Reader_January2_2020

ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT, BLUSTER ANO SOME NEWS

JANUARY 2, 2020

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THE YEAR IN ADVANCE: STORIES TO LOOK OUT FOR IN THE YEAR AHEAD TO CROSS AN OCEAN • PART 1 GUNS AND MONEY: ACCOUNTING FOR THE CITY V. COUNTY GUN SUIT BANFF MTN. FILM FEST RETURNS TO SANDPOINT THE MOST ANTICIPATED ALBUMS OF THE YEAR, AND MORE...

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VOL 17, ISSUE 1

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(208) 265-5700 320 S. Ella Ave. www.IdahoVet.com

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PEOPLE compiled by

watching

Susan Drinkard What, specifically, would you like to see change or improve in your life in 2020?

“To continue to develop my brand and to travel more in 2020.”

Ravyn Smith Entrepreneur and inventor Family owns The Hive Lives on the road

DEAR READERS,

Happy new year, everyone!

While many news outlets like to publish “Year in Review” features around this time of year, we thought it might be useful to buck the norms and offer our take, which is the “Year in Advance.” Zach has offered up what we think are the biggest news stories that will hit the country and Sandpoint in the coming months of 2020.

Will he be a soothsayer or late-night infomercial psychic? Only time will tell, friends.

As you read this, I am probably sipping a rum punch in the Windward Islands, chuckling at all that cold weather. I’m going to turn this Dear Readers box over to Editor Zach Hagadone for the next few issues, and I’ll suspend my Bouquets & Barbs column until my return (if I come back, that is). After returning from crossing the Atlantic on a 39-foot catamaran in winter 2018, many of you asked if I’d write up my experiences during the trip. As requested, the next four issues include a pictorial essay on what it was like to cross an ocean. Hope you enjoy it. See you in a few weeks!

-Ben Olson, Publisher

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

www.sandpointreader.com Publisher: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com Editorial: Zach Hagadone (Editor) cameron@sandpointreader.com Lyndsie Kiebert (Staff Writer) cameron@sandpointreader.com Cameron Rasmusson (emeritus) John Reuter (emeritus) Advertising: Jodi Berge Jodi@sandpointreader.com Contributing Artists: Woods Wheatcroft (cover), Ben Olson

“I want to be healthier and happier. I lost several friends last year.”

Contributing Writers: Zach Hagadone, Lyndsie Kiebert, Lorraine H. Marie, Tim Henney, Brenden Bobby, Ben Olson, Scott Taylor Marcia Pilgeram, Ammi Midstokke

Rebecca Jackson Retired Sandpoint

Submit stories to: stories@sandpointreader.com Printed weekly at: TPC Commercial Printing Lewiston, ID Subscription Price: $115 per year

“I have been struggling with motivation in school. I would like to improve that.”

Jeremiah Flett Junior in high school Here skiing from Bellevue, Wash.

“Nothing comes to mind because I’m so blessed and thankful for what God has given us. I have a sweet family and I feel contented.”

Brad Yunek Production coordinator Sandpoint “I would like to see the Idaho State Police act with more integrity on their jobs. I have been pulled over and accused of having alcohol on my breath. I have not had alcohol in 20 years and no one has been in my car with an open container. They shouldn’t try to get people into trouble.”

Mike Hammer Semi-retired Sandpoint

OPEN 11:30 am

GAME ROOM UPSTAIRS

The Psounbality with Per FRESH FOOD LIVE MUSIC THE BEST NW BREWS

212 Cedar Street Downtown Sandpoint

208.263.4005 A SandPint Tradition Since 1994

Web Content: Keokee The Sandpoint Reader is a weekly publication owned and operated by Ben Olson and Keokee. It is devoted to the arts, entertainment, politics and lifestyle in and around Sandpoint, Idaho.

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

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

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

Requirements: –No more than 400 words –Letters may not contain excessive profanity or libelous material. Please elevate the discussion.

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

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

About the Cover

The first cover of 2020 comes from our good friend Woods Wheatcroft, who is also one hell of a photographer. This week’s shot features Miles Landis airing into the snow.

Send it, Miles!

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NEWS

County, city share to-date costs of gun ban lawsuit

By Lyndsie Kiebert and Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

Bonner County commissioners voted for a “limited release of information” in response to a public records request from the Reader regarding legal fees in the county vs. city of Sandpoint lawsuit over the Festival at Sandpoint weapons ban. According to the released documents, as of Dec. 19, 2019, the county paid Davillier Law Group $28,510.50 to represent Bonner County in the case.

The Reader had asked for “all legal fees paid” to Davillier in the specific case and a “sum cost to date” of the litigation, yet Bonner County responded that it “reserves the right to withhold this type of information in the future pursuant to Idaho Code.”

The portion of Idaho code cited lists “claims evaluations, investigatory records, computerized reports of losses, case reserves, internal documents and correspondence relating thereto” as privileged information, and that, “at the time any claim is concluded, only statistical data and actual amounts paid in settlement shall be deemed a public record unless otherwise ordered to be sealed by a court of competent jurisdiction.”

“However,” the county’s response continued, “the Bonner County Board of Commissioners voted for a limited release of information in the Bonner County v. City of Sandpoint litigation.”

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up $8,170.08 in fees to Lake City Law related to the case. The city hired the Coeur d’Alene-based firm to defend it in the lawsuit in September, then brought on Lake City Law Principal Partner Andy Doman to serve as city attorney in October.

Attorney Peter Erbland has taken lead in the case, which billing documents obtained by the Reader in a public records request cite as “Bonner County and Daryl Wheeler, Sheriff v. City of Sandpoint/Declaratory Judgment.”

According to those documents, the firm invoiced the city for $560, due Oct. 31; $6,690, due Dec. 1; and $920.08, due Jan. 4.

As litigation got under way in earnest in the fall, Sandpoint officials said that because the county sought a declaratory action in which no damages are paid, the city’s insurance provider would not cover the cost of its defense.

Therefore, legal fees in the case will be paid from the general fund — “which is essentially property tax revenue,” Sandpoint City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton said in September.

Though Stapleton said the city could not provide details on the time charged, the billings are “all inclusive of

An unidentified individual carrying a firearm outside the gates at the Festival at Sandpoint in 2019. Photo by Racheal Baker.

meetings, including teleconferences, paperwork, filings, travel, research, etc.”

Looking forward, it’s also hard to say how much those fees will increase and at what rate. Stapleton said the city is being charged at an hourly rate based on the work being performed.

“This will vary based on what is happening with the case,” she added.

Meanwhile, the case remains in limbo. A status conference originally set to take place in November ended up being postponed until Tuesday, Jan. 28, due to the judge falling ill.

“We are still planning on the status conference on Jan. 28,” Stapleton said. “It will lay out a more definitive schedule moving forward.”

The total litigation expense, combining county and city monies: $36,680.58.

Veterans outreach in Clark Fork

By Reader Staff

Bonner County Veterans Service Officer Bryan Hult will be in Clark Fork on Tuesday, Jan. 21 to answer questions about current veteran’s benefits, assist with ongoing claims, and take new claims for benefits for eligible veterans and their dependents.

Hult will be at the Clark Fork Public Library, 601 Main St, Clark Fork, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. He will be see veterans by appointment only to ensure everyone is given quality time.

Appointments must be scheduled no later than Friday, Jan. 17 by calling Bonner County Administrative Assistant Lyndsie Halcro at 208255-5291. If there are no appointments scheduled for this outreach — or winter weather conditions prohibit travel — it will be canceled.

City surveys enter second week

By Reader Staff

The City of Sandpoint has launched the second in a series of weekly surveys to aid in the development of the city’s Comprehensive Plan update.

This week’s topic is Jobs and Economic Development, giving community members an opportunity to voice their thoughts on priorities for economic development and what the city should focus on in order to grow a more diverse, healthy and vibrant economy. Responses will aid in the Comprehensive Plan update and strategic planning efforts in conjunction with the Bonner County Economic Development Council.

The deadline for the survey is 11:59 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 4.

The survey is available online through the city’s website at sandpointidaho.gov/engage.

It is also available through the Engage Sandpoint mobile app, which can be downloaded to any mobile device through Google Play or the Apple app store or the city Facebook page.

Community members may also come into City Hall for staff assistance in completing the survey.

Each survey in the series is launched on a Sunday and closes the following Saturday.

Results from each of the prior surveys will also be available publicly on a weekly basis.

Remaining surveys include: Public Facilities, Services and Utilities, Jan. 5; Housing and Neighborhoods, Jan. 12; Community Character and Design, Jan. 19; Growth and Land Use, Jan. 26; and Natural Resources, Feb. 2.

NEWS

Mayor Rognstad sworn in for second term Energized for projects ahead: ‘We will accomplish great things’

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff Mayor Shelby Rognstad stood Dec. 26 for his swearing in as mayor of Sandpoint — the first second-term Sandpoint mayor in almost 50 years.

“It’s a privilege to serve as the first two-term elected mayor in nearly half a century,” Rognstad told the Reader in an email. “I’m also honored to have earned the trust and confidence from voters who turned out in large numbers to reelect me by a 20% margin, particularly when challenged by a capable candidate in Councilwoman [Shannon] Williamson.”

The 2019 mayoral election was especially heated, pitting incumbent Rognstad against City Council President Williamson, whose career as executive director of the Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper ended in a public, acrimonious way when she and a former board member alleged her firing was the result of her decision to run for mayor against Rognstad.

LPOW board members denied that her firing was politically motivated, though told the Reader in the final days before the Nov. 5 election, “We did ... question the rationale of not bringing her intentions to the board and engaging in a conversation that would that would analyze the pros and cons, and/ or the ramifications, of our executive director holding down the Mayor’s position simultaneously.”

Despite that, Williamson wrote, in part, following the election: “Congratulations on your victory Shelby! I look forward to working with you, the rest of the council and our amazing staff over the next two years in a collaborative and productive way to achieve

great outcomes for the city…”

On the occasion of his swearing in, Rognstad expressed excitement for working with the new council, which includes incoming members Kate McAlister and Andy Groat, alongside incumbent Councilwoman Deb Ruehle.

“I see in them strength and courage, which will serve the council well given the challenges ahead,” Rognstad told the Reader, referring to McAlister and Groat. “I also look forward to continuing work with Councilors Ruehle, Williamson and [Joel] Aispuro, who have demonstrated their commitment and dedication to Sandpoint. I expect that we will see a dynamic council with thoughtful deliberation and leadership that can usher in a brighter future for Sandpoint and the region.”

Rognstad and the new council move into 2020 with a host of big-ticket issues on their agenda, including ongoing master planning efforts touching on parks and multi-modal transportation, as well as downtown street construction and the city’s comprehensive plan update — not to mention the ongoing lawsuit brought

by Bonner County against the city regarding the no-weapons policy held by The Festival at Sandpoint, which leases publicly-owned War Memorial Field for its annual concert series.

Rognstad said he’s energized for the projects ahead, calling the continuation of a second term as mayor “a natural progression, particularly given the master planning work currently under way. Seeing these processes through will ensure Sandpoint is poised for strategic success, fiscal responsibility and resilience well into the future.

