A lot more of you are sailors at heart than you’d think. Many of the terms we say and hear every day are actually derived from maritime usage. Because Great Britain was once a seafaring superpower, these terms leaked into everyday use around the world and have found a permanent home in our vocabulary. “Longshot” is an occurrence that takes a great deal of luck, but originally, this referred to the fact that early ships’ guns were very inaccurate and if a shot was made from a great distance — a “long shot” — it was considered to be out of the ordinary. To “tide over” means to make a small amount of something last until a larger amount is available. In the days of sail, when there was no wind to fill the sails, sailors would float with the tide, or “tide over,” until the wind returned. When you “cut and run,” you accept whatever losses are incurred and bail. In nautical usage, if a ship was in danger while at anchor, the sailors might be ordered to cut the rope that connects to the anchor so the ship could escape, or, “cut and run.” Finally, the term “to the bitter end,” implies the very last and most difficult point of a situation. In seafaring terminology, the bitter end is the last part of a line or cable with which the anchor was attached. When the anchor was dropped and the line completely at its “bitter end,” the rope could stretch no further.
DEAR READERS,
I chose this week’s cover photograph by Bill Preuss because it seemed to capture that end-of-summer vibe everyone’s feeling right now. Maybe it’s because Bill shot it on blackand-white film, or maybe it’s because I’m already feeling nostalgic for the lake days that are slowly receding.
Either way, four seasons is the way to live. We experience them all in North Idaho, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Overall, this summer turned out to be a good one. We had some days with smoky skies, a few storms and the usual onslaught of business that punctuates the summer tourist season, but compared with some of our more recent summers on record, I can’t complain much about the summer of 2024.
We hope you all look back on your summers with a smile. Here’s to the coming autumn.
–Ben Olson, publisher
111 Cedar Street, Suite 9 Sandpoint, ID 83864 208-946-4368
Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey (emeritus) Cameron Rasmusson (emeritus) John Reuter (emeritus)
Advertising: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com
Contributing Artists: John Chaplin, Bill Preuss, John Harbuck, Sharon Lewis, Rich Milliron
Contributing Writers: Zach Hagadone, Ben Olson, Soncirey Mitchell, Lorraine H. Marie, Brenden Bobby, Lauren Necochea, Kent Ivanoff, Emily Erickson, Dave Britton
Submit stories to: stories@sandpointreader.com
Printed weekly at: Tribune Publishing Co. Lewiston, ID
Subscription Price: $185 per year
To learn more fun nautical terms we still use to this day, check out PBS’ Storied series by typing “Why is English Awash in Sailors’ Jargon?” into YouTube for an enlightening nine-minute video.
breaking (down) wind
History is filled with examples of humans coming to terms with how the wind makes them feel, especially based on where it comes from. Voltaire once wrote, “This east wind, is responsible for numerous cases of suicide. ... Black melancholy spreads over the whole nation. Even the animals suffer from it and have a dejected air. Men who are strong enough to preserve their health in this accursed wind at least lose their good humor. Everyone wears a grim expression and is inclined to make desperate decisions.” Hippocrates, on the other hand, was convinced the west wind was worse, and that when people were exposed to it, they became pale and sickly with “phlegm that runs down into them from the head.” Shakespeare wrote of the “wrathful and tyrannous” north wind that was responsible for “gout, the falling evil, itch and ague.” Finally, Theophrastus said southerly winds made men “more weary and incapable” due to the thinning of the lubricant in their joints.
As a sailor, my least favorite wind is no wind at all.
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 soybased 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
SandpointReader letter policy:
The Sandpoint Reader welcomes letters to the editor on all topics. Requirements: –No more than 300 words –Letters may not contain excessive profanity or libelous material. Please elevate the discussion.
Letters will be edited to comply with the above requirements. Opinions expressed in these pages are those of the writers, not necessarily the publishers.
Email letters to: letters@sandpointreader.com
About the Cover
This week’s cover photo was taken by Bill Preuss.
You can put a price on man’s best friend
City of Sandpoint, Bonner County to find ways to manage stray and lost dogs without BTAA
By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff
This September, Bonner County and the city of Sandpoint will allow their contracts with Better Together Animal Alliance to expire, bringing an end to two 30-year partnerships, during which BTAA has housed and cared for the municipalities’ stray, lost and abused dogs. The decision comes months after BTAA presented its newest contracts, featuring increased budgeting requests to accommodate rising expenses in staffing, insurance, utilities and maintenance, among other factors.
“[The municipalities] are utilizing a service but aren’t contributing to the overall impact of providing that service,” Executive Director Mandy Evans told the Reader in an Aug. 13 interview.
“It ends up that we’re really subsidizing a good portion of the overall work that they’re required by law to be providing, so that’s why we made these shifts.
“When we say that we can’t afford to do it, that’s honest. We can’t afford to do it,” she added, citing Idaho Codes 253501, 25-2804 and 25-3504.
According to Evans, the new billing model is the best practice used by similar organizations around the nation.
In it, the county — which accounted for 65% of the 406 dogs that entered BTAA in 2023 — would pay $169,913 annually, while the city of Sandpoint would pay $65,773. The organization brought the same proposal to the city of Ponderay, suggesting it pay $19,184.
“In 2023 we spent over $274,054 to care for stray dogs, so that is what we are looking to build up to,” Evans told the Reader.
Each municipality was given three five-year payment options: pay in full the first year and lock the rate for three years; pay 75% the first year
and add a 5% inflation adjustment annually; or pay 50% the first year and add a 24.87% inflation adjustment annually.
Those prices included the cost of vaccinations, medical checkups, food, housing, 10-day bite quarantines and extraordinary medical events — like gunshot wounds — but not euthanasia of violent dogs, property holds or veterinary evaluations for abuse charges.
“When you look at a nonprofit and what we do, everything that we provide to our community is scaled based on our resources. If somebody were to come to us and say, ‘I need a low-income spay-andneuter voucher,’ but we don’t have money in that account, then we need to tell them to circle back in two weeks,” Evans told the Reader
“When we do a contract with the municipalities, we’re telling them that we’ll take an infinite number of stray dogs at any given time. They have their own dedicated area of the facility that they can go to 24/7; and, when we get in, in the morning we have no idea how many dogs are waiting for us. We can’t scale — we always have to be available to them,” she said.
The new contract would have required an approximately 3,000% increase in Sandpoint’s animal control budget, according to Mayor Jeremy Grimm. Sandpoint Police Department Chief Corey Coon and members of the City Council discussed the proposal over several meetings while they prepared their fiscal year 2025 budget, but ultimately decided that the cost isn’t feasible, given the city’s proposed expenses — which include repairing both the roads and outdated wastewater treatment plant.
City officials further argued that costs could be mitigated if BTAA enforced recovery fees for lost dogs.
“One of our challenges is when someone has an at-large
dog, if that dog was picked up by the police and turned in to BTAA, we would then go after that dog’s owner and levy a fine to recover our costs,” Grimm told the Reader “[BTAA does] not provide us with the names or addresses of the people who come to pick up their dog, so that’s a point of contention that prevents the city from actually getting reimbursed,” he said.
Grimm suggested that, going forward, the Sandpoint Police Department will enforce the fee and either look for donors or send the bill to collections if a person cannot afford the charge. According to Evans, however, on average only 35% of dogs are picked up by their owners nationally.
“People need to know they can come get their dog from us, or they will not pick it up,” wrote Evans in a July 3 email to the Reader. “If they cannot afford the reclaim fee, we will waive it because there is no reason for us to keep someone’s pet in a cage when it has a home, and it costs us more to house that dog than the fee we would collect.”
The Sandpoint City Council passed its FY25 budget on Aug. 21, which included an increased animal control budget
and, therefore, compelling the city to enforce a dog-at-large misdemeanor.
“It’s my opinion that these ordinance changes that we are proposing to council will relieve the city of the obligation to impound stray dogs under most circumstances,” said City Attorney Zachary Jones at the Aug. 21 council meeting. “That’s certainly not going to relieve the city — and the police — of the discretion to impound stray dogs.”
Grimm has repeatedly stated that the city still intends to manage its canine residents and that “no one is suggesting that euthanasia is an appropriate solution for this situation.”
of $7,000, and plans to send out a request for proposals to find alternative businesses that could provide the required services within the budget.
“We have internal policy and state policy for different amounts of contracts or services; and, in Sandpoint, anything over $5,000 we need to get written quotes so that we know we’re getting the best value for the public dollars,” Grimm told the Reader. “Once we do that, we would certainly look at that as a per-dog, perday boarding fee and then try to make the best contract with whatever provider can meet the needs of our solicitation.
“Whether or not BTAA is the only provider that comes forward or whether ‘Farmer Joe’ has kennels and capability, the city will make sure that we act in accordance with the law and that we contract with a provider that can meet those standards,” he added.
Interim solutions include housing dogs in private kennels, veterinary clinics or the city jail. Coon anticipates the RFP will come before the council at its regular Wednesday, Oct. 2 meeting, after officials alter the city’s current ordinance requiring owners to license their dogs
“We will be taking care of any strays or dogs that are picked up by the police force no matter what happens in the next month. Rest assured we’re not going to euthanize them or leave them stranded, so to speak,” he added at the Aug. 21 meeting.
Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler informed BTAA on July 17 that his department would not renew its contract — a decision later confirmed in the commissioners’ budgeting workshops — but has yet to publish the county’s chosen alternative plan. The FY25 animal control budget is capped at $15,000, which will not “cut it,” according to Evans.
“The decision to not contract with us is fine. I’m encouraging you to increase that amount from $15,000 to something that you guys can actually do the service on,” she said at the county’s Aug. 26 budget hearing.
Wheeler read a prepared response, arguing that the county has no obligation to deal with stray dogs, and should it need to take possession of an abused dog as outlined in I.C. 25-3504, the county would use the animal control budget to pay for housing and medical care.
Courtesy photo.
BoCo board of commissioners adopts $75.2M budget for FY2025
By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff
The Bonner County board of commissioners voted Aug. 26 to adopt the county’s fiscal year 2025 budget, which totaled $75.2 million, as well as the Ambulance District budget, which amounted to $5 million.
The 2-0 vote, from which Commissioner Asia Williams abstained, brought months of work by county staff and elected officials to a close.
“Beginning late July, we had meetings with different department heads going over the budget line items, and the commissioners looked out for those different line items,” Clerk Mike Rosedale said at the Aug. 26 hearing. “There are some enhancements they went through and approved. It all came down to this — this is a compilation of the work of the department heads and the commissioners and the other elected officials.”
The county’s total budget for fiscal year 2025 is $75,213,004 — $35,449,298 of which the county generated via property taxes, representing an increase of approximately $1.7 million from 2024.
“Keep in mind Bonner County taxes make up a little less than half of your tax bill. You have other taxing districts like the hospital, the school district, the library district, the fire district...,” said Rosedale.
“In the proposal that was sent to me several months ago, it was cited that I.C. 25-2804 and I.C. 25-3504 [are] statutes the sheriff’s office is required to follow and uphold. The first one refers to a county ordinance of dog licenses. I.C. 25-2804 is only applicable in counties that have chosen to enact a dog-licensing tax as set forth at I.C. 25-2801,” he said, later adding, “Bonner County does not have a dog license ordinance in place, so we are not
The county anticipates a $2.3 million reduction in revenue from sources other than taxes and will carry over only $5.6 million compared to the $8.2 million last fiscal year.
The Justice Fund covers expenses from the Sheriff’s and Prosecutors’ offices, among others, and will take up the bulk of the budget at $23,937,372.
The closest comparable expenses are Road and Bridge at $12,173,507, Solid Waste at $10,932,646 and the General Fund — which encompasses everything from Human Resources to the coroner — at $10,880,859.
