Reader_Feb16_2023

The week in random review

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

quotable

The north idaho way

Some years ago, while submitting an article to another publication, the editor changed all of my references from “North Idaho” to “northern Idaho.” I understood why they tried to make the change, but I fought back and ultimately said it was “North Idaho” or nothing. Only tourists used “northern Idaho.” Yes, I would die on that hill. It opened up a discussion that I still have with people to this day: Which is the correct usage?

Grammatically, “northern Idaho” is accurate, because “northern” denotes being part of something larger, as in, “Sandpoint is located in the northern part of the state of Idaho.” But dropping the last three letters and upstyling it to “North” denotes the actual separation that those who live in the northern part of Idaho feel from the southern part. The two regions are actually quite dissimilar. In North Idaho, we have mountains, timber, abundant rivers and lakes, and a rough-hewn history mixed with Indigenous tribes, loggers, miners and fur trappers. The far-southern part of the state is more defined by high desert, agriculture, Mormons and fry sauce (the latter according to Reader Editor Zach Hagadone, who lived in Boise for a dozen years and swore he’d never in his life seen so many fries and tater tots dipped in the ketchup-and-mayonnaise concoction). Using “North Idaho” is a lighthearted way we differentiate ourselves from our southern cousins, because we rarely feel connected to the far-flung parts of our state. After all, we can drive to Seattle and back quicker than it would take us to drive to the southern border of Idaho. If you want to fit in, use “North Idaho.” Nobody uses “northern Idaho” except tourists and newcomers.

on thin ice

This time of year, it’s common to see ice shanties and silhouettes of winter anglers on the frozen lakes surrounding Sandpoint. Often, while driving by on a sunny, warm day, I’ll wonder how they know they’ll be safe from falling through the ice. It turns out there are some basics to keeping yourself safe on the ice. First and foremost, talk to the locals. If there are people, shanties, dogs and sleds roaming around, it’s probably thick enough for you, too, but it never hurts to ask those who know. Next, the bluer and clearer the ice, the stronger it is. Conversely, snow ice — which forms after wet snow freezes — is weaker due to air pockets in the ice. Gray ice is unsafe. The grayness indicates the presence of water and its weak density can’t hold much weight. The same is true for slush ice, which you should stay away from altogether. Ice that’s around four inches thick is usually OK to walk on and fish from, but make sure to check often with an auger, as ice does not freeze uniformly. Also, avoid standing close together or walking in a line, as this can create fractures. If you fall through the ice, turn back the way you came, keep your mouth closed and don’t panic. Get your body on the ledge as much as possible and let the water drain from your clothes, then pull yourself up while kicking, roll away from the hole and, finally, when you’re on solid ice again, stand up and get warm — quick!

READER DEAR READERS,

North Idahoans usually celebrate the fact that we have all four seasons; but, sometimes, we actually have quite a bit more. There’s first winter, followed by a reversion to late fall, then real winter, late winter, false spring, more winter, then mud season, spring, muddier season, early summer, summer, tourist season, smoke season, locals’ season, extended summer, fall and finally, early winter. Whew!

This week, we had a bit of false spring, followed by a snowy morning that reminded us it’s still winter, which then turned into a mild sunny day.

While some people believe it’s cliche to talk about the weather, I think it’s one of the most interesting things we deal with here in North Idaho.

This week marks the first week of Winter Carnival, which celebrates 50 years in Sandpoint. Turn to Page 14 for a complete rundown of all events going on during the first week. We’ll do the same in the Feb. 23 edition of the Reader for Week 2, so stay tuned and have fun out there — no matter what the season.

–Ben Olson, publisher

111 Cedar Street, Suite 9 Sandpoint, ID 83864 (208) 946-4368 www.sandpointreader.com

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About the Cover

This week’s cover features the icicle cliffs along Highway 2 south of Laclede. Photo by Jane Holzer of Hope.

“Of all noises, I think music is the least disagreeable.”

— Samuel Johnson, English writer, 1709-1784

Bonner County meetings remain closed to Zoom

Public comment limits, outside legal training at forefront of another contentious county meeting

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey Reader Staff

The regular Tuesday business meeting of the Bonner County commissioners began Feb. 14 with a strong statement from Chairman Steve Bradshaw, who said that the county is “not required by law to allow comment or discussion” during business meetings.

“However, the previous board thought that it was best if we hear from the public because we work for you,” he said. “If at any time it gets out of hand I will close all public comment. Any derogatory innuendos, personal attacks or anything that’s considered aggressive — you won’t get a warning. You’ll be asked to leave.”

If those asked to leave chose not to, Bradshaw said, Sandpoint police would be asked to escort the offenders from the meeting room.

“We’re not going to have the meeting hijacked anymore,” he added, noting that he would only allow 12 total minutes of public comment. Public comment at the Feb. 7 meeting lasted for more than an hour.

The Feb. 14 meeting drew comment from Samuels resident Kathy Rose, who said she would “exercise her right to criticize” and share her “grievances.”

“I knew there would be tension on this new board, but I never thought it would be such blatant disrespect — disrespect among yourselves and disrespect for the people who elected you,” she said, echoing comments from past meetings by constituents alleging disrespect displayed by Bradshaw and Commissioner Luke Omodt toward Commissioner Asia Williams.

Rose went on to urge more transparency from the board and made allegations about past “backroom dealings.”

“I’ll remind you to mind your accusations,” Bradshaw interjected, to which Rose replied that it was her “time to speak.”

“Your time is granted by the chair,” Bradshaw continued. “You have whatever I give you.”

His last comment prompted

booing from the packed audience at the meeting, which took place downstairs in the county building’s largest conference room in order to accommodate the regularly increasing Tuesday meeting attendance.

Also during public comment, Sheriff Daryl Wheeler made a plea for “big change” in the new board’s actions.

“Right now, there’s a fork in the road. We can either continue the way we’ve been going or we can change,” he said.

“As an elected official, I want to tell you that I have been embarrassed at the lack of decorum that has happened in these meetings, especially against our commissioner in District 2,” Wheeler continued, referring to Williams. “I pray that there is going to be a real change in professionalism, and the code of conduct is followed by all of us in the county, including the commissioners.”

Over the course of the twohour meeting, agenda items presented by Williams and Omodt accounted for the bulk of the discussion. The first was a proposal from Williams to include a disclaimer on agendas for county meetings that would offer the option to watch and participate on the Zoom streaming platform — an option eliminated during the Feb. 7 meeting with votes from Omodt and Bradshaw, as those commissioners shared concerns about the legal risk of offering the option to testify on a platform that could disfunction.

In part, Williams’ proposed disclaimer read: “Use of the Zoom link is not intended as a substitute for in-person or written participation in the proceedings of county business. It is possible to have technology issues with the Zoom link to include, but not limited to, difficulty hearing and being heard. If you have information to communicate to the county, please come in person or send your information in writing. … Use of Zoom is at the risk of the user…”

Williams also shared the feedback she received from Deputy Prosecutor Bill Wilson, who said

the disclaimer was “well-written” but would not entirely eliminate risk. Williams went on to argue that offering the Zoom option would best align with the county’s code surrounding meeting participation and accommodating disabilities.

“As a public entity, we will never be able to remove all the risk,” she said, later adding: “The argument to discontinue Zoom solely based on an inherent risk that exists with a public entity is a specious argument.”

While YouTube streaming of county meetings remains available, Williams argued that because those watching on YouTube are not able to participate in the same way Zoom allows, YouTube does not fulfill the county’s codified goal of increasing public participation.

Williams made a motion to approve the disclaimer. Rather than seconding, Omodt moved to table the disclaimer until he could hear “directly” from county legal counsel. His motion also did not draw a second.

“This is a business meeting — not a public-interaction, ‘let’s-have-a-conversation’ meeting,” Bradshaw said, doubling down on his comments from earlier in the meeting about state law not requiring commissioners to allow comments during business meetings.

Because both motions on the Zoom disclaimer died, Bradshaw did not open public comment, which prompted dissatisfaction

from meeting attendee Dan Rose. Bradshaw then trespassed him from the meeting, stating as Rose walked out, “Don’t force my hand.”

Later, under items brought to the agenda by Omodt, the board considered contracting the outside law firm Davillier Law Group to design and implement a training program for members of volunteer boards and commissions throughout the county.

“What is apparent to me is that we have room to improve in how we are operating as boards and commissions,” he said, inviting attorney Mauricio Cardona to present on the training program.

Davillier Law, which secured updated retainer agreements with Bonner County in July 2022, served as representation during the county’s failed lawsuit against the city of Sandpoint and Festival at Sandpoint regarding the Festival’s policy against firearms at the annual concert series. The New Orleans-based firm, with offices in Sandpoint and Phoenix, has also drawn national attention for its involvement in high-profile cases like the fight against Bears Ears National Monument in Utah; legal challenges to federal masking laws during the COVID-19 pandemic; and litigation related to questioning “election integrity” surrounding the 2020 presidential election — particularly in Arizona.

Williams argued that hiring an outside law firm would be “disingenuous” and “circumvent what our money has already paid for, which is the county prosecutor.”

“I would like our prosecuting attorney to focus on prosecuting criminals,” Omodt said, noting that he’d already spoken about the prospective training program with the prosecutor’s office.

The Reader asked Omodt in a follow-up email why he’d chosen a third-party law firm for the project and why, specifically, he’d chosen Davillier with its headline-making background. He did not respond before press time.

Cardona said that Davillier Law had not yet billed Bonner County for this work, and what was being discussed Feb. 14 was only a “proposal.”

Omodt moved to engage Davillier Law in designing and implementing a board training program. The motion saw a second from Bradshaw.

Public comment was largely against hiring Davillier to do the work, with many encouraging the board to obtain training resources from the county’s own legal counsel. Still, the motion passed with a 2-1 vote. Williams cast the lone vote in opposition.

Stream Bonner County commissioner meetings weekly on the Bonner County YouTube channel each Tuesday at 9 a.m. Meetings are held at the Bonner County Administration Building, 1500 Highway 2 in Sandpoint.

Bonner County Commissioners Luke Omodt, left; Asia Williams, center; and Steve Bradshaw, far right. Photo by Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey.

City Hall launches downtown design competition

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

Sandpoint’s downtown design competition is officially on, after City Council members voted unanimously Feb. 15 to invite eligible teams to submit their proposals.

The new timeline has the competition registration opening on Tuesday, Feb. 21, culminating with a report to the City Council and completion of the competition on July 19.

The contest asks teams of designers to create proposals to address the Sand Creek waterfront and City Beach redevelopment projects, as well as inform the Comprehensive Plan update and future zoning and code changes.

A winning team will be identified in a three-stage selection process, which includes multiple submissions, presentations and reviews. Stage 1 submittals will be due Tuesday, March 21. A jury of experts and a panel of technical advisers will make recommendations to the council.

Council members had voted unanimously Jan. 18 to hold off on approving the design competition, asking city staff to work on requested changes to the solicita-

tion manual and come back with a revised draft at a later date.

Tabling the competition drew the most vocal support from Councilors Justin Dick and Jason Welker, with both insisting that more public involvement needed to be incorporated into the process.

“In such a large undertaking, I want to have the community with us at every step we take in this process,” Dick said at the Jan. 18 meeting.

On Feb. 15, he said that the changes — though perhaps seemingly insignificant to some — “blows away a lot of the uncertainty we had prior to this.”

Working with competition manager Don Stastny — a Portland-based architect and master planner contracted by the city — staff returned before the council Feb. 15 after having been asked to identify more community input opportunities in the process, as well as changing the makeup of the teams by stipulating that they “may include” certain qualifications, rather than requiring them.

Staff was also asked to lift the requirement that teams must have completed five similar projects in the past — a hurdle that Welker had argued would all but disqual-

ify any local teams from entering — and identify specific “deliverables” to come out of the contest.

The revised competition solicitation includes refined waterfront designs and estimated construction costs, and indicates that a Downtown Waterfront Vision Plan must include at least a summary of goals and vision, urban design context, placemaking and wayfinding, and land use and policy recommendations; as well as an implementation plan, including phasing and priorities.

Opportunities for public input now include a “meet your designers” public event, an in-person and virtual public exhibit, and a presentation of design concepts to the jury — all in Stage 2 of the competition.

Those opportunities will invite the public to observe and submit written comments that will be shared with the design teams, technical advisers and the jury.

Meanwhile, the qualifications section now asks for teams to provide documentation of “up to five projects” completed within the past 10 years — either collectively or as individuals.

“The design team should have the professional qualifications and capacity necessary for the su-

perb performance of the required services,” the solicitation manual now states. “It must have a track record of past performance on contracts with public institutions and private industry, including quality of work and compliance with performance schedules. The team should have knowledge of the issues and unique requirements specific to the project.”

“I think the teams will be tighter and more specific, and whatever resources they pull into it will basically enhance what the team is,” Stastny said.

