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PEOPLE compiled by

Ben Olson

watching

“What’s your favorite – and also least favorite – Christmas song?”

“I have a favorite album, actually. Jimmy Buffet’s Christmas Island. My least favorite is probably ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.’”

Kelly Hellebusch Portland, Ore.

“I despise Christmas altogether.

When I was 17, I went to see Santa at the high school and he stuck his tongue down my throat. He was drunk.”

Marjolein Groot Nibbelink CEO of International Magazine Sandpoint

“My favorite is ‘Happy Christmas’ by John Lennon. My least is ‘All I Want for Christmas’ [by Mariah Carey].”

Max Howell High school student Germany

“My favorite is probably ‘Mary, Did You Know?’ As far as least favorite, I don’t like any of the old slow songs. I prefer more upbeat Christmas songs.”

Cyndi Sams Housewife, retired Dayton, Wash.

“My absolute favorite is ‘Carol of the Bells.’ I have 19 different versions of it on the same playlist. My least favorite is ‘Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.’ It’s too repetitive.”

Eric Sams Nurse Dayton, Wash.

DEAR READERS,

Hooray for snow. If I had my way, it would start snowing tomorrow and not stop until March. But I suppose that’s a lot to ask for, so I’m happy with whatever we get.

At any rate, the base layer is thickening at Schweitzer with each and every snowfall.

Speaking of Schweitzer, this week’s cover photo is one I saw on social media and just had to have on our cover. It was taken by Coeur d’Alene photographer Derek Butler from Schweitzer looking back at Lake Pend Oreille and Sandpoint.

We have just a few shopping days left until Christmas, so I’m duty-bound to remind you all to spend your dollars at local retailers whenever you can to help support this vibrant community. Remember, whenever you spend money at a local shop, it helps fund local small business owners. There are a bunch of studies that show how buying local helps communities more than buying online or at chain stores, but in the end, it just feels good to support your friends and neighbors.

The Reader will publish a day early next week for the holiday, so keep an eye open for our Christmas edition on Wednesday, Dec. 23.

– Ben Olson, publisher

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

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

Contributing Writers: Zach Hagadone, Ben Olson, Lyndsie Kiebert, Lorraine H. Marie, Shelby Rognstad, Jeff Bohnhof, Brenden Bobby, Jackie Henrion, Margaret Ann Maricle, Brenda Hammond, Jim Mitsui, Marcia Pilgeram.

Submit stories to: stories@sandpointreader.com Printed weekly at: Tribune Publishing Co. Lewiston, ID Subscription Price: $115 per year Web Content: Keokee The Sandpoint Reader is a weekly publication owned and operated by Ben Olson and Keokee. It is devoted to the arts, entertainment, politics and lifestyle in and around Sandpoint, Idaho.

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

The Reader is printed on recycled paper using soy-based ink.

Leftover copies are collected and recycled weekly, or burned in massive bonfires to appease the gods of journalism. Free to all, limit two copies per person.

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

Requirements: –No more than 300 words –Letters may not contain excessive profanity or libelous material. Please elevate the discussion.

Letters will be edited to comply with the above requirements. Opinions expressed in these pages are those of the writers, not necessarily the publishers.

Email letters to: letters@sandpointreader.com Check us out on the web at: www.sandpointreader.com Like us on Facebook.

About the Cover This week’s cover photo was taken

by Derek Butler at Schweitzer Mountain Resort. Check out more of Derek’s work on Instagram: @hikester.

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NEWS

Idaho receives first batches of COVID-19 vaccine Cases continue to climb and mask protests continue while Dem lawmakers request delayed session

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

The Panhandle Health District reported 292 new cases of COVID-19 in the five northern counties Dec. 16, bringing the total number of cases to 13,662 since virus tracking began in the spring. A total of 145 North Idahoans have so far died as result of contracting the virus, including 12 Bonner County residents — three of them in December alone. PHD reports 1,453 cases in the county to date, 411 of which are classified as active.

Eighty-four people districtwide are currently hospitalized.

Idaho health officials reported that the state added 1,433 confirmed and probable cases Dec. 16, as well as 17 deaths. To date, 125,452 Idahoans have tested positive for COVID-19, resulting in 1,231 total deaths.

Meanwhile, the first batches of COVID-19 vaccines produced by drug company Pfizer and partner BioNTech made their way to Idaho on Dec. 14, with Dr. Russ McUne of Rexburg receiving the first dose of the vaccine in the state, according to Idaho Gov. Brad Little.

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare announced Dec. 14 that it is expecting the entirety of the state’s first allocation of 13,650 doses of the two-step vaccine by the end of the week.

“We are thrilled to finally have the vaccine in hand to get vaccinations started, but we know there won’t be enough in this first shipment to vaccinate all health care workers who want it,” stated Elke Shaw-Tulloch, the state’s public health officer and administrator of the Division of Public Health, in a news release. “We are expecting weekly shipments going forward, but exact details are still being determined and will be forthcoming.”

As of Dec. 16, a total of 119 doses of the vaccine have been administered in the state.

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Despite the positive news regarding the vaccine, uproar over mask wearing continues in Idaho, as Moscow police responded to an incident Dec. 10 at TriState Outfitters, where a group of 25 to 30 customers pushed back at store employees when asked to wear face coverings.

The mask protest was apparently spurred by a Facebook post from controversial Pastor Doug Wilson, who posted the call to action on the private group “DeMask Moscow.”

Wilson and his supporters have been vocal and visible opponents of Moscow’s mask ordinance, which went into effect in early July and was extended by city officials in September.

Some previous mask protests in the university town two-and-ahalf hours south of Sandpoint have drawn police, and the most recent demonstration at Tri-State Outfitters is currently under investigation, according to a Dec. 16 report from the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

According to the paper, the store had to close for upwards of 30 minutes after the incident, later posting a handful of employees at the entrance, only admitting customers wearing

Image courtesy CDC. face coverings.

Further south in Boise, Idaho Democratic lawmakers have requested that Statehouse leaders shut a different set of doors — postponing the upcoming legislative session until April 2021, at the earliest, citing concerns about the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the state.

According to a letter sent to GOP leadership, Democratic Minority Leaders Sen. Michelle Stennett and Ilana Rubel urged their Republican counterparts to hold off on the session — which is scheduled to open Jan. 11, 2021 — “until those Idahoans who so desire have had an opportunity to be vaccinated.”

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, more than a dozen states have either delayed their sessions, opted

for virtual proceedings — even meeting outdoors — or otherwise altered how they conduct business both as lawmakers and with the public. Multiple others are still considering how to safely convene.

Little recommended Dec. 10 that legislators take seriously the idea of delaying the session, telling Idaho Ed News that the Statehouse in Boise is “a pretty good petri dish for transmissible moments of COVID.” Yet, Idaho Republican leaders indicated Dec. 16 they will not consider a delay, with House Speaker Scott Bedke writing to Statehouse Democrats that, while, “We understand the concerns stated in the letter, and House Leadership has looked at all viable options to meet safety protocols within our existing

rules … We are duty bound to follow the Idaho Constitution and the rules of the Idaho House of Representatives and will continue to work within those parameters to find the best possible solution.”

Earlier this month the Idaho House adopted identical rules as those in place during the preCOVID session in 2020, requiring legislators to be present in their seats on the floor to debate or vote. As such, Bedke wrote, a joint resolution approved by a two-thirds majority would be needed to alter the start date and terms of the session.

Nonetheless, “We urge you not to distinguish Idaho as the most reckless legislature in America,” Stennett and Rubel wrote.

BoCo seeks ‘clarity on the law’ in gun suit appeal

County attorney maintains that ‘protests of the gun ban are anticipated’ at next Festival

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Bonner County plans to continue its legal battle against the city of Sandpoint over The Festival at Sandpoint’s policy to ban guns with an appeal to the Idaho Supreme Court — a course of action unchanged even after a district judge announced last week that the county would need to repay Sandpoint $70,000 in costs and fees accrued during the morethan-yearlong lawsuit.

Attorney Amy Clemmons of Davillier Law Group, which represents Bonner County in the case, said an appeal is necessary to encourage the courts to make a ruling on “whether the city can legally allow a lessee to ban firearms at a public park.”

“Absent a court decision on this issue, protests of the gun ban are anticipated,” Clemmons told the Sandpoint Reader in an email Dec. 16.

Fear of an impending protest at The Festival gates was a major theme in the county’s legal arguments throughout

the case, alleging that without action from the court, pro-gun activists could bring protests to the concert venue at War Memorial Field and violence might ensue. Kootenai County District Court Judge Lansing L. Haynes ruled Sept. 2 that Bonner County’s arguments were “at best, vague and speculative” and that the county lacked standing in the case. Haynes also ruled in favor of Sandpoint on Dec. 9, when he partially granted the city’s request for costs and fees.

Clemmons said Haynes’

ruling wouldn’t change the county’s complaint moving forward with the appeal to the Idaho Supreme Court.

“The court’s decision on standing prevented a ruling on the underlying merits of this matter leaving both parties with uncertainty on the lawful manner for The Festival to proceed,” she told the Reader. “For events to go forward peacefully without a protest, clarity on the law is desired and is being sought in the appeal process.”

There are currently no court dates set in the appeal of the case.

NEWS

Idaho’s legal support for failed Texas election suit had N. Idaho ties

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff An amicus brief showing Idaho’s support for the lawsuit challenging election procedures in four states boasts North Idaho origins, as the names of District 1 Reps. Heather Scott and Sage Dixon, along with Sandpoint attorney Colton Boyles, appear in the brief, which was filed one day ahead of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the suit due to lack of standing.

Texas led the charge in the legal challenge, which alleged that election processes in four states — Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — were unlawful, and the 2020 election results in those states should therefore be thrown out. President-elect Joe Biden won all four states in November, but had the court determined those votes null and void, President Donald Trump would have come out victorious.

The highest court in the land rejected the suit Dec. 11 and the Electoral College voted Dec. 14 to certify Biden’s win as the 46th president of the United States.

“Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections,” the court stated in its order.

The SCOTUS decision echoed concerns that Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden shared in a statement Dec. 10 amid pressure from across the state to join Texas in the lawsuit.

“As Attorney General, I have significant concerns about supporting a legal argument that could result in other states litigating against legal decisions made

by Idaho’s legislature and governor,” he said. “Idaho is a sovereign state and should be free to govern itself without interference from any other state. Likewise, Idaho should respect the sovereignty of its sister states.”

Wasden, a Republican, also acknowledged the tense political atmosphere surrounding the legal challenge.

“As is sometimes the case, the legally correct decision may not be the politically convenient decision,” he said. “But my responsibility is to the State of Idaho and

the rule of law.”

Hours after Wasden made his position known, Gov. Brad Little announced that he would throw his support behind the Idaho GOP as it endorsed the Texas lawsuit.

“Idaho’s elections are safe and secure, and we expect the same of other states,” Little stated in a news release. “Protecting the sanctity of the voting process is paramount to ensuring a strong democratic process, and our citizens need the confidence that their vote counts.”

Little’s announcement signaled a rare united front with Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin as she announced the same day that she’d be teaming up with Scott and other legislators from Idaho, Arizona and Alaska as they filed an amicus brief in support of Texas’ suit.

