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/ April 13, 2017

(wo)MAN compiled by

Susan Drinkard

on the street

What is your antidote for gloomy weather days?

“I’ll go hunting or to indoor archery.” Hunter Donahoe SHS junior Cocolalla

"I have the joy of the Lord, so every day is beautiful. I like the verse: ‘This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.’” Ginger Case Early childhood educator Sandpoint

DEAR READERS,

It’s done. It’s over. Yessir, this is the last week that I’m putting this paper together solo. If you heard a manic shriek or saw a skinny lunatic tearing through the rain down the Cedar Street sidewalk Wednesday night, that was probably me shedding a month of stress. Publisher Ben Olson is back this weekend, which means my life is about to get a lot easier. I’m probably looking forward to his return almost as much as he’s dreading it. But ya know, making the claim that I ran this paper solo is a mite unfair. Alright, it’s a lot unfair. Like I said in this space a month ago, the advertising work by Jodi Taylor and our friends at Keokee, the contributions from our stable of local writers and the prep work done by Ben made a tough task immeasurably more approachable. We’re lucky to have such great support, even when we publish a screwed-up crossword puzzle every now and then (yes, I heard about last week. Several times). I’m happy to be returning to my usual desk, where I’ll have the time once again to dive back into feature writing, news reporting and editing. And I’m sure Ben will inject a bit more visual flair into the paper than you saw over the past month. It’s nice to know that this train keeps rolling when one of us decides to take a break, but there’s no denying the benefit of complementary skill sets. Ben will also be reviving his signature pieces like Bouquets and Barbs. Fear not, caller who left a voicemail message wondering where that column went. It will be back shortly. Cheers, Sandpoint, and thanks for keeping me sane this month. -Cameron Rasmusson, Editor

“Drink wine—a really good red.”

OPEN 11:30 am

Leslie Spohn Mom Sandpoint

“I turn on some music. This morning I listened to ‘September’ by Earth, Wind, and Fire and danced around my living room and arrived at work with a smile on my face.”

LIVE MUSIC Open Mic with Doug & Kevin 7-10pm 2nd Friday’s with Ron Greene 6:30-9:30pm

Gina Woodruff L.P.N. Sandpoint “The same thing I do on a sunny day—work. I work inside rather than outside.” Tony Wuollet Carpenter Samuels

GAME ROOM UPSTAIRS

BREWERY & BEER HALL 220 Cedar St. 209-6700 FAMILY FRIENDLY BREWPUB 312 First Ave.

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212 Cedar Street Downtown Sandpoint

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

www.sandpointreader.com Publisher: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com Editor: Cameron Rasmusson cameron@sandpointreader.com Zach Hagadone (emeritus) John Reuter (emeritus) Advertising: Jodi Taylor Jodi@sandpointreader.com Contributing Artists: Ben Olson, Susan Drinkard, Cameron Barnes, Nancy Cerra Contributing Writers: Cameron Rasmusson, Ben Olson, Christian Rose, Paul Graves, Bob Evans, Jim Armbruster, Jodi Rawson, Brenden Bobby, Marcia Pilgeram, Dianne Smith, Bill Harp, Tim Henney, Drake the Dog Submit stories to: stories@sandpointreader.com Printed weekly at: Griffin Publishing Spokane, Wash. Subscription Price: $95 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 400 words –Letters may not contain excessive profanity or libelous material. Please elevate the discussion. Letters will be edited to comply with the above requirements. Opinions expressed in these pages are those of the writers, not necessarily the publishers. Email letters to: letters@sandpointreader.com Check us out on the web at: www.sandpointreader.com Like us on Facebook. About the Cover This week’s cover by artist Nancy Cerra. Thanks for your beautiful work!

208.263.4005 A SandPint Tradition Since 1994 April 13, 2017 /

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COMMENTARY

From secular dictator to extremist hell-hole

By Christian Rose Reader Columnist It hasn’t even been a full generation since Saddam Hussein was removed from power in April 2003. And unless you’re one of those Americans that has never known the world without a smart phone, you probably remember the result. No WMDs were ever located, the U.S. Treasury borrowed a trillion dollars from China to pay for a protracted war and nearly 4,500 soldiers died. For all that blood and treasure we didn’t even get a cool T-shirt. I mean, at least our WWII heroes gave us “Back-toBack Championships.” Instead, all we have an ISIS-laden hellhole and thousands of Veteran’s

with PTSD that the VA can’t seem handle without pumping them full of psychotropic drugs. If you think that’s a one-off, you’re wrong. Consider Libya. Surely you remember that Obama/Clinton debacle? The U.S. State Department and CIA covertly funded and supported deposing another Secular Dictator, Muammar Gaddafi. In October 2011 they succeeded when he was captured and killed by the Misratan Militia. And when it really fell apart a year later in Benghazi, Susan Rice told us it was because of a “hateful video.” A provable lie. Now, Libya is an ISIS/Ansar Al-Sharia hell-hole too. The

International Organization for Migration says there are currently some 425,250 internally displaced people in the country. So much for an “Arab Spring”. So why on God’s green earth are Republicans and Democrats in D.C. tripping over each other to get in front of a camera and proclaim the need to depose another secular dictator in Syria? I’d expect that from resident Senate jokes and unapologetic neo-cons, John McCain and Lindsey Graham. But when we’ve also got Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi praising Mr. Trump’s bombing campaign, I can’t help but search my storage locker for that tin-foil hat.

For the war-mongers, please don’t give me the talking points. Frankly it’s tiresome. We can agree that Assad is a terrible thug, a killer of his political opponents. That’s not in debate. But what’s the alternative? An Islamic Sharia state that murders Christians on Palm Sunday, hurls gay people off buildings or burns adulterers alive inside cages? Does this sound better? That’s the alternative. History proves me right. Assad was clearly winning the civil war against both the anti-government fighters and ISIS. So why would he do something so reckless? Perhaps Russia was using its client dictator to test the

resolve of the new administration? Sick, yes. But plausible. If life in Syria isn’t bad enough, it can get worse. It will get worse if Western powers remove Assad. The use of chemical weapons is unacceptable. A legitimate argument can be made that the U.S. bombing last week was an appropriate response. But this should be the extent of our intervention. Period. Fail to learn from history, and misunderstand what’s truly at stake. Go ahead, remove Assad from power. I guarantee you we’ll be another trillion in debt, we’ll have more dead soldiers, and Syria will still be an ISIS hell-hole.

nourishing for America’s soul, has given them fresh hopes. (And encouragement to a knot of grasping, unlearned Idaho office holders as well, waiting in the wings to see if Utah pulls it off). With straight faces these beehive state legislators, wholly unqualified to weigh life’s broad realities because of their own cloistered culture, declare they want to raise funds to build Utah’s pathetic public education system. That’s baloney. They are addicted to profit, power and their countless perks of office at the expense of secular public education, health and happiness. They are determined to reduce Utah’s pristine public lands into garish Trump towers, country clubs, gas and oil fields and airports for corporate jets. Do these rapacious politicians have grandchildren? Do these fraternal schemers ever even think about tomorrow? Do these provincial men really want to be responsible for the destruction of rural Utah -- one of America’s last great places?

Game carts...

one has to leave an animal, hike to a trail, go to the vehicle, and then either pack or drag a cart up the trail to where you will bring out your meat. This takes time and energy. If you are three or more miles from the trail head, and have gained 1,500 or more feet in elevation, it is logistically impractical to drop that much elevation, hike out three miles, labor back up hill 3 miles with your game cart in order to save work. If you have a cart with brakes and two wheels front and back you can get by on the narrow wilderness trails. If you are a hunter that has used these successfully in the wilderness I can understand your point of view. However, in my experience carts are not practical in the wilderness. If you use them it usually adds one more day of labor to the process of getting your animal to a vehicle. I have hiked and hunted in the Scotchman Peaks area. It has the qualities of a wilderness area and I would like to see it added as a recognized wilderness area.

Word puzzle ...

Letters to the Editor Public space vs. profit...

We moved to Sandpoint in 2005 after 10 years in Utah. We continue to spend frequent winters in Moab, in that state’s high desert. Many Sandpoint citizens know it well. Home to Bears Ears and Escalante National Monuments, Canyonlands, Arches and other federally-protected public recreation areas. Millions of visitors treasure their untainted beauty. Deep Navajo sandstone canyons, towering mountains of pinon pines, mile upon mile of hiking and biking trails winding along cold streams through boulders and sage. Yet, with a new greed-first national political climate, those who assign priority to pavement and profits in Utah are gaining ground. And the American public could lose that ground if zealous state officials have their way. A clutch of elected provincials represents Utah in Washington, D.C. and Salt Lake City. Self-serving and narrow-minded, this clannish alliance is willing to destroy the state to feather their own nests and the oil and gas industries who keep them in office. The present occupant of the oval office, intent on eliminating much that is cultural, humane and 4 /

/ April 13, 2017

Tim, Jaquelynn Henney Sandpoint

I have hunted deer, elk ,moose, mountain goats and mountain sheep in wilderness areas for nearly 50 years. One of the complaints about making an area wilderness by some hunters is that it would stop the use of wheeled game carts. I can understand this from a philosophical point of view. Game carts are non–motorized. I have carried countless loads of meat and capes out of wilderness areas. I have never utilized a game cart in the wilderness in all these years. Why? Two main reasons. First, many of the animals that have been harvested in the wilderness were in extremely rugged terrain and not near a trail. The first job was to move boned meat, capes and horns to a trail. This was done with canvas meat sacks and back packs. Once at the trail we just kept on going with our packs. Second, I have used game carts on fairly flat roads to move game. Most of the carts have two wheels outside the width of the cart. They do not work well on narrow hiking trails. The trails are usually gaining quite a bit of elevation in the wilderness, and

Don Clark Libby, Mont.

