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PEOPLE compiled by

Susan Drinkard

watching

“Are you going to the Festival at Sandpoint?

Why or why not? What shows will you see?”

“Yes, we are going to Jake Owen this year. He’s a great performer. We saw him last time he was here.”

Chris Wiens Helicopter mechanic Sandpoint native

“No, I have other plans, but if I could go I’d like to see Young the Giant. They’re a newer alternative band and I really like their music.”

Myla McKechnie Production worker Bonners Ferry

DEAR READERS,

Welcome to the 38th annual Festival at Sandpoint. For those of you who are new here, check out Pages 20-21 for a full rundown on everything you need to know about our annual concert series. Also, for you salty locals who have attended every show for nearly 40 years, check out some of the changes regarding cashless payments and new rules for the artificial turf.

Let’s all remember to be kind to one another. Take an extra moment during annoying traffic jams and practice patience. Give your servers a smile and a positive attitude, even if the restaurant is so busy they can barely hear you over the roar. Pick up your litter when around town or recreating in the woods — or better yet, pick up someone else’s litter while you’re at it.

Above all, have fun this weekend. Just one more month of summer left, then we’ll have a bit of solace in town again. I hope.

– Ben Olson, publisher

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

www.sandpointreader.com Publisher: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com Editorial: Zach Hagadone (Editor) zach@sandpointreader.com Lyndsie Kiebert (News Editor) lyndsie@sandpointreader.com Cameron Rasmusson (emeritus) John Reuter (emeritus) Advertising: Jodi Berge Jodi@sandpointreader.com Contributing Artists: Racheal Baker (cover), Ben Olson, Susan Drinkard, USDA FS, Bill Borders, Michael Darren, Alanna Chapin.

Contributing Writers: Zach Hagadone, Ben Olson, Lyndsie Kiebert, Lorraine H. Marie, Shelby Rognstad, Carolyn Knaack, Brenden Bobby, Ali Baranski, Amy Rae Pearson, Hannah Combs, Chris Corpus, Marcia Pilgeram.

Submit stories to: stories@sandpointreader.com Printed weekly at: Tribune Publishing Co. Lewiston, ID Subscription Price: $115 per year

“I’m not going, but my parents are going to Jake Owen because they like country.”

Tyler Smith Sandpoint

“I’m not going to the Festival, though I may sit in the park for one of the concerts. It’s too expensive and it disappoints me there is only one female artist; I would like to see more women artists given a shot in the future. And if they aren’t, then I will not go.”

Shannon Earle Life coach Sandpoint

“Yes! Jake Owen. I saw him the last time he was here and he was amazing.

I love country music!”

Jackie Taylor Bookkeeper Sandpoint

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

About the Cover

This week’s cover photo was taken at the 2019 Festival at Sandpoint by local photographer Racheal Baker, who will be covering this year’s concert series for the Reader also.

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NEWS

Containment efforts continue on Trestle Creek fire Management returned to Sandpoint Ranger District

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff The Sandpoint Ranger District regained management responsibilities for the Trestle Creek Complex fire from the Nevada Incident Management Team 3 on July 24 “due to the containment of all fires except the Trestle Creek 6 Fire and the operational complexity decreased moving forward,” according to InciWeb, a national incident reporting agency.

As of July 28, the Trestle Creek 6 fire — burning seven miles north of Hope — remained around 480 acres in size and less than 40% contained. According to Idaho Panhandle National Forests officials, the fire “continues to burn in a backcountry management area that is steep, inaccessible and has a low level of values compared to exposure risks of direct suppression.” The fire is burning in spruce, subalpine fir and brush.

“The objective this week is to suppress the Trestle Creek 6 Fire with a confine-and-contain strategy by allowing the fire to come to features like roads, streams and ridges where there are better and

safer opportunities for successfully holding a line,” officials announced in a media release.

“With warm and dry weather in the forecast, monitoring of the contained fires will continue.”

Trestle and Lightning Creek roads are partially closed to the public to enhance firefighting efforts, and trails 57, 526, 55 and part of trail 120 are also currently closed for public safety.

Current InciWeb projections do not anticipate that the Trestle Creek 6 Fire will be contained until mid-September.

Elsewhere in Hope, a fire July 24 prompted response from the Sam Owen Fire District, Clark Fork Fire and a handful of good samaritans. The fast, multi-agency response and about 6,000 gallons of water held the blaze to one acre in the highway ditch opposite of the Denton Slough access area. The cause of the fire has not yet been announced.

Fire officials used social media to clear up some confusion about a large plume of smoke spotted July 25 east of Lake Pend Oreille. The plume is coming from the Burnt Peak Fire in Montana, seven miles east of the Trestle Creek Complex,

which measured 3,000 acres as of July 28.

“Thank you to those who alerted 911 with your concerns.

It is better for us to check it out and find nothing than the other way around,” Sam Owen Fire District officials shared on

Facebook. “With the current and forecasted conditions, we should all be on high alert.”

Stage II fire restrictions are currently in place in North Idaho, banning campfires, outdoor cook stove use and more. Visit idahofireinfo.com to learn more.

The fire lookout tower at Lunch Peak, with smoke from the Trestle Creek Complex fires visible in the background. The fire tower was wrapped with a special coating to protect it from wildfire. Photo courtesy USDA Forest Service.

BoCo Commissioner Steve Bradshaw announces run for governor

By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff

Bonner County District 1 Commissioner Steve Bradshaw announced his run for Idaho governor July 27, sharing his deeply conservative platform in a media release.

“Biden’s radical federal regime wants to run roughshod over the sovereignty of Idaho, and the freedom of Idahoans,” Bradshaw stated. “Washington DC technocrats want to dictate every detail of how we live our lives. But their ‘one size fits all’ Washington DC solutions just don’t work here. So I am never going to allow that to happen.”

Bradshaw went on to list several hypothetical scenarios 4 /

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he would not allow in Idaho should he be elected governor, such as being “masked against our will” and “vaccinated against our will.” Bradshaw expressed anti-trans and pro-Second Amendment sentiments, and noted that under his leadership in Idaho, “no one will teach our kids that America is an illegitimate nation founded in evil when we all know that America is the best hope for the future of all mankind.”

“We will not deem patriots as ‘domestic’ terrorists, nor will we deem a political gathering an ‘insurrection,’” Bradshaw stated, referring to the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol following a pro-Trump “Stop the Steal” rally based on false claims

challenging the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election.

When the Reader asked Bradshaw if he condoned the actions of those who stormed the Capitol, he said: “I in no way support any illegal actions or violence, however I do support the right to ‘peaceful’ protest and freedom of speech.”

Bradshaw’s campaign — dubbed the “R.O.A.R” or “Restore Our American Republic” campaign — is focused on protecting Idaho from the “radical Biden regime’s overreach from the DC swamp” and joins a May 2022 Republican primary field that already includes incumbent Gov. Brad Little and Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, who is seeking to replace Little in the

Steve Bradshaw. Courtesy photo. top office.

A campaign finance profile of Bradshaw’s gubernatorial run, created July 26, is accessible on the Idaho secretary of state’s website (sos.idaho.gov/

elections-division/campaign-finance-filing) and lists Craig Campo as treasurer.

“We face a time where we need to search our souls, and determine what we value, and what we will fight to protect,” Bradsaw said. “The challenges are significant, and our response must be decisive. We simply can’t leave it to your average politicians to handle. No one has ever accused me of being the average politician. But, I have heard the call to battle, and I am answering it.”

Bradshaw, the pastor at the Cocolalla Cowboy Church, was elected to the board of county commissioners in 2018, and earned re-election in 2020.

NEWS

City approves max preliminary budget, schedules public workshop and hearing

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff The city of Sandpoint is moving into its budget season after City Council members voted July 21 to adopt maximum preliminary expenditures of almost $40.6 million for fiscal year 2022.

Scheduled for a public workshop on Wednesday, Aug. 4, and going back before the council for a public hearing and vote at its regular Wednesday, Aug. 18 meeting, the preliminary maximum budget represents an increase of nearly $6 million, or 17.33% over FY2021.

“It’s important to note, I know there’s a lot of public perception when we have increases in our budget every year that it’s a reflection of excess of spending and an impact on their tax dollars and how they’re spent,” said City Council President Shannon Sherman, adding that, “a lot of it is due to significant grant funding,” as well as the recently approved joint-powers agreement between the city of Sandpoint and area fire departments.

Sandpoint City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton led the budget presentation, showing a general fund increase of about $5.4 million — $1.4 million of which is due to the JPA between Sandpoint and the Sagle and Westside fire districts.

According to the agreement, firefighters in those districts became employees of the city of Sandpoint, while their respective administrative costs were rolled into the city’s budget to be reimbursed on a monthly basis.

Meanwhile, Sandpoint received a grant of $2 million from the American Rescue Plan Act — about half of which it has already received, with the other half to be disbursed next year.

Those grant dollars could go toward stormwater and facility improvements for both public and employee safety, including a proposed remodel of the police department space at City Hall.

The latter project is estimated to cost $960,000, not including the ARPA portion.

Stormwater projects eligible under the federal grant include one planned for Dub’s Field, adjacent to the Sandpoint Events Center (a.k.a. “Old 9th Grade Center”) at Highway 2 and Boyer Avenue, as well as design and engineering for stormwater treatment at Farmin’s Landing on the downtown Sand Creek waterfront.

Other items in the budget included $525,000 — paid for by the Sandpoint Urban Renewal Agency — for improvements on Great Northern Road, as well as $600,000 drawn from past years’ savings to fund emergency repairs on a section of North Boyer Avenue immediately north of the Bonner County Fairgrounds.

“We are so reliant on grant funds to make those projects happen — we simply don’t have the general fund for those projects,” Stapleton said, adding that the city is pursuing more applications for grant dollars in the coming months, especially as a combination of state legislation and rapid local growth are posing new challenges to the city’s ability to raise revenue.

Stapleton said that the city’s special revenue fund for FY2022 has decreased by almost $1 million, reflecting the sunset of the five-year 1% local option sales tax approved by voters in 2015 to fund the reconstruction projects at War Memorial Field.

To make up for that loss of revenue, Stapleton told council members that they will likely be asked to consider another round of local option tax in the next month, possibly related to the parks capital improvement projects outlined in the Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Master Plan approved in September 2020.

“We do rely on a revenue source in order to make those [projects] happen,” she said, adding that they have not been included in the preliminary maximum budget. “It’s a real issue that

we will be facing as a city moving forward.”

Another budgetary challenge may come with the release of new population figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, which are expected to be released in the next month or two. If those numbers show that Sandpoint’s population has grown past 10,000 it will mean the loss of its ability to collect revenue from the resort city tax, which is levied on hotel-motel beds and goes primarily toward funding public safety services.

“We’re pretty anxiously waiting for the Census numbers to come in,” Stapleton said, though she added, “we believe we’re going to be a hair under 10,000.”

Council member Andy Groat expressed his support for the local option tax, saying he is “fully prepared for the pay-to-play,” meaning visitors to the area should be contributing to paying for expenses incurred by the “wear and tear on our shoulder seasons that our citizens should not bear the full burden of.”

