guess I liked the movie). I despised Firefly, which is blasphemy for many other lovers of sci-fi/fantasy; but, handto-heart, I can’t abide anything that even remotely glorifies the Confederacy. I’ll take my Stars with Wars and Treks, not Bars, thanks very much. I don’t care how much “geekwashing” it gets.

So it was with some surprise that I found myself enjoying The Nevers, a series that Whedon conceived of, wrote and directed, and which is currently airing on HBO Max. (However, perhaps because of his “tyrannical and misogynistic behavior,” as The New York Times put it, critics have reported

that he won’t be attached to the show after its first six episodes.

Philippa Goslette is taking over as showrunner for the duration.)

On the surface, there is little to recommend The Nevers. So many of its many conceits have been done and done again — including by Whedon. Here we have a bunch of “damaged-yet-tough” female characters whose damage makes them tough. Here we have scrofulous dudes whose scrofulousness lays like an empathetic crust over a heart of gold. Here we have superpowers that are as much a super huge pain in the ass as they are, well, powerful.

Layer atop that a Victorian-era setting complete with steampunk contrivances, a mysterious “event” that has given these women their power and the now-cliched “school for superhuman-type people,”

which of course has its opposition both among the “normal” people and freebooting supers, and you have yourself a messy, nonsensical set-up for what the Vulture’s Kathryn VanArendonk rightly writes is, “an unimpressive monument to Joss Whedon’s obsessions.”

VanArendonk wrote what I consider to be the best — and funniest — deconstruction of The Nevers, so you should read what she wrote at vulture.com. However, I’m going to differ with her only a little.

The Nevers is more fun to watch than it is not. The costuming is impeccable; the copious action sequences others have derided as aimless I found better than most; the acting is wooden for sure, but it’s Victorian England, so that works; and frankly it’s enjoyable to watch something that comes

out in stages. So often — too often — series dump in giant chunks, which lend toward binge watching. That was fun for a while, but I miss the days of “appointment television,” meaning a viewer has to make a plan to watch a show.

When Game of Thrones conquered the small-screen zeitgeist lo those many years ago, part of its allure was that we had to consume it in drips and drabs (you know, like how TV used to work).

Likewise, with other prestige shows including Mad Men, The Americans, Westworld, Watchmen and The Man in the High Castle, among others, all of which leaned into the episodic nature of storytelling, new installments of the story were events, not invitations to couch potatoism.

Courtesy photo.

I wouldn’t put The Nevers (whose title remains a mystery even to the most well informed critics) anywhere near those previously mentioned shows, but — again — it’s fun. Stream it on HBO Max. April 29, 2021 /

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FOOD & DRINK

Laughing Dog Brewing continues its local legacy

‘Belonging to this community has always been an integral part of what we do’

By Adam Hegsted Reader Contributor At Laughing Dog, we have been taking some time and reflecting on our operations.

This was a tough year for all of us and we are thankful to have survived. For us at least, we were able to take this pause and decide how to create a better and more sustainable business — looking at our history as a brewery, the people who work for us and what our future looks like in this amazing community. We want to make a difference with the quality of products we put out and the overall impact that has on our community; showing off our little slice of heaven through the quality of beverages we distribute throughout the United States.

We see the craft beer industry only getting stronger from today onward. Even as larger (huge) breweries are getting and poking fingers into the craft market, people will come to search out our style of beer.

There is a difference when you get to know the people making the beer and the impact that the surroundings have on that beer.

This has been a process to get us where we are today. We will continue to evolve and hopefully we will all benefit. One of our changes has been that our tap room has recently been undergoing some small changes in the food service. Previously, it was mostly deep-fried items and we thought that a change was in order. Food and beverage go hand in hand, so we wanted to change up our offerings a little to make sure our food was complimentary to our beverages — plus the smell of deep-fryer was killing our dining room. So now we’ll be offering some more handheld sandwiches and snacks… and even a salad.

We are also very excited to be opening our patio again with the oncoming sunshine.

Our event space will be opened and we have added a few games as well including pinball, skee-ball and a few others.

As many of you may know, we have also acquired Summit Cider and Current Seltzer, both of which are available in our taproom.

We see the popularity of ciders and seltzers continuing to grow in the craft market; and, meanwhile, we have been working on creating some new flavors with Current Seltzer made with real Northwest fruits imparting more of a craft style to a seltzer.