Each of these budgets only rose or fell “a little bit” since FY2024, except for the Justice Fund, which “stayed static,” according to Rosedale.
The clerk gave meeting attendees a handout detailing the budget’s expenses and revenue sources with a written reminder about House Bill 292, which relieved property taxes in 2024 by creating the state-funded School District Facilities Fund and the Homeowner Property Tax Relief Account.
“At this time, the Treasurer’s Office and the state will not be able to determine the taxpayers’ exact amount [of tax relief] until each county has finalized the levy calculations for all taxing districts and the state certifies the levies on Oct. 1. The amount of
statutorily mandated to be responsible to seize and impound any and all stray dogs.”
Once its contracts expire in September, BTAA will no longer accept strays.
Evans repeatedly emphasized that the municipalities do not need to contract with BTAA — and that the organization will even help them to establish a system to care for stray dogs themselves — but they do need to have a clear, publicized plan for the area’s animals.
the property owners’ tax relief will show up on the tax bill you will receive in November,” wrote Rosedale.
Treasurer Clorrisa Koster later explained that, unlike last year, the relief will only “be applied to those property owners that actually have a homeowner’s exemption,” but this change will not affect the county’s budget.
“It’s not going to change the budgets that are being passed. It doesn’t affect those amounts whatsoever, and it doesn’t affect the amount of levied tax that’s being noted,” said Koster. “The amount of property tax relief due to Bonner County will be paid by the state to the county, and then the county will apportion those funds to the taxing districts just like they would have if paid directly by the property owner.”
She encouraged anyone with additional questions to call or stop by her office at 1500 US-2 Ste. 304, in Sandpoint.
After hearing questions and comments from members of the public, county staff and elected officials, Commissioner Steve Bradshaw made a motion to adopt the budget.
“I hope that on our next budget cycle that the next board pushes for doing Government Finance [Officers Association],” said Commissioner Williams. “One of the reasons that counties submit their budgets is that it kind of provides a
“The Sheriff’s Department has been dispatching deputies to pick up strays for over a decade,” Evans told the Reader. “The department acknowledged the law and upheld it until they were asked to dedicate more resources (whether they did it on their own or contracted it out) and then they decided it was no longer their responsibility. What will happen to these dogs?”
structure but also a plan. There are elements of that program’s criteria that help with some of the difficulties that some of the different departments have, especially when it comes to the communication aspect with the community — to know where we’re going but also to understand the capital projects that we have.”
Williams did not specify which departments she was referring to and did not respond to a request for clarification by press time. She further spoke about “concerns” regarding employee compensation, but did not elaborate with specific examples.
The GFOA is a national network of over 23,000 finance officers that provides members with “best practice information around accounting, auditing, budgeting, capital planning, debt management, financial reporting, pension and benefit administration and treasury and investment management,” according to its website.
Based on population, Bonner County would pay between $595 and $745 annually for a membership, which includes complimentary webinars, networking opportunities and some literature. Services like training courses, award applications and GFOA publications incur additional fees.
At the Aug. 27 regular business meeting, Williams elaborated on GFOA’s specialties, adding, “It’s beneficial to every staff member that has to do a budget because it helps out our auditing if you learn the concepts of the budget language. We’re not doing that in our county and so we’re not helping the people that we elevate to mess with our budget by giving them a resource so that they can be successful in helping plan their own budgets.”
She went on to argue that GFOA’s resources would help the county plan for the future and better understand its
finances so that it would not have to dip into contingency funds as often.
“I know there were some concerns on my end on some of the elements of this current budget, to include certain departments receiving a 5% raise when we’re moving a step and grade and other departments didn’t get to address that issue of inequality that exists in their departments, so hopefully on our next cycle we’re able to come up with a format that we can depend upon year after year in Bonner County,” she said.
Williams later added that by advocating for the use of GFOA’s processes she was not arguing that the county had done something wrong, only that the structure could be beneficial.
“I would like to assure the public that all of our budgetary processes were in accordance with GAAP [generally accepted accounting principles] financing and accounting, which is also reflected in the audit,” said Omodt at the Aug. 26 hearing. “And, yet again — I commend Clerk Rosedale and his office — [the audit] came back clean without any faults for Bonner County, which I will bring forward to the public’s attention that in the previous year we did have a finding and it was addressed, which demonstrates that Bonner County is on firm fiscal footing and it’s taxpayers should feel confident in their county government.”
“The DIY accounting manuals that Commissioner Williams held up are nothing more than props,” added Omodt in an Aug. 28 email to the Reader “Bonner County complies with state and federal law and our accounting procedures are in accordance with GAAP, as repeatedly demonstrated by our audits. We need to stop selling fear and conspiracies and focus on the work.”
City gearing up to begin Fifth Ave./Pine St. traffic signal project
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff
After more than a year of planning and discussion, the relocation of the traffic signal at Fifth Avenue and Church Street to the intersection of Fifth and Pine Street is set to begin Tuesday, Sept. 3.
City Hall announced the commencement of the project Aug. 27, stating in a news release that, “The overall project is intended to ease traffic flow and improve the connection between U.S. 95 and U.S. 2.”
Following the relocation of the light, Fifth and Church will be controlled by stop signs, while Fifth and Pine will be a full-access, signalized intersection.
In addition, Pine will return to two-way travel between Fifth and Fourth avenues, and the intersections at Euclid Street and U.S. 2 and Sixth Avenue and U.S. 2 will only allow right turns in and out.
The city further summarized the changes, including:
• Conversion of the Fifth and Church intersection from a signal to a “side-street stop-controlled intersection with RRFBs for pedestrian crossing.” The “rectangular rapid flashing beacons” are defined by the Federal Highway Administration as “rectangular-shaped yellow indications, each with a light-emitting diode (LED)array-based light source,” which are intended “to increase driver awareness of pedestrians crossing roadways at marked midblock crossings or uncontrolled intersections,” according to the city.
Bits ’n’ Pieces
From east, west and beyond
East, west or beyond, sooner or later events elsewhere may have a local impact. A recent sampling: A major slip-up was behind the July 13 assassination attempt on former-President Donald Trump. CNN reported local police had set aside radios for communication with the Secret Service, but the agents did not pick them up. Just before shots were fired, local police radioed a futile alert about the shooter to the agency.
• Restricting U.S. 2 and Sixth and U.S. 2 and Euclid to right-in, rightout intersections with posted signage.
• Removal of Pine from the city’s truck route.
City Hall estimates that construction will be complete by December. During that time, work will take place from 7 a.m.-7 p.m., Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and 7 a.m.-5 pm on Wednesday. Crews will work at night from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. on certain days.
Pine Street will be temporarily closed between Fourth and Fifth Avenue, and motorists will be detoured. However, local access to driveways will be maintained.
Residents in areas adjacent to the work zone will receive door hangers with 72 hours advance notice, and the schedule on the city’s website (sandpointidaho.gov) will be updated as needed.
Construction-related noise and equipment are to be expected during construction hours.
On-street parking may also be limited due to the staging of materials and equipment.
Crews will work on trenching and excavation, pipe work, backfilling and compaction, asphalt patching and pavement marking.
Expect to see gravel street patching in the project area until asphalt paving takes place in the fall.
To track the status of the project, go to bit.ly/3Z3sw98.
For more info or further questions, call City Hall at 208-946-2087 from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday.
According to the United Nations, evacuations ordered by Israel in Gaza have displaced 90% of the region’s residents. People run from one destroyed place to another, rendering them unable to access medical care, water and other humanitarian supplies, Newsweek reported.
The average American household has paid $12,000 in higher prices due to corporate “greedflation” — a.k.a. price-gouging — that began during the COVID-19 pandemic, The New Republic reported. Some neoliberal pundits call price-gouging a myth and say presidential candidate Kamala Harris is a “communist” for wanting to battle greedflation. Other Harris proposals include: tax incentives for affordable starter homes and rentals and capping annual drug expenses at $2,000.
According to The Guardian, Trump’s former press secretary Stephanie Grisham told the Democratic National Convention that while she’d been one of Trump’s closest and most devoted advisers, “Trump mocks his supporters. He calls them ‘basement dwellers.’ I love my country more than my party. Kamala Harris tells the truth. She respects the American people and she has my vote.”
Retired federal appeals court Judge J. Michael Luttig, appointed by George H. W. Bush, has joined the list of Republicans endorsing Democrat Kamala Harris for president, Newsweek reported. He explained that Trump instigated a war on democracy on Jan. 6, 2021 and all voters need to “affirm their belief in American democracy, the Constitution and the rule of law” by voting for Harris.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has suspended his campaign for president and endorsed Trump. He and former-Democrat Tulsi Gabbard have been named to Trump’s transition team.
By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist
Observations of the recent Democratic Convention, from historian Heather C. Richardson: “Democrats have returned to the economic ideology of the New Deal coalition of the 1930s ... Biden set out to prove that democracy can work for ordinary people by ditching the neoliberalism that had been in place for 40 years,” which facilitated unfettered markets and promises of widespread prosperity.
Instead, neoliberalism “transferred more than $50 trillion from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%.”
Richardson wrote that Franklin D. Roosevelt’s shift from economic relationships to emphasizing community “changed the entire fabric of the country,” and opponents have worked since to destroy that.
If elected, Trump has pledged to impose 10% across-the-board levies on all imported products. The Center for American Progress predicts $1,500 in extra costs annually for a typical household.
The U.S. economy is the only G-20 economy whose GDP level now exceeds the pre-pandemic level, according to the UN’s International Monetary Fund.
Blast from the (recent) past: At the Democrats’ national convention, Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders recalled how the Biden-Harris administration quickly rebuilt a COVID-shattered economy. Sanders said they accomplished more than any other administration since President Franklin D. Roosevelt by addressing business shutdowns, home evictions, high unemployment, closed schools, loss of health insurance and 3,000 Americans’ deaths per day in overwhelmed hospitals. To turn things around, Sanders said the Biden-Harris team — within two months — passed the American Rescue Plan, rent relief, mortgage assistance, emergency help for small businesses, Medicaid expansion, emergency food programs, pension protections and expansion of the Child Tax Credit, which cut childhood poverty by 40%. While some may call that radical, Sanders said the opposition’s plans are radical: tax breaks for the wealthy; cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid; and “letting polluters destroy our planet.”
The intersection of Pine St. and Fifth Ave. Courtesy photo.
Ponderay to cut ribbon on Phase 1 of Field of Dreams Recreation Complex
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff
It’s been 31 years since Floyd McGhee and Mike Read first envisioned a dedicated regional sports facility in Ponderay. Then conceived of as the McGhee Sports Complex, that idea simmered and grew into the Field of Dreams Recreation Complex, which is finally becoming a reality with a Phase 1 ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, Aug. 29 at the site, located at 100 Oneida Drive.
Ponderay city officials and staff will be on hand for the celebration, which kicks off at 6 p.m. under the cover of the newly completed concessions facility.
“This regional facility is truly an amazing asset, and we are so proud to present it to the community,” stated Ponderay Mayor Steve Geiger in a news release. “Construction of the facility would not have been possible without
the tremendous support of our local businesses, voters and the passage of the 1% local option tax, which provided the funding for this project.”
Ponderay residents approved the 1% LOT in 2019, choosing to levy themselves for the construction of the Field of Dreams complex, as well as other elements of the Front Yard Project, the latter which aims to connect the city of Ponderay to the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail via a railroad underpass and fund improvements to the lakefront.
Realizing the Field of Dreams vision has indeed been a long-time project. After the initial concept in 1993, members of the regional sports community came together in 1995 to found the 501(c)(3) North Idaho/Ponderay Youth Sports Association, with the goal of fundraising to bring the facility to fruition.