The mayor enters his sec-

ond term after many years of involvement with city governance, including his first role in 2007 as a member of the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee. He followed that with an appointment to the Sandpoint Planning and Zoning Commission in 2009, serving as vice-chairman, until his appointment to the City Council by late-Mayor Marsha Ogilvie in 2012. From there, Rognstad rose to City Council president in 2014, in which position he served until election to his first term in November 2015.

“Each of my roles in service to the city have had their unique set of challenges,” he wrote. “[A]ll these experiences build on one another in knowledge, understanding, responsibility and impact.

Citing his long experience at City Hall, Rognstad wrote that he is “disappointed when I see people run for mayor who have no previous experience or civic involvement and little desire to learn. That is ignorant and irresponsible. Experience matters, especially for a mayor. I can’t imagine anyone doing this job

Mayor Shelby Rognstad is sworn into office Dec. 26. Photo courtesy Bonner County Daily Bee. without having a wealth of direct experience to rely on.”

Looking to the coming year — as incoming councilmembers are set to be sworn in Jan. 2 — Rognstad wrote that, “This is going to be an exciting four years. The council and I have the privilege of working with incredibly talented, hard working city staff. Together, we will accomplish great things that have a lasting positive impact on the city of Sandpoint.”

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NEWS

PO County PUD voids smelter agreement

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff The Pend Oreille Public Utility District issued a letter and refund Dec. 11 to PacWest Silicon CEO Jayson Tymko, terminating the agreement meant to provide power to the proposed smelter in Newport, Wash.

The letter reveals that it’s been more than six months since the PUD has heard from PacWest.

“The District, as a nonprofit public entity, generally closes out work orders, requests for service, and contracts that are no longer active at the end of the year,” PUD General Manager F. Colin Willenbrock wrote in the letter.

Enclosed in the letter was a $315,764.64 check — a partial refund for the initial deposit PacWest made for the agreement, totaling $500,000.

PacWest has remained silent since early October, when the Pend Oreille County hearing examiner struck down an appeal from anti-smelter group Responsible Growth*Northeast Washington after the county planning and zoning board approved a blanket rezone of areas zoned “public lands.” At the time, Tymko told the Spokesman-Review that the company viewed itself as a “patient [landowner] in the area waiting for some of the local issues to be resolved,” and that for PacWest, “the largest [issue] is

Photo courtesy of Citizens Against the Newport Silicon Smelter Facebook page. the zoning,” since the company’s property currently does not allow industrial uses.

PacWest has been clear about the importance of rezoning to the future of the smelter.

“PacWest can not apply for a Conditional Use Permit for their property until something is done to reform the current county zoning laws,” company representative Mike Welch told the Reader in an email March 26.

When Pend Oreille County commissioners denied the blanket rezone of public lands on Dec. 9, anti-smelter activists considered it a major victory. Commissioners maintain that their decision had nothing to do with the smelter and that the rezone can be better addressed during upcoming 2020 Comprehensive Plan workshops.

PacWest did not respond to requests for comment on the PUD letter before press time.

Connolly announces bid for 2020 reelection

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Priest River native Jeff Connolly will again be running for District 2 Bonner County commissioner in 2020.

Connolly told the Reader on Dec. 31 that he looks forward to the chance to continue serving his North Idaho neighbors after his current four-year term runs out.

“I’m all about continuing the work,” he said.

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a county commissioner seat in 2016, having previously served on the Priest River City Council. He ran for commissioner on a platform emphasizing transparency in government, protecting Bonner County jobs and using a “common sense” approach when conducting county business.

“I think we’ve done some good things,” Connolly said of the current Board of Bonner County Commissioners, “and I’d like to see some of those things through.”

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 group of Rhode Island students has filed suit, saying their constitutional rights have been violated because their schools have not taught them about voting, serving on juries or basic government functions. Students from Detroit filed a similar suit, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

Research from McGill University has linked air pollution with brain cancer. A year-long increase in air pollution, equal to going from a quiet city street to a busy one, can increase brain cancer risk by 10%.

Currently there are an estimated 53,000 deaths caused by U.S. air pollution (from lung cancer, stroke and heart disease) every year, The Guardian has reported.

According to an interview with Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthall in The Hill, as many as 10 of the senator’s Republican colleagues are uncomfortable with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s stance of tightly coordinating the president’s impeachment trial with the White House. So far the only Republicans to express public misgivings about McConnell’s position on denying the introduction of new witnesses and documents are Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins.

After a lengthy history of warnings against eating too much red and processed meat, a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine said links to negative health consequences are insignificant. Confused, AARP interviewed Yale’s David Katz, M.D., founder of the True Health Initiative, for his perspective. Katz said the AIM study used data analysis designed for drug trials, not food, which skewed results. In actuality, Katz said there are 325,000 deaths annually from too much red and processed meat: “Like two jumbo jets crashing every day.”

While bark beetles are munching their way through weakened forests, research is showing that there may be a solution better than standard tree thinning: determining DNA that shows what trees have the ability to adapt to stress from climate change. Those trees can be left standing during thinning or logging operations. It’s called landscape genomics, Mother Jones reports. There is existing DNA technology used for breeding fruit trees, and those concepts can be adapted to evaluate trees’ risks for changes in temperature, moisture and pathogens, says

By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist

plant sciences professor David Neale, of the University of California-Davis. In his lab, a machine grinds tree needles and finds their DNA code. That data can then be used to determine what trees will respond best to climate stress.

Blast from this past year: Sweden’s 16-year-old Greta Thunberg went from skipping school solo — protesting the Swedish Parliament’s lack of progress addressing climate change — to being a catalyst for massive pro-environment rallies around the world. Her first literature included climate change facts and the statement, “Since you adults don’t give a damn about my future, I won’t either.”

Actions taken since Thunberg’s first foray into the limelight include: the European Union plans to tax imports from countries that don’t act on climate change; KLM Airline launched a campaign encouraging people to only fly if necessary; the CEO of the World Economic Forum has called on business leaders to embrace responsible capitalism that includes environmental stewardship; more than 60 countries have pledged to eliminate their carbon footprints by 2050; and, TIME magazine reports, three-quarters of Americans now regard climate change as either a crisis or a major problem.

In a typically succinct statement, Thunberg said to the U.N. General Assembly: “We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you.”

Another blast, with a different climate stance: “We’ll have an economy based on wind. I never understood wind.

You know, I know windmills very much.

I’ve studied it better than anybody. I know it’s very expensive. They’re made in China and Germany mostly, very few made here, almost none. But they’re manufactured tremendous, if you’re into this, tremendous fumes, gases are spewing into the atmosphere. You know we have a world, right? So the world is tiny compared to the universe. So tremendous, tremendous amount of fumes and everything — you talk about the ‘carbon footprint’ — fumes are spewing into the air. Right?

Spewing. Whether it’s in China, Germany, it’s going into the air. It’s our air, their air, everything, right?” — President Donald Trump, in a statement delivered Dec. 22, 2019 at a Turning Point USA Student Action Summit. He has also stated that noise from windmills can cause cancer.

PERSPECTIVES

The Oregon Coast, where the skies didn’t reign but dogs did

By Tim Henney Reader Contributor This article is mainly for Sandpoint dogsters. What is a Sandpoint dogster? It is a citizen who couldn’t imagine walking in a park or on Mickinnick or Pend Oreille Bay or Pine Street Woods trails without a dog — or dogs.

Local dogsters include Charles and Rinde, with Luki; Steve and Molly, with Ole; Bailey and Brian, with Tank; Michael and Catherine, with Bodi; Ezra and Megan, with Ted; Phil, with Puppy; Katherine, with Molly; Jen and Nate, with Lina (who accompanies them to their Pend Oreille Vision Care business every day); Liz and Harold, with Sadie (another lucky dog who spends every day at the Paint Bucket with her owners); Angela and Justin with alpha dog Tally, a bossy chihuahua, and Bodger, a giant, who does what Tally tells him to do; and Aileen and Don, with granddogs Lilly and Lyle.

The foregoing are brothers in the bond of dogdom who, meeting a fellow dogster on the trail, will stop and visit. They become immediate, if perhaps temporary, pals. The dogs, on or off leash, take that up a notch. They posture importantly, maybe bristle up a bit, sniff butts, then dismiss the bristling and, if off leash, dash off together to cavort, explore and piddle on every rock, twig and tree. If dogs ran the White House or the United Nations we’d have a much friendlier, if perhaps more damp, world.

Speaking of which, New York City — home of the UN — has long maintained sprawling acres of Central Park where man’s best friends run off leash before 9 a.m. and after 9 p.m. Central Park dogs are not only man’s but woman’s best friends.

Having lived in and around that mutt-happy metropolis for decades during much of a corporate career, it became obvious that if NYC guys and dolls (Broadway’s all-time greatest musical about New York) were on the hunt for a mate, the surest path to success was to walk a dog in Central Park.

There, as dogs sniff and woof, owners fall in love. I remember in the olden days bringing family dogs into Central Park on Sundays from our various suburban homes just to watch them romp with newfound buddies. (And, time permitting, for my 1957 bride, Jacquelynn, and me

to lunch with our adult kids who had apartments near the park). Thanks to dogs, generations of amorous relationships have been launched in Central Park. Yet, despite the park’s pooch-imbued reputation for romance, I don’t remember ever flirting with a lady dogster there. (For one thing, my wife was always with me. For another, I was not that cool.)

Tucson, Albuquerque and Las Vegas are recognized dog-friendly cities; but, like NYC, they are too doggone far from here.

Which is why I address the following to fellow Sandpoint dogsters: Head for Cannon Beach, Oregon!

Jacquelynn and I accompanied our kids and grandkids to the Oregon Coast recently and took three dogs. Since roughly 1947, when I started driving — and thanks to college, the U.S. Air Force and especially to corporate America — this dogster has visited and lived in countless cities, towns and hamlets. Never have I known a community so enthusiastically dog-ified as Cannon Beach.

When we phoned for a reservation they asked if we were bringing a dog or dogs, and their names. When we checked in, our pooches’ names were writ large on a welcoming lobby blackboard, above water bowls and milk bone snacks.

To stand on a balcony above the beach, three football fields distance from famed Haystack Rock, is to marvel at scampering, jolly dogs of every size, color and breed — and scampering, jolly owners to match. Sort of like attending the famed Westminster Kennel Club show at Madison Square Garden, magically transported to the sands of Oregon.

We met a devoted dogster, a middle-aged bachelor, on the beach with a large, friendly, furry companion named Lil’ Bear. They were celebrating a 10th dog birthday. The owner said he tradi-

Tippy, of Sandpoint, keeps a wary eye on incoming waves as she makes an abrupt turn on the sand at Cannon Beach. Photo by Tim Henney. tionally gave Lil’ Bear a filet mignon on his birthday, but this being No. 10, he had driven Lil’ Bear from Portland for an overnight at the resort to sprint up and down the beach, chase waves, and sniff and piddle with new pals. When the owner casually mentioned the reason for their visit to the lobby staff, they sang happy birthday to Lil’ Bear.