Staff stated that the initial development toward a full master plan would result from the process “and completion of the full plan master plan would likely be a next step with the competition winner,” followed by full construction design of the waterfront as adopted by the council.

According to staff, “We have heard from several firms — local and regional — anticipating the opening of this competition and we do expect we will see a qualified pool of respondents.”

The jury members will be HanMei Chiang, project manager of Portland, Ore.-based Hoffman Construction; Katie Egland Cox, execu-

tive director of Kaniksu Land Trust; Herb Fricke, CEO and president of AKANA professional services in Portland; Steve Gill, brownfields analyst with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality; Brian McCormack, principal landscape architect with Lapwai-based McCormack Landscape Architecture; Sandpoint Mayor Shelby Rognstad; Robb Talbott of Mattox Farms Productions in Sandpoint; and Karen Whitman, executive director of Portland-based Halprin Landscape Conservancy.

Technical advisers are Sandpoint Building Official Christine Kuhlman, Utilities Director Greg Lanning, Parks Planning and Development Director Maeve Nevins-Lavtar, City Planner Amy Tweeten, Art and Historic Preservation Officer Heather Upton, Infrastructure and Development Services Director Amanda Wilson and City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton.

Councilor Andy Groat said the revised contest solicitation document gave him “peace of mind” that the competition will deliver “what we need, want and demand.”

“There’s a greater level of confidence going forward,” he said, adding, “let’s work toward some solutions.”

Sandpoint City Council schedules workshop on transit plan

Submissions for Sand Creek waterfront, City Beach concepts will be accepted starting Feb. 21 Meeting, including the Hwy. 2 ‘Couplet’ concept, will be informational session between city staff and councilors

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

The high-profile U.S. Highway 2 redevelopment concept — often referred to as “the Couplet” — will go before the City Council as an informational workshop Wednesday, March 15, following unanimous approval of the scheduling by councilors at their Feb. 15 meeting.

However, while the workshop will take place at the regular meeting time of 5:30 p.m. in City Council chambers (1123 Lake St.) and the public is free to attend, residents will not have an opportunity to testify or participate.

“[T]he dialogue will be between staff presenting to council,” said City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton.

That was in response to Councilor Jason Welker, who said he

was “confused” at the description of the workshop as “an informational session,” having thought that when the council voted to direct staff to propose such a gathering it would be to collect public input.

“When I think of a workshop I think of some public involvement,” he said.

Councilor Deb Ruehle also said that she was “confused.”

“I thought when we made the decision to table that we were going to come back with a workshop that included public input as to the direction of what you’re calling the ‘East-West Connection’ and focused around the Boyer intersection,” she said.

Stapleton later explained that the purpose of the workshop between staff and council is intended to impress upon councilors the implications of revisiting the Couplet

component of the plan, and that it isn’t as easy — or inexpensive — as scrutinizing a few blocks of streets.

“These concepts were all developed together. What is happening on one section of roadway is affecting others,” she said, later adding, “I think the workshop will help you understand how all these things are layered on.”

For her part, Council President Kate McAlister said the larger plan encompassing the U.S. 2 realignment has already been adopted following extensive outreach.

“The public did have input before we voted on the Multimodal Plan and adopted the plan,” she said.

The workshop had been triggered by the council when it voted unanimously Feb. 1 to table a proposed amendment to the adopted Multimodal Transportation Master Plan, which envisioned realigning

U.S. 2 to provide a direct connection between Boyer Avenue and Cedar Street via a new intersection east of where Pine Street and Boyer currently meet, then north along the former railroad right of way, and rejoining the highway at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Cedar.

The concept presented in the master plan amendment included widening U.S. 2 to a new five-lane signalized intersection replacing the current crossing at Boyer — and cut off access between North and South Boyer avenues.

In addition, the city envisioned creating a point of access off U.S. 2 to South Boyer Avenue in order to provide a north-south connection across the highway. However, that route would run directly through the property currently home to Dub’s Drive-in.

While the council opted to table

the amendment in favor of gathering more information, it unanimously approved the purchase of the Dub’s property for $380,000, which it will lease back to current owners Marty and Jeralyn Mire, who plan to retire, then sublease the property to new owners who will operate the business at its current location until such time as the city needs to use the property.

According to the Couplet design, Pine Street would remain two-way from U.S. 2 to Fifth Avenue, with a signal placed at Pine and Fifth. Northbound traffic would travel on Fifth, which would be converted to one-way. Southbound traffic accessing U.S. 2 would need to exit the intersection at Fifth and Cedar and take a new two-lane, one-way route < see WORKSHOP, Page 7 >

New bill in Idaho Legislature would allow lawsuits over ‘harmful’ material in schools, libraries

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

The Idaho Legislature is considering a bill that would make it illegal for any school, public library or “agent thereof” to “promote, give or make available to a minor” any material deemed “harmful to minors.” What’s more, should a minor obtain such material, they, their parent or guardian would have cause to sue if the institution or its employees made the material available, or did not take “reasonable steps” to keep the material from minors.

Introduced to the House State Affairs Committee on Feb. 14 and sponsored by Sen. Cindy Carlson, R-Riggins; Rep. Jaron Crane, R-Nampa; and Blaine Conzatti, of the Idaho Family Policy Center, the bill would entitle litigants to recover $10,000 in statutory damages “for each instance in which they obtained material harmful to minors,” as well as “actual damages and any other relief available by law,” including attorney’s fees and other costs from the defendant.

The only affirmative defenses in the legislation are that the defendant reasonably believed the minor was 18 or older based on some form of documentary proof, or if the minor had been accompanied by a parent, guardian or other adult who “signed a written statement to that effect.”

Paraphrasing from the East Bonner County Library District’s Collection Development policy, Library Director Viktor Sjöberg told the Reader that, “reading is a private activity, and it is the parent’s or caregiver’s responsibility to examine materials as far as their suitability for their children.

“One family’s choices may differ greatly from those of their neighbors, and that is precisely why preserving the freedom to read is so important,” he added. “I celebrate the freedom of families to make the choices that are correct for them, and I am not interested in interfering with that. This proposed bill would do just that.”

Referred to as The Children’s School and Library Protection Act, House Bill 139 treads similar ground as the controversial HB 666, which died in the Senate in the 2022 Legislature, in that it seeks to “restrict children’s access to material that is obscene or harmful to minors.”

Where the measures differ is in the provision for civil litigation spelled out in HB 139.HB 666 sought to amend Idaho Code to remove protections given to schools, public libraries, universities and museums for possessing and making available material that might be deemed “harmful.”

HB 139 defines material “harmful to minors” as “anything tangible” — whether it be “derived through the medium of reading, observation or sound” — that describes, represents or performs “nudity, sexual con-

duct, sexual excitement or sado-masochistic abuse” that “appeals to the prurient interest of minors,” and, “as a whole, has the dominant effect of substantially arousing sexual desires in persons under 18 years of age.”

Whether such material “appeals to the prurient interest” or “substantially arous[es] sexual desires” of minors would be “judged by the average person,” as well as “contemporary community standards” regarding what is “patently offensive.”

Examples in the bill include, but are not limited to, “normal or perverted, actual or simulated” “intimate sexual acts,” and “masturbation, excretory functions, or lewd exhibition of the genitals or genital area.”

Further definitions in the bill include “nudity” as “the showing of the human male or female genitals, pubic area or buttocks with less than a full opaque covering, or the showing of the female breast with less than a full opaque covering of any portion thereof below the top of the nipple, or the depiction of covered male genitals in a discernibly turgid state.”

“Sado-masochistic abuse” includes “flagellation or torture by or upon a person who is nude or clad in undergarments, a mask or bizarre costume, or the condition of being fettered, bound, or otherwise physically restrained on the part of one who is nude or so clothed.”

Finally, “sexual conduct” is intended to mean “any act of masturbation, homosexuality, sexual intercourse, or physical contact with a person’s clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks or, if such person is female, the breast.”

The section would not include materials that, “when considered as a whole and in the context in which it is used, possess serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors.” However, that determination would also be made “according to prevailing standards in the adult community.”

The Idaho Library Association issued a statement related to HB 139 on its website, underscoring that libraries in the state “give thoughtful consideration to age-appropriate materials” that reflect “multiple, often contradictory, viewpoints so Idahoans may read freely and form their own opinion.”

“The Idaho Library Association supports the right of parents and guardians to guide their children’s knowledge, and we uphold librarians’ longstanding tradition of speaking openly with any concerned community member about material within our libraries,” stated ILA President Lance McGrath. “We maintain trust in the ability of librarians, library trustees and school boards to create collections that best serve their own communities.”

McGrath added that ILA hopes to offer testimony on the bill and meet with lawmakers “without fear of reprisal.”

The bill was printed and referred to the Education Committee.

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:

According to The Daily Beast, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Poland is next after Russia is finished conquering Ukraine. Meanwhile, instability stemming from the war in neighboring Ukraine resulted in a governmental collapse in the former-Soviet republic of Moldova, with the sudden resignation of its pro-Western prime minister. A new pro-Western government has been installed, with leadership alleging that Russian influence contributed to the collapse.

Lev Parnas, a former associate of ex-President Donald Trump ally Rudy Giuliani — who participated in attempts to defame Hunter Biden — wrote this week in TIME magazine that his “real job” was to “undermine and destabilize the Ukrainian government.” But he came to realize that he was enabling Trump’s dirty 2020 election tricks and setting Ukraine up to be “essentially unarmed when Putin invaded.”

President Joe Biden’s ordering of strengthened defenses against Chinese espionage is credited with helping to locate and down a one-ton craft flying over the U.S. Since then, as of this writing, media reports three other smaller craft downed: one off the Alaska coast, another over Canadian airspace and yet another over Lake Huron.

Last year, more than 3 million American adults were forced to evacuate due to harsh weather. The figures for 2008-2021 were 800,000 per year. According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, worldwide 20 million people are displaced every year by “climate-fueled events.”

After shouting “Liar!” at President Biden at his recent State of the Union address for saying “some Republicans” want to sunset Medicare and Social Security every five years, Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene demonstrated she may be unaware of her party’s lengthy history of trying to undo both.

When Social Security was first enacted, corporate and wealthy entities fought it, likely due to businesses having to pay in an employee match of 6.2% of earnings. The more recent history, according to various media: in 2020 then-President Trump vowed to make cuts to the program in his second term; a Republican senator recently called for a process of renewing funding annually; others are looking at changing what is owed in Social Security taxes; and, last year, the Republican Study Committee proposed raising the age of eligibility for both programs,

By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist

but dodged beefing up the programs by raising taxes on the wealthy.

As well, the RSC’s “Blueprint to Save America” calls for cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

In response to Biden’s challenge to Republicans about safeguarding Social Security, Sen. Missouri Republican Rep. Josh Hawley introduced the “Keep Our Promises Act,” intended to protect Social Security and Medicare (which 60 million receive) if House Republicans endanger the economy by opting to not raise the debt ceiling.

According to Social Security Works, economic experts determined it would do “absolutely nothing” to protect earned benefits. Another Republican proposal would increase funding for Social Security and Medicare by cutting $80 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act. Those funds aimed to help the IRS collect from wealthy tax cheats.

The Trump campaign hired Berkeley Research Group to prove the 2020 election was stolen. The consulting firm “looked at everything” but came up empty, The Washington Post recently reported. The group briefed Trump and staff, but its findings were ignored and Trump continued to insist the election was stolen.

The effectiveness of “strongman” governments has been on display after the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. Details are coming to light about cost-cutting and bribery in Turkey to get around building codes, which made structures vulnerable to quake damage. As well, homeowners paid an earthquake tax, but, as Vox reported, those funds seem to have disappeared. Rather than explain that, Turkey’s president has called for unity while shutting down disaster coverage. Meanwhile, Syria has blocked Western aid in resistance to sanctions on the country for the president’s murder of his opponents.

Blast from the past: The NAACP was officially founded on Feb. 12, 1909, 100 years after Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. It was the 1908 Springfield, Ill., race riot that prompted NAACP to form. White Springfield rioters wanted extrajudicial revenge against two Black men accused of, but not convicted of, murder and rape. They invaded Springfield’s prosperous Black neighborhood, lynched two men and displaced most of the area’s population. Eight died, more than 70 were injured and damages totaled $3 million. A visiting journalist said whites justified the attack because Black citizens had forgotten “their place.” In 1918, the NAACP published Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States, reporting on 3,224 known events. Soon the NAACP also focused on ending segregation.

Debate gets personal, as Idaho House passes trans youth medical care bill

A mostly party-line vote sent legislation to criminalize providing youth care on to Idaho Senate

By Audrey Dutton Idaho Capital Sun

Two Idaho legislators on Feb. 14 described how they felt upon learning that a family member was transgender. Their surprise and confusion gave way to acceptance and empathy, they said, as they came to understand what it meant for their loved one to identify as a gender that differed from the sex they were assigned at birth.