Last week’s crossword puzzle would be more aptly named “word puzzle” since the across clues were reprinted as the down clues. It proved to be more challenging than usual. I’m not being snarky here. Just sayin’. :-) C.L. McKitrick Sandpoint

April Fools’ ... Thanks for publishing the April Fools’ Day crossword puzzle in your April 6 issue. That’s the puzzle for which both across and down clues were the same. It took me a while to understand the clever misrepresentation. Then it was an additional challenge to try to figure out what the down words were, based on what the across words began to spell. Putting the solution on the adjacent page was also a good idea, as I often needed an assist to finish the puzzle. Good onya, editor! Jane Holzer Hope

FAITH COMMENTARY

Seek more as you observe Easter By Paul Graves Reader Contributor

Sometimes our spiritual curiosity seems kinda puny. So many people settle for what someone else tells them about the Bible, or Jesus, Christianity or religions other than Christianity No one knows the “whole truth.” At best, we know only a piece of that truth. But sometimes we decide that our truth-piece is The Whole Truth. Not so! There is always more than what we settle for! For example, Christians are celebrating Easter this week. Lent and Holy Week comes before Easter. Some people jump right from Palm Sunday to Easter. But the Gospels say a lot happened between those two days -- all to do with Jesus’ ministry, death, and resurrection. I never go through Lent without thinking of a question our son asked me

when he was almost 4 years old. One night, after he was supposed to be asleep, His mother and I heard him shuffling down the hall. We also heard him crying. I picked him up and wiped his tears. “Why are you crying, Brian?” I asked. He looked at me and asked back, “Why did Jesus have to die?” Well, I took him back to his bed, tucked him in, and began to tell him a little about how Jesus got in trouble with the Jewish religious leaders and the Roman government. I told Brian that Jesus died because these leaders were afraid of him. I knew that for some people, the “correct” answer is that “Jesus died for your sins.” I also knew that a 3-year-old boy could get confused and scared by that abrupt answer. So I told him another part of The Truth about why Jesus

died. That answer made more sense to Brian, and it was an Easter truth-piece. In fact, there are even more answers to the question “Why did Jesus die?” Some come from Dr. Marcus Borg, a Bible professor I respect highly. He wrote about these in his book “The Heart of Christianity.” First, God’s still in charge! The Roman government killed Jesus, but God raised him from the dead, showing Jesus’ followers that God is still in charge. Second, Roman and Jewish leaders combined their power to kill Jesus, but God’s spiritual power is greater than any man-made power. Third, Jesus’ death reminds us that our own spirits can be changed deep inside of us. We “die” to our old ways and are “raised” to new, healthier ways to live when we follow Jesus’ example, and trust in God’s love of us. Fourth, Jesus’ death shows us just

how much God does love us. Jesus is not only a special Jewish social prophet, but he’s the Son of God who dramatically shows us how much God will sacrifice for us. Fifth, “Jesus died for our sins.” It’s like his sacrifice is seen inside a picture frame made of our sin, our guilt, and God’s forgiveness. This is only one example of how important I believe it is for us to look for “more.” It lives behind and beneath the institutionally religious and spiritual truths we so often say without considering there might be more to them. If we don’t seek “more,” our spiritual journeys just might find us walking around in very small circles. It’s healthier, more fun and “good-scarier” to break out of our smaller belief-circles so we can move ahead toward growing up in our faith.

Easter shows the power of life By Bob Evans Reader Contributor

Ultimately, I think, when the life death and resurrection of Jesus is understood, it reveals to the believer that life has power and meaning after all. With this awareness, one may begin to find real peace and see the world through God’s eyes. As self-aware human beings we are cursed with just enough knowledge about ourselves to ask the questions, “Who are we?” and “Do our lives have meaning?” “Is this life all there is?” The story of Jesus is especially for those of us who are asking these questions in a sincere and worshipful manner, because it is these questions that are faced in the stories of the one proclaimed by Paul to be “Son of God with power according to the Spirit,” and they are the questions that are answered for those who participate in the journey of Jesus. The story of Easter is for the one who seeks, asks and knocks on the doors of mystery. Many Christians are pleased to hear and believe the usual Easter preaching that “He is Risen!” Death is overcome, our sins are forgiven. “Believe

the good news!” From this point on the reason and meaning of the story seems to get lost, not only by the lay people but by many preachers, as they struggle to put into words what cannot be put into words. Here in the West, the day morphs into Easter egg hunts. Very few worshipers will have been open enough to begin to realize just how sacred this story is as sustenance for spiritual growth, as an archetype for life to hang our own lives on, and as a key to heaven which grows wild as a mustard seed throughout the world. The resurrection of Jesus means much more than just overcoming death. Resurrection begins with the call from the Divine dimension in the human heart that says, “You are my child. I am holy, so you too are holy,” just as Jesus heard as he emerged from the waters of baptism. This inner call identifies us anew. The instant one responds to this text from the heart, that one has experienced a resurrection, a “born again” moment, and some “light” to prepare the eyes of the heart for more. This wonderful news comes with an inherent command and that is, if we are to be holy as God is, we must know God’s

character and live out of that character as our own. Here’s the rub: These holy insights contradict almost everything we have been raised to believe as it pertains to being human, what it means to be related to the Divine, what it means to be great, powerful and successful - and what it means to love. The greatest in the Divine’s Heart are those who give themselves over to faith, hope and unqualified love for everyone; the ones who have laid down their lives for the least of these. Seeing the world through God’s eyes is painful at first. Most importantly, our personal vision of God must be ready to change and grow. The resurrection story’s ultimate destination is the table that God has prepared for those whose love transcends themselves. The Easter story is Jesus demonstrating to us that the power and meaning of life is reflected in our vocations, our particular callings, the way in which we walk humbly before our God, loving God with our whole being while loving our neighbors in the same manner. Jesus lived his life out of the way in which he saw, “the kingdom of God,” or as the world

appears in God’s eyes. He constantly told everyone that we could see it too, just wake up, be born again, take a new look, forget everything we think we know and open our eyes as a child to the kingdom of God that is within and all around us right now. This kingdom is one of quality not quantity, and it is a place in which the power and meaning of life is found while being fully present and awake in each moment, loving all of creation. To see this dimension, and reflect it in our lives we need help. For Christians, Jesus is that help. In order to see the world through God’s eyes we faithfully follow Jesus to the cross that we may die to our old selves to be raised as new beings in the Spirit. “What has come into being in him was life and the life was the light of all people.” This line from the Gospel of John is a thesis statement concerning the story that follows as a witness to the “life” that is “light resurrected” within each and every one of us eternally. Peace be with you.

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COMMUNITY

Spring For Sandpoint benefits retailers, nonprofits For the Reader

Sandpoint earned the distinction “America’s Most Beautiful Small Town” a few years back. But that’s only half the story. Sandpoint is an amazingly giving small town with hundreds of non-profit organizations that provide important human services, promote the arts, entertainment and recreation, and safeguard the quality of our environment. Sandpoint’s downtown is an integral part of the support for many of these organizations. This year’s Spring for Sandpoint event is no different. Sandpoint downtown merchants have teamed with local charities to bring you Spring

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for Sandpoint on Saturday, April 22. Participating retailers are each teaming with a local non-profit and will be donating part of the day’s shopping proceeds. Representatives from local charities will be on hand to answer your questions and show you how they serve our community. Get in on activities for kids, food and drink sampling, and product demonstrations. Make a seed bomb at Zero Point and much more at over 20 participating merchants. Most activities will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 pm, but in-store specials will be available throughout the day. Enter to win a passel of local gift certificates. Just pick up

a passport at any participating retailer. Visit stores and get your passport stamped. Eight stamps is all it takes to enter the drawing for three prizes totaling $500 in local gift certificates. Winners will be chosen on Monday, April 24. April 22 is Earth Day. A number of businesses have teamed with non-profits focused on protecting, enhancing or enjoying the natural beauty of our environment. For example, you’ll find Kaniksu Land Trust at Larson’s, Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper will be represented at Great Stuff, Ol’ Red’s Pub is teaming with Trout Unlimited, and Pend d’Oreille Pedalers can be found at Sharon’s Hallmark.

Spring for Sandpoint is a fun way to celebrate our community by shopping locally to give locally. All donations raised during Spring for Sandpoint stay in our community. Purchases made at local retail stores also support our community by providing jobs and local tax revenue and by creating a vibrant, attractive downtown. For additional information check posters around town and look on retailers’ Facebook pages or the Sandpoint Shopping District Facebook page.

FEATURE

Annual physicals help save lives By Jim Armbruster Reader Contributor

I came across the Long Bridge for the first time on the morning of March 22, 1976. I was 20 years old. My traveling companion and I had left the Los Angeles area on March 6, hitchhiked to St. Louis, and then hitchhiked up here, looking for our version of the American dream. Sandpoint was in the middle of the one of those remarkable spring storms we sometimes still get. Snowing hard enough that standing in front of the Middle Earth Tavern you couldn’t see the PastTime Café and Sport Shop across the street. It was a very interesting time to be here, a lot of new blood and ideas moving into this conservative north Idaho logging town. But those are stories for another time. What I hope to accomplish today is more of an unofficial public health service announcement and some acknowledgements of gratitude. On Feb. 21 of this year, I had open-heart surgery. (I believe, from a journalistic standpoint, this is called “setting the hook.”) My open-heart surgery involved a double bypass to two different coronary arteries on my heart (one which was blocked at 80 percent and the other at 90 percent) and a repair of my Mitral valve which was leaking severely, causing 30 percent of my blood to flow in the wrong direction. The fact that these issues were discovered in the first place was remarkable and good news . . . but I’ll come back to that! I am not a triathlete. I cannot skate ski up the Schweitzer Road. I don’t put in 75 mile loops on my road

Jim Armbruster poses in the nature he loves to experience. Courtesy photo bike after dinner. Hell, I don’t even rock climb. But, I am in damn good physical shape. At 61, my work is very physical. I can keep up with almost anyone on a hiking trail. I ran Bloomsday a couple of years ago with my son. I garden extensively. I find reasons to move and not sit. After a full day of installing carpet, it would not be an unusual for me to climb on my bike for a 10- to 12-mile bike ride, just because. That is, up until the last year or so. The last 12 months, I found myself feeling tired. Looking back now, my wife would say, “I wish I had a dollar for every time you said this year “I’m just so darn tired.” In December 2016, I had my annual physical that, like a lot of men, happened because my wife harped on me until I make the call to schedule it. It was during this routine

annual visit that my doctor discovered a heart murmur. I was referred to a cardiologist and so began this rapid journey. A subsequent test a week later showed a severe leak in my Mitral valve. I then had a cardiac catheter which provided greater detail about the leaking valve and further uncovered two severely clogged arteries. Surgery followed soon after. A rapid eight weeks from thinking I’m just getting old and tired to getting my chest cracked open. So . . . how is this good news? Because I didn’t have a heart attack. I wasn’t two miles up the Mickinnik Trail this spring, or out in the middle of the Selle Valley on my bike where I could’ve dropped like a stone. This was the best way this was going to turn out! I’m that guy. I eat well, I’m very active. I take darn good care of myself. I’m

kind of that guy you’d least suspect would have serious heart issues. My message is simple: Don’t miss or put off your annual physical. If you have cholesterol issues, keep tabs on them. Get a stress test. Eat well, get off your couch. Listen when your body is saying something to you. My heart valve issue was just bad luck, and the blocked arteries are hereditary. And while there’s very little I could have done to avoid this, the reality is (and what I hope others will hear) is that my recovery was much faster, easier and more complete because I caught the issues before my heart muscle itself was damaged and because I am in good physical condition. Who knows if these issues might have caused severe problems much earlier, had I not been taking good care of myself. A lot of good has come from this experience. The

outpouring of love and support has been very humbling. Cards, letters, texts, flowers and well-wishes from so many people have meant a lot to me. I simply want to thank everyone for everything. But extra love to mom and Bill, Tom and Jean, each four sisters and my brothers. John, Eric and the crew at Sandpoint Furniture, our incredible neighbors, the Brass family, Ed, Amber, Joe and Robyn. To Kathy and Jenni—again! To my remarkably strong kids, and to my rock: my wife who gives me the blessed life I have today. And lastly to Dr. Dan Meulenberg: physician, friend, commander of ships and grower of good things. He won’t take credit for it, but to me, he saved my life that day when during a routine physical he looked up and said, “Jim, have we ever talked about you having a heart murmur?” Shooting for 30 more years April 13, 2017 /

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NEWS

Authorities release Utt By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff

A case of suspicious death last week resulted in the arrest of a person of interest, followed swiftly by his release. Nathan Utt was freed from custody this week after the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office confirmed his alibi at the time of the death of Shirley Ann Ramey, the 78-year-old former city clerk of Hope. According to the sheriff’s office, Utt was identified as a person of interest due to crime scene evidence and local eyewitness testimony. Detectives obtained an arrest warrant due to the severity of the crime. According to the Spokesman-Review, Ramey’s husband found her shot to death on April 5, with Det. Gary Johnston telling a judge that

she was killed “execution style.” The seriousness of the crime likely aided in speeding an arrest warrant for Utt. Once Utt was taken into custody, however, he provided details placing him in Eugene, Ore., at the time of the death. Authorities were later able to verify the information. As a result, Utt was released, and Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall dropped the charges against him without prejudice. As details of the case became public during the weekend, residents expressed alarm that they hadn’t been notified earlier about a possible murder suspect being at large in the area. However, after Utt was released, others had harsh words about the quickness to judge him. In an interview

with KHQ, Nathan Utt’s brother, Nick Utt, said that people treated him unfairly because of transient lifestyle. “I hope everyone from the Bonner County or Sandpoint area realizes that before you talk, figure things out,” he told KHQ. Nick Utt also told KHQ his brother’s demeanor may have worked against him. “He’s a little off, but he’s not that kind of person,” he said. “He does scare people because he ... [paces] back and forth, but he’s not that kind of person.” The investigation into Ramey’s death is ongoing. Anyone with information should call Bonner County Dispatch at 265-5525 or report anonymous tips to 255-COPS (2677).