Being a public beach in a town that considers dogs distinguished guests, most everyone is off leash — dogs, dogsters and families. Leaping, laughing, chasing the ebb tide as it recedes, then dashing shoreward as the ocean roars and the waves come crashing and sliding in. Tippy at first assumed the ocean to be as placid as Lake Pend Oreille, where she swims. The first morning on the beach, she was standing innocently in a foot of water watching an incoming wave. It arrived and knocked her ass over teacup. Tippy came tumbling in with the advancing foam and for the rest of the week was content to race up and down the beach, sniffing tidepools but adroitly dodging the tide.

Tippy loves Sandpoint’s woodsy trails and quiet water, yet eagerly awaits a return to Cannon Beach. And, who knows, maybe another hook up with the dashing, handsome Lil’ Bear.

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COMMUNITY

BY THE Tracking in Libby NUMBERS

By Reader Staff

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

$1 million

The amount of money a man is currently suing Tesla for after his 2017 Model X 75D allegedly swerved off the road while in autopilot to avoid objects that were not really there.

$2.3 billion

The value of a joint venture announced in December between General Motors and LG Chem of South Korea to “manufacture electric vehicle batteries” in a formerly idled plant in northeast Ohio, “a significant step for the nation’s largest automaker in its bid to electrify its future offerings,” The Washington Post reported. The move is expected to create more than 1,100 new jobs.

5,981

The number of allegations of serious sexual assault against Uber in the United States from 2017-2018.

261,300

The number of cellphone bills that were accidentally exposed online by a Sprint contractor who stored invoices on an unprotected internet server. The documents contained names, addresses, phone numbers and some call histories. They have since been collected, though it’s not known how long the documents were exposed.

$167 million

The estimated cost to have Pegasystems, Inc. build the United States Census Bureau an electronic version of the 2020 census. This amount is about $40 million more than the projected cost when the company was first hired in 2016. It was also discovered in 2018 that the website had been hacked by devices bearing Russian IP addresses.

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Libby Hostel will sponsor an animal and bird tracking class Saturday, Jan. 11. Beginning at 10 a.m., participants will gather at the Kootenai Mercantile building at 316 California Ave. and enjoy a practical classroom lecture of approximately 45 minutes on the topics of spotting wildlife, and observing and identifying tracks and sign of local mammals and birds.

Attendees will also be given a series of handouts, which will help them once they travel private field locations where they will take short hikes of less than one mile round-trip to interpret tracks and sign. Participants will also be visiting some roadside stop-andhop areas to scan for wildlife and examine tracking scenarios. The class will wrap up at 3 p.m.

Folks are asked to come prepared for a field day, dressed

properly for conditions, with hats, gloves, winter boots, snowshoes, ski or trekking poles, lunch, water and snacks.

Additionally, group members should come with full gas tanks, binoculars, cameras, a measuring tape and a pocket field guide.

Attendees are asked to pay $30 per person, payable to the sponsoring group.

Libby, Mont. is a strikingly beautiful area in the wintertime, full of friendly folks and a strong community spirit.

The tour leader, Brian Baxter has education and extensive field experience in wildlife research involving Canadian lynx, wolverine, fisher, pine marten and birds of prey such as Boreal owls and Goshawks. For more information and to sign up please contact him via email at b_baxter53@yahoo. com or call 406-291-2154.

Learn to ski at Pine Street Woods

By Reader Staff

The Sandpoint Nordic Club is hosting “Learn to Ski Days” starting Jan. 11 through Feb. 1 at the new outdoor recreation center at Pine Street Woods.

Meet Saturdays for one of two sessions hosted 9-11 a.m. or noon-2 p.m. Each session will consist of an approximate onehour lesson and an hour of free nordic skiing.

Photo by Phillip Belena.

Lessons are for people who have never been on skis before and for those who have been on skis, but have never taken a formal lesson. Both skate and classic lessons will be offered.

Registration fees are $10 per person or $25 for a family.

Signup and learn more at sandpointnordic.com.

Don’t hold grudges…

Dear editor, There was a thank-you in a message on Ken Lawrence’s Facebook page for the people who had prayed that he be elected mayor.

This message went on to say “let’s redouble our resolve to make sure we win the war against the poison of godlessness and liberalism.”

Well Ken, your god did answer these prayers by making sure that you were NOT elected mayor. It would appear your god is saying Sandpoint is too great for your brand of hate. God has spoken!

We all need to see ourselves in those who use hateful speech such as “the poison of godlessness and liberalism.” We are ALL guilty of thinking we are superior to others who do not share our belief system as well as holding grudges and attempting to punish those we don’t like.

Holding a grudge only harms the person holding it. Holding a grudge is an incredible waste of time and energy.

rap music every day in January to celebrate MLK Day? No, we don’t.

Less is more.

Happy Hanukwanzmas, everyone!

Evan Brown Sagle

[Editor’s note: Regarding the inclusion of Islam in Hanukwanzmas, Mawlid an-Nabī, the birthday of the prophet, occurs in late-October to early- and mid-November, depending on the branch of the Islam and the calendar one adheres to. Also, we’re not sure Dr. King would be much of a rap fan, either. He was more into gospels and hymns, according to the autobiography of his widow, Coretta Scott King.]

A nasty hit job on good people...

Dear editor, The recent reporting on Matt Shea and Heather Scott is nothing more than a nasty leftist/false Republican hit job of the worst kind.

Check the facts and you will see the insidious nature of these false and ridiculous claims of “domestic terrorism.”

Linking and demonizing people Lee Santa to terrorism who stand for their Sandpoint beliefs is wrong and should not be tolerated in our republic.

Dear editor, Friends and neighbors, stand I wonder if in the future there your ground and don’t allow rhetowill be just one end-of-year holiday ric, innuendo and slander rule the for all of us to celebrate, together. day. Remember when they come for Since Christmas has become noth- one they will come for you next! The ing more than a month-long frenzy leftist Democrats will stop at nothof consumerism gone wild, and ing to denigrate the important work Hanukkah and Kwanzaa rituals done by these real representatives take too much time and effort, of We the People!

I want to plant a small seed for The article by Redoubt News future generations. reporter Shari Dovale says it all Hanukwanzmas could fall on (“Exclusive: Idaho Rep. Scott on LibDec. 31, giving everyone a day eral Media Attacks,” Dec. 22, 2019, to spend with their family, then redoubtnews.com). have the opportunity to go out Heather lays out the FACTS! that same evening and drink Please take a minute to read it! themselves silly to welcome in the Thank you, Heather, for all you new year. A day for everybody to do every day for the rest of us. stop what they’re doing and slow Rick Johnson down a bit, spend time together, be Sandpoint kind, share words of wisdom and well-being; no religion, no politics, [Editor’s note: We stand by our no gifts required, no stampeding reporting on the investigation, which over cheap Chinese trinkets, no was sanctioned by the Washington debt to ring in the new year. Just House of Representatives, not people sharing good food, good any media source. So far, despite times and good company. I tried pushback, no one has come forward to incorporate Islam into the with any verifiable factual complaint portmanteau, but couldn’t get it to about the substance of the Washfit right. ington House report, other than to I also propose a ban on pubinsinuate that it is biased based on licly-played Christmas music. One disagreement with its content. What or two songs an hour is fine, but specific “facts” have gone unchecked the four weeks of nonstop repeats that would disprove the contents of is a catalyst toward madness the report?] and needs to stop. Do we play

A festivus for all of us...

PERSPECTIVES

A history of violence

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff On Christmas Day, we woke up to find a pair of posts on our Reader Facebook page that went beyond the typical “fake news” straw man and “liberal, biased rag/I light my morning fire with this paper” nonsense from people who can’t cite specifics to back up their beef.

This local Facebook user, whom we blocked, hid and won’t name, contended that, “We the people” possess “a list of all these hate filled liberal traitors” at the Reader and other local media, and when “civil war” comes to this nation, “these liberal traitors will be rounded up and made to pay for their crimes against this country.”

Responding to another user, this same commenter promised “a day of reckoning for all of you” that, along with those “involved with the treasonous coup against our president,” will include being “executed for treason.”

Our offense? Reporting on the Washington House-commissioned investigation into Republican Rep. Matt Shea, which contended some of his actions between 2014 and 2016 constituted “domestic terrorism.”

Also featured in the report as an associate of Shea’s and involved in several of those actions is Idaho District 1A Rep. Heather Scott — our representative.

Many other commenters on Facebook took issue with our reporting on this investigation — some erroneously suggesting that it amounted to a one-sided media smear campaign.

We reject that categorically.

To be clear, what we did was report that the investigation had been released, summarized its key components, and highlighted how and where its findings connected to our local representative. We reached out to Rep. Scott in good faith, asking her to provide her perspective on the “substance and thrust of the

report as a whole,” but she did not respond.

She did, however, respond to Redoubt News, whose writings on the investigation we repeatedly referenced by way of providing a secondary opinion of its findings. We included comments from Rep. Shea, which were published in his own words online, and successfully connected with fellow District 1 Rep. Sage Dixon, who responded in good faith, as is his consistent practice, to our good faith questions. We can be sure he was not overly excited to do so, but he understands that it’s his job as an elected legislator to communicate with the press and therefore his constituents.

How this is all amounted to “one-sided” or dishonest journalism, we can’t rightly say. No factual errors have so far been named nor has any acknowledgement been made that we included material from sources including Reps. Scott, Shea and Dixon, as well as Redoubt News.

All we’ve seen or heard are ad hominem attacks on the author of the investigation, amorphous derision of the FBI, fuzzy denunciations of the report itself being illegitimate because it drew in part on press reports — written by some of the finest journalists from around the Northwest — and the conflation of reportage with advocacy.

We stand by our reporting on the Washington House investigation and refuse to be intimidated — especially by people who hurl threats of violence and launch intellectually dishonest attacks on the very nature of honest news reporting.

We also hope that, as the Idaho Statesman editorial board wrote in late December, the Idaho House of Representatives takes seriously the actions of Rep. Scott as portrayed in this investigation, up to and including an ethics probe in the upcoming legislative session.

Then, maybe, her constituents

— beyond those regular visitors to redoubtnews.com — can hear her explanation of just how her activities with Rep. Shea are advancing their interests rather than a set of broader ideological goals bearing little relation to the daily lives of most Bonner County residents.

Especially chilling, amid all this talk of “domestic terrorism,” is the not-too-distant memory of where talk of lists, execution and retribution for purported crimes committed by the media have led. We can laugh at these kinds of things, but at our peril.

Five years ago on Jan. 7, brothers Saïd and Chérif Kouachi killed 12 people in a mass shooting at the headquarters of Parisian satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, injuring 11 others and shaking the French capital. More violence followed in the ensuing days. The Kouachi brothers eluded authorities until a standoff Jan. 9 that ended in a barrage of gunfire from gendarmes. Meanwhile, an associate of the Kouachis took 19 hostages at a kosher deli in east Paris, making good on his promise to murder his captives should the brothers come to harm. He killed four people — targeting only those of Jewish faith — before he was himself cut down by police.