But when it came time to vote on a bill to make medical care for gender dysphoria in youth a felony, they came down on opposite sides — with one legislator voting with the House Republican majority to ban trans care for Idaho minors, including hormone therapy, “puberty blocker” medications and surgeries.

The bill passed on a party-line vote — with all 11 House Democrats opposed and 58 House Republicans in support. Mountain Home Rep. Matthew Bundy was the only Republican to vote against the bill. It now heads to the Idaho Senate for consideration.

Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, is the bill’s sponsor. Similar legislation from Skaug passed the House last year but failed in the Senate.

On the House floor Feb. 14, he said House Bill 71 is “not a religious crusade” but was “following the science.”

Skaug likened gender-affirming care for trans youth to eugenics, the pharmaceutical opioid crisis and “other things that were popular in medical circles … that now we know were evil, outright evil,” he said.

Rep. Colin Nash, a Democrat from Boise, spoke against the bill.

He described learning that a sibling was transgender. The feeling of being born into the wrong physical body was “foreign” to him, he said.

A member of his wife’s family also died by suicide “over issues related to their transgender status,” he said.

“And although I may not understand it, I believe them, that

they feel differently and they want the world to see them differently,” he said.

But the legislation didn’t seem to reflect what he saw with his own family, he said.

“The surgeries that are [described in the bill] are not something that I saw in the standard of care for my own sibling — and, largely, that care is helping a child feel understood, accepted and helping them to a place where they can safely make these decisions on their own,” Nash said.

Legislation is ‘reaching too far,’ said House Republican Rep. Lori McCann, R-Mountain Home, seemed at first to oppose the bill as she spoke of “standing alone as a Republican” during the floor debate.

“I’ve lost a lot of sleep over this bill, I’ve wrestled with it, I’ve talked with professionals, I’ve talked with medical folks, parents, I’ve talked with actual transgender people, and I want them to know that I care, I feel for them,” she said. “And [gender dysphoria] is real. It is something that is real, that we all need to try to understand.”

When she learned that an adult family member came out as transgender, she said, “my first reaction was, ‘Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me, this can’t be happening. How does one get married, and then want to become a man?’ … I had a hard time wrapping my head around this.”

Now, she said she would “do

traveling along the Sandpoint-Dover pathway to the envisioned intersection east of Boyer and Pine, where it would then join U.S. 2.

Many residents — including former city officials — have pushed back against the concept, citing its similarities to an earlier, similar proposal known as “the Curve,” which the Idaho Transportation Department fronted in 2011 and the city rejected in 2013. Community concern then centered

anything I can to make life easier for them, to get through day-to-day.”

McCann also described a recent meeting with a transgender teen girl and parents of trans youth, she said. They agreed that surgeries should wait until a person is 18, she said.

“However, there was tears, there was very uncertain futures that they also shared with me — that if they were not allowed to have the medications necessary to help them on their journey, that it would be devastating for them,” McCann said.

McCann said she would support the bill if it stopped at making surgeries a felony. But it reaches beyond that to include medications and hormone treatments that can be, but aren’t always, prescribed for minors with gender dysphoria. And that made her conflicted, she said.

She imagined what she would do if one of her children or grandchildren was struggling with gender dysphoria as a child.

“Well, I would fight like allget-out to get them the treatment, whatever that is that they need,” she said, adding that she fears Idaho parents will use “alternative means” to obtain medications for their kids.

She said the Legislature is “jumping the gun and … reaching too far” into the realm of parents’ authority.

In the end, though, McCann said the surgery component of the bill was important enough that she would support it.

The trans-youth medical care

on the size of the project, with opposition specifically to the notion of a five-lane U.S. 2 through the western edge of town, as well as impacts to surrounding businesses.

Those concerns have been in part repeated with reference to the Couplet, though city planners say it’s necessary to plan for as big a project as possible, lest ITD determines the highway needs to be widened and will come in with its own preferred option, which remains the formerly rejected Curve design.

bill now heads to Senate Democrats in the House, and McCann raised concerns about whether the bill is based in part on misinformation or misunderstanding about the health care provided to Idaho youth with gender dysphoria.

“I would like to talk a little bit about what gender-affirming care is, because I think it’s unfamiliar for most of us,” said Rep. Lauren Necochea, D-Boise.

Necochea said that sex-reassignment or gender-confirmation surgeries are not currently performed in Idaho — or considered to be “standard of care” for children and teens.

Very few surgeons in the U.S. specialize in the procedures to create facsimiles of female or male body parts and facial features. None of those surgeons are based in Idaho, according to provider directories.

“For young kids, gender-affirming care is therapy, psychological assessments, social transition,” such as supporting a child to wear different clothes or hair styles, Necochea said.

“It might not be until years later when puberty is starting to happen that they start to consider puberty blockers,” she said.

“There are no studies showing clinically significant changes to bone density or brain development or any of the other things asserted in this statute, and it is concerning that we have factual inaccuracies — that are contrary to mainstream medical consensus — being proposed, proposing we are going to write this

“We need to make sure that we are accommodating what future demand is telling us it’s going to be,” said Preston Stinger, a transportation planner with Fehr and Peers, with which the city has contracted, at the Feb. 1 meeting.

Councilor Jason Welker noted at the Feb. 1 meeting that ITD’s own analysis doesn’t foresee the need to widen U.S. 2 until 2055.

While the March 15 workshop will not include public participation, Stapleton told the council Feb. 15 that it could in the future

into statute,” Necochea said.

Hormone therapies are introduced later. Medical providers say those medications may affect fertility and do cause irreversible changes — a deepened voice from taking testosterone, for example.

Some observational studies and medical experts say that pressing pause on puberty could have longterm effects on physical development. But the effects can be reversed or mitigated by stopping the medication.

Puberty blockers are not supposed to be prescribed to minors on a whim; the patient must have “a long-lasting and intense pattern of gender nonconformity or gender dysphoria,” according to the Mayo Clinic.

The gender clinic at Oregon Health Sciences University describes some of the effects in its patient handout on puberty blockers — noting that they are meant to be used for a limited time and monitored by health care providers to lessen the risks.

“Researchers have not finished studying how safe puberty blockers are in the long term. So, there might be some risks that doctors do not yet know about,” the handout states.

This story was produced by Boise-based nonprofit news outlet the Idaho Capital Sun, which is part of the States Newsroom nationwide reporting project. For more information, visit idahocapitalsun.com.

decide to schedule another meeting in which residents are invited to take part in the discussion — after the informational session, however.

“After council has that information and if there will be further actions, we can discuss that at a future council meeting,” she said.

Mayor Shelby Rognstad agreed.

“We’ll all be in a position where we can make the best decision,” he said.

< WORKSHOP, Con’t from Page 5 >

Barbs:

• It’s always infuriating when I hear far-right Idaho lawmakers campaign on “freedom” and “rights for the people,” then juxtapose those rallying cries with what they’re actually doing to the people of Idaho (as well as their counterparts in the rest of the nation), which is blatantly reducing rights. The Idaho GOP is currently trying to limit the requirements for people to vote in Republican primaries, taking away the right for voters to use student IDs to vote and severely restricting the right for people to vote using absentee ballots (read more about that on Page 22).

They have banned abortions in Idaho and are attempting to eliminate rape and incest provisions as well. They are trying to make it a felony to provide health care to transgender youths, as well as criminalizing the act of transporting a minor to another state to obtain an abortion.

They are introducing bills that make subjective calls on what books libraries won’t be able to carry. They are attempting to eliminate Medicaid expansion, which 61% of voters supported in 2018. They are promoting bills that eliminate sex education before fifth grade, as well as promoting the so-called “school choice” campaign backed by billionaires who want to do away with public education funding. The list goes on and on. I don’t see an expansion of rights here. I see rights being taken away from Idahoans at an alarming pace. And it’s not just here. Look at what Gov. Ron DeSantis is doing in Florida for a glimpse of what’s to come in the Gem State. Whether it’s the “Don’t Say Gay” bill or the failed attempt to force student athletes to report their menstrual histories on highschool medical forms, this is not what a government by the people, for the people is supposed to be about. If we aren’t able to stand up to these extremists and vote them out of office, we’re going to be in a lot of trouble in the years to come.

If someone campaigns on the premise of supporting your rights, ask for the receipts, don’t just believe their tired slogans and empty words.

We’re smarter than this.

Dear editor,

I read with interest the article in the February 9th issue of the Reader concerning the City Beach goose hunt. The whole idea of having a hunt at the beach is disturbing to me, but reading the article made me feel even more disturbed.

Sandpoint Police Chief Corey Coon gave a report to the City Council on the mid-December to mid-January hunt. He stated, “those guys had an absolute blast.” This comment shocked me, actually, as it seems so cavalier.

Not being a hunter myself I looked up what is ethical hunting? A Google search yielded this definition. In part it said, “...show respect for all wildlife.” Police Chief Coon’s comment certainly lacked any respect for the life or lives taken. This is disheartening.

Cynthia Mason Hope

Dear editor, Let’s see how Coeur d’Alene Republican Rep. Joe Alfieri’s anti-voting push could play out over the next election and afterward. Jumping in our time machine, we see these headlines in future editions of the Reader:

“Idaho Republican Party to Eliminate Primaries for all State Elections.” Since only candidates approved by the Republican Central Committees are to be voted on, the cost and time invested in a primary is a complete waste of time.

Two weeks later: “GOP Decides to Eliminate General.” Since it is a foregone conclusion that the Republican candidates will be elected, they will automatically take seats in Boise. Also, it has been decided that there will no longer be absentee ballots, as they present too many chances for fraudulent non-Republican-approved candidates to get unapproved votes.

Jumping to January 2025: “Legislature Decides all Citizen Ballot Measures Need Legislative Approval.”

Other stories: “Idaho Senate President Forms ‘Citizens Morals Committee’ Chaired by Sen. Scott Herndon.” A month later, this edict is published in all Idaho newspapers: “Henceforth, only books approved by a simple majority of

both chambers of the Idaho Legislature will be placed in tax-supported libraries. Furthermore, cable, satellite and streaming providers, and movie theaters will be required to present their programming schedule to the state for approval.”

Examples of TV programs not meeting the Morals Committee standards: The Andy Griffith Show, because the deputy officer is presented in an incompetent manner while the sheriff does not carry a firearm nor uses body armor. Other shows banned: M*A*S*H, as it rebels against authority figures; The Twilight Zone, as it makes too many people think outside the boundaries of accepted norms; and Star Trek, which encourages a “woke” sense of diversity.

A full list of other banned shows and movies will be posted on the state’s website.

Lawrence Fury Sandpoint

Senate bill would give Boise control over Priest River’s future…

Dear editor, I oppose Idaho Senate Bill 1021. Written by Scott Herndon and pushed with no consultation among numerous stakeholders or state management agencies, SB1021 is sponsored largely by out-of-state, deep-pocketed seasonal visitors to Priest Lake. Many have never visited the 45-mile-long Priest River, which this bill will impact.

I’ve lived on the Priest River for 45 years, watching the river change drastically for the worse. Around July 4, 2021, water temperatures rose to 83 degrees. The 2021 warmup resulted in a fish kill. Rotten fish washed up at our spot, disgusting, bacteria-ridden and stinking. In 2001, brown rock-snot, (didymo) began to cover the entire length and width on our span of the river. In 2005, IDEQ’s Glenn Rothrock said this was the result of warm temperature and sediment loading, saying IDEQ and IDFG did not have resources to mitigate unless citizens demanded it. He feared that would take too long, making the problem irreversible.

People are finally getting informed and want to save the river. Grassroots organization Priest River Watershed Group, with Trout Unlimited, has formed to advocate this. The cold water bypass from Priest Lake, proposed by IDFG, is the best hope for the fish, animals, benthic invertebrates and other creatures needing a healthy river.

After decades of research, IDFG, Portland State University, McMillen Jacobs Associates and Advance Eco-Solutions have determined that no negative impacts to Priest Lake would occur from a CWB.

SB1021 would give Boise control over this. There already exists a strong network of state control with various agencies that regulate water quality. More state control removes North Idaho citizens’ right to address local issues. This will be voted upon soon.

Please contact the Idaho Resource and Conservation Committee at 208-332-1136 or hres@house.idaho.gov. Tell them to oppose SB1021. Locals don’t need more government interference.

Betty Gardner Priest River

Scheming power brokers…

Dear editor,

Make no mistake, right-wing power brokers are scheming to “sunset”/cut/eliminate Social Security and Medicare. “Oh but, there appeared to be consensus to the contrary during Biden’s State of the Union speech.” You can take that to the bank, I guess.

However, recent events make me doubt that conclusion. Need proof? You need to look no further than the Supreme Court’s decision that elim-

inated 50 years of the protections “Roe v. Wade” provided. So don’t relax. Those power brokers are clever, determined and above all patient, as the court’s “Roe/Dobbs” decision proves.