Stapleton stressed that the preliminary budget does not include a

local option tax, “but I do anticipate we’ll be having discussions about that.”

Further complicating the budgetary picture is House Bill 389, which the Legislature passed and Gov. Brad Little signed into law in May. The bill imposed a number of caps on how much municipalities and taxing districts can collect from a range of revenue sources.

For instance, the new law only allows jurisdictions to collect up to 90% of the value of new construction rolls. Sandpoint has experienced between $13 million and $14 million in new construction, which has translated into about $63,500 added to the tax base for FY2022. “[T]hat $63,500 that we are getting in new construction rolls, moving forward we would get 90% of the new construction rolls — so our new construction rolls would go down,” Stapleton said.

“It will have a significant negative effect on a city’s ability to levy for future property tax revenue,” she added, and those negative effects will only increase as there are 800 housing units that

are currently moving through the pipeline.

“It’s when actual occupancy permits are issued and people are getting ready to move into the residences, that’s when we really start to see the impacts on our construction rolls,” Stapleton said.

In addition to construction rolls, the legislation also caps annexations at 90% of their value, urban renewal districts are capped at 80% of their value when they sunset (which will affect Sandpoint in 2029) and total property tax increases are capped at 8%.

Making up for those limitations will likely include a range of fee increases — which will also be taken up at the Aug. 18 meeting of the City Council — as well as grant funds.

“It’s going to be challenging times,” Stapleton said.

Both the Aug. 4 budget workshop and Aug. 18 public hearing will take place at 5:30 p.m. in the City Council chambers at City Hall (1123 Lake St.). Budget and fee documents are posted on sandpointidaho.gov.

COVID cases rise in Idaho

By Reader Staff The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its COVID-19 guidance on July 27, now recommending that people in counties with “substantial and high transmission rates” of the novel coronavirus wear face coverings in public indoor settings — even if they are fully vaccinated against the disease.

According to the CDC’s map as of July 28, Bonner and Boundary counties remain in the “moderate” risk category for transmission — just below “substantial.” Meanwhile, Shoshone and Kootenai counties are showing “high” rates of COVID-19 spread.

Epidemiologists are crediting this new national surge in cases to

the very contagious delta variant of the virus.

“This new science is worrisome and unfortunately warrants an update to our recommendations,” said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky in a July 27 media briefing.

Idaho Health and Welfare Director Dave Jeppesen shared in a recent media briefing that Idaho’s COVID data is “headed the wrong direction,” noting that case rates, positive tests and hospitalizations are all on the rise. However, Jeppesen noted, “the vast, vast majority of people coming down with COVID-19 or being admitted to the hospital during COVID-19 are unvaccinated,” he said.

“This has really become a pandemic for those that are unvaccinated,” he continued.

As of July 28, 49.6% of Idahoans ages 12 and up are at least partially vaccinated against COVID-19. Nationally, that number is closer to

67%.

As for total confirmed and probable cases, 199,516 Idahoans have experienced the virus since tracking began in March 2020 — 3,458 of those being Bonner County residents. Idaho reported 358 new cases of COVID-19 on July 28. To date, 2,190 Idahoans have died due to COVID-19 complications.

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NEWS

City OK’s expanded Festival security plan

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff The city of Sandpoint signed off on the Festival at Sandpoint’s security plan July 21, officially giving the go-ahead for the summer concert series, which kicks off Thursday, July 29 at War Memorial Field.

While the Festival has always had a security plan — per city rules for any large event — the event had been at the center of a controversy surrounding its ban on weapons at the venue, which spurred two failed lawsuits challenging the legality of the policy at publicly-owned Memorial Field.

Wrapped up in the legal challenges were a range of safety concerns: some argued it was unsafe to allow weapons onto the field while others countered that it was unsafe (and unconstitutional) not to allow them.

Meanwhile, Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler entered the legal debate with claims that lack of clarity on the policy made it a challenge to determine who had jurisdiction should an individual be trespassed from the Festival for possession of a weapon, as well as worried that protests against the weapons ban could turn into “a violent affray.”

A district judge dismissed those concerns in a pair of decisions in September 2020 and June 2021, and the weapons ban remains in place, yet Festival organizers and the city recognized that the previous security plan was inadequate for a number of reasons — including in the case of a weather-related evacuation, which occurred during the 2019 season and resulted in chaotic scenes of concert goers fleeing for the exits amid a violent wind, rain and lightning storm.

“Two years ago, when we had this debate, one of the concerns was the safety plan for not only those that attended the Festival, but the community members on the outside of the venue,” Sandpoint Police Chief Corey 6 /

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Second Amendment activist Scott Herndon, left, argues at the Festival at Sandpoint gate in 2019 regarding the event’s no-weapons policy, which kicked off two separate lawsuits in which the city of Sandpoint prevailed. Photo by Ben Olson.

Coon told the council, noting that at the time the plan ran to only four or five pages.

“I think we’re up to 30 to 35 pages,” he said.

Among the elements of the plan, the Festival will now better flag exits so that in case of an emergency attendees will more easily locate their nearest point of egress.

“We looked at a lot of those things,” Coon said.

In a departure from past years, the Festival will also hire a professional security staff, whereas the event had traditionally relied on volunteers. That aspect of the plan underscores that it is the Festival — neither sheriff’s deputies nor city police — who are responsible for what goes on within the confines of leased space at the field.

At the same time, Coon said his department is planning to maintain a presence outside the event, patrolling both on foot and by bike, keeping an eye out for potential disturbances including littering on nearby residential properties.

“We know there’s been some rumors about people gathering [in protest of the weapons ban],” Coon said. “We don’t really know what to expect. … I think we’ve hopefully dotted all of our i’s and crossed all of our t’s.”

Sandpoint City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton stressed that just because Sandpoint police will be active outside the venue and the security plan is approved by the city, “That doesn’t mean that we are their security … they are 100% responsible for that.”

However, in the case that the Festival security staff trespasses an individual, “that becomes the handoff with our police department,” she said.

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 bipartisan effort is underway in Congress to address problems associated with the purchase of U.S. farmlands by foreign firms. Those farmlands are eligible for subsidies, former-Vice President Mike Pence told the Heritage Foundation. According to Politico, some states already restrict who can own farmland. One problem: outside bidders can artificially elevate farmland prices. Countries that collectively own 35 million acres of U.S. farmland include Canada, China and several European countries.

This July marks 12 years since the last time the minimum wage was raised. The Economic Policy Center reported that’s the longest period without a minimum wage hike in U.S. history. Adjusted for inflation, today’s minimum wage is 34% less than in 1968.

A new poll from the AP and the nonpartisan National Opinion Research Center shows 83% of Americans want funding for roads, bridges and ports and 66% approve of paying for that with higher corporate taxes. Former-President Donald Trump is pressuring Republicans to totally resist infrastructure plans.

President Joe Biden’s new executive order for trust busting will focus on the tech industry and Big Ag, Mother Jones reported. The aim is to depart from the current practice of many farmers and ranchers being forced into poverty with less return on their labor, while returns to shareholders go up. Example: four large meat-packing companies control more than 80% of the beef market and, in the past five years, growers’ share of the take went from 51.5% to 37.3% — all while the price of beef rose.

If approved, the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act would impact Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man (who was recently in space for 10 minutes). Bezos would have owed $5.7 billion in taxes in 2020, according to Americans for Tax Fairness. Fellow billionaire Elon Musk would have owed $4.6 billion. The tax proposal is expected to collect $1.4 trillion for federal coffers over 10 years. A quick sketch: only the richest 0.05% would pay. They would pay 2 cents on every dollar for people with wealth between $50 million and $1 billion; the tax rate would be 3 cents on every dollar for wealth above $1 billion.

Billionaire wealth grew 60% since March 2020. Taxes are not currently paid on assets that are increasing in value until

By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist

they are sold — and they might never be sold. If wealthy assets are sold, ATF says the tax rate is about half (20%) of the top 37% rate paid on income from wages.

Brain scans available for before-and-after COVID-19 cases showed close to half had gray-matter decreases in areas linked to taste, smell and memory associated with emotional reactions. That can even be a result of mild COVID-19 cases, reported The Los Angeles Times.

The cause of the brain damage is unclear.

The delta COVID-19 variant, first diagnosed in the U.S. in March, now accounts for 83% of all new COVID cases, according to the CDC. After calling the pandemic a hoax, Fox News personalities are urging vaccination, as is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. The House Republican minority whip was vaccinated recently and urges others to do likewise, calling them safe and effective. In Alabama, where just 33.9% are fully vaccinated, the Republican governor blamed the significant rise in new COVID-19 cases and deaths on the unvaccinated who “lack common sense” and “are not doing their part.” Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch was vaccinated in December. Trump was vaccinated in January, and has called vaccinations “a true miracle.”

June weather tally: It was the hottest in 127 years of record keeping, with the Pacific Northwest 40 degrees above average during the heat dome event, NBCNews reported. July: deadly mudslides in India; massive flooding in parts of China (a year’s worth of rain in three days), New Zealand, Nigeria and Iran; and heat waves in Siberia. The U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization said greenhouse gasses made it at least 150 times more likely for excessive heat events.

The 36-member Presidential Commission of the Supreme Court of the U.S., formed in April, was a response to pressure on the president about court packing. So far, points made by the Commission, via commentary in The New York Times, include: some regard the USSC as a defender of rights for vulnerable minorities, but, historically speaking, the USSC has undermined federal attempts to eliminate hierarchies of race, wealth and status numerous times.

Blast from the past: U.S. Black history revision, for public school children, from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s cartoonist: “After getting free passage to America, they immediately received jobs.”

PERSPECTIVES

Mayor’s roundtable A new idea on housing

ByMayor Shelby Rognstad Reader Contributor

(This piece is the fourth in a series to address the issue of housing availability and affordability in the greater Sandpoint region. Find Parts 1-3 at sandpointreader.com.)

In response to the growing cost and shortage of housing available in the greater Sandpoint area, the city of Sandpoint posted a survey on Engage Sandpoint.

All business owners in Sandpoint and Bonner County were invited to participate. We received responses from 127 businesses, which represents about 10% of total businesses in Sandpoint. The businesses that responded represent 3,600 employees, about 11% of our local workforce.

The results were dramatic and affirm the need for immediate action toward affordable workforce housing: 75% of respondents reported the current lack of available, local housing to be a significant factor in the ability for employers to retain or hire new employees and 10% of employees represented were reported to leave their employment due to housing. Of employers surveyed, 26% expressed their willingness

Sandpoint Mayor Shelby Rognstad. Courtesy photo. to work together to do something to address the problem.

This demonstrates both the severity of the problem and the grit of local employers to solve the problem themselves. In this article I will share the next steps to mobilize local talent and resources to increase workforce housing.

While there are some traditional resources like subsidized HUD housing, Idaho Housing and Finance sponsored housing programs run by Bonner Community Housing Agency and Bonner Homeless Transitions, these resources are underfunded

and not enough to address the shortage of affordable housing for the full spectrum of Sandpoint’s workforce.

