Reader_February1_2024

2 / R / February 1, 2024

DEAR READERS,

The week in random review

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

a public service

I just returned from a few weeks in Belize. Traveling in Caribbean countries, or any foreign country for that matter, often leads to humorous moments reading public service signs or billboards on the side of the road. Some of my favorites include one with a picture of a giant pile of trash dumped in public with the other half of the billboard reading, “Why do you do this?” Another has a photo of a man obviously posing on the centerline of the highway with his arms and legs flailed out comically and what appears to be ketchup dabbed on his shirt, the caption reading, “If you drink and drive, you might end up like this guy.” My favorite though, is a billboard that reads, “Have you gotten into a traffic accident?

You might have mental health problems,” which, I suppose, is the best way to describe how I feel about another driver when they crash into me.

smitty the van driver

On our way to visit an ancient Mayan cave in Belize, our van driver named Smitty was chock-full of one-liners. Before leaving the trailhead to the cave, he said, “If you have to go, use the facilities here, because there are only facili-trees after this.” When asked about what we’d eat that day, he said, “In Belize, we eat either rice and beans or beans and rice.” There are a lot of Mennonites living in Belize, and they mostly farm vegetables and cruise around in horse-drawn buggies. When passing an enormous farm, Smitty said, “These farms here are not worked by Mennonites.

They are worked by men, day and night.” More often than not, grocery stores in Belize are owned and operated by the Chinese. When asked why, Smitty said, “We got a lotta knees in Belize: Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese.” Finally, after being asked why their oranges were green, Smitty just shrugged and said, “You don’t gotta be yellow to be orange in Belize.”

flying lunacy

Flying is the best social experiment known to man.

If I were an anthropologist, I would gather all the data I could on the way humans interact while in airports or planes, because it will either show the reason for our eventual downfall, or provide an answer for our stubborn determination to survive despite our obvious failures and handicaps. Once, while on a flight to Thailand before flat-screen TVs became the standard, I sat in rapt wonder as a kid in his 20s lugged a 15-inch tube television set down the aisle and sat right next to me, balancing the machine on his lap. He then plugged an Xbox into the TV and proceeded to spend the next 18 hours of flight time feverishly playing video games with the volume up quite loud. What’s worse, he never once asked me if I’d like to play. After the flight, he was a sweaty mess, as he wrapped the cords and trundled back up the aisle with his 20-pound television set, presumably to lug it through the streets of Thailand to his hotel room where he’d spend his vacation “getting away from it all.”

Greetings all. I have to give thanks to Zach and Soncirey for holding down the fort, advertising rep Kelsey for getting our ads sorted out ahead of time each week and Reader Editor Emeritus Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey for coming out of her retirement for a few weeks to help us get over the hump. I don’t know about many of you, but it’s absolutely crucial for me to escape my daily life at least once or twice a year, but it’s made even better knowing that everything will still happen in my absence. We try our damndest to keep things consistent around here so our readers aren’t disrupted much when one of us escapes to the big world for a few weeks.

This week’s cover photo is a bit of a plea for snow to help our confused weather realize it’s actually winter and not early spring.

I happened to miss every day of the cold snap in January, which I was told wasn’t awesome, but I’ll take bitter cold and snow over sloshy rain through February.

– Ben Olson, publisher

READER 111 Cedar Street, Suite 9 Sandpoint, ID 83864 208-946-4368

sandpointreader.com Publisher: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com Editorial: Zach Hagadone (Editor) zach@sandpointreader.com Soncirey Mitchell (Staff Writer) soncirey@sandpointreader.com Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey (emeritus) Cameron Rasmusson (emeritus) John Reuter (emeritus) Advertising: Kelsey Kizer kelsey@sandpointreader.com Contributing Artists: Janenne Russell (cover), Ben Olson, Bill Borders Contributing Writers: Zach Hagadone, Ben Olson, Soncirey Mitchell, Lorraine H. Marie, Brenden Bobby, Emily Erickson, Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke, Chris Bachman, SASi, Loris Michael, Russ Tomlin Submit stories to: stories@sandpointreader.com Printed weekly at: Tribune Publishing Co. Lewiston, ID Subscription Price: $165 per year Web Content: Keokee The Sandpoint Reader is a weekly publication owned and operated by Ben Olson and Keokee. It is devoted to the arts, entertainment, politics and lifestyle in and around Sandpoint, Idaho.

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

The Reader is printed on recycled paper using soybased ink. Leftover copies are collected and recycled weekly, or burned in massive bonfires to appease the gods of journalism. Free to all, limit two copies per person.

Sandpoint Reader letter policy: The Sandpoint Reader welcomes letters to the editor on all topics. Requirements: –No more than 300 words –Letters may not contain excessive profanity or libelous material. Please elevate the discussion.

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

Email letters to: letters@sandpointreader.com Check us out on the web at: sandpointreader.com About the Cover

This week’s cover photo was taken by Janenne Russell during the actual winter, when it was cold enough to skate.

February 1, 2024 / R / 3

NEWS

Local officials respond to trespassing of citizens from BOCC meetings Omodt holds press conference, sheriff and prosecutor call issue ‘political in nature’

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff More high drama was on display at the Bonner County administration building over the past week, with the trespassing of two individuals from county commissioners’ business meetings citing “threats,” a press conference on the incidents hosted by BOCC Chair Luke Omodt, and various statements revealing frustration and strain among top local officials.

Omodt told attendees of the Jan. 30 press conference that Sandpoint police trespassed county residents Dave Bowman and Rick Cramer on Jan. 26 after they refused to leave a quarterly budget meeting at the insistence of the chair. The trespass order is in effect for at least the next year.

That incident followed an attempt by Omodt to eject Cramer from the Jan. 23 regular BOCC business meeting — a facet of what Omodt referred to as “disruptive and disorderly behavior [that] has interrupted the lawful meetings of Bonner County for months and cannot continue.

“This usurpation of civil society is not the hallmark of good government, but the actions of a mob intended to disrupt our democratic process,” he added.

A pattern of unruly meetings BOCC meetings have routinely been the scene of angry disruption and outbursts since the current board took office in January 2023 — with repeated accusations and counter accusations leveled by members of the public and commissioners alike related to issues of appropriate public comment and how to apply rules of decorum.

Bowman and Cramer have both been vocal and consistent attendees at BOCC meetings, and have more than once sparred with Omodt in his 4 / R / February 1, 2024

position as chair. Bowman ran charges against Cameron and against Omodt for the District Omodt, medical bills, poten3 commissioner seat in the tial injuries of bystanders, etc., 2022 GOP primary, during etc. It could get very ugly. which his candidacy received No one needs or wants that, the endorsement of Bonner however if it happens it will be County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler. on the county and the individMeanwhile, Omodt in the past ual actors, especially now that week announced he would run this has been brought to your for re-election to the seat in attention on the record.” the upcoming May primary.

Bowman concluded the According to an email email by asking Howard to sent Jan. 15 from Bowman to “please heed some well-inBonner County Emergency tentioned advice” and keep Management Director Bob county employees from “abetHoward, and shared with the ting the unlawful action of an Reader, Omodt had previelected official.” ously directed Sergeant at A subsequent email from Arms Cameron La Combe Bowman to Howard dated to remove Bowman from the Jan. 24 — and also obtained Jan. 9 commissioners’ meeting by the Reader — reiterated after cutting short his public many of those previous points, comment. including that Bowman was “I was not being disruptive, “disappointed” to once more certainly had not violated any see La Combe “attempt to law and had no intention of illegally remove a citizen from leaving,” Bowman wrote in a public space.” the email, going on to deThis time he referred to scribe the request to remove Cramer, whom Bowman him as “an unlawful order” claimed La Combe did not and La Combe as having “put hands on,” but “did “been put in an untenable approach him in a way that position.” could certainly be construed “Unfortunate as that is, it as threatening by any reasonis not my problem, and he has able person.” zero authority to remove me Bowman added that Cramer or anyone from a public meet- “was open carrying, which as ing simply because a comanyone well-versed in weapons missioner is and self-dedispleased with fense knows, what is being presents a “An armed person cannot risk being on the losing end of a fight said,” Bowvery real risk and having his weapon taken from man wrote. “I in the event him, so the weapon itself may very of a physical would have well end up being used to prevent been well with- it being taken.” altercation, of in my rights in escalating to a — An excerpt from an that moment gunfight. An email authored by Dave Bowman to take offenarmed person sent to Bonner County Emergency Management Director Bob Howard. sive action to cannot risk defend mybeing on the self. Instead I losing end of retreated; if it happens again I a fight and having his weapon will not retreat.” taken from him, so the weapon itself may very well end up In the Jan. 15 email to being used to prevent it being Howard, Bowman continued taken. ... I’ve already warned that, “If I feel threatened and of the possible ramifications so defend myself, and an alterI won’t repeat them but I will cation ensues, imagine the just remind you.” ramifications. Civil actions Bowman concluded the against the county, Omodt Jan. 24 email by “advising” and Cameron, criminal

that the sergeant at arms no longer attend BOCC meetings and went on to “remind” Howard that if a lawsuit were ever brought under U.S. Code 42-1983 — which covers citizens’ rights to sue government officials over civil rights violations — Omodt, Commissioner Steve Bradshaw, La Combe and Howard would “likely be stripped of any qualified immunity protection.”

Finally, Bowman wrote in the Jan. 24 email, “While Omodt will likely again falsely deem this as a threat, I assure you it is not. Consider it an advisement.”

When asked for comment on Jan. 31, Bowman told the Reader that he had been advised not to make any further statements, but indicated that further investigation would “reveal the truth, as well as gross misrepresentation of facts by Omodt.”

Setting the rules Omodt pointed to language contained in both the Jan. 15 and Jan. 24 emails as constituting enough of a threat to warrant trespassing both Cramer and Bowman — beginning with the attempt to eject Cramer from the Jan. 23 business meeting.

“The safety of our employees, of the public, cannot be

Bonner Co. Commissioner Luke Omodt conducts a press conference Jan. 30. Courtesy photo. denied and it cannot just be washed over,” Omodt said in response to a question at the press conference. “You cannot cry ‘fire’ in a theater and get away with it, and you cannot put in a written correspondence that you will take ‘offensive action’ or threaten to shoot someone for doing their job. There is no way that that is appropriate or will stand in Bonner County.”

Pointing to Idaho law, Omodt said at the press conference that the chair of a board of county commissioners has the authority to preside over meetings and protect free speech, peaceable assembly and rights to redress of grievances contained in the U.S. and Idaho constitutions, as well as Bonner County Code.

At the same time, he said, the chair can make the determination of what rises to the level of disruptive or otherwise inappropriate behavior.

“These rights extend to all of the people of Bonner County — not just those that are angry, but to those that are peaceful,” Omodt said.

“Written and verbal threats of violence have no place in a public meeting, the peaceful

< see TRESPASS, Page 5 >

< TRESPASS, con’t from Page 4 > assembly of the people or the petitioning of government for a redress of grievances.”

Going on to say that the BOCC has worked to “improve, maintain and restore order at public meetings since February of 2023,” Omodt added, “Unfortunately, there continues to be a determined minority of Bonner County residents whose disruptive behaviors are contrary to maintaining public safety and legitimate political debate. Those attending public meetings are urged to respect the rules of the Bonner County board of commissioners, which has the authority to set the rules and decorum.”

How those rules are — or aren’t — enforced has been an object of some confusion, frustration and contention.

According to a letter sent Jan. 25 by Sandpoint Police Chief Corey Coon to members of the BOCC and the Bonner County Prosecutor’s Office, SPD officers were called on Jan. 23 to an in-progress commissioners’ meeting where “an individual was out of control” and Omodt and Bradshaw wished them to be removed.

Coon wrote that officers spoke with the subject outside the meeting, but when they returned to the meeting room to further consult with commissioners about the BOCC’s procedures and policies regarding trespassing, found that the public proceedings had resumed.

“The officers felt it was not in the best interest of everyone to interrupt the meeting to clarify their procedures and policies,” Coon wrote.

“Because of the actions of the commissioners, I find myself having to draw a line in the sand to keep the city of Sandpoint and its officers out of any potential future litigation.”