The Kouachis’ flight and subsequent sieges occurred amid worldwide condemnation of their actions, including vigils and demonstrations mourning the slain journalists and others — Je suis Charlie, “I am Charlie,” quickly becoming the international slogan of those standing for freedom of speech and freedom of the press. The offense that prompted the Kouchis’ attack: publication of satirical cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

Not long after the Paris attacks, a reader gifted us a copy of the Jan. 14, 2015 edition of Charlie Hebdo — the first to hit newsstands following the killings — which bore a full-page drawing of the prophet holding a

Terrorism, the media and taking things seriously

Je suis Charlie sign beneath the phrase Tout est pardonne, “everything is forgiven.” It still hangs on a wall in the Reader newsroom, not because of a desire to insult or satirize Islam, but as a reminder that everyone — especially journalists, no matter how big or small their market — who stands for freedom of expression and of the press puts themselves up against those who oppose, even to violent ends, anyone who disagrees with their worldview.

Lest that feel like hyperbole, remember that less than three and a half years after Charlie Hebdo, in June 2018, a gunman killed five reporters and injured two others at The Capital Gazette in Annapolis, M.D. because he was angered by an article the paper printed detailing a case in which he’d been put on probation for social media and email harassment. After the fact, it became clear that the shooter had trolled the paper online for years, including threats of violence against its offices and staff.

Preferring to ignore those threats as empty bluster, management at the paper declined to pursue legal action.

Almost three months to the day later, in late-September

2018, the Reader and its staff were attacked by a series of robocalls targeted to advertisers, which included threats of violence such as “burn[ing] out” the publisher as a “cancer.” This has not been the only instance of such robocalls in the area, with the most recent occurring in August 2019, when some Reader advertisers were struck with anonymous calls including homophobic innuendos.

The Reader’s offense? Reporting on the identity of a man connected with distributing racist flyers and CDs at Sandpoint High School in 2017.

There’s a trajectory implied in this brief history lesson — from the extremity of Charlie Hebdo to the tragic mundanity of The Capital Gazette to the obnoxious but ultimate meaninglessness of the Reader robocalls. Regardless of the severity of these assaults, they are all assaults on the functioning of a free press by threatening the safety — real or perceived — of the people who work to maintain it day by day: the very definition of terrorism.

Laughing Matter

By Bill Borders

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Mad about Science:

By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist

Hypothermia

That season Ned Stark all warned us about has finally come. I write to you now with fingers shivering, teeth chattering and a mug of iced tea that was piping hot a few minutes ago. When you find this edition Reader, gripped tight in my frozen clutches, tell my family… that I wished I had actually finished The Witcher 3.

Despite our incredible resilience as a species, we’re delicate little flowers when it comes to temperature fluctuations — especially in the cold.

Once our internal temperature drops below 95 degrees Fahrenheit, bad things start to happen and we begin to suffer the onset of hypothermia.

Our body’s thermometer is a part of our brain called the hypothalamus. It tells us when it’s time to sweat, when it’s time to shiver, when it’s time to curl up, and when to start cutting losses and sacrificing digits for the survival of the rest of the body. Your hypothalamus is so important that damage to it can cause a chain reaction in your brain leading to hormonal imbalances, weight gain or loss, sleep deprivation, dehydration, lactation and the inability to maintain your body’s internal temperatures.

Let’s say your hypothalamus is perfectly healthy as you’re reading this paper and not sweating out of your eyelids, but you’re still shivering in January. Though minor, shivering is the first stage of hypothermia.

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produce it, so your hypothalamus is turning on the auxiliary power: triggering your muscles to spasm and shiver to generate extra heat. Under normal conditions, this is perfectly fine — if not mildly inconvenient — until you can find shelter.

If you’re in the cold for an extended period of time, and your body is still losing heat faster than it can produce it, your core temperature will begin to drop below a comfortable 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

Your body will begin to start pulling blood away from your skin, which normally acts similarly to your car’s radiator, providing a large surface area exposed to cool air that will allow heat to radiate away.

This redirection of blood flow begins to affect your nerves, depriving them of oxygen and causing a numbing sensation in your fingers and toes.

If your ears, fingers and toes go too long without a blood supply, the cells will begin to die. Not only will they die, but the water within the cells will freeze and crystallize, which causes permanent damage. In extreme cases, the affected parts of the body will become gangrenous, which means the flesh has died and will often turn red or black. At this point, there’s no saving that body part, and it’s often amputated to prevent a greater infection from entering the body through what is essentially a gaping wound.

The final stages of hypothermia occur when your internal temperature drops so low that your body starts taking the blood away from your organs, in hopes of preserving the heart

and brain long enough for help to arrive, though usually it’s too late for help once this occurs.

Recovering from extreme hypothermia isn’t as easy as getting indoors or sitting next to a fire. Once frostbite has set in, the body must be carefully re-heated, usually on its own.

Applying heat to frostbitten areas can lead to permanent damage and intense pain: the frozen water in your cells is literally melting back into a water state, and the blood is reoxygenating nerves that are potentially damaged.

Patients suffering from extreme hypothermia are dried off and bundled in as much insulation as possible, keeping cold air away from the body while allowing the heat to stay trapped within the body. Water present in the clothes or skin pulls heat out of the body far more quickly than air, and is the leading cause of hypothermia-related hospitalizations around the world.

Ironically, as damaging as cold is, it can be used as a means to postpone death.

Anesthesiologists may use a technique called deep hypothermic circulatory arrest, or DHCA, to effectively freeze a patient, stop their flow of blood and allow surgeons to operate on the patient for up to 40 minutes before having to worry about inflicting permanent brain damage. Generally, this type of procedure is used on patients that have some sort of problem with their heart such as certain cancers, where they must be placed on bypass for an extended period of time.

This technique is similarly

used in cryonics, mistakenly referred to as cryogenics, which is a practice whereby people are frozen after death as a means of preservation for a possible future cure for whatever is killing them. In these instances, the person being frozen is exsanguinated, and their blood is replaced with a freezing slurry, which prevents the cells from crystallizing and negates the dangers of frost-

bite, should science ever find a means to resurrect them.

Weirdly, you can get a discount through most companies if you let them decapitate you and only freeze your head, letting you pay studio apartment rent for your loft, as it were.

If this article sent a shiver through you, let me be the first to remind you that the library has a functional fireplace on the second floor.

Random Corner es? We can help!

Don’t know much about snak • Snakes kill more than 100,000 people worldwide every year.

• There’s an Island in Brazil where civilians are forbidden to go: It has up to five snakes per square meter.

• As if they weren’t freaky enough, snakes can have two heads that fight each other for food.

• The top-10 deadliest snakes can be found in Australia.

• The boomslang snake’s venom causes you to bleed from all holes of your body.

• More people are killed each year by dogs, bees, hornets and wasps than snakes.

• The mortality rate of a black mamba snake bite is almost 100%.

• Because of their powerful stomach acids, snakes will explode if they ingest Alka-Seltzer.

• The Titanoboa lived 60 million years ago and is the largest,

longest and heaviest snake ever discovered.

• Snakes used in snake charming performances respond to movement, not sound.

• Snakes have flexible jaws that allow them to eat prey bigger than their head.

• Snakes use their tongues to smell. They also don’t have any eyelids.

• 51% of Americans fear snakes more than any other thing in the world.

• Some snakes (along with komodo dragons, sharks and turkeys) are capable of “virgin births,” meaning asexual reproduction.

• Military commandos in Lebanon eat live snakes, a tradition to display their strength and daring.

PETS & ANIMALS

Do dogs dream?

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Book in hand, bedside lamp on, dog curled up on my legs — this is my bedtime routine. My nearly 2-year-old border heeler, Mac, forms a tightly-wound ball with her chin propped up on all four of her paws. Her closed eyes and steady breathing tell me she’s done pestering me — or the cat, for that matter — to play, and that a deep sleep is well on its way.

But for Mac, deep sleep isn’t always entirely serene for the people around her. Mac is an avid dreamer.

It usually starts with her breathing becoming shallow and quick, followed by some pretty disturbing facial twitching. Then, her lanky legs launch out from under her, digging for space in a bed already crowded between her, me, the cat and another human.

Sometimes these dreams even include whimpering or barely audible growls.

At first I figured it was just

my tendency to anthropomorphize my dog getting the best of me, but some research confirms that Mac is, in fact, dreaming — just like humans do.

This research began on brains much less complex than a dog’s: rat brains. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology conducted a study in the early 2000s in which rats were made to navigate a complex maze during the day and at night scientists studied the rats’ brain waves. When the rats reached REM sleep, brain wave patterns were almost impossible to distinguish from the wave recordings taken while the rat was actively searching the maze. The conclusion: the rats were having dreams based on their memories — much like I still have dreams that I forgot to do my math homework and am about to miss the bus.

Rats and humans dream about what they know, and the same goes for dogs. Research shows that a dog’s daily activity is oftentimes exactly what inspires those late-night muscle

spasms.

When Mac dreams, I can see her sniffing the many wonderful scents in the hay field where we play fetch every day, flexing her jaw ever so slightly to emulate picking up the ball, her shoulder muscles twitching as she dreams about digging her paws into the grass to run then trotting back to me for another round.

When she whimpers, I imagine she is having a nightmare that the cat is picking on her. When she growls, it’s probably the UPS man, who has the audacity to drive his big, scary truck up her driveway.

So, while I am guilty of anthropomorphizing Mac in

other aspects of life, it turns out that science is on my side when it comes to my dreaming pup. Maybe next, science will back up my belief that she has excellent taste in music. Only time will tell.

The author’s dog, Mac, takes an afternoon snooze, likely dreaming about her favorite pastime: fetch.

Photo by Lyndsie Kiebert.

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event t h u r s d a y f r i d a y

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Dollar Beers!

8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Good until the keg’s dry

KLT Winter Fun Days (Jan. 2-4) @ Pine St. Woods Looking for some outdoor winter fun for your child over the holiday break? Children 8-13 can spend the day outside at Pine St. Woods enjoying winter fun and connecting to nature. kaiksulandtrust.org

Edgar Cayce Study Group 9-11am @ Gardenia Center Meets every Thursday

Live Music w/ Groove Black 9pm-12am @ 219 Lounge Sandpoint’s own bringing an eclectic mix of jazz, funk, reggae, alt-rock Live Music w/ Devon Wade 6:30-9:30 @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Sandpoint’s independent country artist - kick up those boots and dance DJ Amoe at the Niner 9pm-12am @ 219 Lounge DJ Amoe is bringing crates of vinyl to get you moving - early funk, soul, house or breakbeat - it’ll be a solid evening Live Music w/ Justin Lantrip 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Soulful, mellow, acoustic

f

Liv Live Music w/ Bright Moments Jazz 5-8p 5-7pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Folk Live Music w/ DJ Shanner First Friday 9pm @ A&Ps 5-7pm @ POA Live Music w/ Kevin Dorin Anything Goe 8-10pm @ The Back Door at the POAC G Free First Saturday 10 am-2 pm @ Bonner County Museum Tour the museum at no cost

Live Mu 8-10pm @

Live Mu Monthly Book Sale Mt. Strin 10am-2pm @ The Sandpoint Library 5-8pm @ The Friends of the Library host a monthly book sale where there are many boxes of Live unsorted books to investigate and you’re 9pm sure to find a treasure or two No c

All Day Brewery Brunch Sandpoint Chess Club 9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee 10am @ Matchwood Brewing Co. Open all day for brunch!

