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DEAR READERS,

Susan Drinkard on the street compiled by

If you could have a full-time gardener, masseuse, cook or housekeeper, which would you choose, and why?

“Cook. That way I’d have more time to do other things that I enjoy.”

Carole Stankiewicz Optician Sandpoint

It is my sincere hope that someday we’ll make enough money to be able to pay photographers and artists for submitting their work to our publication. As of now, we still need to keep a tight hold on the purse strings, so that’s not a possibility. Yet. Case in point, Sandpoint photographer Alan Barber sent a number of great photos he took before the Fourth of July parade. The photo below features Andra, Abigail and Amelia Dixon (daughters of Rep. Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay). The hair, the dress and the expressions on their faces look so authentic, if you were to tell me this was taken in 1943, I would’ve believed you.

Thanks for submitting your photo, Alan. If anyone else would like to submit a photo, we’re always happy to receive them. In the meantime, go find us some more advertisers so we can start paying you for your work!

-Ben Olson, Publisher

Colleen Mooney Case manager Bonner General Health Rathdrum

Karen Craner Language Arts teacher Priest River High School Vay

Marie Goodin Hostess/college student Sagle

“A cook because I am not a good cook. I don’t like cooking. My husband was the chef.”

Dianna Warner Housekeeper Bonner General Health Cocolalla

Publisher: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com Editor: Cameron Rasmusson cameron@sandpointreader.com Zach Hagadone (emeritus) John Reuter (emeritus) Contributing Artists: Ben Olson, Susan Drinkard, Alan Barber.

Printed weekly at: Griffin Publishing Spokane, Wash.

Subscription Price: $95 per year

From left to right, inside Bill Collier’s helicopter: Andra, Abigail, and Amelia Dixon, daughters of Rep. Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay. Photo by Alan Barber.

LIVE MUSIC

turday Friday & Sa Beer Hall N ight @ t he

BRENDON McCOY 7-9pm “Masseuse. I’m a college student with a forensics major… all those finals. Yes, a masseuse.”

www.sandpointreader.com

Submit stories to: stories@sandpointreader.com

“A female masseuse. I don’t want a guy rubbing me down.”

“Housekeeper because housekeeping really sucks. It’s how I feel in my heart.”

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

Contributing Writers: Cameron Rasmusson, Ben Olson, Louie de Palma, Nina Martin, Jim Mitsui, Robens Napolitan, Julie Reister-Keaton, Nancy Hahn Rodgers, Jeanette Schandelmeier, Brenden Bobby, Susan Drinkard, Laurie Brown, Marcia Pilgeram.

“I like doing my own gardening, cooking and housekeeping, so I’d say masseuse so I can have my muscles massaged after all that work.”

Jeff Johnson Chemical sales Spokane

READER

B RADICALS 7 - 10pm Cornhole Classic @ 1pm

BRIAN JACOBS and CHRIS LYNCH 7-10pm BREWERY & BEER HALL 220 Cedar St. 209-6700 FAMILY FRIENDLY BREWPUB 312 First Ave.

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Advertising: Jodi Taylor jodi@sandpointreader.com Clint Nicholson clint@keokee.com Web Content: Keokee The Sandpoint Reader is a weekly publication owned and operated by Ben Olson and Keokee. It is devoted to the arts, entertainment, politics and lifestyle in and around Sandpoint, Idaho.

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

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

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

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

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

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

About the Cover This week’s cover features an old poster from the 1950s, with design elements added by Ben Olson. You can find a lot of these cool old posters royalty free with enough Internet savvy searching.

July 7, 2016 /

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COMMENTARY

By Louie de Palma Reader Road Warrior What’s red and blue and white? A ton of newborn mammals with weird residue on them, the socks I’m currently wearing, the British flag, the French flag, a Crunch Bar wrapper and the color options for a Mazda Miata.

Also in the mix, of course, is this great nation’s flag, and with it the life force of every American citizen. I have high hopes that each of these items was revered with American pride last weekend as we all blasted fireworks for the birth of a country.

It seems odd to me that we celebrate the victory of war with more explosions and loud noises. I can only imagine that it made sense after the war, when there was an abundance of artillery left around. The decision to fire all the muskets and blast the remaining powder must have been a fast and easy one.

Ben F.: “Hey, George, we won the war.”

George W.: “Radical! What should we do now?”

BF: “IDK, maybe get the fam and blast the rest of these cannons off!”

GW: “F yeah, let freedom ring in the eardrums of everyone! Plus, we’ll never need the artillery again.”

Ben F. was a notorious party animal and George W. had a predisposition for destruction at young age, which he blamed 4 /

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FREE to be WEIRD on axe-idents. So the celebration makes sense. However, it must have been very confusing at first, seeing as information spread slowly back then.

Guy in a macaroni hat: “Hey, is the war over? IDK, doesn’t sound like it, but it seems everyone is blowing stuff up and getting hammered.”

Guy with a pony tail: “Rad, I’m in. Grab some of Sam Adams’ patriot juice.”

It’s been a tradition ever since to celebrate victory with explosions and beer. I like to think of other animals in the animal kingdom conducting themselves in similar fashions.

Maybe wildebeests would celebrate a long, hard escape from hyenas, terrifying their brothers and sisters with PTSD in the process. Or perhaps sea lions would commemorate a victory over killer sharks by throwing water balloons filled with blood red Kool-Aid (I got paid by Kool-Aid for this) at each other.

How we celebrate the Fourth may seem a little odd, but it’s an actual blast after blast, and it’s not nearly as odd as the things that can happen during the week surrounding it. I end up driving tons of Canadians around dressed from head to toe in eagles and stripes. These guys ka-kaw incessantly, most of them getting more drunk than the Staters.

It’s like they’re in competition

with us on Cinco de Drinko, and a Delaware slough of weird stuff can occur. I’ll attest to it.

The cool thing about freedom is it allows for weird things to happen. People are pretty much allowed to be as odd as they want, and they can call our cab and share it with me. We can ride around being weird together, countrymen and women united for a cause.

On the eve of the Fourth, I found myself transporting a very pleasant, charming young lady from the airport to our neck of the woods. She was from the Southeast and had the slightest hint of an accent, stood about five feet tall and was cute as a button (cliché, I know, but think of a really cool button).

What’s odd about that?

Nothing. What was odd was her profession. She worked at a body farm as an anthropology biologist. Basically, she watched dead people decompose and wrote about the effects on bugs and soil. As she put it, “I drag dead people around.”

My head filled with images of this short, pretty person tugging dead bodies up a hill in a lab coat. Of course, I asked all the normal first-thought questions like, “Do people ever come by to watch their loved ones decompose in some mor-

bid way to pay respects?” and, “Is it like working in a kitchen, but instead of going home smelling like food to your boyfriend every night, you smell like dead people?” The answers were no to both of these, which was weird.

On the actual day of the Fourth, it was quiet—too quiet.

I mean, the normal odd stuff happened—people not making sense, not knowing where they live, passing out into comas in the cab until it looked like I was hauling cadavers to the body farm. There was the odd comment wondering if Roman candles were named as a subtle warning to great empires. All said, this was nothing out of the ordinary for small town America.

On July 5, I drove many humans home after the festivities.

One in particular was strange.

I picked up a man at Safeway about six-feet four-inches tall and bald. He was sporting a tan, short-sleeve twill button-up and black orthopedic shoes with no socks. He had three large duffel bags. Two seemed heavy, while the other sounded like it was filled with cans. I wasn’t sure where he was from, and I hardly knew where he was going; he stuttered, could only say “Route Two” and drew the path we were to take on his palm. We drove northeast into Montana until we reached a

remote corner of national forest he claimed was his property. He unloaded, paid, put his finger over his lips and stuttered, “Shh-hh-hh.”

At first I thought it was funny. Then as I drove away, I began to wonder what that poor old man’s story was as I watched him hurriedly drag his bags into the woods past the national forest sign. A part of me hoped he wasn’t conducting his own body farm research, but the other part thought, “Hey, maybe it is his land.”

Maybe he’s Uncle Sam come to vacation in America’s wilds for a bit. After all, this land is my land, this land is your land. Certainly it’s his land. In a land that’s free, it’s free to be weird. And in a cab, freedom rings, and rings, and rings, all throughout the day and all throughout the night.

LETTERS to the EDITOR Never Again...

Dear Editor, I enjoyed Ben [Olson]’s love letter to the country and related to the blessing of being able to speak up about injustice. Because I am American I do not fear when I write the following: It is disturbing that our locals are ignorant of Jeanetta. People react to the gruesome tale with, “Where did this happen?” We must remember our history, lest we repeat it.

What was she accused of? What were her crimes?

To lie crumpled in blood, shot at five times.

I heard she was drunk and had a little knife.

This little woman threatened her own life.

Our tax-paid bullies had a smashing defeat against a pregnant woman in the street.

In the internet video she wasn’t charging anyone.

Are police taught to shoot in haste... for fun?

“Oh shit!” yelled one murderer, when Jeanetta died, Shocked that he killed, unable to hide.

Two bullets were lodged in the wall of the ER of Sandpoint’s Hospital.

Jeanetta is the victim of multiple bullets and crimes.

There’s been no justice after she was shot five times.

Years later there are many more victims of cops.

They are beat up in schools, and shot down near shops.

Why aren’t guilty police questioned on trial?

Their guns ought to be taken from them for a while.

Am I alone in my alarm.. that our taxes keep bullies armed?

It’s obvious Jeanetta didn’t need to be killed, staining Sandpoint by this blood spilled.

But Jeanetta need not be sacrificed in vain.

Police brutality in my community.... Never Again.

“Never Again” is the

theme of this year’s memorial. Come to the location where she was shot in front of the ER if you want to pray for peace with me.

Jeanetta sought help at our local hospital in the evening of July 8, 2014.

When the police arrived at 9:16 p.m., her demise was imminent. I will be playing Native American flute from 8-9 p.m., and we will hold silent meditation until 9:20 p.m., when Jeanetta was clearly dead. Join me in this declaration of peace and please stand with me and demand that this never again happen in Sandpoint.

Love and hope, Jodi Rawson Sandpoint

County Hearing...

Dear Editor, How far will Bonner County Commissioner Todd Sudick go to subdivide his waterfront property? Let’s follow the sequence. About six months ago the County Commissioners fired their two senior planners. Then they took the P&Z Commission out of changes to the planning laws, and did away with public hearings, unless they feel like it.