Coon continued, stating that disruptive meetings have become “so severe that officials are unable to conduct the public’s business,” while noting that “citizens have an enormous First Amendment interest in directing speech when it comes to public issues and the governing of their cities and counties.”

However, lacking adopted direction on how an individual should be trespassed from BOCC meetings, “it is challenging for us to assist you in restoring civility to your meetings,” Coon wrote.

“This is to notify the Bonner County commissioners that the Sandpoint Police Department will no longer be responding to trespassing complaints at their meetings until they have adopted rules of decorum and a set of procedures and policies on how to remove disruptive individuals from their meetings,” he added.

Despite that Jan. 25 message from Coon, Omodt said during the press conference that after subsequent communication with the chief and Sandpoint Mayor Jeremy Grimm, “I believe that the public order will be maintained.”

Specifically, he promised to bring forward an item on the next BOCC business meeting agenda to consider putting in a place an ordinance similar to the one enacted by the city of Sandpoint in July 2023, which established a clear set of behaviors that could trigger a request to leave or be trespassed from a meeting.

Those behaviors in the Sandpoint ordinance include, but are not limited to: insulting, demeaning, intimidating, or offensive remarks or other communications; harassment or intimidation of any staff member, elected official or member of the public; continually disruptive behavior in spaces where public business is being conducted; and conduct that threatens or provokes a violent reaction.

“I have submitted that for the consideration of our prosecutor’s office,” Omodt said. “I was advised that this ordinance is not in the best interest of Bonner County. I personally think that we have gotten to a point where it is past time.”

Who’s in charge?

Again referring to the language in Bowman’s January emails, Omodt said, “if in your correspondence you threaten to take ‘offensive

action’ — as someone who of Idaho Code,” Grimm carried a weapon in service to stated. “The city of Sandour country for years — that point has the greatest respect is not OK. We do not take for the Idaho Constitution, offensive action in a public the judicial process and the meeting. Additionally, you do rights of our citizens and not threaten to shoot, you do elected officials. As this is an not say this is not a threat but active investigation, further an ‘advisement.’ I find that commentary will be limited even more concerning. I also to protect the rights of the find it concerning that this individuals involved.” correspondence was shared During the press conferwith both the ence, quessheriff and “You cannot cry ‘fire’ in a theater tions arose our prosecutregarding why and get away with it, and you caning attorney. I not put in a written correspondence the sheriff’s believe it may that you will take ‘offensive action’ office hadn’t have been responded or threaten to shoot someone for shared with doing their job. There is no way that to the recent Chief Coon.” trespassing that is appropriate or will stand in Omodt incidents — Bonner County.” acknowledged or previous there was occurrences — Bonner County Commissioner confusion of alleged Luke Omodt surrounding disruptive who should behavior at handle the trespassing inciBOCC meetings. dents — especially the one “This board of county that occurred Jan. 23 — and commissioners has reached how. out repeatedly to the Bonner “[A]fter Sandpoint Police County Sheriff’s Department was called and contact was for assistance. We have also made, I thought that was reached out to the Bonner enough. I was unaware that County Prosecutor’s Office in there is a multi-step process regards to our existing ordiin asking somebody to leave,” nance,” Omodt said, later he said. “I spoke with Chief noting, in reference to the Jan. Coon on Thursday, Jan. 25, 23 meeting, “I would also say trying to figure out what was that there was a Bonner Coungoing on. He was frustrated, I ty sheriff’s lieutenant in the was frustrated.” room, and he stayed seated.”

Omodt recounted the Other attendees also asked chain of events, saying that about the prosecutor’s office’s the trespassing on Jan. 26 response to Omodt’s concerns followed those steps, which regarding alleged threats, to included Omodt placing which he responded, “That is Bowman and Cramer under a question that is best left to citizen’s arrest and trespassing the prosecutor.” them. Police once more asked Asked how the sheriff’s and if they were willing to leave prosecutor’s offices responded peacefully and, upon hearing after Sandpoint police made that they were still not willing their contact with Bowman and to do so, arrested them for Cramer, Omodt said, “That failure to comply. is an ongoing investigation. I In a statement dated Jan. do not have the information 26, Sandpoint Mayor Grimm at this time and I would refer underscored the authority of those questions to the sheriff’s Sandpoint police to arrest department and the prosecuting “anyone suspected of violating attorney’s office.” the law, day or night, withBonner County Sheriff in our municipal corporate Daryl Wheeler and Prosecutor territory.” What’s more, under Louis Marshall issued their Idaho Code, the police are own joint statement Jan. 30 “obliged and empowered to following Omodt’s press conmake arrests, including the ference, writing, “We became facilitation of Private Arrest.” aware of one email that was “The actions of the Sandsent to the commissioners point police were in accorfrom a constituent as a copy dance with these provisions was sent by Commissioner

Omodt and then he subsequently had a press conference where our offices were once again disparaged.”

Referring to the Jan. 26 incident, Wheeler and Marshall wrote that Omodt removed the two men from the meeting after putting them under arrest “in his individual capacity.”

However, they added, “To our knowledge there has been no vote to trespass these individuals by the BOCC. There was no deputy present at the administration building when this occurred; however, based on the videotape of the meeting there wasn’t any disruptive behavior displayed by anyone prior to the order to leave.”

Wheeler and Marshall also stated, “There is a distinction between the chairman of the board ordering someone to leave a meeting and trespassing someone from a public building,” and pointed to “important steps to take, which the prosecutor’s office has helped previous boards with.”

“It is surprising at least one of the current board members chooses instead of receiving valuable advice to limit liability to the taxpayers of this county and to protect both the civil rights of constituents and the safety of persons within the administration building to instead continually cast aspersions on the sheriff and prosecutor,” they wrote, adding, “Any alleged crime needs to be investigated by law enforcement and presented to the Prosecutor’s Office to file charges. This has yet to happen.”

Wheeler did not respond to specific questions from the Reader in a Jan. 30 email about whether Bowman and Cramer had been taken into custody, arrested and booked; arrested and released; or charged with any crimes, though he did provide the joint statement.

“County commissioner meetings have been heated during the current session,” Wheeler and Marshall wrote.

“However, no crimes have been committed in the presence of any of the deputies who have sat through the meetings. These deputies have

< see TRESPASS, Page 7 > February 1, 2024 / R / 5

NEWS

Omodt announces Dist. 3 commissioner reelection bid

By Reader Staff Bonner County Commissioner Luke Omodt has announced he will seek an additional term representing District 3, which includes the areas immediately north of Sandpoint and the eastern portion of the county.

Omodt gained office in 2022, serving a term that expires in January 2025, and will run on the Tuesday, May 17 Republican Party primary ballot.

As he stated in his campaign announcement, his “first year in office has been turbulent,” but Omodt “is proud of the accomplishments of the Bonner County board of commissioners choosing to focus on statutory obligations to the taxpayer instead of the rough and tumble local politics.”

The turbulence to which Omodt referred stems from the ongoing pattern of disruption and rancor both on the part of members of the public and the commissioners themselves that has characterized BOCC meetings since the current board — consisting of Omodt and Commissioners Steve Bradshaw and Asia Williams — took office in January 2023. In addition, the Bonner County Republican Central Committee considered but ultimately voted against censuring Omodt and Bradshaw in the fall of 2023, citing alleged constitutional and party platform violations, mostly related to conflicts over allowing public comment at BOCC meetings, which has proved to be a contentious and even volatile issue over the past year or more [see Page 4]..

Omodt’s campaign announcement stated that he would focus on “common sense conservatism, fiscal accountability, and improved communication and transparency between taxpayers and their government,” while “taking, answering and posting questions about county government on his YouTube channel, Facebook and website lukeomodt.com.”

A lifelong county resident and 1995 graduate of Sandpoint High School, Omodt retired from the Idaho Army National Guard in 2022 after four deployments and 23 years of service.

He taught American government at Bonners Ferry High School for 10 years prior to his election in 2022.

According to his campaign, Omodt will continue to prioritize the completion of the county’s Comprehensive 6 / R / February 1, 2024

Luke Omodt. File photo.

Plan, which provides goals, objectives and policies to direct growth and development in the county. Omodt stated that the final components of the plan will be “Land Use” and “Natural Resources,” to be taken up this spring.

In addition, Omodt’s campaign highlighted construction of EMS Station 1, which is due to be completed in the fall of 2024 and geared toward “modernizing EMS, Veterans Services and Coroner’s facilities.” The campaign stated that the project “has been funded through wise and prudent fiscal policy that will modernize and serve Bonner County for decades to come.”

Noting other accomplishments from his time in office, Omodt’s campaign also pointed to the Bonner County Road and Bridge Department, which has received about $21.4 million in grants, “with zero county match,” to fund six replacement bridges.

Meanwhile, “we’re chasing a seventh bridge replacement, and are submitting a $2.75 million grant to upgrade the Merritt Brothers Bridge in Priest River,” Omodt’s campaign wrote in its announcement.

Finally, the campaign stated that with low snow levels this winter, the Emergency Management Department’s BonFire Program will continue to protect private property at no cost to private landowners by removing hazardous fuels, ladder fuels, and increasing tree spacing.

“Bonner County has grown to 52,000 people in my lifetime from the 24,000 when I first crossed the Long Bridge in 1979; change is hard.

Democracy is hard,” Omodt wrote.

“There is a lot of work that needs to be done to prepare Bonner County for its future. Bonner County is home and it is worth it.”

Bits ’n’ Pieces From east, west and beyond

East, west or beyond, sooner or later events elsewhere may have a local impact. A recent sampling: A new report from Groundwork Collaborative claims that corporate profits drove 53% of inflation between April and September 2023 — as compared to the previous 40 years, when corporate profits accounted for 11% of price growth. According to the organization, corporations’ costs have gone up 1% in the past year, but prices charged to consumers have risen 3.4%.

If Russian President Vladimir Putin wins his war against Ukraine, the safety of Europe is at stake, the European Commission’s vice president and NATO secretary general agree. U.S. congressional Republicans are blocking aid for Ukraine unless their southern U.S. border demands are met. Various media show they are also now resisting legislation that meets their border goals, which if passed, would provide aid for Ukraine.

President Joe Biden said that if Congress passes bipartisan immigration/ border reform, it will give him “a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed,” The Guardian reported. He said he’d quickly use that authority. The bill allows rapid expulsion of illegal immigrants.

The bill is stalled by House Republicans. FOX relayed that former-President Donald Trump wants border issues to remain dominant for his campaign, so is nixing solutions. The Senate bill that passed calls for resolving asylum claims in six months, rather than years; funding 1,300 more border patrol agents; 375 more immigration judges; 1,600 more asylum officers and technology to stop fentanyl smuggling.

According to an opinion from The Wall Street Journal, Trump wanting to sabotage the Senate’s bipartisan border bill could backfire “spectacularly,” with Americans blaming Republicans for border problems.

A recent study by the libertarian Cato Institute said border migrants arrested at the southern border were more likely to be released under Trump than Biden.

The post-COVID U.S. economy has been a “bright spot” and outperformed other “advanced [foreign] economies” over the last year, according to the chief global economist at Oxford Economics. CNN said expla-

By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist

nations include a larger-scale stimulus effort in the U.S., such as debt moratoriums, historically low interest rates, “shifting consumption patterns” and lower energy rates. Meanwhile, a Bureau of Economic Analysis report showed GDP grew by 3.3% in the final quarter of 2023. Speaking on FOX News, Trump’s former economic adviser said the Biden economy is better than he’d recently claimed.

According to The Guardian, three U.S. soldiers recently died in a drone attack on a U.S. base bordering Jordan and Syria. An Iranian-backed militia is blamed. The soldiers’ mission was to help regional partners defeat ISIS. Biden said those responsible for the killings will face accountability at a time of the U.S.’s choosing; he does not want to follow Republicans’ call for war. Iran is allied with Russia.

The International Court of Justice ordered Israel to prevent genocide of Palestinians. The Intercept called it a “massive legal defeat” for Israel and its defenders — Germany and the U.S. New York State federal jurors recently decided Trump owes $83.3 million in malicious defamation damages to writer E. Jean Carroll. The earlier sexual assault case brough by Carroll against Trump resulted in an order to pay her $5 million in damages. Following that case, Trump persisted in using defamatory language against Carroll, establishing the framework for the second court case. Carroll said repercussions included a volley of unsettling email and social media attacks. Trump’s appeal is expected to delay payment.