Meets every Sunday at 9am

Piano Sunday w/ Annie Welle 3-5pm @ Pend d’Ore Winery

Monday Night Blues Jam w/ Truck Mills 7:30pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Karaoke 8-close @ Tervan

Lifetree Cafe 2pm @ Jalepeño’s Mexican Restaurant An hour of conversation and stories. This we topic: “Upsizing Life by Downsizing Stuff”

Night-Out Karaoke 9pm @ 219 Lounge Join DJ Webrix for a night of singing, or just come to drink and listen

Djembe class 5:45-7:30pm @ Music Conservatory of Sand Join Ali Thomas for this djembe (drum) clas Bonner Mall Seniors Day 9am-12pm @ Bonner Mall Entertainment and refreshments

Trivia Night 7pmi @ MickDuff’s Show off that big, beautiful brain of yours

Wind Down Wednesday 5-8pm @ 219 Lounge With live music by blues man Truck Mills and guest musician Andrew Browne Dollar Beers!

8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Good until the keg’s dry

Magic Wednesday 6-8pm @ Jalapeño’s Enjoy close-up magic shows by Star Alexander right at your table

The Conversation 6-8pm @ Ivano’s Taking your story and ioning it into a one-ac FREE and open to the

Live Music w/ Kevin Dorin 6-8pm@ MickDuff’s Beer Hall A progressive blues playes with a voice as sweet as honey

Better Bre 1pm @ Bon Offered at lung diseas 1045 for m

ful

Jan. 2 – 9, 2020

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Live Music w/ Brian Jacobs 6-8pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Thursday night solo series is back!

Open Mic Night 9pm-12am @ A&Ps No cover

Live Music w/ Dustin Drennen 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Folk, cow-punk, alt-country t Friday Art Exhibits w/ POAC pm @ POAC Gallery & Pend d’Oreille Winery thing Goes Best of the Best Photography Show e POAC Gallery & Darren Purdy at the winery

Live Music w/ Tom Burr 8-10pm @ The Back Door Live Music w/ Monarch Mt. String Band 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Live Music w/ DJ Kevin 9pm @ A&Ps No cover

day w/ e end d’Oreille

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

Reader recommended

Adult Grief Support Group 6pm @ Bonner General Hospital classrooms Facilitated by trained bereavement counselors, and primarily comprised of those who’ve lost a spouse or parent. Free. Call 208-265-1179 for more info

First Friday Art Celebration 5:30-7:30pm @ ArtWorks Gallery ArtWorks welcomes two new artists to the gallery: Diane Kinney, who turns recycled glass candle holders into beautiful works of art, and inspirational photo-artist Collene Auble. 208-263-2642

Steak Dinner 6pm @ The Eagles The grill will be hot and ready so you can cook your own rib-eye steak dinner.

All proceeds help with Eagles’ Charities

Karaoke 8-close @ Tervan

Free Fat Bike Demos 10am-2pm @ Indian Creek State Park Greasy Fingers Bikes ‘n’ Repair will offer fat bike test rides in Priest Lake as part of the Idaho Free Ski Snowshoe Day. 208-255-4496. You know you always wanted to try it!

Diabetes Education and Support Group 10am @ Bonner General Hospital classrooms MaryAnn Hamilton will present “Hiking the Trails of Northern Idaho.” 208-265-1116

Outdoor Experience Monday Night Run 6pm @ Outdoor Experience urant s. This week’s A chill, three-mile(ish) group run with optional beverages to follow.

Headlamps recommended g Stuff”

ory of Sandpoint drum) class

rsation ano’s story and fasho a one-act play. pen to the public

FSPW Brews for Benefits 5-8pm @ Laughing Dog Brewing A portion of beer sales goes toward saving the wild Scotchmans. Live music from Dave Hussey

2020 VolunteerConnect Event 5-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Join Sandpoint Community Resource Center and interact with other potential volunteers. Live music from Marty Perron and Doug Bond

etter Breathers Club pm @ Bonner General Hospital East Classroom ffered at no cost for people living with chronic ung disease and their caregivers. Call 208-265045 for more info

Jan. 10 Ukulele Jam @ Fiddlin’ Red’s Jan. 10 Contra Dance @ Sandpoint Community Hall Jan. 17-19 Banff Mt. Film Fest @ The Panida

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FEATURE

To cross an ocean A pictorial essay on crossing the Atlantic Ocean in 2018

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

By Ben Olson Reader Staff Since before I can remember, I have been infatuated with the ocean. I devoured seafaring novels like Two Years Before the Mast, The Sea Wolf, Mutiny on the Bounty and Moby Dick. Whenever near the ocean, I’d gaze out at the sailboats with a wistful feeling, wondering where in the world those lucky mariners were headed.

It was this that drew me one week to write a “Read, Listen, Watch” column in the Reader, recommending a sea novel and opining that I’d always wanted to sail around the world.

Not long after, I received an email from an old acquaintance warning me, “Careful what you ask for, dude.”

Captain Chris White lives in Sandpoint, but has spent the better part of 40 years fishing for wild salmon in Bristol Bay, Alaska. If you’ve eaten salmon in Sandpoint, there’s a good chance Chris caught it.

Chris bought a 39-foot catamaran and sailed it through the Mediterranean for several years before deciding he wanted to make an Atlantic crossing and bring the boat to the Caribbean. It was around this time when he saw my “RLW” and reached out, asking if my partner and I would be interested in joining 14 /

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a small crew to make the crossing in November 2018.

After I picked myself up off the floor, I replied that my girlfriend Cadie Archer and I were indeed interested. A year later, we boarded the TYGA — named after the captain’s daughter — in the Port of Funchal, Madeira, an island nearer to the coast of Morocco than its mother country of Portugal.

After a crash course in sailing and a whirlwind of provisioning and preparation, we cast off on Nov. 29, 2018 and pointed our bow south to catch up with the trade winds, which have blown mariners across the South Atlantic for centuries.

We were a crew of four: Captain White, myself and Cadie — whose real job in Sandpoint is working as a speech language pathologist at Bonner General Health — and Gary Quinn. Gary has done a bit of everything in Sandpoint.

He’s an engineer, he’s taught school, he’s worked for the Forest Service and rarely misses a powder day at Schweitzer. Like Cadie and me, he had little sailing experience, so we all learned as we went, which made for an adventure.

The first time you see only the blue horizon around you with no land in sight is a strange sensation.

When telling folks back home

about the upcoming trip, some had wistful twinkles in their eyes, but most looked a bit horrified, declaring that you couldn’t pay them enough to be trapped on a small boat surrounded by thousands of miles of water for three weeks.

As our captain said, crossing the ocean isn’t for everyone. It can be lonely if you are unable to entertain yourself. It can be isolating if you are not one with yourself.

It can be scary if you are prone to negative thoughts. But all that aside, it was the most spiritual, fulfilling and satisfying experience that I have ever undertaken.

What follows in the next few editions of the Reader is a pictorial essay on the crossing. I have chosen to present mostly photographs instead of writing about the trip in detail because every time I’ve attempted to write a meaningful account of the voyage, it has been too long and detailed for the space. Plus, I couldn’t help but feel that writing about this experience is on par with shining a light on a rare gem that prefers to remain in the dark.

Enjoy these photos while I am again away from Sandpoint; this time with Captain White, Cadie and others as we wend our way through the Caribbean until late-January 2020.

Page 14 – Top: A rainbow forms on the Atlantic as the TYGA plods west toward Antigua. Middle: The 39-foot TYGA at port in Funchal, Madeira shortly before departing for the 3,000-plus-mile transatlantic crossing. Bottom: Captain Chris White stands on the quay next to a handpainted mural of our voyage. The wall was full of murals from vessels making crossings of their own - some dating back decades. Page 15 – Top Left: Crewmember Gary Quinn stocks fresh fruit in the hammocks on the port side. The hammocks help keep a fresh supply of air to the fruit to help stave off rot a bit longer. Middle left: Gary Quinn, Cadie Archer and Capt. Chris White examine the radar just before sunset as we anticipate our first squally evening at sea. Middle right: The ensign on the stern flaps in the fresh breeze as the TYGA motors away from Madeira. Bottom: a rough map of our travels. The trade winds usually pick up west of the western Sahara off the coast of Africa, but we hit a high pressure bubble of 5-knot wind for days on end, forcing us to motor longer than usual. We ended up having to put in at the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Senegal to restock our fuel in case the trade winds were finicky during the crossing (they were). Photos by Ben Olson.

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PERSPECTIVES The

Late Night Buddhist

Pay it... somewhere

By Scott Taylor Reader Columnist A few years ago I realized that I’d had enough of sitting behind a desk, trying to teach junior-high students the geography of central Asia or get highschool kids to appreciate Dadaism, so I decided my skills and experience with teenagers might best be used in a wilderness setting (not that being in a classroom with 25 seventh-graders isn’t already a wilderness).

So I applied to some of the wilderness therapy programs in the West and, after a flight to Vegas and a shuttle van pay it forward,” then turned and ran out ride through the Virgin River Canthe door, back to his mother. yon, found myself schlepping around Apparently his mother thought I the desert town of St. George, Utah, was homeless or a climbing bum (or strapped to a huge North Face pack — a homeless climbing bum), and could complete with various dangling accouuse a decent meal. I had the choice trements — wearing my dirty Chacos of walking the money back out to her and favorite ragged cargo shorts, and and explaining I could afford my own sporting several days of facial scruff breakfast, or gracefully accepting her and unkempt dreads. offering and paying it forward. So I As I explored the town, noting the frightening scarcity of coffee shops and bought myself a small breakfast and liquor stores, I expected a police officer then paid for the next two customers’ orders. When I stepped outside, the to show up asking, “Is there something we can do for you?” (Translation: “Why ladies and the boy were gone and I had a full belly and good vibes for the day. are you here dirtbag? Beat it!”)

We’ve probably all I spied a Bohemiheard of the “pay it foran-looking cafe across We’ve probably all heard ward” phenomenon and the street and headed of the “pay it forward” pherealize that giving to for it. As I crossed the nomenon and realize that givothers is a good thing. parking lot I noticed a ing to others is a good thing. But how many of us couple of ladies and a realize that accepting is small child talking next But how many of us realize also a way of bringing to a car, and saw them that accepting is also a way joy to others? By acglance my way. I went of bringing joy to others? cepting offerings from in and was perusing the others, we give them a breakfast menu when chance to feel good and build good karthe boy from outside, who was 5 or 6 ma, and then it all keeps going around. years old, approached me holding a $20 So when you have the chance, pay it bill. He handed it to me and shyly mutforward, pay it backward, pay it sidetered something I couldn’t hear. Thinking he wanted me to purchase something ways — just pay it somewhere and keep the kindness and good vibes flowing. for him, I bent down to his level and And be happy! asked him to repeat.