City speaks out against anti-Rognstad mailing

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff

ocall, which hit Sandpoint homes prior to the mayorThe city of Sandpoint is al election. The robocall seeking information about centered on the same themes mailed fliers defaming May- of anti-multiculturalism and or Shelby Rognstad. racist undertones. The fliers, which were The anti-Rognstad mailmailed to a variety of Sandings come on the heels of point individuals and busiracist fliers thrown in the nesses, are racially charged yards of South Sandpoint and portray Rognstad as residents. Those fliers seeking the “darkening of promoted a famous white Sandpoint” through low-insupremacist website. come housing. Anyone with information Rognstad suspects that the on this issue is invited to call fliers may be the work of the the city at 263-1482. same people behind a rob-

Community Cancer Services kicks off charity ball Community Cancer Services is going a little mad at its inaugural charity ball. Themed after characters from “Alice in Wonderland,” the Mad Hatter’s Charity Ball is set for Saturday, April 15, from 6-11 p.m. at Columbia State

Bank. The evening will feature catering by Tango Cafe, festive cocktails, dancing and silent and live auctions. Whimsical attire encouraged! Visit www.communitycancerservices.com for more information.

Memorial Field project benefits from Otter veto By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff

Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s veto of the grocery tax repeal on Tuesday is a setback for tax relief proponents, but it could make life easier for the city of Sandpoint. According to Sandpoint City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton, the city’s local option tax, passed by voters to fund the construction of the new Memorial Field grandstands, is tied to the state’ sales tax, and around a third of the revenue from that tax comes from grocery stores. When the grocery tax repeal passed the Idaho Legislature and went to the 8 /

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governor’s desk, Stapleton said there was some concern in City Hall on how that would impact the progress of the grandstand project. Prior to the possibility of the grocery tax repeal, the local option tax was on pace to raise revenue for additional park projects beyond Memorial Field. Otter, on the other hand, had state revenue on his mind in vetoing the bill. In his statement accompanying the veto, Otter reiterated his commitment to tax relief, saying he has approved around $1 billion in relief since taking office in 2007. However, he said the repeal of the grocery tax would rep-

resent a severe hit to the state general fund. “Everyone benefits from some kind of government service. Everyone eats,” Otter said in his statement. “The income derived from a tax on groceries helps to even out the more dramatic ups and downs in our State revenue stream so that government avoids disruptive and dysfunctional shortfalls and funding holdbacks needed to balance the budget.” Otter said he took a lesson from Utah’s recent lesson in grocery tax repeal. He said the result in that state was the removal of one of the state’s most stable revenue sources. “The advice from Utah

was simple and straightforward: Don’t do it,” Otter said in his statement. “The ramifications of lifting the sales tax from food had made budgeting much more difficult with the loss of what indisputably was their most stable and consistent source of revenue for essential government operations. Taxpayers benefited almost imperceptibly while lawmakers found themselves dealing with the peaks and valleys of income tax and other financial supports that are far more susceptible to economic fluctuations.” Many lawmakers and state residents disagree with Otter’s assessment. The state’s 6-percent sales tax has

opponents on both the right and the left, with one of the most common complaints being that a grocery tax hits low-income families disproportionately hard compared to middle-class and well-todo families. District 1 Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, was among those who supported the bill, as did Rep. Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay, and Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard. “I voted yes on the bill, and while I understand and respect the Governor’s concerns about the state’s general fund budget I believe it is immoral to tax food—the sustenance of life,” Keough said on her Facebook page.

FEATURE

Cycling psychologist carries veteran burdens By Jodi Rawson Reader Contributor

Years ago Dr. Jaimie Lusk was working with a patient battling severe depression. “You know,” she said, “I used to feel like you, until I sold my car and started bicycling over 20 miles a day.” Her patient responded with, “You are crazy!” Dr. Lusk currently works at the VA in Portland, Ore. She knows that in long-term studies, consistent exercise has far better results than pharmaceuticals in healing mental illness. Recently she ran an ultra marathon in the Cascades, excelled at surf camp in Costa Rica and won an amateur mountain bike racing series surrounding Portland. She has always been active and has cultivated a happy life. At her college (United States Naval Academy) graduation in 2001, Lusk shook President George. W Bush’s hand. During her 30-day leave, she cycled across the nation, averaging around 110 miles a day. She got her feet wet in the Pacific Ocean in Oregon and ended up running barefoot in the Atlantic Ocean in New York a month later. When war was declared in the Middle East in 2003, she was a Marine Corp officer in Kuwait. After being a veteran of war, Lusk landed in Colorado where she was a public school teacher and a bike messenger, delivering packages all over Denver. In 2007 she won the “Bike Messenger world championships,” in Ireland. She went back to college to receive her doctorate in psychology with the GI Bill scholarship where she graduated at the top. Throughout her studies and career Dr. Lusk has done extensive research on PTSD, a wide range of mental illnesses and suicide: What causes them, how to prevent them and what

tools help people cope and build a healthy life. I have read and believe to be true(for me personally) that we get what we need in this life. I can admit I needed a psychologist sister in this lifetime. Often I have turned to my sister, Dr. Lusk, for support, and she has offered me tools on coping and communicating. She is good at helping me breathe past shame, into a new day. Over a year ago, while my Dad and I drove to my sister’s apartment, we called her when she got off work, but she was curt with us and hung up promptly. That 20 minute walk down the hill from the V.A. was her stress-free fresh air, her sacred quiet. We hadn’t seen her in months, so her curtness stung, but her excuse caused me to understand her situation, her Friday workday. “Look,” she explained. “I have spent the last four hours talking down two suicides. I need some time to breathe.” Occasionally Lusk is haunted by symptoms often referred to as “compassion overload” resulting from her overwhelming and difficult caseload requiring enormous amounts of compassion. Instead of referring to them as “patients,” Lusk calls them “my vets,” and she sees 20 of them individually per week. All of them are younger than middle-aged, and a third of them are women. She also has group therapy with 15 people weekly. All of her vets require extensive paperwork. If all this weren’t enough, she truly does care and takes the vets’ stories home in her heart. With “compassion overload,” Lusk is learning to set boundaries. “I am not sure I have a great strategy,” she said. “There are more veterans that need help

than I am able to work with. I attempt to be as just as I possibly can, triaging everyone I assess based on the severity of their distress, and how helpful I think I can be to them. If I don’t think I can be helpful, I am committed to getting them where they need to go. I also need to keep reminding myself of my own limits. Showing others compassion is only sustainable long-term if I am showing myself compassion. Finally I need to stay humble. No way I can figure out what others need to do; I just have some tools I continue to develop that I can use with people to help them find their way.” “Once individuals can begin to revisit and make sense of their trauma, they might need to mourn what was lost, reclaim the values that were violated in the trauma, make restitution, and discover ways that the wound of trauma can be transformed to wisdom,” she continued. “In the VA, we have begun to treat Moral Injury, which is related to PTSD, but has to do with the values that were violated in the trauma, leading to intense feelings of guilt, shame, anger or resentment.” Trump getting elected has frozen hiring for essential positions, but Lusk said her work hasn’t changed yet. “No mental health jobs have been taken away,” she said. “The secretary of the VA knows what he is doing. We are not panicking yet.” There has been talk of privatizing veteran’s care, but the threat of doing away with VA hospitals is a frightening one. The behavior of some vets receiving treatment for mental illness might land them in jail if acted out in an ordinary private hospital setting, resulting in further stress and

Jaimie Lusk uses her bike as a respite from the difficulties of her job. Courtesy photos damage. The VA hospitals, however, are very equipped and understanding of outbursts resulting from mental illness. “I think the VA and vet centers are doing great work, we just can’t keep up with the demand,” Lusk said. “Once a veteran gets where they need to be in the system, they get the help they need. I think it can be hard for veterans who

are hurting to advocate for themselves and stay patient while navigating the system.” Cycling is still a potent medicine in her life. With an apartment full of bicycles, one of the only places her boyfriend and her can sit down is on the tandem on trainers. They are training for “bicycle built for two” nationals in June. April 13, 2017 /

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: e r u t l u c i r g a By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist Gardens are incredible things. Looking at it from afar, it’s a place you dump your animal poop and rotted vegetables, where strange green Lovecraftian creatures erupt from the ground to gift you delicious things to throw in the juicer. When you really look at it close up, it’s a much more complicated and miraculous place. Each square foot of your garden houses an immensely complicated ecosystem that you’re tailoring to work for you. Thousands of insects pass through the soil of your garden every week. Fungi you can’t even see traps water to sustain your plants. Microscopic bacteria interact in an invisible ocean beneath the soil. Ultimately, your garden is your greatest science experiment. Even the ph of the soil can drastically alter your ability to grow, especially around here. It’s important and inexpensive to test the ph of your soil, and it’s not even very complicated. Most of the time you can buy a kit from almost anywhere, where you toss some soil into a beaker, mix it with water and testing solution, shake it up and see what color it makes. It’s as easy as that. Soils around here can swing wildly from acidic to alkaline in either extreme. Around here, soils that have a lot of clay, such as ones closer to the lake and the deltas, are very alkaline. Some plants may struggle to grow in this kind of soil, while others such as asparagus, brussel sprouts and most kinds of cabbage will thrive in more alkaline soils. On the other end of the spectrum, acidic soils can cause havoc on certain plants, but cause others to thrive. Decomposing pine needles are a pretty large contributor to acidic soils. The Ponderosa in my yard murders everything but berry bushes with its eternal rain of brown needles. Most tangy berry bushes love