The $83 million exceeds what’s in his political accounts, which he has used to pay legal expenses, The New York Times reported, but Trump may be required to pay a “sizable sum” while awaiting the appeal. He also faces a possible $370 million penalty for business deals in New York state, and may have to sell assets to pay for that.

Blast from the past: Opal Lee’s African-American family moved into a house in an all-white community in 1939. Five days later, a mob set it on fire. Lee’s family left. Recently Lee learned the lot, owned by Habitat for Humanity, was vacant. She asked if she could buy it and was told “no.”

Rather, Habitat gave her the property and built a house on it for free. Lee hopes to move in by her 99th birthday.

NEWS

BOCC civil protection order clarified after five months

Judge: Deputy not necessary at meetings, sheriff says armed presence will remain

By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff The Bonner County board of commissioners reached an unprecedented level of dysfunction in August of 2023, when Commissioner Steve Bradshaw allegedly made a verbal threat against fellow-Commissioner Asia Williams, resulting in a civil protection order. Judge Justin Julian, who issued the order, held an additional hearing on Wednesday, Jan. 24 to clarify any potential confusion regarding its enforcement.

The protection order, shared with the Reader on Jan. 30 by Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler, states that, “Respondent [Bradshaw] may attend commissioner meetings with petitioner [Williams] but shall possess no firearms or other weapons at such meetings or on any county-owned property, and shall submit to searches to verify the absence of weapons.”

Bradshaw used Zoom to attend the first regular business meeting following the alleged threat, but thereafter attended in-person alongside a sheriff’s lieutenant, who supervises each meet-

ing. The lieutenant’s presence, and the protection order itself, have generated ample debate among the public and the commissioners during past business meetings, with opponents questioning the use of county tax dollars to pay for an armed guard.

“That deputy is back there because Commissioner Bradshaw declined the option offered from the county [to attend all meetings via Zoom], and so that’s why he’s here,” said Williams during a Nov. 14 debate with members of the public. She later added, “Hold the person who caused it responsible for why that person is in the back.”

Williams did not respond to an additional request for comment by press time, whereas Bradshaw declined to comment.

The protection order did not stipulate an armed presence during the meetings — a fact that Julian clarified during the recent hearing — however, according to Wheeler, the lieutenant will continue to attend for the foreseeable future.

“Police officers throughout the state refer to the written orders’ restrictions and exceptions in a protec-

tion order to determine if there is a violation of that order. Judge Julian made no modifications to the protection order, and without written modifications, nothing changes,” Wheeler told the Reader in a Jan. 30 email.

The protection order will remain in

Bonner County Commissioners Asia Williams, left; and Steve Bradshaw, right.

File photos.

effect until Aug. 30, 2024, unless terminated by an additional court order.

City Council set to discuss filling vacant city administrator job at Feb. 7 meeting

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff It has been almost a month since former-Sandpoint City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton resigned her position, effective Jan. 3, and members of the City Council will discuss how — or even whether — to fill the job at their regular Feb. 7 meeting.

Councilor Joel Aispuro and new Council President Jason Welker expressed support for having that conversation as early as the Jan. 3 meeting, even before the current council and

mayor had been sworn in.

“That should be a discussion we have as soon as possible,” Welker said at the time.

In a follow up email Jan. 30, Welker told the Reader that the urgency to address the vacancy flows from both city and state statute, which stipulates that the mayor is obligated to fill empty appointive positions with the consent of City Council. However, “Should the mayor make an appointment that council does not approve, the mayor would have 10 days to bring another name, or the council would be

able to appoint someone of their own choosing,” he wrote.

Mayor Jeremy Grimm, who campaigned in part on eliminating the city administrator job, said the discussion “comes down to the separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches of government.”

Meanwhile, Welker told the Reader that eliminating the position would require a code change. However, “I think the direction we’re most likely going to go is restructuring ... with a new job description that the mayor and council will work together to craft.”

“I don’t think anyone desires to have a city administrator that wields the kind of power and influence over the agenda that we had under our previous administration,” he added. “The people of Sandpoint deserve leadership that is accountable to voters and responsive to the interests of residents first and foremost.”

The Sandpoint City Council will meet Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 5:30 p.m. in council chambers at City Hall, 1123 Lake St. Go to sandpointidaho. gov and follow the “Meetings” link to participate via Zoom.

in nature.”

Meanwhile, Omodt suggested that he would be “willing to consider the expenditure of public funds to maintain public safety in this building” — including through a memorandum of understanding with the Sandpoint Police Department, which he also broached in a Jan. 25 email to Coon and Grimm.

“Our actions put two Sandpoint Police Department officers in a no-

win situation on Tuesday, January 23, 2024 during the regularly scheduled business meeting with an unruly crowd and conflicting directions from elected officials. I apologize for this failure. I am accountable and this will not happen again,” he wrote.

“Mayor Grimm, I asked Chief Coon to consider a MOU with Bonner County for X amount of SPD hours/week similar to the MOU the

city of Sandpoint has with the Bonner County prosecutor. As both a county and city resident, all too often the city of Sandpoint, and its residents, is asked or demanded to provide services and support to the rest of Bonner County without payment. No more,” he added.

< TRESPASS, con’t from Page 5 > decades of experience dealing with agitated people on almost a daily basis.

Deputies will react if the situation calls for it and crimes are actually committed. We would encourage decorum in meetings. We would very much appreciate the commissioners to respect each other, communicate and engage in the county’s business. However, blaming the sheriff and prosecutor for their own shortcomings seems political

February 1, 2024 / R / 7

House Bill 419 would do away with bipartisan support for Idaho Medicaid...

Barbs:

• Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo recently issued a statement endorsing Donald Trump for president in 2024. My first thought was, “What a gutless coward.” Then I read Crapo’s list of Trump’s “accomplishments,” which are, of course, all easily fact-checked and debunked. As Crapo wrote, “During the Trump Administration, we had one of the strongest economies in generations: lowest unemployment rates in 50 years, growing wages with record tax receipts, millions of new jobs and median income at an all-time high.”

Those claims can be taken apart point by point: — The economic growth rate was -3.4% when Trump left office, and even when the growth rate was doing well, it still paled in comparison to the Obama presidency, which saw 10 straight years of growth by the time Obama left office. Trump’s economy also lost 2.9 million jobs and the unemployment rate increased by 1.6%; —The federal minimum wage has remained static at $7.25 since 2009, and the only significant matter concerning taxes was Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in 2018, which led to large tax cuts for the wealthy and which the Brookings Institution estimated would increase the federal deficit by $10 trillion to $12 trillion; —Trump was the only modern president to leave office with fewer U.S. jobs than when his term began; —It is partially true that median income rose during Trump’s administration, but it would be taking credit for a trend that started under Obama.

Meanwhile, arriving at that talking point requires a level of exaggeration that The Washington Post’s fact-checkers have given “Two Pinocchios.”

Whether Crapo actually believes this garbage, or holds his nose as he kneels to kiss Trump’s ring, it still reeks of sycophancy.

Unfortunately, like many other Republicans in the United States right now, Crapo is afraid to upset Trump for fear of the usual backlash that comes from endorsing his opponent. Have some self respect, Sen. Crapo.

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Dear editor, Idaho Medicaid covers 375,000 Idahoans and costs $4.6 billion per year (majority from the federal government). Thirty-four percent of Idaho’s state budget covers Medicaid, compared to 24% for Idaho schools.

House Bill 419 hurts Idahoans — especially children — ends health care coverage for tens of thousands, caps enrollment at 50,000 and caps benefits at 36 months. These requirements violate federal law.

From a July 2023 Idaho Voices for Children voters poll: • 75% of voters — 69% of them Republican — hold a favorable opinion of Medicaid; • 67% support Medicaid expansion; • 73% believe that expansion should be kept as is because it was passed by voters and is helping those in need; • 87% believe it is important for Idaho to have a strong and sustainable Medicaid program; • 81% believe the government should assist some individuals in obtaining and paying for health care; • 68% believe Medicaid provides health care access to rural Idahoans and ensures small hospitals can stay open; • 73% believe that expansion should be kept as is because it was passed by voters and is helping those in need; • 59% believe Medicaid provides economic benefits to the state and taxpayer and that Idaho would be foolish to turn down federal money for low-income health care; • 64% believe we need to spend more on schools without cutting Medicaid.

Go to idahovoices.org/action and click on “Take Action” to write a letter that will be sent to the House Health and Welfare Committee, which can stop HB 419.

Nancy Gerth Sagle

David and Goliath…

Dear editor, I seldom write letters to any paper voicing my views on politicians.

I guess I’d rather yell at the TV. But now that most news shows run all day and night about everything in this circus we’re seeing, I have to weigh in.

This week all the news shows fol-

lowed a tough uphill battle that Nikki Haley is fighting. I called it the “David and Goliath show.” We all knew Nikki, the “David,” fought hard, but Goliath won and still was not happy. And what did he say after he won hands down? “What was this imposter doing up there on that stage!? They’re going to investigate her! She’s a bird brain! Nikki, you’re going to lose! “ He went on for 15 minutes.

I learned (as I worked for two ad agencies that handled big clients) that you don’t talk about the competition ever, as that gives them free advertising.

Well, Goliath’s ego was bruised, but he couldn’t shut up and accept the win.

Pissed off anger — that’s his mantra. He believes in flogging a dead horse.

Maybe before this November. all of the Davids will take aim with their (figurative) slingshots and bring this bloated clown down.

Here lately, I try to listen to both sides and, I must say, Ms. Haley is certainly a fighter, but she won’t get too much further than South Carolina.

The orange-faced Goliath will continue to slay anyone who dares to attack his ego. Unlike the majority of her colleagues, she didn’t kiss the ring or any other area of Goliath’s anatomy.

You never sway the public’s opinion by bad mouthing the other guy. Sell your high points. That’s good advertising!

Bruce Duykers Sagle

‘Dist. 1 shows clear support for Woodward’…

Dear editor, Two weeks ago, fundraising numbers for the upcoming state Senate race were released to the public through the state’s campaign finance website. This information is free and easy for all to see. Based on what I was able to download, it is clear that the people of Bonner and Boundary counties support Jim Woodward over Scott Herndon. The numbers simply don’t lie. Not only did Woodward raise more money for the upcoming May primary election than Herndon, a whopping 84% of Woodward’s money came from local, individual donations, meaning from people in Bonner and Boundary counties. On the other hand, the majority (over 50%) of Herndon’s donors were from either outside of our counties or outside the state.

Which raises the question, who is

Herndon working for? I don’t know about you, but I am tired of outside money meddling in our local politics.

Keep it local and vote for Jim Woodward in the upcoming May primary.

Leah Opitz Sandpoint

‘Elect Jim Woodward, state senator’…

Dear editor, I’ve been a registered Republican for eight years and my husband Orrin is a Democrat — but we’re both more interested in the candidate’s character, voting record and positions on issues, rather than party affiliation.

Political advertising is obviously biased in favor of their own candidates — so that’s why it is important to talk to candidates in person: to separate fact from fiction.

We just hosted a “Meet and Greet” for Jim Woodward in our home, inviting 12 guests. A small group allows plenty of time for in-depth conversations, including difficult questions.

Jim thinks well on his feet and gives clear, articulate answers. Our friends and neighbors are from different backgrounds and beliefs, but we all had a chance to see and hear for ourselves what this candidate stands for, rather than relying on second-hand information.

If you might be interested in hosting or attending a “Meet and Greet Jim Woodward” elsewhere, contact his helpful website — woodwardforsenate. org Or call me at 208-267-6284 to find out how easy it is to host a small group of friends like this.

Jim served in the Idaho Senate for four productive, successful years, then lost in the 2022 Republican primary. He is now fighting hard to regain his seat — and his honesty, integrity, intelligence and work ethic will serve us very well.

I have known Jim and his family since he was in Bonners Ferry High School with my two sons.

I hope many voters get to personally meet Jim so that he will win the May Republican primary and then the November general election, to represent us in Legislative District No. 1.