McGeachin has repeatedly criticized Little, particularly over his COVID-19 response, which she feels is an overreach, and has vocally allied herself with the

hard-right wing of the GOP, elements of which have gone so far as to call for his impeachment.

“I greatly appreciate the hard work of Idaho Rep. Heather Scott in spearheading this effort and the diligent efforts undertaken by Richard Seamon, The MacPherson Group, and Boyles Law to make this amicus brief possible,” McGeachin stated in a news release announcing the filing of the brief.

One law firm to which the lieutenant governor referred has roots in Sandpoint: Boyles Law. Self-described on his website as a “North Idaho freedom-fighting attorney,” D. Colton Boyles — previously of Davillier Law Group — was the lawyer who drafted the August 2019 letter to the city of Sandpoint on behalf of the Bonner County commissioners, warning city officials of the alleged unconstitutionality of The Festival at Sandpoint’s gun ban policy. That letter evolved into a legal com-

plaint, which a district judge ruled more than a year later the county lacked the standing necessary to bring before the court.

Boyles has since started his own firm, representing plaintiffs in lawsuits against Idaho’s stay-athome order and, more locally, the Panhandle Health District’s adoption in July of a mask mandate for Kootenai County.

In response to the SCOTUS decision to reject the Texas suit, Boyles told the Reader in a text message that “a partisan self-appointed oligarchy has elevated itself above the Legislatures of the Defendant States.”

“The Guarantee Clause of the Constitution, which places a duty on the United States to guarantee that each state in the Union has a republican form of government, does not allow this result,” he continued. “Only the Court can address this, and we implore it to act. All states clearly have a

cognizable interest and duty to enforce and require legal elections in all other sister states. To deny mandatory original jurisdiction is itself a violation of the guarantee clause, diminishes legally cast votes, constitutes the dereliction of the justices’ oath, and allows another fatal attack on the rule of law in the face of widespread election fraud. The plot to steal the election started before the death of Seth Rich and will end as the final phase of the ‘insurance policy.’”

Dixon shared in an email with the Reader that he was “disappointed that the Supreme Court decided not to hear the Texas suit.”

“I signed on to the amicus brief because I considered the Texas filing legitimate,” he continued, “and felt Idahoans had a vested interest in maintaining the rule of law, as well as upholding a pursuit of truth.”

Scott did not reply to a request for comment.

Council approves new code section to preserve city watershed, broaden access

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff The city of Sandpoint is moving forward with a new management plan for its watershed, located on 4,000 acres at the base of Schweitzer Mountain, intended to protect and preserve the public land around Little Sand Creek while also opening it to more uses.

Public Works Director Amanda Wilson, along with consultants Randy Reeve and Michael Zenthoefer, presented several measures related to the watershed at the Dec. 16 meeting of the Sandpoint City Council — of particular importance, a new code section specifically establishing what activities are allowed within the area that supplies Sandpoint and surrounds with its drinking water, while also putting in place permitting and enforcement policies.

Council members unanimously approved Title 7, Chap-

ter 16 — with Councilman John Darling absent — establishing the basis on which the larger management plan will operate.

Wilson said bringing the watershed plan to this stage represents “a significant milestone” after nearly a year of work on analysis and drafting of policies that aim to find a “balance to protect the water supply while also allowing some public uses,” including recreation on the land, which is already occurring.

“Limiting access to over 4,000 acres of land can be challenging,” she said.

The ordinance establishes regulated activities, requiring a permit; non-restricted activities; and restricted activities, requiring no permit.

Regulated activities include surface impacts such as mining, dredging and other uses that disturb the landscape; the use of motorized vehicles; hunting, horseback riding, campfires and camping; among others. Overall,

no activity of any kind may take place within 150 feet of a watercourse without a permit.

Wilson pointed out that being “regulated” means “you can’t do it without authorization.” That authorization requires obtaining a permit from the city. The specifics of that permit process are outlined in the larger management plan, which is slated to soon be posted on the city’s website and go before the council in January.

Non-restricted, non-permit activities include hiking and mountain biking on established trails, while restricted activities include road construction, maintenance, noxious weed and insect control, forest management, fire mitigation, law enforcement and firefighting.

Restricted activities do not require a permit because, for instance, “If we’re going to be doing any harvesting in our watershed, that’s something that the city is going to initiate,”

Wilson said.

The broadest penalty for violating usage rules in the watershed is permit loss, but she noted that certain violations may trigger penalties from county, state or federal agencies.

“Our management plan is really where the details of that start to be ironed out with specific actions,” Wilson said, pointing to the example that restricted or unpermitted use on city property could be penalized as trespassing.

“We do plan to have an enforcement presence,” she said, but stressed education and increased monitoring would be the first priorities.

Wilson told the council that the full draft watershed management plan will be posted on sandpointidaho.gov under the “News” section by Thursday, Dec. 17 and go before the council for consideration at its Wednesday, Jan. 20 meeting.

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NEWS

Get the bricks

Panida announces historic sidewalk bricks are ready to be picked up

Photo courtesy Panida Thetaer.

By Reader Staff For years, passersby and visitors to the Panida Theater walked over more than 300 bricks purchased by and bearing the names of individuals and organizations who pledged to support the theater. Though long an iconic part of the downtown landscape, the bricks had to make way for reconstruction work on First Avenue this year — requiring that workers pull up and attempt to save each for eventual return to those who bought them.

With the street work complete and as many of the bricks as possible collected, the theater announced that those still intact are available to be reclaimed by their original purchasers.

“These treasures recall the heart of Sandpoint and will find a place of honor in donors’ homes and gardens,” theater officials wrote in a news release.

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well as years of snow removal, but according to a list from the theater, the vast majority survived. They are now displayed alphabetically in the Panida Little Theatre.

The names of those whose bricks could be saved are now listed on the panida.org website (panida.org/bricksat-panida-theater#brick-update) and on the Panida Facebook page.

The new sidewalk in front of the Panida now sports a brass inlay, installed by the city of Sandpoint, celebrating and honoring the community support represented by the former bricks, reading: “Panida Theater — Community Supported — Mission Driven.”

An additional commemorative tribute will be designed to thank those who contributed to creating the original walkway. The Panida appreciates donations toward supporting the tribute.

Bricks are available to be picked up Saturday, Dec. 19; Tuesday, Dec. 22; and Thursday, Dec. 24 from noon to 2 pm.

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, mostly about money: As syndicated columnist Jim Hightower explains it, understanding the difference between millionaires and billionaires is made easier with a clock analogy: Think of each dollar as a second, and in 11.5 days you have a million dollars. To amass $1 billion dollars would amount to 32 years.

He noted that this summer a bank survey revealed that billionaires on average stashed away $4 billion — each.

They didn’t do so by working harder or creating a new product that benefits mankind, Hightower wrote. Rather, they let their money work for them, and that’s worked well during the pandemic. For the multi-millionaires money has been gained by store closures, taking bailout money and/ or declaring bankruptcy. Example: While JCPenney closed 154 stores, the company gave its CEO a $4.5 million cash bonus.

Inequality Media reports that Amazon owner Jeff Bezos is worth $180 billion, making him the world’s richest person.

In the last nine months, Bezos’ wealth increased such that if he gave each of his employees $105,000 he would still be as rich as he was before the pandemic began (but he did not). Nonetheless, Bezos has not invested in a COVID-19-safe workplace, and 20,000 U.S.-based Amazon employees have been infected — according to Amazon’s own estimate — in exchange for low pay and sometimes unsafe work conditions. Amazon has added 400,000 jobs to keep up with pandemic and holiday shopping.

Millions of families are entrenched in the holidays but live in the shadow of being, on average, $5,000 behind on their rent, The Washington Post says.

In the four decades since inequality started growing (1979-2019), the “bottom 90%” saw wages grow 26%, while the top 1% saw their wages grown 160%, according to a new Economic Policy Institute report. As for the “tippy-top” 0.1%, annual wages increased 345.2%.

Why should Congress hold out for a COVID-19 relief package that includes $1,200 direct payments? Vermont Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders explained: one out of four workers is either unemployed or making less than $20,000 annually; more than 90,000 are un- or under-insured; tens of millions face eviction; and hunger is “exploding.” Sanders said that of the previously passed CARES Act,

By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist

$560 billion remains unused. Meanwhile, congressional Republicans are ready to pass $740 billion for defense, with no one saying it’s too much.

“If we are concerned about the debt,” Sanders said, then, “we need progressive taxation, we need to end corporate welfare, we need to end the bloated military budget, but we do not need, in the midst of an unprecedented crisis, to punish working families who are hurting so badly today.”

What’s holding up COVID-19 relief?

California Democratic Rep. Katie Porter tweeted there’s been bipartisan agreement at the negotiating table (for perhaps $1.4 trillion), with the exception of Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, who refused to advance aid unless “all COVID-related lawsuits filed that ‘allege injury or death’ due to corporate negligence” are wiped away. Porter said those lawsuits signify “the worst of the worst examples of disregard for human life,” being cases filed for nursing home patients and grocery store workers.

As the COVID-19 death toll passed 300,000, on Dec. 13 all 50 states were scheduled for the first COVID-19 vaccine deliveries to hospitals, The New York Times reported. High risk health care workers and nursing home residents will be prioritized.

Because the vaccine can cause fever and aches, it is being administered on a staggered schedule among health workers.

Vaccine shortages: President Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed negotiations are “ongoing” for meeting vaccine demand, but former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who is now on vaccine-producer Pfizer’s board, said last week that the drug company had made numerous offers that the government rejected, according to Politico.

When the Electoral College certified Dec. 14 that Joe Biden won the presidency (with 7 million more votes than were cast for Trump), U.S. Attorney General William Barr, who has been accused of frequently acting on Trump’s behalf, submitted his letter of resignation. Some media are speculating that he doesn’t want to be in office when Trump announces pardons Barr would not approve of.

Blast from the past: In an essay written in 1967, “Truth and Politics,” philosopher Hannah Arendt cautioned that “a consistent and total substitution of lies for factual truth” is a necessary element for a totalitarian dictatorship.

PERSPECTIVES

Mayor’s Roundtable: Democracy endures day when democracy itself, America’s founding principle, is challenged not by a I’d like to take a moment greater cause, but by to reflect on what I have to debunked conspirbe grateful for this holiday acy theories. In the season. I’m grateful for the past week we have love of family and friends. witnessed elected I’m grateful to not have to representatives, 126 want for food, shelter or Republican conbasic needs. I’m grateful to gressional represenlive in such a beautiful place, tatives, along with surrounded by nature’s majSandpoint Mayor Shelby Rognstad. state officials and esty. Perhaps more than ever, millions of citizens across the U.S. I’m grateful for my health and that of support overturning our free and fair my family. elections. I am grateful for officials and The pandemic has not been so kind to many families. Many have lost work, judges who value the Constitution and rule of law over politics. I no longer have been food and shelter insecure.

And as of this week, more than 300,000 take this for granted.

We are at a turning point in this Americans have died, affecting famiAmerican project. It is time for all of us lies across the nation. I’m sure by now, to stand up and reclaim our American most readers know someone who has died. My sister’s entire family contract- values. America is unique because it is the ed COVID-19 and I’m so grateful none birthplace of republican democracy. We value, above all else, our ability to choose were seriously impacted. Another dear our representatives in government. friend of mine was not so lucky, he lost I hope that we can rediscover our four family members to coronavirus.