Our branding is looking at getting a little 20 /

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facelift as well to help our beers align a little and make our packaging stand out some. We will also be working on creating new websites and better communications through email and social media. We want to be able to get info out to our guests and patrons on a more regular schedule.

On the brewery front, we have been creating our 2021 seasonal calendar.

Starting with Paw Print pilsner for the summer, a dopplebock for our anniversary beer in the end of the summer, Oktoberfest in the fall and a winter IPA after that. After a small hiatus, we wanted to show off a little and get people excited about some fresh new brews coming out.

Our team has been working hard to get more draft placements in our local restaurants and some shelf space in our grocery stores. With more placements and sales, we will be replacing our canning line with a new system that is a little more efficient and will allow us to up our canning capacity.

This will also help us follow through with fulfilling orders as demand grows and with consistency on our canning line.

The shutdown was a big wake-up call for everyone in the brewery and hospitality business. We are fragile and this showed in the sheer number of closings. We happen to live in a place where a low population density helped us get through a little faster than others, but this still affects us. The economic impact of this event is not done, but I hope we have been through the worst of it.

We realize that we have to take care of each other and the communities we live in.

We want to continue to create a beloved brewery and will do our best to make sure it is sustainable for the future.

As Idaho and the Northwest in general

Photo courtesy Laughing Dog Facebook page. continue to demand craft beer, we are excited to be a part. Belonging to this community has always been an integral part of what we do and we applaud our fellow brewers during Idaho Craft Beer Month. It is not an easy business, and it takes real fortitude to keep any business alive — especially in times like these.

To all of us doing our part to help build a better economy for our employees, ourselves and our community, we thank you for letting us take part.

Adam Hegsted is an award-winning chef and owner of the Eat Good Group, which includes some of the highest-profile eateries in the Inland Northwest. He is also an owner of Laughing Dog Brewing, located at 805 Schweitzer Plaza Drive in Ponderay.

Get more info at laughingdogbrewing. com or by calling 208-263-9222.

This is the fourth and final in a series of articles by Sandpoint area brewers in celebration of Idaho Craft Beer Month. Find past articles at sandpointreader.com

Eichardt’s to host Cinco de Mayo celebration

By Reader Staff

Eichardt’s Pub is hosting among the first community events since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020, announcing the third annual Music Bridges Borders Cinco de Mayo Community Celebration and Fundraiser hosted by the pub; the family of Rick and Elinor Reed; and the Music Bridges Borders organization, which they helped found.

The event will take place with ample outdoors space to remain safe and healthy, scheduled for Sunday, May 2 from noon to 3 p.m. at Eichardts (212 Cedar St.).

Speaking on behalf of Eichardt’s and as a board member of MBB, Sandi Nicholson wrote in a news release, “It will be a joyful event to bring our community together, celebrate local Mexican-American culture and break ‘tortilla’ together, family style.”

On offer will be a taco feed, margaritas and cerveza provided by Eichardt’s. Sidewalk chalk art for the kids and story time by Nicholson, who will recount the history of the Battle of Puebla and, she said, “how a grain of hope sprinkled with a little will, no matter how insignificant or small to others, can make the impossible possible.”

The event will also highlight MBB’s upcoming 2021 International Music Exchange Program, in which six students have been selected to participate, including oboe player Alejandro Schiaffino, who is pursuing further oboe studies and joined the Music Chamber Orquesta of Mexicali. He had the privilege to play in the main presentation of the nation for young musicians — Musica en Armonia — under the main director of the Young Orchestras in Mexico, Eduardo Garcia Barrios.

The Reed family has been instrumental, so to speak, in providing symphonic orchestral music options to young people both in the Sandpoint community and abroad.

Nicholson wrote: “[I]t has been anything short of easy. From the years of building connections and networking across multiple cultures and countries to overseeing the rigorous selection process where only the top students are selected for a Sandpoint/Mexico music exchange program. The travel logistics, hosting, feeding, transporting and shouldering liability while students from Mexico provide excellent performances to our community and receive master classes from the Spokane Youth Symphony and other local professionals who donate their time… it’s a lot.”