Our current comprehensive plan and land use codes were adopted after years of public meetings held all over the county, with great publicity. Following that, the Commissioners set up an ad hoc committee to recommend changes to the code on every single issue that the public had expressed concern over. Membership was open to every Bonner County citizen who wanted to be involved. I was on that committee. So was Patricia Sudick. Ms. Sudick appeared to be an obstructionist at every possible point.

Now and quietly, the commissioners eliminated verifying with a building location permit that sewage disposal is dealt with.

A legal announcement let us know that a hearing is scheduled on a proposal meaning neighbors couldn’t

count on being notified when adjoining property is being divided into four parcels. It appears that 20acre farm and forest zoning could quickly become fiveacre zoning. Todd wrote, “we are looking at Zoning in order to change Ag 20 to Ag 5 and make lots along the water smaller than the 5 acre minimum that exist today.”

Todd and his wife have a 5 acre waterfront parcel that likely could be divided into two or three with looser zoning. Who is Todd representing with his changes that affect all of us in Bonner County? The public hearing is . . . at the County Building [later this month].

Please comment or attend.

Carol Jenkins Sagle

Suburbanization...

Dear Editor, What is the rush to suburbanize our rural county through a process that holds one public hearing at 2 p.m. on a weekday afternoon in the city of Sandpoint?

The people of Bonner County need to think long and hard about hacking the land into ever-smaller pieces, a large percentage of which are in the urban wildland interface.

As a retired wildland firefighter who served on inter-agency incident management teams in Idaho and Montana, I am very concerned that our human tendency to drag our past into the future without really considering the consequences is in operation here. Please let people have time to express their thoughts and feelings in hearings held at various times and places around the county.

I think it is inappropriate and unacceptable for the environmental and quality of life standards that we value so highly in this wondrous watershed to be changed without more open conversation all

around the county.

Marilyn McIntyre Grouse Creek

Loud Tradition...

Dear Editor, My new least favorite holiday is the Fourth of July.

I am in the food service industry, so I didn’t get the day off. I was sooooo tired, and ready for bed at 9 p.m., because 6:30 a.m. is when I needed to start my next day. As soon as my head hit the pillow the bombs started going off. They went until around 2 a.m.

As I lay awake I had a lot to think about. I was grateful that I don’t have PTSD from war. That might suck to be reminded of that every year. I felt bad for my dog who was panting and shaking all night and didn’t understand it was just people celebrating. Then I thought of the deer who are having fawns this time of year and how scary that would be.

I read recently that in Italy they have adopted the use of silent fireworks to honor their animals. My thoughts went to threatening fires or injuries; then I thought about why Americans are celebrating so enthusiastically. Our ancestors escaped the tyranny of Britain to inflict tyranny on the people that already lived here. They murdered 100 million Native Americans.

I am ashamed of this country. How long are we going to pride ourselves on war. How long are we going to celebrate a travesty?

Canada has finally at least apologized to the native people that remain.

Let’s forget the fireworks and do something else. This tradition sucks and the longer it is perpetuated the more I see us as a nation of selfish idiots. Let’s not teach our kids this mindless, rude and drunken day where we blow shit up, pollute and trash our sacred land and lake.

Let’s have July 4th be a meet your neighbor day

where everyone in town who wants to, goes out in their front yard and engages with the people they probably barely know but live a few feet from. And around 10 p.m. everyone can just be quiet.

Charlotte Wright Sandpoint

County Meeting...

Dear Editor, As you know, the Bonner County Commissioners have been making changes to land use codes at such a rapid rate it is difficult to keep up. Regardless of how one feels about the changes, it is true that the process has not been transparent, inclusive or undergone a standard planning procedure. Because of this, a large percentage of the population have no idea these changes exist or how they will impact their lives.

Land use planning is the most comprehensive tool we have locally and nationally to influence our economy and sustain our natural resources, which as we all know, are mutually dependent. Our land uses are essential and many and there is not one land use that does not have the potential to impact natural resources.

I hope you will consider covering this issue before the public hearing coming up . . . with proposed changes to definitions of subdivisions.

These proposed changes are so complicated folks need time to process them.

Thank you for your consideration, Molly McCahon Lake Assist Coordinator Bonner Soil and Water Conservation District Editor’s Note: Many letters this week referenced a July 13 county meeting on subdivisions. We checked with the county and found the meeting will be rescheduled for later this month due to “a technical notification to taxing districts.” I edited the letters to reflect this update. [CR] July 7, 2016 /

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NEWS Council approves downtown parking revisions

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff If there’s one persistent bugaboo in city policy, it’s downtown parking.

With many conflicting interests at play from downtown business owners to employees to pedestrians and bicyclists, officials have struggled to find a system that satisfies every group. On Wednesday, Sandpoint City Council members took another stab at reaching compromise by passing a series of parking revisions. The changes include revised free parking times, a new city committee to recommend tweaks and an enforcement system to punish scofflaws.

“I think this addresses a lot of the concerns we heard from the public,” Mayor Shelby Rognstad said.

Under the new system, downtown Sandpoint streets are reconfigured to allow for two-hour, three-hour, fourhour or 24-hour free parking.

According to Rognstad, the designations are strategically selected based on the need to open parking spaces.

“We want to encourage high turnover in [some areas] so we can provide more parking for the public,” Rognstad said.

City employees, for instance, can count on 24-hour free parking in the city parking lot. This eliminates the need for the so-called two-hour shuffle, where employees moved their on-street-parked cars regularly to avoid being ticketed. Likewise, locals can leave cars parked downtown and walk home after one too many at the bar.

Hot parking locations like First Avenue or Cedar Street, meanwhile, retain two-hour parking. The idea is to free spaces and needless frustration for downtown shoppers and diners who previously struggled to find parking.

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to Rognstad, this is largely to ease the jobs of city snow plowers during the winter. Finally, a handful of 15-minute loading zones are scattered around the revised map.

The new parking system was worked out with the help of both city staff and the public.

Residents turned out to two public workshops, Three construction workers at a downtown shop display the offering their true cost of a remodel in Sandpoint. Photo by John Ford. feedback and suggestions.

At the council meeting, public According to Jennifer Staresponse was largely positive. pleton, Sandpoint city adminis“I want to thank the mayor trator, vehicles with six or more and the council for the proposal parking tickets more than 45 plan—I think it will be a huge days old will land on the scoffimprovement to downtown,” law list. A vehicle owner placed said business owner Kevin on the list will be notified, and if Kluender, who recommended they don’t settle their outstandadding more 15-minute loading ing fines, the police department zones and arranging them near will place a boot on their car fire hydrants to assist the fire wheel. If the matter isn’t redepartment. solved within another two days, The council also approved the vehicle will be impounded. the creation of a parking Stapleton said the system is simcommittee to shape the system ilar to those already instituted in around the needs of the comBoise, Spokane and Seattle. munity. The committee of five According to Stapleton, to seven people will be filled there are to date 44 vehicles by a downtown property owner, that qualify for the scofflaw list, business owner, resident and with one vehicle topping out at worker, with remaining spots 153 unpaid tickets and $9,860 open to interested Sandpoint in fines plus $3,825 in late fees citizens regardless of work or owed. The 3,500 outstanding residence locations. According violations—not all of which to Rognstad, he already has four qualify for the list—total to or five applications, with the $127,000 in unpaid fines. full committee to be determined Those with unpaid tickets by next month. can take advantage of a 60-day Finally, residents who have amnesty period. Residents with avoided paying their parking outstanding parking tickets tickets may need to face the mu- can settle up with a 50-percent sic soon. The council authorized reduction in late fees. Those the creation of a scofflaw list with large fines can work out a designed to compel parking payment plan with the city. ticket payment at the risk of car impoundment.

Accident leaves one Litehouse employee dead

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff A car accident last week left one employee of Litehouse Foods dead and another hospitalized.

Katherine Stelzer, 61, died at the scene and Zualita L. Updike, 50, was transported to Sacred Heart Medical Center after being struck by a truck while on a lunchtime walk. According to Idaho State Police, Peter F. Goullette, 22, was behind the wheel of the vehicle that hit them.

According to KHQ, Goullette was distracted while fixing his son’s seat belt, and detectives didn’t believe that drugs or alcohol were a factor in the crash. However, later reports from KXLY indicate that Goullette tested positive for THC. Goulette was previously involved in a March drag racing incident that escalated into a confrontation at Super 1. The fight resulted in an accidental gun discharge.

No cause yet released in Cape Horn Fire

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff The Cape Horn fire that scorched Lake Pend Oreille communities last year is seared into local memory. However, authorities still haven’t released the cause of the blaze.

KXLY reports that a pair of stranded boaters who fired off a flare might be the cause of the fire. However, between the 35-mile-per-hour winds and the dry conditions, authorities haven’t released evidence that officially connects or rules out the boaters. One reason for the delayed conclusion could be that a forensic test of the fired flare is behind schedule. More information may be released by the Idaho Department of Lands within the next 30 days.

FEATURE Game Changer: An analysis of the Supreme Court’s abortion decision After the court hands a sweeping victory to abortion rights advocates, there was a torrent of analysis on what it means and what comes next

By Nina Martin For ProPublica Used by Permission Last week’s Supreme Court decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt was an unexpectedly sweeping victory for reproductive rights advocates—a “game changer,” said Nancy Northrop of the Center for Reproductive Rights that “leaves the right to an abortion on much stronger footing than it stood on before this decision was handed down,” long-time court-watcher Ian Millhiser wrote.

Abortion foes had hoped the court would use the Texas abortion case as an opportunity to gut not just Roe v. Wade, but also 1992’s seminal Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which held that abortion laws creating an “undue burden” on women were unconstitutional. Instead, the court clarified and strengthened Casey while striking down two of Texas law H.B. 2’s key provisions—strict building rules for abortion clinics and a requirement that abortion doctors have admitting privileges at local hospitals. This could invalidate anti-abortion laws in another 25 states.

Here’s some of the best analysis so far about the Whole Women’s Health ruling, what it portends for reproductive rights in the U.S., and the future direction of the Supreme Court.

Texas lawmakers overreached—and the result is likely to be a disaster for the anti-abortion movement.