As the spread of coronavirus contin- commitment to democracy. This past election, with a record voter turnout, ues to surge, I’m grateful to everyone who cares for their friends, families and helped fulfill that promise. I hope that we can continue to commit to this Amercolleagues by practicing the CDC recican project and work together to make ommended protocols of social distancour republic better than we found it. ing, mask wearing in public and good Americans value education. The personal hygiene.

U.S. created the first public school in This has been an incredibly chal1635, The Boston Latin School. After lenging year for local governments, leading the world in education as rewhich have demonstrated resilience cently as 20 years ago, U.S. leadership and dedication in maintaining the level in education has been in steady decline. of service we expect of our city. I’m grateful to city staff for their grace, hard work, sacrifice and continued commitment to excellence. I’m honored to serve with them.

I’m also grateful to all the essential workers who continue to risk their own safety and that of their families for our comfort and shared economic well-being.

I’m grateful to live in a country that aspires to create for each person opportunity, justice, freedom and representation in government. Right now, this feels most visceral to me. I am grateful to those who value these ideals over party politics or short-term gain.

It feels weird even saying that. I never thought I would live to see the

By Mayor Shelby Rognstad Reader Contributor

This is the single greatest indicator of the future of our success. This nation needs to reclaim its value of education.

I am grateful to those who value learning — including science. It is they who will help us overcome this pandemic and the modern challenges that face us.

I listened to Idaho Senator Mike Crapo recently discuss the future of bipartisanship in Congress. He spoke of the need to focus politics on issues rather than character attacks. We need to focus on issues, bring honesty, integrity and humanity back into politics. I am grateful to those who seek and value truth as a means and an end.

Although these are challenging times, I feel incredibly blessed to be where we are today. The challenges that face us now and in the future can only be overcome through consistent, coordinated effort. I hope that heading into this new year, we can step back and consider our present and our future.

We’ve been through hard times before: the American Revolution, the Great Depression, the World Wars. Americans came together in those times and made personal sacrifices for the common good because we shared certain values.

I hope that we can rediscover what unites us as Americans and recommit to our shared values.

Please join me for the Mayor’s Roundtable to discuss all this and more Friday, Dec. 18, at 4 p.m. on Zoom: bit. ly/3nq3smZ. You can also watch on Facebook Live through my page, Mayor Shelby Rognstad.

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Unequal justice…

Bouquets: • There are so many worthy nonprofit organizations in this community that help those in need — too many to list here. They often need more help this time of year, so if you’re trying to think of a good Christmas present for someone, consider making a donation in their name. Everything helps!

Barbs: • This week’s Barb goes to Idaho Representatives Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson, both Republicans. Both U.S. congressmen signed the amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to allow a lawsuit filed by the state of Texas seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Gov. Brad Little and Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin also signed the amicus brief after Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden advised against it. The Supreme Court rejected the Texas lawsuit last week and Electoral College members voted Dec. 14 to affirm President-elect Joe Biden’s win, sealing his victory. In signing the amicus brief, Fulcher and Simpson (along with Little, McGeachin and the other 124 House members — all Republicans — who signed it) added their names to this historically cynical effort to reject millions of votes from registered voters because their preferred candidate lost the election. Remember this moment, readers. Remember when our elected representatives attempted to subvert the will of the people with nothing but spurious claims of fraud that have been rejected by the courts in more than 60 cases since the November election. The stain these elected representatives have cast on our electoral process in the U.S. will be visible for years. Their efforts are undemocratic, unpatriotic and dangerously hypocritical.

What makes it even worse is that those who are promoting these delusional claims of widespread election fraud are wrapping themselves in the American flag and saying it’s a patriotic effort. It’s not. There is nothing patriotic about casting into doubt millions of votes from people legally participating in our electoral process.

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Dear editor, Leonard Pitts’ recent national column urges that Trump be prosecuted for crimes committed even though he approves of Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon in 1974 to quell national discombobulation. That issue regards our inviolate and extremely hypocritical standard of Equal Justice Under the Law. Minor crimes often lead to jail.

The Watergate break-in and attempted subversion of our democratic system (perhaps a form of treason) got a pass.

We indulge unequal justice. Ask, especially, minorities and the poor.

Money, power and position protect too many from legal consequences. An egregious example was when tobacco CEOs in 1994 denied under oath that their companies put additives in tobacco to make smoking more addictive. Not one CEO went to jail. The industry that knowingly killed millions around the world suffered no criminal penalties.

Unequal justice affects much more than a single jail sentence; it goes to broader issues that affect the financial and social welfare of the country.

So Nixon should have gone to prison according to the standard that no one is above the law and, likewise, Bill Clinton for committing perjury before a grand jury, and Donald Trump if he is guilty of crimes. Maybe that would slow down the notion of unlimited power and make up for a gross mistake almost 40 years ago. The passions of the country be damned.

Make Equal Justice Under the Law a more perfect reality.

Lawrence Blakey Sandpoint

With great power comes great responsibility...

Dear editor, Gov. Brad Little chose to seek the highest office of Idaho. Therefore, it should be him to carry the heaviest burden of responsibility to help mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, not those in local leadership. A true leader would not pass the burden of making tough decisions on to those who serve lower offices.

It is heart-wrenching to see misguided mobs threaten and harass local public officials at their homes because communities were forced to pursue a dysfunctional patchwork of ordinances. It is a senseless waste of time and energy that needs to stop.

Preaching “personal responsibility” and attempting to appeal to people’s common sense and decency who oppose public safety measures is not working. We need clear, consistent guidelines and enforcement from the very top. Some truly sinister forces infected people’s brains with disinformation from the very beginning of this

and there is no coming to a shared version of reality here. But you also cannot mandate people to care about others. Or to do the right thing.

Hang in there everyone. 2020 has glaringly exposed weaknesses in our leadership and institutions. There is much work to be done over the next decade. 2020 has also shown us the goodness in people. There have been so many who stepped up, sacrificed and worked overtime to serve, lead and innovate throughout this crisis.

Let us remember those who rose to the occasion for what is right and not lose our faith in humanity.

Jessica Mahuron Coeur d’Alene

Delusion of ‘leaders’ must stop...

Dear editor, We’re No. 1! We’re No. 1! – in COVID-19 cases and deaths. Thanks to the dysfunctional federal response and state government’s dithering we’ve killed as many Americans in the last 10 months as we did in all of WWII. I don’t know about you but I’m embarrassed that the richest country with the best health care system in the world has the worst record – by far.

Now, McConnell and his GOP Senate and House sycophants are refusing to pass legislation to render some help to the millions that have lost their jobs due to this pandemic.

By the end of this year millions of Americans will lose their housing and what little other help they’ve gotten from our government.

While this snowballing disaster rolls on the “leaders” of the GOP are insisting that the 2020 election was fraudulent. Of course those states that the GOP won were perfectly legitimate. As an Idahoan I am angry that our elected congressional delegation and our Statehouse signed on to the quasi-legal nonsense that Texas brought to the Supreme Court.

Apparently all the GOP leadership now cares about is power and control.

From the counties up to Washington D.C. this must stop! Your actions are simply delusional.

Gil Beyer Sandpoint

Pull the passes of mountain visitors who don’t mask up…

Dear editor, Instead of threatening to shut down the mountain due to 10% of skiers and boarders not masking up, why don’t you just have the lift crews pull the passes of those not cooperating? Treat them just like you would those who ski/board out of bounds or duck under closed lines or ski/board recklessly! Don’t punish the 90% who mask up! I think that

would wake the non-compliers up!

When I went to Timberline in May after they reopened for spring skiing, I saw their lift crews ensuring that everyone in lift lines wore a mask/face covering. So, pull the passes of those who don’t comply for the day and hold them until they show up wearing a mask to retrieve their passes! Punishing the 90% who do comply with mask wearing by shutting down would be extreme and unwarranted!

Jim Russell Ponderay

Then COVID-19 came for me…

Dear editor, Where I live almost no one wears masks, including postal workers, cashiers, most customers. My husband was recently hospitalized five times. I have immunological disease. We both look healthy. If you breathe on us giving us COVID-19 you might kill us.

Would you kill someone and not feel devastated upon realizing that your neglect did? You may be ignorant of the consequences of your actions because you are a silent spreader.

Martin Neimoller, 1892-1984, a German protestor against Hitler, one of the first to speak out against the complacency of the German population in allowing the Holocaust, wrote this poem: First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.

His words inspired me to write this: When COVID-19 killed New Yorkers, I did not care – Because I was not a New Yorker.

When it killed the meat packers, health professionals and aged veterans, I did not care – because, I am not any of those.

When it killed blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, people in prison and poor people – I did not care because I am not any of those.

When it killed my friend’s friend, my son’s neighbor and made a friend’s mother and another’s husband deathly ill – I did not care because I am not any of those.

When it killed me – I died because there were not nurses, doctors or hospital beds left to help me.

Betty Gardner Priest River

Will Trump resign, seeking pardon from Pence?…

Dear editor, I have been telling people for quite some time that Mr. Trump is aware that he needs pardons for both himself and his son and he would find a way to accomplish this before he leaves office.

As I write this today, Dec. 14, the Electoral College has voted and Mr. Biden has been confirmed as the next president. Also today, Trump has announced he is still not conceding his loss. Therefore look for this as his “valid” reason for resigning from office shortly before his term expires so that Mr. Pence can give him the pardons he so desperately needs.

So this whole nation can come together and relax, I can only pray that Twitter can find some reason to cancel his account. Because I wish no ill will toward Trump, I also hope he finds peace within himself and can finally relax now that he is out of the limelight.

James Johnson Clark Fork

One flag...

Dear editor, Growing up, we have recited the Pledge of Allegiance many times.

Most recently, I stood with handover-heart to recite the Pledge before the beginning of City Council meetings.

The wording has changed since 1892, but one thing has not.

The word “Flag” has always been capitalized. In the current version, one states that, “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America...”

Over the past year, there has been a lot of flag waving. Confederate, Gadsden, blue line, red line, purple line, Trump and other flags. I am concerned that people — despite having recited the Pledge — have forgotten its meaning and have chosen to pledge their allegiance to these other flags.

In the United States of America, there is only one Flag. Only one Flag that flies above the People’s House, over the fallen at Arlington Cemetery and only one to which we pledge our allegiance.

The State of Our Union has been shaken by many challenges.

These times will require us to come together, to join our efforts, setting differences aside, to achieve the common good. Let us once again recognize, honor and rally round one Flag: the Flag.

Victor Kollock Sandpoint

PERSPECTIVES

Somewhere over the rainbow My journey with PFLAG Sandpoint

By Jeff Bohnhof Reader Contributor

As I was growing up, I always knew that I was different. Not in a bad way, but I was always pretty much a loner. I’d rather work in the garden, than work on cars or do sports. Yes I had friends; we would hang out and play together, but I was never the social type. Yes I had gotten married and tried to make a “normal” life, but that only lasted a short time.

During the time I was alone I began to explore my sexuality. I began my search for other people like me. I knew there were others like me in Sandpoint. After an internet search I found PFLAG Coeur d’Alene.

I started making the drive for the group’s monthly meetings and felt so welcome — like a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders. After a few months, I was introduced to a few other folks who unbeknownst to me also lived in Sandpoint. We then began the process of building PFLAG Sandpoint.