The organization received 501(c)(3) status in 2020 and, prior to the pandemic, Elinor Reed delivered six violins to the Orquesta Juvenil y infantil Rio Nuevo in Mexicali. The violins were donated by Mark Weber, a retired doctor who is now a luthier.

The gift was a gesture of gratitude for the work that the Rio Nuevo Orchestra puts in to provide Sandpoint with annual performances by its students.

Meanwhile, amid the straightened circumstances of the pandemic, MBB still provided Sandpoint and international students with virtual master classes and Eichardt’s hosted a “Pandemic Livestream Cinco de Mayo Celebration Fundraiser” last year, during which artists from around the world entertained viewers with music, dance and drama.

ART

This week’s RLW by Lyndsie Kiebert

Party on the lawn

READ

Those interested in keeping tabs on local planning and zoning issues should know that Bonner County shares current project documents on its website at bonnercountyid.gov/departments/planning/current-projects.

Listed on the site are requested zone changes, comp plan amendments, conditional use permits and more. Click on a file name to read original applications, agency comments, etc.

Longshot set to launch First Friday events May 7

LISTEN

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff

The Longshot is saying farewell to winter and welcoming warmer days with the launch of First Fridays: a monthly event focused on gathering the makers and shakers of North Idaho for art, music and cold drinks on the business’ luscious lawn starting May 7.

“Our goal is to make it just like a big lawn party,” said Longshot Event Director Rylie Beck. “The Longshot has such an awesome lawn out in the front, and we are super stoked to get to use that throughout the summer as it gets warmer. This is kind of the kick off to summer, in my opinion, or to warmer weather.”

First Fridays at the Longshot will start at 4 p.m. and feature outdoor vendors peddling wares from vintage goods to pottery to herbal tinctures and more. Beck said the Friday, May 7 vendors are either locally based or traveling from the Coeur d’Alene area, but all “northwest local people.”

DJ Marvin Gardens will be playing tunes in the early hours of the event, then around 8 p.m. lo-

cal musician Maya Goldblum — also known as Queen Bonobo — will play a special release show to celebrate the drop of her new EP, Sail From This Life. Gardens will then play into the night.

“First Fridays will be a big art collective, almost like a callout to the artists and the creative community to come and gather and connect with everyone in Sandpoint,” Beck said.

The Longshot will also be launching its outdoor bar on May 7 — a vintage RV retrofitted to offer beer and wine on the lawn. In addition, there will be smash burgers — a drive-in style burger for which the Longshot has become “notorious,” according to Manager Austin Goldberg — and a superfood salad available to order, as well as olives, almonds, cheeses and other snacks that pair well with good wine.

“We are sticking to a more minimal menu, but it’s going to pack some punch,” Goldberg said.

Looking ahead, the Longshot also plans to launch a weekly Sunday brunch, complete with bottomless mimosas, bloody marys and a smash biscuit — likely in mid-May. First Fridays, special brunch hours and plenty of live music events are just the tip of the epic-event-iceberg that the Longshot has in store. Owner Brandon Brock said the Longshot is shifting its focus to events due to feedback from patrons.

“We feel like it’s worth leaning into what we’re seeing the community lean towards — more events,” Brock said, “and

do them with a grand vision to really try and push the envelope of what we experience here in our town.”

With the vaccine against COVID-19 becoming more widely available and everyone coming off a difficult year of pandemic life, Brock said he hopes to provide North Idaho with something “special to experience all summer long” in the form of First Fridays.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to be getting back into doing what we do best,” he said, “which is providing top-caliber events and experiences for our community.”

Find the Longshot at 102 S. Boyer Avenue in Sandpoint. To stay on top of current happenings, visit longshotsandpoint.com or find the venue on social media: @longshotsandpoint.

Indie rocker Lucy Dacus is gearing up for her first full-length release since 2018: Home Video, due out June 25. The first two singles off the album showcase Dacus’ silky vocals and storytelling ability. “Thumbs,” in particular, is darkly touching. Dacus recounts accompanying her girlfriend to meet her estranged father, then fantasizing about gouging out his eyes. The track moved me to tears when I first heard it. The second single, “Hot & Heavy,” also bodes well for the overall genius of Home Video.