Shannon May Sandpoint

Dear editor,

Another bill sponsored by Rep. Joe Alfieri, R-Coeur d’Alene, regarding pornography in our libraries has again made front-page news. No matter that the wording has changed, the bottom line I question is why should library employees be held responsible for what minor children read? Where are the parents of these minors?

I can hardly wait for the next issue of front-page news citing what other Republicans have on their agenda. I’m sure Sen. Scott Herndon, R-Sagle, will be jumping on this bandwagon (or perhaps not, as he is too busy pushing for the right to carry guns at the Festival at Sandpoint), along with the rest of his radical self-imposed control over individuals’ rights — or lack thereof. Thank you!

Jo Reitan Sandpoint

“Goose hunt was ‘an absolute blast’?”...

A glimpse into the GOP’s future for Idaho…

Idaho Republicans’ agenda is radical…

Emily Articulated

A column by and about Millennials

Math, magic and Valentine’s Day

By Emily Erickson Reader Columnist

It began a few weeks ago — the aisles at grocery stores turning pink-and-red, the targeted ads on my devices shifting from running shoes and heavy knit sweaters to flowers and specialty chocolates, the posts from my peers donning heart-eye filters and Valentine’s-related hashtags, and all my favorite podcasts running love-themed episodes.

The Valentine’s Day craze is pervasive, an industry machine so powerful that I can’t help but indulge in at least pieces of it. This year, my indulgence came in the form of a This American Life episode, “Math or Magic,” in which the team asked the question: When it comes to finding love, do you believe in math or magic?

The math approach to finding a partner is measured and conscious — a calculated effort at comparing potential suitors against your list of criteria and choosing from the best options available. The magic approach is waiting to be zapped in the face, jolted out of all that you thought you knew about love, and overcome with the instantaneous “spark” of your connection with another person the moment you meet them.

Listening to the stories of people firmly rooted in one camp or the other, I realized my answer to the math-or-magic-love question wasn’t so straightforward as one or the other.

Growing up, I had very few examples of healthy relationships. My parents modeled a volatile kind of love, the kind of relationship where the pull

of safety, stability and joy were gradually replaced with the grip of anger, frustration and obligation. Beyond my parents, I witnessed the disenchanted marriages of community members in my small, Catholic town — the relationships in which a long ago “spark” had led to a lifelong commitment; a binding contract between people who, after so many years, only had their kids and shared resentment in common.

Because these examples colored my view of long-term love, I never imagined it for myself. I couldn’t picture myself in a wedding or a family, and was leery of the kind of up-front “magic” that blinded people to the reality that they weren’t actually compatible; that they’d spend the majority of their lives trying to remember when they made each other happy.

Throughout most of my early dating years I chose partners and situations based on how easily I could leave them — always keeping one foot firmly “out of the door” so I could never get trapped anywhere or with anyone. I oscillated between the “right kind of guy at the wrong time” and “the wrong kind of guy, also

at the wrong time,” learning with each relationship the qualities and characteristics of people and partnerships that made me happy, and those that didn’t.

Upon moving to Sandpoint and beginning to fit together the pieces of the kind of life I wanted to live, it started to feel like “the right time” to consider adding someone to it. I resolved to ask, with all the clarity and calculation of someone who was leery of magic, “What kind of person would I want to share all this with?” And I made a mental list.

I knew I wanted a partner that was passionate about something, who had their own interests to which they dedicated time and energy, and who would support me in pursuing mine. I wanted someone who was curious about the world and wanted to experience more of it as insatiably as I did. I wanted a mental and physical connection, and to be relatively at the same stages of life so we could build upon each of ours together.

I wanted someone secure and independent, and who didn’t think of relationships as finish lines or as forever obligations; but, rather, as things to grow inside and nurture for as long as they make both people happy — at least for the majority of the time.

I resolved that if I found someone who checked my boxes, I’d give them a shot. If I didn’t, I was happy and content with my life alone.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the experience of finding someone that met my carefully calculated criteria, and how meeting him would feel an awful lot like magic. With near-instant clarity, I understood that the upside of having both feet “in the door” was how firmly I

could stand in it; unshakable in knowing that this relationship was different and worthy of investing in.

Now my answer to the mathor-magic question isn’t one or the other. It isn’t just the calculation of qualities or the jolt of clarity when finding the exact right kind of person at a time in which you’re ready to give and receive love. It’s both.

Happy belated Valentine’s Day to the cynics and the roman-

tics, to the people who model healthy love, to the people who love to be alone and to the people who continually make each other believe a bit more in magic, just by being them.

BO

Emily Erickson is a writer and business owner with an affinity for black coffee and playing in the mountains. Connect with her online at www.bigbluehat. studio.

Emily Erickson.

Science: Mad about

By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist

Have you ever experienced a moment in school where you drifted off into a daydream, just to be snapped back to reality by your teacher asking you a question? If you were anything like me, you had no idea what the answer was and the entire class would proceed to laugh at you. The internet, in its infinite sarcasm, would say: “Feels good, man.”

What might be a momentary and accidental loss of focus for some can be a constant uphill battle for those suffering from things like ADHD and dyslexia. These moments of fragmented focus and “spacey-ness” are sometimes just as frustrating to those around us, as it can damage friendships and relationships when it’s perceived that we’re not listening.

Dr. Edward Hallowell approached this phenomenon from a really interesting perspective in a video online, referring to it as, “Race car minds with bicycle brakes.”

Having suffered a lifetime of judgment, missed deadlines and the frustration, ire and bullying of my peers for being “stupid” and “inconsiderate,” I can attest that “racecar mind with bicycle brakes” is an accurate description of who I am as a person, suffering from an issue wildly out of my control bequeathed upon me by the cruelty of circumstance. My mind goes very fast, but it’s hard to slow it down, and sometimes you’ll end up being the Subaru I pass while you offer a single-finger salute — sorry!

Though they share some very similar issues, primarily in the ability to retain focus, there is a distinct difference between ADHD and dyslexia. However, they are

not mutually exclusive, and it’s possible for someone to have one, both or neither. These things being part of who we are is not our fault, much of it was chosen for us before we were even born thanks to the randomized difficulty sliders in this game of life.

It’s likely that you’ve encountered misconceptions about dyslexia at one point or another. The most common mistaken notion is that people with dyslexia are just uneducated or not very smart. This is absolutely false, as dyslexia has absolutely nothing to do with someone’s intelligence, even though it makes their ability to learn much more difficult. A vast number of very successful and intelligent people have dyslexia. Some Oscar-winners you might recognize are Billy Bob Thornton and Goldie Hawn.

Another common misconception about dyslexia is that those who have it view letters bouncing all over a page, or reversed as though you look at them through a mirror. There is no visual impairment involved with dyslexia, as the problem is rooted squarely in the language centers of the brain or how the brain interprets visual information. I can imagine this is extremely difficult to convey to those of us who don’t have dyslexia. It might be easier to describe it in a way that the letters just don’t always make sense.

Dyslexia doesn’t only affect a person’s ability to read. Depending on the severity, it may be difficult for someone with dyslexia to totally comprehend what’s being said in a spoken conversation. This can even go as far as having difficulty with remembering sequences of numbers, letters or words — an issue I’m all too familiar with and have been shamed for since before I

was in kindergarten.

Evidence shows that similar to ADHD, autism and other forms of neurodivergence, dyslexia displays across a spectrum and some people may go their entire lives without realizing they have it. It’s estimated that as many as 17% of the human population may have dyslexia. We do know that dyslexia is genetic, and that a parent with dyslexia is likely to pass it on to their children.

The severity of the effects of dyslexia can be mitigated through intervention and specialized instruction. This can occur at any age, including adulthood. Children have a plethora of resources through their schools from counselors and special education teachers that can help them build good reading habits to overcome the challenges they face from dyslexia. Teens and adults with dyslexia are able to get help through our local library, working one-on-one with language tutors within a dyslexia-friendly literacy program.

This not only helps eliminate the stress and pressure of a classroom setting, but gives individuals the attention they need to overcome their challenges at their own pace, and potentially make lifelong friendships with their tutors in the process.

The importance of reading through childhood and into adulthood cannot be overstated. Reading changes how our brains work, creating new neural pathways that help with comprehension and critical thinking. These things allow us to make better decisions in life and to enjoy our experiences as humans more fully. Being able to write and express ourselves is a freeing experience, and it gives us the ability to leave a part of ourselves behind well after we’re gone. Being able to

communicate with others is the essence of the human experience.

If you or your kids are struggling with reading or writing, the library supports numerous wonderful people willing to tutor folks of all ages, to give them the opportunity to experience the benefits of literacy at any age.

If you would like to volunteer as a tutor for reading and spelling, and be trained to tutor utilizing a dyslexia-friendly program,

then the easiest way to connect with us is to fill out a volunteer application. You can do so by clicking on the volunteer link on the library’s website by scrolling down to the bottom of the page. On the next page you will see a button to “Apply To Become A Volunteer” where you can fill out the volunteer application form, and the volunteer coordinator will contact you shortly.

Stay curious, 7B.

•Saturday takes its name from Saturn, the Roman god of generation, dissolution, plenty, wealth, agriculture, periodic renewal and liberation.

•Generally speaking, many of the days of the week were renamed from the Roman calendar to the Germanic calendar — and after the Germanic deities rather than the Roman. However, for the day Saturday, the German calendar stuck with naming the day after Saturn, as none of the Germanic gods were the equivalent of Saturn.

•The Maori name for Saturday is Rāhoroi, which literally means “Washing Day.” This derives from early colonial life, when Maori Christian converts would set aside Saturday to wash their clothes for church on Sunday.

•In Japanese, the word for Saturday translates as doyoubi, roughly meaning “soil day,” and is associated with the planet Saturn (not the god), which is called dosei in Japanese and translates as “soil star.” In Korean, the day for Satur-

day translates as “earth day.”

•In Nepal, Saturday is the last day of the week and is the only official weekly holiday.

•Saturday is the official day of rest in Israel, where all government offices and most businesses, including public transportation, are closed.

•Saturday is the day in which elections usually take place in Australia as well as New Zealand.

•In Sweden, Saturday is often the only day of the week when young children are allowed to eat candy.

•In folklore, Saturday was often viewed as the best day to hunt vampires, as this was the day of the week when they were restricted to their coffins. It was also believed in the Balkans that if somebody was born on a Saturday then they could see a vampire that was invisible to others, and that these people were the best recruits to become vampire hunters.

U.S. 2 through Sandpoint

By Kody Van Dyk Special to the Reader

Fifth Avenue, parts of Pine Street and the Dover Highway from Boyer Avenue to the western city limits are part of U.S. Highway 2, owned and maintained by the state of Idaho. The Idaho Transportation Department and the city of Sandpoint are discussing reconstruction of the portion of U.S. 2 between Cedar Street and Division Avenue. Apparently, the recent city purchase of Dub’s restaurant furthers these plans.

Recently released renderings of the “preferred option” for the U.S. 2 reconstruction show a five-lane highway from Boyer to Division. The Boyer Avenue/U.S. 2 intersection would be enlarged to accommodate trucks and multi-lane turns. Most disturbing, the plans call for a couplet of two — or more — lanes northbound on Fifth Avenue between Pine and Cedar streets, and two or more lanes westbound along the abandoned railroad corridor between Cedar and Boyer.

Coupled with this realign-

ment of U.S. 2 is a highway that begins with a new traffic signal at Superior Street and First Avenue, a traffic signal at First Avenue and Pine Street, and a traffic signal at Pine and Fifth Avenue.

I call this a “highway” because that is what this corridor will become: a seamless cut-through for commercial and industrial trucks that do not want to take the Sand Creek Byway to its intersection with U.S. 2 in Ponderay. Pine Street will become a blighted commercial desert.

Isn’t this what Sandpoint fought hard against when negotiating with ITD to return downtown streets to city jurisdiction?

The most interesting thing I can say about the design concept is that it contradicts and changes the mindset of years of Sandpoint transportation planning:

•The plan creates high speed corridors instead of a dispersed grid;

•The plan uses traffic signals extensively, contradicting a city policy contained in a City Council resolution to forego traffic signals

and utilize energy efficient roundabouts. Roundabouts are safer, are sustainable and allow for smooth flow of traffic. A roundabout at Superior and First Avenue has been in the downtown plan for years. Currently, the city does not own or maintain traffic signals. They are expensive to install and operate. They are also unnecessary;

•The plan uses multi-lane highways instead of the policy contained in a City Council resolution to limit corridors to three-lane arterials (two traffic lanes and a center turn lane). The three-lane configuration is the most efficient system for mobility, pedestrian/bicycle usage and neighborhood acceptance.

There is a better way forward. One that improves through traffic on U.S. 2. One that prohibits through-truck traffic from the downtown. One that is built to a scale that does not divide the city nor dissuade bicycles and pedestrians from crossing between north and south Sandpoint.