In 2016 at a meet-and-greet for Paulette Jordan in Sandpoint when she was running for governor, a gal came up to me, introduced herself and told me about her son who was a student at a high school in the area. She told me about how he had been intentionally outed by his classmates earlier that year. Later in the day the three of us hung out at the Women’s March and we have since become good friends. His mom, through our conversations over the years, mentioned to me once how much she appreciates that I am a “safety net” for her son and was there for him when he needed me to be.

Also in 2016 I was contacted

by Jim Healy, a Reader contributor who was doing a story

about a young man — Adam Ferris. Ferris was a vibrant young man, himself searching and exploring his own sexuality.

Like everyone, he had questions and was in the midst of his own personal struggle. He had been walking along the railroad tracks near his home when he was struck and killed by a train.

Healy was doing a story about Ferris’ life and wanted to talk to me about PFLAG. We met at a coffee shop and he told me Ferris’ story. I never had the pleasure of actually meeting him, but I feel as if I know him after talking to Healy.

Things began to turn around two years ago. We were contacted by one of the elementary schools here in town during the summer break as they learned that they were going to have a transgender student starting the next school year. They wanted help with resources and information so the student would have the best experience they could. I met with the principal, counselor and the students’ teacher, and shared information and resources with them. The family also began to attend PFLAG Sandpoint meetings on a regular basis.

Last year Cindy and Korey — a mom and her son, the latter who is transgender — began to attend our meetings.

Korey was extremely shy, and would sit next to his mom in

his hoodie with the hood pulled way up over his head to the point you couldn’t even see his face. For the first few meetings he just sat there quietly, not saying a word. He kind of attached himself to one of our members, Alix Taylor, who is also transgender. As time went by the hoodie slowly came down and he began to blossom.

Eventually the hood was all the way back and he is now a complete chatterbox.

It’s this kind of support and acceptance that kids who are exploring their sexuality and gender identity need. Yes, some members of his family are struggling with all of this. Cindy told me that his dad at first asked if “this was a phase” and wasn’t being real supportive, but as time went by he came around and has accepted the fact that Korey is transgender and that he now has a son. Korey spent the summer with his dad and had a birthday during that time. Cindy told me that his dad even baked Korey a rainbow-colored birthday cake.

As I have come to know the LGBTQ community in and around Sandpoint, my biggest wish is that local kids who are questioning their sexuality and gender identity would reach out to PFLAG, along with their families.

I first came out in my late 40s and, as old as I was, having

to tell my parents I was gay scared the hell out of me because — like anyone else — the last thing I wanted to hear from them was that they didn’t love me and to never come home again. Fortunately they were very accepting of my sexuality. The one thing I guess I do regret is that I didn’t come out when I was still in junior or high school, as I feel like I missed an entire lifetime of being myself. So, yes, if I could somehow have a do-over, I would have come out when I was younger.

The one thing I do know is that I have enormous respect for the young kids who are out now and who are coming out. You are incredibly brave.

Don’t let anyone tell you different. You are not broken and you certainly don’t need to be cured or fixed. You are an incredible, unique individual who has an entire lifetime to

take on the world. Let your light shine brightly.

Jeff Bohnhof is president of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) Sandpoint, a support\educational\advocacy group for the local LGBT community. It is a donor-supported national nonprofit organization with more than 400 chapters throughout the U.S. Follow the local PFLAG chapter on Facebook and send a message for phone number and P.O. box.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and following the direction of PFLAG National, all local in-person meetings and events are suspended until further notice.

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COMMUNITY

Regional YMCA receives $10M donation Y officials thank international philanthropist Mackenzie Scott for ‘extraordinary act’

By Reader Staff

Tuesday afternoon, philanthropist Mackenzie Scott announced gifts to 384 organizations across the country.

As a result of a thorough and detailed review, the YMCA of the Inland Northwest is set to receive $10 million in recognition of the work performed by the YMCA in the Spokane and Sandpoint communities.

“We are forever grateful to Ms. Scott for this extraordinary act of philanthropy. This gift is both an acknowledgment of our longstanding service to our community for over 136 years and a challenge to us to do more,” said Steve Tammaro, YMCA of the Inland Northwest president and CEO.

“This did not happen purely by chance. The work of our volunteers, staff teams, and donors positioned us to be recognized for our deep compassion and stewardship.”

Added Alan Lesher, who will soon replace Tammaro: “We are humbled and honored to be selected by Ms. Scott and her team to receive this transformational gift, the largest ever received by our Y. “2020 has presented unique challenges and been a true test of our organization’s commitment to making an impact in areas of youth development, healthy living and social responsibility,” Lesher added.

“We look forward to working with our board volunteers and staff to determine how we may

best expand our mission footprint through this incredible investment in our community.”

Plans for the use of this gift will be determined after a thorough review of the YMCA’s needs and goals for its communities.

“This support recognizes the powerful contribution the YMCA plays in uplifting our Spokane and Sandpoint region by creating healthier, more resilient communities through our commitment to developing and supporting youth to reach their full potential, creating a place of belonging for all ages and backgrounds to create and nurture friendships, and to our never-failing belief that everyone deserves a safe place to learn, grow, and thrive at the

Santa headed to Cedar St. Bridge, Schweitzer

By Reader Staff

As the song says, “Santa Claus is coming to town” — and even sooner than expected.

Local youngsters will have the chance to catch up with Santa and share their holiday wishes at the Cedar Street Bridge from Saturday, Dec. 19 through Wednesday, Dec. 23 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.

It’s a good thing Santa has magic and time travel at his disposal, because he’ll also be skiing at Schweitzer Mountain Resort on Dec. 23 from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., along with Mrs. Claus, who — let’s be honest — is the real brains of the operation and certainly deserves some recognition. They’ll both be carving the beginner and

intermediate slopes, passing out candy.

On Christmas Eve, Mr. and Mrs. Claus will hit the snow again at 2 p.m. for a balloon parade down Midway, and Santa will make his final appearance on the mountain at 3 p.m. before he hits the road — or, more accurately, the

Courtesy photo. sky — to bring gifts and joy to homes around the world before everyone wakes up on Christmas morning.

Those with questions about Santa’s Cedar Street Bridge visit can email carousel.sandpoint@gmail.com. Call 208255-3081 with questions about Santa’s Schweitzer visit.

YMCA,” the organization stated in a news release announcing the gift.

“We look forward to years and decades of continuing to strengthen the foundations of the communities we support and celebrate,” YMCA officials added. “It is our privilege to see transformation daily of lives touched, supported, encouraged, and championed.”

As a leading nonprofit, the Y depends on donors, membership dues and program fees to operate. Amid the uncertainty and upheaval of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the gift is intended to help stabilize the infrastructure of the organization while continuing to support its remote school learners, Y members in its child

Mackenzie Scott. Courtesy photo. care programs, youth sports, health and wellness, teen leadership development and camps.

The Y will continue to rely on its annual donors to help the community access critical Y services.

The Litehouse YMCA is located at 1905 Pine St. in Sandpoint.

January Parks and Rec. programming

By Reader Staff

In January, Sandpoint Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces will be offering the following programming. Masks are required for instructors and participants.

• CPR/AED with optional First Aid on Jan. 11th — online registration deadline Jan. 7.

• Beyond Beginning Ukulele on Jan. 9, 10:30-11:30a.m.

— online registration deadline Jan. 7.

• $10 Twilight Ski Tickets for Schweitzer are available.

All tickets sold at Sandpoint Parks and Rec., Larson’s

Department Store and Yokes Fresh Market in Ponderay will benefit the Parks and Rec. Youth Scholarship Fund.

For class registration and twilight ski details, visit the Sandpoint Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces web catalog at sandpointidaho.gov/parksrecreation, visit the Parks and Rec. office at 1123 Lake St.,or call 208-263-3613.

The Panhandle Health District recommends following CDC guidance, staying home if sick, reducing physical closeness when possible, wearing a mask if possible and cleaning hands often.

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Mad about Science:

Brought to you by:

a brief history of currency

By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist Money is a touchy and complicated subject. The value of a dollar has always held different meanings for different people. Finance has evolved more quickly throughout history than perhaps any other human invention — and for good reason. As more people possess large sums of currency, the value of that currency declines.

This topic, as well as next week’s topic, was inspired by a mystery person who visited the library recently. Thanks, mysterious stranger!

The idea of economics is a subject that predates the written word, and perhaps even civilization in general. This makes the study of the subject a difficult task. We believe the earliest forms of wealth came in two forms: goods and land — the latter often producing the former, leading to more wealth generation. Ancient humans valued things that could help their tribes, villages and cities thrive. Animals were valued as trading commodities, as they could be butchered for meat that could help a group survive between harvesting seasons.

Attractive and rare items like shells, beads and semi-precious stones have also been observed as forms of currency during antiquity. The value of these is derived in their ability to display another unique form of human currency: status.

Bartering goods as currency was a wildly unreliable form of trade as ancient civilizations began to develop. Imagine yourself as an ancient herdsman in the Babylonian city of Ur for a moment. You’ve brought your sheep to market on Third Street, where 12 /

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a local trader offers you two ducks and a stone for each head of sheep you are willing to barter — additionally, you can probably convince this shabby-looking fellow to throw another duck or two in per head, as he seems fairly desperate. A few hours later, you stroll down the street and meet another guy offering four ducks and two geese per head of sheep.

To put this into modern terms, it would be like paying $5 for a basic latte at one store, walking a couple of minutes down the street and being asked to pay $25 dollars for a basic latte at another store.

Additionally, it became difficult for local rulers to divide portions of bartered goods as tax for doing business under their proverbial roof. How do you divide 35% of a sheep?

Presumably, with a very sharp axe, which you can buy for the low, low price of 15 ducks and seven geese!

If you’re confused, don’t worry: you aren’t alone. Ancient rulers needed a means to centralize currency and maintain tangible value on goods. It was sometime around 600 BCE that coinage began to appear. The oldest coin yet discovered is the Lydian stater, made from an amalgam of silver and gold found in present-day Turkey. Coins were minted with a clear value, so that rulers could accurately collect currency as tax without having to dismember sheep. They could control the amount and flow of coinage to increase its value, as well as bolster the ruling clan’s wealth and elevate its status among the people.

Early coins were likely traded based on their weight. Two coins minted at the same time could have different weights, as early coin casts were imperfect and handmade. Imperfect methods for cast-

ing coins persisted well into the Roman empire, where the practice of coin-shaving was a rampant, and harshly punishable, offense.

Certain entrepreneurial spirits would use a file to shave off tiny flakes of individual coins, collecting enough excess metal to eventually cast new coins from the shavings, or simply sell the gold for more coins at weight, allowing the coin-shavers to continuously shave-and-sell. This is one of the oldest forms of what is known as money laundering, where people will take counterfeit and illegitimately-gained funds and transfer them through legitimate businesses a little at a time, effectively converting the ill-gotten gains into legitimately printed money — or more accurately, obfuscating the “dirty” money and making it difficult for authorities to track it to its source.

Early coinage represented exactly how much currency was in circulation and, because of the fact that it was made of valuable metals, could generally be exchanged at weight to neighboring city states and empires. Weight was a very important method of currency tracking for several thousand years. Gold and silver were most commonly used and traded, whether as coins or as decorative items like platters and jewelry that represented status.