So says Millhiser at the liberal site ThinkProgress. H.B. 2 was supposed to provide abortion foes “with a vehicle to drain what life remains in Roe v. Wade,” Millhiser said. But if anti-abortion groups thought previous Supreme Court rulings opened the door to more and more onerous regulation of abortion, the Whole Woman’s Health opinion “slams that door shut, bolts it, places a bar over it, and

Protesters gather outside the Supreme Court in 2013. Photo courtesy of Free Stock. pushes a sofa behind the door.”

Meanwhile, in an analysis on SCOTUSblog, Cornell law professor Michael C. Dorf described H.B. 2 and similar restrictions purportedly focused on health and safety as “guerilla warfare against abortion itself”—a legally risky ploy that ended up backfiring badly. “Lawyers should be on notice that Justices cannot be tricked into ruling against their druthers, at least if the law leaves any wiggle room at all,” Dorf wrote.

Justice Stephen Breyer’s majority opinion was unmemorable, but masterful.

“There’s not much in Justice Breyer’s opinion that’s quotable,” said Linda Greenhouse in the New York Times, who described the tone as “dry, almost clinical.” “But there’s not much that’s debatable either, and that’s what matters.” The fact-filled opinion offered something that’s been missing from the court’s discussion of abortion for the last 25 years, added the Times’ Emily Bazelon: “its focus on women—their health, well-being and ability to access a

constitutional right. Maybe that sounds obvious, but in many of the court’s previous rulings on this subject, it has been anything but.” Meanwhile, the fact that a “wonky male justice” wrote the opinion “drains the last modicum of gendered passion from the morning,” said Dahlia Lithwick at Slate. “This isn’t just a women’s case about women’s rights and women’s health. It’s a case about pretextual laws that could have caused untold damage and about the constitutionally protected right to choose, which has been bolstered by a majority of the Supreme Court that includes two men.”

Justice Anthony Kennedy continues to evolve in surprising ways.

In two of the most important cases of the term, on abortion and affirmative action, Kennedy broke with his past rulings, noted Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern.

“Kennedy’s jurisprudence has entered a bold new era, one less doctrinally rigid and more nuanced toward race and gender in the United States today,” Stern wrote. At the Washington Post,

op-ed columnist David Cole praised Kennedy’s “surprisingly open mind”: “Breaking with one’s peers and rethinking one’s commitments are not easy. In our increasingly divided political culture, many of us rarely do…. [I] t’s an attribute especially important in those who hold the power to enforce constitutional law.”

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg may be planting seeds for the future.

Some court-watchers puzzled over why the Notorious RBG, who signed on to Breyer’s opinion, would bother to write a two-page concurrence as well. Linda Hirshman, author of “Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World,” thinks she knows. At some point soon, courts will have to return to the issue of whether targeted regulations on abortion providers (TRAP laws) like H.B. 2 are ever valid to protect women’s health.

“She is writing into law the factual finding that abortion is safe, full stop,” Hirshman wrote in the Post, giving future courts the

precedential language they need to overturn such laws.

Abortion laws are likely to fall around the country—but not without a fight.

By striking down Texas’s tough abortion restrictions, the Supreme Court “has emboldened abortion-rights activists nationwide and imperiled a range of anti-abortion laws in numerous states,” the conservative site NewsMax reported, adding that anti-abortion leaders were “bracing for the demise of restrictions that they had worked vigorously to enact over the past few years.” Clarke Forsythe, senior counsel at Americans United for Life, told Bloomberg that his group doesn’t read the decision ”as foreclosing all clinic regulations and admitting privilege requirements, but it clearly puts a greater burden on the states to give the justices more evidence.” The Supreme Court’s decision only applies to Texas, Vox’s Sarah Kliff and Sarah Frostenson point out.

“Each of the other state laws will need to be challenged and also found unconstitutional.”

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Bouquets: •A big pat on the back and bouquet of the week goes to our beloved Sandpoint Lions Club, who pulled off another wonderful Fourth of July in Sandpoint.

If you know anyone that is part of this wonderful organization, please thank them for all of the hard work they do for our community. It’s much appreciated.

•A bouquet to Susan Drinkard, who handles my (Wo) man on the Street column week after week, and who also wrote a really great piece this week about her kayak trip around the lake with three friends (see page 17-18). We really appreciate your contributions to the Reader, Susan!

•One final bouquet to my bartender friends out there in beerland. As a former drink slinger, I know how difficult last weekend was for all of you. Lots of drunks, lots of out-of-towners, lots of drinks that people only order when they have a cocktail book in their hand. We appreciate you keeping the rest of us comfortably numb in style.

Barbs: •I hate to be a humbug about stuff like the Fourth of July, because I love how this holiday brings families together and creates a festive atmosphere around town. What I don’t love is the incredible amount of trash that is left on our streets and sidewalks the day after the Fourth. For some reason, people don’t think that it’s necessary to pick up their giant piles of spent fireworks. Instead they leave them strewn in the street to get rained on and eventually decompose or be swept away by a street sweeper weeks later.

I even saw one house that neatly swept all the trash into a pile— then left it in the street. So close, but no cigar, my friends.

Do us a favor, folks; clean up your spent fireworks. Just because it’s patriotic doesn’t mean it isn’t litter.

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BEERFEST

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff

Let’s be honest: It’s easy to love beer. But not everyone loves it in the same way.

See, a guy like me goes for the superficial qualities—if it tastes good and has a bit of a kick, I’m in. Then there are the aficionados, the people who know beer down to its individual ingredients and understand how tough it is to brew a perfect batch time after time.

No matter whether you’re painfully shallow or have a more intimate connection to your favorite porters and IPAs, there’s room for you at Sandpoint BeerFest. For the third year, this celebration of artisanal brewing is bringing the community together to appreciate the latest and greatest in the world of beer. It all happens this Saturday, July 9, 12-5 p.m. near Trinity at City Beach.

“I am amazed and intrigued by the beer business,” said Kate McAlister, president of the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce. “We certainly have come a long way from the basic brands everyone used to buy.”

Like other beer festivals, Sandpoint BeerFest is set up to promote variety as the spice of life. Attendees buy tokens to trade for beer—one for a four-ounce sample and three for a full glass. Folks can pick up the full tasting package with a souvenir pint glass, beer koozie and six tokens for $20. Otherwise, $10 is good for six tokens, and $2 will get you one token, root beer or bottled water. The pint glass and “brewsy” are also available separately for $6 and $5, respectively.

When the crowd gets hungry, Trinity will be on hand to serve up some delicious pulled pork sandwiches. And from 1:30-4:30 p.m., Still Tipsy and the Hangovers will provide some lively musical entertainment. And responsible drinkers will be glad to know Bonner Taxi is offering complimentary taxi service

within a 10-mile radius from 3-5 p.m.

BeerFest has grown from year to year, and for the latest trip to Trinity, the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce has lined up more than a dozen breweries for attendees to sample. With 24 beers, two ciders and one root beer between them, there’s plenty to keep beer lovers busy throughout the day.

“Just like those who enjoy different wines, those who drink beer like a variety as well,” McAlister said.

“There are a lot of sophisticated beer drinkers in the world, and they have cultivated palates when it comes to different hops, brewing techniques [and] infusion of flavors.”

BeerFest has become a terrific showcase for Sandpoint’s local breweries. MickDuff’s Brewing Company and Laughing Dog Brewing are notable success stories within the highly competitive world of artisanal brewing. McAlister said both breweries are a major asset in promoting Sandpoint as a tourist destination.

“We are lucky in our small area to have two of the most popular brew pubs around,” she said. “Laughing Dog and MickDuff’s have expanded and continue to grow as each year goes by which adds to our local economy and continues to attract tourists. Tourists really like that both beer halls allow them to bring their dogs.”

“Even better, all the local breweries seem to attract a different customer offering something for everyone,” McAlister added. “I also feel with our area being a tourist destination, the breweries have brought in a lot of new people. I have friends who do nothing but go to all the different breweries in the Northwest, and all over the United States. Like those

who go on wine tasting tours, the breweries offer ale trails to follow and explore.”

Of course, with beer festivals, “the more the merrier” is the operating principle, and BeerFest wouldn’t be BeerFest without out-of-town guests.

This year, Ballast Point Brewing and Spirits, Downdraft Brewing, Mad Bomber Brewing Company, Orlison Brewing

HAS ARRIVED

Company, Post Falls Brewing Company, River City Brewing Company, Slate Creek Brewing Company, Summit Cider, Waddell’s Brewing Company and 12 String Brewing join the mix to expand a beer lover’s options. For locals, it’s the best chance of the year to get a taste of the broader brewing culture.

A simpler time

The 14th Annual Antique and Classic Boat Show in Sandpoint

A couple takes a run on the lake during last year’s Antique and Wooden Boat Show in Sandpoint. Photo courtesy of ACBS.

By Ben Olson Reader Staff There’s just something cool about classic boats. They evoke feelings of a simpler pre-war America, when it was the bee’s knees to hop in your old Chris Craft and motor out to your favorite spot on the lake for cold drinks in the hot sun.

The Inland Empire Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society (ACBS) will be bringing back that old feeling with the Annual Classic and Antique Boat Festival in Sandpoint. The show takes place from July 8-10.

What better location to host a classic boat show than on Lake Pend Oreille? The show— now in its 14th year—will take place on the Sand Creek Boardwalk that runs along Sand Creek from the Panida Theater to the Powerhouse.

“We’ve got about 52 boats entered this year, which is really good for a show like this,” said BK Powell, a former board

member and past president of the Inland Empire Chapter of ACBS. The Inland Empire Chapter of ACBS is the largest in the Northwest with over 120 members. Powell said an average size regional membership is anywhere from 60-90, meaning that the Northwest prides themselves on their antique and classic boats.

The fun begins at 10 a.m.

Friday, July 8, at Sandpoint City Beach with a professional launch crew to help launch participants’ boats safely in the water. They’ll even remind you to put the plug in before launching (we’ve all made that mistake, haven’t we?). After the boats are in the water, there will be a special Welcome Aboard Party from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Ivano’s Ristorante.

Saturday will be a day of spectating, judging and awards

with the public invited to check out this year’s participating boats. Spectators can stroll the Sand Creek Boardwalk from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to check out the vintage watercraft. The show will culminate on Saturday evening with the ever-popular Sand Creek Boat Parade at 3 p.m. An awards banquet and silent auction will follow from 5:30-10 p.m. at the Columbia Bank Atrium.

“We have various awards,” said Powell. “Everyone starts at 100 points and it goes down from there.”