Instead of thinking that building more capacity will solve

congestion (it won’t), think of cities that you like to visit. I’ll bet they have functioning downtowns; close-in, walkable neighborhoods; and an efficient grid system. Wide inner-city traffic corridors are likely not part of the charm of your favorite cities. Nearly every city that adds lanes to corridors finds those lanes full almost immediately.

My recommendation to the city is to think differently than an ITD engineer. ITD’s mandate is to move vehicles as quickly and safely as possible. They also are uncomfortable with systems that do not involve traffic signals. I have not been able to find even one roundabout on the ITD system, even though the traveling public quickly adapts to roundabouts.

I believe the ideal concept for U.S. 2 is a three-lane urban section between Cedar Street and the western city limits of Sandpoint. The three-lane section would utilize “the Curve” between Cedar and Boyer. The Curve follows the existing bicycle path that is adjacent to the parking lots behind Matchwood Brewery and adjacent

to Foster’s Crossing.

I recommend a roundabout at Boyer and U.S. 2. Fifth Avenue between Pine and Cedar streets would become a local street and remain two-way. Pine Street between First and Fifth avenues would remain two-way. A roundabout would be installed at Superior Street and First Avenue.

I believe the direction the city and ITD are heading with reconstructing U.S. 2 will be devastating to Sandpoint. A five-lane highway will feel like Government Way in Coeur d’ Alene. There is no pedestrian/bicycle crossing possible on those five lanes that will be enticing.

The discussions that will finalize the design of the U.S. 2 and Superior/Pine corridors are happening now. This is a transformative decision for the city. City Council members listen. Let them know your opinion.

Kody Van Dyk, PE (retired), served as Sandpoint Public Works director from 1990-2016.

Sandpoint City Council was right to put the brakes on transportation plan

By Brad Smith Reader Contributor

The Sandpoint City Council made two important decisions about the Highway 2 corridor at its Feb. 1 meeting. The council unanimously approved the purchase of Dub’s. The council also tabled a proposed amendment to the city’s Multimodal Transportation Plan and instead directed staff to hold public workshops so that residents can contribute their own ideas about the future of the corridor and our community.

Both of these decisions could prove pivotal to the future of our quality of life and the ability of city residents to safely bike and walk around town.

Marty and Jeralyn Mire, who have owned Dub’s Drive-In for more than 30 years, recently offered to sell their property at the intersection of Boyer Avenue and Highway 2 to the city. The Mires described the fear they endured in 2011, when the Idaho Department of Transportation released a plan

to expand Highway 2 from two to five lanes between Dover and Boyer Avenue. The plan would erase Dub’s and four other Sandpoint businesses from the map.

ITD’s proposal wasn’t just alarming for the Mires but for cyclists and pedestrians as well. ITD’s plan would drastically change the way highway traffic is routed between the intersections of Boyer and Highway 2 and Cedar and Fifth. The section of Fifth Avenue between Pine and Cedar would be converted to a one-way street for northbound highway traffic. Southbound traffic on Fifth Avenue would be routed from Fifth and Cedar to the current intersection of Boyer and Highway 2 through a new two-lane, one-way road constructed where the bike path next to the Granary is currently located.

Residents who were around back then will remember that the proposed southbound road was infamously named “the Curve” because of its shape.

The Curve and the expansion

of Highway 2 would also greatly impact the ability of cyclists and pedestrians to safely cross Highway 2 at Oak Street, Boyer Avenue and Michigan Street. Residents of the neighborhoods west and north of the highway cross at Oak Street to get downtown. Cyclists and pedestrians cross at Boyer to get from south Sandpoint to neighborhoods to the north. School kids use the Boyer crossing and the crossing at Michigan Street next to Dairy Depot to get to Washington Elementary, the Middle School and the High School.

While these crossings can definitely be improved, they are much safer than they would be if the Curve is built and the highway is expanded. Over half of the fatalities in the United States in which pedestrians are hit and killed by motorists occur on roads with five or more lanes. Since 2000, two people on foot were hit and killed by motorists in Sandpoint, both on the five-lane section of Fifth Avenue that coincides with Highway 2. When roads and highways are

expanded to four or more lanes, cyclists and pedestrians simply just give up trying to cross them. I grew up in Coeur d’Alene and remember when ITD released plans to expand Highway 95 through Coeur d’Alene from two to four lanes. The department made projections about future traffic volumes on Highway 95 to justify their expansion plans, and when the highway expansion was finished, those traffic volume projections became a self-fulfilling prophecy because the new lanes created more capacity for more cars.

In Sandpoint, there’s no need to accelerate plans for the Curve and expansion of Highway 2. ITD’s projections suggest that traffic volumes on Highway 2 are not expected to reach a threshold that would necessitate expansion until 2050. This gives our community plenty of time to contemplate our future and put forth our own vision. The vision we don’t want would be like Highway 95, which now divides Coeur d’Alene in half, and one almost never sees cyclists or

pedestrians attempting to cross it. That’s why the Sandpoint City Council’s decisions to purchase Dub’s and table the amendment to the Multimodal Transportation Plan should be applauded. The purchase of Dub’s will give the city more bargaining power if ITD decides to resurrect the Curve and its highway expansion plans. Councilor Jason Welker correctly observed that the city’s own Multimodal Transportation Plan, which closely mirrors the plans of ITD, does not put the city in a great position to negotiate. The council’s decision to schedule public workshops also represents an opportunity for Sandpoint to put forth a new vision for the Highway 2 corridor and better position itself for future conversations with ITD. Sandpoint City Council was right to put the brakes on these plans.

Current ‘Couplet’ reconstruction concept would be devastating to Sandpoint

Brad Smith is the North Idaho Director of the Idaho Conservation League.

Idaho’s three-party system

By Rep. Steve Berch, D-Boise Reader Contributor

People told me something I’ve never heard before as I was knocking on doors last year: “Stop the crazy!” Voters are concerned about increased extremism and inflammatory rhetoric in the Idaho Legislature: a fear-mongering alphabet soup of acronyms (CRT, SEL, DEI, ESG, etc.); witch hunt task forces; and punitive laws that deliberately defund institutions and can throw ordinary citizens, doctors and librarians in jail.

The results of the 2022 November election appears to have revealed a schism within Idaho’s majority party: longtime traditional Republicans versus a new crop of leaders who advocate an extreme and uncompromising definition of what it means to be a “conservative.” This new faction has begun to aggressively attack the other. Lifelong Idaho Republicans are now repeatedly called RINOs (Republicans In Name Only). These extremists have taken control of the state party. They wrote a party platform that includes absurdities such as taking away your right to vote for your U.S. senator and giving it to the Legislature (repealing the 17th Amendment to the

U.S. Constitution), and systematically acquiring gold and silver metal because paper currency has no real value. Perhaps the most visible sign of this schism is pressuring all Republican candidates to sign a loyalty oath to this new party platform (called “Integrity in Affiliation”), which states: “I support the Idaho Republican Platform and accept it as the standard by which my performance as a candidate and as an officeholder should be evaluated.”

This draconian “my way or the highway” attitude is kicking many loyal, lifelong Idaho Republicans to the curb. They are being shunned by a party that is rapidly moving away from them.

I believe in our republican form of government. My job as a legislator is to represent my constituents, not party bosses or a party platform written in a back room by political insiders. It is not my job to write laws that punish people who don’t agree with me.

To determine how the political landscape has changed, one must use proxies such as “score cards” published by ideological organizations, endorsements by

extremists, and what individual legislators have actually said and done.

Taking these factors into consideration, Idaho now has a virtual three-party system. This is what the composition of the Senate and House may now look like: Democrats (blue), Traditional Republicans (red) and Extremists (yellow). Several of my Republican colleagues have confirmed this to be a reasonable depiction. Actual votes cast can often skew even more to the extreme as some hope to protect themselves from influential forces that align with the Extremists.

Some of the Extremists have formally affiliated themselves with the “Freedom Caucus” in Washington, D.C. Others have been officially designated to turn the 2022 Idaho Republican Party platform into laws that will rule over the lives of every Idahoan.

Robert Caro, a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, has written about people who

wielded great power in the public sector. We are all familiar with the expression, “Power corrupts.” Caro has a different perspective on this:

“But although the cliché says that power always corrupts, what is seldom said ... is that power always reveals. When a person is climbing, trying to persuade others to give them power, concealment is necessary. ... But as a person obtains more power, camouflage becomes less necessary.”

You will soon get to see what “power reveals” as the growing number of Extremists — and their backers — exert themselves during the 2023 legislative session.

It won’t be pretty.

Steve Berch is a first-term Democratic House member representing District 15 in Boise. He serves on the Business, Education and Local Government committees.

VA representative to meet in Priest River

By Reader Staff

Bonner County Veterans Service Officer

Bryan Hult will be at VFW Post 2909 from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 22, assisting with ongoing claims, answering questions about current veteran’s benefits, and taking new claims for benefits for eligible veterans and their dependents.

VFW Post 2909 is located at 113 Larch St. in Priest River. Attendees are asked to schedule an appointment by calling 208255-5291 to ensure they are given quality time.

If there are no appointments scheduled for the outreach, or if conditions prohibit travel, the outreach will be canceled.

Rep. Steve Berch. File photo.

State, local education leaders gather in Ponderay

By Reader Staff

As many as 90 citizens of Legislative District 1 gathered Feb. 10 in Ponderay for a summit on education, featuring Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield and Lake Pend Oreille School District Superintendent Becky Meyer as featured speakers.

Hosted by nonprofit North Idaho Voter Services, the event focused on “using facts to rebuild trust in our schools,” with attendees including leaders from education, business, civic organizations and nonprofits — all “committed to the success of public education,” according to organizers.

Critchfield identified her priorities, extending beyond reading and math to include career technical training. Meyer addressed her comments to the positive results being generated by local

teachers.

Of particular interest to attendees was the confusion regarding how school choice and vouchers — both the subject of bills before the Idaho Legislature — could affect education funding throughout the state.

Critchfield recognized that “there is much confusion about school choice,” and there already exist a variety of school choice options for Idaho parents.

“I am open to discussions about funding more choices, but it cannot defund public schools,” she said.

The session was concluded by NIVS President Diana Dawson, who underscored, “We the voters must engage.”

“Education is essential to our children, our families, our communities, and our democracy,” she said.

Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield spoke on Friday, Feb. 10 in Ponderay. Courtesy photo.

Winter Carnival 2023: Week 1

Annual two-week series of events celebrates 50 years

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey Reader Staff

This February marks the 50th year of Sandpoint’s Winter Carnival: a two-week smorgasbord of events and business promos that brings a bit of life back to the melting snow berms and quiet sidewalks of town.

The Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce and Schweitzer team up to organize and promote Winter Carnival, which had its inaugural year in 1973.

“We are trying our best to make it memorable,” said Keely Gray, chamber membership and communications specialist, about the 2023 celebration.

This year, local internet company Ting has pledged a donation to the nonprofit of the chamber’s choice should Sandpoint double the size of its annual Parade of Lights, this year happening on Friday, Feb. 17 at 5:30 p.m. around downtown. Gray called the pledge a “remarkable and wonderfully Ting thing to do.”

“Our favorite part of this event is how local businesses come together to support one another and really boost the town during this normally slow time of year,” Gray said. “Everyone gets into the spirit of celebrating what Sandpoint is all about, which is community and fun.

“We hope locals and visitors alike will get out and have a blast supporting all the remarkable things Sandpoint has to offer,” she added.

Winter Carnival consists of several events happening over the course of two weeks. Here is a sampling of what’s happening during Week 1:

Friday, Feb. 17

Parade of Lights

The Parade of Lights, sponsored by Ting, is the official kickoff to Winter Carnival. Floats will start in the City Parking Lot at 5:30 p.m. and follow a route up Oak Street, down Second Avenue, up Main Street then onto Fourth Avenue and back to Oak Street.

Pend d’Oreille Winery’s Parade Afterparty

The winery will host a block party on Third Avenue following the Parade of Lights, which will feature music by local DJ Sandcreek Sound, a “Dance, Light and Fire” performance by Gypsy Divas; firepits for complimentary s’mores; a Pend d’Oreille Winery tent offering soup, s’mores and non-alcoholic drinks; and a complimentary hot cocoa bar from Hendricks Architecture.

Live music w/Stoney Holiday Band at The Hive

The Hive, located at 207 N. First Ave., will host music by electric bluegrass outlaw country outfit Stoney Holiday Band for those Winter Carnival-goers aged 21 and up. Doors open at 7 p.m., admission is $10. (Find out more on Page 21.)

Activities at Schweitzer

Enjoy twilight skiing, tubing, racing, a 10 Barrel mini-pub and more on the mountain.

Sandpoint Songfest 2023: A weekend of songs and stories

The Music Conservatory of Sandpoint hosts a series of concerts by local and regional musicians sharing their original music throughout the weekend, starting with a show by the southern Oregon-based

Michal Palzewicz Trio at Little Carnegie Hall (110 Main St.) on Friday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. Sandpoint Songfest continues Saturday and Sunday with concerts and a workshop. To learn more and purchase tickets, go to sandpointconservatory.ticketspice.com/spsongfest2023.