That same year, NIPYSA worked with local farmers, businesses and Jacklin Seed
Priest River to host ‘Capital for a Day’ on Aug. 29
By Reader Staff
Idaho Gov. Brad Little will be in Priest River for the next “Capital for a Day” event, which will take place Thursday, Aug. 29 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Priest River Event Center (5399 U.S. 2).
Joining Little will be officials including:
• Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield
• Department of Agriculture Director Chanel Tewalt
• Idaho State Board of Education Executive Director
Josh Whitworth
• Idaho Department of Environmental Quality Director
Jess Byrne
• Department of Lands Director Dustin Miller
• Idaho Department of Fish and Game Regional Supervisor Carson Watkins
• Department of Health and Welfare Deputy Director Monty Prow
• Idaho Transportation
to prepare the land for play, and hosted the “Soccer Bowl” tournament on the site, which included about 236 teams and nearly 1,000 youth athletes. Those fields operated into the late 1990s, but lacked irrigation, causing locals to refer to it as the “Dust Bowl.”
Under former-Ponderay Mayor Carol Kunzeman, the city partnered with the Panhandle Area Council to purchase the property in 2011. In 2018, Ponderay received $500,000 in grant funds from the LOR Foundation for design and development of the Field of Dreams. That funding — combined with the 1% LOT in 2019 — allowed the city to develop a concept plan for the full 50-acres and complete engineering, design and construction of the facility from 2020 to the present.
before us. I am honored to help bring Phase 1 to reality for our community and cannot wait to kick off Phase 2,” stated Pondearay Planning Director and Project Manager KayLeigh Miller. “It has been amazing to see the excitement as families enter the complex for the first time and the athletes take the field.”
“This project truly began with the vision and determination of those that came
Department Chief Deputy Director Dan McElhinney
• Idaho Department of Water Resources Deputy Director Shelley Keen
• Department of Commerce Tourism and Marketing Administrator Jeremy Chase
The Capital for a Day program introduces members of the governor’s cabinet to a rural town in a different Idaho county every month, providing an opportunity for residents to address their issues directly with the governor and his administration. Participants are encouraged to ask questions, share their opinions, and seek answers from state agencies and their leaders.
“It is an honor to bring ‘Capital for a Day’ to the beautiful community of Priest River,” Little stated in a news release. “This event will give the good people of Bonner County a chance to discuss what’s on their minds when it comes to good government and how we can best serve them.”
Appetizers and beverages at the ribbon cutting will be provided by Sweet Lou’s Restaurant and Bar. Following the
ceremony, local youth sports teams will kick off on all four artificial turf athletic fields, including Sandpoint Cutthroat Lacrosse, Sandpoint Strikers, Albion S.C. and Sandpoint High School girls varsity soccer vs. local coaches. Attendees are invited to bring chairs and cheer them on.
For more information, visit cityofponderay.org/field-ofdreams-recreation-complex or call Ponderay City Hall at 208-265-5468.
Fire districts seeking public feedback amid new strategic planning process
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff
With an eye toward growth in Bonner County, the Sagle and Westside Fire Districts are planning for the future.
The districts — which make up the Selkirk Fire, Rescue and EMS Joint Powers Agreement — are seeing the impacts of growth both in new construction and calls for service. The strategic planning effort is “intended to provide the community with an opportunity for input on the fire service in Bonner County, as well as provide your firefighters with a vision for the future,” according to a news release.
The opportunities for the community to get involved include attendance at the
regularly scheduled board meetings, attendance at the upcoming strategic planning meetings or to serve on an external stakeholder group.
In addition, Selkirk Fire invites area residents to take a five-minute online survey, meant to provide feedback on their expectations from the fire service.
The survey is available at surveymonkey.com/r/Selkirkfire.
“Ensuring our firefighters have the right resources and are meeting the expectations of the community is one of my primary concerns,” Selkirk Fire Chief Jeff Armstrong stated.
Sandpoint exited the JPA earlier this year, opting to form its own fire department.
Westside Fire Commis-
sioner Merlin Glass stated at a recent meeting, “It is time we had an honest conversation with the community regarding the staffing and capability of our fire districts.”
Glass also serves as a City Council member in Dover, and his public service has included a 25-year career in the fire service.
“Fire district members, including the board members, want to take this opportunity to connect with the community to plan our future,” Selkirk Fire officials stated.
For more information on the meeting schedule and how to get involved, contact Selkirk Fire Public Information Officer Brandon Vaccaro at bvaccaro@selkirkfire.us or 208-964-6021.
The Field of Dreams in Ponderay as seen from above. Courtesy photo.
Bouquets:
GUEST SUBMISSION:
• “It has always been the vision of Angels Over Sandpoint to make a different through caring, laughter and heart. We just completed 22 years of offering our Back to School program. In partnership with Staples and a thank you to We Haul, 800 loaded backpacks were handed out to Bonner County schoolchildren.”
— Cindy Vogel
GUEST SUBMISSION:
• “You may want to recognize the city for rebuilding residential streets in north Sandpoint. Rebuilding as opposed to bandaids. Let’s hope they can continue throughout town.”
— Ross Fulmer
GUEST SUBMISSION:
• “Thanks Ben for keeping on keeping on, Soncirey for sharing dreams and Zach for the necessary info as well as contributing local authors. Bouquets to the farmers and Litehouse and others who donate fabulous food to the Food Bank. Much appreciated. Keep up the good work guys. Look forward to the Reader every week.”
— River Burdick
Barbs:
• It’s not a big surprise that lame duck District 1 Sen. Scott Herndon was recently announced as the new State Caucus Director for the Idaho Freedom Caucus. It makes sense for someone with Herndon’s ethics to serve both a lobbyist and an elected senator at the same time. Idaho is one of about a dozen states that have formed “freedom caucuses” which aim to push Republicans even further to the right but often wind up grinding the gears of government to a halt due to infighting over who is more of a “true” conservative. Yawn.
‘Shows to go you’…
Dear editor, Omodt resigning last week and our county Republican committee putting up a slate of four candidates — led by that well known “moderate” Ron Korn — shows to go you how Republicans are against something… until they’re in favor of it, if it’s to their advantage. In this case, ranked-choice voting and Prop. 1 [News, “BOCC Chair Omodt tenders resignation,” Aug. 22, 2024].
Kinda reminds me of their women’s auxiliary calling to task the country Democratic women dressing as the protagonists in The Handmaid’s Tale in the July 4 parade.
If you are unfamiliar with the novel, a near-future chunk of the U.S. seceded from the Union and is ruled by a warped version of Christianity. The society is totally dominated by men who require women to have clothing covering their entire body like strict Islam does, seeing women as little more than broodmares.
My point being, like most Republicans, they called for unity and the common American spirit one day of the year, the Fourth of July when it’s to their P.R. advantage but, the rest of the year, well, you need to bow to their way of thinking and belief system — conveniently forgetting that this country is all about self expression and exercising our freedom of speech.
Lawrence Fury Sandpoint
Recognition for road work…
Dear editor, You may want to recognize the city for rebuilding residential streets in north Sandpoint — rebuilding as opposed to Band-Aids. Let’s hope they can continue throughout town.
Regards,
Ross Fulmer Sandpoint
‘Roadside
spraying facts’…
Dear editor, There was a letter last week full of conjecture and inaccurate assertions that warrants correction [LTE, “‘Thumbs down’ on county weed spraying,” Aug. 22, 2024].
First of all, we do not treat every road in the county every year, we rotate areas. Secondly, it is simply not possible for our herbicide mixes to kill 30-foot-tall trees — especially over the course of just a few
weeks. The chemistries remain in the top layer of the soil profile and lose their integrity before coming close to root systems of trees. Finally, the chemistries are selective to the control of broadleaf plants, and do not kill grasses.
I inspected the road in question following the call with this individual two years ago, and my observations indicated nothing abhorrent. This area is far from being a manicured landscape and blends seamlessly into the wild, unmanaged stretches.
Since we don’t treat every road on an annual basis, we include herbicides with pre-emergent properties in order to sustain control until the following treatment. This particular part of the county has mapped pockets of Scotch broom — a limited occurrence of noxious weed in Bonner County, making it a high priority for eradication and prevention.
One seed pod inadvertently deposited on a roadside and left unattended could set back years of rigorous efforts.
Roadside applications are a bit of an art and a science, and we approach every road with discretionary balance. I stand by the body of work of my longtime field technician, who is professionally licensed through the Idaho State Department of Agriculture in the Right-of-Way Herbicide category. I am also professionally licensed, in several categories, to perform applications and provide consultation.
As a devoted public servant, I respond to every single query and complaint in a timely fashion and give the individuals my undivided attention.
In support for Karen Matthee, Idaho House Seat 1A…
Dear editor, Karen Matthee is running for Idaho state representative Seat 1A. I heartily endorse Karen, who is a great listener, undoubtedly coming from her education/experience as a journalist (master’s degree from the prestigious Northwestern University) as well as her many life experiences.
In one job, she ran a newspaper in a small conservative town in Washington, able to earn the respect of community members by listening to and reporting on stories/situations that mattered to them.
I have observed Karen thoughtfully listen to others, genuinely
concerned with their ideas.
Karen’s deep concern for education is of utmost importance to me, a retired public school educator. Karen believes public money belongs in public schools, not vouchers for private schools that may be religious, limit who attends or not accept students with disabilities.
She would like to see a permanent fund established in the state from the $5.2 billion sales tax exemptions, which are never reviewed, rather than continue to see property taxes be the source of increases.
Karen would not support concealed weapons of employees to be allowed on school grounds, as the current legislator voted to approve. Let educators educate; let the police, police.
Karen Matthee has solid policy ideas on topics important to all of her constituents. Review her website at kmattheeforidaho.com.
Vote Karen Matthee for Idaho state representative. She will make all Idahoans’ lives better.
Respectfully,
Ann Giantvalley Sandpoint
Matthee will solve problems, not create them…
Dear editor, Karen Mathee, candidate for Idaho House Seat 1A, fits my idea of a good representative. Karen wants to support our families.
What I noticed first about Karen was her loyalty to her own family ethic: “Do right by others.” In my mind, this is the core value of Sandpoint and Bonner County, and why I live here.
Her balanced platform, clarity of understanding and local focus will make her a good representative for our interests, able to work well with other legislators to solve problems — instead of creating them. Her solutions would bring back our doctors, fund our schools and libraries, and address a tax system that favors the wealthiest Idahoans.
An example of her clear thinking: create a permanent fund in the state treasury to support public school facilities. Fund schools on the basis of needs — give every student the learning environment they deserve. Do away with local school bonds. Instead, funds could come from the $5.2 billion in sales tax exemptions that are never reviewed and never expire — some have been in place since the ’60s. If just 10% of those were ruled obsolete, it
would free up half a billion dollars every year for schools.
Nancy Gerth Sagle
‘What Trump means to me’…
Dear editor, Tyranny. Riots. Unrest. Mayhem. Political conflict.
Jo Reitan Sandpoint
‘Matthee takes a stand’…
Dear editor,
Karen Matthee is not afraid to let voters know where she stands on key issues. And she makes clear she supports Proposition 1, the ballot initiative that would create open primaries and ranked-choice voting. She says it would take power from political parties and give it to voters, where it belongs. Voters will be able to vote for the person, not just the party. And it would mean public servants would have to listen to and serve a broader spectrum of voters.
Opponents like to make rankedchoice voting look complex, but it’s not. It’s a myth propagated by the far right. As Matthee says, “You simply choose the candidate that you love, the one you like and the one you can live with.” It’s simple, avoids costly runoff elections, and guarantees that winners are supported by the majority of all voters, not just those who vote in May.