The majority of boats entered qualify for the “restored” category, which means they have less than 60 percent of their original deck and topsides material. The other category that is much more rare is “preserved,” which means the boat has at least 60 percent of original deck and topsides.

Powell said factors for judging include quality, age of boat, correctness of interior and exterior elements, quality of wood and many other categories.

Sunday will be a play day for the participants with a breakfast and a fun boat rally on the lake to test seamanship.

The participants will then meet up at Bottle Bay Resort to see who won.

According to Powell, it’s a common misconception that all antique and classic boats are made of wood: “Most people think that these show are just for wooden boats. They’re not. Ninety-nine percent of the boats are wood, but there are a few that choose to restore classic fiberglass boats.”

For Powell and the many participants of the ACBS, restoring and owning a classic boat is a way to keep in touch with a fleeting past.

“It’s a lifestyle,” said Powell. “It doesn’t represent a frenzied time. There are no cup holders in these boats. No racks for toys and accessories. It was a lot simpler time. They were basically pieces of furniture on the water.”

Powell said the oldest boat in the competition is a 1930 Dee Wite. While some boats hail from the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, Powell said the majority come from the ‘50s.

“They represent an era when not everybody had a boat,” he said. “You were somewhat affluent if you had a boat. They all have stories to tell. It’s like sitting around listening to your grandfather at Thanksgiving telling stories.”

Check out the Antique and Classic Boat Show on Saturday, July 9 at the Sand Creek Boardwalk.

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It’s a bird, it’s a plane...

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

it’s Ambassadog!

It’s a fact: Sandpoint has a love affair with dogs. You see it walking the streets daily.

You see it in the summer issue of Sandpoint Magazine. You see it in the pet-friendly bars, shops and businesses. You can even see it here at the Reader with our Straight Poop column dedicated to sniffing out the dog-friendly businesses around North Idaho.

What better way to further our love affair for our four-footed pals than to nominate your favorite pooch as the official Ambassadog for Sanpdoint?

The pilot program is a joint effort sponsored by Visit Sandpoint and Pandhandle Animal Shelter to help raise funds for the shelter.

“We took the idea from Scotland,” said Kate McAlister, president of the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce.

“Some keen reporters saw it online and decided it would be a great idea for Sandpoint.”

Here’s how it works: the Sandpoint Ambassadog will represent the spirit of our community. The Ambassadog that is selected will have official duties over the year or his or her reign, including appearances that some of the animal shelter’s Yappy Hour events, marching in local parades and proudly representing Sandpoint to the World. Plus, the contest raises money for the Panhandle Animal Shelter!

“Sandpoint is already a dog-friendly town, so we thought we would go bigger and have our own mascot and ‘official’ Ambassadog to represent all the other canines in the area,” said McAlister.

The owners of the dog selected as Ambassadog will also win a two-night getaway to Western Pleasure Guest Ranch with his or her humans, along with a gift basket stuffed with delightful goods for both dog 10 /

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and owner.

Nominations will be accepted at SandpointAmbassadog. com until September 10, 2016.

To nominate your dog, please provide a photo (with a minimum size of 600 pixels wide) and a paragraph not to exceed 75 words telling your dog’s virtues and why he or she is a good candidate for Ambassadog. If you have a YouTube or Vimeo video of your dog, you may submit that too.

A $5 donation to Panhandle Animal Shelter is requested with each nomination. Five finalist dogs will be chosen in a random drawing among all nominees, but there’s voting, too. For every vote a dog gets, he or she will get an additional entry into the drawing. Those who vote can do so once per day, per dog for free.

You can increase your dog’s chances even more by donating to PAS. For each $1 donated, the donor can award an additional vote to a dog they like.

For the winner, don’t fret; This isn’t like winning Miss America and going on the road for weeks and weeks. We do things a little more low-key here in Sandpoint.

“We will offer opportunities for appearances and their agent can decide which ones will fit into their schedule,” said McAlister. “The thought is to have several appearances at Yappy Hour, and maybe a parade or two.”

The winning dog will be chosen at the September Yappy Hour. Don’t let your dog be left behind! Sign them up for the contest and buy lots of votes to show your love.

Long live the Ambassadog!

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

Drake

We would like to humbly submit our own Reader mascot, Drake, for your consideration as Sandpoint’s Ambassadog. Drake has earned the distinction as our only canine reporter. Twice every month for over a year, Drake has sniffed out local businesses that are dog-friendly and written about

them in the Reader. He has not only shed light on these local businesses that allow pets inside, but is a constant “dog about town” for his many fans to pat his head.

Cast your vote for Drake today at www.sandpointambassadog.com!

Student holds raffle for foreign exchange trip

By Ben Olson Reader Staff Tanner Kohal has his sights set on Sweden. The 16 year-old Sandpoint High School junior is selling raffle tickets to help fund the expense of the Rotary Youth Exchange program.

The program helps thousands of young people travel to distant lands and live for a year in the homes of host families selected by local Rotary Clubs. While abroad, the student attends school, shares household duties and assumes the life of a normal teenager in the country where they live.

Kohal—a lover of sports and outdoor activities—has already traveled quite a bit in his few years. Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Costa Rica and Canada number his recent conquests. As a foreign exchange student, Kohal

hopes to become an ambassador of the U.S. and to make long-lasting connections, while also learning the language.

Kohal will be selling raffle tickets for prizes donated by local businesses to help pay for the trip.

The raffle tickets are $10 each or three for $25. The grand prize is a season pass donated by Schweitzer Mountain Resort, with tons of other great prizes, including a pair of Festival at Sandpoint season passes, loads of gift cards, a cruiser bike and more. Kohal will be selling tickets outside of Winter Ridge on July 11 and 18 from 3:30-5:30 p.m. and the Flying Fish Shop July 8 and 15 from 3:305:30 p.m. You may also call (208) 597-1600 or email amberkohal@ gmail.com to purchase tickets.

Patron gives Library $20k donation

By Reader Staff Lynn Hayes, outreach services coordinator for the East Bonner County Library District has been visiting Mary Zindler at The Bridge Assisted Living Community since 1999. Like it is with so many of the home and facility-bound patrons Lynn has befriended, Mary enjoyed the personal attention and the books and movies that Lynn hand-picked for her.

“I’d collect things, new releases, things I knew she liked. Most of the time, I got it right, but sometimes she’d say, ‘I’m not going to read that!’”

Lynn said.

Mary was always a very social person, but in recent years, her hearing failed. Lynn’s visits were always encouraging because they knew each other so well.

“She would get tickled about something, and we’d just look at each other and knew what we meant,” Lynn said.

Mary and Lynn shared a common bond as orphans, and both were lovingly adopted as children. Mary never had children, a decision she came to regret later, saying that it would have been nice to have a family who came to visit her.

Lynn was deeply saddened

by Mary’s passing in January at 92 years of age. Her sadness was eclipsed by shock when she recently learned about the generous gift that Mary gave to the library, demonstrating the value of Lynn’s visits and the library’s dedication to life-long learning—no matter where a person lives.

“It’s not the money—I didn’t even know she had any—it just feels so good to know you touched someone’s life,” Lynn said. “Giving people [in that situation] something to do gives value to their lives.”

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Dollar Beers!

8pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Good until the keg’s dry Live Music w/ Truck Mills 6-8pm @ Pend d’ Oreille Winery Blues from a Sandpoint legend

Throwback Thursdays at the 219 Open Mic with Sc 7-11pm @ 219 Lounge 6-8pm @ Monarch Featuring live music with Brian Jacobs Open Mic Night i and friends, $2 domestics and $3 crafts. Thursday of the mo Join in playing in this informal open mic Live Music w/ Kev night setting every Thursday night 6-9pm @ Trinity at Sandpoint SummerFest Live M Live Music w/ Harold’s IGA 3pm-? @ Eureka Center, Sagle 5:30-8: 9pm-12am @ 219 Lounge Indie rock trio with a wide variety of The 18th annual SummerFest opens its gates Father/d at 3 p.m. for live music, great food and drink, originals, covers and ridiculousness Live M Live Music w/ Bright Moments Jazz and a plethora of fun activities. Dana Louise 6-9pm and the Glorious Drifters play at 7:30 p.m., 5-7am @ Idaho Pour Authority the Dodgy Mountain Men play at 9:30 p.m. Live H Jazz + beer = good times and Yak Attack go on at 11:30 p.m.

Live Music w/ Running With Scissors Live Music w/ Brian Jacobs & Chris Lynch w/ Pete 9pm @ 6-9pm @ Trinity at City Beach 6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Also su Sandpoint Farmers’ Market Codepe Sandpoint SummerFest 9-1pm @ Farmin Park SY, plu Great local produce, fun arts and All day @ Eureka Center, Sagle crafts, yummy food and live music by Breakfast with Baregrass @ 9 a.m., Open Almeda B Mic @ 2 p.m., Trout Fishing in Ameri- 7:30pm @ Selkirk Society Band ca @ 3:30 p.m., Harold’s IGA @ 5:15 Sandpoin Live Music w/ Justin Lantrip p.m., Eight Dollar Mountain @ 6:45 12-5pm @ 5-7am @ Idaho Pour Authority p.m., American Laboratory Theatre @ 20 local Soulful singer songwriter 7:45 p.m., Eight Dollar Mountain @ 8:15 enjoymen Grand Expanding Party p.m., Gypsy Divas @ 9:20 p.m., Down 10am-6pm @ PAS Thrift Store Li North @ 9:30 p.m., Frost Freeze @ 11 9p p.m., Whiskey Shivers @ 11:30 p.m.

Live Music w/ Chris Lynch Gr 6pm - 9pm @ Arlo’s Ristorante Herb identification walk Sandpoint Chess Club 9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee 2-5pm @ Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail With local herbalist Meryl Kastin.

Game Night at the Niner $10 donation, kids free 9pm @ 219 Lounge

Monday Night Blues Jam w/ Truck Mills 7:30pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Trivia Night 7pm - 9pm @ MickDuff’s

Learn to dance the Swing – 7pm @ SWAC Learn the Triple Time East Coast Swing from Diane Peters. 610-1770 for info

MickDuff’s Open Mic Night 7-10pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Come check out this fun monthly open mic night every second Tuesday of the month. Hosted by Ben and Cadie

Karaoke Night 10pm - Midnight @ 219 Lounge

Sandpoint Farmers’ Market 3-5:30pm @ Farmin Park Great local produce, fun arts and crafts, yummy food and live music by David Walsh Winter Ridge Speaker Series 6pm @ Winter Ridge Learn to make decadent body lotions and creams Throwback Thursdays at the 219 7-11pm @ 219 Lounge Featuring live music with Brian Jacobs and friends

Live Music w/ Electric C 11am-1pm @ Loaf and L Check out Loaf and Ladle brunch while listening to music on the patio!