Live music w/Scott Taylor and the Endless Switchbacks at Eichardt’s Tunes start at 7 p.m. at 212 Cedar St. (Read more about the band on Page 21.)

Diane Schuur live in concert at the Panida

Grammy award-winning jazz vocalist and pianist Diane Schuur will play the Panida Theater (300 N. First Ave) starting at 7:30 p.m. as part of the Pend Oreille Arts Council’s annual performing arts series. (Get more information on Page 21.)

Saturday, Feb. 18

Fun continues at Schweitzer

Live music, a village campfire and twilight skiing keeps the weekend rolling on the mountain.

Sleigh ride, dinner and concert at Western Pleasure Guest Ranch

Enjoy a horse-drawn sleigh ride, beef brisket and pork rib dinner, along with live music and a no-host bar. Cost is $130 for adults and $75 for kids ages 6-12. Reservations are required and can be made by calling 208-263-9066. The ranch is located at 1413 Upper Gold Creek Road.

Live music w/KOSH at Pend d’Oreille Winery

Check out this solo artist from 5-8 p.m. at 301 Cedar St.

Live music w/Birds of Play and Heat Speak at the Heartwood Center

This double-header concert is slated for

7-10:30 p.m. at 615 Oak St. Tickets available at mattoxfarm.com.

Live music w/Desperate 8’s at 219 Lounge

Classic rock tunes kick off at 8 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 19

“Let it Glow” kids’ parade and fireworks at Schweitzer

Sponsored by Coca Cola, this event is all about the kiddos. Children who pre-registered will receive a battery-powered, LED “torch” to bring along on a group ride down Ridge Run at 6 p.m. Fireworks to follow, as well as several other activities in the village.

Monday, Feb. 20

Margarita Monday at Jalapenos

Celebrate the 50th annual Winter Carnival with a special gold margarita from Jalapenos — a 16-ounce double margarita for the price of a single 12-ounce margarita.

Tuesday, Feb. 21

Taco Tuesday at Jalapenos

Enjoy $3 crispy beef or chicken tacos, $4 pints of Mexican draft beers, $6/12-ounce Hornitos margaritas and $8/16-ounce Hornitos margaritas.

Après Ski at Pend d’Oreille Winery

Take advantage of wine specials when you present your ski pass.

Wednesday, Feb. 22

Piano music and happy hour at Pend d’Oreille Winery

Enjoy Peter Lucht on piano from 5-7 p.m., as well as 15% off pizza and a bottle of wine.

Live music w/John Firshi at Eichardt’s Local guitar wizard John Firshi will play at 6 p.m.

The Sandpoint Shopping District will host Winter Carnival sales from Friday, Feb. 17 to Sunday, Feb. 26. Visit individual businesses for more details.

Learn more about Sandpoint’s annual Winter Carnival at sandpointwintercarnival.com. For even more events happening around Sandpoint this weekend, head to Page 18 to peruse the Reader calendar or head to sandpointonline.com.

An afternoon meditation

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

The alarm clock barely has a chance to make any noise on powder days. I’m usually up well before the buzzer, checking the Schweitzer Snow Report for an update on how stoked I should be for my first runs. Whether it’s a weekend or a quiet weekday, I’ll always make time to ski the good stuff when it graces us with its presence (that’s one of the many benefits of working for yourself).

Those are powder days, though. It’s a different story when we don’t see snow for a while.

On those days, after weeks of a piddling half-inch here and there, I’ll read the creative ways the Schweitzer snow reporters avoid saying the dreaded “R”-word, swat the alarm until it shuts up and snooze a few extra moments before getting out of bed. There’s no rush to the first chair on those days — the conditions are likely the same as they were the last time I went up.

Instead, I’ll trudge to work with headphones in my ears, playing songs that kick loose the barnacles in my brain from a fitful sleep, face the never-ending supply of emails waiting in my inbox and put my head down until my stomach growls, announcing lunchtime.

We don’t punch clocks or worry about being late to the office at the Reader, because there’s never an expectation to fill a seat a certain number of hours each week. Instead, I rely on the “cup method,” which means each of us has a cup to empty each week. Inside the cup, which is filled to the brim, are all the tasks it takes to complete a weekly newspaper. I don’t care if someone slowly sips until the cup is empty on deadline night or if they take two or three big gulps and downs it — if the work gets done and it’s up to our standards, that works for me. After all, it’s important for us to take mental health days, half-days and work remotely if we don’t feel like sitting in the office.

It’s for these reasons that I’ll

often look outside my office window and see the sun shining on the Chair 4 runs at Schweitzer and say, “Well, that’s it for me today,” and walk home with a smile on my face because I’m heading up for one of those perfect afternoon meditations on Schweitzer.

There’s a cycle to the busy hours on the hill. Back in the day, I used to be able to show up at 8:15 a.m. on a weekday and be guaranteed one of the first few chairs, but lately it’s been harder to get an early spot in line. Last Wednesday, after a dump of eight inches over 48 hours that broke a long drought, I was dismayed to see a traffic jam and both upper parking lots full before it was even 8:20 a.m. People were certainly powder-hungry that day.

Then there’s the other side of that cycle. The early birds get in their runs, hooting and hollering their way down the mountain, then peter out and head back to their cars around 10:30 or 11 a.m. If you time it right, you can get a parking spot right near the top lot thanks to all the early birds departing.

That’s the time I often shoot for when the snow isn’t great, but it’s too nice of a day not to go skiing. I’ll pull up and rummage around in the back of the truck to see if there’s still a tallboy I can shove in my jacket and drink on the chairlift. I’ll swipe my goggles clean with a microfiber and adjust the bindings on my board — there’s no hurry, like on those powder mornings when you run out of the truck, huffing and puffing up Heart Attack Hill to the chair for an early position.

No, these quiet weekday afternoons are actually the closest I get to meditating in the wintertime. The mountain is just a different place after lunch. It’s quiet, more reserved. The lifties are hard at work crafting snow sculptures, nodding to you as you board the chair. Looking down a run as I strap on my bindings, I’ll see one or two skiers sending their small sprays of snow from the groomers, with corduroy still showing on the left and right edges. Looking further, the town I was born and raised in, the quiet lake and the

snow-covered majesty of the Green Monarchs and Cabinet Mountains. Standing atop Schweitzer’s summit, you can see all the way to Canada on a good day.

I’ll wind my way down the mountain, checking on all my powder stashes to see if there’s anything left after days of no snow. More often than not, the most covert stashes still give you a few turns of glory, even if it takes some work to get there.

Sometimes I’ll just head off into the trees, find a sunny place to sit overlooking the valley below and hunker down on my board with a beer in my hand. The quiet of a mountaintop in winter is something that inspires awe. Occasionally you’ll hear someone huffing and grunting their way down a run a few hundred yards away, a few friends calling out to one another and the quiet noise that snow makes when skittering down a slope. Beneath it all is the low drone of the chairlifts working, ferrying us all up the mountain with ease. Sometimes a chipmunk or squirrel will emerge from a tree trunk and fritter around. One time, a pheasant burst from a clump of alders and was just as surprised to see me as I was to see it.

Everything happens at its own pace. I’ll ski down past the Outback Lodge — celebrating its 50th anniversary this season — scanning the firepit to see if I recognize any familiar faces. If I do, I might join them for a drink around the fire. If not, I’ll hop on Stella and work my way back to the front side, perhaps stopping once more to overlook the town I’ve known and loved for so many years.

The parking lot now has more gaps than cars. Families trudge down Heart Attack Hill, their kids sliding down on their butts and filling the quiet air with their mirth. Back at the truck, I’ll unstrap my helmet and goggles, take off the steaming balaclava and gloves, put the snowboard in the rack atop the truck and slowly make my way down the familiar switchbacks, my ears popping gently a few times until I pass the red barn and take the backway to town via Great Northern Road.

Once home, I’ll trudge my board and gear back into the house, let loose a great, big contented sigh as I unstrap my boots, climb out of the snowpants and inner layers, pencil another hash mark on the wall and hit the the shower, turned up as hot as it can go, reliving good runs from the day.

The apres ski feeling is the best you can get in winter, when your muscles are tired, your cheeks are slightly wind burned, and your soul feels full and rested. A beer and a slice of pizza never tastes as good as during these moments.

Those afternoon meditation days at Schweitzer often remind me that we’re not completely doomed here in Sandpoint. Yes, we’re growing by leaps and bounds. Homes cost two, three times more than they were just a few years ago, making it so simple folks like myself will likely never own their own place. Summers have turned into either a smoky mess or a chaotic tourist hell. The city government seems hellbent on changing everything in a town that seems to be just fine without all these grandiose plans.

But, for a few hours, none of that matters. All existence is wrapped up in a quiet moment on the mountain and a feeling that some things — no matter how bad we try to mess them up — will always be good.

Cheers to finding your own bliss. Sometimes it’s all we have.

The author and friends gather beside the bonfire at the Outback Lodge for a quick beer and a smile. Courtesy photo.

Tech for the people

Using a grant from the Idaho Commission for Libraries, the East Bonner County Library District in late-January purchased several Google Chromebook laptops to be distributed to the Sandpoint VFW post.

According to EBCL Community Engagement Director Vanessa

Velez, veterans were presented with information on how to use the Chromebooks and basic cybersecurity.

“It’s always a priority for the library to reach out to underserved people or communities, and we hadn’t done anything especially for veterans in a while — and with the

local VFW so close, we thought they might be interested in partnering,” Velez told the Reader. “Among other reasons, we hoped the computers would make it easier for veterans to apply for the benefits they are eligible for, which mostly require online forms.”

The grant funds came through

the Connecting Communities Digital Inclusion Program of the Idaho Commission for Libraries. Velez said EBCL hopes to do similar outreach in the future with the support of other grants.

— Courtesy photos. Words by Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey.

COMMUNITY

KNPS presents wildlife biologist on Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness

By Reader Staff

The Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society will host Dr. Jim Peek for a presentation Saturday, Feb. 18 at the East Bonner County Library in Sandpoint, as he shares his years of research in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.

Peek’s work focused on exclosures on the Middle Fork Salmon River, established in the 1950s to demonstrate the effect of mule deer on their forage. His exclosures were investigated 30 to 40 years later, including the productivity of three common plant species over a 20-year period, which included responses to the 2000 wildfire.

The results of those studies — representing a unique ecological record — will be presented and the value of research in wilderness will be discussed.

The program is scheduled for 10 a.m. inside Meeting Room B in the Sandpoint branch of the library (1407 Cedar St.). All are welcome to attend. Those wish-

ing to join via Zoom, register at bit.ly/ KNPS-DrPeek.

Peek majored in wildlife ecology with minors in botany and range ecology at Montana State University, and in wildlife ecology and forestry at the University of Minnesota. He worked for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks for eight years, then attended the University of Minnesota, where he earned a Ph.D. and taught wildlife courses.

He came to the University of Idaho in 1973 to teach, retiring in 1999, but continued to guide graduate students and finish his research. Peek finally completely retired after finishing a history of the Lochsa elk herd, which was published in 2021. He worked with antlered and horned game, plus wolves and bears over his years as a wildlife biologist.

For questions about this program, contact Preston Andrews at KNPS.Tech@ gmail.com.

CAL offers scholarships to graduating seniors

By Reader Staff

The Community Assistance League is offering scholarships to graduating Bonner County high-school seniors. This includes home school, public and private high-school students. In addition, CAL offers scholarships to those who have previously received a CAL scholarship and those who have delayed their education.

Applications are now available and can be picked up at CAL’s Bizarre Bazaar store (502 Church St. in Sandpoint). Please contact CAL at 208-255-7094 for information about online applications.

The deadline for submitting applications is 9 a.m., Monday, April 10. Mail applications to: CAL Scholarships, P.O. Box 1361, Sandpoint, ID 83864. Completed applications can also be dropped off at high school counseling centers or Bizarre Bazaar by 3 p.m., Friday, April 7.

Applicants are reminded to make sure their forms are complete, including the correct CAL cover sheet for their category.

For more information, contact Heather Hellier at 208-255-7094, or email heather@barberhome.com.