Scott Herndon is a well known opponent of this initiative because it threatens his ability to get himself and other people elected who have extreme agendas. Who else is worried about their ability to win a majority of votes from Bonner County voters?
Prop. 1 is the right thing to do for democracy. And candidates should be clear about where they stand on these important issues before we go to the polls. That is why I am voting for Karen Matthee for House Seat 1A on Nov. 5.
Lee Christensen Sandpoint
Send letters to the editor to letters@sandpointreader.com. Please keep them under 300 words and please, for the love of all that’s holy, have a point.
Emily Articulated
Marriage and weddings, by the numbers
By Emily Erickson Reader Columnist
I never really imagined I’d get married. Like many in my generation, I was the product of divorce. But even before my parents’ separation, I was living in a family; and, at a time when unhealthy relationships felt like the norm.
In fact, according to a 2012 study in The Journals of Gerontology, at the time Millennials were growing up and coming of age — between 1990 and 2012 — divorce rates among people our parents’ age more than doubled.
If it wasn’t the shouting matches between my parents, it was the mutual and poorly concealed resentment between my grandparents or another TV sitcom with a bumbling husband and an overworked wife. It was the announcement of another friend’s family breaking up because “he cheated,” “she let herself go,” “the kids moved out” or (enter classic ’90s/aughts divorce trope here).
Because of this, I never pictured it for myself. I entered the dating world with a heavy skepticism of lifelong partnership and felt no urgency in finding my “forever partner.” This lack of urgency seems common among my generation, with only 44% of millennials aged 23-38 married in 2020, compared to 81% of the Silent Generation at the same age. Similarly, a 2023 Pew Research Center report noted that a quarter of 40-year-old millennials have never been married — an alltime high.
Although skepticism was my primary reason for joining my peers in being historically late to the “settling down” party, outside factors were also delaying my cohort’s nuptials.
Erin Prater summarized in
article, “Millennials have historically been less enthusiastic about marriage and childbearing than their parents, or have at least delayed the milestones while they prioritize their careers and their finances. Two recessions before midlife, a subpar job market post-graduation, massive student loan debt and a housing affordability crisis certainly haven’t helped matters.”
Despite my reluctance, I spent my 20s getting clarity on what I wanted from a partnership — not focused on marriage, but on what I wanted (and didn’t want) from a person with whom share my life with. (Yes, that’s a nicer way of saying, “I wove my way through a bunch of ‘not-right’ relationships in order to discover what a ‘right’ relationship looked like”).
I created a life I loved for myself and then found someone who made it even better.
Now, after six years together, my partner and I are getting married, despite not thinking I would. But, somewhere along the way, I realized that getting married and getting married to a person are very different things and that my partner and I can define our relationship in whatever way we want.
So, I’ve spent the past few
months planning a wedding — a wedding I hadn’t spent teenage years dreaming about or my young 20s imagining — making a lot of the decisions a lot easier.
“No, we don’t want a first dance”; “Yes, we want all the desserts”; “No, I don’t want to be ‘given away’”; “Yes, bubble guns feel important.”
Although we’re bucking tradition and conventional ideas at every turn — a hallmark of our generation — the most millennial thing about our wedding is the cost. Like every other milestone in our lives, the cost of weddings at the time we’re getting married is at an all-time high.
Each year, The Knot Real Weddings Study reveals the average costs (with related expenses) for weddings across the United States. According to data from 2023, the national average cost of a wedding was $35,000 — a $5,000 increase from 2022’s average of $30,000, and a 25% increase from 2019.
Driving up these costs are, of course, nationwide inflation raising the price tag on many goods and services in the wedding industry, leading to an overall rise in total wedding expenses.
Idaho is, in a list where being on the bottom is a good thing for a change, among the cheapest states in which to get married in (tied with Montana at an average cost of $20,000 per wedding), only slightly more than the cheapest state, Utah, at $17,000. Meanwhile, weddings in Washington and Oregon average $30,000; and, with California at $41,000, that drives the average cost of weddings in the West up to $33,700.
Major contributors to these costs include the venue, with an average price tag of $12,800,
wedding photography ($2,800), florist services ($2,800), the wedding dress ($2,000) and catering at an average of $85 per person in attendance.
Luckily, my partner and I have found a lot of ways to help lower the cost of our wedding — a backyard venue, homegrown flowers and lots of DIY.
Alongside our home-baked dessert table and garage-crafted Giant Jenga, we’ll be workshopping our vows. On our big day, we won’t be saying “‘til death do us part.” Instead, we’ll exchange promises along the lines of, “‘til death
of mutual respect, ‘til death of kindness, of being each other’s biggest fan, of curiosity and playfulness and of being on the same team.”
(And, of course, we’ll fight the barely suppressed millennial urge to begin it all with, The Princess Bride: “Mawwiage is what brings us together, today.”)
Emily Erickson is a writer and business owner with an affinity for black coffee and playing in the mountains. Connect with her online at www.bigbluehat.studio.
Retroactive
By BO
As
a Fortune Well
Emily Erickson.
Science: Mad about
the european alps today
By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist
Last week we learned about the 400 million years-long life of the European Alps, but very little about their impact on modern society, or conversely, the impact of modern society on them.
The mountain range spans eight countries: Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. Human borders dividing these mountains have been redrawn countless times throughout history. Humans are confirmed to have been inhabiting the area for at least 5,000 years, encompassing the Paleolithic era and at least one ice age glaciation period.
It’s difficult to pinpoint the origin of the name “Alps.” It’s possible that the term originated from the Latin “albus” for white, which accurately describes the mountains’ snowy peaks. The word has roots in Greek bearing the same meaning.
The name “Albany” originates from this term as well, which is reflected in the name of the country Albania. Currently, “alp” or “alpes” may serve as a contraction of alpine, which refers to the area above the timberline.
Due to the sudden, sharp rise of the mountain peaks, traversing them has been a treacherous endeavor for much of human history. This changed in the wake of World War II when a number of countries invested a great deal of time tunneling through the mountains to open up commercial travel routes. These tunnels were dug using a combination of drilling, explosives and massive boring machines.
Some tunnels were bored out long before the conclusion
of World War II. The Fréjus Rail Tunnel (also known as the Mont Cenis Tunnel) is an 8.5-mile tunnel completed in 1871 after 14 years of work. This sounds like an incredible span of time, but it had been projected to take more than 40 years to complete. It was bored from two directions simultaneously, with French engineers boring from the north and Italian engineers boring from the south, eventually meeting in the middle with a deviation as narrow as 16 inches.
Imagine being that accurate linking up with your friends underground when you’ve both been digging for miles with no GPS.
This feat was achieved using an early boring machine fitted with a shield and pneumatic drills. The machine would drill holes into the rock, then spray water into the holes to clear debris and reduce friction on the drills.
After eight or so hours of drilling, engineers would insert explosives into the bored holes and ignite them to blast apart huge chunks of rock. They’d clear the debris, then start the whole process over again.
This must have been a terrifying experience for anyone involved — crammed into a dark underground tunnel with thousands of feet of rock above your head, blasting holes through the mountainside and hoping none of it comes down on you. This must have been done hundreds of times on both sides.
Blowing a giant hole in a mountain isn’t sufficient. To ensure it doesn’t fill the void with incalculable tons of rock, the tunnel must be lined. This is often done with steel and concrete. Steel rebar gives the concrete lining form and structure, acting similarly to
Glacier buttercups in the European Alps. Courtesy photo.
the bones in our body.
I couldn’t find how the Mont Cenis Tunnel was lined, but a technique used today is spraying a specialized concrete mixture called “shotcrete” onto surfaces with pressurized air. Imagine a really big airbrush, but it’s spraying wet concrete. Often, this is done not far behind the boring machine so as to maintain the structure and reduce the chances of catastrophic collapse.
Trains and automobiles aren’t the only things to have crossed the Alps. In 218 B.C.E., Carthaginian general Hannibal led an estimated 46,000 troops through the Alps to attack Rome on the Italian peninsula. Among these troops were as many as 8,000 cavalry and 38 war elephants. It’s the only time elephants have traversed the Alps, as far as we’re aware; unfortunately, many of them perished in the treacherous crossing.
Today, the pristine views, access to immense amounts of fresh water and rugged mountaineering paths have created a tourism boom for towns in the Alps.
The Principality of Liechtenstein, a microstate in the heart of the Alps, shares a shocking number of similarities with Bonner County. It’s a pristine, mountainous environment primarily supported by tourism and has a large amount of rural area utilized by farmers. Remarkably, though, its economy is driven by cutting-edge manufacturing and exports, allowing its citizens to avoid the fate of the typical tourist destinations — i.e. having all their land cleared for luxury establishments that a local workforce can’t afford to live in).
Aspire to be like Liechtenstein, Sandpoint. The Alps are home to a
vast variety of flora and fauna. Numerous plants grow exclusively in the Alps including the glacier buttercup — a form of Ranunculus — Alpine rock-jasmine and Edelweiss, which can grow in rocky areas between 4,000 and 11,000 feet in elevation. Among the most recognizable fauna is the alpine Ibex, a large horned goat with unparalleled climbing ability.
Many species of fauna that call the Alps home have evolved to survive specifically within a niche found only in
alpine conditions.
One of the most curious animals to call the Alps home is the alpine salamander, which has adapted to live above the snow line with a very peculiar feature among amphibians: it gives birth to live young instead of laying eggs. Live birth is often a more resource-intensive process, but it can be extremely beneficial for species living in difficult climates such as the high mountains.
Stay curious, 7B.
Random Corner
• Bob’s Burgers is an animated sitcom centered on Bob Belcher, his wife Linda and their three children Tina, Gene and Louise. The family runs a burger restaurant in the fictional town of Seymour’s Bay, N.J.
• Every episode, a new business is located next to Bob’s burger restaurant, which fans can spot on the storefront during the opening credits sequence.
• Bob’s Burgers won an Emmy in 2017 for Outstanding Animated Program for the episode, “Bob, Actually.”
• Daughter Tina was originally conceived as a 13-year-old boy named Daniel. Despite the fact that the character ended up being a female, creator Loren Bouchard decided to keep Dan Mintz, the male voice actor, who provides Tina’s voice.
• Showrunners create a new burger-of-the-day special on Bob’s menu for nearly every episode, usually with a clever pun. Fan favorites include the “Gourdon-Hamsey
Burger” (comes with squash and ham), the “Silentil Night Burger” (comes with lentils) and “The Cauliflower’s Cumin From Inside the House Burger” (comes with cauliflower and cumin).
• Louise’s school friends, Andy and Ollie Pesto, are voiced by comedian Sarah Silverman and her real-life sister Laura.
• The original concept for Bob’s Burgers was much darker. Bouchard imagined the Belchers as cannibals, with their restaurant serving as a cover for their dietary proclivities. While the show went in a different direction, the pilot episode contains a hint to that alternate timeline, with Louise spreading a rumor that the family’s burgers are made of human flesh.
• The only voice actor who doesn’t use their normal voice is John Roberts, who voices Bob’s wife Linda, based on his own mother’s voice.
Outvoted but unbowed as the BCRCC debates Proposition 1
By Dave Britton Reader Contributor
I’m writing as the duly elected Republican precinct committeeman representing the Beach Precinct. I ran as a rational, responsible Republican and won by an almost 2-1 margin, so I sit on the Bonner County Republican Central Committee and the Legislative District 1 Committee.