Winter Ridge Speaker Series 6pm @ Winter Ridge Kombucha: one of the world’s oldest and most beneficial beverages

“9/11 and our 7pm @ Panida Featuring a liv Bollyn: “Endin and the Fraudul

by Sandpoint91

Turnt Up Wednesda 8pm @ 219 Lounge Featuring DJ Josh Ad Crafternoon: Walki 1:30pm @ Sandpoint Make your own walk take home. It’s fun an

Bonner Partners in Care Clinic fundraiser 5:30-8pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall A percentage of of the proceeds for this fundraiser will be donated to BPICC, a free health care clinic that serves those in need. Featuring live music, beer and a rocking pool table. Free admission for those 21+

Live Music 6-9pm @ T Dollar Bee 8pm @ Eic Jazz ‘n’ Ja 6-8pm @ M All players

ful

July 7 - 14, 2016

c with Scott Reid Monarch Mountain Coffee c Night is hosted every first of the month. Open to all! sic w/ Kevin Dorin Trinity at City Beach

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

Classic and Antique Boat Festival July 8-10 @ Sand Creek Boardwalk Check out some beautiful wooden and classic boats. InlandEmpireACBS.net.

263-2161 for more info

Reader recommended

Summer Sounds 4-6pm @ Park Place Stage With Live music from Back Street Dixie

Live Music w/ Mike & Sadie Wagoner Grand Expanding Party (July 8-10) 5:30-8:30pm @ Pend d’ Oreille Winery 9am-6pm @ PAS Thrift Store The Panhandle Animal Shelter Thrift Store in Ponderay has exs Father/daughter duo panded its current location to 5,000 square feet. Come see the k, Live Music w/ Arthur and Mia new space, enjoy light refreshments, and enter into a drawing for e 6-9pm @ Pend d’ Oreille Winery fun door prizes. Proceeds from the store benefit the Panhandle ., Animal Shelter. m. Live Hip Hop music Rails to Resort w/ Petey Peak and DJ Exodus 10:45am @ Red Barn Parking Lot 9pm @ 219 Lounge Also surprise performances from The This annual hill climb bike race starts on Schweitzer Mountain Codependents, The 1986’d and TIP- Road, just across the tracks, and finishes at the main lot of Schweitzer Mountain Resort. 263-9555 for more info SY, plus others Petco Adoption Event Almeda Bradshaw Dance and Concert 11am-3pm @ Petco (Ponderay) 7:30pm @ Pearl Theater (Bonners) $10 kitten, cat and dog adoptions at Petco! Animals are vaccinated, spayed/neutered, and micro-chipped prior to adoption. For Sandpoint BeerFest more information, visit PAS on Facebook. 208-265-7297 12-5pm @ Trinity at City Beach 20 local microbrews for your quaffing Cornhole Classic 1pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall enjoyment! Games, food and fun!

Shakespeare Summer Sunday: Live Music w/ Incredible Flying Dookie Brothers Taming of the Shrew 9pm @ 219 Lounge 6:30pm @ Panida Theater Great rock n’ roll from accomplished performers A free dose of Shakespeare from the Panida Theater!

Electric Cole Show Live Music w/ Bruce Bishop and Drew oaf and Ladle 350.org social 6-9pm @ Trinity at City Beach and Ladle’s Sunday 9am @ Sandpoint City Beach stening to some live Everyone is invited to join in the fun and see Jacey’s Race tio! what Sandpoint 350.org is all about and how Competitive 5k race for runners and individuals can make a difference around walkers, and 1k fun run for kids benefits @ SWAC climate change issues. Look for us near the local children with cancer or life-threatwing from gazebo. Bring refreshments for yourself ening illnesses. Jaceys-Race.com

and our Political Crisis” @ Panida Little Theater ring a live presentation by Christopher n: “Ending the Twin Deceptions of 9/11 he Fraudulent War on Terror.”Sponsored ndpoint911Truth.org 208-610-1498

Wednesdays Lounge DJ Josh Adams on: Walking Sticks Sandpoint Library own walking stick to It’s fun and free!

Moon Pie 7pm @ Sandpoint Library Look at the moon through telescopes and eat moon pie with astronomer Sandy Nichols

Puppy Power Hour 12-2pm @ Pend Oreille Pet Lodge Power Hour is open to puppies 8 weeks to 6 months of age. Puppies must be current on veterinarian-administered vaccines. Power Hour is $5 per session or 5 for $20. 255-7687

July 16-17 Northwest WineFest @ Schweitzer Mountain Resort July 16 La ney Jones and ive Music w/ Arthur and Mia Festival at Sandpoint Art Unveiling th -9pm @ Trinity at City Beach e Spirits @ Di Lu@ Dover Bay ollar Beers! na’s Cafe Fine art poster for the festival unpm @ Eichardt’s Pub July 17 veiled at Dover Bay. 265-4554 for azz ‘n’ Java more information Bo nner County Gar-8pm @ Monarch Mountain Coffee den Tour ll players welcome! Sit in or listen

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-Terbow and RahleeListen in Sandpoint to KPND @ 106.7 in HD

Here are the buds hanging out in the table. That’s Terbow, a beagle, on the left and Rahlee on the right, a beckon frises.

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LITERATURE

Memories

concerning my neighbor, lillian

Memories are the best source of writing, especially if they involve food or cooking. Here’s a poem by Robens Napolitan, who is a local artist & writer. Because of her work as a landscape gardener, Robens’ poetry is often grounded in her relationship to and with nature

Julie Reister-Keaton is a retired elementary teacher who fell in love with Sandpoint while crossing the Long Bridge on her way to a job interview. She grew up in Central Washington, and wrote this about her childhood Saturday piano lessons.

by Robens Napolitan

This open

Window poetry and prose by local writers

edited by Jim mitsui

Some more about journal writing: Think of your journal as a place to collect potential writing material.

It could include a menu from that obscure café that you accidentally found in Coeur d’Alene, the lucky two of diamonds that completed an inside straight that won you $11,000 at the Wynn Casino or a black and white photo of your father sitting on his John Deere tractor.

Lists are good. What are your favorite “things?” Your favorite places in the world? What’s on your bucket list? Your favorite things to cook or bake? Favorite books or movies?

Work on your powers of observation: Sit at your favorite eating establishment and jot down details that you notice or hear. Imagine what people are thinking, what they do for a living. Instead of just waiting at your doctor’s office or the DMV, take notes in your journal. It might be an ideal time to do a freewrite. Try to do at least a couple of timed freewrites a week. Keep reminding yourself that your pen can be an instrument of discovery. Be sure to date all of your entries. Always remind yourself to include specific concrete details, brand names, shades of color, unique sounds or noises.

Gary Snyder said that when he moved to a new place he made it a point to memorize the names of plants, flowers, trees indigenous to that area. Your reader should be able to close his eyes and “see” what you’re writing about. Your journal can be a great storehouse.

Good seeking and writing.

Want to see your poetry in the Reader?

Send in your submission to: jim3wells@aol.com.

“…mulberries fallen…”

---from Richard Ronan These two words strike a chord, bring back a rush of childhood, much of it tight and hard in the living.

But the mulberries, their purple juice staining fingers and mouth, and the pies my mother baked, with their green stems still attached… they were delicious.

The tree, the right height for child climbing, was not like the ones in the catalogs I’ve consulted for years, thinking that a mulberry pie would be nice, that I wouldn’t mind purple fingers and mouth again.

The catalogs all say that the mulberry tree grows to 30 feet, and I’ve decided that is much too tallfor this memory.

—Robens Napolitan

a year on bottle bay

by Julie Reister-Keaton

Back where I came from Dryden Congregational girls took piano lessons from Clara Bartel come autumn and the beginning of school half hour segments were scheduled on Saturdays at Lillian Heinrich’s house A one story at the crossroads like a player of four-square the only cement driveway and putting green clipped lawn in the neighborhood No warning to remove shoes at the side porch the buffed kitchen linoleum and varnished living room oak explanation enough Island rugs like stepping stones acted as passageways to destinations such as the dining table television daveno piano and out two doors Other than Saturdays activities at the Heinrichs’ were as sparse as animals that dared to venture onto their property

wednesday night’s thunderstorm

by Nancy Hahn Rodgers Here is a poem of linked American haiku by Nancy Hahn Rodgers; it is written in 3-line stanzas with a syllable count of 5-7-5. It is a variation of original Japanese haiku. Nancy was born in Nebraska, and spent her working years abroad.

Now she lives on Bottle Bay in Sagle with her husband, Brendan, and rat terrier, Bessie.

Watching the blizzard Wood stove makes the house cozy Elk trudge through the drifts Melting off the eaves Pineapple Express is here Geese are heard honking Commencing the day Sun is captured in dew drops Robins harmonize Lazing on the porch Ghostly mist enshrouds Gold Hill Loons call eerily Rustling awakes us Golden carpet blankets ground Fawn, half grown, frolics Snuggling under down Frost envelopes the windows Snow falls silently

—Nancy Hahn Rodgers

—Julie Reister-Keaton 5/12/16

by Jeanette Schandelmeier

Jeanette Schandelmeier lives on Talache Road; this poem captures what a North Idaho spring storm can be like. Note what you can learn and take away with you after reading her observations.

Jeannette is originally from Alaska. surprises me with a curtain of silver beads outside the window, interrupts the view with flashes of blue lightning and grumbles of thunder. On the screened-in porch two cats hunched under the wicker settee to escape splatters and pounding on the green tin roof dash in the house. Not Ebony. Annoyed at my attempt to bring her inside, she insists on staying to watch blue lights and mist rising from the downpour.

Thursday morning broccoli, onion, cauliflower, lettuce stand much taller from the infusion of nitrogen and new overnight water---weeds too. Self-seeded borage and calendula---grown beyond seedling stage, wait to move to wider spaces where, like children, they’ll have room to grow. Mini eskers of fir needles and flowers, other forest debris, remnants of the night’s fast-moving rivulets, crook across the driveway’s bare patches, and the wheelbarrow’s overflowing.