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STAGE & SCREEN

Three nights of mountain bliss

Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour returns to Sandpoint

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

It’s time once again for all outdoor enthusiasts to gather at the altar of winter sport to herald in another year of movies from the mountains.

The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour is back in Sandpoint for its 23rd year, showing at the Panida Theater on three separate nights. Friday, Jan. 17 and Saturday Jan. 18 doors will open at 6 p.m. and the films begin at 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 19 doors will open at 5 p.m. and the fun starts at 6 p.m.

The beloved annual tradition is an inspiring international film competition featuring the world’s best footage on mountain subjects. Dozens of short A scene from Danny Daycare, a UK film starring Danny MacAskill films are chosen each year to show riding around Scotland. Photo by Dave Mackison. to audiences worldwide, with subjects ranging from cave exploration to mountain biking to climbing to skiing — each selection celebrating the great of biodiversity, critical to the survival of 100 peaks without burning any fossil outdoors and our infatuation with exfuels. But the question is: Will it make humanity. Hancco represents a people, ploring it to the fullest. a difference? Another climbing film a culture and a way of life that is being The festival began in 1976 in Banff, lost to modernization. Will their culture offered is Reel Rock 13: Up to Speed.

British Columbia but, a decade later survive or will it all be lost with the last When climbing was announced as part began to reach out to other communiof the 2020 Olympics, it was a monuPotato King? ties, touring a total of three cities across mental occasion for the sport. But many Danny Daycare is a film from the Canada. Today, more than 40 years latclimbers were shocked to learn that one United Kingdom in which master er, Banff films trek to hundreds of cities mountain biker Danny MacAskill takes of the three combined events required to around the world. compete for a medal is speed climbing. on some child care the only way he But, according to Sandpoint event In a time when it can feel like you knows how — by taking the kiddos for organizer Michael Boge, each communeed to fly to the opposite side of the a wee bike ride around Scotland. This nity gets a tailored experience. film is filled with hilarious and stupefy- globe to find adventure and challenge, “What I like for Sandpoint is I want Surfer Dan proves that with dedication, ing bike stunts involving kids — none something really broad-based,” Boge of whom were harmed in the making of grit and a little creativity, you might told the Reader. “I want adrenaline, I already have all you need outside your this short film. want culture, I want sport. You may go own backdoor.

Pete McBride and Kevin Fedarko’s for a ski flick or a climbing one, but This year, a portion of the proceeds Into the Canyon tells a story of extreme you’ll walk away with a favorite that from the event will support North Idaho physical hardship where the bonds of you didn’t expect.”

Mountain Sports Education Fund, a friendship are stretched This year’s lineup inlocally operated program giving more and the timeless beauty cludes a great variety of than 70 local kids access to ski Schof the Grand Canyon short films from around weitzer Mountain Resort. NIMSEF not becomes meditation the world sure to pique only provides access to Schweitzer, but — and, ultimately, a any North Idahoan’s takes care of lessons, ski gear and lift cautionary tale for our Friday, Jan. 17-Saturday, Jan. interest. tickets all with the hopes of establishing complex relationship 18, 7 p.m.; Sunday, Jan. 19, 6 In Opening the Earth: p.m.; $18 advance, $20 at the with the natural world. an early love for outdoor winter recreThe Potato King, a U.S. ation for local youth. Jeff Rouleau with Canadian film door. Panida Theater, 300 N. film by brothers Eric First Avenue, 208-263-9191, NIMSEF will be on hand at the Panida Electric Greg follows panida.org. For more info on and Aaron Ebner, Julio to run the raffle each night, with proclimber Greg Hill, films visit mountainfever.us.

Hancco is the guardian ceeds supporting the organization. who sets out to climb

Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour

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FEATURE

The year in review

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff The year 2000 has always felt like more of a product than an age: Reality 2000, the Next Generation, or something like that. Maybe it was the onslaught of the internet or reality TV-ization of culture (which on the page looks appropriately close to trivialization of culture).

Whatever the case, truth be told, the 21st century as a whole hasn’t felt exactly “real,” insofar as looking back at the 20th century and its constituent decades affords some sense of coherence. Even in the ’80s and ’90s it was clear we were living in distinct phases of an overall temporal continuum. The Reagan and Bush Years, followed by the Clinton Era somehow felt defined. I suppose we had a mass culture then, which made us all feel like we were living in the same country and sharing the same procession of events at roughly the same time.

That has certainly not been the case since the turn of the century — and maybe especially since Sept. 11, 2001. While we can all remember where we were when the events of that day transpired, you’ll find precious little consensus on where we’ve been and why since. Rather, it’s been a painful lurch from one crisis and cultural head-scratcher to another. In 2005, we had a conversation in the Reader newsroom on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks: “Doesn’t it feel like this has been one exceptionally long, shitty year?”

We dubbed 2005 “The Year of the Jackal” because it felt like history was laughing at us. Now, looking back on what the tastemakers are calling “the twenty-tens,” it’s a similar feeling — even more so for the half-decade chunk from 2015 to 18 /

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present. Donald Trump, climate change, income inequality, war (trade or otherwise), partisan gridlock, the unrelenting fracturing of social media, it all slumps together in a noxious mush that feels increasingly like mire.

All that aside, moving into the second decade of this iCentury does actually feel a bit different. No matter what, big things will happen in the coming 12 months that will dictate radical course changes across the political, economic and cultural landscape in the United States, if not the world.

Call that Prediction No. 1.

While predictions are by nature dangerous — especially for people in the business of “now” — we spent a snowy Monday afternoon in the waning days of the 2010s to think about and research some things we think we might see on the horizon. Some are meant to be taken more seriously than others; others are less discernible than some.

This roundup is by no means comprehensive. Take this for what it is: fuel for rumination, reflection, maybe even discussion. Regardless, Happy New Year, Reader readers.

The stars (or planets) align For many centuries, the wisest among us took the opportunity to search the heavens for clues as to what might lay in the future. Though the practice has fallen in favor of more testable methodologies, it’s hard to argue with modern-day astrologers who seem to be in agreement: 2019 was a year of conflict and chaos.

According to astrologer Tatiana Borsch, writing Dec. 30, 2019 for swaay.com, the unsettled nature of the past year owed in large part to Jupiter and Neptune being at odds in the solar system.

This will all change with the first

new moon of 2020, which falls on Jan. 25 and will usher out the Eastern astrological sign of the Yellow Earth Pig to be replaced by the White Metal Rat. This precedes an historic conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn on Dec. 21, 2020, which will officially end the Piscean Age and mark the beginning of the Age of Aquarius — an era that will last for 2,160 years — at least, according to the cycles of the solar system that determine Earth’s axial transition from one sign of the zodiac to another.

We’re by no means astrologers, nor necessarily believers in the ancient practice, but as Borsch writes: “The year 2020 will be a defining year for humanity. It is a year that represents the summing up of the past and the establishment of a new order.” Again: Hard to argue with that augury.

Sports and popular culture We’re going to go out on a limb here and predict that Netflix will be bought by Disney — if only so the people get all the Star Wars spin offs all the time.

Bloomberg tells us it’ll be the Astros and Braves in the World Series, with the Astros triumphant. CNN begs to differ, predicting the Yankees will win, but the Astros have a shot.

The Ravens will win Super Bowl LIV. Fortune holds that cultural marketing will try to make us think we’re living in a reiteration of the Roaring ’20s, with “Great Gatsby-inspired ad campaigns, parties and playlists.” We see some truth in this, as the 20th-century interaction of the decade was marked by widespread political disenfranchisement, insane wealth inequality and a stock market that was too good to be true. The prevalence of Crocs and sweat-

ADVANCE

pants — and people’s apparent comfort in wearing them outside their homes — would seem to belie this notion, at least as far as smart dress is concerned.

Ours will be the Roaring ’20s of White Claws and “athleisure,” not champagne, flapper skirts and high collars.

CNN sees Ariana Grande’s Thank U, Next winning the Album of the Year Grammy and The Irishman by Martin Scorsece making “an offer the Academy cannot refuse.” Not so, says Fortune, with Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood winning Best Picture and, possibly, Best Director. We think wise money might be placed on Tom Hanks for his turn in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. It just may be that the Academy is as traumatized by 2019 as we are, and looking for some solace.

The Cut predicts Betty White will pass away (let’s hope not), and the flappers will return.

Per CNN: the U.S. will win the most medals in the Tokyo Summer Olympics and Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg will win the Nobel Peace Prize. No argument here.

Technology Don’t hold your breath for flying or self-driving cars — though the latter have made big strides over the past decade (Elon Musk accidentally bashing out a window on one of his Tesla self-driving semis notwithstanding). Most predictions we’ve seen center less on the physical manifestations of technology and more on tech that messes with our heads and pervades the minutiae of our everyday lives.

According to Bloomberg, in

its Dec. 28, 2019 set of predictions, almost every outdoor space in nearly all cities in the world will be subject to video monitoring by the end of 2020, while “significant inroads will have been made in suburbs and towns.”

Meanwhile, according business website Inc.com, consumers will increasingly push back against this trend toward total data tracking, demanding more privacy — most likely via cloudbased solutions, rather than relying on mega-corporations like Google to store and control their digital information.

Yet, also according to Inc., we’ll be doing more “thinking to computers,” rather than talking to them, using neural interfaces that translate brain and nervous system processes into controls for various types of “smart” devices.

Finally, the fabric of reality will be challenged by so-called “Deepfakes,” which are pieces of digital media created from millions of pieces of data to represent a fabricated person, event, location, piece of speech or all of the above.

The 2020 election (more on that later) will feature “the first large-scale, malicious use of Deepfakes aimed to influence the presidential election,” with Peter Rojas of Deepfake anti-virus firm Betaworks Ventures telling Inc., that, “at least one Deepfake attack will cause a good deal of outrage.” The rest will fail because people are more aware of them and publishers and social media platforms will put in place detection tools. (Which, of course, he sells.)

< see 2020, page 19 >

< 2020, con’t from page 18 >

Finance and real estate Bloomberg, the Motley Fool and Fortune all agree that the U.S. stock market will remain strong through the first half of the year, undergoing disruptions as the 2020 election conventions get under way, followed by a significant drop corresponding with the November election itself.

Motley Fool, writing on Dec. 29, 2019, was more sanguine.

While its analysts do not foresee a recession as profound as the one that rocked global markets in 2008, they do predict at least one decline of 10% or more, noting that the overall expansion begun in 2009 “is getting long in the tooth.”

Both Bloomberg and Motley Fool tell investors that whatever happens around the election, the market will rebound swiftly.