Last week the Reader reported on our BCRCC August meeting, focusing on its role in making recommendations for gubernatorial appointments to prematurely vacated county positions, and noted that the committee also had a lively discussion of Proposition 1 — a citizen initiative that would convert Idaho elections to a ranked-choice model and open primaries to all voters, regardless of political affiliation.
Prop. 1 is on the November election ballot.
The committee debated a resolution brought by Washington Precinct Committeeman Tom Bokowy requesting that Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador stop opposing Prop. 1 with what the resolution characterized as “habitually doomed legal challenges” that waste significant amounts of money in costly lawsuits and attempt to block the people’s right under the Constitution of Idaho to bring initiative petitions before the voters.
I stood in support of the resolution, noting that, in my view, it was not only wasteful but an unseemly example of grandstanding for attention that reflected badly on the Republican Party.
We both knew that our effort was doomed.
Bokowy and I are in the minority — less than one-third of the 30 BCRCC members — the majority of whom support outgoing-Sagle Sen. Scott Herndon, who serves as chair of the BCRCC. Herndon lost to former-Sen. Jim Woodward in the May primary election but retained his post as a precinct committeeman, so he was eligible to continue his BCRCC leadership as chair. Thus, the BCRCC is somewhat awkwardly and overtly divided, but we all work to be respectful.
August’s debate was noteworthy both in its intensity and in the inaccuracy of the points made about rankedchoice voting. Every reason cited in opposition to it was incorrect but strongly felt.
I found it hard to argue, be persuasive or find compromise with folks whose rational capacity seemed clouded by fear and anger and in-group loyalty.
Trying to make a point-by-point rebuttal on the merits and the facts seemed ineffectual, but we did our best and were outvoted. The matter became a referendum on loyalty to the wing of the party that opposes Prop. 1.
There is a kind of delicious irony in criticizing the AG’s political theater by what could itself be construed as political theater, i.e., offering a doomed resolution, but there is true substance to the content of our objection. These are the core facts:
• Open primaries may, in all likelihood, weaken the stranglehold of the extremist, Idaho Freedom Foundation-aligned wing of the Republican Party, since it will enable thousands of unaffiliated voters to help select who gets to be on the final ballot. The extremist wing may be right that their power is better protected by the closed primary system. Idahoans may remember fondly how much higher the caliber of elected leadership was in the old days, before the 2011 advent of closed primaries. But, any weakening will not be because of ranked-choice voting, which does not apply to primary elections.
• Open primary elections will offer voters options from all political parties, including, potentially, multiple candidates from the same party, but they will only select their top choice. This weeds the field down to the strongest four candidates regardless of party affiliation. These four candidates may then start campaigning for the general election, knowing who they will be facing.
• In the following November general election, voters will have the opportunity to rank or not rank each of the candidates. If you only want to support one specific candidate, you can rank that one as No. 1 and not rank any others, thus actively undermining their ability to get any additional support from you if your first and only choice is eliminated. Your vote will not be transferred to someone you didn’t support — that idea was brought forward vociferously and with much horror last month by a former Californian who claimed to have been forced by California’s ranked-choice system to vote for Kamala Harris. It’s clear
that ignorance (of how things work) is not always bliss. Your ballot will not be rejected if you choose not to rank all four candidates. You might even like being able to rank two or three if you want to make sure that at least one of them wins.
Having more candidates and more people voting in the primary might mitigate the dominance of the wing of the Republican Party that supports Project 2025. In Bonner County, Tom Bokowy and I are looking forward to it.
We’re also looking forward to another process approved at the August BCRCC meeting — one that has been reviled by some as an attempt to pressure Republican politicians into toeing the party line, or else. We will be asked to sign an affirmation of approval for the newly minted Idaho Republican Party official party platform, or, to detail and explain what we disagree with or object to. Our answers will be made public.
In my view, that platform is quite troubling, so I welcome the publicity that will attend my explication and political analysis thereof.
Prop. 1 will be good for Idaho politics in general, and I believe it will be good for the Republican Party as well. The extremist wing is driving rational, responsible Republicans away. As much as they argue that their minority rule is justified because “we are a republic, not a democracy,” it still holds that to be good, government must have the consent of the governed.
So I say, “Yes on Prop 1.”
Dave Britton represents the Beach Precinct of Sandpoint on the Bonner County Republican Central Committee.
COMMUNITY
Chamber welcomes LPO Retreat
By Reader Staff
The Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce celebrated LPO Retreat’s entrance into their ranks, as well as owners Terry and Steve Thorp’s first corporate retreat at the newly renovated property, with a recent ribbon cutting.
LPO Retreat (1655 Glengary Bay Rd.) is a collection of buildings that made up the historical lakeside home of aviator, inventor and biomedical engineer Dr. Forrest Bird — a former neighbor of the Thorps. Bird spent years inviting doctors from around the world to come learn about his inventions and stay at his lakeside home on Glengary Bay.
The Thorps purchased the property
BY THE NUMBERS
By Ben Olson Reader Staff
26
The number of states, including Idaho, where state officials sued the Biden administration over Title IX changes to oppose protections for LGBTQ+ athletes.
$37 million
about a year ago and have since been working to transform it into a worldclass retreat, which includes lodging rooms, event venues and meeting spaces. The Thorps will begin taking reservations for events, family gatherings, weddings and corporate retreats in the spring of 2025. For more information, visit lporetreat.com.
The sum of a settlement reached between Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador and tobacco companies in a long-running case over disputed payments by cigarette manufacturers stemming from a 1998 ruling. The $37 million figure is a settlement down from the full amount of $58 million, which Labrador said could take more than a decade to receive.
$3.38
The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline as of Aug. 23. This is 47 cents lower than a year ago.
Courtesy photo.
Let Idahoans decide
The ‘marketplace of ideas’ and Proposition 1
By Kent Ivanoff Reader Contributor
In business, I believe the best ideas rise to the top. It’s the foundation of a free market — an open arena where innovation, competition and consumer choice determine success.
As an entrepreneur, I’ve relied on the power of this principle firsthand. It’s why I’m passionate about the Open Primaries Initiative (Proposition 1).
Just as the marketplace should be open to all who want to compete — especially those with innovative ideas — our political system should be open to every Idahoan who wants a say in the direction of our state.
I was raised, educated and built most of my professional career in Idaho. But I’ve been frustrated by changes in our political landscape over the past decade. The politics and policies of the state I love have become increasingly foreign to me — hijacked by a vocal, powerful minority. They’re exploiting a closed-primary system to exert control and push a narrow, polarizing agenda that is out of touch with mainstream Idaho.
In the free-market business world, entrepreneurs chase innovative ideas that disrupt
markets and generate better outcomes than incumbents. If you aren’t significantly better than the status quo, your business fails.
It’s simple: You experiment and learn to find the innovations that work. And if you earn enough breakthrough wins, you get to transform a market.
Before launching my previous company, my partners and I recognized that more than 80% of major hospital networks used one, dated patient billing software. Because of their monopoly, that company grew complacent and patients saw increasingly poor outcomes. So we collaborated with leading health systems across the country to develop a solution that matched the needs of today’s health care consumer.
Our solution was far better than the incumbent’s. We offered patients transparency, choice and control for the first time in the U.S. health care market — and they loved it.
This ballot initiative mirrors those key elements.
Closed primaries enable complacency, which has allowed a small minority of powerful special interest groups within the Republican Party to seize control and drive a top-down agenda. It’s like a monopoly incumbent telling a market what it needs rather than an innovator listening and then responding to consumer needs.
There’s no pathway for change until we offer all Idahoans the chance to have a stronger voice through open primary elections and use
general elections to ensure lawmakers are held accountable to their constituents.
Proposition 1 is the disruptive innovation that can drive those outcomes.
I’ve voted Republican my entire life. But traditional Idaho conservatives like me have been pushed aside by political elites who are actively building barriers to prevent the true competition of ideas.
It’s outrageous and it’s time to do something about it.
That’s why I support Proposition 1. This citizen-led initiative seeks to restore our free-market ideals of choice and competition into Idaho’s political process. It has the potential to be a game changer for our state.
Let’s get back to an Idaho where the voters, not political
elites, have the final say on how our state runs. Just like the marketplace where consumers determine the success of a business, it should be the people of Idaho who determine the success of ideas like Proposition 1.
In the end, it’s not about what party you belong to — it’s about ensuring every Idahoan has a voice so the very best ideas win.
Kent Ivanoff is a product of Idaho public schools and an entrepreneur who has co-founded multiple businesses, including VisitPay and American Direct Credit, both of which were ultimately acquired by publicly traded companies including R1 and Capital One Financial, respectively.
Kent Ivanoff. Courtesy photo.
Bizarre Bazaar opens its doors on new home
By Reader Staff
Bonner County’s upscale resale shop Bizarre Bazaar is nearly ready to open the doors at its new address, 114 S. Boyer Ave. — next to Smokesmith Bar-B-Que. Bizarre Bazaar is the primary funding arm of the Community Assistance League, a nearly 50-yearold staple in the county’s community service sector, which serves as a source of funding for local students and nonprofits through grants and scholarships.
Unlike families who move, this wasn’t a couple weeks of packing boxes culminating in a moving van for a day — this was a long project.
“We actually began nearly two-anda-half years ago,” stated former-CAL President Beth Drain. “There’s been a good deal of uncertainty about the future of our location on Church Street, so we determined that the wise course was to look for an alternative location. A small team scoured greater Sandpoint looking at everything from rent-
al, for-sale and raw land properties, which might suit our unique needs.”
Current President Joyce Price added: “Not only are we a nonprofit, but we know that the community counts on us to fund grants and scholarships every spring. We wanted — no, we needed — to be careful with every penny we would spend.”
That meant strategic savings for several years in the event that a move needed to be funded. It meant weighing the decision to move against current and future costs, as well as convenience to customers. And it meant doing it all with volunteers.
Cherie Warber, longtime co-manager of the shop, praised the efforts of many.
“Not only did each of our department heads take careful inventory of what to move and how to manage it, but husbands and friends jumped in, too. Marilyn Brown’s husband Rudy and Linda Zinn’s husband Tom both had prior experience in the building trades — they have patiently managed
each detail of the ‘tenant improvements’ necessary to turn a Taekwondo studio-turned-physical therapy center into retail space.
However, it was CAL members who tackled the past several weeks of hard work of sorting, packing, hauling and restocking.
“The public — our customers — only have seen about one third of our space. What’s behind the scenes is staggering: back stock, out-of-season items, plus the equipment and paperwork that is part of any nonprofit organization,” Warber stated.
According to Co-Manager Carol Visger, “When donations come in, volunteers sort and then make each item ready for sale. That means washing, ironing, cleaning, polishing, repairing and finally pricing. That’s all part of the ‘back-of-the-house’ work that customers never see. And it’s all done by volunteers.”
The community can see the results beginning Saturday, Aug. 24 between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. The soft opening
allows CAL volunteers to work out any kinks and help customers get familiar with the new layout. There are 13 designated parking spots, as well as street parking on Lake and Pine streets. The grand opening will be held on Saturday, Sept. 7.
“Bizarre Bazaar is successful because of a unique three-way partnership: the CAL volunteers who run the store, the community that shops there, and friends and neighbors all over the area who donate their gently used goods,” the organization stated in a news release. “Although personal monetary donations are always welcome, the bulk of the monies CAL is able to give back to the community comes from store proceeds. CAL has gifted nearly $2.5 million in grants and scholarships to date.”
For more information, contact Jan Harrison at janharrison2022@outlook.com or 360-340-2195.
Top left: A cow moose and twin calves. “She’s passing along her essential mineral source,” wrote photographer John Chaplin.
Top right: Photographer Bill Preuss captured his grandson, Ted, having fun on the lake with the famous Sandpoint pirate ship in the background.