What is needed now is a locally driven solution. I am initiating the Sandpoint Workforce Housing Task Force (SWHTF) for this purpose. This is a working group of community members who are experts in their fields and are volunteering their efforts to collaborate on solving this problem.

The SWHTF will organize community partnerships and resources to facilitate creation of new workforce housing solutions for Sandpoint. The SWHTF is an advisory body to the mayor. As such, it will not make any decisions or direct any city resources, but can make policy recommendations and identify opportunities for collaboration with other entities both public and private.

The SWHTF may also evaluate and propose to the mayor changes to the Comprehensive Land Use Plan that will be under revision within the next year. Subsequent to that process are potential zoning code changes that could incentivize workforce and missing middle housing. Recommendations can be brought to and vetted by the

appropriate decision making bodies, the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee, the Planning and Zoning Commission or the City Council.

Sandpoint’s workforce is the lifeblood of our economy and our community. If we lose the ability to meet the housing needs of the missing middle, it will be disastrous for local businesses and the quality of life that we have come to appreciate and expect here in Bonner County.

The SWHTF is composed of approximately 25 community leaders across stakeholder groups. Represented are teachers, workers in manufacturing, health care, hospitality, food service, construction, retail, nonprofits, government and small business. I’m very excited and confident that this group is representative of Sandpoint’s workforce and can help local business and government ensure Bonner County remains a place where working people can afford to live.

Lack of access to housing is a problem that affects families, businesses, and the overall health and wealth of our county. When workers can’t access housing locally, they are forced to commute long distances,

which reduces quality of life as more valuable time is spent behind the wheel. This erodes the character of our community.

Quality of life and community character are what make Sandpoint a special place to live.

It further increases cost of living as commuters pay more for fuel and vehicle maintenance.

Longer commutes have a longterm impact on climate as well.

Businesses suffer when they lose workers who choose to relocate closer to where they can afford to live. All of these problems can be resolved by increasing access to local housing.

I have heard from many concerned citizens that are ready for solutions. The SWHTF is an important next step to mobilize our local strengths to improve access to housing for Sandpoint’s workforce.

You can view the results of the Workforce Housing Needs Assessment Survey here: opentownhall.com/portals/287/ Issue_10864/survey_responses There is no Mayor’s Roundtable in July. The Mayor’s Roundtable will continue in August. I hope you can join us then at the new, larger venue that will be announced next month.

Stay tuned.

ISP joining multi-agency campaign against aggressive driving

By Reader Staff More Idaho State Police troopers will patrol Idaho roadways through Sunday, Aug. 8 in a multi-agency education and enforcement campaign to reduce aggressive driving.

“All of us have stories about a close call with an aggressive driver — one who was speeding, weaving through traffic, tailgating or running a light,” ISP Lt. Allen Ashby stated in a media release, “but it’s not always a close call.

Aggressive driving causes crashes which are entirely preventable.”

The extra patrols will specifically look for drivers engaged in aggressive behavior, which the agency described as speeding or

driving too fast for conditions; ignoring traffic signals; tailgating; weaving in and out of traffic; improper or abrupt lane changes; passing on the shoulder; and making rude hand or facial gestures, screaming, honking or flashing lights in an aggressive manner.

According to ISP, aggressive driving is a factor in half of all crashes statewide, and a factor in more than one-third of all fatality crashes.

“In a recent two-year period, aggressive driving contributed to 222 deaths on Idaho roads.

Another 1,913 people were seriously injured in aggressive-driver-involved crashes,” the agency reported, citing statistics from the Idaho Transportation Department

Office of Highway Safety.

ISP encourages motorists to report aggressive driving. To do so, officials recommend finding a safe place to pull over and call 911 or *ISP (*477), providing the dispatcher with your location, a description of the involved vehicle and a license plate if possible.

ITD’s shift-idaho.org/aggressive-driving web page further advises those who experience aggressive driving to stay calm, do not challenge an aggressive driver, avoid eye contact and ignore any hand gestures — “do not return them,” the agency stated.

“If aggressive driving leads to deliberate acts of violence, this is road rage, a criminal act,” according to ITD.

“We all have the responsibility to pay attention to how we are driving; have patience; and protect other drivers, passengers and pedestrians,” stated ITD Office of Highway Safety Manager John Tomlinson in a media release.

The expanded patrols — which includes nearly 60 other law enforcement agencies throughout Idaho — are funded by a grant from the ITD Office of Highway Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“Sometimes a citation is

Courtesy photo. what educates a driver about the dangers their behavior poses to themselves and others,” Ashby stated. “It’s often hard to know what we preven, but we do know Idahoans are alive today because of these statewide efforts.”

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Bouquets: • While out sailing on the lake last week, we watched the fire planes dipping into the lake, filling their reservoirs and flying back up to the Trestle Creek Complex fires to help contain the multiple burns. Every time I saw those planes make another lap, I made a point to say thanks to the pilots, as well as the firefighters on the ground who work in such terrible conditions to keep us safe from wildfire. They really are heroes — every single one of them.

• Here’s a big Bouquet to the Festival at Sandpoint staff and volunteers, who are working their butts off as I write this to prepare War Memorial Field for another year of excellent concerts. The Festival was dealt a short straw in 2020. Not only did the pandemic force them to cancel the entire concert series – the first time that’s happened in nearly four decades — but they also had to weather a ridiculous pair of lawsuits regarding their no-weapons policy. First, the lawsuit filed

by Bonner County and Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler was dismissed for lack of standing. Then the second lawsuit filed by the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance, Scott Herndon, et. al., was dismissed. On top of that, the city of Sandpoint decided to install artificial turf instead of natural grass at War Memorial Field, despite public input leaning toward grass. This led to increased costs and a whole new way of setting up the venue. I feel like the Festival staff has been running through a gauntlet the past two years, but they’ve emerged unscathed, despite some community leaders’ best efforts to tarnish this excellent community event (we all know who they are, and if you don’t, you’re not paying attention). Here’s wishing the staff, volunteers, vendors and concertgoers an amazing 2021 series. I’ll be there with my cooler full of cheap beer to rock another year.

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Dear editor, I understand the anger in the comments made by Paul Graves — a self-admitted Unaffiliated voter — about the Bonner County Republican Central Committee’s efforts to remove [Sen.] Jim Woodward, who by all rights seems to be a very level-headed and intelligent Republican [Letters to the Editor, “BoCo Republican Central Committee is living in a cave…,” June 3, 2021]. However, I believe there is a better way to express displeasure rather than by submitting opinions to the Sandpoint Reader. Join me, Mr. Graves, along with other Unaffiliated voters whom we wish to enlist (as well as many disgruntled Democrats, we hope) in becoming a member of the Republican party as a RINO. Perhaps together we can begin to move the “needle” ever so slightly in returning the local party collective to some semblance of rational behavior.

Granted, we will have our work cut out for us, as the party has clearly been overrun by insurrectionists, QAnoners, racists and all manner of other forms of Trumpite loyalists. On the other hand, I know many upstanding Republicans in this area who are of sound mind and responsible sensibilities and might even be convinced to join us in this righteous endeavor.

And, beyond that, it may not even be too late to rescue Mr. Woodward, although that seems unlikely at this juncture, sad to say.

Robert Gosik Sagle

The sidewalks of Sandpoint…

Dear editor, Although there are signs on various approaches to Sandpoint proclaiming it a walking town, one doesn’t have to venture far from the center to note the dearth of sidewalks. The only continuous eastwest sidewalk is on Cedar Street while only Boyer and Division offer north-south sidewalks. For those of us who like to walk, we often find ourselves dodging traffic as a sidewalk suddenly disappears in front of a residence on such well traversed east west axes as Pine, Oak and Church streets. At least a hundred signs, such as the one on Pine Street proclaiming the obvious end of the sidewalk, would be needed to warn pedestrians adequately.

Indeed, the sign on Pine Street must

be the funniest in all of Sandpoint.

The situation induced me to fit new words to the song about a much larger city: East side west side, all around the town, If you can only walk on pavement, you’ll probably fall down For seniors, they’re fantastic when they don’t disjoint You’re lucky if you find them, the sidewalks of Sandpoint Donald L. Kass Sandpoint

A ‘disgusting, overplayed duet’...

Dear editor, Thanks to Ben Olson for writing the barb in the last Reader (July 22, 2021). When I read it I thought of my dad and uncle. They root for different political parties, one is Christian while the other is atheist and they occasionally stain family gatherings by evangelizing their views. Soon the pitch, tone and volume of their voices are identical and their words are incoherent and therefore arbitrary. Despite their differences, they are equally guilty of disturbing the peace with this disgusting, overplayed duet.

Reader readers can do better than this — let’s focus on what we share as human beings!

Jodi Rawson Sandpoint

Tax cuts to the wealthy or property tax relief for you?...

Dear editor, Simple question: Would you like the sales tax from your online purchases to go to corporations and the wealthy or to you as a permanent reduction of your property taxes?

Well, your District 1 representatives decided that your sales tax revenue should go mostly to the wealthy.

How did this happen? In 2019, Mike Moyle and the Republican led-Legislature created a special Tax Relief Fund, which is 100% funded by out-of-state online sales taxes paid by Idahoans. All other sales tax is treated as regular revenue and goes to the general fund. Mike Moyle gleefully explains, “We make sure it doesn’t go through the distribution formula. It goes straight into that fund until we decide what to do with those revenues.”

Last year, Idahoans shopped online more than ever before and will likely continue. This produced a windfall of over $163 million for this “special fund.” Instead of giving

that money to rural schools running levies, our legislators voted to give permanent tax cuts.

This change will mostly benefit the top 1% of income earners who will receive $9,000 per year in tax reductions while Idahoans with modest incomes will receive just $80 per year in tax relief.

Here is the bottom line: Your representatives voted to permanently reduce the taxes of the wealthiest Idahoans rather than to permanently reduce your property taxes.

You can fix this by voting for candidates who understand taxation and school funding and who are committed to reducing your property taxes.

Find those candidates and vote for them in the 2022 election cycle.

Lee Christensen Sandpoint

Employers can demand vaccination because of ‘Right to Work’ law…

Dear editor, Can an employer demand that an employee get a vaccination? To answer that question in Idaho we must go back to 1986.

In 1986 the Republican-controlled Legislature passed the “Right to Work” law. It uses terms like freedom for employees against coercion by unions, but the real reason for the law is explicitly stated, to prevent employees from inadvertently donating to a political party that they may not agree with, i.e., Democrats.

As was its intent, this law made collective bargaining exceedingly difficult. What does this have to do with vaccinations? The job of unions is to collectively bargain employee contracts. Without a union it is extremely hard to create and bargain a contract, which means almost everyone is working as an “at will employee.” Without a contract employees can leave whenever we want, but employers can fire us for any reason that is not illegal under federal or state law, like being fired for race or gender. Anything else is fair game. An “at will” employee can be fired for being fat, smoking, having tattoos, a “bad attitude” — whatever or nothing at all.