—Jeanette Schandelmeier 5/31/16 July 7, 2016 /

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Mad about Science: Volcanoes Brought to you by:

By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist

We’ve covered explosions and talked about the Big Bang, I think it’s fairly established that we’re infatuated by the spontaneous explosive release of energy. Logically, the next topic has to be volcanoes, duh.

What’s a volcano?

In short, it’s a place on the earth where molten rock and gas build up immense amounts of pressure until the solid rock above can’t take it anymore, and then you have an event.

What’s an event?

Ka-boom!

Beneath the earth’s crust exists the mantle, a place where rock is subject to re-donk-ulous amounts of heat and pressure.

This is where rock literally gets melted into a liquid, which in itself is pretty awesome. When pockets of magma beneath the crust start to get too big, they tend to burst onto the surface, where it cools over time and creates new landmass or destroys old ones.

The islands of Hawaii are a prime example of what a volcano does. Each island was formed by the same volcano at different points in the Earth’s recent history. That distinct curved shape they display shows how the tectonic plates beneath the ocean’s surface have moved.

Enough about what they are, let’s get to some examples of volcanoes!

Mount Saint Helens. This one struck close to home. On May 18, 1980, Mount Saint Helens in Skamania County, Washington, went Plinian (a term to describe one of the more violent eruptions). Trees for at least 19 miles away from the epicenter of the blast were ripped from the earth and carried several miles, many of which ended up in nearby lakes where they remain even today.

Ash was thrown into 11 dif16 /

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ferent states and five Canadian provinces. Those of you that lived here in Bonner County at that time probably remember a mid-May “snow” that covered everything and darkened the sky. Destructive and chaotic as Mount Saint Helens was, however, it was just a baby compared to a volcano that erupted almost a century earlier.

Krakatoa. You may have heard of it. It’s a volcano in Indonesia, and it produced the most powerful sound heard on earth in recorded history.

It erupted several times, but the largest eruption, the one it is most famous for, happened over August 26-27, 1883.

This was an explosion so massive, so cataclysmically powerful that it altered the earth’s climate for years. You read that right: YEARS. To try and put into perspective just how amazingly loud the eruption was, people 3,000 miles away heard it, and it sounded like a cannon being fired from 300 feet away.

That’s like something happening in Florida, and we hear it as though something big exploded down the street. Sailors 40 miles away suffered from blown-out eardrums.

The shockwave of Krakatoa’s eruption encircled the earth three-and-a-half times.

It caused tsunamis to strike as far away as South Africa. The pyroclastic flows (the lava) turned the ocean beneath it into steam and proceeded to use the steam as a cushion to travel as far as 25 miles away (AWESOME). It created volcanic winters that lowered the Earth’s average temperature by 2.4 degrees Fahrenheit for five years. The ash that spewed into the stratosphere turned the sky red around the world.

You know the painting, “The Scream,” by Edvard

Munch? It has the funny looking yelling guy and the orange-red sky. It turns out that may not be a sunset. That may be the normal sky shortly after the Krakatoa eruption, stained red by ash. Did I mention this was painted in Norway? That is 6,817 miles away from Krakatoa, or just over double the width of the United States.

The sheer, awesome force of nature never ceases to amaze me. Just when you think we’ve got it all figured out, the earth likes to throw us a molten curveball, and buddy, does he plan to put you on base.

You can cut out the drawing of the volcano below and color it with crayons! Have fun!

Random Corner MATH

ted it in school.

You either loved it or ha side of math.

Now, we find the lighter

•If you have a pizza with radius Z and thickness A, its volume is = Pi*Z*Z*A. • Ancient Babylonians did math in base 60 instead of base 10. That’s why we have 60 seconds in a minute and 360 degrees in a circle.

• Students who chew gum have better math test scores than those who do not, a study found.

• There are 177,147 ways to tie a tie, according to mathematicians.

• The birthday paradox says that in a group of just 23 people, there’s a 50% chance that at least two will have the same birthday.

Still waters, two paddles, 40+ miles:

The story of four local women kayaking across Lake Pend Oreille

By Susan Drinkard Reader Contributor It is good to go away now and again, but magical, transporting experiences occur all the time here, even for those who have called Sandpoint home for decades. Of course, that is repetition of the obvious.

Still, the obvious can elude.

I think I fell in love with her again last week—our mesmerizing, deep-enough-for-a-submarine glacial lake called Pend Oreille—when Sandy Bessler, Joyce DeLaVergne, Rebecca Patchell and I spent five days paddling from Farragut State Park to Sandpoint City Beach; more than 40 miles.

Sandy and I have had a goal to circumnavigate our lake’s shoreline in our kayaks for many years, but our jobs only allowed for this to be accomplished in a couple of legs. The summer before last we paddled from Buttonhook Bay at the southern end of the lake up the western side to Sandpoint. Last year’s thick smoke from the fires waylaid us, but this summer we agreed it was a priority.

We know the rhythm of the seasons here—how abbreviated

is our summer. Heading toward or over the age of 60, all four of us feel the breeze on our backs of the proverbial winged chariot. Ugh. The ties between Sandy, Becky, and I go back to the 1980s when Sandy’s husband, Chris, edited the Daily Bee and Becky and I worked there. I worked in Joyce’s classroom as an aide after the newspaper was regrettably sold to the Hagadone Corporation and Sandy and Joyce worked together for Green Thumb Landscaping even earlier.

Becky moved to Whitefish, Mont., and winters in Tucson, and she and I have been friends for 33 years. Joyce and husband, Mark, are co-owners of Outdoor Experience. We all love to kayak.

So we had a one-hour planning meeting at the downtown Starbucks with Sandy’s waterproof map of the lake, Joyce’s thorough list of what to bring and me prefacing our planning by reading an applicable poem that feels like scripture: “The Peace of Wild Things”

by Wendell Berry When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

We wanted to feel the peace of wild things and to feel the liberation big water provides.

Joyce and Sandy worked their arms diligently for a few weeks after a session with a personal trainer at SWAC. I did some lifting at the gym, not as diligently, and Becky in Whitefish was taking a brand of yoga that requires the holding of poses forever. We felt strong enough.

It wasn’t going to be a race, after all.

We left Farragut State Park at 11 a.m., Saturday, June 25— our boats so heavy with food and gear we could hardly carry them to the water, but as Joyce said, “but when you get it in the water, it is almost effortless.” Within the hour we saw a mama Rocky Mountain goat

and her two babies high on a mountain so steep it looked as though they were stuck up there with Velcro.

We paddled to Whiskey Rock Campground, but with all ten sites taken, we had no choice but to paddle onward, to what we weren’t sure. We were so tired when we found a tiny, and I mean tiny “beach” a fisherman told us about, another mile north. It was crazy. We had to tie our boats to trees and squeeze our sleeping bags onto a tarp—no room for a tent. We had poison ivy at our heads and the lake at our feet. On a slight incline, we kept waking up to make sure our bags weren’t in the water while our heads were just inches away from the poisonous plants.

We averaged some eight miles per day, about two miles per hour. We had no turbulent water and the wind was often at our backs (this is not always the case; this area is known for high winds and rugged water that have thrown many a kayak into the rocks).

We saw loons, chipmunks, mergansers, golden eagles, and the swallowtail butterflies

Embarking on a five-day kayak trip around the eastern side of Lake Pend Oreille are (from left to right): Rebecca Patchell of White Fish, Mont. (formerly of Sandpoint), Susan Drinkard, Joyce DeLaVergne, and Sandy Bessler, all of Sandpoint. were at every stop. We camped the second night on a small beach between Indian Point and Deadman Point along the Green Monarchs where the gigantic rock formations and pristine beaches are breathtaking—the only sign of previous campers being the campfire ring and heart rocks strategically placed on logs. Becky and Sandy put up tents. Joyce and I wanted the stars and the exposure and slept on mats all four nights, my clothes dangling from the trees and bushes around us; they were always in some state of wet.

We did not want to leave the serenity of the Green Monarchs. We had three- and fourhour periods with no boat of any kind in sight, perfect temps in the low 80s, calm wate, and down time to skinny dip and to eat and drink wine. At one

see KAYAK, page 18 July 7, 2016 /

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Gardening with Laurie:

Black Foliage

By Laurie Brown Reader Columnist

Black foliage is striking in the garden; it draws the eye. Because dark colors recede, black foliage can make the garden look bigger; put it in the rear of the beds and the borders step back.

It’s the best backdrop for a lot of colors; “Black Beauty” elder makes this obvious by itself with its pale pink, doily shaped flower clusters. Not just white and pastels stand out, though; bright orange, shocking pink, and red become electric when paired with dark foliage.

And it’s not just flowers that contrast well; silver and gold foliaged plants provide all season drama. The yellowleafed nine-bark stands out brilliantly against its dark brother ‘Diablo’ like a torch in the dark. Black can also be a ‘blender’ color; put it between two colors that would clash if right next to each other and it provides enough of a visual barrier to make it work.

“Black” foliage isn’t really black.

The various black leaves are very dark shades of purple and maroon. They have high concentrations of anthocyanins- the same pigments in blueberries that make them so healthful- that cover the green chlorophyll. These dark pigments come out best in full sun; in shade, the chlorophyll will increase so the plant can make enough energy. For design purposes, we call these dark colors ‘black’.

It used to be difficult to find dark plants, but dark foliage and flowers have become trendy lately, and more black plants are introduced each year.

They even show up at the big box stores these days! To get a wide selection of dark plants, you’ll have to hunt, though.

Garden centers will usually have a few and can frequently order in others if you ask. This list will give you some idea of what’s out there.

Trees: Smoke bush Cotinus “Royal Purple’; foliage turns dirty brown in late summer especially if not watered, turns bright orange in fall Acer ‘Crimson King’- purple Norway maple Japanese maple; many dark red ones; ‘Bloodgood’ easiest to find ‘Black Beauty’ elder

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Shrubs: ‘Diablo’ nine bark Purple barberry Perennials: Labrador violet Black mondo grass (will live in town and close to the lake; I can’t get it to live) Ajuga ‘Chocolate Chip’; ‘Black Scallop’ Many dark heucheras (coral bells); a lot have silver overlay Ligularia dentata (likes moisture; fabulous large dramatic leaves) Lysimachia ciliata purpurea- spreads like crazy by root; keep in a pot Geranium phaeum ‘Samobor’- black blotch in leaf center and maroon flowers, spreads by seed like mad but easy to pull up Geranium pretense ‘Midnight Reiter’- most G. pratenses spread fast, but I fight to keep this one alive Aster ‘Lady in Black’- smallest aster I know; dainty black stems and leaves with tiny white flowers, slow to spread Annuals and Tropicals: ‘Blackie’ sweet potato vine Purple basil and perilla Dark red lettuce ‘Merlot’ ‘Midnight Ruffles’ ‘Black Prince’ snapdragon; has wonderful dark red flowers Colocasia (elephant ears) ‘Black Magic’ Coleus ‘Black Dragon’ (red and black bicolor), ‘Black Prince’ (solid dark purple), ‘Palisandra’ solid dark maroon New Zealand purple ricinus (castor bean)- extremely poisonous!