Bottom left: “Monotropa uniflora L., or ‘ghost pipes,’ blooming in our woods. These are perennial plants that obtain nutrients by parasitizing mycorrhizal fungi associated with conifers.” Photo by John Harbuck.
Bottom middle: Zoey Lewis takes advantage of Lady Liberty’s temporary absence to pose for a photo. Yes, that’s Ryan Gosling’s face on Zoey’s torch/candle. Photo by Sharon Lewis.
Bottom right: A plane from Wings Over Sandpoint, the 16th annual Sandpoint Fly In at the Sandpoint Airport. Photos by Rich Milliron.
To submit a photo for a future edition, please send to ben@sandpointreader.com.
OUTDOORS
The rivers and the lakes that you’re used to
What’s the difference between a creek and a river; a lake and a pond?
By Ben Olson Reader Staff
While driving down the mountain from camping up Lightning Creek last weekend, I was reminded of a line from Confucius: “The beginning of wisdom is the ability to call things by their right names.”
I’ve never been accused of being “wise,” but I have always been interested in the names we use to describe our world. A highway is something wholly different from a lane. A pond brings a different picture to mind than a lake. A river is not the same as a creek. But is it? Are these terms more interchangeable than we believe?
Looking out over the white rocks littering the bed of Lightning Creek, I thought, “What makes this a creek and, say, Pack River a river? Are they not born as one and the same?”
It turns out, there are no official rules that designate a body of water as a creek instead of a river. Both are tributaries that help transfer fresh water — be it from snow, a glacier or a spring — from higher ground to the ocean.
But what makes a creek a creek and a river a river? If you follow Pack River to its origins at Harrison Lake, it’s little more than a trickling freshet where it begins, just like Lightning Creek. Even the mighty Mississippi River starts as a humble trickle in Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota before it flows 2,348 miles down the entire continent until draining into the Gulf of Mexico below New Orleans.
Why must Lightning Creek be labeled a lesser creek while Pack River enjoys its higher status as a river? Aren’t they both rivers in our hearts?
Instead of rules that designate what a body of water is called, there are plenty of guidelines. Creeks are generally smaller waterways that have characteristics of rivers, but might not have new branches or tributaries as rivers do. Also, a river is larger and deeper than a creek, but the size and depth are, again, nebulous.
Hydrologists generally refer to bodies of water that drain significant watersheds as rivers, while tributaries to the rivers are called creeks. But this isn’t always the case. For example, the Chadakoin River in Jamestown, N.Y. drains into the Cassadaga Creek.
dams or other shoreline alterations.
Using this definition, a team of Michigan State University researchers declared there were 479,950 lakes across the lower 48 states, and though Minnesota’s “10,000 lakes” sure sounds like a lot, it isn’t enough to claim having the most lakes in the nation. It’s actually fourth.
Texas has 43,343 lakes, Florida has 35,508 and Georgia has 32,664. Minnesota comes in fourth with 29,669 lakes, which means their license plates are t lying to us. (Idaho is far back in the pack, with only 2,000 lakes in the state).
To make their slogan work, Minnesotans need to include the caveat that the state has 10,000 lakes greater than 7.67 hectares. Or they can change the license plates to read, “29,669 lakes,” though that doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.
Others rely on homespun wisdom, such as, “If you can jump across, it’s a crick. If you can walk across it without getting your belt wet, it’s a crick. Anything bigger is a river.”
(The difference between a “crick” and a “creek” depends wholly on how many teeth you still have in your head.)
But the problem with these definitions is that there are just as many exceptions to the rule. Lightning Creek is a trickle in late summer, but you’d better not try to cross it in June when it’s raging with snowmelt.
We haven’t even gotten into the lesser terms like stream, brook, freshet and run.
The United States Geological Survey does have a rubric classifying any body of water flows downhill as a “stream.” Streams are then further defined not by width, depth or length, but by a system known as “stream ordering.”
A second-order stream is often the result of a merger between two first-order streams. These are commonly called “creeks” and might require a bridge or stepping stones, or perhaps wading, to cross.
Third-order streams are larger, forming from the merging of two second-order streams or creeks. These would require bridges or wading to cross, if not swimming. Third-order streams are generally called “branches” in the headwater regions of watersheds.
Fourth-order streams are bigger still, involving the merging of two third-order streams, qualifying them as rivers. These require big bridges, boats or swimming to cross.
“The difference between a ‘crick’ and a ‘creek’ depends wholly on how many teeth you still have in your head.”
First-order streams are the smallest ones that have no tributaries. These are often called “brooks” or “rivulets,” which one could hop across easily without getting wet.
That covers rivers, but what about lakes?
Minnesota is famously called the “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” but how many of those lakes are actually just ponds? What’s the difference between the two?
Just like rivers and creeks, it’s complicated. Generally, a lake is defined as a permanent waterbody of relatively still water at least one hectare — about 2.5 acres — in size, with or without
In reality, there is no technical difference between lakes and ponds, other than the general belief that lakes are large and deep, ponds short and shallow. But these definitions often fall short.
Maine’s Great Pond claims to be the largest in the nation, with a surface area of 8,533 acres and a shoreline that stretches about seven miles long and four miles wide. For scale, our nearby Round Lake comes in at about 55 acres.
There are a few more rules in place when it comes to classifications of waterfalls. In order to be deemed a waterfall, a segment of water must drop at least five feet. From there, waterfalls are further ordered as tiered, multi-step, cascade, fan, horsetail or a plunge, like Palouse Falls in Washington.
If you happen to witness these water bodies on a glacier, the names change again: a lake is now a “supraglacial lake,” and a glacial waterfall is called a “moulin.”
Whether you call it a creek or a river, a lake or a pond, a waterfall or a moulin, the water cares not. One man’s pond is another’s lake, and one woman’s river might really be a creek. The water flows regardless of what we call it.
That’s just fine with me.
Lighting Creek, which comes down from the mountains above Hope and empties into the Clark Fork River and Lake Pend Oreille. Courtesy photo.
COMMUNITY
A peek behind the curtain Sandpoint Ceramics opens inside Cedar St. Bridge POAC’s Artists’ Studio Tour kicks off Aug. 30
By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff
The Pend Oreille Arts Council will give the community a peek behind the curtain with its annual Artists’ Studio Tour, Friday, Aug. 30 through Sunday, Sept. 1, featuring creative spaces throughout Bonner County. The free, self-guided tour runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and offers a chance to view the work of local artists within the studios and landscapes that inspire them.
“I think seeing an artists’ studio and getting a glimpse into their process deepens those connections,” said POAC Arts Coordinator Claire Cristy. “There is a story behind each piece. This event gives visitors the opportunity to hear those stories and take a piece home with them.”
This year, 19 artists specializing in different media — including painting, ceramics, fiber, photography and metal — will showcase their creations across 15 locations from Naples to Sagle and everywhere in between. Participants include Jenni Barry, Lucy West Binnall, Barry Burgess, Larry Clark, Don Fisher, Susan Gallo, Dave Gon-
zo, Daris Judd, Terrie Kremer, Lori Moore, Penny L. Ottley, Kim Powers, Ed Robinson, Connie Scherr, Jessie Watt, Mary Gayle Young, Tammy Zink and Linda and Ronald Gue.
“Each studio is unique to the artist who occupies it. Some are separate structures from the artists’ homes, and others work in their living rooms,” said Cristy. “If you’re the type of person who sees a beautiful or charming home and wonders what the inside looks like, this is a perfect event for you.”
With work for sale at each location, anyone looking to support the local arts community and walk away with a unique piece is sure to find something that catches their eye.
For detailed information on each artist and a map of the tour, visit artinsandpoint.org or drop by the POAC Gallery (313 N. Second Ave.) Monday through Saturday.
“There is always new work to see. Styles evolve and change so I would encourage visitors to stop by their favorites from last year to see what’s new,” added Cristy.
MONARCH MARBLE & GRANITE
By Ben Olson Reader Staff
Sandpoint is many things to many people, but one of its most prominent identities is as an arts town. This weekend, the arts community will welcome another outlet for creation and fun.
Sandpoint Ceramics is hosting a grand opening on Saturday, Aug. 31 from 3-6 p.m. in Suite No. 206 inside the Cedar Street Bridge in Sandpoint. There will be appetizers, beer and wine available, as well as a raffle to win a free two-day ceramic handbuilding workshop.
The new business will serve as a community clay studio offering classes, workshops and events in ceramic handbuilding. There will also be potter’s wheel experiences, homeschool group classes, paint-and-sip events and handmade pottery for sale in the studio, which features views of Sand Creek and the mountains.
“We have something for all ages
and skill levels,” said owner Jamie Danielson, who added that she discovered her knack for 3-D artistry when she took her first pottery class in 2009.
“I completely fell in love with the entire process of working with clay and decided I needed to do this for the rest of my life,” she said.
Danielson earned a bachelor’s degree in studio art with a focus on ceramics, a teaching credential and finally a master’s degree in educational leadership. Soon after, she began teaching high-school ceramics and art.
“When my husband, two daughters and I moved to Sandpoint, I discovered there was a huge void in the community,” she said. “We have yearround outdoor recreation, wonderful restaurants, wineries and breweries and a vibrant arts and music scene, but no ceramics studios!”
To learn more about Sandpoint Ceramics, attend their grand opening on Saturday, Aug. 31, or visit sandpointceramics.com.
Send event listings to calendar@sandpointreader.com
Live Music w/ Sheldon Packwood
6-8pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall
Bingo Night
6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority
West Coast swing dance lessons
August 29 - September 5, 2024
THURSDAY, August 29
Trivia Night
7pm @ Connie’s Lounge
Game Night
6:30pm @ Tervan
4:15-5:30pm @ The Yellow Room - 102 Euclid Ave.
All levels of dancers welcome aged 8+. $5-$10
Live Music w/ Ken Mayginnes
6-9pm @ 1908 Saloon
Live Music w/ TJ Kelly
7-9pm @ Idaho Pour Authority
Live Music w/ Monarch Mountain Band
5:30-8:30pm @ Barrel 33
Live Music w/ Ron Keiper
5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery
Live Music w/ Miah Kohal Band
6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall
Live Music w/ Bright Moments Jazz
6-8:30pm @ Arlo’s Ristorante
Live Music w/ Emma Greenwood
7-9pm @ Idaho Pour Authority
Live Music w/ Jacob Rountree
8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub
Live Music w/ Mike Wagoner
6pm @ Connie’s Lounge
Live Music w/ Mike & Shanna
5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery
Sandpoint Chess Club
9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee Meets every Sunday at 9am
Capital for a Day • 10am-3pm @ Event Center, Priest River
Join Idaho officials, including Gov. Brad Little, as they bring the state capital north to Priest River for a day
Field of Dreams grand opening celebration and ribbon cutting 6pm @ 100 Oneida Dr. (north of Sandpoint off of Hwy 95)
Celebrate the completion of the first phase of this sports complex
FriDAY, August 30
Live Music w/ Jay Snow and the Tone Keepers (Texas blues)
6-8pm @ Smokesmith BBQ
Movie Night in the Park: The Sandlot
7:30pm @ Pine Street Park
Free viewing of The Sandlot Artists’ Studio Tour (Aug. 30-Sept. 1)
A self-guided tour of working studios throughout North Idaho. artinsandpoint.org
Live Music w/ Hannah Meehan 8-10pm @ Baxter’s Back Door
SATURDAY, August 31
Live Music w/ Light on the Water
6-8pm @ Smokesmith BBQ
Live Music w/ Ben Vogel
6-9pm @ Barrel 33
Live Music w/ Mason Van Stone 6-9pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall
Sandpoint Farmers’ Market
9am-1pm @ Farmin Park
Live Music w/ Right Front Burner
9pm-midnight @ 219 Lounge
With Killer Tacos food truck
SunDAY, September 1
Magic with Star Alexander 5-8pm @ Jalepeño’s Up close magic shows at the table
Monday Night Blues Jam w/ John Firshi
7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub
Lifetree Cafe • 2pm @ Jalapeño’s
Twos-Day at Utara
2-9pm @ Utara Brewing Co.