So, yes, if you are not covered by a contract, any employer can fire you for not getting vaccinated whether it is important to the job or not. For that, send a thank-you note to the Idaho Republican Party.

Sincerely, Mary Haley Sandpoint

Yaak timber sale threatens grizzly population...

Dear editor, The Kootenai National Forest (KNF) is waiting for a grizzly bear biological assessment from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding the Black Ram timber sale in the Yaak. As proposed by KNF, Black Ram would “likely adversely affect” the Yaak’s 20-plus remaining grizzly bears. Despite requests for KNF to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement like they did for smaller projects — Buckhorn and O’Brien Lower Yaak, the larger 57 million board feet and 95,000-acre Black Ram project has only undergone the lesser-required analysis of an environmental assessment.

In March, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s five-year Grizzly Bear Status Review confirmed what our members have speculated: Of the six grizzly bear ecosystems, only the Cabinet-Yaak “resiliency” is “low.”

Yaak grizzlies are doing the worst of any population.

The Black Ram cutting units we question that are critical grizzly bear recovery areas are largely backcountry, and thus Rampike Creek, Midge Creek and Unit 72 areas should be dropped.

We support the Shared Stewardship project efforts near Libby, Troy and rural neighborhoods. The KNF should prioritize the collaboration, permitting and harvesting of these overgrown areas. The KNF should not rely on a liberal wildland-urban interface definition to justify some remote Black Ram units.

The KNF should correct itself on Black Ram and reassess the negative effects to grizzly bears and forests far from town.

Aaron Peterson Executive director, Yaak Valley Forest Council Troy, MT

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Write a letter to the editer. We accept letters that are under 300 words. Please refrain from obsessive profanity or libelous statements. Please elevate the conversation.

OPINION

Meet the Waterkeeper and celebrate 50 years of the Clean Water Act

By Carolyn Knaack Reader Contributor

Forty-three miles long, 144 miles of shoreline, 92,000 acres, depths of more than 1,150 feet with 23 different species of fish and only one Waterkeeper. Lake Pend Oreille is Idaho’s largest lake and a true gem of North Idaho. In 2009, Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, was formed in order to protect and preserve Lake Pend Oreille and the surrounding waterways for future generations.

We strive to keep the Clark Fork/Pend Oreille watershed swimmable, fishable and drinkable through community engagement, advocacy and education. As part of the worldwide Waterkeeper Alliance community, we are just one of the more than 350 Waterkeepers around the world. Together, our organizations work to protect our lakes, rivers, streams, bays, estuaries, seas, and oceans from pollution and misuse. Some other local Waterkeepers include Lake Coeur d’Alene Waterkeeper, Spokane Riverkeeper, Snake Riverkeeper and the Columbia Riverkeeper.

LPOW is run by two staff members, four board members and dozens of volunteers. Our major programs and events include our water quality monitoring program, stormwater monitoring program, educational lake model demonstration, Waterkeeper Wednesdays and shoreline cleanup events. We are also known as the lake’s “watchdog” and keep an eye on poor legislation, destructive development, new mining operations, wastewater issues and myriad other issues that have the potential to impact our lake’s water quality.

Often, we receive valuable information from our community members and volunteers about what they’re seeing around our watershed. The largest lake in Idaho requires us all to be good stewards and keep others responsible for our shared natural resources.

Congress enacted the U.S. Clean Water Act in 1972 to improve water quality around the nation and protect our precious waterways. The CWA was a first-of-itskind environmental federal legislation that came about during the birth of the American environmentalism movement along with the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act, all leading to the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency.

To date, the CWA has made meaning-

ful strides in cleaning American waterways and helped Waterkeepers around the world achieve significant restoration, protection and cleanup of severe pollution problems.

One of the CWA’s initial goals was to see all American waterways were drinkable, fishable and swimmable by 1983. However, half the waterways in our country are still impaired. Currently, Lake Pend Oreille is impaired for phosphorus, mercury and flow regime modification. In addition, according to the EPA, out of the 61.4% of waterbodies in Idaho that were assessed in 2014, 83% were impaired.

For the past 50 years, implementation and enforcement of the CWA has not always been as strong as it could be, allowing pollution to proliferate. In addition, the threats to American waterways are different and so the law must be updated to address the very real challenges that currently exist as well as those that are only emerging.

In order to preserve our precious ecosystems, we must work together as a community and for the benefit of us all.

As a nonprofit organization, we rely on the support of our community members through monetary contributions, stewardship, and volunteer hours. Please let us know how you would like to become involved as we strive to protect our vast watershed. We couldn’t do the work we do without you.

You can learn more about LPOW and what we do on social media, on our website at LPOW.org, and by signing up for our monthly email newsletter. You can also visit the office on the Cedar Street Bridge or call 208-597-7188.

Starting Thursday, Aug. 5, we will be hosting a free and open community event every month at Matchwood Brewing Company. “Keeping up with the Waterkeeper” will be held on the first Thursday of each month from 5:30-7:00 p.m. in the brewery’s upstairs Community Room.

Space is limited to 30 people, so please RSVP using the link on our website and our Facebook event. The Aug. 5 event will feature a presentation on current land use issues which will then be followed by a group discussion. We’re looking forward to seeing you there.

Carolyn Knaack, left, teaches children about water quality. Courtesy photo.

Carolyn Knaack is associate director of the Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper.

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Mad about Science:

By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist

Kriegsspiel

If you know me at all, you know I am a complete geek for anything related to tabletop roleplaying games. Many people believe the history of tabletop RPGs, as well as war games, began with Gary Gygax’s vision of Dungeons & Dragons in 1974, but this is inaccurate.

Wargaming has been a popular hobby for a long time — from miniature hobbyists creating elaborate dioramas of the American Civil War to young adults dropping stacks of dead presidents on the latest Warhammer 40,000 models. While I spent my heyday at the receiving end of mockery and ridicule for my interest in wargames, the pastime was long enjoyed by kings, generals and the warriors who shaped the modern world as we know it today — for better or worse.

One could argue that it all began with chess, sometime in the 1400s. It is indeed one of the oldest forms of wargaming in history, with pieces representing military units designed to counter other units and complete an objective in a strategic manner.

However, chess is hardly reflective of how we view wargames today. No actual battle is fought on grids. Battalions don’t just up and vanish when faced with opposition. A war doesn’t always end when a leader is captured.

These were all problems viewed by military officers in the Kingdom of Prussia in the 1800s.

Don’t expect me to try and summarize what the Kingdom of Prussia was in a few hundred words. The best I can give you is: “It was the northern part of the German Empire and the seat of power until the Nazis ruined 10 /

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everything.” In actuality, it was a very complex part of the world with a tumultuous history starting with the Teutonic Knights in the 1400s, a major force during the Napoleonic Wars and eventually World War I, respectively.

If you’re curious about it, head to the library as there are a multitude of nonfiction books and documentaries on the subject.

The first prototype of Kriegsspiel (literally “wargame”) emerged in 1812 and was developed by Prussian nobleman George Leopold von Reisswitz. It was first created using mounds of dampened sand to present topographic maps of battlefields, which proved to be an extremely heavy game to tote around — a problem when members of the kingdom’s military elite were interested in Kriegsspiel and wanted a demonstration from Reisswitz.

At some point, Reisswitz lost interest in developing Kriegsspiel and his son took over the duties.

Reisswitz Jr. added features such as units not simply vanishing from the board when they were attacked, instead implementing a rudimentary hit-point system that would go on to be used in games to this day. Dice were also added to the game, allowing for random elements to be introduced that could drastically alter a player’s plan. Although this dice system was extremely convoluted, the use of dice to create an element of randomness to the game is still used in virtually every wargame and tabletop RPG to this day.

The most interesting feature of Kriegsspiel was the umpire.

The game was designed to be played with two opponents controlling their respective forces.

These commanders wouldn’t move their pieces directly, but instead deliver their orders to

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the umpire, who would have all of the fun of playing with the miniatures — or porcelain tiles, more often than not.

It was the umpire’s job to enforce the rules, as well as keep track of hidden units and account for the random elements introduced by the dice. If this role is starting to sound familiar, it’s understandable. The umpire was effectively a proto-gamemaster.

However, unlike me, the umpire wasn’t a snarky jerk with orange chip dust all over his fingers — umpires were accomplished military commanders with experience leading men. They knew the rules of the battlefield and what needed to be accounted for.

The layout of Kriegsspiel was very close to modern wargames, utilizing a topographic map as well as units that represented things like infantry, cavalry and artillery, as well as a set of specialized six-sided dice that were littered with numbers denoting what happened if they landed on a certain face. The units that represented your army could have different facings, allowing the player to protect flanks and encircle opponents, as well as some that represented a single man, Rambo-style.

The rules for Kriegsspiel were… overwhelming, to say the least. The lamentations of hobbyist gamers bickering over events in Warhammer would surely appear as children to the Prussian officers in the thick of a bout of Kriegsspiel. Curiously, from an outside perspective, it would appear very silly to watch a number of grown men “playing with toy soldiers,” but Kriegsspiel was shown to have actual value in military education.

At the time of its inception in 1812, the Prussian military was a bit of a joke throughout

Europe but, by 1870, it had defeated the French Empire in the Franco-Prussian War — a fact attributed to Prussian officers thinking creatively after incorporating wargaming as a major part of officers’ education.

It’s fun to see how far back a hobby goes, and just how much it has developed in that time.

Some of my favorite Youtube channels, such as Real Terrain Hobbies and Tabletop Troubadour Games, display the insane level of intricacy and technique

involved with creating lifelike wargame boards, sets and dioramas. Many of these can be created using a 3-D printer, an invaluable tool you have access to through your local libraries in Sandpoint and Clark Fork.

Thinking of creating your own village for D&D, or maybe trying to rebuild an antique Kriegsspiel set with a modern twist? Come visit a librarian and you’ll be winning make-believe wars before you know it.

Stay curious, 7B.

Random Corner ghts?

Don’t know much about copyri • Michigan’s state anthem, My Michigan, cannot be played without paying royalties until 2032, because the state government never purchased the rights to the song and it is still copyright protected.

• James Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan, gave the Peter Pan copyright to Great Ormond Street Hospital, the leading children’s hospital in London, which helped support the institution’s work for 70 years after his passing.

• In 1974, the 1946 movie It’s A Wonderful Life fell into the public domain because the studio failed to renew its copyright. As a result, it was aired a lot, which explains why it became so popular even though it flopped in theaters. The studio recovered rights to the movie in 1993.

• Clowns paint their faces onto eggs to copyright them so that other clowns can’t use the same face.

There is a registry of egg faces in both Europe and the United States.

• The Guy Fawkes mask used by a number of activist groups

We can help!

(including anti-capitalist groups) is copyrighted and owned by Time Warner. Every time a Guy Fawkes mask is purchased, Time Warner gets paid.

• In 1990, Rick James sued MC Hammer for copyright when Hammer sampled his song “Super Freak” in Hammer’s hit “Can’t Touch This” without permission.