Jo Len Everhart Bonners Ferry

Good stuff…

Dear editor, The Reader routinely provides splendid articles on life in Idaho. I particularly found two articles in the Jan. 25, 2024 issue to be espe-

cially noteworthy: • one by Mia Maldonado (reprinted from the Idaho Capitol Sun) describing the Idaho legislature’s lack of common sense in their attack on public libraries; • the other by Jen Jackson Quintano (“The Lumberjill”) explaining that women are more than baby factories relegated to ‘churning out a capitalistic proletariat’ to counter the labor shortage as perceived by Idaho’s Senate President Chuck Winder.

Richard Sevenich Sandpoint

Lunacy…

Dear editor, As Ron DeSantis quit his presidential race, he quoted Winston Churchill. Churchill never said what DeSantis quoted, it comes from a Budweiser ad.

Nikki Haley says the cause of the civil war was “how the government was going to run,” not knowing it was slavery or unwilling to tell the truth to the racist right-wingers whose votes she wants.

A local Trump flag-waver said, there are 12 Hillary Clinton clones.

Did they pop out of their pods as 76-year-old women, or did diabolical devils make them 76 years ago so they could eat babies in pizza parlors today?

This week Donald Trump said that he has a plan: build a dome over the United States that will go “boom bam boom” [Eds. Note: Trump’s actual phrasing went something like, “Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding,” “bum,” “pshing” and “p-hoom”] to shoot incoming missiles, pouring water on magnets destroys them, was confused on a Fox interview not seeing reporters in plain view; called Nancy Pelosi, Nikki Haley 10 times.

Photos of his blistered, ulcerated hands are symptoms of stage three syphilis. His relationships with porn stars and prostitutes make sexually transmitted disease a possibility.

Insanity is symptomatic of syphilis.

Trump needs a STD test and publish the results. I want to see the results of the intelligence test he brags about. The one he says he could identify a giraffe.

Stanford University found that at least 700 people died from COVID-19

by January 2021 who had been at Trump rallies in October 2020.

Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy magazine says that 17,000 to 30,000 people who took hydroxychloroquine, following Trump’s lead, died from heart rhythm disorders and COVID

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instead of using effective treatments.

My parents (lifelong Republicans) would be disgusted by the lack of integrity, intelligence and moral bankruptcy of the GOP. Intelligent Republicans are letting their party be destroyed by these lunatics.

Betty Gardner Sandpoint

Demand legislators do more for mental health…

Dear editor, As a local mental health provider, I was thrilled to see so many attendees at the Panida’s screening of The Paradise Paradox on Wednesday evening. I appreciated the expertise and insights of the panelists and the enthusiasm of the audience. I would like to add my recommendation for how individuals can help/get involved/make a difference.

Please reach out to your legislators and demand: • Full parity for insurance coverage of mental health conditions- meaning insurance companies must not put more restrictions on treatment of mental health conditions than they would other medical conditions (this is the law but it is rarely enforced).

• Medicaid expansion (especially for postpartum women, who are very vulnerable to mental health conditions and often lose access to care in Idaho 60 days after their babies are born). As your legislators to extend postpartum Medicaid to 24 months.

• Revision of Medicaid policies to improve reimbursement and reduce onerous paperwork requirements. Many mental health providers in our community and across the state simply cannot afford to accept Medicaid.

Removing this barrier would dramatically improve access to care and quality of care.

actions cost us more money and decrease our freedoms. Actions speak louder than words, Mr. Herndon.

Kathryn Larson Sagle

‘NO to hiring another city administrator’…

Dear editor, Why do Councilors Joel Aispuro and Jason Welker want to hire another city administrator? It should be clear from the last election that Sandpoint residents rejected this added position. After an unsuccessful experience with Jennifer Stapleton (paid six figures), hiring another non-elected official with as much control as the Shelby Council gave her is not acceptable.

New Mayor Jeremy Grimm needs to be given the opportunity to fulfill his campaign promise to restore department heads at City Hall and reappoint locals to the advisory committees. After doing such, if collectively the council and the people see there’s a need for another administrator, then the mayor can present a candidate to council to hire.

This issue will be discussed Wednesday, Feb. 7 at the next City Council meeting. Please email or visit councilors now. We do not like this unnecessary power rush against the will of the people.

Rebecca Holland Sandpoint

Leanne Elisha, DNP, PMHNP Regional director Postpartum Support International, North Idaho Coeur d’Alene

Herndon supports ‘more government’…

Dear editor, Scott Herndon wrote in the Bee this week that he is fighting to limit government and reduce taxpayer spending. At the same time, he has sponsored a bill that would give the state attorney general the ability to sue our local governments if he doesn’t agree with how we manage ourselves locally.

That sounds like more government and more expense.

He says he believes everyone is equal but then he asks for a loyalty oath that removes the freedom of his fellow lawmakers to vote their conscience.

He wants to strip control from our librarians and teachers to determine what materials are appropriate within the well-defined, legal definitions we have now. This allows the values of a limited few to control everyone else and invites costly litigation (more government).

You can call it what you want, but your

February 1, 2024 / R / 9

Mad about Science:

Brought to you by:

fentanyl

By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist These articles are usually filled with an adequate level of snark and silliness tucked between lines of dense information. This week may not have so many giggles.

Fentanyl is a serious problem in the United States and Canada, but is it truly the devil the news media makes it out to be? That’s a loaded question with no simple answer.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid. Its primary function is that of an analgesic, or a pain reliever. It works to move onto μ-opioid receptors in the brain to block its ability to process pain, and it’s extremely effective at doing this — up to 100 times more effective and potent than morphine.

This, along with a few other characteristics, makes fentanyl extremely addictive and shockingly lethal.

Fentanyl is a fantastic tool in our pharmaceutical arsenal — when it is produced in a clean facility that’s actively monitored by an organization with a clear chain of command and legal distribution — and particularly if it’s monitored by doctors for use in surgical anesthesia, hospice and palliative care to control intense and otherwise unmanageable pain.

The problem with fentanyl is when it’s not used as directed, or when part of the distribution chain becomes compromised by criminal entities seeking to profit from its addictive nature.

You might be wondering at this point what the differences are between opiates, street drugs like heroin and fentanyl — we’ve all heard these terms thrown around as boogeymen in the news, but many people have avoided exposure to these things outside of television.

Opiates are a substance ex-

10 / R / February 1, 2024

tracted from the seed capsules of the opium poppy. Humans have a long history with the opium poppy and its ability to treat pain and deliver a mind-altering high. It’s unknown exactly when humans first harvested the poppy, but there is evidence that Neolithic gatherers were utilizing it as far back as 5,000 B.C.E. near the Mediterranean Sea. Most opiates are derived from poppy plants to this day.

Opium poppies designated for the illegal heroin market made headlines during the U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan, as terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda had been using it to finance their operations. As these harvesting operations have come under increased pressure from governmental agencies around the globe, the scarcity of the opium poppy has driven up the cost of both legal and illegal opiates. Paired with the opioid epidemic raging throughout North America since the 1990s, a cascade effect has formed to decrease supply, increase demand and bolster criminal organizations around the world. Basically, it’s bad news for everyone.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opiate, which means that it achieves the same effects as something like morphine or heroin, but doesn’t require opium poppies as an input.

Where a kilogram of heroin has an estimated cost of somewhere around $100,000, a comparable amount of fentanyl has a production cost of about $6,000, with each dose using far less due to its potency. You can see the problem emerging here.

Let’s say you’re going to

a car dealership. You really want the Mercedes-Benz and you’ll give anything to drive it. Unbeknownst to you, the dealership has been using a mix of Mercedes parts and junkyard scrap from wrecked vehicles tied to spent rocket materials they were able to slap together for pennies on the dollar.

You’re going to die when you drive off the lot, but the dealer doesn’t really care — you just paid $100,000 for a $6,000 death trap.

This is the issue with fentanyl in a nutshell. Criminal organizations are cramming cheap synthesized fentanyl into heroin with little regard for the safety of their consumers. In the regular world, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to kill off your clientele, but in the criminal underworld this is considered collateral damage in pursuit of profit.

New users are easy to hook on addictive numbing agents when grief spreads in a web.

The criminal aspect is the real issue behind fentanyl and its distribution. Based on information collected by government agencies from all over the world, the bulk of fentanyl is produced in China, Laos and Myanmar, a section of Southeast Asia referred to as the Golden Triangle. It is then shipped overseas by triads, which operate similarly to organized crime syndicates like mafia crime families in the western world. America’s illicit fentanyl pipeline seems to involve a number of Mexican drug cartels that purchase raw fentanyl from East Asian triads, then press the drug into its final form before smuggling it into the U.S. Common

practice seems to be cutting heroin with fentanyl to deliver a more intense effect for the user while also intensifying the addiction, provided the user isn’t killed by overdose.

The amount of fentanyl required to trigger an overdose is an extremely small amount — as small a dose as 2 milligrams, which can fit on the tip of a sharpened pencil.

Between 2015 and 2021, accidental overdose deaths from fentanyl exploded from fewer than 5,000 per year to more than 100,000 in 2021.

Luckily, there is a solution to deal with opioid overdoses.

Naloxone, sometimes referred to as Narcan, is a substance that is loaded into a saline solution inside a spring-loaded sprayer, similar to medication like Flonase. EMTs may

carry an intravenous injection of naloxone that can reach the brain in fewer than two minutes. Naloxone acts as an opioid antagonist, which kicks the opioids off the receptors in the brain to reverse the effects of an overdose. Due to the sheer potency of fentanyl, multiple doses may need to be taken, but naloxone carries no known side effects and is safe to dose multiple times.

Looking for more information on this subject? Check out the Panhandle Health District’s website and search for “Opioid Reversal Medication,” or stop by the library and ask a desk attendant. Our staff recently took training on the subject and can link you up with the resources you need.

Stay curious, 7B.

Random Corner ial intelligence?

Don’t know much about artific • Nearly 77% of the devices we use today utilize AI technology in one form or another.

• The global AI market is booming, with an expectation to reach $190.61 billion by 2025.

• Self-driving cars were involved in 9.1 crashes per 1 million miles traveled, compared to 4.1 for conventional automobiles.

• One question that AI specialists have explored is whether robots will ever reach a stage of self-realization and demand rights as if they were humans.

• As opposed to unmanned drones, which are controlled by humans, automatic killer robots are an actual thing. One, called a SGR-A1 sentry gun, resembles a huge surveillance camera, except it has a high-powered machine gun that can automatically lock onto and kill any target of interest. They are purportedly used by both Israel and South Korea, but both countries claim the robot is in “semi-automatic mode,” where it detects targets but requires the approval of a

We can help!

human operator to execute a kill.

• Another concern with AI is social manipulation through AI algorithms. The most recent example of this was Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. wielding a TikTok troll army to capture the votes of younger Filipinos during the Philippines’ 2022 election. These algorithms, also used by X/Twitter and other social media companies, often fail to filter out harmful and inaccurate content. Coupled with the use of deepfakes — or videos that seem real but are AI generated — the political and social spheres are further open to nefarious actions by bad actors in the future.

• Finally, some argue that after AI takes hold, there will be a marked loss of human influence on the world. Using AI health care could result in reduced human empathy and reasoning. Applying generative AI for creative endeavors could diminish human creativity and expression. Interacting with AI systems could cause reduced peer communication skills.

PERSPECTIVES

Emily Articulated

A column by and about Millennials

A place between

By Emily Erickson Reader Columnist

I’m approaching my seventh anniversary of living in Sandpoint. Upon my arrival, I had only the incredible surroundings, a new bartending gig and the online events calendar to help me gain my footing and start to unveil and understand this foreign place to which I’d just moved.

“What’s it like?” my friends and family asked about a dot on the map that they’d never heard of. “Tell me about Sandpoint.”

I’d grapple for the right words. I’d lived in tourist towns — places that endured a tidal wave of visitors in their “on season,” leaving only a few locals left clinging on to pick up the pieces and enjoy their peace in its off-season wake. They relied on the industry, thrived in the ebb and flow of business and calm, and quietly chafed against the people on which their ability to live and recreate in the world’s most beautiful places depended.

I’d also lived in industrial towns — places untouched by tourism, where an “honest day’s work” and an aptitude for making something from that which is often overlooked, were prized commodities. Locals were bound together in pride and hardiness, in exchanges of shared resilience and knowing that the life they led wasn’t for everyone, but that it was theirs to claim and build.