Paper money has a history that may potentially predate coinage. Paper money has been referenced in archaeological finds from China as far back as 700 BCE. The interesting thing about paper money is that it represents a third form of currency used by humans: credit. Paper holds very little value — bricks of bank notes were burned for warmth in Germany in the wake of World War I, as the paper currency was worth less than the amount of

wood you could buy with a similar amount of paper.

Interestingly, in the 21st century, paper money is becoming less and less relevant, being replaced by “invisible” money and digital currency. While cash still circulates, the bulk of the money we deal with now never even passes through our hands and, for all we know, may not even exist. Think about how many direct deposits are set up to drop straight into

your bank account. What percentage of that are you able to realistically withdraw as cold, hard cash every month? How much of it do you not even see before it ends up covering your bills?

The premise of cryptocurrency is very similar, yet also antithetical to centralized currency and credit, but I have a word limit and a deadline, so I’ll dazzle your brain with that topic another day.

Until then, stay curious, 7B.

Random Corner ees ?

Don’t know much christmas tr • Christmas trees used to hang like chandeliers in Poland. Legend goes that a Benedictine monk used the triangle shape of the inverted tree to explain the Holy Trinity to pagans. But the idea really took off in the 1900s in Poland with podłazniczek, a custom in which people decorate the branches with fruit, nuts and ribbons, then hang the tree upside down from the ceiling.

• Ukrainians decorate their Christmas trees with spider webs — a tradition rooted in a folktale about a poor widow who found a Christmas tree for her children. However, she had no money to decorate it, so on Christmas Eve, she went to bed crying. That night, spiders heard her tears and proceeded to cover the tree with delicate, glistening webs.

• Thomas Edison’s colleague Edward Johnson was the first to put electric lights on a Christmas tree.

The first bulb-lit tree stood in Edison’s power plant in Manhattan in 1882, set on a rotating box so that passersby could see all 80 blinking red, white and blue lights.

We can help!

• One of the first Christmas tree-decorating ceremonies involved adorning a fir tree with paper flowers, singing and dancing around it, and then lighting the entire thing on fire.

• Early Romans were the first to celebrate with firs. The ancient Romans used evergreens to decorate their temples for Saturnalia, a festival they celebrated in December. When Christians began associating the birth of Christ with these previously existing winter holidays, they picked up on the evergreen tree as a symbol of eternal life.

• Cherry trees were once used as Christmas trees. The appeal of these trees was in their flowers.

If you cut off a branch, brought it inside, and set it in a pot of water, it would flower just in time for Christmas.

• Americans buy upwards of 30 million Christmas trees a year.

• Germans believe it’s bad luck to put up your tree before Christmas Eve.

HOLIDAY

Furry and festive

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Those pet owners who have evolved enough to reckon with their obsession will be the first to admit: our pets are our identity.

The ornament with my dog’s face on it is the first to go on the tree. A sign on my bookshelf, given to me last Christmas, reads: “All You Need is Love, and a Dog.” My sister bought me a “Dog Mom” shirt for my birthday last winter and I haven’t taken it off since.

You get the picture.

It’s easy to shop for people who love their pets. Here’s a list of some gifts available in Sandpoint that are sure to fit the bill.

Conscious Step Socks that Save Dogs La Chic Boutique (107 Main St.) Odds are that the dog lover in your life wishes they could adopt all the dogs, but must instead opt for supporting homeless animals in another way. What’s better than a new pair of cozy socks — especially when the proceeds will go toward Best Friends Animal Society and the effort to save dogs from shelters? La Chic is stocked with Conscious Step socks for all kinds of causes, including saving LGBT+ lives and protecting penguins. $15 Danica Studio Meow Meow Water Bottle La Chic Boutique (107 Main St.) While dog-loving merchandise might dominate the shopping scene in Sandpoint, La Chic hasn’t forgotten about North Idaho’s feline families. One artist featured at La Chic, Danica Studio, creates adorable cat products. From heavy-duty water bottles and coffee mugs to pencil cases and jewelry plates, the signature yellow Danica cat is sure to make any cat owner smile. $30 Primitives by Kathy Dish Towels Bella Terra Boutique (223 N. First Ave.) There is a hidden treasure trove of funny and fashionable pet parent

Gift ideas for the pet lovers on your list

gifts at Bella Terra Boutique. The brand Primitives by Kathy, in particular, does hilarious and relatable work, like dish towels reading “Dog Hair: Both a condiment and a fashion accessory.” The towel also comes in a “Cat Hair” version, and the pet section of the shop plays host to photo frames, Dog/ Cat Mom hats and funny signs. $12.99 Doggie Dough Bites Heart Bowls (317 Oak St.) Your friendly neighborhood smoothie bowl food truck doesn’t just cater to humans — the team at Heart Bowls has a soft spot for four-legged friends, too, and recently launched a new menu item just for pups: Doggie Dough Bites. The treats come in a pack of six and are made from peanut butter, pumpkin puree, oats and soy milk. A bag of Doggie Dough Bites and a Heart Bowls gift card would be a perfect gift for a friend who loves to dine out with their furry friend. $1.99 Cycle Dog No-Stink Collar ShakaPaw (120 Cedar St.)

A well-dressed pup can never have too many beautiful collars. Cycle Dog makes theirs from recycled bike tire innertubes, which also happens to help the collars stay stink-free after many wears. ShakaPaw plays host to a large selection of Cycle Dog collars and leashes, which come in funky and bright patterns and are made in Portland, Ore. This gift might be more for the dog than the owner, but will be appreciated nonetheless. $25

product in stock that’s sure to become a fast favorite: blizzard-proof dog scarves, meant to protect a dog’s ears during the chilly months. Locals love a good outdoor excursion in the winter, especially in the company of a canine companion. A cozy fleece scarf is just what the doctor ordered. $19.99 The Particulars of Peter by Kelly Conaboy Vanderford’s Books and Office Products (201 Cedar St.) The only thing better than being with a dog is being with a dog cuddled up on the couch with a good book. Brand new novel The Particulars of Peter by Kelly Conaboy details the author’s obsessive love for her “perfect dog,” and all the adventures they go on together. Reviews are lauding The Particulars of Peter as funny, heart-warming and relatable, and it’s available locally at Vanderford’s. The store also has plenty of other books for every animal-obsessed relative on the Christmas shopping list. $27

Muttluks MuTTuque Blizzard-Proof Dog Scarf ShakaPaw (120 Cedar St.) Also for pups, ShakaPaw has a new December 17, 2020 /

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Small space, big ideas

Aligned Gallery of Fine Art opens its doors on Cedar Street, reception slated for Dec. 19

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff When Rebecca Vader moved to Sandpoint from Boise, she wasn’t entirely sure what her life up north might look like. However, it didn’t take long for the avid art lover to decide how she’d contribute to her new home.

“I’d been checking out some of the [Sandpoint] galleries and some of the artwork, and I noticed that there wasn’t a lot of subculture kind of stuff — different things,” Vader said. “I went back to Boise on a trip to visit my family and had this epiphany — ‘Why didn’t I just open an art gallery?’

I know plenty of artists that would fit in really well in this city, so I did it.”

Now, Vader is the proud co-owner of Aligned Gallery of Fine Art — located at 502 Cedar St., next to Misty Mountain Furniture — along with fellow gallery owner and curator Claire Christy. The pair will host a reception 5-8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 19 showcasing the work of Boise artist Jon Morse.

Christy said she hopes the three-hour time block will allow everyone to view the art without creating a packed house inside the gallery, in an effort to follow pandemic social distancing protocols.

While the new gallery is admittedly small, Vader has given it some much-needed dimension with a set of hanging walls.

“It’s such a small spot, but I wanted to have as much usable wall space [as I could],” Vader said. “I kind of built it around Jon’s art, and because we’re going to be doing ro-

tating artists, we’re going to do that for each artist that comes in — we’re going to make [the space] specifically for their art.”

Morse is a tattoo artist who was inspired by meditation to embark on his latest artistic venture: a collection of bright, geometric paintings titled The Download. All of the originals showcased at Aligned are for sale, and there are also a few prints available at the gallery.

“As an artist I look inside and bring something honest and vulnerable back to the surface for you to see,” Morse writes in his artist statement to accompany the collection currently on display. “I hope that when someone views a piece in person, their expectations and my execution meet somewhere in the middle. This space where my vulnerability and your acceptance meet is nothing short of magic.”

As Aligned hosts its first reception and the gallerists navigate their first season in business, it’s clear that Vader and Christy have their sights set beyond the walls of 502 Cedar St. Vader said there are “future plans to expand beyond the gallery.”

“We want the gallery to be us testing the waters of the public response and what people are looking for,” she said, “but come the summertime, we’re hoping to have some big things rolling that will contribute back to the community quite a bit.”

For now, the gallerists behind Aligned hope to foster a space that adds something new to Sandpoint’s art scene.

“I think [our gallery is] going to offer something unique,” Christy said, noting

that the art already seen around North Idaho is wonderful in its own right. “There’s appreciation for that, too. But I think the art that we’re trying to bring in and the artists that we’re going to promote are just doing something different, and I think there’s a need for that and wanting for that among people who live in Sandpoint.”

Those who can’t make the Saturday, Dec. 19 reception but are still interested in seeing Jon Morse’s art in person can

Left: Aligned Gallery is currently showing the work of Boise artist Jon Morse. Right: Gallerists Rebecca Vader and Claire Christy stand in their newly opened gallery on Cedar Street. Photos by Lyndsie Kiebert. contact the gallerists via Instagram @ aligned_galleryoffineart or email alignedgallery@gmail.com to schedule a private viewing. Artists interested in showing their work at Aligned Gallery of Fine Art are also encouraged to reach out.

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BUSINESS

‘If you’re hungry, this is the place to be’ Gethsemane Oil & Vinegar Shoppe specializes in flavored olive oils, balsamics and much more

By Ben Olson Reader Staff When Trevor and Deborah Kirk started Gethsemane Oil & Vinegar Shoppe on the Cedar Street Bridge more than two years ago, they truly found what it is to be a member of a community.

Located in the center of the Cedar Street Bridge by the spiral staircase, Gethsemane features in excess of 15 different flavors each of extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegars and sea salts that add a touch of gourmet to just about anything.

“As a couple, we like dipping bread in olive oil and balsamic vinegar and sea salt,” said Trevor. “It’s a blessing to have this store now to share with our customers.”

One great feature at Gethsemane is that customers can sample everything in the store before they buy, which encompasses more than 50 different items.

The extra virgin olive oils come from the Sutter Buttes Valley in California, because of the region’s high quality products.

“We chose that supplier because they begin processing the olive oil within 30 minutes of harvesting,” Trevor said. “The extra virgin has very specific parameters to be called extra virgin, one of which is an acidity level consistently below 0.8%. This supplier is consistently below 0.3% acidity. It’s very high quality oil.”

One of the most popular oils Gethsemane sells is the black truffle, which has a unique, robust flavor. Other varieties include basil, blood orange, butter flavored, California lime, citrus habañero, fresh garlic, garlic mushroom, Meyer lemon, jalapeño and more.

The balsamics are all produced in Modena, Italy, considered the balsamic capital of the world.