They agreed to settle out of court and Hammer credited James as a co-composer. James won his first and only Grammy from “Can’t Touch This.”

• Woody Guthrie’s copyright claim to “This Land is Your Land” was for 28 years and, he stated, “anybody caught singing it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don’t give a dern.” Today multiple organizations claim copyright for the song.

• Thomas Edison produced a film called Fred Ott’s Sneeze, a five-second film in which Fred Ott, one of Edison’s assistants, sneezes. It is the oldest surviving film with a copyright.

PERSPECTIVES

From the Festival’s executive director: Hardships of 2020 make 2021 season that much sweeter

By Ali Baranski Reader Contributor

We’ve made it! I am pleased to welcome you back to live music and the 38th annual Festival at Sandpoint on the shores of the beautiful Lake Pend Oreille!

After serving on the Festival Board of Directors, I am honored to lead the Festival at Sandpoint as its executive director through this transformative chapter. The Festival at Sandpoint organization and Festival experience is like no other.

We are a nonprofit arts organization that not only puts on a two-week concert series each summer but also provides no-cost, year-round music education for the region. Every ticket purchase helps support our nonprofit; however, sales only cover a portion of the costs to hold our concert series each summer. Like most nonprofits, we must raise a large portion of our budget each year through donations.

The Festival at Sandpoint only exists due to the dedication and support of our community, so when you attend the festival, you feel embraced by Sandpoint. We are known for our community atmosphere, a wide variety of food and drink options from our Festival Street vendors and the Festival Bar (all purchased through the Noble app this year), as well as uniquely allowing attendees to bring their own food and drinks (no glass except wine bottles and beer growlers).

The reason we can celebrate live music and gather again this summer is purely a testament to our community’s generosity and their ownership of the Festival at Sandpoint. Now

Ali Baranski. Courtesy photo.

more than ever, I want to thank our fans, supporters, volunteers, staff and Board of Directors for their adaptability, donations, time and support given to save our nonprofit over this past year.

The hardships of 2020 make the arrival of our 2021 season all that much sweeter. So, pack a blanket, download your Noble App and join us for eclectic music under the stars on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille.

Here’s to the beginning of a new season filled with new Festival memories, music and togetherness!

Ali Baranski is executive director of the Festival at Sandpoint.

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OUTDOORS

Voices in the Wilderness: In the wild

By Amy Rae Pearson Reader Contributor I pull over at the intersection of Lightning and Mosquito Creek roads to check my map. Sure enough, I am en route to find the trailhead to a noted peak in the Idaho Cabinets, and namesake for 88,000 acres of proposed Wilderness: Scotchman, 7,009 feet.

I’d asked the locals about it. Someone had never been. Someone said it would take at least eight hours. Someone said I had to go.

My jeep is hugging the edges of FR2294A and I give thanks that Dad insisted I purchase an all-terrain vehicle; these are forest roads meant for hardy people who don’t mind going slow or getting lost sometimes.

I slow down, appreciate the sense of the unknown. It feels wild and that’s somehow comforting. *

The first mile is steep with switchbacks and I wonder if I might have had one less glass of wine the night before. I am encased by tall pines. I note the ghostlike silhouettes of bear grass coming to terms with the end of season.

It’s a hot day in late August. I’m sweating hard and focused on my boots moving up the trail.

“Have you been up here before?” A woman’s voice breaks me from my reverie.

“No,” I say.

“Well,” she says, “you’re in for a treat.

Pretty soon you’ll get some views.”

“Thanks,” I say, not wholly convinced in my heart that Idaho will have the views I’m looking for. *

I come around a long switchback and see people gathered ahead. I wonder what the commotion is and then start to see patches of blue water to the south and a massive expanse of sky, Lake Pend Oreille.

My heartbeat quickens with a surge of

adrenaline and I hike without stopping to what looks like a summit.

“Is this the top?” I ask a couple settled in for lunch on a massive piece of greenish-gray rock.

“You’ve got about half a mile to go,” they say.

I look up to where they’re pointing. It looks like a climb, and I’m in climbing mode. *

“Scotchman, Scotchman,” I hum under my breath as I heave my body up argillite to quartz, “who are you?”

The ruins of an old fire lookout sit on a crest. I scurry up to the left of it. Then, nothing.

I have reached a plateau of silence. My body eludes me.

Vastness down the drainages.

Vastness across the mountains stretching miles and miles across the Panhandle into Montana. It’s astonishing.

“Wilderness,” I whisper.

I sit down to try to take in the enormity of the landscape. I feel the sun on my back. A sense of wonder compels me to trace the ridgelines with my finger.

You could spend your life learning this country. *

I take my time going down. I give thanks to the mountain for being here.

I give thanks for natural beauty and the sense of awe it inspires. I give thanks that wilderness is wild, and we can go there and remember who we are.

Amy Rae Pearson in the wilderness.

Courtesy photo.

Amy Rae Pearson is a writer, teacher and wilderness advocate. She grew up on a farm in north-central Montana and earned a Ph.D. in organizational communication from Arizona State University.

After finishing her formal education, she hit the road to Asia for a few years, but found herself missing the mountains of Montana. Amy has worked for the Park Service, Forest Service, as a professor and now as the Northwest Montana Outreach Coordinator for Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness.

Free cornhole kids camp offered

By Reader Staff

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Cornhole has taken Sandpoint by storm in recent years, with a boisterous fan base turning out regularly to participate in this social bar game.

7B Baggers Cornhole, a local group dedicated to the sport, is now interested in recruiting the next generation of beanbag tossers.

The group is hosting a free cornhole kids camp from 5-7 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, Aug. 2-4, with a tournament and barbecue scheduled for 5-7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 6 at the Hickory Street

Park in Sandpoint.

“We will have some of the best tossers from North Idaho and our very own professional, Ryan Huffey!” the group announced.

7B Baggers Cornhole said they would appreciate donations of non-perishable food items for hosting the free camp, which is open to all comers — no need to register, just show up and have fun.

“We love contributing to our community and appreciate the support in helping feed those in need,” the group wrote. “All donations will be delivered to the Bonner Community Food Bank.”

HISTORY

A long lime ago in a mine not too far away…

How the lime business helped shape life on southern Lake Pend Oreille

By Chris Corpus and Hannah Combs Reader Contributors Delia Holton peered over the edge of the scow into the depths of Lake Pend Oreille. The boat rocked gently beneath the dancing feet of her family and friends, and the sound of celebratory music filled her ears — a welcome change from the unceasing racket of a hundred men digging, crushing rock and tending the kilns that dominated the soundscape of her small town. Delia lifted her hands from the railing, dusted off her palms and returned to the Independence Day festivities.

Merely two years after the Gray brothers staked mining claims on the remote east side of the lake near Lakeview, business was booming.

So in 1886, the three well-to-do brothers scrubbed out their scow and took their neighbors out on a holiday cruise. But it wasn’t gold dust Delia may have brushed off her hands. It was lime.

By the early 1900s, the southern end of Lake Pend Oreille hosted the second largest lime plant in the West. History buffs and curious tourists can still find the visible remnants of early lime kilns in Bayview and get a hint of the gaping limestone quarries and cement operations in Lakeview across the bay.

The limestone deposits, called Lakeview Limestone by geologists, are as much as 200 feet deep, pushed close to the surface by the unique geologic and glacial activities that also formed the lake.

Limestone, once ground to a fine powder and dried, can be used as a primary ingredient in cement. But how was this resource discovered?

The gold and silver fever of the mid-1800s drove miners north to Fort Steele via the Wild Horse Trail or east to Montana via Clark Fork, and some started using Lake Pend Oreille as a transit route because of the lack of roads in the area. By 1882, steamboats were making regular trips from Bayview to the newly built Northern Pacific railroad near Hope.

Hoping to find gold, of course — or at least productive silver mines like the ones in the Silver Valley to the south — prospectors started buying up Lake Pend Oreille shoreline. After a San Francisco paper falsely told of a successful gold mine in the area, 1,000 people suddenly arrived to create the town of Chloride, four miles north of Lakeview. In classic boomtown style, its array of tents and 17 saloons quickly dwindled away when the prospectors gave up their dreams of gold.

Once the rush subsided, savvy miners realized that limestone, dug up and discarded by other prospectors, could be its own source of profit. They built large kilns at Lakeview and Bayview to extract the lime from the ore. Mechanization and capital investment made it increasingly profitable.

Meanwhile, five farsighted miners laid out the town of Lakeview, and sold lots to pioneers looking to make a home in the beautiful countryside. Those who stayed worked at whatever job was at hand: mining and logging were the most abundant, but seasonal.

Early homesteaders were able to make a little cash in the off-season by supplying cordwood to fuel the lime kilns and the steamboats that ruled the lake.

Both towns sent their finished products and ore by barge to Hope, where it was loaded onto trains bound for Spokane.

Though barge was a fairly reliable method of transportation, it didn’t come without its share of issues.

A barge tipped near Bayview in 1904,dumping more than 40 tons of lime into the lake. More often, lime was at risk of absorbing moisture from the damp air hanging over the lake, ruining the product.

By the 1900s, a housing and commercial building boom helped fuel the tandem industries of lime and bricks. The brickyards in Sandpoint complemented the lime production at the south end of the lake. Though the expense of shipping these heavy products limited their sale to a regional market, the bustling city of Spokane was happy to oblige.

Dozens of other lime prospectors joined the Gray brothers over the decades. Eventually, investors from Spokane, the International Portland Cement Company, and Washington Lime and Cement Company consolidated the many limestone mines, improving the efficiency of mining and production.

The Spokane International Railroad won a bid to build a spur from the Athol area to Bayview. Transportation by rail removed the issue of moisture ruining the lime and provided a direct link to Spokane.

As more people came to work in the mining and processing of lime, news of the area’s natural beauty spread. Steamboat Landing, near Bayview, morphed into a tourist attraction and the area was touted at “the Switzerland of the West.”

In addition to providing fireproof building material to much of Spokane, newspaper records show that local businesses also benefited from the production of lime.

Agricultural lime helped improve the yield of alfalfa and other hays, plus helped lighten the heavy clay soil of the area. The now-defunct Experimental Farm in Sandpoint demonstrated how lime could reduce soil acidity and improve yields of many crops.

The Great Depression devastated the building boom, however, and the demand for lime, cement and bricks cratered along with it. Portland Cement changed its specifications for lime suitable for its operations, and Lakeview lime did not meet the new standards.

Meanwhile, demand for agricultural lime couldn’t keep operations profitably afloat.

Once again, Lakeview and Bayview lost population and tourism, along with jobs. Eventually the main operator, Washington Brick and Lime Company of Spokane, shuttered its business — going so far as to tear up the railroad spur that served the area’s commercial and tourist needs.

Lakeview’s remote location created a more severe economic blow, leaving only the hardiest residents to endure the difficulty of carrying basic food and supplies across the water. Those who did stay could tell grand stories

Top: The steamboat Marietta at dock below the lime works in Bayview. Donor unknown.

Photo courtesy of BCHS. Above: A lime kiln at Bayview as it appeared in 1981. Photo courtesy of the Idaho State Historical Society. of summer adventures, fishing, hunting and exploring — just as current residents do now.