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the garden acidic soils. Blueberries and raspberries thrive, as will our native thimbleberry. Word of caution with the thimbleberry: It will take over huge swaths of hillside if you let it, so if you want to put other things on your hill, plant with care! Though your garden may be home to many six-legged renters, not all of them are there for your benefit. Pests like aphids and certain mites love tender plants and can quickly turn swaths of your garden into wilty brown sadness. While your first instinct might be to bomb the buggers into the great dark beyond, I’d ask you to restrain your inner Heinlein and think it through. Insecticide is not a targeted response to a problem in most cases, especially when dealing with your garden. For every pest crawling on your tomato, there are a minimum of three other helpers making sure it gets what it needs to keep growing. The insecticide won’t discriminate and will generally kill all four, which could deliver some serious damage to your poor tomato in the long run. In the war on bugs, knowledge is your sharpest sword. Study your enemy, learn his weaknesses and when he least expects it, unleash his natural predator! Ladybugs, despite their gentle demeanor towards humans, are voracious predators that attack aphids like a lion in a pen full of sheep. If you find yourself lacking any ladybugs, most of our garden and also our feed stores carry them for a very reasonable price. If your pest is too big for a ladybug, the praying mantis is another good option for delivering swift retribution to a six- or eight-legged pest. They’re also sold by most garden stores in the area, or can be ordered in for you. An insect that comes, eats its fill of your pests and leaves will do much less damage to your precious plants than a toxic

dump. If you have a problem, do you want to send Seal Team Six or drop a tactical nuke on it? Seal Team Six is going to leave you with a lot fewer problems than fire and poison. If you pulled the trigger and got yourself some baby chicks or baby ducks, you have another powerful tool in your insecticidal arsenal. Once they’re grown enough to go outside, you can bring them with you for supervised visits to the garden. Ducks eat slugs like I eat bacon, and chickens pick away anything that crawls. If your plants are only a couple of inches tall and still tender, you might want to hold off on these visits, though, as the birds won’t discriminate. If it can fit in their mouth, they’re going to eat it. Best to wait until it can’t easily fit into their beaks or bills! If you decided to get turkeys this year, I applaud your bravery. You will, however, need to completely cover and contain your garden. They will strip it to the dirt. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of how fast. We call them feathered locusts for a reason. Geese will tear through your baby plants and any leafy greens, too. Geese have serrated beaks that let them rip apart grass and leafy greens with ease. Awesome if you hate mowing your lawn, the pits if you love an open lettuce garden. If you keep an enclosed garden area, geese will make for a great alarm system and occasionally a deer deterrent. They’re notoriously noisy (read: not a town pet!), and when something startles them you can hear it over a hundred feet away. Speaking of deer, everyone has a thousand and one home concoctions, tips and tricks to keep deer at bay. The best way to keep a deer out of your garden is to put a fence around it and do what you can to enclose the top without blocking out the sun.

I’ve had great luck with five-foot fencing for cattle and putting wire and shade cloth across the top. If you want to keep birds out (especially out of your strawberries!) put old CDs or DVDs at random levels around the garden. Hang them, tack them to the fence, incorporate them into garden art, whatever. The sun reflecting off the disks will startle birds and keep them away from your goods. Gazing balls fulfill a similar purpose and look pretty to boot. A successful garden is a balancing act of care, knowledge, application and elbow grease. You don’t have to run around hugging trees to make a healthy and organic gardening space. The more that we’ve researched the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder in bees, the more we’ve begun to see the human origins of the bees’ demise. We are starting to find evidence that neonicotinoids, often called Systemics, are the culprit. Essentially,

it’s a pesticide that gets infused into a plant at a very young age and grows with it, and is shed with pollen and fruit. It controls insect populations by killing them when they try to feed on the plant. Bees included. Bees are very important to allow your garden to thrive. Without bees, you get no fruit. Without fruit, you have nothing to eat. Bees are important, bees are life. We live in a beautiful and unique area where fresh compost and 125 million-year-old organic pest control is practically a phone call away. I mean, if it worked for us for 12,000 years, I imagine it would keep working for us now, right? I better put the mad scientist cap back on before Ben gets back from vacation. Shhh, Mad About Agriculture will be our little secret, North Idaho.

Random Corner ? We can help!

Don’t know much about horses

• Black Jack, the riderless horse who participated in over 1,000 Full Honors U.S. Military Funerals, including JFK’s, is one of the two horses to be buried with Full Military Honors himself, the other being Comanche, General Custer’s horse. • An individual horse has a peak power output of 14.9 horsepower. • There exists a foundation called “Guide Horse Foundation” that provides miniature horses to blind people for guidance. Guide horses are more preferred for assistance than guide dogs for those allergic or afraid of dogs. • In 1894, London and New York were facing “Great Horse Manure Crisis”. It was estimated that within 50 years, London streets would be drowned in horse poop and horse carcasses. But the invention of the automobiles resolved the problem. • Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are” was originally going to be “Where the Wild Horses Are” until he started working on it and discovered he couldn’t draw horses. • When Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar’s daughter wanted a unicorn, he bought her a horse and stapled a cone to its head and wings on its back, due to which the horse died from an infection.

FOOD

The Sandpoint Eater What a ham!

By Marcia Pilgeram Reader Food Columnist Recently, while pawing through a box of books at an estate sale, I found a little gem of a cookbook to add to my collection: “Cooking Round the World and At Home,” compiled by the Sandpoint American Legion Auxiliary in 1947. Two-thirds of the book’s recipes are “from the north, east, west and south,” and the last third is dedicated to the “many better cooks of the Sandpoint community.” I imagine it was a real privilege to have a recipe included, and though I was yet to be born when this book appeared, many of these recipes took me right back to my childhood, especially the Spiced Baked Ham presented by Nell Reece.

I grew up on spiced ham, often provided for Sunday parish potlucks by The Knights of Columbus and cooked up by the Ladies of the Altar Society (occasionally, when we’d had our fill of parish ham, my best friend Irene and I would steal away with the loose change we’d “forgotten” to drop in the collection basket for a quick trip to the U & I Cafe, where we’d indulge in a shared order of hot salty fries, coated in grease and guilt). At home, my mother would boil a ham for hours, then stud the rind with whole cloves, place it in the oven and baste it with a thick coat of sticky glaze until it glistened. I’d never tasted anything quite as delicious. After we’d had our Sunday fill, the ham could be found, disguised throughout the week as potted lunchmeat and ham loaf, until finally the bigboned carcass was boiled one last time, along with beans or split peas and served with homemade bread.

Ham reminds me of Easter too, and along with a giant bowl of potato salad (my mother’s recipe), takes a place of honor on my plentiful buffet. My mother had her own Easter ham memories and often told me about growing up in downtown Billings above my grandfather’s pawn shop. For special occasions, her mother would send her, armed with a ham and a quarter, to the local Chinese bakery, where they’d wrap the ham in pastry and bake the crust to a golden brown. Mom said it was nearly impossible to get home without snitching an undetected bite of the crust from the bottom of the ham. In my collection of vintage cookbooks, the ham is nearly always adorned with fruit or awash in glaze, and I suspect it was to dress up this inexpensive cut of meat that graced the holiday table. Not today! The spring catalog from Heritage Farms of Brooklyn, New York, features Berkshire and Red

Ham and Cheese Feuilleté One of my favorite take-along foods for brunch or appetizers because it’s both a beautiful presentation and really tasty. Serve alongside scrambled eggs for brunch, a green salad for dinner or a stand-alone appetizer. Handled correctly, it will yield layer upon layer of delicate pastry. It’s important to keep pastry chilled as you work quickly, then bake in a hot oven. Be sure to use a serrated knife to keep the pastry from crumbling and don’t reheat in a microwave – use conventional oven.

INGREDIENTS: 1 box Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets (freezer case) 1 lb Ham, thinly sliced

1/2 lb Baby Swiss cheese, thinly sliced 1/4 cup good quality French Dijon Mustard

1 egg yolk 2 tablespoon cream

encase juices. Whisk egg and cream, (egg wash) and brush onto folded up edges. Take second piece of puff pastry, stretch or roll to 9” x 14” size and lay on top of first piece (extra 2” is to cut out decorative designs for top. Crimp edges with fork, brush top with remaining egg wash, add cutouts, brush with egg wash and chill for one hour. Remove from refrigerator, and vent in

corners and center (venting is important for steam to escape) Bake at 425 degrees on middle shelf for approx. 24 minutes, or until top is caramel brown and pastry is cooked through. If needed in last 3-4 minutes, move to bottom or top shelf for even color of pastry. Let rest about 5 minutes before cutting into large pieces as an entrée or small pieces as an appetizer, using serrated knife. Serve immediately (or wait to cut until serving).

DIRECTIONS: Thaw puff pastry in refrigerator. Sheets are 9”x 9” Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line sheet pan with parchment paper. Lay first piece of pastry on baking sheet and gently stretch or roll to approx 9”x 12” size. Spread mustard on puff pastry leaving 1” un-covered border around all sides. Alternate layer with first ham, then cheese, ham, cheese. Fold edges over to

Wattle hams for $15 a pound, Long Barbeque for $2.49 a pound. along with tasting notes touting Whatever ham you buy, plan on the Berkshire as balanced umami, about a half-pound per person. with hints of mushrooms and fig, Spiral hams are easy to serve, but while the Red Wattle is robust keep in mind that they dry out with notes of cinnamon, spice and more quickly than a whole ham, butter cream. so don’t overbake. For the really serious pork conNot unlike her grandmother, noisseur, you might also consider my daughter Ryanne likes pastry an aged, naturally cured Kentucky wrapped ham too, and I’ve been ham by “the Ham Lady,” Nancy making Ham and Cheese FeuilNewsom. Newsom’s was establete since I first discovered the lished January 1, 1917, by H.C. recipe more than 30 years ago. Newsom, Nancy’s grandfather. From the ranch to the restaurant, The business has been producing it was the most requested item on country hams for a hundred years, my catering hors d’oeuvre list. and for a limited period of time, However, you choose to ham it they are offering the Newsom up, I wish you and yours a most Highlands Long Leg. The pasHappy Easter. ture-raised aged ham is cured and shipped with a long leg and the hoof. These hams run about $12 a pound and weigh in at about twenty pounds. HELP WANTED Locally, you’ll find Aircraft Loads/ Structures Engineer: hams, bone-in or out, unadorned or pre-glazed, Perform engineering duties in designing, testing, and certification of aircraft modifications for in all our local markets. active winglets. Req Bach. or for equiv. in You can choose the Aerospace Engg or Aeronautical Engg + 3 yrs. shank end or the butt of work exp. in: Aircraft static & dynamic flight loads analysis; aircraft aeroeleastic modeling; end (my preference) flutter analysis (including aeroservoelastic or a spiral cut. Most analysis); & using NX Nastran, Nastran DMAP hams have added water, programming language, & FEMAP software. which dilutes the ham Exp. must include 1 yr. of work exp. in analysis taste, so keep that in & documentation of EASA CS23 certification mind when shopping for requirements. Exp. may be gained concurrently. Position at Tamarack Aerospace Group, Inc. in yours. Yokes offers a Sandpoint, ID. To apply, please e-mail resume & spiral cut ham produced cover letter to: jobs@tamarackaero.com exclusively for them by April 13, 2017 /

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“Being personally acquainted with a number of Waldorf students, I can say that they come closer to realizing their own potential than practically anyone I know.” — J O S E P H W E I Z E N B A U M , Professor Emeritus, M I T

event t h u r s d a y

f r i d a y

Join Us For a Spring APRIL 20 ~ MAY 2 ~ MAY 12 from 8:15 –10:15 a.m Spend the morning in each of our classrooms (Grade 1 - Grade 8) to experience the rich curriculum that we offer at SWS. In addition to our standard studies, our rigorous curriculum also includes: Japanese Spanish Movement Eurythmy Music Strings Orchestra Handwork Woodworking To schedule a date to tour: call 208-265-2683 2007 Sandpoint West Drive (across from Travers Park) We welcome anyone who is interested in learning more about SWS.

s a t u r d a y

s u n d a y

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

w e d n e s d a y t h u r s d a y

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Learn to dance the Country Two-Step 7pm @ Sandpoint West Athletic Club With instructor Diane Peters. 610-1770

Azalea Second Year Anniversary 5-8pm @ Azalea Hand-Picked Style Celebrate at 322 N 1st Ave. with sales, prizes and treats Live Music w/ Tom Catmull 5:30-8:30pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Welcome this Missoula musician

“Fratz” screening 7:30pm @Panida Theater Movie times are 7:30 p.m. April 13, and 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. April 15.