Fortune predicts a barrel of oil will cost $60 by end of the year. There will be lots of black gold produced from Texas to Norway, but we won’t need it as much amid more and more large energy consumers switching to renewables.

Notably, in 2017, the U.S. military embarked on a program to substantially cut its 100 million-barrel-per-year oil habit with energy sources like solar. According to sustainability targets, the Army and Air Force will be powered by 25% renewable sources by 2025, and the Navy will hit 50% in 2020.

Closer to home — literally — CoreLogic predictions

and data from Keller Williams Realty-Sandpoint predict home prices in 2020 will appreciate by 5.4% year over year, compared to “normal home price appreciation” of 3.6%. Meanwhile, home sales will meet or exceed those in 2019.

Elsewhere in the region, Coeur d’Alene is forecast by Santa Ana, Calif.-based analyst firm Veros Real Estate Solutions to represent the second-highest market appreciation in the nation in 2020, with a 9.5% increase in value. Idaho Falls, with 9.4%, is expected to rank third followed

by Boise at 9.1%. Pocatello is expected to come in as the ninth hottest market in the U.S., with 7.2% appreciation in 2020.

Overall, eight of the top 10 markets will be located in Idaho and Washington, according to Veros. The other two will be in Texas: Odessa, in first place with 9.7% appreciation and Midland in fifth with 8%.

National politics (including impeachment and the 2020 election) Bloomberg thinks Congress will pass a near-ban on vaping products sometime in 2020, which President Donald Trump will sign into law.

Fortune says to expect “another Arab Spring” in the coming year, as popular uprisings against authoritarian governments in the Middle East and North Africa spread from Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq to places like Morocco and Jordan.

CNN asked a stable of prognosticators to gaze into

their crystal balls and foretell the outcome of the elephant in the room: the 2020 presidential election. Predictably, they broke along party lines with half putting their best bets on Trump’s reelection.

That also seems to be the mood among a coterie of folks interviewed in quick succession

by The Cut — the majority, even among those who oppose the president’s administration, seemed resigned to the idea that incumbency, entrenched partisanship and paralyzed national instruments of governance such as the courts will keep the 45th chief executive in the Oval Office at least through 2020.

As for impeachment, no one thinks Trump will be indicted on the articles of impeachment adopted by the House of Representatives in December. Once more, the partisan chasm is too deep and wide to expect any meaningful movement on the matter in the U.S. Senate.

That said, Bloomberg had a much more nuanced read on the election. To summarize: Democrats will flip Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, but the Republicans will flip New Hampshire, resulting in a tie in the electoral college. The House will then be left to decide the winner on a one-state, onevote basis. The 26 states with “red”-majority delegations (including Idaho) will vote Republican, while the 22 “blue”-majority delegation states will vote Democrat, leaving the two states with divided partisan delegations abstaining — which will mean another tie.

With two ties, the courts will be asked to intervene. A call will

go up that Trump appointees are biased and should recuse, while others will argue this is “‘another’ attempted coup d’etat.”

The major parties will intercede, agreeing to hold another election in February 2021, but that will please no one — including Trump. Lawsuits will explode like dandelions gone to seed and, well, no one knows the future.

Local issues Here’s where our predictions become increasingly dangerous. If we’re wrong, folks won’t shrug, they’ll write angry letters to the editor.

Nonetheless, here we go.

War Memorial Field work will be completed if not exactly on its prescribed timeline, then in time for the Festival at Sandpoint’s annual concert series, which will return for a 2020 season despite its chaotic 2019.

People will complain about the turf, as little pieces of cork infill stick to their blankets and get in their wine. Somehow, however, everyone will survive.

We will again be arguing about what to do about Canada geese at City Beach — especially as the city’s master planning efforts turn to that area in the late-winter and throughout the spring. This discussion will be somewhat subsumed when dirt is turned on the new hotel/motel that will replace the Edgewater.

We’re not brave enough to predict what brand will (maybe?) replace Best Western there.

Preceding that, the city will negotiate a land swap with Sand-Ida. The lawsuit between Bonner County and the city of Sandpoint over the Festival’s no-weap-

ons policy will end with the dismissal of the county’s call for a declaratory action — that is, if the judge balks at ruling lease holders on public property are unable to determine their own weapons policies when it becomes clear such a decision would require alteration of those policies for perhaps dozens of other entities, including health care providers like Bonner General Health, which lease at least a portion of their property from municipalities. If the judge wants to be the one to kick off a legal debate, potentially making its way to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, well, that’ll be a different story. We’ll all still have to pay the lawyers.

Downtown street construction will be completed by Lost in the ’50s, and everyone will complain about the expanded bulb outs and parking alignment as it affects the parade and car show. Yet, somehow, the event will come off as it always has.

By the winter of 2020, we’ll all be used it.

That said, we will start to hear talk about a downtown parking garage at the city-owned parking lot — probably in the mid- to late-summer.

The Newport smelter will be in the dustbin of history. We won’t see much movement on wilderness declaration for the Scotchmans and (hopefully) another little kid will catch Old Man Sparkles the monster fish.

Finally, skry as we may and skry as we might, we have a hard time seeing whether or not Reader Publisher Ben Olson will be on a boat somewhere exotic in winter 2020-’21. We hope he comes back.

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FOOD

The Sandpoint Eater

A year of food

By Marcia Pilgeram Reader Columnist

Standing tall on the counter in my kitchen is a brand-spankingnew, commercial mixer (a gift from all my children). The new mixer replaced my Kitchen Aide, which, after 40 years of service, recently ceased to operate. I love this sleek, silver model and I envision our next 40 years together — whipping up milehigh meringues, fluffy batters for celebration cakes and mixing up oodles of cookie dough for oodles of grandchildren (No. 9 is due this May).

2020 promises to be a great year. Before my new grandchild arrives, I’ll be leading two ladies’ tours through my favorite destinations in Ireland and, in the fall, I’ll lead a smaller group through southern Spain. Between those travels I’ll do my best to have my heart in the right place — here at home — and to be helpful in my community.

The anticipation of a new year always gives me pause to think about the previous one and, in retrospect, the previous year’s memories that I cherish most revolve not just around people and places but the foods that are woven in these experiences.

With that in mind, here are my most edible highlights of 2019:

in Shanagarry, Ireland: herbaceous mussels, poached and piled high in a shallow bowl of savory broth, sopped up with an artisanal crusty sourdough, eaten while sampling foods for my tour groups.

Pack River Store on prime rib night: a generous serving of rare beef, complemented with spicy horseradish, a side of creamy au gratin potatoes and lots of familiar faces.

A Clubfoot Sandwich at the Staggering Ox in Helena, Mont.: my annual pilgrimage to this favorite sandwich shop, where my brood (and theirs) crowds around a single long table to dig into these mammoth, stuffed sandwiches.

A two-parter in Havana, Cuba: deep fried suckling pig at El Carbon, a paladares (private

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Food triggers a lot of memories and feelings for me, much more so than music. Not just the taste of the food but the aromas, the place I was, the people I was with and the restaurant or kitchen the food was cooked in. These are all the ingredients that conjure up a level of nostalgia. I know I’m not alone, as often when I prepare something, someone will recall a memory or incident from a past time I made the dish.

Some of these memories can also take us back to an early cooking attempt that led to disaster. When my own mother made her first fruit pie, she remembered that her mother thickened the juice with cornstarch. So my mother added and stirred cornstarch into the berry juice until it was thick, then she baked it. My father

referred to it as “the purple cement pie.”

Fortunately, most of our memories are much happier, like last week, when my brood from Moscow was here and I made Cornish pasties (which Ryanne declared were the best I’d ever made). I loved listening to my oldest daughter share stories I’d never heard with her own children, evoked from the simple meat pies and gravy of her youth.

I hope that the coming year fills your belly with an abundance of good food and your brain with pleasant memories, like the ones my young Cambodian friend, Da Kriel, left with me last year. Now I think of him whenever I prepare lamb shank curry. Happy New Year.

Curried Lamb Shank Recipe

Serves 4-6

Perfect dinner for a cold winter night, served with Jasmine rice. For more heat, add 1 tsp red chilies and cook with garlic and ginger.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 tbs oil • 4-6 lamb shanks • 1 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper • 2 onions, halved, thinly sliced • 4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed • 2 tsp fresh, peeled and grated ginger • 1 tsp ground cardamom • 1/3 cup red curry paste • 15 oz can chopped tomatoes Barolo Ristorante in Seattle, • 1 1⁄2 cups unsweetened coconut Wash.: sublime squid ink noodles delicately seasoned by the milk ocean, surrounded by seafood • 2 cups beef stock (or lamb OXO and baked in parchment paper, bouillon, if available) shared with my favorite cousin and a friend from Ireland.

• fresh coriander leaves (to garnish) Ballymaloe Cookery School

restaurant), followed by a stop at Sloppy Joe’s, a favorite of longago soldiers, where my friend Peggy and I drank a beer to honor her father, who served at Guantanamo Bay during World War II. Anantara Resort, Siem Reap, Cambodia: a spicy, curried lamb shank, served by a hard-working young man, recently certified as a guide and delighted to practice his English. We’ve since become pen pals.

Simple and authentic cheese croquette and Iberico jamon tapas, washed down with jelly-glass jars of vino rojo, at El Rinconcillo, an ancient bar favored by locals in Seville, Spain. The running tab is scribed using chalk on the old wooden bar.

DIRECTIONS: Pat dry, then salt and pepper the lamb shanks. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large dutch oven. Add the lamb until crispy brown exterior (you will need to do this in a couple of batches). Remove to a plate.

Heat the remaining oil in the same pan and add the onions. Cook stirring until soft. Stir in the garlic and ginger, cook for 1 minute then add the cardamom and curry paste.

Cook, stirring for another minute.

Add the tomatoes, coconut milk and stock, stirring to combine.

Return the shanks to the saucepan; bring to a simmer then cover.

Simmer gently for about 2 hours or until the lamb is nearly fall-fromthe-bone tender.

Serve garnished with fresh coriander.

MUSIC

The soundtrack to 2020

Artists aim to make their mark on the new year with these highly anticipated albums

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff The new year is sure to bring plenty of new tunes to love. Here are some picks from an insatiable consumer of music who came of age to the pop sounds of the 2010s.

Halsey: Manic (Jan. 10) When Halsey dropped “Nightmare” — a single off her upcoming release Manic — it became clear that she was not messing around. The rising pop star is gaining such status with an unlikely sound, one full of angst and anger. Halsey is a powerful woman, she’s pissed and she writes one hell of a song.

“Nightmare,” alongside a handful of other singles from Manic, put Halsey’s signature frankness on full display: “I’ve got nothing to smile for / I’ve waited a while for a moment to say / I don’t owe you a goddamn thing.”

Kesha: High Road (Jan. 31) As Kesha addresses in “My Own Dance,” a single off the upcoming album High Road, society likes to categorize women with labels like “party girl” and “the

tragedy.” Well, Kesha is here to tell us all that she isn’t adhering to labels anymore — she’s “f*cking everything,” meaning, every type of woman. It’s the perfect response to her rollercoaster career from drunken and glittery “TiK ToK” princess to tragic victim.