$2 pints of Utara Rye Amber Ale
Benny on the Deck concert series
5-7pm @ Connie’s Lounge
Featuring guest The Miabilities
Artist Reception: Terrel Jones
5-7pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Winery’s artist of the month
Alexa Wildish and Lennon VanderDoes in concert (w/ Queen Bonobo)
5:30pm @ Heartwood Center
Historic Walking Tours
10am @ In front of Panida Theater
Free walking tour of Sandpoint’s historic downtown
Fall Fest (Aug. 30-Sept. 2) @ Schweitzer
Four days of beer tasting, live music and fun at Schweitzer
Friends of the Library monthly book sale 10am-2pm @ Sandpoint Library
A wonderful selection in all genres and some pop-up Labor Day specials
Sandpoint Ceramics grand opening 3-6pm @ Sandpoint Ceramics Head to the Cedar St. Bridge for Sandpoint Ceramics’ grand opening and meet owner/teacher Jamie Danielson, appetizers and drinks
Live Music w/ Hannah Meehan 8-10pm @ Baxter’s Back Door
9th annual Walk for Hope 5pm @ Dog Beach A walk to promote suicide awareness, hope and healing
monDAY, September 2
Outdoor Experience Group Run 6pm @ Outdoor Experience 3-5 miles, all levels welcome
tuesDAY, September 3
Ballroom dance lessons
5:15-6:15pm @ Sandpoint Senior Center
wednesDAY, September 4
After God’s Heart women’s bible study
11am @ First Baptist Church Topic: The History of Israel. aghsandpoint.net for more info
ThursDAY, September 5
Live Music w/ Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters
8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub All-female Americana and rock
Trivia Night (w/ Dusty)
6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority
Live Piano w/ Dwayne Parsons
5-7pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery
Sandpoint Farmers’ Market
3-5:30pm @ Farmin Park
Open Mic Night
6:30pm @ Tervan Tavern
Bingo Night
6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority
Game Night
6:30pm @ Tervan Trivia Night 7pm @ Connie’s Lounge
A-list Alien(s) Ranking the Alien films from worst to best
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff
With Alien: Romulus in theaters now — and because I haven’t been able to make it to the cinema to see it yet — I contented myself with rewatching all the O.G. installments in the Alien franchise in order over the past week, and I suggest you do, too.
Below is my attempt at ranking the original films (from worst to best), based purely on subjective criteria. I will be disregarding the Alien-Predator crossovers because they were all total garbage — though the late-’90s video game based on that concept did provide me with many hours of enjoyment in college. I invite disagreement and debate.
Alien: Resurrection
Most listicles on this topic agree with Alien: Resurrection (1997) holding a place near the nadir of the franchise. I remember watching this one at the old Sandpoint Cinema 4 West theater when I was 17, and even my lifelong enthusiasm for the films couldn’t withstand the essentially comic-book nature of this fourth entry in the canon.
In it, Lt. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) returns as a clone of her original character more than two centuries
after the events of the first films, though her DNA has been merged with a Xenomorph and she’s tasked with carrying out a muddled mission mingling E.T. genocide with motherhood. Which is icky. Winona Ryder also stars, though is mostly underused as a sex object for the male space pirates. Also ick. Thanks but no thanks, director Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
Aliens
I know, I know — everyone loves the 1986 sequel to Alien, but I don’t. Sure there’s badass machine-gunning Pvts. Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein) and “Game Over Man” Hudson (Bill Paxton), plus the cute-but-traumatized kid Newt (Carrie Henn), cigar-chomping Sgt. Apone (Al Matthews), grunt-with-a-heart-of-gold Cpl. Hicks (Michael Biehn) and sleazeball company man Carter Burke (Paul Reiser), but rewatching it for the millionth time, I’m struck by how obviously it’s a James Cameron action flick. There’s little that’s actually ominous and it lacks any deep ruminations on the essential hostility of the universe — just guns, explosions, car chases and all that rigamarole.
Alien: Covenant
In this 2017 addition, we get pretty darn thinky. Scientist Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and evil android David (Michael Fassbender) are at the cen-
City hosts free outdoor screening of The Sandlot
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff
It’s hard to find a more potent piece of cinematic nostalgia than the 1993 classic The Sandlot, which tells the raucous yet family-friendly tale of a rag-tag band of kids in the summer of 1962, whose lives and misadventures revolve around the neighborhood ball field.
Equal parts comedy and heartfelt coming-of-age story, The Sandlot revolves around Scotty Smalls (Tom Guiry), who moves to a new house with his mom and step-dad and tries to make friends with the local kids, who are all avid baseball players.
Smalls lacks talent and has a hard time fitting in, but his bond with the other boys grows as the summer progresses. Things take a perilous turn when Hamilton “Ham” Porter (a scene-stealing Patrick Renna) hits a homer into the backyard of mysterious old-man neighbor Mr. Mertle (James Earl Jones), who keeps a murderous
English mastiff nicknamed “the Beast.”
From there, the rowdy events of the summer stack up. Thwarted romance, friction with the step-dad and more lost baseballs (including one bearing a priceless autograph) culminate with an ultimate showdown with the Beast and the realization that people — and dogs — aren’t always who they seem to be.
The city of Sandpoint is putting on a free outdoor screening of The Sandlot on Friday, Aug. 30 at Pine Street Park from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Hosted by the Sandpoint Parks and Recreation Department, the PG-rated film is open to all members of the community, who are invited to bring low-backed chairs, blankets and coolers for snacks (though no alcohol is permitted). In addition, local organizations will offer information about resources available to residents.
Weather may affect the date of the film screening, and updates will be posted on the city of Sandpoint’s Facebook page as needed.
ter of this contemplation of creation, artificial intelligence and humanity’s future. It goes pretty wide, however, with a doppelganger David, revelations about the origins of both the Xenomorphs and their human prey — which somehow don’t feel very revelatory — and Danny McBride’s valiant efforts at comic relief that ultimately don’t contribute much other than diffusing the horror vibe, which in this case is not very welcome.
Alien 3
This may be somewhat controversial, but upon rewatching Alien 3, directed by David Fincher, I was struck by how good I forgot it was. Premiered in 1992, it picks up right after the events of Aliens, with Ripley as the sole survivor of an escape pod landed on the maximum-security prison planet of Fiorina 161, populated by murderers and rapists who cling to a quasi-religious leader played by Charles S. Dutton. Of course, a Xenomorph has stowed away (as they always do), and it’s up to Ripley and the inmates — including Charles Dance as a love interest/morphine-addicted prison doctor — to stop it.
Alien: Prometheus
Haters gonna hate, but Alien: Prometheus is a hell of a movie. This one is a prequel to Alien, with Covenant as its sequel. Ridley Scott originated this cinemat- ic world and was at the helm for Alien, Prometheus and Covenant; and, in the hands of the master, Prometheus (2012) is a morality tale wrapped in a contemplation of cosmic horror with Charlize Theron and Rapace as the immovable object and the unstoppable force. Plus we get some backstory on the evil Weyland-Yutani Corporation and some super-slick visuals as a bonus.
Alien
Of course, the original 1979 film has to take first place because, well, it’s iconic. There’s no need to recount this haunted house-in-space thriller because, if you haven’t seen it yet, you’re 45 years behind on your cinema culture education. Here’s hoping Romulus proves to be a worthy addition, slotting itself between the events of Alien and Aliens; and, based on the early reviews, it’s a winner.
Indie folk rock songwriter Jacob Rountree to play Eichardt’s, Fall Fest
By Ben Olson Reader Staff
After nearly a decade of writing music, Jacob Rountree remains committed to exploring the human condition through his craft. Rountree’s special blend of alternative folk and indie rock has always centered on his quest to tell unique stories in a therapeutic way, seeking inspiration from a wide variety of topics while still focusing on what makes us tick as a species.
Rountree will play a free live show at 8 p.m. at Eichardt’s Pub on Friday, Aug. 30.
Hailing from Bozeman, Mont., Roundtree classifies his music as, “alternative-indie only because it seems to be the least descriptive title one could have for their art.”
The alt-folk, indie rock musical genre is fitting because it is based on classic Americana, folk and rock, but “includes experimentation with unconventional time signatures, tunings,
soundscapes and arrangements,”
Rountree told the Reader
“I like to think of my music as a Paul Simon or Bob Dylan level of folky-storytelling combined with the imaginative experience and multi-dimensions of music like Pink Floyd,” he said. “It’s easy on the ears, it’s familiar, yet it takes an open mind to enjoy such an inventive approach to songwriting and production.”
In Rountree’s forthcoming album, Truth or Dare, set for release Sept. 20, he said some of the songs are playful fiction, “written with desire to connect to a live audience through dance, while others are introspective ballads on love and conflict. I even bring in concepts of quantum physics and theories of existence stemming from my mechanical engineering degree and work in nano research.”
Rountree will play with three of his five bandmates — which make up the group Jacob Rountree and the
Sandpoint Moments
An ongoing collection of special moments that define why we live here
• “I’m a teacher, and yes, I get as excited as the kids on the last day of school. One year, I quickly slid into my swimsuit and flip-flops, grabbed a towel and headed to the gas station at the Sandpoint-end of the Long Bridge. I jogged out to the bridge where my friend Shane was waiting in the boat. I threw my towel and flip-flops down to him and jumped in the water. He tossed me a life jacket, a slalom ski and the ski rope. I skied off into the summer without a care in the world.”
— Submitted by Rick Price
• “When MickDuff’s was on First Street, we were eating dinner there late one fall night. A siren on a police car going slowly by alarmed the clientele, until we realized they were escorting the Bulldogs girls’ soccer team home from the game in Coeur d’ Alene, where they just won the state championship. The spontaneous cheer that went up in the crowded restaurant was a heartfelt and heartwarming burst of hometown pride.
— Submitted by Rick Price
• “Does anyone remember the guy in the early 2000s who would skateboard across the Bridge Street bridge over Sand Creek and under the railroad bridge into City Beach doing a handstand the whole time? It was quite a sight.”
— Submitted by Rick Price
Somethings — at the Eichardt’s gig, but if you miss that show, you can see the band at Spokane’s Pig Out in the Park on Saturday, Aug. 31 or at Schweitzer’s Fall Fest at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 1.
While he often appears solo, Rountree said playing as a band is always the performance of choice.
“There is a natural, soulful quality
to my music, which is enhanced by sharing the stage with other expressive musicians,” he said. “The intimate environment [at Eichardt’s] allows for more storytelling and connection, as well as hearing some hidden gems.”
Jacob Rountree and the Somethings playing live. Courtesy photo.
MUSIC
Local contestant from The Voice set to perform Friday show at the Heartwood
By Katie Botkin Reader Contributor
Alexa Wildish called Sandpoint home before she appeared on The Voice in 2023. Millions tuned in to watch her sing her way to the playoffs, and now she’s back in Sandpoint on a concert tour of the Mountain West with fellow contestant Lennon VanderDoes, another folk singer from Phoenix, Ariz.
Their Sandpoint show will take place on the lawn of the Heartwood Center (615 Oak St.) on Friday, Aug. 30, at 5:30 p.m. The evening’s opener is Sandpoint native Maya Goldbum in her role
as jazz-folk singer-songwriter Queen Bonobo. Seating for the show starts at 5 p.m. Bring a blanket or lawn chair, and a picnic if you want dinner. Show is $15 in advance or $20 at the door.