WATCH

This is a PSA that the fourth season of The Handmaid’s Tale dropped on Hulu April 28. The series is based on Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel of the same name, following the story of Offred — a woman forced into sexual servitude due to her status as one of the few fertile women left in Gilead, the totalitarian government formerly known as the U.S. At the end of Season 3, she was able to organize the escape of almost 90 children. I can’t wait to see what she does next.

Top: The Longshot outdoor area after dark. Left: Owner Brandon Brock, right, pours a drink on the lawn.

Courtesy photos.

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BACK OF THE BOOK

What gender reveal parties really reveal Causing everything from wildfires to death, gender reveal parties need to stop

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

From Pend d’Oreille Review, April 30, 1915

PANHANDLE HIGHWAY ROUTE FROM CABINET VIA SANDPOINT AND COEUR D’ALENE TO MOSCOW The state highway commissioner today designated as a state highway, by the name of the Panhandle State Highway, a route from Cabinet to Moscow, embracing the state road from Cabinet to Kootenai and the present road from Kootenai via Sandpoint to Rathdrum, connecting with the Appleway south of Rathdrum to Coeur d’Alene and thence south via Desmet and Potlatch to Moscow.

This will mean that this highway will be taken over by the state whenever the counties of Kootenai, Bonner, Benewah and Latah have it completed, and it also means that a stated sum will be used by the state to meet one-third of the expenses of improvement. In Bonner county it will mean that $10,000 will be available from the state if Bonner county will appropriate $20,000 for the improvement of the road from Sandpoint to the southern boundary of the county the Sandpoint-Spokane highway.

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A curious trend has taken hold over the past decade. Couples expecting a baby have raced to outdo each other with more extravagant — and more viral — events aimed at revealing the gender of their babies with explosions of color, airplane fly-bys, alligators and other creative ways to get their post trending on social media.

The phenomenon gained popularity after a mom-to-be blogger named Jenna Karvunidis filmed a party in 2008, during which the gender of her baby was revealed by the color of a cake, which, when cut open, turned out to be pink. Hooray, a girl!

This was in 2008, before Instagram even existed, but Karvunidis’ video went viral and influenced an army of copycats, each vying to outdo one another with more outlandish gender reveals.

As with just about everything, social media users turned an innocent event into a fire-breathing monster, flooding the tubes with videos featuring their ill-conceived reveal parties. People began to take things a bit too far, with the results ranging from face-palms to downright tragedy.

Take the 2017 gender reveal party in Arizona held by an off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent, when a Tannerite target was exploded in the middle of the Arizona desert, sending blue pigment into the air to cheers and applause.

Then, as anyone with a brain would imagine, the explosion lit the surrounding vegetation on fire, culminating in a 47,000-acre wildfire that took 20 fire agencies about a week to contain.

The organizer of this event was eventually held accountable for the fire and ordered to pay more than $8 million in restitution.

Another gender reveal explosion in Iowa in 2019 shook homes more than two miles away, causing a minor earthquake. This occurred just one day after an incident in Knoxville, Tenn., where a homemade explosive device sent metal shrapnel toward the family standing 45 feet away, killing a 56-year-old grandmother.

STR8TS Solution

Then there was the 2020 incident when a dad-to-be hit a baseball filled with blue powder with a bat, but wound up smacking his pregnant wife in the head with a full swing.

Another baseball-related party ended with a husband hitting a baseball right into the face of his wife. The ball failed to explode, by the way. How will anyone know the gender now?

A Texas reveal party featured a plane releasing 350 gallons of pink water, which caused it to slow down at low altitude and crash, injuring the two people on board.

Another airplane-related gender reveal in Mexico ended much worse, when two people died after their airplane towing a banner revealing the gender of the couple’s baby ended up crashing in the ocean.

Aside from the deadly and catastrophic events, there are some that are just plain weird. Like when a dad-to-be fed a hippo a watermelon dyed with blue, which dribbled down the beast’s mouth after it snapped open the watermelon. Another melon-related incident involved an alligator in Louisiana, when a couple fed it a blue-tinted watermelon, but the gator clearly wanted to chomp the dad more than the melon. No injuries were reported at either event.

Then there was the pregnant mom lying face down on a table with her pants off, farting a cloud of blue smoke into the air as her friends cheered in the background. This later turned out to be a prank, but I’ll bet a handful of chalk up the bum that some brut has copied it for their own reveal.