Live Music w/ Mostly Harmless 6-8pm @ The Wine Bar, Cedar Street Bridge

Live Music w/ Phoenix 9pm @ Ol’ Reds Pub Catch some classic rock with a little country and blues.

Annual Easter Egg hunt 10am @ Memorial Field A much-loved tradition with divisions for all your kids

Live Music w/ Justin Lantrip 5:30-7:30pm @ Idaho Pour Authority A classic Sandpoint singer-songwriter plays a classic establishment

Art Place open house 10am-4pm @ Art Place Meet the instructors, sign up for classes, check out art and enjoy refreshments at 120 S. Second Ave. 920-0796

Live Music w/ Mike Wagoner 5:30-8:30pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Everything from country-rock to ballads and soulful folk, with a peppering of humorous songs throughout

Sandpoint Chess Club 9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee Meets every Sunday at 9am. All are welcome Monday Night Blues Jam w/ Truck Mills 7:30pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Night Out Karaoke 9pm @ 219 Lounge

Puppy Power Hour 12pm @ Pend Oreille Pet Lodge

Planning Commission movie night 5:30pm @ City Hall Urban planning documentary with discussion afterward.

Hiawatha Drum Circle! Unite the Tribes! 6:30-8pm @ Memorial Community Center (Hope) A journey through the spirit world. Not a class! Try to bring your own drum. For more info contact Jack (208) 304-9300 or memorialcommunitycenter.com Dollar Beers! 8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Good until the keg’s dry

Easter Egg Hunt 10am @ Sandpoint Assembly of Go Open to kids age 2-12.

Animal shelter annual me 5:30pm @ Panhandle She Hear a review of 2016 an view of plans at Panhandl Shelter

Five Minutes of Fame 6:30pm @ Cafe Bodega Writers and musicians are invited to s est work at this open mic night.

Season Bender: The Motet 8pm @ The Hive No matter how you choose to express funk, you can’t fake it - and the Motet are FO REAL. Tickets are only $10 for this special Schweitzer Mountain appreciation show

CHAFE 1 5-7pm @ Live musi and Doug about the appetizers

Proudly Educating Over 160 Students In Bonner County We also provide a nurturing Early Childhood program for 18 mo. through Kindergarten.

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April 13 - 20, 2017

A weekly entertainment guide to keep you on your toes. To list your event free, please send an email to calendar@sandpointreader.com. Reader recommended

Radical Movie Night 6-8pm @ Evans Brothers Catch Noam Chomsky in “Requiem for the American Dream” and the #NoDAPL struggle in “Killing the Black Snake.”

Live Music w/Ron Greene 6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Get a taste of some classic rock with your beer. Live Music w/ John Firshi 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority

ntry

Live Music w/ Chris Lynch 6pm @ Arlo’s Ristorante

Dollar Beers! 8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub

Open mic with Doug and Kevin 6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall

Sandpoint Contra Dance 7pm @ Sandpoint Community Hall A traditional New England community dance.

Tasty Food and Great Coffee

Live Music w/ Miah Kohal 9pm-12am @ 219 Lounge

Allen James Teague Piano Concert 7:30pm @ Panida Theater

Mad Hatter Charity Ball 6-11pm @ Columbia State Bank A fun and eclectic fundraiser for a worthy organization; Community Cancer Services. 255-2301 for more information Mad Hatter’s Charity Ball Cedar St. Bridge Public Market 6-11pm @ Columbia State Bank A benefit for Community Cancer Services with great food 10am-2pm @ Cedar St. Bridge Come enjoy indoor shopping on and drinks. www. communitycancerservices.com the bridge spanning Sand Creek Live Music w/ Brian Jacobs Live Music w/ Chris Lynch 9pm-12am @ 219 Lounge 6pm @ Arlo’s Ristorante Return of the Jedi Party 7pm @ Ol’ Reds Pub Dress up as your favorite Star Wars character to welcome Yoda back! Artist Dan Parsons will be in the house.

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odge

annual meeting andle Shelter f 2016 and a prePanhandle Animal

Homework Help 3pm @ Sandpoint Library Geared for high school and middle school students, there is quiet study space with peer to peer collaboration and help from library staff. Pajama Storytime 6:30pm @ Sandpoint Library

nvited to share their latight.

NAMI Far North monthly meeting 5:30pm @ old BGH classroom, 520 N 3rd Ave. Licensed counselor Catherine Perusse leads a presentation of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy.

CHAFE 150 Happy Hour 5-7pm @ 219 Lounge Live music with Marty Perron and Doug Bond. Learn more about the CHAFE 150. Raffles, appetizers, prizes and more

Girls Pint Out Night 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Grab a beer with the girls! Belgian-style beer is the order of the night

BIG EVENT MONTH FOR MAY MAY 5 -CINCI DE MAYO PARTY

MAY 6 - LIVE COMEDY DEREK SHEEN & MORGAN PRESTON MAY 18 - TAP TAKEOVER BY BALLAST POINT BREWERY

MAY 19 - MIAH KOHAL BAND AFTER THE PARADE MAY 20 - SAT. AFTERNOON DEVON WADE BAND

CEDAR ST. BRIDGE in Sandpoint, Idaho

www.cedarstbistro.com

Game Night at the Niner 9pm @ 219 Lounge

mbly of God

located on the historic

April 22 Swing Dance with Carl Rey and the Blues Gators @ The Pearl Theater (Bonners) May 4 Idaho Gives - A fundraising day for area nonprofits

. D . O , h c o K . E l u PAall your general eye care needs •From treating ocular allergies and dry eyes to the ﬁtting of contact lenses •Your eyes should feel and see their best •Local and independent optometrist •14 years of experience in Sandpoint •Many insurances accepted

Keep Your Vision Up to the Task April 13, 2017 / R / Call and make an appointment today: 208.255.5513

Insuring The North Idaho Way Of Life!

S a n d p o i n t

Open House

Join us to meet the instructors, sign up for workshops, browse the Artist’s Gallery. Coffee. Lemonade and cookies all day!

Saturday April 15th 10 am to 4 pm

Art Place Sandpoint is an new art center offering Artisan Crafts and Fine Art workshops. Daytime, evening and weekend workshops available: watercolor, pen and ink, encaustic, jewelry, slab pottery, beginning book making, basket weaving, textile art, calligraphy with more added to the schedule weekly!

Home and Commercial Insurance Packages specifically created for Idaho Residents ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

City, Country or Mountain Homes Farm and Ranch Operations Recreational Vehicles, Boats, Autos Tractors and Farm Equipment Wood Stoves Home-Based Business Insurance Contractor’s Insurance Renters Insurance Umbrella and Life Insurance

Simpliﬁed Package Policies and Package Discounts from an Idaho Insurance Company with Idaho Rates. I’ll answer your questions, review your current coverage, and address your speciﬁc needs. There is no fee for the visit and review. Farm Bureau Insurance of Idaho Agent, Bea Speakman Office: 208-263-3161 Cell: 208-627-7799 ASK FOR “BEA”@idfbins.com

Sandpoint – Ponderay

920 Kootenai Cutoff Rd. Located just northeast of Walmart.

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We’re Turning 2!

120 S. Second Ave. | www.artplacesandpoint.com | 208-920-0796 Founder/Owner, Vickie Edwards

Join Us Friday April 14, 5-8pm

Sales/Prizes/Treats

208.263.3663 (food) Sponsored by Washington Trust Bank & Huckleberry Lanes Bounce and Bowl

“Spring” for Sandpoint S h o p

Azalea

Eve’s Leaves Zany Zebra

Healing Partners Equestrian Program Creations

Larson’s

Kaniksu Land Trust

NW Handmade Nieman’s Floral

Meadow Brook Great Stuff Mountain Song

Santosha Ol’ Red’s Pub Cedar Street Bistro Finan McDonald Sharon’s Hallmark Zero Point Creations Pedro’s Alpine Shop La Chic Boutique

Support our LOCAL Charities By shopping Local on Saturday

Food Bank

Carousel

Pend d’Oreille Winery

L o c a l

The Healing Garden

Bonner Homeless Transitions

April 22nd

Underground Kindness Special Olympics Community Cancer Services

Participating Retailers will give back to their charity of choice

Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeepers Panida Theater Food for our Children

Trout Unlimited Bonner Gospel Mission

GrowOur

Selle Valley Carden School Pend Oreille Pedalers

COMMUNITY

Selkirk Outdoor Leadership & Education Kinderhaven SHS Aerospace Program Panhandle Alliance for Education

Additional Events & Special Promos Details can be found on

Uryadis Village

Retailers Facebook Page or

Sandpoint Shopping District Page

FREE MEDICAL CARE FOR THOSE IN OUR COMMUNITY UNABLE TO AFFORD IT Bonner Partners in Care Clinic provides high quality Health Care to the Community without charge. We provide a health care safety net for those in our community unable to afford Medical Care. Prescription Medications included. We treat general health disorders such as Hypertension, Diabetes, Respiratory Infections, and other minor Medical Care as well as assistance with some diagnostic testing and imaging. FREE Clinic.

We are located in The Panhandle Health Care Building at 2101 Pine Street 208.255.9099 Appointments not needed, we operate on a first come, first serve basis For more information please visit our website www.bpicc.org

Find us on Facebook

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Part 3 of 4

By Dianne Smith Reader Columnist This has been such a wonderful opportunity for me to see what all is out there and what are people’s passions. There are so many wonderful opportunities both for people who want to volunteer as well as for those who need services. NAMI Far North is dedicated to improving the quality of life of those who are affected by mental illness. They provide an after-hour crisis line that is staffed by licensed mental health professionals and offer educational opportunities to the community. The local organization was started by five individuals who felt that having a local affiliate to the national organization was important in helping those in the community whose lives were impacted by mental illness. NAMI offers many wonderful classes and support groups as well as educational material to help people better understand mental illness and how they can support those who are struggling. Serving foster children in the area, Kinderhaven, a shelter home, and CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocates, help ensure that the children get what they need. Kinderhaven provides a safe refuge where children don’t have to worry about what they are going to eat or where they are going to sleep. They work hard to provide as normal of life as possible. Kinderhaven relies on the community for much of their support with many of the local organizations such as Angels Over Sandpoint participating in fundraisers that benefit Kinderhaven. CASA is the child’s voice in the court process and speaks as to what the child wants for their future. CASAs are strictly volunteers who donate about 10 hours a month to making sure that their CASA child’s needs are being taken care of. It might involve attending school meetings, going to court, attending a soccer game or just spending time providing support. Bonner Homeless Transitions provides transitional housing and case management services to local homeless families and victims of domestic 16 /

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violence. Around 85 percent of families and women who move into the two shelters are able to successfully transition to permanent housing, which usually means a rental they can afford. That is huge when you consider statistics on homelessness. With two locations their housing program includes classes on budgeting, parenting, healthy eating and cooking. With many children living in their supportive housing programs they provide a safe place for children to just be kids and not have to worry about what they are going to eat and where they are going to sleep. They also work to link clients with great community partners who can also support the journey to self sufficiency. Panhandle Animal Shelter’s mission statement is “to diminish the number of lost, abandoned, neglected and abused dogs and cats through adoption, education, litter prevention and identification of missing pets.” Their thrift store helps support finding homes for the estimated 1,600 animals that they work with each year. Feeding all those animals can be expensive and the shelter depends on volunteers and donations to make sure those animals don’t go hungry. During the summer they provide an opportunity for children to learn more about animals through their Critter Camp. Want to walk a dog but without the responsibilities. Check out a time to volunteer at the shelter as there is never a lack of animals that need human time. Bonner Partners in Care Clinic provides healthcare to those who have no other option for care. The clinic staffed entirely by volunteers strives to provide health care believes that “all people will have access to basic health care regardless of ability to pay” because “a healthy community is a productive community.”Providing care for minor and chronic health problems they do not charge for services but accept donations. They also provide mental health medication management with a psychiatrist by appointment which is wonderful for those who have no insurance.