Then, just as Bayview nearly faded away again, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and an inland Naval training station was envisioned by Eleanor Roosevelt, which would revitalize Bayview once again. Delia Holton, sailing on the lake in a humble lime scow in 1886, could never have imagined the prowling submersibles that would soon be plying the waters of Lake Pend Oreille.

This article was brought to you by the Bonner County Historical Society. Research provided by Chris Corpus, Nancy Renk, Maggie Mjelde and the Bonner County History Museum.

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FOOD

The Sandpoint Eater Harmony in the Heights

By Marcia Pilgeram Reader Columnist

“Too many cooks spoil the broth” is not the mantra at Haystack Heights — instead, their communal kitchen is designed for three chefs at a time. If you’ve never heard of Haystack Heights, you’re not alone. It seems hardly anyone has. It’s a new (and the first) cohousing community in the Inland Northwest.

I’ve learned a lot about cohousing in the past couple of years, and I hope to be one of those chefs on a semi-regular basis. I won’t be moving there, but I plan to visit daughter Casey and her family there as soon and as much as possible.

A move for Casey and her husband John was in the works before they even had children, but life (and COVID-19) got in the way of their plans. So, currently, my house is serving as a transit house for Casey and her little ones and, after they acclimate, I’ll be in charge of 1-year old Runa and 3-year-old Sam while she flies back to Chicago to gather up her man and all their worldly possessions that will fit in a U-Haul.

Casey and John bought into the cohousing concept and the property as soon as they learned about it. It’s not a lifestyle that would suit everyone, but it will serve them just right.

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facilities, a children’s play area (which Casey helped to design), a rec room for the older kids and guest rooms (think of yours truly).

There are beautiful, well-established gardens and fruit trees in this older South Hill neighborhood, along with lots of open spaces and pathways.

Most cohousing units are rural, but Haystack Heights is centrally located and not far from the medical center and downtown Spokane. More than 50 adults (plus lots of little ones) will call this intentional community home. It is designed for people who want to share meals, gardening and child care, and pool their resources, like bikes, tools and even cars.

The concept of intentional communities originated in

Denmark in the late 1960s, during the explosion of subdivisions. Instead, a small group of people met to discuss new ways of living that embraced human connections. It’s not just an interesting concept — the more space we lose to the development of oversized (and overpriced) homes, the more people are embracing this lifestyle.

The Haystack Heights units were sold before they broke ground on the project and the owners have collaborated on all aspects of the planning and building.

I’ve had the “Golden Girls” talk with several of my friends, where we all end up after retirement, living happily ever after in an oversized, cozy home.

But honestly, I’m not sure the shared lifestyle would suit me.

It will be interesting to watch the neighborhood dynamics once the kids are settled.

Though I was pretty darned lonesome during COVID, what I missed most was cooking for others and sharing my table. I especially missed cooking all day for a Sunday dinner. I’m looking forward to ditching my solo meal routine and heading to Spokane a couple of times a month to help Casey and John plan menus and whip up something tasty on their “duty days.”

Casey is anxious to learn how to make some of our traditional family favorites and I’m hoping to offer some cooking classes for the whole community.

Speaking of traditional family favorites, for the past three years, my grandson Alden and one or both parents hike

Flourless chocolate torte

to the top of Scotchman Peaks on his birthday. Once they reach the summit, they break out his birthday cake. It’s a dense chocolate-laden torte left over from the previous night’s celebration. Before bedtime, I freeze a massive chunk of it and, in the morning, I carefully wrap and pack for their ambitious outing. I can only imagine what it looks like at serving time, but Alden says his favorite cake always tastes best when he’s perched on a rock at the top of the trail.

The rest of us (the less ambitious ones) think it tastes pretty good on the plate and served at the table. Splurge on good chocolate and enjoy!

Serves 6-8

This torte is decadent, moist and, an added bonus, it’s gluten free. Use a good quality dark or extra dark (70%) chocolate. Serve as is, dress it up with a dusting of powdered sugar or cocoa powder, or lightly glaze with ganache and a few fresh berries.

INGREDIENTS: • 1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces • 1 tbs soft butter for the pan • 12 ounces chocolate, chopped • 6 large eggs • 2/3 cup finely granulated sugar • 1/2 tsp salt • 1/2 cup heavy cream • Unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting pan

DIRECTIONS: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly butter the bottom and side of a 9-inch springform pan. Line with a circle of parchment paper and coat both sides with butter. Dust pan with cocoa powder and set aside. Combine the chocolate and 1 1/2 sticks of butter in a glass bowl. Place the bowl over a saucepan filled 1/3 with simmering water (the bowl should not touch the water).

Stir until melted and combined.

Remove the bowl from the saucepan and let cool slightly.

Combine the eggs, sugar and salt in a large bowl up standup mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until pale and thick, 5 to 8 minutes. Gently fold half of the

melted chocolate mixture into the egg mixture until just combined, and then fold in the remainder.

Whip the cream in the same bowl as eggs and sugar (no need to wash). Fold the cream into the chocolate/egg mixtures. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and tap to remove air. Bake about 35 to 45 minutes, until the top is no longer shiny and the center is barely set.Transfer to a rack, and carefully loosen springform ring.

Let cool completely in the pan.

Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

Remove the springform ring and transfer to a platter. Garnish or glaze.

If you end up with leftovers, wrap and store in the fridge.

It’s the first week of the Festival at Sandpoint and town is hopping. Here are a few shots from around town.

To submit a photo for a future edition, please send to ben@sandpointreader. com.

Top: Festival at Sandpoint volunteers help set up the backstage tents on Tuesday, July 27. Photo by Ben Olson.

Middle: Festival at Sandpoint Production Manager Paul Gunter, right, stands next to Scott Brown during stage setup. Gunter has worked with the Festival for 23 years.

Photo by Ben Olson.

Bottom left: A reader sent this photo of a trashy scene, complete with a name tag to tell us all who left the litter.

“Dear Alexandria,” wrote the photographer. “Please try to do a little bit better. Thanks -Sandpoint.” Photo by Michael Darren.

Bottom right: Avery Chapin, left, and Roland Hutchinson, right, assume the “Statue of Liberty” pose at Sandpoint City Beach with their ice cream cones. Photo by Alanna Chapin.

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events

July 29 - August 5, 2021

THURSDAY, July 29

Trivia Night to support Trout Unlimited 7pm @ Matchwood Brewing Co. Support the Panhandle Chapter of Trout Unlimited with trivia, door prizes and free fun

Festival at Sandpoint: St. Paul and the Broken Bones 7:30pm @ Memorial Field This 8-piece soul band from Birmingham will set the tone for the rest of the concert series. Opener: The Dip

Yappy Hour • 4-7pm @ Ponderay PetSafe Dog Park (870 Kootenai Cutoff Rd.) Enjoy local beer and music. Benefits the Better Together Animal Alliance

FriDAY, July 30 Live Music w/ Scythe & Spade 6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Live Music w/ Miah Kohal Band 9pm-midnight @ 219 Lounge Live Music w/ Bryson Evans 7pm @ Matchwood Brewing Co. Live Music w/ Slo Motion Walter 9pm-midnight @ 219 Lounge Sandpoint Farmers’ Market 9am-1pm @ Farmin Park Live music w/ Bright Moments Jazz

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

Festival at Sandpoint: Jake Owen 7:30pm @ Memorial Field Jake Owen is back for another Festival performance! Opener: Colby Acuff. Tickets are SOLD OUT.

SATURDAY, July 31 Live Music Festival at Sandpoint: Shakey Graves w/ Morgan Myles 7:30pm @ Memorial Field A mix of blues, alt-country, folk and rock ‘n’ 7:30pm @ Eichardt’s Pub roll makes for pure genius. Opener: Tré Burt.

Crazy Days sidewalk sale and Play it Again Sam Panida sale 8am-3pm @ Downtown Sandpoint Once a year, downtown Sandpoint merchants host a sidewalk sale, and it’s usually chock full of bargains and fun. Head over to the Panida for musical treasures like CDs, tapes, LPs and more

SunDAY, August 1

Festival at Sandpoint: Keb’ Mo & Band 7:30pm @ Memorial Field Blues favorite Keb’ Mo’ will close out the first week at the Festival.

Opener: The Brother Brothers

monDAY, august 2 Monday Night Blues Jam w/ John Firshi 7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub

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

tuesDAY, August 3

Lifetree Cafe • 2pm @ Jalapeño’s Restaurant “Imperfect Parents: Making Peace and Moving On” Wild Idaho Road Show 5:30-7:30pm @ Eureka Institute Join the Idaho Conservation League for updates from ICL exec. dir. Justin Hayes and socializing with staff

Live Music w/ Bright Moments Jazz 6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority

wednesDAY, august 4

Live Comedy Show with K-von Tap Takeover w/ Mountains Walking 7pm @ Sandpoint Event Center @ Idaho Pour Authority K-von, the “most famous half-Per- Enjoy beers from this Bozeman brewery sian comedian in the world” will perform a live comedy show and Sandpoint Farmers’ Market Benny on the Deck - Live Music 5-7:30pm @ Connie’s Lounge patio book signing event. Check out his 3-5:30pm @ Farmin Park Live music TBD Weekly live music with Benny Baker.

YouTube channel for more This week’s guest: Ponderay Paradox Live Music w/ Beth Pederson & Bruce Bishop 4-7pm@ Memorial Community Center (Hope) Two local favorites will perform in Hope

ThursDAY, august 5

Sandpoint Songfest Sneak Preview #2 6pm @ Matchwood Brewing Co. The next sneak preview event for Sandpoint Songfest (scheduled for Sept.) will feature Thom Shepherd, Coley McCabe and Sam Leyde 18 /

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Festival at Sandpoint: Gladys Knight 7:30pm @ Memorial Field A true iconic R&B performer, Gladys Knight will not disappoint. Opener: Sandpoint-born Sam Tru!

STAGE & SCREEN

Music documentaries are the ultimate backstage pass It’s a musical week in Sandpoint, but if you can’t get enough of hearing your favorite bands perform live, there are a number of music documentaries that provide the most intimate access to some iconic performers.

name like Lennon or McCartney — despite his many hits and connections to other famous performers — had much to do with his impishness, which made it impossible to sustain that level of fame. Whether dragging his famous friends through the boozy muck or inspiring pop artists for decades after, Nilsson was indeed an original.

Who is Harry Nilsson (and Why is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)? (2012) Full confession: I had no idea who the hell Harry Nilsson was before watching this film, but about 20 minutes in I realized I’d heard most of his songs before. A party animal and musical genius with an angelic voice and a devilish nature, Harry Nilsson left his mark on listeners and fellow musicians alike.

After watching this film, the viewer realizes that the reason Nilsson wasn’t a household

Shut Up and Play the Hits (2012) When members of the cult-favorite band LCD Soundsystem announced they would perform their last live concert in 2011, directors Dylan Southern and William Lovelace created Shut Up and Play the Hits, which isn’t quite a concert film, but isn’t a comprehensive bio-doc about the witty, wise dance-music hero James Murphy and his band. The resulting film lies somewhere between that final show and Murphy’s daily live, both before

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

and after the farewell concert.