“They are traditionally reduced, so there are no added thickeners or sweeteners,” Trevor said. “There’s a big difference between what you get in a supermarket and a specialty store.”

In addition to the oils and balsamics, Gethsemane sells flavor-infused sea salts to complete the gourmet trinity.

“The quality of the salt is very important,” Trevor said. “We have everything from very fine grain to coarse grain, to black Hawaiian, which has activated charcoal in it giving it a smooth texture. There’s also something called fleur de sel [‘flower of salt’], which is considered the caviar of sea salt due to its rarity and light, flaky texture. In addition to these, there are smoked sea salts, five different spicy sea salts and more.”

On top of supplying a host of different flavor combinations, Gethsemane owners always offer advice on the perfect pairings for their products.

“For example, take whitefish, which is

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sometimes bland,” Trevor said. “You bake it in a Meyer lemon olive oil, then the last couple of minutes you put a glaze of lemon balsamic on top and finish with lemon sea salt.

That’s what we really like. We love what you can do with the products.”

“You can even add balsamics to sparking water to make a refreshing spritzer,” Deb added. “The green apple and lemon tastes best with sparkling water.”

Sharing recipes and seeing repeat customers is something the Kirks said they really enjoy, and they say they are always eager to hear a new flavor combination they haven’t yet discovered.

“Someone came in and said, you should try the black truffle sea salt on steak,” Trevor said. “They took black truffle sea salt and put some on the top and bottom, barbecued the steak and added nothing else. It’s the best steak you’ve ever had. Now we tell people that all the time.”

Deb said olive oils are also a great substitution for baking at a 75% ratio — that is, if a recipe calls for a cup of butter, it can be substituted for 3/4 cup of olive oil.

“We make blood orange brownies, substituting blood orange olive oil for butter,” she said. “For cornbread, instead of butter, we use jalapeño olive oil. We even have butter olive oil, which I just used to make chocolate chip cookies with.”

“I also always wanted to roast my own candied nuts, so when we moved to this space, we started nut roasting as well,” Trevor said.

Gethsemane is actually a combination of the Oil & Vinegar Shoppe and Panhandle Nut House, featuring a variety of different candied nut flavors, among their other products.

The Kirks said they developed candied nut recipes based on traditional recipes, adding their own unique flavors. Two of the most popular varieties are a traditional cinnamon vanilla blend, which is a German-based recipe they use on pecans, almonds and cashews.

The most popular flavor is the Cedar Street Bridge Special, which is a spicy nut available both in pecans and almonds. They even have a seasonal variety for Christmas called Cocoa

Above: Deborah and Trevor Kirk in their shop on Cedar St. Bridge. Top right: A selection of candied nuts at Gethsemane. Middle: Just a few varieties of flavored balsamic vinegars. Bottom: A host of different flavors of sea salts at Gethsemane.

Photos by Ben Olson.

Candy Canes.

“It’s something we really enjoy doing,” Trevor said. “The entire bridge smells like nuts when we’re roasting. We enjoy that.”

“We also try to incorporate as much olive oils in the nuts as possible,” Deb said. “We’ve even used balsamic in a nut for the cinnamon apple almond flavor.”

The Kirks, with three children and two grandchildren who all live in town, are proud of their products, and even prouder to be part of a vibrant community.

“People will come in and tell me, ‘Try the fig balsamic on sauteed brussels sprouts,’” Deb said. “I love the involvement we get from the community. I always tell people, if you think it might taste good, give it a shot because it most likely will.”

The name Gethsemane, the Kirks said, is appropriate for their store because it’s the name of the Garden of Gethsemane, from the Bible, but also means the olive press, or a place of pressing.

“It’s quite appropriate for us,” Trevor said.

“We love Jesus, we love meeting and talking with people, so Gethsemane really fits what we stand for.”

In addition to their oils, balsamics, nuts and salts, Gethsemane also features loose leaf teas, soy candles, handmade olive wood products and specialty artisan pastas and spreads, with everything from mustards to tapenades to jams and jellies.

“If you’re hungry, this is the place to be,” Deb said.

Check out Gethsemane yourself on the Cedar Street Bridge from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Or shop online at gethsemaneshoppe. com.

LITERATURE

the thanksgiving basket

This open Window

Vol. 5 No. 12 poetry and prose by local writers edited by Jim mitsui

monday quilters Old friends stitch ourselves together giggling in our holiday pajamas though we speak of broken things like virtue and wisdom marking fathers’ shoulders with indelible hieroglyphs of happiness at the edge of compromise and coffee

I was 8 years old in 1952,when Mother and I delivered several Thanksgiving baskets to people who would be alone during the holiday. Tennessee winters can be short but cold. A gray film hovered over the city. Light snow collected on rooftops and flew in lines against the curbs.

We drove from our home in a modest neighborhood to an area where people lived in dingy houses and breathed coal dust from old furnaces. Powdery black factory soot drifted through their windows, settling on cracked linoleum floors. Etched in my mind like frost on the windows is the image of the one-room house we visited. I remember the tar paper roof and the slanted front stoop. I could smell the stale odor of cabbage when an old woman opened the door and beckoned us in. The room was too hot, as small rooms often are when the stove is too big for the space.

We stepped onto the once red floor, scoured gray from years of tracked-in mud and dirt. Mother introduced us, telling the woman why we were there. The woman backed away unsteadily, using her arms for balance. She said nothing.

Mother held out the basket wrapped in cellophane filled with nut bread, fresh winter vegetables, canned pumpkin, pomegranates, and oranges. A turkey took up most of the room, padded by some pre-made stuffing.

The old woman, in a grimy calico apron over a slate colored, flimsy dress, reached for the basket. She shuffled forward in her yellowed scuffs, her drab cotton stockings falling down around her ankles. Her hair, thin and yellow-white, hadn’t been washed in weeks and smelled like wet wool and cooking oil.

I had to look away because I couldn’t focus on the shabbiness of her surroundings. Mother scrambled to help her put the basket on a table.

Finally, I dared to look at the woman and attempted a smile. Her watery eyes looked straight through me. I prayed she wouldn’t smile back, for I knew from the sunken mouth she had no teeth.

Mother pulled me out of the woman’s way, as she appeared to be walking away. We watched her pat first the kitchen table, then the chairs, and then grope for the back door.

She opened the door, reached up to a clothesline attached to the outside wall, and began to walk across the frozen dirt. Hand over hand she followed a clothesline which led to an outhouse several yards away. Without looking back at us, she spoke for the first time. “Thank ye,” she said in a long forgotten Appalachian dialect and went into the outhouse. The door flapped on its hinges.

I didn’t ask, but I knew she was blind. I also knew that for the rest of my life I would think of this old woman walking out to pee in the rain or snow, day or night, wearing only a flimsy cotton dress and yellow house slippers. The day we delivered baskets was like any other day for this woman. It was the day I understood the significance of Thanksgiving.

— Margaret Ann Maricle Margaret Ann writes about her memories of snowy days in Tennessee and enjoys the first snow of the season in Sandpoint. She hopes you all stay warm and enjoy the upcoming holidays.

book ends

What’s language if not borrowed from the red zone of not enough?

We create multiple-choice portraits citing fragments of blame, illness, tragedy yet constant in our faith of the motion behind masks Wait, I started a positive poem I miss the fierce fun, the Monday memories Don’t people like us have the floor now?

The twitter tumor, now a discarded liar on abandoned apocalyptic horses.

Now the colors of pink and gray and playful full moon inspire Present peace and memory markings decorate new frontiers of faith Starting all over again, stitch by stitch

— Jackie Henrion Jackie is the host of KRFY “Songs-Voices-Poems” Sundays at 7 on KRFY 88.5 FM. MFA Naropa University: Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics.

I. The high points of my day are my first cup of coffee in the morning and turning the covers back on my bed each night.

Everything in between — is a crapshoot — — could go either way — offers a universe of choices from The Hour Glass of Possibility — to pull through the narrow neck of the present to become my past — the ground on which I stand, rocky, swampy, or covered with grass.

— Brenda Hammond Brenda is a human rights activist and family counselor. She settled in Sandpoint years ago after living in Michigan and New Mexico.

Family is huge in her life, and as this poem displays she carries with her an optimistic view of life.

Send poems to: jim3wells@aol.com

II. “Where are your book ends?” I asked the pretty young clerk at Staples.

“What?” she asked, “What are book ends?”

“You know, you put them on the end of a shelf to keep the books from sliding off.” She looked puzzled. So I added, “Or you use them on your desk to hold up binders you have there.” That got her moving toward the desk accessories where — to her surprise — she triumphantly announced, “There they are!” (Like she’d spotted a rare blue-footed booby!)

“You know that books are becoming obsolete, don’t you?” she asked, as I took my book ends up to the check out.

“I know,” I said. “So am I.” December 17, 2020 /

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events

December 17-24, 2020

THURSDAY, December 17 FriDAY, December 18

Live Music w/ So What - Mike, Shanna and Charlie Trio 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Mike and Shanna Thompson playing with Charlie Nish on percussion!

Slackers Night Out • downtown Sandpoint retailers ‘Oh no, it’s almost Christmas and I still need to shop!’ Don’t worry, come out to Slackers Night Out in downtown Sandpoint for some fun and to get your last-minute Christmas gifts purchased. For more information, email carousel.sandpoint@gmail.com

SATURDAY, December 19 Live Music w/ Daniel Hall 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Daniel’s debut at the Winery!

Acoustic rock

Santa at Cedar Street Bridge (Dec. 19-23) @ Cedar St. Bridge Santa’s coming to town! email carousel. sandpoint@gmail.com for more info

Outdoor, Drive-Through, Live Nativity • 5-7pm @ Christ Our Redeemer Lutheran Church We invite the community to come and remember the true meaning of Christmas as a cast of actors and live animals retell the story of Jesus’ birth through different scenes

SunDAY, December 20

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

Piano Sunday w/ Peter Lucht 3-5pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Jazz and classical favorites

monDAY, December 21 Monday Night Blues Jam w/ Truck Mills 7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub

Outdoor Experience Monday Night Group Run – All levels welcome 6pm @ Outdoor Experience

Lifetree Cafe • 2pm @ Jalapeño’s Restaurant “The Spirit of Santa: The Legend, the Love, the Lowdown.”

tuesDAY, December 22 wednesDAY, December 23

Ski with Santa 1-3:30pm @ Schweitzer Mountain Resort Rip it up with the big guy in red on several beginner and intermediate runs

ThursDAY, December 24

Ski with Santa and balloon parade 2-3pm @ Schweitzer Mountain Resort Santa and Mrs. Claus will be passing out candy to good boys and girls with a balloon parade at 2 p.m. down Midway. He’ll be back on the slopes at 3 p.m.

Want to help your community?

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STAGE & SCREEN

The great British binge

The Crown takes on Thatcher, Princess Di in Season 4

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff Unlike many others, I came to The Crown late in its so-far four-season run on Netflix. This is surprising to me, considering my deep vein of unreconstructed Anglophilia. There had been so much fuss about the show since it premiered on the streaming platform in 2016, that I assumed — snobbily — that it must be some fusty, overblown soap opera geared toward the kind of people who bought decorative plates to commemorate the marriage of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer.

I was a little right, but mostly wrong.