Easter Sunday Gatherings

8 am • 9:30 am • 11 am

(9:30 & 11 am kids classes available)

Easter Weekend at Cedar Hills

Saturday Gatherings

April 15th - 5 & 7 pm (nursery, ages 0-3 available)

No 707 gathering Easter week McGhee Road

Getting to know our wonderful nonprofits

Kootenai Cut Off Road Hwy 200

Cedar Hills Church To Hope

227 McGhee Rd Sandpoint (in Ponderay)

To Sandpoint

208.265.8500

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www.cedarhillschurch.com

TECHNOLOGY

Bonner County mapping system opens the region By Bill Harp Reader Columnist If you love exploring the diverse geography of northern Idaho and working with maps but are not familiar with the Bonner County Map (BCM) on the Bonner County mapping web site portal (http:// maps.bonnercounty.us) let me introduce you to this hidden gem. OK, I know that some of you are web mapping junkies and maybe have explored the world with Google Earth. However, the Bonner County mapping portal has mapping apps and data that you won’t find on Goggle Earth—or any other mapping application for that matter. The Main Web Application on the portal or the Bonner County Map is the first one to explore. Although it runs in a browser and on different operating systems (Windows, Android, Linux, Chrome, iOS) you do need a larger screen— say eight diagonal inches or more—to properly appreciate its features. If you just have a smart phone you can play with the Mobile Web Application, the second application on the portal. That mobile app show a limited amount of county data, but it does show your location on the map if you have a GPS chip set in your mobile device and the application can route you from one address to another. Although the BCM interface is deceptively uncluttered, there are a lot of features that you really need to explore to use the mapping system’s full capability. The BCM (http:// maps.bonnercounty.us/apps/ public/) has several key areas: tool bar at the top left of the screen, data layer selection and some other features on the right column, scale bar on the

bottom left and address search box on the upper right and, of course, the map in the middle of the screen. Notice the + and – icons in the upper left. You can use them to zoom in or out, or just use your mouse wheel to zoom in and out which is a lot faster. There are zoom-in and out tools on the toolbar too. The default map background is called “Basemap,” but you can change that to six other different layers that you can select on the toolbar in the upper-left under Basemap dropdown selection box. A couple of those layers deserve special mention. “NAIP 2013 (1/2 meter)” provides high-resolution photography of the entire county and surrounding area. “Topographic Map shows the U.S. Geological Survey maps of the county. This is a great source for historical place names and contour intervals that show elevation data. You can explore the other “Basemaps” too. You can use the address search box to find any address in the county. When the system finds your address, it will highlight the address with a blue marker. Note that if you zoom in beyond 1:60,000 scale you will see polygons with tan outlines, and when zooming in to 1:32,000 scale, little green triangles will appear. OK, this is the pay dirt. The tan polygons are land parcels and the green triangles are official addresses. This is the authoritative data of the county, and it’s used to route emergency responders to your house or help the assessor charge your taxes. The valuable thing here is that all these geographic features have data or attributes associated with them. And you can see these attributes by using the “i” tool in the white and blue icon on the tool bar in the upper left to

click on the parcel to review the parcel attributes. Notice the owner’s names, the address, zoning, legal description, house type, acreage size and assessed value among other interesting attributes. The “i” or identity tool works with most other features too, not just parcels. Sometimes multiple attributes come up depending on how many layers you have turned on (more on that later) and you can just scroll through them with the arrow left and right tools at the top of the attribute box. Haven’t you always wondered how much your neighbor’s property is assessed at? Well, now you can find the assessed value of any property in the county. Ain’t government transparency fun? Also, if this isn’t enough data you can access copies of the last few legal documents associated with the property like the warranty deed with the hyperlinks in blue at the bottom of the attribute record dialog box. Be sure that pop-ups are enabled for this web site in your browser or you won’t be able to see the legal documents. These are, of course, all public records and the county is making it easy for you to access them with a click of the mouse. Now for some more cool stuff. Look over on the righthand side of the screen. Notice all those data layers? There are dozens of them. Click on any of the plus symbols to see the sub-layers hidden underneath. All the political, administrative, taxing districts as well as geographic data are here for you to review. Also, you will find the official county zoning and land use data here too. Just place a check mark with a click in front of the feature you want to see and it will display on the map. Want to see the FEMA

flood zones? Timely no? There are all kinds of spatial data all conveniently arranged in one place. There are no other mapping applications with such a collection of rich, authoritative and detailed data of Bonner County. Notice that each major type of features has a slider bar above it that you can use to control the transparency of the layers in each section. This makes is possible for you to see details of the basemap underneath any geographic features that you might be reviewing. The Draw and Export section on the right-hand column has another powerful set of features. You can annotate you map with points, lines, polygons and text. And every geometric feature you draw has a precise measurement associated with it. So, you can calculate length, area, distance, etc., right on the map. You can choose the colors of your annotation, too. If you mess up, no problem: Just use the clear graphics tool on the tool bar in the upper left. If you need the geographic coordinates of any point, just use the coordinate tool on the upper left tool bar. That is the icon with the xy in it. If you have stuck with me so far you are probably wondering about now if you can print a map, and of course you can. Just go to the Export section in the right column and choose a layout template for printing or for creating a digital file. Hint: Choose a larger-sized template if you want a digital map with higher resolution. Select a format for output. I usually want a PDF file. Most folks know how to read a PDF. You can put a title in and other information in the fields provided. And then hit export. Big hint: You must enable pop-ups in your browser for this site if

you want to export a map to a file. Presto, you now have your own copy of your annotated map that you can then save to disk and send it around to others. Also, you can save your annotations too with the little arrow tools in the upper right. These are the tools right to the left of the Question tool icon. Save and preserve your annotation with the arrow down icon tool that sends all your annotation to a file (the default location of the file created is your download directory and the annotation file has a .bcmap extension). Then you can read the annotation file with the arrow up icon tool and you will see all your carefully constructed annotations on the BCM on your computer at a later date. You can send your annotation to others too and they will be able to re-construct your annotated map on their computer. Finally, you can search for stuff. You can find, for example, the owner of a parcel. Or find township, ranges and sections or coordinates for latitude and longitude. If you want an overview of all the features of the mapping system just hit the Question mark icon in the upper right section of the screen. The Bonner County Map has far more features and data then most folks realize. This geographic information system is an example of your tax dollars at work, so you can benefit from your investment if you just spend a little time exploring its many features. After all, you did want to find out if that road you have been exploring was a public road? And you want to make sure that the field with that big buck is on public land? So, in closing: “If you don’t know where, then you’re not there!“

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STAGE & SCREEN

THE FOLLIES

Everything else was alternative entertainment By Tim Henney Reader Columnist When it came to show biz, I thought I’d been there, done that. When I was eight, my pre-alcoholic dad organized a “Sheriff’s Rodeo” at the Los Angeles Coliseum honoring his pal Eugene Biscailuz, L.A. county’s colorful, longtime sheriff. Biscailuz started the California Highway Patrol, among other initiatives. My dad wasn’t a cowboy but he was rodeo general chairman. He, Sheriff Biscailuz and the sheriff’s businessman “posse” rode horses in the New Year’s Rose Parade in Pasadena. On the way to the coliseum rodeo in a limo I sat in back on the lap of early film legend Mary Pickford, once considered “America’s Sweetheart.” The olden days’ Sandra Bullock or Emma Stone, but more so. Mary Pickford was the rodeo grand marshal. Her Beverly

april 13 @ 7:30pm & April 15 @ 3:30 & 7:30

“FranTz”

april 14 @ 7:30pm

ALLEN JAMES TEAGUE: PIANO CONCERT april 19 @ 7:00pm

“YARN”

APRIL 20 @ 7:30 PM, APRIL 22 @ 3:30 & 7:30 PM APRIL 23 @ 3:30 PM

“THE SHACK”

April 28 @ 7:00pm – Little Theater Sat. April 29 @ 7:00

Live Q&A withWriter/Director Ryan Graves

“Emily”

18 /

/ April 13, 2017

Hills mansion was famously named PickFair because her husband was actor Douglas Fairbanks. Mary and Doug were yesteryear’s Angelina and Brad -- but more so. When I was 10, Butch the family cocker spaniel and I competed in the children’s handling class at the annual Long Beach (California) dog show. Of four dogs, we got fourth. Shirley Temple, the movies’ number one box office star from 1935 through 1938, and at 12 an older woman, fluttered out from the judge’s bench. Blowing kisses to fans, her task was to present the ribbons. Inasmuch as I was on bended knee posing Butch in the required show dog stance, Shirley Temple bowed down and kissed the top of my head. I was horrified. I forget where she put the yellow ribbon. Maybe on my head. My dad’s third and only happy marriage was to Nora Lane, a late 1920s/1930s star in western movies. Among other roles she played William (Hopalong Cassidy) Boyd’s leading lady in scores of shoot ‘em ups. From 1942 to 1948 I spent countless weekends with Nora and my dad in their Hollywood Hills home, then on Chevy Chase Drive in Glendale. After I turned 16 Nora let me drive her tan 1939 Ford coupe back and forth from Glendale to my home in Long Beach. I was 16 when they died in 1948. He had a heart attack at 46 from too much gin. She shot herself one month later, leaving a note for me: “I can’t go on without him” she wrote. In the summer of 1951 at Cafe Bohemia in Greenwich Village, NYC, I spent maybe 45 seconds having a beer with famed jazzman Miles Davis. Asked if I liked jazz, I might have said I really dug Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters. Whatever I said, Miles suddenly saw someone he knew and vanished. I wrote about that one time in the Reader. At Turner Air Force Base in Albany Georgia in 1953 we shut down the vital Strategic Air Command base and hosted a Sports Car Club Of America race on the runways. Why? Because SAC headman General Curtis E.