As the film makes clear — both relating to LCD Soundsystem’s music and fan base — critiques of modern music being too synthesized and soulless are unfounded, as LCD Soundsystem engaged its fans just as much as rock ’n’ rollers ever did.

Buena Vista Social Club (1999) When the U.S. cut off most of its cultural and economic exchange with Cuba in the 1960s, a lot of Cuban entertainers lost the international audience they’d enjoyed during Havana’s heyday.

American guitarist Ry Cooder brought some of those musicians into the studio to record a single album, and then over to Europe and the U.S. for a few concerts, which were caught on film by German director Wim Wenders.

The result is this Oscar-nominated documentary that shows not just the music of Cuba, but

Werewolves Within:

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff Literature and cinema are full of stories about the seedy, depraved and dangerous underbellies of small towns. Beneath the seeming placidity of a middle American community lurks a murderous psychopath (Halloween, The Town that Dreaded Sundown, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre).

Look deeper into the lives of industrious-looking citizens on a tidy Main Street, and you’ll find all manner of grotesquery (Winesburg, Ohio; The Lottery; The Burbs).

Odds are that either a monster dwells in that beautiful lake (Lake Placid, Ragnarok, Fish Bait: The Movie) or Satanism — real or perceived — is alive in the woods just a ways up the road (X-Files, Buffy, The Scarlet Letter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Witch, the nightly news in the late 1980s and early ’90s).

Conventional wisdom might suggest that the bigger a commu-

nity, the scarier it must be — who knows what all those people might get up to — but in small towns everything is magnified and everyone is exposed. Humans are social animals, after all, so the notion of living in a sparsely populated area goes against eons of survival based on the premise that there is safety in numbers.

All this preamble is to say that Werewolves Within, released June 25 and based on the video game of the same name, checks all the psycho-social boxes of small-town horror, leavened with a hearty and welcome dose of absurdist comedy.

As the title suggests, there are werewolves in them thar hills, which in this case centers on the cockeyed Vermont town of Beaverfield. It has all the requisite elements: a lonely yet matronly widow who runs the local inn, the batty multi-generational local who tries to lord over everyone else, the gruff loner who chooses to live in a cabin in the woods, and a rich outsider whose presence divides

some of the struggles of living under Castro’s regime. At its core, Buena Vista Social Club showcases some of the greatest music to come from this little island with a big profile 90 miles south of Florida.

The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005) Daniel Johnston occupied his own private island in the world of music. This mentally ill singer-songwriter created some of the strangest and most beautiful

A still frame from The Devil and Daniel Johnston. Courtesy photo. music of his era, but as The Devil and Daniel Johnston shows, this creation led to a destructive relationship with his family and friends.

While Johnston’s childlike, lo-fi recordings captured his crude (and sometimes brilliant) charm, this documentary shows us the real toll of what it’s like to be a “mad genius” — especially to those who are closest to them.

Small towns breed big problems

the town.

In the case of Werewolves Within, the early tension arises with a developer’s proposal to build a pipeline under the town.

Far from neighborly, the residents split themselves into camps between those who think the project will destroy the place or provide them with enormous wealth.

Enter the protagonist: Finn (Sam Richardson), a sugar-sweet Forest Service officer who has been assigned to make sure the pipeline doesn’t damage the surrounding public lands. Put up at the inn — where he learns that a prominent environmental scientist is also staying — he quickly meets Cecily (Milana Vayntrub), the manic-pixie-dream postal worker.

Both are outsiders in the town and, from that vantage point, have a clear insight that everyone in Beaverfield is “a little suspect,” as Cecily warns Finn early on.

That assessment becomes apparent when people and pets start turning up dead. Then the power goes out (the result of sabotage

by something bearing enormous claws) and a blizzard forces Beaverfield’s most eccentric citizens to hole up together at the inn.

From there, the film maneuvers into “whodunnit” territory, as the scientist reveals that a werewolf has been behind the recent chaos.

What’s worse, it becomes clear that Beaverfield is just the latest stop on a rampage across rural Vermont.

Already deeply distrustful of each other, the townsfolk snipe and spar, meanwhile revealing their own secrets and true natures as the blood flows with increasing abundance.

On its face this is all pretty cliched stuff, but in the hands of director Josh Ruben it’s executed with wry satirical humor, tight timing, atmospheric set design and an ensemble cast that is clearly relishing playing these oddball characters.

The big reveal feels a bit thin by the time it comes around, but by then the point has been made: the real monsters are inside us all and, as Finn shouts at one point, “It’s OK to be nice!” That goes double for small towns, whether or not they have werewolves within.

Rent it on Amazon Prime.

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MUSIC

Everything you need to know about the Festival at Sandpoint A quick guide for newcomers and old salts alike

By Ben Olson Reader Staff The Festival at Sandpoint is back for its 38th season. Whether you’re new to the Festival or you’ve been attending since the beginning, this year brings several important changes to the annual concert series. What follows is a simple guide to everything you need to know to enjoy the Festival in style this year. For those about to rock, we salute you.

• No glass. As in previous years, coolers are allowed — as is bringing in your own food and drinks. But no glass bottles will be allowed inside the venue, with the exception of wine bottles and growlers.

• Contactless ordering. There will be no in-person ordering inside the Festival.

This includes food, beverage, merchandise, chair rentals and more. All purchases will be transacted via the Noble App. To access the Noble App for free, download GetNoble from the App Store or visit order.getnoble. co/venue/168. Click on the Festival at Sandpoint’s venue and start browsing food and beverage vendors, menus and more. Once you have decided on your items, checkout and kick back. The vendors will send you a notification when your food is ready. Then head to the vendor’s tent, show them your order number, get your items and enjoy.

• Line standing. Some die-hard fans will get to the concert ridiculously early, but please refrain from coming before 6 a.m. the day of the show. The box office at Memorial Field opens one hour before the gates each day. Be sure to enter the correct line for general admission or early entry (ask a gate attendant or the box office if you’re unsure where to stand in line).

• Seating. Seating is general admission on the lawn and in the grandstands, available on a first-come, first-served basis.

There are reserved first-come, first-served sections for sponsors. The field is wheelchair accessible with designated seating in the grandstands — check with front gate staff at least 20 minutes prior to gates for an escort. If you need assistance or extra time to enter the venue, please call the Festival office for handicap seating information.

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• Lawn chairs. Chairs with back legs four inches or less (sometimes called “sand chairs,” with back rests not higher than shoulder length) are allowed in the blanket seating area. Higher lawn chairs (standard) are allowed behind blanket seating. Bring your own chairs or rent at the venue for $5 each through the Noble App. • Stand, dance or sit. People love to dance, so choose where to sit depending on what you expect from your fellow concert goers. If you don’t like people standing up or dancing near you, consider choosing a spot set back from the stage with good sight lines (like the grandstands). Due to COVID-19, the Festival will not be having any dance concerts this year. Please do not push forward or invade other guest’s social distancing.

• Security and prohibited items. Per performers’ contracts, there will be security checkpoints at all entrances. The security staff aims to get concert goers through quickly, so the less you bring, the faster the process. As already noted, there will be no glass allowed inside other than wine bottles and growlers. Dogs and pets are not allowed inside the venue. If you have a service dog, please call the Festival office for details about admittance.

Weapons are not allowed inside the venue, including guns, ammo, pepper spray, mace, etc. This includes off-duty law enforcement or individuals with concealed carry permits. Prior to check-in, please ensure you do not have any weapons on you, in your bags or concealed.

No drugs or drug paraphernalia will

The Festival’s “Green Team” volunteers in 2019.

Photo by Racheal Baker. be allowed inside, including cannabis and cannabis products.

No flammables are allowed, including fireworks, explosives or road flares. Cigarettes are only allowed in the designated smoking area and never on the artificial turf.

There will be no personal vehicles allowed inside, including bikes, skates, scooters, skateboards, hoverboards, Segways, electric scooters, etc. Personal mobility devices for ADA guests are allowed.

No tents are allowed, neither are toy guns, water guns or sling shots.

• Safety and fun. The Festival at Sandpoint is committed to creating a safe, comfortable and fun experience for every one of its guests. Some actions may lead to a removal from the venue, including irresponsible or unsafe use of alcohol; accessing restricted areas without proper credentials; taunting, abusive or offensive language; obscene or offensive gestures through imagery or symbolism, including banners, signs and other means of visual propaganda; urination or defecation outside of a public restroom; fighting or engaging in any action that may harm, endanger, threaten or bring discomfort to anyone; damage, destruction, vandalism or theft of any property; participating in activity that humiliates anyone or insults their human dignity; fraudulently claiming a disability or abusing ADA services.

For more information about the Festival at Sandpoint’s guidelines, visit festivalatsandpoint.com, or call the office at 208-265-4554.

MUSIC

Week 1 at the Festival at Sandpoint A rundown of who’s playing the first week

By Ben Olson Reader Staff If you’re looking for great music and fun this weekend, look no further than the annual Festival at Sandpoint. Here’s who is playing in the first week: Thursday, July 29 St. Paul & The Broken Bones w/special guest The Dip Hailing from Birmingham, Ala., rock and roll soul band St. Paul & The Broken Bones features powerful vocals, thoughtful lyrics and a dedication to invigorating the soul and R&B genres for the modern age. If you enjoyed Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats at the 2019 Festival at Sandpoint, you’ll love St. Paul & The Broken Bones.

Opening the night will be Seattle-based The Dip, an electrifying seven-piece ensemble that melds vintage R&B with classic pop storytelling.

General admission $44.95.

Gates open at 6 p.m. Early entry $69.95. Gates open at 5:45 p.m.

The concert starts at 7:30 p.m.

Friday, July 30 Jake Owen w/special guest Colby Acuff Jake Owen returns to the Festival stage bringing new hit songs that will make you want to get up and boogie. This multiple chart-topping country artist left it

all out on the stage the last time he played the Festival in 2017. Owen’s new single, “Made For New,” is rapidly climbing the Billboard Country Airplay charts, and fans should expect to hear a bunch of his eight No. 1 songs.

Opening for Owen is Coeur d’Alene country artist Colby Acuff, who prides himself on writing songs that connect to people, just like his heroes have done his whole life. Acuff’s blend of oldschool storytelling and powerful voice will take you to an unfamiliar place of honest country music.

General admission and early entry tickets are SOLD OUT. Concert starts at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, July 31 Shakey Graves w/special guest Tré Burt Alejandro Rose-Garcia (a.k.a.

Shakey Graves) combines blues, folk, country and rock ’n’ roll, making for a truly unique sound.

Starting out as a one-man band, Rose-Garcia used foot pedals to keep a beat with tambourines and a drum he made himself. His hit debut album, Roll the Bones, was just

re-released to celebrate its 10-year anniversary, and has since reached the U.S. Billboard 200 chart.