Over the course of a recent week I binged like I’ve never binged before, tearing through all 40 hour-ish-long episodes. I watched that show, literally, like it was my full-time job.

Season 4, released Nov. 14, takes the royals into the 1980s — a time marked by the first premiership of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, which began in 1979, as well as the introduction of Diana, princess of Wales, who married Prince Charles in 1981.

Thatcher died at 87 in 2013 and Diana, of course, perished in a car crash in Paris at the age of 36 in 1997. Both have remained outsized figures not only in Britain but the United States, and accordingly serve as competing focal points for the most recent season of The Crown.

While Thatcher’s almost 12 years in office, and her strident free market neoliberalism known as Thatcherism, are deeply controversial politically to this day, Diana is still immortalized by people on both sides of the Atlantic as “the people’s princess.”

These disparate legacies are teased and tweaked by the show. Gillian Anderson’s superb evocation of Thatcher’s belligerent conservatism — right down to her perpetual rictus of arrogant loathing — is equal parts appalling and magnetic. Meanwhile, Emma Corrin as Diana manages to utterly capture the profound misery, vulnerability and wounded yearning of the “England’s rose,” as Elton John famously sang at her televised funeral, which, seen by an estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide remains one of the most-watched TV broadcasts ever.

In the show, Diana clearly has the

tiger by its tail — always in danger of being devoured by her fame and family — while Thatcher is in full armor, trying to throw a saddle on it and run down her myriad enemies, which include the royals themselves.

Between these two personalities is Queen Elizabeth II (Olivia Colman), staunch yet serene as ever, trying to chart a course that is both responsive to its times but also protective of the constancy that underpins the superstructure of Britain’s constitutional monarchy.

While previous seasons have covered a huge amount of historical ground — from the abdication of King Edward VII to the reign of George VI to World War II, Elizabeth’s ascension, the Cold War and everything in between — Season 4 somehow feels like the most politically and dramatically complex of the show so far.

The tensions between the three women at the heart of the 10-episode arc essentially represent the fault lines faced by modern Britain as it neared the 21st century; primarily, a conflict between austere laissez-faire capitalism and flexible social liberalism — a conflict that continues.

Little room is left for majesty in this fraught socio-political landscape, as Elizabeth and her family find themselves not only increasingly irrelevant, but reviled.

For children of the 1980s and 1990s, like myself, this is the first season of The Crown to focus on events and personali-

ties that we remember. I vividly recall my relatives visiting Sandpoint from England sometime in the early ’90s and hearing my aunt and uncle — expats from Greece and the U.S., respectively — grumbling about Thatcher and deriding the wasteful, outdated, useless monarchy. Prince Charles, in particular, they thought was a ridiculous doofus with his jug ears and “upper-class twit” persona. Naturally, I also remember the non-stop news coverage of Charles and Di, their divorce and her death soon after.

Season 4 of The Crown aptly captures this mood, shot through with the real anxiety that Great Britain was anything but

Courtesy photo. great. In that sense it makes for somewhat more conflicted viewing than past seasons, in which it was easier to sympathize and even side with the royals as they rubbed shoulders with the likes of Winston Churchill amid truly world-historical events. A certain tawdriness has settled on Buckingham Palace in Season 4, making the show feel more soapy than dramatic.

Still — and despite its many historical inaccuracies and what some call “divisive” characterizations — it remains among the best British binges.

Panida showing star-studded The Prom

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff

The Panida Theater in downtown Sandpoint is capping off 2020 with multiple screenings of feel-good, star-studded musical The Prom, with showings nearly every day until Sunday, Dec. 27.

Directed by Glee creator Ryan Murphy and produced by Netflix, The Prom is a coming-of-age tale about a lesbian teen who is denied the ability to take her girlfriend to the prom at her rural Indiana high school.

A handful of washed-up and self-serving Broadway stars — played

by Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and James Corden, among others — catch

wind of the Indiana controversy, and triteness. head that way to stir up a bit of positive Regardless of how The Prom lands social justice PR. Ultimately, the effort for the individual viewer, one thing to make the dance inclusive and give the is certain: a huge theme in the film is main character the night she deserves the magic of musical theater, and what leads to self-discovery in each of the better way to celebrate that magic than characters. from the seats of a hisThe movie is jamtoric and well-loved local The Prom (PG-13) theater? packed with musical numbers and plenty of The Panida is observDec. 17, 6:30 p.m.; Dec. glitz and glam, according 18-19, 7:30 p.m.; Dec. 20, ing social distancing pol3:30 p.m.; Dec. 23, 5:30 p.m.; icies with limited seating, to the reviews that have been pouring in since The Dec. 24, 1:30 p.m.; Dec. 26, so it is best to purchase 7:30 p.m.; Dec. 27, 3:30 p.m.; Prom hit Netflix on Dec. tickets ahead of time at $9 adults, $6 for 18 and 11. While some critics panida.org. Tickets are under. Panida Theater, 300 laud the film as a joyous also available at the door.

N. First Ave., 208-263-9191, triumph, others have panida.org. chastised its tone-deaf December 17, 2020 /

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FOOD

The Sandpoint Eater

By Marcia Pilgeram Reader Columnist It seems that, by now, we all know someone with COVID-19 or, worse, someone who has perished because of this insidious virus.

When I heard the news that country legend Charley Pride had succumbed to it, I was transported back to my childhood in East Helena, Mont. I met Charley’s wife, Rozene, before I’d ever heard of Charley. Mrs. Pride was the pediatric nurse at a medical clinic in Helena. She helped my pediatrician, Dr. Moore, tend to my broken arm after a mishap on an icy school slide. Not long thereafter, I contracted childhood measles. The itching drove me so crazy that I’d rub the cast up and down on my arm as hard as I could to bring some relief. One day, I was able to slide that thing right off my arm. My mom gathered me up, with my distorted cast and took us back to the clinic.

I distinctly recall Nurse Pride shaking her head at my unlikely achievement and informing my mother she’d never seen anyone do that before. She held my arm rigid while Dr. Moore applied some salve to the red bumps and then made a new, heavier plaster cast, which required sitting under a heat lamp for what seemed like hours.

About the time I was healing from my wounds, Charley was recovering from his too — an injury that sidelined him from baseball for a season. His lifelong ambition was to make it in the world of baseball. He was a very talented player, which was the reason he moved to Montana: to play on a semi-professional farm team. To support his family, he also worked as a construction laborer, shoveled coal at the smelter in East Helena and, for extra income, played music at local honky-tonks on the weekends. I remember hanging around the front door of the 20 /

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bars so we could hear him sing.

Occasionally, he’d play at the U & I bar, which had an adjoining restaurant. For the cost of a plate of salty, greasy French fries (25 cents), my friend Irene and I could listen to Charley croon through the common doorway.

Charley was making quite a name for himself and graduated from singing at smelter picnics and East Helena Smelteries baseball games to serenading us over the radio waves. I remember my mom proudly proclaiming, “Listen! Charley Pride’s on the radio.” I didn’t think much about Charley or Rozene after that, for I had moved on to The Beatles (and aged out of pediatrics).

I suppose it was nearly 10 years later that Charley’s name popped up, when a dear family friend, Junious Tidwell, passed away.

Tid, as he was called, was, like Charley, part of a small community of African Americans living in Helena. He was a local cement finisher, who over the years, patiently taught his craft to my

Charley

brother and many other aimless young men. Tid’s pride and joy had been his classic, black Cadillac (rarely uncovered and brought into service, as he spent most of his time driving his work rig).

I don’t recall if his wife, Sudie May, didn’t drive, didn’t drive the Cadillac, didn’t drive in winter or was just too grief-stricken to drive.

All I recall is my mom and Sudie May calling me into service in the winter of 1975 to make numerous trips to the bus station, picking up grieving relatives from the South (many of whom had never before seen snow) in Tid’s big black Cadillac. I don’t recall anyone flying or driving. I just remember a lot of smartly-dressed Black folks arriving at the bus station, with a whole lot of luggage.

The gentlemen were all in suits, topped with fedoras. The women looked smart, too, with lots of big pieces of costume jewelry. I must have been quite a sight myself — the young, strawberry-blonde chauffeur hauling all these anguished relatives to Sudie May’s

Pecan pralines

tiny little house, where — first things first — the men congregated with cigarettes and alcohol, and the women gathered in the kitchen and commenced cooking.

I remember making many unfruitful trips to the grocery stores looking for collard greens and pork jowls and, to their disappointment, coming back nearly empty-handed. Finally, I drove a couple of the relatives to Buttrey’s Foods, and they found a few staples to cook with. I don’t remember what they bought, but I do remember that they gathered in the kitchen, talking, fretting, crying, even laughing, but mostly worrying themselves sick about poor Sudie May. I recall Sudie May reassuring everyone that Charley and Rozene were calling on a daily basis to check in, and they were “helping her out.” She’d babysat the Prides’ three children on and off for years, even traveling with them on occasion. Now, they were offering her a permanent place in their home, then in Texas, to look after their children.

I’ll never know how Tid and Sudie May ended up leaving Arkansas and finding their way to Montana. But Sudie May never left and for the next 20 or so years my mom and Sudie May remained good friends. Until she passed away in 1999, Sudie May would regale my mother with news and updates about Charley. My mother could not wait to share with me (pride of association) her pride in Pride.

My own best memories from those days come from the week I gathered in Sudie May’s kitchen with those women. They were bigger than anything I had ever experienced: expressive, loving, genuine and lively. They shared their grief yet still embraced me, teased me and cajoled me over simmering pans of Hoppin’ John, salty ham hocks and sugary pecan pralines.

Rest in peace Charley, Sudie May and Momma. Thank you for all those memories — damn near as sweet as these pralines.

There are dozens of recipes for this sweet, Southern treat. The original recipe given to me used canned milk and white sugar. This is the recipe I’ve developed over the years. Makes a dozen delicious pralines.

INGREDIENTS:

DIRECTIONS:

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Combine brown sugar and cream in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat.

Stir with a wooden spoon until sugar is dissolved. Quit stirring.

Insert a candy thermometer and boil until the sugar reaches 240 F (soft-ball stage).

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Continue to stir until the mixture thickens and loses shine.

Stir in the pecans and drop by teaspoonfuls on the parchment paper-lined sheet pan.

Allow to cool completely at room temperature before removing from pan with spatula.

• 2 cups brown sugar, packed • 1 tsp vanilla extract • 2 cups pecans (halves or large chopped pieces), toast lightly (don’t burn!)

MUSIC

In the new old-fashioned way The not-so-distant history of ‘Christmas music’

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

There are many divisive issues afoot these days, but an age-old (sometimes) heated disagreement among many people is over Christmas music. How much is too much, too early?

For Christougenniatikophobiacs — who fear all things Christmas-related — any and ever is the answer. Of course, there are many people who can’t get enough of the stuff, no matter how overplayed or treacly.

Most of us land somewhere in the middle. According to a 2020 survey published by Statista, 55% of respondents oppose the playing of Christmas music before Thanksgiving, and science suggests there’s a good reason for that: overindulging in Christmas music — especially the same handful of songs over and over — can and does damage many people’s mental health.