LeMay liked sports cars. Ferraris and Jaguars were everywhere. Jet fighter planes were stashed away. Famed British driver Briggs Cunningham was there. Celebrities were wined and dined by Air Force officers, thrilled at rubbing elbows with such glamorous folks. Good PR. Unless you were an enlisted man, like me, in which case it was excessive, expensive bullshit, paid for by taxpayers. LeMay’s buddy, jolly radio and television host Arthur Godfrey, the beloved “Old Redhead,” was there. As editor of the base newspaper, I approached him in his box seat on the tarmac. He was on a raised platform so that I had to look up to talk to him. America adored the Old Redhead. Be that as it may, he kicked at me and shouted, “Get the hell out of here!” So much for jolly TV stars. I suspect he had hemorrhoids. In the late 1960s my AT & T job took me from NYC home to SoCal from time to time. It had to do with producing the AT & T-sponsored Bell Telephone Hour on radio and TV. I would sometimes stay at the Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset. The pink palace. While sipping a martini (Beefeaters, straight up, with a twist) at the hotel’s storied Polo Lounge bar one evening, Liz Taylor glided in and perched on the stool next to me. I found myself staring at her bare back. She was fatter than she appeared in magazines. I was about to tap Liz on the shoulder and compliment her performance as the 12-yearold heroine in National Velvet some 25 years earlier (I couldn’t think of other films she’d starred in) when Richard Burton, her squeeze at that time, staggered in. Obviously unaware that I was a powerful corporate biggie from New York whom they should cultivate, she quaffed her drink, they smooched, then left. During that same era I sometimes dined at Chasen’s celebrity restaurant in Beverly Hills. One time Sinatra and fellow rat packer Peter Lawford, wasted and giggling on their way to pee, brushed past the leather booth I was < see FOLLIES, page 19 >

This week’s RLW by Ben Olson

< FOLLIES, con’t from page 18 > sitting in with friends. Like Liz, they elected not to visit. In the mid-1980’s in downtown Manhattan I hired movie actor Clif Robertson to provide the audio for a videotape I’d written. It honored the retiring boss of AT & T, parent company of the giant and honorable Bell Telephone System. Because of its success the original AT & T was on its last legs before being shredded by the U.S. justice department. In those days I wrote speeches for and tributes to people with much better jobs than mine. An entitled, in-demand movie actor at the time, ol’ Clif changed my script. I asked him to record it again, the way it was written. He objected. I asked again and he refused. He thought his words were better. So I canned his ass right there. His agent billed us anyway. Surly movie stars. Fug’em. During a post-retirement decade in Logan, Utah, I produced and emceed an annual musical fund raiser for the local Presbyterian church. We called it Almost Broadway. Sometimes it was music of the roaring ‘20s. Or the old west. Or World War II. Or America’s big cities. Costumes, dancing, singing, the works. Just like Sandpoint’s Follies. Well, not quite. Fact is, if we’d performed the Follies in Utah we’d still be in jail. That state’s peculiar culture has its unsavory side, but they don’t shout and sing about it. They keep it in the family. When I followed a friend’s suggestion and auditioned for the recent Follies I considered myself a show biz veteran. A pro. Been there, done that. Yeah, and pigs fly. My Follies gig involved belting out bits of sentimental college songs from the early ‘50s. My years. Clad in a genuine 1950 USC swim team letterman sweater, I was transported, body and soul, back to those sensuous collegiate years. Thus, when my fellow “College Frolic” performer, sexy young cheerleader Valerie, came bouncing and prancing onto stage with pom poms quivering, I morphed into age 19. Val was short, blond and beautiful. And everyone knows how romance blossoms like dandelions among show biz folks. Comes with the territory. Just read People Magazine. So after the act I scurried downstairs to the dressing room to find her. Val had quickly grown taller, had black hair, and become a pirate.

READ

Remember “The Boxcar Children” books? The series of books by Gertrude Chandler Warner were all about four orphaned children, who had to make a home in a boxcar in the woods. The series has more than 150 titles, but all the stories involve a mystery of some sort, and culminate with the children finding their grandfather (he moves the boxcar to his backyard to live closer with them). Teachers over the past 70 years have found these books essential to convincing their students to love reading. It sure worked for me.

LISTEN

Unintimidated, I tried one of the few romantic phrases I could remember: “Hubba hubba, ding ding, baby you got everything!” She stared at me and said, “Aaauugghh.” I remember reading in “Moby Dick” that “aaauugghh” in piratespeak means “I love you.” So I followed up with this flirtatious sentiment: “I love my wife, but oh, you kid!” It’s from the 1920s, even before I was born, but it was all I could think of. She responded eagerly. Waving a saber at my throat, she said, “Aaauugghh!” Then her fellow sexy pirate, Meredith, poked my stomach with a cutlass and hissed, “Aaauugghh!” As luck would have it, I’d translated it incorrectly. In piratespeak “aaauugghh” actually means “I’d love to kill you.” Boys and girls in that happy, hectic room changed costumes and wigs so furiously I thought possibly I was hitting not on cheerleader Val but on some stranger. Then I spied someone

imitating Sandpoint celebrity Fiddlin’ Red. It had to be cheerleader Val. Still in athletic, collegiate attire, I sauntered confidently over. Feeling those ol’ showbiz oats, I put my hand casually on her fanny and whispered another ardent phrase from the 1920’s: “You’re the bee’s knees.” I invited her to go shopping at Yokes with me some afternoon, just the two of us. Or to the dump. At my age those are what one does when feeling frisky. I had not anticipated her excited reaction. She smashed her fiddle to smithereens over my head. Turns out it wasn’t cheerleader Val dressed like Fiddlin’ Red, but fellow cast member Fiddlin’ Red himself. Bummer. The Follies was full of surprises. And excitement. And fun. Before the Follies I thought that show biz-wise I’d been there, done that. Well, I hadn’t. But now I have.

I’m always on the lookout for good lo-fi electronic artists. I like electronic music, but I get turned off when it gets really amped up and dancey. I like it chill and easy. Boards of Canada is a Scotland-based ambient electronic duo that has made some great albums for those seeking something far away from Top 40 chart toppers. Their 2005 release “The Campfire Headphase” is my favorite album to listen to in the office when I’m scrambling to get things together for another issue.

WATCH

If you haven’t made the leap into Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki’s seminal works, “Spirited Away” is a great place to begin. The animated film is a masterpiece of imagination and nostalgia, with a little darkness thrown in for good measure. During her family’s move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts. Along with awesome film “The Triplets of Belleville,” this film changed my mind about the potential of animation for adults.

April 13, 2017 /

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IN COUNTRY Vietnam Veterans living in Sandpoint

Part 5: JEFF DUNNUM, US Army

By Ben Olson Reader Staff Editor’s Note: This is the fifth and final installment of our special series highlighting the stories of Vietnam Veterans living in Sandpoint. It has been an honor and a privilege talking with these five men about their experiences in the Vietnam War. I thank them and every other man and woman who served their country. While he was growing up in Downy, Calif., Jeff Dunnum had aspirations of becoming a police officer. He hailed from a blue collar family. His uncles worked as lawyers and judges. Upon graduation in 1968, Dunnum set his sights for an administration justice degree at nearby Cerritos College. “I was working full time and going to school,” said Dunnum. At the time, the U.S. Military gave college students what was called a 2-S deferment from the draft while completing school. “I was a stubborn idiot and said ‘To hell with this,’ so I went down and volunteered,” he said. “That took me to Vietnam.” Dunnum said the driving force behind his volunteering for the service was because it was what he was “supposed to do.” 20 /

/ April 13, 2017

“Everybody was going there,” he said. “Either that or they were heading to Canada. I felt I had a responsibility. I went down to the Draft Board and said ‘Take me,’” Dunnum was inducted into the U.S. Army at the end of 1969 and was sent to Ft. Ord, Calif. for Basic Training. “Basic kicked my ever-loving ass,” he said. “But then again, they were breaking you into the way they did things. You didn’t have much of an option to like it or not. A lot of the guys that were having problems got moved out, then there were the conscientious objectors, they were moved to medical where they more or less became medics. They’d still go fight in combat, but they didn’t need a gun.” Basic training lasted for 8 weeks, followed by eight weeks of advanced infantry training, which taught shooting, marching and combat training with equipment and weapons. With that, he was sent to combat in Vietnam at the end of 1969. In country Dunnum never did get assigned the M-16 rifle, but instead started out on the M-79 grenade launcher, and a few months later was moved to the M-60 machine gun. “It was so much fun to fire the M-60,” he said. “Every fifth round was a tracer, so the aiming was

very intuitive.” The M-60 weighed 26 pounds not including ammunition, which was a heavy load when combined with the rest of Dunnum’s combat gear. He also carried about 300 rounds of ammunition around his waist. “You got used to it,” he said. “We were in the jungle all the time, sometimes under a triple canopy, so it was dark, too.” Dunnum was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry, 11th Brigade, Americal Division of the US Army. Like most volunteers heading in country, he was sent in separate from his unit as replacements. “You learned never to really get close to anybody,” he said. “We all had nicknames, but very seldom knew a guy’s first name. We called them ‘Kentucky’ or something like that, or we used their last names.” When he first arrived in Vietnam, he was a part of larger company operations, then broke down into smaller platoon operations. Later, he was broken down into a smaller squad unit of anywhere between seven to 15 men. “That was scary,” he said. “It was a such a small unit.” An average squad had a Sgt., an RTO or radio operator, 3 to 5 rifleman, a machine gunner, an assistant machine gunner and a grenadier who carried the M-79. Dunnum flew into Bien Hoa

Airfield first, was later bused Long Binh, the reception center. After a few days there, Dunnum was flown to Chu Lai, the division rear area, and was later sent via helicopter to his unit in the bush. His firebase was San Juan Hill. “The first thing I remembered about Vietnam was the smell,” he said. “It was a rotting, jungle smell. It was a whole different world.” While he was part of a larger company before being split into a smaller squad, Dunnum remembers feeling he felt conspicuous moving through the bush. “It was like a parade going down the jungle,” he said. “We

were making too much noise, clanking, banging. We’d get snipered and stuff like that. We were just doing what we were trained to do.” The area that Dunnum was assigned with his unit was considered a “free-kill zone,” which meant the rules of engagement were different than other areas. “In a free-kill zone, everybody was bad guys,” he said. “You’d drop in and just start searching and try to stay away from booby traps.” Some of the more memorable traps set by the Vietnamese were grenades set on trip wires and “punji pits.”

< see DUNNUM, page 21 >

The M-79 Grenade Launcher.

The M-60 Machine Gun.