A gender reveal party at an Ohio Applebee’s featured a confetti cannon in the parking lot, which the restaurant’s management asked the party to clean up afterward. The partygoers refused and grew savage, with several of them throwing menus and berating the hostess. Ah, the magic of childbirth.

A Philadelphia party ended with people screaming and running for their lives when the couple placed fireworks atop a clothing drying rack, which (big surprise) didn’t work well and sent the fireworks spraying everywhere. One partygoer said it was a big

success: “A few adults got hit but no serious injuries — just minor burns.”

That’s a pretty low bar for a successful party: just minor burns, nothing to see here.

Karvunidis spoke out about the trend of dangerous gender reveal parties in 2019, saying, “I’ve felt a lot of mixed feelings about my random contribution to the culture ... It’s just become a bit of a nightmare.”

She said she feels some regret for starting this trend: “I know it’s been harmful to some individuals. It’s 2019, we don’t need to get our joy by giving others pain. I think there’s a new way to have these parties.”

But here in 2021, the gender reveals continue to occur, with new headlines generated every few weeks about the latest debacle.

The bottom line is, nobody really cares what the gender of your baby is; and, if they do, I’m certain that finding out if your future baby is a boy or a girl is not worth someone dying or lighting a wildfire that burns almost 50,000 acres. Stick with cake and balloons and leave the explosions and alligators out of it. Or, maybe embrace the most natural gender reveal by waiting until delivery day.

Ultimately, gender reveal parties reveal more about the stupidity of human nature than a baby’s gender. *Cue the puff of pink smoke.

Crossword Solution

Sudoku Solution

I hope they never find out that lightning has a lot of vitamins in it, because do you hide from it or not?

Solution on page 22

Solution on page 22

By Bill Borders

CROSSWORD

Copyright www.mirroreyes.com

Laughing Matter

ACROSS

alfresco

Woorf tdhe Week

/al-FRES-koh/ [adverb] 1. out-of-doors; in the open air.

“Let’s take that sidewalk table and dine alfresco.”

Corrections: No corrections to note this week, other than our weekly battle with people who thought the April Fools’ Day article about the lake being drained was true. Find a sense of humor, people. We won’t apologize for having fun once or twice a year. –BO

1. Parish land 6. Ancient unit of dry measure 11. Severity 12. Bishopric 15. A body of water 16. Blood feud 17. Hotel 18. Early 20. Arrive (abbrev.)

21. Blend 23. Auspices 24. Period 25. French for “Head” 26. Nonclerical 27. Singer Ives 28. Sow 29. Entire 56. Chic 30. Neighborhood 57. Vestibule 31. Newsstand operator 58. Feel 34. Gloss 59. Strict 36. Bite 37. Doing nothing 41. Turn into the wind 42. Immediately DOWN 43. Mining finds 44. A summoning gesture 1. Recipient 45. Reclined 2. Brown coal 46. Make out (slang) 3. Conceit 47. Biblical boat 4. Doofus 48. Support 5. Sea eagle 51. Consumed food 6. Bloated 52. Sun 7. Yearns 54. Less bendable 8. Boxes for bricks

Solution on page 22 9. Card with one symbol 10. Ancient Greek mistress 13. A leisurely walk 14. Acquire deservedly 15. Enumerates 16. Self-appointed law enforcement 19. Shades of blue 22. Hillbilly 24. Sell to the highest bidder 26. A field of grass 27. French for “Good” 30. Past tense of Leap 32. Startled cry

33. Goliath 34. Unsaturated alcohol 35. Dander 38. Escapist 39. An orator’s desk 40. Glacial ridge 42. Military greeting 44. Headquarters 45. Groin 48. Fiber source 49. F F F F 50. Violent disturbance 53. Eon 55. Type of whiskey

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Come to our in-person JOB FAIR on Saturday, May 1 from 10 am - 2 pm !

Face covering required

• Medical, dental & vision insurance. Low deductibles, employee premium 100% paid • Seated workstations in temperature-controlled environment • 401 (k} with matching contributions • Paid holidays, paid sick leave, and paid vacation • 7 AM - 3:30 PM, Monday - Friday work schedule - get your nights & weekends back! £PC is an electronics manufacturer and one of the area's largest employers. Located 10 miles south of Sandpoint, we have been growing our local economy for more than 50 years.

-______,