High Road is Kesha getting back to those party girl roots, but with the maturity that comes with going to hell and back.

Tame Impala: The Slow Rush (Feb. 14) It’s been a hot minute since Tame Impala graced the world with fresh and funky indie goodness. Currents, released in 2015, brought us “The Less I Know The Better,” far and away the artist’s most popular song and an alternative radio staple. The Slow Rush, dropping on Valentine’s Day, already has several singles on the market for sampling: “Borderline,” “Posthumous Forgiveness” and the delightfully keyboard-heavy “It Might Be Time.”

The 1975: Notes on a Conditional Form (Feb. 21) Genre-bending British rockers The 1975 are back in 2020 with their fourth full-length release.

“Frail State of Mind,” one of the new album’s singles, has a distinctly lo-fi background, but Matt Healy’s expressive and heavily accented vocals rule the track.

The 1975 appears to be straying from the bubbly pop overtones of previous work and opting for a punkier identity. The 1975 is so punk, in fact, that on the new album is a self-titled track featuring spoken-word lyrics from teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg urging listeners to take action.

How much more anti-establishment can you get?

Unconfirmed but intriguing…

Billboard affiliate Stereogum published a list of the top 100 most anticipated albums of 2020 with the preface that “not every-

Just as important as the musicians, songwriters and producers who make the music are those who work so diligently to curate it.

DJ Amoe is one such curator. Crates of vinyl in tow, DJ Amoe uses the sweet sounds of early funk, soul, house and breakbeat tunes to create an atmospheric night out.

A night with DJ Amoe is one where you’re sure to groove, so grab a drink and let it happen.

— Lyndsie Kiebert 9 p.m.-midnight, FREE, 21+. 219 Lounge, 219 N. First Ave., 208263-5673, 219.bar.

READ

This time of year, I like to sink into some good detective noir novels from yesteryear.

One of my favorite hard-boiled authors is Raymond Chandler, whose protagonist Philip Marlowe is one of the reasons so many stereotypes exist about private detectives.

Along with Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade, these two characters set the standard.

Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely is about as good as this genre gets.

LISTEN

one [on the list] is guaranteed to release an album next year, but nothing here is a complete shot in the dark, either. We have our reasons.” Here’s to hoping Stereogum has some legit inside sources, because its top 100 list included rapper Kendrick Lamar, whose last album earned him a Pulitzer; French rockers Phoenix; indie veterans Fleet Foxes; and three of this writer’s favorite alternative female artists: Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Soccer Mommy.

A snapshot of notable live music coming up in Sandpoint

DJ Amoe, Jan. 4, 219 Lounge

This week’s RLW by Ben Olson

FSPW Brews for Benefits w/ Dave Hussey, Jan. 6, Laughing Dog Brewing Dave Hussey has a long association with his instrument. A guitarist for the better part of half a century, he’s a songwriter, a luthier (having built dulcimers of the hammered and non-hammered variety), a recording engineer and producer (working with renowned guitarist Leon Atkinson), and master of the “finger-style” of playing — in which an artist uses his or her thumb to lay down a rhythm while the remaining fingers strum out a melody.

He will lend his prowess to the Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness, as it kicks off the 2020 Brews for Benefits season at Laughing Dog Brewing. A portion of beer sales will benefit the Scotchmans participants can enter a raffle that includes tickets to the upcoming Wild and Scenic Film Festival.

—Zach Hagadone 5-8 p.m., FREE. Laughing Dog Brewing, 805 Schweitzer Plaza Drive, Ponderay; 208-263-9222; laughingdogbrewing.com.

Nicholas Rattigan is a Reno-based s i n g e r- s o n g writer who releases music under the handle Current Joys.

I fell in love with this enigmatic musician after a chance listen on Spotify. His album A Different Age (and the title track on it) are so good. His lyrics are sad and inspiring at the same time, conveying that amorphous feeling of nothingness and everythingness that artists share but have trouble putting into words.

WATCH

Billy Bob Thornton can sometimes be annoying and typecast, but if you’ve never seen his 1996 epic Sling Blade, you’ve never seen what he’s truly capable of.

Thornton wrote and directed this film, which won Oscars for Best Screenplay and Best Actor. In it, a mentally-challenged man confronts his violent past while befriending a local boy.

The film is strengthened by the excellent supporting roles by a young Lucas Black and a villainous role played by country singer Dwight Yoakam.

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A grain of salt

A health column... sort of

The happiness project

From Northern Idaho News, Jan. 4, 1916

NEW YEARS HERE SALOONS CLOSED The new era has arrived and Sandpoint is again a dry town.

This time, however, Spokane to the west a couple of hours no longer offers the temptation to the thirsty mortal and the officers are backed by the most stringent law of its kind ever enacted, so it is a safe bet that Sandpoint will not be the wetdry town it was under the operation of the local option law.

Friday night saw the last of the open saloons. Crowds gathered at all the bars and wandered from one place to another as long as the law permitted or the stock of liquor held out. At the Wisconsin bar the supply gave out at 11:30.

The other places managed to last out to the appointed time at midnight but with mighty little stock left in their casks and none on their shelves. At John Bode’s keno was the order of the hour till the clock struck 12 the remains of the stock were disposed of in that manner. One of the last prizes was a basket of bottled goods which included a quart bottle of champagne, a quart of good whiskey and an assortment of other kinds of liquor. Five dollars was offered the owner, but he refused.

Despite the fact that there was drinking and lots of it, there was comparitively little disorder, the police say. Bottled goods were in strong demand to the last and the price of alcohol went skyward long before Friday and was practically unobtainable.

Many small private stores of wine and liquor and some large ones are scattered throughout the town, some of them laid in by men who rarely drink but who followed the quite common idea that there should be some in the house for illness, real or fancied.

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The research is available. My bookshelf is quickly filling with the works of Tibetan monks, manuscripts on compassion and service, journals of gratitude and mindfulness. It turns out, happiness is a practice, not a place. It also turns out that the more I learn and know about happiness, the more of it I experience.

Here’s the beautiful part about free will: You can know anything you want.

Whatever your hopes and intentions are for the new year, go seek the knowledge.

Then watch in awe and wonder as it shapes the choices of your life. You might just discover that turning a new leaf comes naturally.

By Ammi Midstokke Reader Columnist

Every year, without fail, the new year arrives. With it’s slow, unstoppable force, like blackberry overgrowth, it creeps over us with suffocating thorny truths and optimistic expectations of fruit. We did it again: over-planned the holidays; hit the eggnog too hard; skipped the gym; and forgot that we wanted to learn a foreign language, meditate and drink more water.

But thank goodness the gym is offering a new-membership discount.

While nature is indeed cyclical and time unstoppable, most of us wouldn’t mind resolving to absolve ourselves of resolutions. Some determined souls have.

They say elevated things like, “I don’t do resolutions,” and I can’t tell if they are enlightened or resisting personal growth.

It’s not by coincidence that change is inspired in this season. The death and decay of autumn has brought us to the sleep and regeneration of winter. To use this time to go inward and reflect is natural.

Mother Nature is doing the same thing and we will see the result of this in April when the leaves begin to unfurl and the trees take on the new shape of a year of wisdom and growth.

We humans are rather obtuse and aggressive in our belief that we know ourselves and mandate our rhythms. We bully our way through sleep-, calorieand screen-deprivation toward purity and a new pant size. We think we know what works for us and spend a lot of time with people who just nod in biased approval as we explain our wise (if not redundant) fail-proof plans for the future. While the season is particularly driven for this now, what with shame and holiday bloat, it is true year round.

Someone once said that knowledge is power. The suggestion is that when we know and understand things outside of ourselves, we can use our free will to respond to our environment. If we think we know the answers and are pursuing an outcome rather than pursuing knowledge, the result often feels like failure rather than new learning. “This Intermittent

Fasting diet works! I read about it in this book titled Intermittent Fasting Works.”

What if we approached ourselves with wonder instead? What if we pursued external knowledge and observed with curiosity how it impacts us?

Some time ago, I decided to stop drinking alcohol for a year to explore the science behind alcohol consumption. This lead me to exploring the neurological and endocrinological effects of consuming addictive substances. Which led me to researching the socio-cultural implications of an inebriated and lubricated country.

When I tried to drink alcohol again, I knew too much. It had lost all its charm and without resolution or deprivation, it left my life. It was a painless process without guilt, self control or rule setting.

It is the same kind of knowledge that has many of us not smoking cigarettes, not living on fast food and not letting our children drink coffee at night. We know too much.

This year, I decided I wanted to know more about happiness, which seems to be elusive these days, what with the doom of climate change, political discord, economic uncertainty and a growing list of studies revealing we’ve been doing everything wrong all along. While my life is abundant — I check all the external boxes of resources and privilege, and I eat vegetables and sleep the recommended seven to eight hours most nights — happiness often eludes me. Not because it is not there, but probably because I am not paying attention to it.

Crossword Solution

If you lose your job, your marriage and your mind all in one week, try to lose your mind first, because then all the other stuff won’t matter that much.

Copyright www.mirroreyes.com

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1. Certain 5. A skin disease 10. Bristle 14. Russian emperor 15. Inuit boat 16. X X X X 17. Container 19. Stink 20. Anger 21. Artist’s workstand 22. Deservedly receives 23. Helps 25. Suit 27. Consumed food 28. Grinding 31. List components 34. Trifling 35. Petroleum 36. Fourth sign of the zodiac 37. A kind of macaw 38. Pot 39. Dawn goddess 40. Manicurist’s board 41. A friction match /KON-ster-ney-shun/ 42. Astringents [noun] 44. Louisville Slugger 1. a sudden, alarming amazement or dread that results in utter 45. Rank of the confusion; dismay.

46. Sandstorm “Frank felt consternation after the confusing performance at the debate.” 50. Distend 52. Small wooded hollows Corrections: Would you look at that? We didn’t foul anything up (that we 54. Delay know of, anyway). Here’s to beginning the new year as perfect beings. -ZH 55. 53 in Roman numerals 56. Likeness 58. Coffee dispensers

consternation

Word eek W

Solution on page 26 59. Malicious 60. Used to be 61. Anger 62. Heron 63. Poems

DOWN 1. Stripes 2. Utilizers 3. Contests of speed 4. Before, poetically 5. Change 6. Gather 7. Agreeable 8. Chivalry 9. Barely manage

10. Angel 11. Efforts 12. Adolescent 13. Questions 18. Vermin 22. Not difficult 24. Poetic foot 26. Information 28. Cogwheels 29. Anagram of “Tine” 30. Delight 31. Frosts 32. Gait faster than a walk 33. Leisurely 34. Coming before 37. Between

38. Car 40. French for “State” 41. The language of Persia 43. Laud 44. Lodging 46. Skid 47. _____ in = aware 48. Close-knit group 49. S-shaped moldings 50. Make unclear 51. Former Italian currency 53. Arab chieftain 56. South southeast 57. Pair

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