February 16-23, 2023

THURSDAY, february 16

COMMUNITY

Festival offers new music industry scholarship

By Reader Staff

KNPS

fundraiser at IPA • 12-9pm @ Idaho Pour Authority

Each glass raised will help Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society make the Arboretum more user-friendly with new plant ID signs. Raffle baskets full of gift certificates and tickets can be purchased throughout the week, with drawing on Feb. 16

Cribbage League • 7pm @ Connie’s Lounge

This is an ongoing league with nightly prizes

FriDAY, february 17

2023 Sandpoint Winter Carnival

Downtown Sandpoint

See Page 14 for a full listing of all events happening during week 1. The Parade of Lights starts at 5:30pm downtown

Winter Carnival Kickoff with Stoney Holiday Band

7pm @ The Hive

Sandpoint’s longtime friend Tyler

“Stoney” Stonehocker is back in the 7B. Stoney Holiday is an electric bluegrass outlaw country band. $10 at the door. 21+

Live Music w/ Scott Taylor and the Endless Switchbacks

7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub

Live Music w/ Bright Moments Jazz

5-7:30pm @ Barrel 33

Live Music w/ Ken Mayginnes

5-7:30pm @ Drift (in Hope)

Live Music w/ Chris & Lauren

5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery

Sandpoint Songfest 2023/MCS concert

7pm @ Music Conservatory of Sandpoint

Join Michal Palzewicz Trio at the Little Carnegie Hall for their eclectic, original sounds blending classical, folk and more POAC presents Diane Schuur in concert

7:30pm @ Panida Theater

Legendary, Grammy-winning jazz vocalist and pianist who has played Carnegie Hall and the White House. See Page 21 for more

SATURDAY, february 18

Live Music w/ Mobius Riff

4:30-7:30pm @ Barrel 33

Live Music w/ Ian Newbill

5:30-8pm @ Ice House Pizza (Hope)

Country and classic rock

Science on Saturday: Phil Bass

10am @ Panida Theater

Free event for middle/high schoolers

WinterOne Acts

4pm & 7pm @ Panida Theater

See Page 19 for more info

Very, Very Casual Dark Beer Event

12-5pm @ 219 Lounge

Live Music w/ Desperate 8’s 9pm-midnight @ 219 Lounge

Sandpoint Chess Club

Valentine’s Ball

7pm @ Ponderay Events Center

Starting with 1 hour tango lesson, followed by general dancing 8-10pm. Refreshments, door prizes. Couples/singles/all levels welcome. $9/person at the door

Sandpoint Songfest 2023

3pm & 7pm @ Little Carnegie Hall, MCS

Featuring artists from Sandpoint area, including Sheldon Packwood, Jake Robin, Beth Pederson and Bruce Bishop @ 3pm, Molly Starlite, Patrice Webb and Justin Landis @ 7pm

SunDAY, february 19

9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee

Meets every Sunday at 9am

Songwriter’s workshop w/ Danny Sherrill

1-3pm @ Music Conservatory of Sandpoint

Sandpoint Songfest 2023: Residing

Artists’ Show

4pm @ Little Carnegie Hall, MCS Featuring Mikkel Lee, Kerry Lee Diminyatz and Brendan Kelty

monDAY, february 20

Monday Night Blues Jam w/ John Firshi

7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub

Group Run @ Outdoor Experience

6pm @ Outdoor Experience

3-5 miles, all levels welcome, beer after

wednesDAY, february 22

Live Piano w/ Peter Lucht

5-7pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery

Live Piano w/ John Firshi

6pm @ Eichardt’s Pub

Early Instrument Sampling at Music Conservatory of Sandpoint

6-7pm @ Music Conservatory of Sandpoint (free class)

Step back in time and explore early instruments you may have never heard before

ThursDAY, february 23

Project 7B Raffle Kickoff Party

6-8pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall

With live music featuring Scott Taylor and the Endless Switchbacks. Win a guitar!

The Festival at Sandpoint is offering a new scholarship this year for students who are interested in pursuing a career in the music industry outside of live performance.

This scholarship is open to all Bonner County high school students pursuing a future career in the music industry, which includes — but is not limited to — music business, artist management, concert or venue promotion, e-commerce, music customer service, sound and light design and operation, and production management.

“There are so many careers in the music business outside of being a live performer, and we wanted to provide an opportunity for these students to obtain a scholarship,” Festival Production and Education Manager Paul Gunter said. “The industry looks much different than it did even five and 10 years ago. We are excited to help students prepare for these jobs.”

Scholarships will be awarded based on the applicant’s overall interest in pursuing a music business career as well as the student’s financial need, academic records and industry experience.

Applicants are asked to write an essay on the role of music in their life and how it

has inspired them to pursue a career in the music industry, including their long-term professional goals within the entertainment industry. Students must also include two letters of recommendation, preferably from instructors or professionals within the music industry.

“Everyone has a connection to music, and we believe the applicant’s inspirations and goals will translate better in the essay format,” Gunter said.

After a primary evaluation of the applications, the Festival at Sandpoint will contact all finalists to schedule a live interview to take place in May.

Alongside the new Music Industry Scholarship, the Festival also offers the Festival at Sandpoint Instrumental Scholarship and the Charley Packard Memorial Songwriting Scholarship.

All three of the Festival at Sandpoint scholarships are open now. Completed applications are due by April 10, 2023 at 9 a.m. to the Sandpoint High School counseling office (410 S. Division Ave.) or the Festival at Sandpoint office (525 Pine St.). More information about the Festival at Sandpoint’s scholarships, including application forms and criteria, as well as the nonprofit’s other education programs, can be found at festivalatsandpoint.com.

STAGE & SCREEN Winter One Acts put talented local youth at center stage

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey Reader Staff

Lake Pend Oreille Repertory Theater Education Director Courtney Roberts wanted to maximize her reach, giving as many local kids as possible the chance to dabble in the art of live theater. With that in mind, LPO Rep kicked off 2023 with Winter One Acts — a six-week program offering equal parts rigor and flexibility for students ages 8-17.

“The program was this experiment that I came up with as a way to get the most kids at a low commitment for a short amount of time,” Roberts said, “and it’s been beyond what I ever could have

imagined.”

The results of Roberts’ successful experiment will take the stage on Saturday, Feb. 18 at the Panida Theater with two performances at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., each featuring three different fairytale-themed one-act plays.

Thanks to support from the Pend Oreille Arts Council and private donor Barrie Peters, students were able to participate in the Winter One Acts tuition-free.

“I really want affordable, accessible theater opportunities for kids of all ages,” Roberts said.

Beyond those opportunities reaching kids of all ages, Roberts also wanted to create a production experience that was inclusive of

the local student who might have existing commitments, but who still wants to try their hand at theater. Classes were offered four days a week, but kids needed to pick only one day a week to attend. Those classes were run by both Roberts and fellow LPO Rep theater instructor Elizabeth Iha.

Winter One Acts

Saturday, Feb. 18; first show at 4 p.m., second show at 7 p.m.; doors open half an hour before each performance; suggested $10 donation at the door. Panida Theater, 300 N. First Ave., 208-263-9191, lporep.com/education.

“I see a lot of kids that are athletes, artists, dancers who love theater but they don’t always have the opportunity [to participate] because some of

our programs are a bigger commitment. … I see all the scheduling; kids just do so much,” Roberts said. “So I wanted to make this accessible for any student, whether they’re a snowboarder or whatever, to do the show.”

As a result, Roberts said there is a great mixture of experienced theater students and brand new thespians taking part in Winter One Acts — in all, almost 70 students.

“I think it’s so important for

kids from all backgrounds and all activities to come and collaborate and be creative together,” she said. “That’s really what Winter One Acts has allowed.”

Tickets to the production are by donation, with organizers recommending a $10 amount per attendee. Those donations, which can be made with cash, card or check, will all go toward future LPO Repertory Theater education programming, including productions and workshops for local youth and adults.

“We’re trying to make it so that it’s a consistent, year-round program,” Roberts said. “We have a lot coming, which I’m really excited about.”

Screening at the Panida, TheyShallNotGrowOld is a masterpiece of war and memory

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

If there are two things human beings are good at, it’s killing each other and forgetting. If that wasn’t the case, we wouldn’t remind and warn each other, “lest we forget” and “never forget.” “Memory” wouldn’t be the root of Memorial Day. We wouldn’t have books like War and Remembrance and we wouldn’t have cliches like “those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.”

The documentary They Shall Never Grow Old puts both war and remembrance in powerful focus, presenting a portrait of the First World War in colorized, speed-corrected and sound-mixed detail that more than any other film brings its subjects to some approximation of life.

Released in 2018 by director Peter Jackson to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, the film is a technical as well as human masterpiece.

often framed as a montage of gray-scale masses of indistinguishable pot-helmeted men scuttling in almost comical herky-jerky cadence over silent moonscapes of blurry shell holes. The enormous mortar blasts and artillery flashes are mute bursts of white-on-black and the tanks rumble noiselessly in their absurd bulk.

Atop these muzzy images viewers hear oration by stentorian voices proclaiming dates and obscure place names, and no WWI documentary is complete without some proclamation that while the conflict represented the first “modern” war it was also the last one to feature 19th-century equipment, tactics and attitudes. Also: rats.

They Shall Not Grow Old (NR)

Sunday, Feb. 19; 2:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m., doors open 30 minutes before the show; $7 advance, $9 youth and seniors at the door; $8 advance, $10 adult general admission at the door. Panida Theater, 300 N. First Ave., 208-2639191, get advance tickets at panida.org.

The Great War is a relic, too

After a few hundred of these types of films — all devoted, of course, to the important task of “remembrance” — it starts to blur together in something akin to the muddiness of the battlefields themselves. We’re numbed by the repetition as much as the sense of distance, both in time and feeling, between that world and our own.

The human beings involved fade in the haze of enormity, made more inscrutable through the scratchysketchy recording technology available at the time.

The achievement at the center of They Shall Not Grow Old, and why it’s so acclaimed, is that by slowing down the speed of the footage — much of it hitherto obscure or unseen — and giving color to its scenes, we see with sudden, jarring clarity what we thought were familiar tableaux rendered in their human scale without losing scope. The process magnifies both.

Rather than the standard “expert narration,” Jackson overlays the voices of World War I veterans, recorded and archived long before they disappeared — waiting to have their say.

In this vision of the war, we see the careful-clumsy movement

of men picking their way over shattered tree trunks, slipping as we would do in ungraceful movements. In their glances at the camera (which would have been a novelty then), we’re given the time to see the complexity of their emotions — looking so much like our own. We hear the earth-shattering crack of explosions and see the vicious colors of flame, smoke and gas, as well as the rattle of gear and shuffle of marching feet, filled too with mumbled conversation and laughter.

Critic Scout Tafoya wrote in his Dec. 14, 2018 four-star review

on rogerebert.com, we’re reminded that the war didn’t occur in an eternal smear of grayness. Sometimes — many times — the grass and trees were green, and there wasn’t a cloud in the summer skies of western Europe. “They died in broad daylight,” Tafoya wrote.

If there’s a better way to remember these people, it’s hard to think of how to do it better.

They Shall Not Grow Old features remastered footage from WWI. Screenshot courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.

I Make Due An introduction to the Cricut Maker

By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist

You need to have a certain kind of personality in order to create an environment that’s truly expressive of who you are. Have you ever been pushed away from gardening because you believe you don’t have a green thumb? Perhaps you never picked up painting because you believe you aren’t very artistic. It’s easier to just buy things that other people made and let that be reflective of who you are.

To that I say: pish posh! Equipped with the right tools, every person regardless of natural talent or skill can become a lauded “Maker.” Some will design their own living space, others will convert their creations into a little extra cash. Technology now exists to turn anyone into a Maker from the comfort of their own home with zero experience required. All you need is a vision, the right tool and some materials to get you started.

A Cricut Maker smart cutting machine

is the perfect beginner tool for entering the Maker space. This device looks like an unassuming desktop printer; but, hidden inside is a powerful tool for cutting intricate designs or even drawing them out with pens using infusible ink. A Cricut Maker acts like a printer in reverse — rather than adding material, it cuts away material in patterns far more precise than our clumsy hands. This device is modular, meaning you can switch out the standard blade with things like markers or rotary cutting tools as easily as you swap the batteries in your TV remote.

The Cricut Maker is capable of working with a huge variety of materials, from paper to vinyl, and even cardstock, cereal board, felt and leather. This gives you tremendous creative freedom in designing everything from custom greeting cards to leather vambraces, if you’re into cosplay.

Enough with the sales pitch, what can a totally inexperienced person make with this thing in five minutes or less?

For instance, I found myself with an

abundance of unlabeled storage containers for my unpainted miniatures. These poor figurines are languishing in a bin to be used as spare parts at some point in the future, but I don’t want to dig through them to find out what they are. This gives me two options.

I can cut out tiny letters from vinyl and apply them to the bins, or I can slap on an icon for that miniature’s faction that I found online. The Cricut Maker can do either, but the icon will be easier to work with. All I have to do is load up the Cricut Design Space software, import a network graphics, or PNG file, and send it to the Cricut. Once I load my material, it does the hard work of cutting out a picture-perfect pattern. I’ll weed out the bits that I don’t want to transfer with the transfer tape and I’m done. Five minutes or less.

If I’m feeling a bit more adventurous, I

could instead use the machine to carve out a stencil, then blast that image onto my bin with my handy airbrush, but vinyl fits the aesthetic — especially when it shifts color in the light.