Amaranth ‘Intense Purple’- dramatic, spikey plant; will seed but not aggressively I use most of these plants in my garden, but it is not overwhelmed with darkness. This is not the Addams family garden (although I would love that); these plants are just punctuation in the greens and the brighter colors. If you want to start small, try a ‘Blackie’ sweet potato vine in a container with a yellow leaved coleus, or just putting some ‘Black Prince’ snaps in with white petunias. I suspect you’ll come to the dark side.

KAYAK, con’t from page 17 point we sat facing the water and a blue heron flew by, seemingly in slow motion, right in front of us, leaving us rather drop jawed. The Green Monarchs are the real deal, so much so that I hesitantly write this for fear of even the slightest prospect of ruination.

We took enough food for four days, sharing it all. Becky brought avocados and carefully put them out in the sun at every stop to ripen them.

She made delicious tea in the mornings and dinners of wraps of refried beans and avocados in tortillas warmed by her small stove. We shared yogurt, trail mix, apples, celery, granola, chocolate, oranges, banana chips, peeled boiled eggs soaked in Bragg’s, salami, crackers, all kinds of delicious cheeses, more chocolate, dried fruit and a Bota box of wine.

When both Sandy and I burned our hands, Becky wet some moss and it soothed and healed us quickly. Joyce, somewhat of a naturalist, kept us informed about the lake while Sandy’s expertise with her water filter kept us hydrated as she pumped lake water into bottles at many stops. We kept prolonging our stay at the Monarchs, stopping at many beaches, putting off the inevitable return to people and what ails us.

Finally we paddled to Beyond Hope Resort, where we had a campsite reservation on sweet, soft green grass.

We were so tired, but resort employee Angelo moved all our gear from the water’s edge to our site in his golf cart. We were also profoundly hot and thirsty, and not for water or wine. We wanted beer.

Spotting the Canadian flag on the RV in the campsite, brave Sandy and Becky asked if we could buy some beer from them. A resounding “NO” was the response, but they said we could have as much as we wanted. They brought over six beers, a bag of ice and Becky gave them an avocado and some turkey jerky.

They visited later in the evening and gave us their strong opinions about Trudeau and did some eye rolling about The Donald. The next morning they sat on a bench on the beach and waved goodbye, seeing us off.

We spent the fourth night on the end of the Sunnyside Peninsula near Hawkin’s Point at Billie and Mike’s Twin Cedars tipi.

With hot water, cots, an out-

Becky Patchell, Sandy Bessler, and Joyce DeLaVergne roughing it. Photo

by Susan Drinkard. door shower, and a Porta Potti, we felt spoiled. Check it out on Airbnb.com.

The last leg of the trip was long and hot. We stopped at Fisherman’s Island for lunch and swam at Kootenai Point.

We paddled for hours to city beach, where we had a beer on the deck at Trinity, happy, but sad that we weren’t going back to the water to get into our kayaks again.

We had spent five days outside together, on ground, but mostly in the wilderness of water.

“The surprising thing about a kayak trip with three other women who are going to paddle 42 miles in four days was the ease at which good food appears and is shared... the days of open talking and freedom from the world of pressure to be someone or to speak a certain way, to look or dress like others… like the days of childhood passing the summer, laughing, head thrown back at the sky, and then we would come upon a sandy beach with lapping water and driftwood coves,” wrote Becky in an email.

As the poet wrote, “I come into the peace of wild things…and am free.”

Crossword Solution

STAGE & SCREEN Free Shakespeare at the Panida

By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff

You can always trust the BBC to find clever new takes on classic Shakespeare. This weekend at the Panida, see it for yourself with the broadcasting company’s take on “The Taming of the Shrew” for free.

Even if you’re familiar with the play, you’ll probably find something new in the BBC’s quirky adaptation starring Rufus Sewell as Petruchio and Shirley Henderson as Kate. Reimagining the story within a modern setting, “BBC Presents The Taming of the Shrew” recasts Kate as a talented but abrasive Parliament member with eyes on the prime minister’s office. Her advisers and family recommend she marry to improve her public image, and as luck would have it, a down-on-his-luck earl, Petruchio, is in need of a rich wife.

The BBC adaptation of the Shake-

speare play received high marks largely for the performances of its leads, who commit fully to the bonkers tone. True to BBC form, the creative team brings a clear love of the source material into a modernized story, emphasizing the

timeless elements that Shakespeare captures. The show is free of charge starting 6:30 p.m. Sunday, July 10, at the Panida Theater.

Don’t forget SummerFest this weekend july 7 @ 7:30pm / july 8 @ 5:30pm july 9 @ 5:30 & 8:30pm / july 10 @ 3:30pm

“meddler” film

sunday, july 10 @ 6:30 pm -- free!

BBC's “Taming of the Shrew” Summer Shakespeare Series

By Ben Olson Reader Staff In case you missed our article about Sandpoint SummerFest in the last issue, here’s another reminder.

Now in its 18th year, SummerFest is a great chance to get out of town for the weekend, listen to a ton of great bands, eat and drink yourself silly and connect with some great people.

The gates open Friday, July 8 and the party keeps going until Sunday.

There are a dozen bands scheduled to play throughout the weekend, yoga and dance classes, food and catered

by Eichardt’s Pub, fun events like face painting and parades for the kids and much, much more.

Photo by Patrick Orton.

This year, SummerFest is featuring some great bands, including Austin-based bluegrass band Whiskey Shivers and organic “livetronica” band Yak Attack among many others.

Come on out, bring the kids and get ready for a fun, relaxing weekend of food, dance, nature and connection.

And the best part? SummerFest is a fundraiser for the Eureka Institute’s Construction Basics Initiative program for at-risk students.

For tickets or other information, contact Steve Holt at the Eureka Center at (208) 265-4000 or online at www.eureka-institute.org.

little theater

Tuesday, July 12 @ 7pm

9/11 and our Political crisis

july 14 @ 7:30pm / July 15 @ 5:30pm july 16 @ 5:30 & 8:30pm / july 17 @ 3:30pm

“love and friendship”

saturday, july 16 @ 9am

life as art

visualize the life of your dreams july 22 @ 5:30pm / July 23 @ 8:30pm Sunday, july 24 @ 3:30pm

“me before you”

gallagher’s final tour (september)

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FOOD

The Sandpoint Eater

By Marcia Pilgeram Reader Food Columnist On a recent weekend trip to Moscow, I ran into a friend, transplanted from Sandpoint.

She was heading out of town, but invited me to her home to pick just-ripe fruit from her cherry tree.

Directions in hand, it was easy to find the neat white house and the sturdy tree that loomed large in the backyard.

With a soft-sided cooler slung across my body, I ascended the wobbly old wooden ladder and reached cherry heaven.

This is an amazing year for sweet cherries, and her tree was laden with plump, sweet, ripe fruit. Perched on the top wrung, I deftly picked cherries off the branches and dropped them into the cooler with one hand while clutching a limb for support with the other.

As I swayed to and fro on the unsteady ladder, I paused momentarily and reflected on “my broken ankle” incident from two summers past and the six weeks I spent housebound (and sullen). I decided it wasn’t prudent to use the unreliable stretch, reach and lean-in method, so in a rare moment of clarity, I descended and left the highest and ripest cherries behind for someone younger (and taller).

There are plenty of cherries to go around this season, that’s for sure. Growers of Montana’s Flathead Lake cherries are reporting a record crop. You can join them for a sample and a great weekend filled with all things cherry at the Annual 20 /

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PIT STOP Flathead Lake Cherry Festival in Polson, on Saturday, July 16, or Sunday, July 17, 2016. Closer to home, the Green Bluff Growers north of Spokane are also rejoicing in a plentiful cherry crop, with a celebration on Thursday, July 21, that will include a 6.4-mile run through Green Bluff’s orchards. Both events boast live music and the obligatory “Cherry Pit Spit,” so practice up folks.

Whether you pull up to one of the seasonal roadside stands that dot Montana’s scenic Highway 93, or head to a u-pick site along the south shore of Flathead lake, the season for these sweet cherries is short, lasting a little more than a month, and they usually ripen the first week of July.

Nothing says “Montana road trip” like sticky, red stained fingers reaching into a crumpled brown paper bag for just one more cherry. And no matter how hard you try, you just can’t eat just one more.

To curb my addiction, I have been known to stop the car and put the cherries out of arm’s reach, buried deep in the trunk.

And, shamefully, I must admit I’ve stopped but a few short miles later to retrieve them.

Likewise for Green Bluff’s sweet cherry season. It’s also short and dependent on Mother Nature, who can be so unforgiving. Cherry trees don’t tolerate wetness. A harsh and heavy rain can split the fruit, leaving it virtually worthless barely before harvest. Cherry

seeds require exposure to cold to germinate. The pits are first chilled, then planted in the fall.

Seedlings emerge in the spring, producing fruit in three to four years and finally, reaching full maturity at seven years.

If you want to venture out internationally, our neighbors to the north in Creston B.C. (think Selkirk Loop) are also prolific growers of sweet cherries. It’s a beautiful hour-long drive to this rich agricultural area, and the cherries, along with other locally grown Creston fruit, are allowed back across our U.S. border.

From their beautiful beginnings as delicate and fragrant springtime blossoms to their maturity as cherries, this fruit is a wonderful addition to your summertime menu. Fresh and practically begging to be eaten by the handful or dried as a flavorful addition to trail mixes, sauces, salads, compotes and chutneys, cherries are a such a versatile fruit. Canned or frozen, they can be used cooked for jams, juices and syrups or baked into dozens of desserts, including pies, crisps and cobblers.

Whether you go east or west or north in search of this luscious summer fruit, just getting going. Every direction offers a beautiful day’s road trip in support of our regional farmers. Just remember to get home with enough cherries for a batch or two of Cherry Compote.