Emily Erickson.

And I’d lived in artsy towns, filled with the vibrancy of culture — where riches were found in intangible experiences, like nights out at the theater, in pop-up restaurants and walking by art-laden shop windows. Locals shared a sense of knowing that the heartbeat of a community couldn’t be sold to the highest bidder and that an inspired life was worth defending.

But Sandpoint was somehow in between. It was some of those things, and yet, none of those things — a town with an unidentifiable quality, where disparate identities combined to make something greater than the sum of its parts. It was a little bit destination, a little bit gritty and a little bit artsy, and I loved it (love it).

Seven years later, however, I wonder if that lack of definition — the amalgamation of identities comprising our community being both amplified and pitted against one another — might also be a pitfall.

Are we a tourist town, braced for the title wave

of comers and goers, with infrastructure to protect and support the people on whose labor the industry depends?

Or are we an insular town, closing the gates to the influence and income from passersby in an attempt to preserve what’s left of this quiet, simple existence?

Are we an artsy progressive hub in a sea of red, or a lighthouse for political refugees from the farthest right? Are we developers or off-gridders, mountain people or lake lovers, environmentalists or industrialists?

What are we, exactly?

Each unique part of our community’s sense of self, which used to feel like a melting pot of shared otherness, now seems mutually exclusive — where one can’t exist while the other thrives.

It’s a tension, perhaps adopted from the national climate, that prevents us from knowing where we stand together, let alone deciding on and planning for where we’re heading next.

This tension is reflected in the energy of conflict at local government meetings and political elections, in the skepticism at and support of Schweitzer Mountain’s acquisition and our downtown’s redevelopment, in the “now hiring” signs and second-home sales, in open fields and construction of storage unit complexes, in angry letters to the editor and the everyday exchanges of people who forget they’re still neighbors underneath it all.

I don’t know the path forward — how to break this

tension to reveal a community with an understanding of who and what it is, that can make decisions based on what we know to be best for the people who live here. But I’d bet it starts with turning inward, reflecting on what will define us and what we refuse to claim as our own.

And maybe, in also dedicating ourselves to finding the common ground on which we all stand, we can

rediscover the uniqueness that allowed so many different types of people, with different ideas about how to be in the world, to make one place that’s beautifully in between.

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

Retroactive

By BO

February 1, 2024 / R / 11

PERSPECTIVES

We must stop fentanyl traffickers — House Bill 406 is needed for Idaho

By Idaho Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke Reader Contributor There is a killer in our midst, hiding in plain sight. The dangerous and highly lethal drug fentanyl has made its way into Idaho and is killing our citizens in record numbers. In 2022, 49% of all overdose deaths in Idaho were related to fentanyl, and that number is likely underreported.

We need to send a clear message to the drug cartels and traffickers who are sneaking this drug into our state that they are not welcome in our communities.

One way to send that message is to pass House Bill 406. This bill passed out of the Idaho House of Representatives on Jan. 29, and is now heading to the Idaho Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee. This legislation will add fentanyl trafficking to our mandatory minimum sentencing law, which already applies to other hard drugs like heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine. Support for this legislation is strong; more than 86% of Idahoans

deadly. So, an unsusagree with its provipecting person may sions. think they are taking It’s important to a helpful prescription clarify that House Bill pill, but in fact they 406 does not tarmay be ingesting a leget fentanyl users or victims. This proposed thal dose of fentanyl. law would apply only This drug is a danger to law enforcement to those found guilty and health care/EMT of intentionally propersonnel as well beducing, importing, cause they may come distributing or selling fentanyl into Idaho.

Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke. File photo. into direct contact with fentanyl in the course This epidemic must of their duties. Because it is lethal be cut off at the source — and that even in miniscule amounts, these source is the traffickers. public servants are put at risk more Fentanyl is a highly effective, and and more often as illegal fentanyl use highly addictive, narcotic pain killer increases on our streets.

— as much as 100 times more potent According to the DEA, every than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin. The drug traffentanyl pill has a 70% chance of fickers know this, which is why they containing a lethal dose. Do you want mix small amounts into other drugs your teenager or loved one to take that chance? which are often made to look like Idaho must take a hard stance on regular medications. But sometimes the “small amounts” are enough to be trafficking. We need to send a clear

Scott Bedke has served as the 44th lieutenant governor of Idaho since January 2023. Prior to that, he served 22 years in the Idaho Legislature, including as House speaker from 2012 until 2022 — making him the longest-serving speaker in the state’s history.

A new level of spring cleaning

Library district institutes new system to keep track of items

By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff

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message by imposing stringent sentencing guidelines for those selling this deadly poison to unsuspecting Idahoans. House Bill 406 will hold fentanyl traffickers accountable and will cause drug cartels to rethink doing business in Idaho due to the risks of prison time.

My colleagues and I have a duty to protect Idaho’s citizens. House Bill 406 supports law enforcement, deters drug cartels, holds traffickers accountable and helps prevent more overdose deaths. I urge you to reach out to your legislators to voice support for mandatory minimum sentencing for fentanyl traffickers and tell them to vote “yes” on House Bill 406.

January’s wet weather has the East Bonner County Library District ready for an early spring cleaning project — and this year, the entire organizational system will receive a technological update. Library items will move away from the grocery-style barcodes of the past as workers institute a system of wireless tags that use radio-frequency identification, or RFID, to streamline location and checkout.

“All the patron will need to worry about is setting down their stack of books, watching a library staff member scan their card and place the stack on the RFID antenna, and they’re done and free to go. No more waiting on individual barcode scanning,” Interim Director and Principal Librarian Vanessa Velez told the Reader.

RFID cuts the time spent waiting in line, giving readers greater opportunity to lose themselves in the shelves and find the perfect bedside book. Like security tags in a store, the RFID will signal if an item has been properly checked out. If for some reason a book wasn’t scanned,

an alarm will sound, alerting patrons before they leave and ensuring that the list of checked-out books remains up to date.

“It will be much easier for staff to find items that are on hold, missing, etc., thanks to a handheld ‘magic wand’ scanner that we can take into the stacks,” added Velez.

Switching to RFID will make librarians’ and patrons’ lives easier without changing the look or feel of the libraries. Still, this pre-spring cleaning project is a massive undertaking.

Officials estimate that two trained workers can tag more than 200 books per hour, but the library district has budgeted several months for the project to ensure a thorough result without disrupting readers.

Community members looking to help out — and improve their own lives — should take inspiration from the district and begin their own spring cleaning duties early.

The library has books on cleaning and organizing almost every room to ensure your house is sparkling — and, while tidying, be on the lookout for any borrowed items.

“If you’re fearing judgment and condemnation from library staff, please

don’t! Our staff work through an immense volume of materials every day.

Unless there is a flag on the item telling our staff that something special needs to be done with it, no one is going to look twice at your account or judge you for late materials,” said Velez.

Finding and returning overdue items is the easiest way to support the library during this transition, as it keeps the task orderly and reveals which items are truly missing and which are simply misplaced. The library only charges late fees for personal Wi-Fi hotspots, so any overdue books left sitting on coffee tables can be returned with no consequences.

“The best way you can help your local library is to volunteer. We’re trying to minimize how this project will affect the patrons, but staff may have a greater workload on their plate during the project and will need increased help shelving materials and maintaining the items on the shelves during the project,” Velez said.

Give back to the library by donating a bit of time and energy, and make your home a little tidier in the process. For more information on how to volunteer, visit ebonnerlibrary. org/volunteer.

PERSPECTIVES

Protecting our forests is protecting our future

By Chris Bachman Reader Contributor The Biden administration’s December 2023 announcement that it plans to protect old-growth trees from logging — such as those slated for removal in the Yaak’s Black Ram timber sale — is a reason for everyone to celebrate.

Few old-growth forest lands remain in the West and even fewer in Montana. Losing these forests to the saw is counter to all our best interests. These forests are critical to mitigating climate change and, once lost, will take centuries to replace. We simply don’t have the time.

Old-growth trees range in age from 100 to more than 1,000 years old. Some trees marked for cutting in the Black Ram Project, halted by the Ninth Circuit Court in 2023, exceed 500 years of age. We advocate for protecting these ancient trees as part of our nation’s first Climate Refuge, the initial step in creating a curtain of green, which would stretch across the northern tier of the globe and play a vital role in ame-

liorating the biodiversity crisis and slowing climate change.

Wildfire is a legitimate concern for rural communities. Cutting old-growth trees does nothing to mitigate the risk of wildfire. Indeed, these hundred-plus-year-old trees are usually the last to burn. They have proven their resilience to environmental stressors by the mere fact that they remain standing.

In April 2023, the U.S. Forest Service — fulfilling its requirement under Executive Order 14072, — released “Mature and Old-Growth Forests: Definition, Identification, and Initial Inventory on Lands Managed by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.” The document concludes that old growth forests are especially resistant to wildfire and other natural disturbances as the climate warms.

The driving force behind the increase in wildfire activity we are seeing today is climate change. Even if we stopped emitting carbon immediately, the effects of emissions already in the air would continue for decades.

Clearly, we need to stop

emitting carbon but also focus on preserving and strengthening natural processes that remove and store carbon from the atmosphere.

In addition to capturing and storing carbon in their leaves, branches, trunks, roots and building carbon-rich soils, these forests provide wildlife habitat and clean drinking water for our communities.

The Biden administration is taking an important step toward protecting old-growth forests from logging. However, we also need to protect our nation’s mature forests.

These slightly younger forests, if left alone, will eventually develop the characteristics that will create the complex ecosystem found in an old-growth forest. The administration must also move to protect mature trees and forests from logging.

We need to get the Forest Service out of the timber sale business and into the business of conserving our national forests — a benefit to all Americans, including those involved in the timber industry. Our forests have much to offer besides sawlogs.

The administration’s proposal would amend all 128 national forest plans, but currently contains loopholes, such as allowing thinning in old-growth forests and logging old-growth trees for wildfire mitigation — in opposition to the best available science.

These loopholes must be eliminated. The amendment must protect all old-growth and mature trees and forests in the national forest system from commercial logging.

Our wildlife and our climate — and our children’s futures — depend on it.

The administration wants

your input. Comments on the proposal are requested

by Friday, Feb. 2, and can be submitted here: cara. fs2c.usda.gov/Public//CommentInput?Project=65356.

Letters must be submitted to the Director, Ecosystem Management Coordination, 201 14th St. SW, Mailstop 1108, Washington, D.C., 20250-1124.

The proposed action is expected in May 2024 and will be accompanied by an additional comment period, and the final action is expected in January 2025.

Chris Bachman is conservation director of the Yaak Valley Forest Council, based in northwestern Montana, within the Kootenai National Forest. Get more info on the organization at yaakvalley.org.

February 1, 2024 / R / 13

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COMMUNITY

Valentine’s Cards for Seniors enters its fourth year

Program aims to bring a little love to local elderly population

By Ben Olson Reader Staff For the fourth consecutive year, Valentine’s Day will usher in a bit more love for Sandpoint’s senior population. Donna Price began Bonner County Valentine’s Cards for Seniors in 2020, which is an annual event during which community members make Valentine’s, which she then collects and distributes to local senior centers and assisted living facilities.

Price planned to start small during the first year, hoping to make and hand out about 200 cards, but the community caught wind of it and the response blew away any notions of a humble beginning for the program.

Through social media, local newspapers and word of mouth, Price’s project went viral and, by the end of the inaugural collection period, she had received more than 1,400 cards.

Now, the Valentine’s cards are produced by various members of the community, then dropped at collection buckets around the county from which Price gathers them up before Valentine’s Day. Price will then deliver the cards throughout the county to make sure area seniors receive a little love on Valentine’s Day.

As a touching new development over the past few years, area students from Sandpoint High School; elementary schools in Clark Fork, Sagle and Sandpoint; PSNI; and several day care centers have also chipped in to create cards for the program.

Price told the Reader the response to the program has been overwhelming.

“This started when COVID hit our community and many seniors could not leave nor have visitors,” Price said.

“I have continued it because many participants enjoy doing this and for some past recipients, it was their very last Valentine’s Day. Knowing that smiles were brought to their hearts and faces is what keeps me doing this.”