Obviously, hearing the same song or sound of any type for an extended period of time has the capacity to drive all but the stoutest (or mushiest) minds over the edge. There’s a reason the sound of a dripping water faucet keeps us up at night, no less for why the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” techniques include locking detainees in a room and making them listen to the theme song for Barney at high volume hour after hour. (Retail workers may identify somewhat with this effect, as they handle customers amid the din of that day’s 20th replay of “Frosty the Snowman.”)

The deeper reason Christmas music can harm rather than cheer is exactly why it’s so popular: memory is intimately linked with auditory experience and we form some

of our strongest memories as children — precisely when our first attitudes toward Christmas are being formed. If a person has good memories associated with the holiday, then its musical repertoire will bring a rush of dopamine and nostalgic joy.

If the opposite, then anxiety and depression lurk behind those jingle bells.

There is yet one more reason why Christmas music worms its way so deeply into our brains, and that has to do with the common elements of the “Christmas-y” sound.

According to the website classicfm.com, the major technical ingredient of a Christmas song is “a touch of bitters — some minor chords.” Introducing minor tones, or diminished chords, into a piece of music that flows along in an overall major key can convey sweet wistfulness, solemnity, even triumphalism as those minors are inevitably resolved.

Other common aspects of the genre include churchy sounding choir bits, lots of big shiny brass and gimmicks like sleigh bells — these are all unique not only to Christmas tunes, but to most people’s everyday lives.

Yet, they didn’t used to be, and that provides a final, all-important component to the Xmas mix: a deep sense of nostalgia, which is inherently rooted in the millennia old history of the “Christmas song.”

We have to go back to 129 CE for the first widely accepted piece of Christmas-centric music, which was the “Angels Hymn.” Though there are present-day recordings of songs with this title, it seems the original tune has been lost to time. However, it’s a good bet that it followed a similar slow, solemn style as the hymns that

came after it, as Christianity cemented its hold not only in Europe and the eastern Mediterranean but on the formerly pagan winter solstice holiday from the fourth to the 12th centuries.

Yet it really wasn’t until the 1500s that what contemporary listeners would identify as traditional Christmas music began to emerge — that earlier stuff probably sounded downright liturgical.

With the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, new forms of musical arrangement emerged, including the wider-spread use of brass instruments in what was becoming “popular music.”

Still, few if any people — especially in the U.S. — have ever heard much less sang the medieval “Coventry Carol” or “The Boar’s Head Carol” of 1521 (though these still pop up in British Christmas programs).

The reality is that Christmas as we know it, and hear it, didn’t come into being until the early 1800s. From the late Middle Ages through the eighteenth century, the holiday and its music was much rowdier, celebrated more sporadically (even banned for its frivolity and social licentiousness by Oliver Cromwell in 1600s England) and as much a time for peasants to demand a share of food and drink from their social betters than it was a time for quiet piety and family togetherness.

Despite the notion that songs like “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” “Silent Night,” “Good King Wenceslas” and “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” have long pedigrees, they all date to the late-eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (though some do have connections to earlier poems and hymns). Even today’s Christmas tree is a relatively new convention, only gaining widespread popularity when German-born British Prince Albert convinced his wife, Queen Victoria, to make it a holiday staple at Windsor Castle in the 1840s (though Victoria’s German grandmother Queen Charlotte put one up at Windsor as early as 1800).

Most of us are only four or five generations removed from the Victorian era, which gave us Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and all the elements of the holiday sound that we know today: the choirs, the brass and the jangling bells on horses dashing through the snow (which was actually an alarm system so people didn’t get trampled or collide with one another in the dark).

As for the rest of the Christmas canon — love it or loathe it — the vast majority of it is solidly a 20th century creation.

Call it “the new old-fashioned way.”

This week’s RLW by Lyndsie Kiebert

READ

’Tis the season for revisiting all the great art released during the year. Despite the unconventionality of 2020, new albums, films and books made their way to our ears, screens and minds. I always love seeing how the big media outlets rank everything in their yearly Top lists. Sometimes the recommendations are hogwash, but oftentimes popularity does connote quality. I’m happy to report that most “best albums” lists put Phoebe Bridgers’ Punisher near the top, so they got that one right.

LISTEN

Taylor Swift is at it again, dropping her second surprise album of 2020 on Dec. 11: evermore.

It’s the sister album to folklore, which shocked the world back in July with its gentle country-folk sounds and next-level storytelling. Dare I say evermore is even better? Swift shines as she teams up with HAIM, The National and Bon Iver on a few tracks, but the best songs are all her own: the sad “tolerate it”; energetic “long story short”; and downtempo, country-tinged “cowboy like me.”

WATCH

The 2019 Little Women remake lives up to the hype in the most devastating and satisfying way. It stands up as a timeless exploration of the challenges girls face as they plan their futures with the weight of social expectation and “economic proposition” of marriage heavy on their shoulders, though director Greta Gerwig does contribute a refreshing modernity to the film.

The acting, score and period costume design are all spot on. Don’t forget the tissues.

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BACK OF THE BOOK

Back alley to front page

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

From Daily Bulletin, Dec. 15, 1930

LITTLE GIRLS SET BOYS AN EXAMPLE Idaho’s little girls appear not to be so bad as her boys, a compilation of probate court cases disclosed today. The report is made to the governor’s office.

During the year ending October 1, 578 boys were before the court compared with only 79 girls. At the same time 1,090 cases were settled out of court. The figures represent an increase of 62 boys before the court compared with last year and a decrease of 55 girls.

Of those handled by the court, 318 were paroled, 91 boys and 20 girls were sent to the industrial school, four boys and one girl to other reformatories.

Adams, Camas, Clark, Custer, Latah and Lemhi counties reported no delinquencies.

The report indicated an inrease of seven in the number of cases before the court this year over last year and an increase of 51 settled outside the court.

Eighteen more were sent to reformatories this year than last.

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/ December 17, 2020

“Easy reading is damn hard writing.”

— Maya Angelou One thing about writers that some may not know is that our jobs don’t begin the moment we start putting words on the page. Writers don’t clock in and start banging away at the keyboard like banshees, clock out and go home, never to think about those thousands of words they just birthed into the world. They are always writing, always editing, always seeking that perfect turn of phrase to bring out their creations finished from the mediocre stew.

Just like comedians dig for material in everyday situations, writers always have their feelers out for a compelling story or a new angle that captures an existing story particularly well.

Every writer has a method. Some take diligent notes and lay out their pieces with organizational charts. Others write inspirational thoughts in a notebook and transfer them later to the page. Other freaks of writing nature maintain a minimum quota of words per day and rarely experience that devil writer’s block.

Ernest Hemingway once said he writes every morning, when there is no one to disturb the work.

“You read what you have written and, as you always stop when you know what is going to happen next, you go on from there,” Hemingway once told George Plimpton.

Henry Miller once listed “Commandments” for him to follow as part of a daily routine, including such notations as, “Work on one thing at a time until finished,” and, “Write first and always.

Painting, music, friends, cinema, all these

STR8TS Solution

come afterwards.”

Barbara Kingsolver nailed it when she said, “I have to write hundreds of pages before I get to page one.”

I tend to write in bursts, building up momentum like a train going down a track, staying in the moment as long as I can before pulling back up for air. If I’m not feeling it, I don’t write.

It’s the pulling away that always creates the biggest problem for me. If I could live and breathe my own creative writing (i.e., if I didn’t have this monkey of a newspaper on my back every week), I’d probably have multiple finished books on the shelf instead of dozens of fragments haunting my computer hard drive like ghosts in the machine. But one must pay the rent, and except for famous writers like Stephen King, J.K. Rowling and the like, who make millions from their creations, most writers are just pleased to do the work and hope for the possibility that others may recognize it someday.

There is one action that helps bring me away from my role as a newspaper publisher and back to my comfortable space as just a fledgling writer: I walk the back alleys of Sandpoint and look at the things we hide from view.

Walking the alleys reminds me of traveling by train, when you pass by all the backs of storefronts and residential areas. Everything you see is facing the other way and, in that glimpse behind the curtain, you see a true representation of who — and what — we really are.

There are quaint gardens and patios where one could imagine a backyard party of yesteryear. There are piles of nondescript junk — or “kipple,” as Philip K. Dick called it — laid up against the fences and outbuildings. There are forlorn backyard dogs running a ring in the dirt

from their lead, excited every time something passes by. There are kids playing in sprinklers, dads standing over smoking barbecues and groups of friends with beers in hand around a bonfire.

While strolling these alleys of our little shire, the writing process is hard at work, formulating ideas, plot lines, character traits. It’s as if a walk in the alleys is similar to cleansing your palate between meals. After all, it can be a struggle to go from writing a piece for the paper about a new business to delving deep in a noir crime story about an arsonist serial killer (another of my failed novels).

Sometimes I see fellow alley walkers.

We give one another a brief nod and continue on our separate ways, each reaching into the ether for their own answer.

After a successful jaunt through alleyways, I always return to the work with a renewed direction, a new thought, a revelation that might just carry these stories a bit further down the road until someday, perhaps, they live on their own.

Crossword Solution

Sudoku Solution Sometimes life seems like a dream, especially when I look down and see that I forgot to put on my pants.

Solution on page 22

Solution on page 22

infodemic

Woorf tdhe Week

By Bill Borders

/in-foh-DEM-ik/

[noun] 1. a massive amount of widely and rapidly circulating information about a particular crisis or controversial issue, consisting of a confusing combination of fact, falsehood, rumor, and opinion.

“Turning our backs on science has created an infodemic in the U.S. involving the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Corrections: In the Dec. 10 article, ‘LPOSD eases COVID-19 restrictions,’ we had a typo in the name of Trustee Vice-Chair Geraldine Lewis. Also – and this is super embarassing – when trying to correct a misspelling of Sandpoint Planning and Zoning Commissioner Slate Kamp’s name in a previous article, we again misspelled it in the corrections box. Rookie move. We apologize to both Lewis and Kamp. –ZH

CROSSWORD

Copyright www.mirroreyes.com

Laughing Matter

ACROSS 1. Turning point 6. Patter 11. Chum 12. A way through 15. Threefold 16. Deodorant or shaving cream 17. Eastern Standard Time 18. A British title of respect 20. Caviar 21. Rectal 23. Website addresses 24. Photos 25. Location 26. Flying mammals 27. Rational 28. Type of sword 29. Petroleum 30. More prudent 31. Completeness 34. Boyfriends 36. Apprehend 37. Anagram of “Dice” 41. Unit of land 42. Catches 43. Briskly (music) 44. Gunk 45. Flexible mineral 46. French for “State” 47. Genus of macaws 48. Dander 51. How old you are 52. Arbitrates 54. Tributary

Solution on page 22 56. Breathing tube for swimmers 57. Phony 58. Slender 59. Inscribed pillar

DOWN 1. Whitish edible root 2. Mimic 3. Very Important Person 4. Leer at 5. Foot digits 6. Decays

7. Couples 8. Small island 9. East southeast 10. Public toilet 13. Food merchant 14. Visual organs 15. Make fun of 16. Sweaters 19. Partridge 22. Upwind 24. Inactive 26. Razzes 27. Female sibling 30. Nets 32. Color 33. Area of South Africa

34. Desolate 35. S. American country 38. Stronghold 39. Knickknack holder 40. Discourage 42. With grace 44. Cogs 45. Joined together 48. A fish similar to cod 49. F F F F 50. Chair 53. Anger 55. Barely manage

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