Opening for Shakey Graves is Tré Burt, a singer-songwriter based in Sacramento, Calif. Burt has a lofi, rootsy aesthetic, which he honed while busking on the streets of San Francisco and traveling the world in search of inspiration.

General admission $49.95.

Gates open at 6 p.m. Early entry $74.95. Gates open at 5:45 p.m.

Music starts at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 1 Keb’ Mo’ & Band w/special guest The Brother Brothers Born in Los Angeles to parents of southern descent, Kevin Moore (a.k.a. Keb’ Mo’) was exposed to gospel music early on in life. As his love for music grew, his popularity in the industry saw similar trends. Moore received his first Grammy Award for his song “Just Like You” in 1994 and the rest is history, as Moore started winning more awards, releasing new albums and touring all over the world. The blues will be rocking at the Festival this night.

Bryson Evans will bring his genuine, rootsy folk sound to Matchwood Brewing on Saturday, July 31, as the Aberdeen, Wash.-based singer-songwriter plays the brewery’s Sounds Under The Silo live music series.

Evans’ influences provide some of the basis for his classic country and Americana style — Hank Williams and The Allman Brothers, for instance — but the soul of his music is much more personal. The musician’s

raw, emotional vocals and craft as a songwriter help him share stories of real people and real life, and all the good and bad that comes with life’s journey — heartfelt storytelling that pairs perfectly with a locally crafted beer.

— Lyndsie Kiebert Saturday, July 31, 7 p.m., FREE. Matchwood Brewing, 513 Oak St., 208-718-2739.

Listen at brysonevansmusic. com.

Cabeza de Vaca has been mostly forgotten in the history of Spain’s invasion of North America. One of four survivors of a failed 400-strong colonizing expedition to Florida in 1528, de Vaca, three other Spaniards and an African slave named Estebanico trekked for 10 years from Florida to the Pacific Coast, in the process encountering an Indigenous world much as it had existed for centuries prior to European contact. Read about it in the new book A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca.

Interest in From left to right: St. Paul & the Broken author Frank Bones, Jake Owen and Shakey Graves Herbert’s towAbove: Keb’ Mo’. Courtesy photos. ering sci-fi Dune Chronicles is at a near-all-time-high.

Opening for Keb’ Mo’ is The The universe created by Herbert Brother Brothers, an indie folk over six novels from 1965-1985 duo of twin brothers Adam and spans 35,000 years, pulling toDavid Moss. The duo pairs warm gether profound ideas of religion, acoustics with a funky electric ecology, politics, evolution and keyboard sound. psychology. So complex and nuanced is Herbert’s vision that even General admission $49.95. lifetime fans (like me) will beneGates open at 6 p.m. Early entry fit from listening to the YouTube $74.95. Gates open at 5:45 p.m. channel Doc Sloan’s Science FicMusic starts at 7:30 p.m. tion Station with its “Dune Series See festivalatsandpoint.com Ph.D.” videos. (Though beware for full biographical information of the obnoxious intro and outro about each artist. Check the Aug. music.)

5 edition of the Reader for a recap of Festival — Week 2 performers.

Morgan Myles, Eichardt’s Pub, July 31 Sandpoint’s venerable downtown pub, grill and coffeehouse, Eichardt’s, is known as an intimate venue for live music. It will feel sonically filled to bursting Saturday, July 31 with a performance by powerhouse vocalist Morgan Myles.

Based in Nashville, Myles has turned the heads of critics and audiences alike with her sound, which draws as much from contemporary country as it does soul and gospel, rock, pop and R&B. Names like Faith Hill, Shania Twain and Sheryl Crow feature in her reviews, and it’s

READ

LISTEN

A snapshot of notable live music coming up in Sandpoint Bryson Evans, Matchwood Brewing, July 31

This week’s RLW by Zach Hagadone

easy to see — and hear — why.

Track after track on Myles’ debut studio album, Therapy, showcases her immense five-octave vocal range while showing off her pitch-perfect songwriting chops. Experiencing Myles in a close setting like Eichardt’s is sure to be one of those “I saw her back when…” moments.

— Zach Hagadone 8-9 p.m., FREE. Eichardt’s Pub, 212 Cedar St., 208-263-4005, eichardts.com. Listen at morganmyleslive.com.

WATCH

A lot of critics — including rogerebert.com — have called The Empty Man a new cult horror classic, applauding its sweep and ambition, creativity and (especially) its masterly 22-minute prologue, which could and probably should have been a standalone short film. What seems like a standard supernatural threat with urban legend-like spookiness ends up having New Age cultish overtones and a pleasing twist.

Not quite a “classic” (and much too long), it’s still a fun watch.

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BACK OF THE BOOK

Remembering a true Jedi master

By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff

From Northern Idaho News, July 15, 1938

DR. ROBINSON FINED FOR LEAVING BLAZE It cost Dr. Wiliam W. Robnson of Spokane a $10 bill to learn that the forest service means business when it asks you to put out your camp fire.

Dr. Robinson and a party of friends camped at Granite creek Friday night and left the next morning without putting out their camp fire, forest officials said. The smoldering camp fire spread and burned up dock material at the landing, although the blaze was conquered by Ben Gensen, who called forest officials and notified them of the incident.

“The forest service tried to apprehend the party that day but failed. The next day the supervisor called him (Dr. Robinson) and advised him to return to Sandpoint, which he did, forest officials said.

A soaring sun Wednesday shot the mercury up to 93 degrees to give Sandpoint the hottest day of the summer, according to Ralph Knight, superintendent of the University of Idaho subdivision.

Temperatures are expected to rise further into the higher 90s in coming days.

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Seeking a mysterious new power in the Force, representatives of both the Dark and Light sides scoured the galaxy before landing on a small blue planet called Earth.

There a group of Jedis — along with R2-D2 — confronted some of the most ferocious villains in the galaxy. Led by no less than Darth Vader and Kylo Ren, the Mandalorian bounty hunter Boba Fett, an Imperial stormtrooper and other Sith warriors strode into the room. Realizing they were up against too strong a collection of enemies, the Jedi master called out for the one so strong with the Force that his power could tip the balance away from the Dark Side.

Answering his destiny, the young Jedi Aiden “den!!” Dyer rose to face Vader. As the Jedis fell in the ensuing melee, only den!! (his chosen name) was able to prevail, striking down the Sith and their allies in turn.

The master kneeled before den!!, proclaiming him a true Jedi. Together, they used the Force to return the warriors from both sides to life — now united as friends, rather than foes.

This battle took place on May 1 in Clark Fork, rather than a galaxy far, far away, and concluded with a pizza party attended by den!!’s many friends and family members.

Its participants came from Garrison Titan of the 501st Legion and Gurreck Clan of the Mandalorian Mercs — which drew members in full costume from Spokane and Coeur d’Alene. The Jedis were played by the Galactic Alliance and a handful of local volunteers, with Andrew Sorg as the Jedi master. It was filmed and produced — complete with digital special effects, Star Wars score and even a title sequence with its iconic introductory text crawl — by the Idaho Film Company and presented to den!! and his family as a special gift.

Den!! fought his final battle on July 16,

STR8TS Solution

passing away at age 11 following a 2019 diagnosis of high-grade glioblastoma in his brain, which required him to receive regular chemo therapy at Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital in Spokane.

By the time of his faceoff with the Dark Side on May 1, den!! was in the care of Auburn Crest Hospice, which organized the Star Wars event to provide him with an epic experience centered on one of his favorite things (he also loved Legos and sharks, his teachers and classmates at Hope Elementary, jui jitsu and soccer, but Star Wars truly held a special place in his heart and ample imagination).

Den!!’s health further deteriorated soon after his lightsaber duel, but on that day he was all energy, poised and ready to take on all comers.

After the battle, I asked him which side he most identified with and — with no hesitation and a tinge of pride — he responded that he was a Jedi, through and through.

One Star Wars fanatic to another, I wanted to know his favorite character, to which he replied Ezra Bridger, from Star Wars: Rebels. Betraying my age, I admitted that I didn’t know who that was. Later I looked up Bridger, and I can see why den!! would identify with him: a young Jedi who helped free others and spread hope through the galaxy during its darkest times.

Den!! was the recipient of the 2020 Jacey’s Race and said that the most important thing in life was “to be kind and make people laugh.” That, too, was apparent on

May 1, as in true Jedi fashion his clear love for others and enthusiasm for life brought so many people together from different places and backgrounds — even those who would only know him for that one day — to share a moment of pure fun, which is preserved now in the video from Idaho Film Company.

“For generations to come, his family can watch this video and remember him with his happiest smiles, in his power stance, showing his passion to see good prevail over evil and finding the joy in living every moment,” Sara Jane Ruggles, of Auburn Crest Hospice, wrote in an email.

Friends and family will gather at the Clark Fork Senior Center — where den!!’s Star Wars event took place — to celebrate his life from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 7. Visit lakeviewfuneral.com to sign his guest book.

Sudoku Solution

Crossword Solution

Aiden “den!!” Dyer was a true Jedi master and will be missed. May the Force be with him, always. Courtesy photo.

By Bill Borders

Solution on page 22

CROSSWORD

Copyright www.mirroreyes.com

Laughing Matter

Solution on page 22

ACROSS

furphy

/fur-fee/

Woorf tdhe Week

[noun] 1. a false report; rumor.

“The idea that rich people are happier because they’re rich is a furphy.”

Corrections: In the July 22 Reader story about the Panida’s Crazy Days sale, we accidentally wrote “Tuesday, July 31” when the correct date is “Saturday, July 31.” Apologies for the error. —BO

I think in one of my previous lives I was a mighty king, because I like people to do what I say.

1. Rugby formation 6. Academy award 11. Not here 12. Settlement 15. Recognition 16. Female protagonists 17. 54 in Roman numerals 18. Nightclub 20. Take in slowly 21. Gumbo 23. Concludes 24. Not difficult 25. A noble gas 26. Start over 27. Baroque composer 28. Sea eagle 56. Give forth 29. Sphere 57. Twilled fabric 30. Ski jacket 58. Drive 31. Masseurs 59. Contemptuous 34. Range look 36. Female sibling 37. Dagger handle 41. Alley 42. Three-handed card game 43. Paris airport DOWN 44. Docile 1. A forward on 45. Secluded valley a soccer team 46. Journey 2.

V-shaped stripes 47. Beer 3. Scarlet 48. Clatter 4. Relating to urine 51. Consumed food 5. Of higher order 52. Depicts 6. Exaggerate 54. Happenings

Solution on page 22 7. Fathers 8. Coagulate 9. Anagram of “Ail” 10. Plunder 13. Japanese hostess 14. Catch a glimpse of 15. Duplicate 16. Small carry baskets 19. Ales 22. Windflower 24. Hearing range 26. Thorny flower 27. Tavern 30. Annoyance 32. Gorilla 33. Goliath

34. Ski race 35. Photo devices 38. Dispose 39. Flutter 40. Varieties 42. Killer 44. Adhesive strip 45. Grille 48. Scottish hillside 49. Not more 50. Not odd 53. Explosive 55. Before, poetically

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