To participate, make or purchase Valentine’s cards and drop them at any of the heart-shaped baskets spread across the county. Price asks that cards come in envelopes that aren’t sealed.

Participants can write their name or include an anonymous note such as “From Someone Who Cares,” and drop at the following locations before noon, on Friday, Feb. 9: Buckin’ Beans, Fry Creek Animal Clinic, Pierce Auto and Maker’s Long Acres in Sagle; Finan McDonald, Kokanee Coffee, Monarch Mountain Coffee, Evans Brothers Coffee, Sanctuary Seconds,

Valentine’s Cards made by Sandpoint Academy, left, and Hope Day Care, above. Courtesy photos.

Panhandle Cone & Coffee, Sharon’s Hallmark, Creations for Sandpoint, Millers Country Store, Sandpoint Super Drug, Savory Neighborhood Grill and Miss Alison Fitness in Sandpoint; Cafe 95, Hoot Owl, Farmhouse Kitchen BBQ and Breakfast Cantina in Ponderay; or Infinity Cafe in Priest River until Monday, Feb. 5.

Price said one of the biggest joys for her each year is sorting through the cards and distributing them to the local seniors.

“I can see all the time and love invested in each card, even the store bought ones that have handwritten messages in them,” Price said. “I do go through a lot of tissue during this time.”

Those with any questions can contact Price at iamprob@gmail.com.

For more information about Bonner County Valentine’s Cards for Seniors, visit the Facebook page at bit.ly/BoCoValentines.

Sandpoint Senior Center celebrates 50 years

The Sandpoint Senior Center passed an important milestone Jan. 25 as it celebrated 50 years in Sandpoint.

Those in attendance at the center gathered to talk with friends and neighbors, checking out several displays that highlighted memories from the past half century during which folks have gathered there. The center has grown considerably since Alamae Cox found-

ed the Bonner County Senior Citizens Council in 1974, later renamed Sandpoint Area Seniors, Inc, or SASi for short.

The meals for seniors program prepares, serves and delivers more than 2,000 meals every month to seniors across Bonner County.

Board Member Loris Michael told the Reader that the Senior Center helps

“eliminate the loneliness of seniors,” and that SASi was eager to receive input on what people would like to see moving forward.

The center will hold an open house soon, so stay tuned for more from the friendliest room in Sandpoint.

— Words by Ben Olson, photos courtesy of SASi, Loris Michael and Russ Tomlin.

February 1, 2024 / R / 15

COMMUNITY

Panida kicks off series of Oscar-nominated films with Oppenheimer screening

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff Coinciding with the run-up to the Academy Awards in March, the Panida Theater is hosting a string of Oscar-nominated films, beginning Saturday, Feb. 3, with Oppenheimer, which has been tapped for 13 honors, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress and Actor.

It’s the story of the complicated scientist behind the successful invention of the atomic bomb — and one half of the summer’s historic film fervor, referred to as “Barbenheimer” in a portmanteau of the Barbie and Oppenheimer films, which premiered on the same weekend in July 2023 and collectively raked in billions of dollars. (The Panida already screened Barbie in December.)

As a biopic, Oppenheimer deals more directly with the personal and political

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travails of its eponymous lead character than it does with “The Bomb,” resulting in a three-hour run-time affording the opportunity for Cillian Murphy to cement himself as a tip-top A-lister, Robert Downey Jr. to remind us that he is indeed a serious actor and Emily Blunt to remind us how great she always is. And that there was much more complexity surrounding “The Bomb” than we might realize.

The performances of its principal actors transcend the essential talkyness of the plot. For real: Its ratio of conversations-to-explosions is the opposite of an action movie (and Downey Jr. would know). And that’s a big part of why the film is shortlisted for Best Picture. As pointed out by entertainment writer Austen Goslin — and widely repeated — Oppenheimer “gave its stars time to shine” and more specifically, “prove[d] we didn’t run out of real movie stars, we ran out of real movies.” (On the latter point,

Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer. Courtesy photo.

Goslin referred to Downey Jr., but that observation could and should be expanded to the whole cast).

Sponsored by Ting Internet, the series of Oscar-nominated Best Picture films all begin at 7 p.m. (with doors open at 6:30 p.m.) and will continue Friday, Feb. 16 with Past Lives and Friday, Feb. 23 with The Holdovers.

Even better, tickets only cost $5 for all audience members.

FEATURE

Finna spill that groovy tea Slang through the generations

By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff

Humanity’s desire to endlessly create and reimagine slang gets us all in the end. Everyone wakes up one day, only to discover that the kids on the street are speaking a different language. Such is life.

Despite each generation’s ability to generate new terms, the same old concepts persist through the ages, leading to unique takes on repeated ideas. In an effort to keep the lines of communication open between everyone at the dinner table, the following is a Rosetta Stone of synonyms through the ages — a linguistic exploration of what unites us.

Expressing approval Much of today’s puzzling slang comes from Generation Z — born anywhere from 1997 to 2012 — though Generation Alpha has already taken up the cause. There’s seemingly no end to the amount of terms Zoomers use to say that something is just plain good.

The term “lit” was especially popular in the 2010s, though it actually dates back to the 1910s. It initially meant “intoxicated,” but became more widely applicable as it moved from party culture into mainstream use.

The Gen Z adjectives “fire,” “Gucci” and “bussin‘,” as well as the verb “slaps” can be used interchangeably to express approval of any concept aside from people — though some variations are more closely associated with specific niches. “Gucci,” given its origins as a luxury clothing brand, is more likely to describe possessions or places than food.

Practice time: “Gucci/lit/fire restaurant, bro. We should come back soon.”

“For sure. This spaghetti slaps — it’s bussin‘ bussin‘.”

Despite the myriad modern ways to approve of something, no recent invention has come close to supplanting the term “cool,” made popular by the Greatest Generation in the 1930s.

Each generation has brought forward its own version: the Baby Boomers said

“Rizz” was crowned Oxford’s Word of the Year for 2023. Courtesy image. “groovy,” Generation X used “rad” and Millennials took the term “dank,” which before then was almost exclusively used to describe unfinished basements. With more than 90 years spent dominating the English slang lexicon — as well as in many other languages — cool remains, well, the coolest.

Payday “Time is money,” according to the cliche, but in everyday life — and when it comes to colloquialisms — money is mostly food. Elder Zoomers and Millennials failing to look cool can still be heard parroting the outdated phrase, “Let’s get this bread!” before heading off to work.

According to findings published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, bread has nourished humanity for more than 14,400 years and even predates the invention of agriculture. This staple food was first used in a monetary context in the 1930s, though its origins are subject to debate.

It’s been suggested that “bread” is a shortened version of the Cockney rhyming slang “bread and honey” (“honey” = “money”), though there’s no evidence as to which usage came first. An alternative theory posits that the term is a variant of “dough,” which appeared in J.R. Bartlett’s Dictionary of Americanisms in 1848.

Referring to money as “dough” has been in near constant use for the past

five generations, and can be found in the 1937 show tune “The Lady is a Tramp” from Babes in Arms, which reentered pop culture with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga’s 2011 version.

Completing the money sandwich, older members of the Baby Boomers, as well as their parents and grandparents produced such slang as “cheddar,” “bacon” and “lettuce” to refer to cash.

On those rare instances when a food analogy just didn’t cut the mustard, the Greatest Generation began using “mulah” (now spelled “moolah”) at least as far back as 1936, where it appeared in New York’s Daily News. Boomers generated the term “scratch” not to be confused with “Scratch,” “Old Scratch” or “Mr. Scratch” — all pseudonyms for the devil that have been in use since at least 1734, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

That dark association is presumably accidental, unlike Gen X’s use of the phrase “dead presidents,” referencing paper bills in particular. Hip hop culture in the 1990s popularized the term after rapper Nas used it in his 1994 song “The World is Yours.”

Lookin‘ fine What should you say when a friend or partner’s all dressed up? A Boomer might look at their clothes and compliment their “threads,” while a Mil-

lennial might focus on their “bling,” or jewelry. Zoomers don’t necessarily distinguish between the two — everything from hair to accessories is part of someone’s “fit” — a variation of “outfit” with a more complimentary spin.

Though there isn’t an exact translation into previous generations’ slang, “drip” can be used interchangeably with “fit” or more generally to mean “style.” Having drip is synonymous with being fashionable, or in some cases covered in bling, whereas “dripping” is the act of oozing style.

Millennials might be tempted to claim a kinship with the word “swag,” but Gen Z’s replacement for that now-embarrassing word is “rizz,” short for “charisma.” Rizz is another complimentary term that encompasses a person’s style, personality and overall attractiveness. Send anyone with rizz back to the 1970s or ’80s, and Gen X would call them “fly.”

Practice time: “I want a fit like Beyoncé’s at the Grammys. Her drip is unparalleled. She’s got so much rizz.”

There isn’t enough space for a deep-dive into every bit of gobbledygook on TikTok, but the following are common enough to warrant a mention: Boomer: “What’s the skinny?”

Gen Z: “Spill the tea.”

Translation: “Let’s gossip.”

Gen X: “Wack” Millennial: “Sketch” Gen Z: “Sus” Translation: “Bad” or “dubious.”

Boomer: “For realsies” Millennial: “Literally” Gen Z: “No cap.”

Translation: “I’m not lying.”

Boomer: “Cruisin‘ for a bruisin‘” Gen Z: “Finna [fixing to] catch these hands.”

Translation: Asking for a fight.

Now go forth, secure in your knowledge of modern slang — at least for the next few weeks.

February 1, 2024 / R / 17

COMMUNITY KRFY Community Radio adds medical show to program schedule

events

Send event listings to calendar@sandpointreader.com THURSDAY, february 1 Thursday Bingo 6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority

By Reader Staff Dr. JoAnn Rohyans will join the roster of hosts on 88.5 KRFY Community Radio with her new show, Medical Musings with Dr. JoAnn, beginning Monday, Feb. 5 at 8 a.m.

The show will feature medical news and information along with interviews with local medical experts, broadcasted on the first Monday of every month and re-broadcasted at 8 a.m. each third Monday.

Rohyans is a retired pediatrician who has lived in Sandpoint since 2010. She worked in a pediatric practice in Columbus, Ohio, for more than 30 years and covered at Sandpoint Pediatrics substituting for the physicians as needed.

She also served as a media spokesperson for the Central Ohio Pediatric Society, the Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the national American Academy of Pediatrics.

Rohyans’ first show on KRFY will focus on heart health with cardiologist Dr. Ronald Jenkins and a representative from pediatric dentistry, as February is both American Heart Month and Children’s Dental Health Month.

February 1-8, 2024

Live Music w/ Nobody Famous 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Rock, pop and blues Live Music w/ Brendon Kelty 6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Sandpoint Americana artist Live Music w/ Bruiser 7pm @ The Hive Rock, pop, funk and country covers start at 8:45 p.m. 21+, $5

FriDAY, february 2

Live Music w/ Bright Moments Jazz 7-9pm @ The Back Door

Live Music w/ Ian Newbill 8-11pm @ St. Bernard (Schweitzer) Country, classic rock

Lucy West Exhibition: Artistry in Orbit 5-7pm @POAC Gallery Meet the artist, view and purchase origial work at 313 N. Second Ave.

Live Music w/ Karen Atkins Trio 5pm @ Connie’s Lounge Original stylings akin to Sheryl Crow

Jaclyn Eckersley Art Open House 5pm @ Hepler Law & Consulting Local paintings and light bites at 111 Cedar St. Suite 6

Tickets on sale for The Follies Get tickets for one of the craziest shows of the year at panida.org, Eichardt’s or online at panida.org. $30 or $50 for VIP tickets

SATURDAY, february 3 Live Music w/ AP Collective 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Singer-songwriter duo

Live Music w/ Justin Lantrip 6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Sandpoint singer-songwriter

Sun Daddy Sandpoint Drum Circle 3-5pm @ Embody, 823 Main St. Held 1st and 3rd Saturdays. FREE

Live Music w/ Devon Wade Band 9pm-midnight @ 219 Lounge Devon brings his passion for modern country back to the Niner for night of full on rock ’n’ country. 21+ FREE

Live Music w/ Double Shot Band 6pm @ Connie’s Lounge Mason Bros. from Priest River

Friends of the Library monthly book sale 10am-2pm @ Sandpoint Library Half off sale on everything, except a few specially priced items

Live Music w/ John Daffron 5-8pm @ Barrell 33

11th Edition Western Pleasure Snowshoe Roundup 8am @ Western Pleasure Guest Ranch 1413 Upper Gold Creek Rd. Number pickup begins at 8 a.m. and races begin at 10 a.m. Cost is $30 for adults, $15 for youth, and 12 and under are free.