The Cricut Maker can even create custom patterns on clothing using infusible ink and an iron, or the optional heat press that can be purchased separately.

Curious to see one in action? Both library branches have a Cricut Maker, and several staff — including myself — have been trained on how to operate it and answer basic questions about the machine. If you want to unleash your inner maker, stop by the library or send me an email at brenden@ebonnerlibrary.org.

Courtesy photo.

Love, laughter and leaving her mark

Jazz vocalist and pianist Diane Schuur to perform at the Panida Theater Feb. 17

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey Reader Staff

Famed jazz vocalist and pianist Diane Schuur — or, as she prefers to be called, “Deeds” or “Deedles” — never doubted her path as a woman of music. The first steps of that path can be found in Schuur’s earliest years, when she proved herself a (perhaps annoyingly) musical child.

“I used to go into my bedroom closet at midnight and try to emulate an artist by the name of Dinah Washington. My mom and dad, they’d come out and they’d say, ‘Diane, shut up!’” Schuur recalled, with a laugh. “I thought that was pretty funny — well, I didn’t at the time, but I’m glad that I didn’t let that admonition stop me from doing what I needed to do.”

The now Grammy-winning artist still sees her musicality as a “need” — a “calling of sorts,” she said. Music became especially important when she attended the Washington State School for the Blind. Schuur has been blind since her premature birth in 1953.

er and sister,” Schuur said of the school for the blind, which she attended from about 4 to 11 years old. “Music was the thing that I leaned upon very, very heavily.”

She recalls having a radio as her constant companion during her time away from home.

“I was constantly surrounded by the music that I loved a lot,” she said, naming The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington as some of her favorite artists at the time.

Those influences — particularly of the jazz persuasion — remained critical for Schuur as she launched into her storied career as a jazz legend in her own right.

Diane Schuur

Friday, Feb. 17; doors at 6:30 p.m., music at 7:30 p.m.; $35 adults and $10 youth. Panida Theater, 300 N. First Ave., 208-263-9191, panida.org. Get tickets at artinsandpoint.org; the POAC Office (110 Main St., Ste. 101); calling 208-263-6139; or at the Panida doors. Listen at dianeschuur.com.

“Oftentimes, it was a lonely place without my parents and my broth-

READ

Stephen King was one of my first favorite authors when I was a kid. I’ve read most everything he has written, but somehow overlooked 11/22/63, his novel about a time traveler who attempts to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It reminded me of Philip Roth’s Plot Against America or Philip K. Dick’s Man in the High Castle — both of which use alternate history to prove a point about our real history and why it has led us to the questionable present.

LISTEN

“It’s just been a fascinating journey in the past 69 years on this planet,” she said.

Of her 69 years, nearly 60 have been spent as a professional performer. Schuur said her first gig was Jan. 4, 1964, at only 10 years old. She continues to tour and perform, and will

bring her act to the Panida Theater on Friday, Feb. 17 as part of the Pend Oreille Arts Council’s annual performing arts series. As part of POAC’s Ovations educational program, local choir and band students will be invited to a special soundcheck session and Q&A with Schuur.

“To have an artist of this caliber come to play an intimate venue like the Panida will be a joy for all who attend,” said POAC Executive Director Tone Lund. “Diane Schuur is an enormously talented musician who exudes joy and positivity wherever she goes.”

That joy and positivity translates into a palpable warmth in Schuur’s music, and even in the

way she carries a conversation. She is regarded as an artist that has furthered the jazz tradition while injecting a bit of quirk and comfort — adding a touch of humanity with each song and show.

“I look forward to working with my audiences — to be able to get out there and spread the love,” she said, “and be a little bit of a sit-down comedian as opposed to a stand-up.”

With that, Schuur let out a hearty laugh.

“There will be a lot of love and laughter in this show — trust me on that,” she said.

A snapshot of notable live music coming up

in Sandpoint

Mike Wagoner and Utah John, Panida Little Theater, Feb. 21 Stoney Holiday, The Hive, Feb. 18

It’s always good to have options for how you get your entertainment. For some people, it’s going to a live show; for others, it may be listening to a live show from the comfort of their own home. Sandpoint’s own community radio KRFY 88.5 is giving folks the opportunity to enjoy either, with its monthly Little Live Radio Hour streaming Tuesday, Feb. 21 from the Panida Little Theater.

This month features Mike Wagoner and Utah John (a.k.a.

John Stoll), whose original tunes run the gamut of genres from folk to Americana and rock-country.

Do it your way and catch their show in person at the Little Theater, or kick back with your dial tuned to 88.5 FM or browser open to live streaming at krfy.org.

— Zach Hagadone

8 p.m., FREE. Panida Little Theater, 300 N. First Ave., 208-2639191, panida.org. Tune in live on KRFY 88.5 or stream on krfy.org.

If you were familiar with the Sandpoint music scene 15 to 20 years ago (is there anybody left around here who was?), then you know Stoney, a.k.a., Tyler Stonehocker. The raspy-voiced character was a regular all over town, turning every gathering into a party with his guitar and outsized personality. He relocated to Boise, where in 2009 he reinvented his “electric bluegrass outlaw country” sound as Stoney Holiday. Today, the band is based in southern Oregon and has played with or opened for members of The String Cheese Incident, Keller

Williams, Hot Buttered Rum, Railroad Earth, Widespread Panic and more.

Stoney Holiday’s show Saturday, Feb. 18 at The Hive (kicking off the Winter Carnival) will be a homecoming of sorts for its frontman and, if you haven’t already, it’s time you met him.

— Zach Hagadone

Doors at 7 p.m., show at 8:30 p.m.; $10; 21+. The Hive, 207 N. First Ave., 208-920-9039, livefromthehive. com. Listen at stoneyholiday.com.

It’s been almost 34 years since the Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound and spilled 11 million gallons into one of Alaska’s most precious fishing grounds. The disaster was made worse by Exxon’s decades-long effort to avoid any responsibility for what was then the worst oil spill in history (the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf was way worse). The American Scandal series tackled the disaster with their five-episode podcast called Exxon Valdez, available on Spotify and other streaming sites.

WATCH

When it comes to stand-up comedy, the goal is to make people laugh. With Neal Brennan — who you might recognize as the co-creator of both the film Half Baked and Chappelle’s Show — comedy is only part of his overarching goal. Brennan’s comedy special Blocks utilizes physical blocks on the wall, which represent parts of his life that need improvement. He’s funny, but Brennan also accomplishes a bit of raw honesty and self-loathing that left me feeling grateful it wasn’t just another laugh track filled with fart jokes.

This week’s RLW by Ben Olson

Diane Schuur will perform on Friday, Feb. 17 at the Panida Theater. Courtesy photo.

ALDERMAN ACCUSED OF SELLING LIQUOR TO TRANSIENT PIANO TUNER

Tom Martin, alderman from the Fourth ward and manager of the Palace hotel, appeared in probate court this morning to answer to a charge preferred by J.L. Osborn, a piano tuner, who charged Martin with selling him a half pint flask of whisky and grapejuice at the Palace hotel bar yesterday afternoon.

A hearing in probate court today, at the termination of which Martin was bound over to the district court, revealed the fact that Osborn is the stepfather of Lena Maloney, aged 12, legally adopted daughter of Mrs. Maloney, proprietor of the Palace hotel. The little girl was taken from the hotel yesterday afternoon as a witness in the case and is under the care of Sheriff Kearns. Alderman Martin claims that Osborn is seeking an opportunity to get possession of the girl and brought about his arrest as one means of attaining that end.

Osborn, who gives his residence as Pullman, testified in probate court this morning that he went to the Palace hotel yesterday afternoon, got a drink over the bar, bought a cigar and that he was sold a half-pint flask of whisky and grapejuice for which he paid Martin 25 cents. The little girl went on the stand and testified that in Mrs. Maloney’s sitting room in the back part of the hotel there was a shelf upon which were bottles of grapejuice and whisky and that Mr. Martin came in there and mixed the two in other bottles.

Martin claimed Osborn had been around the hotel Monday night and told Martin he wanted some whisky. “I told him I had no liquor to sell. He went out and came back directly with a flask. I filled it with the whisky and grapejuice, he laid a quarter on the bar and I shoved it back across at him and told him I had no liquor for sale.”

BACK OF THE BOOK

The Idaho Legislature: Where democracy goes to die

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

You can give no greater gift to an arch-conservative than mentioning the word “democracy” — it gives them the opportunity to puff up with pedantic glee and launch into the shopworn half-truth that, “actually, we’re a republic — not a democracy.”

Of course, it’s not that simple, which also of course is inconvenient for people who despise democracy. Actually, we’re variously described as a “constitutional federal republic,” “representative democracy” or “democratic republic,” depending on your flavor. That means we engage in the constitutionally protected, federally organized act of direct democracy called “voting,” which results in the election of representatives who then serve on our behalf, à la, a republic.

Arch-conservatives know this, because they’re not stupid, but they hate nothing more than the trajectory of the United States since the 19th century, which has been a progressive extension of that engine of direct democracy — the ballot box — to anyone but themselves.

And if you’ve felt a chilly anti-democratic wind blowing north from Boise over the past few weeks, it’s because we’re experiencing a multi-front assault on the franchise unprecedented in the 20 years or so that I’ve been watching the Idaho Legislature.

Simultaneously, there are a number of bills at various stages of the legislative process that would actively limit who can vote, how and when. Naturally, arch-conservatives know better than to say the quiet part out loud (that they hate our democratic republic), so they shore up their totalitarian impulses with pious claims of “election integrity” and saving taxpayers money.

Here’s one: House Bill 54, co-sponsored by Sen. Scott Herndon, R-Sagle, alongside Rep. Tina Lambert, R-Caldwell.

HB 54 has the audacity to suggest that it “eliminates a source of fraud by removing student ID cards as a valid form of identification at the polls.” It also “removes the option of signing an affidavit at the polls in lieu of personal identification.”

Never mind that there is no evidence whatsoever that student ID cards have ever resulted in voter fraud in Idaho. Never mind that these cards are issued either by state institutions or those accredited by the state. All you need to know about the thrust behind this legislation is that while student IDs are somehow suspect, the license to carry a concealed weapon would remain a valid form of voter identification. HB 54 would bluntly rather have concealed-carry gun owners voting than students. It doesn’t take a political scientist to know why its sponsors think that should be the case.

Here’s another: HB 58, which would remove the March and August interim elections for school bonds and levies, consolidating them with the May (partisan) primaries and November general (which in Idaho is basically a Republican coronation). The reason given is that it will “likely” lead to “greater voter turnout” and cut costs — though the statement of purpose itself admits only that “there will likely be cost savings.”

Introduced by first-term Rep. Joe Alfieri, R-Coeur d’Alene, this is a bare-faced attempt to erase elections that give school districts the opportunity to go before the voters with funding requests, thereby limiting the number of chances for schools to receive funding outside the yearly budgeting cycle. Bonus: It would put school funding on the block during the high season for partisan politics. That’s the “greater voter turnout” HB 58 wants to see.

Sudoku Solution STR8TS Solution

HB 79, from House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, and Rep. Jason Monks, R-Meridian, does the exact same thing, but couches it more artfully as providing “immediate, ongoing and permanent property tax relief.”

Finally, here are yet two more: HB 75 and HB 137. Both from Alfieri, the former would restrict absentee voting to active military members; those with an illness, disability or hospitalization that would keep them from the polls; those unable to vote due to work or university attendance; or those who are away from home on a religious mission.

Alfieri said the reason for HB 75 is to “reduce the number of absentee ballots, which hopefully will make the clerks’ job a little bit easier.” Sure. In no way could it be that absentee voting simply makes it easier to participate in an election, and the less participation the better. Meanwhile, the latter specifically repeals the law allowing voters to sign an affidavit testifying to their identity at the polls. This one doesn’t even bother to give an explanation for why it’s “necessary.” It’s obvious: Reducing the number of people who can access the polls.

All this is to say nothing of renewed efforts to make citizens’ initiatives harder to get on the ballot (Senate Joint Resolution 101)and the jaw-dropping suggestion by House Health and Welfare Committee Chairman John Vander Woude, R-Nampa, that Medicaid expansion approved by voters via a 2018 ballot initiative should be repealed.

Taken together, these efforts are not merely chipping away at the foundations of our political system, but represent a full-scale hammer attack. Should these bills succeed, what’s more terrifying is what will come out of the rubble: It certainly won’t look any thing like a democracy or a republic.

Crossword Solution

Solution on page 22

Laughing Matter

Solution on page 22

By Bill Borders

CROSSWORD

ACROSS

rabble-rouse /RAB-uhl-rouz/

Word Week of

the

1. to stir up the emotions or prejudices of the public; agitate.

“Though at first its organizers were accused of mere rabble-rousing, the civil rights march evolved into a widely-celebrated parade.”

Corrections: No corrections to note this week, party people.

Enjoy the moment.

One good thing about hell, at least, is you can probably pee wherever you want to.