The Heartwood concert coincides with a single Wildish is releasing the next day, and a full EP, After Love, set for release on Sept. 27.
Wildish’s musical style is a combination of folk and Americana — a sound she says she discovered attending the Festival at Sandpoint at age 17. There she saw The Wailin’ Jennys open for Nickel Creek, and decided to pursue becoming a folk singer-songwriter in
lieu of heading to Broadway, which was her previous dream. She went on to win the 2019 Rocky Mountain Folks Festival songwriting competition. Wildish’s eponymous debut album features vocals from Wailin’ Jennys singer Ruth Moody.
Both Wildish and VanderDoes won fans during their stints on The Voice, and both had a soulful, emotionally moving approach to covering the hits featured on the show.
VanderDoes picked Lord Huron’s “The Night We Met” to win his spot in the competition, while Wildish sang Fleetwood Mac’s “Songbird,” resulting in all four judges asking her to join their team.
The Festival’s Instrument Library opens for school year
By Reader Staff
As part of its non-profit mission to provide affordable and accessible music to the community, the Festival at Sandpoint has once again opened its Instrument Library, which provides free musical instruments to students throughout the school year and summer.
During the school year checkout period, anyone can pick up their instrument from
September through June, when the summer period begins. Instrument check-outs are on a first-come, firstserved basis.
The festival appreciates the community’s donations, which have helped create an extensive library that includes violins, basses, cellos, electric guitars, bass guitars, trumpets, horns and more, as well as accessories like amplifiers and stands. Donations of old instruments and accessories are
always welcome.
A refundable deposit will be required to check out an instrument or accessory from the library, and the deposit will be refunded upon the instrument’s return. Students who are interested in checking out an instrument should contact the office at info@ festivalatsandpoint.com or 208-265-4554.
For more information visit festivalatsandpoint.com/education.
The Heartwood show will be cozier and more intimate than the hit TV show. Sandpoint’s Heartwood Center — once a Catholic church and now a renovated space with exposed brickwork and vaulted ceilings — has in recent years hosted a number of concerts. It is now moving away from hosting its own events in favor of renting the space for weddings and corporate events, but occasionally organizers still team up with musicians to host concerts on the lawn.
The Wildish-VanderDoes show will be the last of the 2024 summer season. Get advance tickets at bandsintown. com/AlexaWildish.
2023 Festival at Sandpoint Instrumentalist Scholarship winner Hannah Adams performs violin before the 2023 Grand Finale. Photo by Racheal Baker.
A snapshot of notable live music coming up in Sandpoint
Monarch Mountain Band, Barrel 33, Aug. 30 Right Front Burner, 219 Lounge, Aug. 31
If you’ve spent more than a day in Sandpoint, you know the iconic Monarch Mountain Band needs no introduction. When founder and multi-instrumentalist Scott Reid takes the stage with a rotating cast of artists — including Tom Dubendorfer, Laurie Reid, Drew Browne and Fiddlin’ Red Simpson — the crowd knows to expect an old-time hootenanny with enough fast-paced banjo playing to make your fingers bleed in sympathy.
Reid has been honing his craft since the ’60s and knows how to provide the perfect bluegrass accompaniment to a glass of wine on Barrel 33’s waterfront patio. Mark your calendars for this toe-tappin’ Friday night.
— Soncirey Mitchell
5:30-8:30 p.m., FREE. Barrel 33, 100 N. First Ave., 208-9206258, barrel33sandpoint.com. Listen at reverbnation.com/ monarchmountainband.
At this point, if you don’t already know and love Right Front Burner — a.k.a. RFB, a.k.a. “Sandpoint’s favorite party band” — then do you even do live local music, bro?
Seriously, RFB is a fission-powered funk-rock reactor spiked with epic synth rock, tectonic bass and the kind of drum work that makes it impossible to sit still.
It’s literally impossible to go wrong with a night out at the Niner when bassist Paul Gunter, drummer Dave Pecha and key-
This week’s RLW by Soncirey Mitchell
READ
The 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao delivers a maze of meanings and misdirection reminiscent of the works of Vladimir Nabokov — think Pale Fire — with the unexpected addition of magical realism and more pop culture references than San Diego Comic-Con. The story follows a Dominican American boy’s coming of age, family curse and life under Rafael Trujillo, former dictator of the Dominican Republic. Check it out at the library.
LISTEN
boardist Alvah Street hit the stage. Bonus: The patio bar will be open and Killer Tacos will be on site for late-night grub.
It’s technically still summer, but there’s a bit of fall in the air — so consider this an opportunity to throw down in what are surely the waning dog days of the season.
— Zach Hagadone
9 p.m.-midnight, FREE, 21+. 219 Lounge, 219 N. First Ave., 208-2635673, 219.bar. Listen at facebook. com/rightfrontburner.
If you couldn’t guess from the name, Rainbow Kitten Surprise is a unique alt-rock band that produces genre-defying, thought-provoking earworms combining folk, rap and indie-pop elements. I recommend listening to “First Class,” “It’s Called: Freefall” and “All That And More” (my personal favorites) to get a sense of their quirky style before jumping into their newest album, Love Hate Music Box, released in May. Listen on your favorite streaming service.
WATCH
Last week saw the end of one of TV’s most creative shows in recent memory, Evil, on CBS. This supernatural drama featured an unlikely trio of paranormal investigators — a forensic psychologist, a Catholic seminarian and a technology contractor — working for the Catholic Church to assess possible supernatural incidents. Evil is the perfect blend of witty and topical writing, emotionally impactful acting and practical effects. Binge all five seasons on Paramount+.
From Northern Idaho News, August 29, 1911
SURVEYING CREW HAVE NARROW ESCAPE
Jack Ashley Jr., Lee Bennett, Alfred Ashley and C.F. Phillips all of this city who are engaged in surveying the power line between this city and Clarksfork had a narrow escape from drowning last Wednesday night when their motorboat in which they were ascending the left fork of the Clarkfork river struck an underwater snag and threw them all overboard.
The party had been to Hope for supplies and were going back to Clarkfork when the accident happened. Bennett was sitting on the stern of the boat and was thrown some 30 feet while the other members of the party managed to stick to the boat.
As soon as the accident happened the engine was shut down and allowed to drift with the current and Bennett was apprised of the location of the boat by the yells of his companions. After some strenuous swimming, Bennett managed to reach the boat but in attempting to get in, tipped the boat over, throwing the balance of the crew overboard, but fortunately the boat did not sink and after a long, tiresome swim, the boat was finally landed.
BACK OF THE BOOK
Work, work, work
By Ben Olson Reader Staff
Most people will celebrate Labor Day weekend with a campout, backyard barbecue or perhaps they’ll sneak in a final lake day before we transition to raking leaves and wearing flannel shirts.
Me? This time of year often finds me ruminating over all the jobs I’ve held and the unbelievable number of years I have left until I can retire.
Don’t get me wrong, I like working. The freedom that comes with earning your own living is amazing, and there is an incredible satisfaction that comes with a job well done. But I’ve worked some pretty terrible vocations over the years, each one leaving a lasting impression.
My first job was at The Garden, a restaurant that used to be located on the edge of Sand Creek just south of where Spud’s is today. I started as a dishwasher — one of the most thankless jobs in the entire service industry. If you’ve never felt the pruny mush of your fingertips after washing dishes for hours, you’re not missing much.
I began taking shifts helping prepare food for the chefs, which mainly meant cracking open thorny king crab legs and removing the meat and deveining bus tubs filled with shrimp. Because of this, I didn’t eat seafood until my late 20s. The smell was just too much to handle.
I loved many of the people I worked with at The Garden, but when I gave my two weeks’ notice so I could work more shifts at Hidden Lakes Golf Resort, where I was hired to wash golf carts and help customers, the head waiter sneered at me and told me I
STR8TS Solution
was fired — to date the only job I’ve ever been fired from. C’est la vie.
I later worked at Gas ’n’ Go, where I stocked shelves after school, pumped propane and ran the cash register until the graveyard employees started their shift. Again, I liked many of the people I worked with, but to this day the smell of propane makes me think of long workdays as a high-schooler who’d rather be anywhere else.
College work experiences didn’t turn out any better. Unable to find a job in my college town, I finally settled for working at a Foley’s department store, which is like a low-rent Macy’s. I had to wear a suit and tie every day and soon found that working in corporate retail is its own circle of hell. My favorite moments were when they placed me in ladies’ handbags and pantyhose, which I knew nothing about. Customers would ask my opinions about which item to buy and I’d just shrug and go back to folding my purses.
After college, I moved to Los Angeles and started working in the film industry as a production assistant, which is like a gopher who the higher-ups send to accomplish menial tasks that need to be taken care of during film shoots. While many of my work days were spent in the office during pre- or post-production, the shoot days were always exciting, if not miserably long.
As my producer said at the time, “We pay you for a day’s work, and if we want to work you 24 hours in a row, that’s just the way it is.”
Once, I literally worked for 36 hours straight on a spec job for which I didn’t get paid, only to wedge the camera truck under a gas station
Sudoku Solution
awning on the 37th hour, just before I was to drop it at the rental shop. Instead of dealing with the problem, I called the producer and informed her she could pick up the damn truck at a gas station on Wilshire Boulevard.
On another shoot day, the crew wanted to use a public park for a commercial. My supervisor handed me a shovel and a garbage bag and showed me the acre of park that needed to be cleared of goose shit. I ended up spending eight hours that day shoveling excrement, only to learn the director changed the location at the last minute. My work was all for naught. I then entertained the notion of dumping the garbage bag of poop through his sunroof.
We’ve all worked a job we didn’t love. We’ve all experienced long days on the clock, no matter if you’re just starting your journey or finishing up a long career. We’ve all been there.
Solution
We tend to scoff at the beliefs of the ancients. But we can’t scoff at them personally, to their faces, and this is what annoys me.
Solution on page 22
Laughing Matter
By Bill Borders
CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1. Bay
5. Without delay
10. Millisecond
14. Ends a prayer
15. Christmas song
16. Anagram of “Care”
17. Allergic (Br. sp.)
19. Cans
20. Bigheadedness
21. Eatery
22. Melodies
23. Mutes
25. Legal setting 27. Delay
28. Burning superficially
31. Anklebone
34. Footwear
35. Fifth sign of the zodiac 36. Ukeleles
37. Combusts
38. Distinctive flair
39. Poetic contraction
[noun] 1. a rustling or whispering sound, such as leaves in the wind; susurration
“Standing in the cedar glade I heard a quiet psithurism, just straddling the line between music and noise.”
Corrections: Nah. We checked ourselves before we wrecked ourselves.
40. Flowing garments
41. Mindful
42. Opened
44. East southeast 45. Aromatic compound
46. Articulate
50. Trousers
52. Contour
54. French for “Word”
55. Dogfish 56. Fair 58. Hue
Solution on page 22
Solution on page 22
59. Runs in neutral
Rind
Border 62. Young lady 63. Celtic language
DOWN
Enclosed
Alpha’s opposite
Snake poison
Temporary
Aches
Rear end
8. Compulsions
Antiquity
Grow older
Minute amount
Coastal raptor
British tax
Notions
Yanks
Not minus
1 1 1 1
Rip up
Close
Disappeared
Ballet attire
Similar
Bundle
Pitcher
Felines
Poplar variety
Property
Diminishing 34. Supplant
Disclose 46. Artist’s stand
Fire remnant 48. Undersides 49. Inscribed pillar 50. Head 51. In the center of