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

Live Music w/ Ian Newbill 5:30-8pm @ Old Ice House Country and classic rock at the Old Ice House Pizzeria in Hope

16th Annual Heart Ball 5-11pm @ Bonner County Fairgrounds Raise funds for a new endoscope and improved diagnostics.

SunDAY, february 4

Magic with Star Alexander 5-8pm @ Jalepeño’s Up close magic shows at the table

monDAY, february 5 Monday Night Blues Jam w/ John Firshi 7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub

Outdoor Experience Group Run 6pm @ Outdoor Experience 3-5 miles, all levels welcome

Lifetree Cafe • 2pm @ Jalapeño’s “The Advent of the Messiah” to discuss Pool League 6pm @ Connie’s Lounge the historical context of Jesus Every Monday

tuesDAY, february 6

Health Hikes 8:30-9:15am @ Pine Street Woods Includes a group discussion on a current health topic w/ medical professionals Piano w/ Dwayne Parsons 5-7pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Stories through music

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Read to Pepper the Therapy Dog 3:30-4:30pm @ Sandpoint Library 10 minutes each in Karen’s Kids Room

wednesDAY, february 7 Wednesday Trivia 6pm @ Connie’s Lounge $5 per person. Win discounts on dinner.

ThursDAY, february 8 Artist Reception for Bruce Duykers 5-7pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Bruce presents an extensive collection of watercolors, oil paintings, realism and abstract

Monday Trivia Night 6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority With a revolving series of hosts

Cribbage League 7pm @ Connie’s Lounge Every Thursday

STAGE & SCREEN

Idiocracy, the documentary

We are now entering the timeline when Mike Judge’s cult film is closer to reality than fiction

By Ben Olson Reader Staff When Mike Judge’s film Idiocracy was released in 2006, it landed in a different world. This was years before a buffoon named Donald Trump started questioning Barack Obama’s birthplace, when the idea of thousands of insurrectionists breaking into the U.S. Capitol would have been met with universal scorn instead of justifications and conspiracy theories. It wasn’t a perfect time, but the world hadn’t gone completely off its rocker yet. There were at least a few adults still in charge, as it were.

Today? Not so much. There are millions of people who think the Earth is flat. Millions who believe certain celebrities and politicians are eating babies, that the COVID-19 pandemic was cooked up in Bill Gates’ basement, that reptilian aliens have infiltrated Earth and King Charles is actually a vampire.

Just last week, Fox News personalities claimed that the Super Bowl was rigged, and that the Kansas City Chiefs would win because it’s Travis Kelce’s team and he’s dating Taylor Swift, and Swift would use the Super Bowl win to announce her endorsement of Joe Biden in front of the world.

We are truly living in one of the dumbest timelines.

The exaggerated parody of Idiocracy explores the question, “What would America be like if dumb people took over?”

It didn’t do particularly well at the box office and lived in a sort of limbo for several years until, about 10 years ago, savvy cinephiles began proclaiming that Idiocracy was actually a prophetic film with many “predictions” that are oddly close to our current state of affairs. Idiocracy was becoming a documentary, and that’s alarming.

The opening scene sets the stage. A narrator explains that,

instead of natural selection in which “the strongest, the smartest, the fastest reproduced in greater numbers than the rest,” America was experiencing a “dumbing down” effect.

“Evolution does not necessarily reward intelligence,” the narrator continued. “With no natural predators to thin the herd, it began to simply reward those who reproduced the most, and left the intelligent to become an endangered species.”

We then see a juxtaposition between two families: a young, intelligent couple named Carol and Trevor explaining why they won’t be having kids yet (“not with the market the way it is”) and Clevon and Trish of the trailer park, as they pop out whole football teams worth of kids and creating a family tree that grows exponentially.

For those who haven’t seen it, I’ll keep the spoilers to a minimum: Private Joe Bauers (played by Luke Wilson) is average in every way. He is selected to take part in a secret military experiment that puts him in hibernation for a year with a sex worker named Rita (played by Maya Rudolph). The pair are forgotten about for 500 years and the base they are stored in is shuttered. When they’re finally brought out of hibernation, they discover that society has devolved and average human intelligence has decreased so dramatically that perfectly average Joe is now the smartest man in the world.

Though it began as a goofball comedy, watching Idiocracy today elicits occasional sighs as viewers can’t help but compare these “jokes” to our current reality. Here are some of the movie’s most prophetic moments: • Educated people reproduce at a lower rate. It is true that female college graduates on average have 20% fewer children than high-school graduates. In fact, there is a

growing number of so-called BirthStrikers who have chosen not to have children for fear that climate change and the dumbing-down effect will create a more hostile, unpleasant world for their children.

• Corporations control everything. In the film, two corporations have emerged that control just about everything: an energy drink company called Brawndo and Costco, which has sprawling box stores that go on for miles and sell everything you’d ever imagine. In reality, corporations today have some political rights previously afforded only to humans, thanks to cases like Citizens United v.

FEC, which gave corporations and outside groups the right to spend an unlimited amount of money toward political campaigns.

•The presidency and Congress have devolved into a mess.

Terry Crews plays President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho, who wears gaudy American flag vests and muscle shirts, rides a motorcycle and fires rounds from his automatic rifle into the air to get people’s attention in the House of Representatives (now called the “House of Representin’”).

Having lived through the past seven or eight years of American politics under the influence of Donald Trump and his followers, it doesn’t seem

so funny anymore.

• Society is inundated with crude humor. Living amid a post-capitalist hellscape of trash piles, the people in the year 2505 have fairly crude tastes. The most popular TV show is called Ow, My Balls! and features a man repeatedly being kicked in the nuts (compare this to the very real show, Wipeout, which has people getting pummeled while navigating an obstacle course).

The top Oscar-winning film in the year 2505 is just a shot of a naked butt. Nobody drinks water anymore, instead quaffing Brawndo, “The Thirst Mutilator.” Fox News is the only news source and Starbucks offers sexual favors along with its lattes. When a mother is deemed “unfit” while using a Carl’s Jr. vending machine, a canned corporate voices announces, “You are an unfit mother. Your children will be placed in the custody of Carl’s Jr.” • Language has been dumbed down. The English language in Idiocracy has deteriorated into a sort of patois of hillbilly, Valley girl and inner-city slang that is punctuated with various grunts. Words like “amazeballs” and “cray cray” in use today seem to punctuate this point of the film with a bitter pill of reality.

• Advertising is everywhere.

In Idiocracy, it seems that every square inch is filled with adver-

President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho greets his followers from the presidential motorcade. Courtesy image. tising, from clothing to the presidential lectern. In reality, a Russian company called StartRocket aims to display enormous billboard-style advertisements in the air. There very much could be a day in the near future when the night sky is lit with constellations of McDonald’s and Coca-Cola logos.

Perhaps the America of 2024 can take some lessons from the America of Idiocracy’s 2505. There is a ray of hope in the film, after all, proving that no matter how far down the dumb rabbit hole we travel, the U.S. does not have to be a failed state.

Our problems are solvable. It might take years to claw ourselves away from this dumb blue light that seems to attract more and more of us, but we have overcome worse.

In the words of Charles Bukowksi, “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.”

If we are able to lessen the doubts of the intelligent ones and decrease the confidence of the stupid ones, we might just save ourselves from an “idiocratic” future.

I’m not holding my breath, though.

February 1, 2024 / R / 19

Cosmic talent lands in Sandpoint

POAC hosts Lucy West exhibition opening reception

By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff The Pend Oreille Arts Council and nationally renowned artist Lucy West are partnering to present her exhibition Artistry in Orbit, which uses vivid depictions of space to showcase the intersection of art and science. Visit the POAC Gallery on Friday, Feb. 2 to see why her celestial masterpieces have been commissioned and exhibited

by NASA, the United States House of Representatives and Lowell Observatory — one of the oldest in the nation.

“I find the most inspiring aspect of Lucy’s work to be the stories she tells.

Each piece invokes a curiosity. The subject matter is a part of that, but I also think it’s the attention to detail,” POAC Arts Coordinator Claire Christy told the Reader.

At this special opening reception, art-lovers and space enthusiasts alike will have the opportunity to speak with West about her methods and the inspiration she finds in North Idaho’s starry skies.

“We all share this beautiful sky.

We’ve all tried to take a picture of the moon with our phones, and it’s never

as good as we hope. Lucy has the ability to look at the moon and create an accurate representation, something all of us wish we could do,” said Christy.

The exhibition opening is FREE. Experience it on Friday, Feb. 2 from 5-7 p.m. at the POAC Gallery, 313 N. Second Ave., Suite B. For more info, visit artinsandpoint.org.

Artist Lucy West stands with her painting titled “Frontiers.” Courtesy photo.

Craft learners unite at Kaniksu Folk School Chamber hires new E.D. Mickey Quinn

By Reader Staff The winter session of Kaniksu Land Trust’s nature education initiative for adults is now open. Seven traditional living classes will be held at the Big Red Shed located at the Pine Street Sledding Hill, 11735 W. Pine St. Students forge new skills, build friendships and craft traditional items for their own use in a casual, small-group setting. Classes are beginner level with no experience necessary, unless otherwise noted. Instruction is provided by locally and regionally acclaimed artisans who have spent years refining their craft.

Register for the following courses at kaniksu.org/kaniksufolkschool: • Saturday, Feb. 17 — Intro to Timber Framing with Bo Petterson, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m., $150, $50 materials fee; • Saturday, Feb. 24 — Healing 20 / R / February 1, 2024

Herbs for Winter Wellness with Laura Clemmons, noon-3 p.m. (location TBD), $25, $10 materials fee; • Saturday, March 2 — Birch Wood Shrink Jars with Shaun Deller, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., $60; • Saturday, March 2-Sunday, March 3 — Advanced Spoon Carving with Matt Honsinger (prerequisite required), noon-4 p.m., $80; • Saturday, March 9 — Intro to Sashiko and Visible Mending with Hillary DeCecchis, 10 a.m.-noon, $40; • Saturday, March 16 — Printmaking with Amy Stephensen, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., $45, $15 materials fee; • Saturday, March 23 — Intro to Blacksmithing with Nick Belfrey, 9 a.m.-noon, $45.

For more information, contact Kaniksu Folk School Coordinator Brianna Larson at 208-263-9471 or brianna@kaniksu.org.

By Reader Staff The Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce recently announced the hiring of Mickey Quinn as its new executive director.

Quinn comes to the chamber with years of experience in management, business operations, budgeting, retail growth, leadership development and business coaching, including successfully managing and starting companies specialized in developing strategic business plans, operational processes and interpersonal relationship building.

“Her experience in retail is sure to lend value to local businesses, while creating new and exciting ways to help chamber member businesses thrive,” the chamber stated in a news release.

“The chamber is excited for the next chapter with Mickey as the executive director and we hope that you get a chance to visit with her, share your thoughts and visions of the com-

Mickey Quinn. Courtesy photo. munity with her, and work with her to continue building our community into a wonderful place to visit and live,” the chamber added.

MUSIC

This week’s RLW by Zach Hagadone

Listening in tongues

Why do we like songs sung in languages we don’t understand?

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff A long time ago, on a road trip through the countryside surrounding the German-Austrian border, the girls with whom I was riding broke into song when one of them popped in a CD of Kinks songs. When they came to the chorus of “Apeman,” the lyrics came to them as, “I’m an eggman, I’m an egg, eggman, oh I’m an eggman.”

More than 20 years later, I still can’t hear that song without automatically converting “apeman” to “eggman,” and I also have to suppress an impulse to poke fun at those German girls for unintentionally bungling the lyrics. I certainly wouldn’t do any better trying to sing along to a song in a language other than the one I grew up with. And that got me wondering why someone would even try — what’s more, why would someone listen to music in a language they don’t understand in the first place?