< DUNNUM, con’t from page 20 >

“They used bamboo stakes dipped in shit, and they were sharpened,” he said. The sharpened bamboo stakes would be positioned in a pit facing upwards to stick into the unfortunate soldier who stepped into a punji pit. The stakes would be rubbed with toxic plants, frogs or feces to cause infections in those who were wounded by them. No rest Of the year SPC Dunnum spent in combat in Vietnam, he keenly remembers the fact that he rarely was ever at ease. “You were always on alert, 100 per cent of the time,” he said. “You’d get a couple hours of sleep every once in awhile, but you would always be woken up for a watch or rotated out with the guys. You didn’t think about it though. It was the job.” Looking back, Dunnum had a hard time placing where exactly his unit was from time to time during his tour of duty. “You never really knew where you were at from day to day,” he said. “We were small and we’d get into a firefight and it would last maybe two or three minutes of total panic, then clean up and call the medevacs if we got hit, and then search and try to find blood trails, stuff like that.” Of the dozen or so guys in Dunnum’s squad, he recalls maybe two fellow soldiers getting killed. He never had experienced a situation such as that before. “But you were a kid, and when it’s panic time, it’s bang bang bang,” said Dunnum. Heading home At the end of his 12-month tour of duty, SPC Dunnum said he had no reservations about leaving the combat zone. “You wanted to get back home to all the girls and all of that,” he said. “The war was settling down at that point. For the last week or so, the old timers were being brought back in and the new guys went out. They’d just say, ‘Go get lost somewhere.’” Dunnum said he felt grateful that his First Sergeant gave the old hands this treatment because a lot of men were superstitious about their last week of duty. Along with the M-60, Dunnum carried a .38 special pistol his

father had given him for combat as a “last resort.” “I gave it to somebody else that needed it,” he said. “I couldn’t bring it home.” In late 1970, Dunnum finished out the rest of his service in Ft. Hood, Texas, where he took part in training the next crop of green G.I.s before they headed off to the war. “We’d kick the hell out of them and pretend we were the bad guys,” he said. “We’re capture them, tie them up, that kind of thing.” Looking back to the enemy that they were preparing for, Dunnum said he respected the Vietnamese and their fighting ability. “They were a tough bunch of guys,” he said. “Of course, you never said that when you were fighting, period, but after, you always had respect for Charlie. It was his backyard.” Still intending on pursuing a career in law enforcement, Dunnum went back and finished school, attaining a degree in administration of justice. “I applied for a few police departments, but ended up taking a job for UPS,” said Dunnum. “I remember thinking, ‘Hmm, I’m getting more money than I would be as a cop, I’m not getting shot at, not getting beat up,’ so I pretty much stayed with UPS.” Dunnum began as a package delivery driver and moved onto driving tractor trailers for UPS, making it a lifelong career. Adjusting to civilian life “It took a little doing to adjust to civilian life again,” said Dunnum. “You had to tone yourself down some. You talk about being out in the jungle, doing what you were doing, compared to coming back and being society again, that’s a big change. The one thing that I hear they’re trying to do now with the service guys is readjust them before they get out. With us, we were just dumped out without any readjustment period.” Dunnum also said he was “100 percent” affected by Post Traumatic Stress after his return. He went to VA counseling at times, but never found that it particularly helped. After retirement, Dunnum had a friend who told him about North Idaho. He was tired of the overcrowding in California, and had always enjoyed the outdoors, so he came up and looked at the

property and purchased it. “Ten years later, I was able to move up here,” he said. Dunnum built a house just west of Dover in the Carr Creek area. Dunnum’s girlfriend at the time didn’t want to make the move to North Idaho, so he left without her and found himself trying to meet people in his new home. It was at the Gun and Horn Show one year when Dunnum ended up meeting a few of the men who were part of the Sandpoint chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA). “I talked to them for awhile and said for them to sign me up,” he said. Dunnum now serves as the president of the Sandpoint VVA chapter #890 which meets once per month. “We primarily discuss things we can do to bring in money for veterans,” he said. The VVA is a resource for any veterans to call on if they ever need assistance. “If somebody needs help, we’ll discuss the problem and try to help them out,” he said. “Whether it be food or housing or stuff like that, guys that have fallen on hard times and need a hand, we’re there. We don’t limit it to only Vietnam veterans, either, we’ll help any veteran that gets into a bind. We’re there to help.” As the Vietnam War grows further and further away from the present, Dunnum has noticed that it has also faded in our consciousness. “At the VVA, we have very limited participation from the members because everybody is getting old,” he said. “There’s six or seven of us on the board that pretty much do everything right now.” When asked why it’s important to help preserve the memory of those who fought in the Vietnam War, Dunnum said “it’s not the memory of what we did there, it’s helping vets who need it. That’s what we’re all about.” While Dunnum considers himself an avid outdoorsman, he has refrained from hunting or fishing. “I don’t kill anymore,” he said. “Instead of being one of those old guys feeding the pigeons, I’m one of those old guys that feeds the turkeys and deer around my house. I really enjoy them.”

A series of paintings done by a friend of Jeff Dunnum’s depicting his time in Vietnam. The top painting is him in the bush carrying the M-60 machine gun. The bottom painting is at the fire base with the M-79 grenade launcher.

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The Straight Poop:

The quest for dog-friendly businesses in North Idaho

By Drake the Dog Reader Pet Columnist

South Fork Hardware

Where am I taking my humans today? The Missus just got back from a business trip to Disneyworld, and I have a new leash on life! Mom is home! Not to say that the Mister didn’t do a good job taking care of my kitty sister and me, but I missed my Mom. I couldn’t wait for my morning stroll to re-unite myself with my peeps downtown. Geez, everybody’s out, including Mr. Sol. As I gaze at the entry of South Fork Hardware, located at 201 N. 3rd Ave., the vista of colored Adirondack chairs and wheelbarrow displays, coupled with the smell of potting soil and mulch, heighten my sense. Spring is here and the ginormous icicles on the side of the building are gone! The Missus is overjoyed at the ease of parking right in front of the store. There additional spaces across the street in the city lot and in the parking lot on the side of the building. (Note to parking guy—no parking revenue here!). I talked the Missus into checking out the pet department (which the Mister and I know very well), because she did not have room in her carry bag for Pluto. Ray Yaw, the store director and his wife Terri greeted us, and shared some barkin’ good history. I was eager to learn about why this place is called a “hardware store.” Ray told us that back in the day there were mercantile stores, which sold primarily flour and food. Hardware stores focus on selling hard goods or durable goods, which do not quickly wear out. Part of the popularity of American hardware stores is the range of services they provide. At South Fork Hardware you can re-key entry locks, make copies of house and car keys, (including the chip kind); sharpen knives and custom mix paint. They can even help you with special orders for large jobs like fences, docks, etc. Check out all of the departments--house wares, electrical, plumbing, basic hardware, lawn and garden, toys for the kids, dogs, power and hand tools, cool drinks, candy and 22 /

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My pup buddies, Cricket, Shadow, and Tank, visit South Fork on a regular basis. Tank brings in a rock or paper clip and instructs his Dad to play fetch in the store. At the end of the day, we all land in the pet department and sniff out the pig’s ears. So, come visit the new kids on the block. South Fork Hardware is well stocked and hometown friendly! There’s something for everybody, and I’ll be back!

A Drake hangs out with Ray Yaw and his grandkids, Chase and Angela. Courtesy photo. snacks. The Mister loves this place! He can buy one nail at a time instead of a mega pack. This way they’re almost free! Ray, a Sandpoint native and graduate of Sandpoint High School, and has been in hardware business since 1970. He worked with the original owners Lee and Terry Merwin, who owned the iconic store since 1960. He has many fond memories, as he met his wife, Terri, at the store and they were married in1973. Ray has volunteered with the Northside Fire Department for over 40 years, and he is now the fire commissioner. The Merwin’s sold to the South Fork group in 2013 and the Sandpoint store became store #15. Other stores (19 total) are in located in Montana, Nevada and Utah. And now for the good part: The

employees have fur babies. Valerie has worked at the store for 17 years. She has three dogs, all German wirehaired pointers. They get all wired up when they run thru the store! Ray and Terri have inherited their son’s pups: Jaret, a 12-year-old Chocolate lab, and Coda, a 12 year old a Chesapeake Bay retriever. Ray and Terri’s grandkids, Chase and Angela, are students at Sandpoint Middle School. They love the store and the friendly folks that know you by name. They enjoy hearing ‘grandpa stories’ about the good ol’ days at the hardware store and Sandpoint Middle School. Their favorite product is the selection of toilet seats, complete with LED lights that are built in under the seat! Hmmm … I’ll take my morning walk instead!

Rules: • Leashes please • Treats are located at the counter—for good pups only • Enjoy the cool water outside—the bowl is under the faucet

Crossword Solution

If you go to a costume party at your boss’s house, wouldn’t you think a good costume would be to dress up like the boss’s wife? Trust me, it’s not.

CROSSWORD Participants show off their skills at the Schweitzer pond skim, See more at www.smileysmtphoto.com. Photo by Cameron Barnes

PFLAG dance a success By Jodi Rawson Reader Contributor Last Saturday, April 8, PFLAG, a local LGBT advocacy group, hosted its first dance at the Ponderay events center (near Yokes). “I wish that all of you could have been there!” said organization spokesperson Eric Ridgeway. “DJ Bashful Dan Young donated his awesome sound equipment and DJ Leo did a super job of taking requests and keeping the crowd dancing.” PFlAG president, Jeff Bohnof, and vice president, Leo Hansaker, describe a time when there was nothing available in Sandpoint, but times are changing. At this all inclusive event, Bohnof says he could feel the “great energy” of the room. Rainbow streamers and disco lighting decorated the facility and the refreshments included chocolate covered strawberries. The bravery of some of the members is truly remarkable. I heard two very similar stories from PFLAG members coming out to the world as their true selves only to receive the most devastating blow: rejection from family. Homelessness and addiction resulted in both of these testimonies. PFLAG aspires to offer a safe place for these brave and beautiful members of our community, and an opportunity to celebrate as well. The PFlAG Dance was a great success. Monthly meetings are still held the third Thursday of each month at the Gardenia center.

Woorf tdhe Week

bruit

/broot/

[verb] 1. to voice abroad; rumor

“The report was bruited through the community.” Corrections: As you can see from the letters (just a fraction of the feedback I received), there was a problem with the crossword puzzle last week. We get our crossword from a third-party supplier, so I don’t typically check it for problems. When there is one, however, you can bet we’re going to hear about it. -CR

ACROSS 1. Sleighs 6. Warmth 10. Utilized 14. Aromatic seeds 15. Chocolate cookie 16. What a person is called 17. Nutritious 19. Black, in poetry 20. Agency 21. Mayday 22. Collections 23. Leg joints 25. A sloping mass of loose rocks 26. Dad 30. Cave 32. One sank the Titanic 35. Acquired the knowledge 39. Empower 40. Clothing 41. Withdraw 43. Insecticide 44. Exit 46. Writing table 47. Sauce 50. Some tides 53. Hindu princess 54. Delivery vehicle 55. Deepest part of the self 60. Bright thought 61. Impossible to satisfy 63. Sodium chloride 64. Goulash 65. Devout 66. Tall woody plant 67. Being

Solution on page 22

13. Compacted 18. Religious sister 24. It comes from a hen 25. Statistics DOWN 26. Jetty 1. Anagram of “Cabs” 27. Skin disease 2. Humdinger 28. Kind of moss 3. Arab chieftain 29. Shorten 4. 10 cent coin 31. Rip 5. Move stealthily 33. Mournful poem 6. Not cold 34. Back 7. Found at the end of 36. 3 times 3 a pencil 37. Goddess of discord 8. Spray can 38. A pack of 9. Playthings playing cards 10. Unsupervised outside 42. Renters 11. Cavalry weapon 43. An Old Testament 12. Overact

68. Mixture of rain and snow

king 45. Detects 47. Grain to be ground 48. Radiolocation 49. Anoint (archaic) 51. A sizeable hole 52. Trims 54. Workbench attachment 56. Letters, etc. 57. Double-reed woodwind 58. Swing around 59. Exam 62. Reverence

April 13, 2017 /

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4/10/17 5:19 PM