Sweet Cherry Compote and Blue Cheese Crostini This tasty appetizer is a great combination of flavors and colors. For a summer salad, toss fresh arugula with olive oil, spoon on the cherry mixture and top with blue cheese and almonds. Serve the crostini on the side.

INGREDIENTS: •1 shallot, thinly sliced •2 teaspoons olive oil •12-oz fresh sweet cherries, pitted •2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar •2 tablespoons brown sugar •¼ teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

•1/8 teaspoon salt •1/8 teaspoon pepper •½ lb wedge blue cheese, thinly sliced

DIRECTIONS: For Crostini: 1 Baguette, slice thin, brush both sides with olive oil and toast in 350º oven for 15 minutes.

Preparation: Sauté shallot in hot oil in a medium skillet for 2 to 3 minutes or until tender. Add cherries and next 5 ingredients. Cook, stirring occasionally, 8 to 10 minutes or until thickened.

Let stand 10 minutes.

Top crostini with blue cheese and spoonful of cherry mixture.

Garnish with toasted almonds slices.

MUSIC

A hometown connection:

An interview with Sandpoint’s own Bridges Home

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

BO: Do you have Celtic heritage?

The Festival at Sandpoint not only gives us access to some of the best musicians from around the world, but also some of the best music to come out of Sandpoint. Case in point for the opening night on Thursday, Aug. 4 when Sandpoint’s own Bridges Home opens for Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers.

Bridges Home features David and Tami Gunter on a bevy of different instruments, with David’s son Paul Gunter jumping in on the bass guitar and backing vocals as much as possible. Their style is a hybrid of Americana folk with warm Celtic roots.

I spoke recently with David Gunter of Bridges Home about playing on the road, the roots of their music and their upcoming show at the Festival at Sandpoint.

DG: Both of us do. Tami has a double dose of Irish lineage and I’ve got an interesting mix of Irish, Welsh and English. And a little British Isles. Her’s is a more direct plug into the Emerald Isles while mine was influenced by the American South—the high lonesome Appalachian take on music that came over on the boat.

Ben Olson: So you’re on the road right now touring. How’s that going?

David Gunter: It’s great. We found this lovely little land in the music world that has been taking us to small town America.

To towns with historic venues.

We just did one about a week ago in Harrington, Wash. in the Palouse. The Harrington Opera House was built in 1904. It’s a treat—you drive through these towns and you don’t realize that there is a vibrancy that is still alive and well. The people, much like we’ve done with the Panida, have ponied up in terms of time and treasure.

BO: Do you find the audiences more receptive in these settings than, say, in a bar?

DG: Absolutely more receptive. Tami and I cut our teeth and we’re grateful that we got a chance to do the wine bar thing.

A turning point was when I started writing again. It was as if the muse said, ‘OK, turn the page,’ and now here are some sorts of different opportunities. Now we do almost exclusively original material or our own arrangements of ancient Celtic songs.

BO: When did you guys start playing in earnest?

DG: Tami and I started about seven years ago. We started on the guitar and ukulele doing cover tunes. A local, Steve Garvan, was a real catalyst for us to take things in a different direction. He enjoyed what we were doing with the cover tunes, but threw an arm around our collective shoulder and said, ‘If you want to start doing something else, you should be writing original music.’ … As an artist, you’re fortunate if you have somebody that approaches you with that degree of candor. … Sandpoint has been really dear to Bridges Home. They watched us in our first halting baby steps.

They watched us do our pratfalls, and certainly watched us launch into every damn musical direction you can try out in seven years.

BO: You’re known for playing a wide variety of instruments between you, Tami and Paul. How did that come about?

DG: It was a coalescing of interests, I think. We started off as guitar and uke and vocals. The next instrument to come in was something I had fooled around with for years—the clawhammer banjo. Fiddlin’ Red Simpson was another example of the right catalyst at the right time. He said, ‘I could show you some clawhammer songs and riffs.’ That sparked the octave mandolin, and as we pulled things in, we started to explore sonically what we could do with original music. …

When Paul joined us a year and a half ago, there we had the best bass player in the Northwest, and he could sing, too. He’s my son

This week’s RLW by Cameron Rasmusson

READ

We lost yet another cultural icon, author and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, last week. A Holocaust survivor and lifelong witness for the dead, Wiesel is best known as the author of “Night,” an account of his experiences in the Auschwitz-Birkenau and Buchenwald concentration camps.

I first read the book in high school and can still recall the New York Times quote on the cover: “A slim volume of terrifying power.” That’s as apt a description as you’re likely to find. Rereading the book last year, the final sentences once again shook me to the core.

LISTEN

though, so I guess I’m biased.

BO: How did you get tapped to play at the Festival at Sandpoint this summer?

DG: We played for a couple of Festival functions. The sponsor night dinner and a couple of ancillary things. We also played at this Festival poster unveiling last year with Paul, and Dyno was watching from the perimeter, and she walked over and said, ‘We gotta get you on the main stage.’ Two days later, I got an email from her.

BO: How about opening for Bruce Hornsby? Are you a fan of his music?

DG: I was gobsmacked. I’m a huge fan of Bruce and how courageous he is not only as a musician, but in his career and following where the music takes him. … Tami and I have played big audiences before, but the fact that it’s the Festival, it’s home, it’s Hornsby. The confluence of so many hip things makes this definitely the jewel gig to date.

BO: What is it about Sandpoint that seems to create so much talent in music?

DG: Sandpoint—in the visual, theater and performing arts—is somehow this crucible for talent.

It’s been really interesting over the course of 39 years or so, to

Wiesel partly inspired me to study Holocaust history and literaBridges Home from left to right: ture in college. I first encountered Paul Gunter, Tami Gunter, David the music of Max Richter while Gunter. Courtesy photo. watching a documentary series, “Auschwitz: Inside The Nazi State,” for a class. see how that’s happened. To see The German composer is best how people have flourished arknown for his haunting, melancholy tistically. It ain’t a get-rich-quick pieces, many of which appear in scheme to be a musician in Sandpoint, but I can’t think of a better soundtracks for films, TV and documentaries. There’s a delicacy to place to explore and expand and his work that grow as an artist. It’s a beautiful sticks with you, hard place in Sandpoint. a fragility liable to break if BO: OK, I’m stealing one it doesn’t break of your moves as a journalist. you first.

Final thoughts?

DG: Well, I guess back to the Sandpoint connections. I look to people as you would, that were mentors of mine and people who brought me up. People like Charlie Packard. I met Charlie when I was 13 and he took me under his wing and encouraged me as a young musician. He was one of those comrades along the way that I find myself in a similar role now, not only with younger musicians, but those my own age. We all may be on different paths, but we’re on the path. I can’t think of a better place to be on that course than Sandpoint. It either embraces you or chews you up and spits you out. I’ve been lucky. I only have a few gnaw marks, but I’m doing all right.

Catch Bridges Home on Thursday, Aug. 4 at the Festival at Sandpoint’s opening night.

265-4554 for ticket information.

WATCH

My college Holocaust study required me to watch several remarkable documentaries and films, still vivid in my mind years later.

“Imaginary Witnesses” examines the difficulty of portraying the Holocaust in film. “Shoah,” regarded by some as the greatest cinematic treatment of the subject, is a nearly10-hour documentary of interviews and location shots in Poland, at times using hidden cameras to record reluctant participants.

More easily digested is the German drama, “Sophie Scholl: The Final Days,” which recounts the trial of Scholl, a student protester, for crimes against the Third Reich.

Her dignity before her accusers paints her as 20th century Joan of Arc. July 7, 2016 /

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w o N & Then compiled by

Ben Olson

Each week, we feature a new photograph taken from the same vantage point as one taken long ago. See how we’ve changed, and how we’ve stayed the same.

Historical information provided and verified by Bonner County Museum staff and volunteers. The Museum is located at 611 S. Ella — (208) 263-2344.

The Rink Opera House, located at 207 Church Street in Sanpdoint. This was later known as the Liberty Theater and eventually became a roller skating rink.

CROSSWORD

Copyright www.mirroreyes.com

c. 1910

ACROSS

The same view today, west of the 200 block on Church St. The building used to be part of the Inkwell, but is now under renovation to become Kochava’s new offices.

2016

Woorf tdhe Week

gonzo

/GON-zoh/

[noun] 1. (Of journalism, reportage, etc.) filled with bizarre or subjective ideas, commentary, or the like.

“Hunter S. Thompson was a true gonzo journalist.”

Corrections: I spelled Schweitzer wrong in the June 30 issue. It’s that dang E before the I that gets me. Mea culpa -BO 22 /

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1. Grown 6. Precious stones 10. Young bears 14. Anaglyph 15. Murres 16. Unique 17. A long artificial mound 19. Part of a comparison 20. Freeload 21. Born as 22. Novice 23. Enjoy 25. Acted gloomily 26. Being 30. Rouse 32. Morally obligatory (archaic) 35. An informal term for money 39. Rotten 66. Narrow opening 40. Harvester 67. Scottish hillside 41. Not artificial 68. Varnish ingredient 43. Business executive 44. System of weights and DOWN measures 1. Air force heroes 46. Not a win 2. Humid 47. Assists 3. Part of an ear 50. Alpha’s opposite 4. Low-fat 53. Test 5. Forceps 54. Hit on the head 6. Some people chew this 55. Clothing 7. Heretofore 60. Skin disease 8. Inorganic 61. Deductive 63. University administrator 9. Satisfy 10. Common small rabbit 64. Depend 11. Not cool 65. Sporting venue

Solution on page 18 12. Cacophony 13. Church council 18. New Zealand parrot 24. Delivery vehicle 25. Dishes out 26. River of Spain 27. Fly high 28. Vocalized musically 29. Campground 31. Composer Jerome ____ 33. Eats 34. Modify 36. Style of hairdo 37. C C C C 38. Makes a mistake

42. Balladeer 43. Frozen water 45. African antelope 47. Skulls 48. Surpass 49. Hawaiian veranda 51. Cheery 52. Fragrant oil 54. Stinging remark 56. Rubber wheel 57. Frosts 58. Hindu princess 59. Distinctive flair 62. Alkaline liquid

Whenever I start thinking that I am not living up to my potential, I remind myself of the old farmer and his fight to the death with the insane pig. It’s an exciting story, and it takes my mind off all this “potential” business.

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