All that ruminating led me to realize that much of my favorite music comes in tongues I don’t speak — pretty much any and all “classical” music of the European tradition will be rendered in Latin, French, Italian or even German. I also do love an early- to mid-20th

century chanson, but that doesn’t mean I’m fully following what Edith Piaf or Serge Gainsbourg are actually saying.

I have a deep affection for Russian and other Eastern European folk music, but that stuff is completely unintelligible to my ear, as are the folk songs I like from Wales and the Spanish-speaking world.

And you can forget about songs I find catchy from places like East Asia, Central Asia or the Middle East.

If I really kept track and analyzed it, I reckon I don’t understand what’s being said in about 60% of the music I listen to by choice.

That’s weird to think about, but I’m not alone.

You can look back over centuries to find examples of people absorbing songs whose words they don’t follow — particularly in religious settings, where for hundreds of years the Catholic service (including its songs of praise) was conducted exclusively in Latin. Of course, it’s also in religious environments where the phenomenon of “glossolalia” is to be found — that is, “speaking in tongues” as a perceived channeling of angelic or otherwise supernatural language outside the literal understanding of the speaker or their listeners.

Meanwhile, the reason peo-

ple seem more than OK with listening to music that doesn’t mean anything to them vocally has to do with something called “sound symbolism.”

According to an article on the subject published by Vice. com, it turns out that the human mind is just as happy to interpret meaning and mood from a song’s rhythm and tempo, instrumentation and tonality, as it is from the literal meaning of the words that accompany those elements. In fact, we might like the sound of those words more because they’re divorced from straightforward meaning — as one expert told Vice, “Song frees the voice from any burden of saying anything meaningful.”

Rather, listeners can concoct their own meanings that may or may not line up with the linguistic text, but respond more directly to how the music makes them feel (a powerful psycho-physical reaction called “entrainment,” which

puts us literally in harmony with the sounds around us).

One quirky example is the unlikely 1970s hit “Prisencolinensinainciusol,” composed

by Italian pop singer Adriano Celentano. Its unwieldy and obscure title hints at what lay behind its success: Its lyrics are almost entirely nonsense (except for the words “all right”). Otherwise, the song was meant to replicate the sound of an English-language song as it would be heard by a non-English-speaking audience. In other words, if you’re an English speaker who wants to know what it’s like for non-English speakers to listen to music in “our” language, “Prisencolinensinainciusol” will give you that experience.

Beyond that, deliberately creating a song without any obvious lyrical meaning makes us rethink how understanding is conveyed through music beyond “words,” as we commonly understand them.

Finally, what really matters is identifying that subjective quality of a song simply being “catchy” — kind of like how saying “eggman” instead of “apeman” doesn’t diminish the Kinks any, at least for me — and that might be the best evidence to support the old cliche about music really being the “universal language.”

A snapshot of notable live music coming up in Sandpoint Brendan Kelty, Idaho Pour Authority, Feb. 2

Bruiser, The Hive, Feb. 2

After a brief hiatus playing music in Sandpoint, Brendan Kelty is back for a show at Idaho Pour Authority.

With a thoughtful collection of Americana and indie rock, Kelty blends influences from the Rust Belt, western North Carolina and the Pacific Northwest, cultivating a sound that draws from travel experiences, wilderness living and personal relation-

Multi-award winning party band Bruiser is bringing down the house at the Hive on Friday, Feb. 2 with their rock renditions of hits from artists as diverse as Lady Gaga and Def Leppard. Singer Kayne Kody, singer and guitarist Lee Houk, bassist Dave Turner and drummer Jeremy Nolan will perform a lively 21+ show with a mix of rock, pop, funk and country bangers — and you won’t

ships. Kelty plays the musical equivalent of that old flannel shirt you always love to wear: warm, comfortable and unpretentious.

— Ben Olson 6-8 p.m., FREE. Idaho Pour Authority, 203 Cedar St., 208-5977096, idahopourauthority.com.

Listen at brendankelty.bandcamp. com.

be able to resist dancing and singing along. Doors open at 7 p.m., so enjoy a few drinks, chat with friends, then catch this high-energy band at 8:45 p.m. before they head back to Spokane.

— Soncirey Mitchell Doors at 7 p.m., $5, 21+. The Hive, 207 N. 1st Ave., 208-9209039, livefromthehive.com. Listen on YouTube at BruiserSpokane.

READ

I read a lot of books in graduate school, but one that sticks with me — and continues to feel more relevant — is Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error, by historian Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, who died in November 2023 at the age of 94. Published in 1978 and republished ever since, Montaillou is frankly the best book ever written not only about the Inquisition, but of small-town life in 14th-century France. Ask the library to order it for you.

LISTEN

Even though you could just as easily “watch” the YouTube channel “Esoterica,” I find myself routinely queuing up an episode and listening through my headphones while I do the dishes. That might not sound like the greatest recommendation, but Dr. Justin Sledge’s episodes cover everything from rare and occult books to the history of obscure religious, philosophical and spiritual ideas, and are so interesting you don’t need the visuals. Try it out and you’ll probably learn more than a few things you didn’t know you wanted to know.

WATCH

If you’re a fan of police procedural shows — and a history nerd, like me — you may like Vienna Blood, which has its home on BBC 2 but streams its two seasons on Amazon (via PBS Masterpiece). While the show is set in the first years of the 20th century in the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire — and does give dark hints of the history to come — it retains its focus on the case-of-the-week format, with each whodunit undertaken by detective Oskar and young psychologist Max exploring some aspect of Viennese life.

February 1, 2024 / R / 21

BACK OF THE BOOK

A warmer melting pot

Belize is a place of many cultures living in harmony

From Northern Idaho News, Feb. 1, 1916

MAKE TWO ARRESTS UNDER NEW LAW Walter Stacy and John Ordie, two lumberjacks, were arrested Wednesday as they stepped from Northern Pacific train No. 41 by Deputy Sheriffs Mulcahey and Spoor. Thursday morning they were arraigned in the probate court on the charge of “transporting, receiving and having in possession” certain intoxicating liquor known as whiskey.

Stacy, when apprehended, had a gallon jug, three quart bottles and a pint bottle of whiskey. Ordie had two quart and a pint bottle of the same.

Stacy is said to be an old offender, his actions under the former local option regime subjected him to some suspicion and since the first of the year it is declared that he has made four trips into Sandpoint from Noxon, Mont.

This officers do not believe that Ordie is a regular bootlegger, but think he had the stuff simply for himself and his friends. The law makes no distinction, however, and each man is subject to a minimum punishment of $50 fine and thirty days in jail, while at his discretion, the judge may impose a fine as high as $500 and a jail sentence of six months. A second offense under the law is a felony and conviction means a penitentiary term.

22 / R / February 1, 2024

By Ben Olson Reader Staff As far back as the 18th century, the melting pot metaphor was used to describe the fusion of various cultures, nationalities, religions and ethnic groups into one distinct people.

Fast forward two-and-a-half centuries later and America’s “melting pot” more resembles a fiery crucible.

One of President Donald Trump’s first actions after taking office in 2017 was to initiate a “Muslim ban,” which prohibited travel and resettlement from select predominantly Muslim countries.

Lately, on the campaign trail, Trump has claimed he will institute “extreme vetting” for immigrants, or an ideological purity test in order to, “only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people.”

There is a place, however, where the melting pot is a bit warmer and kinder than here in the states.

With a national population equal to the city of Minneapolis and a land mass the size of Rhode Island, Belize is a small nation with a big heart. The demographic composition of this tropical country is one of the most diverse societies in the world. Unbelievably, most people seem to live in harmony with one another.

The majority of Belize’s population are Mestizo, which is a mixture of Spanish and Maya. It is then followed by Maya, Creole (or Kriol), the Chinese and Garifuna — the latter descending from an Afro-Indigenous population that was exiled from the Caribbean island of St. Vincent to the Honduran coast in the 1700s, and from there eventually made their way to Belize. Kriols are the descendants

of British settlers and African slaves who were brought to Belize in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Finally, there are Mennonites who also contribute to the majority of the country’s population, as well as small portions of Jamaicans, Lebanese and expats from the U.S. and the U.K. A conservative group of Christians who live in closed communities and shun modern technology, Mennonites are particularly interesting in Belize.

More than 3,000 moved en masse from Canada by way of Mexico during the 1950s and now number more than 12,000. The Mennonites are often seen traveling to and from their farms in horse-drawn carriages. Their arrival followed an agreement with the Belizean government, which offered them land, religious freedom and exemption from certain taxes, in return for access to the fruits of the Mennonites’ agricultural labor. Even though they only make up 4% of the country’s population, Mennonites are responsible for the vast majority of domestic poultry and dairy production, as well as other food crops.

The Maya are made up of three distinct groups living in Belize, grouped for their dialect and origins; the Yucatan Maya migrated from the south of Mexico, the Mopan Maya immigrated from the Petén region of Guatemala and the Q’eqchi’ (or Kekchi) Maya moved to Belize from the area of San Pedro Carchá in Guatemala. Although Mayans clashed repeatedly with Spanish forces in other parts of Central America, the heavily rural areas of Belize went largely untouched, and several Mayan ruins remain preserved, as well as language, beliefs, music and traditional ways.

Many of the Chinese immigrants

STR8TS Solution

Sudoku Solution

moved to Belize as entrepreneurs and now own and operate large grocery stores, along with restaurants.

It is this diverse population that has led to a wide variety of cuisines offered throughout the country, as well as multiple languages spoken fluently. It’s not uncommon for Belizeans to speak three languages, with English being the official language of the country.

Also spoken frequently are Spanish, Mandarin, Hindi, German, Garifuna, Maya, Kriol and several native dialects with their origins in the distant past.

While we are experiencing a period of existential struggle with our own cultural issues in the U.S., Belize continues to show to all who travel there that it is possible to live in harmony with our neighbors, no matter what they look like, what god they worship, what food they eat or what language they speak.

Perhaps we all need to spend a few days on the beaches, jungles and farmlands of Belize to remember that diversity can be a good and healthy thing for a nation.

Especially ours.

Crossword Solution

In my next life, I hope I come back as a parrot, because I already know quite a few words.

Solution on page 22

Solution on page 22

By Bill Borders

apricity /ah-PRIS-i-tee/

Woorf tdhe Week

[noun] archaic 1. The warmth of the sun in winter

“These humicubations, the nocturnal irrorations, and the dankishness of the atmosphere, generated by a want of apricity, were extremely febrifacient” Corrections: Due to a layout error, we omitted several of the final paragraphs of the Jan. 25, 2024 Perspectives piece “Fight or Flight.” The full version is posted at sandpointreader.com. We apologize for the mistake.

Copyright www.mirroreyes.com

Laughing Matter

CROSSWORD ACROSS

1. Sword 6. Anagram of “Bone” 10. Bungle 14. Devotee 15. Arid 16. Citrus fruit 17. Sea 18. An abandoned calf or lamb 19. Largest continent 20. Related to 22. Pleased 23. Extremely 24. Sneaks a look 25. Border 29. Universal 31. Cultivated land 33. Disapprove of 37. Area around a nipple 38. Charred 39. Adolescent 41. Lowlife 42. Lubricated 44. Glimpse 45. Water vapor 48. Scoundrel 50. Pitching to one side 51. Fruitlessness 56. Decorative case 57. Anagram of “Care” 58. Eagle’s home 59. Countertenor 60. Footwear

Solution on page 22 61. Hindu social division 62. Eager 63. Chops 64. Woody plants

DOWN 1. Alliance 2. Slang term meaning insane 3. Affirm 4. Darling 5. Sea eagles 6. Fugitive

35. Harvest 7. Trounced 36. Jittery 8. Commanded 40. Otalgia 9. Require 41. 360 in a circle 10. Whip 43. Sadness 11. Fine thread 12. Inuit boat 45. Hearty entree 13. Rosary 46. What books components are called 21. Baggage 47. Wash out with 24. An essay a solvent 25. French for “State” 49. Legislate 26. Awful 51. Big party 27. Delight 52. Close 28. Stretching out 53. Celtic language 30. What’s left 54. Location 32. Scare 55. Notices 34. Spheres February 1, 2024 / R / 23

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